The Command (short story)
| "The Command" | |
|---|---|
| Author | L. Sprague de Camp |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Johnny Black |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Published in | Astounding Science-Fiction |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Publication date | October, 1938 |
| Followed by | "The Incorrigible" |
"The Command" is a science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. An early treatment of the concept of uplift, it was the first in his Johnny Black series. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for October, 1938, and first appeared in book form in the hardcover anthology Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction (World Publishing Co., 1965; reprinted by Hyperion Press, 1974). It later appeared in the paperback anthology Doorway Into Time (Macfadden-Bartell, 1966) and the subsequent de Camp collection The Best of L. Sprague de Camp (Nelson Doubleday, 1978). The story has also been translated into German.
Johnny Black is an American black bear, an experimental animal under the care of Professor Methuen at a biological station near the town of Frederiksted on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has been injected with "a chemical that lowered the resistance of the synapses between his brain cells, making that complicated process called 'thought' about as easy for Johnny's little brain as a man's big one."
At the beginning of the story, hoping to learn more about the science to which he owes his human intelligence, Johnny is reading an encyclopedia article about chemistry. Finding it hard to puzzle through without Professor Methuen's help, he goes for an amble about the station. The station seems unusually quiet. At the cages housing some of the other animals he finds the birds and monkeys chattering away as usual, but the chimpanzee McGinty in a catatonic state. Trotting over to the kitchen in hope of lunch, he finds the cook Honoria Velez in the same condition, and afterwards the station's scientists, including his patron Methuen, equally afflicted. Only nipping or prodding at them induces them into any movement, and that the minimum required to avoid the stimulus.
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