영어로 읽는 고전 _ 제롬 빅스비의 실험실
제롬 빅스비의 "실험실"은 20세기 중반, 구체적으로는 1955년 12월 "Worlds of If Science Fiction" 호에 처음 발표된 공상과학 단편소설입니다. 이 작품은 두 외계인 과학자?선배인 퍼드와 그의 후배 조수인 곱?그리고 그들의 비밀스러운 실험실 행성에 의도치 않게 착륙한 인간 탐험가 커플인 조니와 헬렌 고먼 사이의 복잡한 상호작용을 중심으로 전개됩니다. 이야기는 고도로 발달한 지성, 서로 다른 종족 간의 접촉이 가져오는 의미, 그리고 과학적 실험의 의도치 않은 결과라는 주제를 다룹니다.
"실험실"에서 두 외계인 과학자는 실험에 몰두하고 있던 중 인간 듀오의 예상치 못한 도착에 직면하게 됩니다. 다양한 실험적 에너지 장의 작동을 포함한 일련의 유머러스하고 혼란스러운 만남을 거친 후, 베간족은 자신들의 존재를 인간들에게 드러내게 됩니다. 퍼드와 곱은 접촉 규정과 외계인들에게 노출된 잠재적 후과에 대해 고민합니다. 결국 그들은 인간들의 기억을 지우고 그들의 존재에 대한 어떤 파괴적인 지식도 피하기 위해 시간을 되돌려 보내는 방법을 고안합니다. 이 이야기는 서로 다른 기술적 발전 수준에 있는 문명들이 어떻게 상호작용하는지와 그러한 만남에 수반되는 윤리적 고려사항들에 대한 아이디어를 탐구합니다.
Classics Read in English _ Laboratory by Jerome Bixby
Jerome Bixby's "Laboratory" is a science fiction short story from the mid-20th century, first published in the December 1955 issue of "Worlds of If Science Fiction." The narrative centers on the complex interactions between two alien scientists?a senior researcher named Pud and his junior assistant Gop?and a human exploration couple, Johnny and Helen Gorman, who accidentally crash-land on their clandestine laboratory planet. The story explores themes of advanced intelligence, the implications of inter-species contact, and the unintended consequences of scientific experimentation.
In "Laboratory," the two alien scientists are deeply absorbed in their research when they encounter the unexpected arrival of the human duo. After a series of comedic and chaotic encounters, including the activation of various experimental energy fields, the Vegans find themselves inadvertently revealing their presence to the humans. Pud and Gop grapple with Contact protocols and the potential ramifications of their exposure to these alien visitors. Ultimately, they devise a solution to erase the humans' memories of the encounter and send them back in time to prevent any disruptive knowledge of their existence. The story examines how civilizations at different levels of technological advancement interact and addresses the ethical considerations inherent in such encounters.
Among the contents
Gop's thoughts had the bluish-purple tint of abject apology: "They're landing, Master."
Pud looked up from the tiny thig-field he had been shaping in his tentacles. "Of course they are," he thought-snapped. "You practically invited them down, didn't you? If you'd only kept a few eyes on the Detector, instead of day-dreaming?"
"I'm sorry," Gop said unhappily. "I wasn't day-dreaming, I was observing the magnificent skill and finesse with which you shaped the thig. After all, this system is so isolated. No one ever came along before.... I just supposed no one ever would?"
"A Scientist isn't supposed to suppose! Until he's proven wrong, he's supposed to know!" Thirty of Pud's eyes glowered upward at the tiny alien spaceship, only ninety or so miles above the surface of the laboratory-planet and lowering rapidly. The rest of Pud's eyes?more than a hundred of them, set haphazardously in his various-sized heads like gurf-seeds on rolls?scoured every inch of the planet's visible surface, to make certain that no sign of the Vegans' presence on the planet, from the tiniest experiment to the gigantic servo-mechanical eating pits, was left operating or visible.
