“Killing warrant” is a satirical story by the famous science fiction writer Robert Sheckley . It was written in 1954 . First published in December 1954 in the journal Galaxy Science Fiction , in 1955 it was included in the author's collection Citizen in Space . First appeared in the USSR in the journal Foreign Literature (No. 5, 1965) in the translation of Tatyana Ozerskaya .
| Kill order | |
|---|---|
| Skulking permit | |
| Genre | story |
| Author | Robert Sheckley |
| Original language | English |
| Date of writing | 1954 |
| Date of first publication | 1955 |
The work raised the question of human aggressiveness and the potential of a peaceful society, showing the opposition of dictatorship and a peaceful village.
Story
Residents of one long-abandoned earthly colony lost in space (with only one village) live in peace and mutual assistance. Two hundred years on Earth there was a war and there was no connection, but the radio woke up again, and the villagers learned of a slight change in the name of the earthly government: from the "Commonwealth of Democracies" to "Empire." Colonists, wanting to look not “alien elements” in the eyes of the inspector, customize their village under the new norm on the basis of ancient books (they solemnly build unnecessary mail, a prison, a church). In them, the mayor also read about such a necessary "profession" as a criminal, and issued a "warrant for theft and murder" to the fisherman Tom. Tom read a book about criminals for a long time, but did not understand why they were needed, and in the end he disgraced the entire colony: he could not kill the inspector, which made him disappointed in the fighting efficiency of young recruits from the village (“from fifteen to sixty years” ) and left this immoral planet. Billy Malyar (interim police chief) notes:
This is what happens when civilization has not penetrated people for two hundred years. Take a look at how much time it took for the Earth to become civilized. Thousands years. And we wanted to achieve this in two weeks.
Literature
- Encyclopedia for children . World literature. T. 2 / chapters. ed. V. Volodin - M: Avanta +, 2001 .-- S. 568.
Links
- "Killing warrant" on the site " Fantasy Laboratory "