VOLUME ONE/NUMBER THREE/

New Novelettes
LARRY NIVEN ^
and A. E. VAN VOGT

Vertex Interviews
POUL ANDERSON
Vertex Previews
THE APOLLO/SOYUZ
MISSION
MOMENT IN HISTORY

CRAB NEBULA
it off, it into carbon. This reaction
fusing helium nuclei, absorbing energy instead

A very few centuries a stellar

catastrophe takes place, an explo-
sion the force of which is strong enough
starts as
usually
an explosion, but the force is
dampedout by the mass of the
star, and soon there is an outer layer of
of releasing it. Without light pressure
and the explosive energy of the inner
core to counteract gravitational contrac-
to put to shame the most violent hydro- still fusing hydrogen, an inner layer of tion, the outer hydrogen-burning, he-
gen-fusion reaction. The utter destruc- fusing helium, and an “ash” core of lium-burning and oxygen burning layers
tion of a star— a supernova. Three have carbon. of the are sucked down towards the core
been recorded in our galaxy; in 1604 Continuing the cycle, soon the carbon at fantastic speed, the gravitational
A.D., in 1572 A.D., and, probably the begins to fuse, forming oxygen ash, the compression releasing tremendous
most spectacular, in 1054 A.D. oxygen ash fuses to form neon, and so amounts of energy, and, in seconds, the
At the highpoint of a supernova ex- on until many concentric shells of fusing entire remaining nuclear energy in the
plosion the star is emitting light at a atoms, perhaps as far along the scale as star is released in one vast explosion—
fantastic rate— some 200 million times the nickel, copper and zinc, have been supernova.
light output of our sun. The light from formed. Eventually a star on this path When the initial phase of the explo-
such a supernova reached Earth on July willbecome a white dwarf, but not all sion is ended, days, weeks or even
4, 1054, as the star which today is merely stars are so lucky. months later, all that is left is a cloud
a blue fragment heading towards white On some stars the temperature at the such as we see when we turn our tele-
dwarfdom in the center of the Crab core suddenly shoots up, gaining billions scopes towards the constellation
Nebula (above) blew wide open. For two of degreesin a matter of days. What has Taurus— the Crab Nebula. A cloud of
years this supernova burned so brightly happened is that the fusion of elements chaotic gas expanding at some two and
that it was clearly visible in the daytime heavier than iron releases tremendous a half million miles an hour, at the center
sky. quantities of neutrinos, and as the star of which is a small blue fragment, the
As a star “burns” its hydrogen is fused shrinks to fill the space left by the de- sole remains of a star which, in seconds,
into helium, releasing energy. The he- parting neutrinos the shrinkage causes released all the pent-up energy a star
lium sinks to the an “ash,”
core, like tremendous heating. Then, at about 12 such as our sun doles out over billions
then, as more and more helium accumu- billion degrees, fusion is reversed and of years.
lates, gravitational energy eventually sets all the elements present break down into O
 Illustration by
Monte Rogers for
Kessler, fiction by
Herman Wrede —
when living in the minds
of others, man must
be prepared to view
the horrors as well
as tKe beauty within
the human brain.
Ray Bradbury
Robert Silverberg
Larry Holden
Harry Harrison
Larry Niven
Herman Wrede
Gregory Benford
Ed Bryant
Terry Carr
Harlan Ellison
William Rotsler
A BRILLIANT Forry Ackerman
NEW MAGAZINE OF
SCIENCE FICTION
& FACT

EXPERIENCE VERTEX
Combine these. Science that can work on
projects to control man’s mind, man’s hered-
ity, man’s life and destiny on this planet. Sci-

ence fiction that extends today’s problems, FREE TRIAL CHARTER SUBSCRIPTION
idiosyncracies and oft foolishness into the
perspective of tomorrow. Employ the finest VERTEX MAGAZINE goeo melrose avenue, los angeles, California gooag
Please reserve a charter subscription to Vertex in my name at special rate of
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 vertex
AUGUST 1973
KOT VOLUME ONE/NUMBER THREE

NOVELETTE SHORT STORIES

The Victim 68
Scott Edelstein
Accidents can sometimes have
strange outcomes— even cosmic
All The Bridges Rusting 18 Confrontation 36 ones.
Larry Niven Herman Wrede-
One almost inevitable outcome It sometimes takes a face-to-face Aias, Poor Tidy Toidy Girl 72
of the revolution caused by meeting to find out just where a Rachel Payes
instantaneous matter person stands, and even then One should never assume the
transmission will be a you might guess wrong, standards of home are natural
tremendous amount of pure laws. Such an assumption might
confusion. 20001/2— A Spaced Oddity 52 prove fatal.
F. M. Busby
Maybe it wasn't all that hard to
FEATURE FICTION understand after all— Maybe we FEATURE ARTICLES
just didn't read the signs.
Weightlessness 24
Gregory Benford
Dr.Benford takes a close look at
what uses a weightless
environment might have— and
reaches some startling
conclusions!

The Apollo/Soyuz Mission 46

Igor Bohassian
In late 1975 the U.S.A. and
U.S.S.R. will meet in space— in
cooperation, not confrontation, a
first in both space and politics.
William Carlson
They didn't know who they
Black Hole Mines in the no
were, where they were, or why Weed of Time Uc
Asteroid Beit
they were there, but they did Norman Spinrad Jerry Pournelle
know that without knowledge Explaining a rainbow to a blind Far from being a mathematical
they would surely die, man would be simple compared abstraction, the “black hole”
to explaining no-tIme to a normal may be one of the most useful
Future Perfect man. of Mother Nature’s spacial
A. E.Van Vogt oddities.
Any system works only so long
as the majority in the system
cooperate. When you get a
maverick with appeal, though,
PERSONALITY
you also get big trouble. An Interview with Poui
Anderson
Paul Turner
Vertex interviews the winner of
four Hugos, two Nebulas, and a
Cock Robin mystery award— as
well as the President of the
Adamant Eve 53
Science Fiction Writers of
Charles Fritch
America.
Never make the mistake of
underestimating the power of a
woman. You’ll forever live to
regret it I

Brave Arms, Strong Arms 64

Greg Joy
Does survival of the fittest mean
that those who cannot adapt to
our technical society will not
survive?
VERTEX DEPARTMENTS
?
^
Moment In History

News and Reviews B

O
day.”
ne of the most satisfying things about being a science fiction aficionado
is being able to say, “see ... I told you that was going to happen some

Of course, the two prime examples which come to mind are atomic energy
and the Apollo Program. All serious science fiction fans know that atomic energy
was predicted in our stories long before the Manhattan Project, and. what
youngster, excited by the new worlds of science fiction, didn't argue with his
parents, and possibly even his teachers (things were much less liberal in those
days, especially in school), about whether or not man would eventually leave
his home planet?
Well, sometimes we don’t have to wait quite so long to have our predictions
Science Fiction Art Gallery B4 come to pass— or at least the beginnings, the trends, the concepts, become reality.
The Art of Josh Kirby While we can think of things we would rather see happen, it is interesting
to note that Bob Silverberg’s story in Vertex 1, Caiig/u In The Organ Draft.

