Up the Walls of the World
James Tiptree Jr. Under the direction of a rather strange scientist, the U.S. military has secretly established a research project to investigate the powers of the mind and their possible military applications. For this project a variety of people have been brought together: men and women who have shown signs of telepathic powers, the scientists who study them and a discredited doctor, an M.D., addicted to his own medications, who believes it is all a sham and a waste of money.
Meanwhile, in the swirling energy fields of a distant planet, alien creatures learn that the very existence of their world is threatened by a huge interstellar being, which is progressing through the galaxy destroying whole solar systems. However, this destruction seems to be part of a plan, as this being, which may be at least partly a machine, is creating a kind of “fire line,” a void between the exploding core of the galaxy and the outer stars to protect the outer systems from the explosion.
The alien creatures, in an attempt to understand what is to happen to their world, attempt to project their thought waves outward to the vast interstellar being, but inadvertently they tap its strength and project the waves to Earth, into the minds of the people on the telepathy project.
After this stunning occurrence is repeated several times, the minds of both the earthlings and the alien creatures are captured by the vast interstellar being, which has by then become conscious, and conscious of them. The result is a new mode of existence for the aliens and humans alike, and for the vast, godlike being.
Genres:
Science FictionFictionScience Fiction FantasyFantasyAliensClassicsShort StoriesNovelsSpeculative Fiction20th Century
319 Pages