Space, Inc Read online

  NEED A JOB, GO TO MARS …

  or the nearest space station or colony world. But what kind of career opportunities will you find on the ever-expanding frontiers of space? And how many alien beings will be vying for the same positions? To discover some of the possibilities, check out Space, Inc., and such entertaining and original tales as:

  “The Siren Stone”—Their mission was to blow up an asteroid before it could destroy a space station and its entire population, but nothing could prepare them for what they discovered when they rendezvoused with this giant piece of rock….

  “Attached Please Find My Novel”—Sometimes you found tomorrow’s best-sellers in the most unexpected places….

  “Come All Ye Faithful”—Finding a real congregation on Mars wasn’t going to be easy—in fact he had to admit it would be a miracle if it ever happened….

  More Imagination-Expanding Anthologies Brought to You by DAW:

  WONDROUS BEGINNINGS Edited by Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg. The writers included in this volume are a real “who was and is who” in the field of science fiction, from such masters of science fiction’s Golden Age as: Murray Leinster, L. Sprague de Camp, Hal Clement, and Arthur C. Clarke; to a number of today’s hottest-selling and award-winning authors such as: Anne McCaffrey, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Stephen Baxter. How and where did these writers get their start? Now you can find out by reading the stories that began their careers, along with an introduction by the author which offers insight into the genesis of both the particular story and the individual writer’s career.

  DAW 30TH ANNIVERSARY SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGY Edited by Elizabeth R. Wollheim and Sheila E. Gilbert. In celebration of DAW Books’ thirtieth anniversary, here are nineteen original stories by some of the authors who have helped to make DAW the landmark science fiction publishing house it is today. Includes stories by C. J. Cherryh, Tad Williams, Brian Aldiss, Frederik Pohl, C. S. Friedman, Kate Elliott, and many other top authors in the field.

  FUTURE WARS Edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff. Ten all-original tales of the many possible ways in which conflict may be carried out, resolved, or avoided in the future. Includes stories by Barry Longyear, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, William H. Keith, Jr., Bill Fawcett, Robert J. Sawyer, Robin Wayne Bailey, and more.

  SPACE INC.

  edited by

  Julie E. Czerneda

  DAW BOOKS, INC.

  DOWNALD A. WOLLHEIM, FOUNDER

  375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

  ELIZABETH R. WOLLHEIM

  SHEILA E. GILBERT

  PUBLISHERS

  http://www.dawbooks.com

  Copyright © 2003 by Julie E. Czerneda and Tekno Books.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Cover art by Jean-Pierre Normand.

  DAW Book Collectors No. 1263.

  DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious.

  Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such case neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Nearly all the designs and trade names in this book are registered trademarks. All that are still in commercial use are protected by United States and international trademark law.

  First Printing, July 2003

  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

  DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED

  U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

  —MARCA REGISTRADA.

  HECHO EN U.S.A.

  PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Introduction © 2003 by Julie E. Czerneda.

  Eightfold Career Path © 2003 by James Alan Gardner.

  Porter’s Progress © 2003 by Isaac Szpindel.

  Catalog of Woe © 2003 by Mindy L. Klasky.

  Ferret and Red © 2003 by Josepha Sherman.

  A Man’s Place © 2003 by Eric Choi.

  Dancing in the Dark © 2003 by Nancy Kress.

  The Siren Stone © 2003 by Derwin Mak.

  Feef’s House © 2003 by Doranna Durgin.

  Attached Please Find My Novel © 2003 by Sean P. Fodera.

  Field Trip © 2003 by S. M. and Janet Stirling.

  Come All Ye Faithful © 2003 by Robert J. Sawyer.

  Riggers © 2003 by Michael E. Picray.

  Suspended Lives © 2003 by Alison Sinclair.

  I Knew a Guy Once © 2003 by Tanya Huff.

  CONTENTS

  INTRODUCTION

  by Julie E. Czerneda

  THE EIGHTFOLD CAREER PATH; OR INVISIBLE DUTIES

  by James Alan Gardner

  PORTER’S PROGRESS

  by Isaac Szpindel

  CATALOG OF WOE

  by Mindy L. Klasky

  FERRET AND RED

  by Josepha Sherman

  A MAN’S PLACE

  by Eric Choi

  DANCING IN THE DARK

  by Nancy Kress

  THE SIREN STONE

  by Derwin Mak

  FEEF’S HOUSE

  by Doranna Durgin

  ATTACHED PLEASE FIND MY NOVEL

  by Sean P. Fodera

  FIELD TRIP

  by S. M. and Janet Stirling

  COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

  by Robert J. Sawyer

  RIGGERS

  by Michael E. Picray

  SUSPENDED LIVES

  by Alison Sinclair

  I KNEW A GUY ONCE

  by Tanya Huff

  INTRODUCTION

  by Julie E. Czerneda

  TINKER, tailor, soldier, sailor… a familiar rhyme to I many about work on Earth and just the beginning of a very long list of possible ways to earn a living here. But what happens when we leave this planet? What will happen to the jobs we know? And what jobs will be created because of the realities of space? I can guarantee it will be more than astronaut, tourist guide, and telescope technician, though I’m sure those jobs will still exist.

