In "Nomad" by Karl Bunker, Jack Birch is a quiet man, a dedicated, calm scientist whose work is his life. He's not socially inept; he's just shy, content to let his actions speak for him. Until he meets Madi, a drunken spacer trying to drown the memories of a disaster aboard her last ship, the Iliad. Madi is brash, outspoken, and utterly broken, barely able to hold it together long enough to get out of the bar. She's everything that shy, retiring, calm Jack isn't, and for no other reason than it being the right thing to do, he decides to help her.
Jack has no desire to see things go further and doesn't even think about it at first, but when Madi wakes up the next morning to find that Jack has stayed to watch over her, they strike up a friendship. She slowly reintegrates into life, taking pleasure in being on the ground and with the stoic, compassionate Jack, while he is swept away by her casual physicality and enthusiasm for life. They're complete opposites; neither is looking for anything to happen, but of course, it does. But when Madi is picked for a new crew, Jack has to come to terms not only with losing her, but also with no longer being able to protect her.
It's difficult to believe this is Karl Bunker's first sale. The setting has just enough detail to feel fleshed out while the characters are both utterly realistic and beautifully drawn. It would have been all too easy to paint Jack as the typical, glasses-wearing, pens-in-pocket geek with no social skills, but he's something altogether more real—a man comfortable in his own company who isn't crippled by his shyness. Similarly, Madi isn't the typical, brash, foot-to-the-floor crewmember. Her horrific past experience grounds her in a way few characters of this type can manage.
The dialogue is gentle, unforced and often very funny, the romance has a genuine ring of truth to it, and the conclusion occupies that unique space between tragedy and comedy that so much of real life sits in. This is the best story in this issue, and I look forward to seeing more of Mr. Bunker's work.
