August 27, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Subjectivity by Norman Spinrad. Boredom on a long interstellar trip
can be quite a problem, but the entertainment technique the
government dreamed up for this one was a little too good.
(00:21):
Interplanetary flight having been perfected, the planets and moons of
the Sol System having been colonized, Man turned his attention
to the stars and ran into a stone wall. After
three decades of trying, scientists reluctantly concluded that a faster
than light drive was an impossibility, at least within the
realm of any known theory of the universe. They gave up.
(00:44):
But a government does not give up so easily, especially
a unified government which already controls the entire habitat of
the human race, most especially a psychologically and sociologically enlightened
government which sees the handwriting on the wall and has
already noticed the first signs of racial claustrophobia, an object
less sense of frustrated rage, increases in senseless crimes, proliferation
(01:08):
of perversions and vices of every kind, like grape juice
sealed in a bottle, The human race had begun to ferment. Therefore,
the Solar government took a slightly different point of view
toward interstellar travel. Man must go to the stars period. Therefore,
man will go to the stars. If the speed of
(01:28):
light could not be exceeded, then man would go to
the stars within that limit. When a government with tens
of billions of dollars to spend becomes monomaniacal, great things
can be accomplished, also unfortunately unspeakable horrors. Stage one, a
drive was developed which could propel a spaceship at half
the speed of light. This was merely a matter of
(01:50):
technological concentration and several billion dollars. Stage two, a ship
was built around the drive and outfitted with every conceivable
safety device. A laser beam communication system was installed so
that Saul could keep in contact with the ship all
the way to Centaurus. A crew of ten carefully screamed,
sched and trained near supermen was selected and the ship
(02:12):
was launched on a sixteen year round trip to Centaurus.
It never came back. Two years out, the ten near
supermen became ten raving maniacs, but the Solar Government did
not give up. The next ship contained five near supermen
and five near superwomen. They only lasted for a year
and a half. The Solar Government intensified the screening process.
(02:36):
The next ship was manned by ten bonafide supermen. They
stayed sane for nearly three years. The Solar Government sent
out a ship containing five supermen and five superwomen. In
two years they had ten super lunatics. The psychologists came
to the unstartling conclusion that even the cream of humanity
(02:56):
in a sexually balanced crew could not stand up psych
alnely to sixteen years in a small steel womb, surrounded
by billions of cubic miles of nothing. One would have
expected reasonable men to have given up. Not the Solar Government.
Monomania had produced great things in the form of a
C two drive, it now proceeded to produce unspeakable horrors.
(03:21):
The cream of the race had failed, reasoned the Solar Government. Therefore,
we will give the dregs a chance. The fifth ship
was manned by homosexuals. They lasted only six months. A
ship full of lesbians bettered that by only two weeks.
Number seven was manned by schizophrenics. Since they were already mad,
they did not go crazy. Nevertheless, they did not come back.
(03:44):
Number eight was catatonics, nine was paranoids, ten was sadists,
eleven was masochists. Twelve was a mixed crew of sadists
and masochists. No luck. Maybe it was because thirteen was
still a mystic number, or maybe it was merely that
the Solar Government was running out of ideas. At any rate,
Ship number thirteen was the longest shot of all background.
(04:09):
From the beginnings of man, it had been known that
certain plants, mushrooms, certain cacti produced intense hallucinations. In the
mid twentieth century, scientists and other less scientifically minded had
begun to extract those hallucinogenic compounds, chiefly mescaline and psilocybin.
The next step was the synthesis of hallucinogens. L s
(04:30):
D twenty five was the first, and it was far
more powerful than the extracts. In the next few centuries,
more and more different hallucinogens were synthesized l s D
one O five, Joe Honnick acid, Huxley on baronite. So
by the time the Solar Government had decided that the
crew of Ship number thirteen would attempt to cope with
(04:50):
the terrible reality of interstellar space by denying that reality,
they had quite an assortment of hallucinogens to choose from
the one they chose was the new, as yet untested
two experiments for the price of one explained economy minded
officials and unbelievably complex compounds tentatively called omnidrine. Omnidrene was
(05:12):
what the name implied, a hallucinogen with all the properties
of the others, some which had proven to be all
its own and some which were as yet unknown. As
ten micrograms was one day's dose for the average man.
It was the ideal hallucinogen for the starship. So they
sealed five men and five women they had given up
on sexually unbalanced crews in ship number thirteen, along with
(05:36):
half a ton of omnidrine and their fondest wishes, pointed
the ship towards Centaurus and prayed for a miracle in
a way they could not have possibly foreseen. They got it.
As Starship thirteen passed the orbit of Pluto, a meeting
was held, since this could be considered the beginning of
interstellar space. The ship was reasonably large, ten small private cabins,
(05:59):
a bridge that would only be used for planet falls,
large storage areas, and a big common room where the
crew had gathered. They were all sitting in all purpose
lounges arranged in a circle. A few had their lounges
at full recline, but most preferred the upright position. Oliver Brunei,
the nominal captain, had just opened the first case of
(06:20):
omnidrene and taken out a bottle of the tiny pills.
This fellow inmates, he said, is omnidream. The time has
come for us to indulge. The automatics are all set.
We won't have to do a thing we don't want
to for the next eight years. He poured ten of
the tiny blue pills into the palm of his right hand.
(06:40):
On Earth, they used to have some kind of traditional
ceremony when a person crossed the equator for the first time.
