（外文电子版资料）Walter Jon Williams - Witness.pdfVIP

Witness Witness Walter Jon Williams Authors Note: Witness is a contribution to the Wild Cards shared-world series, but it stands largely on its own. In order to understand its premise, only a few things need to be explained. An alien, known on Earth as Dr. Tachyon, developed the gene-warping wild card virus, which killed most of its victims horribly, which mutilated most of the survivors, and which, to a lucky few, granted genuine superpowers. In an alternate 1946, Jetboy, a famous World War II ace, died in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent terrorists from detonating a wild card bomb over Manhattan. The story begins only a few minutes after Jetboys death, as viral spores begin to rain on the city. The part of the story I didnt make up consists of the HUAC persecutions of the late --40s and 50s. A depressing feature of this story was hearing from young (and a few not-so-young) readers who assume that I invented the McCarthy Period for the purposes of this alternate-worlds story. I can only hope that this disbelief is a measure of how far weve come since the days of HUAC, that it really cant happen again, rather than an indication of the political naivet脙漏 that allowed it all to occur in the first place. W.J.W. * * * * When Jetboy died I was watching a matinee of The Jolson Story. I wanted to see Larry Parkss performance, which everyone said was so remarkable. I studied it carefully and made mental notes. Young actors do things like that. The picture ended, but I was feeling comfortable and had no plans for the next few hours, and I wanted to see Larry Parks again. I watched the movie a second time. Halfway through, I fell asleep, and when I woke the titles were scrolling up. I was alone in the theater. When I stepped into the lobby the usherettes were gone and the doors were locked. Theyd run for it and forgotten to tell the projectionist. I l