The Winds of Change and Other Stories

by Isaac Asimov

 

  TOMORROW'S CLASSIC COLLECTION BY TODAY'S MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION

  When Isaac Asimov comes out with a brand new collection of SF stories the result is both something worth waiting for and a publishing event.

  THE WINDS OF CHANGE

  is a brilliant, original volume of stories whose subjects range from a chillingly familiar totalitarian future to the true story of how Genesis was written; and from computerization to space travel.

  Asimov Isaac

  The Winds of Change

  Introduction to ABOUT NOTHING

  The vagaries of the alphabet place the shortest story in the book at the very start. Just as well. You can read it in a minute and if you don't like it, you can throw the book away. (Pay for it first, if you don't mind.) What happened was that back in 1975 I was asked to write a two-hundred-and-fifty-word story that could fit on a postcard. The idea was to have 'story-postcards' just the way you have 'picture-postcards'. I obliged (since I am a most obliging fellow) and 'About Nothing' was the result. I don't know what happened to the project. It probably failed. In any case, I finally offered ''About Nothing' to Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (which I will henceforth refer to as Asimov's) and George Scithers, the editor, graciously condescended to smile upon it and to include it in the Summer 1977 issue of the magazine. And here it is in another incarnation. If you haven't seen it before, may you groan loudly.

  1

  About Nothing

  All of Earth waited for the small black hole to bring it to its end. It had been discovered by Professor Jerome Hieronymus at the Lunar telescope in 2125 and it was clearly going to make an approach close enough for total tidal destruction.

  All of Earth made its wills and wept on each other's shoulders, saying, 'Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye.' Husbands said good-bye to their wives, brothers said good-bye to their sisters, parents said good-bye to their children, owners said good-bye to their pets, and lovers whispered good-bye to each other.

  But as the black hole approached, Hieronymus noted there was no gravitational effect. He studied it more closely and announced, with a chuckle, that it was not a black hole after all.

  'It's nothing,' he said. 'Just an ordinary asteroid someone has painted black.'

  He was killed by an infuriated mob, but not for that. He was killed only after he publicly announced that he would write a great and moving play about the whole episode.

  He said, 'I shall call it Much Adieu About Nothing.'' All humanity applauded his death.

  Introduction to A PERFECT FIT

  These days, more often than not, I am asked to write a science fiction story to fit a particular theme, and then it becomes a matter of pride with me to come through, if the financial side of it is adequately nourishing. In this particular case, a publication devoted to computer technology said they wanted twenty-five hundred words (for at the word-rate I suggested, that was the number of words they could budget) about a future society in which the inability to make use of computer technology was the equivalent to illiteracy in an earlier society. And that is what they got. The story was written in April 1981.

  2

  A Perfect Fit

  Ian Bradstone, wandering his way sadly through one more town, was stopped by a cluster of people at the open door of an emporium. His first impulse was to turn and flee but he couldn't make himself do so. The fascination of horror drew him reluctantly towards the cluster.

  His curiosity must have turned his face into one big question mark, for someone at the outskirts explained the matter pleasantly. 'Three-D chess. It's a hot game.'

  Bradstone knew how it worked. There would be half a dozen people conferring at each move, all trying to beat the computer. The chances were that they would lose. Six wood-pushers add up to one wood-pusher. He caught the unbearable glitter of the graphics and closed his eyes against it. He turned away bitterly and noted a makeshift setup of eight chessboards balanced on pegs, one above the other.

  Ordinary chessboards. Plastic chessmen.

  'Hey,' he said, in explosive surprise.

  The young man at the multiboard said, defensively, 'We can't get close enough. I set this up myself so we can follow. Careful! Don't knock it down.'

  Bradstone said, 'Is that the position as of now?'

  'Yes. The guys have been arguing for ten minutes.'

  Bradstone looked eagerly at the position. He said, raptly, 'If you move the rook from beta-B-6 to delta-D-6, you get the upper hand.'

  The young man studied the boards. 'Are you sure?'

  'Certainly I'm sure. No matter what the computer does, it's going to end up losing a move to protect its queen.'

  More studying. The young man shouted, 'Hey, in there. Guy here says you should bump the rook up two levels.'

