YASID- speaking of group minds
Terrafamilia
further. It's a short story or perhaps novella about a couple, of whom
IIRC at least one is a telepath if not both (but don't hold me to that),
that is called upon to investigate the goings on at a human colony on an
alien world. The colony is facing a threat from a native lifeform which
is infecting people and assimilating them into a blissed-out but not
particularly intellectually lively group mind of sorts. By the end of
the story the female half of the couple has willingly gotten herself
assimilated and the guy is going home wallowing in self pity.
I believe it appeared in that 2 to 3 volume paperback omnibus of classic
sf/hugo or nebula winning stories that was put out in the seventies or
early eighties.
Ciao,
Terrafamila
Nancy Lebovitz
IIRC, it's "A Song for Lya" by George R.R. Martin.
--
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Nancy Lebovitz http://www.nancybuttons.com
"We've tamed the lightning and taught sand to give error messages."
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Bryan Derksen
wrote:
>The name of this story is on the tip of my tongue but it won't get any
>further. It's a short story or perhaps novella about a couple, of whom
>IIRC at least one is a telepath if not both (but don't hold me to that),
>that is called upon to investigate the goings on at a human colony on an
>alien world. The colony is facing a threat from a native lifeform which
>is infecting people and assimilating them into a blissed-out but not
>particularly intellectually lively group mind of sorts. By the end of
>the story the female half of the couple has willingly gotten herself
>assimilated and the guy is going home wallowing in self pity.
Gah, I think I remember it too - though with a few slightly-different
details. It was an alien world, though. The group mind was mediated by
some sort of enormous gelatinous subterranian creature, and the local
human-likes had a religious practice whereby they'd attach a bit of
the parasitic jelly to the back of their head. It would grow into a
sort of mantle as they aged, and then near the end of their natural
lifespan they'd go down and lie on the main body of the creature and
be absorbed. Turned out that either:
A) The huge gelatinous creature preserved the minds of the dead in a
sort of group-mind "afterlife", and the long-term head-jellies were
necessary to prepare the mind for absorbption; natural telepaths
didn't need it and could just jump right in.
B) The huge gelatinous creature was a very clever predator of
intelligent life forms, keeping herds controlled and lureing them into
its maw with telepathic lies about benevolence and eternal life and
such.
The man leaves the planet with the telepathic voice of the
woman/god-jelly pleading that he come back and join her, not knowing
which was really true. :)
Terrafamilia
Nancy Lebovitz wrote:
> In article <uiZ9d.1833$pM5...@news.flashnewsgroups.com>,
> Terrafamilia <terraf...@irtc.net> wrote:
>
>>The name of this story is on the tip of my tongue but it won't get any
>>further. It's a short story or perhaps novella about a couple, of whom
>>IIRC at least one is a telepath if not both (but don't hold me to that),
>>that is called upon to investigate the goings on at a human colony on an
>>alien world. The colony is facing a threat from a native lifeform which
>>is infecting people and assimilating them into a blissed-out but not
>>particularly intellectually lively group mind of sorts. By the end of
>>the story the female half of the couple has willingly gotten herself
>>assimilated and the guy is going home wallowing in self pity.
>>
>>I believe it appeared in that 2 to 3 volume paperback omnibus of classic
>>sf/hugo or nebula winning stories that was put out in the seventies or
>>early eighties.
>
>
> IIRC, it's "A Song for Lya" by George R.R. Martin.
I believe that's it. Thanks.
Ciao,
Terrafamilia
Terrafamilia
Bryan Derksen wrote:
Your recollections are certainly closer to the mark than what my feeble
mind could dredge up. Sounds like the genesis of the Brain Slugs on
Futurama. ;)
Ciao,
Terrafamlia
------------------------
Morbo: Morbo will now introduce tonight's candidates: Puny Human #1,
Puny Human #2, and Morbo's good friend, Richard Nixon.
Nixon: Hello, Morbo. How's the family?
Morbo: Belligerent and numerous.
Nixon: Good man. Nixon's pro-war and pro-family.
Christian Weisgerber
> Your recollections are certainly closer to the mark than what my feeble
> mind could dredge up. Sounds like the genesis of the Brain Slugs on
> Futurama. ;)
Those are certainly, whether directly or indirectly, inspired by
Heinlein's _The Puppet Masters_.
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de