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What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Prison Planet by Wilson Tucker. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "There is a gravely sick girl on a spaceship near Mars and the crew argues what to do. Roberds decides to pilot the ship to Earth breaking the command due to an emergency. Rat argues with him and wants to pilot the ship himself, which leads to him being forced to leave. Roberds and Peterson then explain to nurse Gray, who is looking after the sick girl, that Rat left his post once and therefore didn't warn anyone about the Sansan massacre, so now he is out of favor. The nurse, nevertheless, visits Rat in secret and asks to pilot the ship. She says the sick wants him to and Rat takes Judith, the sick girl covered in blankets, and the nurse to the hammocks on his wings. The girls then wait for him to return with another sick man who was injured after finding and saving the crashed girls in the past. Judith feels bad for breaking the law and causing so much trouble by leaving Earth, now her appendix hurts and they have to take charge of the ship and travel to a hospital on Earth. Rat returns with sick Gladney and learns that Judith and Patti Gray were attacked during their cruise to space, which is the reason they got to Mars. The trip begins, soon everyone gets thirsty and hot, Gray is hurt when the ship moves between a meteor rain, she is devastated with suffering. Rat refuses to brake and is going to make the trip in six days instead of eight. He then tells his part of the story about the Sansan massacre - he left the post to save a sick man but nobody believed it back then.", "The story begins with Roberds yelling that he is going to pilot the ship no matter the consequences. Roberds is saying that an ill girl needs to be taken to a hospital and that he plans to take her to Earth where she can be treated. He then asks Patti for the status of Judith and she communicates that Judith is holding in but will not be able to do so for long as her health continues to fail. \n\nSeparately, Rat and Greaseball are helping complete tasks to prepare the ship for its flight to Earth. Once they are done, Greaseball tells Rat that he can go to bed. As Rat is heading to his bed, Patti whispers to him through a window. She does not want to wait to fly to Earth and asks Rat to take them instead. Rat readily agrees to do so and begins to enact their escape plan. He flies both of the girls to the ship and instructs them to be quiet on the ship so they do not attract attention. Before they head off on their trip, Rat says he is going to get Gladney and bring him too as he is also sick. When Rat returns to the ship with Gladney, they are found out and the ship begins to be attacked. One of Rat’s wings is damaged in the process. Rat pilots the ship to a very fast takeoff and they head towards Earth. At the beginning of the trip, Rat finds out that Judith is ill because of her appendix. \n\nPatti continues talking to Rat and answering questions about herself and Judith. During the conversation with Rat, she begins to realize the trip is going to be very uncomfortable as the cooling system is not working and they have a very limited supply of water. Patti becomes dehydrated and grows increasingly upset about the conditions on the cramped ship. In exasperation, she repeatedly asks him how many more days they have to spend on the ship. \n\nGladney suddenly wakes up and in an excited manner tells Rat that he needs to begin braking. Gladney begins asking Patti for help in convincing Rat to apply the brakes to make sure they get to Earth safely. Rat explains that he is cutting the trip time down from an expected 78 days to just 6 days with no breaks. Suddenly, they spot Earth in the distance. Patti starts to ask Rat about the attack that the Chief mentioned earlier and Rat says that he was just trying to help someone but knew no one would listen to his story. Gladney interrupts the conversation and taunts Rat that he will be arrested when they get to Earth to the dismay of Patti. Rat replies by cryptically stating that Earth seems like a nice place but not one for him. \n", "Gladney and Judith are two ill patients who require surgery on Earth. A Centaurian named Rat asks the Chief Consul Roberds if he can pilot the ship, but the field manager angrily denies him the opportunity. He asks Peterson to help get rid of Rat, and Rat leaves quickly. Roberds is determined to take the ship for himself because both patients will get the necessary treatment, and he mentions that Greaseball has stayed up all night, tearing the bunks and lockers out to prepare. Nurse Gray comes back after checking on the patient, and he tells her that she will be sleeping in a hammock for their eight-day trip. Gray asks about Rat, to which Peterson explains that he was part of the Sansan massacre. Rat was a member of the outpost watch, but he went AWOL from the Ganymedean colony when Mad Barry Sansan attacked and was saved by politics. Gray tells Roberds to call her if needed and then leaves the room. The story cuts to Rat helping Greaseball fill the water tanks with fuel and check the concentrated rations. Just as Rat is about to go to bed, Nurse Gray gets his attention and tells him that her patient wants him to pilot the ship. He instructs the nurse to wrap Judith up and takes them to the ship by flying. After dropping both of them inside, Rat leaves to transport Gladney. Judith laments about having learned her lesson the hard way and notices that the pilot has been gone for a long time. Just then, Rat returns with Gladney after tricking Roberds and Peterson by burning down his shack. Rat then takes off with the ship. They get thirsty from the heat, but there is only one water tank because the rest is full of fuel. The water they drink is hot because the ship itself is heating up. Gray realizes that the hammocks have also turned upside down. The ship is hell as the journey continues because of the uncomfortable conditions, lack of sleep, and increasing heat. However, Rat continues to drive the ship. Even when Nurse Gray continuously asks him how long the trip is and breaks down, he makes her get up. Gladney wants Rat to brake too, but he refuses and explains that this is a six-day journey. He also says that they will land tonight. Nurse Gray asks him about his knowledge of the attack in the Sansan massacre; Rat responds that he left his post to help a sick man in the desert when the attack happened. Gladney tells him that the police will get him the moment they land, while Rat only grins and says that Earth is not a place for Rat. Gladney realizes what he implies, but Rat tells him to shut up because he talks too much. ", "The story opens on Mars, with Chief Roberds and Peterson speaking to Rat, a Centaurian. Peterson refuses to allow Rat to pilot an emergency surface ship to Earth after several people have fallen sick due to a space illness. The two argue briefly, before Rat storms out. As Peterson and the Chief discuss the fate of the ship, and advise that Roberds pilot the ship despite it possibly costing him his job, nurse Patti Gray appears in the doorway. She tells them that her patient, seventeen year old Judith, is falling ill quickly and asks when the trip was planned to take place. She also asks about Rat, and it is revealed that he has a record due to his role in the Sansan massacre, where he abandoned his post, causing destruction to their colony. Roberds plans to take off at dawn. However, that night, Patti finds Rat and asks him to pilot the ship; Judith requested him specifically and they fear waiting until dawn. Rat agrees, and carries them to the ship using his wings. He additionally brings Gladney along, who is also sick. As the ship prepares to take off, they are suddenly attacked with bullets. Rat is injured slightly but they manage to get away. On the ship, Rat asks Patti what is wrong with Judith, and she replies saying that she has appendicitis; Rat remarks that Centaurians do not have an appendix. There are challenges on the ship, namely the temperature and the lack of water supply; Patti and Rat are only allowed two drinks a day, and the water remains hot. As time passes, the crew begins to go mad, and Gladney erupts in rage, telling Rat to begin braking the ship. Rat reveals that they had long since passed the halfway mark, and he does not intend to brake. Gladney angrily tells Rat that the police will be waiting for him on Earth." ]	62212
What is the relationship between Rat and Patti Gray?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Prison Planet by Wilson Tucker. Question: What is the relationship between Rat and Patti Gray? Answer:	[ "From the very beginning Patti is keen one Rat. When their gazes first meet she almost smiles back. She has to hide her goodwill as Rat is despised by the crew of the ship. The nurse is interested in his background and asks Roberds and Peterson. After learning about him leaving the post she wonders why he wasn't executed and feel sympathy for Rat. She visits him in secret to ask to pilot the ship, because her and the sick girl need to get to Earth as fast as possible and believe he can help. Rat does everything in a fast and well-organized way and plans to reach Earth in six days without brakes. He instructs Patti to cover herself in blankets not to get too hot and decides how the water will be distributed. He also tells about trying to save a man being the reason for him leaving the post and Patti feels even more sympathy. Nevertheless, during the journey they have a fight when she starts panicking and demanding water and Rat beats her. He tries to enforce his rules on the ship and others ask him to brake, Patti hurts herself during Rat's manoeuvres between the meteorites but she stands it. ", "Rat and Patti Gray first meet when Rat is being yelled at by Roberds. They exchange short glances and small smiles during this initial meeting. Patti asks for Rat’s help to get to Earth quicker instead of waiting for Roberds to take them. Rat agrees to help them readily accepts the request, quickly putting into action an escape plan. When Patti wakes up on the ship after the abrupt take off, she and Rat have a friendly conversation. Rat continuously smiles throughout the conversation and appears to be very friendly and happy to help Judith. ", "Patti Gray is initially curious about Rat, prompting her to ask Roberds about his past. Once she asks Rat to pilot the ship, she is hesitant of him as a pilot. The two of them eventually converse once the ship takes off. They discuss the illness that Gladney and Judith are suffering from. She is curious about Rat's name, but he does not tell her because it is too long. He is also helpful, instructing Gray to keep the wool blanket on to preserve body heat and keep out the cold. Even when she swings a boot at him, he takes her to the water faucet and explains why the water is so hot. However, despite being helpful, Rat is quite rough towards Gray too. When she rolls along the deck and has a breakdown about not being able to keep up, he throws a handful of water into her face. He then kicks her to get up too. When he points out Earth to them, she is extremely grateful towards him for getting them to the planet so fast. Rat and Patti Gray do not share a very personal relationship. However, she learns more about him throughout their trip, and the two of them support each other in their own ways. \n", "Patti Gray is wary of Rat and his history. She first asks Roberds and the Chief about Rat's name, and learns the story of Rat and his betrayal during the Sansan massacre. Despite being aware of this, Patti still reaches out to Rat and asks him to pilot the ship to Earth, at the request of Judith. Patti, being unknowledgeable of piloting ships, must listen to Rat's orders reluctantly. However, she still asks him about his life and eventually his side of the story at the massacre. Patti Gray becomes increasingly frustrated with Rat due to the conditions on the ship, particularly with the water supply. She maintains a respectful relationship with Rat despite her suspicions remaining." ]	62212
What is the importance of the crashing of the ship of Judith's father?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Prison Planet by Wilson Tucker. Question: What is the importance of the crashing of the ship of Judith's father? Answer:	[ "The crashing of the ship brings Judith and Patti to Mars where they meet two miners and then the whole crew of the spaceship including Rat. Judith wouldn't get that sick and lose the means to return to Earth if the ship didn't crash. The miners wouldn't suffer after helping the girls. Therefore, Judith wouldn't learn the lesson of breaking the law and leaving Earth. The crashing also leads to the necessity of Rat piloting the ship and all the party suffering from heat and thirst. The whole situation of danger and limitless occurs because the ship crashed and the girl gets sick on Mars, so she needs to get to Earth immediately. ", "The ship crashed because Judith was piloting the ship and began to experience the symptoms of her appendicitis. It is unknown whether Judith’s father survived the crash. It is implied that the man that Rat helped in the desert is perhaps Judith’s father. Rat helping that man is what caused him to be declared AWOL and why he might have authorities after him for his failure to report to duty. If the ship had not crashed then Judith’s father would not have been alone and injured in the desert, and Rat would not have been AWOL trying to help the man. ", "The crashing of the ship of Judith’s father is what sets up the story. Nurse Gray explains that Judith took her father’s cruiser as a pleasure jaunt and came over. Although the ship is supposed to be large and easy to handle, the journey ended after Judith lost control of the ship because of an attack of space-appendicitis. The ship's crashing is what leads her to be on Mars, and it is also the cause of her illness because she has not gone through the same mill that the men who live and work there have gone through. This past event also sets up the current events of Rat speed-driving the ship back to Earth to save her life. ", "Judith's father's ship crashing leaves Judith and Patti Gray stranded on Mars. She initially wanted to recklessly travel to Mars, Gray coming along with her, and used her father's ship because it was easy to navigate. However, she was soon attacked by space-appendicitis and lost control of the ship, causing it to crash. This is significant because Judith and Patti Gray no longer have a way home, with Judith's illness becoming worse. They are desperate to return to Earth and thus resort to taking the ship with Rat as their pilot. " ]	62212
What happens to Patti Gray throughout the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Prison Planet by Wilson Tucker. Question: What happens to Patti Gray throughout the story? Answer:	[ "The story starts with Patti looking after the sick girl. She hears the dispute of the crew about the future steps and gets involved. She learns out about Rat's past and the mistake of leaving his post which led to a massacre. Nevertheless, she and the girl decide to ask him to pilot the ship, hoping it will help the sick get on Earth in time. Patti gets sympathetic towards Rat from the beginning and keeps trying to talk to him. She keeps being by Judith. Rat bring her to the hammocks on his wings and she is frightened for a second. She follows his orders and advices until her suffering gets intense. During the trip with Rat as a pilot she has to drink only twice a day to keep water and she feels extremely thirsty. She also hurts herself when the ship suddenly moves from one side to another. Water tastes like fuel to her and she gets mad at Rat for not naming the amount of days. Then she learns about Rat's point of view on the past situation with the massacre and becomes even more sympathetic towards him. ", "Patti Gray is in a room listening to an argument when she hears Judith moaning from a different room and goes to tend to her aid. After attending to Judith she goes back to talk to Roberds. She informs Patti that Rat went AWOL during a very important battle. The Chief Consul explains that unrelated politics is what saved Rat from execution for abandoning his post. After her inquiry about Rat, Patti says goodnight to everyone and returns to her room for the night. Patti secretly converses with Rat and asks him to fly Judith and her to Earth right away instead of waiting for Roberds. Rat agrees to do so and flies Judith to the ship. After Rat grabs and takes Judith to the ship, Patti anxiously awaits for him to return. He eventually returns and flies her to the ship too. When they get to the ship Patti reassures Judith that there is no use in mulling over the decision to take the ship now and tries to calm her down. \n\nBecause Rat pilots the ship to a very fast takeoff, Patti, Judith, and Gladney pass out due to the forces. Patti eventually wakes up and is surprised to find out how long she was out, she then begins to talk to Rat. During the trip, Patti becomes thirsty because of the very limited supply of water and she becomes irritated when Rat tells her she cannot drink more water. She grows increasingly upset about the conditions on the ship. When informed by Gladney that Rat is traveling at an excessive speed without necessary breaking, Patti tells Rat that he needs to explain how he is going to deaccelerate. She’s interrupted when they suddenly spot Earth. She goes to get Rat water as requested but returns to tell him that there is no more water left. \n", "Throughout the story, Patti Gray is forced to endure many of the harsh conditions on the ship while having to take care of her patients. She initially mentions that she was once part of the Fleet and is used to harsh conditions. However, Nurse Gray is also never able to sleep more than three hours due to her patients and having to constantly check up on their conditions whenever they are in pain. Although Nurse Gray is determined and confident to see Judith get better, there are also parts where she begins to lose her sanity. She is upset that there is only one tank of boiling hot water and the difficulty of getting into a hammock in space. Later, as their journey reaches the end, Nurse Gray begins to go mad from the horrid conditions on the ship and falls face-first onto the floor. Once the end is near, and with some support from Rat, she is extremely happy to see Earth again. Nurse Gray is also able to calm down and resume asking Rat questions. ", "Patti Gray is a nurse to Judith on Mars. She updates Peterson and the Chief on Judith's status, and asks them about Rat and why he is not allowed to pilot the ship to Earth. Patti learns that Rat was involved in treason back when the Sansan massacre happened. Later that night, Patti finds Rat and asks him to pilot the ship to Earth as soon as possible. Rat later retrieves Judith and Patti and takes them aboard the ship, where they take off. Rat and Patti talk on the ship, asking each other questions, and Patti faces several hardships on the ship, including the lack of water and the uncomfortable temperature. As the journey continues, it becomes unbearable for Patti." ]	62212
What leads Escher and MacDonald’s meeting in the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Girls From Earth by Frank M. Robinson. Question: What leads Escher and MacDonald’s meeting in the story? Answer:	[ "They are meeting because currently, there are not as many females on the colonized planets. And this is a huge problem. From the beginning of the colonization, there were more adventuresome males than females, thus they headed for the new world but most of the females stayed behind. The disproportional rate in the genders that gone to colonies lead to five females for every three males on Earth, while the colonies have the opposite. Hence, those girls needs to be shipped from their original planet, in this case the Earth, to colony planets for those males there. However, not many girls are applying to go. Another problem, states MacDonald, is the number of men applying for emigration to colonized planets have been dropping. MacDonald considers this reasonable since it seems illogical for a male to move away from a place that has more females than males. Escher then disregards the qualification for colonization and decides to focus on making the people that don’t want to colonize to colonize, whether it is through convincing or forcing. ", "MacDonald and Escher meet because the Colonization Board has given MacDonald a blank check to get Escher to fix the gender ratio problem. The Colonization Board is worried about the effects that the gender ratio is having on Earth and the great psychological implications that it presents. They are concerned because it is also becoming more difficult to convince men to colonize planets because they do not want to leave Earth where they are easily favored by women due to their rarity. They have a greater advantage on Earth with their pick of women who cannot be easy picky with their choices. ", "Escher and MacDonald meet to discuss the problems on Earth and how to encourage more people to immigrate to the colonies. They go over the concerning ratio between the two genders on Earth as a result of the colonization problem. Many of the men were initially eager to go into the stars, but the women did not follow as quickly. Many of the women are husbandless too, and men are refusing to emigrate to the colonies because there are so many women on Earth. Furthermore, the women who have grown husbandless have made the societies more puritanical than ever. The Colonization Board is looking for a solution to this problem, which leads MacDonald and Escher to meet. ", "Escher and MacDonald meet to discuss how to get women to come to the newly colonised planets. When the planets were first colonised, more men than women went, as they had more sense of adventure, and women didn't want to leave the luxury of Earth to go live on a makeshift farm on a muddy planet. The men on these colonised planets need wives however, and they have been given the task of finding a way to get these women on Earth over to these new planets. They try to think of a solution, and come up with one that is in a very much legal, and moral grey area. They decide to give every woman who commits a petty crime a very serious ultimatum. They can either spend ten years in jail and pay a fine of ten thousand dollars, or they can go to these colonises and get a five hundred dollar bonus. " ]	51268
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Girls From Earth by Frank M. Robinson. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "The story starts with Karl Allen, a Second System colonist, and Joe dragging their raft from the water, hoping that they will make it in time to put their names on the list. Later we learned that the list is used to pair up the females that are coming to their colony – planet – as husbands and wives. After Karl and Joe Hill finish, they still have about two hours left before the rocket lands at Landing City. On their way towards the Landing City, Karl caught himself wondering about the trip back with a girl whom he will be paired with. Apparently, they have never seen an Earthwoman, but tales seems to cherish them as hardworking and beautiful. The speaker announces that it’s time to draw their numbers. Karl draws 53. Later, Joe and Karl agrees to meet later to see if they want to trade the girls that has their numbers. \n\nMacDonald and Claude Escher meet to discuss matters regarding the ratios between male and female at the colonies. Currently, there are not as many females on the colonized planets. From the beginning of the colonization, there were more adventuresome males than females, they headed for the new world but most of the females stayed behind. Thus, there are five females for every three males on Earth, while the colonies have more males. Thus those girls needs to be brought from their original planet, in this case the Earth, to colonies for those males there. Another problem, states MacDonald, is the number of men applying for emigration to colonized planets have been dropping. MacDonald considers this reasonable since it seems illogical for a male to move away from a place that has more females than males. Escher then disregards the qualification for colonization and decides to focus on making the people that don’t want to colonize to colonize, whether it is through convincing or forcing. \n\nPhyllis Hanson is a thirty years old woman who desires a husband. The government’s supplement offering cannot replace a husband and family. Then in her mail today, she gets a poster that tells her to come to the colonies. Though she admires the man on the poster, she thought the poster is a violation of privacy. Then we see Ruby Johnson stealing a beautiful gown from the store and then getting caught. Ruby thinks that she will simply face a small fine along with a few weeks or months in detention and that’s it. She seems to have shoplifted many times that she even knows the information that the officers want. However, to her surprised, she will be charged with a 10,000 dollar fine along with ten years in prison, or she can choose to go to a colony planet and get a five-hundred-dollar bonus. She was shocked, but chooses the latter. Similarly, Suzanne is given a similar choice between shipping out to the colony or going to jail. She also chooses the colony planet. ", "Karl Allen and Joseph Hill are doing hard work on a boat and complaining about the lack of help they are receiving. After finishing her work, Karl begins to walk along a trail and thinks about the wife draft. They continue along the trail towards Landing City where they have to walk through varying crowds and navigate the muddy streets of the city. Karl and Joseph eventually see a crowd of people in front of the rocket port office and go to inspect what is causing the commotion. The familiar poster shows a beautiful woman from Earth being advertised on the poster. They hear an announcement and follow its instructions to assemble in a line with their numbers for the wife draft. \n\nThe story switches to MacDonald and Claude Escher. MacDonald enters Escher’s office and tells Escher that the departure of men from Earth to the different colonized planets has caused the ratio of women to be much higher than men, causing various issues on Earth. Escher thinks of a plan and decides that the strict qualifications for travels and need to be financially stable need to be removed. He considers using immoral methods as a solution to convince women to colonize other planets. \n\nThe story focuses on Phyliss Hanson. Phyllis finishes her job and heads to her home. She acknowledges to herself that she is not attractive while she looks at her reflection. She grows frustrated as she is 30 and longs to have a husband but she has no prospects. She receives a letter in the mail that presents an opportunity for her to solve her problem. She mails a reply to the return address in hopes of being matched with a husband. \n\nThe story then takes a look at Ruby Johnson. She sees an absolutely gorgeous gown in a store and enacts a plan to steal it. She is immediately caught by security when she steals it. She goes through the motions of the court which she has previous experience with doing. She expects a light sentence. The judge then informs her that she has 2 choices for her sentence: emigrate to a colony planet or go to jail for 10 years with a hefty fine attached. This is an example of the immoral method Escher is enacting. While shocked, she recognizes she is being played and agrees to go to a colony planet. \n\nSuzanne is the next woman-focused upon in the story. While admiring her apartment, she gets a call. Prompted by the call, she finishes getting dressed and leaves. She walks into a brownstone after being greeted by a young man. She is surprised and unhappy to see a group of women she recognizes sitting in a room. She sits down as instructed and the man addresses the room. The man presents a similar choice as the judge did to Ruby Johnson. When asked by the man, Suzanne tries to wittingly reply that she loves to travel, indicating she chooses to emigrate. \n", "Karl Allen and Joseph Hill are working with parampa logs by heaving them up the river. They discuss how much time is left before they go to Landing City and register for a number on the list. They start talking about the possibilities with their future wives, including raising a family and taking care of a garden. None of them have ever met an Earthwoman, but there are many stories about the pretty women. Once in Landing City, they go to the rocket port office and headquarters for the colonial office on Midplanet. Karl draws the number 53 and gets a few pamphlets with helpful information. He gets a sandwich and Pop from a boy before wandering back to the main field to wait for the rocket as it arrives. The story cuts to a conversation between Claude Escher and Mr. MacDonald. They discuss the growing ratio between women and men. Women are now turning to more petty crime because they believe it will help them catch a husband on Earth. They discuss more problems, especially how women do not want to colonize and men do not want to emigrate to the colonies. Once MacDonald leaves, Escher goes through the rules set up by the Board and tries to think of a better solution. The story then cuts to Phyllis Hansen, who goes to the washroom to clean up after a day at work. She then heads home and is worried about not finding a husband. There are alternatives to spending her evenings, such as bridge, gossiping, or a similar organization to fill the void. As she goes through the mail, Phyllis receives a poster advertising for women to go to the colonies to find a husband. She is offended and believes it is a violation of privacy. However, later, she writes a letter to the address on the poster. After, the story cuts to Ruby Johnson stealing a dress from a shop. She believes that the coast is clear but is caught by a detective. The male judge at the detention center asks why she stole it, but she refuses to tell him. Ruby gives out her statistics to the judge; he tells her that she can either go to the penitentiary for ten years and pay a ten thousand dollar fine or go to one of the colonies for a five-hundred-dollar immigration bonus. Ruby agrees to be shipped out. The final woman is Suzanne Carstens, who rents her apartment by tricking her old landlady into believing she works as a buyer in one of the downtown stores. She receives a call and goes to the address promptly. Once she steps inside, she realizes that most of the women sitting in the chairs in the building are ones that she recognizes. Suzanne tries to explain herself, but even her name is fake. However, she is offered to be shipped out to the colonies for security or to face jail time. With no choice, she accepts the offer. \n", "This story takes place in multiple facets of the same storyline. In the first part of the story, we meet Karl Allen and Joseph Hill, who are on one of the planets that have been colonised by Earth. They are waiting for the arrival of a shipment of women from Earth, who will become their future brides. There are more men in the colonies than there are women, and so the government has sent these shipments of women from Earth to marry these men. \nIn the second part of the story, Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Escher of the colonisation board try to come up with a plan on how to convince women to leave Earth, to go and live on these worlds that are just beginning to become civilised, and marry men they've never met. They eventually come up with the idea that the method they use to entrap these women into their plan does not have to be technically all that moral, and they may be able to cross a legal grey area. \nIn the third part of the story, Phyllis Hanson, a woman of Earth, returns home from work. She is in her thirties, and probably destined to be alone and unmarried for the rest of her life at this stage. That is until she receives a poster from an unknown source, with a picture of a strapping man, telling her to \"come to the colonies, the planets of romance\". She sends a letter to the address at the bottom of the poster. \nRuby Johnson is caught stealing a dress from a department store. At her criminal hearing, a judge sentences her to either ten years in prison, with a ten thousand dollar fine to work off, or a chance to go to the colonies, and get a five hundred dollar bonus. \nSuzanne Carstens leaves her gorgeous apartment one night to meet a blind date (or a John) it seems. She goes to an address that looks like an office building, where a young man greets her. She is taken into a room where she is held, along with many other women. They are all given the same ultimatum as Ruby Johnson. \nTHE END." ]	51268
