Scanners Live in Vain
"Scanners Live in Vain" was a novelette-length story written by Cordwainer Smith in 1945. It went on to be included in the first volume of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
In The Verse where this story takes place, mankind tried exploring space, but ran into a huge problem: Some unknown form of radiation permeated all of outer space, which would cause unbearable pain in anyone exposed to it for more than a few minutes. There was no known way to block this radiation. The only solution anyone could devise for this "Great Pain of Space" was to physically sever all the nerves that carried the pain signals to the brain. This procedure, invented by Dr. Haberman, rendered the patient incapable of feeling any sensation, good or bad, and of using any senses other than eyesight; so it was reserved for convicted criminals who would otherwise be sentenced to death.
Unfortunately, manning your starships entirely with convicted felons isn't the best way to run a space program, so these "Habermans" as they came to be known had to be watched closely by a volunteer police force who'd had the nerve-severing procedure done to them voluntarily. These volunteers had readouts and control panels mounted into their bodies, so that they could monitor their physical health and make sure they weren't (say) leaning against a running buzz saw without realizing it. They were trained to scan their readouts quickly and often, and so became known as Scanners.
One additional perk that Scanners had was the ability to temporarily bypass their severed nerves, and thereby experience hearing/smell/taste/touch like a normal person again, by plugging in a special wire invented by Eustance Cranch. The hero of the story, a Scanner named Martel, gets "cranched" to enjoy a little sensory vacation from the space service, but is called to an emergency meeting by the Scanners Confraternity while his cranch is still in effect. There, he learns that an Adam Stone has invented a way to eliminate the Pain of Space in normal people who don't have the Haberman cuts. The rest of the Scanners, who are in their normal unfeeling state of sensory deprivation, see this as a challenge to their "labor monopoly" and vote to have Adam Stone assassinated. Martel's cranched state, on the other hand, allows him to feel how morally wrong this is, and he decides to put a stop to it.
Conflict, confrontation, and artificially-induced high-speed battle reflexes ensue.
The complete text can be found here.
- Human Popsicle: Colonists who don't have the Haberman cuts are shipped to other planets in cold sleep, aboard starships crewed by Habermans and Scanners.
- Organic Technology: Adam Stone has basically discovered that the radiation that causes the Great Pain of Space not only affects life, it is absorbed by it. So, surrounding yourself with other living creatures will prevent you from feeling the pain yourself. He eventually settles on building a shield out of live oysters.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: One can only imagine the excruciating pain all those pain-of-space-absorbing oysters must be suffering.
- Science Marches On: Human beings have been to space since the time this story was written, and although radiation hazards do exist in space, all of them can be shielded against and none of them cause appreciable pain.
- Sense Loss Sadness
- Space Madness: The Great Pain of Space can drive a man to suicide, if he doesn't have the Haberman cuts to prevent him from feeling it.
- Title Drop: When Martel is trying to talk the other Scanners out of assassinating Adam Stone. "Scanners live in vain! Thank God for that!"