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY might be a reflection of current trends, rather than a future possibility.
TOM NEWSOM Recently the shortage of transplantable cadaver kidneys reached a crisis point
in the U.S., with a UCLA research immunologist reporting a waiting list of
EDITORIAL STAFF
over 170 in the Los Angeles area alone. Dr. Gerhard Opelz told a gathering
Editor: Lawrence Neal
of surgeons recently that one reason for the .scanty supply was the failure rate
Associate Editors: Steve Ross
of transplants.
Charles Marcus
Assistant Editor: Elaine Stanton
“About half the kidneys fail within a year,” he said. Patients with unsuccessfully
Art Director: Andrew Furr transplanted kidneys go back on the waiting list, “In 1972.” he continued, "onlv
Associate Art Directors: Monte Rogers one-third of the patients on the list could be accommodated, and the supply
Bill Wright problem is at least partially logistical.” He estimated that the national potential
Visual Coordinator: William Rotsler donor supply for kidneys is over 100,000, with a nation-wide waiting list of
Advertising Director: Kathy Arnold about 2,000. But finding and identifying those donors, together with the legal
Contributing Editor: Forrest J Ackerman and time-lapse problems, have presented tremendous obstacles to programs such
as UCLA’s Organ Transplant Service. It was precisely this situation that formed
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES the social system, with the younger being drafted to provide organs for the
New York: older, with compulsory organ registration, in Silverberg’s story.
Mitchell Napier & Associates/342 Madison Despite his statements regarding kidney transplant failures, Opelz is optimistic
Avenue/New York, New York 10017/
about the prognosis for second transplants. “The chances for second transplants
(212) 986-0625
are the same as for the first.” he commented, noting that five is the highest
Chicago:
Kingweli & Associates/5526
number performed on one person to date. We can’t help but wonder who that
Elston/Chicago, Illinois 60603/
person was, and what factors made it possible for him to receive five kidney
(312) 774-9660 donations if there are 170 people in the Los Angeles area, and 2.000 people
Los Angeles: nationwide, still waiting for their first donated kidney.
Bill Snyder/225 Santa Monica Blvd. /Santa “It’s not that easy to convince people to refer donors.” Opelz continued, "but
Monica, California 90401/(213) 451-1315 that’s what’s needed at this point. Though 75 percent of the Los Angeles area
patients receive transplants after a waiting period averaging five months, the
VERTEX MAGAZINE, Volume 1. Number 3. August period is lengthening at an uncomfortable rate.”
1973 issue. Published bimonthly by Mankind
Publishing Company. Business offices: 8060 With transplants becoming a practical reality, with people obviously unenthu-
Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. 90046.
Contents copyright c'' 1973 by Mankind siastic about giving up a part of their body, and with the above quoted facts,
Publishing Company. Nothing may be reprinted in
whole or in part without written permission of the
we wonder how long it will be before the rich and influential are able to buy
publisher. Printed in the U.S.A. VERTEX welcomes the organs they need, and how much farther in the future compulsory donation
contributions but can assume no responsibility for
such unsolicited material. Return postage should might be. Could it be that Silverberg’s prediction is much, much closer than
accompany all manuscripts, drawings and

photographs submitted they are to be returned

if
any of us could have guessed? And. friend, what kind of shape are your kidneys
and no responsibility can be assumed for in? Got a spare?
unsolicited materials. All rights in letters, articles,
personal reports and fiction are treated as
unconditionally assigned (unless otherwise
specified) for publication and copyright purposes
and as subject to our unrestricted right to edit and
comment editorially. Any resemblance between
people and places depicted in fictional material
and actual people or places is strictly coincidental.
Price per copy $1 .50.
Lawrence Neal, Editor
Application to mail at Second Class rales is pending
at Los Angeles, California.

5
 News notes from the world of science and the arts— from space
to the prehistoric past— From business contracts to book
reviews— from ecology to spacecraft environmental systems.

Briton Runs Car

On High-Octane
And Pollution -Free
Pig Manure
TOTNES, Devon, Eng. For Harold
Bate this whole noisy business about the
energy crisis and auto pollution is a lot
of unnecessary nonsense.
He has been running his car for nearly
17 years now on pollution-free and ex-
ceedingly high octane pig manure.
Furthermore, for $33, including post-
age, he will send you a converter device
and full instructions on how you too can
run your car on manure— pig, cattle,
chicken, dog or alrhost any other variety.
Bate
works.
is an inventor, and his system 2-PLANET LIFE PROBE
He distills methane gas from the ma- Twin Mariner spacecraft be launched in 1977 on fly-by-probes of both Jupiter
to
nure, puts the gas into small steel cylin- and Saturn will carry special instruments to look for life-sustaining chemicals in
ders that fit in the trunk of his car, and the Jovian atmosphere.
runs a small hose from the cylinders to One of the scientific experiments aboard the 634 kilogram Jet Propulsion Labora-
the engine. tory craft will seek evidence of chemicals called pyrimidines, representing a step
The heart of the system is a small in the life-precursor process.
valve that operates on suction created “If the existence of pyrimidines can be confirmed,” two University of Maryland
by the carburetor and feeds the methane researchers told the American Chemical Society, “there is a possibility of producing
gas into the engine. nucleic acid analogues there by chemical means.
He calculates that about 45.3 kilo- “Since these carry the genetic information for life on earth— and if they should
grams of pig manure produces a volume be found— then some form of life might existon Jupiter.”
of methane gas equivalent to about 30 Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma and Peter M. Molton told the Washington session the
liters of regular gasoline. dual missions will be an on-the-scene test of their theory that sorhe form of life
He said, “It’s very high performance exists in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
stuff, about 127 octane. You can’t get They said they have simulated Jupiter’s atmosphere, exposing the gases methane
an engine to knock on it, you can even and ammonia, known to exist in the Jovian atmosphere, to water and charges of
start off in high gear. Coming back from electricity.
London the other week I got up to 125 And they have at least tentative evidence, they added, that they have also produced
k.p.h. on the motorway,” which is not pyrimidines.
bad going, especially for Bate’s 1955 In explaining the theory of Jovianlife Ponnamperuma has said it probably would
Hillman. be form of microbes capable of living suspended in the atmosphere of the
in the
There is no pollution, no smell at all, giant planet— with little chance for the evolution of intelligent life.
from the methane fuel. A further benefit, But the finding of even simple life on Jupiter, he said, would greatly increase
— turn to page 97 the chance of intelligent life in other planetary systems.
 want
Read it slowly.
good it’s The Hugo Winners: help cover shipping)when you join the Science Fiction
Y 'ou’ll to. It’s that

