"Legacy" is a charming technological know-how fiction quick story written by way of James H. Schmitz. This story is a shining example of Schmitz's talent in crafting engaging and imaginative narratives. The tale is set in a far off future where human beings have colonized various planets across the galaxy. The protagonist, Nile Etland, is a skilled "witch" with psychic capabilities. She is recruited by means of a secretive and enigmatic organisation referred to as the Project, which seeks to harness her particular powers for their personal mysterious purposes. As Nile delves deeper into the Project's operations, she uncovers startling secrets about the actual nature of her talents and the employer's hidden agenda. She learns that the Project is the usage of her powers to manipulate and control complete planetary populations, resulting within the suppression of expertise and the stifling of progress. Faced with this ethical catch 22 situation, Nile need to decide whether or not to collaborate with the Project for private benefit or to apply her powers to expose and undermine their nefarious schemes. Her preference could have some distance-reaching consequences not simplest for herself but additionally for the destiny of complete civilizations. "Legacy" is a concept-provoking tale that explores subject matters of energy, ethics, and individual employer in a futuristic and technologically superior society.
James Henry Schmitz (October 15, 1911 – April 18, 1981) was a German-born American science fiction writer who was born in Hamburg, Germany to American parents. Schmitz was schooled at a Hamburg Realgymnasium and grew up speaking both English and German. The family spent WWI in the United States before returning to Germany. Schmitz went to business school in Chicago in 1930, then moved to a journalism correspondence course. He returned to Germany to work for his father's company after being unable to find work due to the Great Depression. Schmitz resided in different German towns, where he worked for the International Harvester Company, until his family relocated to the United States shortly before World War II broke out in Europe. Schmitz worked as an aerial photographer for the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific during WWII. After the war, he and his brother-in-law ran a trailer manufacturing company until 1949, when they sold it. He moved to California after the war and remained there until his death. Schmitz died of congestive lung failure in 1981, following a five-week hospital stay in Los Angeles. Betty Mae Chapman Schmitz, his wife, survived him.
