Call it nausea, call it
existential pain, call it a pscyhosis of modern civilization, call it
post-modern nihilism—whatever it’s nomenclature, people today are facing crises
of existence in quantities unlike any previous generation. And we all run in the direction we see fit
trying to find meaning or escape—from the immediacy of suicide to the classic stand-by
of religion, the acceptance of fatalism to the restlessness of denial and
uncertainty. Approaching from the
perspective humanity is bent on self-destruction, Norman Spinrad’s 1972 novella
“Riding the Torch” tackles the crisis in fine, science fictional form. And yes, sucking void is something you will
want to do too, even if just for a moment.
“Riding
the Torch” is the story of Jofe D'mahl.
A senso producer (films that interact directly with the mind), he is one
of the chief entertainers aboard the generation torchship Brigadoon. Ego to the brim and the ship’s main
socialite, he has no time for the voidsuckers—the sullen men and women who go
beyond the massive ship’s hydrogen umbra to seek out new planets for its
passengers to settle. Goaded into taking
one such trip after a voidsucker news bulletin upstages his latest senso,
however, D’mahl has the experience of his life.
Cut off from all technology and social affairs of the Brigadoon, he is offered a new
perspective on existence. Problem is, he
also comes upon knowledge that unhinges his mindset regarding the Brigadoon’s mission.
