The Tactful Saboteur

Infobox short story |
name = The Tactful Saboteur
title_orig =
translator =
author = Frank Herbert
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre =
published_in = "Galaxy Science Fiction"
publication_type = Periodical
publisher =
media_type = Print (Magazine)
pub_date = 1964
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Tactful Saboteur" is a novelette by the science fiction author Frank Herbert which first appeared in "Galaxy Science Fiction" magazine in 1964. It is notable for establishing the setting for Herbert's ConSentiency universe, one of his three elaborate universes or franchises spanning multiple volumes (the others being the "Dune" universe and the developed with co-author Bill Ransom).

The three chapter story "The Tactful Saboteur", written in a brisk, economical style, proved to be one of Herbert's most popular works. It was subsequently republished in "The Worlds of Frank Herbert" in 1971 and again in Herbert's 1985 short story collection "Eye" after interest was renewed in the wake of the film adaptation of Herbert's novel "Dune".

Plot summary

The protagonist of "The Tactful Saboteur" is "saboteur extraordinary" Jorj X. McKie, an employee of the Bureau of Sabotage. BuSab is a government agency responsible for conducting dirty tricks "in lieu of red tape" to help slow down and regulate the vast galaxy-spanning bureaucracy of the ConSentiency (under BuSab rules the Secretary of the agency retains his position until he himself is sabotaged). Tasked with finding missing saboteur Napoleon Bildoon, McKie attempts to penetrate the secrets of the Pan-Spechi, a race divided into groups of five members, only one of whom possess ego-awareness at a time. In so doing he runs afoul of the "Tax Watchers" which is adamantly opposed to the existence of BuSab.

Analysis

The ConSentiency established by Herbert in "The Tactful Saboteur" represents his only use of alien races living together with humans (if one excludes the Chem — created for the novel "The Heaven Makers" — who treat humans on par with pets). Many of the aliens of the ConSentiency stories possess highly-developed traditions and taboos which are easily trampled by human ignorance, a situation exacerbated by the easy travel between planets offered by Caleban jumpdoors. fact|date=March 2008

The irony of the story matches the irony of the title. McKie's designated role to make endless mischief against the galactic government requires him to become exquisitely sensitive to every nuance of the interlocking alien manners of many races. At one point in a "courtarena", McKie testifies about his profound knowledge of the bizarre aspects of Gowachin law, which is greatly elaborated by Herbert in the final full-length novel of the series.fact|date=March 2008

Bildoon and McKie go on to appear in "Whipping Star" and "The Dosadi Experiment"; in the second novel, Herbert reaches a natural conclusion and no further ConSentiency novels follow. However, for McKie completists, the 1958 Herbert short story "A Matter of Traces" from 1958 also appears in the 1985 "Eye" collection and features McKie as a more-or-less passive observer in a briefing as a colonist related his tale. fact|date=March 2008

Sources

* Herbert, Frank. "A Matter of Traces" (short story) "Fantastic Universe", 1958
* Herbert, Frank. "The Tactful Saboteur" (short story) "Galaxy Science Fiction", 1964
* Herbert, Frank. "Whipping Star" (novel) G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1970
* Herbert, Frank. "The Dosadi Experiment" (novel) G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1977