At the dawn of the twenty-fourth century, Earth is recovering well from its wounds. Korea has reunified, the Statue of Liberty towers over Lenape City, and the Earth Restoration Agency oversees a responsible Anthropocene. Space elevators in Borneo, Colombia, and Gabon launch ships to Lunar greenhouses and Martian casinos. Yet progress is fragile, and all three human worlds have deep flaws. In a bid to safeguard humanity, four astronauts - and one Embodied Holographic Metaphor - have been sent to the exoplanet Malang to judge whether it can and should host civilization. But does it already?...
Mission Critical can be read for free, on Archive Of Our Own.
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