Friends and Enemies

In Short

Set in 1993 after a devastation by atomic weapons, Friends and Enemies follows two outcast academics—Ellenby, a former nuclear physicist, and Madson, an anti-science poet—who are expelled from conservative Ozona College. Forced toward the spires of New Angeles, the ideological enemies must survive crop-dusting nerve gas, opportunistic highwaymen, and an unexpected seismic shock. Fritz Leiber’s short story endures because it balances a lighthearted satire of mid-century media culture with an enduring debate between cold intellect and romantic feeling.

The Story

Driven from the small, fearful town of Ozona for their unapproved ideas, physicist Ellenby and poet Madson are forced onto the empty road to New Angeles. Ozona’s authorities tolerate neither the technical knowledge that built the bombs nor the scandalous stories of free love that Madson wrote, leaving both men to trudge together under a scorching morning sun. As they walk, they trade barbs about their opposing philosophies. Ellenby reduces the natural world to mathematical formulas and spectroscope readings, while Madson insists that science has stripped humanity of imagination, art, and true emotion.

Their philosophical debate is interrupted when a low-flying agricultural helicopter sprays the wheat fields with TTTR, a toxic fungicide related to nerve gas. Ellenby quickly drags Madson into a nearby irrigation ditch, ordering him to strip and scrub the chemical off his skin with a bar of soap. While standing waist-deep in the muddy water, they are discovered by Vera-Ellen, the rebellious daughter of the Ozona regent who banished them. Having left town herself to seek fame in the entertainment industry of New Angeles, she teasingly watches them rinse their clothes before joining their trek.

Further down the road, the trio encounters a stalled, vintage jet-car carrying Rickie Vickson, a fading star of early 3D television, and her drunken chauffeur. Rickie is fleeing what she believes is an imminent nuclear strike. After sharing food and advice about working in the tactile "handie" studios of the big city, Rickie’s party is ambushed by a band of scavengers led by a ruthless thug named Harvey. Vera-Ellen and the car speed off during the chaos, leaving Ellenby and Madson at the mercy of the gang.

Harvey confiscates Madson’s volume of John Keats poetry and Ellenby’s spectroscope, preparing to crush the scientific tool underfoot out of anti-intellectual malice. Before violence can erupt, a massive earthquake strikes along the San Andreas Fault. The ground splits open, swallowing Harvey, the spectroscope, and the poetry book into a smoking chasm. Vera-Ellen, having knocked out the uncooperative chauffeur, maneuvers the car back to rescue the stranded scholars. Shaken but unhurt, Ellenby gently points out to Madson that this sudden destruction was caused by Nature, not Man’s technology. Riding together toward the gleaming spires of New Angeles, the group sets aside their immediate fears, ready to resume their ongoing argument in a strange new world.

How It Unfolds

Exiled from Ozona Armed town guards force Ellenby and Madson onto the road at dawn, citing their dangerous backgrounds in physics and free-thinking literature. The two men begin their long walk toward New Angeles while debating the merits of scientific analysis versus artistic expression.

Chemical in the Fields Attempting a shortcut through tall wheat, they are sprayed with a toxic fungicide by a crop-dusting helicopter. Ellenby forces Madson into an irrigation ditch to wash away the nerve toxin before it absorbs into their skin.

An Unlikely Companion Vera-Ellen catches up to the naked scholars at the ditch and announces her plan to find work in the city. The three continue together, discussing whether human intellect or natural forces are to blame for the world's ruined state.

The Jet-Car Encounter They meet Rickie Vickson, an eccentric, aging media star traveling in a custom Lunar '69 jet-automobile with her pet flying fox. She shares sandwiches, warns them of incoming bombs, and evaluates Vera-Ellen's potential for interactive broadcast shows.

Trapped by Scavengers A gang of armed highwaymen led by Harvey surrounds the group, seizing Ellenby’s spectroscope and Madson’s book of Keats poems. Harvey threatens to execute the men and destroy their belongings to punish them for their association with science and literature.

Nature Strikes Back A sudden, powerful earthquake strikes the San Andreas Fault, opening a deep fissure that swallows Harvey and the stolen items. Vera-Ellen drives the jet-car back through the confusion, plucking Ellenby and Madson to safety before they head onward to the city.

The People

• Ellenby is an elderly, graying former nuclear physicist turned math instructor who seeks order through empirical data and scientific tools. He wants to observe the world through precise measurements, but his past work leaves him vulnerable to anti-science prejudice. By the story's end, he realizes that natural phenomena remain beyond human control, yet he retains his calm curiosity.
• Madson is a passionate, volatile poet who wants to rid humanity of technological influence to preserve art, raw feeling, and simple living. He fears that mechanical progress has crushed human imagination, but when confronted by Harvey's brutality, he instinctively steps forward to defend Ellenby, revealing a deep sense of camaraderie beneath his rhetorical anger.
• Vera-Ellen is the spirited, independent young daughter of an Ozona councilman who wants to escape her restrictive hometown and build an exciting life in New Angeles. She refuses to be constrained by small-town morality, ultimately demonstrating quick thinking and driving skills when she rescues the two men from Harvey’s gang.
• Rickie Vickson is a washed-up 3D entertainment star who wants to evade a rumored nuclear attack by fleeing to the mountains. Fragile, alcohol-dependent, and reliant on psychic advice, she offers practical insight into the cynical world of future media.

In Its Own Voice

The fat man stuffed the big handkerchief back in his pocket, wiped his hands on his shirt, rested his wrists lightly on the pistols holstered either side his stomach, looked at the two unarmed men, indicated the hot road with a nod, and said, "There's your way, professors. Get going."

The story opens on the edge of Ozona, where rigid authority figures banish intellectual expression to keep their small town quiet and compliant.

"A bubble bursts because its skin gets thinner and thinner," Ellenby said.

While hiding in an irrigation ditch, the physicist uses a simple soap bubble to teach his companion how physical laws reveal hidden structural changes.

"We were on the San Andreas Rift," he said softly. "Madson, that wasn't the bombs at all. That wasn't Technology or Man."

After the sudden tremor destroys their captors, Ellenby points out that planetary forces operate independently of human design and philosophical blame.

What It's Really About

At its core, the narrative explores the artificial divide between scientific reason and creative passion. Rather than taking a side, the plot shows how both perspectives become absurd when pushed to extremes. Ellenby reduces a glistening spiderweb to a mathematical parabola, while Madson blames chemical formulas for the moral failings of average people. The story argues that intellect and feeling are complementary tools for understanding reality rather than opposing forces. When a sudden earthquake disrupts their debate, the text highlights the indifference of the physical universe to human ideological squabbles. Both art and science are swallowed equally by the rift, proving that survival requires practical cooperation over dogmatic arguments.

Why Read It Today

This short story will appeal to readers who enjoy lighthearted speculative fiction that blends post-apocalyptic settings with sharp social commentary. Rather than presenting a bleak vision of ruin, the narrative maintains an airy tone filled with clever dialogue, absurd situations, and colorful vintage predictions of future technology like "handie" media broadcasts and jet-powered automobiles.

The prose moves quickly and relies on visual contrast, moving from dusty field roads to coffee-colored ditches and cracked, moss-grown mansions. Modern readers will easily navigate the text, as it avoids dense jargon or heavy regional dialects in favor of snappy exchanges between contrastive personalities. While the 1950s vision of 1993 includes dated tropes—such as dramatic media starlets and simple post-nuclear gang leaders—it remains an entertaining look at how past generations imagined the tensions between technological progress and human nature. It leaves readers with a warm reminder that intellectual disagreement is often the start of a lasting friendship.