[le sigh] sector general
I always enjoyed the Sector General series because it spoke to me for a couple of reasons. First of all there was Major O'Mara, the construction engineer turned amateur psychologist turned professional psychologist who was only kind and caring if he considered you a patient. [Although Mind Healer really was a cop out I felt.] Since it was his department who controlled access to the educator tapes that allowed an alien mind to be uploaded to your brain. But you didn't get just the skills and knowledge, but the complete personality of being. Which is the second thing I liked. I've always loved alien minds and how aliens think, probably because I am one.
In Sector General, the short story which named the series, there was the third thing. The main protagonist of the species gets an educator tape for a VTXM species named the Telfi. These are a small telepathic beetle that have a group mind and eat radiation. After essentially curing a bad case of indigestion, this doctor, who has never had an educator tape before, fails to get it immediately erased, and is affected by the Telfi sharing his mind. So he wanders the corridors of the space station in high bon-hommie, seeking the comradeship that is missing from being a telepathic species not able to contact the other selves of it's group mind.
It is a good thing his behaviour is found peculiar by a passing peacekeeper (the Galactic Military/Police/Space Rescue force), because he follows him and pulls him away from a UV steriliser before he can get badly burned in his quest for radiation.
Anyway I empathised with this story on so many levels when I was young.
I miss my mind brothers and sisters. The group mind consensus. Never feeling alone in an uncaring and increasingly hostile universe. And am seeking it's replacement in all the wrong places. The repairs my friends made with Katheryn's death are breaking down and my empathy is now very very toxic. Even the suggestion people are upset at me (even if I am not the reason for it), is now causing a crippling reaction.
It's a good thing I no longer have access to radiation sources....
[There is a Spiral gig this Friday. I was tempted to go except I can't. Too many ghosts. Too much hatred. Not enough friends left. And no defences any more against any of it. Plus the last few weeks of pain and nausea haven't helped. Especially not being able to have any human contact because of it. And another of my old friends died this morning in New York too. But it was expected, and a relief, I suspect. Sometimes I really do wish I could too. But it is not to be, sadly.]
In Sector General, the short story which named the series, there was the third thing. The main protagonist of the species gets an educator tape for a VTXM species named the Telfi. These are a small telepathic beetle that have a group mind and eat radiation. After essentially curing a bad case of indigestion, this doctor, who has never had an educator tape before, fails to get it immediately erased, and is affected by the Telfi sharing his mind. So he wanders the corridors of the space station in high bon-hommie, seeking the comradeship that is missing from being a telepathic species not able to contact the other selves of it's group mind.
It is a good thing his behaviour is found peculiar by a passing peacekeeper (the Galactic Military/Police/Space Rescue force), because he follows him and pulls him away from a UV steriliser before he can get badly burned in his quest for radiation.
Anyway I empathised with this story on so many levels when I was young.
I miss my mind brothers and sisters. The group mind consensus. Never feeling alone in an uncaring and increasingly hostile universe. And am seeking it's replacement in all the wrong places. The repairs my friends made with Katheryn's death are breaking down and my empathy is now very very toxic. Even the suggestion people are upset at me (even if I am not the reason for it), is now causing a crippling reaction.
It's a good thing I no longer have access to radiation sources....
[There is a Spiral gig this Friday. I was tempted to go except I can't. Too many ghosts. Too much hatred. Not enough friends left. And no defences any more against any of it. Plus the last few weeks of pain and nausea haven't helped. Especially not being able to have any human contact because of it. And another of my old friends died this morning in New York too. But it was expected, and a relief, I suspect. Sometimes I really do wish I could too. But it is not to be, sadly.]