Four Hundred Blackbirds- Jack Vance novelette

Four Hundred Blackbirds- Jack Vance novelette

The 22/23 page (7,600 words) novelette Four Hundred Blackbirds was written in 1948 and issued first in Future Science Fiction magazine in July, 1953.  The story begins on an unidentified planet that seems similar to Earth where the country of Moltroy, run by the People’s Rights party, is at war with the country called the World Federation. Edward Schmidt is the director of the “Institute” in Moltroy and supervises Abel Ruan, “an extremely brilliant scientist, ingenious, resourceful” who has been working on linking the brains of two men through their spinal cords. This was a failure but he did succeed in joining the brain of a human to a canary’s brain where they were able to communicated by a telepathic like connection. Abel describes how flocks of blackbirds are able to fly together, “suddenly all veering together as if guided by one brain.” “Imagine telepathy as high frequency radiation, imagine the human brain as a transmitter and receiver.”  Abel hopes to connect the brains of select blackbirds to the brains of fighter pilots so when they engage the enemy they are able to communicate and engage as one coordinated fighting unit.  Pilots would wear helmets connected to blackbird brains that would allow them to communicate with the other pilots and rest of the crew.  The idea is that they are able to coordinate like a flock of blackbirds in perfect unison when attacking.  The fighter pilots of Moltroy would overwhelm the World Federation pilots in “a monstrous air battle over the ocean” allowing for Moltroy bombers to enter into an bomb the “Federate” territory and thereby “win the world.”  As Abel points out, however, the Federation has scientists of its own and might have their own secret weapons or counter measure inventions.  Perhaps there is even a telepathic arms race.  This is a very early Jack Vance story, written in 1948, and it definitely shows its age but is still enjoyable. I’ve read Four Hundred Blackbirds multiple times, initially rating it a 3 “Liked it,” but it eventually grew on me like an old friend and I changed my rating to a 4 “Really liked it.”  Vance fans and those who like very early sci fi stories might want to give this one a try.

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Lost Moons (1982)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Gadget Stories (2005) part of VIE

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Minding the Stars: Early Jack Vance, volume 4 (2014)

Included in the Vance collection titled Sail 25 and Other Stories (2017 Spatterlight)