Help identifying an OLD (1950s-1960s) SF short story please?

[rockdoc11]

Hi all,

I'm new here, so please let me know if there is a more appropriate forum to post this request on.

I'm trying to identify an old science fiction short story from the 1960s that for some reason has been in my head recently, and I can't get it out! I was a teenager when I read it then. I can barely remember it, but here is what I do recall.

It concerned a bleak world where people had chains attached to them, to their legs perhaps. The chains slowly but surely pulled each of them into a pit where they disappeared, taking years and years to do so. The chains moved at different speeds.

People would establish relationships, and even raised families, but sometimes the different chain speeds caused those relationships to break up.

I would love to read this again, but cannot remember the title or author. If any of you can help I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!

[Monty Mike]

I don't know the book, but from what you've said, I want to read it as well

[Rocket Sheep]

... and they said sf didn't replicate real life... ;)

[Vivacia]

For some reason I keep having Asimov come to mind. This sounds so familiar. It's going to drive me nuts

[Expendable]

There's a lot of background information but its not enough. I need to know more of the story, someone's name maybe. Please?

[rockdoc11]

I read the story maybe 40 years ago, perhaps 1965 or so, so I'm a bit hazy on the details.

;)

As I recall, the center of the story was a woman who fell in love with a man as his faster moving chain pulled him closer to closer to her. She initially saw him in the distance, then every day he was pulled closer.

They had perhaps one night together, and then the next morning he was already being pulled from her., and every day he was farther away because of the great difference in their chain speeds.

The landscape was a harsh one, desert-like, with a sun blazing down.

If anyone can help me identify this, I'd be incredibly grateful. Alternatively, does anyone know of a similar forum where I might post this?

Thanks!

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

You should definitely post it at www.asimovs.com, "General Discussion." That would be your best bet. These forums get people their answers so often that it comes as a surprise in the rare instances when we're all stumped!

[rockdoc11]

Hi tdeanatoz@yahoo,

I took your suggestion, and posted on the Asimov General Discussion forum.

Thanks, and wish me luck!