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Descendant

Iain M. Banks

First published August 1987
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette
Series Culture

A shot-down spaceman has to walk around a large part of a planet in an intelligent powered space suit.

No direct quote of "the Culture", but features a drone, knife missiles, AI levels measured in decimal numbers and Orbitals.
The copyright page of State of the Art (Orbit trade paperback edition, ISBN 1-85723-030-2) does not mention this story. It states that a different story, "Odd Attachment," was first published in Tales from the Forbidden Planet.
This appears to be mistaken -- the story "Descendant" first appeared in Tales from the Forbidden Planet, and "Odd Attachment" first appeared in "Arrows of Eros."

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
August 1987 Cover Tales from the Forbidden Planet Titan Books Anthology 133
August 1987 Cover Tales from the Forbidden Planet Titan Books Anthology 133
October 1987 Cover Tales from the Forbidden Planet Titan Books Anthology 133
1991 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 33
March 1991 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 33
1992 Cover Ein Geschenk der Kultur Heyne Collection 59
1993 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 42
1994 The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
1996 The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
1996 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
1997 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
1997 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
1998 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 42
1999 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
1999 Cover Monolith 002 Zagrebačka naklada Anthology
2001 The State of the Art Orbit Collection
November 2004 Cover The State of the Art Night Shade Books Collection 29
November 2004 Cover The State of the Art Night Shade Books Collection 29
2005 The State of the Art Orbit Collection
2006 The State of the Art Orbit Collection 40
April 2007 Cover The State of the Art Night Shade Books Collection 29
March 2010 Cover L'essence de l'art Le Bélial' Collection 72
March 2010 Cover The State of the Art Hachette Digital Collection |39
2011 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 39
May 2011 Cover Última generación La Factoría de Ideas Collection 48
2013 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 39
2013 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection 39
February 2013 Cover L'essence de l'art Le Livre de Poche Collection 77
November 2013 Cover The State of the Art Orbit Collection |39
April 2024 Cover The State of the Art Hachette Audio Collection |39
April 2024 Cover The State of the Art Orbit (US) Collection 39
April 2024 Cover The State of the Art Orbit (US) Collection |4