Since we are crossing a far more important equator, I
thought we should have some kind of ceremony. The crew
squirmed irritably. I do tend to be verbose, Brunei thought, well, anyway,
I just thought we all ought to take the first
(07:01):
pills together, he said, somewhat defensively. So come on, Ali,
said a skinny, sour looking man of about thirty years Okay, Lazar, okay,
Marashovsky's going to be trouble. Brunei thought, why did they
put him on this ship? He handed the pills around.
Lazar Mirashevsky was about to gulp his down. Wait a minute,
(07:23):
said Brunei. Let's all do this together. One, two, three.
They swallowed the pills in about ten minutes, thought Brunei.
We should be feeling it. He looked at the crew.
Ten of us, he thought, ten brilliant misfits. Lazar, who
has spent half his life high on baronite Vera Galindez
(07:44):
would be medium, trying to make herself telepathic with mescaline. Poor, hey, Donner,
why is he here? Me? At least with me? It's simple,
this or jail? What a crew? Drug? Addicts, occultists, sensationalists
and what else? What makes a person do a thing
like this. It'll all come out, thought Brunei. In sixteen years,
(08:07):
it'll all come out. Feel anything yet, olly, said Marcia Johnson,
no doubt why she came along, Just an ugly old maid,
liking the idea of being cooped up with five men.
Nothing yet, said Brunei. He looked around the room, plain
steel walls, lined with cabinets full of omnivray, and on
two sides view screens on the ceiling, bare floor, the
(08:30):
other two walls decked out like an automat, plain gray
steel walls. Then why were the gray steel walls turning pink?
Uh oh, said Joby Kroll, rolling her pretty blonde head.
Oh oh, here it comes. The walls are dancing. The
ceiling is a spiral, muttered Vera, A winding red spiral. Okay,
(08:54):
fellow inmates said Brunei, it's hitting now. The walls were red,
fire engine red, and they were melting. No, not melting,
but evaporating like crystal. It is, said lind Pey, waving
his delicate oriental hands, like jade, as transparent as crystal.
(09:14):
There is a camel in the circle, said Lazaar, A
brown camel. Let's all try to see the camel together,
said Vera Galindez sharply tell us what it looks like, Lazarre.
It's brown. It's the too humped kind. It has a
two foot tail and big feet, said lind Pey. A
stupid face, said Donner, very stupid. Your camel is a
(09:38):
great bore, said the stocky, scowling bram Dacker. Let's have
something else, said Joby. Okay, replied Brunei. Now someone else,
tell us what they see. A lizard, said Linda Tobias,
a strange somber girl inclined to the morbid. A lizard, squeaked,
ingrid sullen. No, said lind Pey. A dragon, a green
(10:00):
dragon with a forked red tongue. He has little, useless wings,
said Lazarre. He's totally oblivious to us, said Vera. Brunei
saw the dragon. It was five feet long, green and scaly.
It was a conventional dragon except for the most bovine
expression in its eyes. Yes, he thought the dragon is here,
(10:22):
but the greater part of him knew that it was
an illusion. How long would this go on? It's good
that we see the same things, said Marcia. Let's always
see the same things. Yes, yes, now a mountain, a
tall blue mountain with snow on the peak. Yes, and clouds.
(10:42):
One week out, Oliver Brunei stepped into the common room.
Lin Pey, Vera, and Lazarre were sitting together on what
appeared to be a huge purple toadstool. But that's my hallucination,
thought Brunei. At least I think it is. Hello, Ali,
said Lazarre, Hi, what are you doing? We're looking at
(11:03):
the dragon again, said Vera, join us. Brunei thought of
the dragon for a moment. The toadstool disappeared, and the
by now familiar bovine dragon took its place. In the
last few days, they had discovered that if any two
of them concentrated on something long enough to materialize it,
any one else who wanted to could see it. In
a moment, what's so interesting about that silly dragon, said Brunei.
(11:27):
How about the camel, said Lazar. The dragon turned into
the two humped brown camel. Fooy, said lin Pey o
K said Vera, So what do you want? Lin Pey
thought for a moment. How about a meadow, he said,
A soft lawn of green grass. The sky is blue,
and there are a few white clouds. Clover is blooming,
(11:51):
said Lazar. Smell it. Brunei reclined on the soft green grass.
The smell of the earth beneath him was warm and moist.
A few apple trees here and there, he said, and
there was shade. Look over the hill, said Lazarre, there's
the dragon. Will you please get rid of that dragon,
(12:11):
snapped Brunei. Okay, Ali, okay, one month out. Get out
of the way, yelled Brunei. He gave the dragon a kick.
It moved plaintively. That wasn't very nice, Ali, said Lazarre.
That dragon is always underfoot, said Brunei. Why don't you
get rid of it? I've taken a liking to it,
(12:34):
said Lazarre. Besides, what about your saint Bernard. This ship
is getting too cluttered up with everyone's hallucination, said Brunei.
Ever since, when was it a week ago? Ever since
we've been able to conjure him up by ourselves and
make everyone else see them. Zaker dematerialized the woman on
his lap. Why don't we get together, he said, get together? Yes,
(12:58):
we could agree on an environment. Look at this common room,
for example, what a mess here? It's a meadow. There,
it's a beach, a palace, a boudoir. You mean we
should make it the same for all of us, asked Lazar. Sure,
we can have whatever we want in our cabins, but
let's make some sense out of the common room. Good idea,
(13:18):
said Brunei. I'll call the others. Three months out. Brunei
stepped through the stuccoed portal and into the central Spanish garden.
