To See the Invisible Man

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To See the Invisible Man is a short story by Robert Silverberg, later adapted as an episode of The Twilight Zone, from its first revival season in 1985-6. The script for the episode was written by Steven Barnes.

[edit] Story

Cotter Smith is a man living in a parallel world to ours who has committed the crime of being anti-social. According to the state he is to be rendered "invisible" for one year, signified by a scarring implant placed in his forehead. What seems like a welcome chance to be left alone becomes a lesson in humility as we watch misfortune after misfortune befall him. Though branded "invisible" by the law he is anything but, the implant on his forehead reveals this, even when he tries to cover it. A mark of warning to others to ignore this individual, lest the hovering spy drones that survey this society find out. Once his year is done he returns to the world that shunned him, now free from invisible status, only to be accosted in public by a young woman with the mark. Knowing the law he starts to ignore her, but her cries soften him and he refuses to ignore her to the behest of the surveillance drones that have discovered them.