A year or so ago I wrote a short science fiction story named “L’Orgoglio di Smirne” [Smirne’s Pride], I was thinking about translating it into english after a massive editing process. While I was at work I thought that it could be a nice way to write about the logical ramification of a story, it’s one of the biggest traps for anybody who write fiction.
My story was about a young spaceman/miner who got himself in trouble rescuing another spaceship in the Asteroid Belt. The AI system in his spaceship became infected and he got to find a way to save his life and going back to his base. So far it’s a classic story; the young man who became more experienced under the stress of a dangerous situation, the superiority of an educated mind over a challenge.
While I was writing the italian version of this tale a number of questions came up. How about this kid? Was he born in the space? Aboard a spaceship? Or a more stable base anywhere? How does he adapt to live and work into space? How about cosmic radiations, exposure to low-level of gravity (or none at all)? Who took care of his education and what about his relatives and such?
Angelo Benuzzi 