Sci-fi short story about overpopulation, time travel and battle of the sexes












7














I recall a short story I read many years ago about a soldier or scientist being sent forward in time to see if man survives overpopulation and if we do, how we solved the overpopulation problem. The answer was a literal "war of the sexes". The protagonist even has to drop his pants at one point to prove he's a man so some guy guarding a library (?) won't shoot him.



I can't remember the title or the author's name but I believe it was in a short story collection about time travel.










share|improve this question









New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.




















  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    2 days ago










  • Hi there! I addition to what user14111 said, please take a look at these guidelines, see if they trigger any more memories you could edit in. Every detail, regardless of how minor it may seem, can help us help you find that story :)
    – Jenayah
    2 days ago
















7














I recall a short story I read many years ago about a soldier or scientist being sent forward in time to see if man survives overpopulation and if we do, how we solved the overpopulation problem. The answer was a literal "war of the sexes". The protagonist even has to drop his pants at one point to prove he's a man so some guy guarding a library (?) won't shoot him.



I can't remember the title or the author's name but I believe it was in a short story collection about time travel.










share|improve this question









New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.




















  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    2 days ago










  • Hi there! I addition to what user14111 said, please take a look at these guidelines, see if they trigger any more memories you could edit in. Every detail, regardless of how minor it may seem, can help us help you find that story :)
    – Jenayah
    2 days ago














7












7








7







I recall a short story I read many years ago about a soldier or scientist being sent forward in time to see if man survives overpopulation and if we do, how we solved the overpopulation problem. The answer was a literal "war of the sexes". The protagonist even has to drop his pants at one point to prove he's a man so some guy guarding a library (?) won't shoot him.



I can't remember the title or the author's name but I believe it was in a short story collection about time travel.










share|improve this question









New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











I recall a short story I read many years ago about a soldier or scientist being sent forward in time to see if man survives overpopulation and if we do, how we solved the overpopulation problem. The answer was a literal "war of the sexes". The protagonist even has to drop his pants at one point to prove he's a man so some guy guarding a library (?) won't shoot him.



I can't remember the title or the author's name but I believe it was in a short story collection about time travel.







story-identification short-stories time-travel






share|improve this question









New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 2 days ago









Jenayah

14.7k476108




14.7k476108






New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 2 days ago









KatoNamusKatoNamus

384




384




New contributor




KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






KatoNamus is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    2 days ago










  • Hi there! I addition to what user14111 said, please take a look at these guidelines, see if they trigger any more memories you could edit in. Every detail, regardless of how minor it may seem, can help us help you find that story :)
    – Jenayah
    2 days ago


















  • Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    2 days ago










  • Hi there! I addition to what user14111 said, please take a look at these guidelines, see if they trigger any more memories you could edit in. Every detail, regardless of how minor it may seem, can help us help you find that story :)
    – Jenayah
    2 days ago
















Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
– Valorum
2 days ago




Welcome to Science Fiction & Fantasy! This question would be improved by going through the checklists here; How to ask a good story-ID question?
– Valorum
2 days ago












Hi there! I addition to what user14111 said, please take a look at these guidelines, see if they trigger any more memories you could edit in. Every detail, regardless of how minor it may seem, can help us help you find that story :)
– Jenayah
2 days ago




Hi there! I addition to what user14111 said, please take a look at these guidelines, see if they trigger any more memories you could edit in. Every detail, regardless of how minor it may seem, can help us help you find that story :)
– Jenayah
2 days ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















6














"Flux", a novelette by Barrington J. Bayley and Michael Moorcock, also the answer to this question; first published in New Worlds Science Fiction #132, July 1963, available at the Internet Archive. You probably read it in the 1967 anthology Voyagers in Time edited by Robert Silverberg, or perhaps in Peter Haining's 1997 anthology Timescapes: Stories of Time Travel aka Time Travelers: Fiction in the Fourth Dimension.



The agent is briefed on his mission:




"Europe suffers from compression," Standon continued. "Everything is so pressurized, energies and processes abut so solidly on one another, that the whole system has massed together in a solid plenum. Politically speaking, there just isn't room to move around. Consequently, we are unable to apprehend the course of events either by computation or by common sense, and we are unable to say what will result from any given action. In short, we are in complete ignorance of the future, whether we participate in it or not."

[. . . .]

