Aptitude
Novelette 7,916 words Recommended by 4 award/anthology sources
Alena has momentarily escaped her world and its imminent gravitational collapse by cheating her way into the selection process of the Board of Cosmogamy. By passing this stringent exam, she may finally learn the secrets of building a universe from first principles. But the competition is smarter and better prepared, and even Alena’s cunning and mathematical talents may not be enough to uncover the answers she has been looking for.
Quasar links out; the story lives on Tor.com, where the author gets the click.