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Report on an Unidentified Space Station (1982)
- DiabloD3 4y agoLiminal spaces in space. I like it.
- GenerocUsername 4y agoLiminal hyperbolic hyperbole in space
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- gm678 4y agoFun read! The diameter estimations reminded me of the Star Trek: TNG episode "Remember Me," which might be this story's spiritual opposite.
- Daub 4y agoI am certainly not a Star Trek fan, but this episode I remember with fondness.
- easton 4y ago“The universe is a spheroid region, 703m in diameter”
- Daub 4y agoCheck out also the back rooms series… https://youtu.be/xJQG9CkMkuE https://youtu.be/xJQG9CkMkuE Recent back room vids have jumped the shark a bit, but the first few were golden.
- eshork 4y agoSo it’s purely fiction. Sure, okay, but not really useful to me. Isn’t there a way for me to filter out fiction from my feed here?
- ido 4y agoIt will be naturally down-voted away from the front page if/when more people find it similarly uninteresting. There are not filters, categories or tags on HN. So there is no "your feed" like on reddit or twitter, we all get to see the same front page!
- jb1991 4y ago> It will be naturally down-voted away from the front page if/when more people find it similarly uninteresting. Articles cannot be downvoted. And this one was upvoted for a good reason!
- justinclift 4y agoMeh, it wasn't all that interesting. :/
- sink 4y agoJust wait, someone will want to tell you about a lisp they wrote in Ruby, soon.
- grogenaut 4y agoOr someone will just resubmit this and say it was generated by chatgpt and it'll spark many hundreds of comments and rust jokes.
- avereveard 4y agothis is actually a good idea, I am generating one right now. prompt: please generate a short story of a journey to an unknown station, in the form of a daily journal, from the point of view of a stranded space crew. the story should last 10 days and have a misterious conclusion story: Day 1: We've been stranded on this unknown station for a day now. It's unclear how we even got here - the last thing I remember is going to sleep on the ship and waking up in some kind of cryogenic chamber. The rest of the crew is in the same boat (pun intended). We've spent the day trying to get our bearings and figure out where we are. The station is abandoned and seems to be in disrepair, but there's evidence that someone has been here recently. We found supplies and a working communication system, but all our attempts to call for help have been unsuccessful. The atmosphere here is tense. No one knows what's going on or what will happen next. We're just trying to stay positive and make the best of a bad situation. Day 2: We spent most of the day searching the station for any clues about where we are and how we got here. We found a few more supplies and some old documents, but nothing that shed any light on the situation. One strange thing we discovered is that the station's power source seems to be functioning on its own, despite the fact that it should have run out of fuel long ago. It's as if the station is being powered by some kind of external source. We also found some strange symbols etched into the walls in various places. They look like they could be some kind of code, but we have no way of deciphering them. Day 3: We've started to notice some strange occurrences on the station. Doors opening and closing on their own, strange noises in the corridors. It's starting to get to everyone and morale is low. We've set up a schedule to try and keep ourselves busy and our minds off of the strangeness of the situation. We've also established a watch system to make sure we're always aware of our surroundings. Despite all this, we still have no idea what's going on or how we'll get out of here. Day 4: Today we found something that could be a clue. In one of the station's control rooms, we found a strange device with a holographic display. It seemed to be showing some kind of map, but it was too damaged to make out any details. We tried to repair it, but it was no use. It's like the device is trying to show us something, but we just can't understand it. We're starting to feel like we're being watched. It's hard to shake the feeling that we're not alone on this station. Day 5: We've come to the conclusion that we're not alone on the station. We've all been seeing strange things out of the corner of our eyes, and we've heard footsteps in the corridors when no one is there. We've started to see patterns in the strange occurrences on the station. It's almost like someone or something is trying to communicate with us, but we can't figure out how. We're starting to get desperate. We need to find a way out of here before it's too late. Day 6: We had a breakthrough today. One of the crew members, who is an expert in ancient languages, was able to decipher some of the symbols we found etched on the walls. They seem to be some kind of warning or message, but we're not sure what it means. We've also noticed that the strange occurrences on the station are becoming more frequent and more intense. It's like whatever is trying to communicate with us is getting frustrated that we can't understand. We're starting to feel like we're running out of time. (it only generated 6 days)
- vaviloff 4y agoNice read indeed, also see previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26405515 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26405515
- plugin-baby 4y agoGood read, it reminded me of The Enormous Space by the same author.
- irrational 4y ago> is to small to appear > and whoses destination is Uh, does the author make these kind of grammatical mistakes in The Enormous Space too?
- plugin-baby 4y agoI doubt it was the author that made that mistake. Perhaps an artefact of OCR or someone retyping the story.
- plugin-baby 4y agoTo answer your question more directly, I don’t know as I’ve only seen the TV adaptation.
- growt 4y agoWhat’s the name of the TV adaption?
