Loss of Signal

by S.B. Divya

Toby Benson has a chance to make history. The first mind to circle the moon without a body in tow. It's a golden opportunity, perhaps the only chance for a 19-year-old whose body failed him to become immortal. But as he reaches the dark side of the moon and loses signal from Earth, the cold of space threatens to overwhelm him, in S.B. Divya's engrossing Tor.com Original short story, Loss of Signal.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Space, India, Travel, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy

16 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2018

About the author

S.B. Divya (she/any) is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She is the Hugo and Nebula nominated author of Meru (2023), Machinehood, Runtime, and Contingency Plans For the Apocalypse and Other Possible Situations. Her short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, and she was the co-editor of Escape Pod, the weekly science fiction podcast, from 2017-2022. Divya holds degrees in Computational Neuroscience and Signal Processing, and she worked for twenty years as an electrical engineer before becoming an author. Born in Pondicherry, India, Divya now resides in Southern California. She enjoys subverting expectations and breaking stereotypes whenever she can.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cool little short!

Mel 🖤🐺🐾

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touching Tor online short story, free online here at Tor.com. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:

Toby Benson was a wheelchair-bound, sixteen-year-old African American, with a terminal condition, when he was given the chance to leave his dying body behind and become a part of the space program. Now Toby is nineteen, the bodiless intelligence operating an experimental spacecraft that is circumnavigating the moon. But he’s still human in his thoughts and emotions, and panic hits as he approaches the point where he’ll have radio silence for thirty minutes. It’s possible to abort the mission and circle back to earth, but his failure would set the program back years. Houston advises him and Toby’s mother comforts and encourages him, but he’s not sure if he has the strength to complete the mission.

“Loss of Signal” is a short and fairly straightforward story, but Toby’s internal struggle and his deep and loving relationship with his mother gives it depth. She’s a strong single mother who has always been an example of love and determination to Toby:

Heroes aren’t bothered by the cold. They don’t complain. My mother never did. She would come home at night and rub bag balm onto her hands. Chapped skin would curl away, powder white against coffee black, especially after she’d pulled a double dishwashing shift.

On one of those nights, years ago, I asked her, “Does it hurt?”

“Like the devil on Sunday, baby, but it’s only pain. Buckle down and push through. Get the job done.”

There’s more than one hero in this story. Her assurance to Toby that her love for him is unconditional, whether or not he’s able to complete the lunar mission, is part of what gives Toby strength. It’s a heartwarming tale, a tribute to bravery of different types.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

💥 Free short story from Tor.com 💥

This is supposedly beautifully written and imaginative and emotional and lyrical and stuff. To me it just kinda sorta felt like:



But I obviously read the story very wrong (and possibly from back to front and upside down), so don't mind me and stuff.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

By age sixteen Toby’s body was failing rapidly, but his brain was uniquely qualified for an experimental transfer to pilot a lunar module. The success of the program depends on his being able to prove that he can pilot a ship as well a manned mission, but even without a body he is unprepared for the coldness and isolation of space travel. “Loss of Signal” is a perfectly well-written story with a sympathetic protagonist who is easy to root for. It also panders incessantly to gross sentimentality. It’s a story without any subtlety or nuance, nor any sharp edges or ripples in the pond – everything goes straight down the middle of the road without swerving, coming to a complete stop at the intersection of Quality Road and Conventional Street.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short read. Good,easy writing style but the character development is so lacking. And the ending was so abrupt like it just happened and many things were left unexplained. Apart from the main character, the rest of the characters were so damn robotic.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story did not appeal to me too much. Furthermore, it's challenging to put into words what is missing. My main complaint was that there were no likeable characters. Even though this is a very short narrative, I don't like it since the characters are underdeveloped and the plot is still too hazy. Many things are alluded to yet are left in the dark. What does the narrative intend to convey?

