| Tranzitna
stanica (1963) Clifford Simak
Enoch Wallace led a solitary life. He left his house only to
collect his mail or take an occasional walk, his two Earthly
acquaintances were the post man and a beautiful deaf-mute girl who
could mend the broken wing of a butterfly. If his neighbors in the
hills of Wisconsin thought it strange that he never seemed to grow
older, they never spoke of it. He was, in fact, the keeper of Way
Station 18327.
When Wallace agreed to manage the Way Station, he had been
unaware of the greater role for which he was being consideredÑEarth's
sole representative to the Inter-Galactic Council. For more than a
century he carried out his duties flawlessly, having become so
accustomed to the bizarre and wonderful creatures that passed
through his materializer he saw nothing unusual in a plasm that
communicated by changing its shape or a beetle that counted by
clicking its mandibles. He passed many evenings listening to the
fascinating tales of these travelers from the furthest reaches of
space.
Then the outside world threatened to destroy the Way Station, and
with it man's last hope of avoiding cataclysmic self-annihilation.
The CIA suddenly became interested in a Civil War veteran who looked
younger than thirty, an alien corpse in his family cemetery, and a
house whose windows could not be broken with an axe. WAY STATION is
top-grade science fiction by one of the foremost authors in the
field.
Druga recenzija:
Way Station shares with The Fountains of Paradise a
rather mystical approach to a future in which the brotherhood of
humans and aliens is envisioned. In addition, the author of each
book was about 60 when that book was written; both books feature
noticeably mature characters, and their concerns seem of a parallel
maturity. Way Station is the story of Enoch Wallace, a
reclusive man living in the Southwest corner of Wisconsin. The book
is set about the same time it was published (early to mid-60s),
although we are briefly introduced to Wallace at Gettysburg. Then a
U.S. agent is revealed, who has tracked down stories about Enoch
that prove he is 124 years old, the last survivor of the Civil War,
though in appearance he is perhaps 30. We soon learn Enoch's secret:
he was chosen by aliens to operate a way station of their
interstellar teleportation network. Earth is not yet ready for
membership in the Galactic co-fraternity of races, so Enoch must
keep his station secret.
So he has done for about a century, while himself meeting many
strange beings, and becoming close friends with a few. He has also
learned some alien science, which has convinced him, to his despair,
that Earth is heading for a disastrous nuclear war, which, if it
does not destroy human life, will certainly delay any possible entry
for Earth into the Galactic union by centuries. And now, as the
story proper begins, several different threats are coming to a head:
the U.S. government has discovered Enoch, and will inevitably try to
figure out what's going on at his house, and they have also tampered
with something the aliens hold dear, threatening retribution; while
at the same time the Galactic co-fraternity is fraying at the edges:
riven by uncharacteristic political strife, in which Earth is a
helpless pawn; and finally, some of Enoch's less desirable
neighbours are threatening to make his life difficult, because he
has befriended their deaf-mute daughter, who may have strange
powers.
Thus Enoch is faced with a crisis in which he has several
unpalatable choices: abandon Earth and its way station; or abandon
the way station and return to Earth society, thus losing his
connection with his alien friends; or perhaps even ask the Galactic
society to take drastic action regarding the capacity of humans to
make war. And then the intrusion of some of the alien political
actors seems to make Enoch's choices even less desirable, while
forcing him to a confrontation with elements of both the alien and
human bad guys.
The story is well-told and interesting in itself, but the value
of the novel lies more in Simak's portrayal of his central
character, Enoch Wallace, and especially in Simak's advocacy of
unity between all races, human and alien, based on common
"humanity." In the first case, Simak portrays
Wallace's honesty, decency, and above all, his loneliness -- very
effective and very moving. In the second case, Simak manages to show
decency and "humanity" in all his characters, aliens and
humans, and to pull off a mystical conclusion emphasizing the value
of cooperation. It's a very quiet book (quietness seems a Simakian
virtue), but it's still involving and fast-moving, with plenty of SF
heft to its ideas, and plenty of emotional punch as well. It's not
one of the better known Hugo winners: and on encountering it I think
it should become better known. Highly recommended.
|