7.4 /10 1 Votes
Language English Originally published March 2007 Published in Asimov's Science Fiction | 3.7/5 Goodreads Publication date March 2007 Publication type Magazine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre(s) Science fiction short story Awards Hugo Award for Best Short Story Nominations Locus Award for Best Short Story Similar Elizabeth Bear books, Hugo Award for Best Short Story winners, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Tideline" is a science fiction short story published in 2007 by Elizabeth Bear. It won the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the 2008 Theodore Sturgeon Award (tied with "Finisterra" by David R. Moles). "Tideline" appears in the twenty-fifth volume of Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction anthology.
Plot summary
The story follows a sentient war machine, Chalcedony, which is the lone survivor of a previous and highly apocalyptic war that has reduced the human population virtually to cavemen and hunter gatherers. As Chalcedony combs the beach looking for trinkets it can make into memorials for its fallen comrades, she develops a friendship with an orphaned boy.
When her power cells have completely worn down, the machine hands the trinkets to its now matured companion, telling him to spread the memory of those who fought.