Katabasis

Great Ship

by Robert Reed

Novella first published in Fantasy & Science Fiction 11/12/2012 issue.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

Unknown Binding

First published November 12, 2012

About the author

He has also been published as Robert Touzalin.

Reviews

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meta: ISFDB. I've read it in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection

This novella is set in the Great Ship Series which is some handful of stories and novels published since 1994. The eponymous Great Ship is a hollow planet travelling through the galaxy, inhabited by different races of biologically immortals. This BigDumbObject remembers me of Clarke's Hard SF Rendezvous with Rama or even more of John Varley's Science Fantasy Titan.

Known from previous stories are Quee Lee and Perri, but the main protagonists and better developed characters are the non-human guide Katabasis, and one human Varid. They are taking on a journeyin a high-gravity region of the Great Ship, causing daily broken bones which heal nearly instantenous. But the mental hardships are worse which leads to reflections on the perils of immortality. The story is told with flashbacks of Katabasis' history which reveals some very human traits in this alien creature. She develops a relationship to Varid who shows opposite traits making him more inhuman.

Excellent characteristic, a touching narration but a somewhat boring, lengthy story.
More like ★★★1/2

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contrasts an alien woman's current job as a porter for a future fad for extreme trekking (people are immortal, thanks to technology, so they can take a lot of abuse in alien landscapes), with her past experience making nearly the same trek as part of her tribe's last, desperate act (a trek that makes the Trail of Tears look like an afternoon stroll). Some good stuff here, but it dragged a bit (something that often happens when characters are going through boring and agonizing experiences.)

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Novella (a long story but too short to be labelled as a novel) set in the "Great Ship" series.

I recommend reading this after having run a marathon. You won't feel so tired. :)

I've read this before in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I've found that as I've aged I am better able to read Reed's stories because my brain can sit still without skimming for a good action sequence or maybe some interesting dialogue. Reed's stuff can be very cerebral at times, often with hidden depths that I can catch on now that I'm older and appreciate. Not every science fiction story has to be Star Wars zoom-excitement!-zap zap-etc. Reed's novel "Marrow", which I think was the first instance of the "Great Ship", is one of my all-time favorite novels. One of those I would definitely want with me if I was stuck on a deserted island and could only have 5 books. The sheer awe and wonder of this ginormous alien ship that's bigger than a planet, that no one has even fully explored centuries after it's discovery, full of weird alien passengers and their unusual habitats makes my brain explode. Add in self-healing humans who can live for millions of years and my mind just hit the stratosphere. So, not terribly exciting but very interesting.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this Greatship novella. There's something pretty great about long treks on inhospitable terrain, especially when the people can withstand quite THAT much damage and are effectively immortal.

Of course, I've read some with a lot more pain tolerance, but this kind of Hard-SF is always pretty fascinating.

[Dmitry Verkhoturov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very solid science fiction, I liked it the most from “The year’s best science fiction” by Gardner Dozois.
I am absolutely happy about the fact this book was translated to Russian in 2018, five years after original publication.