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Sixth Column (novel): Difference between revisions
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On the [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness]], this is "Really soft SF" - the "science" barely made sense for when the story was written, and (as always) [[Science Marches On]].
===Plot summary===
A top secret research facility hidden in the Colorado mountains is the last remaining outpost of the [[Yanks With Tanks|United States Army]] after its defeat by the PanAsians. The conquerors had absorbed the Soviets after being attacked by them and had then gone on to absorb India as well. The invaders are depicted as ruthless and cruel — for example, they crush an abortive rebellion by killing 150,000 American civilians as punishment. Noting that the invaders have allowed the free practice of religion (the better to pacify their slaves), the Americans set up a church of their own in order to build a resistance movement — the Sixth Column (as opposed to a traitorous fifth column).
The laboratory is in turmoil as the novel begins. All but six of the personnel have died suddenly, due to unknown forces released by an experiment operating within the newly discovered magneto-gravitic or electro-gravitic spectra. The surviving scientists soon learn that they can selectively kill people by releasing the internal pressure of their cell membranes, among other things. Using this discovery they construct a race-selective weapon which will kill only Asians.
=== Background ===
The original idea for the story of ''Sixth Column'' was proposed by John W. Campbell (who had written a similar unpublishable story called ''All''), and Heinlein later wrote in ''[[Expanded Universe (literature)|Expanded Universe]]'' that he "had to reslant it to remove racist aspects of the original story line" and that he did not "consider it to be an artistic success."
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* [[Old Shame]]: This was a rewrite by Heinlein of an unpublished (and, at least according to some sources, ''unpublishable'') story called ''All'' originally written by editor [[John W. Campbell]], who farmed it out to Heinlein; Heinlein later recalled that he had had to dramatically rewrite it to purge it of unashamed and overt racism, and that he did not "consider it to be an artistic success".
* [[Pig Latin]]: Used as a code, under the theory that non-native speakers wouldn't be able to understand it.
* [[Reverse Polarity]]: The book's [[Unfortunate Implications|race-specific]] [[Death Ray]] has two kinds of Reverse Polarity. The first way turns it in to a [[Liquid Assets|health-ray]] ([[MST3K Mantra|don't think too hard about that]]), and the second way lets you use it on non-Asians.
* [[Scam Religion]]: In order to fool the Asians, the Americans set up a temple of Mota. Using staves fitted with omnipotence-granting weapons, they even perform miracles to keep the Asians away from the temples - in which the revolution is planned.
* [[Slashed Throat]]: One of the characters kills a "traitor" this way. This "proves" he is fit to continue as an undercover agent.
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