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ence fiction equivalent of the Oscar— presented every
. . .

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With Kings” plus 20 more. They span more than a dec- cover books may sell for as much as $4.95 and up, you pay
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6270. Dune by Frank 8037. Again, Danger- 7518. Thuvia, Maid 6353. The Ice People 4432. The Wind 2790. Science Fiction 6023. The Gods
Herbert. Celebrated ous Visions, Harlan ofMars and The by Rene Barjavel. from The Sun by Hall of Fame I. 26 Themselves by Isaac
winner of Hugo and Ellison, ed. Forty-six Chessmen of Mars Prize winning French Arthur C. Clarke. “winners;’ chosen by. Asimov. The master's
Nebula. Gripping tale pieces, short stories by Edgar Rice bestseller of dis- 19 sci-fi short takes Sci-Fi Writers of first novel in 15 years
of family exited from & novels. Explicit Burroughs. 2-novel covery of prehistoric by a master of the America. Ed. Robert ...and worth the wait
their private planet to scenes and language 1-volume sci-fi man and worpan, medium. The Cruel Silverberg. P^b. ed. for a fabulous trip to
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desert. Pub. ed. $5.95 some. Pub. ed. $12.95 of man on planet Pub. ed. $5.95 Frankenstein are 1321. The 1972 ed. $5.95
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From Atlantis by Poul The celebrated author, $5,95 byDonaldA. Wollheim. Trilogy by Isaac
Anderson. Fourpeople of Stand On Zanzibar, Volume IV contains 14 Asimov, the ends of
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are catapulted by a lapse of civilization. Soec. Ed. $14.85
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 vertex
miniature analyzer is light weight (only

Analyzer Has Spinoff Potential 13'/2 kilograms), occupies just one-third

square meter, and is close to being totally

automated.”
A miniaturized medical diagnostic pervision. Studies which were begun two One of its benefits. Dr. Harris said,
system originally planned for use aboard years ago by the AEC
indicated that a is the small amount of blood required
manned space stations and now under- miniature analyzer utilizing a modified (1/lOth of a cc) to complete the 12 si-
going extensive laboratory tests at the existing system could be developed to
multaneous analyses for which existing
Johnson Space Center, may find its way meet NASA’s space station require- analyzers require as much as 5 cc’s and
into everyday clinical use with pediatric ments. perform single analyses.
and geriatric patients. Available automatic analyzers have The present complete AEC system
A prototype of a miniature fast ana- been limited to single point biochemical consists of the miniaturized analyzer,
lytical clinicallaboratory system devel- assays on numerous blood samples. The
several rotors, a portable data printer,
oped by the Atomic Energy Commission, space agency required numerous and
an automated sample and reagent
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (AEC- rapid chemical analysis on a single crew
loader, and rotor washing station.
ORNL) for the National Aeronautics member blood sample.
and Space Administration provides fast, The resultant AEC-ORNL studies not
automated blood analyses by using only indicated development of such a
one-fiftieth the amount of blood re- system was feasible, but would also be Memory's Chemical
quired by existing analyzers. At the con- useful in ground based laboratories,
clusion of lab tests currently underway
at JSC, the AEC-ORNL developed ana-
especially small clinical laboratories,
emergency laboratories, pediatric labo-
Basis Found
Scientists at the Baylor University
lyzer will be used in clinical situations. ratories, mobile laboratories, and other
college of medicine have captured ani-
The analyzer was developed to meet special situations.
mals’ memory in a test tube.
NASA’s requirements for a small light- Dr. Elliott Harris, Chief of the Envi-
Working with rat brains, they have
weight, biochemical analytical system ronmental Health Branch of JSC’s Life
found that the memory of the sound of
capable of performing 12 different stud- Sciences Directorate, described the AEC
an electric bell is a chemical thing: an
ies on astronaut blood samples rapidly prototype as a true space-age spinoff.
eight-segment chain of six specific amino
and with the minimum amount of su- “Initially,” Dr. Harris explains, “the
acids, basic chemicals of life.
The discovery followed work done at
Baylor two years ago, when the scientists
identified a substance found in the brain
of rats trained to avoid the dark.
The chemicals can be isolated from
the brain and then injected into other
laboratory animals which were not
Thirteen of trained to the sound of the bell or to

FREDRIC BROWN’S avoid the dark. The untrained animals

then behave as though they had been
greatest ^scienc e trained.
The effort to crack the mind’s code
fiction stories— ofmemory was reported by Dr. Georges
Ungar and Dr. S. R. Burzynsky of Baylor
never before at the 57th annual meeting of the Feder-
ation of American Societies for Experi-
published mental Biology.
“Deciphering the memory code of the
in book brain is at least as important an objective
as breaking the genetic code,” the scien-
tists said.
“We collected brains from close to
6,000 habituated rats during the last two
years,” Burzynsky and Ungar reported.
After purification, the memory material
was shown to be a substance called a
peptide.
Peptides consist of chains of amino
acids. The information they carry de-
pends on which of 20 amino acids they
contain and on the sequence of the
amino acids.
“They can be compared to words
whose meaning is determined by the
order in which the letters follow each
other,” the scientists said.

