Kontrollstation Altimus

by Kenneth Bulmer

Matthew Wade had been a coord, one of the mysterious chosen ones who through powers unknown to the rest of mankind, ruled the known galaxy. But Wade fled from the overwhelming responsibility of his exalted caste and went into hiding ... on the symb-socket circuit.

The symb-socketeers were the migrant workers of the galaxy. Traveling from planet to planet, they worked for play and played for a living. Matthew Wade adopted this freewheeling, ever-changing life hoping to evade the bailiffs of Altimus, the home planet of the coords, knowing that they would never rest until they had tracked down the renegade.

And then Wade took service on the planet of Ashramdrego, and was faced with the most important decision of his life – would he let an entire planet be destroyed rather than reveal his true identity... ?

Genres: Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Henry Kenneth Bulmer
aka:
Alan Burt Akers
Ken Blake
Ernest Corley
Arthur Frazier
Adam Hardy
Philip Kent
Bruno Krauss
Neil Langholm
Karl Maras
Manning Norvil
Charles R. Pike
Andrew Quiller
Richard Silver
Tully Zetford

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the Symb-Socket Circuit (one of Bulmer's strengths was providing quirky but absolutely gripping titles!) is a very action-packed novel from 1972. It suffers from the inclusion of too many made-up alien slang terms but sweeps right along when you adjust to them. It's a far-future romp set in a universe where people adapt to different planets by symbiotically linking with native life forms of that world. The hero is Matthew Wade, who was once a member of the coord, but dropped out when he learned their true nature and is now on the run and in disguise. Bulmer attempted to incorporate some of the New Wave attributes, and some of his group sex binges will raise an eyebrow, but it's a fun and fast read. Bulmer wasn't a great literary stylist, but he was a masterful storyteller. His work reminds me more of E.C. Tubb than anyone else.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

3½. Very original conceptually.

[Alien · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is based on (more or less) 2 ideas. The more important one is this: Humans can survive comfortably on alien planets with the help of symbiontic creatures from those planets. For this they have a standardized "interface" called "symb-socket", where the creatures are attached. So some migrant workes go from planet to planet and get equipped with the right symbiont, that protects them against noxious gasses, acid lakes or whatever...
While this idea seems rather striking at first glance, it turns out to be rather daft when you think about it for just one minute.
Why did I give 4 stars then? Kenneth Bulmer can write. I kept turning the pages and the thin little book was finished in no time. And he can portray people and their actions rather well. While the setting was kind of outlandish, the way the protagonists talked and acted seemed quite believable to me. That's something I really like and don't find that often in SF

[Gingaeru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, this is a strange one. From the very first page, you're bombarded with an overabundance of alien terminology you won't fully grasp until maybe fifty pages in. Besides that, there are odd goings-on in the first chapter alone that won't make a lick of sense until the end of the book. It's an off-putting way to drop the reader into a world. The story is deceptively simple, but its presentation is clumsy.

Ironically, in a flashback within the narrative, a fictional novelist is quoted as saying: "When I write, I write for adults. I don't have to explain everything. The reader grows in awareness as I want him to grow, so that he knows what he has to know at any given point in the story... If you don't follow what I'm talking about, then look to your own mental equipment; don't blame me as a writer." Don't confuse poorly-balanced writing with poor reading comprehension. We're not talking about the English language here; it's all made up. The first chapter is a mess to anyone who hasn't read the whole book. The author is 100% to blame for confronting the reader with all those undefined terms right at the outset. It was avoidable.

The story centers around a man called Matthew Wade. He's a coord who has absconded from the C.I.D.G. (Coordinating Inter-Disciplinary Gestalt) of Altimus. He seeks refuge within the Symb-Socket Circuit (as it's generally overlooked by the coords). The nature of the coords is never truly explained, but they have extra circuits in their brains and can communicate directly with computers. They're feared throughout the galaxy.

It should be noted that attached to Wade's central nervous system is a living, possibly sentient, sixteen-limbed camouflage cloak named "Lon Chaney" (yes, that's right). Wade obtained him on "the planet of the Demons," Samia, "for a price and at a cost of surrendering a little of [his] own ego." This was before he became a symb-socketeer. (Lon Chaney is sometimes called a "cape," or even a "coat.")