  There was a collective sigh from the inner group. One voice said, 'I was thinking that.'

  Another said, 'I get it. It leaves the queen with the potentiality of vulnerability. I didn't see that.' The owner of this second voice turned. 'You! The fellow who made the suggestion. Would you do the honour? Would you punch in the move?'

  Bradstone backed away, his face contorted in sheer horror. 'No - no - I don't play.' He turned and hastened away.

  He was hungry. Periodically he was hungry.

  Occasionally, he came across fruit stands of the type set up by small entrepreneurs who found a disregarded space in the interstices of a thoroughly computerized economy. If Bradstone were careful, he could walk off with an apple or an orange.

  It was a frightening thing. There was always the chance he might be caught and, if he were, he would be asked to pay. He had the money, of course - they were very kind to him - but how could he pay?

  Yet every day on a dozen occasions, he would have to undergo a transfer of credits, to use his cash card. It meant endless humiliation.

  He found himself outside a restaurant. It might have been the smell of the food that had reminded him he was hungry.

  He peered cautiously through the window. There were a number of people eating. Too many. It was bad enough with one or two. He couldn't make himself the centre of hordes of staring, pitying eyes.

  He turned away, his stomach growling, and saw that he was not the only one staring into the window. A boy was doing the same. He was about ten years old and he didn't look particularly hungry.

  Bradstone attempted a tone of hearty good-nature. 'Hello there, young fellow. Hungry?'

  The youngster looked at him suspiciously and edged away. 'No!'

  Bradstone made no move to come closer. If he did, the boy would undoubtedly run. He said, 'I'll bet you're big enough to do your own ordering. You can order a hamburger or anything else, I'm sure.'

  Pride overcame suspicion. The boy said, 'Sure! Any time!' But you don't have a card of your own, right? So you can't complete the order. Right?'

  The boy stared at him warily out of brown eyes. He was neatly dressed and had an alert and intelligent air about him.

  Bradstone said, 'Tell you what. I have a card and you can use it to order. Get yourself a hamburger or anything else you want. Tell you what else. You can get me something, too. Nice T-bone steak, and a baked potato and some squash and some coffee. And two pieces of apple pie. You have one.'

  'I got to go home and eat,' said the boy.

  'Come on! You'll save your father some assets. They know you here, I'm sure.'

  'We eat here lots of times.'

  'There you are. Eat here again. Only this time, you handle the card. You do the selection - like a grown-up. Go ahead. You go in first.'

  There was a tense feeling in the pit of Bradstone's stomach. What he was doing made perfect sense to him and would not ha
rm the child at all. Anyone who might be watching, however, might come to a horrible and quite wrong conclusion.

  Bradstone could explain if given the chance, but how humiliating to have everyone see that he had to manoeuvre a little boy into doing something for him he could not do for himself.

  The youngster hesitated, but he entered the restaurant and Bradstone followed, maintaining a careful distance. The youngster sat down at a table and Bradstone sat down opposite.

  Bradstone smiled and handed him his card. It tingled his hand unpleasantly - as always, these days - and he was relieved to be able to let go of it. It had a hard, metallic glitter that made the muscles round his eyes twitch. He couldn't bear to look at it.

  'Go ahead, boy. Make the selection,' he said in a low voice. 'Anything you want.'

  The boy hadn't lied. He could handle the small computer outlet perfectly, his fingers flying over the controls.

  'Steak for you, mister. Baked potato. Squash. Apple pie. Coffee. - You want salad, mister?' His voice had taken on a fussy I'm-grown-up sound. 'My mom always orders salad, but I don't like it.'

  'I guess I'll try it, though. Mixed green salad. They got that? Vinaigrette dressing. They got that? You can handle that?'

  'Don't see about the vin-something. - Maybe this is it.'

  Bradstone ended up with French dressing as it later turned out, but it did well enough.

  The boy inserted the card with ease and a skill that roused Bradstone's bitter envy, even as his picturing the act made his stomach lurch.

  The boy handed back the card. 'I guess you had enough money,' he said, importantly.

  Bradstone said, 'Did you notice the figure?'

