/lit/ - Literature

The Planet Killers - Robert Silverberg (1959)
A computer governs all decisions on Earth and has determined that in 67 years planet Lurion will destroy Earth. Lurion must be destroyed first. This will kill over 3 billion people, including 1000s of humans, but the computer always makes the best decisions. Roy Gardner is chosen to lead a team of 5 men to carry out the planetary genocide. He would rather not, but the computer is all-knowing.
Their security is based upon breathprints.
Roy watches a local performance, depicted on the cover, though described as nude in the text. The dancers are insensate and the audience falls into an empathic trance. The dance is set to a rhythmic beat, musical accompaniment, and colored spotlights.
"A knife flashed in the red spotlight...red line of blood traced itself down...the male dancer...the male dancer had a knife too...a line of blood appeared between the girl's breasts...the girl's knife slit the man's arm from elbow to shoulder...both were crisscrossed with slashes...attempt to make the delivery and placing of the wound as artistic as possible...the girl came forward, knife held high, preparing now for the final moment, the climax, the moment of truth-"
Then there's a police raid because they enjoy doing so.
Sociopathy is the Lurion norm.
Two young boys fail to mug Roy and as a result, "the tall one thrust the knife into his companion's belly and ripped upward with a killer's practiced hand."
Killing is the typical solution to most everything.
Enter Lori, the love interest, "five-seven at least...hair dyed green...open wide-eyed face...very attractive...well dressed...middle or perhaps late twenties...no rings on her fingers...lightly sprinkled with freckles"
Later he meets with a Lurion group who want to reform the planet.
Roy takes Lori, who studies sadism in Lurion entertainment, to see the dancers. She loves it. This time the two male dancers kill the female dancer. Lori mutters "Sexual symbolism?" Roy finds Lori's composure admirable and Lori is aroused by his consideration.
"Lori insisted on paying her share...acknowledging...not getting full measure from her."
"display of cleavage, dab of perfume...calculated to force him to...commitment"
Roy tells her that he's married, a lie, and that they ought to never see each other again.
Lori returns and proves that he isn't married.
Roy, distressed at the mounting problems and now doubting the omniscience of the computer, tells Lori everything.
Roy has to decide whether to abandon everything he's ever known and swore to protect in preference to a people that he detests.
He returns to Earth with Lori and tells the government that there's still hope for Lurion. They both give up everything and flee to a distant world, getting married along the way.
Years later one of the five finds him and asks him to lead the team assisting the reformists. He accepts.

Rating: 2/5
Aside from the dances, little else was particularly interesting. Unfortunate.