Soroboruo Harbormaster’s Log by David Whitaker (Analog, January-February 2022) is a short piece told in the form of AI diary entries (mostly) and tells of the arrival of a colony ship at a planet. Later entries tell of other ships that arrive later, some of which had been dispatched earlier than the first arrivals:
Soroboruo Colony
Sol Standard 16.42.12.18.2792
Arrival of Colony Ship Abel Tasman.
Vessel shows signs of minor damage, to be expected for pre-light-drive tech and duration of crossing. Still plenty of value, salvage crews dispatched.
Passengers surprised to find planet already settled, despite pre-launch briefing that postlaunch technological developments may present this possibility. Work force assignments drawn up and distributed.
Planetary Population: 16,973 p. 86
As earlier and earlier ships arrive, we see that some of them have fared poorly (especially the generation ones). Finally there is reasonably neat twist ending where (spoiler) they leave the planet for another one (humanity still hasn’t learned to live in harmony with its environment and has laid waste to the planet and surrounding solar system).
This isn’t bad (and is a lot better than most short-shorts) but some of the middle sections aren’t as effective as the others, and don’t seem to contribute to the thread of the story (the Junta one for instance). I think in something this short all the parts need to add something.
**+ (Average to Good). 700 words.