Space Relations

254 Pages·1974·7.848 MB·English

by  Donald Barr

Donald Barr
Books by Donald Barr SPACE
Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: Dilemmas in RELATIONS
American Education Today
Space Relations: A Slightly Gothic
Interplanetary Tale A Slightly Gothic
Interplanetary Tale
Children's Books
How & Why Wonder Book of Atomic Energy
How & Why Wonder Book of Primitive Man
How & Why Wonder Book of Building
Arithmetic for Billy Goats
m.
CHARTER HOUSE
New York
Donald Barr
Books by Donald Barr SPACE
Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?: Dilemmas in RELATIONS
American Education Today
Space Relations: A Slightly Gothic
Interplanetary Tale A Slightly Gothic
Interplanetary Tale
Children's Books
How & Why Wonder Book of Atomic Energy
How & Why Wonder Book of Primitive Man
How & Why Wonder Book of Building
Arithmetic for Billy Goats
m.
CHARTER HOUSE
New York
To M.A.B. T annhiiuser:
with thirty years' love Stets soll nur dir, nur dir mein Lied ertonen!
Gesungen laut sei jetzt dein Preis von mir!
Dein siisser Reiz ist Quelle alles Schonen,
und jedes holde Wunder stammt von dir.
Die Glut, die du mir in das Herz gegossen,
als Flamme lodre hell sie dir allein!
Ja, gegen alle Welt will unverdrossen
fortan ich nun dein ki.ihner Streiter sein.
Doch bin muss ich zur Welt der Erden,
bei dir kann ich nur Sklave werden;
Space Relations: A Slightly Gothic Interplanetary Tale
COPYRIGHT© 1973 BY DONALD BARR nach Freiheit <loch verlangt es mich,
nach Freiheit, Freiheit diirste ich;
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or zu Kampf und Streite will ich stehn,
parts thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief
sei's auch auf Tod und Untergehn:
quotations in a review.
Drum muss aus deinem Reich ich fliehn-
0 Konigin, Gottin! Lass mich ziehn!
-RICHARD WAGNER
I did not hear the preacher say
That Eros was like Agape;
In fact, he hinted it was not.
And yet the teat-besotted tot,
The humping lover, and the old
Voyeur remembering in the cold
Have inklings of a tenderness
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 73-79958 That smacks of friendship, more or less.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -J. J.
UNFERTH
Human Sacrifice, Human Slavery are instances of great
intuitions of religion and of civilized purposes expressing
themselves by means of inherited brutalities of instinctive
behaviour.
-ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
To M.A.B. T annhiiuser:
with thirty years' love Stets soll nur dir, nur dir mein Lied ertonen!
Gesungen laut sei jetzt dein Preis von mir!
Dein siisser Reiz ist Quelle alles Schonen,
und jedes holde Wunder stammt von dir.
Die Glut, die du mir in das Herz gegossen,
als Flamme lodre hell sie dir allein!
Ja, gegen alle Welt will unverdrossen
fortan ich nun dein ki.ihner Streiter sein.
Doch bin muss ich zur Welt der Erden,
bei dir kann ich nur Sklave werden;
Space Relations: A Slightly Gothic Interplanetary Tale
COPYRIGHT© 1973 BY DONALD BARR nach Freiheit <loch verlangt es mich,
nach Freiheit, Freiheit diirste ich;
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or zu Kampf und Streite will ich stehn,
parts thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief
sei's auch auf Tod und Untergehn:
quotations in a review.
Drum muss aus deinem Reich ich fliehn-
0 Konigin, Gottin! Lass mich ziehn!
-RICHARD WAGNER
I did not hear the preacher say
That Eros was like Agape;
In fact, he hinted it was not.
And yet the teat-besotted tot,
The humping lover, and the old
Voyeur remembering in the cold
Have inklings of a tenderness
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 73-79958 That smacks of friendship, more or less.
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -J. J.
UNFERTH
Human Sacrifice, Human Slavery are instances of great
intuitions of religion and of civilized purposes expressing
themselves by means of inherited brutalities of instinctive
behaviour.
-ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
Part One
Naked, wincing, waiting, John Craig lay on his
back on the cold examination table, his knees raised, his feet
on either side of the big pedals, his hands palm-up beside him,
in a thicket-no, it was a Gorgon's chevelure-of wires: green
wires, white wires, cerise wires, black wires, yellow wires: wires
leading from probes tamped into every orifice of his body,
from electrodes sucking at his pallid skin in thirty-one places,
from catheters threaded along four arteries and two veins, to a
sleek, gray cabinet, the terminal.
"Medusa loves me, hardening my flesh," Craig quoted in a
mumble around two fat white wires; he gagged.
