Three to Conquer |
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Astounding Science Fiction, Aug - Sept - Oct 1955 (as Call Him Dead) Dobson: London, 1957 (as Three to Conquer) Ace: New York, 1957 (as Three to Conquer) |
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collected in — | September 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An invasion both minimal and subtle
So how is it minimal and subtle? It's an invasion-of-Earth story, with engineer-businessman Wade Harper, a likeable, quick-thinking, and competent hero, as the only man who can detect the aliens among us. Harper is a telepath — as far as he knows, the only one. The aliens are parasites rather like those in Hal Clement's Needle (1950); they can live within humans and take them over. Alien-controlled people can act in society just as they had before when purely human. Only their minds give them away — and only to a nearby telepath. The ex-human people are only slightly different; you and I couldn't tell an ex-human we know from the man he used to be, but his persona is gone, replaced by an alien's. Call him dead. But who will believe you? A parable for treason and subversion in any age. There are no special effects in Three to Conquer, no spaceships on stage and the aliens look just like us — they are us, one by one. Except in trivial details the story is not dated. One would think this an obvious and inexpensive movie to make, so cleanly plotted that just following the book should turn out a great movie thriller. Unfortunately Hollywood hasn't taken it up.
Another antecedent is Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (1951; unabridged version 1990), the absolute masterpiece in the generally laughable category of invasion of Earth via flying saucers. There was a boom in saucer sightings when Heinlein wrote his novel, in which the aliens are parasites as are Russell's here. Heinlein's are grosser, more physical, with inroads much more widespread before discovery. Heinlein's people have to fight a war against foes numerous and entrenched before they're properly analyzed. Russell's situation is smaller-scale on both sides, more like dealing with a first wave of saboteurs landed along the coast. This invasion is noticed at an earlier stage and Three to Conquer is a shorter and more intimate novel. Russell's policemen and other supporting cast are sketched deftly and humanely, with sharp or breezy dialogue. These are people you care about. Near the beginning, Police Captain Ledsom is taking a statement from Wade Harper about a policeman that accidentally ran into an alien takeover getting under way, and was shot. Harper heard the patrolman's dying thoughts. Captain Ledsom:
And so on. Harper has a sense for humor and irony as well as the tragic, he's a determined individualist who has to work somehow with the official bureaucracies — or else. Harper realizes that a covert and nasty invasion is on, takes quick action to stay alive himself, and tries to figure out what can be done about it. The reader is smoothly swept along. Russell makes you wonder, involves you in the suspense of detection and counter-action, adds a good leavening of humor. As either Three to Conquer or Call Him Dead, a fine novel.
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© 2001 Robert Wilfred Franson |
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Ace Books: 1957 cover Breathers at Troynovant |
Guise at Troynovant Mentality at Troynovant |
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