Who Carries the World, by Robert Reed

[F&SF]

★★★☆☆

(Space Opera; Great Ship) It’s not a big deal when Perry dies in the avalanche. It’s just a little death, but the person who digs him out and puts him back together has been missing for 12,000 years. (10,144 words; Time: 33m)

Recommended By: 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)

Kingfisher, by Robert Reed

[Clarkesworld]

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Far-Future SF; Great Ship) Kingfisher searches an endless icefield for a woman he can’t forget. He’s been searching a long time—tens of thousands of years at least. But he’s not giving up. (11,943 words; Time: 39m)

Some familiarity with the Great Ship universe is required to make sense of this story

The Speed of Belief, by Robert Reed

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(Far-Future SF; Great Ship) To secure a deal with a world ruled by what appear to be intelligent rivers, the Great Ship sends three representatives on a long, sub-light-speed mission. By the time they get there, things don’t look so rosy. (20,366 words; Time: 1h:07m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Rich and Complex. Rewards Close Study.

Like other stories in Robert Reed’s Great Ship universe, “The Speed of Belief” stands alone. There’s no need to read any of the others first.

Parables of Infinity, by Robert Reed

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(Far-Future SF; Great Ship) An ancient robot tells a human how it helped build a planet-sized ship and what the consequences were. (5,424 words; Time: 18m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Recommended By: GDozois:4 NClarke

This is a stand-alone story in Robert Reed's very rich Great Ship universe. They're so loosely connected, there's no reason to read any other one before this one.