  'Oh no. You're not supposed to look; that's what my dad says. I mean it didn't get rejected so there's enough for the food.'

  Bradstone crushed down the feeling of disappointment. He couldn't read the figures and he couldn't make himself ask others. Eventually, he might have to go to a bank and try to invent some way of manoeuvring them into telling him.

  He tried to make conversation. 'What's your name, sonny?'

  'Reginald.'

  'What are you studying at home these days, Reggie?'

  'Arithmetic mostly because Dad says I have to, and dinosaurs because I want to. Dad says if I stick to my arithmetic I can get the dinosaurs, too. I can programme my computer to get the graphics of dinosaur motion. You know how a brontosaurus walks on land? It has to balance its neck so the centre of gravity is in the hips. It holds its head way up like a giraffe unless it's in water. Then -here's my hamburger. And your stuff, too.'

  It had all come along the moving belt and had stopped at the appropriate place.

  The thought of one full meal without humiliation overcame Bradstone's wistfulness at the thought of manipulating a computer in the free search for information.

  Reginald said, quite politely, 'I'll eat the hamburger at the counter, mister.'

  Bradstone waved. 'I hope it's a good hamburger, Reggie.' Bradstone needed him no more and was relieved to have him go. Someone from the kitchen, undoubtedly a Computer-Maintenance technician, had emerged and engaged Reginald in friendly conversation - which was also a relief.

  There was no question about the profession. You could always tell a Comp-Maint by his lazy air of importance, his exuded sense of knowledge that the world rested on his shoulder.

  But Bradstone was concentrating on his dinner - the first full meal he had enjoyed normally in a month.

  It was only after he finished - quite finished in the most leisurely possible fashion - that he studied his surroundings again. The boy was long gone. Bradstone thought sadly that the boy, at least, had not pitied, had not condescended, had not patronized. He had not been old enough to find the event an odd one; had only concentrated on his own adulthood in being able to handle the computer outlet.

  Adulthood!

  The place was not very crowded now. The Comp-Maint was still behind the counter, presumably studying the wiring of the computerization.

  It was, thought Bradstone with a pang, the major occupation of technologists virtually the world over; always programming, reprogramming, adjusting, checking the tiny electric currents that controlled the work of the world for everyone - for almost everyone.

  The comfortably warm internal feeling produced by an excellent steak stirred the feeling of rebellion with Bradstone. Why not act? Why not do something about it?

  He caught the Comp-Maint's eye and said in an attempt at lightness that didn't ring true even in his own ears, 'Pal, I guess there are lawyers in this town?'

  'You guess right.'

  'You couldn't suggest a good one not too far away, could you?'

  The Comp-Maint said politely, 'You'll find a town directory at the post office. Just punch in the request for lawyers.'

  'I mean a good one. Clever guy. Lost causes. Like that.' He laughed, hoping to get at least a smile out of the other.

  He didn't. The Comp-Maint said, They're all described. List your needs, and you'll get evaluations, ages, addresses, case loads, fee levels. Anything you want you can get, if you play the keys properly. And it's working. I vetted it last week.'

  That's not what I mean, buddy.' The suggestion that he play the keys properly sent the usual frisson skidding up his spine. 'I want your personal recommendation. You know?'

  The Comp-Maint shook his head. 'I'm not a directory.'

  Bradstone said, 'Damn it. What's wrong with you? Name a lawyer. Any lawyer. Is there a law against knowing something without a computer to play with?'

  'Use of the directory is a dime. If you've got more than a dime registered on your card, what's the problem? Don't you know how to use your card? Or are you -- ' His eyes widened in sudden thought. 'Oh - son of a - That's why you got Reggie to order your meal for you! Listen, I didn't know -- '

  ' Bradstone shrank away. He turned to hurry out of the place and nearly collided with a large man who had a ruddy complexion and a balding head.

  The large man said softly, 'One moment, please. Aren't you the person who bought my son a hamburger a while ago?'

  Bradstone hesitated, then nodded dry-mouthed.

  'I would like to pay you for it. It's all right. I know who you are and I'll handle your card for you.'

  The Comp-Maint interposed sharply, 'If you want a lawyer, fella, Mr Gold is a lawyer.'

