A humorous story. But, I don’t think Timothy Zahn’s shorter works are for me. This wasn’t bad I just wanted more.

A fun little story that was neither excellent or poor. Timothy has certainly written better books and I don't know if his shorter stuff works for me.

Toby is an engineer who has the ability to transfer his consciousness from his body on earth to a clone traveling on a spaceship light years away to fix a mechanical issue in the communication equipment. He has done this several time before, but never at this distance. So he is surprised and scared when he ends up in a jail of sorts with a number of aliens who had also been caught in the same trap. They need to figure out what is happening and then how to get out without dying. Toby and the alien leader managed to engineer a solution that allows both folks to carry-out their mission and then stay in touch to resolve first contact issue. An interesting twist on first contact protocol.

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this story!

Published by ‎ Amazon Original Stories on March 25, 2025

“Trap Line” is a short science fiction story. Nearly every sf story of any merit is eventually anthologized, so readers might soon find it in a larger volume if they decide not to invest their money in a relatively short story.

Toby Collier is an engineer. He is employed to send his consciousness (or “astral”) from his body to a clone (or “replicate”) of his body. His current mission is to send his astral to a replicate on a ship that is many light years from Earth. The ship’s transmitter isn’t working. Toby’s job is to fix it, using the replicate’s body, before sending his astral home.

Toby’s astral is captured on his way to the ship. He joins captives belonging to an alien race who call themselves Hyfisk. Despite being nothing more than a disembodied consciousness, Toby can see the alien astrals if he squints just right. They communicate in a common language, or perhaps Toby somehow translates their thoughts into English. Timothy Zahn offers no real explanations for these convenient facts but at least makes clear that they puzzle Toby. In any event, there would be no story if Toby couldn’t chat with the Hyfisk.

Toby learns that members of a third alien species — a family that includes a young daughter — work for the Overmasters. They set trap lines to capture astrals. Their best pay comes from catching Hyfisk. Why the Overmasters want to capture astrals is far from clear (they’ve already learned all they want to know about the Hyfisk), but the family is worried that their standard of living is in decline because they are capturing fewer astrals. The family also worries that a human astral might not be worth much of anything to anyone. Toby sympathizes with his captors, perhaps because worrying about money and trying to shield children from that concern is a very human trait — at least for humans who aren’t born into wealth.

In the grand tradition of science fiction, humans (especially human engineers) are smarter than aliens, so when Toby sets out to escape, the reader knows he has a pretty good chance of success. He does so in a reasonably entertaining way that involves an alien version of a cat. He even takes into account his desire to keep his captors from filing bankruptcy (or whatever aliens do when they go broke).

The story sets up a moral dilemma when Toby has to decide whether to free the Hyfisk. He sets up a test to decide whether they are morally worthy of being rescued. I didn’t buy the test. Neither did I buy Toby’s sympathy for a family that, like human slave traders, think it is okay to earn an income by capturing and imprisoning astrals, but perhaps I am less forgiving than Toby.

The story earns points for its originality. It moves quickly but raises more questions than it answers. Still, it does just enough to provide a measure of entertainment.

RECOMMENDED

This was my first time reading a Timothy Zahn short story or even a Zahn story that wasn't Star Wars related, but I really enjoyed it. He is a fantastic writer who is capable of creating amazing stories even one's that are not even novella length.

From start to finish "Trap Line" was engaging and fun. It was well developed and a fantastic bite-sized read. It had a bit of sci-fi, a bit of character development, and a bit of intrigue. I truly hope that Zahn expands this concept into a much longer series.

Trap Line was my first Timothy Zane story, although I do know of him from Star Wars fame. Despite Timothy Zane having a degree in Physics, we are thankfully not overcome with a lot of technical elements to learn or understand - I thank you - signed, someone who has taken one Physics class in my entire life.

This book was easy to understand, had some moments that made me chuckle, and was overall a very quick read. This acts as a “first contact” type of story, where our MMC discovers an alien race while doing a routine job. I really enjoyed Zane’s writing style and this has me interested in picking up his Star Wars books. I only wish there were more to this story - it gave you just enough of a taste, but didn’t entirely satisfy because there wasn’t enough page time. I’m hoping we might one day see a more extended tale either of this first contact, or with a different set of characters in this world.

With it’s short length, this is the perfect book to add in a quick read before bed, or listening to the audiobook while on a walk.

A clever story about meeting another species after Toby’s mind travels across the universe and working together inside another species’ trap to escape.

Publishing date: 25.03.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon original Stories for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

TLDR: A fun little escape story. 3 stars

This was a silly little romp. Summarizing this book means spoiling the entire fun, but it is in essence an escape story condensed into 30 ish pages.

Since this is a short story I must warn that there is little to no character growth and depth, and the plot is very much focused on the escape part. If you find yourself saying "it is too short" or "not enough time to develop x and y" I think you should hold off. This falls into the usual "pit traps" that a lot of short stories do and is slightly unavoidable.

