MAN’S WORLD (11)
By:
September 17, 2024
HiLoBooks is pleased to serialize Charlotte Haldane’s 1926 proto-sf novel Man’s World for HILOBROW’s readers. Written by an author married to one of the world’s most prominent eugenics advocates, this ambivalent adventure anticipates both Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale. When a young woman rebels against her conditioning, can she break free? Reissued in 2024 (with a new introduction by Philippa Levine) by the MIT Press’s RADIUM AGE series.
ALL INSTALLMENTS: INTRO | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25.
A PEOPLE UNBOUND
Certes, nous avons eu tous, à nos propres dépens, la preuve fâcheuse que ceux qui font des expériences peuvent se tromper; mais qu’arrive-t-il, jevous prie, à ceux qui n’en font pas?
PAUL BERT — ‘LEÇONS SUR LA RESPIRATION.’
Nicolette lay unclothed on a bed in a strange room. But they might have been her usual bed and her usual room. If the mode of her day had destroyed family life, it had at the same time enormously simplified community living. Having ‘no home’ meant being ‘at home’ everywhere. This clean, simple cubicle, which she occupied during her visit to Centrosome, was familiar; as familiar as the types of buildings, the plan of the roads, the hangars, whence she could at any time embark for Nucleus, outside.
The door was opened and the jolly brown eyes of her friend Anna, sister to Bruce Wayland, peeped round it.
‘Hurry up,’ said Nicolette, and Anna hurried. At a bound she landed noisily on the narrow bed, and while the springs recovered themselves they looked at each other smiling, and said nothing.
There was just that instant’s hesitation before the plunge into all there was to tell and to be told, born of their consciousness of the changes in one another, and the desire to bridge the small gap which separated them from their former intimacy.
‘Do you like being here?’ asked Anna then.
‘Yes, I do,’ answered Nicolette. Without Christopher, Nucleus had been unbearable.
‘Tired?’
‘Not a bit.’
‘Then let’s talk. I wish you had been here yesterday. Lois was singing.’
‘Lois — the Entertainer with the beautiful voice?’
‘Yes, the Lois. And where do you think she has gone now? To Nucleus. And to find whom?’ Anna paused dramatically. ‘Christopher!’
Nicolette sat up. ‘To find Christopher?’ she repeated, ‘my brother?’
‘Yes. She has heard from someone, apparently, all about his extraordinary ear and his gift for music. She lives for nothing else, you know, and is always looking for people to help her. She is starting a new kind of music, so she has gone to enlist him.’
‘But Christopher is not in Nucleus. That is really why I came here. It was so dull without him. He has gone away to study.’
‘I dare say she’ll find him.’ Nicolette restlessly got up and went to switch on the neighbouring bath. ‘Everyone thinks he’s a wonder boy. Is he?’
‘Of course.’ Nicolette bent to the bath, but Anna could see her face in the mirror.
‘Do come back,’ she said impatiently, ‘there is plenty of time yet. Are there any difficulties about Christopher?’
‘No,’ Nicolette answered stoutly and came back. ‘But he is not certain yet what he wants to do, and they say that he ought to be.’
‘I don’t agree. I think he should be left alone to do as he likes. I won’t have you worry him.’
Anna, delightful and absurd, could still soothe Nicolette. ‘A nice way for you to talk,’ she smiled as she returned to the bed, ‘after you have shamelessly thrown him over. I always thought you wanted Christopher, Anna, and now you have gone and mixed yourself up with a big fat Patrolman, they tell me.’
‘He is not big and fat,’ rejoined Anna indignantly; ‘he is lithe and graceful. And don’t tease. You know Christopher is years too young for me, and probably wouldn’t have me, anyway. But, if we must be blood allies, you can have Bruce. He is big enough, and he puts on fat in a night.’
‘I don’t want a fat man or any other kind of man. But tell me about yours.’ Nicolette did not want to think about Lois or Christopher. ‘When are you going to be mated?’
‘In three months’ time. I am so excited. He’s lovely and Latin and dark, and I call him Angelo to annoy him.’
‘Sounds pleasant. What does he do?’
‘Patrol. Frontiersman. The only drawback is, I shall not see him very much afterwards, unless he’s transferred.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘Here. You shall meet him. He will be here for about six months, or, at any rate, until I am ready to go to the Garden.’
‘How splendid. Has he mated before?’