"Our only hope lies in discovering how events are organized in time—this might sound highly speculative for such a serious and practical matter, but this is what things have come to. In order to take effective action in the present, we must first know the future. This is the mission we have in mind for you. The Research Complex at Geneva has found a way to deposit a man some years in the future and bring him back. You will be sent ten years forward to find out what will happen and how it will come about. You will then return, report your findings to us, and we will use this information to guide our actions, and also—scientifically—to analyze the laws governing the sequence of time. This is how we hope to formulate a method of human government for use by future ages, and, perhaps, remove the random element from human affairs."




In the future, the visit to the library and the battle of the sexes are much as you described, but the agent is not required to drop his pants:




As he mounted an interlevel ramp he saw one or two figures, mostly alone. He had never seen so few people. Perhaps the quickest way to find out what was going on would be to locate the library and read up some recent history. It might give a clue, anyway.

He reached the building which pushed up through several layers of deserted street. A huge black sign hung over the main entrance. It said:


MEN ONLY


Puzzled, File entered the cool half-light and approached the wary young man at the Inquiry desk.

"Excuse me," he said, and jumped as the man produced a squat gun from under the counter and leveled it at him.

"What do you want?"

"I've come to consult recent texts dealing with the development of Europe in the last ten years," File said.

The young man grinned with his thin lips. The gun held steady, he said, "Development?"

"I'm a serious student—all I want to do is look up some information."

The young man put away the gun and with one hand pressed the buttons of an index system. He took two cards out and handed them to File.

"Fifth floor, room 543. Here's the key. Lock the door behind you. Last week a gang of women broke through the barricades and tried to burn us down. They like their meat pre-cooked, eh?"

File frowned at him but said nothing. He went to the elevator. The young man called, "For a student you don't know much about this library. That elevator hasn't worked for four years. The women control all the main power sources these days."







share|improve this answer























  • Thank you very much
    – KatoNamus
    16 hours ago











Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "186"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});






KatoNamus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f202821%2fsci-fi-short-story-about-overpopulation-time-travel-and-battle-of-the-sexes%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









6














"Flux", a novelette by Barrington J. Bayley and Michael Moorcock, also the answer to this question; first published in New Worlds Science Fiction #132, July 1963, available at the Internet Archive. You probably read it in the 1967 anthology Voyagers in Time edited by Robert Silverberg, or perhaps in Peter Haining's 1997 anthology Timescapes: Stories of Time Travel aka Time Travelers: Fiction in the Fourth Dimension.



The agent is briefed on his mission:




"Europe suffers from compression," Standon continued. "Everything is so pressurized, energies and processes abut so solidly on one another, that the whole system has massed together in a solid plenum. Politically speaking, there just isn't room to move around. Consequently, we are unable to apprehend the course of events either by computation or by common sense, and we are unable to say what will result from any given action. In short, we are in complete ignorance of the future, whether we participate in it or not."

[. . . .]

"Our only hope lies in discovering how events are organized in time—this might sound highly speculative for such a serious and practical matter, but this is what things have come to. In order to take effective action in the present, we must first know the future. This is the mission we have in mind for you. The Research Complex at Geneva has found a way to deposit a man some years in the future and bring him back. You will be sent ten years forward to find out what will happen and how it will come about. You will then return, report your findings to us, and we will use this information to guide our actions, and also—scientifically—to analyze the laws governing the sequence of time. This is how we hope to formulate a method of human government for use by future ages, and, perhaps, remove the random element from human affairs."




In the future, the visit to the library and the battle of the sexes are much as you described, but the agent is not required to drop his pants:




As he mounted an interlevel ramp he saw one or two figures, mostly alone. He had never seen so few people. Perhaps the quickest way to find out what was going on would be to locate the library and read up some recent history. It might give a clue, anyway.

He reached the building which pushed up through several layers of deserted street. A huge black sign hung over the main entrance. It said:


MEN ONLY


Puzzled, File entered the cool half-light and approached the wary young man at the Inquiry desk.

"Excuse me," he said, and jumped as the man produced a squat gun from under the counter and leveled it at him.

"What do you want?"

"I've come to consult recent texts dealing with the development of Europe in the last ten years," File said.

The young man grinned with his thin lips. The gun held steady, he said, "Development?"

"I'm a serious student—all I want to do is look up some information."

The young man put away the gun and with one hand pressed the buttons of an index system. He took two cards out and handed them to File.

"Fifth floor, room 543. Here's the key. Lock the door behind you. Last week a gang of women broke through the barricades and tried to burn us down. They like their meat pre-cooked, eh?"

