Growing up in northern Illinois with an interest in astronomy, I was very familiar with the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The 40-inch refractor telescope, built in 1893, was the largest of its type until the 43 inch Swedish Solar Telescope was completed in 2001, although only 39 inches of that telescope are usable.

In 2004, Jean Rabe published the short story “Auriga’s Streetcar” in Martin H. Greenberg and John Helfers’ anthology Space Stations. Rabe’s heroine, Hoshi, has taken a private spacecraft to the abandoned Yerkes-Two space station on the eve of its deorbiting to see what she can salvage, with her focus on the40-inch lenses that had once be used at the Williams Bay Observatory, but which had since but relocated to the space station.

Hoshi has done her research and knows what to expect, although that doesn’t mean the salvage operation goes smoothly. Until she arrives at Yerkes-Two, she doesn’t know if the scientists have left anything of value behind, although she’s pretty sure the antiques lenses are on-board. She knows the station’s orbit has destabilized, but doesn’t know how much time she has before it begins to plunge through the atmosphere. Other salvagers or pirates are a possible danger, and, of course, the station’s systems may not be as functional as she believes.

Rabe handles the story well, building up suspense in the monotonous walls of the space station, making it clear that the real threats were mixed with the threats of Hoshi’s imagination, only slowly revealing which threats were real after successfully creating tension. Even after outlining the hazards of space salvage, Rabe manages to introduce twists that fit within the confines of her story.

The story hints at cultural, scientific, and political intricacies without feeling the need to explore what they are, instead indicating they exist and influence Hoshi’s need to salvage space debris and provide guidelines for what she can expect and have to deal with. Once those are set up, Rabe is able to focus on her story without chasing red herrings.

In many ways, “Auriga Streetcar” seems to belong to an earlier form of science fiction, when individuals flew spacecraft and braved dangers on their own. Despite governments and corporations filling space with satellites and space stations, there is still a wild west element that allows people like Hoshi and less scrupulous operators (at least from her point of view) to thrive.

---

Steven H Silver is a twenty-time Hugo Award nominee and was the publisher of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Argentus as well as the editor and publisher of ISFiC Press for eight years. He has also edited books for DAW, NESFA Press, and ZNB. His most recent anthology is Alternate Peace and his novel After Hastings was published in 2020. Steven has chaired the first Midwest Construction, Windycon three times, and the SFWA Nebula Conference six times. He was programming chair for Chicon 2000 and Vice Chair of Chicon 7.