We are back for the Thousand Worlds Book Club and we're talking about
Override. The link for the story is below.
I am joined by Jafer Flowers.
Oh, crap! How's it going, Jafer? Oh, quite well, thank you.
It's delightful to be here. I'm a huge fan
of the Corpse Handler Trilogy - an enjoyable read.
Yes, Override is the second story
in our Corpse Handler Trilogy though it was
actually written in 1973, three years
before Nobody Leaves New Pittsburg; but Pittsburg
simply feels like a better introduction to corpse handling.
So I find that it's not just the setting of Override that's
similar to Nobody Leaves New Pittsburg but the overall
themes and messages of the story are similar as well.
We are once again dealing with the plight of the working class
being controlled by the system. And this, of course,
is the entire metaphor of a corpse being controlled by a handler.
Though I will say that Override is much more optimistic
than Nobody Leaves New Pittsburg, as it deals with
themes of breaking free of that control. In fact,
the story begins with a quote (unattributed, of course -
I imagine simply George R. R. Martin)
that says: The only way to break free of
a controlling force is to first recognize
exactly what that force is.
The force is not just those controlling the corpses
but those controlling the workers and those
limiting the freedom in our lives. So our story
follows our protagonist, Kaparaijan, on the world Grotto.
Grotto is unlike New Pittsburg in that it
is a beautiful
nature-filled world rather than a rainy, depressing slum.
Kaparaijan is quite unlike Sykes from Pittsburg
in that he is somewhat content and optimistic about the future.
He is a corpse handler though
and he owns three corpses and he's doing pretty well for himself.
It's in Override that we begin to learn
what it's like to telepathically control a dead body.
The controller does feel the sensations of the other bodies
but they are duller than normal. This is, by the way,
the opposite of what Bran feels when he telepathically
enters Summer. His emotions and sensations
are largely heightened. So Kaparaijan mines
valuable swirlstones for a living.
But he's a bit different from everyone else in that he's a really hard worker,
takes his time and enjoys Grotto's nature.
He returns from his days with more stones than his peers,
which his company largely profits from;
still, he receives a modest bonus from his extra output.
He has put some money away
and he dreams of retiring and joining the regular colonists
on the planet. So Kaparaijan meets
his best friend Cochran at the bar. Cochran
is not doing as well -he is lazy and drinks more -
and Cochran feels that the swirlstone industry
is dying and corpse handling will come to an end.
Cochran urges our protagonist to go along
with him on a stone smuggling scheme
but Kaparaijan has no interest in rocking the boat of his life.
Enter Bartling. Bartling is an investor,
who hates corpse handling. He has arranged
to buy the company in order to shut down corpse handling
and get it off the planet. The entire bar
of corpse handlers is devastated by this news
as it's their livelihood. And so Kaparaijan
stands up to Bartling. He tells him that if he buys the company,
it doesn't matter. He's going to stay on the planet
and figure out something else to do with his corpses, besides mining.
Bartling is furious and storms off;
but Kaparaijan, in truth, is concerned
about his economic well-being. Corpses, being clumsy,
aren't actually good for very much besides mining.
And so Kaparaijan starts thinking of a new plan.
He hypothesizes that if all the workers unite
and pull their savings they could
buy the company themselves. Cochran is not so hot
on this idea, as he has no savings.
So they go back talking about the smuggling plan.
Kaparaijan reluctantly agrees.
And so the two set out for Kaparaijan's
mining spot the next morning. The caves where they're digging
are well out there and unknown to others.
Still, Cochran claims that he hears other people.
We learn a bit more about Kaparaijan and Cochran. Again,
Kaparaijan enjoys his work and works long and hard days;
and he has three good corpses that he has maintained well.
Cochran, on the other hand, is a complainer
with a whole bunch of excuses and he owns two
sub-standard corpses. It's rather clear that Cochran
is a desperate man. We then find out a bit more
about corpse handling. We find out that the telepathic
energy to control multiple bodies at once
is rather mentally taxing.
Varamyr Sixskins talks about this problem as well,
which is why it's so impressive that he can control
six beings at once. It must be
incredibly taxing to perhaps control an entire army.
Anyway, while digging, Kaparaijan
happens to dig out the largest swirlstone
he has ever dug. The stone is worth and absolute
fortune. Just as Kaparaijan is about to tell
Cochran, he is attacked. And, to his surprise,
it's from one of his own corpses. In fact,
all three of his corpses have turned against him.
