<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Cyphertone is a 5000-word short story by S. C. Sykes, about a father who suspects that his son’s game might have an ulterior purpose. The story was first published in the August 17, 1981 issue of Analog.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Plot

A popular electronic game, similar to the game Simon, circulates among children, and one father suspects that the game is actually a tool left by aliens to re-program Earth’s youth. His son reaches the highest level of the game and disappears. The father picks up the game, and promises his son he will follow.

Reprints

This story has been reprinted in Donald A. Wollheim’s anthology The 1982 Annual World’s Best SF.

Notes

The notion that video games may have a purpose other than entertainment has also been used in the 1982 short story Peg-Man, the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter, and the 1991 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Game (TNG episode)" .

External Links

• The Cyphertone at ISFDB.org

To see specific information, such as anthologies including this story, please click the The Cyphertone category link at the bottom of this article. To see other articles that reference The Cyphertone, please click the What Links Here tool in the toolbox at the bottom of this page.

To comment on this story, please click on the Discussion page.