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The Silkie (novel)
''The Silkie'' is a fix-up science fiction novel by A. E. van Vogt, first published in complete form in 1969. The component stories had previously been published in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' magazine.
==Plot introduction==
Taking its inspiration from the Celtic legend of the Selkie, the novel describes a race of apparent humans with the ability to change into other forms. One, like the Selkie of legend, can live underwater. Another can survive and travel unprotected in outer space. In all three forms the Silkies can wield mental powers over energy to some degree.
After a prologue which purports to explain the origin of the Silkies as an experiment in genetic manipulation, the action moves forward over a hundred years to a future in which the Silkies are numerous and live on Earth. Humanity has assimilated them by means of the Special People, who can establish telepathic rapport with the Silkies. All Silkies are male, and most are married to women of the Special People. They are employed as police in space, and most are comfortable with that role. One dedicated Silkie, Nat Cemp, encounters three different alien races, and with each encounter he gains more powers and learns more about the true nature of the Silkies, and of the Universe.
As with other Van Vogt works, the novel introduces a psychological element similar to General semantics. Here the Silkies use the so-called "Logic of Levels". Instead of the symbol/reality dichotomy of General Semantics, the Logic of Levels substitutes the concept of behaviors and instincts as complex neurological structures and feedback loops, simpler levels being built on more complex ones. By manipulating these complexes with their powers the Silkies can defeat adversaries, who find themselves caught in self-amplifying feedback from their own instincts and desires.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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