Singing the Ancient Out of the Dark
ShortStory 4,095 words Recommended by 3 award/anthology sources
"A small asteroid swerved in a most un-asteroid-like way and pierced the hull of the archivist’s ship, as though it was determined to drive her away. But she was just getting started. She slammed the emergency foam release button, holding her breath even though the leak sealed faster than she could gasp."
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
Quasar links out; the story lives on Lightspeed, where the author gets the click.