Planetary Nutcrackers and the Arisian Lie

0:00When you really need care, you need 24-7 access to a care team, not a maze of paperwork from a third party. Every day, America's hospitals and health systems show up for you, navigating healthcare can feel overwhelming, but you can count on real doctors, real nurses, real people, providing quality around the clock care when you need it most. They're in your corner, in communities across America, your neighbors, your lifelines, right beside you holding your hand and helping find answers. That's what putting patients first actually means. Learn more at strengthinhealthcare.org. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Health Care. Um, imagine you are standing at the altar. Like, you're literally moments away from saying, I do. And then out of nowhere, a hyper-advanced alien intellect just violently hijacks your brain. Oh, wow. Right. And it just tells you to stop. Just like that. Just like that. Well, for galactic patrol hero Kimble-Kinnison, saving the universe meant literally putting his own wedding on hold. So welcome to this deep dive, custom tailor just for you. Glad to be here. Today, we are looking at E.E. Smith's 1953 classic science fiction novel, Second Stage Lensman.

1:05We're really going to figure out how this abruptly interrupted wedding sparked the blueprint for, well, the modern sci-fi arms race. Yeah, and we really need to contextualize exactly what kind of story we are jumping into today, because you know, the publication history of this book tells a parallel story of its own. Oh, for sure. It was originally serialized in a stounding magazine back in 1941. And if you think about that year, that is right as the real world was plunging into a massive global conflict. My World War II is just roaring. Exactly. But it wasn't actually published as a complete hardcover book until 1953. By fantasy press, right? Yep, fantasy press. And I love this detail from the source material that first edition had a very specific print run of exactly 4,934 copies. 4,934. I know, right? It's such a strangely precise number. Like you really have to wonder who managed to snag copy number 4,934. Probably someone very lucky. Totally. But before we get into the weeds here, let's do a quick foundational breakdown for anyone who hasn't lived and breathed Golden Age Pulp sci-fi.

2:07Dude idea. Because E.E. Smith just throws a lot of massive concepts at you. So what even is a Lensman? That is the perfect place to start. So in this universe, a Lens is essentially a telepathic badge of office. Like a literal badge. Well, a physical device. Yeah. It's granted by this hyper-advanced alien race known as the Erysians. And they only give it to the absolute best of the best in the Galactic Patrol. OK, got it. And it grants immense telepathic powers, plus it acts as a universal translator. Very handy. It's extremely. The Patrol is basically this ultimate interstellar police force. And they are locked in a relentless, multi-galactic war against Boscon. Boscon, that's the bad guys. Right. Boscon is this sprawling, mafia-like evil empire. And this specific book, Second Stage Lensman, is the fifth volume in the series. Number five. Yeah. And it's the final one to feature Kimbell Kinnison as the single most powerful active Lensman in the galaxy. OK, let's unpack this. Because the way the conflict kicks off here really sets the tone for the entire genre.

3:11We've got our heroes, Kinnison and Chlorosimic Dougal. Yeah. They're literally heading off to get ready for their impending marriage in the mentor of Erysia the alien, who issues the lenses. He commands Kinnison to think before he acts. This forces him to pause. Yeah. And why? Because Kinnison suddenly deduces that their massive victory in the previous book wasn't actually final. Right. Because at the end of the previous installment, the Bosconian home planet, Jarnavan, was literally crushed between two other planets. A planetary vice script. Exactly. You would assume that ends the war. I mean, their planet is gone. Right. You'd think that's game over. But mentors prompting makes Kinnison realize the overarching Bosconian command structure survived that cosmic collision. They are still out there and they're actively preparing this overwhelming assault on Earth. And the way E.E. Smith handles this impending assault is, well, it's basically the sci-fi equivalent of the modern tech industry. How so? You know how last year's cutting edge $1,000 smartphone is suddenly this year's clunky obsolete base model.

4:12Oh, absolutely. In the Lensman universe, that planned obsolescence is applied to weapons of mass destruction. That's a great way to put it. Whatever the ultimate unbeatable world ending super weapon was in the last book, that just becomes the standard opening salvo technology in the next one. It creates a brilliant narrative engine of escalation. The Lensman have to anticipate what Earth will be hit with next, knowing the enemy has upgraded. Because they always upgrade. Always. The text notes they predict an attack using either a negosphere, which is this sphere of negative energy that fundamentally consumes and annihilates absolutely anything it touches, or something called a nutcracker. Which just to be clear for everyone listening does not mean a little wooden soldier you put on your mantle at the holidays. Far from it. A nutcracker in E.E. Smith's vocabulary means taking two high velocity planets, weaponizing their orbits, and smashing them together with your target caught squarely in the middle. That's insane.

