Flatlander
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So-So Stories
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I've always been interested in sci-fi/mystery hybrids, so I picked up this collection of three "Gil the Arm" stories Niven wrote between 1969-75 and two written in the early '90s. Set in Niven's 22nd-century "Known World", the global population has been booming along out of control, and a world government strictly regulates who can have children. Meanwhile, "Belter" communities live off-world and mine asteroid belts for the raw resources the Earthling "Flatlanders" need to survive. Ex-Belter and minor telekinetic Gil Hamilton is an agent for the UN police, and spends most of his time chasing "organleggers", criminals who kidnap and kill people in order to harvest organs and sell them on a black market. As in many science-fiction stories, medical technology has advanced to the point where life can be prolonged indefinitely via transplants.
The first story, "Death by Ecstasy", is essentially a classic locked-room mystery. Another advancement in technology is the ability to implant a jack directly into the brain, allowing one to send electrical current which directly stimulates the pleasure center. Gil is brought in to look into the death of his old mining partner, who spent a month locked in a one-room apartment while plugged into such a device, apparently committing suicide. Gil is certain his old friend wouldn't have killed himself, and has to unravel who killed him and how it was done in what is essentially a locked room. The answer brings him into conflict with a notorious West Coast organlegging gang, and a heart-stopping ending. (Note: This story has been adapted into a graphic novel.)
The second story, "The Defenseless Dead", involves the harvesting of organs from cryogenically frozen people. Years ago, legislation allowed those who had no means of support should they be "woken", to be carved up. Now, a new scheme aims to allow harvesting from even those who do have estates to support them. This threatens not only to undercut the illicit organlegging trade, but also to make a number of people very wealthy, as their ancestors' legal lives are ended. The story involves organleggers, the discovery of two bodies on a moving sidewalk, and a mysterious attempt on Gil's life, but the focus is really medical ethics theme.
The third story is "ARM", and is another locked-room murder, this time involving a famous genius inventor and what appears to be some kind of time-accelerator. While the puzzle is pretty interesting, two locked-room stories out of three is a little much. By the end of it, I had had pretty much my fill of Gil the Arm, and having heard bad buzz about them, I didn't read "Patchwork Girl" or "The Woman in Del Rey Crater." In a certain sense, the stories almost read like something some conspiracy-theory libertarian nut might come up: how the world government is going to come along and dictate everything and then outlaw everything and institute the death penalty for even minor offenses. And yet, some elements (state enforced birth control, organ harvesting from executed prisoners) can be found in modern China, there is a worldwide illicit trade in organs, and advancements in medicine are certainly making some of the questions Niven raises uncomfortably real. |
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