9
SHORT STORY
For Want of A Nail
by Mary Robinette Kowal
With one hand, Rava adjusted the VR interface glasses where they bit
into the bridge of her nose, while she kept her other hand buried in
Cordelia’s innards. There was scant room to get the f lexible shaft of a
mono-lens and her hand through the access hatch in the AI’s chassis.
From the next compartment, drums and laughter bled through the
plastic walls of the ship, indicating her sister’s conception party was still
in full swing.
With only a single camera attached, the interface glasses didn’t give
Rava depth perception as she struggled to replug the transmitter cable.
The chassis had not been designed to need repair. At all. It had been
designed to last hundreds of years without an upgrade.
If Rava couldn’t get the cable plugged in and working, Cordelia wouldn’t
be able to download backups of herself to her long-term memory. She
couldn’t store more than a week at a time in active memory. It would
be the same as a slow death sentence.
The square head of the cable slipped out of Rava’s fingers. Again.
“Dammit!” She slammed her heel against the ship’s floor in frustration.
“If you can’t do it, let someone else try.” Her older brother, Ludoviko,
had insisted on following her out of the party as if he could help.
LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE
Page 9