(Hard SF) The Phoenix project aims to send a group of enhanced children to another star before Earth becomes uninhabitable. Their mothers have a hard time letting them go.
(14,292 words)
Rating: 2,
Not Recommended
"Starlings," by Tyler Keevil, appeared in the May-June 2016 issue of Interzone Magazine (Issue 264), published May 1, 2016 by TTA Press
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The story is poignant; it really makes us feels the narrator's loss keenly. In terms of plot, it's about the narrator's attempt to raise her child and to cope with his inevitable loss. Through the uncensored message to her son, she achieves that.
Con: It's an extremely anti-science piece of work, and it fails the disbelief test over and over. For example, they can genetically engineer children to develop at an astonishing rate, and yet they can't replace mother's milk. It's 67 C outside, and yet simple spacesuits keep people cool. All other life has expired, and yet the government just keeps on going under domes.
Even project Phoenix itself is hard to believe. A whole colony of one-year-olds? And why go to another star? With the tech these people have, why not a moon colony?
Con: It's an extremely anti-science piece of work, and it fails the disbelief test over and over. For example, they can genetically engineer children to develop at an astonishing rate, and yet they can't replace mother's milk. It's 67 C outside, and yet simple spacesuits keep people cool. All other life has expired, and yet the government just keeps on going under domes.
Even project Phoenix itself is hard to believe. A whole colony of one-year-olds? And why go to another star? With the tech these people have, why not a moon colony?
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