Up and Away
‘Above it All’, a psychological horror story from Robert J Sawyer, was first published in 1996. Now, nearly thirty years later, it reads like historical fiction. Although some aspects have been mitigated by science and evolving social consciousness, many of the protagonist’s concerns are as pressing today as they were then. That alone offers us hope that the next few decades may solve the rest. And hope — like a great story — is something worth hanging on to.
In our feature author interview, we asked Robert what futures he is afraid to imagine, what stories he dares not tell. Here’s what he told us, “If a science-fiction writer is afraid to tackle issues, they should give up the profession. Science fiction has a long and noble history of cautionary tales. Sadly, though, we who write the stuff are modern-day Cassandras: we’ve seen the potential downsides of our current trends, and we’ve been freely warning about them for many decades. But the public and, more importantly, the people in power just don’t listen, whether it’s our warnings over climate change, nuclear war, or the existential threat we’re facing right now: the rise of artificial intelligence. Escapist science fiction doesn’t interest me at all; I want to challenge my readers — and challenge myself.“
Rise to the challenge, with this excerpt from Issue 40, Autumn 2023.
Above It All
by Robert J Sawyer
Rhymes with fear.
The words echoed in Colonel Paul Rackham’s head as he floated in Discovery’s airlock, the bulky Manned Maneuvering Unit clamped to his back. Air was being pumped out; cold vacuum was forming around him.
Rhymes with fear.
He should have said no, should have let McGovern or one of the others take the spacewalk instead. But Houston had suggested that Rackham do it, and to demur he’d have needed to state a reason.
Just a dead body, he told himself. Nothing to be afraid of.
There was a time when a military man couldn’t have avoided seeing death — but Rackham had just been finishing high school during Desert Storm. Sure, as a test pilot, he’d watched colleagues die in crashes, but he’d never actually seen the bodies. And when his mother passed on, she’d had a closed casket. His choice, that, made without hesitation the moment the funeral director had asked him — his father, still in a nursing home, had been in no condition to make the arrangements.
Rackham was wearing liquid-cooling long johns beneath his spacesuit, tubes circulating water around him to remove excess body heat. He shuddered, and the tubes moved in unison, like a hundred serpents writhing.
He checked the barometer, saw that the lock’s pressure had dropped below 0.2 psi — just a trace of atmosphere left. Rackham closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself, then reached out a gloved hand and turned the actuator that opened the outer circular hatch. “I’m leaving the airlock,” he said. He was wearing the standard ‘Snoopy Ears’ communications carrier, which covered most of his head beneath the space helmet. Two thin microphones protruded in front of his mouth.
Find out what happens next, in Issue 40, Autumn 2023!
This is the second time we’ve featured a story by Robert J Sawyer. His first, the urban fantasy ‘Fallen Angel’, appeared in Issue 7, Summer 2015. Rob has won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for best science-fiction novel of the year. The ABC TV series FlashForward was based on his novel of the same name. His latest novel is The Oppenheimer Alternative, and his next, The Downloaded, should be hitting the shelves about the time you’re reading this. A member of the Order of Canada, Rob lives in Mississauga. Visit him at sfwriter.com.
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