As a kid I often went over to my father's bookshelves, looking for interesting books to read...almost all of them cheap paperbacks. A couple that drew my attention were collections of science fiction short stories by Fredric Brown, a mid-twentieth century writer who also wrote mystery stories. But I think that those brief tales contained within my father's books had a big influence on me as a reader and writer...much more than from the detached teachers I had to deal with throughout my elementary and high school years. Brown's stories are in several of the Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories year-by-year anthologies published by DAW books, and a few years ago I bought a compilation of this underrated author's science fiction short stories. The Weapon, which I'm about to discuss, appeared in Asimov's series for the year 1951...
Like Orson Scott Card's tale Deep Breathing Exercises, The Weapon is only five pages long but, like the former, packs a big punch...especially with its unforgettable last line. As what is that final line? Well, I'd be giving everything away if I revealed it, and that isn't how I operate here. Instead, I'll just say that a scientist, living with his mentally-challenged son, is busy working on a plan for an ultimate weapon, a doomsday machine if you will. Another man, who calls himself Niemand, pays him a visit and implores him to seek reason and stop his project...otherwise there will be much death and catastrophe. The story plays itself out...on those short five pages...between these three characters, each likable in their own individual way. But the ending...
The ending to The Weapon carries for me an application to today's world when someone who isn't necessarily all there "upstairs" can convince enough people to vote him or her into office...and then be left with the authority to start a planetary nuclear war. Enough said: read The Weapon and see for yourself...I'm not sure whether or not it is available on the Web...
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