The Ghost Pit by Stephen Baxter

The Ghost Pit

by Stephen Baxter

• Word count: 5070
• Page count: 15

“The Ghost Pit” is a 2001 science fiction short story by British author Stephen Baxter. It is about a team of alien hunters who crash land on a moon containing an amazing structure.

The story follows Raida, a young woman who is teamed with her mother’s old partner on a “ghost” hunting expedition. When their ship is attacked they crash on one of the moons orbiting a large jovian planet, where they must cooperate to make their way to the impossibly long bridge connecting the two moons. Along the way Raida learns more about “ghosts”, her mother and the price of doing business in an extremely competitive field.

“The Ghost Pit” is part of Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee Sequence, a series of novels and stories set in the far future. The Xeelee Sequence describes the future expansion of Mankind and its war with an alien race called, surprisingly, the Xeelee. If you like this story you may want to check out the first novel of that series, Raft.

I found this to be an interesting read. Stephen Baxter has a unique writing style and is very straight forward in his story telling. If you have read any of his other short stories then you will find this one to be similar. He holds degrees in the sciences and that clearly shows through as he tells this tale. I very much enjoyed the descriptions of the Ghosts, and the idea that two moons could be connected by an engineered bridge – quite an engineering marvel that would be! There are some mind stretching ideas presented in this short story – which is a definite plus in my book.

“The Ghost Pit” was nominated for the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. It also ranked 4th on the 2002 Locus Award and 2nd on the 2002 Asimov’s Reader Poll.

As soon as the Spline dropped out of hyperspace our flitter burst from its belly. After our long enclosure in the crimson interior of the huge living ship, it was like being reborn.

Even though I had to share this adventure with L’Eesh, my spirits surged.

‘Pretty system,’ L’Eesh said. He was piloting the flitter with nonchalant ease. He was about sixty years old, some three times my age, a lot more experienced – and he didn’t miss a chance to let me know.

Well, pretty it was. The Jovian and its satellites were held in a stable gravitational embrace at the corners of a neat equilateral triangle, the twin moons close enough to the parent to be tidally locked.

And beyond it all I glimpsed a faint blue mesh thrown across the stars: an astonishing sight, a net large enough to enclose this giant planet, with struts half a million kilometres long.

I grinned. That was proof that this Jovian system was indeed a Ghost pit – a new pit, an unopened pit.

Which was why its discovery had sent such a stir through the small, scattered community of Ghost hunters. And why, to be first, L’Eesh and I were prepared to fire ourselves in without even looking where we were going.

Where you can find “The Ghost Pit”:
• This short story originally appeared in the July 2001 edition of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “The Ghost Pit” is included in book four of Stephen Baxter’s Destiny’s Children series, Resplendent.
• You can read a free version of this short story online at The Baxterium, and on Asimov’s web site.

Did you know that the author of “The Ghost Pit”, Stephen Baxter, has won a wide variety of writing awards – including the 1995 Sidewise Award for Best Short Form Alternate History? Yep. You can learn more about this hard science fiction writer on Wikipedia.

If you liked this story you might enjoy Raft, also by Stephen Baxter.

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