Describe the different expectations about women	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Girls From Earth by Frank M. Robinson. Question: Describe the different expectations about women Answer:	[ "First, Joe takes some furs that could help cover the girl, and Joe hopes that she will appreciate it. However, Hill believes that they should give less to the girls. Because the less you give, the less they will expect, and if they are spoiled, the men has to do all the farming and family raising yourself, which is all that they have to do. Joe thought of the girl as somebody he can talk to, somebody that can help him with the farm. Hill suggests for his wife to have a garden, but Karl doesn’t think she will have the time for a garden. However, it is important to note that the girls were considered as objects since Karl and Joe mentions trading them. In particular, Earthwomen are expected to be beautiful, sophisticated, glamorous, and hardworking. Moreover, Escher is thinking about persuading and forcing the girls to colonize while forgetting about the moral codes. The governments seems to expect the women without husbands to be satisfied with bridge games and benefits and lectures. ", "The few women that were on the colonized planet where Karl and Joseph lived were expected to cook the food that was being served as part of the welcoming party for the wife draft. On Earth, the expectations for women are to find a husband. Phyliss is 30 years old and details her frustration with not being married at her age, complaining that nothing else can fill the emptiness that she feels from not having a husband. ", "In the story, the women are expected to find husbands. This is especially apparent on Earth, where locking down a man has become an intense competition because of the five to three ratio between women and men. Furthermore, the Earthwomen are expected to be more sophisticated, cultured, prettier, and glamorous than the colonial women. These women are also expected to fulfill the traditional roles of raising families, helping colonize the planet, and supporting their husbands with whatever they need help with. The decision to send the women to the colonies is also made by men. On the other hand, women are expected to just follow along and accept the offer if they want any chance of landing a husband at all. \n", "There are many expectations for women both on the colonised worlds, and on Earth. On Earth, women are expected to behave in a polite, civilised manner. They are also lucky to get a man of any kind, with women outnumbering men 5 to 3, so they are expected to take what they can get. Women on the colonised worlds are expected to obey their husbands, and take care of all tasks related to life on their farms. This includes: working the farms, and raising the families. \n" ]	51268
What are some odd things that happened in the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Girls From Earth by Frank M. Robinson. Question: What are some odd things that happened in the story? Answer:	[ "Phyllis Hanson has been wanting a husband and a family for almost three years. She does not think that the bridge games and benefits and lectures can replace a husband and family. However, in her mail today, she gets a poster that tells her to come to the colonies. This is clearly a violation of her privacy. However, the man on the poster is very handsome, and she looks at it again and again. Though she admires the man on the poster, she still writes a letter reporting it. Then Ruby Johnson also goes through something strange. She steals a beautiful gown from the store and then gets caught. She knows that she will simply face a small fine along with a few weeks or months in detention because she was caught stealing dress from the . However, to her surprised, she is told that she be charged with a 10,000 dollar fine along with ten years in prison, or she can choose to go to a colony planet and get a five-hundred-dollar bonus. She is shocked, but chooses the latter. Similarly, Suzanne is given a similar choice between shipping out to the colony or going to jail after receiving a phone call telling her to get to a specific place. She also chooses the colony planet. ", "MacDonald notes that because of the higher population of women on Earth than men, a lot stricter laws have been enacted. An example includes a prohibition of alcohol from being used in everyday items such as cough medicines and hair tonics. In addition, there are laws against violating a women’s privacy and a purity related moral code. An example of a privacy violation is when a woman asks Phyllis Hanson about her plans for the night. ", "One of the odd things that happen in the story is the whole process of pairing up a husband and wife. The system is based on numbers as first impressions; although this seems to be an efficient way, Karl notices that there is almost no time for him and his future wife to get acquainted with one another. This is rather odd because many of them want to marry for love, yet the system caters to an arranged marriage rather than a natural relationship. Hill even brings up trading women if they are not satisfied with who they get.\n\nAnother odd occurrence in the story is how both men and women do not want to emigrate to the colonies. There are clearly more men in the colonies, yet many choose to stay on Earth because more women are there. None of the women want to go either; if they decide to leave Earth to colonize, it will be the same as giving up their luxurious, modern civilization to fight disease. \n", "There are many odd things that happen in the story. The story itself is quite odd in form. It jumps from different times in one linear storyline, beginning at the end, and ending towards the beginning. It is also quite odd that the two men on the colonised planet think that women should be subservient, and that if you start to treat a woman with kindness and respect, and not as a servant, she will end up being spoiled. Another interesting part of the story is the nondescript place which Suzanne Carstens walks to. We are not really informed as to whether or not Ms Carstens is a prostitute, although it is insinuated. \n" ]	51268
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Soldier Boy by Michael Shaara. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "An army ship lands near a settlement, and people look out their windows, grumbling about its presence because they want no contact with the army. A soldier disembarks and stands at attention facing the settlement, and the people assume he must be proud, ornery, or drunk. Eventually, a resident named Bob Rossel goes out to see what the soldier wants. The soldier identifies himself as Captain Dylan, explaining that he has a message from Fleet Headquarters for the person in charge. Rossel takes the envelope since they don’t have anyone in charge. A young man inside the ship tosses Dylan a bottle, asks if he can leave, and tells him he’ll be back that night. Rossel is appalled that the younger soldier appears drunk and throws Dylan a bottle of liquor. Dylan tells Rossel to read the message because they don’t have much time and starts walking toward the settlement as the ship takes off.\n\tMan’s first contact with aliens had occurred at the Lupus V Colony in 2360, which aliens destroyed. When the army came to investigate, it found 31 of the 70 colonists dead, with the rest, including women and children, missing. Buildings had burned, and all technical equipment was missing. The security bomb, one of which was planted in each colony to be detonated in such an emergency, had failed to go off—the detonating wire had been dug up where it was buried 12 inches deep and cut. Because there had been 500 years of peace and people were conditioned to be anti-war, the army was small and lacked respect. So the army couldn’t take the time to find out exactly what had happened but just spread the news to other colonies, most of which evacuated before they were attacked.\n\tThe message Dylan delivers is that the aliens are attacking again; this settlement needs to evacuate. A big gloomy man named Rush demands help from the army fleet, but Dylan informs him that the army is too weak to help. Dylan tells them that Lt. Bossio is warning Planet Three and returning that night to pick him up. Everyone must be gone by then. Dylan digs up the detonator wire and finds it has been cut. Rossel tells him their ship will only hold 60 of their 40 colonists and asks Dylan to take the rest on the army ship. Dylan offers to ask Bossio and then shows Rossel the cut wire. They discuss whether a colonist or an animal could have cut it. Dylan splices the wire as Rossel leaves.\n\tMeanwhile, an alien is hiding nearby, watching the humans prepare to leave. He presses a button that disables their ship. Rossel has been trying to reach Planet Three and can’t get an answer; Dylan realizes the colony there is dead, so Bossio is, too. People strip their clothes to reduce their weight and take on more people. Forty-six are able to board. When the ship tries to lift off, it can’t get off the ground.\n\t\n", "Captain Dylan arrives on this newly pioneered planet--only 100 years at that point--to tell the colonists there that they were in grave danger. After hundreds of years of peace and a practically obsolete army, an alien life form was attacking. He emerges from his small ship, flown by his best friend Lieutenant Bossio, and waits in the cold. Finally, Bob Rossel meets him and hears his message. Fleet Headquarters sent Captain Dylan to hand off the letter informing them that Lupus V had been massacred. In 2360, 31 of the 70 colonists died, while the rest were captured. All of their belongings were taken too, and that which remained was burned. After the army arrived, one soldier discovered that the detonator wire was cut. On each planet, there is a bomb placed in the center. So if any aliens were to attack, the colonists could detonate to prevent human secrets from escaping. Only this time, they couldn’t, because the wire was cut. \nSince then, Captain Dylan had evacuated several cities and colonies. With his bottle of booze, Dylan informs the whole colony about the situation at hand and the need to evacuate. They protest at first and call him “soldier boy,” but after he tells them their sister colony, Planet Three, is also being evacuated, they run to pack their things. They are to leave by nightfall. Dylan digs into the ground in search of the detonator but finds the wire cleanly cut. Rossel returns to ask how many his ship can take, since their ship can only take 40, leaving 20 behind. Dylan knows that his ship can only take 10, so they decide to call Planet Three and ask if they have room. \nThey discuss the cut wire and who or what could have done it. Rossel leaves to ask if any of the colonists cut it and ask them to arm themselves in case of battle. After considering telepathy, Dylan leaves and walks out into the snowfall to try and contact Bossio who had yet to reply. A young woman asks him if he wants sentries posted on behalf of her father, and he follows her back to the group. Mr. Rush, her father, is a strong, wise man, and he tries to uncover who cut the wire. Although there is an animal on this planet, the viggle, it was already cleared. Eight sentries rushed out, and the Alien watched them from inside of the tree. Realizing that the humans knew they were in danger, the Alien changed his plans and disabled their ship. Planet Three was already under attack, so the Alien only had to wait till dusk to absorb.\nPlanet Three did not respond to Rossel’s calls, he knew something was off. Dylan realizes he’ll have to stay behind since Bossio was not coming back. The colonists strip and manage to squeeze an extra six people on the ship, thanks to the lessened weight. Rossel stays behind as well. However, the ship doesn’t take off. \n", "On a distant planet from Earth, Bob Rossel gets out of his warm bed on a cold night to greet a soldier (Captain Dylan) standing in a nearby field after landing his spaceship there. Captain Dylan was there to deliver a message from Fleet Headquarters to the person in charge of the colony of about 60 people, of which Bob claimed there was no one in charge so it might as well be him. The general consensus of the colonists is that peace must be achieved at all costs, and the Fleet army was counterproductive to achieving peace. So, it was quite a stir that a Fleet soldier would show up unexpectedly to deliver a message. The spaceship left with Lieutenant Bossio at the helm, promising to pick the Captain up later.\nThe Captain’s message was that aliens had attacked another colony on Lupus V, killing about half of seventy colonists with the rest missing. All colonies were required to have bombs installed in a central building that would obliterate all the people there should aliens attack them to prevent aliens from gaining any knowledge of human technology or biology. At this colony, the wire from the detonator to the bomb was cut, inexplicably.\nThe Captain quickly hustles the colony on Bob’s planet to evacuate, and they ready a ship that is capable of holding 40 people. It is somber for the 60 people there because not everyone will escape. Only the children, women, and youngest men are going to be loaded. Others in the colony begin pitching in and asking the Captain how to help, like Mr. Rush, who inquires about organizing sentries to post at their perimeter. During all of this, the Captain digs up the underground wire from the detonator to the bomb of this colony and finds it has also been cut very recently and reburied.\nThere is speculation as to who cut this wire, with the Captain thinking it must have been an alien and Bob thinking it must have been a colonist. There is an aside in the story, describing the culprit which is an alien hiding underground amongst the roots of a nearby tree and commanding the alien attack remotely. The alien moves up the attack from nightfall to dusk after seeing how quickly the colonists are mobilizing to escape. \nThe Captain is unable to check in with Lieutenant Bossio, who had gone to planet Three to evacuate the colonists there. It is already nightfall on planet Three, and the alien attack has most likely already killed Bossio. At the close of the story, the colonists have a tear-filled departure loading their ship. The Captain feels kinship with Bob, who is saying goodbye to his wife for the last time as she boards. The people aboard the ship leave their clothes behind to reduce weight - fitting 46 people on a ship that should have only held 40. As the ship doors close and it goes to take off, it is unable to move off the ground.\n", "Captain Jim Dylan arrives in an army ship at an unnamed colony in the midst of winter to warn the colonists of an impending attack by an alien species. Due to hundreds of years of anti-war conditioning, the army has had little to do and their resources have dwindled, so Dylan has spent the last thirty years of his life doing little else other than drinking, getting into trouble, and studying a little bit about military tactics. The colonists are not pleased with his arrival, and Dylan sends his fellow armyman Lieutenant Bossio to nearby Planet Three to begin the process of clearing their colony as well. A man named Rossel leads Dylan into town, where he relays the story of Lupus V and its decimation by alien attackers to a group of colonists. The aliens had killed half the population of Lupus V with a heat ray and the rest of the colonists had gone missing. Prior to the attack, a wire meant to detonate a bomb buried at the center of the colony in case of alien attack had been dug up and cut inexplicably. As a result, the army had been deployed to travel to each remaining colony to warn them. The colonists demand army protection, but Dylan informs them that the army fleet is too under-resourced and short-staffed to do anything other than warn of the attacks. As Dylan goes to investigate the state of the wire buried in this colony, he recalls joining the army back when people admired soldiers and how over time that admiration morphed into disgust because of anti-war conditioning. When he discovers the wire has also been cut, Dylan goes back to the radio shack. Rossel finds him there and they discuss how many people they can fit between the colonists' ship and the army ship. Because of insufficient space, they have to come up with a plan to fit the rest of the colonists. Meanwhile, Rossel asks about the cut wire, and he wonders if one of his people might have cut it out of spite for the government rules. Dylan wonders if it might be animals, or perhaps the aliens using telepathy. With Bossio still not answering his calls, Dylan meets with Rossel and a colonist named Rush, who provides Dylan with sentries and agrees with his theory that aliens are responsible for the cut wires. Meanwhile, an alien observes the action from a control center located underground; this is where he uses a box to schedule the attack on the village and disable the colonists' ship. When Planet Three doesn’t answer, Dylan realizes Bossio must be dead. He returns to the radio shack alone, but an old woman brings him coffee and a mackinaw to keep him warm. This encourages him to go outside to help with the evacuation. When Dylan sees Rossel saying goodbye to his wife, he feels human connection again. Then he sees that the colonists' ship cannot fly." ]	50848
What is the significance of the cut wire?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Soldier Boy by Michael Shaara. Question: What is the significance of the cut wire? Answer:	[ "When the army investigates the destruction of Lupus V, it discovers that the wire to the bomb that would blow up the community had been cut. The wire was hidden 12 inches under the ground, so it would not have been easy to find. Since the wire was cut, the bomb didn’t explode, enabling the aliens to take the women and children, along with all the technology, from the planet. The purpose of the bomb was to prevent the aliens from gaining knowledge of human technology and body chemistry; presumably, aliens would be able to use this information against humans in the future. Because Dylan knows of the cut wire on Lupus V, he checks the wire for the bomb on the planet he has come to evacuate. When he discovers the wire is cut here, too, he notes that the ends are clean, so someone made the cut recently. The ground over the wire was packed down, so whoever cut it also wanted to hide that it had been tampered with. Rossel assumes one of the colonists must have cut the wire, possibly thinking it was dangerous for the colonists and just a silly government rule. After Dylan tells him about the wire being cut on Lupus V, Rossel plans to question everyone. Dylan wonders if the aliens could have cut it by telepathy of one of the colonists but rules that out because if they could control one human, they could control all of them. Dylan then wonders if an alien has done it. No one knows what the aliens look like, but for them to have intelligence, they would need a large brain, making the alien about the size of a large dog. Dylan knows all the animals on the planet had been vetted before the colony was settled. When he tells the others his suspicion, Rush says the only animal they’ve seen nearby is a viggle, which is something like a monkey with four legs. The viggle passed Biology’s screening, so the viggle is ruled out. Although Dylan doesn’t discover the alien hidden in its electric cocoon, he is convinced that aliens cut the wire. He is also convinced that the alien attack is imminent.\n", "After the 70 colonists on Lupus V were either captured or killed, the soldiers discovered a cut wire leading to the detonator. The bombs were placed to protect human secrets, chemistry, and biology from prying alien hands. The fact that someone or something knew about the bomb and knew how to preven it from detonating suggests that the aliens are more intelligent about human life than everyone previously thought. \nWhen Captain Dylan finds the cut wire on the ice-cold colony, he realizes that they need to evacuate as quickly as possible, since this is the sign that the aliens are already here. \n", "The wire being discussed is one which connects a detonator to a bomb mandated to be a the center of each human colony for security purposes. The bomb is intended to destroy the entire colony and all the people in it upon alien attach so that the aliens don’t learn about human technology and body chemistry.\nThe bomb on Lupus V, the first colony to be attacked, did not blow because the wire had been cut. Thus, the alien attack captured many of the humans there, potentially giving them access to their technology and biology that humans had been trying to keep secure. Similarly, the wire had been cut on the planet that Captain Dylan landed on to evacuate in the story, which he discovered by digging down to it almost a foot underground. The reader learns there is an alien hiding underground nearby controlling the attack that may have been capable of cutting the wire through something like telepathy. The significance that two wires were cut in the same way suggests that the aliens are mounting a concerted attack on many human colonies and disabling their detonators in order to gain advantages over humans by learning their secrets.\n", "Each colony had a bomb buried in the center, which would be detonated in the event of an alien attack in order to prevent them from learning important facts about human technology and body chemistry. When the aliens attacked and destroyed Lupus V in 2360, the army investigated the remnants of the colony there; they discovered the wire that was hidden under a foot of earth and was intended to trigger the detonation had been dug up and cut, thereby preventing detonation. Dylan discovers a similar situation when he arrives at the unnamed colony of the story. When he finds the cut wire, Rossel believes it is one of the colonists lashing out against a government they do not respect. When Rush sees the wire, he agrees with Dylan that it must be some kind of telepathic alien intervention. In fact, an alien had cut the wire, presumably by deploying a box that allowed it to perform actions remotely from a subterranean control center. The cut wire provides the warning the colonists need in order to have time to evacuate before the alien attack." ]	50848
What is the significance of the army in the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Soldier Boy by Michael Shaara. Question: What is the significance of the army in the story? Answer:	[ "The army has no respect from the colonists; they don’t want anything to do with it because they associate it with war. The people at this time have been conditioned to despise war and anything to do with it. When they see Captain Dylan standing by his ship and facing the village, they think he is ridiculous or possibly drunk. Rossel noticed that Dylan appeared like a typical soldier: not very neat and not very clean, and his salute lacked proper military precision. And when Lt. Bossio tosses Dylan a bottle of liquor, Rossel isn’t surprised because of the reputation soldiers have for being drunks; in fact, Rossel is disgusted by the liquor and Bossio’s drunkenness. When aliens attacked Lupus V in 2360, the army found the destruction and dead and discovered why their security bomb hadn’t detonated. There was little the army could do about the alien attack because the army had become so small and weak. There had been peace for 500 years when people didn’t need the army, so its equipment was old, and many of the soldiers were from the bottom of society: drinkers and gamblers. So the army is just notifying other colonies of the attack and warning them to evacuate. When the colonists learn that they have to evacuate due to the threat of an alien attack, Rossel demands that the fleet defend them, and another man named Rush asks where the army fleet is, expecting it to come to their defense. When Dylan explains there is no fleet, just a few hundred obsolete ships, he is tempted to tell them that no one wants an army until it is needed. Dylan himself has been in the army for 30 years and has never seen any action. And when Rossel realizes the colony’s ship won’t hold all of the colonists, he asks if any fleet ships are within radio distance that they could summon to help with their evacuation, hoping that the army is near enough to be of help. Ironically, the army that they despise now offers their only hope. ", "After 500 years of peace, few saw the reason for maintaing or keeping an army intact. With anti-war and peace sentiments running abound, those that served were looked down upon, since they were paying for their seemingly worthless service. However, when the aliens attack, suddenly the long-forgotten fleets were called into action, and the drunken soldiers were called to arms. After the years of inactivity and depleted funding, the army is not what it once was and is having trouble containing the alien threat. \nThe army is both the saviour and ultimate enemy in this story, as they could offer protection, but simply don’t have the means to do so. \n", "The army is significantly smaller than it once was due to humans having a loathing of war and thus, reducing the size of the Fleet over time. Humans have had 500 years of peace and anti-war conditioning, that have led to the army becoming “small, weak and without respect.” The army could do nothing but warn colonists of attack.\nIronically, the colonists question Captain Dylan why the Fleet isn’t coming to their rescue, to which he describes the Fleet barely exists and now only has a “few hundred half-shot old tubs that were obsolete before you were born.” In this way, the army is significant in the story because it is not wanted by many, but it comes to be called on for help anyways in their time of need.\nCaptain Dylan has worked for thirty years as a peacetime soldier and thinks to himself that peace-loving nations in the history of Earth never stay strong, but does not go on to labor the point to the colonists. He feels deeply sad that his only friend, Bossio, was already dead from trying to help these people that didn’t support the army, and that he too would soon have the same fate. Captain Dylan shakes off this mentality and in the end feels that he can’t hate the colonists for wanting peace because it is a noble thing for trying to achieve.\n", "The people of the village have been taught over the years to hate war, and as a result, they also hate soldiers. They suspect every soldier they meet is a drunk, which Captain Dylan appears to confirm when he catches a bottle tossed to him by an associate upon first arriving at the village. Later, Dylan recalls the thirty years of his army career, which has largely been spent drinking and getting into trouble. Due to hundreds of years of anti-war conditioning, the army is under-resourced, understaffed, and underfunded. In fact, there are only a few hundred ships left that are mostly obsolete and a handful of army leadership and government jobs available. However, when the aliens attack, the army deploys Dylan and Bossio to help warn and evacuate as many colonies as possible, which they do to little fanfare. In fact, Bossio dies in the effort, and it appears that Dylan might as well." ]	50848