He noticed that the sky was blue, with a few
fleecy white clouds, but then the weather was always good.
They had agreed on that. Lazaar Ingrid, lin Pey, and
Vera were sitting on the green lawns surrounding the fountain. Dacker, Joby, Linda,
(13:43):
and Donner preferred the shade and lounged against the white
Arabesque wall, which enclosed the garden on four sides, broken
only by four arched entrance portals. The garden had been
a good compromise, thought Brunei. Something for everyone fresh air
and sunshine, but also the men security offered by walls,
which also provided shade for those who wanted it. A fountain,
(14:05):
a few palm trees, grass flowers, even the little formal
Japanese rock garden that lin Pei had insisted on. Hello, Ali,
said Lazarre. Nice day, isn't it, always, replied Brunei. How
about a little shower maybe tomorrow. I noticed a lot
of sleeping people today, said Brunei. Yes, said lin Pey.
(14:28):
By now, the garden seems to be able to maintain itself.
You think it has a separate existence, asked Ingrid. Of
course not, said Vera. Our subconscious minds are maintaining it.
It's probably here when we're all asleep. No way of
telling that, said Brunei. Besides, how can it exist when
we're asleep, when it doesn't really exist? To begin with? Semantics?
(14:51):
Ali semantics. Brunei took a bottle of omnigriy In out
of his pocket. Time to charge up the old batteries again,
he said, keep asked out the pills. I noticed Marcia
is still in her cabin. Yeah, said Lazar. She keeps
to herself a lot. No great. Just then Marcia burst
into the garden, screaming, make it go away, make it
(15:13):
go away. Behind her slithered a gigantic black snake with
a head as big as a horse's and bulging red eyes.
I thought we agreed to leave our private hallucinations in
our cabins, snapped Brunei. I tried, I tried. I don't
want it around, but it won't go away. Do something.
Ten feet of snake had already entered the garden. The
(15:35):
thing seemed endless. Take it easy, said Lazarre. Let's all
concentrate and think it away. They tried to erase the snake,
but it just rolled its big red eyes. That won't work,
said Vera, her subconscious is still fighting us. Part of
her must want the snake here. We've all got to
be together to erase it. Marcia began to cry. The
(15:58):
snake advanced another two feet. Oh, quiet, rasped Lazarre. Ali,
do I have your permission to bring my dragon into
the garden. He'll make short work of the snake. Brunei scowled,
You and your dragon, Okay, maybe it'll work instantly. The
green dragon was in the garden, but it was no
longer five feet long and bovine. It was a good
(16:20):
twelve feet long, with cold reptilian eyes and big yellow fangs.
It took one look at the snake, opened its powerful
jaws and belched a huge tongue of orange flame. The
serpent was incinerated. It disappeared. Brunei was trembling. What happened, Lazar?
He said, that's not the same, stupid little dragon, squeaked Lazarre.
(16:44):
He's grown. Brune I suddenly noticed that Lazar was ashen.
He also noticed that the dragon was turning in their direction.
Get it out of here, Lazarre, Get it out of here.
Lazar nodded. The dragon flickered and went pale, but it
was over a minute it before it disappeared entirely six
months out, things wandered the passageways and haunted the cabins.
(17:09):
Marcia's snake was back. There was Lazar's dragon, which seemed
to grow larger every day. And there was also a basilisk,
a pterodactyl, a vampire bat with a five foot wingspread,
and old fashioned red spade tailed demon and other assorted horrors.
Even Oliver Brunei's friendly saint Bernard had grown to monstrous size,
turned pale green, and grown large yellow fangs. Only the
(17:32):
Spanish garden in the common room was free of the monstrosities. Here,
the combined consciousness of the ten crew members were still
strong enough to banish the rampaging hallucinations. The ten of
them sat around the fountain, which seemed a shade less sparkling.
There were even rain clouds in the sky. I don't
like it, said bram Daker. It's getting completely out of control.
(17:55):
So we just have to stay in the garden, that's all,
said Brunei. The food fuods all here, and so is
the Omnidream, and they can't come here, not yet, said Marcia.
They all shuddered. What went wrong? Asked ingrid nothing, said Donner.
They didn't know what would happen when they sent us out,
so we can't say they were wrong. Very comforting, croaked Lazarre.
(18:20):
But can someone tell me why we can't control them anymore?
Who knows? Said Brunei. At least we can keep them
out of here. That's there was a snuffling at the wall.
The head of something like a Tyrannosaurus rex peered over
the wall at them. Ugh, said Lynn Pey. I think
that's a new one. The dragon's head appeared alongside the tyrannosaurs. Well,
(18:43):
at least there's a familiar face, tittered Linda. Very funny,
Marcia screamed. The huge black snake thrust its head through
a portal, and the flap of leathery wings could be heard,
and the smell of sulfur. Come on, come on, shouted Brunei.
Let's get these things out of here. After five minutes
of intense group concentration, the last of the horrors was banished.
(19:06):
It was a lot harder this time, said Daker. There
were more of them, said Donner. They're getting stronger and bolder.
Maybe some day they'll break through and then pay Let
the sentence hang everyone supplied his own ending don't be ridiculous,
snapped Brunei. They're not real, they can't kill us. Maybe
(19:28):
we should stop taking the Omni Dream, suggested Vera, without
very much conviction. At this point, said Brunei. He shuddered.
