CZM Book Club: The Plastic People by Tobias Buckell

week workshop called Clarion West. There's another one called Clarion I went to Clarion West, so I have a little bit of bias towards it. And it sounds like a reality TV show, But it's not like I spent six weeks in a sorority house with eighteen strangers in Seattle and learned science fiction writing from amazing authors, with a different author every week comes in to teach us. That

sounds cool, Yeah, it was. It's a really good thing for people who are like just at the part of writing where you're just starting to be good enough, but you're not consistently good enough yet, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, And it really I'm not a formal education person. I don't have any degrees I've been thinking about framing my high school diploma to put behind me in Zoom calls as a joke.

stories have been translated into twenty languages. His work has been nominated for awards like the Hugo Nebula World Fantasy and the Astounding Award for Best News Science Fiction Author. He currently lives in Bluffton, Ohio, with his wife and two daughters, where he teaches creative writing at Bluffton University. He's online at Tobias Buckell dot com. That's b u c k e l L and dispelled Tobias. I guess

I'll just read the whole thing. T O b I A S b U c k e L l dot com and is also an instructor at the Stone Coast MFA and Creative Writing Program and also sometimes he teaches Clarion West. They should find a year there you go.

a cloud of chemical powder. Don't defend him, Agunier snapped. Ten years, Garrison shouted, clutching the almost empty bottle triumphantly. His heavy boots crunched in the ground, knocking styrofoam chunks into the air, and I still love you all. That's the last bottle, Agugnie anger, suddenly as banked as the tent fire on this world, Garrison said, Ever, the last bottle of Islae anyone will ever have, Agugnie said, and

snatched it from Garrison. Raya listened to the bickering with half an ear as the orange glow of the fire faded away. As she'd been sure she had seen something skiter past the shadows on the edge of camp. Something's over there, Raya whispered to Susy by the fridge. London had been listening to them. She pointed in the direction. Raya indicated and snapped her fingers. The night lit up and two drones dropped out of the air. Was using them for dance lights, London muttered, but trash rattled and

slid down the pile. As the intruder scuttled away from the stunningly bright light. Raya shielded her eyes and tried to follow along. As the drones ducked and weaved around the compacted hills of old earth debris cornered it, London said triumphantly. Is a bear? Garrison asked, blearily. It's a bear right there. Are no bears, idiot, Susie said, they're extinct. London said. Raya clambered one of the unsteady trasholes they'd

parked the tents between. I see it, she said. It was a little boy, streaked in grease and mud, ribs, visible as the drone lights played over him. His wide, dark eyes stared fearfully at her as he tried to hide behind a cracked porcelain tub. Oh my, London said, clamberin over behind Raya. The poor little thing. Does he live here? Susie asked, disgusted, how we just spent three days. Garrison said it's not that bad, idiot, Susie said, it's a shithole. It's miles and miles of trash. It reeks

everywhere I step. There's old world crap. I agree, while it was fun to see what the old world was like. Agougnie threw the last bottle of his lay off into the dark. It shattered against something invisible out there. I think maybe it's time to call it. Let's go home. I'm tired of the gravity. Susie agreed. It's oppressive. We can't leave the child here in the trash. Raya protested, Garrison groaned, Oh, come on, that's what it's like down here. You know this. They'd flown down into the heart of

the dump for their mini reunion. Partying in an exotic location would make an incredible story. All the termites down here can survive just fine without our help. They love living in places like this, Susie said, don't think you're doing it any favors. Living here must be a hell. It's a hell they chose to make, Garrison said, this is all theirs. They made it. They knew how to live in it. Raya clambered her way over rusted out heaps and winced when something jabbed through her boots into

her skin. She'd had all our shots, though, a prerequisite to coming down. Hey there, she said softly to the scared child. His hair was matted and clumped. He was so covered and muck that he almost blended into the night. She held out a candy bar in her right hand. The child snatched it from her, shredding the plastic wrapping as he ripped into it with jagged teeth. What's your name? The child just stared at her. Raya held out a hand. Would you like to come with us? He scuttled back

from her and right into a Guigne's arms. He circled around and snuck up from behind. The child wailed and screamed, but he was a small creature, and Agugnia tucked him under an armpit with a quick smile. Shall we go? Everyone agreed that it was time to end the party, and with Reya placated, the reunion trickled back into the shuttle for the trip home. Susy strapped into the pilot's

seat and activated a return sequence. The main engines lit up and scattered all their camping equipment off to mingle with the rest of the trash park as a silvered ship thundered into the sky, with the fair old child screaming all the way up to orbit. Raya tried to give him a chocolate bar, but he ate the wrapper and bar pointed teeth, ripping into the whole package, then puked it up all over the cabin. You're cleaning that up, Susi shouted, as Reya tried not to throw up herself.

