I just read a short summary of this short story (“Bordered in black”) and it intrigued me. However, the plot wasn’t completely disclosed, and I couldn’t find it on the web.
So, could someone spoils the story for me?
As I recall, two spacemen found a new planet. They observed the coastlines of all the continents were “bordered in black” (I think it was actually an infrared view). When they explored they found the planet had been artificially terraformed to act as a food producing planet. All the natural life had been exterminated and the oceans had been seeded with some algae that would be harvested for food. But the planet had been abandoned and the human-like caretakers had been forgotten and left behind. The black border was the descendants of the original caretakers who now crowded up against the beaches to get the algae which was the only food on the planet.
One aspect that might not be immediately obvious to modern readers is that the term “bordered in Black” used to be extremely common, and meant a short letter literally with a black border. This used to be common practice for death notices. My uncle had a large collection of odd old correspondence, and showed me examples.
So the implication of the title is that this is the death notice of this planet (and this concept), indicating that this is a Dead End.
I’ve done a quick internet search, and none of the early entries carries this implication – sites write about invitations bordered in black, and the like. But 50-100 years ago the meaning f a letter “bordered in black” who have been obvious, and not a happy one.
It’s been a while since I read this story, so I may be misremembering this, but didn’t the spacemen somehow figure out that the algae in the oceans was intended as a food source for the human-like beings, and it was the human-like beings that were the food source for the aliens that had seeded the planet?
Not quite ( I have a copy here ).
Two spacemen go out in the Overcee, the first FTL ship. One returns, self destructs the ships and tells the protagonist they shouldn’t go out into space. After pressed for details and being told it’s not gonna happen, he tells his story.
By the time they get there they’re more than a little twitchy; six months in a “two room cell with the end of everything creeping around the blankets”. The latter referring to the fact that this is the story where he introduced his “Blind Spot” look for hyperspace, and the designers had unwisely included windows. They covered the windows with blankets but it still got to them.
They find a life bearing planet at Sirius, which shouldn’t have one - too young. One that planet, they see that the oceans have hot borders in infrared, which are black in visible light. They land to check it out. First they land on an island, since it’s night on the continent with black borders. They find the oceans are filled with algae; one species of algae, with nothing else. Not even mutations. They also find that it’s biologically compatible enough to be edible. Then they check out the continent - and discover that the black border is composed of humans of a sort. Nine feet tall and thin, but humans.
They speculate that they must be the descendents of the caretakers as you said; stuck on a planet with nothing to make tools of but rocks and human bones; without even any way to smelt ores. Nothing to burn. No animals, no other life but the algae, and nothing to do for recreation but breed. By now, it’s all a slow battle, with those far away from the shore struggling to get to the one food source, and starving if they don’t.
They go out to look; they just have to see it in person. Walking through the outer region of the border, looking at all the skeletons and mummies, some of which aren’t quite dead. Eventually they get mobbed, and one runs and the other uses his suicide capsule; he can’t stand the idea of another six months with the Blind Spot and nothing to think about but that world. The other one escapes, leaves for Earth, and lands, destroying the ship behind him.
The protagonist talks about how they need to go back, help the people there, supply them with other sources of food and such; complete the terraforming. The spacer explains the NEW theory that he came up with, and which may help explain his partner’s suicide. That that wasn’t an abandoned farm planet with the descendents of farmers, but a ranch with food animals, and possibly not abandoned at all . . .
“Food animals ! You understand Turnbull”
"Yes. I hadn’t thought of that. and they’d breed them for size . . . "
"Well ?
“Well, we’ll simply have to take that chance, won’t we ?”
So I was remembering correctly…
Yes; you posted while I was writing my longish post.
I figured that, Der Trihs. Unfortunately, my copy (actually probably multiple copies in various collections) is packed away, so I couldn’t confirm what I remembered. And of late my mind has been playing strange tricks on me…earlier today I confused Chuck E Cheese with the killer doll in the Child’s Play movies.
Bordered In Black, together with the lot of Larry Niven’s “Known Space” short stories, are terrific reads, clairobscur. I do note that LN’s earlier short stories are getting a bit hard to find; I just came across several yellowing old paperbacks in a used bookstore, dating from the late 60’s and all showing the name “Steve Quigley” penciled inside the cover. Steve must have passed on, I suppose, and his collection went to the recycle store. I’m reading Neutron Star for the first time in several years, and enjoying all over again how that guy could write.
Yeh, after a quick search, I’m not finding this story online, either. But you ought to try to track down some of his stories if you find the plot of this one intriguing.
Seems reasonable to me.
Yes, while searching for this synopsis, I found many enthusiastic comments about these short stories. I’ll see if I can find a copy of this book (probably not, except an used one on e-bay or similar sites, but who knows?) I tend to like dark SF short stories.
Thanks to all, and particularly ** Der Trihs ** for the responses.
clairobscur, before spending too much money, you might want to ask for suggestions on what Niven stuff to read. His early short stories and novels are great, but his later material was considerably worse. (For example, you should only read the first Ringworld book…the second one is acceptable, but the further sequels are terrible.)
Actually, I’d say that his recent short stories are still very good. His Draco Tavern stores for example ( collected in an anthology; The Draco Tavern ).
How recent’s that, though? I have a copy of Limits, with a number of Draco stories in it, and that’s dated 1985. (Good, but strain the definition of “recent”.)
Niven also had the Leshy Circuit series of shorts - based on a future space empire built around slower-than-light travel. Things like “Flare Time” and “Passerby” are quite readable.
I have The Draco Tavern; the stories are copyrighted from 1977 for the earliest ( not recent ), to 2006 for the most recent ( quite recent ).
Thing is, one of Niven’s greatest strengths has been his ability to come up with Cool Ideas, and that’s something that really plays into short stories. It seems to me that over the years he’s had greater and greater problems filling in the gaps between those ideas, so his longer works have declined in quality, while his short stories have stayed better. YMMV of course.
I think my M doesn’t V all that much - and that, take it all in all, I’ve probably enjoyed his shorts more than his novels, especially Neutron Star and Tales of Known Space.
“Bordered in Black” is particularly interesting for fans of Niven’s Known Space stories - it features some aspects of Known Space (like “The Blind Spot”) but is clearly does not take place in Known Space. A similar example is the story “One Face”.
Niven himself has written that he considers his short stories to be better than his novels. Something along the lines of “Novels make you more money, but short stories teach you your craft.”
Hey, I found the collection Neutron Star online.
Is there another link? The one that you provided is password protected.
Thanks