Who is Captain Dylan, and what happens to him?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Soldier Boy by Michael Shaara. Question: Who is Captain Dylan, and what happens to him? Answer:	[ "Captain Dylan is in the Fleet army and travels with Lieutenant Bossio to colonies on different planets with the message that an alien attack is imminent and the colonists must evacuate. He has become a drunk, which is not uncommon in the army because soldiers were outcasts. For the past three weeks, he and Bossio have been evacuating colonies—the current one is their fifth and last. Prior to this mission, he has spent the last 30 years hanging around, getting drunk, and waiting for something to happen. He was made a captain just before this mission. Looking back, he finds it humorous that he used to study military tactics as if he would need to know them. After his father died of a hernia that he developed from working too long on a heavy planet, he joined the army. Dylan was lured by the army’s recruiting advertisements calling itself guardians of the frontier. When he enlisted, anti-war conditioning wasn’t as strong as it is now, so people weren’t as resentful and disrespectful of soldiers then. Dylan feels that along the way, after all the time he spent in bars and jails, he lost his core. He also believes it doesn’t matter whether he makes it back home: he has no connections and doesn’t owe anybody anything. Drinking has become a way of life, and while he digs for the wire to the bomb, he takes a drink, but after he finds the wire has been cut, he reaches for his bottle but for the first time in a long time, stops before taking a drink. \nWhen the colonists start looking to him for help and answers, Dylan is somewhat pleased because now they are showing him respect, but he is annoyed, too, since it is only because they are scared and need help. When Dylan learns that Planet Three hasn’t answered any radio calls, he connects that to the fact he hasn’t been able to reach Bossio and concludes that the colonists and Bossio are dead. He knows this means he will have to stay behind on the planet when the colonists leave, but that doesn’t bother him. What does bother him is that Bossio is dead only because they had come to help these people—people who wanted nothing to do with them until their lives were threatened. Bossio was his best friend, and Dylan mourns his loss. Even though Dylan resents the people for their disregard for him and the army, he has sympathy for them. He doesn’t want to watch their pain when the women have to leave their men behind, and he is touched when an old woman offers him coffee and a mackinaw to help him stay warm. As he watches Rossel and other men saying goodbye to their wives and children, Dylan begins losing the shell the last 30 years had created around him and begins to feel that these people are his people.\n", "Captain Dylan is a member of the Earth’s army, presumably reporting back to Fleet Headquarters. His father died of a hernia when he was only 19 years old after years of hard work and grueling labor. This sudden absence left Dylan feeling alone in the world, so he happily signed on when the army came to town, speaking of frontiers to discover and great adventures to be had. However, with an anti-war sentiment spreading across the colonies, there was no real army to join. Their fleets were small and fairly untrained or, at least ill-prepared for war. When Captain Dylan finally got word of an alien attack, he feared that the anti-war thinking would hinder their ability to fight back. \nHe arrives on this cold planet to inform the colonists that they need to evacuate. Since Lupus V, he’s been to several cities and colonies over a few weeks and evacuated them all. Lietenant Bossio, his best friend, dropped him off before flying to Planet Three to evacuate the colony there too. He is dependent on alcohol both for warmth and to get him through. He is met with contempt and hostility, but he perseveres and convinces them of the danger. \nHe drinks to fight off the cold and digs beneath the ground to check the bomb. He discovers that the wire has been cut, like on Lupus V. He ponders telepathy, but is interrupted by Rossel who reveals that they don’t have enough room on their ship for all 60 inhabitants. \nDylan is a little cranky, but tries his best to problemsolve. Slowly they reach a compromise and Dylan buzzes Bossio to see when he’s coming back from Planet Three. He doesn’t hear back. Dylan eventually realizes that Bossio is not coming back, so he will be stuck on this planet while the aliens attack. \nThe story ends with Dylan watching as 46 members of the colony squeeze onto the spaceship, while he resigns himself to his doom. The rocket doesn’t start, and all are left behind. \n", "Captain Dylan spent 30 years in the West end of space on the “outer edges of Mankind” doing patrols as a peacetime officer before finally being made a Captain. He has never fired a gun. He developed a habit of drinking alcohol, and often in the story drinks from a bottle on his hip to cope with hard news.\nHe and his Lieutenant, Bossio, were summoned out of a bar with the news of the alien attack on Lupus V and charged with clearing the colonies in danger. They cleared four colonies in three weeks, and this planet was due to be the last. \nAfter landing on the planet, he is initially met with some skepticism by the colonists, who then quickly shift into high gear to follow his instructions to evacuate. He goes about digging up the wire to the safety detonation system in the colony to check it is functioning, but it has recently been cut. He thinks it was an alien, and he turns out to be right. There is a nearby alien hiding under a tree orchestrating the attack that is never discovered by the humans.\nThe Captain sees through helping the colonists to load their ship with 46 people to escape, but on take off it is not able to lift off the ground.\n", "Captain Jim Dylan is a tall, frail-looking army man with pale blue eyes whose appearance is not too neat. He salutes Rossel sloppily when they first meet and delivers an envelope with a message from Fleet Headquarters. After delivering the message, his ship leaves, and Rossel accompanies Dylan back to the village. When Dylan was 19, his father died of a hernia, and he joined the army; those were the days prior to the anti-war conditioning, and people viewed soldiers as \"guardians of the frontier.\" In the ensuing years of boozing, being imprisoned, receiving anti-army insults, and endlessly waiting for something to happen, Dylan had lost the thrill of action and had lost touch with himself. Prior to his deployment with Bossio to clear the colonies, the army had finally made him a captain; even that achievement feels empty to him. Dylan has mostly been drinking for the past thirty years thanks to the army's inaction and the fact that they were universally disrespected and hated by most colonists. However, he had also spent some of that time studying military tactics. Still, he realizes he has never fired a gun. Dylan halfheartedly engages with the colonists when he first arrives to warn them of the impending alien attack. But he slowly warms up to them as he realizes that they actually need his help, and he can offer them that help. He theorizes that the cut wire is the result of telepathic interference by the aliens as they preempt their attack. He works with Rossel to devise an evacuation plan, and Rush provides Dylan with sentries. Dylan is devastated when he learns of Bossio's death. Bossio had been his only friend. In spite of the fact that Bossio had died for people who hated him, Dylan finds he cannot hate the colonists. They simply don't understand that no conflict leads to decay. At the same time, he realizes he cannot truly help them either, so he retreats back to the radio shack. After an old woman brings him a mackinaw and coffee, Dylan realizes he should help after all. When he sees people removing their clothes to allow more people on board, and he witnesses Rossel tearily saying goodbye to his wife, Dylan feels a human connection he had lost in those thirty years of aimlessness." ]	50848
What is the relationship like between the Elliotts and Mr. Snader?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Butterfly 9 by Donald Keith. Question: What is the relationship like between the Elliotts and Mr. Snader? Answer:	[ "Initially, the Elliotts find Mr. Snader to be peculiar with his mustache, facial scar, traces of a broken nose, and accented speech. Jeff is not interested in engaging with him, but Ann continues to deepen their conversation with him at the restaurant thinking that Mr. Snader is insane and she will humor his ideas.\n\nMr. Snader shows hints of being forceful to the Elliots throughout the story. His persuasiveness to come to his time travel station is forceful at times, he takes their arms to escort them into the future portal (as if he wants to ensure their compliance), and once they are roaming the city in the future Mr. Snader largely drops the act and stops being nice to the Elliots altogether (ignoring their requests for him to drive safely, and being curt with them to get them into his drop off spot with Mr. Bullen).\n\nThe Elliots are captivated by the silliness of Mr. Snader’s story at first, believing it is a magic trick right up until they travel into the past, and then seem largely blinded by their curiosity and excitement to think critically about how much danger they are really in. They acknowledge Mr. Snader is being deceitful at times, like when Jeff asks for his questions to be answered, but become so reliant on Mr. Snader’s support to get them back home that they remain with him. When Mr. Snader’s plan is revealed - that he has delivered the Eliotts into the past to be forced into labor to create a color television company - they feel betrayed by Mr. Snader.\n", "The Elliots are initially wary of Snader. They look at him before he approaches them in the restaurant, and Ann tells her husband that she thinks she saw him outside in the parking lot. She wonders aloud if he has been following them. When he first starts up a conversation with them, Jeff immediately wants to leave, and it’s Ann who gets a kick out of the improbable dialogue they have. She wants to learn more about his insane-sounding ideas about time travel, although she doesn’t necessarily believe anything he’s saying at first. Both Jeff and Ann laugh at the card that Snader hands them because nearly every word is misspelled and to them he appears unprofessional. \n\nThey do not spend very much time with Snader, but they appear to trust him quite readily. They are skeptical about his promises and insist that it’s probably all fake, but they don’t associate the dishonesty with Snader personally. When Snader physically shows them how time traveling works by stepping in and out of the screens, Jeff and Ann are so excited that they actually link arms with the stranger. Moments later, Jeff calls him “brother”. Jeff initially insists that they take his car to go to the station, but when it disappears outside after they have time traveled, they have no problem getting into the backseat of a limousine and allowing Snader to drive them. When he brings them to a building they have never seen before, they wonder what could possibly be dangerous about it instead of insisting that they remain vigilant. Snader delivers Jeff and Ann right to the bad guys, and they never see it coming. Bullen’s guys thank Snader and mention the payment he will receive as a result of bringing them their victim, Jeff. Had Jeff and Ann refused to trust a stranger with a wild story about time traveling, they would not be stuck in another dimension. \n\n", "The Elliotts are always somewhat suspicious of Mr. Snader, but they are intrigued by his claims and offer of time travel and curious enough to want to find out more about it. Snader uses Ann to draw the couple’s initial interest; she is more open to listening to him than Jeff is. Jeff is somewhat antagonistic to Snader, for example, commenting on the misspelled words on his business card and sometimes speaking to him derisively. Likewise, Snader mocks Jeff with his eyes. Ann is more open to Snader’s offer, asking him questions to learn more about it and commenting she wishes time travel could be true. Her receptiveness ignites Jeff’s desire to escape his worries for a while so that he is willing to learn more from Snader. When Snader takes them to the station, Ann expresses concerns to Jeff, but he believes they won’t be in danger. However, when Snader shows Jeff the screens and waves to people on them who wave back, the Elliotts are more convinced that what Snader offers is real. Snader is his nicest to Jeff just before they enter the time travel screen, but the closer they get to the apartment building, the less interested he is in answering questions and being polite. He orders them into the limousine and at one point issues a warning: “Tonight, you look where you are going.” Ann notices the station house has bars on it, and Jeff is suspicious enough that he makes a point of remembering the street names where the station is located so they will be able to find it again on their own. His tentative trust of Snader continues eroding when he realizes they are on a freeway that didn’t exist yet in the present. When he asks Snader if he’s brought them to the future instead of the past, Snader doesn’t even bother to answer. At the apartment, Jeff and Ann learn that Snader was paid to bring them there, and he “mockingly” waves at them as he leaves now that his job is done.\n\n\n", "The relationship between the Elliotts and Mr. Snader is one with varying levels of distrust and suspicion but also some curiosity and genuine interest. When they all meet, Jeff is suspicious of everything that Mr. Snader says and does not thing it is worth his time to listen to Snader talk. Ann is curious, though, and wants to hear Snader out. It is not clear from this first part of the story what Snader thinks of the Elliots besides his interest in them as people who might be able to benefit from what he has to offer, at least on the surface. Once they all arrive at the \"4-D Travel Beuro\", as Ann has agreed to give Snader's time travel a try, the suspicion is continued. Because Jeff is an expert in color television, he is convinced everything he is seeing is some kind of visual trick and he wants to learn how it works. Jeff lets this color his interactions with Snader, and most of what he says to him has some audible distrust. At this point, Ann is also worried, once they step into the moving picture, but her fear dissipates once they are outside of the house in a different time. During this time travel, Jeff and Ann have had a lot of questions for Snader, but he is not answering any of them, at least not directly--this adds to the mistrust felt by the Elliotts. Once Snader drops the Elliots off with Kersey, they are understandably upset when they realize they have been tricked." ]	51167
What is the significance of time in the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Butterfly 9 by Donald Keith. Question: What is the significance of time in the story? Answer:	[ "Time travel is suggested as a way to solve troubles. To fix regrets. Ironically, it is not this at all, because the way time travel works is not linear. Thus, it’s not possible to go back to an exact moment in your past and make a different decision.\n\nJeff is very impatient about the time they are spending with Mr. Snader, but continues to be roped into one thing and the next by convincing himself that they are in no real danger. There is a kind of tension between Jeff feeling like he is wasting time, but then allowing time to run on as their involvement with Mr. Snader deepens further and further until they lose 6 years of time completely.\n", "At the beginning of the story, Jeff is worried that he has lost so much time on his failed business. Ann tries to convince him that he’s still plenty young, and he has many years to make back whatever he lost. Snader hears their conversation and butts in. Ann and Jeff don’t realize that he has already had his sights on them specifically because Jeff has been ordered by Mr. Bullen to improve his business. Bullen wants to make colored television before anyone else can, and in order to do that he needs someone from the future to give him the secrets. \n\nSnader makes Jeff and Ann believe they are going on an adventure to visit the past that they knew only six years ago, but he lies to them. They do not understand that the past does not work like a movie. When you travel to the past, the events change. This is because time is a dimension, and it is not linear. One of Bullen’s henchmen explains to Jeff that if he went back to 1865, there would no longer be a Civil War, and no one would know who Abraham Lincoln is. Landmarks, like the mountains outside of the station, will not change, but events will. ", "Time is significant in the story because it is the basis for Jeff’s unhappiness and the couple’s reception of Snader’s travel offer. The reality of time as a dimension is why Jeff doesn’t recognize the past when he and Ann travel back. Jeff wishes he could go back in time five years and buy the building where he has been working for $2,000. It has just sold for $12,000, and now he has to leave and start his business over again. Snader’s offer of time travel appeals to Jeff and Ann because Jeff believes he’ll be able to buy the building. Snader’s assurance that they can be back in an hour helps persuade the couple to go with him to the nearby station. When they go into the screen to travel through time and Snader drives them along a freeway that didn’t exist in the present 1957 or five years earlier, Jeff is convinced that Snader has actually taken them to the future. Kersey tells them that they have traveled six years back in time before the development of chromatics (color television). Bullen wants Jeff to develop color television for his company, Continental Radioptic Combine, so that he will be first on the market with color TVs. When Jeff and Ann eat at the restaurant, and Jeff tries to pay with two one-dollar bills, the clerk calls the bills “stage money” and motions for a policeman to come to them. The officer looks at the bills and wonders aloud what the United States of America is and tells Jeff he is in Costa, West Goodland, in the Continental Federation. None of this makes sense to Jeff and Ann, and when Jeff is interrogated at the police station, the questions seems stupid to him. When Bullen’s lawyer arrives to get Jeff and Ann out of jail, he explains to Jeff that he did travel six years in the past but that time is a dimension rather than a stream of events. He indicates that if Jeff went back to 1865, the people there would know nothing of Lincoln or the Civil War. Therefore, Jeff’s idea that he could buy the building is incorrect because different events will be happening in 1952. \n", "Time plays a few roles in this story. One is the motivation for Jeff and Ann to be interested in the time-travel technology in the first place: if Jeff could travel back in time a few years, he could sign a lease for a building for a much cheaper price that the going rate in his own time. Snader takes advantage of this fact to slip himself into the conversation the couple is having and offer his services in time travel, the particular mechanics of which are another major role of time in this story. Snader offers a time travel service that works with a technology too complicated for him to be able to explain, but for which we see two screens in one room that have moving images on them. These screens show people passing through the timestream and work as stations along a moving path of time, kind of like a train line. Once the group travels on this \"time groove\", they notice a number of differences in the \"new\" time, the past that Snader comes from. In fact, because of the differences, even though Ann and Jeff are in the past, they think that they must be far in the future because of how different things are. One of these is the construction of a highway that was not there during their time, and the other is that nobody has heard of the United States of America. Jeff figures that nobody has heard of where he comes from because they have moved so far forward in time, when it is really because in this version of the past, the United States did not develop in the way it did in Jeff's time. Because time affects the way language develops, it is interesting that one of the major differences between the time Jeff and Ann live in compared to the time Snader is from is the way people talk. In the past (that is, Snader's time), there are a lot of phrases and nouns that do not match the same words that Jeff and Ann have for those same concepts. The word for lawyer, for instance, differs. However, the languages have enough in common for the people from the different times to communicate with one another. The story ends with a discussion of how this time travel works, to show how differently the various people think about time. " ]	51167
Describe the settings the story takes place in.	Write a detailed response to the following question about Butterfly 9 by Donald Keith. Question: Describe the settings the story takes place in. Answer:	[ "The story takes place on Earth, in the year 1957. It opens in a restaurant, and quickly transitions to Mr. Snader’s 4-D TRAVEL BEURO time travel station, inside of a “middle-sized, middle-cost home in a good neighborhood.” They could hear traffic dimly in the station and see mountains out the windows on the horizon. \n\nThe time travelling room appears like a doctor's waiting room, with chair lined walls. There is a station sign - 701 - that hangs on the ceiling and two movie screens on the far ends of the room. Stepping through one screen would take them forwards in time, and one backwards in time. The Elliotts go to station 725, which Mr. Snader tells them is six years in the past.\n\nThe past is very unfamiliar, more industrialized with more highways than they remember. After travelling in a limousine, they transition to a 6th floor apartment house of a building with heavy carpets and soft lighting.\nThe final settings are a lunch counter, with unfamiliar food to the Elliotts, and finally their jail cells.\n", "Ann and Jeff meet Greet Snader in a restaurant where they are having dinner and discussing Jeff’s business troubles. After meeting Snader, they follow him to a place called a “station.” They are surprised to find that it’s actually a moderately-sized home in a residential neighborhood. It doesn’t look suspicious at all. Jeff notes the mountains on the horizon and the warm breeze he feels before he steps inside. Snader uses a key hanging from his necklace to unlock the door, and once inside, he leads the couple to an area that looks a lot like a doctor’s waiting room. However, there are two screens hanging from the ceiling, and they are both playing moving pictures. There is a large plaque that says “701”, and Jeff and Ann do not know what to make of it. They are even more dumbfounded when Snader salutes some of the people on screen, and they wave back at him. \n\nAfter Jeff and Ann time travel, they exit the screen and find that the room looks very similar to the one they were just in. For a moment, they believe that Snader has tricked them. However, when they leave the building, they find a limousine out front instead of Jeff’s car. They drive through the city they call home, but none of the signs and landmarks are even remotely the same. \n\nAfter leaving Mr. Bullen’s office, they walk around town a little bit and quickly realize that the language on all the signage is different from how they speak. One reads, “'Sleek neck-sashes, only a Dick and a dollop!” Ann also notes that the women dress strangely, and it’s unlike anything she’s ever seen before. After noticing that all of the food at the restaurant looks slightly different than what they’re used to, they learn that they are actually in the town of Costa, in the state of West Goodland, in the country of Continental Federation. The language they are speaking is called Federal, and the cash they are using appears to be counterfeit. Although Jeff and Ann believed they would be returning to the exact same world they knew six years ago when Ann’s father was alive and he lived with them, they were misled by Snader. The couple was actually taken to a different dimension where events have unfolded in completely different ways.\n", "The first setting is 1957 in a small, crowded, noisy, and hot restaurant. Jeff and Ann are having dinner, and Snader’s table is near enough that he can overhear the couple talking. This enables him to join their conversation and eventually lure them into time travel.\nSnader takes the Elliotts to the second setting, the station where he begins their time travel. The station is located in a mid-sized house in a middle-class neighborhood. Lights are glowing in the windows as they arrive, and outside they can hear the traffic on the boulevard a few blocks away. It is dusk, the weather is warm, and Jeff can see the mountains on the horizon. Snader unlocks the door, and they are greeted by a man at a desk in the hallway who sends them to another room. \nThis room is the station. A sign with the number 701 hangs from the middle of the ceiling, and there are two big screens like movies screens hanging on one wall, showing movement through a corridor with rows of seats like a railroad car. There are easy chairs along the walls, making it look like a doctor’s office waiting room. \nWhen they enter the screen, they are in the chair-lined corridor. Snader tells the Elliotts to sit, and they face a screen like the one in the room they had just left. The image on the screen makes it look as if they are racing through a dark tunnel toward a light at the far end. As they approach the light, they see a room like 701, but this one is 702. They exit at room 725 by stepping through the screen.\nStation 725 looks much like 701, but when they leave the room, there is a motherly old lady outside. Snader tells them they aren’t there for lodging, and they leave the house. Outside, Jeff notices his car is missing. Snader tells him it’s in the future. The street outside the house has different trees and houses than he remembered in the neighborhood with the 701 station. Telephone poles and streetlights also seem different. As the limousine pulls away from the curb, Jeff makes it a point to remember the street name, Green Thru-Way, and the block number, 800. Ann notices bars on the windows of the house. The limo heads onto a freeway where the boulevard should be, but the mountains are the same as always. Signs are unfamiliar and have strange wording like Rite Channel for Creepers and Yaw for Torrey Rushway.\nSnader takes the Elliotts to an apartment building near a shopping center with bright lights and lots of shoppers, neither of which are familiar. Snader escorts them inside the apartment building, riding the elevator to the sixth floor and traversing a heavily carpeted hallway with soft gold lights. Later they eat at a restaurant with unfamiliar food names and monetary units; their check is for 1/20. Finally, the Elliotts are imprisoned in a jail with smelly cells.\n\n", "The story starts in a restaurant, but quickly moves to a house that is known as the 4-D Travel Beuro. This is a fairly typical, mid-range house of average size in a good neighborhood, which keeps it from sticking out in any way because nobody would be suspicious of it. Inside the house there are a number of ornate rooms locked behind closed doors, guarded by a bureau agent known as Peter Powers. Behind one of these doors is the room that serves as station 701 on this particular time groove, that has two large screens that show moving images of people who seem to be aware of the people standing in the room. People can easily step into these rooms and find themselves traveling on a time groove, and this is how Jeff and Ann travel to the time Snader is from. Once they have traveled through time, they expect to see the same suburban neighborhood but much of the context has changed: a different highway, different cars, and different houses. The people in this time use different currency and have different vocabulary than the people Jeff and Ann are used to. After some time in lockup, Jeff and Ann also encounter an apartment building. On the sixth floor of this building, they meet the man who hired Snader to find Jeff. There is an ornate drawing room where Jeff and Ann have a meeting with Septo Kersey and a man named Bullen who are hoping they can use Jeff's expertise to move ahead of the technological developments of their own time. Refusing to help, Jeff and Ann leave and are eventually captured for not having legal money, and the story ends with them in a holding cell at a local police station." ]	51167
