Virgil sings of arms and a man. Poul Anderson writes about stet-guns and Un-Men. (This is a more fanciful comparison.) Whenever a technical term like "stet-gun" appears in Anderson's futuristic sf, I google to check whether it is a real word. Sometimes yes, sometimes not.
Donner opens the safe in enemy regional headquarters and sees that it is booby-trapped with a "stet-gun." ("Un-Man," I, p. 23) When it puts three needles in his chest, he loses consciousness.
When Naysmith and Jeanne Donner charge out of the Donner's house, Naysmith blast two S-men with his magnum automatic. The light table that he uses as a shield takes a needle. Jeanne sprays needles at the troops coming around from the back of the house, then falls with one in her arm as another splinters on Naysmith's mask. He pulls her into his (flying) boat and escapes. The needles contain sleeping gas for the purpose of taking prisoners. Masks have become part of the custom of privacy.
The Federal Security, "S," men have not given Naysmith the code sentence that would have identified them as his allies so he knows that they have been sent by the enemy that murdered Donner and has no compunction about killing them. Imagine: men wearing the same uniform but in mortal conflict. Paranoia City.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I have been wondering lately if it might become FASHIONABLE for people to wear masks, even after the coronavirus pandemic hopefully subsides. And it might socially disapproved for people to shake hands. Instead, we might start bowing to one another to both show courtesy while not having to touch the other person. Again, because of the coronarvirus.
Ad astra! Sean
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