I Read Stories: Distant Stars by P H Lee

 

Distant Stars by P H Lee in Clarkesworld

Sarah Levy is working on the inertial frame and Mach’s principle and, perhaps, how dark matter and dark energy explain why we can feel it when we spin. The story has a good explanation of the problem , though it glosses over her solution, and why not, it’s a continuing problem in physics and that’s not what this science fiction story is actually about.

Sarah also splits with her partner Martha, and their son goes with Martha. Then her paper gets picked up and suddenly she’s a physics superstar and maybe her work will reveal secrets of the universe.

But one of the known attributes of the universe is that it is expanding and objects get further apart. As her work becomes more extraordinary, she and her son can never get back the closeness they once had.

Read This: For an elegant entanglement of astrophysical and cosmological concepts and questions with a distant and tragic family relationship
Don’t Read This: Because you care even less about a fictional scientist’s failure to connect with their child than about inertial frames