A. Betram Chandler's *The Subtractor*: The Cozy Interior of a Star Ship

Last night I had trouble falling asleep and so I picked up some light literature, a series of short stories by military space opera writer, A. Bertram Chandler. Recently I re-read Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, and so that put me in the mood for some more "military themed" space opera, i.e. starships, galactic empires, cloak and dagger conspiracy on an outer space canvas. I have an Ace Double edition of two of Chandler's famous John Grimes stories, The Road to the Rim (a novel), and The Hard Way Up (short story collection). I read the second short story in The Hard Way Up, titled, "The Subtractor," and I wanted to comment on it.

First, some brief summary. The story relates the first command of John Grimes, a member of the Federation Science Survey, the military of a futuristic intergalactic union of humanity. He gets command of a small but fast ship that functions as a V.I.P. courier for the military. The narrative of this story is pretty straightforward. Grimes and company pick up a suspicious V.I.P. by the name of Alberto, a clean-cut yet mysterious official sort of person. He couriers the V.I.P. to a planet on the border between the Federation and two other alien empires, and then conspiracy and espionage ensue. I don't want to give about the interesting plot twist at the end, but I do want to comment on the effect of the story.

For me, the most interesting element of this story was the atmosphere of the interior of spaceship flying through space. The majority of the story relates scenes that take place within the tiny ship as it hurtles through space to its destination. Not much happens on the ship in terms of plot progress, but the atmosphere is vivid and satisfying. You get that since of intimate isolation among the crew members who find themselves in this small environment in the middle of the vast emptiness that is outer space. Because of this isolation and monotony, they are realistically concerned about minor things, like their meals and how to pass the time, e.g. drinking cocktails and playing chess. To an extent, the environment related is, cozy, fundamentally social, and in spite of the fact that very few things happen on the ship, a sense of adventure is nevertheless palpable. In terms of tone, the story relates the destination-focused experience of sailors on a great journey, or of submariners doing a long tour underwater, but the context has been switched to outer space.

I haven't read much of A. Bertram Chandler, but my recent re-read of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy inspired me to stick with space opera a little bit longer. I think I may review one or two of his stories in the following days. In any case, this one was great!