‘No, isn’t it lovely? He should have, of course he’s twenty-one; but he went straight to the Patrol and did a long spell over the Eastern frontier. Then he came down on a Company job, because there was not a man available just then, and as he was coming back on leave soon in any case they let him volunteer. They should not have allowed it, and as he was not in perfect condition, after they had used him for experiments on Meissner’s plexus he developed some horrid complication. But it’s all over now, and Bruce says it was an entirely new bit of work and very useful.’
‘Is Bruce here, too?’
‘He is. You will find him like a bear, because he’s forbidden to do any more stunts at the Miracle House for at least a year. He was in the chair for nine hours, for an experiment he’d planned himself, before two hundred teachers of physiology. They exposed rather too much of his brain, and the Company Director Formant was annoyed about it. He said Bruce was not justified in taking such risks with himself, because he is wanted for important work later. Bruce is sulking. He told them it was an insult to his intelligence to suggest he did not know how far it was safe to go; that his body belonged to him and he could do what he liked with it, anyway. They retorted that masochism was beyond the allowed limit, which made him angrier still, because he had to admit a tendency to it. But of course he will listen to reason. He is keen enough on discipline and example, and they know it. The young men love him, too. Still, the whole thing has been a bit of a nuisance. You must try to distract him a little.’
‘I, Anna? How can I do anything?’
‘You might try. It would help us. Surely you know how beautiful you are? Men are really easy to manage once you know them.’
‘You are a conceited little creature. Just because you are going to be mated to your Angelo.’
‘I am not a bit conceited, only it is such fun. What do you suppose it is like to be kissed?’
‘I’ve never thought about it.’
‘I have thought of nothing else for three weeks.’
Anna’s bright round eyes shone with eagerness. Nicolette, watching her with a little surprise, realized that her own day of mating would soon come. The thought depressed her. Talk of love merely brought her back to Christopher, whom alone she loved. She would certainly have babies presently, but what friendship or passion could mating bring her to equal the joys of being with Christopher? Yet she must prepare herself, as he had said. She had finished her training and the time was drawing near. The present was every moment becoming the future, everything was moving, growing, urging, expanding; stay still as she would, it was carrying her onward like a moving pathway to the unknown with its pressure of conflicting emotions — she did not want to grow up.
She herself had to move violently to escape from this sudden indefinable panic; she plunged into the bath.
‘Don’t bother now,’ called Anna, who, obsessed by her own pleasant dreamings, had noticed nothing. ‘We’re going to swim in a minute.’
‘I want to wash, little idiot,’ shouted Nicolette angrily. She felt both younger and much older than her friend at that moment.
Anna led the way to the lift and out of the building through the Great Hall, down the broad steps to lawns framed by buildings tinted yellow, orange, and glowing pink. They walked slowly down a broad avenue of limes which led to the wide open-air swimming-pool, meeting and passing several people and a few children. No one hurried or lagged, but walked at a beautifully even pace with a grace that would have been foreign to the grimy cities and narrow pathways of an earlier age. There were several gardening parties, each led by a supervisor; for the enormous increase of ornamental grounds had led to an equal extension of this branch of art. It was cultivated by asexual horticulturists, who applied themselves almost exclusively to all arts and crafts, and who had attained an exquisite proficiency in carrying out large-scale designs.
Long low pavilions stood here and there on the banks of the pool. They were built of wood, or stone, or cement, or sometimes of a combination of these materials in such a way as to harmonizewith their surroundings. In all the temperature was carefully regulated according to their uses: some contained gymnastic and massage appliances; others were designed for various types of baths; a few had rest and study rooms or were stocked with refreshments. In the summer people spent only the shortest possible time indoors, and at all times many hours were given to physical culture.
‘Shall we sit here?’ asked Anna, and as Nicolette nodded agreement, they sat on the grass at the pool’s edge, Anna quickly kicking off her sandals and dangling her feet in it ankle-deep.
‘I can never keep away from the water when I am not busy,’ she said. ‘Angelo will know where to find us. I expect he will come along soon.’
‘What is the topography of this place, Anna?’ asked Nicolette. ‘You might as well explain now.’
‘Well, as you know, this is all part of Administrative Dwellings. This group runs from A to H, and our building is G — Maternal Prep. A, B, C, D, and E are offices. If you look straight across from here you will see the roofs of B just above those trees. In case you want to communicate with any one in Nucleus, wireless central is in C, block 5. Entertainments and studies are in H; over there in the left-hand corner. F and G are all dwellings. The gyms., baths, and electrics are at the top of each block; I expect yours are the same.’
‘Yes, it all seems pretty much the same. I suppose the cooking labs. and dining halls are on the right of Great Hall, and the stock rooms on the left?’
[HILOBROW editor’s note — gyms. and labs. as in the original.]
