"Vilcabamba" is a 2010 science fiction short story by Harry Turtledove, notable both for its content and for the writer's unusual decision to publish it free online on tor.com and thus waive the royalties from its publication (see external link below). The story would later be reprinted in Turtledove's short-story collection The Best of Harry Turtledove in 2021.[1]
The title of the story is taken from Vilcabamba, Peru, the capital of the Neo-Inca State and the last outpost maintained by the Incas before it was completely crushed by Spain in the sixteenth century. In the story, one of Moffatt's cabinet shares this story with Moffatt, who is resigned to the fact that his rump U.S. will play that same role.
After being left alone for decades following the signing of a treaty between the Krolp and the remains of U.S./Canada, the Krolp demand access to silver and a small amount of gold deposits miles deep below the surface of northeastern Utah. Moffat, realizing that any Krolp mining operation will leave the remainder of the U.S. and Canada uninhabitable (Spain had been left practically uninhabitable after the Krolp had strip-mined nearly the whole country for the mercury they discovered deep below its surface) refuses, and launches an uprising. The uprising initially surprises the Krolp but within three days it is swiftly and completely crushed. The last remnants of the U.S. and Canadian military are defeated and Moffatt and his wife attempt to flee to northward. However they are captured and forced to live out the rest of their lives in exile in the Krolp's North American capital of St. Louis, Missouri.
References
^"Steven H. Silver.com: Harry Turtledove short stories". www.stevenhsilver.com.
External links
Online text of "Vilcabamba"
March 05, 2023
vilcabamba, short, story, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, possibly, contains, original, research, please, improve, verifying, claims, mad. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed November 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia s general notability guideline Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention If notability cannot be shown the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted Find sources Vilcabamba short story news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Vilcabamba is a 2010 science fiction short story by Harry Turtledove notable both for its content and for the writer s unusual decision to publish it free online on tor com and thus waive the royalties from its publication see external link below The story would later be reprinted in Turtledove s short story collection The Best of Harry Turtledove in 2021 1 Vilcabamba by Harry TurtledoveCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenre s Science fictionPublished inThe Best of Harry TurtledovePublication typeOnline and printPublisherTor BooksPublication dateFebruary 2010 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Plot 3 References 4 External linksEtymology EditThe title of the story is taken from Vilcabamba Peru the capital of the Neo Inca State and the last outpost maintained by the Incas before it was completely crushed by Spain in the sixteenth century In the story one of Moffatt s cabinet shares this story with Moffatt who is resigned to the fact that his rump U S will play that same role Turtledove analogizes the events of his story to the Spanish colonization of South America in several ways The Krolp are initially greeted with peaceful overtures by humanity which they quickly and violently refuse The Krolp possess technology far beyond human understanding despite decades of attempts to reverse engineer it The Krolp view humans as sub creatures and do their best to Krolpize those humans within their control The Krolp value mineral wealth and readily violate a treaty they had made with the U S to get to it Plot EditIt is the 22nd century and 50 years have passed after an alien race called the Krolp conquered and occupied much of planet Earth The President of the United States and Prime Minister of Canada Harris Moffatt III rules a rump United States and Canada whose governments merged in order to pool resources against the Krolp that runs along the Rocky Mountains and the Wasatch Range with its de facto capital at Grand Junction Colorado Washington D C remains the de jure capital of the United States although it is under Krolp occupation and the last president to have actually resided in the city was Moffatt s grandfather Harris Moffatt I After being left alone for decades following the signing of a treaty between the Krolp and the remains of U S Canada the Krolp demand access to silver and a small amount of gold deposits miles deep below the surface of northeastern Utah Moffat realizing that any Krolp mining operation will leave the remainder of the U S and Canada uninhabitable Spain had been left practically uninhabitable after the Krolp had strip mined nearly the whole country for the mercury they discovered deep below its surface refuses and launches an uprising The uprising initially surprises the Krolp but within three days it is swiftly and completely crushed The last remnants of the U S and Canadian military are defeated and Moffatt and his wife attempt to flee to northward However they are captured and forced to live out the rest of their lives in exile in the Krolp s North American capital of St Louis Missouri References Edit Steven H Silver com Harry Turtledove short stories www stevenhsilver com External links EditOnline text of Vilcabamba Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vilcabamba short story amp oldid 1123904827, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
