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Code Three
FREEWAYS TO HELL Ben Martin and Clay Ferguson have got a tough job. In Car 56 -- "Beulah" -- they patrol the super-highways of a future that might have been. Along with Medical-Surgical Officer Kelly Lightfoot, they help keep an insane road system as safe as possible. Here is a startling and excitingly realistic portrait of regular folks in a future extrapolated from a time when technology was changing at an explosive rate. What if highways just got bigger and bigger, cars faster and faster? How could such be patrolled, when crashes, jams and road rage are the norm? The answer is an elite paramilitary corp. These dedicated officers, trying to keep reign on a crazed vehicle culture with sixty foot long tank-like patrol cars with 25mm cannon, cranes and full medical suites. Nominated for a Hugo Award, Code Three is a gripping tale for all fans of "If This Go On" stories.
84 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
14 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 14, 2013
- Say, I just had a thought.
- Like, why not get another round?
- No, dumbass, a thought thought.
- Out with it, buddy.
- So all of us here are science-fiction writers.
- That's your thought?
- Quit interrupting. We write all these stories. And the hero's always, you know, some scientist or astronaut or warlock or galactic emperor or something...
- What's your point?
- Why not some more ordinary profession?
- I dunno. 'Cause it'd be boring? Anyway, what profession?
- Hm... well... say... highway patrolman?
- You're seriously telling us science-fiction novels should be about highway patrolmen? WAITRESS! Same again. Thanks. Sorry Rick. I--
- Yeah, why not? Why not write an SF novel about some future-world highway patrolman?
- Because it wouldn't work. Duh.
- I bet you I can do it.
- Oh, oh, oh! Rick says he can do it. Or is that the bourbon talking?
- A hundred bucks says I can do it. Fred, Bob, Harlan, you're all my witnesses. I'll have it published inside six months.
- My God, the man's serious.
- Too damn right, Piers. Now are you on, or are you backing down? And a side bet of fifty that I can include a moving love story.
- I'm on. Both of them. Easy money.
- Done!
___________________________________
SIX MONTHS LATER
- Okay guys, what'd I say?
- Gotta admit it Rick, you did good.
- Yeah.
- Hey, the love story's pretty cheesy!
- Shut up Piers. I liked it.
- Me too.
- Yeah Piers, pay up. You lost, man.
- Look, look, look, how about... double or quits?
- What do you mean?
- You pick the profession. I write it.
- I can pick any profession I want?
- Yeah.
- Okay... prosthodontist.
- WHAT?!
- You backing down?
- You drive a hard bargain, man. You're on.
- Like, why not get another round?
- No, dumbass, a thought thought.
- Out with it, buddy.
- So all of us here are science-fiction writers.
- That's your thought?
- Quit interrupting. We write all these stories. And the hero's always, you know, some scientist or astronaut or warlock or galactic emperor or something...
- What's your point?
- Why not some more ordinary profession?
- I dunno. 'Cause it'd be boring? Anyway, what profession?
- Hm... well... say... highway patrolman?
- You're seriously telling us science-fiction novels should be about highway patrolmen? WAITRESS! Same again. Thanks. Sorry Rick. I--
- Yeah, why not? Why not write an SF novel about some future-world highway patrolman?
- Because it wouldn't work. Duh.
- I bet you I can do it.
- Oh, oh, oh! Rick says he can do it. Or is that the bourbon talking?
- A hundred bucks says I can do it. Fred, Bob, Harlan, you're all my witnesses. I'll have it published inside six months.
- My God, the man's serious.
- Too damn right, Piers. Now are you on, or are you backing down? And a side bet of fifty that I can include a moving love story.
- I'm on. Both of them. Easy money.
- Done!
___________________________________
SIX MONTHS LATER
- Okay guys, what'd I say?
- Gotta admit it Rick, you did good.
- Yeah.
- Hey, the love story's pretty cheesy!
- Shut up Piers. I liked it.
- Me too.
- Yeah Piers, pay up. You lost, man.
- Look, look, look, how about... double or quits?
- What do you mean?
- You pick the profession. I write it.
- I can pick any profession I want?
- Yeah.
- Okay... prosthodontist.
- WHAT?!
- You backing down?
- You drive a hard bargain, man. You're on.
December 22, 2015
The North American Continental Thruway is a road system that stretches coast to coast across the USA, and from the southern-most point of Mexico all the way up to Alaska. Each 'artery' is five miles wide. Yes, five miles wide! With different lanes for the different rates of speed the almost-flying cars of the time can maintain. Naturally, there has to be some some of control and patrol on such a thruway, and that is where Beulah comes in.
