Machine by Elizabeth Bear

Published by Simon & Schuster/Saga Press on October 20, 2020

Machine is a space opera infused with a mystery. The setting — a hospital in space — is fresh, allowing Elizabeth Bear to breathe new life into familiar science fiction themes.

Brookllyn Jens is a human trauma doctor who zips around the galaxy in a super-fast medical vessel that is the spacefaring equivalent of an ambulance or rescue vehicle. One might expect most space accidents to end with a quick death but Jens tells us that she regularly saves lives. Perhaps ships are so rugged that they routinely sustain enough damage to need a tow and a doctor without coming apart. In any event, Jens’ anecdotal tales of lifesaving aren’t so important to the plot that the reader needs to buy into them.

Jens’ rescue vehicle is crewed by two other Terrans, a couple of aliens, and an autonomous Artificial Intelligence named Sally that runs the ship. The galaxy, it turns out, is a crowded place. Humans have taken their place with syster races and AIs in the Synarche. Conflict is largely avoided by “rightminding,” a form of education and brain tinkering that reduces aggression and inclines disparate beings toward cooperation.

A distress signal brings Jens to a generation ship that left Earth a long time ago. Jens finds a ship of methane breathers attached to the generation ship. There are life signs on both ships but no obvious activity. Jens investigates and discovers that the generation ship’s crew members are in cold storage. They are guarded by an AI who has occupied a peripheral in the shape of a female humanoid. The ship is also infested with mechanical blocks that seem to be eating the hull. The methane breathers are sound asleep in their own ship. All of this is ominous but Jens’ duty is to save life when she can so she brings some of the sleeping humans and aliens back to the hospital (Core General, much to the chagrin of the humanoid AI (whose name is Helen Alloy) who isn’t sure the rescuers can be trusted.

The rescue mission is plagued by technical glitches that Sally can’t explain. Back at Core General, even more glitches are occurring, perhaps as the result of sabotage. The hospital administrator, who happens to be a tree, wants Jens to investigate because (a) she has clearance to see medical files and (b) she used to be a cop. Jens discovers a mysterious wing in the hospital that nobody will talk about and wonders whether it is connected to the sabotage.

Getting to the bottom of the mystery is a long but pleasant walk. The reveal is a bit disappointing — it hinges on an overused science fiction theme, the kind that makes readers think “not another one of those stories” — but the mild disappointment is tempered by Bear’s ability to pull the reader into the story. The book is set in Bear’s White Space universe, a fully realized background that is interesting in itself, but the real fun is in Bear’s imaginative look at how a hospital designed as a space station might minister to the needs of various races that require different atmospheres and diets and gravitational settings to survive.

Agency is a popular theme in current science fiction — the notion that individuals have the power to make independent choices (actually, it’s always been a theme, but sf writers have only recently turned to the label “agency” to describe it). Jens felt she had no agency as a child. Her character development, as is customary in science fiction, focuses on her ability to find creative solutions to problems. One of her problems is unexplained pain that has gripped her throughout her life, pain she endures with the help of an exoskeleton that aids her movement. At more than one point in the novel, Jens thinks about surrendering to a pain-free existence, but in the science fiction tradition, sacrifice is the definition of heroism.

Bear’s aliens are assembled with the kind of convincing detail that makes it easy to suspend disbelief in their existence. Their conflicts, rightminding notwithstanding, add to the story’s interest. A number of action scenes contribute excitement to the story, but Machine doesn’t rely on the conventions of shoot-em-up science fiction. The story might have been a bit tighter — Jens’ struggles after the reveal go on a bit too long — but that’s a small complaint about a book that gives us another of Bear’s smart takes on the subgenre of space opera.

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Shoggoths in Bloom by Elizabeth Bear

Published by Prime Books on October 23, 2012 

Elizabeth Bear is a graceful, imaginative writer who skillfully illuminates the depths of the characters she creates. While the social relevance for which she often reaches sometimes seems a bit forced, she deserves credit for pushing the boundaries of science fiction and fantasy.

The stories in this collection I liked best tended to be science fiction. My favorite, "Tideline," won a Hugo. It is a poignant and memorable story. Chalcedony, a malfunctioning derelict of a war machine, combs the beach looking for pretty objects she can string together to make necklaces. She needs the help of a boy named Belvedere to carry out her final mission. Bear blends science fiction with one of Lovecraft's monsters in "Shoggoths in Bloom" as a black scientist in 1938 confronts a moral dilemma. This Hugo-winning story explores the ethics of enslaving a species that was created for the purpose of being enslaved. While full of entertaining ideas about future living, "In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns" is primarily the story of a murder investigation, complicated by shifting identities and an engineered cat that seems to have lost its memory. "Dolly" gives a slightly new twist to the "fine line between androids and humans" theme.

Other stories in the collection are less impressive but still worth reading. After she receives a brain implant for pain management, a young girl in "The Something-Dreaming Game" makes herself pass out from oxygen starvation so she can visit aliens who have a use for her implant. A former rock star and guitar goddess -- "The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder" -- while pondering the approaching end of her life, learns the meaning of life and death from dead guitar players. Whether brain repair is a euphemism for mind control is the question asked in "Gods of the Forge," a tale of industrial espionage that ends too abruptly. "Annie Weber" is about parasitic aliens who enjoy drinking cappuccino. An HIV-positive kid must decide whether to live her life as a harpy in "The Horrid Glory of its Wings."

Some stories don't have much to do with science fiction or fantasy but were nonetheless interesting, if unspectacular. "Sonny Liston Takes the Fall" is an odd story about Sonny Liston and Muhammed Ali and the experience of being black in America during the middle of the twentieth century. "Sounding" is about a whale that helps a struggling fisherman find some tuna. "Confessor" is an attempt at a thriller with the addition of genetic engineering.

There are also stories that didn't do much for me. With advice from a witch, "The Cold Blacksmith" tries to manufacture a heart for a demanding girl. A witch also turns up, along with a princess, in "Love Among the Talus," a story about which potential suitor the princess will marry after the battles cease. A dragon named "Orm the Beautiful" negotiates with the Museum of Natural History to preserve his Chord. The last shark eats the last people in "The Inevitable Heat Death of the Universe." In "Cryptic Coloration," three giggly girls stalk their professor who, when he's not teaching, uses his abilities as a magi to track down mythical creatures -- the sort of creatures who prey on giggly girls. In "The Ladies," women have the right to vote and Thomas Jefferson persuades John Adams' wife to run against her husband in the presidential election.

On the whole, while the collection is uneven, the best stories are exceptional and even the stories I didn't like so much are readable. The collection is an excellent introduction to Elizabeth Bear for science fiction and fantasy fans who would like to become acquainted with her work.

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