A man called Thomas Bancroft leads a group that has kidnapped a man called Michael Tighe. The sensitive man of the title eavesdrops:
"Bancroft: 'Yes. The issues are too large for a few lives to matter. Still, Michael Tighe is only human. He'll talk.'" (p. 136)
Tighe can be made to reveal the secrets of the Psychotechnic Institute even though Bancroft "'...hates[s] to use extreme measures...'" (ibid.) and "'...won't enjoy it.'" (p. 137)
That's big of him! Not to enjoy it! Some fictional characters automatically put themselves on the wrong side by being prepared to torture prisoners.
In these opening three stories:
"Marius"
"Un-Man"
"The Sensitive Man"
- opposed groups fight to shape the future and thus fight to shape the contents of the subsequent instalments of this future history series. The psychotechnicians of the Galactic civilization in the concluding instalment depend for their existence on what happens and on what is done in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Similar things have happened in the real world. E.g., the monstrous Robespierre used to talk big about how much he disliked capital punishment. But when push came to shove he didn't mind slaughtering his political opponents by the thousands!
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment