Anniversary

Anniversary by Isaac Asimov (1995)

Warren Moore hosts the twentieth annual anniversary gathering marking the wreck of the Silver Queen, a ritual he and Mark Brandon have kept since the disaster, complete with darkened, polarized windows, spaceship ration sticks, and a bottle of Martian Jabra water. This year Brandon brings a surprise guest: Mike Shea, the third survivor, retiring from space and passing through before settling in Arizona. The three reminisce about the crash, their rescue by Moore, their brief fame, and the songs written about them, then lament that the public now remembers only Dr. Horace Quentin, a prominent scientist who died in the same wreck, while the survivors and even fellow victim John Hester have faded into obscurity. Brandon proposes solving this "new" problem of oblivion the way Moore solved their marooning twenty years ago. Shea mentions something odd: Trans-space Insurance, which owns salvage rights to the wreck, has kept the remaining debris near Vesta behind a force field and has spent years paying ships to retrieve more wreckage pieces, the pile growing over the past decade. Curious, they consult Multivac, Moore's household computer terminal. It confirms the search is ongoing but refuses to state the reason, citing privacy rules. Brandon speculates Quentin hid an important undisclosed discovery meant for a Ganymede conference, kept secret in his cabin, which Trans-space now hunts for among the wreckage. Shea recalls a passenger who never left his cabin, and Moore recalls dinner conversation with Hester about Quentin's secretive nature regarding optics research. They question Multivac about Quentin's investigations (optics-related) and get the name of a surviving colleague, Dr. Otis Fitzsimmons. Brandon calls him under a false pretext; the elderly, irritated Fitzsimmons mentions Quentin once referenced a device called (as misheard) "an optikon." Moore recalls he impulsively pocketed two souvenirs while climbing across the wreck twenty years ago: an old fountain pen and a small, seemingly broken field glass, neither seen since. They search Moore's storage level and find both items in an old trunk. The pen bears worn initials resembling J.K.Q., suggesting a Quentin family heirloom. The field glass has no lenses and appears seamless, one solid piece. Moore realizes the name was actually "anoptikon" — Greek for "no lenses" — meaning the device is a lensless optical instrument, not broken. Twisting it under force-field resistance, he activates it and discovers it functions as a telescope in one direction and a microscope in the other, using concentrated force fields rather than lenses, potentially without chromatic aberration and possibly applicable to other radiation. Shea raises the question of ownership given their signed salvage waivers; Moore suggests it may deserve government rather than private control given its significance. Brandon cares less about money than about restoring their fame by solving anoptics and reappearing in scientific history on this exact anniversary. Moore agrees they should ask Multivac which agency to approach, and Brandon insists on finishing the ritual first. Moore pours a final toast: "Gentlemen, I give you the Silver Queen souvenirs we used to have."

By Isaac Asimov · First published 1995 · Genre: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy · 7,448 words

First lines

The annual ritual was all set.

It was the turn of Moore's house this year, of course, and Mrs. Moore and the children had resignedly gone to her mother's for the evening.

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Anniversary is listed on Textopian as a novella by Isaac Asimov, dated 1995 CE.

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Science Fiction · Time Travel · Romance · Fiction · Novel · Asimov · Isaac Asimov · Time Machine · Anniversary · Marriage · Relationships · Future

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