Tin Soldier (novella)

"Tin Soldier" tells the story of Maris - an ex-soldier who, following wounds sustained in battle, has received cybernetic implants that, as a side effect, slow his aging to "about five years for every hundred" (he is 115 years old as the story begins, though physically he looks "about twenty-five") - and Brandy (short for Branduin), a female starship crewmember. Maris has started a bar named "Tin Soldier" in the spaceport town of New Piraeus. None of his customers know his real name and call him "Tin Soldier" - or "Soldier" for short - after his bar. Only women are allowed to crew starships, since male bodies cannot handle the stresses of space travel. Since trips between star systems require decades (while the female crew do not age due to relativistic effects), Soldier does a brisk business among starship crews because, apparently never ageing, he is the only familiar face they can see, decade after decade, whenever they come into port. Brandy is "maybe eighteen" and assigned to her ship which only visits Soldier's planet every 25 years, when she first meets Soldier. Because of the relativistic effects of space travel, she only ages a few years between visits, while Soldier ages even less. The novella follows the relationship that develops between two people who fall in love, but through circumstances can only see each other for a few days every 25 years. Towards the end of the story Brandy’s space ship suffers some form of catastrophic failure. Maris believes her killed, and is devastated. She arrives at his home some time later, now also a cyborg. ==Popularity==