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Requiem [An Amazing Conroy Story] [MultiFormat]
eBook by Lawrence M. Schoen
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eBook Category: Science Fiction
eBook Description: Former hypnotist turned mega-billionaire, the Amazing Conroy recounts his origins of being a penniless student marooned on a cemetery planet. He begins performing as a hypnotist, and inadvertently causes an alien exile to channel the consciousness of another race, in direct violation of their most sacred beliefs, marking himself for death in the process.
eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Absolute Magnitude, 2005
Fictionwise Release Date: February 2006
This eBook is part of the following series:
17 Reader Ratings:
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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [35 KB]
, ePub (EPUB) [39 KB]
, Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [21 KB]
, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [222 KB]
, Palm Doc (PDB) [23 KB]
, Microsoft Reader (LIT) [81 KB]
, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [94 KB]
, hiebook (KML) [107 KB]
, Sony Reader (LRF) [49 KB]
, iSilo (PDB) [19 KB]
, Mobipocket (PRC) [24 KB]
, Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [52 KB]
, OEBFF Format (IMP) [34 KB]
Words: 6695
Reading time: 19-26 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
 
"This is the origin story for Schoen's recurring character 'The Amazing Conroy,' a star-traveling hypnotist. The young Conroy finds himself marooned on a distant world, with no way off for several months. He turns to hypnotism to make a living, and is surprisingly successful, until one day he hypnotzes an alien, making the alien believe he is a member of another species. Unfortunately, this turns out to be taboo to members of that species, and Conroy is in big trouble. Luckily, the alien he has hypnotized has a different attitude, and an explanation for the way his species feels on the subject. What seems at the start a lighthearted story ends up presenting an interesting alien characteristic in a moving context."--Rich Horton in "Short Fiction: Rich Horton", for Locus, June, 2005
The three men on stage snapped to attention, and began belting out the planetary anthem of the Ice Lords of Sneth, those benevolent purveyors of frozen foodstuffs to the denizens of the Crab Nebula. The audience howled with laughter. I stood next to the trio and wished I was a bit deaf. Each man sang an entirely different tune using completely unrelated nonsense words. There is no Sneth. No planetary anthem, and no aristocracy. I'd made it all up just a few moments before. I invented the whole thing, even down to the bit about frozen food. It's what I do. I'm the Amazing Conroy, Hypnotist Extraordinaire.
As the men finished singing I leaned in and spoke to each, reinforcing their respective trigger phrases. Then I awakened them from the trance, waved them offstage to the applause of the audience, and took my final bow. Ten minutes later I was sitting comfortably in my dressing room, sipping a chilled bottle of Uncle Waldo's Raspberry Rootbeer. I heard a knock at my door.
"It's open," I called, and removed my feet from where I'd crossed them on the edge of a table. I sat up.
One of the former 'Ice Lords of Sneth' stepped into the room. In his right hand he gestured expansively, waving a meerschaum pipe intricately carved in the likeness of a majestic swan. A cloud of sweet smelling tobacco smoke entered with him, which caused the room's exhaust fan to kick in. "That was amazing, Conroy, simply amazing."
I laughed. "It goes with the name, Donny. Have a seat."
The fellow with the pipe was Donald Swanseye, a mega-billionaire from the outer colonies. We'd met at a corporate fundraiser two nights before, and afterwards over poker and cigars I'd invited him to see my show.
"I still can't believe it," he said. "All the way through I kept thinking I was fooling you, just going along with the gag."
"That's a common response to being hypnotized," I said. "It's easy to deny what's really happening to you, but trust me, you were well under."
He settled into the only other chair and looked at me, really studied my face, for the better part of a minute. "I don't understand, Conroy. What are you doing here? This ... show. You're a wealthy man, why are you performing at all?"
I bought a little time by turning and opening the tiny refrigerator under my makeup table. I tossed Donny a frosted Uncle Waldo's which he looked at with an expression of bemusement before opening. He smiled at the first sip, and his grin broadened as he drank more. As I said, I liked Donny, and he deserved an honest answer. "Immortality," I said.
Donny chuckled and lifted his bottle in salute. "Trust me, Conroy, you'll go down in history for breaking the buffalo dog monopoly. You're one of the wealthiest men on Earth, but hypnotism? I doubt that talent will be your legacy."
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