(Planetary Exploration) In the methane oceans of Titan, Bishop and her crew try to figure out what happened to another ship which seems to have been crushed by a giant alien vessel. (5,105 words; Time: 17m)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
"Baroness," by E. Catherine Tobler [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 128, published on May 1, 2017.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The notion of modifying people to work in hostile environments is intriguing--particularly when they were reluctant to do it.
Con: The story is very confusing. It takes a while before we realize that Bishop is a person and a ship. In one scene she’s been modified to breathe methane, but in another liquid methane is like water to her.
The modifications described sound very horrible, yet there's no mention of any effect on quality of life.
It defines belief that a modified human could smoothly interface with alien hardware. This should be obvious to anyone who ever tried to connect a PC to a Mac.
Th economics don’t make any sense. Sending illegal immigrants to Titan would be fabulously expensive. And why are the companies exporting methane from Titan?
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 128)
E. Catherine Tobler Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Con: The story is very confusing. It takes a while before we realize that Bishop is a person and a ship. In one scene she’s been modified to breathe methane, but in another liquid methane is like water to her.
The modifications described sound very horrible, yet there's no mention of any effect on quality of life.
It defines belief that a modified human could smoothly interface with alien hardware. This should be obvious to anyone who ever tried to connect a PC to a Mac.
Th economics don’t make any sense. Sending illegal immigrants to Titan would be fabulously expensive. And why are the companies exporting methane from Titan?
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 128)
E. Catherine Tobler Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
My take: Bishop was named after the ship she was a refugee on as a little girl. The alien Baroness couldn't get her ship Vinsin to awaken after the collision with Jones's ship Three. Sounds like Baroness tried but failed to combine with Jones. Then she is able to combine Bishop into the alien ship. I guess because of Bishop's background and conditioning. Then it seems like they take off, and we never know what becomes of the rest of Bishop's crew. But as you say, it's all very confusing so I'm not really sure about any of it.
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