- plugin-baby 4y agoI think this is the one: Home (2003): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kce94adFCMc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kce94adFCMc
- therealcamino 4y agoYou can buy the 1200 page edition of his complete short stories to check, if that's you jam: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-J-G-Ballard/dp/0393339297 https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Stories-J-G-Ballard/dp/03933...
- Sniffnoy 4y ago(1982)
- danuker 4y agoI would have guessed they were in a station made of grey goo expanding as they went further. But some bugs in the software (or it being incomplete/a testing version) prevented the generation of some rooms (like the bedrooms) as well as the orientation markers.
- neilv 4y agoIt's a nice little SF short story. But "Report on an Unidentified Space Station (uchicago.edu)" looked like it might be some kind of astronomy community discovery of some nation's secret intel/mil station. Maybe adding "[fiction]" to the HN title would help, when most titles are factual assertions/claims?
- joshka 4y agoContra - the nature of just leaving it without such a tag seems to me to be part of the joy of this story.
- Gordonjcp 4y agoHow exactly would it "help"? Kids these days, with their need for everything to be neatly packaged and spelled out for them so there's no need to wait for the story to unfold...
- sslayer 4y agoSymptom of living in an informational society. The irony is that labelling things is restrictive, erodes freedom, and inhibits discovery.
- abracadaniel 4y agoLike requiring a “parody” tag to ruin a joke before it gets made.
- 4y ago
- Cannabat 4y agoReminds me of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Not for everyone - very polarizing book. Wonder if he was influenced by this short story.
- theNJR 4y agoCame here to say this!
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- nickdothutton 4y agoFor those who don’t know the work of Ballard, he’s worth researching as an author. A very interesting contributor to the genre.
- davedx 4y agoThe Drowned World had a big impact on me.
- orobinson 4y agoIt didn’t really capture me when I first read it but it’s one of those fictional worlds that stays with you in a haunting kind of way. Reading this short story gave me a similar vibe and I wasn’t entirely surprised to discover at the end that JG Ballard was the author. I’ll have to give The Drowned World another read one day.
- MrVandemar 4y agoThe Crystal World is a direct influence on the film version of Annihilation.
- noisy_boy 4y agoThanks for sharing that tidbit - Annihilation is one of my favourite recent SciFi movies. That and Arrival.
- logicallee 4y agoBased on your reading, how do Ballard's other works compare in style and theme to this Report on an Unidentified Space Station? Are the text style and the themes very similar?
- BLKNSLVR 4y agoI recently came across the epic poem Aniara, which this is flashing me back to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniara
- jesprenj 4y agoendless spaces are currently prominent in horror popular culture; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008
- psychphysic 4y agoIs there a good place to read this kind of horror?
- semi-extrinsic 4y agoSCP-WIKI as linked above is nice to explore, it is quite varied in style.
- psychphysic 4y agoYeah I come across it frequently and the infographics thing on YouTube goes over specific entities in a way that kills time for me. I meant more like old school creepy pasta websites
- pmontra 4y agoThe Matrix movies featured some extra spaces of rooms and corridors between normal (?) space. Example, the hallway at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvZgqeRWjEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvZgqeRWjEA That predates both the 2019 4chan Backrooms and the 2017 SCP-3008 page.
- bargle0 4y agoBLAME! fits in, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame!
- dmonitor 4y agoSeems the website doesn't like having an exclamation point in the url https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame%21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame%21
- tzs 4y agoIf you enjoyed that you might like the three short stories by the same author that are discussed in “The Fictional Representation of Modern Urban Concentration in the Work of J.G. Ballard” [1] from the Athens Journal of Architecture. Dystopian short stories about the use of space and time seem to be a Ballard specialty and he was quite good at it. [1] https://www.atiner.gr/journals/architecture/2015-1-1-2-Ultav.pdf https://www.atiner.gr/journals/architecture/2015-1-1-2-Ultav...
- logicallee 4y agoI like it! Kind of psychedelic. I read an interview with Ballard from a few decades ago, in which he mentioned experimenting with LSD but not liking it. I can definitely understand the influence. For anyone familiar with J. G. Ballard, how does this work compare with his other works in terms of theme etc? This is the only work of his that I've read.
- denton-scratch 4y agoI read High Rise ages ago, and thought it was brilliant. The movie is forgettable, despite plenty of action and violence.
- logicallee 4y agoThank you. From what you can recall, how does High Rise compare in style and theme to this Report on an Unidentified Space Station? Were the text and themes very similar?
- denton-scratch 4y agoHigh Rise is a novel, not a short story. The themes in High Rise are social/political, not sci-fi. I can't really judge how the texts compare; I read High Rise a long time ago. The tower-block of the title is an allegory for a stratified society, divided by class, gradually breaking down. I'd say it's still relevant - even resonant. But I don't recommend the movie.
