Three mid-century science-fiction stories about the future of war, space travel, symbiosis, and the dangers of cutting off your own humanity.

<p class="credits"><b>Paul Linebarger</b></p> <p class="stars"><abbr aria-label="4 stars out of 5." class="p-rating" title="4 stars out of 5" value="4">★★★★☆</abbr></p> <p>Not so much a thematic collection as the three stories that have both entered into the public domain and already been transcribed at Project Gutenberg.</p> <p>All three are solidly in the “here’s a weird idea” vein of science-fiction. Plot and characterization are just enough to explore, or at least express, the concept.</p> <h2>War No. 81-Q</h2> <p>Short, bird’s eye view of a “war” fought entirely using remote controlled drones…on a designated battlefield with a time limit, like a tournament, with spectators. So you want to settle your international disputes with violence. Why harm actual people?</p> <h2>Scanners Live In Vain</h2> <p>This came up in Analee Newitz’ recent book, <em>Stories are Weapons</em>, in part because Smith, under his real name of Paul Linebarger, literally wrote the book on <a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/48612"><em>Psychological Warfare</em></a>. (Yes, Gutenberg has that one too!) Newitz draws a direct connection between the way a science-fiction story shows you the key elements of an alternate world, letting you connect the dots so the ideas feel more natural, and the way psy-ops do the same thing.</p> <p>The story itself is very much worth reading. The main character is a “scanner,” a man who has had all his senses and emotional centers surgically cut off so that he can endure the “pain of space,” a neurological effect that prevents normal people from traveling across deep space except in suspended animation. Between missions, they can use a wire to literally reconnect to their humanity for short periods of time. He’s called up for an emergency meeting while “cranched,” a meeting that calls the scanners’ whole purpose into question. And he’s the only one there who’s in a state to understand how disastrously people would react to the course of action they choose.</p> <p>I still think “cranch” sounds like an unholy combination of cranberry and ranch dressing, though.</p> <h2>The Game of Rat and Dragon</h2> <p>Not as serious a story as “Scanners…” but fun and still thought-provoking.</p> <p>There’s something malevolent out in interstellar space preying on our starships. Something disrupted by bright flashes of light, but only detectable by telepaths – and it’s faster than human reflexes. Fortunately, not all telepaths are human.</p> <p>This one starts off being very coy about the “Partners,” but manages to avoid “tomato surprise” territory by making the big reveal in the <em>middle</em> of the story, at the point where exposition gives way to plot. Let’s just say that Smith was a cat person.</p>