8
 —

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 S&T #32, featuring the Borodino game

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What is Conflict Simulation?

Conflict Simulation is a way of analyzing a S&T #35, featuring Year of the Rat game.

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 vertex
Post-Apollo Science
Report Released
The Lunar Science Institute, which
conducts advanced research under the
sponsorship of an international consor-
tium of universities, has released an
extensive report on “Post-Apollo Lunar
Science.”
The report, prepared following a 1972
conference of distinguished lunar scien-
tists at the University of California— San

Diego, expresses concern that the vast

quantities of information available as a
result of Apollo moon landings may fall
into disuse unless action is taken to con-
tinue processing data, handling rock
samples, and sponsoring research proj-
ects.

“A reasonable return on our national

investment in the Apollo program re-
quires extensive study of the information In addition to presenting recom- has remained much the same;
and materials returned by the Apollo mendations for future activities, the —the debris from uncountable large
missions. It also requires additional ac- Post-Apollo report summarizes the and small meteorites covers the surface
cumulation of data leading to a precise major discoveries made so far as a result of the Moon to a depth of a few meters;
definition of the problems to be attacked of the Apollo program: —solar winds striking the Moon have
in the return phase of exploration,” the —mountains on the Moon are ar- not changed noticeably in the past 5
paper says. ranged in circles, unlike those on Earth, million years, reducing the likelihood
The report specifically recommends and extensive evidence indicates that the that they brought about Ice Ages on
that the lunar sample processing and basins and surrounding mountains were Earth;
storage facilities be fully maintained formed about 4 billion years ago by the —the Moon’s center of mass is about
after Apollo 17 to document and safe- impact of meteorites as large as 1000 2 kilometers closer to the Earth than the
guard samples, and to offer assistance kilometers in diameter; body’s physical center;
to scientists. —these lunar basins or “seas” were —during the crystalization of lunar
In addition, the scientists ask that later filled in by volcanic eruptions; rocks, there was very little oxygen on
funds be provided to continue operating —since 2.5 billion years ago the surface the lunar surface.
the network of nuclear-powered scien-
tific experimenfs placed on the surface

of the Moon during the Apollo landings.

Although the report emphasizes that
we must not fail to take advantage of THIRD SPACE PROBE TO
information already gathered, it observes
that only a fraction of the lunar surface
has actually been investigated.
JUPITER CONSIDERED
All 14 lunar landings made by the With two Pioneer probes en route to the planet Jupiter, the National Aeronautics
United States and the Soviet Union have and Space Administration is considering a third shot next year at a bargain price.
been on the near side of the Moon. More Charles F. Hall, Pioneer project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center near
than half of the sites selected by Ameri- San Francisco, told a Jet Propulsion Laboratory briefing he has asked space agency
can scientists in 1967 have since been headquarters in Washington to consider flying a prototype of the probes now aloft.
eliminated due to reductions in the The spacecraft is a duplicate of Pioneer 10, scheduled to fly past Jupiter next
budget for lunar exploration. Dec. 3, and Pioneer 11; launched April 5 to rendezvous with the enormous, mul-
The most important regions left for ticolored planet early in December, 1974.
investigation are the polar areas and the It was built originally as a test craft to establish the operational reliability of

far side of the Moon, which is markedly the two probes now flying. Hall explained, and was part of the $100 million cost
different from the side that faces the listed for two shots, not including launch rockets.
Earth. Overall cost of Pioneer 10 and 11, he said, is estimated at about $125 million
The report recommends that the na- or $62.5 million per shot.
tion undertake several more modest The prototype Pioneer, on the other hand, could be readied for about $15 million
lunar missions in the post-Apollo period and launched toward Jupiter at a total cost of about $30 million. Hall pointed out.
so that gaps in our knowledge might be “Otherwise it probably would just end up in the Smithsonian Institution or in
filled and so that future landing sites some other display area somewhere,” he added.
might be selected.
 vertex.
BOOK REVIEWS
13: THE FLIGHT THAT FAILED. PARADOX LOST. DEEP SPACE.
Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr. Frederic Brown. Robert Silverberg, Editor.
Dial Press, $5.95. Random House, $5.95. Thomas Nelson, $5.95.

Henry Cooper has written two pre- Frederic Brown died in 1972. He Bob Silverberg is one of those rare

vious books about the Apollo Program, wasn't one of the "super-names" of birds —a man who can write, and
Moon Rocks and Apollo on the Moon, science fiction. He wasn't in demand write beautifully, combined with a man
both of which received excellent re- for the Johnny Carson Show, nor did he who can pick and edit the writings of
views. With 13: The Flight That Failed, provide expert commentary at any of others. Few writers can look at the
though, he has written a book which the Apollo shots. What he did do, works of others without picking those
is a must for anyone with any interest though, was write some of the best works apart, judging them against their

at all in space flight or science fiction. science fiction and horror stories to be own works. Silverberg evidently has this

In cold, clear, and eminently readable found. This collection, his last book, though, because he puts together
talent,
words Cooper traces the flight of Apol- contains thirteen stories, an appropriate well above-average anthologies, this
lo 13, flashing back to the very begin- number, most of them old, and all of one included. The eight stories in Deep
nings of the Apollo Program, inserting them excellent, if only to prove that Space all take place outside our solar
live-action segments of the explosion good writing didn't start with the "new system, the putative reason for includ-
in progress aboard the spacecraft, de- wave." Our only regret regarding Para- ing these particular stories in one col-
tailing the frantic efforts to find out dox Lost is that there will be no more lection. Our only objection to them,
what the hell was going on, winding Frederic Brown books. despite their excellence, is we have
that
through the breathless wait to see seen some of them too many times.
whether or not Thirteen would get back. Granted, they're all first-rate examples
One of the problems with any govern- of deep space stories, but there are
ment agency, and NASA is no excep- TODAY AND TOMORROW AND. other first-rate examples which, per-
tion, is a tendency to try to cover up Isaac Asimov. haps, haven't had as much exposure,
goofs. NASA couldn't conceal that Thir- Doubleday, $6.95. and might have made the book a little
teen was in trouble, and they couldn't more “something to read" and a little
of the investigations There are some things in this universe "something have."
hide the results less to

that followed the return of the aborted

which are just not possible. Among
mission, but you'd better believe they
them is reprinting an original story or

