Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith

“Scanners Live in Vain” is a 1950 science fiction novelette by Cordwainer Smith. It is about a sensory deprived man who tries to stop his Scanner brothers from killing a human who has just made a great scientific breakthrough.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Martel is a member of the elite Scanners – a group of men who have voluntarily severed all sensory input (except their eyes) so that they can stay awake and help humans travel through space. While taking a small vacation from his duties Martel is called to an emergency Scanner meeting where he learns that a human named Adam Stone has discovered a way for humans to travel through space without the help of the Scanners. Most of the Scanners want to kill Adam Stone before his knowledge gets out, but Martel has other plans.

Smith stepped slowly up into the light, watching his own feet. He turned so that they could see his face. He spoke: “I say that this is a lie. I say that Stone is a liar. I say that the Instrumentality must not be deceived.”
He paused. Then, in answer to some question from the audience which most of the others did not see, he said:

“I invoke the secret duty of the Scanners.”

Smith raised his right hand for Emergency Attention:

“I say that Stone must die.”

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• The idea of the Scanners was very unique and something I had not seen before. But it was cool, and provided a totally different way for humans to be able to cross the great distances in space.
• Going along with the Scanners was the totally cool ideas of Habermans and cranching. Wow! I wonder where Cordwainer Smith ever came up with these ideas?
• The ending of “Scanners Live in Vain” was great and provided nice closure to it.

• The bad:

• Because of the seriously strange ideas presented in “Scanners Live in Vain” it took me a little while to figure out what was going on.
• I thought the part where the Scanners recite their code was a little bit too much. I realize that it was there to convey information about how they operate, but still – we get the point already!

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 22
• Word Count: 13,289
• “Scanners Live in Vain” garnered the following awards:

• It won the 2001 Retro Hugo award for best novelette.
• It placed 19th in the 1999 Locus All-Time Poll for best novelette.

Where you can find “Scanners Live in Vain”:

• This novelette first appeared in the January 1950 issue of Fantasy Book.
• “Scanners Live in Vain” is included in Cordwainer Smith’s short story collection When the People Fell.
• You can read a very nice free online version of this story at Webscription.

Some Interesting Links:

• If you want to learn more about Cordwainer Smith be sure to check out the official web site, run by his daughter.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like Helen O’Loy, about two men who buy a beautiful robot house keeper and the all too life-like problems they encounter with her, by Lester del Rey.

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