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Butterfly 9 by Donald Keith. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "Jeff Elliott and his wife Ann meet a peculiar stranger, Mr. Snader, at a restaurant in the year 1957 as they are discussing Jeff’s desire to go 5 years into the past to buy a building for $2000 that would’ve changed his luck entirely. The stranger had been listening to their conversation and was seeking someone with Jeff’s credentials (color television engineer) to complete an illegal job he’d been hired for. Jeff and Ann have no idea that Mr. Snader is on such a job, but entertain his quirky conversation.\n\nMr. Snader has a friendly and persuasive personality, narrowly convincing Jeff and Ann to follow him to his time travel station and take a free trip to see if they like it. The Elliots do not perceive the situation as dangerous, and continue choosing to trust him at each step. Ultimately, the Elliots are escorted six years back in time through a time travelling process that appears like stepping through a screen, but their past is nothing like they remember. It is a different place entirely, and though they are frightened, their excitement and perhaps also their complete reliance on Mr. Snader to get them back home, causes them to keep following him even though he has become mean with them. \n\nMr. Snader takes the Elliotts to an apartment house to meet Septo Kersey and Dumont Bullen, the general manager of Continental Radioptic Combine. It’s revealed that Mr. Snader tricked the Elliots, and brought them to Mr. Bullen who had illegally sought Jeff’s services as a color engineer to profit his own interests by creating color television that did not yet exist in their time. Jeff was furious, and totally helpless.\n\nJeff and Ann were allowed to leave, because their captors were certain that they could not actually escape them. They had no idea how to leave this timeline, and had no way of finding justice being illegally present with no work permits. When Jeff and Ann stop for lunch and try to pay with the money in their pockets (which appears as illegal tender), they are approached by an officer and find out they are in a place called Costa, West Goodland, in the Continental Federation. Everyone in the interaction is deeply confused, because time travel is not understood to be possible by the public - Jeff and Ann look crazy. Both are escorted to separate jail cells in a prison.\n\nOne of Mr. Bullen's barmen, a lawyer, was sent to arrange Jeff’s release, if he was willing to cooperate and go work for Mr. Bullen. The lawyer has to explain to Jeff the concept of time travelling before he can get any cooperation, and so says that time travel is entering a different dimension, not moving along a linear timeline. Things look so different to Jeff in the past because he didn’t travel back a linear path to exactly the way things were when he experienced these things six years ago. The story ends during their discussion.\n", "The year is 1957. Jeff and Ann sit at a restaurant and discuss Jeff’s business troubles. He is concerned that he made a bad business choice five years ago. Ann tries to reassure him that that he has plenty of time to make it all back again. Greet Snader, a foreign man with a mustache, sits nearby, and overhears their conversation. He asks if they would like to go back in time. Jeff tries to leave, but Ann insists that they listen to what he has to say. Snader hands them his card and offers them a free trial. He calls Jeff Mr. Elliot although Jeff has not given the stranger his name. This gives Jeff the slightest sense of hesitation, but Ann is eager to go with Snader.\n\nAnn and Jeff follow Snader to the station, which turns out to be a reasonably-sized home in a residential neighborhood. Inside, there are two screens hanging from the ceiling. One is labeled “Ante” while the other is labeled “Post.” Each screen shows a movie, and when Snader salutes the people that appear on one screen, the strangers wave back. Ann and Jeff are both shocked because the entire thing seems impossible. Ann and Jeff watch Snader step into one of the screens, and when they look at the other screen, he steps out. \n \nSnader tells them they are going back six years. They step into a screen and jump out a few moments later. When they walk through the same door they entered, the surroundings are different, and Jeff’s car has been replaced by a limousine. Snader drives, and they do not recognize anything around them. Snader stops the car outside of a building and tells them to follow him inside. \n\nAnn and Jeff meet Mr. Bullen. He explains that he is the general manager of Continental Radioptic Combine, and he needs Jeff, someone from the future, to make sure that he gets colored television before anyone else. Jeff refuses to work for him, but Bullen says that Jeff is there illegally without a permit or a file. Jeff and Ann call his bluff and leave, but Bullen reminds them to call Butterfly 9 if they get in trouble. The couple goes to a restaurant, and when Jeff tries to pay, the cashier says it’s counterfeit. They find out that they’re in a country called Continental Federation, and these people have never heard of the U.S. Jeff and Ann are taken to jail. One of Mr. Bullen’s henchmen shows up to talk to Jeff, and he explains that Jeff and Ann went back in time six years, but time isn’t like a movie. Events don’t stay consistent in the past because dimensions change. Technically, Snader didn’t lie, but he manipulated Jeff into believing that time traveling is something that it’s not. \n", "\n\tJeff and Ann Elliott are having dinner in a restaurant after Jeff has learned he’ll need to start his business over again after his building is sold. They are approached by a man at the next table who has been watching and listening to them and who offers them a chance to get away. At first, they think he means a trip, but he is referring to time travel. Jeff says he wishes he could go back five years and buy the building. The man offers them time travel for free and gives Jeff his business card, identifying him as Greet Snader, Traffic Ajent for the 4-D Travel Beuro. Snader invites them to come with him and indicates they can be back in one hour. Jeff and Ann ask many questions but ultimately decide to go with Snader to see what he is about.\nHe takes them to his station, a mid-sized home in a middle-class neighborhood, and shows them a room labeled 701 with two screens, indicating that they are showing people who are time traveling right now in the fourth dimension. He waves at some of them, and they wave back at him. Snader demonstrates how the screens work, walking into one and then exiting from the other. Jeff wants to try this, and he and Ann enter. Snader says they will exit at Station 725 which is six years in the past. When they exit the screen, they are in another house; Snader escorts them to a limousine outside, explaining to Jeff that his car isn’t there because it’s in the future. Jeff and Ann notice that the street seems somehow different than it did when they arrived. \nSnader drives them across town, using a freeway where Jeff knows there was only a boulevard in the past. He accuses Snader of taking them to the future rather than the past, but Snader doesn’t respond. He pulls up in front of an apartment building and tells Jeff that he’ll learn everything upstairs when Jeff demands answers before getting out of the car. In a luxurious apartment, they are introduced to Septo Kersey, who congratulates Snader for bringing Jeff and then takes the couple to meet Mr. Bullen. Bullen confirms that Jeff understands radioptics and chromatics and then tells him that he will develop these features for his company. Angered, Jeff tells Bullen he won’t be told who he works for and that he and Ann are leaving. Bullen allows them to go but warns that they will be in serious legal trouble since they have no immigrate permit or citizen file. \nJeff and Ann walk to a restaurant at a nearby shopping center to eat, and all the food on the menu is unfamiliar. They eat a meal, but when Jeff tries to pay with his money, the clerk calls the police over because his money is no good. Jeff and Ann are locked in jail overnight until Bullen’s lawyer comes the next day to get them out.\n", "Over dinner, Ann tells her husband Jeff (a TV color specialist) that he will be able to make a comeback after his building's lease has expired. Snader, a man at the next table who had been listening, suggested that they go back in time to get a better deal on the sale. Jeff dismisses him but the man joins them at their table, explaining that he’s from a different time and offering them a free trial time-travel trip at the “4-D Travel Beuro”, Ann asks for more details: Snader invites people who want change, but he knows more about Jeff than expected. Despite these concerns, his wife agrees to give time travel a try. They head to an average home in a good neighborhood that serves as Snader’s office, where they meet Peter Powers, a bureau agent. They enter a room labeled \"701\" with two large screens with moving pictures; the people on these screens are explained to be time travelers in the fourth dimension. This time groove can reach as early as 600AD, with convicts from Snader's time working to build the groove further back. Snader walked into one of the screens, and Jeff and Ann saw him in the other screen shortly after. Jeff is convinced this is a visual trick and wants to be shown how it works, and hesitantly steps into one of the screens. Snader leads them six years prior but tells them they can’t ask any more questions, and they get out at station 725, a room that looks identical to the one they left from. Nothing else is the same: Powers is gone, and the street outside looks different; Snader insists it’s because they have traveled through time. Ann is over her fear and feels excited, figuring that they were in the future instead of the past because of a freeway they did not recognize, but Snader doesn’t confirm anything. They explore and eventually meet an older man named Septo Kersey, who has asked for Snader to retrieve Jeff to work for him, as a sort of informant in color television technology. Kersey and Bullen (another man who works for the company) threaten the couple, saying they were illegal immigrants in this particular time stream. Jeff and Ann insist on leaving, and are given instructions of how to return if they get into trouble. It’s now Ann who’s concerned, and Jeff tries to calm her as they look for food. After they eat, they learn that their money isn’t recognized in this society; they are in the Continental Federation, not the United States, even though their languages are mutually intelligible. Jeff is convinced he’s so far in the future that the US has been forgotten, the police think he’s trying to fool them. One of Bullen’s lawyers was there for them when they woke up, and tried to explain that time is a dimension, not a series of events, so that nobody would have experienced the same history that Jeff had. " ]	51167
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Trouble on Tycho by Nelson S. Bond. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "Isobar Jones’ first call of the day was from Dome Commander Colonel Eagon telling him to deliver his weather reports to Riley Sparks, the Terra contact, ASAP. He works diligently but is soon called again, this time by Eagon’s niece who wants to know about the weather in a certain sector. Shyly, he answers then quickly finished his work. Sparks calls him and asks him to bring his reports to him, as well as informing him that Roberts and Browns were sent Outside for repair work. Sparks makes fun of Isobar’s bagpipes. \nIn Sparks’ office, Isobar delivers his work then waits for him to make the call. Once he’s delivered the report, Sparks asks the Earthman to turn his microphone around. As he does so, the video changes from his face to that of Earth, beautiful trees, and green grass. Isobar is grateful to Sparks and tells him so. They talk about Isobar’s homesickness until Colonel Eagon walks in to hear them discussing the Outisde. He quickly shuts it down and informs Isobar that it is now forbidden for him to play his bagpipe, due to the horrendous noise. Beyond frustrated, Isobar runs back to his rooms, grabs his bagpipes, and sneaks his way Outside by tricking the patrolman. Once he’s breathing in the thin air, he calms down and makes his way two miles out from the gate. Suddenly, he hears the sound of a gun and is brought back to reality. Roberts and Brown rush into view, both injured but grateful to see him, thinking he answered their distress call. However, he didn’t bring an armored tank with him, only a pair of bagpipes. A dozen Granniebacks run behind them, so Isobar helps Roberts and Brown climb a tree to escape. \nThe Grannies are unable to climb trees due to their significant size, but they can tear it down. As they pull and heave on the trunk, Isobar has the idea to play his bagpipes so the Dome will hear it and come looking for them. Roberts thinks it’s a good idea, so he begins to play, and slowly the Grannies all relax and lay down on the ground. They’re all amazed, but when Isobar stops playing, one of the Grannies starts to move again. He plays his entire repertoire and more before the armored tank arrives. The men from the dome reveal that the Grannies are dead, and the sound of the bagpipes must be what killed them. Isobar saved the team. \n", "Horatio \"Isobar\" Jones lives and works in the Experimental Dome at Lunar III, a frontier outpost functioning as a rocket refueling station, teleradio transmission point, and meteorological base on Luna, Earth's moon. As a meteorologist forecasting weather for Earth, Isobar owes daily weather reports to Dome Commander Colonel Eagan, whose niece he also advises on forecasts for her personal travels. Isobar receives a call from his associate \"Sparks\" Riley, who manages communications with Earth in the Dome's transmission turret. Isobar tells \"Sparks\" he is about to bring him the report, and \"Sparks\" implores him to leave behind his bagpipe, the only item that brings Isobar any joy in the Dome. He also informs Isobar that the maintenance men Roberts and Brown have gone Outside to make foundation repairs to the Dome. Isobar gets jealous when he hears this, and when \"Sparks\" makes his call to Earth, Isobar asks him to request the Earth radioman to twist his mike so he can get a glimpse of Earth's nature that he misses so much. When Commander Eagan enters the room, he informs Isobar that he must stop playing his bagpipe, as the sounds travel through the air-conditioning system and disturb the other workers. Indignant, Isobar says he will go Outside the Dome, which is forbidden due to the existence of the Granitebacks, called \"Grannies\"--a fast-moving native species with impenetrable, protective carapaces known to kill humans. Eagan doubles down on his commands, and an angry Isobar returns to his quarters. In his absence, \"Sparks\" converses with Dr. Loesch, who diagnoses Isobar with \"weltschmertz\"--a deep world-weariness that makes the sufferer resort to radical acts in order to feel happiness. At the same time, Isobar takes his bagpipes, tricks the Junior Patrolman attending to the impervite gates, and goes outside to feel the sunlight on his face, breathe fresh air, and play his bagpipes in peace. Outside, Isobar walks several miles away from the entrance to the Dome, where he stumbles upon Roberts and Brown, who are injured and running away from a hostile group of Grannies. Because no weapons can pierce the thick carapaces of the Grannies, the men scurry up a nearby tree adjacent to \"Sparks'\" transmission turret. When the Grannies begin attacking the tree, the men believe they will die; however, Isobar decides to play his bagpipes, hoping the music will alert \"Sparks\" to their dilemma by way of the air-conditioning vent. As Isobar plays, the men notice the Grannies seem to be entranced by the music. Isobar continues to play until help arrives, and they all realize the music has actually killed the Grannies.", "Horatio Jones, known as Isobar, is ready to report the weather to the Dome Commander, Colonel Eagen. Isobar is stationed on the moon at Lunar III. His job involves reporting the weather forecasts for Earth. When he signed up to be part of the Frontier Service, he expected an exciting adventure, but his life for the last six months has been boring. Isobar especially hates the stale air that he must breathe every day. \n\nWhen Isobar’s coworker Riley makes contact with Earth’s radioman, Isobar hangs around and begs him to ask the operator for a glimpse of Earth. He obliges. The grass, birds, and flowers make Isobar even more homesick. Riley says that there’s plenty of foliage to look at outside on the moon, but Isobar complains that he isn’t allowed to venture Outside. It’s too dangerous to leave the station because the Granitebacks, also known as Grannies, are ready to attack at any moment. In fact, Brown and Roberts are currently risking their lives to make repairs to the building. The Grannies are creatures that appear to be made of rock. They are not very intelligent, but they have exoskeletons harder than diamonds, and their speed allows them to take down humans in a matter of seconds.\n\nIsobar’s only pleasure is playing his bagpipe, and he has been informed that all instruments are banned. Isobar offers to go Outside to play his bagpipes, but he’s reminded that no one is allowed to leave the station unless it’s absolutely necessary.\n\nRiley sees Isobar is angry,, and he gets a kick out of it. On the other hand, Dr. Loesch, an older physicist, feels sorry for Isobar. He argues that Isobar is suffering from weltschmertz, or weariness of the world. Some men with the condition commit suicide while others rebel in unforeseen ways. He’s right because Isobar is lying to the guard so that he can go Outside and play his bagpipes.\n\nIsobar feels the warm air, and he is instantly happy. A short time later, he hears a pistol go off, and he sees Roberts and Brown. They believe he has received their calls for help, but that isn’t the case. The men are being chased by a dozen Grannies, and Isobar instructs them to climb up a tree. The group of Grannies begin to hurl their bodies at the tree like a battering ram. The three men believe they are about to die. Isobar decides to play his bagpipes to get his colleagues’ attention. As soon as the music begins, the Grannies stop attacking. Although the men believe the Grannies are deaf, they appear to be laying down on the ground, unmoving, to listen. Eventually, an armored tank comes to rescue the men, and Isobar passes out from playing the pipes so fervently. The Grannies, it turns out, were killed by the music\n", "Horatio Jones (also called Isobar or Jonesy) is a meteorological forecaster at the Experimental Dome on Luna stationed within a hemispheric dome called Lunar III. He had spent six months there and would not get to go home for at least another six. It was a desolate place that only served as a rocket refueling station, transmission center, and meteorological base.\nIsobar is crunching the data to write a new weather report to be delivered to his colleagues Sparks and Riley to transmit to the station on Earth. After delivering the report, he lingers in the transmission tower, desperately wanting to get a peek at Earth during the video transmission of his work to Earth. The receiving person on Earth complies and turns the video feed around the room so that they get a view out of the window to the outdoors on Earth with green grass and people enjoying the day. \nIsobar reveals he longs to experience the flowers and trees again to his colleagues. There is a place that this can be done on Luna, in another adjacent hemispheric dome called “Outside” that contains a lush valley, but this is strictly forbidden other than absolute necessities for things like repairs due to extremely dangerous beasts called Granitebacks (Grannies). Dome Commander Eagan overhears Isobar’s admissions, becoming serious about how under no circumstances is he to go Outside or to play the bagpipes because the sound transmits to everyone through the air conditioning system. Seeing an opportunity for himself, Horatio suggests he go Outside to play his beloved bagpipes, citing that two of his colleagues (Brown and Roberts) are also Outside conducting orders. The Commander is steadfast in his decision and strictly forbids Isobar from going outside.\nHoratio returns to his room and immediately takes the bagpipes and goes Outside by convincing the patrol guard there were orders for him to take his post while he reports to general headquarters. He is enthralled by the lush life in the hemisphere, and wanders a great distance from the gates until he is underneath of Sparks’ radio turret and hears the loud firing of a Haemholtz ray pistol. Brown and Roberts are being attacked by a group of Grannies, and have radioed the Dome for help with no response. Isobar is helpless to assist other than suggesting they all climb a tree. To their luck, the Grannies can’t climb, but they start ramming the tree until it is obvious that they will all die up there soon once they knock it over and devour them. \nIsobar starts playing the bagpipes to alert the attention of Sparks in the tower above them. He is successful in getting the attention of Sparks who comes with a tank to rescue them, but even more amazingly the bagpipe music has killed all the of the Grannies at the base of the tree. Isobar saves the day with the bagpipe music everyone in the Dome hates.\n" ]	62260
What is the setting of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Trouble on Tycho by Nelson S. Bond. Question: What is the setting of the story? Answer:	[ "Trouble on Tycho takes place on Luna III, a new frontier for space technology. The planet itself is lush and green, with a beautiful network of trees and greenery. However, it is inhabited by Granitebacks, an unbeatable foe known to kill any Earthmen who dare cross their path. So, the new inhabitants of Luna III built a giant dome to keep themselves safe from the Grannies, at least until they devised a way to beat them. The dome allows its residents to see out but makes it very difficult for them to escape. The inhabitants are there to provide Earth with news from space as well as other meteorological forecasts. The dome has air-conditioning and thick glass walls, so there’s no fresh air or real sunlight, only the meager, filtered kind. ", "The story takes place on Earth's moon, Luna. Since the first Lunar expedition, humans have established Lunar III, a frontier outpost that operates as a rocket refueling station, teleradio transmission point, and meteorological base. Resting in a lunar valley rich with grass, flowers, insects, sunlight, trees, and fresh air, the outpost is comprised of several domes, including the Experimental Dome from which Isobar Jones observes and reports weather on Earth. The Dome has a transmission turret, operated by Sparks Riley, which allows communication with Earth, and the atmosphere of the entire outpost is controlled with atmo-conditioning units reoxygenating the air. Isobar plays his bagpipes locked inside his office, but everyone in the Dome can hear him thanks to the air-conditioning system that can't be shut off. To prevent people from leaving and to protect against the Granitebacks, massive impervite gates protect the entrance to the Dome. The moon's only mobile, native species are the Granitebacks, called \"Grannies\", who are dangerous to humans and have bodies protected by thick exoskeletons impenetrable to any known weapon.", "“Trouble on Tycho” is set on Earth’s moon, and it mostly takes place on Lunar III, a frontier outpost which is used for rocket refueling, teleradio transmission, and meteorological observances. There are airtight domes in the station that make Isobar feel like a goldfish in a glass bowl. The sunlight is filtered through ultraviolet wave-traps so the workers’ skin does not get burnt, and this makes them very pale. The air is constantly recycled through atmo-conditioning units, and it’s anything but fresh. The men who work on Lunar III have beautiful views to take in, but they are not allowed to go Outside. Outside the post is a beautiful valley filled with green foliage and small insects. A warm breeze blows through the flowery meadows. However, the picturesque scenery is ruined by the Granitebacks, or Grannies, that will attack humans without provocation. \n", "The story is set in an Experimental Dome on Luna, and the main character, Isobar is stationed within a hemispheric dome unit called Lunar III. There are separate quarters for the employees and towers for transmitting video and radio signals to Earth. Sunlight is filtered through ultraviolet wave-traps, which leaves Isobars skin pale and clammy. The air is scented and reoxygenated and is pumped in through atmo-conditioning units. Isobar has been stationed there for six months, and will be there for at least six more, leading to a kind of disdain for these features.\nIn the transmission tower that communicates with Earth there are desks like a typical broadcasting office and a plate on the wall that projects the video from Earth. Out the window on the Earth side of the video feed, there is blue sky, trees, birds, flowers, and people. \nThere is an “Outside” hemispherical dome which houses a lush valley adjacent to the air conditioned living quarters the employees are confined to, and guarded under heavy gates. “Outside” is warm with thin, fragrant breezes, good sunlight, and abundant forest flora that make Isobar feel replenished after being in the sanitized quarters of the Dome.\n" ]	62260
Describe the Grannies, or Granitebacks.	Write a detailed response to the following question about Trouble on Tycho by Nelson S. Bond. Question: Describe the Grannies, or Granitebacks. Answer:	[ "Granitebacks are huge creatures that live on Luna III. Their immense size, hulking form, and impenetrable body make them practically indestructible. As of the beginning of this story, no Grannie had ever been killed. It was also believed that they were unable to hear, lacking ear canals, and potentially intelligence. Their exoskeleton or carapace was impenetrable, even harder than diamond or steel. Each weapon the Earthman devised to use against the Grannies failed. However, at the end of the story, it’s revealed that Grannies can, in fact, hear and are deeply affected by the sounds of the bagpipe. Isobar’s playing kills them all within 10 minutes and allows him and his companions to escape safe and sound. ", "The Granitebacks, colloquially referred to as the \"Grannies\", are the only mobile form of life found on Luna, and were named by the first explorers of the moon. Although the Grannies have low intelligence, they are a deadly threat to humans. They move fast for their size and weight, and their bodies are covered with impervious exoskeletons impenetrable even by humans' most sophisticated technologies. Isobar does not fear them because they haven't been seen around the Dome in quite a long time. However, when Roberts and Brown run afoul of a hostile group of them during a routine maintenance run Outside, they take shelter with Isobar up a tree, knowing that none of their weapons can defend against the Grannies. The Grannies attack as a group, throwing their hard bodies against the tree, which bends and dents upon impact. When Isobar plays his bagpipes, the men learn that Grannies can be lulled and ultimately killed by the sounds emitted from that instrument. ", "The Grannies, also known as Granitebacks, are mobile creatures that live on the moon, and they are highly dangerous to humans. The people working at Lunar III are not allowed to venture Outside because the Grannies will attack with little notice or reason. They are described as rocks on legs, which is where their moniker came from. The Grannies are not highly intelligent creatures, but intelligence isn’t necessary when they have exoskeletons made of incredibly strong material that can’t be wounded by steel or fire. Their exteriors are stronger than diamonds, steel, or any other known material to humans. Due to their immense weight, the Grannies cannot climb trees, so Isobar’s plan to climb to avoid them is a great move. However, the creatures work in packs, and about a dozen of them begin hurling their bodies at the tree at the same time, and this breaks the tree’s trunk. The men believe that the Grannies are deaf, but that turns out to be incorrect information. So far, the humans have not found a single weapon that works to fight against the Grannies. Isobar’s discovery that the music he creates with the bagpipes actually kills the Grannies is literally lifesaving. ", "The Granitebacks (Grannies) are deadly beasts of low intelligence - the only life form found on Luna - so named because they are indestructibly impervious to human weapons. Their biology is a mystery to science because one has never been killed so it can be studied in a laboratory. All that is known is that their outer shell is harder than steel, diamond, or battleplate. \nOne weakness of the Grannies is that they are unable to climb, which is how Isobar, Roberts and Brown escape their land attack by climbing a tree in the Outside dome. However, the Grannies are exceptionally strong, capable of uprooting a tree large enough to hold three adult men. Ultimately, the thing that kills Grannies is bagpipe music, which causes them to lay down and die.\n" ]	62260
What is the significance of the bagpipes?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Trouble on Tycho by Nelson S. Bond. Question: What is the significance of the bagpipes? Answer:	[ "The bagpipes are Isobar’s one relief and a reminder of home. Isobar Jones hates his new job and position on Luna III and plays the bagpipes as a form of therapy. When they are taken away from him, he quickly revolts and rushes Outside to play once more. \nThough the bagpipes are initially only significant to Isobar, they quickly become the savior of the whole story. After Roberts and Brown run into Isobar, followed by Grannies, they climb a tree and hope for the best. Isobar plays the bagpipes as a way to alert those in the dome that they are outside, seeing as the air conditioning valve was near. However, as it turns out, the Grannies are able to hear, and the sound of the bagpipes slowly but surely killed them. The bagpipes saved Isobar’s life in multiple ways, as well as that of Roberts and Brown. They also proved to be a scientific breakthrough, as they are the only thing to ever kill a Grannie. \n", "The bagpipes are Isobar's most cherished possession. Six months into his one-year term at Lunar III, Isobar begins to experience extreme homesickness, and he begins to loathe the artificial air-conditioning of the Experimental Dome as well as the rule against going Outside because of the threat of the \"Grannies.\" To keep himself sane, Isobar plays the bagpipes. However, the loud sound disturbs the other workers in the organization, and soon Commander Eagan orders Isobar to cease playing the bagpipes for the rest of his term. This causes Isobar to rebel, and he leaves the Dome against orders to play his bagpipes in peace. Once Outside, Isobar discovers Roberts and Brown are under attack by a group of Grannies, and he plays his bagpipes to try to alert \"Sparks\" that they are cornered up a tree. As a result of Isobar's music, the men discover the sound of the bagpipes not only calms the Grannies, but it also eventually kills them. Therefore, Isobar's insistence on playing the bagpipes leads to the discovery of a solid defense against the humans' primary threat on Luna.", "Isobar is miserable while stationed at the Lunar III, and playing his bagpipes is the only pastime he has that he truly enjoys. He has been part of the Frontier Service for six months, and he regrets leaving Earth and the beautiful landscape to sit in a bubble day after day and breathe recycled air. His colleagues hate his music, and it’s difficult to stop the sounds from emanating all over the station because of the air conditioning vents. When he refuses to stop playing on multiple occasions, his Dome Commander institutes General Order 17, which is a ban on all musical instruments. Isobar does not take this news very well. He can’t suppress his anger at this news after being disappointed and depressed for a long stretch of time. Isobar argues that he should be able to go Outside and play, but of course that’s off-limits. The Grannies would almost surely attack him, and he’s forbidden from leaving unless it’s absolutely necessary. Isobar decides to ignore the rules because playing the bagpipes is what truly makes him happy. He tells the guard that’s working at the door to the Outside that he’s been sent to take his place. Instead of watching for Roberts and Brown, however, he slips outside with his pipes. After he sees his colleagues being attacked by the Grannies, he completely forgets about his instrument, but it’s a good thing that Roberts asks him about it, because the bagpipes actually save the trio’s lives. Isobar decides to play his instrument to alert his coworkers about the trouble he and Roberts and Brown are in, but by the time help arrives, they no longer need it. The Grannies are killed by the music, the one thing that all the humans hated with a passion. ", "Isobar loves to play the bagpipes, but is discouraged by his colleagues, like when Sparks tells him not to bring them with the forecast he is delivering to him because of his sensitive eardrums. Doodlesack is the word his colleagues Riley and Sparks call the bagpipes to tease him. Later in the story, the Dome Commander Eagan actually cites a new rule he has made that practising musical instruments must be discontinued immediately by dome staff because the sound travels through the air conditioning system and annoys people. \nAfter Isobar smuggles the bagpipes Outside to play them and gets swept up in an near-death attack by the Grannies with Brown and Roberts that has them stuck up a tree waiting to die, his colleagues continue to tease him by saying they can’t even die in peace since he'll be playing the bagpipes.\nAlthough Isobar’s intention was to get help to come rescue them by playing the bagpipes and alerting Sparks in the nearby control tower to their danger with their loud sound, the story ends in an amazing twist instead. The bagpipe music is the only thing known to be capable of killing the Grannies. All the Grannies at the base of the tree layed down and died when the music was played, and Isobar’s hated musical instrument saves the day.\nMore than this, the Grannies are a barrier to humans being able to advance their colony on Luna, so Isobar’s discovery that the bagpipes are lethal might be an important key for progress.\n" ]	62260