If the garden disappeared and we had nothing but the
bear Ship for the next fifteen and a half years,
and we knew it, and at the same time knew
that we had the Omni Dream to bring it back,
how long do you think we'd hold off. You're right,
(19:50):
said Vera. We just have to stick it out, said Brunei.
Just remember, they can't kill us. They aren't real. Yes,
the crew whispered in tiny, f frail voice, they aren't real.
Seven months out, the garden was covered with a gloomy,
gray cloud layer. Even the weather was getting harder and
harder to control. The crew of the starship Number thirteen
(20:13):
huddled around the fountain, staring into the water, trying desperately
to ignore the snufflings, flappings, wheezes, and growls coming from
outside the walls. But occasionally, as scaley head would raise
itself above the wall, or a pterodactyl or bat would
flap overhead and there would be violent shutters. I still
think we should stop taking the omnidream, said Vera Galendez.
(20:37):
If we stopped taking it, asked Brunei, which would disappear first,
them or the garden. Vera grimaced. But we've got to
do something, she said. We can't even make them disappear
at all anymore, and it's becoming a time job just
to keep them outside the walls. And sooner or later,
interjected Lazar, We're not going to be strong enough to
(20:57):
keep them out. The snake, the screamed Marcia. It's coming again.
The huge black head was already through the portal. Stop
the snake, everyone yelled Bruney eyes were riveted on the
ugly serpent in intense concentration. After five minutes, it was
obviously a stalemate. The snake had not been able to advance,
(21:18):
nor could the humans force it to retreat. Then smoke
began to rise behind the far wall. The dragons burning
down the wall, shrieked Lazaar. Stop him. They concentrated on
the dragon. The smoke disappeared, but the snake began to
advance again. They're too strong, moaned Bruneye. We can't hold them, back.
(21:38):
They stopped the snake for a few moments, but the
smoke began to billow again. They're going to break through,
screamed Donner. We can't stop them. What are we going
to do? Help? Creakings, cracklings, groanings, as the walls began
to crack and blister and shake. Suddenly, bram Dacker stood up,
his dark eyes aflame. Only one thing strong enough, he bellowed, Earth, Earth, Earth,
(22:03):
Think of Earth. All of you were back on Earth,
Visualize it, make it real, and the monsters have to disappear.
But where on Earth, said Vera, bewildered the spaceport, shouted Brunei,
the spaceport. We all remember the spaceport. We're back on Earth,
the spaceport, Earth, Earth, Earth. The garden was beginning to flicker.
(22:25):
It became red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet invisible, then
back again through the spectrum the other way, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, invisible,
back and forth like a pendulum through the spectrum. Oliver
Bruney's head hurt unbearably. He could see the pain on
the other faces, but he allowed only one thought to
(22:46):
fill his being. Earth, the Spaceport Earth, more and more faster,
and faster. The garden flickered, and now it was the
old common room again, and that was flickering. Light was flickering.
Mind was flickering. Time two seemed to flicker. Only Earth,
thought Brunei, Earth doesn't flicker. The spaceport doesn't flicker. Earth. Earth.
(23:09):
Now all the flickerings of color, time, mind, and dimensions
were coalescing into one gigantic vortex that was a thing
neither of time, nor space nor mind, but all three
somehow fused into one. Their screaming, Brunei thought, listen to
the horrible screams Suddenly he noticed that he too was screaming.
(23:29):
The vortex was growing, swirling, undulating, and it too began
to flicker. There was an unbearable, impossible pain. And the
sight of Starship number thirteen suddenly appearing out of nowhere
and sitting itself calmly down in the middle of the
spaceport was somewhat disconcerting to the spaceport officials, especially since
at the very moment it appeared, and even afterward, they
(23:52):
continued to have visual and laser contact with its image
over three late months. From Earth, however, the Souldier government
itself was much more pragmatic. One instant, Starship thirteen had
been light months from Earth, the next it was sitting
in the spaceport. Therefore, Starship thirteen had exceeded the speed
of light. Somehow, Therefore it was possible to exceed the
(24:15):
speed of light, and a thorough examination of the ship
in its contents would show how. Therefore, you idiots throw
a security cordon around that ship. In such matters, the
long conditioned reflexes of the Solar Government worked marvelously. Before
the airwaves had cooled, two hundred heavily armed soldiers had
surrounded the ship. Two hours later, the Solar Coordinator was
(24:38):
on the scene with ten orders of saul to present
to the returning heroes and a large, well armored vehicle
to convey them to laboratories, where they would be gone
over with the proverbial fine tooth comb. An honor guard
of two hundred men standing at attention made a pathway
from the ship's main hatch to the armored carrier, in
front of which stood the Solar Coordinator with his tent medals.
(25:01):
They opened the hatch one, two, five, seven, Ten dazed
and bewildered heroes staggered past the honor guard to face
the co ordinator, he opened his mouth to begin his
welcoming speech and start the five years of questioning and
experiments which would eventually kill five of the crew and
give man the secret of faster than like drive. But
(25:24):
instead of speaking, he screamed, so did two hundred heavily
armed soldiers, because out of Starship thirteen's main hatch sauntered
a twelve foot green dragon, followed by a Tyrannosaurus wrex,
a pterodactyl, a vampire bat with a five foot wingspan,
an old fashioned red spade tailed demon, and finally, big
(25:44):
as a horse's the pop eyed head of an enormous
black serpent. And of Subjectivity by Norman Spinrad
Subjectivity by Norman Spinrad. Boredom on a long interstellar trip
can be quite a problem, but the entertainment technique the
government dreamed up for this one was a little too good.