The "Symb-Socket Circuit" refers to the circuit of planets traveled by an elite class of individuals known as "symb-socketeers." They've undergone operations that allow them to plug compatible alien animals into their bloodstreams via a socket at the base of their necks, sustaining and adapting them to planets with harsh environments. They share a symbiotic relationship with the animals and can communicate quasi-telepathically with them (this is known as "symbing"). These living "life support systems" are called "alices" (always lowercase), regardless of their species. "... a man's alice was his life." Their work involves collecting/mining/harvesting whatever valuable resources the individual planets might have to offer. They're contracted by various big corporations. The use of "alices" greatly cuts the costs and time it would take otherwise. "The provision of a small annulus venting into your neck gave you opportunities denied to those dependent on a space suit and clumsy air tanks strapped to their backs." Apparently, the symb-socketeers do all this for the fun of it. "Men on the symb-socket circuit came to a planet and accepted the local alice and did their job enjoying themselves in the galaxy and joying in their work as its functional expression of leisure and then moved on."

Mathew Wade became a symb-socketeer hoping to escape the pursuit of the coords. Seven days ago, he landed on Ashramdrego (the sun is Ashram, and the planet is Drego). On Ashramdrego, the local resource of value is a bush called geron that produces gerontidril (a substance capable of extending one's lifespan). The Kriseman Corporation has made its base here, looking to profit come harvest time (geronditril is one of the most valuable things in the galaxy). However, they have had trouble with the native "alices" (squoodles) abandoning their symbionts to die in the poisonous gases of Drego. They also have to put up with the threat of a large bee-like predator (ruptor) and an occasional temporary madness called "juvenile sickness."

The story begins with Wade briefly experiencing symptoms of this sickness as he happens upon the director, Silas Sternmire, in the child-like act of playing with marbles (where did he get the marbles, anyway?). Not understanding normal human behavior, he allows the director to succumb to the sickness. Sternmire nearly yanks off his own "alice" before someone else finally intervenes. The incident brings unwanted attention to Wade. Matthew Wade works as a computer man in Personnel. Extremely self-conscious, he constantly thinks of how a normal human is expected to react to any given situation, hoping he doesn't slip up. He's also too easily amused. Wade becomes attracted to one of the local symbiosis specialists, Doctor Marian Anstee. He's haunted by memories of "Brother Stanley," who was killed by the "tipstaffs" of the coords. I never fully understood who he was or what the "tipstaffs" or "bailiffs" were (I was amused by their "menacingly tight" blue uniforms, however).

Wade's "alice" is named "Sinbad." The squoodles are furry and varied in color, with one sharp fang, a feeding tube, a "blood probe/umbilical cord," and carmine claws. Beyond that, they aren't described. They rest on the shoulders of their symbionts. People are constantly (and luxuriously) stroking their own (and each other's) "alices." They hiccup and burp frequently. "Squirts" up "giggle muscles" (and giggling in general) are mentioned often in the context of symbing with squoodles. It is implied they release "giggle gas balloons... insidious fumes." They seem to reproduce asexually, though they're all referred to as male. The scientists on the planet foolishly began using them as "alices" without even determining their lifecycle. An earlier time during which squoodles left their symbionts to die is known as "the troubles."

Then there're the orgies. In this universe, human society has embraced the orgy as if it were the most natural thing conceivable. Balls are commonly held (no pun intended); afterwards, an orgy is expected and eagerly joined in by all comers. "At this juncture in human societal growth copulation in dark corners and hotel bedrooms was for those permanently cognate in quasi-matrimony or intent on other goals." Symb-socketeers have a bizarre interest in getting their "alices" involved in this madness. "You could get up to all kinds of erotic love-ins in the galaxy, without detracting from the essential whole healthiness of an orgy, when you were twinned with an alice." Somehow, despite this, the characters still childishly refer to sex as "you-know-what." Clothing is optional while off-duty.
...

There seems to be a universally worshiped deity called "Astir" (also "Blind Astir"). They have a creed and tenets, but the nature of these is left to the imagination. The oaths "By Kildish!," and "Holy Mother of Astir!" are sometimes spoken. Yellow-robed "Regnants" and "The Regnancy" are mentioned, but not in detail.

An "eepee" (electroplasm) is a semi-sentient, "electronically structured and isotope powered with a scrap of protoplasmic matter to provide a degree of virtuosity to its micro-miniaturized computer brain... In less need of costly detailed programming than a true robot an electroplasm provided relatively cheap and efficient servant units to humanity."

Any questions raised concerning the situation on Ashramdrego are eventually answered. However, the story ends abruptly, with somewhat of a cliffhanger.
...

There's an incredibly awkward scene in which Wade helps an overly tired Marian home. While she's still dazed, he takes the liberty of undressing and washing her before tucking her in bed... She stops him before he can leave, saying she has an experiment running and needs to get down to the lab right away... So, she takes a "pick-up pill," and they go to the lab...