What is the relationship between The Goon and the band?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Holes and John Smith by Edward W. Ludwig. Question: What is the relationship between The Goon and the band? Answer:	[ "The Goon has many names and is also referred to as Ke-teeli and The Face. Ke-teeli is the boss of the three current members of the band, one member is out because he is injured. Ke-teeli owns an establishment that the band performs at. However, Ke-teeli repeatedly expresses his frustration and distaste over the band’s music. Jimmie Stanley believes that Ke-teeli is really more unhappy with the lack of money that his establishment, The Space Room, is earning. \n\nWhen John Smith joins the band with his Zloomph instrument, The Goon seems to respond well. More cash is flowing into the business as the audience agrees with the music. However, The Goon will not let the bandmates sign a contract with him for their unemployment unless they can guarantee that John Smith and his Zloomph instrument will join them. \n", "The Goon is the boss of the band. He is upset that the bass fiddle man is missing. Jimmie mentions that The Goon will be angry if he finds out that there’s a cigarette hole burned in it. The band sometimes refers The Goon as Goon-Face and The Eye. This is the last week before the band’s contract with The Goon ends. The band is worried that The Goon will not continue the contract since he has been showing little enthusiasm for their music. He always comment either too fast and loud or too slow and soft. He even states that it is better to have the customers disappointed than have them hear bad music. After he sees The Goon staring at them, Jimmie decides to start playing. Once The Goon hears the beautiful music played by John, he looks very surprised and is enjoying it. In the end, The Goon states that there will be a contract if the fiddle player comes as well. ", "Goon-Face is the boss of the band. He is a business man and is looking only for profit, which doesn't satisfy him. The contract is ending soon and he doesn't see the reason in prolonging it. He is very irritable and considers the band's music bad. He liked John, but without him he doesn't need the band. He is cold and direct, his speech is concise. It's impossible to convince him or beg for something, he stays indifferent. ", "Goon-Face runs The Space Room and is considered to be the boss of the band. They have a contract with him to play their music at the establishment. However, Goon-Face is initially very displeased by the fact that there are only three members present. He is also unwilling to renew the contract and constantly criticizes the band’s music. Jimmie believes that the real reason is that there is not enough business in the establishment. Even when Jimmie says that the three of them will continue to play, if the fourth does not show up, Goon-Face is not impressed and says that having no music is better than bad music. He even tells them that if no bassist shows up, then they will go home. Once John Smith plays, he is pleased and beams like a kitten who has seen a quart of cream. Business begins to get better, but he is still cautious of the contract. He tells the band that he will only continue their contract if John Smith stays and signs it. After John disappears, he is furious again and refuses to discuss any contract because the bass fiddle man is gone. " ]	32667
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Holes and John Smith by Edward W. Ludwig. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "The setting is primarily at an event space called the Space Room. Jimmie Stanley and his band perform there. They are sitting in the cocktail lounge waiting for the replacement for their fiddle player to arrive. Their boss, Ke-teeli, is upset that the fiddle player is not yet there. He is threatening to not let them play at the venue anymore. Eventually, their replacement player arrives at the venue. However, Jimmie has serious doubts that man will be able to play well because his instrument does not look like a fiddle and he appears disheveled. When the band does play with the new member, John Smith, he and his instrument – the Zloomph – sounds amazing. The audience shows a good reception as does the boss. \n\nJimmie wants John to join the band, but John has other concerns. He continuously mentions holes and seems obsessed over finding holes. Eventually, Jimmie learns why John is interested in holes. John claims that he accidentally went through a hole and left his time dimension. He is in search of holes in order to find his original time dimension. Jimmie attempts to play along with John’s claims and even offers to let John stay at his apartment in order to entice him to join the band. John continues to drink beer and talk about holes during the story. \n\nOne night, Jimmie returns back to his apartment and finds John drunk on the floor. He takes John, and the instrument, outside to calm John down. When they go outside, John and his instrument fall through a hole and are not seen again. Jimmie and the rest of the band assume that John managed to find his way back to his own time zone. \n", "Jimmie Stanley is the piano player in a band, and the story begins at The Space Room where the band is waiting for a temporary bass fiddle man to arrive. This is because the original bass fiddle man, Ziggy, injured his fingers. The boss Ke-teeli does not seem to like their music that much. Now that a member is missing and the replacement player has not yet arrived, the boss starts to doubt that the three members of the band can perform good music. He doesn’t think that the customers will be satisfied. The band’s contract with the boss ends this week, and the boss does not seem to want to continue the contract. Finally, the temporary bass fiddle player arrives with his instrument. He introduces himself as John Smith and tells them that he is late because he was working on his plan. At first, Jimmie doubt that the ancient bass fiddle can make any beautiful sound. But he becomes very surprised once he hears the beautiful music. The audiences are focused and intrigued by the music. Even the boss becomes delight after hearing the music. Later, John begins to notice the holes on the clarinet and the piano, which seems quite odd to the band. Noting his talents in music and the facial expression on the boss’ face, Jimmie asks John to play for the long term. But John rejects stating that he needs to work on his plan. John mentions that there are many holes in the universe, but he cannot find the right one to go back to prove a point to the University. Believing that Jimmie understands him, he decides to play with the band. The boss agrees to give them the contract if John stays. For the next few days, John becomes popular and then a reporter come to interview him. After telling the reporter about the holes, the reporter decides to leave. Then John tells the band that he will stay until tomorrow. The next day, John is gone. The band searched everywhere, but is not able to find him. ", "An Earth music band of four is supposed to play at The Space Room on Mars, but the bass man is injured. The band boss, Ke-teeli, is discontented with the group and won't prolong the contract, he wants to cancel the concert. Jimmie Stanley, the leader of the band, is waiting for the bass man's replacement to save the band. If the band loses the job, they have nowhere to go. After a while of waiting, a huge monstrosity enters The Space Room accompanied by a little guy in a suit, a matchstick. The newcomer is John Smith, the bass man from Mars, who is late because he has been working on his plan of getting back home. When the band starts playing, everyone is enchanted with John's playing, which is the best and the most unique sound they've ever heard. During the intermission, John mentions that his fiddle is over five thousand years old but its hole isn't right for going home. Jimmie is confused with this and the band continues playing. John stares at the holes in the instruments of the rest of the band. At intermission Jimmie offers John a drink to urge him to join the band. John is unwilling to accept the offer as he is more interested in history and his plan than in music. Turns out he fell into a hole a while ago and now he can't get back to his time dimension. For three days John plays with the band and talks of holes to Jimmie, whom he sees as an understanding person. Then John is interviewed and the reporter won't listen about his holes, so he decides to quit the band and continue searching for them. Next day Jimmie leaves for a while thinking about how to urge the bass man to stay, and when he returns, John is drunk with beer. The two go out and suddenly John disappears. The band can't find him anywhere and their contract ends. \n", "The story begins on a Saturday night at The Space Room. Jimmie Stanley and two other members of his band are sitting in the bandstand of the cocktail lounge. The bass fiddle man, Ziggy, is not present because he had almost sliced his fingers off while opening a can of Santurnian ice-fish. The boss Ke-teeli, also known as Goon-Face, is furious that no music is being played at the establishment. They explain that a Marsport local has been called a stand-in for the bassist, while Ke-teeli is suspicious. John Smith from the Marsport union comes in shortly after. Jimmie is intimidated by his bass fiddle, and John Smith explains that he knows how to play everything. As they begin playing, John Smith plays a whole chord with each beat on his bass. The customers are in some trance, and even bland-faced Martians begin nodding in time to the rhythm. After their performance, John Smith explains that his instrument is over five thousand years old, and it is not a fiddle but the only Zloomph in existence. He points out the holes on the other band member’s instruments. Jimmie tries to convince him to join the combo, but John explains that he does not care much for playing even when Jimmie offers to share his apartment. He is focused on his plan, which involves studying holes and how they relate to the universe. John further explains that he fell through his time dimension while hurrying back to the University with his Zloomph to prove something in ancient history. Jimmie agrees to listen to him if he plays with them, which makes John extremely happy. John becomes extremely popular with all of the customers, and Goon-Face tells Jimmie that they will continue to have their contract if the bass fiddle man stays. A reporter approaches John for an interview over beer, and he tries to tell him his plan. However, it turns out that the reporter does not understand, and John is down again. Fat Boy exclaims that they are also working on a plan in an attempt to make him stay. As Jimmie thinks about what can make John stay, he comes up with a variety of plans. As he returns to his apartment in the early afternoon, he finds John squatting on the floor and surrounded by beer bottles. John is scared because he is covered in holes, but Jimmie is not convinced and takes him out to get some fresh air. It is four AM in the morning; suddenly, John disappears through the manhole with his Zloomph. Jimmie jumps into it after him, but he has completely disappeared without a trace. Goon-Face does not offer them another contract, and they desperately search everywhere for John. Ziggy, now healed, signs up for a trip to the uranium pits, and Jimmie is furious at whoever let John back to his time dimension. However, he knows that they cannot sue the city without a corpus delecti. " ]	32667
Why is it important to Jimmie for John to continue playing with the band?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Holes and John Smith by Edward W. Ludwig. Question: Why is it important to Jimmie for John to continue playing with the band? Answer:	[ "Jimmie’s friend, Hammer-Head talks about the black puts of Neptune as a place that he and the rest of the band will likely go to if they do not secure a contract with The Goon. The black pits of Neptune is a place for musicians that are past their prime. \n\nThe Goon does not enjoy the band’s music and threatens to not let them play at his establishment anymore. However, The Goon likes the music when John Smith plays with the band and especially the reception of the audience when John Smith is playing with the band. The Goon says that he will give the band a contract as long as John Smith agrees to join with his Zloomph. It is important to Jimmie for John to continue playing with the band so that they can get an employment contract from The Goon. \n", "It is important for Jimmie to continue playing with the band because the boss was not satisfied with their music before his arrival. Their contract ends this week, but it seems the boss is unlikely to continue it. After he plays his music on the bass fiddle, the boss is surprised by it. He enjoys the music. The audiences also like it. Noticing the change in the boss’ attitude towards the music, Jimmie knows that he has to persuade John to join the band in order to get a contract. Later, the boss explicitly states that there will be a contract if the bass fiddle man stays, else there won’t be any. Thus, Jimmie has to make John stay in the band. ", "The future of the whole band depends on John. The bass man hurt his fingers and he needs replacement. John is much better that the bass men, his music is extremely unique and even the most indifferent people in the room pay attention to it. Everyone adores him playing, without him the band was never really popular. Their concerts were not payed off well, their music didn't touch people, their boss was discontented. Their contract is ending and to prolong it they need John. Jimmie cares for the future of his band and the contract a lot as they can't do any other job and unsuccessful musicians can only go to the uranium pits of Neptune, where life is short. They don't even have money for fare. ", "It is important to Jimmie for John to continue playing because the band will be allowed to continue playing in The Space Room and get their contracts renewed with Goon-Face. He considers John to be the best bass player in the galaxy and wants him to continue so the band can continue to earn a living. Jimmie even offers John a place to stay and doesn’t mind babying him for the rest of his life if it means that the other man will continue to play the bass. His plans include breaking John’s leg, finding an Earth blonde to capture his interest, or even forging a letter from the University to tell him that his theory is valid as a means of getting the man to stay. " ]	32667
Describe John Smith and his instrument.	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Holes and John Smith by Edward W. Ludwig. Question: Describe John Smith and his instrument. Answer:	[ "John Smith is a human from Earth that is described as a very shot guy with a broad face and light blue eyes. He works with the Marsport union. When he enters the Space Room establishment, he is dressed in a tight black suit and is carrying his instrument, the Zloomph. John states that the Zloomph that he carries is an instrument that is over five thousand years old. He excitedly states that he found it in a pawn shop and that it’s the only one in existence. \n\nThe Zloomph itself is described as being incredibly large, and very black. The tones that emitted from it were jazz-like and received well by the band, the audience, and The Goon. \n", "John’s instrument is large, black, and old. It is taller and wider than a normal bass fiddle. It’s shape is odd, looking like a black hour-glass. It has black, mirror-like wood. The music coming out of this instrument is beautiful. It is heavenly with depth, volume and richness. John calls it a Zloomph and mentions its uniqueness. John Smith is a little man, he is described as a matchstick. His face is flat and broad. He has sandcolored hair that is quite messy, long and dry. His blue eyes are watery. He wears a black color tightfitting suit. He is between twenty and forty. He speaks quickly. He does not like Venusian fizz and wine-syrup, but enjoys beer. He has a dreamy expression when playing music on his instrument. John is always noticing holes that seems common to everyone else. He does not care much about playing music, instead he likes to study ancient history and he needs to finish his plan, which is finding the correct hole. Because he needs to go back to his world to prove a theory. ", "John Smith is a bass fiddle, he is huge and looks like a monster, he looks disgusting. His instrument is over five thousand years, it's a Zloomph with a matchstick as old. The man has pale blue eyes and his age is indeterminable. He is silent almost all the time, but he loves beer, and it makes him talk. He mostly talks about the holes, as he is desperately seeking for the trans-dimensional one to get back to his time dimension. All the time he makes plans about it, also he is interested in history and proving theories about it. He is a great player, who makes everyone around listen with admiration and full attention, but music isn't his main passion. ", "John Smith is physically described as a little guy similar to an animated matchstick. He has a flat, broad face that seems to have been compressed in a vice. His mop of hair is sand-colored, and Jimmie is reminded of a field of dry grass with strands that form loops to the side of his face. He also has pale, watery blue eyes and wears a tight-fitting black suit. Jimmie says it is impossible to guess his age as he could be anywhere between twenty and forty. When John speaks, it is shrill and rapid. However, when he talks about the holes and his ancient history theories, he becomes much more enthusiastic and lights up. Other than those times, he is quite silent and has sad eyes. The others find him eccentric, but they want to keep him around because of his bass-playing abilities. His instrument is called a Zloomph. It is an enormous black monstrosity, and Jimmie thinks it came from a pawnbroker’s attic. It is a queerly-shaped bass fiddle. It is also too tall and too wide. John says the Zloomph is over five thousand years old and is the only one in existence. It can play any song, and the sound that comes out of it is the whole chord instead of just a single note. When Jimmie listens to it, he feels his blood tingling with each plucked note. " ]	32667
Describe the President's communciations to the public and the reasoning behind his choices	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Valley by Richard Stockham. Question: Describe the President's communciations to the public and the reasoning behind his choices Answer:	[ "In the earth of the future that is at the center of this story, the society has managed to reduce accidents so much that violent deaths do not happen. This happened because some people reacted with hysterics to witnessing death of this type, so efforts were made to avoid the issue entirely, which had been successful for the past few hundred years. President Davis did not want the public to hear any more details about the expedition after Michael and Mary first addressed everyone. He says that the only reason the public has not lost all sense after seeing some of the footage from the expedition is that it was visual media and stories, but not something people witnessed first-hand for themselves. However, he does not want to expose the people to the violent deaths that the people on the expedition suffered, so he claims that Michael and Mary did not tell the truth, in an effort to save face. The President considers this type of lying to be for the good of the people, who cannot handle the reality of the expedition. He also does not think that the people could handle the loss of hope for another planet to live on, which is why he plays the ad campaigns for a new expediton in a different solar system that aims to eventually find (or rediscover, in his words) another planet for humans to inhabit, perhaps in Andromeda. In this way, the President thinks it is better for his people to have false hope instead of no hope at all. The reader sees the irony in this at the end of the story when Michael and Mary find the patch of life that has started to re-establish itself outside of the boundaries of the city they ventured from. ", "Michael and Mary return to Earth after 2,000 years only to report the worst news possible: there is no other virgin planet in this galaxy that has the ability to shelter humans. They announce their news to the public, but the President quickly shuts down the conference and brings them inside so they can report their more detailed findings. After showing them the pictures of the various planets, aliens, and demises of their colleagues, they concur once again that Earth is their only home. However, the President lies to the public, releasing a broadcast stating that they found and lost a planet, and another expedition will be sent out shortly to relocate their new home. He claims that his people need hope to keep going, which may be true. After living for thousands of years through reincarnation on barren Earth, his people are desperate for hope and a new planet. Without hope, their entire society would fall apart, as their eventual deaths would become a very real future. ", "When Michael and Mary land on Earth and report that there are no other habitable planets for humans to move to in the Milky Way galaxy after two thousand years of space exploration, President Davis quickly moves to silence their truth. The President begs Michael to take back what he has said to the people, and when he refuses, the President quickly pivots the message to the public. He declares that there has been a mistake, and tells them that everything will be “all right” and that they should all go back to the pumps and distilleries to work and wait for more information.\nMichael and Mary present deeply disturbing video evidence to the President and council detailing the gruesome deaths of their thousand other peers sent on the mission because of the dangers of space travel. Some died by explosions in meteor fields or getting sucked into the gravity of dangerous planetary bodies. The President knows that the people of Earth have not witnessed the image of a violent death in hundreds of years, and that the last time it was seen all the witnesses went insane. The President quickly denies the video evidence in front of the council, saying that what they showed was only a picture, and if it were screened for the rest of the people on Earth there would be mass hysteria.\nThe President is desperately trying to avoid any hysteria by the public, and fears that if they knew the real truth from Michael and Mary that their society would cease to function entirely. The council ultimately decides that Michael and Mary will never be allowed to mingle with the public on Earth because their truth is too dangerous for people to know. They will be taken care of, and allowed to continue their lives as they have been in solitary confinement. The President informs the public that the statement Michael made was untrue, and quickly begins a new ad campaign of hope in the city by announcing a new mission to explore a different galaxy for habitable planets.\n", "When Michael and Mary return from space, President Davis is overwhelmed but hopeful that they have discovered a planet suitable for human life. When Michael unceremoniously reveals that the mission was a failure, President Davis immediately ushers them off stage and takes them before a small council, where they show them the visual footage with evidence proving their mission to be a failure along with the violent deaths of the rest of their thousand-person cohort. President Davis explains that the remaining humans have not seen a violent human death in hundreds of years and seeing such footage would surely drive them insane. The council members themselves lash out and insist the footage be turned off when they see it. After convening privately with the council, President Davis informs Michael and Mary that they have scrubbed the violent footage and replaced it with images intended to give the people hope that there is a habitable planet. He also informs them that they will be placed in solitary confinement with all necessities and comforts provided to them as thanks for their service to humankind. He reasons that keeping them away from the rest of the people will help preserve the image of hope he wants to foster amongst the people." ]	32744
Describe the mission that Michael and Mary were sent on	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Valley by Richard Stockham. Question: Describe the mission that Michael and Mary were sent on Answer:	[ "Michael and Mary were on a mission to find a habitable planet after the Atomic Wars decimated Earth, making it barely habitable. It was a long journey, and the two have been gone from Earth for a long time--they had undergone reincarnation for two thousand years. However, nobody else on the expedition made it--all of the children who were created through the culturing of scar tissue died in various ways, including ships suffering violent explosions and being struck by rocks in space. This meant that a thousand other people died, and Mary wanted to keep living for the sake of these people that perished on the mission. They returned to Earth on their ship called the Milky Way with the bad news that none of the planets they encountered would have been able to sustain human life, and even if they had found one, the journey there would have been so dangerous that a vast majority of the people who attempted to travel there would never have made it alive.", "Two thousand years before The Valley by Richard Stockham begins, Michael, Mary, and a thousand other couples were sent out into space to locate a new home for the humans. The Atomic Wars and several thousand years of greed, gluttony, and selfishness destroyed the Earth, leaving behind only a barren wasteland. Presumably, the President created new laws to protect humans as is, curbing population growth and finding new ways to grow food and exist on this barren planet. All humans are crowded in one city and exist through reincarnation, so no babies can be born. \nSince the Earth was truly no longer able to support any sort of life (be it flora or fauna), a grand expedition was sent out to see if a mass exodus could occur. However, after two thousand years of searching, Michael and Mary conclude that humans were given one planet and one planet only. \n", "Michael and Mary were sent on an exploratory space mission from Earth with one thousand other humans to discover other planets in the Milky Way that were suitable for human colonization. The purpose of the mission was to move humanity to a new planet after the destruction of Earth from atomic wars and greed. During their two thousand year exploration, the thousand others sent with them had all died. They had seen many life forms on different planets and a variety of alien creatures. The thousand others with them had died violent deaths in the dangers of space, sometimes hurtling into alien planets or exploding by meteor collisions.\nWhat they discovered is that Earth is the only planet habitable for humans and there is no other place in the galaxy that they can go. This is shocking news to the rest of the people of Earth, who have been waiting for those two thousand years to have news of hope that there is somewhere else they can move. The resources on Earth have been exploited to an extreme, where the only humans remaining are living in a tightly clustered city around a salty body of water they must pump and distill to sustain themselves, surrounded by dusty desert.\n", "Due to the ravages of atomic war and the insatiable greed of humankind, Earth has been left in a desolate state. The last remaining humans live in a city next to a shrinking sea, from which they gather water through loud, throbbing pumps. Mary describes the situation as a family living in a home that they do not take of; instead, they move from room to room as the house slowly falls to pieces around them. Michael and Mary join a cohort of one thousand other humans who make their way into space in order to discover a new planet suitable for human habitation. Over the course of their 2,000-year journey, they come upon a number of planets, none of which can support human life: Some of the planets have toxic atmospheres, others dangerous winds and animals. Along the way, the rest of their cohort is violently decimated while Michael and Mary remain alive thanks to the process of reincarnation. " ]	32744