  The sharpened interest in Bradstone's eyes made itself evident at once.

  Gold said, 'I am a lawyer if you're looking for one. It's how I knew you. I followed your case with painful attention, I assure you, and when Reggie came home with a tale of having eaten dinner already and of having used the computer, I guessed who you might be from his description.

  And I recognize you now, of course.' Bradstone said, 'Can we talk privately?' 'My home is a five-minute walk from here.'

  It was not a luxurious living room, but it was a comfortable one. Bradstone said, 'Do you want a retainer? I can afford one.'

  'I know you have ample funds,' said Gold. 'Tell me first, though, what the problem is.'

  Bradstone leaned forward in his chair and said, intensely, 'If you've followed my case, you must know I have been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. I'm the first person who has received this kind of sentence. The combination of hypnosis and direct neuroconditioning has only been perfected recently. The nature of the punishment to which I have been sentenced could not be understood. It must be lifted.'

  Gold said, 'You underwent due process in great detail, and there was no reasonable doubt that you were guilty--'

  'Even so! Look! We live in a computerized world. I can't do a thing anywhere - I can't get information - I can't be fed - I can't amuse myself - I can't pay for anything, or check on anything, or just plain do anything - without using a computer. And I have been adjusted, as you surely know, so that I am incapable of looking at a computer without hurting my eyes, or touching one without blistering my fingers. I can't even handle my cash card or even think of using it without n
ausea.'

  Gold said, 'Yes, I know all that. I also know you have been given ample funds for the duration of your punishment, and that the general public has been asked to sympathize and be helpful. I believe they do this.'

  'I don't want that. I don't want their help and their pity. I don't want to be a helpless child in a world of adults. I don't want to be an illiterate in a world of people who can read. Help me end the punishment. It's been almost a month of hell. I can't go through eleven more.'

  Gold sat in thought for a while. 'Well, I will charge you a retainer so that I can become your legal representative, and -I will do what I can for you. I must warn you, though, that Idon't think the chances for success are great.'

  'Why? All I did was divert five thousand dollars--'

  'You planned to divert far more, it was decided, but were caught before you could. It was an ingenious computer fraud, quite worthy of your well-known skill at chess, but it was still a crime. And, as you say, everything is computerized and no step, however small, can be taken these days without a computer. To defraud by means of a computer, then, is to break down what is now the essential framework of civilization. It is a terrible crime and it must be discouraged.'

  'Don't preach.'

  'I'm not. I'm explaining. You tried to break down a system and in punishment the system has been broken down for you alone and you are not otherwise mistreated. If you find your life unbearable, that merely shows you how unbearable it is that you tried, after a fashion, to break it down for everyone.'

  'But a year is too much.'

  'Well, perhaps less will still serve as a strong enough example to deter others from making the same attempt. I will try - but I'm afraid I can guess what the law will say.'

  'What?'

  'It will say that if punishments should be made to fit the crime, yours is a perfect fit.'

  Introduction to BELIEF

  'Belief was published originally in the October 1953 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and here is how it came to avoid publication in one or another of my collections. In 1966, Ted Cornell, a British literary agent, told me that New English Library would like to put out a collection of my stories and you can be sure that I found no good reason for objecting. In 1967, therefore, New English Library published Through a Glass, Clearly, which included four of my stories. In the decade and a half since, the book has remained in print (both hard, cover and soft cover) through a number of reprintings. It turned out, though, that the book could be circulated only in Great Britain and in a few other nations that did not include the United States. I therefore decided there was no reason I couldn't place the four stories into one or another of my American collections. Three of them, 'Breeds There a Man?', 'The C-Chute', and 'It's Such a Beautiful Day', all appeared in my collection Nightfall and Other Stories in 1969. 'Belief escaped somehow, and I don't know why. Certainly, I liked the story, even though John Campbell, the editor of Astounding, forced some changes I did not entirely approve of. (No, I don't have the original manuscript, or I would use it.) In any case, here it is - a dozen years later. Incidentally, I don't mean to imply 'Belief has been unavailable to American readers all this time. It has appeared in seven different anthologies - but that isn't the same as appearing in one of my own collections. At least, not to me it isn't.