I love Beulah. Listen to this: She was sixty feet long, twelve feet wide and twelve feet high; topped by a four-foot-high bubble canopy over her cab. All the way across her nose was a three-foot-wide luminescent strip. This was the variable beam headlight that could cut a day-bright swath of light through night, fog, rain or snow and could be varied in intensity, width and elevation.Beulah had weapons to meet every conceivable skirmish in the deadly battle to keep Continental Thruways
fast-moving and safe. Her own two-hundred-fifty-ton bulk could reach speeds of close to six hundred miles an hour utilizing one or both of her two independent propulsion systems. At ultra-high speeds, Beulah never touched the ground—floating on an impeller air cushion and driven forward by a pair of one hundred fifty thousand pound thrust jets and ram jets. At intermediate high speeds, both her air cushion and the four-foot-wide tracks on each side of the car pushed her along at two hundred-mile-an-hour-plus speeds. Synchro mechanisms reduced the air cushion as the
speeds dropped to afford more surface traction for the tracks. For slow speeds and heavy duty, the tracks carried the burden. Doesn't she sound COOL?!
Her real name is Car 56, but I'll stick with the crew and call her Beulah. There are three people in Beulahs's crew: a sergeant, a trooper, and a surgeon. They are on duty eleven months of the year, going on ten-day patrols where they act as a combination of Highway Patrol, Mechanics, Firemen, Paramedics.....anything that they need to be in order to keep traffic flowing smoothly and save lives.
This was a great story, with both intense and humorous situations. For anyone who grew up with television shows like Adam-12, Highway Patrol, Emergency!, even C.H.I.P.S., this story will be as comfortable as an old shoe. And as much fun!
I love Beulah. Listen to this: She was sixty feet long, twelve feet wide and twelve feet high; topped by a four-foot-high bubble canopy over her cab. All the way across her nose was a three-foot-wide luminescent strip. This was the variable beam headlight that could cut a day-bright swath of light through night, fog, rain or snow and could be varied in intensity, width and elevation.Beulah had weapons to meet every conceivable skirmish in the deadly battle to keep Continental Thruways
fast-moving and safe. Her own two-hundred-fifty-ton bulk could reach speeds of close to six hundred miles an hour utilizing one or both of her two independent propulsion systems. At ultra-high speeds, Beulah never touched the ground—floating on an impeller air cushion and driven forward by a pair of one hundred fifty thousand pound thrust jets and ram jets. At intermediate high speeds, both her air cushion and the four-foot-wide tracks on each side of the car pushed her along at two hundred-mile-an-hour-plus speeds. Synchro mechanisms reduced the air cushion as the
speeds dropped to afford more surface traction for the tracks. For slow speeds and heavy duty, the tracks carried the burden. Doesn't she sound COOL?!
Her real name is Car 56, but I'll stick with the crew and call her Beulah. There are three people in Beulahs's crew: a sergeant, a trooper, and a surgeon. They are on duty eleven months of the year, going on ten-day patrols where they act as a combination of Highway Patrol, Mechanics, Firemen, Paramedics.....anything that they need to be in order to keep traffic flowing smoothly and save lives.
This was a great story, with both intense and humorous situations. For anyone who grew up with television shows like Adam-12, Highway Patrol, Emergency!, even C.H.I.P.S., this story will be as comfortable as an old shoe. And as much fun!
September 7, 2023
A curious novella. Starts out as if you're watching 70s sci-fi schlock (which isn't a bad thing), including delightfully hackneyed dialogue. But then Raphael gets lost in describing his future roadcop world, and spends most of the book's time on it, and it's not interesting enough. There's barely a plot, it's more like a day in the lives of three roadcops in their small spaceship-sized supercar. Written the 60s, there's a good dose of casual sexism and racism (one of the three is an American Indian woman, so we get a lot of calling her Hiawatha and Pocahontas).
June 15, 2015
Rick Raphael only wrote a handful of stories, mainly in the 60s. His speciality was writing about ordinary people doing a professional job coping with futuristic problems. In one of his other stories 'The Thirst Quenchers' his heroes are hydrologists working to conserve water for an overpopulated country. Code Three speculates what kind of job traffic cops will have to do to keep the super speed highways of the future safe. The story takes a ride with a three person team on a routine three week patrol aboard their state of the art cruiser. With vehicles routinely travelling at speeds four or five times the speeds of today the story goes into detail on how they deal with the consequences of accidents and law breaking. There's no world shattering crisis, just everyday problems on the highways dealt with by highly trained professionals... oh and throw in a bit of almost romance that might or might not set off your cheese detectors dependant on your mood. A Hugo nomination had the bad fortune of having to compete with one of Poul Anderson's seven winners 'No Truce with Kings'.
June 14, 2016
I liked it. It seemed to have a few too many lists/descriptions at the beginning, but once past that the action flowed pretty good. I liked the three main characters, their interactions seemed believable, though not all that deep. I'm not so sure about the vehicles as described, but they worked within the story. It was well paced and action packed.
