But Timor did not understand. A thing was clysming from him, a thing of most careful construction which had almost killed him, dissolving out.
"It is absolutely necessary that this child be totally reconditioned," he said in a stranger's voice. "He is Scout Timor's son." But his words meant nothing to him, for he had heard his name in the music. His true name, name of his babyhood under the soft gray hands and bodies of his first world. The bodies that had taught him love, all in the mud, in the cool mud.
The thing beside him was making hurtful sounds.
"You wanted the beauty!" Timor screamed his last Human words.
And then they were down, tearing and rolling in the sweet mud, gray bodies with him. Until he found that it was no longer fighting but love—love as it always had been, his true flowing, while the voices rose around him and the muddied thing under him that was dead or dying slipped away in the gray welter, in the music of many, flowing together in Paradise in the dim ruby light.
Afterword
Reading an afterword is like watching a stoned friend sail onto an interstate expressway. One can't help looking and one is seldom made happy. Exceptions, sure. Our long-established favorites may safely peer around the edges of their monuments, even wave and wink. And we have also the walkie-talkie writers, the Pan troglodytes who verbalize every twitching moment and who are named Mailer and Wolfe when they're good. To them are permitted forewords, afterwords, asides, superscripts, anything—because their separate stories are in fact only nodes, local swirls in a life-flow of words.
But the rest of us, poor carnivores whose inwards meagerly condense into speech. Only at intervals when the moon, perhaps, opens our throats do we clamber up the rocks and emit our peculiar streams of sound to the sky. Good, bad, we do not know. When it is over we are finished. Our glands have changed. Push microphones at us and you get only grumbles about the prevalence of fleas or the scarcity of rabbits. And this is what makes most afterwords such nervous reading, gives rise to the suspicion that the baying itself was a cryptic complaint about rabbits.
We think not, of course. We think it was somewhat deeper in the blood. But we're in no condition to argue. Push me at noon on the streets and I can only tell you—those damned rabbits are dying out and the fleas have us.
Peace?
About this story. A thermal vortex by the arbitrary name of Harlan Ellison has been bashing out a bit of free space where writers who need some elbow-room can try. Count me among those currently running and flapping, dragging homemade fly-buggies up on cliffs and taking off with hope. The resultant is not of course a neat scene, nor necessarily art. Moreover, Ellison is instantly recognizable as that type of absolutely top guy whose friends all go around with tubes in their stomachs. But after all the Maalox has been gulped and the old ladies picked up and apologized to, I think a ragged cheer is in order. For the guy without whom everybody would have slept better and dreamed less.
THE END
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Again, Dangerous Visions
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
An Assault of New Dreamers
Introduction to
THE COUNTERPOINT OF VIEW
KEYNOTE ENTRY
THE COUNTERPOINT OF VIEW
John Heidenry
Introduction to
CHING WITCH!
CHING WITCH!
Ross Rocklynne
Introduction to
THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST
THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST
Ursula K. Le Guin
Introduction to
FOR VALUE RECEIVED
FOR VALUE RECEIVED
andrew j. offutt
Introduction to
MATHOMS FROM THE TIME CLOSET
MATHOMS FROM THE TIME CLOSET
Gene Wolfe
Introduction to
TIME TRAVEL FOR PEDESTRIANS
TIME TRAVEL FOR PEDESTRIANS
Ray Nelson
Introduction to
CHRIST, OLD STUDENT IN A NEW SCHOOL
CHRIST, OLD STUDENT IN A NEW SCHOOL
Ray Bradbury
Introduction to
KING OF THE HILL
KING OF THE HILL
Chad Oliver
Introduction to
THE 10:00 REPORT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY . . .
THE 10:00 REPORT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY . . .
Edward Bryant
Introduction to
THE FUNERAL
THE FUNERAL
Kate Wilhelm
Introduction to
HARRY THE HARE
HARRY THE HARE
James B. Hemesath
Introduction to
WHEN IT CHANGED
WHEN IT CHANGED
Joanna Russ
Introduction to
THE BIG SPACE FUCK
THE BIG SPACE FUCK
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Introduction to
BOUNTY
BOUNTY
T. L. Sherred
Introduction to
STILL-LIFE
STILL-LIFE
K. M. O'Donnell
Introduction to
STONED COUNSEL
STONED COUNSEL
H. H. Hollis
Introduction to
MONITORED DREAMS AND STRATEGIC CREMATIONS
MONITORED DREAMS AND STRATEGIC CREMATIONS
Bernard Wolfe
Introduction to
WITH A FINGER IN MY I
WITH A FINGER IN MY I
David Gerrold
Introduction to
IN THE BARN
IN THE BARN
Piers Anthony
Introduction to
SOUNDLESS EVENING
SOUNDLESS EVENING
Lee Hoffman
Introduction to
Gahan Wilson
Introduction to
THE TEST-TUBE CREATURE, AFTERWARD
THE TEST-TUBE CREATURE, AFTERWARD
Joan Bernott
Introduction to
AND THE SEA LIKE MIRRORS
AND THE SEA LIKE MIRRORS
Gregory Benford
Introduction to
BED SHEETS ARE WHITE
BED SHEETS ARE WHITE
Evelyn Lief
Introduction to
TISSUE
TISSUE
James Sallis
Introduction to
ELOUISE AND THE DOCTORS OF THE PLANET PERGAMON
ELOUISE AND THE DOCTORS OF THE PLANET PERGAMON
Josephine Saxton
Introduction to
CHUCK BERRY, WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME
CHUCK BERRY, WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME
Ken McCullough
Introduction to
EPIPHANY FOR ALIENS
EPIPHANY FOR ALIENS
David Kerr
Introduction to
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Burt K. Filer
Introduction to
MOTH RACE
MOTH RACE
Richard Hill
Introduction to
IN RE GLOVER
IN RE GLOVER
Leonard Tushnet
Introduction to
ZERO GEE
ZERO GEE
Ben Bova
Introduction to
A MOUSE IN THE WALLS OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE
A MOUSE IN THE WALLS OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE
Dean R. Koontz
Introduction to
GETTING ALONG
GETTING ALONG
James Blish (with Judith Ann Lawrence)
Introduction to
TOTENBÜCH
TOTENBÜCH
A. Parra (y Figueredo)
Introduction to
THINGS LOST
THINGS LOST
Thomas M. Disch
Introduction to
WITH THE BENTF
IN BOOMER BOYS ON LITTLE OLD NEW ALABAMA
WITH THE BENTFIN BOOMER BOYS ON LITTLE OLD NEW ALABAMA
Richard A. Lupoff
Introduction to
LAMIA MUTABLE
LAMIA MUTABLE
M. John Harrison
Introduction to
LAST TRAIN TO KANKAKEE
LAST TRAIN TO KANKAKEE
Robin Scott
Introduction to
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
Andrew Weiner
Introduction to
OZYMANDIAS
OZYMANDIAS
Terry Carr
Introduction to
THE MILK OF PARADISE
THE MILK OF PARADISE
James Tiptree, Jr.
Again, Dangerous Visions Page 115