Describe Michael and Mary's relationship and their conflicting preferences	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Valley by Richard Stockham. Question: Describe Michael and Mary's relationship and their conflicting preferences Answer:	[ "Michael and Mary are two humans who were sent on an expedition to find a habitable planet elsewhere in the solar system after humans destroyed their own planet during the Atomic Wars, and continued to drive it into the ground through their own greed for resources. Three thousand years after the Wars, the expedition was sent out (so five thousand years have passed in total since the Wars). Michael and Mary are the only two people who survived, and their return was two thousand years after they left Earth. They are married, though contemporary relationships do not involve much physical touching as compared to the twenty-first century, in a few ways. When Michael hugs Mary to comfort her, he mentions that it is a custom of the past. In their society, it is illegal to have children through sexual intercourse, so it is a surprise at the end of the story when Mary admits that she might be pregnant. They have endured a lot together on their mission in outer space, and have had to watch a lot of people die. It was very isolating to be in space, living on a ship, and this is part of their other major discussion: what to do when their mission was over. Michael had some desire to stay in space and not return to the scorched planet. However, Mary wanted to return to Earth, and the two of them wanted to stay together no matter what. This turned out to work in their favor: staying on Earth but wanting to stay alive is what gave them the opportunity to find the patches of life they found at the end of the story. ", "The first initial conflict of the story is the debate between Michael and Mary as to whether or not to return to the stars or stay on Earth. Mary wants to place her feet on solid ground again and die with the earth as humans were meant to do, but Michael wants to return to space and escape the burden of sharing their catastrophic news with their fellow man. Mary wins the debate, claiming that she hasn’t asked much of Michael over their 2,000-year relationship. \nAs the story continues, the reader sees how they deal with their trauma differently. Michael still wants to return to space and asks Mary if they can after presenting their findings to the President’s council. She says he can go without her, but he doesn’t think he could be away from her. Mary wants to die on the earth, while Michael wants to escape to space once again. When Michael hears that Mary is pregnant, he hops on board with her idea to stay on Earth. \nMichael and Mary are clearly a team. They have worked and existed together for 2,000 years without change and have watched all their friends and colleagues die. This trauma clearly bonded them, as Michael says he could never return to space without Mary. Although they may differ, they reach compromises and work together to find the best solution for the two of them. \n", "Michael and Mary are two humans from Earth who have effectively become immortal through a scar tissue culturing technology that allows them to continually regenerate entirely new bodies for themselves as their bodies grow old and die. They have been regenerating their bodies like this, and living on a spaceship together exploring the Milky Way for 2000 years. They love each other deeply.\nWhen they finally return to Earth to deliver the horrible news that there is no other planet in the galaxy that humans can live on, Mary declares to him that she must stay on Earth. She insists that she has loved him for so long (thousands of years) and has asked for very little except for them to now remain on Earth. \nMichael feels as though they should not have ever landed on Earth, but instead wishes they just delivered their message by radio and returned back into space. He can’t understand why she wants to live on Earth when it is so desolate. However, he says that he can not be without her and will kill himself if he were to go back into space alone. When Mary reveals in private to Michael that she is pregnant, they know they will not be accepted by society and hatch a plan to leave the city together. A human has not given birth to a child for 3000 years on Earth. Pregnancy was forbidden to reduce the population until it was low enough that there were sufficient resources available to sustain those that remained.\nThey successfully escape their city and the fate of solitary confinement from the council by threatening to kill themselves with their lockets, which would be a violent death that would cause the onlookers to go insane. This is so shocking and unacceptable to the council that the President grants them a ground car and a year of supplies to leave the city and never return. Michael and Mary find an oasis with vegetation and fresh spring water not far on their journey outside the city. It is a place for them to build a house and raise their child, which is joyful for both of them.\n", "Michael and Mary are a couple deeply in love. They join a crew of one thousand other humans, also comprised of couples, who leave Earth in order to find another habitable planet. As their fellow travelers slowly die over the course of 2,000 years, Michael and Mary continue to reincarnate through a special process of culturing their scar tissue. They also carry lockets that can kill them instantly when triggered and help them avoid a painful death. When they realize their mission has failed, Michael and Mary return to Earth to announce the news. Michael wishes to go back to space since he cannot stand the desolation of Earth and would rather spend the rest of his existence with Mary exploring the universe. Mary wants to stay on Earth because she misses her home and because she is pregnant, although she does not reveal this to Michael until just before President Davis reveals his decision to place the couple in solitary confinement. Michael is shocked because pregnancy had been banned on Earth at the time that atomic war and human greed had laid bare the planet's essential resources. Together, they decide to use their lockets as leverage against the council to force them to permit them to leave the city. Soon after doing so, they discover Earth is regenerating, and they will be able to make a new home for their child." ]	32744
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about The Valley by Richard Stockham. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "Michael and Mary were sent to look for another planet for humans to live on. After looking for two thousand years, their \"Milky Way\" expedition had failed to find an alternative, but humans were desperate because Earth was scorched and not easily liveable. The President is taken aback by the news, and his council looked at some footage from the expedition, watching ships explode and seeing dangerous atmospheres that would not sustain human life. A thousand people were grown from cultured scar tissue only to die violent deaths, so people yelled for the video to be shut off. President Davis explains that violent death is an unfamiliar thing to the contemporary humans, so he decided to lie to the public about the expedition details. Michael had promised Mary they would stay on Earth, but the government lying to the public was hard--Mary suggests that Michael can still leave, but he doesn't want to go without her, and she wants to stay on the planet she came from, even if it means a difficult life on Earth. They remember their lockets, that give them the option of a quick death in case they had gotten trapped in a dangerous situation, but they don't want to threaten to kill themselves either. Mary admits she's pregnant, which is surprising because humans in this day are cultured from scar tissue. With heavy hearts, they looked out onto the city where the large TV screens were promising the public an idyllic planet that would one day be recovered again, through a different mission, which is disheartening because their own mission had turned into a lie. They went back into the council chambers and sat again. Michael and Mary were told they'd be kept in solitary confinement to protect the public, which was ironic since Mary wanted to stay on Earth to avoid loneliness. Michael reminds the President of the lockets he and his wife have, and there is panic--what is there to do? The President demanded they hand over the lockets, but Michael and Mary stay strong and ask to be let outside of the city's protective barrier so that they can experience a natural death. The President conceded, so that he didn't have to look at them anymore, and gave them the car that they asked for. They have supplies to last a year, but don't know where to go or what to do. They get out of their car and take their shoes off to walk around, experiencing quiet for the first time in memory. To their surprise, they found three blades of grass, and run to a hill to see other patches of green in the area, some animals, and a small spring. They have hope: they can build a house, have a child, and eventually they can show the ones in the city that there is hope much closer than they realized. ", "Michael and Mary arrive back on Earth after a 2,000-year expedition scouting the galaxy for any potential new planets for humans to move to. After finding nothing, Michael is hesitant to report the news back to Earth and wants to stay in space. Mary, however, insists they return to Earth, so they step out of their spaceship and give the first press conference detailing their failed exploit. Michael does not hold back on the details and shocks the hopeful humans to their core. The President pulls them aside and interrogates them with his council. They share all the pictures from their adventures into the galaxy, showing yellow aliens, planets with deadly atmospheres, and horrific images of the other couples on the expedition dying. The council becomes ill at the images of their gruesome deaths, so the President shuts down the slideshow. Apparently, humans were no longer accustomed to violent deaths, as they hadn’t had to see any for thousands of years. The last time such an occurrence happened, a man was struck and killed by a ground car, and all the witnesses were driven mad. The President had shut down any potential violent deaths from then on. \nThe President asks for hope from Michael and Mary, but they are unable to give him any. They send them out of the chambers to deliberate their fate. Michael and Mary discuss their options. Mary wants to stay and die on Earth, while Michael wants to escape. They decide to use their lockets which cause instant death for the wearers to force the council’s hand. Mary reveals that she is pregnant, something that hasn’t occurred for three thousand years due to overpopulation laws, and Michael agrees to stay on Earth. \nThey return to the chambers, and the President delivers their verdict. They are condemned to isolation until the next expedition is set out, because he fears they will reveal the truth to Earth. He sent out a broadcast earlier saying there was hope after all, as they had found a planet, but lost it, so another expedition would be sent out soon. Michael and Mary refuse their isolation, and threaten to kill themselves with the lockets unless they are released and given a ground car and supplies. The President agrees after he and his congregation are thrown by the thought of watching someone die in front of their eyes. \nThe story flashes forward to Mary and Michael driving out of the city and into the sandy mountains. They come to a valley and step out of the car, placing their bare feet on the soil. Mary sees three blades of grass and shows Michael excitedly. They run down the hill and discover baby trees, flowers, wildlife, and a small stream. The Earth is healing itself, and they had the proof. Thrilled that htey will be able to live off the land, they start planning where they will put their cabin and when they will reintroduce this new Earth to humanity. \n", "Michael and Mary are returning from a mission to discover other planets in the Milky Way suitable for human colonization. During their exploration, which spanned two thousand years, the one thousand other humans sent with them had all died. They are the lone survivors, returning to Earth with grave news that there is no other place in the galaxy humans can move to. The remaining humans on Earth are overjoyed when they make radio contact because their life on Earth is confined to a city huddled around a water hole in a desert where their technology for distilling the salty water is the only thing keeping them alive on a planet they condemn as devoid of any other resources.\n \nMichael is hesitant to land on Earth, but Mary is determined to spend the rest of her life there now. They land and deliver a speech to a cheering crowd of white faces that are the same as those that had cheered when their mission departed two thousand years ago. Humans have technology to tissue culture new bodies and effectively become immortal. Pregnancy was outlawed 3000 years ago to control the population, and ever since then they have been regenerating their bodies. Michael announces that there are no other habitable planets. President Davis begs Michael to retract what he has said, and tells the public that there has been a mistake, that everything will be “all right”, and that they should go back to work and wait for more information. \nMichael and Mary are brought to the council to deliver a 60 second video documenting their entire two thousand year mission. Most disturbing is that it shows the violent deaths of many explorers - some being sucked into the gravity of foreign planets, or their ships exploding after colliding with meteors. Violent death was last witnessed on Earth hundreds of years ago, and all of the witnesses went insane. The video is shocking and disturbing. The President quickly denies the validity of the video evidence, desperately trying to avoid any hysteria by the public. Michael and Mary are told to wait outside the council chambers while their fate is decided. \nMichael thinks they should have never landed on the planet, but Mary reveals she is pregnant and wants to remain on Earth. They plan to leave the city by threatening to kill themselves in front of the council. Out the window, they glimpse a public screen projection showing that there is going to be a new mission to space and everything will be “all right”. The council decides Michael and Mary will be placed in solitary confinement. The couple threaten to kill themselves using their lockets in front of the council, a violent death that would make those who see it go insane. They demand a ground car with a year of supplies, which they are granted. They leave the city together and soon discover an oasis with spring water to build a house next to and raise their child.", "Michael and Mary return to Earth from a 2,000-year-long mission to find a planet suitable for human habitation because Earth's resources have slowly dwindled away due to human greed and atomic war. Michael would rather end his life than tell those remaining on Earth that their mission had failed, but Mary believes they owe it to the one thousand who had perished on the expedition to reveal the truth to them. Besides, 2,000 years away from Earth is a long time, and she misses home. A crowd eagerly welcomes them, including President Davis, and Michael soon confesses no planets exist that can support human life. He and Mary have returned to Earth to stay and die. President Davis whisks them away from the troubled crowd and brings them to the council chambers, where Michael and Mary reveal the documentary footage of their trip. They show the council hundreds of years' worth of visual evidence of all the planets they visited, all the strange creatures they encountered, and, worst of all, the explicit, violent deaths of their fellow travelers. Upon seeing these deaths, the council members insist Michael and Mary turn off the footage. They are horrified by the violent images because it has been hundreds of years since any human has died a violent death; seeing such images would drive them insane. As the President and council members discuss the couple's fate, Michael and Mary await their decision and discuss what to do next. Michael wants to go back to space, while Mary wants to stay on Earth because she has grown weary of traveling and exhausted by the process of reincarnation that has kept them both alive for 2,000 years. Mary reminds Michael of the lockets they carry--lockets that were given to them prior to departing for their journey that have the power to kill them instantly in order to avoid a painful death. Mary suggests using this locket as leverage against the council, who would grant whatever they asked in exchange for not having to witness their gruesome suicides in person. She also reveals she is pregnant. Later, President Davis announces the council has altered their documentary footage in order to spare the hope of their people, and he tells Michael and Mary that they will spend the rest of their lives in solitary confinement with everything provided for them, including the tools of reincarnation. At that moment, Michael threatens to trigger his locket unless the council gives him and Mary a ground car and provisions and lets them leave the force walls surrounding the last-remaining Earth settlement. President Davis grants their wish. Together, Michael and Mary head out into the desolation of Earth. Soon they discover evidence of new life on Earth including grass, birds, and water. They set out to build their home and prepare to restore civilization." ]	32744
Describe Tim's role in the family.	Write a detailed response to the following question about Jack of No Trades by Evelyn E. Smith. Question: Describe Tim's role in the family. Answer:	[ "Tim is Kevin's youngest brother, and works as a meteorologist for the Weather Bureau. His ability is that of prognostication, meaning he is able to predict certain things about the future. This includes positive and negative things. For instance, at the beginning of the story, he feels a sense of impending doom. At the same time, he is the only one who has a positive outlook on Kevin's situation: he suspects that Kevin has a power that hasn't been discovered or isn't well-understood yet, but the rest of the family (including Kevin himself) figure that he doesn't have any special abilities at all. This is particularly contrasted with Kevin's mother, who doesn't ever speak highly of Kevin. Tim's encouragement gives Kevin hope for his own future regularly, and it helps him to know that someone is nice to him and doesn't think he is useless. ", "Tim is the youngest brother in the family, and he has the unique gift of prognostication. Because of his ability to see into the future, Tim has gainful employment with the Weather Bureau. Compared to the rest of the family, Tim treats Kevin kindly and tells him that he believes he does have some special power; society simply hasn't developed a test to identify it yet. At breakfast, Tim also feels a sense of ominousness surrounding Kevin, which foreshadows the alien war that happens after the discovery of the Earth-like planets around Alpha Centauri and Kevin's important role in it. Because of his training in first-aid, Kevin works to help those injured in the war, and in the process, he discovers his ability to physically heal people with a simple touch of his hands. Tim's prediction that Kevin would discover his innate power gave Kevin hope and also came true.", "Tim has the supernatural power of prognostication, and quickly rose to a high position as a meteorologist at the Weather Bureau. He has the same looks as the other men of the Faraday family - big and blond. \nTim defends Kev in the family when the rest of the siblings are picking on him about not having any supernatural powers (“psi-powers”). Tim says Kev must have a power they haven’t learned to test for yet, giving Kev a little boost of hope. Tim has a nagging sense that Kev has an ability they haven’t discovered yet and senses an ominousness in his future. Because of Tim’s supernatural ability to forecast the future, he foreshadows the discovery of Kev’s ability to heal.\n", "Tim is the youngest of the Faraday family, but his power and talent are still remarkable, perhaps even more so due to his age. Like his brothers and his father, Tim is blonde and large and looked older than his siblings. Tim is a prognosticator, meaning he is able to sense things in the future. He works at the Weather Bureau and quickly rose to the top thanks to his supernatural ability. \nTim is the peacekeeper in the family. His foreboding senses told him long ago that Kevin has psi-powers, they just hadn’t been discovered that. Tim’s predictions give Kevin hope and keep him from going crazy. As well, he seems like the least dramatic of all the siblings and knows how to de-escalate any situation. \n" ]	49838
Describe the relationship between Kevin and his mother	Write a detailed response to the following question about Jack of No Trades by Evelyn E. Smith. Question: Describe the relationship between Kevin and his mother Answer:	[ "Kevin's mother is a psychiatrist, but she does not want to diagnose her own family member, so she has to entrust Kevin's care to people outside the household. There is a lot of tension between Kevin and his mother at the beginning of the story, and she feels sorry for him whenever he feels hope for the future. It seems that the family knows she can feel the specific thoughts but they don't think she can necessarily where they're coming from, and doesn't have context for these feelings. Even though he is slower at some things than his siblings, his mom encourages him to get trained for first-aid once they know a war is coming; in some sense, he finally has a chance to directly contribute to society, according to his mom, and wouldn't be useless anymore. She also thinks he might have an advantage since he won't feel the others' pain as much. After Kevin finds out that he does have powers, his mom seems to be trying to make up for lost time, trying to bond with him, because she recognizes him as useful now, and is no longer indifferent (or even directly mean) towards him. \n", "Kevin's mother is a psychiatrist at the Psycho Center with strong telepathic ability. She can read Kevin's mind from the kitchen when he is sitting in the dining room. Although Kevin's mother clearly harbors a bias against psi-deficient people, she also rejects some of the technological advancements of the new society, including the robocooks. Instead, she prefers to cook her own food. Like Kevin's other family members, Kevin's mother walks on eggshells around Kevin, never really truly engaging with him other than to remind the other children to not insult him for his deficiency. As a psychiatrist, his mother won't officially diagnose Kevin herself, but she wants him to make an appointment at the Psycho Center to help him because better adjusted to society. Kevin becomes emotionally disconnected from other people thanks to his own parents' emotional distance from him, and this lack of communication leads them to not understand each other very well. When Earth begins to anticipate war with the aliens from planets near Alpha Centauri, Kevin's mother orders him to train in first-aid in order to contribute. Since the world lacks hospitals because of the exponential decrease in sickness and disease, they have to turn the Psycho Center into a makeshift hospital. This is where Kevin discovers his power to heal people by touching them with his hands. When his mother witnesses his new ability, she is proud to call him her son and reminds him that the leaders of the old world had a similar ability. This encourages Kevin to use his newly-found power for the good of humanity.", "Kevin’s mother (Amy) reluctantly accepts that her son lacks supernatural (psi-power) abilities after he undergoes all possible medical tests and psychological evaluations. Kev feels disconnected and like a disappointment to his mother and the rest of his family. His mother is telepathic, and uses this power to probe Kev’s mind and read his thoughts without permission. She encourages Kev to not get his hopes up when Tim, his prognosticating brother, declares that Kev must have a psi-power they have not discovered a test for yet. When the potential for alien attack becomes apparent and she decides to train as many medics as possible to treat casualties, she surprises herself by choosing to bring Kev along because it is a job even someone without powers can do. \nTheir relationship totally changes when Kevin discovers his psi-power of healing - the greatest gift of all. When his mother witnesses him healing a casualty of the alien attack for the first time at the Psycho Center, she is shocked and apologizes for ever doubting Kevin. She tells him that he has a gift, and looks at him with a pride that he has not before felt from her.\n", "Kevin’s mother, Amy, is a psychiatrist and a deep-probe telepath, meaning she only has to glance at Kevin to read exactly what’s passing through his mind at that moment. Since Kevin is psi-deficient and her only child to be that way, their relationship is rather strained. The rest of her children are very talented individuals and hold important jobs, even the youngest Tim. Kevin, on the other hand, works at home watching over the machines that do the housework for them. In some ways, Amy both resents and pities him for his lack of powers. \nKevin feels the tension and acts out because of it. As can be seen at the breakfast table, he feels violated by his mother’s ability and his inability to defend himself against her. As well, she clearly has no sympathy for his cause and tells him to make himself useful when the war comes. He trains in first-aid, but at the sight of his first patient who had half his face ripped off, he tries to run away. His mother stops him and scolds him, claiming that if all the telepaths can handle the pain, he can at least look at him. He heals him with his touch and discovers his psi-power. Soon, Kevin becomes the most important man in the world thanks to his healing ability and is irreplaceable in the war. \n" ]	49838
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Jack of No Trades by Evelyn E. Smith. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "This story takes place in the year 2102 and centers around a family with powers, including telekenisis and teleportation. The narrator is Kevin, one of the sons: he is the only person in the family without powers, a \"psi-deficient\", so he stays at home to take care of the house. The story starts at the breakfast table, where the father teleports in, the mother probes the others' thoughts, and there is grumbling about the goings-on in the household. Timothy, the youngest brother, senses turmoil in the family but is also the most hopeful--he figures that Kevin has a gift they just haven't discovered yet, which is encouraging to Kevin. After everyone else in the family leaves for their jobs, Kevin is left to think about his situation, so he goes for a long walk. Reading is his only other real source of entertainment; he doesn't have many friends because nobody wanted to play sports with someone without telepathic abilities. He couldn't explore space because other planets weren't habitable, so he wondered what would make him stand out. The reader learns that the psi powers were latent in humans and developed with exposure to nuclear energy. When he gets home from his walk, Kevin's entire family is there, processing some news. There are two inhabited planets in Alpha Centauri, and the aliens there might be preparing for war. Kevin partly hoped there would be war for a change of pace, and his mom figured people should start learning first-aid, including Kevin. He had a benefit over his sister because he couldn't sense others' pain in the same way. He met a girl named Lucy in his first-aid class who he liked, and she was a \"low-grade telesensitive\" so he didn't have to worry about his thoughts being read. Once the aliens attacked, things got hard as Kevin had to face the injured people bought to his care. This was especially shocking because injury was not common in his world. This was where Kevin finally found his power: touching the injured people healed them almost instantly. It turned out he was the only human with this power, which was invaluable -- a hospital was even built just for Kevin to work in, where Lucy became his assistant. All at once, he became the most important human on the planet, but the humans had to hide this from their alien adversaries. Lucy was jealous of Kevin but also worried about what would happen to Kevin when the war ended, which it eventually did four months later. The story ends with Kevin returning home after the Vice President informed him that his services were no longer needed. ", "Kevin Faraday is psi-deficient in a family of five with special psi powers living in a world largely free of disease and conflict. His father is telepathic and uses this ability to help him get to long-distance appointments as a traveling salesman. His middle brother, Danny, has the power of telekinesis and works as a junior partner in a moving company. Kevin's sister, Sylvia, can sense emotions in people, so she is able to tell when he purposefully intensifies his anger to make her feel uncomfortable. The youngest of the family is Timothy, who works as a weather forecaster thanks to his powerful gift of prognostication. Kevin's mother is a psychiatrist with telepathic powers that she uses to read his mind. In fact, most people in the world have some kind of telepathic powers--they can read the minds of others unprotected by mind shields. While the rest of the family treats him awkwardly and goes off to their respective jobs every day, Kevin stays at home to maintain the house. However, even this task makes him feel largely useless because most of the chores can be completed by household machines. Therefore, Kevin spends much of his time daydreaming about what life would have been like for him had he been living in 1960 instead of 2102. He feels a stronger empathy for dying plants than he does for other humans, and this has given him the reputation of callousness. Although Kevin is largely resigned to his fate as a psi-deficient in a world of people with special powers, his brother Tim insists that he has some ability; it simply hasn't been discovered yet. The rest of the family shrugs off this notion, but Kevin secretly latches onto this hope. Because of his inability to tap into the telepathically-broadcast news transmissions, Kevin's family one day alerts him that a starship has returned to Earth from Alpha Centauri, where its crew had discovered two Earth-type planets. This excites Kevin, but unfortunately, the inhabitants of these planets are hostile, and they eventually make their way to Earth to begin a war. In preparation for the war, Kevin's mother encourages him and Sylvia to learn first-aid techniques at the Psycho Center in order to be ready to help the injured. During his training, Kevin meets a girl named Lucy, who flirts with him and admires his strength. When Kevin gets his first patient, he is shocked to discover that he is able to heal the injured man with a simple touch of his hands. Having discovered his new ability, Kevin sets out to heal as many of the wounded as possible; later, he learns that he is the only psi-negative in the world with this ability. Eventually, he is given his own hospital and hailed as a hero by various dignitaries including the President. When the war ends and the aliens surrender, however, Earth is no longer in need of his services, and he is out of a job again.