And if you want candy bars, we were sponsored by candy, sponsored by Big Candy. That's right, we got we got the twenty twenty three Wonka sponsorship. So line up outside every every every fifth, every fifth bar gets you one ticket to book Club in your in your ears though you have you still you still have to plug in through the headphones. But you'll be allowed to listen to book Club. Yeah. So yeah, as long as you buy enough candy bars, that's right, offer them to random children.

And here's those ads, and we're back scrubbing the mangy child. Clean took five I have domestic assistance an hour. It fought free of the butler's first attempt, and he'd called in the chef and three clean team professionals to get the kid into the tub. They washed the dogs in Mighty tim Gonzo, and Ophelia, the three poodles, usually the ones unlucky enough to get hauled into the plastic tub in the middle of the mudroom, off by the kitchens. Barkden ran around in the middle of all the chaos,

making the most of the fun. He's a wiry one, the butler observed. Stronger than you'd think, it's all that full gravity, the chef said, drying herself off. Rayo watched the chaos unfold on a tablet, patching into the house video feed while enjoying a calming soak and the marble trimmed upstairs bathroom attached to her unit as she scrubbed away the stink of the old world and half digested

candy bar. The gold leafed Florida ceiling windows in front of the bathtub framed the stars beyond, a stunning view when she stopped to think about it. Mostly she found that it kept entrancing her personal assistant, so Ria usually kept the window darkened. On one of the other orbital cities, Raya spent the night with a man who had his whole bathroom floor transparent. You could look down on the mother planet slowly passing by underneath every minute while taking

a shit. Her view won for class. His was the one everyone talked about at the party. Raya stood up and toweled herself off handy. Her pa had a selection of evening gowns waiting in her room. The one with microblades that could produce enough lift to waft around her legs at a pre programmed height got the nod. Then it was off down the hall to mother's dining room, where she was fussing over the layout. Why is there an extra seating alas demanded, hovering over the table as

a chef directed the setup. It's for the child, we found, Raya explained. Her mother looked utterly perplexed, so Raya showed her a picture of the sight and one of the child screaming as they rocketed back up to orbit. It's a farll, Raya said, living in the garbage dump. We went to the dump. Alaise looked horrified. You went down, Susie piloted it. It's safe. How much did that cost? Elise's horror had turned into a vaguely scandalized expression. Raya

had to think about that a second. It was Susie, you know her father owns the shipping. Recognition flickered across Eliza's face. That's Susie exactly. Most of the founding families knew each other well enough by first name, but mother always struggled with the names of Raya's friends and which kid matched to which parents. They were just a blur of little people in and out of the house to her. Of course, the house staff knew Rhea's cohort by name.

They'd served them enough dinners and requests over the years. Bring the child in, Raya ordered, and then to her mother. You wouldn't believe the squalor we found the poor thing in. Well, it is the old world, Elise said. There's a reason we left. Look at what they do to it. It's barely inhabitable. It's hardly a child's fault. It was born to it. I've been saying for years we should just put birth control and all the medicine we shipped down

there from the factories. Don't be so ghost. Rahea rolled her eyes. You always tried to rescue strays. Remember that little kitten you found over by the garment factory mittens. Raya clenched her jawl. You had it put down. I told you, sweetie. The cats have gotten out of hand in the green ways. They're killing everything and throwing the ecology nets off kilter. We keep having to poll species out of storage to repopulate the gardens. Oh it's here.

