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Young Toby’s body started failing him when he was in his early teens: failing synapses and decaying muscles, including the most important one in the human body – the heart – were going to shut down one by one, leading to the inevitability of death. That is, until he was given the chance to avoid such a terrible fate by melding his brain with a NASA probe headed for the Moon – and Toby, whose life had been a journey of impossible dreams, took that chance and left his body behind to travel toward the Moon and fulfill some of those dreams, if not all.
But childhood fantasies and reality are two very different things, and once he finds himself alone in the vastness of space, Toby is assailed by fears and plagued by nightmarish sensations, including feelings of extreme cold that are impossible in his present condition – but the human mind can still find ways to torture itself, even in the absence of a body.
This is a tale of courage, the courage to move beyond one’s limitations and to cross any boundary: the description of Toby’s frame of mind as he finds himself utterly alone in the thirty minutes of signal loss that will make or break the mission is one of the most poignant and heartbreaking tales I ever read, and it made me feel for this fictional young man in a way I rarely experienced.
It will take you only a short time to read this story, but it will be time well spent – highly recommended.
My Rating: 
Space and Sorcery 
Wow, I must read this! What a unique idea😁
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I found many intriguing stories on the Tor.com site, it’s a real treasure trove! 🙂
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What a fascinating concept. The idea of a mind/consciousness melded with a space probe actually kind of reminds me of the premise behind We Are Legion (We Are Bob). But this one sounds a lot more poignant and melancholic, of course!
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Yes, that’s the overall mood, indeed, and yet it does not feel sad: the way this young person finds his own brand of courage despite *everything* is quite touching 🙂
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Yet another short story I’m bookmarking to read! 😀 I’m always in awe of writers who can describe so *vividly* these kinds of horrific experiences that seem so…unimaginable.
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To find a good short story sometimes we have to wade through a good number of others that leave us unsatisfied, but this one is worth the journey 🙂
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This sounds lovely – what a great review. I will definitely go and read this one.
Lynn 😀
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And I hope you enjoy it! Happy reading 🙂
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