Pulp Fiction, 1953 · page 26 of 68
Astounding British Edition, May 1953 — page 26: what you’re looking at
A restored page from Pulp Fiction, 1953. Page through the whole issue in the reader above.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LOA PP labels tt uP | ‘" : Bhat kg . a — _— - ~ : T PATA AA Cy Le Ret ee ede Leb Apne bag LO! UPR es u AMS Gee, GN Wao Caen as» AP Ai) hii ‘ a wet a an iay jo its SAK eb hit ty th es: , Wate 2707 _ io — ~ + <.™. ae ™ “=< , ek ae ee i, ee Oe een See ee fog ce met a ee - < 4 = ga — ae rle te ab ~ CURRENTS __ By ISAAC ASIMOV eee "XS Po = Sl a -_, =&.* & Le Pe i Fi, a es » oe, <2 ee Ree Oe ee er eS ee Se pa 2 Pate Set . ~ — ~~ i at : i OF SPA THIRD OF THREE PARTS. The currents of Man’s spatial politics are - _ one thing; the blind currents of Nature, however, react neither to plead- ing, anger, or human willfullness. But willful men will still try. . . . Synopsis. This is the story of three political groupings in the human-occupied galaxy of the future: 1. Trantor, ruler of half the inhabited worlds of the galaxy and aspiring to establish a Galactic Empire which will bring peace and prosperity to the warring star systems, is particularly interested in 2. Florina, an impoverished, peasant world _ Which, nevertheless, is the only source in all the galaxy for the miracle textile, kyrt. The kyrt trade is the richest single traffic in the _ galaxy and is under the exclusive control of _ @ planet near Florina which is called 3. Sark. For centuries Sark has held Florina in a firm and ruthless grip, draining it of its best men and keeping it ground under a tyranny. Sark is able to do this because of two institutions: the Patrollers and the Town- men. The Patrollers are a police force composed of alien mercenaries, neither Sarkite nor Florinian. The Townmen are Florinian natives who in turn, for certain privileges, act as sub- ordinate officials over Florinian towns on behalf of the Sarkite absentee landlords, or “Squires.” In addition, there is the nonpolitical, scientific body, the Interstellar Spatio-analytic Bureau—also known as the I.S.B.—whose _ function it is to analyze the elementary com- position of the extremely rarefied matter in the galactic reaches between the stars. At the time the story opens Selim Junz, a high Official in the I.S.B. has been searching for nearly a year for a missing spatioanalyst, whose last received message was an emergency call stating that he knew of a vast danger of galactic proportions hanging over Florina, and demanding instant consultation with the I.S.B. The spatioanalyst is never heard of again. Junz suspects that Sark has imprisoned or murdered the spatioanalyst to prevent his story from getting out since they want nothing to interfere with the smooth functioning of the trade. Junz does not seriously concern "himself with such stories of danger from a Spatioanalyst, since those persons are notori- ously neurotic and unstable as otherwise they 24 would not fear planets so much nor be so willing to spend long months in isolation in space in the course of their duties. Most spatioanalysts come from Earth, a planet with a radioactive crust, and hence one which breeds insecurities among its people. Junz enlists the aid of Ludigan Abel, Tran- torian ambassador to Sark. Together they arrange that all spatioanalytic texts in Sarkite libraries be placed on reserve and any non- Sarkite requests for permission to see them be reported to them. Meanwhile, on the planet Florina, interest centers about a “half-wit” known as Rik. A year earlier he had been found on the out- skirts of a village in a state of complete mind- lessness. Valona March, a local peasant girl and Myrlyn Terens, the local Townman, take charge of him. Slowly his brain heals. When he suddenly remembers how to talk, the frightened Valona secretly takes him to a city doctor who recognizes Rik’s symptoms to be the result of a psycho-probing. A psycho probe is an instrument that can be used to mold or destroy a mind and is usually used on criminals or psychopaths. Before the doctor can report this, he dies in a traffic accident. Later, Rik begins remembering dim facts about his early life. Terens, the Townman, decides to follow this up by taking him to the library in Upper City. (The chief city on Florina is divided into a Lower and Upper City. The Upper City is exclusively Sarkite, but Townman privileges enable-Terens to set foot on it.) In the library, Rik consults an encyclopedia and recalls as a result that he was once a ‘Spatioanalyst. An attempt to consult spatio- analytic texts, however, results in their being stopped by the librarian and kept from leaving the library by a Patroller. However, Valona March, who has grown to love Rik, follows the two in her anxiety for his safety, first to the city, then to the library. She knocks down the Patroller. Since this is a serious crime, there is nothing to do but flee, with a Patroller squad-car in by a Florinian inhabitant of Lower City, COMME MOOSE) m ' pursuit. They are saved at the last minute Im mS