Scanners Live in Vain
1950
First Published
4.00
Average Rating
71
Number of Pages
Man has conquered space, but not without costs. To maintain the space lanes, Scanners have to undergo an operation in which their brain is severed from their sensory inputs to block the Pain of Space. Martel has made this sacrifice. He must monitor his vital functions via implanted dials and instruments in his chest. His only respite from this isolated existence is his ability to occasionally "cranch" and return to some sort of normalcy with his wife, Luci. But now a man named Adam Stone has claimed that he has a found a way to travel in the deep of space without the use of the Scanners. Through the twisted logic of the community of Scanners, it is decided that Adam Stone must die. Martel, while cranched, realizes the madness of that solution and that all Scanners Live in Vain! Voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the great stories of all time and is included in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame" anthology.
Avg Rating
4.00
Number of Ratings
665
5 STARS
35%
4 STARS
38%
3 STARS
20%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
Cordwainer Smith
Author · 28 books
Pseudonym of: Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger Linebarger also employed the literary pseudonyms "Carmichael Smith" (for his political thriller Atomsk), "Anthony Bearden" (for his poetry) and "Felix C. Forrest" (for the novels Ria and Carola). Linebarger was also a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare.
