Gardens in the Cracks & Other Stories — L. Darby Gibbs

Anthology of short stories."Gardens in the Cracks"Marga Graber has been living under the pandemic-inspired edicts of the desert planet Castoe all her life, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, her ravine farm has prospered. She enrolled her first son in the scrapper apprentice program as required by those same edicts and mourned her loss when he disappeared, presumed dead along with his mentor teamster. Now she must face again the placement of a second son in the program. It is one thing to intellectually know that the planet must raise its population and its production in order to contribute again to the Common Wealth planets, but returning from near-colony status to recognition as a contributing member has costs that are felt much more personally."Scrapper"Moekaff becomes the apprentice to Uzzon, a seasoned teamster, known for being so cautious he never takes the dangerous routes. But when he sees he has a reliable scrapper and problems with the rig have put them behind schedule, the two decide to take the Meszeker Windy, which challenges both scrapper and teamster beyond their physical and mental limits. Moekaff faces the challenges of his profession square on, but an eight-year-old boy has definite limits, and even physical pain can feel better than emotional destruction."Riashnu"Gypsy, an easily bored young woman who follows at least superficially the laws of the pSychSo, gets involved in the underground revolutionary movement to overthrow the government. She isn't really interested in change, just excitement. But in the process of having fun, she watches her friend Kara become much more involved in the effort to fight against totalitarianism along with becoming the lover of Tashwa Rom? Moore, a known commander in the sPychSo military and an equally important activist in the underground."A Good Argument"Robert Kavarinky is having a bit of trouble adjusting to the automated driving system instituted in his town. The idea of letting something