The Third Level Analysis

The Third Level
Jack Finney’s The Third Level is the story of Charley’s adventures on the hidden third level of Grand Central Station. No one believes that there is a third level, so Charley talks to Sam, a phsyciatrist friend of his, to try and understand what happened to him. His friend believes that he imagined the third level as a way to deal with the troubles of normal life. Charley talks about how one night as he was trying to take the subway to get home to his wife he got lost and found himself on the third level. The third level looks much like the second, except its smaller and everyone and everything look to be out of the year 1890. Charley discovers that he is now in the year 1894. He decides to buy tickets to Galesburg, Illinois, but when he tries to pay for the tickets they won’t accept his money, as it is from the future and looks

different than the 1894 money. He leaves the third level and goes home. The next day Charley buys old currency to bring back down to the third level so he can get tickets to 1894 Galesburg, Illinois, but he can’t find the third level again. He keeps looking for it because he gets proof that the third level exists. Sam disappears and Charley finds a letter from him, dated 1894 telling him to come join him in Galesburg, Illinois 1984.
The Muse
Anthony Burgess’ The Muse tells of Paley’s adventures in system B303. Paley travels with Swenson to system B303 where they find a planet almost exactly like 1595 Elizabethan era earth. THis is not the first earth-like planet Swenson has encountered. He has been to earths that were similar to past and future earths, but this is Paley’s first time to an alternate earth. Paley wants to find out if Shakespeare really wrote his plays, so he goes to the planet. Paley brings six of Shakespeare’s plays written after 1595, planning to try and pass them off as his own works. Paley quickly realises there is something strange about the people of this planet. The people have multiple eyes in weird places, such as their arms or breasts, as well as the normal placement along with other strange body parts as well. He meets William Shakespeare and finds him working on Richard II. Paley tells Shakespeare his whole story and Shakespeare seems to believe him, but then he steals the plays from Paley. He tells Paley that he has had two other visitors like him who also brought him plays. Shakespeare has his servant get rid of Paley and he starts copying the Merchant of Venice.

Earth Eighteen
Frederick Pohl’s Earth Eighteen is written as an intergalactic travel guide to the conquered planet of Earth 18. Earth 18 is described as a pleasant and inexpensive vacation for the entire family for anyone who can not afford something better. The first stop on a tour of Earth is the Vegan naval of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles, which includes a settlement of roughly 1000 humans. The Hoover desert, formerly the Hoover dam,  is another recommended site on a tour of Earth 18. The Grand Canyon is recommended as being somewhat similar to the Polar Chasem of Aldebaran XVIII, however, it is recommended that visitors avoid the lower Coconino Plateau, as it has been colonised by Lesser Betelgeusan Chamelions. The site of the former Navajo Cliff dwellings of Arizona is noted as interesting, if only because they were demolished by a senator as part of an urban redevelopment program. The Carlsbad Caverns are considered a galactic game refuge, where humans dwelling underground, act out a pantomime of “pressing the button”. The Gulfhaven Aquatic Resort is recommended as being a lovely destination, run by the intelligent natives known as dolphins. The Everglades are described as a hunters paradise where such creatures as deer, heron, duck, human, and alligator can be easily hunted. Many other lovely locations are described and the park managers end the guide by thanking everyone for visiting and wishing them better luck on their next vacation.

The Man Who Lost the Sea
Theodore Sturgeon’s The Man Who Lost the Sea is about a man who landed on Mars.

The story starts with the man describing a boy who is playing with a toy helicopter on the beach who comes across a man, buried in the sand except for his head and one arm, dressed in a pressure suit. The man states that his mind doesn’t work right and describes a kid playing on the parallel bars and landing on his head causing brain damage. The man describes the kid learning to measure the periods of satellites using a timepiece. The man also describes swimming in the Grenadines where he was attacked by an ameba and learned to never dive alone and that a lack of oxygen and too much carbon dioxide could cause fear and panic. All the while, the man describes looking out at the sea. He describes a toy rocket crashing and a doll falling out of it and getting buried in the sand except for an arm and its head. The man then states that he is the boy and the man and the doll and that he has crashed on mars and will be dead soon. There is no sea and there is no way home. the story ends with the man radioing back to earth that he made it to

mars.