didn't trumpet the causes of the failure

article. If it is original, it isn't a reprint. THE BEST LAID SCHEMES.
when, months later, the investigations
If it's a reprint, it isn't original. What by Larry Eisenberg.
all this is leading up to is the simple Collier Books, $1.25.
were finally completed. But Cooper has
the facts and figures, the people and
fact that,somewhere, sometime, there
must be an original, first-time-ever, What science fiction needs is more
the causes, and he makes everything
Asimov article. Where, though. Is be- books like this and more authors like
"perfectly clear." 13: The Flight That
yond me. And, in Today And Tomorrow Eisenberg, especially when it begins to
Failed is a tribute to the space pro-
And... we have another collection of take itself too seriously. Combine good
gram, an indictment of the space pro-
Asimov writing, excellent characters, outstand-
gram, a joyous, frightening, and, ul-
reprinted articles. Well done,
interesting, informative, and often very ing plots and outrageously funny situa-
timately, a totally engrossing book.
funny; in other words, typical Asimovia,
tions, and you have the 21 stories of
they still are more reprints. We can't
The Best Laid Schemes.

SURVIVAL PRINTOUT. help but wonder if even Mr. Asimov

isn't getting a little paranoid about the
Leonard Allison, Leonard Jenkin and MIRROR IMAGE.
Robert Perrault, editors. number of Asimov reprints around. In
by Michael G. Coney.
Vintage Books, $1.95. the introduction to this collection he DAW Books, $.95.
goes out of his way to (not too suc-
One of the best collections of science cessfully) try to convince the reader The idea's old, creatures who can
fiction and science articles ever seen that he isn't really trying to milk every take any shape, but the treatment is

in paperback, with pieces by Alfred last penny out of each and every arti- new and the writing is good. Not quite
Bester, Roger Zelazny, Arthur Clarke, cle. Maybe, after this book or the next adventure S-F, but with too much plot,
Robert Silverberg, R. A. Lafferty, Harlan one, or the one after, the milk will dry too logical a story line, and too definite
Ellison, Robert Heinlein, I. S. Shkiovskii up, and we'll see a book of Asimov an ending to be called new wave. In
and others. Well worth the price, and articles we haven't already seen here, other words, a good book.
a good addition to any bookshelf. there and around. /turn to page 98
COMPUTOR TO
HELP SOLVE
MYSTERIES OF
U.S.PAST
A use professor impressed by the
computer’s ability to analyze the present
and even project the future is now trying
to use one to unravel the mysteries of
America’s past.
Dr. John A. Schutz, a professor of
history, is engaged in a lengthy study
of the Massachusetts Legislature in the
period immediately preceding the
American Revolution.
He is using a computer to tabulate and
correlate a myriad of details about the
lives, activities and acquaintances of the
legislators who played a leading role in
the 18th century breakaway of the never been used before in studying a Schutz said the study will focus on
American colonies from Britain. legislature. threemajor areas of interest— analyzing
The research will cover the critical “Historians generally don’t like to use the people who actually sat in the Legis-
period from 1744 to 1776. In that period, machinery,” he said. “They prefer to lature, examining the social and eco-
according to Schutz, Massachusetts deal with records which they can analyze nomic base of their constituents and the
voters elected a total of 1,300 men to and think about over a period of time legislative work done by committees.
the 100-member Legislature. These of- and then write an impressionistic ac-
ficials served on a total of about 60,000 count. District Influences
committees in the period under study. “But the material we are studying here “We would like to determine, for in-
Detailed Study is almost infinite in detail. There is such stance, if a certain lawmaker came from
It be up to the computer to ana-
will a tremendous variety of it that it is nearly a district where farming was more im-
lyze the details about these men to de- impossible for a human to keep all this portant than fishing,” he said. “Would
termine their social and economic back- detail in his head. Even keeping it on this make him more prone or less prone
grounds, the types of friends they as- file cards would not do because you need to support the revolution than a law-
sociated with, their ages, roll call votes, instant recall. maker who came from the opposite dis-
attendance records and their constit- “The detail is just too mind-boggling. trict?

uents, and attempt to determine what

to But with a computer you can do it. You “We ought to be able to trace the
made these men play such an instru- just feed the computer questions and causes and path of the revolution to
mental role in the revolution. within 10 seconds you have the answer. determine what kinds of people caused
“The revolution was not caused by No human researcher can do that.” the revolution— whether they were fish-
executives but by legislators,’’ Schutz Schutz, 53 got his Ph.D. in history ermen, farmers, ordinary townspeople
said. “The study will not deal with gov- from UCLA in 1945. Since 1965 he has or college-educated citizens.”
ernors because they were not in- been teaching at USC. Schutz has pored over long and com-
volved— at this time the executives were plex British and colonial records in
British representatives chosen by the Author of 4 Books various libraries in Boston, Massachu-
British government and answerable to He is the author of four books on setts and other New England centers.

it alone. Massachusetts and early American his- He is being assisted in his complex
His study, which started two years ago tory. study by Dean Tipps, 25, a former stu-
and will not be completed for another “I am not,” he said, “just another dent under him and now a doctoral
two years, is being funded by the Na- Johnny-come-home lately to the area of UC Berkeley, and
student in sociology at
tional Endowment for the Humanities traditional studies.I have done it before. by Gary Gilbert, a USC computer pro-
and by USC. “But this time we are doing what has grammer.
He said he has received $42,000 from not been done before. We are basically “It has been a long and laborious
the endowment thus far and expects looking at the Massachusetts Legislature process,” Schutz said.
about $58,000 more before the study is to see how the American Revolution He said he had devoted the past five
done. So far, USC’s share has been about started. Most of the work that has been years to looking over records that relate
$50,000 in direct grants and services. done so far in this area has been largely to the subject under study.
He said use of the computer represents speculative. With this study we can get The information collected up to now
a major breakthrough because it had a lot of hard data.” has been put on microfilm.
 vertex
Schutz said by the time all the infor- Changed” by Joanna Russ was selected
mation has been correlated it should best short story of the year by the 400

amount to about 200,000 file cards or members of the Science Fiction Writers
2,000 pages of computer printouts.
of America.
He plans to use the collected data to Dr. Asimov was the featured speaker
publish several detailed historical vol- at the New York Nebula Banquet, novel-
ist Peter S. Beagle spoke at Oakland,
umes about the American Revolution
and the men who precipitated it as and the well-known science fiction writer
members of the Massachusetts Legisla- Lloyd Biggie, Jr. highlighted the pro-
ture. gram at New Orleans. Toastmasters were