5:13The sheer scale of that aggression is staggering. It's basically planetary billiards played for keeps. Wait, I need to stop you there. Because the galactic patrols countermeasure to flying planets is a weapon called the sunbeam. Yes, the sunbeam. They literally convert the entire energy output of the sun into a single concentrated beam of energy. That's right. And when the Bosconian fleet shows up, the patrol uses a star as a laser pointer of death and just vaporizes them. It's incredibly effective. But like if you have the technology to harness a star and fire it like a sniper rifle, why do you even need ground troops or spies anymore? It feels like they skipped a few steps on the technology tree. Well, that is exactly the thematic pivot of the entire book. Really? Yeah, you've hit on the ceiling of physical warfare. The sunbeam proves that physical weapons of mass destruction have peaked. Because what's bigger than a sun? Precisely. You cannot practically escalate past we shoot the sun at you. So the arms race has to evolve. It has to move inward into the mind.

6:15Furthermore, there's been a massive defensive escalation alongside the offensive one. Everyone in the galaxy now utilizes thought screens. Pot screens. Which were developed by an allied race called the valantians. Meaning you can't just casually read an enemy commander's mind anymore to get their secrets. The easy intelligence gathering is totally blocked. Precisely. Brute force is blocked by the sunbeam. Basic telepathy is blocked by thought screens. So the galactic patrol has to change tactics entirely. Makes sense. The second stage. Lensmen, this incredibly elite group consisting of Kinesen, the alien war soul tree gun sea and adrach, they must rely on their advanced russian training. They possess an ability called the sense of perception. And how does that actually work? Because the source material describes it as being able to see, hear, and feel without using physical senses. But like, what does that look like in practice? Think of the russian sense of perception not as having invisible eyes, but like a localized

7:15omniscience. Okay. Kinesen isn't just looking at a room. His mind is simultaneously occupying every cubic inch of space in that room. He is processing the internal atomic structure of a locked safe just as easily as he processes the air around it. That is wild. It really is. And this cognitive lead completely pivots the war from giant fleets shooting sunbeams at each other into a war of deep, covert, mental espionage. Which perfectly transitions into Kinesen's solo undercover mission. Because of this new espionage focus, he investigates a planet called lyraine the second. Yes. Lyraine the second. And this place is intense. It's ruled by a matriarchy of women who possess incredibly advanced mental abilities. But bizarrely, the source notes, they have absolutely zero art, literature, music, or any cultural assets. None at all. Just pure functional telepathic aggression. It is a stark, strictly utilitarian society. The moment Kinesen lands, the Loranian who meets him immediately tries to mentally kill

8:17him. Right off the bat. Right off the bat. In fact, every single Loranian he encounters tries to end his life telepathically. And Kinesen just brushes it off. Like, how is he not instantly fried? Because of that second stage training, his mental shields are so hardened that their telepathic daggers basically shatter against his mind. He just tanks it. He completely ignores their mental barrage and demands they hand over as Wilnick. I love that piece of serious slang. As Wilnick is a Bosconian drug dealer. Yes. Patriarchs refuse to corroborate with Kinesen, but they quickly realize their mental attacks are useless against him, so they just let him leave of her. But here is the critical vulnerability of their isolated society. As soon as Kinesen leaves, layering the second is attacked by Bosconian pirates. Of course they are. Now these pirates are equipped with those valantian thought screens we discussed earlier, plus advanced physical weapons, which is a bad combo for the matriarchs. Exactly. The matriarch's incredible mental powers cannot penetrate the screens. They are totally helpless. Oh, man.

9:18They actually have to swallow their pride and call Kinesen and the patrol to come back and save them. Okay. I have to push back on the underlying plot mechanics here, because it feels incredibly contrived. Let's hear it. So, Kinesen figures out that Lorraine II is connected to the Boscon network, but he deduces that no male could survive this aggressively anti-male culture for more than a minute without exhausting themselves defending against constant mental attacks. Right. That's his logic. So, he decides only a female operative could possibly infiltrate them. But up to this point, there are zero female lensmen in the entire universe. Does it really take the invention of an entire planet, of culturalists, hyperaggressive matriarchs, just to justify the necessity of finally recruiting a woman? What's fascinating here is viewing this through the lens of 1950s publishing. Honestly, it's a very pulp sci-fi way to solve a problem. Yeah, that makes sense. E. Smith had built this universe as an ultimate boys club.

