58

I read it online few years ago. It is a short story about exploring a spacecraft/ship/station that seems to be infinite inside.

It is written like a log, and each entry starts with a measure, like Day 1 "1 km", Day 2 "10 km", Day 3 "100 km" (not sure about dimensions but they grew exponentially).

I found the story at that time while reading about megastructures. Although the construction in the story was huge, it didn't fit the criteria of megastructure because it was infinite.

6
  • 7
    This makes me think of "the Way" in Greg Bear's Eon. But I don't recall if any of the chapters started with measurements like that. Also, this was a novel rather than a short story.
    – Xantec
    Aug 7, 2014 at 12:41
  • 2
    If you're interested in stories about seemingly infinite structures, you might enjoy reading House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. This is not a short story though, but a full-blown book. It's also a typographical experiment, which makes it even more interesting. Take a look, maybe you'll enjoy it!
    – user622505
    Aug 8, 2014 at 8:57
  • 4
    This is a good example of why story-id questions are a good feature of this site. I read this, found the concept interesting, and found the answer and the link and just read this story.
    – Tango
    Aug 13, 2014 at 5:46
  • @Lasooch: Typographical or topographical experiment? There's a big difference!
    – Tango
    Aug 13, 2014 at 5:46
  • 1
    @Tango actually, I guess one could say it's a bit of both. But mostly tYpography. Take a look: images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/… - an actual page from the book ;)
    – user622505
    Aug 13, 2014 at 17:19

1 Answer 1

71

It is Report on an unidentified space station by J. G. Ballard. You can read a PDF version here or an HTML version here.

7
  • 10
    That was a really neat story
    – Elias
    Aug 7, 2014 at 15:00
  • 5
    Reminiscent of Borges' "Library of Babel". Aug 7, 2014 at 18:25
  • 4
    This is why I love just to toddle around this page. Brilliant story
    – IgnasK
    Aug 8, 2014 at 11:54
  • 2
    Yay for reading Aug 8, 2014 at 13:59
  • 1
    @moopet The HTML link still works. Given that the entire story can be read in a couple minutes, HTML is not too bad.
    – Haydentech
    Oct 23, 2018 at 16:48

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.