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asher553TIN MARSH by Michael Swanwick, 2006; in 'The Very Best of the Best' by Gardner Dozois, 2019. On the hellish surface of the planet Venus, two contract laborers in life-support suits make one another's lives a true hell. Once fond of one another, their prolonged confinement together has driven them into madness of mutual hatred. They are prevented from harming one another only by a set of Asimov-like laws enforced by neural implants. It is like the most dysfunctional marriage ever. When a freak accident disables his implants, allowing him to do as he pleases, she becomes his prey as he chases her, both in their automated life-support suits, across Venus.
The story combines adventure, problem-solving, and psychological drama as MacArthur and Patang's long-pent-up hostility plays out on the alien landscape. We have to wonder if the presence of the behavior-control systems exacerbates the humans' frustration and rage. Many details of the setting - the iron furniture, the exorbitantly priced drinking water (cf. Lamentations 5:4), and the ever-present eye of the bureaucracy - contribute to the atmosphere of total oppressiveness. The story is worth reading to the end for its very satisfying conclusion.
The story combines adventure, problem-solving, and psychological drama as MacArthur and Patang's long-pent-up hostility plays out on the alien landscape. We have to wonder if the presence of the behavior-control systems exacerbates the humans' frustration and rage. Many details of the setting - the iron furniture, the exorbitantly priced drinking water (cf. Lamentations 5:4), and the ever-present eye of the bureaucracy - contribute to the atmosphere of total oppressiveness. The story is worth reading to the end for its very satisfying conclusion.