10:19To break his own established rule and introduce a female lensman, he clearly felt he had to engineer a literal biological lock that only a woman could pick. Wow. Is it contrived? Absolutely. But historically, this was a massive crack in the glass ceiling of Golden Age space operas. The institution of the lensman has to adapt or fail, and that adaptation is Chlorosimic Dougal. Civilization is very first female lensmen. Exactly. But it's not a simple process. So, Larissa flatly refuses to have any contact with Mentor Eversia, the alien who normally grants the lens. She just says no. Yeah. Because she refuses, Kinnison himself has to step up and give her the intensive mental training required to make her almost a full second stage lensman. So, he trains her himself. Yep. Mentor simply delivers the physical lens once she's ready. And she immediately deploys to Lorraine the second to uncover the Boscon connection. So, Chlorosimic is off-handling the hostile matriarchy. And with her taking point on Lorraine the second, Kinnison and his alien counterpart, Nadrik, are completely freed up to trace the main Bosconian threat straight into the second galaxy.

11:24Right. This is a beautifully coordinated, dual-pronged infiltration. On one hand, you have Port Admiral Haynes mobilizing the entire Grand Fleet of the Galactic Patrol to launch a massive, overwhelming invasion of the enemy's home galaxy. A huge invasion. But it's practically a slight at hand. The Bosconians are so distracted by this massive force knocking on their front door that they ignore a vital communications line leading to the Thrallis system in the second galaxy. And this is where we really see the different methodologies of the second stage lensman. Nadrik heads to the frigid world of Onlo. He does. And he operates completely in the shadows. He doesn't fire a single physical shot. Instead he just quietly, carefully, foments discord by subtly tampering with the minds of the Onlonians. Just subtle pushes. Right. Literally turning the enemy against itself from the inside out through psychological sabotage. Nadrik proves you don't need to be loud to be utterly devastating. The Kinnison's approach to the core world of Thrall is the complete opposite.

12:24Thrallis inhabited by a near-human race that serves as the muscular core of the Boscon Empire. The heavy hitters. Exactly. And then goes into skies. It is basically the most lethal version of undercover boss you can imagine. That's a great comparison. Instead of putting on a fake mustache and handing out gift cards, Kinnison infiltrates the personal guards of the tyrant of Thrall. And he succeeds by playing entirely by their rules. Advancement within the Bosconian hierarchy is a pure Darwinian nightmare. Survival of the fittest. Totally. Promotions are entirely based on deceit, betrayal, and assassination. Kinnison armed with the intelligence and sense of perception of a second-stage lensman is vastly superior at this game. He just beats them at their own game. He simply out deceives the deceiver. He literally assassinates the tyrant and just takes his place. He becomes the new boss. He does. But I love this twist he sits on the throne only to realize he's a figurehead. The real power, the actual puppet master of this entire hostile civilization, is the

13:25prime minister, a being named Fostom. Which puts Kinnison in an incredibly precarious position. Fostom is mentally super powerful. So Kinnison has to hide. Exactly. To keep his cover from being blown, Kinnison has to play the part of the tyrant with absolute perfection. He can't show a single sliver of hesitation. Right. Any hesitation in his death. This means he has to actively execute the former tyrants ongoing military plans. Which involves building a massive, unstoppable fleet of warships designed to attack Klovia. Klovia is the galactic patrol's most heavily fortified planet in the second galaxy. Yep. He has to actually build the weapons that are meant to destroy his own people just to maintain his disguise. It's the ultimate tightrope walk. But Kinnison is always one step ahead. As he's ordering the construction of this doom fleet, he is secretly using his lens to keep the patrol completely updated. Feeding them everything. Right. He's giving them the blueprints, the deployment schedules, the hyperspace routes, everything. It's the perfect trap. The Bosconians think they are launching a surprise decapitation strike against Klovia.

14:29But they really are. Not at all. Because the patrol wiped out the previous Bosconian fleet with the Sunbeam and left absolutely no survivors to report back on the weapon's existence, the tyrant's new fleet is flying completely blind. They sail straight into the Meekrinder. The Grand Fleet and the Sunbeam are waiting and the Bosconian Armada is just totally obliterated. Wipe down. Kinnison intentionally disables the drive on his own command ship, so it drops out of the fleet formation just before the battle starts. Meaning he is now trapped on a dead ship, completely alone with the super powerful Prime Minister, Faustin. The stage is set for the climax. OK, here's where it gets really interesting. Kinnison and Faustin face off. It is a battle royal, but not with fists or blasters. Peerly mental. Fought entirely with mental weapons. And we aren't just talking about intense mind reading here. Their minds are clashing with such unbelievable kinetic force that the spent energy, just the physical ricochets bouncing off their mental shields, is so intense that it literally