\n", "In the year 2102, the Faraday family are setting the table and gathering for a meal together in their home. Humans have supernatural powers (psi-powers) that began to show after nuclear energy was developed in the 1960s, and most of the family have special abilities. Father can teleport, Mother (Amy) is a telepathic psychiatrist, Dan (Danny) can move objects via telekinesis, Sylvia is telesensitive, and Tim can predict the future. Kevin (Kev) has no apparent powers, and feels disconnected and isolated from most of his family because without powers he is of little use to society. The exception is his brother Tim, who suggests that there just isn’t a test yet for the powers that Kev has. His father asks if they should send him to a psychiatrist again, and his mother expresses disappointment at the amount of tests that have been run on Kev with no sign of psi-powers. \nKev is crestfallen that he doesn’t really have any life other than going on long walks and watching the house. He is sad he never had the chance to try exploring space, but by the time he was ten years old humans had already concluded that all the other planets were unsuited to human life. \nThere are television-like telepathic projections in the society called “tellies” that those with psi-powers receive. One day, a tellie reports that space explorers from Earth have found two inhabited Earth-type planets in Alpha Centauri. The aliens chased off the humans in their own spaceships and now it is possible that aliens could attack Earth in less than six months. Kev’s mother decides there will be a lot more people in need of medical training to treat casualties if there is an attack, and recruits Sylvia and Kev to train at the Psycho Center. During training, Kev meets a girl named Lucie who is a poet and they develop a fond relationship with each other. When alien weapons begin striking near their town, the casualties start rolling into the Psycho Center and Kev tries to run away at the first sight of the violent wounds. His mother forces him to stay and work. He is so shaky he can’t hold a sponge to clean the blood off a person that is missing half of their face and drops it, accidentally pushing his fingers into the bloody wound. Touching the wound this way cures it completely. Kev quickly grows into a famous sensation who is able to heal any wounds. He is the only person on Earth with this psi-ability, and there is a special clinic built just for him. Lucie becomes his assistant. Presidents and generals visit him and present him with medals and honors. After four months, the war ends and peace returns to Earth. The Vice President thanks Kev on behalf of the country.\n", "Kevin is the only member of the Faraday family without psi-powers. His two brothers, sister, mother, and father are all extremely powerful individuals, but he, at the ripe age of 26 years old, had nothing. Because of this, he was considered an outcast and was forced to work in their home instead of in the outside world. People pitied him and looked down on him, which drove him crazy. The story begins at the breakfast table with Danny using his powers to levitate food in and out of the kitchen. Chaos ensues as the orange juice crashes into his sister, Sylvia, who senses Kevin’s displeasure at his brazen use of psi-power. Their father soon appears out of thin air with his briefcase, while his mother strolls down and instantly reads Kevin’s mind, only making him madder. The situation escalates until Tim, the youngest, strolls in and claims that Kevin’s powers have yet to present themselves, which gives Kevin hope. His family leaves for work, and Kevin is left at home alone again. \nKevin watches the servomechanisms as they clean and manage the house. Of course, sometimes they break down and he is needed, but largely he has nothing to do and is bored. In the year 2102, Kevin Faraday was considered useless. He takes a long walk that day, and when he returns home, his family is buzzing with the news. A spaceship returned from Alpha Centauri claiming they ran into inhabitable planets filled with humanoid aliens. One of the aliens followed them back to Earth, then turned around and headed home. They were hostile creatures and attacked them on sight. Earth had six months to prepare for the potential of war, so Kevin and his siblings learned first-aid techniques at the Psycho Center. There, Kevin meets Lucy, a cute blonde poetess who expresses interest in him. \nWhen the first bomb strikes, Kevin is faced with his first injured patient. His face had been blown up in the explosion, and Kevin can’t handle the sight, so he tries to run away. He is stopped by his mother, however, who scolds him and sends him back to his patient. As he is mopping his face with a sponge, his hand slips and he accidentally touches his patient skin-to-skin. Miraculously, his injuries are cured, and Kevin’s powers are finally discovered. He is a healer. \nHe heals the rest of the injured with just a touch and soon becomes the most important man in the world. He gets his own special hospital, where Lucy is his assistant, and visits from Presidents, cabinet members, and other people of power. He heals everyone who is injured in the war and loves the new attention. He is the only healer, and those who had his abilities in the past were kings. \nHowever, four months later, the war ends and the Centaurions blow themselves up in surrender. The story ends with a question: will Kevin still be as needed in a post-war society? \n" ]	49838
How are people without psi-powers seen in this society?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Jack of No Trades by Evelyn E. Smith. Question: How are people without psi-powers seen in this society? Answer:	[ "Kevin thinks he is one of the 5% of the population that does not have psi-powers, and we can learn a lot about how society sees this group of people by his interactions with his peers and his family. Before realizing he had powers, Kevin had to stay at home to take care of the house. His family knew that he would not be able to make much money in any kind of job without powers, and it would shame their family for him to be working one of those jobs. Even when he is at home, he's often referred to as slow or useless. He has never had many friends because his peers hated playing sports with him, since they couldn't communicate with their minds, and so Kevin was always at a disadvantage. Similarly, even though he was likeable, girls never wanted to date him. He was also left out of other aspects of society, because a lot of news was delivered via \"tellies\" which is received through psi-powers, so he often has to learn about the goings-on in the society from his family. Kevin learns firsthand how big of a difference it meant for how he was treated once he realized he did have powers after all.", "People without psi powers are called psi-deficients or classified as psi-negative. They are unique in a society dominated by individuals who developed superpowers over time because of the proliferation of nuclear radiation in Earth's air. Such superpowers include telekinesis, prognostication, teleportation, and most prominently, telepathy. Almost every psi-powered individual has some amount of telepathic ability, and they can also protect themselves from interference by others with the same ability by using a mind shield. Psi-deficient individuals do not have any kind of superpower, so they are susceptible to the whims of those who do have such powers. For example, Kevin cannot read the minds or emotions of his family members, and he cannot protect his own mind or emotions from being probed by his mother and sister. Because of his lack of psi power, most of his family treats him with condescension. They tip-toe around his feelings and fail to really engage with him. Kevin does not feel loved or even liked by most of them, except his brother Tim, who offers him hope by suggesting he will discover his power sometime in the future. This is true for psi-deficients in general. They are viewed as \"throwbacks to an earlier era\" when disease and sickness crippled people in a disorderly society. Because psi-deficients have a harder time adjusting to this new society, they are seen as a kind of burden.", "People without psi-powers are considered imbeciles and generally little use to society. Before Kev discovers his psi-power, he describes staying at home and “watching the house” as his only real contribution to the family. People with psi-powers can do things so much more quickly and efficiently than those without, that people like Kev have little chance of holding jobs in this society.\nKevin describes how most psi-powers come with the ability to put up mental shields to stop the mind from being probed. Without psi-powers, the mind is completely transparent to mental probing by telepathy, meaning their thoughts are never private. \nThere are television-like telepathic projections in the society called “tellies” that can’t be received by people without psi-powers, isolating them from current events like the discovery of the inhabited alien planets in Alpha Centauri. Kevin only learns about the discovery reported on the tellies from his siblings who have psi-powers.\n", "Individuals who are born with psi-powers, only five percent of the general population, are truly looked down upon in this society. After radioactive testing and explosions brought out the latent psi-powers in people, society quickly changes to accommodate these superhumans. Therefore, those that don’t fit into this society are outcasts, pitied, and often seen as failures by the rest of their family. Kevin is a perfect example. Before he discovered his powers, he was unable to work a menial job due to the shame it would bring his family. So, instead, he read books the primitive way, took walks around the park since he was unable to play sports thanks to his lack of psi-powers, and managed the machines that did all the housework. He truly served no purpose in society and felt great bitterness because of it. " ]	49838
Why does Steffens decide to engage with the robots?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Orphans of the Void by Michael Shaara. Question: Why does Steffens decide to engage with the robots? Answer:	[ "Steffens was stumped as to what to do when they visually discovered robots on the Third planet. He proactively sounded an alert and put defense screens on the ship, but wondered about what his governing League Law would have him do.\nContact with races on foreign planets was forbidden, but he was unsure if robots could be called a race. Earth didn’t have robots because imaginative robots were expressly forbidden to build. Steffens thought it was possible the robots were the brains of natives encased in metal.\nSince Steffens is under “The Mapping Command”, he is supposed to go no further than examining unexplored systems, checking for life-forms and the possibilities of human colonization. His conundrum was that, “if he returned to Sirius base without investigating this robot situation, he could very well be court-martialed one way or the other, either for breaking the Law of Contact or for dereliction of duty.”\nThe robots reach out telepathically, saying in words that they are only here to serve, and communicating a photo to the minds of the crew of a robot extending a hand for a handshake. Although Steffens wonders about letting the Alien Contact crew handle the situation, he ultimately decides it is his responsibility - and he goes on to initiate contact by requesting to land. He is encouraged to stay and explore by the kind nature of the robots.\n", "When Steffens and his crew flew from Tyban IV to check out this other planet, they had no idea that they would find life or even robotic humanoids on this planet. The Mapping Command is simply meant to check off boxes (was there life on this planet? Is it inhabitable for humans?), not to interact with the potential life forms below. However, Steffens is faced with a serious dilemma when he encounters the robots. He has already technically made contact by accident since he flew so close to the surface to investigate the burnt city. Whether or not he interacted with them more or flew away, he would be in trouble with the Commissioner. Contact with races is expressly forbidden, however, he wonders if robots could really be defined as a race since they were more of an invention. So, he decided to learn more about the robots by staying. ", "At first, Steffens isn't sure if he should engage with the robots because the League Law forbids contact with planet-bound races, but the robots were not necessarily a race. Because Earthmen did not have robots, they were a new type of encounter for him, and he decided that it would be okay since they had effectively already made contact. He isn't even sure if they are native beings with some kind of casing to protect their organs or even just brains from the elements, or if they are entirely robots. In the end, though, it was a Catch-22: if he made contact, he could be breaking the Law of Contact, but if he went back to base without making contact, it could be said that he did not complete his duty. ", "Steffens decides to engage with the robots because they seem to be openly and graciously inviting the spaceship and its men to visit them. The robots send a friendly greeting, explaining that they do not wish the humans harm and that their only desire is to serve. They also send an image of one of the robots lifting its arm and graciously offering its hand. In addition, since the robots communicate with the humans telepathically, their messages are persuasive, and Steffens feels a strong urge to take the robot’s proffered hand. Another reason he decides to engage with the robots is that while the Law of Contact forbids making contact with life-forms, the robots are not life-forms, and Steffens could very well face a court-martial for dereliction of duty if he does not make contact with them. On top of that, Steffens is immensely curious about the robots and their makers." ]	50827
What is the irony of the “Makers” in the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Orphans of the Void by Michael Shaara. Question: What is the irony of the “Makers” in the story? Answer:	[ "The “Makers” are to the robots as gods of creation are to humans. The robots believe that the Makers wouldn’t have created them if they wouldn’t return for them one day, and so steadfastly believe that the Makers will visit. They tell Steffens that the Makers were similar to his human form. This is evidenced by the disappointment the robots display when the humans land and the robots realize they do not communicate telepathically, thus cannot be the Makers they were expecting.\nSteffens states the “ironic parallel” of the Makers at the end of the story because the humans wish to understand who created the robots, but they can’t possibly answer that question because it would be like asking a human who created their god.\n", "The “Makers” are humanoid aliens from over 15,000 years ago. They built the robots currently living on the radioactive wasteland to serve their every need. However, when their civilization was destroyed in the war, nothing remained of them aside from their robots. The robots idolize their Makers since they quite literally created them as well as the universe they exist in. Steffens draws the parallel between the robots’ Makers and humans’ God. He considers asking them who made the Makers, but then realizes that would be like asking who made God. ", "The Makers were the race of people who had built the robots that the humans discover in the story. When the humans visit the planet, the robots are the only moving things on the surface: it seems that the Makers were likely destroyed in whatever radioactive explosion destroyed their city. The robots, when probing the minds of the humans, found the idea of the Maker to be the God of Earth, and tried to make connections between the two ideas. Much in the same way, the Maker of any sort had been responsible for building the creatures that lived to serve it. Unfortunately, given the evidence of some kind of war, the humans don't think the Makers are going to return to the planet they are visiting, which means that the robots will be working forever to serve the Makers who they will not see again; that is, they will never meet their makers. Even though their goals are based on self-improvement, they have no way of knowing if the main source of their motivation is even real anymore. It could also easily be confusing, if the humans asked where the Makers came from, because Steffens did not want to confuse the robots by asking them who the God of their own God was, so to speak. ", "\n\tThe irony of the Makers is that they are the robots’ God and parallel to the human concept of God. Just as human theology holds that God created the universe and humans, in the robots’ understanding, the Makers created them, the planet, and the universe. There are other parallels as well; Christianity teaches that God dwelled among humans in his human form as Jesus. The Makers lived among the robots. Jesus was crucified and dead for three days until he returned to life and the people who knew him. Likewise, the Makers are gone, yet the robots fully expect them to return. Human theology teaches that God created humans to worship him and serve him; the Makers created the robots to serve them. In the absence of their Makers, the robots expectantly await their return just as Christians await the second coming of Jesus.\n\tFurthermore, the robots want to please their Makers and serve them the best they can. For this reason, in the Makers’ absence, the robots have worked to improve themselves, learning what they can about natural science and mathematics. When Elb probes Steffens’s mind to learn more about matter, his purpose is to enhance their knowledge. Likewise, humans seek to gain more knowledge about God and his teachings to serve God better.\n\tIt is also ironic that Steffens concludes that the Makers died in a war due to the ruined cities they discovered, but he doesn’t want to harm the robots’ faith in the return of their Makers. \n\t\n" ]	50827
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about Orphans of the Void by Michael Shaara. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "Captain Steffens and his crew, including Lieutenant Ball, are exploring the dead (uninhabited) fourth planet of the star called Tybanon in the Coal Sack Nebula. They are on a Mapping Command sent from Earth to explore new planets, assess them for life-forms and evaluate the ability of human colonization.\nThis planet is peculiar because it contains stone building structures that are over 15,000 years old. Steffens and Ball discuss the profound realization that to be that old, the alien race that erected them must be quite advanced, with interstellar travel while humans were still throwing spears around. They conclude there were castaways stranded on the planet that were then evacuated since they could find no other traces of civilization besides the structures.\nThey begin mystery-solving, wondering if the race evacuated to a different planet. The readings from the system indicate that there are moons, and the Third planet has a suitable temperature range for life, but has a CO2 atmosphere. They take their ship down to cruising altitude on the Third planet and find cities that have all been obliterated into black craters at least three miles in diameter and very deep. They are shaken, and then Steffens spots the most perfect robots he has ever seen. They are black plastic, expertly crafted, have hanging arms and legs and move with a gliding motion. \nHe is forbidden by League Law from contacting planet-bound races. He is not clear if robots are a race (sentient robots are banned on Earth) and thinks that he could be in trouble whether he contacts them or not. Contacting them if they are a race would be bad, and also he would be dismissed for not fulfilling his mapping duties if they aren’t a race. As he wonders, the robots contact the humans telepathically, urging them to land since their only desire is to serve and sending a visual of a robot extending a handshake.\nSteffens decides not to reach out to the Alien Contact branch, and makes contact and lands on the planet. The robots are disappointed when the humans land, but show examples of caring for them like cleaning up the radiation so that the humans can feel more comfortable, and spreading their robot bodies out across the planet because they themselves are radioactive.\nThe humans spend three weeks gathering knowledge of the planet. Steffens begins to inquire about their origins and finds they were constructed by “Makers” who are no longer on the planet, but that the robots believe will return. They were disappointed when the humans landed because they did not communicate telepathically and so could not be the makers. The robots also have Factories on the planet where they are constructed. The story ends with Steffens feeling an irony that he wishes to discover who made the robots, but asking them who their Makers are would be like asking a human who created their god - an impossible question.\n", "Captain Steffens, leader of the Mapping Command, led his crew to the Coal Sack Nebula and landed on Tyban IV. There, they discover the buildings left behind by an ancient civilization. Made out of native stone, the buildings were worn away by winds and times and were built on a raised rock. Lieutenant Ball and his geologists estimate that the rock was cut at least 15,000 years ago, 14,700 years before humans took to space. Ball and Steffens discuss the other planets in the Nebula, but none are fit to host human life. Still, they check each one out until they reach the hot one. This planet was radioactive and absolutely incapable of hosting life, however, as they got closer, Steffens could see a giant hole in the center. The site of an explosion, and all that remained was rubble. The image is up on the main screen for the whole crew to see, and they watch in amazement. Steffens sees movement in the rubble, and orders his crew to move the ship closer. He sees a black robot, and then two, as does the rest of his crew. Ball, who fell in the sudden movement, comes to Steffens, and they throw around ideas as to what these robots could be. Suddenly, a calm voice speaks to them telepathically, welcoming them to their planet and claiming they only wish to serve. A picture appeared then of a robot extending one of its hands. \nSteffens asks for permission to land, and so they do. He leaves the ship first, wearing his radiation suit, and is greeted by a large amount of slightly disappointed robots. He waves it off and soon the other members of his crew join them. Elb, the first robot to speak, explains their telepathic abilities and apologizes for violating their minds. They talk for a little while until Steffens asks where the Makers are. The robots answer sadly, saying that the Makers left a long time ago but would return. Steffens believes the Makers are dead, caught in the crossfire of the explosion, but he doesn’t say so. The robots then showed his crew the Factory, which they reached by skiff. It was a large, gray building that pumped out robots left and right. \nThe Mapping Command stayed on this planet for several weeks, discovering more about this alien culture. However, the radioactive nature of the planet made it impossible for any man to stay outside the ship for long. However, one day, Steffens emerges to realize the robots effectivelyd econtaminated the area overnight. \nElb and Steffens discuss their meaning of life and what they were built to do. He realizes the Makers are like God to these robots, and he smiles at the irony. The story ends on a cliffhanger, however, claiming that that was the last time Steffens would smile on this planet. \n", "Captain Steffens and Lieutenant Ball find themselves in a very old city on a planet far from Earth, which was the first piece of proof humans had found of another advanced race in the three hundred years humans had been in space. There is something curious about the ruins of the old city built from stone, because the humans wouldn't have expected a colony to establish a presence there. They find another city on a nearby planet with a three-mile-wide scorch mark that looked like it had decimated the city. The men detect high levels of radiation, and know nothing alive is left. They decide to explore here as well, when Steffens spots a small black robot on the surface, which makes him jump the ship back up, opening up sight to a whole field of robots, which baffled the crew. They don't know if they are entirely mechanical, how long they'd been there, or where they came from. All of a sudden, the members of the crew hear the robots talking to them in a greeting, and then plant a moving picture in everyone's mind, which startles the crew. Steffens requests permission to land, and everyone realizes how many robots there really are. Steffens is surprised that the robots seem less interested in the humans once Steffans has gotten off of their ship, which makes everyone uncomfortable. The robots explain that the humans do not understand their real nature and wanted to inform them, and they promise not to intrude on thoughts anymore without consent. Steffens notices some symbols on the robot he had met, which look identical to the markings on the other robots, though he is unsure of their importance. The more he interacts with the robots, the more Steffans finds their presence likeable and comforting. Nobody is able to determine if the robots are entirely mechanical, or if there are organic components. The robots explain that they only other living structures they are familiar with are \"the Makers\" who created the robots. The Makers have not been present for a long time, making Steffens suspect that the robots had been involved in the war he had just seen evidence of. Steffens learns that the lifespan of the robots is about 55 years, but the robots are of various ages; they are built by \"the Factory\", which was built by the Makers. The humans stay for a few weeks, learning what they can, trading knowledge. Once the robots understand the point of the radiation suits, they decontaminate the area to make it safe for the humans, though they themselves remain radioactive. Elb, the lead robot, explains that the robots' main goal is to expand knowledge which will serve the Makers. The conversation gets tense as Elb recognizes that Steffens doesn't think the Makers are coming back, so they talk about society and faith. Steffens explains the concept of God, which the robots find varies far more for humans than the idea of the Makers does for them.", "Captain Steffens and his crew work for Mapping Command; their mission is to closely examine unexplored areas, check for life-forms, and determine whether sites are suitable for human habitation. They are currently exploring and recording information about the four planets of the star named Tyban in the Coal Sack Nebula. They find stone buildings still standing on the fourth planet but no signs of previous life. The smoothness of the stones leads them to conclude the buildings are approximately 15,000 years old. The men are amazed that space-borne beings were in this part of the Galaxy at the time when men on Earth were throwing spears at each other. They have numerous questions about the race, why there is no sign of them, and what happened to them. Lacking any way to answer these questions, they decide to move on.\n\tFlying over the fourth planet, the crew sees the remains of several cities, each destroyed by a blast that ruined the buildings. They see movement and realize it is a robot looking up at the ship; then they see more robots. At first, Steffens is undecided about what to do. League Law prohibits contact with planet-bound species, but these are robots, not living beings. Steffens decides they can legally interact with the robots, and then one of them communicates a message to him, greeting him and assuring him they do not mean any harm. It also sent a picture of one of the robots with its right arm extended for a handshake. Steffens senses the robot could control his mind if it wanted to and decides to communicate back, asking for permission to land.\n\tSteffens takes a skiff to the planet and is greeted by a robot holding out its hand for a handshake and welcoming him. Steffens signals the Aliencon men on the skiff to deplane and join him, and the robots reveal that they can read the humans’ minds but are limiting their access to what is needed to communicate with them. Steffens signals his ship to land, and more robots come into view. The robots are friendly and pleasant, even relaxing to be around. They explain they had never encountered humans before, just themselves and their Makers who had lived there and created the factory that builds the robots. The robots were built to serve the Makers, and the factory is still producing them so that now there are nine million of them. \n\tElb, the robot who stays with Steffen, asks and answers questions and explains that the robots spend their time building their knowledge to be better able to serve their Makers when they return. Elb detects that Steffens thinks the Makers will not return and says they believe they will; otherwise, why were they built? Steffens compares their Makers to God because the robots believe the Makers created them, their planet, and the universe.\n" ]	50827
