| "A Momentary Taste of Being" | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Tiptree, Jr. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | science fiction |
| Published in | The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Hawthorn Books |
| Media type | Anthology |
| Publication date | 1975 |
"A Momentary Taste of Being" is a science fiction novella written by Alice Bradley Sheldon, published under the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. in the 1975 anthology, The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction (also featuring stories by Gene Wolfe and Ursula K. Le Guin). The title is taken from Edward Fitzgerald's translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, quatrain XL:
Contents |
Taking place in a world where the excessive human population (confirmed to be at least 20 billion, and speculated to be at or approaching 30 billion) necessitates an interstellar search for a habitable planet, the story centers on the experiences of Dr. Aaron Kaye, resident psychiatrist of Centaur, the second relativistic starship sent by the United Nations for this endeavor. The ship's crew—composed of more than 60 men and women from varying countries, each specializing in (often overlapping) scientific fields, chosen also on social and sexual bases—has discovered a planet potentially capable of supporting human life. A team consisting primarily of the ship's Chinese population had been sent to investigate the promising world, and Lory Kaye, Aaron's younger sister, a biologist, is the only crew member to return from that mission. Upon her return, Lieutenant Tighe, a member of the ship's EVA crew came into contact with samples brought back by Lory and was subsequently incapacitated.
As the story begins, several crew members are in quarantine, including Aaron, Lory and Tighe, as a trial is underway to determine the nature of Tighe's malady, the truth of what happened on the planet and why Lory is the only returning member. Lory insists that the planet is a paradise, and that the Chinese decided to start a colony rather than return to the ship. Given that someone would need to return to spread the discovery and decision, it was logical that she, as a non-Chinese, be the one to do so. She also claims that the sample she brought back is completely harmless and that Tighe's condition must be the result of a previous impairment; it is later revealed to the reader that Tighe had been involved in an accident three years before, during which an oxygen tank had nearly beheaded him, leaving a lasting dent at his parietal arch, validating her assessment.
Though relentlessly interrogated by safety officer Francis Xavier Foy, Aaron trusts his sister's account, seeing nothing physically indicating dishonesty neither by observation nor in the monitoring instruments. Yellaston, the ship's commander, attempts to maintain civility within Foy's inquiry, reprimanding him when the questions become too abrasive or repetitive, and allowing Lory the time she needs to respond. Ironically, it is when Lory finally gives an answer which seems to placate Foy that Aaron becomes suspicious of her story: throughout their lives, Lory has shown indignation whenever the vulgarities of human existence were concerned. Wherever she encountered violence, jealousy, dishonesty, etc., she would decry these incidents and those perpetrating the acts as inhuman. Yet, she lets slip that there had been a quarrel amongst the Chinese, and that in deference to their culture, she had agreed to delete the record so as not to dishonor their lapse of solidarity. Convinced that this explains every question, Foy agrees that Lory can be released, and that the alien specimen, reportedly a fungus of some sort, can be safely examined.
Despite his uncertainty, Aaron's release from quarantine distracts him with the quotidian as well as the unusual. During the period of Tighe's sedation and quarantine, multiple crew members have reported to seeing him wandering the ship, somewhat transparent, but recognizable. While investigating these sightings, and dealing with his own increasing nightmares, as well as reawakened sexual feelings toward his sister (with whom he had been sexually involved during their teens), he also must contend with the growing disharmony among the crew, the promise of a new land reviving old xenophobic and nationalist tendencies. Discovering that he is in competition with Coby (who always seems in the know), a fellow medical professional, for the crew's trust, and Bustamente, the imposingly large, black chief of communications, for his girlfriend (Bustamente having placed her third in his list of potential mates once the crew disembarks), Aaron's anxiety grows.
To his relief, Aaron learns that Yellaston, also, is not totally convinced by Lory's story, and that the commander wishes to take every precaution when examining the alien specimen, as well as to wait before sending the green light back to Earth. However, during the examination, a strange attraction draws the more and more crew members to the luminescent alien sample, until only Aaron and Lory are left. It is at this point that Lory tells Aaron that she returned with the specimen after seeing that contact with it reduced the Chinese crew members into perfect humans -— beings devoid of the basest urges and instincts which drive the species to self destruction. Selflessly resisting its overwhelming pull, she returned with it so that she and her brother might share their union with the pure light. In actuality, however, contact with the specimen leaves each exposed crew member markedly changed, in a seeming state of emotional detachment and confusion. Having succeeded in her mission to expose the rest of the crew, Lory, too, finally gives in to the fatal attraction to the alien; Aaron is also irresistibly drawn but before he can reach the creature in the lander, another crew member leaves with the vessel. Aaron is left the only one not altered, unable to satisfy his urge to go to the light.
The changed humans retain something of their old selves, as occurred with Tighe, and it is through the ramblings of Coby that Aaron determines what the alien specimen must actually have been, and what that makes human beings. The story ends with an increasingly intoxicated Aaron Kaye recording his musings on the appearance and disappearance of ghostly apparitions of the other crew members (explaining the Tighe sightings), the dwindling crew population, the repercussions of his theory and his desperation regarding both his choice to resist the lure and the ultimate insignificance of the entire human race.
Like other stories by Tiptree, A Momentary Taste of Being deals with the dichotomy of sex, its life and death dynamic, and the inability to resist what we are. It also portrays traditionally taboo sexual proclivities without judgment.
In addition to its inclusion in the various printings of The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction, the story also appeared in Star Songs of an Old Primate (first published 1978) and Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (first published 1990), both of which are collections of Tiptree's short fiction.[2]