Lies, Inc. by Philip K. Dick

Lies, Inc. by Philip K. Dick - Am I reading about a teleport trip or an acid trip, or both? This has been the prime question PKD fans have been asking themselves ever since The Unteleported Man was expanded into Lies, Inc..

As by way of explanation, a quick note on the history of the novel. Back in 1964, Phil published his novella, The Unteleported Man. But then about 1981, he inserted 100 pages (midway thru Chapter 8) of his main character tripping out on acid, having been hit by an LSD dart.

I echo other PKD fans familiar with the author's short stories and novels: only read Lies, Inc. after you've familiarized yourself with the author's other books. Thus, having a fund of PKD hyper-crazy weirdness, you'll take all the wacky, tripped out, not-very-clear happenings in the novel more in stride.

I admit, as reviewer, I wrestled with how to best deal with this Dick doozy. I considered several possible formats before deciding to highlight the main character and themes along with adding a quartet of acid visions. Here goes:

Main Character, Main Story
Lies, Inc. (Listening Instructional Education Services) claims the women and men they have teleported from Terra (Earth) to the distant planet of Whale's Mouth are living in paradise since all the massages received from Whale's Mouth describe how life is, indeed, milk and honey, harmony and happiness. Unfortunately, such fifteen minute teleportation is a one-way trip so verification of these reports is questionable at best.

 
Rachmael ben Applebaum doesn't believe those reports. After all, Rachmael, son of dearly departed dad, Maury Applebaum, founder of Applebaum Enterprises, was put out of business by Lies, Inc. and their teleporting. Rachmael could transport people to other planets and moons the good old fashion way, by rocket ship. But rocket ship travel isn't a quick as teleportation - case in point, Rachmael's rocket would take eighteen years to reach Whales Mouth (not quite as fast as fifteen minutes).

Overpopulation
The whole reason for all the immigration to outer space (attempts have been made to colonize the Moon and Mars but they were unsuccessful) is simple: too many people currently on Terra. Back in the 1960s, overpopulation was a hot button. Many feared by the early 21st century, we'd be faced with standing room only. PKD sets his novel in 2014. Fortunately, the dire predictions back then proved not to be quite so dire. However, we shouldn't speak too quickly. Various manifestations of ecological and environmental catastrophe have become real possibilities (not to mention things like viruses).

Rats
Rachmael ben Applebaum is on the receiving end of a transmission from computers owned by Lies, Inc.. One might even say Rachmael was the victim of such a nefarious transmission. The transmission has to do with colonies of rats in garbage dumps in Oakland, California. The consequence of this transmission: Rachmael has been having powerful dreams that he's a rat. And they have been pleasurable rat dreams!

Rachmael thinks he might have been a rat millions of lifetimes ago and that he might have to see a psychiatrist. But then Rachmael things there might be another, more sinister, reason:

"Or a microwave transmission, using my brain as a transducer without an electronic interface. They have those, especially the police agencies.
He was very much afraid of the world-wide police agencies. Especially Lies, Incorporated, the worst police agency of them all. Even the Soviet police were afraid of them.
They're beaming psychotronic signals at me subliminally while I'm asleep, he thought. And then he realized how paranoid that was. Christ; no sane person would think that."

The above quote underscores two important ongoing PKD themes: fear of mind control by large government and commercial organizations (Phil was especially fearful of manipulation via television and other mass media) and questions of sanity vs. insanity. What does it mean to be sane? Should a sane person accept an insane world? How much pressure can one take before going completely insane?

Oh My Omphalos
Rachmael ben Applebaum makes a critical decision once he detects Lies, Inc. footage of joyful colonists on Whales Mouth are phonies: he'll find out for himself via first hand experience. To accomplish such a mission, Rachmael will do what he has to do: a solo rocket trip to the distant planet in his rocket ship Omphalos that's currently hidden away on the Moon.

Acid Vision, One
"His gaze fixed, he watched the shining, brittle, transparent thing elaborate itself, produce from its central column slender branches like glass stalagmites; in a series of lurches, of jumps forward into the non-spacial dimension of altered movement, the tree-thing developed until its complexity terrified him. It was all over the world, now; from his hand it had jerked out into stage after stage so that, he knew, it was everywhere, and nothing else had room to exist: the tree-thing had taken up all the space and crowded reality-as-it-usually-was out."

Acid Vision, Two
"It means something, he realized. This thing's ocean-face; its presence at the far end of the tube, at the outer opening where I'm not, that isn't a hallucinated event inside me - it's here for a reason; it drips and wads itself into glued-together folds and stares without winking at me and wants to keep me dead, keep me from every getting back."

Acid Vision, Three
"He rubbed his forehead, feeling the ache, the constriction; like a deep, chronic sinusitis which had flared to its most malignant stage. A pain-threshold alteration, he speculated dully. Due to the drug. Routine common discomfort, ordinary somatic promptings, everything enlarged to the point of unbearability, and signifying nothing, nothing at all."

Acid Vision, Four
"Within its bow-shaped mouth the half-chewed eyes lay, rolling on the surface of its greedy, licking tongue. Those not completely eaten, those which still shone with luster, regarded him as they rolled slightly; they continued to function, although no longer fixed to the bulbed, oozing exterior surface of the head. New eyes, like tiny pale eggs, had already begun to form, he perceived. They clung in clusters."
 

Enter the hall of the mountain king - read this PKD.