15:33destroys the minds of every single crew member trapped on the ship with them. The collateral damage of their telepathic warfare is horrifying. It's just brutal. It really emphasizes the sheer godlike scale of power, these second stage lensmen are wielding. The crew members aren't even targeted. Their brains are just short-circuited by being in the proximity of that much psychic kinetic energy. Kinnison finally manages to batter down Faustin's mental shield, and when he breaks through the physical humanoid form of Faustin drops away. Mask comes off. Exactly. What Kinnison sees sitting there is basically just a giant brain, and it looks exactly like the brother of mentor of a rigid. Which is quite a shock. Kinnison is reeling. He immediately sends a lens thought across the galaxy to mentor, demanding to know what an origin is doing, leading the evil buscone empire. It's a very fair question. I mean, if your ultimate boss's brother is running the enemy syndicate, you want answers. Definitely. And mentor provides an explanation, an explanation that completely satisfies Kinnison, putting

16:34his doubts entirely to rest. But in this absolutely blew my mind, reading the source text, mentor's explanation was a complete 100% lie. A total fabrication. Kinnison did not just fight a rogerisium. He actually just fought, defeated, and destroyed a being named Garland of Eddor. This entity was an immortal being, historically responsible for most of the death and misery in Earth's history. Like, he was the Roman Emperor Nero, he was the villain Grey Roger. If we connect this to the bigger picture, this is a profound moment of paternalistic deception by the supposedly benevolent Arizians. Yeah. It's a good way to phrase it. Mentor literally casts a mental illusion into Kinnison's mind, making him see an Erysian brain instead of Garland's true horrifying Eddorian form. He just fakes it. He does. Mentor justifies this gaslighting by deciding that the time has not yet come for anyone in civilization to see what the ultimate leaders of buscone actually look like. But why? Like, why go through the trouble of casting an illusion after Kinnison just won the fight?

17:39Because Mentor believes that the sheer incomprehensible alien malice of an Eddorian's true form would literally break a human mind. Oh, wow. Even a mind as strong as Kinnison's. Mentor operates on the premise that humanity simply isn't ready for the unvarnished truth of the universe. That's pretty arrogant. It's remarkably similar to modern debates over classified intelligence. Think about governments hiding UFO data or wartime secrets because they believe the public would panic. Mentor is doing that, but telepathically to his top general. It's gaslighting on a galactic scale. They let him fight the ultimate evil, but they won't let him see it. It truly is. But practically speaking, the patrol wins the immediate conflict. Kinnison and his agents bring the warm-blooded world of trail into civilization. Meanwhile, Nadrex successfully assimilates the frigid world faction on Onlo. Civilization and the galactic patrol are now the undisputed controllers of both the first and second galaxies. And a personal objectives are met, too.

18:39That wedding we talked about at the very beginning, it finally happens. Who's last? Kinnison is promoted to galactic coordinator of the second galaxy, and he encores some McDougall finally tie the knot. A happy ending, at least on the surface. But when this book hit the shelves in 1953, the critical reception was incredibly polarizing. Really? People didn't love it. Well, Groff Conklin, reviewing it that year, called Smith's writing, pretty dull going for people who want a bit more than Thudden Blunder, he clearly wasn't impressed by the planetary nutcracker. Sudden Blunder. Ouch. That is a brutal 1950s burn. But then you have P. Skyler Miller, who completely embraced what the book was trying to be. He called it space opera to the nth degree, and accurately predicted that you either like it a lot, even if you probably won't believe a word of it or you simply can't stand it at all. It's a levator-hated kind of thing. Exactly. It's unapologetic in its scale and its ambition. So what does this all mean for us today? When you look at Second Stage Lensman, you are looking at the fossil record of modern science

19:40fiction. Absolutely. You can see the genre actively evolving right there on the page. We moved from simple physical destruction, smashing planets together like toys into complex mental espionage. A huge leap. We explored the logical ceiling of an arms race. And most importantly, we saw the introduction of the very first female Lensman, which was a critical, if clunqually executed, step forward for the universe Smith created. It lead the groundwork for so much of the sprawling complex media we consume today. But this raises an important question for you, the listener, to mull over as we close. Let's hear it. We live in an era of constant information flow, where narratives are shaped by algorithms, media outlets, and leaders. What are the implications of relying on a mentor who fundamentally believes that manipulating your perception of reality is for your own good? Oh, that's a chilling thought. If your ultimate victory, your very understanding of the world, is built on a fundamental illusion cast by your own side, who really won the war?

20:42It really makes you wonder. If your reality is being managed from above by someone who thinks you aren't ready for the truth, maybe there's little hiccups in life we talked about the missing floral arrangements, the interrupted weddings, are the only truly real, unscripted things we have. Keep questioning those illusions, and thanks for joining us on this deep dive. Finding great candidates to hire can be like, well, trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure, you can post your job to some job board, but then all you can do is hope the right person comes along, which is why you should try Zip Recruiter for free.

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