The little boy stood at the servants doorway, two domestic assistants behind him. With hands on his shoulder. They cleaned all the dirt off of him. He was pale, almost sickly so and so skinny that his shirt and trousers flopped baggly around him. One of the domestic assistants had brushed out as long, stringy hair and braided it. Oh look at how nicely we've we cleaned him up, Raya said, you're supposed to return a baby bird to the nest. Alise whispered to Raya as she sat down. Doesn't this

Pharrell have parents? Raya caught her breath. She hadn't thought about parents. She's just seen a near starving child enacted not good ones if he was living in a dump. It stays in your quarters, Alise huffed. I don't want it anywhere near my rembrands or the silver, and never ever in my rooms. Come on, little one, Raya waved at the child, come sit with us, let's eat. He approached poor thing so tentatively, much like the kitten Elise mentioned,

nervous about trusting the outstretched hand, unlike mittens. The child pulled out a chair and sat down as instructed. Does it speak, Elise asked the domestic assistance. It screams, miss Raya. Raya patted the child's hand and he flinched. Don't be like that, Raya said, we rescued you. Everything's going to be better now, the child whimpered. Raya looked out over the first course being set out and frowned. Let's get you something so magical to'll cheer you right up, something

you never would have experienced in that nasty dump. Ice cream, Now that was the ticket. Raya ordered it, delivered with chocolate sauce drizzled on the top. There we are, she said, pushing the bowl over. Try this. The child bared teeth. Good God, they're filed to a point. Alisee shuddered. Raya scooped a spoonful of ice cream and held it up. Try it. She took a chilly bite and smiled at him. He nibbled at the spoon when she moved it back over.

Persuaded by her enjoyment, he shuddered as his tongue hit cold, smiled, then ate the rest of the bite. Soon he had his face in the bowl, licking it clean. That's a boy, Raya said. He sampled more food, but right when a Lee's and ray started on their Kobe beef, he clutched his stomach and looked at them with an almost comical confused look, and then threw up all over the dinner table. Alie stood up, threw her napkin down at the mess, and declared, I'm going to visit Lars at Lunar North.

Call me when you come to your senses. The domestic assistant swooped in to clean up the mess and the boy. Raya, in a funk, retired to a room to brood over what had gone wrong. She had started this with the best of intentions, but it wasn't going to plan now. Her mother had her judgy face on. The domestic assistants looked annoyed, and she could hear the child screaming and fussing away from somewhere deeper inside the family estate. Hell, she didn't even know the child's name. One of the

engineering staff came back in with the boy. We weren't sure where you wanted him to stay. Before Raya could say anything, the child ran toward the window at the back of the living room. Earth, he said, pressing against the thick glass, his large brown eyes filled with tears.

He can speak, Raya said, Thank goodness. She'd started to worry that maybe the pharaohs back down on the planet had started to lose the capacity to speak, but that didn't make any sense, as they all purchased medicines, weapons, and other supplies for many of the family businesses that still did trade below them. She assumed that you had to be able to speak to do that Earth, the child said, back to that nasty dump, Raya shook her head. Look around you, look at everything I can give you.

I rescued you. The wealthy had left Earth long ago, moved manufacturing to orbit, moved all their wealth up, even scraped off all the good soil so they could grow whatever they wanted an orbit. Some people felt they had abandoned Earth or turned their backs on its suffering that only the very rich could afford to get to orbit, and that they'd walked away from their responsibility to be stewards. It was the ancestors of the wealthy who had done

so much damage on their way to being rich. Ray's family. It was mainly held that if one really wanted to work hard enough, anyone could get into space. Those left behind had simply not applied themselves. This child's ancestors had not applied themselves, but Raya had rescued it. The least the child could do was show some gratitude. Instead, he wiped snop from his nose at and sniffed at the window until Raya's patience broke. The only word the child

seemed to know was Earth. She left the estate for a walk to clear her mind and meet up with a Gugne for some actual conversation. And if you want your golden ticket Garrison to Space, every fifth candy bar.

a lot of these ads are probably these ads? Yeah, here they are, and we're back into the economic system that we all live in.

shaped hub. The ring shape of the orbital let its spin, and the insides of the hoop dripped with greenery that teams of biota specialists worked overtime to keep in balance, getting a forest to stay alive against cosmic rays, occasional pressure losses from punctures, and the gyrations of a life support system closed in so tight that problems cascaded around

in dizzying complexities. Reya had studied systems management for a whole agonizing three months, idly toy in with the idea of becoming part of the ecosystem management team on one of the orbitals, but five minutes near a sewer processing plant deep in the bowels of Erewhon had her change her mind. She joined her father's team of orbital arbitrage specialists, flipping futures contracts based on complicated home and transfers and cargo manifests through cis lunar space, a much more dependable

income stream, not that she needed much. The family endowment created back when her great grandfather lived on Earth and decided to start building orbitals as a lark with the extra billions lying around would always take care of her. You had to do something or life became awfully boring. Quickly enough, Agugner met her in the scent garden, running his hands over lilacs and breathing them in with a smile. Hungover or still drunk, Hi, hello, t you, Reyes said,