File frowned at him but said nothing. He went to the elevator. The young man called, "For a student you don't know much about this library. That elevator hasn't worked for four years. The women control all the main power sources these days."







share|improve this answer























  • Thank you very much
    – KatoNamus
    16 hours ago
















6














"Flux", a novelette by Barrington J. Bayley and Michael Moorcock, also the answer to this question; first published in New Worlds Science Fiction #132, July 1963, available at the Internet Archive. You probably read it in the 1967 anthology Voyagers in Time edited by Robert Silverberg, or perhaps in Peter Haining's 1997 anthology Timescapes: Stories of Time Travel aka Time Travelers: Fiction in the Fourth Dimension.



The agent is briefed on his mission:




"Europe suffers from compression," Standon continued. "Everything is so pressurized, energies and processes abut so solidly on one another, that the whole system has massed together in a solid plenum. Politically speaking, there just isn't room to move around. Consequently, we are unable to apprehend the course of events either by computation or by common sense, and we are unable to say what will result from any given action. In short, we are in complete ignorance of the future, whether we participate in it or not."

[. . . .]

"Our only hope lies in discovering how events are organized in time—this might sound highly speculative for such a serious and practical matter, but this is what things have come to. In order to take effective action in the present, we must first know the future. This is the mission we have in mind for you. The Research Complex at Geneva has found a way to deposit a man some years in the future and bring him back. You will be sent ten years forward to find out what will happen and how it will come about. You will then return, report your findings to us, and we will use this information to guide our actions, and also—scientifically—to analyze the laws governing the sequence of time. This is how we hope to formulate a method of human government for use by future ages, and, perhaps, remove the random element from human affairs."




In the future, the visit to the library and the battle of the sexes are much as you described, but the agent is not required to drop his pants:




As he mounted an interlevel ramp he saw one or two figures, mostly alone. He had never seen so few people. Perhaps the quickest way to find out what was going on would be to locate the library and read up some recent history. It might give a clue, anyway.

He reached the building which pushed up through several layers of deserted street. A huge black sign hung over the main entrance. It said:


MEN ONLY


Puzzled, File entered the cool half-light and approached the wary young man at the Inquiry desk.

"Excuse me," he said, and jumped as the man produced a squat gun from under the counter and leveled it at him.

"What do you want?"

"I've come to consult recent texts dealing with the development of Europe in the last ten years," File said.

The young man grinned with his thin lips. The gun held steady, he said, "Development?"

"I'm a serious student—all I want to do is look up some information."

The young man put away the gun and with one hand pressed the buttons of an index system. He took two cards out and handed them to File.

"Fifth floor, room 543. Here's the key. Lock the door behind you. Last week a gang of women broke through the barricades and tried to burn us down. They like their meat pre-cooked, eh?"

File frowned at him but said nothing. He went to the elevator. The young man called, "For a student you don't know much about this library. That elevator hasn't worked for four years. The women control all the main power sources these days."







share|improve this answer























  • Thank you very much
    – KatoNamus
    16 hours ago














6












6








6






"Flux", a novelette by Barrington J. Bayley and Michael Moorcock, also the answer to this question; first published in New Worlds Science Fiction #132, July 1963, available at the Internet Archive. You probably read it in the 1967 anthology Voyagers in Time edited by Robert Silverberg, or perhaps in Peter Haining's 1997 anthology Timescapes: Stories of Time Travel aka Time Travelers: Fiction in the Fourth Dimension.



The agent is briefed on his mission:




"Europe suffers from compression," Standon continued. "Everything is so pressurized, energies and processes abut so solidly on one another, that the whole system has massed together in a solid plenum. Politically speaking, there just isn't room to move around. Consequently, we are unable to apprehend the course of events either by computation or by common sense, and we are unable to say what will result from any given action. In short, we are in complete ignorance of the future, whether we participate in it or not."

[. . . .]

"Our only hope lies in discovering how events are organized in time—this might sound highly speculative for such a serious and practical matter, but this is what things have come to. In order to take effective action in the present, we must first know the future. This is the mission we have in mind for you. The Research Complex at Geneva has found a way to deposit a man some years in the future and bring him back. You will be sent ten years forward to find out what will happen and how it will come about. You will then return, report your findings to us, and we will use this information to guide our actions, and also—scientifically—to analyze the laws governing the sequence of time. This is how we hope to formulate a method of human government for use by future ages, and, perhaps, remove the random element from human affairs."