Four kilometers away, in Bethesda, the Health Executive's
North American computer retrieved the thirty-eight-year rec
ord of John Craig's physiology.
Back to back with the gray, a large, blue cabinet rattled
1
Part One
Naked, wincing, waiting, John Craig lay on his
back on the cold examination table, his knees raised, his feet
on either side of the big pedals, his hands palm-up beside him,
in a thicket-no, it was a Gorgon's chevelure-of wires: green
wires, white wires, cerise wires, black wires, yellow wires: wires
leading from probes tamped into every orifice of his body,
from electrodes sucking at his pallid skin in thirty-one places,
from catheters threaded along four arteries and two veins, to a
sleek, gray cabinet, the terminal.
"Medusa loves me, hardening my flesh," Craig quoted in a
mumble around two fat white wires; he gagged.
Four kilometers away, in Bethesda, the Health Executive's
North American computer retrieved the thirty-eight-year rec
ord of John Craig's physiology.
Back to back with the gray, a large, blue cabinet rattled
1
briefly and, like an idiot belching and sticking out his tongue, A new voice in the earphones, a metallic tenor instantly
pushed forth several inches of paper. recognizable as synthesized speech of four or five parameters
MD8 Krause, scuttling back and forth in the traditional at best, said: "I am going to pronounce some ordinary words.
white smock of his guild, glanced at the paper, checked the
Listen, but do not reply. Simply remain relaxed. Close your
anal and urethral probes with a plastigloved finger ("Son of a
eyes if it helps you to relax. Now, please pay attention: Duty."
bitch," mumbled Craig), said heartily, "We're on the line.
A pause of two seconds. "Average." Pause. "Cut ... Protect
Relax, John," peeled off the plastiglove, slid a brace of plump,
... Eat ... Shame ... Leisure ... Warm ... Exquisite
gray earphones over Craig's damp, sandy hair and a single
. . . Control . . . Pink . . . Nighttime . . . Teeth ...
white one over his own white bristles, ran a thumb over the
Essence ... Relief ... Wild ..." The robot-voice intoned
soft inside of Craig's left forearm and peered with a half smile
forty words and then said, "Thank you for listening."
at the "MS43985" neatly branded there, keyed digits into the
Krause busied himself with the PSB for a moment. The
PSB on the cabinet, and pressed the· blue "Start Program"
blue cabinet whirred, belched twice, and vomited paper. The
button.
physician waited a few moments after the seizure was over,
"Oh, I'm wholly relaxed," mumbled Craig.
pulled the long print-out loose, and studied it, chewing his
"Breathe in," said the earphones in a warm, female voice.
upper lip.
"Hold your breath. Release your breath. Breathe naturally. In.
"You are a crafty old quack, aren't you?" mumbled Craig,
Out. In. Expel all your breath: force it out. Stop breathing.
and gagged.
Breathe naturally. Place your feet on the pedals. Begin
"Crafty enough to winkle what I want to out of the likes of
pedaling. ..."
you," said Krause equably. "I have everything we need. Let's
The LHVM series lasted four minutes. Krause pressed the
disconnect you."
green "Continue Program" button.
The buzzer sounded on a wall vidiphone at the other side of
"You will now experience," said the warm female voice, "a
the room. "Sorry, John," said Krause. "Just let me get rid of
series of mild stimuli from some of the electrodes on your
skin. Please do not be alarmed. They will be very mild, like a this." He hurried to the 'phone and thumbed the switch. A
momentary tickling. Please do not try to suppress your young man in medical white looked anxiously out of the
reactions. Please do not scratch or try to remove the elec screen and said, "Krause, Frederic, MD8?"
trodes ...." "Yes," said Krause.
The NRN series was, as promised, like being teased with a The young man held something outside vidicam range and
huge, invisible feather; it lasted a minute and a half. compared it with Krause. "All right. Go to July code five-zed,
When it was over, Craig raised his eyes expectantly to please." Abruptly, the image ~ddied into streaks. Krause
Krause, but the physician shook his head, held up a warning pulled a flimsy from his smock pocket, peered at it, and
hand, turned to the gray cabinet, keyed four digits into the punched a sequence into the keyboard. The young man in
PSB, pressed the blue "Start Program" button, and turned white reappeared. "Walters, Carl, HT4, at Bethesda," he said.
back again with a countenance totally blank of expression. "Is that your patient on the table, sir? The one you had on
Craig's eyes narrowed. line?"
