CITY by Clifford Simak
The three stories here that Simak wrote he later integrated into a novel, also titled City...I read and reviewed it a little while back. In the title short story, he paints a picture of a society that has almost completely moved out of the city life and into country estates...and why not, with the atomic helicopter cheaply replacing cars and the need to upkeep roads, long distances can now be covered in a short span of time. There are still just a few residents left in the story's city as the government struggles to hang onto power and squatters are reclaiming the abandoned houses. The hero, John Webster, defends them against the city burning down their homes...the ending sets the larger story into motion...
The three stories here that Simak wrote he later integrated into a novel, also titled City...I read and reviewed it a little while back. In the title short story, he paints a picture of a society that has almost completely moved out of the city life and into country estates...and why not, with the atomic helicopter cheaply replacing cars and the need to upkeep roads, long distances can now be covered in a short span of time. There are still just a few residents left in the story's city as the government struggles to hang onto power and squatters are reclaiming the abandoned houses. The hero, John Webster, defends them against the city burning down their homes...the ending sets the larger story into motion...
ARENA by Fredric Brown
There's an old Star Trek episode with the same title, where Kirk and a dinosaur-like representative of the Enemy are pitted on a rocky, desert planet in a struggle to the death to determine their respective races' futures. The original story, on which that episode was based, differs in some details as well as how it is all resolved at the end. In Brown's tale, the aliens are invading our solar system and a scout ship pilot is abducted to the large domed arena...with blue sand and bisected by an invisible wall seemingly impenetrable to living things. On the other side he sees a horrid, red sphere and he instantly knows who his opponent is. I read it as a kid before I saw the Star Trek version...the original is better. In both, it is a very advanced consciousness that snatches the combatants, places them in the "arena", and lays down the rules for their war's outcome...
There's an old Star Trek episode with the same title, where Kirk and a dinosaur-like representative of the Enemy are pitted on a rocky, desert planet in a struggle to the death to determine their respective races' futures. The original story, on which that episode was based, differs in some details as well as how it is all resolved at the end. In Brown's tale, the aliens are invading our solar system and a scout ship pilot is abducted to the large domed arena...with blue sand and bisected by an invisible wall seemingly impenetrable to living things. On the other side he sees a horrid, red sphere and he instantly knows who his opponent is. I read it as a kid before I saw the Star Trek version...the original is better. In both, it is a very advanced consciousness that snatches the combatants, places them in the "arena", and lays down the rules for their war's outcome...
HUDDLING PLACE by Clifford Simak
It is a few generations later in Simak's vision of humanity's future and another Webster...this one Jerome, a renowned surgeon celebrated for his work on the nervous system of Martians, resides in reclusive comfort in his remote estate. That works for him as he has a network of his own android talking robots...headed by Jenkins...that attend to his needs, as well as virtual communications that enable him to interact across vast distances with others without the need to travel. Jerome, who once travelled to Mars in his work and met and befriended that planet's greatest thinker, is now a prisoner in his home, suffering from extreme agoraphobia, or fear of open spaces...which he has discovered now afflicts a large segment of humanity. When his Martian friend suffers a catastrophic medical emergency and needs him to travel there to operate, how will Jerome respond? It's a great story with a sobering ending...
It is a few generations later in Simak's vision of humanity's future and another Webster...this one Jerome, a renowned surgeon celebrated for his work on the nervous system of Martians, resides in reclusive comfort in his remote estate. That works for him as he has a network of his own android talking robots...headed by Jenkins...that attend to his needs, as well as virtual communications that enable him to interact across vast distances with others without the need to travel. Jerome, who once travelled to Mars in his work and met and befriended that planet's greatest thinker, is now a prisoner in his home, suffering from extreme agoraphobia, or fear of open spaces...which he has discovered now afflicts a large segment of humanity. When his Martian friend suffers a catastrophic medical emergency and needs him to travel there to operate, how will Jerome respond? It's a great story with a sobering ending...
KINDNESS by Lester del Rey
A genetic mutation vastly improves the mental capacity of humans to the point where a new race forms and eventually fights its way to domination over the dwindling remnant of homo sapiens. Danny is the last human as we know it, and the surrounding people try to make his life as meaningful for him as possible. But he cannot stand being treated with such condescension and plots his escape from Earth. The meaning of the story's title comes into play at the end, and it raises the question of what kindness is and how sometimes deception is used in its exercise...
A genetic mutation vastly improves the mental capacity of humans to the point where a new race forms and eventually fights its way to domination over the dwindling remnant of homo sapiens. Danny is the last human as we know it, and the surrounding people try to make his life as meaningful for him as possible. But he cannot stand being treated with such condescension and plots his escape from Earth. The meaning of the story's title comes into play at the end, and it raises the question of what kindness is and how sometimes deception is used in its exercise...
DESERTION by Clifford Simak
Still later in Simak's timetable for his novel City, this story takes place on Jupiter as a new technology, conversion, allows for people to be transformed into a different life form (and back again)...in this case one that is wholly suited to withstand the enormous pressures and completely different chemical structure of Jupiter's atmosphere and surface. Only one problem: they keep sending people, after conversion, out into the Jupiter wilderness but none ever come back. Finally, the man running the station decides to take things into his own hands and along with his pet dog, they together make the conversion and begin their Jovian adventure. If you love dogs, read this story. Heck, even if you don't, read this story!
Still later in Simak's timetable for his novel City, this story takes place on Jupiter as a new technology, conversion, allows for people to be transformed into a different life form (and back again)...in this case one that is wholly suited to withstand the enormous pressures and completely different chemical structure of Jupiter's atmosphere and surface. Only one problem: they keep sending people, after conversion, out into the Jupiter wilderness but none ever come back. Finally, the man running the station decides to take things into his own hands and along with his pet dog, they together make the conversion and begin their Jovian adventure. If you love dogs, read this story. Heck, even if you don't, read this story!
Next week I'll conclude my review of the best in short science fiction from 1944...
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