ShortStory SciFi: People in a small world

[Moss Ryder]

This was a short story in a collection i once had. what i 'member:

These people (guy and girls maybe?) are sent into this enclosed 'world', a small city that is divided into multiple(7?) levels, that was set up by the govt to study the effects of people living in such close quarters (because of overpopulation). The people are a little bit smaller than average and they also have these little charms they carry (i think theyre little mechanical things powered by timy bugs). any way the lead character finally talks to the lil guy in charge to let them know they all have to leave and that the guy in charge should lead his people out. the guy in charge says that the people of the city will take over the rest of the world but in the end they all just leave.

remembered this story after reading the city of ember series, lol!!

 

[monkeypooper]

Alastair Reynolds Terminal World maybe???

 

[Moss Ryder]

no, this one wasn't in the distant future. the facility they were in was basically a squarish building out in the country(i think). i dont think there was any futuristic technology either. it was just one of those gov't projects that went on too long and they sent the main character(s) in to see what had become of the people inside. the society has stratified with the poor living on the lowest levels and the more powerful living on the progressivle less cramped upper floors.

 

[monkeypooper]

The World of Tiers
by Philip Jose Farmer possibly

 

[Moss Ryder]

nah, not those. this was a short story, in a collection of like 300 short scifi stories. it was set on earth. and the 'world' was basically a giant enclosed building.

 

[Moss Ryder]

ok, some months have passed...

maybe can clarify what i remember...

I think it was just one guy that is sent to check out this gov't project to see if it's worth continuing or if it should be shut down. The gov't had built this completely enclosed multi-leveled facility that they filled with people. They were studying the long-term effects of large numbers of people living in limited space (maybe because of over-population or space habitation) Inside, the main character finds the whole place is very crowded. The lower-levels more than the upper. the society had become stratified with the poorest(least powerful)living in the increasingly crowded lower levels, and the ruler living in the spacious top level. The people were smaller of stature. They carried these little charms that were little clock-work gizmos powered by little bugs or worms inside them and they thought they had magic-ish power. (It turns out that by the power of suggestion that you could kill someone by destroying these little things??)

Main character finally meets the leader guy, and the leader thinks that his people are superior to the outside people and that they will 'conquer' the outside world, but in the end, the people in the enclosed world just basically leave.

It may have been more of a novella in a large collection, come to think about it...

 

[Moss Ryder]

ah, well, its been over a year so i thought i'd try a bump

 

[iansales]

Hellstrom's Hive, Frank Herbert? 'The Tunnel Under the World', Frederik Pohl?

 

[chrispenycate]

Very long shot – Colin Kapp "Manalone"?

 

[Moss Ryder]

thanks guys, but no. I own hellstrom's and the other doesn't really sound anything like it. I'm sure someone has to have read this short, so i guess i'll come back in some months again and bump. (sighs and goes back to his corner to weep)

 

[Moss Ryder]

4 years on... figured this is safe to bump?

 

[otistdog]

Do you have any new details to add? Even just free association about what you remember might help someone else recognize the story, or provide a unique-enough-to-be-searchable keyword. The name of those charms/gizmos, the name of the project or building, the name of the investigator or the leader of the inhabitants, the names of the levels? The location (even just country) of the building? A certain phrase or word the inhabitants invented? The first things the narrator notices? Any particularly-memorable passage or incident?

Since it was in a collection, what about the other stories in the collection -- their plots/titles/authors? (Knowing one or two other stories can be really helpful, actually.) The size or cover details of the collection? Where you read it, how you came across it, etc.?

 

[galanx]

Sounds like "Total Environment" by Brian Aldiss: novelette 1968.The world is beset by overpopulation, so the UN tries an experiment to see what happens when total overcrowding occurs. The people are Indian (from India); in this multi-story closed environment they are provided with a steady supply of food per capita but no birth control-they even put porn on TV screens in order to increase breeding. The levels end up being controlled by mini-states and the people do start to get smaller, live and speak more quickly and develop psi powers. (Aldiss said afterwards he wished he hadn't put that in as he disliked stories with psi in them.)

In the meantime the world had solved the overpopulation problem and everything outside was prosperous and peaceful; the agent was sent in to find out how the people inside could be re-integrated to the external world.

I had it in the anthology "World's Best Science Fiction 1969" from the Science Fiction Book Club, one of the monthly selections they sent you at full hardback price if you didn't mail in your card saying you didn't want it in time (my "three SF hardbacks for 99 cents!!!" that was their hook were Dangerous Visions, Stand on Zanzibar, and the original Foundation series in one volume; I figured I was gonna get my money's worth by choosing the fattest ones available).

Other stories in the collection included "The Worm That Flies" also by Aldiss; "Kyrie" by Poul Anderson; "Welcome to the Monkeyhouse" by Vonnegut; "Time Considered As a Helix of Semi-precious Stones" by Sam Delaney; "Masks" by Damon Knight; and "The Dance of the Changer and the Three" by Terry Carr- pretty solid.

 

[johnnyjet]

I had it in the anthology "World's Best Science Fiction 1969" from the Science Fiction Book Club, one of the monthly selections they sent you at full hardback price if you didn't mail in your card saying you didn't want it in time (my "three SF hardbacks for 99 cents!!!" that was their hook were Dangerous Visions, Stand on Zanzibar, and the original Foundation series in one volume; I figured I was gonna get my money's worth by choosing the fattest ones available).

I did the exact same thing! That was a great collection of stories.

 

[Moss Ryder]

Sounds like "Total Environment" by Brian Aldiss: novelette 1968.The world is beset by overpopulation, so the UN tries an experiment to see what happens when total overcrowding occurs. The people are Indian (from India); in this multi-story closed environment they are provided with a steady supply of food per capita but no birth control-they even put porn on TV screens in order to increase breeding. The levels end up being controlled by mini-states and the people do start to get smaller, live and speak more quickly and develop psi powers. (Aldiss said afterwards he wished he hadn't put that in as he disliked stories with psi in them.)

In the meantime the world had solved the overpopulation problem and everything outside was prosperous and peaceful; the agent was sent in to find out how the people inside could be re-integrated to the external world.

I had it in the anthology "World's Best Science Fiction 1969" from the Science Fiction Book Club, one of the monthly selections they sent you at full hardback price if you didn't mail in your card saying you didn't want it in time (my "three SF hardbacks

 

[Moss Ryder]

Galanx wins the prize! Thank you Galanx, and thank you SFFC!