For those who would love a humorous short story that tickles
your wits:
The Law-Twister Shorty, by Gordon R Dickson.
This story follows a high school graduate, Mal, who gets
inexplicably bundled off to a planet under "emergency orders" upon
graduation with no orders given to him other than: "just follow
your instincts".
His mission: To rescue 3 tourists who were "kidnapped" as
orphans to be raised by a female Dilibian (native bear-like alien)
named Gentle Maiden who was actually nothing of that sort. As it
is, Mal is just as clueless as to what to do as the readers
and that's the ticklish point of the story.
But there's more than meets the eye. The main theme of this
story is: Manipulation, manipulation, and more manipulation!
Mal (who gets named Law-Twister because he attempts to
manipulate the Dilibians), tries to manipulate the Dilibians to
resuce the "hostages". He is in turn manipulated by the humans who
sent him there to study how to interact with the Dilibians. And
they in turn, are knowingly manipulated by the Dilibians to their
individual advantages!
Basically only the hero of the story was clueless till the end,
when he manages to figure out exactly wtf is going on...eg the
order: follow your instincts, the 3 idiot tourists who refused to
get rescued army style etc etc.
Essentially, until the end of the story, nothing made sense at
all.
Just how good does the manipulation get? Here's a scenario which
I found seriously hilarious. It goes something like this:
Mal moved a ten-foot tall "solid" granite law-stone 10
paces in order to change the laws to secure the release of the
3 humans...which was of course an impossible case, unless...the
rock was....hollow!
So Mal, decides to be honest to the Dilibian clan's grandpa: Do
you know that the rock is hollow?
Grandpa: Don't be lame...of course it is not!
Mal: How is a Shorty like me able to move that 10 foot tall rock
in that case unless it is hollow?
Grandpa: Exactly!
Mal: Huh?!
Grandpa: We saw it with our own eyes! You were huffing and
puffing, with your eyes popping! You see...it stands that...if it
IS hollow, you would have been able to lift the rock easily,
right?
And of course, Mal had nothing else to say.
Thus is the degree of the manipulation our poor hero
suffered.
If you want a good laugh....well, this is the story for
you.
