Karin Tidbeck

Award-winning author Karin Tidbeck presents a science fiction adventure of a mysterious spaceship on an interstellar voyage in The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir. Life on the transdimensional ship Skidbladnir is a strange one. The new janitor, Saga, finds herself in the company of an officious steward-bird, a surly and mysterious engineer, and the shadowy Captain. Who the odd passengers are, and according to what plan the ship travels, is unclear. Just when Saga has begun to understand the inner workings of Skidbladnir, she discovers that something is wrong. Skidbladnir is sick. And it’s up to her and the engineer to fix it. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Tor.com Original

The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir

Sarah Escorsa

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  Free SF short from Tor
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Okay, so this story is not overwhelmingly fascinating. To say the least. It's about a starship that has kinda sorta seen better days (hence the title and stuff). And about its new janitor (please don't yawn), a chick/girl/woman/whatever called Saga. (Which made me think of Saga repeatedly while I was reading. Which probably did this little story here no good whatsoever.)

Anyway, the story is pretty meh and boring and stuff, and I would have rated it 2 stars had it not been for the following luscious facts:

① The starship stewart is a “long-legged beaked creature” that keeps clattering its/her/his/whatever, um, you know, beak and stuff. And that’s, um, you know, pretty, um, you know, something. I guess. 

② Saga the janitor spends her free time watching videotapes of an ancient SF TV show. Which makes her Instantly Very Cool (IVC™). Because I said so.



③ Skidnaldnir the starship is actually a giant hermit crab!!! I. KID. YOU. NOT. Meaning it’s my murderous children’s cousin thrice removed!!! (It might be twice removed, actually, but I need to double check the family tree to be sure.) Now how bloody shrimping amazing is that?! A decapod that doubles as a space ship!! This is giving me ideas, my Little Barnacles. Up until today, I was focused on world domination, but if I can turn all of my kids’ cousins into crustacean versions of the USS Enterprise, the universe is mine! So muahahahaha and stuff.

Oh, and believe it or not, it just so happens that Bob, Fleet Admiral DaShrimp’s Australian land hermit crab nephew, is currently staying with his beloved uncle. It’s a sign, methinks. Bob looks pretty hot, and I think he would make the mostest perfectest Nefarious Fleet Flagship (NFF™) a nefarious overlord such as myself could ever dream of. An Experimental Hermit Crab Spaceship (EHCS™) is officially him! So yay and stuff!



What do you mean that’s a crab, not a hermit crab? Are you trying to tell me I don’t know my crabs? Do you mean to teach me, the not-so-former breeder of murderous crustaceans, what a hermit crab looks like? You’ve got a lot of nerve, Puny Barnacles Mine!

The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir A Tor.com Original

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