SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY : PARALLEL

 "Parallel" by J. Francis McComas (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1955)

Another early story from F&SF, this time a rare one from the founding co-editor of the magazine.

From  the editor's introduction:  "It is common enough in fiction for Terran explorers to land on a remote planet and to discover an Alien Menace Inconceivable Upon Earth; but there is one certain type of menace, deadly to civilization-as-we-know-it, which a proper knowledge of our own history might lead us to expect on other worlds.  J. Francis McComas' avocations include include the study of history (already on its way to becoming as sadly neglected as in the future which he postulates), which enables him to create a convincingly real alien threat in this strongly conceived and executed novelet."

It is the 24th century and mankind has reinvented itself after the destructive wars of the first decade of the 21st century.  The emphasis is now on science; the history of the 19th and 20th centuries are no longer taught out of fear of repetition.  A military remains a necessary evil, and its members are looked down upon.  In fact, there has been no military conflict for over 200 years

Earth has expanded throughout the solar system and the united Solar Nations have now sent its first starship, Messenger, into the deep reaches of space to find habitable planets.  The first -- and thus far, only -- such planet they found is Wolf 359 IV.

A survey ship under Captain Hardin lands near a ruined and deserted city, where there is no sign of life.  The abandoned city itself is striking because there are no metals in it; if the city ever contained any metal it had been stripped.  Then, while part of the survey team is exploring, three humanoids approach the ship on strange six-legged mounts.  Hardin goes out to meet the,, unarmed, with his arms spread wide to indicate no weapons or hostility.  The aliens fire arrows at him  Hardin is unharmed -- he has fast reflexes.  The aliens are frightened when the ship suddenly turned its bright lights upon them, and they flee.  The arrows fired are actually crossbow bolt, with wooden shafts and worked metal heads.  Because of the rapidity the bolts were fired, the aliens must have used a rapid-cranking arbalest -- something that indicates a high degree of sophistication. 

An army of 600 to 800 aliens surround the ship, positioning themselves to show a degree of military sophistication.  The civilian psychologist of the team walks out to meet the aliens, indicating that he means no harm.  They walk away with him, something the scientists feel is a positive thing.  But an hour or so later, the team hears a pitiful scream from the alien camp.  Later, one of the aliens approaches, drops the headless body of the psychologist, and rides away.  Soon the alien army attacks, and are repulsed by stun grenades, designed to render them unconscious but not to kill them.  Hardin realized that the enemy now feels it has nothing to fear from the Earthmen -- they are unwilling, or unable, to kill them.

The Administrator in charge of the Messenger soon lands, convinced that he can convince the aliens to become allies.  Hardin, as military man, has his hands tied by the civilians who overrule him.  They "had forgotten (or never heard of) the rational irrationality of the primitive."

Will Hardin be able to protect the survey team under his care?  And how?

J. Francis McComas (1911-1978) was an editorial representative for Random house, Henry Holt and Company, and Simon and Schuster.  In 1946, he co-edited (with Raymond J. Healy) Adventures in Time and Space, one of the first major american anthologies of science fiction.  In 1949, he was the founding co-editor (with Anthony Boucher) of The Magazine of Fantasy, which expanded its title to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with its second issue.  He remained co-editor of the magazine until the Fall of 1954, but remained an advisory editor until 1962.  He was a science fiction reviewer for the New York Times during the 1950s.  Although a knowledgeable afficionado of science fiction, McComas wrote only five science fiction stories during his lifetime, two of them under the pseudonym "Webb Marlowe."

The April 1955 issue of F&SF is linked below.  It also contains worthwhile stories from Richard Matheson, Mack Reynolds, Lord Dunsany, Marc Brandel, Alan E. Nouse, Washington Irving, Maurice Proctor, and chad Oliver & Charles Beaumont.   check it out,

https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v008n04_1955-04_AK/mode/1up