2 3
briefly and, like an idiot belching and sticking out his tongue, A new voice in the earphones, a metallic tenor instantly
pushed forth several inches of paper. recognizable as synthesized speech of four or five parameters
MD8 Krause, scuttling back and forth in the traditional at best, said: "I am going to pronounce some ordinary words.
white smock of his guild, glanced at the paper, checked the
Listen, but do not reply. Simply remain relaxed. Close your
anal and urethral probes with a plastigloved finger ("Son of a
eyes if it helps you to relax. Now, please pay attention: Duty."
bitch," mumbled Craig), said heartily, "We're on the line.
A pause of two seconds. "Average." Pause. "Cut ... Protect
Relax, John," peeled off the plastiglove, slid a brace of plump,
... Eat ... Shame ... Leisure ... Warm ... Exquisite
gray earphones over Craig's damp, sandy hair and a single
. . . Control . . . Pink . . . Nighttime . . . Teeth ...
white one over his own white bristles, ran a thumb over the
Essence ... Relief ... Wild ..." The robot-voice intoned
soft inside of Craig's left forearm and peered with a half smile
forty words and then said, "Thank you for listening."
at the "MS43985" neatly branded there, keyed digits into the
Krause busied himself with the PSB for a moment. The
PSB on the cabinet, and pressed the· blue "Start Program"
blue cabinet whirred, belched twice, and vomited paper. The
button.
physician waited a few moments after the seizure was over,
"Oh, I'm wholly relaxed," mumbled Craig.
pulled the long print-out loose, and studied it, chewing his
"Breathe in," said the earphones in a warm, female voice.
upper lip.
"Hold your breath. Release your breath. Breathe naturally. In.
"You are a crafty old quack, aren't you?" mumbled Craig,
Out. In. Expel all your breath: force it out. Stop breathing.
and gagged.
Breathe naturally. Place your feet on the pedals. Begin
"Crafty enough to winkle what I want to out of the likes of
pedaling. ..."
you," said Krause equably. "I have everything we need. Let's
The LHVM series lasted four minutes. Krause pressed the
disconnect you."
green "Continue Program" button.
The buzzer sounded on a wall vidiphone at the other side of
"You will now experience," said the warm female voice, "a
the room. "Sorry, John," said Krause. "Just let me get rid of
series of mild stimuli from some of the electrodes on your
skin. Please do not be alarmed. They will be very mild, like a this." He hurried to the 'phone and thumbed the switch. A
momentary tickling. Please do not try to suppress your young man in medical white looked anxiously out of the
reactions. Please do not scratch or try to remove the elec screen and said, "Krause, Frederic, MD8?"
trodes ...." "Yes," said Krause.
The NRN series was, as promised, like being teased with a The young man held something outside vidicam range and
huge, invisible feather; it lasted a minute and a half. compared it with Krause. "All right. Go to July code five-zed,
When it was over, Craig raised his eyes expectantly to please." Abruptly, the image ~ddied into streaks. Krause
Krause, but the physician shook his head, held up a warning pulled a flimsy from his smock pocket, peered at it, and
hand, turned to the gray cabinet, keyed four digits into the punched a sequence into the keyboard. The young man in
PSB, pressed the blue "Start Program" button, and turned white reappeared. "Walters, Carl, HT4, at Bethesda," he said.
back again with a countenance totally blank of expression. "Is that your patient on the table, sir? The one you had on
Craig's eyes narrowed. line?"
2 3
"Yes. Craig, John Armbruster, CDE16. MID-ah-NA- Craig scrubbed the contact-paste off his body with aromatic
111-22-6257." tissue and began to put on his clothes. MD8 Krause sat on the
"Right, sir. Well, I have to report a tap-that is, an attempt examination table, swinging his short legs and studying the
to tap his examination-uh-somewhere." print-out.
"Somewhere?" "What's it all about, John?" he asked without looking up.
"Yes, sir." "It could be almost anybody."
"Remarkable! Right in good old Somewhere!" "In other words, you won't tell me."
"Not here in Bethesda, I mean." "In other words, I honestly don't know. Fritz, it could be
"You say 'attempt,' " snapped Krause. "Was it successful?" my own shop. Perhaps they're worried about me. Perhaps they
"We-we don't know, sir. It could have been. Depends think I can't handle this mission to Kossar."
on who ... on whether . . ." "Perhaps you can't."
Krause glanced over his shoulder at Craig. Craig grinned Craig ignored that. "Or it could be somebody working for
mirthlessly. Krause said, "You mean, young man, it depends the Plith. Or somebody working for Kossar. Or perhaps it's my
on whether this was a government tap." erstwhile friends, the merry Liberals. They control OIP and
"Yes, sir." most of ETS, and they have plenty of people in Justice. They
"And if it was, it was probably successful." sure as hell don't want me going on this trip."
