The Brain Sinner
An unnamed Alien lands his ship by night near a river bend, disguises himself with plastiflesh and human clothing to resemble the local "man-things," and destroys his ship before setting out on foot. Seeking lodging at the farmhouse of Jacob Bettendorf, he kills the farmer's dog, Brownie, with a savage kick, then talks his way inside using psi-power to mask the flaws in his disguise. Three and a half weeks later, Federal Security Commissioner Robert Roberts and Psi-High agent Jean Sanders clash with Senatorial Councilman Benjamin Towne, who demands results and rails against Psi-Highs, whom he has spent years stripping of rights through registration and anti-marriage laws. Roberts insists only Psi-High agents can track the telepathic Alien, over Towne's objections. Agent Paul Faircloth, secretly engaged to Jean, leads a raid on the Alien's suspected hideout in Chicago's Condor Building with agent Ted Marino. The Alien blasts Faircloth with psychic pain and vanishes, smashing surveillance cameras. Roberts reveals to Faircloth that Towne is exploiting the failed raid to link Psi-Highs with the Alien invader for political gain, aiming to seize the White House. Roberts also reveals he has deduced Faircloth is himself an unregistered, illegally trained Psi-High, and enlists him and Jean fully into the hunt. Faircloth proposes feeding evidence to a computer, then deliberately acting against its logical recommendations, reasoning the telepathic Alien can anticipate any logical strategy. Security withdraws from Chicago, letting the Alien roam free while a network of Psi-Highs across cities passively lets him make contact, feeding him misleading impressions through raids, delays, and roadblocks — all while Towne fans public rumors of a Psi-High/Alien conspiracy to win Senate votes. The Alien finally strikes Jean with overwhelming force; she gleans only fragmentary images: Towne, some papers, and a farm scene with a dog and blood on trousers. Faircloth suddenly realizes the truth and rushes to arrange Towne's staged "kidnapping" using a forged visiphone call, capturing him with Marino's help and hiding him at Eagle Rock in Ontario. Faircloth flies to Iowa and interrogates Bettendorf, forcing him to confess: the "traveler" he sheltered had blood on his trousers from killing the dog, and the farmer shot him dead that same night. The government announces publicly that Towne was kidnapped by the Alien, casting Psi-Highs as heroic defenders, while Roberts stages a fake Alien "ship" to be destroyed near Eagle Rock as cover. The true Alien, it emerges, died at the farmer's hands that first night. The figure who has been operating ever since is a secret double-factor Psi-High — a child of two psi-positive parents, born of a forbidden union the law forbids — who learned of the Alien's death telepathically from the dying creature's mental broadcast and from Bettendorf's mind, then impersonated the invasion threat to manipulate the political crisis in Psi-Highs' favor, intending to let himself be "captured" as proof of the Alien menace after eliminating Towne. Faircloth and Roberts, having independently arrived at the truth, welcome him instead of exposing him, planning to have him "rescued" from Eagle Rock and rehabilitated. The story closes with Paul, Jean, and Roberts affirming that a real Alien invasion will someday come, and that Earth's scattered Psi-Highs — augmented now by rarer double-factor individuals — will be its defenders.
By Alan Edward Nourse · First published 1953 · Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery · 9 chapters · 19,283 words
First lines
_An invisible network of human minds lay across the country, delicately tuned, waiting breathlessly for the first spark of contact from the unknown. from the unpredictable telepathic Alien._
The ship skimmed down like a shadow from the outer atmosphere and settled gently and silently in the tangled underbrush of the hill that overlooked the bend in the broad river. There was a hiss of scorched leaves, and the piping of a small, trapped animal. Then there was silence.
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The Brain Sinner is listed on Textopian as a novel by Alan Edward Nourse, dated 1953 CE.
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- Work type: Novel
- Author: Alan Edward Nourse
- Date: 1953 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
- Length: 19,283 words
- Structure: 9 chapters, 379 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Science Fiction — Alan Edward Nourse is known for his contributions to the field of Science Fiction, and the title implies elements of neuroscience which often falls within the confines of this genre.
- Thriller — The title 'The Brain Sinner' suggests suspense and potentially sinister plot elements that are hallmarks of the thriller genre.
- Mystery — The ambiguity in the title could indicate a mystery that needs to be solved within the story.
Tags
across · alien · alien encounters · back · could · even · eyes · face · faircloth · fiction · get · got