Toy Planes by Tobias S. Buckell (Nature, 13th October 2005) begins with the pilot of a rocket plane that is about to be launched from an “island nation” having his dreadlocks cut off by his sister:
I’d waited long enough. I’d grown dreads because when I studied in the United States I wanted to remember who I was and where I came from as I began to lose my Caribbean accent. But the rocket plane’s sponsor wanted them cut. It would be disaster for a helmet not to have a proper seal in an emergency. Explosive decompression was not something a soda company wanted to be associated with in their customers’ minds. It was insulting that they assumed we couldn’t keep the craft sealed. But we needed their money. The locks had become enough a part of me that I winced when the clippers bit into them, groaned, and another piece of me fell away.
The next part of the story follows the pilot to the local market where he buys a toy plane to make up weight for the mission. During the journey the driver suggests that the money spent on the spaceship could be better spent on roads or schools, but the pilot sidesteps the question by saying that most of the money has come from private investors or advertisers, and very little from the government (and that the latter will eventually be repaid).
The final paragraphs describe his embarkation, and the balloon used to get to launch altitude. The story closes with the line “We’re coming up too”.
This is an overly fragmentary piece but perhaps it will appeal more to those who appreciate its atypical (“diverse”) setting. I’d note, however, that this is as much a story about private space flight and as such is part of a long tradition of in SF.1
** (Average). 1,000 words. Story link.
1. Robert Heinlein’s Waldo, The Man Who Sold the Moon, etc., were published in the early 1940s.