It is hard to imagine anything much more concerning than social media influencers on a space station, but Zack Be has managed to make something worthwhile on that premise.

Asimov's November/December 2024

In a future where AI content is dominating social media, Apple has a space station orbiting the Moon and have sent two social media stars up there to create original real content. The influencers are Zephyr and Seven, and while they apparently did had more than a year of training, they are for the most part far from real astronauts. With them they have Daniels, a proper astronaut and the onboard AI called Mentor. As these stories go, something goes wrong as the station gets hit by micrometeorites and one of the influencer will need to step up their game.

While the story is pretty recognizable for anyone familiar with these type of rescue stories, which normally mostly gets printed in Analog, I most admit I was fully engrossed in the exciting drama that unfolded over the pages. It has proper tension and interesting characters within the limitations of a short story length.

Read in Asimov’s November/December 2024
Rating: 3