The concept of uploading a copy of a persons mind and sending it as a probe on an interstellar mission, is something I have seen couple of times before. The ambitious story here does make something original and profound from the premise.

Analog September/October 2025

Married couple Claudia and Barton arrives at an exoplanet as “engrams” - artificial entities with a simplified version of their memories. Barton is extremely rich and is looking to buy the planet for them to live, hoping it will make Claudia happy. However, they encounter an alien entity that interferes with that plan.

The story is told from Claudia’s perspective and it is her inner thoughts that makes this story work so well. We don’t get all the details, but it is clear she wasn’t a happy person back on Earth and she isn’t exactly impressed with her husbands attempts at making her happy. She also acknowledges and is fully aware of her mental limitations as an artificial memory engram, which adds an extra layer of doubt to her decision making process.

The combination of high concept first contact and an emotional story makes this for a highly rated novelette in my opinion.

Read in Analog September/October 2025
Rating: 4