My first and only experience with Eric Frank Russell was the tiny,
glowing piece that opens Brian Aldiss’ Penguin Book of Science Fiction ”Sole Solution”.
Evocative for such a short work, I tucked Russell’s name away as a
writer with potential, and that should I encounter another of his works, would
read it. His 1951 novella …And Then There Were None was
encountered, and, has been read. A
wildly different piece than the evocative imagery opening Aldiss’ anthology, it
nevertheless remains thoroughly enjoyable, even to this day.
…And Then There Were
None is the story of a visit by the Terran Ambassador to the planet Gand.
Though humans inhabited the planet more than four centuries ago, it is
the first visit of Earthlings, since.
Landing on the planet in style, the ambassador immediately sends one of
his entourage to the closest person, a farmer, and demands he come for an audience
to describe Gand and what has happened on the planet in the intervening
centuries. Nonplussed, the farmer
deflects their request with indifferent wit and returns to his work, as do the
others the entourage accost. Eventually
making their way to a nearby town, the ambassador is aggrieved to find that
nobody cares to speak with him, most, in fact, doing their best to avoid his
spaceship. Moreover, each of townspeople
keep using a strange word, ‘myob’, to conclude what passes for conversation. The ambassador angry at the perceived lack of
respect thrown his way, more drastic measures are employed to get to the bottom
of the indifference, including infiltration.
But in the end, the most important question is: who’s befuddling who?
If it isn’t obvious, …And Then
There Were None is a work of satire, and a fine one at that. Anarchy the tool used to leverage his
political agenda into position, Russell contrasts Gandian and Terran interests
to strong effect. Given the jaded
perspective, humor follows every meeting of the two sides, wordplay as
British as can be. The result is a text
that, interestingly, works hand in hand with the grand American tale of the Mayflower but which never quite reaches
Revoltuionary War status.
In the end, ...And Then There Were
None is a work of satire that posits freedom as the most fundamental human
concern, and something possible to maintain only through communal pacifism. Humorous and insightful, Terry Pratchett,
whether intentionally or not, would take on the inertia built by Russell. A fun but
clever read.
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