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Spacewarp, v. 5, issue 5, whole no. 27, June 1949
Page 14
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THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER: AN EXPLANATION by C. STEWART METCHETTE (Member, NFFF) A.E. van Vogt has been noted for his complicated plots and the multiplicity of sub-plots that run throughout his fiction. Although this characteristic is a source of the success of his stories, it is also a drawback. If the reader loses a point, he must go back and dig that point up in order to grasp the remainder of the story. "Weapon Shops of Isher" (TWS Feb 49) is such a story: the complex plots, the multiple threads, and the gadget. The main theme is a continuation of the war between the Weapon Shops and the arbitrary power of the Isher Empress. Running parallel (and contributing to this main plot) is the story of Cayle Clark and Lucy Rall. Clark is a callidetic that is, he possesses a faculty of winning at games of chance. Clark would fit into an ESP group, for this amazing luck of his is certainly above the norm. Rall, a Weapon Shops agent, is detailed to watch Clark's development and report on it to the Co-ordinating Centre of the Shops, who in turn hope to use him as an instrument against the Isher power. Since this novel(et) is part of a series, the extension of the plot in "The Weapon Shops" is carried over, and Robert Hedrock continues his activities, cloaked in mystery and personally motivated operations. Hedrock is Earth's only immortal man, and throughout the series has sided with the Weapon Shops against the Isher Empress. Centuries before, as Walter de Lany, he founded the Shops as a counterbalance to the growing power of the Isher dynasty; at the "now" of this particular story Hedrock is concerned with ending the war between the two power groups, and solving the problem of the time pendulum which threatens to destroy the Universe. The gadget is time travel. While a 20th Century reporter swings endlessly in time and an Isher government building does likewise, Cayle Clark evidently leads a double life between the dates August 7 and November 26, 4784 Isher. This leads to confusion on the first reading, but in hopes of solving some of the difficulties, I have listed the chronological events in the novelet, and placed them in parallel time streams. I propose to illustrate the dual life of Cayle Clark by integrating the events into a linear time chart. MAIN TIME STREAM of CAYLE CLARK July 15 Cayle boards ship to go from Ferd to Imperial City; He meets Lucy Rall. Cayle is robbed in a poker game, and talks to an Isher general. At the City, he visits the general and inquires about an Army commission. Later, Caryle goes to Penny Palace, he makes phenomenal TIME STREAM OF FORMER CAPT. CLARK 14
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THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER: AN EXPLANATION by C. STEWART METCHETTE (Member, NFFF) A.E. van Vogt has been noted for his complicated plots and the multiplicity of sub-plots that run throughout his fiction. Although this characteristic is a source of the success of his stories, it is also a drawback. If the reader loses a point, he must go back and dig that point up in order to grasp the remainder of the story. "Weapon Shops of Isher" (TWS Feb 49) is such a story: the complex plots, the multiple threads, and the gadget. The main theme is a continuation of the war between the Weapon Shops and the arbitrary power of the Isher Empress. Running parallel (and contributing to this main plot) is the story of Cayle Clark and Lucy Rall. Clark is a callidetic that is, he possesses a faculty of winning at games of chance. Clark would fit into an ESP group, for this amazing luck of his is certainly above the norm. Rall, a Weapon Shops agent, is detailed to watch Clark's development and report on it to the Co-ordinating Centre of the Shops, who in turn hope to use him as an instrument against the Isher power. Since this novel(et) is part of a series, the extension of the plot in "The Weapon Shops" is carried over, and Robert Hedrock continues his activities, cloaked in mystery and personally motivated operations. Hedrock is Earth's only immortal man, and throughout the series has sided with the Weapon Shops against the Isher Empress. Centuries before, as Walter de Lany, he founded the Shops as a counterbalance to the growing power of the Isher dynasty; at the "now" of this particular story Hedrock is concerned with ending the war between the two power groups, and solving the problem of the time pendulum which threatens to destroy the Universe. The gadget is time travel. While a 20th Century reporter swings endlessly in time and an Isher government building does likewise, Cayle Clark evidently leads a double life between the dates August 7 and November 26, 4784 Isher. This leads to confusion on the first reading, but in hopes of solving some of the difficulties, I have listed the chronological events in the novelet, and placed them in parallel time streams. I propose to illustrate the dual life of Cayle Clark by integrating the events into a linear time chart. MAIN TIME STREAM of CAYLE CLARK July 15 Cayle boards ship to go from Ferd to Imperial City; He meets Lucy Rall. Cayle is robbed in a poker game, and talks to an Isher general. At the City, he visits the general and inquires about an Army commission. Later, Caryle goes to Penny Palace, he makes phenomenal TIME STREAM OF FORMER CAPT. CLARK 14
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