He said preliminary findings indicate writers Harlan Ellison, Don Walsh, Jr.
the lawmakers in the period 1744 to 1776 and Richard A. Lupoff. About 200 writ-
averaged 49 years of age. Some of them ers, editors, publishers and scientists at-

had as many as 20 children and it was tended the unique transcontinental con-
Poul Anderson, interviewed in this issue, clave to exchange viewpoints and honor
not unusual to find a legislator who had
wins another SFWA Nebula award for
been married five times. the Nebula winners.
his novelette. Goat Song.
“So far,” he said, “we have discovered Runners-up to the winning works were
that then in their middle ages caused the David Gerrold’s novel When Harlie Was
revolution. This was' not a young peo-
ple’s revolution, according to the infor-
ASIMOV, CLARKE, One, Gene Wolfe’s novella The Fifth
Head Of Cerberus, William Rotsler’s
mation we have now. ANDERSON, RUSS novelet Patron Of The Arts and James
“But this is only an initial finding. I
still don’t know what the final picture
WIN NEBULAS Tiptree, Jr.’s short story And I Awoke
And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill-
side.
is going to look like. The Nebula Awards for the best
“However, I think when all the data science fiction published during 1972
is in the results may surprise a lot of were announced on Saturday night,
people and shake some of our myths
about who caused the revolution and
April 28, at three simultaneous Nebula
Awards Banquets held by the Science
Atomic Clocks
why. Hopefully, future teaching about Fiction Writers of America in Oakland,
the revolution is going to be based on New Orleans, and New York City. Win- Well Traveled
hard data rather than so much specula- ning the Nebula for best novel of 1972
tion as at present.” was THE GODS THEMSELVES, Isaac
If you should see a black box strapped

An in the jetliner seat next to you, plugged

important spinoff from the com- Asimov’s first new science fiction novel
may be that it will en- into the walland ticking “don’t panic,”
puterized study in over a decade. Another of science
advises the National Bureau of Stan-
courage historians to rely more on mod- fiction’s most well-known writers, Arthur
dards.
ern machinery and technology in their C. Clarke, also won a Nebula for his
research instead of the current emphasis novella, “A Meeting With Medusa.” “Just ask it if the plane is on time.
on library work and the traditional ap- “Goat Song” by Poul Anderson, current It will know.”
proach, Schutz said. President of the Science Fiction Writers
The black box probably is an atomic
approach we are clock, and atomic clocks, according to
“I should say this of America, won the Nebula for best
using is the wave of the future,” he said. novelet of the year, and “When It NBS, “get around a lot these days.”
Atomic clocks use the vibrations of
atoms as “pendulums.”
“Since the atomic vibration rate is very

IMBLMS CONTRACT SIGNED constant and relatively unaffected

outside influences, atomic time is incre-
by

A contract that will

bring hospital-quality care to a remote community at a distance dibly accurate,” says NBS. “It is about
from established hospital facilities has been signed by the National Aeronautics 100,000 times more accurate than the
and Space Administration and Lockheed Missiles & Space Company. rotation of the earth as a timekeeping
Under the $4.9 million contract, Lockheed will design and test a system which standard.”
will provide comprehensive health care to people in a remote community. By means “What with synchronizing our space-
of advanced medical instrumentation and communications links using voice, data, craft tracking stations and Unking the
and television, a profile of a patient’s state of health will be transmitted to a central time scales of large radio-telescopes for
hospital for analysis and diagnosis. “Paramedical” personnel at the patient’s remote studies of stellar radio emissions,” it is
location can then be advised of the appropriate action to take. The Health Services necessary to send atomic clocks on jet-
and Mental Health Administration of the Department of HEW
is a joint participant liner trips from time to time.
in the program.
The remote health care system— which will apply available space age technology— is Needs for Check
a significant example of NASA-industry transfer of space technology. The program “For many of these jobs, sophisticated
was designed originally for space applications under the name of IMBLMS— In- atomic clocks are the only instruments
tegrated Medical and Behavioral Laboratory Measurement System— as a means to with sufficient timing accuracy. Other
transmit medical information from space to physicians on Earth. methods have too much room for error.”
Applying the system to a remote comrnunity on Earth will have the twofold purpose But not even atomic clocks are perfect,
of proving its potential for space use, and its worth to communities at a distance and it sometimes becomes necessary for
from central hospital facilities.
NBS to check “the difference between
—
turn to page 97
17
 the particle may be found anywhere
within a vaguely bounded wave front
several hundred thousand miles across.
This vagueness of position is part of what
makes teleportation work. One’s aim
need not be so accurate.
Near Pluto the particle changes state.
Its relativistic mass converts to rest

mass within the receiver cage of a drop

ship. Its structure is still fearfully com-
plex for an elementary particle: a twelve
thousand, two hundred ton spacecraft,
loaded with instruments, its hull win-
dowiess and very smoothly contoured.
Its presence here is the only evidence

that a transition particle ever existed.

Within the control cabin, the pilot’s
finger is still on the TRANSMIT button.

K Sagan was short and stocky.