The City
Ray Bradbury’s The City recounts the arrival of nine men to an abandoned city on the planet Taollan, far from earth. Smith, Jensen, Hutchinson, Jones, Springer, and four others explore the city and find that it feels eerily familiar, even though none of them have been there before. The City itself is described as having all the senses of a human being, such as sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. The city captures the group’s captain, kills him, and examines him. The city identifies the strangers as humans, the enemy they have waited twenty thousand years for. In the far past, humans had enslaved the people of Taollan and brought a fatal, leprosy-like disease, which destroyed the planet’s population. The human’s moved on to another galaxy and forgot about their war with Taollan, but the inhabitants of Taollan build the city to exact their revenge, even after they had all died. The city puts false organs and an electronic brain into the captain and returns him to his men as the voice of the city. The city informs the men of its purpose, then takes them and makes them puppets like the captain. The story ends with the rocket leaving the planet and heading back to earth with bombs containing the virus that destroyed Taollan. The city dies, content that it has completed its mission.

Zero Hour
Ray Bradbury’s Zero Hour takes place on a futuristic earth where mankind has finally achieved peace. A little girl named Mink and her friends, all ten years old or younger, have begun playing a fantastic game called invasion. Their parents mostly ignore children’s game as long as they behave themselves. The children talk about a new friend named Drill who is heading up the invasion of Earth. Mink tells her mother that Drill is from another planet and he has been trying to find a way to take over the Earth. Drill and his fellow aliens discovered that adults mostly ignore children, so he convinces the kids to help him with promises of no more baths and no bedtimes. Mink’s mother considers this to be a child’s fancy, even after finding out that kinds are playing the game all over the planet. At 5pm - Zero hour, explosions take place all over the earth as Drill and his fellow aliens arrive on Earth. Mink’s mother finally realises what is happening and hides in the attic with Mink’s father. The story ends with them cowering in the attic as Mink and her new alien friends approach.

Tale of the Computer that Fought a Dragon
Stanislaw Lem’s Tale of the Computer that Fought a Dragon takes place on the planet of Cyberia, ruled by king Poleander Partobon. King Poleander is obsessed with cybermatics. The king uses many of them for various civilian applications, but he is most fascinated with military applications. Unfortunately for the king, no one wants to fight with him, so he creates cyberfoes for his army to fight. This causes a lot of damage and unpleasantness for the king’s subjects. The king becomes board eith war games on his own planet and decides to build a war theater on the planet’s moon. The king’s men create an amazing computer, capable of creating everything they will need for the king’s moon campaigns. The king wishes to test the computer’s capabilities and tells it to execute an electrosault, but it misinterprets the command and instead creates an electrosaur, or computer dragon. The dragon consumes most of the moon and grows to a great size and plans to take over the king’s kingdom. The king goes to his strategy computer and promises to make it grand vizier if it can find a way to defeat the dragon. The computer defeats the electrosaur by first telling it to divide itself by itself, then extract its root, then subtract itself from itself. After the electrosaur is defeated, the strategy computer decides it will turn itself into an electrosaur and take over the kingdom, but it gets the command wrong and turns into a puddle of electrosauce. From that day on, the king stopped using cybernetics for military purposes.

How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface
Stanislaw Lem’s How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface takes place on a fictional planet inhabited by sentient electronic people. The king of this planet, Boludar, loves to collect strange curiosities such as clocks and stuffed monsters. His most prized possession is a stuffed Homos Anthropos, or paleface. King Boludar wants a living paleface more than anything else. An electrosage named Halazon says he can get a paleface in exchange for the paleface’s weight in diamonds. The king happily agrees. The king’s advisors are most distressed and try to convince the king that the Anthropos are dangerous and should not be brought to the kingdom. The king ignores their advice and is very excited when Halazon brings him an Anthropos. The king’s daughter, Electrina, goes and talks to the paleface, but he tricks her into giving him the key she uses to wind herself up, which causes her to fall into a deep sleep when he refuses to give it back. The paleface says he will give the key back in exchange for his freedom and a spaceship, but he ends up taking the key with him when he leaves. The king decrees that anyone who can kill the paleface and retrieve the key will be given his daughter’s hand in marriage. Many people try, but they all meet with failure. Then Erg the self-inducting goes off on a quest to find the key. He is gone a year and a half, then he returns and awakens the princess. He tells a fantastic tale about how he hunted down the paleface and slew him, but in truth, Erg had always been able to open any lock and he just stayed away for a year and a half to keep people from being suspicious. The story ends with Erg living happily ever after with the princess.