"Tideline" is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 published in 2007 by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear

Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky is an American author. Writing under the name Elizabeth Bear, she works primarily in the genre of speculative fiction, and was a winner of the 2005 John W...

. It won the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story

Hugo Award for Best Short Story

The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

 and the 2008 Theodore Sturgeon Award

Theodore Sturgeon Award

The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is given each year for the best science fiction short story of the year and is the short fiction counterpart of the Campbell award , published in English....

 (tied with "Finisterra" by David R. Moles).

Plot summary

The story follows a sentient war machine which is the lone survivor of a previous and highly apocalyptic war that has reduced the human population virtually to cavemen and hunter gatherers. As the war machine combs the beach looking for trinkets it can make into memorials for its fallen comrades, it develops a friendship with an orphaned boy.

When the batteries for its positronic brain

Positronic brain

A positronic brain is a fictional technological device, originally conceived by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. Its role is to serve as a central computer for a robot, and, in some unspecified way, to provide it with a form of consciousness recognizable to humans...

have completely worn down, the machine hands the trinkets to its now matured companion, telling him to spread the memory of those who fought.

External links

• http://www.elizabethbear.com/tideline.html Tideline at Elizabeth Bear's website.
• http://escapepod.org/2008/04/24/ep155-tideline/ Podcast of the story
• Tideline at BestScienceFictionStories.com - short story reviews and resources.