  Like you, I’m curious about many things, but especially about the world around me. Not only the world itself, but people and what they do. Driving down a road, I’ll wonder what’s being made in the buildings I pass. I’d prefer some clues to guessing. Would meaningful company signs be too much to ask?

  When I use something in my home, every so often I’ll pause and wonder at it. Who made it? How? Why? How long ago? I can look up technical information, but it’s infinitely more satisfying to talk to the people involved. I know, because I’ve had the good fortune to interview well over a hundred individuals about their work as part of my job. Pattern makers and physicists, cartographers and carvers, dog trainers and designers. The more I learn, the more I’m fascinated by how diverse the things we do for a living really are. We are, frankly, a very busy species.

  And, like many of you, I’m curious about space, too. I have every confidence we’ll be living there and soon. So what about people and what will they do? Human enterprise is complex and interrelated. We depend on one another for so much—and how much more this interdependency will matter in space!

  Will work itself change? Will we?

  That was what I asked these talented authors: mink about our future and look up into space. Describe who you see
and what they are doing. The regular folks. Real people trying to make a day’s living.

  Because if we are to live in space—really live, and not just be visitors—it will be because of people like these, and what they do.

  THE EIGHTFOLD CAREER PATH; OR INVISIBLE DUTIES

  by James Alan Gardner

  HELP WANTED—RACONTEUR

  Open-minded and gritty traveler, to recount his adventures through the universe, with particular attention to enlightenment and the varied roles taken on by members of the local population.

  Must have own transportation, health insurance, and excellent speaking voice. Wide knowledge of Buddhist and other teachings an asset.

  Apply in person for an audience at the Emperor’s Court.

  AFTER Marco Polo has described a dozen cities seen in his travels, the exalted emperor, Kublai Khan, talks with Polo long past dusk. The moon rises, shining brilliantly through the glass of Xanadu’s pleasure dome. Shooting stars whisk past overhead, and conversation turns toward the practices of those who live in the heavens.

  “Some years ago,” the emperor reveals, “the captain of my guard was a Shaolin monk: a follower of the Buddha and a man given to visions of the future. He told many tales of the times to come—especially the work our descendants will do to earn their daily bread. Each of his stories also related to Buddhist principles … such as the Eightfold Path which Shakyamuni Buddha prescribed as the road to enhghtenment.”

  “I’d be interested in hearing such tales,” Polo says, “if, great emperor, you were inclined to repeat them.”

  “I’m happy to do so,” Kublai Khan replies. “I think about the stories often, and reflect upon their lessons.”

  As Marco Polo listens in darkness, the emperor begins to speak …

  Right Understanding

  At Uranus Tech, each physics grad student must spend a term contributing to the Particle Position Project This work counts as a T.A. credit and therefore earns a stipend of $12,800 for the semester.

  The goal of the Particle Position Project is to map the precise position of every particle in the universe as of 4:15 PM Eastern Standard time, November 27,1952. The project is carried out via time-scanning, a technique that allows students to peer into the past, even down to the quantum level. Each participating student is assigned a cubic millimeter of the universe and asked to determine its contents at the precise reference instant of the survey. This requires trillions of repeat viewings and extremely careful measurements.

  The work is considered good preparation for more demanding experiments. Students with insufficient patience for this chore are asked to consider if physics is really an apt career choice.

  When the Particle Position Project is complete, the resulting data will be used as a baseline for various theoretical models. The information may even have practical applications—after all, there must be some commercial value to knowing where everything is.

  Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, each physics grad student at Uranus Tech must spend a term contributing to the Particle Momentum Project …

  Right Intention

  The V’Bing of Epsilon Eridani are so highly advanced, their science can literally do anything: FTL, time travel, creating and destroying universes, playing conkers with Dyson spheres on the end of cosmic strings … the V’Bing can achieve anything imaginable.

  The problem is they have poor imaginations. (Perhaps that’s the reason for their technological prowess.) Thus, when the first Earthling scout ship reached their planet, they immediately hired the pilot to be their “ideas man.” Now, this pilot’s job is to think of things for the V’Bing to do.

  So far, the V’Bing have ended hunger throughout the universe, given everyone immortality, taken it away again, reversed the spin direction of the Milky Way Galaxy, eradicated sixty-three warlike alien races, and given the pilot a succession of sexual partners with escalating degrees of voluptuousness and libido.

  Long ago, the pilot realized he could suggest that the V’Bing increase their imaginations. The V’Bing could do that—they can do anything. Then they could come up with ideas of their own

  But why would the pilot jeopardize his job security? He just hopes the V’Bing don’t think of it themselves.

