Aftermaths

Bujold, Lois McMaster. "Aftermaths." Far Frontiers, Volume V/Spring 1986. Jim Baen, Jerry Pournelle, editors. Wake Forest, NC: Baen Books, 1986. See Internet Speculative Fiction Database for frequent reprints; as of January 2026, here.[1] We have consulted Shards of Honor: "Aftermaths" (last chapter, an Afterword, on Audible.com audiobook), Blackstone Audio, 2009.[2] For translations, reprints and awards of Shards, see Internet Speculative Fiction Database, as of January 2026, here.[3]

One of the great war stories on, among other things, the cost of war, relevant here for an ironically very positive view, from the young pilot's point of view, of a pilot with his brain interfaced with his spaceship — "He was the ship"; the interface was probably designed especially for wormhole transit, but at least in normal space, moving in search, this pilot feels like a fish, a merman, swimming in (clean, aseptic space. Cf. and contrast such human/ship combinations as The Ship Who Sang, Plus, Mayflies. The poetic ship-interfaces are brief; this mission is after-battle body reclamation, and the young male pilot has much to learn from the older — old enough to be his mother — med-tech searching out and preparing the bodies for return.

{There are real-world parallels, in the US military with formerly Graves Registration, now performed by "Mortuary Affairs Specialists" (MOS 92M), as of early 2026, described here.[4]}

RDE, finishing, 27Jan26