Describe the setting of the story.	Write a detailed response to the following question about Orphans of the Void by Michael Shaara. Question: Describe the setting of the story. Answer:	[ "The story opens in the Coal Sack Nebula, on the uninhabited fourth planet of a star called Tyban. There are twelve 15,000 year old stone buildings on the dusty uninhabitable planet, the first evidence of another advanced space-crossing alien race.\nSteffens and his crew travel to the Third planet in the Tyban solar system which seems uninhabited as well, with the cities obliterated into black holes in the ground that are at least three miles wide. The Third planet is Earth-like, with continents, hills and deserts, and of a suitable temperature for life, but with absolutely no vegetation, deathly radiation for humans, and a CO2 atmosphere. They see splintered walls and wreckage, but no life - until their discovery of the robots. There are nine million black, plastic robots slightly shorter than humans on the planet, and they have a huge, grey block building Factory near the edge of the twilight zone in a valley between two mountains where they are produced. Their desire for their human-like Makers to return to them, and their use of telepathic communication and mind-probing sets an eerie vibe over the humans’ exploration of the planet.\n", "Orphans of the World by Michael Shaara takes place on two different planets in the Coal Sack Nebula. The first is Tyban IV. There, Steffens and his crew discover the remnants of an ancient, alien civilization from at least over 15,000 years ago. They built stone buildings, worn away with time, out of the native materials sourced on the planet. The next planet they visited was hot and radioactive, absolutely unable to support any humanoid life form. However, when they got closer to the surface, Steffens and his crew noticed a giant hole in the center, charred and burnt. All the buildings within had perished in the explosion and nothing remained but a pile of rubble. The planet itself was hot and dry without any plants or wildlife. There is also a Factory on it, a large, gray building, where the robots are created. ", "This story takes place in space, where a group of humans is traveling on a ship in the Coal Sack Nebula. The star Tyban is the \"sun\", so to speak, of the relevant planets, and the humans start their journey on the fourth planet of this system, standing in the ruins of a destroyed city that did not leave them many details to learn from. The third planet of the system, one in from the first one they were on, had more information for them. There was a city abandoned much like the one they had found on the fourth planet, but the huge scorch mark that covered the city made it look like its destruction had been very violent. On this third planet, there was no oxygen, a lot of heat, and it didn't seem like it would be able to support any kind of life, especially since it had high levels of radiation. There was a valley with the factory in it, far away from the city. Much to the surprise of the human crew, there is a large swarm of black robots that seem to be the only connection to the planet. ", "\n\tThe story is set in the Coal Sack Nebula on the dead fourth and third planets of a star named Tyban. The fourth planet, Tyban IV, is only one parsec from Varius II and has 12 stone buildings with no airlocks, despite the thin atmosphere, or inscriptions—any that were made would have presumably been removed by the winds blowing across the planet. The stones themselves have worn smooth, so based on the timeframe for wind erosion on Earth, Captain Steffens estimates the buildings might be 10 to 15 thousand years old. This discovery is significant because humans have been exploring space for 300 years, and this is the first sighting of an advanced, space-crossing, alien race. The planet has a sandy surface and a blue-black mid-day sky. Of the other three planets, the inner is too hot for habitation and the outer too heavy and cold. \nThe third planet has a decent temperature range but a carbon dioxide atmosphere. The planet is surrounded by a layer of clouds and a misty gas; it is a heavy planet with no free oxygen, but there are several dead cities, each destroyed by a blast in the center, leaving a deep hole three miles wide and shattered, splintered walls. There is no vegetation, and the planet has lethal radiation levels that would prevent any life. The surface features rocky hills. This planet, however, has millions of active robots produced in a factory that is still operational. The robots have telepathic abilities and communicate with the people on the ship, inviting them to land. The robot factory was built by what the robots refer to as Makers, who have since left the planet and not returned. The robots have the ability to decontaminate the radiation and are slightly radioactive themselves.\n" ]	50827
What is the cylinder and why is it significant?	Write a detailed response to the following question about A City Near Centaurus by William R. Doede. Question: What is the cylinder and why is it significant? Answer:	[ "The cylinder is an implement tailored to Mr. Michaelson that is tucked behind his ear and will allow him to go anywhere that he desires when it is pressed. He uses it several times in the story to travel to physical places, disappearing immediately and reappearing in a new location. Once, to travel to a cold stream to wash his bleeding wounds after being hit on the head with a book by Maota, and a second time to avoid being killed by Maota firing a weapon to kill him.\nAfter Maota presses the button of the “clock” in the dead city and appears to drop dead. Mr. Michaelson desperately attempts to gain the knowledge to understand what the clock device does. Rather radically, he decides that he must press the button to fully understand, not completely knowing that he won’t die when he does. When Mr. Michaelson sees his dead body below him in the city and communicates wordlessly with Maota in this spiritual dimension he begins to panic and search for ways to get back into his body. This is how he discovers that he can will the cylinder with his mind, and return into his physical body by doing so. Through this act he can traverse between the physical and spiritual realms, which ultimately makes him considered a god by Maota (greatly angering him).\n", "The cylinder is a small device inserted under the flesh behind Michaelson’s ear and transports him to other locations instantly, operated by his thoughts. Each cylinder is tailored to the person for whom it is intended and will not work for anyone else. It instantly sends him 500 miles across the desert to a creek where he can wash and cool off after his head injury. The cylinder saves his life twice: first in the fight with Maota when Maota points the tube gun at him. Michaelson uses the cylinder to jump out of Maota’s line of sight and land behind him. The second time it saves his life is when he uses the clock device. Michaelson’s lifeless body is left behind as his mind journey’s to where Maota’s is, a place from which there is no return. However, Michaelson remembers the cylinder and tries to use it to return to his body, and it works. The cylinder, not the clock device, actually sent him to where Maota’s mind went. \n", "The cylinder is a small, artificial implant that Mr. Michaelson receives behind his ear. The implant allows him to travel any distance, great or small, instantaneously and is triggered by a thought. The implant enables Michaelson to travel from Earth to Alpha Centaurus II, and he uses the implant again to locate the old city that he explores on foot. After Maota injures Michaelson with the poetry book, he uses the implant to transport himself to a small creek where he washes away the caked blood from his hair. Later, Michaelson again triggers the implant to avoid being shot by Maota when he attempts to kill him. Maota indicates he believes Michaelson is a god because of his ability to travel any distance in the blink of an eye. When Maota demonstrates the power of the clock-like device to transfer a person's spirit to another dimension, Michaelson realizes he maintains a connection to his corporeal body via the cylindrical implant. He uses this realization to his advantage by triggering the implant, which allows him to go back and forth between the fourth dimension and his corporeal form.", "The cylinder is an innovative invention shared among Earthmen. It allows the person wearing it to travel between places in the blink of an eye. Michaelson wears his cylinder above the ear, and it is specifically tailored to his being. This device becomes incredibly important in the story as Michaelson uses it several times throughout his time in the ancient ruins. The first instance of significance was when Maota attempted to kill Michaelson with his weapon, but Michaelson simply disappeared in front of his eyes, only to reappear behind him and knock him out with a well-timed blow. The cylinder saved his life then and elevated him to god-like status in Maota’s eyes. \nAfter Maota travels through the mysterious clock and presumably dies, Michaelson spends several weeks deciding what to do. When he finally hits the button, his body also falls, just like Maota’s, and he regains consciousness in a spirit world where he can see everything on any planet he wants. Maota tells him that no one is able to leave, no matter how hard they try, and that they are stuck in this plane of existence. Michaelson, however, is able to use his cylinder to travel out of that dimension and back onto the planet. He does it again to prove that it truly works, leaving Maota crying out in anger. \n" ]	50802
Describe the setting of the story.	Write a detailed response to the following question about A City Near Centaurus by William R. Doede. Question: Describe the setting of the story. Answer:	[ "The story is set on Alpha Centaurus II, a planet with two moons and many unknowns and dangers. There is an Earth settlement on the planet, and the archeologist, Mr. Michaelson traverses around a sandy, desert-like area under a pale blue sky come to be referred to as the dead city which was last populated half a million years ago.\nThe dead city is a complex variety of buildings, including small homes, huge ones with spires, and all varieties of square and spherical shapes. Suspension bridges connected conical towers. Desert plants grew from rooftops and sand had blown down the streets and filled the doorways. Despite not believing in the spiritual, Mr. Michaelson experiences waves of energy communicating with him from the artifacts he finds in the dead city, giving it the feel of not being deserted at all.\nThrough the discovery of an important artifact (the “clock) that is radiating heat. The two characters Maota and Mr. Michaelson also discover that they can travel into a spiritual dimension setting where they look down on the planet, or anywhere in the universe, and communicate with their thoughts.\n", "The story takes place on Alpha Centaurus II in the ancient remains of a city heretofore unknown by humans and where there are twin moons. The half a million year old city consists of both small and large buildings, with the smaller ones presumably houses. Some of the tall buildings have spires; some are square, while others are ellipsoid or spheroid. Elegant bridges connect tall towers. The structures are well preserved, although any inscriptions that were made have long since worn away. Piles of sand fill the doorways, and desert plants grow on rooftops. Artifacts are everywhere, some buried in the sand, including bowls, statues, and even books. A clock-like object is particularly fascinating, especially after Michaelson touches it to find it warm and vibrating—meaning that it is still operational. Many of the structures and objects are made of metal which has helped preserve them for such a long time. The book that Maota throws are Michaelson has metal pages and, surprisingly, speaks when Michaelson runs his fingers along the lines of text. \n\tHumans at this time have advanced technology for travel. They have invented personalized devices in the shape of a cylinder implanted behind a person's ear. With this device, the person can think of a place he wants to travel to, and the device instantly whisks him there. \n", "The story takes place in an old city on Alpha Centaurus II. Not much is revealed about the planet itself except for the fact that it has a small population of webfooted humanoids who are not actually natives but come from a colony from the fifth planet of the system. They are curious and many are quite intelligent, including Maota, whom Michaelson meets when he arrives in the city. White clouds float in a pale blue sky, and at night silver moonlight from the two moons illuminates the ruins. Five hundred miles from the city is a small creek where Michaelson washes his head wound. The city itself is covered in sand and desert plants after hundreds of thousands of years of disuse. However, the buildings remain intact and include a complex variety of small homes, spire-topped, square, ellipsoid, and spheroid buildings. There are also conical towers with beautiful bridges connecting them. The ruins of the city are well-preserved and include a large number of fascinating archeological artifacts including bowls, metal, a small statue of a man, ancient books (including Maota's favorite book of poetry), and a clock-like device that can transport a person to another dimension. Just outside of the city is a sandy hill, where Michaelson eventually buries Maota's body. The final setting of the story is the fourth dimension where Maota and Michaelson transfer their spirits using the clock device. This dimension is characterized by utter silence and darkness. The only presence there is awareness and memory.", "A City Near Centaurus by Bill Doede takes place on the planet Alpha Centaurus II sometime in the future. Mr. Michaelson comes across the ruins of an ancient city and walks through the sand-covered streets to discover more. Tall spires cast shadows across the roads, while wild plants grow out of the roofs of small buildings. Two moons shine light down on Alpha Centaurus II partially lighting up the night. Soaring towers are connected by swaying bridges, and smaller buildings clearly used to be houses. Each building has a slightly different shape whether that be spherical or square. The infrastructure is built of dark metal impervious to rust and general wear. The buildings themselves are full of various artifacts: talking books, transporting clocks, and silver bowls. " ]	50802
What is the plot of the story?	Write a detailed response to the following question about A City Near Centaurus by William R. Doede. Question: What is the plot of the story? Answer:	[ "Stationed on the Earth base of Alpha Centaurus II, Mr. Michaelson, a tall, gaunt archeologist, explores the planet for historical artifacts. He is human, but has a special cylinder embedded in the flesh behind his ear that teleports him to a different location when touched.\nHe comes across an empty city in the desert, with the old buildings filling with blown sand, though he is not alone. He is approached by a short, gray-haired native with webbed bare feet (aka webfoot or Maota) that he spotted in a doorway, who introduces himself as the keeper of the city and implores him to leave because he angers the gods. Michaelson brushes aside that spirits exist, but notes that he must keep an eye on this intelligent native.\nAs Michaelson continues to explore the city and disobey what he was told, the native again demands he leave, calling him “Mr. Earthgod.” Michaelson learns his name is Maota, and tries to negotiate to preserve the artifacts and build a museum. Maota does not succumb to Michaelson’s tactics, and whacks him unconscious with a metal book.\nMichaelson awakes and teleports to a creek 500 miles away to clean his wound, then returns and opens the book to find voices talking to him. He is mystified that the civilization here said to have disappeared half a million years ago was communicating with him. In his wonder, he picks up another clock-like artifact he has been curious about, and is shocked to feel it is radiating heat.\nThe next day, Michaelson awakes in the dead city to find Maota pointing a gun-like weapon at him - apologizing for causing him pain instead of killing him. Maota reads from the talking poetry book, at Michaelson’s request. It moves them both, Michaelson feeling the humanity of the civilization, and Maota feeling the gentle spirits. Maota becomes furious that Michaelson wants to move things into a museum and begins to fire the weapon. Michaelson teleports behind him and in their struggle to take possession they discharge it - destroying the book. \nMaota has disgraced himself and the gods and becomes inconsolable. He has been wanting to try the “clock” device for some time - now with renewed determination because he doesn’t care if it kills him. He explains that he thinks the race of the dead city entered a fourth dimension. Pushing the button, Maota’s body collapses in death. Michaelson tries to bury him, but has the sense that his soul is elsewhere. Michaelson desperately studies the artifacts to understand the clock, then radically decides to just press the button too. Afterwards, he sees his dead body below him and communicates with Maota’s consciousness in a spiritual dimension. He discovers that he can will his cylinder with his mind to return to his physical body, traversing between the physical and spiritual realms. This infuriates Maota who can never return to his body and feels pushed and tricked by Michaelson. \n", "Michaelson is an archeologist from Earth living on Alpha Centaurus II. He discovers an ancient, hidden city that is remarkably well preserved and half a million years old. He notices an older, webfooted man watching him as he explores the ancient city. The older man, named Maota, tells Michaelson that he is trespassing in the city, which is sacred ground where the spirits may one day return. Maota identifies himself as the city's keeper and warns Michaelson that he is angering the gods. Still, Michaelson pays him little attention because he is so wrapped up in his discovery. Maota warns Michaelson to leave or be killed, but Michaelson continues to ignore Maota and collect and inspect artifacts.\n\tMichaelson talks about building a museum there, showcasing the artifacts, and inviting people to come and see everything. Extremely angry and frustrated, Maota throws one of the ancient books at Michaelson, knocking him out. Later, Michaelson studies the book, opening it and running his finger over the writing, which creates the sound of a voice—the book talks! Inside a tall building, Michaelson observes a clock-like object, touching it and discovering it is warm and vibrating. Amazingly, the device is still operating.\n\tMaota returns in the morning, apologizes for hitting Michaelson, saying he should have killed him. He has brought a weapon with him. Michaelson asks Maota to read to him from the book before he kills him, and Maota agrees, telling Michaelson that it is a book of poetry. Michaelson dismisses the book as unimportant, wondering why the ancient ones didn’t leave books about history or mathematics instead, but he wants to hear it read and asks Maota to read some to him. Then, Maota prepares to shoot Michaelson, but Michaelson uses his cylinder to jump behind Maota before he fires. The two wrestle over the weapon, and it fires a shot into the sand near the book. Together they dig through the sand to find the book, but it is gone. Finally, Maota says he is giving up and going away but not leaving the city. Michaelson is perplexed by the paradoxical statement, but Maota says he doesn’t know enough to explain it. However, he tells Michaelson that he has read the ancient race’s books and knows they conquered all diseases, explored all the mysteries of science, and devised the clock-type machine to cheat death. \n\tMaota presses the button on the clock machine, and it makes noises. Then Maota’s knees buckle, and he is dead. Michaelson buries the body and continues his study of the city, learning the language and reading the books. Then he decides to use the clock device to see what it does. His body collapses, but his mind joins Maota’s. Sad to see his body, Michaelson touches it and feels a vibration of life. He suspects that his cylinder is responsible for his journey, and if that’s right, he should be able to use it to return. He tries, and it works.\n", "Mr. Michaelson is an archeologist from Earth who visits the ruins of an unnamed, 500,000-year-old city on Alpha Centaurus II. He uses an implant behind his ear to transport himself there instantaneously, and he excitedly explores the sand-covered streets and complex varieties of buildings he discovers. Soon after his arrival, he encounters an old man he quickly identifies as one of the webfooted natives. As he continues exploring, the native man approaches him and orders him to leave since Mr. Michaelson is trespassing on sacred ground and making the spirits angry. Mr. Michaelson refuses, and the native man threatens to kill him if he does not leave. As night falls, Michaelson continues to uncover artifacts left behind by the city’s disappeared inhabitants. The native man returns to ask why Michaelson has not left as instructed, and he introduces himself as Maota; Maota believes Michaelson is a god because of his fascination with the city and its artifacts. Michaelson tries to recruit Maota into helping him preserve the city for posterity, but Maota refuses. Instead, he hits Michaelson in the head with an ancient book he is carrying. When Michaelson awakens, he uses his implant to beam to a small creek where he cleans his wound. When he returns, he discovers the book Maota had used to hit him. He believes he hears the book speaking to him in a strange language. Startled, he returns to a clock-like device he had seen earlier. When he touches the clock, he finds it warm, which frightens him. Michaelson leaves the building and falls asleep. When he awakens later, he finds Maota standing over him, who informs him the book is full of ancient poetry and then says he will kill Michaelson for not leaving the city. Michael asks Maota to read to him from the book before he dies, and Maota obliges. When the book's pages begin to blow in the wind, Maota takes this as proof of the existence of spirits. When Michaelson mocks Maota again, Maota rages and points his gun at him. Michaelson uses his implant to appear behind Maota; the two struggle for control of the gun. They accidentally shoot the book into oblivion. Because of Michaelson's implant, Maota once again believes he is a god, but Michaelson explains to him that it is artificial. Convinced that Michaelson is only human, Maota announces that he is going away, and he offers to show Michaelson how. Maota reveals that the ancient race had not died out; instead, they had used the clock-like device to transfer themselves to a kind of fourth dimension, where they could observe and communicate outside the constraints of a physical body. Maota triggers the device, and his body slumps over. Michaelson buries him and later triggers the device too, finding himself reunited with Maota in the fourth dimension. However, unlike Maota, Michaelson discovers he is able to zoom between dimensions thanks to his implant, which convinces Maota that Michaelson is a devil rather than a god.", "Mr. Michaelson is a human archaeologist currently exploring Alpha Centaurus II. He comes across the ruins of an ancient city. He walks to it slowly, seeing someone in the distance, but is relieved when he realizes it’s just a webfoot. He explores the city, digging through the sand and rubble to find beautiful artifacts from half a million years ago. He is soon stopped by the webfoot, who explains that Michaelson must leave immediately lest he anger the spirits. He introduces himself as keeper of the city which Michaelson finds amusing. Maota believes that the city must remain untouched so the spirits would not be lost in the darkness. He tells Michaelson to leave quickly or else he will be killed. Michaelson does not leave but continues exploring. His cylinder, a contraption worn above the ear, could transport him back home in a heartbeat, but he decides not to use it yet. Maota approaches Michaelson again, scolding him for not leaving when asked. He calls him “Earthgod,” and says that no human could travel the way he does. They fight about the city and whether or not to leave it alone until Maota strikes Michaelson with a book, knocking him out. \nWhen Michaelson regains consciousness, he travels to a nearby river to wash the blood out of his hair, then pops back into the city. He leafs through the book and discovers that it talks. Entering a building, Michaelson decides to reach out and touch the object that confused him most. It almost looked like a clock, but it was clearly different. It’s warm to the touch. Running back outside, he passes out in the street. He wakes up to Maota standing over him with a gun. Michaelson convinces him to read some of the book aloud, which is the only poetry book in the city. Maota then attempts to kill him, but Michaelson simply travels behind Maota and punches him before he could fire. They fight for Maota’s weapon until it goes off, blasting a hole in the earth. The book was destroyed in the blast. \nMaota grieves the book, and Michaelson explains how he uses the cylinder to travel. Michaelson asks Maota where he’s going to go, and Maota decides to take him along. They travel to his house, and Maota points to the clock on the wall. He explains that he believes it allows people to travel to another dimension, and he has decided to use it. He pushes a button and slumps to the floor.\nMichaelson spends the next few weeks learning the ancient language and exploring the city before his curiosity got the better of him. He decides to press the button and travels through the darkness before hearing Maota’s voice. He sees his body below, and Maota reveals that no one can leave this other place. Michaelson decides to use his cylinder and travels back to Alpha Centaurus II. He pushes the button again, only to hear Maota’s screams. He can travel between dimensions. \n" ]	50802
Who is the webfoot and what is his personality like?	Write a detailed response to the following question about A City Near Centaurus by William R. Doede. Question: Who is the webfoot and what is his personality like? Answer:	[ "The webfoot, real name Maota (also referred to as “the native” by Mr. Michaelson), is the self-proclaimed keeper of the dead city on Alpha Centaurus II. He is an older man of at least sixty or seventy years, short in stature with long gray hair to his shoulders. The toes of his webbed, bare feet drag in the sand as he walks making a trail behind him. \nMaota is sturdy in his beliefs that the dead city needs to be protected, and that the gods are being disrupted by Mr. Michaelson. He feels strongly enough about it that he resorts to physical violence on two occasions - hitting Mr. Michaelson with a book over the head, and firing a gun-like weapon at him. Although he is angry and violent with Mr. Michaelson, he also shows remarkable tolerance for him. \nMaota’s ultimate duty, he believes, is to the gods. This brings him turmoil when he thinks he missed the chance the gods gave him to kill Mr. Michaelson, and even apologized to him directly for instead letting him suffer with a head wound instead of killing him. There is a reference to them perhaps having met before when Michaelson says tauntingly to Maota, “You never told us about this old dead city… Shame on you. But never mind. I've found it now. Isn't it beautiful?” Thus, Maota is also motivated to protect the dead city at all costs, perhaps even concealing its location. \n", "The webfoot is named Maota, and he is the guardian of the ancient dead city on Alpha Centaurus II. His people are not natives of the planet but originated from a colony from the system's fifth planet. These people are curious and sometimes highly intelligent, although they are not educated. Maota himself is an older man, perhaps sixty or seventy years old, short with long gray hair. He wears no shoes, and his toes drag in the sand as he walks. Maota is upset when he finds Michaelson trespassing in the dead city and urgently informs him that he is on sacred ground and must leave. Maota tells Michaelson that the spirits are angry that he is there and indicates the spirits might return; that is why he guards the city. When Michaelson pays no heed to the order to leave, Maota grows angry, warning Michaelson that even his steps or breath may be detrimental to the spirits and he must leave now or be killed. When his warning falls on deaf ears, Maota resorts to flattery, saying that it takes a sensitive god to feel the spirits moving in the houses and walking in the old street, thus implying that Michaelson is not only a god but one with the sensitivity required to detect the history and spirits of the place. \nHowever, when Michaelson tells Maota his plan to build a museum and display everything for others to come and see, Maota loses his temper and throws one of the ancient books at Michaelson, hitting him in the back of the head and knocking him unconscious. After Michaelson stays in the city overnight, Maota approaches him with a weapon, intent on killing him. Maota believes he has reasoned logically with Michaelson and given him enough warnings that he should have left; he isn’t interested in negotiating with Michaelson because the only satisfactory outcome is for Michaelson to leave and never come back. He is prepared to kill Michaelson with his tube gun. Maota is willing to entertain Michaelson’s last request, which is for Maota to read to him from the book. He does, but he still insists Michaelson must die. The city must be preserved for the spirits, not a show for people who may not appreciate it or the spirits. Maota’s great sensitivity and reverence for the spirits lead to his great despair when the book of poetry is destroyed. When he is unsuccessful at driving Michaelson away, he chooses the last resort—using the device that kills his human body but allows his mind to live on.\n", "The webfooted man's name is Maota, and he is part of a group of people who live on Alpha Centaurus II, far away from the old city where Michaelson meets him. Although they make their home on Alpha Centaurus II, the webfooted people are originally from a colony on the fifth planet in the system. Michaelson wonders why Maota is so far from his people when they first meet. Maota stays in the city because he believes strongly in the presence of spirits, and he spends his days roaming the streets feeling their presence and reading an ancient book of poetry. Maota bemoans Michaelson's presence because he believes his interest in preserving the city for posterity disturbs the spirits and would potentially violate the beauty and magic of the city. Because of Michaelson's teleportation implant, Maota believes Michaelson is a god, and so he feels he must kill Michaelson if he will not leave because mortals cannot negotiate wit\nh gods. Once Michaelson convinces Maota he is just a human, Maota feels disappointed because he had hoped Michaelson would join him in his practice of thinking the ancient thoughts. As such, Maota leads Michaelson to a room where he keeps a clock-like device that he triggers. Then, Maota appears to die. In actuality, his spirit has been transferred to another dimension. When Michaelson joins him there and demonstrates how he can zoom in between dimensions using his implant, Maota starts to believe Michaelson is a devil.", "Maota is a webfoot that lives on Alpha Centaurus II. He is older, around 60 or 70 years of age, and the lines on his face show it. He is a human with normal human features, aside from his webbed feet. He does not wear shoes but chooses to walk barefoot. With long, gray hair and relatively short stature, Maota is a weathered man. He takes his self-assigned role as keeper of the city very seriously and will act violently if need be. Maota is very spiritual, shown through his belief that tampering with the city will upset the spirits should they choose to return home. Although he is somewhat patient with Michaelson at first, he chooses his duty over Michaelson’s curiosity. He attempts to kill him twice but to no avail, which shows his true dedication to the city. In the end, when he is trapped in the so-called fourth dimension, Maota is incredibly angry when Michaelson, an alleged god with his cylinder, is able to travel between planes while he is stuck there. " ]	50802