In the future, the visit to the library and the battle of the sexes are much as you described, but the agent is not required to drop his pants:




As he mounted an interlevel ramp he saw one or two figures, mostly alone. He had never seen so few people. Perhaps the quickest way to find out what was going on would be to locate the library and read up some recent history. It might give a clue, anyway.

He reached the building which pushed up through several layers of deserted street. A huge black sign hung over the main entrance. It said:


MEN ONLY


Puzzled, File entered the cool half-light and approached the wary young man at the Inquiry desk.

"Excuse me," he said, and jumped as the man produced a squat gun from under the counter and leveled it at him.

"What do you want?"

"I've come to consult recent texts dealing with the development of Europe in the last ten years," File said.

The young man grinned with his thin lips. The gun held steady, he said, "Development?"

"I'm a serious student—all I want to do is look up some information."

The young man put away the gun and with one hand pressed the buttons of an index system. He took two cards out and handed them to File.

"Fifth floor, room 543. Here's the key. Lock the door behind you. Last week a gang of women broke through the barricades and tried to burn us down. They like their meat pre-cooked, eh?"

File frowned at him but said nothing. He went to the elevator. The young man called, "For a student you don't know much about this library. That elevator hasn't worked for four years. The women control all the main power sources these days."







share|improve this answer














"Flux", a novelette by Barrington J. Bayley and Michael Moorcock, also the answer to this question; first published in New Worlds Science Fiction #132, July 1963, available at the Internet Archive. You probably read it in the 1967 anthology Voyagers in Time edited by Robert Silverberg, or perhaps in Peter Haining's 1997 anthology Timescapes: Stories of Time Travel aka Time Travelers: Fiction in the Fourth Dimension.



The agent is briefed on his mission:




"Europe suffers from compression," Standon continued. "Everything is so pressurized, energies and processes abut so solidly on one another, that the whole system has massed together in a solid plenum. Politically speaking, there just isn't room to move around. Consequently, we are unable to apprehend the course of events either by computation or by common sense, and we are unable to say what will result from any given action. In short, we are in complete ignorance of the future, whether we participate in it or not."

[. . . .]

"Our only hope lies in discovering how events are organized in time—this might sound highly speculative for such a serious and practical matter, but this is what things have come to. In order to take effective action in the present, we must first know the future. This is the mission we have in mind for you. The Research Complex at Geneva has found a way to deposit a man some years in the future and bring him back. You will be sent ten years forward to find out what will happen and how it will come about. You will then return, report your findings to us, and we will use this information to guide our actions, and also—scientifically—to analyze the laws governing the sequence of time. This is how we hope to formulate a method of human government for use by future ages, and, perhaps, remove the random element from human affairs."




In the future, the visit to the library and the battle of the sexes are much as you described, but the agent is not required to drop his pants:




As he mounted an interlevel ramp he saw one or two figures, mostly alone. He had never seen so few people. Perhaps the quickest way to find out what was going on would be to locate the library and read up some recent history. It might give a clue, anyway.

He reached the building which pushed up through several layers of deserted street. A huge black sign hung over the main entrance. It said:


MEN ONLY


Puzzled, File entered the cool half-light and approached the wary young man at the Inquiry desk.

"Excuse me," he said, and jumped as the man produced a squat gun from under the counter and leveled it at him.

"What do you want?"

"I've come to consult recent texts dealing with the development of Europe in the last ten years," File said.

The young man grinned with his thin lips. The gun held steady, he said, "Development?"

"I'm a serious student—all I want to do is look up some information."

The young man put away the gun and with one hand pressed the buttons of an index system. He took two cards out and handed them to File.

"Fifth floor, room 543. Here's the key. Lock the door behind you. Last week a gang of women broke through the barricades and tried to burn us down. They like their meat pre-cooked, eh?"

File frowned at him but said nothing. He went to the elevator. The young man called, "For a student you don't know much about this library. That elevator hasn't worked for four years. The women control all the main power sources these days."








share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 2 days ago

























answered 2 days ago









user14111user14111

99.6k6388498




99.6k6388498












  • Thank you very much
    – KatoNamus
    16 hours ago


















  • Thank you very much
    – KatoNamus
    16 hours ago
















Thank you very much
– KatoNamus
16 hours ago




Thank you very much
– KatoNamus
16 hours ago










KatoNamus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










draft saved

draft discarded


















KatoNamus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













KatoNamus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












KatoNamus is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f202821%2fsci-fi-short-story-about-overpopulation-time-travel-and-battle-of-the-sexes%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

Mario Kart Wii

What does “Dominus providebit” mean?

Antonio Litta Visconti Arese