On top of this, he looks over to find Cochran, who has been
seemingly killed by his two corpses, who are now
heading towards Kaparaijan. Our story then goes into action;
where our protagonist fights off a corpse with a drill
and proceeds to nearly drown with another corpse.
Our protagonist swims off to hide and is convinced that
Bartling is the person that has organized this hit.
Kaparaijan then calms down and remembers
that he still has his corpse controller. He concentrates
and is able to see through the eyes of the corpses again
for just a moment. Kaparaijan then
goes on the offensive. One of the corpses is in a boat
and so he jumps in and knocks it out with a wrench;
and, there, he finds Cochran - alive.
Kaparaijan accuses Cochran of having an
Override box and wresting his corpses from him.
Cochran's death was a fake out, as he was only hit
with the side of the ax. So this seems
to be the exact same fake out death that
Arya receives at the Red Wedding;
she also gets an ax to the head -
it's just not with the sharp part. Anyway, next,
all the mysteries of the story are cleared out. Kaparaijan
figured everything out because he saw Cochran huddling alive
when he looked through the corpse's eyes. And we
find out that Cochran had gone to Bartling about
Kaparaijan's plan to buy the company with pooled funds.
Bartling panicked and paid Cochran to
kill Kaparaijan. And Bartling provided
Cochran with an Override box. Kaparaijan
and Cochran then battle; and
Cochran becomes mortally wounded. Our hero attempts
to save Cochran but fails. Our story
ends with our protagonist, more driven than ever,
to oppose Bartling and organize the corpse handlers.
He heads home with only one corpse, instead of three;
and that corpse is his friend Cochran.
So, Jaffer, what are your thoughts on the story?
Well, I do think it's quite an interesting tale.
The story is a bit more about free will and personal
motivation than, say, Nobody Leaves New Pittsburg
or The Stone City. In those stories, the world is a
dead end place, much like this Bayonne,
New Jersey. But this planet Grotto feels like
a place of opportunity. Our protagonist just
needed a little bit of motivation. Although an
Override box was used to control Kaparaijan's
corpses, his will was still strong
enough to override the Override.
And, of course, the same thing happens with his life.
People try to control him but
his will is so strong that he's unable to be controlled.
He is the one with the ultimate Override.
It is worth noting again that this story was written
three years before Nobody Leaves New Pittsburg and The Stone City.
Our author may have been at a more optimistic
point in his life. The story does seem to
again focus on George R. R. Martin's existentialism
and man being in control of his own destiny.
Just as Jaime has a blank page that he can choose to
fill with anything he wants, Kaparaijan
is now in control of his own fate. Before,
he was content but now he has
chip on his shoulder and is ready to fight, unionize
and win. I don't know if I'm just imagining it
but I see a bit of Martin Heidegger in this story.
He believed that people should spend more time in
graveyards, facing death and really
figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives.
Our protagonist is complacent until he
actually faces death. It's only
after facing death that he truly finds the will
to take control of his life. He goes from
corpse to handler.
It is remarkably one of the happiest endings we've had
in a George R. R. Martin story so far. Yes,
Kaparaijan's best friend is dead; and he's down some corpses;
and he has a hard fight ahead; and his fate is unknown.
Still, you feel like the character has the
will power to actually win. Now, I'd like to talk
a bit about the concept of wresting a telepathic
subject from someone else. In A Song of Ice and Fire,
we hear a bit about subjects resisting telepathic control.
For example, Hodor does not like Bran's control -
resists and fails; and Thistle
doesn't like Varamyr Sixskins's control -
resists and wins. But these were battles between a telepath
and a non-telepath. What happens when two telepaths
battle in a battle of wills? Here, in our story,
we have Cochran stealing Kaparaijan's corpses
and then our protagonist, very briefly,
regains a bit of control. I'm reminded
a bit of the more violent telepathic battle
between Royd and his mother in Nightflyers.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, we actually do have
an example of two telepaths battling.
When Varamyr was younger, he actually stole a wolf from
another telepath and pushed his consciousness out
to gain another skin. I bring this up as
many see dragons as the natural antidote to wights;
but the defeat of an undead army
may be more about wresting them
telepathically from the Others' control. In fact, I wonder
if this hasn't already been done
and if some of the wight attacks were not actually the Others
but another party - such as the Children.
Anyway, that's all for Override. I'd like to thank Jafer Flowers.
Oh, you're welcome. Anytime, my good man.
And, next time, we'll conclude the Corpse Handlers with one of
George R. R. Martin's best but darkest stories,
Meathouse Man. The link for
the audio and the written is below. See you then.