stopping by a striking clump of mini cedar trees. No, I'm high, Agunya took a deep breath. Come on, Agugne, really after a treat like the one we had. Agugne smiled and joined her by the cedars. Just a small buzz, take the edge off. Susie's still mad at you. Susie wouldn't speak or turn messages right now. She'll get over it in a week. That little creature threw up everywhere. Agunya picked up a stick and scratched at it. The smell of cedar filled the air between them. Then I

threw up. It was a horror movie in there. It'll take more than a week. Ray A sighed. Maybe I need to send her an apology. Ah, there you go, something decadent and not easy to find anywhere. An air on. Agagnier took out a lighter and ceremoniously handed it to her. I'll have to have my people think of something, Raya said, flicking it off and on. It would be a good thing to set her personal assistant to She hadn't spoken to him since she'd stuck him researching equipment for the

trip that caused this whole mess. That's the spirit, it's the personal thought that counts, Agugnier said. That should help her forget all the vomit in her hair. He looked pointedly over at the cedars. The child's still throwing up. Raya confessed, it's pissing me off. I try to do the right thing and it goes all wrong. It's the story of my life, a gugnie. Everything is always a struggle. Raya held the lighter up to one of the branches

in front of them. The flame flickered as it scorched the bark, and they both patiently waited for it to catch and quicken. You know, Agugnier said, thoughtfully, as the tree began to burn, you might need to get checked over. Mmm. Raya stepped back as the flames left higher. A doctor, you didn't take the child through customs like they have to, he nodded at the ground's crew, respectfully approaching with extinguishers. A gunie held up a hand so they stopped twenty

feet away and waited. Oh shit, Raya said, we could have all been exposed to some exotic earth bug. Agugnier said, I'd get yourself checked up, or you might be the one vomiting everywhere we had our booster shots. Nevertheless, the smell of burning cedar made her mouth water. Raya made an appointment to have a doctor come in tomorrow, and she left the gardens to go have dinner with a Gugnie, a floating restaurant with a liquid menu nestled into, of

all places, the docks at the center of Arawon. What do you think the ground's crew would do without us, Agugnie wondered. Later, as they hung in the air near an old wooden deck taken from some famous once sunken ship, and sucked at galact swirls of soup carefully deconstructed in the air between them, Raya poked a dumpling with a finger and watched it wobble its way towards the guignet's nose. He dipped his head at the last second to bite

at it, but it tumbled away from his chin. They wouldn't have a job if it wasn't for us, Reyes said, we'd have to send them away where we're an orbital. It's not my job to think about those things. Raya protested and splashed broth droplets at him. The doctor came much later the next day, held up by an accident at the docks or something silly like that, and by then the vomiting kid had been passed from assistant to assistant all through the house and then exiled to one

of the pool rooms. But after a painful blood draw and some checks on his machine and a few scans, the doctor looked over his glasses to clear her. The scan results on the glasses, full of complex imagery, reflected off his green eyes. Everything comes in normal, and you had your full compliment of booster shots before you left. Thank goodness, she said. But I'm glad you checked in. Can't be too safe. He started to pack up his equipment. I'm so relieved, Raya said, letting out the breath she'd

been holding as she waited for the verdict. I thought maybe the boy had given me something. The doctor turned back, eyebrows raised, Raya groaned and rolled her eyes. No, not that it's the child we brought back up with us. He keeps vomiting. Well, maybe I should see him, the doctor said. Raya sighed, okay, sure. She explained how they'd found the child as she led the doctor through the hallways to the pool room. The large clear blister that

held the pool bulged out beyond Erowan's metal hall. If you dove down into it, you could look out along the outside of Arawan, or down at the Earth. You could swim out into space. The domestic assistance had put the child in one of the bamboo cabanas around the pool, but he was sitting on the edge of the pool and looking down through it to earth home. He asked, a whole new word since she'd last been around him. Yah idly wondered if they were indeed passing over his home.

As she looked down through the pool at the blurred land masses below them. Raya took out her diamond tipped heels and sat with her feet in the water as the doctor ran scans and then had to fight with the boy for a blood draw. He's malnourished, was the pronouncement. And you've been feeding him the wrong food. The wrong food, Raya frowned. I don't understand. We gave him the best food. He ate our table. The house chef prepared the meal.

