The Phobos Experience

Lady Astronaut Universe #4.1

by Mary Robinette Kowal

This story was originally published in Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy in the July/August 2018 issue. Currently available on the author’s blog.

A jaunt to the surface of Phobos, from the Mars colony, yields surprising results.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Alternate History, Science Fiction Fantasy

25 pages, ebook

First published August 1, 2018

About the author

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award winning alternate history novel The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series which continues in 2025 with The Martian Contingency. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, The Spare Man and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette has also worked as a professional puppeteer, is a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson. She lives in Denver with her husband Robert, their dog Guppy, and their “talking” cat Elsie.

Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in a single year.

Reviews

[Lis Carey]

Lt. Darlene Ritika, a "Lady Astronaut" stationed on Mars, is given an unexpected assignment. She, a geologist, and a pilot are sent to Phobos to check out the cave system on the tiny moon--which apparently really is mostly hollow. Even though the story of it being mostly hollow had been definitively exposed as a hoax, years ago...

When they arrive, they find a thick layer of dust with makes moving around challenging, and, yes, a cave system. While one would expect there to be less dust inside the caves, away from the entrance, one would not expect to find it apparently swept clean.

Someone is there ahead of them.

Darlene, Mo, and Lindquist have to escape their unexpected and unfriendly company, get back to their ship, and get back to Mars.

It's a quick-moving short story, with action and a surprising amount of humor, notably in the form of geology puns from Lindquist. There's also a conflict going on other than the one they're aware of, and Darlene has her own secret to keep, even as it makes maneuvering on Phobos even more of a challenge.

Overall, entertaining and fun. Recommended.

I received this short story as part of the 2021 Hugo Voters Packet, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

[Kaethe]

Short and intriguing. I like to believe that shorts like this drive interest and overall sales. Plus, they're just fun.

Available online

[Lars Dradrach]

In my eagerness to get my hands on the next Lady Astronaut novel to be released in March 25 I’m reading the short stories I previously skipped.

This one was a fun and more action oriented story than the other stories and who can dislike a story with space pirates

[Thomas]

Even in a story as short as this one, you know you're reading a Kowal story. It's captivating, interesting, compelling, and completely relatable, even when it's set on the larger of the two moons of Mars.

[Marco]

Every year I read all the finalists of the most prestigious science fiction awards (at least in the English speaking world): the Hugo awards. This year the lady astronaut series, the series this short story is part of, was a finalist for the "Best Series" award. While I usually skip that particular category, since I had already read all the previous instalment of the series, and utterly loved some of them (in particular The Calculating Stars and The Lady Astronaut of Mars) I decided to go ahead and read all the remaining instalments that I had not previously read.
The story is centered around a jaunt to the surface of Phobos, from the Mars colony, that yields surprising results... I will not say more to avoid spoilers.
The Phobos Experience turns out to be a nice mix of action, intrigue, history and science.
Its short length is not conducive to much character exploration, but there were some interesting and realistic takes on politics and human nature. A nice read that can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.

[Ben]

It has been about two years since I read Relentless Moon and I was looking to read more in the series and I ended up here with "The Phobos Experience". I was glad to be back in this story for a brief while. The different moving parts within the plot of this short story were fun to follow along with and see where they ended up. There are some exciting moments of action as well. I mostly appreciate that after Lindquist asks Darlene "And are you claustrophobic?" that there is then not a following scene that would make me feel claustrophobic. This is a fitting entry into the series for me.

[Ken Richards]

There is something going on in Stickney Crater on Phobos. But the events of this story don't make it any less clear just who are the intruders who put an exploratory mission at risk. They might be smugglers, but perhaps they have other motivations.

[Juulna]

Oooo someone’s in trouble. I was wondering when something like this would happen!

[Sanoo]

Well, that was a fun short story. I guess this kind of thing was also bound to happen, and maybe we'll see the beginning of all of this in The Martian Contingency, whenever that comes out.

[Florian Holzner]

Neat. A quick read, action packed and immensely enjoyable.

[Linda]

A free story to celebrate the author's 50th birthday! I loved the forward to the story as much as the story itself.

[luiloth]

The Phobos Experience (Lady Astronaut 4.1) By Mary Robinette Kowal can be found:
https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journa...

[Ulrike]

Read on the author's blog.

[Kasey Turner]

1972. An Astronaut on the Mars colony finds herself fighting vertigo and space pirates!


I could read these little stories everyday and never tire of them. Space pirates! What fun!

[Mercedes]

Me encantó. Me recordó cuentos de Isaac Asimov.

[David]

This was a fun adventure that I just stumbled on to, when looking around to see if an ARC for the 4th Lady Astronaut novel was available yet.

[Sarah]

Fun short sci-fi read about one of Mars's moons, and an exploration mission that leads to a scary encounter.

[Sam]

3.5*

[Vedrana]

Most action filled and memorable one of these short stories. It is very short so there isn't much to say but it has all other qualities of other books in this series.

[davaar]

I love reading these novellas for the Calculating Stars series, but I want them all to be longer!! I love Kowal's writing and her characters so much—I could read many full length novels following different characters doing different jobs throughout the years of the space exploration.

I know these novellas don't need to be full length novels, but all I'm saying is if be happy to read them if they were

[Narmeen]

A fantastic action-packed short science fiction! I love the space pirates angle, very Cowboy Bebop of them. It’s time to read the Calculating Stars now, I get the feeling I’m going to completely love it!

[Paul]

4.25 Stars! Excellent fast-paced short story. But the end was a little rushed and uneventful.
Read: 8/9/26

Can be read for free online:
https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journa...