One of the things I really enjoy about these old Hugo nominated stories is that the story actually moves along, people do stuff besides simply exist. There is fanciful and weird technology being used or 'people' unlike the common everyday type I see wandering around today. Instead of some tale about how difficult a moral choice supposedly is, we are shown why or how things are. Instead of philosophy, we get actual science driven fiction.
The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling or grammatical errors. There were no illustrations in the edition I downloaded.
One of the things I really enjoy about these old Hugo nominated stories is that the story actually moves along, people do stuff besides simply exist. There is fanciful and weird technology being used or 'people' unlike the common everyday type I see wandering around today. Instead of some tale about how difficult a moral choice supposedly is, we are shown why or how things are. Instead of philosophy, we get actual science driven fiction.
The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling or grammatical errors. There were no illustrations in the edition I downloaded.
December 2, 2015
Goofy 60s-era SF.
April 20, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"A discussion first about taglines… The 1967 Berkley Medallion edition (with its murky Jerome Podwil cover: photo) reads: “A future world of gigantic expressways—and the men who patrol them.” The 1985 Panther edition with its ubiquitous Chris Foss Textured Mass (CFTM for short) police car reads: “Before MAD MAX there was CODE THREE.” Both are in error. I proffer two edits. “A future world of gigantic expressways—and the people who patrol them.” And the latter should be rendered: “Before MAD MAX there was a completely different feeling novel that did not take place in a post-apocalyptical wasteland titled CODE THREE that attempted to be realistic with no campy villains and no revenge arcs and no…” well, you get the idea. If anything, John Schoenherr’s art for the original novella publication in the February [...]"
"A discussion first about taglines… The 1967 Berkley Medallion edition (with its murky Jerome Podwil cover: photo) reads: “A future world of gigantic expressways—and the men who patrol them.” The 1985 Panther edition with its ubiquitous Chris Foss Textured Mass (CFTM for short) police car reads: “Before MAD MAX there was CODE THREE.” Both are in error. I proffer two edits. “A future world of gigantic expressways—and the people who patrol them.” And the latter should be rendered: “Before MAD MAX there was a completely different feeling novel that did not take place in a post-apocalyptical wasteland titled CODE THREE that attempted to be realistic with no campy villains and no revenge arcs and no…” well, you get the idea. If anything, John Schoenherr’s art for the original novella publication in the February [...]"
October 8, 2024
Slightly interesting premise about future traffic cops riding in fast tanks, equipped with medical and mechanical help, with beds and a kitchen for the crew to spend weeks on the road.
Written, early 1960s, the main focus is on the increased speed of traffic, with special engines, but no thought into the additional human reaction times needed.
An endless unconnected series of traffic accidents and how they fix them. An extended problem from a lawsuit is the only ongoing concern and no substitute for a plot.
I suspect this was three short stories slightly woven together.
Written, early 1960s, the main focus is on the increased speed of traffic, with special engines, but no thought into the additional human reaction times needed.
An endless unconnected series of traffic accidents and how they fix them. An extended problem from a lawsuit is the only ongoing concern and no substitute for a plot.
I suspect this was three short stories slightly woven together.
Read
March 27, 2024My road was after buterfly
the song of shephard over his sheep was naked
softely
funny to live at road
many though after though
at fog and ice rain was many birds
over clouds thee fly like fruty dream
caring over beuty lips
cary me like poem at moon night
but road vickle go as dew moring
strang to know y at accedant
at fire wildy come inside me
rise at suny icy day
to sing to car at road
love drink us
strang
the song of shephard over his sheep was naked
softely
funny to live at road
many though after though
at fog and ice rain was many birds
over clouds thee fly like fruty dream
caring over beuty lips
cary me like poem at moon night
but road vickle go as dew moring
strang to know y at accedant
at fire wildy come inside me
rise at suny icy day
to sing to car at road
love drink us
strang
April 5, 2021
Highway Patrol the exciting way
This book includes the grit and the pleasure and the care and the concerns of highway police everywhere but set in a future of road transport that has not occurred due to low cost air travel. A very enjoyable read tgoday as much as it was in the 1960's when first I enjoyed it.
This book includes the grit and the pleasure and the care and the concerns of highway police everywhere but set in a future of road transport that has not occurred due to low cost air travel. A very enjoyable read tgoday as much as it was in the 1960's when first I enjoyed it.
December 30, 2021
I like the concept of sci fi writers Imagining the mundane lives of normal workers in the future but this tale of future police traffic patrol officers does nothing at all, beside making the traffic faster, to make reading about them more entertaining than their modern counterparts. There's not really much of a story at all which makes the terrible sexual politics harder to ignore.
March 7, 2024
This was something different: a day in the life of a highway patrol somewhere in the not terribly distant future. It was somewhat sexist, but that wasn't too bad. I quite liked it.