Despite not even taking the time to figure out the squoodle's lifecycle, they somehow know all about how geron milk can only be harvested just so: "... each bush's separate flowers coming to full ripeness at different times. If a head was cut dry it was useless for gerontitril production and if allowed to ripen beyond that perfect viscidly oozing state would turn into a chemical poison equally useless. Each head had to be cut at exactly the right time and the leeway allowed was that of the time taken to travel from one end of a cultivated row to the other."
...

There's a would-be rapist character named "Captain Kirkus"... Sounds about right.

There's one excruciatingly annoying character, a medical doctor, called "Doc Dot-Dot Hedges." Instead of cursing, he censors himself by partially spelling out the words and interjecting them with a "dot-dot." Some of the words, I can't even guess because of this. Anyway, it's unrealistic. If you have time to redact your little spelling bee with dots, you can just hold back the words altogether.

"dee-dot-dot-em"
"ess-dot-dot-tee"
"eff-dot-dot-gee" (?)
"cee-dot-dot-tee" (This is the only one I can see being censored.)
"ess-dot-dee"
"aye-dot-dot-ee"
"atich-dot-dot-ell"
"eff-dot-dot-dee" (?)
"bee-dot-dot-dee" (?)
"bee-dot-dot-wye" (?)
"Sheer sadism, sheer eff-dot-dot-sadism!"
...

I don't know what Frank Kelly Freas had in mind with that cover art, but it's got nothing to do with this story. (My copy has an obnoxious cigarette advertisement right smack in the middle of the pages with a photo of a smug-looking guy pretending to sip from a coffee mug.)
...

The writing features repetitive vocabulary and oddly structured sentences. And there's sometimes a lack of punctuation where needed. A chimpanzee is referred to as a "monkey" in the narrative. There are many typos, usually words with a missing (or extra) letter. But sometimes it's just the wrong letter (or even the entire word), i.e., "rather than" in place of "rather like."
-
"feel" (feet), "elices" (alices), "sympthy" (sympathy), "wth" (with), "orbovtia" (orbovita), "punctures" (punctured), "adcanced" (advanced), "antigrave" (antigrav), "bet" (belt), "way" (away), "imales" (impales), "though" (thought), etc.
-
Something is called a "scarlit magne fastener." I don't know if this is a typo or what. An orbovita symbs: "Depil ruptors!" It's quite probable that Devil is what was intended.
...

5/10

[Ludor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little book actually has a lot to unpack.

The story itself in engaging, with the reader having to put together facts as they would in crime or mystery novel, but the writing is so littered with metaphors it takes a few pages to get into a mindset where you can enjoy the read. In addition there's a ton of made up words alongside a myriad of references that makes for a situation where the reader is sometimes unsure if they should bother looking something up or assume it's a fictional reference/term.

Published in the early seventies the author made efforts to include diverse skin tones and a body types, while still remaining somewhat sexist in how he described female bodies in a more sexualized manner than male bodies. I'd say Marian's irrationality inparticular seems to supports this apparent sexism, except some of the male characters are equally irrational, so probably not. Dot-dot's dialogue for example often takes the reader out of the story.

At points this pairs with a strange background setting of an orgy (my best guess is the author wanted to write erotica but was being held back from fully committing), which according to the story's lore is the primary form of recreational procreation for human in the current era, to highlight the strangeness or otherness of the main character and his actions.

Overall an interesting read with a good though outlandish concept, but a great deal of flaws as well.

[James]

Matthew Wade had been a coord, one of the mysterious chosen ones, who through the powers unknown to the rest of mankind, ruled over the known galaxy. But Wade fled the overwhelming responsibility of his exalted caste and went into hiding on the symb-socket circuit. The symb-socketeers were the migrant workers of the galaxy. Traveling from planet to planet, they worked for play and played for a living. Matthew Wade adopted the freewheeling, ever-changing life hoping to evade the bailiffs of Altimus, the home planet of the cords, knowing that they would never rest until they had tracked down the renegade. And then Wade took service on the plant of Ashramdrego, and was faced with the most important decision of his life - would he let an entire planet be destroyed rather than reveal his true identity?

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, flawed tale about space drugs, space cats and space bees. It was hard to understand who the audience was supposed to be, because there were numerous depictions of violent deaths and nudity and sex but all the swear words were censored.

I enjoyed Bulmer's prose; it was almost poetically written, which is why I'm ultimately giving it the four stars.

Lots of cool ideas are explored and also some very dumb ideas are posited. And the plot goes into anti-capitalism territory instead of playing it safe with a traditional adventure direction. Worth a read for sure.

[Scifimoth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's not brilliant. But it has enough interesting ideas to have kept me reading until the end. Its story-telling is tarnished by underwhelming elements of New Wave SF.

[Thetguy]

I have a different cover