These lines provide a beautiful summary of the theme of Becky Chambers’ deeply thoughtful novella, To Be Taught, If Fortunate. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship - to teach, if we are called upon to be taught, if we are fortunate. The title of this novella is a line from former UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s message carried on the Voyager space probe in 1977:

Faced with the possibility of returning to a planet that has forgotten those who have left, Ariadne begins to chronicle the story of the wonders and dangers of her mission, in the hope that someone back home might still be listening. But as Ariadne shifts through both form and time, the culture back on Earth has also been transformed.

With the fragility of the body no longer a limiting factor, human beings are at last able to journey to neighboring exoplanets long known to harbor life.Ī team of these explorers, Ariadne O’Neill and her three crewmates, are hard at work in a planetary system fifteen light-years from Sol, on a mission to ecologically survey four habitable worlds. They can produce antifreeze in subzero temperatures, absorb radiation and convert it for food, and conveniently adjust to the pull of different gravitational forces. Through a revolutionary method known as somaforming, astronauts can survive in hostile environments off Earth using synthetic biological supplementations. A stand-alone science fiction novella from the award-winning, bestselling, critically-acclaimed author of the Wayfarer series.Īt the turn of the twenty-second century, scientists make a breakthrough in human spaceflight.

To be taught if fortunate review