The version I read was the original novella (or a novelette, but not illustrated), not the later somewhat extended fix-up novel.
3.75/5
The version I read was the original novella (or a novelette, but not illustrated), not the later somewhat extended fix-up novel.
3.75/5
February 15, 2018
The cover of this book is totally misleading.
It is not a 1960s sci-fi opera type novel, but a 1940s "teen horror" police story, with teenagers in souped up "hotrods" being chased down by "speed cops" in an office on wheels.
It is not a 1960s sci-fi opera type novel, but a 1940s "teen horror" police story, with teenagers in souped up "hotrods" being chased down by "speed cops" in an office on wheels.
April 1, 2021
Almost what I remember
I read this about 60 years ago. Not quite what I remembered, and ends at the wrong place. Still, fun to read again.
I read this about 60 years ago. Not quite what I remembered, and ends at the wrong place. Still, fun to read again.
Currently reading
October 25, 2024Nostalgia read (with a certain amount of trepidation). I started with the Project Gutenberg version, but that's only the first third or so of the book. But I do have the entire book in paperback, so that's what I'm switching to once I finish the first story.
September 28, 2025
This novella starts and ends just as the futuristic "super" cars of this imaginary World.
Slow, picks up speed, takes you on a smooth ride, picks up speed again and shoots you forward, and then comes to a screeching & mind blowing stop at the end.
I felt like I was given a snippet of someone's life...and then the Author was like, "ya know what??....Let's make this horribly tragic, somewhat avoidable, unpleasant ending"...and then yank the curtain closed on the snippet of life you enjoyed.
Crazy.
Read the other reviews bc they're all pretty much spot-on.
Slow, picks up speed, takes you on a smooth ride, picks up speed again and shoots you forward, and then comes to a screeching & mind blowing stop at the end.
I felt like I was given a snippet of someone's life...and then the Author was like, "ya know what??....Let's make this horribly tragic, somewhat avoidable, unpleasant ending"...and then yank the curtain closed on the snippet of life you enjoyed.
Crazy.
Read the other reviews bc they're all pretty much spot-on.
May 17, 2015
I first read this interesting short story as a teenager and it made a lasting impact, so when I came across a copy recently I was keen to see how I would feel about it second time around.
The story is based around a futuristic police vehicle and its crew with a backdrop many years hence, when American interstates have become cross-continental super highways, where traffic is travelling up to and in excess of 400 mph. Each crew mans a cutting edge land-cruiser, the size of a small boat, to deal with the major accidents and incidents that occur on these routes.
I still found the concept fascinating but there was just a tad too much technical description and not quite enough basic story. It was still enjoyable though and gave me a nice little trip down memory lane.
The story is based around a futuristic police vehicle and its crew with a backdrop many years hence, when American interstates have become cross-continental super highways, where traffic is travelling up to and in excess of 400 mph. Each crew mans a cutting edge land-cruiser, the size of a small boat, to deal with the major accidents and incidents that occur on these routes.
I still found the concept fascinating but there was just a tad too much technical description and not quite enough basic story. It was still enjoyable though and gave me a nice little trip down memory lane.
October 30, 2016
The book is written in a peculiar style; rather than describe, Raphael is content to just tell the reader.
Nothing really seems to happen as the book doesn't follow a set narrative but instead outlines a series of related and unrelated events; for me, this was a world to inhabit rather than a story to follow. It took some getting used to and some parts were more engaging than others.
The characters were great. The relationship between them was believable and as you were cooped up in the car with them, they had to be. Towards the end however, one of them seemed to have had a lobotomy.
All in all, an intriguing curiosity, enjoyable but ultimately imperfect.
Nothing really seems to happen as the book doesn't follow a set narrative but instead outlines a series of related and unrelated events; for me, this was a world to inhabit rather than a story to follow. It took some getting used to and some parts were more engaging than others.
The characters were great. The relationship between them was believable and as you were cooped up in the car with them, they had to be. Towards the end however, one of them seemed to have had a lobotomy.
All in all, an intriguing curiosity, enjoyable but ultimately imperfect.
January 29, 2016
Granted, I've only read the Shortstory, which makes up the first half of this listing. So far as I can tell, this is a thoroughly unremarkable police procedural, not materially improved by Raphael's vision of what a high-speed roadnet would looks like, and suffering from Values Dissonance all over the place as Society Marches On and pretty inadequate character development. 2 stars is generous - 1.5 is more like. Find something else to read.
November 21, 2025
Another one of those timeless stories that I keep going back to over and over! Written over fifty years ago elements still make echoes on todays highways. Following Martin, Ferguson and Lightfoot on their patrols on the North American Thruways is an adventure that turns pages faster than a 600 MPH Cruiser with an over zealous driver. If you can find a copy, you will not be disappointed!
September 22, 2015
I read this as a teenager and it has always stuck with me. Great ideas, great story.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews