Tale of the Troika

Roadside Picnic

Edward Steel

Naomi J.

Science fiction lends itself readily to imaginative subversion of any status quo. Bureaucrats and politicians, who can’t afford to cultivate their imaginations, tend to assume it’s all ray-guns and nonsense, good for children.

“A man meets an alien. How does each figure out that the other is intelligent?” “No idea,” Valentine said merrily. “All I’ve read on the subject reduces to a vicious circle. If they are capable of contact, then they are intelligent. And conversely, if they are intelligent, then they are capable of contact. And in general: if an alien creature has the honor of being psychologically human, then it’s intelligent. That’s how it is, Richard. Read Vonnegut?”

Kiersten

They gaze into this bottomless pit and know that they will inevitably have to climb down - their hearts are racing, but they'll have to do it - except they don't know how or what awaits them at the bottom or, most important, whether they'll be able to get back out.

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