The Eyes of Heisenberg is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Frank Herbert. Originally serialized as Heisenberg's Eyes in Galaxy magazine between June and August 1966, it was issued by Berkley in the same year. The title refers to Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, here applied both on the molecular (genetic) level (producing the atypical embryo the story hinges on) and on a macroscopic, societal level.
Setting
The short novel takes places in an initially unspecified future in which society is rigidly stratified into two genetic and reproductive classes: the "Optimen" (who include women) and the "Folk." All humans are mandatorily genetically reviewed and modified ("cut") just after conception by surgeons answering to the Optimen, a ruling class of genetically superior humans.
The Optimen are distinguished by genetic excellence, but also by a unique vocation; their metabolisms are such that treatment with the life-extension enzymes available to most members of the society instead induces true biological immortality. The Optimen exercise absolute dictatorial control over Earth from an enclave in North America. They hold global society in stasis, both politically and through continuous manipulation of the human genome. Only a small minority of the population is permitted to reproduce, and that only under strict supervision—the vast majority of the Folk are "Sterries," kept sterile through an ever-present prophylactic gas. The Optimen are naturally sterile.
The Folk revere the Optimen with a quasi-religious fervor, centered on the mantra "They are the power that loves us and protects us." The adulation is however not universal; an anti-Optiman resistance exists, in the form of the "Parents Underground" and the "Couriers," both networks sponsored by the Cyborgs, mechanically enhanced humans long opposed to the immortals.
As the story unfolds, the setting—which had seemed a relatively near future, perhaps a few centuries at most—is revealed to be at least 80,000 years distant (the age given for the oldest Optimen). The extraordinary control of the Optimen is such that late 21st century life has been the norm for millennia.
It is noted that the Optimen have deliberately stunted technological progress. The Cyborgs are implied to be rather long-lived themselves—an Optiman-Cyborg War is briefly mentioned, and it is implied as having taken place in the quite distant past, but it is elsewhere stated that this was no more than three Cyborg generations ago.
Most of the book takes place in the "Seatac Megalopolis"—apparently incorporating present-day Seattle and Tacoma—and the Optiman enclave.
Major characters
Harvey and Lizbeth Durant - protagonists, "viables" (parents), Courier dissidents Dr. Vyaslav Potter - a surgeon, performs the "cut" on Harvey and Lizbeth's embryo, refuses to destroy it Dr. Thei Svengaard - a lower-ranking surgeon. Shanghaied by the resistance after becoming suspicious Glisson - a high-ranking Cyborg The Tuyere - the ruling triumvirate of the Optimen, elected for a century. Comprises the Optimen Calapine, Nourse and Schruille Dr. Boumard and Dr. Igan - high-ranking surgeons in the service of the Optimen Max Allgood - the Tuyere's Chief of Tachy-Security. A succession of clones, replaced at 400-year intervals
Plot
Chs. 1–4: Harvey and Lizbeth Durant arrive to witness the cutting of their embryo. Svengaard, a low-ranking doctor, tries to convince them to skip the procedure, but they are adamant and insist on their right, all the while secretly communicating their contempt for Svengaard in a silent Courier code. Potter, a high-ranking surgeon, arrives to perform the cut. During the procedure, he is shocked to discover that the embryo has qualities not seen in millennia; superior genetics in the areas of intelligence, plus vocation for immortality and full fertility. Obligated to destroy it, Potter is surprised to find himself unwilling to do so, aided by the on-the-spot collusion of one of the nurses who sabotages the record of the operation.
Ch. 5: Max Allgood, Boumard and Igan arrive at the Hall of Counsel for an audience with the Tuyere. Tachy-Security monitoring has detected something amiss with the Durant embryo cutting. The nurse has been arrested, but has died under interrogation. The Optimen Calapine, Nourse and Schruille playfully mock their subordinates, always with a faint undercurrent of menace. Calapine flirts with Allgood in a semi-bemused fashion. The Tuyere order that Svengaard be brought before them. Boumard and Igan are revealed to the reader as Cyborg agents.