Annie

Up in Sturkeyville, eight or ten years ago, there was a man named Harvey Lawson, whose wife was a worm.

(Bob Leman, extrait // excerpt, The Time of the Worm)

Competition

Shortly after my return from the Eleventh Voyage, the papers began to devote increasing space to the competition between two large washing-machine manufacturers, Newton and Snodgrass.

It was probably Newton who first marketed washers so automated that they themselves separated the white laundry from the colored, and after scrubbing and wringing out the clothes, pressed, darned, hemmed, and adorned them with beautifully embroidered monograms of the owner, and sewed onto towels uplifting, stirring maxims such as "The early robot catches the oilcan". Snodgrass's response to this was a washer that composed quatrains for the embroidering, commensurate with the customer's cultural level and aesthetic requirements. Newton's next model embroidered sonnets; Snodgrass reacted with a model that kept family conversation alive during television intermissions.

Newton attempted to nip this escalation in the bud; no doubt everyone remembers his full-page ads containing a picture of a sneering, bug-eyed washer and the words: "Do you want your washing-machine to be smarter than you? Of course NOT!" Snodgrass, however, completely ignored this appeal to the baser instincts of the public, and in the next quarter introduced a machine that washed, wrung, soaped, rinsed, pressed, starched, darned, knitted, and conversed, and -- in addition -- did the children's homework, made economic projections for the head of the family, and gave Freudian interpretations of dreams, eliminating, while you waited, complexes both Oedipal and gerontophagical.

(Stanislaw Lem, extrait // excerpt, Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, "(The Washing Machine Tragedy)", trad. du polonais // transl. from Polish J. Stern & M. Swiecicka-Ziemanek)

Adaptation

Il se réveilla au son d'un violon. C'était une musique douce et mélancolique qui lui racontait le développement et la chute d'une race morte depuis longtemps.

Jenner l'écouta un moment, puis se rendit compte brusquement de la réalité. C'était un substitut du sifflement: le village avait adapté sa musique à son intention!

Il perçut d'autres sensations. Sa couche lui sembla dégager une douce chaleur. Il ressentait un merveilleux bien-être physique.

Il dégringola avidement la rampe vers la stalle la plus proche. Lorsqu'il y rampa, le nez contre le sol, l'auge se remplit d'une mixture fumante. L'odeur lui en parut si riche et agréable qu'il y plongea le visage et l'avala avec gourmandise. Cet aliment avait la saveur d'une soupe épaisse à la viande, chaude et douce à son gosier. Pour la première fois, après l'avoir entièrement avalée, il ne ressentit pas le besoin de boire de l'eau.

"J'ai gagné, pensa Jenner, le village a trouvé un moyen!"

Au bout d'un moment, il se rappela quelque chose et rampa jusqu'à la salle de bains. Avec précautions, en surveillant le plafond, il entra à reculons dans la stalle de douche. Le jet jaunâtre jaillit, frais et délicieux.

Avec ravissement, Jenner tortilla sa queue d'un mètre de long et souleva son long museau pour permettre aux fins jets de liquide de laver les restes de nourriture qui demeuraient accrochés à ses dents pointues.

Puis, en se dandinant, il sortit lézarder au soleil, et écouta la musique éternelle.

(A.E. Van Vogt, extrait // excerpt, Le village enchanté // Enchanted Village, trad. // transl. D. Vergain)

Instructions

This is the only notice you will receive.
You will follow the instructions set out below.

1.
Dress warmly and leave your house. Do not tell your family you are leaving. Do not talk to them at all. Do not listen if they talk to you. Dress warmly and leave yur house.

2.
Proceed at a brisk clip to the center of town. Do not speak to anyone in the street. Do not--do not--become involved in any conversations. Step right along. Do not tarry.

3.
At the center of town, in the little park across from the courthouse, is a building that was not there the last time you were downtown. It will strike you as a very ugly building, and its appearance will make you feel apprehensive. Pay no attention to such feelings. Do not look right or left. Enter the building. It has only one doorway and no visible door. Go right in.

4.
You will find yourself standing in a cold gray mist, with no visibility whatever. This will cause you to feel great fear. Despite the fear, you will follow instructions. Advance six steps.

(Bob Leman, extrait // excerpt, Instructions)