"Yes, sir." "I'm not sure I want you going on this trip." Krause
"Well, my young friend,'' said the physician firmly, "you produced a pen and ticked off two lines of the print-out,
may as well forget the matter. What's a little snooping hesitated, and then ticked off two more.
between friends?" "Ah, that reminds me. Fritz, Fritz, you devious old charla-
"That is a point of view, sir." tan," said Craig. "Where did that last little series come from?"
"That's precisely what it is. My patient has nothing to hide. "The words?"
Etcetera. Put it out of your mind, HT4 Walters." "The words."
"Yes, sir." "I thought you'd like them. They're rather Neofreudian."
"Let your natural optimism have full scope." "I noticed."
"Yes, sir." "It's not a new idea, but it's just recently become available
"Expand the ventral and contract the dorsal aspects of your to us little quacks out in the field. Up to now, all we had for
frame, as the great Dr. James said." two hundred years was the word-association test Jung designed
"Yes, sir." for Freud. You know: 'knife-fork. Beauty-beast.' Two
Krause blanked the screen and swore. He came back to hundred years. It tells something, if the doctor has lived with
Craig and stood looking down at him. Craig smiled. The his patient a long time. Otherwise, it tests the doctor; the
physician said, "All right, let's unhook you." patient is the inkblot, the doctor is the patient. Of course,
The catheters out, the blood vessels sealed, the skin patched various characters tried to mechanize it. Very crude stuff,
with dermaton, throat, nostrils, ears, arms, and urethra mixed up with polygraphy and the like." Krause waved a hand.
cleared, and the thirty-one electrodes abruptly weaned, John "But all the hardware could do, do you see, was to detect gross
4 5
"Yes. Craig, John Armbruster, CDE16. MID-ah-NA- Craig scrubbed the contact-paste off his body with aromatic
111-22-6257." tissue and began to put on his clothes. MD8 Krause sat on the
"Right, sir. Well, I have to report a tap-that is, an attempt examination table, swinging his short legs and studying the
to tap his examination-uh-somewhere." print-out.
"Somewhere?" "What's it all about, John?" he asked without looking up.
"Yes, sir." "It could be almost anybody."
"Remarkable! Right in good old Somewhere!" "In other words, you won't tell me."
"Not here in Bethesda, I mean." "In other words, I honestly don't know. Fritz, it could be
"You say 'attempt,' " snapped Krause. "Was it successful?" my own shop. Perhaps they're worried about me. Perhaps they
"We-we don't know, sir. It could have been. Depends think I can't handle this mission to Kossar."
on who ... on whether . . ." "Perhaps you can't."
Krause glanced over his shoulder at Craig. Craig grinned Craig ignored that. "Or it could be somebody working for
mirthlessly. Krause said, "You mean, young man, it depends the Plith. Or somebody working for Kossar. Or perhaps it's my
on whether this was a government tap." erstwhile friends, the merry Liberals. They control OIP and
"Yes, sir." most of ETS, and they have plenty of people in Justice. They
"And if it was, it was probably successful." sure as hell don't want me going on this trip."
"Yes, sir." "I'm not sure I want you going on this trip." Krause
"Well, my young friend,'' said the physician firmly, "you produced a pen and ticked off two lines of the print-out,
may as well forget the matter. What's a little snooping hesitated, and then ticked off two more.
between friends?" "Ah, that reminds me. Fritz, Fritz, you devious old charla-
"That is a point of view, sir." tan," said Craig. "Where did that last little series come from?"
"That's precisely what it is. My patient has nothing to hide. "The words?"
Etcetera. Put it out of your mind, HT4 Walters." "The words."
"Yes, sir." "I thought you'd like them. They're rather Neofreudian."
"Let your natural optimism have full scope." "I noticed."
"Yes, sir." "It's not a new idea, but it's just recently become available
"Expand the ventral and contract the dorsal aspects of your to us little quacks out in the field. Up to now, all we had for
frame, as the great Dr. James said." two hundred years was the word-association test Jung designed
"Yes, sir." for Freud. You know: 'knife-fork. Beauty-beast.' Two
Krause blanked the screen and swore. He came back to hundred years. It tells something, if the doctor has lived with
Craig and stood looking down at him. Craig smiled. The his patient a long time. Otherwise, it tests the doctor; the
physician said, "All right, let's unhook you." patient is the inkblot, the doctor is the patient. Of course,
The catheters out, the blood vessels sealed, the skin patched various characters tried to mechanize it. Very crude stuff,
with dermaton, throat, nostrils, ears, arms, and urethra mixed up with polygraphy and the like." Krause waved a hand.
cleared, and the thirty-one electrodes abruptly weaned, John "But all the hardware could do, do you see, was to detect gross
4 5