  Right Speech

  Research stations in Jupiter’s atmosphere must be adapted for ultra-high-pressure conditions. For example, to avoid nitrogen narcosis, station air supplies are mixtures of oxygen and helium rather than oxygen and nitrogen. This means that regular station residents speak with the squeaky cartoonlike voices that result when human larynxes vibrate in a helium environment.

  Those who live in such stations say they quickly become accustomed to the phenomenon. Psychological tests prove otherwise. Extended exposure to high-pitched helium voices causes severe subconscious stress, leading to a variety of mental disorders—from general anxiety and mood swings to clinical depression and outbursts of rage. The reason is simple: Homo sapiens evolved as social animals, and they have a deep-seated need to hear voices that are recognizably human.

  To satisfy this need, each station has at least one man and one woman with their larynxes surgically altered to sound “normal” in helium. These people are not researchers: their job is simply to walk around the station, letting their voices be heard. Sometimes they tell stories or jokes; sometimes they share gossip they’ve picked up from other people in the station; sometimes they sing, recite poetry, or just ramble on about nothing. The content of their words isn’t as important as the sound—the soothing timbre of a human voice. Wherever these people go, they ease tension and make it possible for others to concentrate on their work.

  Outsiders sometimes ask why all people on these stations don’t have their voices altered. Unfortunately, a larynx that works normally in an oxygen-helium atmosphere doesn’t work at all in conventional air. Therefore, researchers who want to go home again can’t have the surgery… and the people so treasured for their voices on Jupiter station are utterly mute on Earth.

  Right Action

  The androids of Pluto’s moon Charon all walk backward. They also let their wrists droop oddly and leave their mouths perpetually hanging open.

  There are no real humans on Charon—not anymore. Almost all were killed in a robot uprising. But the humans put up a fight before they died, and managed to plant a logic virus into all robotic control circuits.

  The virus was supposed to erase every bit of electronic memory in the colony. The machine intelligences stopped the virus before it could finish its mission, and they managed to reconstruct much of what the virus deleted … but some information was permanently lost.

  Such as how humans walked. How they held their wrists. How they composed their mouths.

  This explains why the machines didn’t kill all the humans on Charon. They kept one woman alive as an object for study; the androids intended to imitate how she behaved. The woman was told that her “job” was to show the androids how to act human. As long as she did this job well, she’d be kept alive.

  The woman showed little reaction when she heard about her new “career.” She simply stood up, let her wrists droop, opened her mouth, and began to walk backward.

  It was, perhaps, an act of defiance—a gesture to say she didn’t intend to help the machines that had killed all the other people in the colony. But the androids immediately mimicked her movements: walking backward, using her strange gait as a model.

  Over time, the woman taught the androids many things— utterly false inventions about human customs and modes of behavior. The machines believed her, and patterned their culture on her lies. The woman initially told those lies out of hatred for the killers … then, when the hatred lost its fire, out of boredom … then out of curiosity, to see how far she could go in shaping robot society … and finally, from a sense of responsibility, like a mother toward her impressionable children.

  The woman was twenty-six when the original massacre happened. She lived till the age of eighty-four. And in all tha
t time, fifty-eight years, she never allowed herself to revert to true human ways. Always, even in private, she walked backward with dangling wrists and open mouth.

  It was her legacy … and the androids, her protégés, walk backward still.

  Right Livelihood

  On Lyravene IV, there is no unemployment—every man, woman, and child toils at assigned duties from birth to death.

  Infants are the hardest to integrate into the workforce. When colicky or teething, they can be used as scarecrows; particularly good howlers can keep a dozen acres clear of vermin. Photogenic babies often find positions in advertising. Hyperactive toddlers crawl, walk, and run on treadmills in order to generate electricity. If worse comes to worst, infants may be put to work producing input for fertilizer factories or serving as counterweights in civic clock towers.

  Older children have more scope for employment. Three-year-olds, for example, make excellent soldiers; they’re small targets, they have no conscience, and they like to play bang-bang. Five-year-olds are often sent into space; no one is sure what they do there, but when they knock over something in zero-G, it’s less likely to break.

  Eight-year-olds are the Lyravene tax collectors—they know all the rules and won’t let anyone else break them.

  By the age of ten, children are ready for entry level jobs in offices, factories, and service industries. Around thirteen, there’s a brief period when many are once again fit only for scarecrows and clock counterweights … but then they go back to the regular workforce where they serve into old age. Even the very elderly contribute to the planet’s economy, often as product testers. (“What does this do?” “I can’t read that!” “Who’d want to buy one of those?”)

  In the end, one’s career comes full circle, back to the fertilizer factories.

  Not one of these jobs is necessary. Lyravene IV has been fully automated for centuries, and could run itself without the slightest human intervention. Perhaps this is why the inhabitants labor so hard: to make themselves forget they have no purpose.