(00:21):
Interplanetary flight having been perfected, the planets and moons of
the Sol System having been colonized, Man turned his attention
to the stars and ran into a stone wall. After
three decades of trying, scientists reluctantly concluded that a faster
than light drive was an impossibility, at least within the
realm of any known theory of the universe. They gave up.
(00:44):
But a government does not give up so easily, especially
a unified government which already controls the entire habitat of
the human race, most especially a psychologically and sociologically enlightened
government which sees the handwriting on the wall and has
already noticed the first signs of racial claustrophobia, an object
less sense of frustrated rage, increases in senseless crimes, proliferation
(01:08):
of perversions and vices of every kind, like grape juice
sealed in a bottle, The human race had begun to ferment. Therefore,
the Solar government took a slightly different point of view
toward interstellar travel. Man must go to the stars period. Therefore,
man will go to the stars. If the speed of
(01:28):
light could not be exceeded, then man would go to
the stars within that limit. When a government with tens
of billions of dollars to spend becomes monomaniacal, great things
can be accomplished, also unfortunately unspeakable horrors. Stage one, a
drive was developed which could propel a spaceship at half
the speed of light. This was merely a matter of
(01:50):
technological concentration and several billion dollars. Stage two, a ship
was built around the drive and outfitted with every conceivable
safety device. A laser beam communication system was installed so
that Saul could keep in contact with the ship all
the way to Centaurus. A crew of ten carefully screamed,
sched and trained near supermen was selected and the ship
(02:12):
was launched on a sixteen year round trip to Centaurus.
It never came back. Two years out, the ten near
supermen became ten raving maniacs, but the Solar Government did
not give up. The next ship contained five near supermen
and five near superwomen. They only lasted for a year
and a half. The Solar Government intensified the screening process.
(02:36):
The next ship was manned by ten bonafide supermen. They
stayed sane for nearly three years. The Solar Government sent
out a ship containing five supermen and five superwomen. In
two years they had ten super lunatics. The psychologists came
to the unstartling conclusion that even the cream of humanity
(02:56):
in a sexually balanced crew could not stand up psych
alnely to sixteen years in a small steel womb, surrounded
by billions of cubic miles of nothing. One would have
expected reasonable men to have given up. Not the Solar Government.
Monomania had produced great things in the form of a
C two drive, it now proceeded to produce unspeakable horrors.
(03:21):
The cream of the race had failed, reasoned the Solar Government. Therefore,
we will give the dregs a chance. The fifth ship
was manned by homosexuals. They lasted only six months. A
ship full of lesbians bettered that by only two weeks.
Number seven was manned by schizophrenics. Since they were already mad,
they did not go crazy. Nevertheless, they did not come back.
(03:44):
Number eight was catatonics, nine was paranoids, ten was sadists,
eleven was masochists. Twelve was a mixed crew of sadists
and masochists. No luck. Maybe it was because thirteen was
still a mystic number, or maybe it was merely that
the Solar Government was running out of ideas. At any rate,
Ship number thirteen was the longest shot of all background.
(04:09):
From the beginnings of man, it had been known that
certain plants, mushrooms, certain cacti produced intense hallucinations. In the
mid twentieth century, scientists and other less scientifically minded had
begun to extract those hallucinogenic compounds, chiefly mescaline and psilocybin.
The next step was the synthesis of hallucinogens. L s
(04:30):
D twenty five was the first, and it was far
more powerful than the extracts. In the next few centuries,
more and more different hallucinogens were synthesized l s D
one O five, Joe Honnick acid, Huxley on baronite. So
by the time the Solar Government had decided that the
crew of Ship number thirteen would attempt to cope with
(04:50):
the terrible reality of interstellar space by denying that reality,
they had quite an assortment of hallucinogens to choose from
the one they chose was the new, as yet untested
two experiments for the price of one explained economy minded
officials and unbelievably complex compounds tentatively called omnidrine. Omnidrene was
(05:12):
what the name implied, a hallucinogen with all the properties
of the others, some which had proven to be all
its own and some which were as yet unknown. As
ten micrograms was one day's dose for the average man.
It was the ideal hallucinogen for the starship. So they
sealed five men and five women they had given up
on sexually unbalanced crews in ship number thirteen, along with
(05:36):
half a ton of omnidrine and their fondest wishes, pointed
the ship towards Centaurus and prayed for a miracle in
a way they could not have possibly foreseen. They got it.
As Starship thirteen passed the orbit of Pluto, a meeting
was held, since this could be considered the beginning of
interstellar space. The ship was reasonably large, ten small private cabins,
(05:59):
a bridge that would only be used for planet falls,
large storage areas, and a big common room where the
crew had gathered. They were all sitting in all purpose
lounges arranged in a circle. A few had their lounges
at full recline, but most preferred the upright position. Oliver Brunei,
the nominal captain, had just opened the first case of
(06:20):
omnidrene and taken out a bottle of the tiny pills.
This fellow inmates, he said, is omnidream. The time has
come for us to indulge. The automatics are all set.
We won't have to do a thing we don't want
to for the next eight years. He poured ten of
the tiny blue pills into the palm of his right hand.
(06:40):
On Earth, they used to have some kind of traditional
ceremony when a person crossed the equator for the first time.
