Visions of the future, into alternate worlds not far removed from our own. The author of “The Kraken Wakes” and “The Chrysalids”
has taken time off to experiment, by grafting the science fiction format onto different styles. He finds his surest touch in what is undoubtedly his finest collection of short fiction. In Chronoclasm, a romantic comedy, a visitor from the twenty-second century tells our hero (Gerald Lattery) that he is living in a thrilling and romantic age. The twenty second century, from where she has come, is downright dull in comparasion. She is doing post-graduate work in
history, she tells him, and works in a history laboratory. Making history with the history machine, she adds, is a very serious offence as only licensed historians are allowed to visit the past for carrying out in-depth studies. In Pawley’s Peepholes, a satire, something strange is happening. People are seeing things - projections of body parts are appearing and disappearing in and around All Saint’s Church. Dressed in outlandish clothes, walking inches above the ground, these 3-D images soon make a public nuisance of themselves. (The title – Pawley’s Peepholes – derives its name from the mobile platform on which they appear). In Opposite Number, a classic s.f. tale with a twist, Peter Ruddle sees his own likeness reflected off the wall mirror, but on another man’s face. His opposite number, who inhabits a parallel world, has crossed tracks to see if it can be done. He explains that one can probably do nothing about the past, but if one could find a way of pushing ahead of the present one could create a future that would have to come true. In
Compassion Circuit, a horror story, Janet is surprised to discover that her Nurse is a robot. So far she has been uneasy, if not prejudiced, about domestic robots; but her experience with the latest model (that comes equipped with a “compassion” circuit) changes her mind. Just a big doll, Janet tells herself, but still she finds it a little disturbing. Janet feels the robot’s arms through her dress, but the coldness does not trouble her any more – she is aware only that they are strong, protecting arms… In Wild Flower, a modern tale inspired by the ecological movement, Miss Fray does not hurry, she lies stilll; listening to the birds and drifting from dream to dream. Science was wonderful, she thought, but it was the enemy of the lving, breathing world. It is not their world to do as they like – the world belongs to us, she thought. The wild flower being a symbol of the struggling earth, a symbol of her carefree soul.