Taku Mayumura (1934–2019)

I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet that this collection of four novellas set in the Administrator universe is the perfect size. Any fewer and the collection would feel insubstantial, and would not leave you feeling that you had actually gotten a full grasp of what Taku Mayumura's stories could be. Any more and the collection would risk repetition of themes and story structure and, possibly, the revelation that some of the best qualities of these stories aren't by the author's design.

What most makes me suspect that Taku Mayumura might not have realized the narrative strengths of the Administrator universe is the first story in the collection, The Flame and the Blossom. It's the weakest story of the four, consisting of info-dump after info-dump to explain the Administrator system, the training of people within that system, the setting of the story, and the alien inhabitants of the world. By the time that all of this is established, the story is all but over- the story being that a lonely Administrator, trained in a way that discouraged emotion, has found an emotional connection (possibly love) with one of the plant aliens of his planet, and is upset that she will eventually leave him. There is no resolution, no arc to speak of, and very little in the way of things actually happening (as opposed to an info-dump just telling you about it). It also lacks the intellectual and moral complexity established by the other stories concerning the role of the administrator.

On the positive side, The Flame and the Blossom sets up the basic features of the Administrator universe so that the next story, A Distant Noon, does not have to rehash everything. A Distant Noon features a more active and less introspective Administrator on a world of almost perpetual darkness and rain, where he struggles to fulfill his mandate of improving the level of civilization of the native alien species. There is also a contingent of human "colonists" who the Administrator barely tolerates, and in fact the story makes clear that the Administrator holds their well-being as a vastly inferior priority to his primary mission. The Administrator of this story comes off as cold-hearted in fact, mission-driven to the point where he seems to disdain the human freeloaders that inhabit his world. His hopes rise when one of the natives showcases abnormally high intelligence and a desire to advance his civilization by leaps and bounds, but in the end this hope is shattered. The story leaves you to ponder if this failure was due to the interfering human colonists, or if it would have been brought about by the native aliens regardless. You might even read the outcome as in large part the Administrator's fault, and interpret his mission as ultimately a fool's errand. Like the color disease that effects the eyesight of the Administrator, spending time on the planet prevents you from seeing things in black and white. Like in the first story, not everything gets resolved here, but this story leaves you with lots of interesting things to ponder.

The Wind in the Ruins has an excellent setting, a beautiful planet covered with flowers and ruins of the extinct native population, the spirits of which still appear to the human colonists- or are they not actually ghosts at all? The local Administrator is left to question his role on such a peaceful planet, and the tranquil setting serves as a backdrop to a focus on changes occurring within the Administrator system- with time the bureaucracy has gotten larger and thus unwieldy, and new features like Inspectors for Administrators have been introduced to combat this development. With the introduction of an Administrator trainee and the imminent arrival of an Administrator Inspector, the spirits of the planet grow restless. The ending again leaves much unresolved, and the ghosts of the world unexplained, but I'm such a sucker for interesting settings that I still ended up liking this one quite a bit.

The last novella in the collection is Bound Janus, a story which finally delves into the bizarre role that the Administrators inhabit. Administrators are, after all, appointed rulers with little accountability and unilateral power over an entire planet. Millions of colonists are expected to obey these bureaucrats who they did not choose, and the Administrators themselves take this as a given. Bound Janus gives us an administrator who thinks he knows what is best for both the natives and the human colonists, and imposes his opinion over the preferences of both groups. Make no mistake, the Administrator is the villain of this story, a man who has come to revere the bureaucracy that he is a part of and the role he inhabits above the people, both human and alien alike, who he should be using his power to help. His pride in his role leads to the deaths of scores of humans and aliens who are attempting to overthrow his tyranny, and we are left to assume it leads to his death as well when he makes a final stand with his army (even after being told that the venture is pointless and that he's merely throwing away the lives of those he leads, thereby cementing the fact that he's acting out of hubris while paying lip service to his mission). Though the colonists may be slaughtered by the Federal troops after the story ends, we can hold out hope that they get the independence and freedom that they sought, led by an ex-administrator who saw the corruption and pointlessness of the Administrator bureaucracy. As the society of the aliens in this story illustrate, once the leadership bureaucracy grows too large, it can no longer function.

There are some flaws common to all these stories, with aliens not feeling particularly alien, the frequent lack of a resolution, and Taku Mayumura's tendency to tell via clunky exposition instead of show, but overall I liked the universe that he created and found the stories and settings interesting. In a longer collection I would worry that the repeated exploration of the role of the Administrator might start to lose its luster, but since this is the only selection of these stories translated into English I guess that worry is academic. Overall I'd give this collection 3.5 stars, and recommend it to science-fiction fans who enjoy the genre for more than its usual action and adventure .… (altro)