Since we are crossing a far more important equator, I
thought we should have some kind of ceremony. The crew
squirmed irritably. I do tend to be verbose, Brunei thought, well, anyway,
I just thought we all ought to take the first
(07:01):
pills together, he said, somewhat defensively. So come on, Ali,
said a skinny, sour looking man of about thirty years Okay, Lazar, okay,
Marashovsky's going to be trouble. Brunei thought, why did they
put him on this ship? He handed the pills around.
Lazar Mirashevsky was about to gulp his down. Wait a minute,
(07:23):
said Brunei. Let's all do this together. One, two, three.
They swallowed the pills in about ten minutes, thought Brunei.
We should be feeling it. He looked at the crew.
Ten of us, he thought, ten brilliant misfits. Lazar, who
has spent half his life high on baronite Vera Galindez
(07:44):
would be medium, trying to make herself telepathic with mescaline. Poor, hey, Donner,
why is he here? Me? At least with me? It's simple,
this or jail? What a crew? Drug? Addicts, occultists, sensationalists
and what else? What makes a person do a thing
like this. It'll all come out, thought Brunei. In sixteen years,
(08:07):
it'll all come out. Feel anything yet, olly, said Marcia Johnson,
no doubt why she came along, Just an ugly old maid,
liking the idea of being cooped up with five men.
Nothing yet, said Brunei. He looked around the room, plain
steel walls, lined with cabinets full of omnivray, and on
two sides view screens on the ceiling, bare floor, the
(08:30):
other two walls decked out like an automat, plain gray
steel walls. Then why were the gray steel walls turning pink?
Uh oh, said Joby Kroll, rolling her pretty blonde head.
Oh oh, here it comes. The walls are dancing. The
ceiling is a spiral, muttered Vera, A winding red spiral. Okay,
(08:54):
fellow inmates said Brunei, it's hitting now. The walls were red,
fire engine red, and they were melting. No, not melting,
but evaporating like crystal. It is, said lind Pey, waving
his delicate oriental hands, like jade, as transparent as crystal.
(09:14):
There is a camel in the circle, said Lazaar, A
brown camel. Let's all try to see the camel together,
said Vera Galindez sharply tell us what it looks like, Lazarre.
It's brown. It's the too humped kind. It has a
two foot tail and big feet, said lind Pey. A
stupid face, said Donner, very stupid. Your camel is a
(09:38):
great bore, said the stocky, scowling bram Dacker. Let's have
something else, said Joby. Okay, replied Brunei. Now someone else,
tell us what they see. A lizard, said Linda Tobias,
a strange somber girl inclined to the morbid. A lizard, squeaked,
ingrid sullen. No, said lind Pey. A dragon, a green
(10:00):
dragon with a forked red tongue. He has little, useless wings,
said Lazarre. He's totally oblivious to us, said Vera. Brunei
saw the dragon. It was five feet long, green and scaly.
It was a conventional dragon except for the most bovine
expression in its eyes. Yes, he thought the dragon is here,
(10:22):
but the greater part of him knew that it was
an illusion. How long would this go on? It's good
that we see the same things, said Marcia. Let's always
see the same things. Yes, yes, now a mountain, a
tall blue mountain with snow on the peak. Yes, and clouds.
(10:42):
One week out, Oliver Brunei stepped into the common room.
Lin Pey, Vera, and Lazarre were sitting together on what
appeared to be a huge purple toadstool. But that's my hallucination,
thought Brunei. At least I think it is. Hello, Ali,
said Lazarre, Hi, what are you doing? We're looking at
(11:03):
the dragon again, said Vera, join us. Brunei thought of
the dragon for a moment. The toadstool disappeared, and the
by now familiar bovine dragon took its place. In the
last few days, they had discovered that if any two
of them concentrated on something long enough to materialize it,
any one else who wanted to could see it. In
a moment, what's so interesting about that silly dragon, said Brunei.
(11:27):
How about the camel, said Lazar. The dragon turned into
the two humped brown camel. Fooy, said lin Pey o
K said Vera, So what do you want? Lin Pey
thought for a moment. How about a meadow, he said,
A soft lawn of green grass. The sky is blue,
and there are a few white clouds. Clover is blooming,
(11:51):
said Lazar. Smell it. Brunei reclined on the soft green grass.
The smell of the earth beneath him was warm and moist.
A few apple trees here and there, he said, and
there was shade. Look over the hill, said Lazarre, there's
the dragon. Will you please get rid of that dragon,
(12:11):
snapped Brunei. Okay, Ali, okay, one month out. Get out
of the way, yelled Brunei. He gave the dragon a kick.
It moved plaintively. That wasn't very nice, Ali, said Lazarre.
That dragon is always underfoot, said Brunei. Why don't you
get rid of it? I've taken a liking to it,
(12:34):
said Lazarre. Besides, what about your saint Bernard. This ship
is getting too cluttered up with everyone's hallucination, said Brunei.
Ever since, when was it a week ago? Ever since
we've been able to conjure him up by ourselves and
make everyone else see them. Zaker dematerialized the woman on
his lap. Why don't we get together, he said, get together? Yes,
(12:58):
we could agree on an environment. Look at this common room,
for example, what a mess here? It's a meadow. There,
it's a beach, a palace, a boudoir. You mean we
should make it the same for all of us, asked Lazar. Sure,
we can have whatever we want in our cabins, but
let's make some sense out of the common room. Good idea,
(13:18):
said Brunei. I'll call the others. Three months out. Brunei
stepped through the stuccoed portal and into the central Spanish garden.