arin
Her hands were large; her feet were
small and prone to foot trouble. Her face
was square and cheerful, her eyes were
bright and direct, and her voice was deep
for a woman’s. She had been thirty-six
years old when Phoenix left the trans-
mitter at Pluto. She was three months
older now, though nine years had passed
on Earth.
She had seen a trace of the elapsed
years as Phoenix left the Pluto drop ship.
The shuttlecraft that had come to meet
them was of a new design, and its atti-
tude jets showed the color of fusion
flame. She had wondered how they
made fusion motors that small.
ake a point in space. She saw more changes now, among
AssuniB sloweMhan- Take a specific point near the star the gathered newspapers. Some of the
Ught-speed starships, system Alpha Centaurus, on the line women wore microskirts whose hems
then assume faster- linking the center of mass of that system were cut at angles. A few of the men
with Sol. Follow it as it moves toward wore assymetrical shirts, the left sleeve
ihan-light transmitters, Sol system at lightspeed. We presume long, the right sleeve missing entirely.
the invention of one a particle in this point. She asked to see one man’s left cuflT, her
Men who deal in the physics of tele- attention caught by the glowing red de-
supercedes the use of would speak of
portation it as a “transi- sign. Sure enough, it was a functional
the other, but what tion particle.” But think of it as a kind wristwatch; but the material was soft as
about those ships out of super-neutrino. Clearly it must have cloth.
a rest mass of zero, like a neutrino. Like “It’s a Bulova Z)a//,”the man said. He
there In space, already a neutrino, it must be fearfully difficult was letting his amusement show. “New
on the way? to find or stop. Despite several decades to you? Things change in nine years.
in which teleportation has been in com- Doctor.”
mon use, nobody had ever directly dem- “I thought they would,” she said
onstrated the existence of a “transition lightly. “It was part of the fun.”
particle.” It must be taken on faith. But she rerhembered the shock of
Its internal structure would be fear- relief when the heat struck. She had
fully complex in terms of energy states. pushed the TRANSMIT button a light-
Its relativistic mass would be twelve month out from Alpha Centaurus B. An
thousand, two hundred tons. instant later sweat was running from
One more property can be postulated. every pore of her body.
Its location in space is uncertain: a There had been no guarantee. The
probability density, thousands of miles probability density that physicists called
across as it passes Proxima Centauri, and a transition particle could havegone past
spreading. The mass of the tiny red the drop ship and out into the universe
dwarf does not bend its path signifi- at large, beyond rescue forever. Or . . .

cantly. As it approaches the Solar system a lot could happen in nine years. The
station might have been wrecked or after we did.” building; but far more than ten years
abandoned. Q: What are the chances of terraform- of labor had gone into her. Her life
But the heat meant that they had made ing B-3 someday? support systems ran in a clear line of
it. Phoenix had lost potential energy Karin was glad to drop the subject of development back to the first capsules
entering Sol’s gravitational field, and the colony ships. Somehow she felt that to orbit Earth.The first fusion-electric
gained it back in heat. The cabin felt she had failed those first potential colo- power plants had much in common with
like a furnace, but it was their body nists of another star system. She said, her main drive, and her hydrogen fuel
temperature that had jumped from 98.6 ° “Pretty good, someday. I’m just talking tanks were the result of several decades
to 102°, all in an instant. off the top of my
head, you understand. of trial and error. Liquid hydrogen is
“How was the trip?” The young man I imagine would take thousands of
it tricky stuff. Centuries of medicine had
asked. years, and would involve seeding the produced suspended animation treat-
Karin Sagan returned to the present. atmosphere with tailored bacteria and ments that allowed Lazarus to carry six
“Good, but it’s good to be back. Are waiting for them to turn methane and crew with life support supplies sufficient
we recording?” ammonia and hydrocarbons into air. At for two.
“No. When the press conference starts the moment it’ll pay us better to go on She was lovely ... at least, her re-entry
you’ll know it. That’s the law. Shall we looking for worlds around other stars. system was lovely, a swing-wing stream-
get it going?” It’s so bloody easy, with these interstellar lined exploration vehicle as big as any
“Fine.” She smiled around the room. drop ships.” hypersonic passenger plane. Fully as-
Itwas good to see strange faces again. There was nodding among the news- sembled, she looked like a haphzard
Three months with three other people tapers. They knew about drop ships, collection of junk. But she was loved.
in a closed environment ... it was and they had been briefed. In principle There had been displacement booths
enough. there was no difference between Lazarus in 2004: the network of passenger tele-
The young man led her to a dais. II and the drop ships circling every portation had already replaced other
Cameras swiveled to face her, and the planet and most of the interesting moons forms of transportation over most of the
conference started. and asteroids in the solar system. A drop world. The cargo ships that lifted Laz-
ship need not be moving at the same arus’ components into orbit had been
Q: How was the trip? velocity as its cargo. The Phoenix, at rest fueled in flight by JumpShift units in
“Good. Successful, I should say. We with respect to Sol and the Centaurus the tanks. was a pity that Lazarus
It

learned everything we wanted to know suns, had emerged from Lazarus IPs could not take advantage of such a
about the Centaurus systems. In addi- receiver cage at a third of lightspeed. method. But conservation of momentum
tion, we learned that our systems work. “The point is that you can use a drop held. Fuel droplets entering Lazarus’
The drop ship method is feasible. We ship more than once,” Karin went on. tanks at a seventh of lightspeed would
reached the nearest stars, and we came “By now Lazarus II is one and a third tear them apart.
back, with no ill effects.” light years past Centaurus. We burned So Lazarus had left from the end of
Q, What about the Centaurus planets? most of its fuel to get the ship up to the Corliss accelerator, an improbably
Are they habitable? speed, but there’s still a maneuver re- tall tower standing up from a flat as-
“No.” It hurt to say that. She saw the serve. Its next target is an orange -yellow teroid a mile across. The fuel tanks—
disappointment around her. dwarf. Epsilon Indi. Lazarus II will be most of Lazarus’ mass— had been
Q: Neither of them checked out? there in about twenty-eight years.Then launched first. Then the ship itself, with
“That’s right. There are six known maybe we’ll send another colony group.” enough maneuvering reserve to run them
planets circling Alpha Centaurus B. We Q: Doctor Sagan, you were as far from down. Lazarus had left like a string of
may have missed a couple that were too Sol as anyone in history has ever gotten. toy balloons, and telescopes had watched
small or too far out. We had to do all What was it like out there? as she assembled herself in deep space.
our looking from a light-month away. Karen giggled. “We were as far from She had not been launched into the
We had good hopes for B-2 and B-3— any star as anyone’s ever gotten. It was unknown. The telescopes of Ceres Base
remember, we knew they were there a long night. Maybe it was getting to had found planets orbiting Alpha Cen-
before we set out—but B-2 turns out to us. We had a bad moment when we taurus B. Two of these might be habita-
be a Venus-type with too much atmo- thought there was an alien ship coming ble. Failing that, there might at least be
sphere, and B-3’s got a reducing atmo- up behind us.” She sobered, for that seas from which hydrogen could be ex-
sphere, something like Earth’s atmo- moment of relief had cost six people tracted for a return voyage.
sphere three billion years ago.” dearly. “It turned out to be Lazarus. I’m “The first drop ship was launched six
Q: The colonists aren’t going to like afraid that’s more bad news. Lazarus years later,” Karin told them. “We
that, are they? should have been decelerating. It wasn’t. should have waited. I was five when they
We messaged
“I don’t expect they will. We’re afraid something’s happened to launched Lazarus, but I’ve been told that
the drop ship, Lazarus II, to turn off their drive.” everyone thought that teleportation
its JumpShift unit for a year. That means That caused some commotion. It de- couldn’t possibly be used for space ex-
that the colony ships won’t convert to veloped that many of the newstapers had ploration because of velocity differences.
rest mass when they reach the receiver. never heard of the first Lazarus. Karin If we’d waited we could have put a drop
They’ll be reflected back to the solar started to explain and that turned
. . .
ship receiver cage on Lazarus and taken
system. They should appear in the Pluto out to be a mistake. out the life support system. As it was,
drop ship about a month from now.” we didn’t launch Lazarus II until—” she
Q: Having lost nine years.
“That’s right. Just like me and the rest
of the crew of Phoenix. The colonists
T hp first

