Second Shift

Anderson (Safer Places) takes readers through layers of unreality in this cryptic and haunting science fiction fable. Birdie Doran works for the megacorporation Terracorp, maintaining a lonely outpost on an icebound planet with two other employees, Heck and Porter, plus a desperately upbeat shape-shifting AI companion called Station. Birdie spends much of her time in artificially induced dream sleep, or in VR environments like the gently creepy “ruined castle” fantasy, created by Station, which keep her content but disoriented. Then she discovers another, abandoned outpost on the planet, raising questions about what her team’s mission is and how long they’ve really been there. “It’s almost like... the other station is real, and this is the dead one,” she reflects as VR holograms frolic around her like ghosts. Anderson’s organic, textured watercolors contrast elegantly with the hard SF setting, creating a warm sense of life on the chilly planet. The story raises more questions than it answers, using speculative fiction to create a sense of the uncanny in the style of writers like Tillie Walden or Kelly Link. Readers who dig enigmas will relish the mysteries left unresolved in this high-tech ghost story. (July)