He noticed that the sky was blue, with a few
fleecy white clouds, but then the weather was always good.
They had agreed on that. Lazaar Ingrid, lin Pey, and
Vera were sitting on the green lawns surrounding the fountain. Dacker, Joby, Linda,
(13:43):
and Donner preferred the shade and lounged against the white
Arabesque wall, which enclosed the garden on four sides, broken
only by four arched entrance portals. The garden had been
a good compromise, thought Brunei. Something for everyone fresh air
and sunshine, but also the men security offered by walls,
which also provided shade for those who wanted it. A fountain,
(14:05):
a few palm trees, grass flowers, even the little formal
Japanese rock garden that lin Pei had insisted on. Hello, Ali,
said Lazarre. Nice day, isn't it, always, replied Brunei. How
about a little shower maybe tomorrow. I noticed a lot
of sleeping people today, said Brunei. Yes, said lin Pey.
(14:28):
By now, the garden seems to be able to maintain itself.
You think it has a separate existence, asked Ingrid. Of
course not, said Vera. Our subconscious minds are maintaining it.
It's probably here when we're all asleep. No way of
telling that, said Brunei. Besides, how can it exist when
we're asleep, when it doesn't really exist? To begin with? Semantics?
(14:51):
Ali semantics. Brunei took a bottle of omnigriy In out
of his pocket. Time to charge up the old batteries again,
he said, keep asked out the pills. I noticed Marcia
is still in her cabin. Yeah, said Lazar. She keeps
to herself a lot. No great. Just then Marcia burst
into the garden, screaming, make it go away, make it
(15:13):
go away. Behind her slithered a gigantic black snake with
a head as big as a horse's and bulging red eyes.
I thought we agreed to leave our private hallucinations in
our cabins, snapped Brunei. I tried, I tried. I don't
want it around, but it won't go away. Do something.
Ten feet of snake had already entered the garden. The
(15:35):
thing seemed endless. Take it easy, said Lazarre. Let's all
concentrate and think it away. They tried to erase the snake,
but it just rolled its big red eyes. That won't work,
said Vera, her subconscious is still fighting us. Part of
her must want the snake here. We've all got to
be together to erase it. Marcia began to cry. The
(15:58):
snake advanced another two feet. Oh, quiet, rasped Lazarre. Ali,
do I have your permission to bring my dragon into
the garden. He'll make short work of the snake. Brunei scowled,
You and your dragon, Okay, maybe it'll work instantly. The
green dragon was in the garden, but it was no
longer five feet long and bovine. It was a good
(16:20):
twelve feet long, with cold reptilian eyes and big yellow fangs.
It took one look at the snake, opened its powerful
jaws and belched a huge tongue of orange flame. The
serpent was incinerated. It disappeared. Brunei was trembling. What happened, Lazar?
He said, that's not the same, stupid little dragon, squeaked Lazarre.
(16:44):
He's grown. Brune I suddenly noticed that Lazar was ashen.
He also noticed that the dragon was turning in their direction.
Get it out of here, Lazarre, Get it out of here.
Lazar nodded. The dragon flickered and went pale, but it
was over a minute it before it disappeared entirely six
months out, things wandered the passageways and haunted the cabins.
(17:09):
Marcia's snake was back. There was Lazar's dragon, which seemed
to grow larger every day. And there was also a basilisk,
a pterodactyl, a vampire bat with a five foot wingspread,
and old fashioned red spade tailed demon and other assorted horrors.
Even Oliver Brunei's friendly saint Bernard had grown to monstrous size,
turned pale green, and grown large yellow fangs. Only the
(17:32):
Spanish garden in the common room was free of the monstrosities. Here,
the combined consciousness of the ten crew members were still
strong enough to banish the rampaging hallucinations. The ten of
them sat around the fountain, which seemed a shade less sparkling.
There were even rain clouds in the sky. I don't
like it, said bram Daker. It's getting completely out of control.
(17:55):
So we just have to stay in the garden, that's all,
said Brunei. The food fuods all here, and so is
the Omnidream, and they can't come here, not yet, said Marcia.
They all shuddered. What went wrong? Asked ingrid nothing, said Donner.
They didn't know what would happen when they sent us out,
so we can't say they were wrong. Very comforting, croaked Lazarre.
(18:20):
But can someone tell me why we can't control them anymore?
Who knows? Said Brunei. At least we can keep them
out of here. That's there was a snuffling at the wall.
The head of something like a Tyrannosaurus rex peered over
the wall at them. Ugh, said Lynn Pey. I think
that's a new one. The dragon's head appeared alongside the tyrannosaurs. Well,
(18:43):
at least there's a familiar face, tittered Linda. Very funny,
Marcia screamed. The huge black snake thrust its head through
a portal, and the flap of leathery wings could be heard,
and the smell of sulfur. Come on, come on, shouted Brunei.
Let's get these things out of here. After five minutes
of intense group concentration, the last of the horrors was banished.
(19:06):
It was a lot harder this time, said Daker. There
were more of them, said Donner. They're getting stronger and bolder.
Maybe some day they'll break through and then pay Let
the sentence hang everyone supplied his own ending don't be ridiculous,
snapped Brunei. They're not real, they can't kill us. Maybe
(19:28):
we should stop taking the Omni Dream, suggested Vera, without
very much conviction. At this point, said Brunei. He shuddered.
