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Sense of Obligation
Sense of Obligation
Book Excerpt
re you, upon my word of honor as a Winner, that there is something you can do. Only you. If you help me, we might save seven million human lives. That is a fact...."
The lock burst and the door started to open. Ihjel shouldered it back into the frame for a final instant.
"... Here is the idea I want you to consider: Why is it that the people of Anvhar in a galaxy filled with warring, hate-filled, backward planets, should be the only ones who base their entire existence on a complicated series of games?"
III
This time there was no way to hold the door. Ihjel didn't try. He stepped aside and two men stumbled into the room. He walked out behind their backs without saying a word.
"What happened? What did he do?" the doctor asked, rushing in through the ruined door. He swept a glance over the continuous recording dials at the foot of Brion's bed. Respiration, temperature, heart, blood pressure--all were normal. The patient lay quietly and didn't answer him.
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"Planet of the Damned" is the book version of this and already has some comments, FYI.
The author does his usual good job of introducing sympathetic heroes, fast-paced action, tough opposition, and a few interesting minor characters thrown into the mix. The man vs. world theme is repeated a lot in Harrison's works (cf "Deathworld" and the Stainless Steel Rat series), but there are enough differences in plot and setting to not make this story routine or predictable. I thought the introductory scenes were fascinating in and of themselves.
The only hiccups I ran across were some hand-waving regarding the organization the protagonist ends up working for, along a bit of dated male-female interaction. This story also appears to have been a setup for a series that never continued, which made the very end feel a little shoehorned into the rest of it. However, well worth the read.
The author does his usual good job of introducing sympathetic heroes, fast-paced action, tough opposition, and a few interesting minor characters thrown into the mix. The man vs. world theme is repeated a lot in Harrison's works (cf "Deathworld" and the Stainless Steel Rat series), but there are enough differences in plot and setting to not make this story routine or predictable. I thought the introductory scenes were fascinating in and of themselves.
The only hiccups I ran across were some hand-waving regarding the organization the protagonist ends up working for, along a bit of dated male-female interaction. This story also appears to have been a setup for a series that never continued, which made the very end feel a little shoehorned into the rest of it. However, well worth the read.
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