"The Galton Whistle" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by American writer

L. Sprague de Camp Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...

, a story in his ''

Viagens Interplanetarias The ''Viagens Interplanetarias'' series is a sequence of science fiction stories by L. Sprague de Camp, begun in the late 1940s and written under the influence of contemporary space opera and sword and planet stories, particularly Edgar Rice ...

'' series. It is the first (chronologically) set on the planet Vishnu. It was first published, as "Ultrasonic God," in the magazine '' Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories'' in the issue for July, 1951. It first appeared in book form under the present title (that preferred by the author) in the collection ''

The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens ''The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens'' is a 1953 collection of science fiction stories by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the fifth book in his '' Viagens Interplanetarias'' series. It was first published in hardcover by Twayn ...

'', published in hardcover by

Twayne Publishers Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...

in 1953, and in paperback by

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in 1971.Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. ''De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography''. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, pages 255, 44-45 It also appeared in the anthologies '' Novelets of Science Fiction'' (

Belmont Books Belmont Books, also known as Belmont Productions, was an American publisher of genre fiction paperback originals founded in 1960. It specialized in science fiction, horror and fantasy, with titles appearing from 1961 through 1971. The company pub ...

, 1963, under the original title),Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. ''De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography''. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, page 255ISFDB entry for "Ultrasonic God"
/ref> ''

The Good Old Stuff ''The Good Old Stuff: Adventure SF in the Grand Tradition'' is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Gardner Dozois. It was first published in trade paperback by St. Martin's Griffin in December 1998, with an ebook following from t ...

'' (

St. Martin's Griffin St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the pub ...

, 1998), and ''

The Good Stuff "The Good Stuff" is a song written by Jim Collins and Craig Wiseman and recorded by the American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released in May 2002 as the second single from his 2002 album ''No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems''. The son ...

'' (

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, 1999).ISFDB entry for "The Galton Whistle"
/ref> The story has been translated into

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, and

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Plot

Surveyor Adrian Frome, one of a three-member survey team working in the jungles of the planet Vishnu, is captured by the centaur-like Dzlieri natives after his supervisor is killed and the third member deserts. Taken to their base, he finds them taking orders from Sirat Mongkut, a Terran previously lost in the area, who is pretending to be a god and has ambitions of uniting the Dzlieri tribes under himself as emperor. He uses an ultrasonic whistle than only the Dzlieri can hear to bolster his authority. Another captive is Elena Millán, a female missionary who had also gone missing. Faced with the choice of joining his captor's cause or death, Frome pretends to enlist, while actually seeking an opportunity to thwart the madman's grandiose scheme and escape. When it arises, he kills Sirat and absconds with Elena, making for the peak that was the goal of the survey, from which he hopes to signal for aid. Successfully rescued, he puts in for a transfer to Ganesha, another world in the star system to escape Elena in turn; having formed a romantic liaison with her, he has since discovered she is an incurable fanatic.

Setting

The planet Vishnu is a tropical world occupying the same

star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speak ...

as Krishna, de Camp's primary setting for the ''Viagens Interplanetarias'' series. As dated in ''

'' and the 1959 version of de Camp's essay "The Krishna Stories", "The Galton Whistle" takes place in the year 2117 CE.De Camp, L. Sprague.
The Krishna Stories
(Essay, in ''New Frontiers'', v. 1, no. 1, Dec. 1959, page 6)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galton Whistle, The 1951 short stories Short stories by L. Sprague de Camp Fiction set around Tau Ceti Works originally published in Future Science Fiction and Science Fiction Stories