Security by Bryce Walton
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"Security" by Bryce Walton is a science fiction short story written in the late 1950s. The narrative explores themes of paranoia, isolation, and the psychological impacts of extreme secrecy in a military context. The story centers around characters grappling with the consequences of their work on a high-security project during a war, raising questions about sanity and humanity in a world where personal relationships and communication are stifled. The plot follows Sam
Lewis, an engineer entrenched in a categorized project that has rendered its brilliant thinkers into shadows of their former selves. The deteriorating conditions lead to a chaotic party atmosphere where intoxication is a coping mechanism for the scientists' frustrations and ennui. Sam's interaction with Betty Seton, a fellow scientist, culminates in a desperate escape attempt when he realizes the enormity of their confinement and loss of purpose. The climax builds as Lewis takes radical action to free himself and his colleagues from the clutches of the oppressive security state, ultimately learning that the outside world they feared has significantly changed — the war they thought was ongoing had actually ended years prior, leaving them disconnected from reality and their true selves. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Walton, Bryce, 1918-1988 |
|---|---|
| Title | Security |
| Series Title | Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, December 1957 |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 74.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Scientists -- Fiction |
| Subject | United States -- Fiction |
| Subject | Secrecy -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 60421 |
| Release Date | Oct 4, 2019 |
| Last Update | Oct 17, 2024 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 261 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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