My first encounter with Poul Anderson was in an anthology entitled “Space Odyssey”, published by Octopus Books, back when I was still in grade school. It held Anderson’s short story “Ghetto”, a tale of racial prejudice applied to a far-future society, a tale I’ve come to appreciate more in the present day than when I was a kid. But even as a child, Poul Anderson’s writing came alive to me in a way that other writers did not.
Poul Anderson was one of the grander storytellers of 20th Century science fiction, adept at both “thud-and-blunder” action as well as ruminating on deeper themes. Shield, first published in 1963, sits near Anderson’s earlier career, and is a good, well-paced read that seems scarily prescient in light the path the United States has taken in recent decades.
Shield tells the story of Peter Koskinen, a naive 23-year old engineer and astronaut just back from an expedition to Mars. Peter has in his possession a device he built with the help of the ancient Martians his expedition found and befriended; a “potential barrier” capable of stopping almost all weapons – the shield of the title. Unfortunately, Peter lives in a world governed by the Protectorate; the name given to the United States’ effort to rule the world by force and puppet governments (sound familiar?). In this world, the most powerful person is not the President, but the Director of Military Security, and even American citizens are spied on and arrested by MS if there is even a hint of a threat to American interests. News of the shield’s existence reaches both MS Director Marcus and various opposing factions, and in short order Peter finds himself on the run from everyone, as it becomes clear that all factions would happily kill him to get their hands on the shield.
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