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Unthinkable

Chapter 2: FOOTNOTES:
By Rog Phillips
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Science-Fiction & Fantasy

About This Book

The story imagines a rupture in the assumed uniformity of nature, presenting an encounter with an island of reality whose laws conflict with human cognition. Using an analogy of a creature limited to seeing one size of rock, it shows how senses and instruments screen out vast aspects of existence and how a mind encountering different patterns will find events grotesquely contradictory to its mental grooves. The narrative follows efforts to perceive and convey such experiences and dramatizes the strain and unthinkable consequences when alien natural laws clash with human thought.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] In 2027 A.D., just seventy-five years after the first space flight, a dangerous disease was brought to Earth which wiped out almost a million lives before a cure was found. Immediately an elaborate quarantine procedure was developed to take care of any possible eventuality. This also included the psych screening routine to check on the sanity and normalcy of returning space crews.

One feature of emergency quarantine was the creation of the spaceport zone, an area with a radius of fifty miles about the spaceport, which during quarantine was to be blocked off with nothing permitted to go either in or out.

For all-out quarantine as in this present case, a temporary planet quarantine was to be imposed, preventing the landing or taking off of any space ship at all.

Other measures would take effect if and when they became necessary, such as national quarantine, continent quarantine, and even harsh measures if they became necessary.—Ed.

Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories April 1949. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant spellings have been retained.