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the shortest Tor.com original short story I've read so far but it was also one of the very best. It had a fun concept with human minds just beginning to be used in place of AI to power unmanned spacecrafts but at its heart it was a tale of the what it is like to live with a debilitating illness. I loved the way Divya managed to make the concept reflect true issues of the main characters illness. Fantastically well done. The writing was excellent on the whole as this story gripped and emotionally engaged me right from the very start.

Once upon a time, I was Toby, age fourteen, living in Chicago. I lay on the sidewalk, unable to move. For hours I watched snowflakes drift from the night sky, clouds obscuring the stars, the tiny crystals taking their places.

People walked right past me. I knew what they were thinking: another loser kid, high on drugs, not worth helping. If our landlady hadn’t recognized me on her way home… well, you know how those stories end.

No fancy flowery metaphors in this story. Just sharp direct writing that packed an emotional punch!

Short but fantastic. This is what what sci-fi short fiction should be like!

Rating: 4.5 stars.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“With my mother’s voice in my ears, I captained a vast starship. I battled dragons; teleported across the galaxy; invoked strange and powerful spells. I had superhuman strength and extrasensory perception.“

Nice, the ending made me smile. Very lyrical writing. Bittersweet.

Story can be found for free here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/08/01/loss-o...

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not blow your socks off good. Nice, solid story. The realism was gritty and the fantasy magical. Not sure I quite get that ending re: sleep, but got enough to like it. 3 solid stars.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If someone offers you a chance to cheat death, the sane response is to accept it, right? Maybe not.”

Nice. Short; focused; powerful. Hard science fiction, but even firmer grasp on the emotions of being alone, unarmed, and … scared to death. Find it on tor.com. Enjoy.

“The moon loomed, familiar and white, filling most of my view as I rotated toward it: my cratered dream; my harsh mistress. The blanched horizon terrified me.”

Nice artwork by Jun Cen, though the phase of the moon and the earth don't match as they should.

“You act out the scenes in your head, and you’re always the hero.”

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story about a brave young man, whose body failed him and who got a chance at life in the space program, as an intelligence for a rocket. But without a body, so he’d be the rocket.
I liked he idea that he had phantom pains in limbs now gone as he travelled to the moon, and loved his wonderful, incredibly hardworking and loving mother. I thought the story’s ending was pretty touching.

[rivka · Rating 5 out of 5]

As another reviewer mentioned, reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey's wonderful Brainship books.

But also just a lovely, lovely story in its own right. Very tightly written, and very emotionally evocative. Both deeply honest and deeply imaginative.

I have not read anything else by this author, but that is likely to change!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only taking off a star because it wasn't long enough. I liked everything about it.

[S.A Reidman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are we really just the 3 pounds in our skulls making us do stuff -Don't mind me I'm having an existential debate with no one, eh maybe my conscious is debating my subconscious. Toby's story really got me a little teary-eyed and a ton curious. Not just the neurological part but the relationship between Toby and his mom it's both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Plot/Storyline/Themes:
It's like Robocop but without the cop, the robot or the murders and mayhem. It's a kid deal bad cards in life and technology allows his mind to transcend the physical confines of his body.

Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
His mama is a gem.
Toby is so childlike even with his unlimited processing capacity.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene: :
😥Toby needing his mama whilst out in space and having the crew patch her in. Reading together was so bittersweet.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Nobody likes surprises in space travel.” (True, true see that's how Scifi Horrors begin)
🖤 “The moon loomed, familiar and white, filling most of my view as I rotated toward it: my cratered dream; my harsh mistress. The blanched horizon terrified me.” (Toby on imminent landing and legacy creation)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Intact Brain & Subconscious transference into a non-living object
■ Space Travel without bodies.
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025

[Steelwhisper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, OK+

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple idea, translated more into magical realism than hard sci=fi, and that concentrates just a little too much on the specificities to give a convincing impression of the story's scale. So, it was nice, but I wanted more from it.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, but very sweet!

[beentsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting character and concept. Would
love to read more, novella or novel length?