I did, however, have a good time with it. It entertained me for as long as it could and did a good job at it.

Audience is a little hard to pinpoint as the plot might feel a little juvenile to adults and a little too complex for younger readers. Young adult to new adult is where I sit. Of course, sci-fi short story fans might enjoy this, but it is my first time with one so I have nothing to compare it to.

3 stars. Entertaining, nothing spectacular. Single sitting read, which is always fun

I found "Trap Line" by Timothy Zahn to be an enjoyable and comfortably short story. We get pulled into the plot right away as we join Assistant Chief Engineer Toby Collier while he is getting ready to send his soul on an instantaneous journey to a spaceship light years away in order to perform repairs. However, things quickly go wrong. It turns out that Toby is not only a good engineer but also demonstrates that he has what it takes to be a great diplomat as well, as he finds himself trapped in a life-and-death first contact scenario even further away from home than he anticipated, without any guarantee of a return trip home.... This was a very enjoyable read!

I thank Timothy Zahn and Amazon Original Stories for kindly sharing a temporary electronic review copy of this work.

"Had he died?
With an effort, he fought back the emotion. He was an engineer, this was an engineering problem, and he would not surrender to unthinking terrors of the night."
- Timothy Zahn, Trap Line
Pub day: 3/25
#GIFTED from Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley
Genre: Short story, sci-fi, YA

Trap Line is a short story that you must treat as such and not quibble over the lack of details. I found it almost like a fable in its simplicity, execution, and message. I really liked it! While it has some complex concepts, I could prob read it to my 8 yr old.

It's sci-fi with space travel and the separation of consciousness and body. It's very fun!

This was okay. The idea behind it is quite interesting, but this short story is just not long enough to explore it as deeply as it deserves. This has been a common gripe of mine with many short stories I've read in the past, because as soon as you need to incorporate any amount of world-building in your story, it quickly starts feeling rushed. There have been SFF short stories that I thought were perfectly suited to the short format, others where I liked the short-form version but would also have loved the long-form version, and those that desperately needed more time to establish its characters and worlds. Unfortunately, Trap Line is firmly in the latter category.

Has a cool sci-fi atmosphere to it, but the story felt a little disjointed to me

(I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Short and sweet sci-fi from Timothy Zahn. Humanity is late to it, but has finally solved interstellar travel—using clones. On a work trip, Toby falls into an interstellar trap with other aliens, but uses his smarts to work out a plan that benefits everyone.

An impressively compact and enjoyable story, good for a few diverting hours. Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley.

It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

One thing I liked about this is that it presented a unique method of interstellar travel. I’ve read similar before, but the main character getting his mind/soul trapped is something new, so points for creativity.

Unfortunately, the main flaw for this story is that it was too short. It left the plot overly simplistic and the world undeveloped.

The story has potential if it were to be expanded, but as it currently stands, I cannot rate it higher than a 3/5.

Trap Line is a short sci fi story about an engineer who is astral projecting when he encounters a new race of aliens and becomes stuck with them.

Trap Line might be better enjoyed by people looking for very niche science fiction. I read my fair share of sci fi but I struggle a bit when it is not accessible and easy to follow so I wouldn’t recommend if you’re dabbling in the genre. I also prefer character driven fiction and this had almost no exploration of the main character. The author is clearly very inventive and I think the overall concept is clever and imaginative.

Trap Line is a short story by American author Timothy Zahn. Engineer Toby Collier is sending his astral to meld with a replicate on the Pathmaker on Ganymede to diagnose a transmitter problem and effect a repair: fairly routine. But something goes amiss and his astral is caught in a trap room with ten bird-like aliens he soon learns are Hyfisks.

The trap facility is run by a family of insectoid beings: father, mother and daughter, whose pet ursk (resembling a cat/iguana) can see and hear captured aliens and alerts them to new arrivals. Escape is prevented by the deep chasm that surrounds the captives. With no prospect of rescue, Toby decides to find a way out before his earth-based team remove his body’s life support.

In making an escape plan with the Hyfisks that involves riding the cat/iguana and improvising precision tools, Toby discovers a problem that challenges the insectoid family. Can he formulate a win-win-win solution? A very enjoyable sci-fi take on astral travel.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories.

Trap Line is an Amazon short by Timothy Zahn, disappointingly I didn’t enjoy this short story. Too much at the hard science for my taste.

A short story with a moral. Set in the far off future, Toby monitors space vehicles and projects from his tech office, sending his conciousness into a drone when repairs or course corrections are needed, then returning back to his Earth bound body. Until the day that he doesn't return to Earth. He's landed in a jail with alien soldiers as his bunk mates. An original plot line that starts with a rude awakening.

Timothy Zahn is best known for his traditional science fiction, having a huge fan base that guarantees an audience, even when he surprises us with alien soldiers talking to a man they cannot see. The book is short on pages, but not on story. 5 easy stars.

Fun short story about a human and some aliens caught in a trap and how they work together to get out of it. Neat scifi twist to it.