The doctor carefully unwrapped a candy bar and handed the wrapper over The child chewed on it, his sharp teeth, shredding it quickly before he swallowed in a noisy gulp. He's modified, the doctor said, his tone patient and completely polite, yet infuriating. Somehow all the surface folk are since the turn of the century. There are microbes that eat plastic. Those capabilities were grafted onto the human genome. He eats plastic. They had to do that or they'd all starve. Don't

you remember this from history class? History class? He remember the exodus, her great grandparents, leaving the messy, despoiled Earth behind for the skies and other planets. Boring talks about translunar independence movements, the old democracies failing on Earth, and the great die offs. She vaguely remembered something about plastic. She should have paid more attention, but Eric had sat next to her in history, and she'd been so distracted. I guess I need to call Susie and see if we

can put him back down, Raya said. Finally, Susie couldn't do it. Her family had found out she'd use the ship without clearing it, and she was haha grounded. Nothing Raya could say about humans being modified to eat trash in order to survive after being left on the surface made a difference. The child was stuck on air one. Garrison agreed to come over, but he didn't have anything to offer other than too many attempts to touch her

hands or knee or get close to her. I think he really needs to get put somewhere where he can eat, she told Garrison. It's not going to be good for him in our house. We don't have that much plastic on a house scale. No oil in space. Plastics came from plants, and it made more sense to eat plants than waste them on packaging. But Raya knew where most of the plastics ended up. Come on, Garrison, help me take him to the vats. Garrison groaned, but she finally

promised that she'd make it up to him afterwards. He was convinced he was going to get laid, but she was really thinking about the bottle of mccollin and the family vault. Or maybe she'd save the priceless scotch and fool around. Sex wouldn't be a bad way to kill some of her frustrations. Later, Garrison helped wrestle the child into a cart and they drove over to the vats,

where they pulled him through the airlock. It reeks. Garrison said, it wasn't quite the trash parks of Earth, but it was the holding area for acres of Erewhon's own trash before it got scrunched off to the recycling vats. Here you go, Raya said, you can live here now, all the food you need. The child looked at her, not getting it go on. It took some convincing, some shouting, and a little subterfuge, but then finally got the boy to settle in between two hillsized mounds of trash, munching

contentedly away on some plastic carry bags. At the airlock, Raya took one last look back. This is where I had to leave Mittens, she said, sadly, Mittens my cat. Oh I wish Raya trailed off, forming her thoughts. I wish our families hadn't been forced to leave Earth and take everything with them. If they'd been allowed to stay, maybe they could have used their resources to help make every make things better. Garrison stared at her, who said

they were forced. Raya frowned. My family, that's he laughed. We left because we could, because we're better richer superior. Garrison hit the button and the airlock doors thudded shut, leaving the earth child alone in their trash. He tried to take her back to the family house, but she

dropped him off at his penthouse. Disappointed, Garrison would be on his own for the night and without the antique Scotch, Raya said on the edge of the pool, looking down at the Earth passing by on each rotation of the orbital's great wheel until it was time for dinner. By then, her vague sense of guilt or responsibility had passed. You couldn't save every broken stray, even with the best intentions, She decided. The duh, is that is that the story? Yeah?

That's the story Alrighty. I like how it's subtle and would really take a lot of work to deconstruct what it's talking about here.

have like gay space communism basically nice nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they were some of the last anarchists that the the USSR put up with because they were a little bit like lost in their own heads and not doing much political stuff.

like a utopian future despite despite Starfleet's many problems. Yeah, it still is like one of like the better better like end end results for like humanity and even like the Earth, because like the Earth's doing great in Star Trek's future as well, like it it survives total cataclysm and now it's like a very very healthy ecosystem for animals and humans and other animals and plants and fungi and the whales that talk to space signals.

There's nothing there. It's just an abyss of darkness. We need to go back to Earth. Earth is where the life is. Space was terrifying, which I do find to be a very a very fun reaction as well, as you like stare into like absolute oblivion, like the cold death of everything, and you're like, no, no, there's like light on the Earth. Let's go back to her.

worked on. No, those can be found on the it Could Happen Here feed wherever you get your podcasts.

for in the first place. And it is certainly really interesting area to be and when I'm like when I'm when I'm like in these paranormal spaces because I I believe in a lot weirder stuff than they do, but I don't believe in the type of weird thing they do. And it's certainly an interesting thing to navigate.

So I will leave you all with that and talk to you next week on Sunday for the Cool Zone Hie everyone.