[Hisham El-far · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short read that explores an out of the box concept of space exploration in its early stages.

If you enjoy this story - check out the Brainship series of books by Anne McCaffrey.

[Jassmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

When your dreams are fueled by words and pictures, when your body has you trapped in one position and you want so badly to do great things: that’s when you memorize all those famous lines. You act out the scenes in your head, and you’re always the hero.
Heroes aren’t bothered by the cold. They don’t complain. My mother never did. She would come home at night and rub bag balm onto her hands. Chapped skin would curl away, powder white against coffee black, especially after she’d pulled a double dishwashing shift.

I'm not sure what I think about this... the most interesting part of the story is the concept of mind-ships and that's nothing new (c.f. The Brainship series), it's true that there are some differences, but we can't really claim originality for the story. What I liked was the depiction of the struggles and humanity of people from lower classes. Some casual mentions in the story really stung.

Sometimes Mama couldn’t afford the co-pay for my drugs. Sometimes I went days without pain medication while we waited for the pharmacy to reach the doctor, because the government thought Mama might be dealing drugs. As if she had time for that.

But there wasn't really a story... I guess it's because the story is so short. I think there is some potential, but it would merited from more development.

https://www.tor.com/2018/08/01/loss-o...

[La Coccinelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This "short story" has an intriguing premise, but it reads to me more like a scene from a longer work than a self-contained story.

I have a lot of questions after reading this. How did they get Toby's mind inside a spaceship? (He implies that they don't have very advanced artificial intelligences... and yet they can somehow trap a human consciousness inside a computer? What, exactly, is the level of technology in this world?) How is he able to see the features on the moon without the sun? (He mentions seeing them, and then talks about the sun reappearing.) I'm not sure if the science in this science fiction is that sound. I'm also not sure if that's the point.

Toby doesn't have a body. Is he still human? He sure seems like it. What, then, is the meaning of his existence? And what's the good of living forever if he still experiences all the human emotions? Emotions that will, inevitably, be triggered by loss and existential terror as time passes and everything he knows changes...

Maybe I'm reading too much into this. Let's just say this is a competently written scene. I kind of wish it were part of a longer work--a novella, or even a full-length novel--because the premise is interesting and Toby might be an interesting character... if we had more time to get to know him.

[Gregoire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une nouvelle en lecture gratuite sur TOR

https://www.tor.com/2018/08/01/loss-o...

Niveau YA (et encore , les jeunes de nos jours sont souvent plus durs que ceux de mon époque et moins portés sur les "bons sentiments" )

idée principale : la transposition d'un cerveau dans un vaisseau et l'esprit humain peut il s'en accommoder ?
l'idée n'est pas nouvelle Mme McCaffrey l'avait développé dans sa série The ship who sang
là il s'agit plus d'affronter ses propres peurs et d'insister sur le destin particulier de Toby

j'ai mis 3 étoiles parce que c'est plutôt bien écrit (concis mais percutant) et pour la leçon de courage transmis par la mère de Toby véritable "moteur" de l'histoire

nota : les fonctions insert book/author n'ont pas l'air de fonctionner... Grrrr Grrrrr

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting riff on the Apollo 8 mission. I think that it's an interesting concept, of allowing someone with a disability a certain kind of freedom, but other explorations of this idea have usually gone down darker paths, so it was hard to feel positive about it.

[Amy Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable tale. I was half-expecting a Lovecraftian twist, which didn't come, as this is firmly settled on the inspirational side of things. :)

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

a happy 2/5. a brief, entertaining short story on the moon—i quote, cratered dream, harsh mistress.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slight but engaging story about a boy who gives up his body to become a spaceship.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short, slight, story without a great deal of substance. There is good story in there somewhere trying to get out but this attempt is not for me.

[Anny Barros · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[KatlinE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oddly disturbing. Very short, but constantly thinking about the prospect of transferring a human mind into a device not having the usual human features and being alone in space like that.