Vilcabamba (short story)

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"Vilcabamba"
Short story by Harry Turtledove
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inThe Best of Harry Turtledove
Publication typeOnline and print
PublisherTor Books
Publication dateFebruary 2010

"Vilcabamba" is a 2010 science fiction short story by Harry Turtledove, notable both for its content and for the writer's unusual decision to publish it free online on tor.com and thus waive the royalties from its publication (see external link below). The story would later be reprinted in Turtledove's short-story collection The Best of Harry Turtledove in 2021.[1]

Etymology

The title of the story is taken from

Incas before it was completely crushed by Spain
in the sixteenth century. In the story, one of Moffatt's cabinet shares this story with Moffatt, who is resigned to the fact that his rump U.S. will play that same role.

Turtledove analogizes the events of his story to the

Spanish colonization of South America
in several ways:

  • The Krolp are initially greeted with peaceful overtures by humanity, which they quickly and violently refuse.
  • The Krolp possess technology far beyond human understanding despite decades of attempts to reverse-engineer it.
  • The Krolp view humans as sub-creatures, and do their best to "Krolpize" those humans within their control.
  • The Krolp value mineral wealth, and readily violate a treaty they had made with the U.S. to get to it.

Plot

It is the 22nd century, and 50 years have passed after an alien race called the Krolp conquered and occupied much of planet Earth. The President of the United States and Prime Minister of Canada, Harris Moffatt III, rules a rump United States and Canada (whose governments merged in order to pool resources against the Krolp) that runs along the Rocky Mountains and the Wasatch Range with its de facto capital at Grand Junction, Colorado. Washington, D.C. remains the de jure capital of the United States, although it is under Krolp occupation and the last president to have actually resided in the city was Moffatt's grandfather Harris Moffatt I.

After being left alone for decades following the signing of a treaty between the Krolp and the remains of U.S./Canada, the Krolp demand access to

St. Louis, Missouri
.

References

  1. ^ "Steven H. Silver.com: Harry Turtledove short stories". www.stevenhsilver.com.

External links

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