Friday, June 10, 2016

The Battle of Ceres, by Karl Bunker

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(SF) Katrina and Jeff operate an asteroid mining station for the S.P.C. It's not bad work except that the mining companies are at war, using gravel as missiles. (5,972 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
Recommended By: RHorton:4 Readers

"," by (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in issue 07-08|16, published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: From the intro, we presume that Katrina's sacrifice was what ended the war. Jeff's dying scenes were very moving. And the scientific fact that even bits of gravel are lethal at orbital velocities is very solid.

Con: Why did Kat need to die? It should have been enough for her to broadcast the information. And given that government action/public reaction was enough to end the "war," it's hard to believe it hadn't been done already.

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3 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. I don't think Kat needed to die in order to end the conflict. I think she wanted to. I think she missed Jeff more than maybe she wanted to admit and possibly bought into the idea of heroic wartime death.

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  2. Interesting argument. I didn't get the impression they were romantically involved, though. Am I misremembering?

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  3. I don't think they were at first, things were just physical. But I think he grew on her and after his death she seemed to miss him more than just as a coworker. She intentionally sought a job that didn't require human interaction. Also I think some of our was just a stab at the companies waging the war and a general desire to no longer be part of the human race.

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