If the garden disappeared and we had nothing but the
bear Ship for the next fifteen and a half years,
and we knew it, and at the same time knew
that we had the Omni Dream to bring it back,
how long do you think we'd hold off. You're right,
(19:50):
said Vera. We just have to stick it out, said Brunei.
Just remember, they can't kill us. They aren't real. Yes,
the crew whispered in tiny, f frail voice, they aren't real.
Seven months out, the garden was covered with a gloomy,
gray cloud layer. Even the weather was getting harder and
harder to control. The crew of the starship Number thirteen
(20:13):
huddled around the fountain, staring into the water, trying desperately
to ignore the snufflings, flappings, wheezes, and growls coming from
outside the walls. But occasionally, as scaley head would raise
itself above the wall, or a pterodactyl or bat would
flap overhead and there would be violent shutters. I still
think we should stop taking the omnidream, said Vera Galendez.
(20:37):
If we stopped taking it, asked Brunei, which would disappear first,
them or the garden. Vera grimaced. But we've got to
do something, she said. We can't even make them disappear
at all anymore, and it's becoming a time job just
to keep them outside the walls. And sooner or later,
interjected Lazar, We're not going to be strong enough to
(20:57):
keep them out. The snake, the screamed Marcia. It's coming again.
The huge black head was already through the portal. Stop
the snake, everyone yelled Bruney eyes were riveted on the
ugly serpent in intense concentration. After five minutes, it was
obviously a stalemate. The snake had not been able to advance,
(21:18):
nor could the humans force it to retreat. Then smoke
began to rise behind the far wall. The dragons burning
down the wall, shrieked Lazaar. Stop him. They concentrated on
the dragon. The smoke disappeared, but the snake began to
advance again. They're too strong, moaned Bruneye. We can't hold them, back.
(21:38):
They stopped the snake for a few moments, but the
smoke began to billow again. They're going to break through,
screamed Donner. We can't stop them. What are we going
to do? Help? Creakings, cracklings, groanings, as the walls began
to crack and blister and shake. Suddenly, bram Dacker stood up,
his dark eyes aflame. Only one thing strong enough, he bellowed, Earth, Earth, Earth,
(22:03):
Think of Earth. All of you were back on Earth,
Visualize it, make it real, and the monsters have to disappear.
But where on Earth, said Vera, bewildered the spaceport, shouted Brunei,
the spaceport. We all remember the spaceport. We're back on Earth,
the spaceport, Earth, Earth, Earth. The garden was beginning to flicker.
(22:25):
It became red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet invisible, then
back again through the spectrum the other way, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, invisible,
back and forth like a pendulum through the spectrum. Oliver
Bruney's head hurt unbearably. He could see the pain on
the other faces, but he allowed only one thought to
(22:46):
fill his being. Earth, the Spaceport Earth, more and more faster,
and faster. The garden flickered, and now it was the
old common room again, and that was flickering. Light was flickering.
Mind was flickering. Time two seemed to flicker. Only Earth,
thought Brunei, Earth doesn't flicker. The spaceport doesn't flicker. Earth. Earth.
(23:09):
Now all the flickerings of color, time, mind, and dimensions
were coalescing into one gigantic vortex that was a thing
neither of time, nor space nor mind, but all three
somehow fused into one. Their screaming, Brunei thought, listen to
the horrible screams Suddenly he noticed that he too was screaming.
(23:29):
The vortex was growing, swirling, undulating, and it too began
to flicker. There was an unbearable, impossible pain. And the
sight of Starship number thirteen suddenly appearing out of nowhere
and sitting itself calmly down in the middle of the
spaceport was somewhat disconcerting to the spaceport officials, especially since
at the very moment it appeared, and even afterward, they
(23:52):
continued to have visual and laser contact with its image
over three late months. From Earth, however, the Souldier government
itself was much more pragmatic. One instant, Starship thirteen had
been light months from Earth, the next it was sitting
in the spaceport. Therefore, Starship thirteen had exceeded the speed
of light. Somehow, Therefore it was possible to exceed the
(24:15):
speed of light, and a thorough examination of the ship
in its contents would show how. Therefore, you idiots throw
a security cordon around that ship. In such matters, the
long conditioned reflexes of the Solar Government worked marvelously. Before
the airwaves had cooled, two hundred heavily armed soldiers had
surrounded the ship. Two hours later, the Solar Coordinator was
(24:38):
on the scene with ten orders of saul to present
to the returning heroes and a large, well armored vehicle
to convey them to laboratories, where they would be gone
over with the proverbial fine tooth comb. An honor guard
of two hundred men standing at attention made a pathway
from the ship's main hatch to the armored carrier, in
front of which stood the Solar Coordinator with his tent medals.
(25:01):
They opened the hatch one, two, five, seven, Ten dazed
and bewildered heroes staggered past the honor guard to face
the co ordinator, he opened his mouth to begin his
welcoming speech and start the five years of questioning and
experiments which would eventually kill five of the crew and
give man the secret of faster than like drive. But
(25:24):
instead of speaking, he screamed, so did two hundred heavily
armed soldiers, because out of Starship thirteen's main hatch sauntered
a twelve foot green dragon, followed by a Tyrannosaurus wrex,
a pterodactyl, a vampire bat with a five foot wingspan,
an old fashioned red spade tailed demon, and finally, big
(25:44):
as a horse's the pop eyed head of an enormous
black serpent. And of Subjectivity by Norman Spinrad
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