E - Short Works
Written into Lest We Forget Thee, Earth.
A real throwaway about the trials of being a stewardess on an interstellar ship and having to deal with all those bizarre alien passengers. I don't know why it's been reprinted so many times.
Nominated for Nebula Award for best novelette, 1989. Winner of Hugo Award for best novella, 1990. Possible winner of an award for most punctuation in a story title.
Computer wizards of the 22nd century recreate famous historical personages in their machines and stage virtual meetings between them. Interestingly, Silverberg chose Francisco Pizarro and Socrates for this story instead of more well-known figures. Not that they're unknowns, they're just not obviously dramatic the way Hitler or Napoleon might have been. A very good story, deserving of its accolades. Aside from the computers used to create the AIs, no advanced technology is evident in the story. There is no time travel involved. Simulation is used to defeat the passage of time, in a way.
Studies have shown (so the story says) that men on long tours of duty in space tend to get a little tense. Sometimes they start to make mistakes, and in deep space, that can be fatal. The reason for this tension: no women. The solution: the Crew Girl. Every ship (this particular one, the Donnybrook, has a crew complement of 23 men) has on the roster a Crew Girl, whose sole duty is to provide sexual release for the men. But what happens when she won't put out? By today's standards, this story borders on offensive. (Borders on? Heck, it is offensive!) Wouldn't it just be easier to let women serve as crew members? As a side note, the table of contents for Dimension Thirteen lists this as "Eve and the Twenty-four Adams."
Return to short story main page
Last updated October 21, 2002
[silverberg/oldsite/footer.htm]