What Child Is This, Complete Short Story

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

*A Story from the Schrodinger Universe. If you’ve read No Man’s Land, then yes– that is who you think it is. – SAH*

What Child Is This

Sarah A. Hoyt

They said all asteroid miners were running from something.  And how hard you were running determined how far off the asteroid cluster was located.

That Christmas morning Myra Moss felt like what she and John were trying to run from was the size of the universe and had followed them here, to the farthest possible asteroid miner colony, at the very edge of the known universe.

Which to be fair made perfect sense because what they were running from was death. And death had been stalking humans since before there were humans. Or since the garden. Whichever you believed in.

She’d left John asleep in the bed – looking thinner and more ashen than he had just last night at their determinedly not sad Christmas eve supper – and come here, to the front room, to drink her coffee and look at the false dawn rise rosily over the sea.

It had seemed such a fortuitous thing, three years ago, when they’d found this place: a recolonized, abandoned space station near a massive asteroid cluster.  The asteroid cluster abounded in the metals most prized on Earth, but also had enough chunks of ice to make the space station very viable.

No one knew where the space station had come from, to be honest. There was no record of it on any history that one could discover. The tentative idea – as far as the people living in the space station thought of it, and they were the only ones who cared – was that the space station had been built by a lost colony sent very far back in time, and then abandoned for reasons of their own. The darker idea was that the asteroids were what remained of the planet the colony had occupied. But that was unlikely, because there was no sun nearby, and the asteroids seemed to have accreted from disparate places, judging by their composition. Why they’d accreted was a matter of speculation. John said it was because the asteroid field sat in a wrinkle in the sheet of space time. And the space station was just over the ridge of the wrinkle. Convenient to spec out the asteroids and conduct short day-expeditions to it, without the need for Schrodinger drives.

(Removed because book — Christmas in Time — will be available for sale on Amazon 12-14-2025)

40 thoughts on “What Child Is This, Complete Short Story”

  6. Just beautiful. I’ve fallen in love with the Schrodinger Universe, read the Lost Elly series, and found this story quite moving. Thank you, Sarah.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Thank you Sarah. A very touching story and surprisingly personal for me.

    “It was because he loved Myra, and wouldn’t leave her alone in the cold, dark world until he had to.”

    That was my wife’s sentiment for the last two years of her life when she could have just let go of life to be out of her pain and disability. Also I know personally about cats and their attraction to wounds and healing powers. One of our cats used to lay on her operation scar when she was recovering from her cancer surgery long ago. I’m convinced that was why she eventually didn’t have a scar.

    Thanks again!

    Liked by 4 people

  9. That’s two-for-two on the shorts this past few days. While I’m not sure how many more of these I’ll be able to take, I’m willing to do the experiment and see how many it is!

    Liked by 3 people

  11. A very touching story. Anyone who reads it, without having read anything else about the Schrodinger universe and the planet Elly, will need to read No Man’s Land for some parts of the story to make sense. Regulars here have read it I’m sure, as I am already re-reading No Man’s Land.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Dang dust bunnies are at it again.

    Lovely story. Thank you.

    100% know whose story this is. For those who haven’t read through book 3 portion of “No Man’s Land” (Book 5 of Darkship Thieves) you’ll know when you get there. Read them!!!!

    Liked by 4 people

      1. Sorry. My bad.

        Going off of how Amazon has them linked.

        Regardless. For those who have not yet purchased No Man’s Land … You are missing out. I don’t usually leave a book review. I left a book review, on all 3 books.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Yep, pretty sure that it’s the right wrong coordinates. I need to reread NML to be sure, but the TBR stack has grown nicely.

      FWIW, we got Kat-the-dog’s biopsy stitches out today*, and a prescription for the skin-lupus ointment. Tried the likely on-line sources, but Costco sells it through the human pharmacy and won’t quote a price online, and the ‘Zon has the wrong strength. Turns out our medical-center pharmacy carries it, for a competitive price.

      Dab on the nose, once a day. Sunblock when she’s outside, and she should be fine. (The ointment will be needed from now on.

      (*) The tooth work and the biopsy Was No Fun, and she was pretty anxious about going back. OTOH, stitch removal seemed to be fine (they do such in another room. Kat did not bark, so that’s all good.) No planned visits until next summer.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Actually, it’s ‘Bil The Galactic Hero’. ‘Cause he was an illiterate hick and misspelled his name on the enlistment forms. 😁

      Some editions of the book ‘corrected’ the spelling, but Harry Harrison intended it to be ‘Bil’.

      Liked by 1 person

  17. Ah, yes. The ring and the circles. One of the best scenes I’ve read in a very long time–but then NML has quite a few of them. Is this why Sam A. chose spacefaring, I wonder?

    Liked by 1 person

  18. It makes me very happy to know that Vera had a family after she ported into the outer world. I was imagining her as a lonely wandering youth, with nobody to explain to her what her new world is like, and that made me so sad.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Okay. Now we know how the family became rich. How were they ennobled? I’d have to check the “future source” (3rd book) to see if there was a hint there.

      Like

  19. What a pity my life leaves me no time to read the larger books this story is a
    Outlying piece of
    Sarah A Hoyt, just from this one small snippet, I can tell you are a storyteller, extraordinaire, the way you wrote so many pieces of the world you’ve created, and the world that we know that is into a seamless peace that tells us more about who we are now who we were. And who we yet may be
    Than, the vast oceans of writings that have been done attempting the same. If the Lord gives me time someday I will read the full works in his fullness of time for me, for in your own way, you are his prophet in this world, and much more his than you ever realized. This is how this very minor very occasional prophet tells a much greater one. Whether blessing or curse, it is yours to decide. Smart woman that you are, i’m sure you will choose The Blessing.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » IN CASE YOU MISSED IT EARLIER, PART OF THIS YEAR’S CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE:  What Child Is This, Comple

  27. I love that these stories that sat for decades in your head are finally coming out and we can share your love for the stories and the characters.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Dear Sarah, beautiful story which made my morning. Also got an idea of which Christmas carol to programme in next sunday :)

    Like

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