‘Exactly. The theatre, in H, has just been renovated, and we are rather proud of it. All the decorative work is pure pattern and depends for its changing effect on the lighting. You people in Nucleus still cling to the pictorial style, I know, but you must come and see ours.’
‘Old Weil may be getting a bit old-fashioned, but Arcous, his son, would even please you, I think.’
‘Well, anyway, you must come to the theatre tomorrow afternoon.’
‘No, she must not,’ a voice suddenly boomed behind them, and a very large man squatted down by Nicolette, and slid from her side into the water, where he stood, the ripples turning his body, from waist to feet, to a caricature of itself.
‘I shall take her to the Miracle House tomorrow afternoon; new programme, adults only. You need not apply.’
Anna immediately did, plunging her foot into the water, and sending a mighty shower of drops over his head and shoulders. He lifted her with one arm from the grass, grasped her kicking toes with the other, and set her down beside him.
‘Coming too?’ he grinned at Nicolette. ‘It’s jolly.’
She looked at his big head, perched comically to one side, while a twinkle shone wickedly in his eyes. He had not seen her since she was quite a child, and was evidently wondering whether to await her reply, or whether he dared introduce her to the pool in the same manner as Anna.
‘If he touches you,’ his sister anticipated, ‘bite him, Nicolette. You wait till I set my Angelo on to you,’ she threatened her brother. ‘Where on earth is he? You might have had the decency to wait for a man of your own size.’
‘Nicolette has no doubt trained Christopher to treat her gently,’ laughed Bruce, as, postponing further mischief, he climbed out and sat down by her side.
‘Now I am in, I may as well have a swim,’ remarked Anna; ‘but if you’re not gone when I come back, I might show Nicolette a trick or two.’
‘Let me look at you,’ he continued, ignoring his sister’s threat with the phlegm of a sea-lion. ‘I have not seen you for years. Last time I was in Nucleus you had just gone to the Garden to begin your course.’
‘Yes, I remember hearing about you. From Christopher. You annoyed Adrian. He said, “Bruce boomed round the place, while Adrian shrilled like a night-jar, and St. John chuckled like a jackass.” I forget why.’
‘Oh, because I suggested some tests for the Admins. to find out whether they were getting over-stabilized. They always are, you know. And they do test them everywhere now, at five-yearly intervals. But Adrian thought it would have a harmful effect from the propaganda point of view. Letting the people in our little secrets.’
‘Adrian is over-stabilized.’
‘What — already? I only think he’s a bit priggish. But we do rather tend to one extreme or the other. Now I ——’ he laughed a little guiltily and left it at that.
But she could see what he meant. It was in his eyes. The exceptionally broad forehead, the large curved nose, the red, narrow lips, proclaimed him a future leader of men; but the blue eyes still held a boyish sparkle of daring; the eyes of a boy perpetually in pursuit of fun, of novel sensations, of excitement. He was still busily living and experimenting, with and on himself. The material was all there; in contrast to her slim, almost girlish Christopher, Bruce’s form was Herculean, though his hands were surprisingly small, with sensitive pointed finger-tips.
Many groups now came to the lake, and it seemed to Nicolette, who was young enough to be a trifle self-conscious among strangers, that they were suddenly surrounded by youths, all engaged in the obviously congenial task of worshipping Bruce. He introduced them by shouting their names at her as they came up, and in the usual Centrosome fashion they ignored her save for a brief nod, and continued a conversation chiefly composed of jokes, topical allusions and nicknames. Turning to the water, she saw Anna trudging in wild haste towards them, and making violent gestures with alternate arms, which seemed to include herself and an approaching man at the back of the small crowd.
Anna bounded up the steps from the water, and Angelo gallantly swooped down in time to lend her a lean brown hand as she leapt the last three. Nicolette took him in at a glance; tall, thin as a rake, and very dark. He was hairy, too; his eyes were merry, and his ears suggested points. A delightfully faun-like creature. Nicolette was glad for Anna.
RADIUM AGE PROTO-SF: “Radium Age” is Josh Glenn’s name for the nascent sf genre’s c. 1900–1935 era, a period which saw the discovery of radioactivity, i.e., the revelation that matter itself is constantly in movement — a fitting metaphor for the first decades of the 20th century, during which old scientific, religious, political, and social certainties were shattered. More info here.
SERIALIZED BY HILOBOOKS: James Parker’s Cocky the Fox | Annalee Newitz’s “The Great Oxygen Race” | Matthew Battles’s “Imago” | & many more original and reissued novels and stories.