Think Blue, Count Two
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"Think Blue, Count Two" is a science fiction short story by Cordwainer Smith, set in his Instrumentality of Mankind future history. The story revolves around a psychological trip-wire installed to prevent an atrocity on a sleeper ship.
Originally published in Galaxy Magazine in February 1963, it was awarded the 1990 Japanese Seiun Award for Best Foreign Language Short Story of the Year.[1]
Plot
[edit]In a spaceport on Earth, two technicians put passengers into suspended animation in preparation for a centuries long interstellar journey. Their destination, Wereld Schemering, is "running dreadfully ugly" so all the ship's thirty thousand passengers are all handsome or beautiful, including fifteen year-old Veesey-koosey "the most beautiful girl on earth". Veesey is a reserve passenger to be awoken in case the ship's sailor dies, her high "Daughter Potential" serving to re-motivate other passengers into protecting her life and resuming their journey.
The technicians recall Old Twenty-two, a ship whose reserve passengers awoke mid-journey and, isolated in space, "invented new crimes and committed them upon each other". Fearing for Veesey's safety, the technicians call in a specialist named Tiga-belas, who psychically connects her with a "psychological guard"—a black cube powered by the laminated brain of a mouse. It is triggered by a poem:
After 326 years, Veesey is awoken by fellow passengers Trece, a handsome older man, and Talatashar, whose face was partially deformed while freezing. The ship is stalled after their captain died of a blood clot, and the solar sail was damaged. After a year of work repairing the ship, Talatashar becomes mad with isolation and resent toward Trece and Veesey's relationship, threatens to rape and murder Veesey while Trece watches.
Veesey activates her cube by recalling the codephrase, "Lady if a man / Tries to bother you, you can / Think blue, / Count two, / And look for a red shoe." It projects shared hallucinations of a warden, Talatashar's mother, and a friend for Veesey, deescalating the situation and getting their journey back on track.
Safely on Wereld Schemering, Tratashar thanks Veesey, revealing that her mind was the source of the visions, and the two remain friends.
Legacy
[edit]The story's title is referenced in the 1998 anime Serial Experiments Lain. Lain's father uses the password "Think Bule Count One Tow" [sic].
References
[edit]- ^ "Seiun Award(E to J)". www.nippon2007.org. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
External links
[edit]- Think Blue, Count Two at Faded Page (Canada)
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