- runekaagaard 4y agoHow working with our 13 year old code base feels like for a new programmer :)
- jb_s 4y agolike that but with more Zalgo text
- psychphysic 4y agoSimilar movies Blaire Witch (the 2016 requel). As above, so below (2014). Mine Games (2012). Maybe beyond the aquilla rift, but also The Zima Blue episode of love death and robots (aired 2019). Also a short story. I think this will resonate with most of HN. Love death and robots is certainly on Netflix.
- benj111 4y agoOr the cube? (Not the game show)
- psychphysic 4y agoYes! I liked even the sequels. A Japanese requel came out last year( well 2021). Haven't had a chance to watch it but up there on my list!
- benj111 4y agoDidn't know there were sequels. Don't think I'd want to watch them though. I'm sure they feel the need to explain things, and the good thing about the cube is that it's never explained. Rant. Why do films insist on explaining things that don't need to be explained. Shutter Island would have been a better film without the last 5 minutes answering the question as to whether he's insane. Even blade runner, why does deckard have to be human, it's much more interesting when the question is open. Same for the sequel.
- psychphysic 4y ago> Why do films insist on explaining things that don't need to be explained. Yeah an utterly baffling trend. I hadn't linked the two but you're right of course the same trend to add explanatory scenes and to simplify open plot points. Worse still when they retroactively change the plot! Or scenes to fit a sequel. Some major examples that come to mind is Avatar being changed to accommodate a sequel - in an entirely unnecessary way by adding a post credit scene in the style of MCU. Last of Us 2 just replaying incorrectly last of us scenes and then the remaster being changed to suit. Sometimes I think it's simply lazy writing or when a story outdoes the talent of its creator. I did like the reveals in knives out because they genuinely add new info and suddenly many dynamics that were rich and understandable became very different yet rich and understandable.
- atombender 4y agoOne of my favorite short stories. Ballard is best known for his novels, but he also wrote a number of exceptional stories. Among my favourites are "The Drowned Giant", "Dream Cargo", "A Question of Re-Entry", "The Terminal Beach", "The Garden of Time", and some of his earlier stories like "Billenium", "Chronopolis", "The Concentration City" (also published as "Build-Up"). There's a two-volume collection of all his short stories, but it contains more misses than hits. The individual collections "The Terminal Beach" and "Vermillion Sands" are the classics. Among his SF novels I would recommend starting with The Crystal World, which is fantastic.
- logicallee 4y agoIt sounds like you are very familiar with Ballard's work. Based on your reading, how does this Report on an Unidentified Space Station compare in style and theme to his other works?
- atombender 4y agoIt's not typical at all, at least not in terms of presentation. Aside from a handful of experimental ones, his stories are usually conventional narratives. One thread running through most of his work is a preoccupation with physical spaces and architecture, inhabited by alienated characters with some repressed, dark psychological traits (obsessiveness, violence, narcissism) that's held in check by modern society. He keeps going back to the theme of men (they're almost always men) regressing to a "natural" violent state. His later books are a little tiring because of this; too many books about rich people using violence as a means of psychological release. His most interesting stories (like this one) explore themes outside of these core obsessions.
- logicallee 4y agoI see. I've emailed you a followup question in case you're interested. EDIT: Thanks for the answer!
- euroderf 4y ago"High Rise" is a great tale about a slow descent into madness. Similar to "Dead Ringers", where the crossover from sane to insane is imperceptible. Very different from, say, "Falling Down".
- Sakos 4y agoI saw this post just as I was heading out the door and didn't want to wait before reading it. I found a decent reading on YouTube that I really enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc54PpZZblA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc54PpZZblA
- nmeofthestate 4y agoI was surprised to find out it was written by a "proper writer" JG Ballard. It has the feel of something written recently by a random dude, that redditors would end up basing a "spooky" subreddit around. r/thespacestation
- atombender 4y agoIt's beautifully written, but it does read like an SCP report, like the one about the apparently infinitely large IKEA warehouse [1]. [1] https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3008
- dreen 4y agoI read this as an extended life metaphor, the first reports seemed to describe a maternity ward, then a school etc. They get progressively more confused, ending with a grown up realisation that every moment matters. Didnt see much horror or dystopia in here. A nice read.
- dangond 4y ago> A curious feature of the station is its powerful gravitational field, far stronger than would be suggested by its small mass. However, this probably represents a faulty reading by our instruments. I know it's just fiction, but this is just outright contradictory. The gravitational field is determined by the mass, and even with faulty instruments, they can feel the strong gravity for themselves. "Small size" would likely have been better. Aside from that nitpick, absolutely loved the story. Slowly realizing that the station is expanding around them and then reading the conclusion was riveting.
- tlb 4y agoWhat observation could have led them to update their estimate to 5 light years diameter? We can measure star distances on that scale using parallax from the earth’s orbit, but the people in the story were walking and couldn’t have gone far enough to measure distances out to light years.
- than3 4y agoThis should be more appropriately labelled. Looked like historic account until you read a few lines and realize the absurdity. Some people don't have that kind of filter, as evidenced by all the conspiratorial stuff online these days. Its in very bad taste to not label it.