been launched
years ago.
interstellar spacecraft
in 2004, thirty-one
had stopped to add up dates. “Seventeen
years ago. 2018.”
Q: weren’t you expecting Lazarus to
left the Pluto transmitter two months Lazarus had been ten years in the pass you?
 “Phoenix had lost potential energy entering Sol’s
gravitational field, and gained it back in heat their body . . .

temperature jumped from 98.6 to 102 in an instant.’’

“Not so soon. In fact, we had this in a moment, but first this word . . . Gate Bridge sparked her to flick in at
timed pretty well. If everything had gone Jerryberry Jansen of CBA smiled into various booths for various views of all
right, the crew would have found a string the cameras.The warmth he felt for his the bridges in the Bay area. For Karin,
of colony ships pouring out of Lazarus unseen audience was genuine: he re- as for most of humanity. Earth was rep-
II as it fell across the system. They could garded himself as a combination of en- resented by a small section of the planet.
have joined up to explore the system, tertainerand teacher, and his approxi- There had been changes. She got too
and later joined the colony if that was mately twelve million students were the close to theBay Bridge and was horrified
feasible, or come home on the colony measure of his success. “The Centaurus had never occurred to her
at the rust. It
return ship if it wasn’t.” expedition was by no means a disaster,” that the San Francisco citizenry might
Q. As it is, they’re in deep shit. he told them. “For one thing, the colony let the bridges decay. Something could
“I’m afraid so. Can you really say that fleet— which cost you, the taxpayer, be done with them: line them with
on teevee?” about six hundred and sixty million new shops k la London Bridge, or landscape
There were chuckles at her naivete. dollars nine years ago— can be re-used them over for a park, or run drag races.
Q: What went wrong? Any idea? as is, once the UN Space Authority finds . . . They would make horribly obtrusive
“They gave us a full report with their a habitable world. Probably the colonists corpses. They would ruin the scenery.
distress signal. There was some trouble themselves will not want to wait that Still, that had happened before. . . .

with the plasma pinch effect, and no long. A new group may have to be Some things had not changed. She
parts to do a full repair. They tried run- trained. walked an hour in King’s Free Park,
for
ning it anyway— they didn’t have much “As for the interstellar drop ship con- the landscaped section of what had been
choice, after all. The plasma stream went cept, it works. This has been the first the San Diego Freeway. The trees had
wrong and blew away part of the stern. real test, and it went without a hitch. grown a little taller, but the crowds were
After that there wasn’t anything they Probably the next use of drop ships will the same, always different and always
could do but set up their distress signal not be a colony expedition at all, but the same. The shops and crowds in the
and go back into suspended animation.” an attempt to rescue the crew of Lazarus. Santa Monica Mall hadn’t changed . . .

Q: What are your plans for rescue? The ship was sending its distress signal. except that the city had filled in the space
Karin made her second error. “I don’t There is good reason to think that the between the curbs, where people had
know. We just got back two days ago, crew is still alive. had to step down into the empty streets.
and we’ve spent that time travelling. It’s “Doctor Karin Sagan has pointed out She did some shopping in the Mall.
easy enough to pump energy into an that any rescue attempt will take dec- To a saleslady in Magnin’s West she said,
incoming transition particle to compen- ades. This is reasonable, in that the dis- “Dress me.” That turned out to be a
sate for a jump in potential energy, but tances to be covered are to be measured considerable project, and it cost. When
the only drop ship we’ve got that can in light-years. But today’s ships are con- she left her new clothes felt odd on her,
absorb potential energy is at Mercury. siderably better than Lazarus could ever but they seemed to blend better with the
We couldn’t just flick in from Pluto; have been.” crowds around her.
we’d have been broiled. We had to flick “You idiot,” said Robin Whyte, Ph.D. She did a lot of flicking around with-
in to Earth orbit by way of Mercury, He twisted a knob with angry force, and out ever leaving the booth, the ubiqui-
then go down in a shuttlecraft.” She the teevee screen went blank. A few min- tous booth that seemed to be one instead
closed her eyes to think, “It’ll be dif- utes later he made two phone calls. of millions, that seemed to move with
ficult. By now Lazarus must be half a her as she explored. It took her longer
light year beyond Alpha Centaurus, and
Lazarus II more than twice that far. We
probably can’t use Lazarus II in a rescue
K
had a
arin
.
was sightseeing Earth.
The UN Space Authority had
new credit card waiting for her:
to find the right
dial.But she flicked
Wilshire Boulevard
numbers than
down
it did to

the length of
in jumps of four
attempt.” a courtesy she appreciated. Otherwise blocks, from the coast to central Los
Q: Couldn’t you drop a receiver cage she would have had to carry a sackful Angeles, by simply dialling four digits
from Lazarus II, then wait until Lazarus of chocolate dollars for the slots. Her higher each time.
has almost caught up with it? hands quickly fell into the old routine: She stopped off at the County Art
She smiled indulgently. At least they insert the card, dial, pull it out and the Museum in Fresno and was intrigued
were asking intelligent questions. “Won’t displacement booth would send her by giant sculptures in plastic foam. She
work. Lazarus II must have changed somewhere else. was wandering through these shapes, just
course already for Epsilon Indi. What- It was characteristic of Karin that she feeling them, not yet trying to decide
ever happens is likely to take a long had not been calling old friends. The whether she liked them, when her wrist
time.” impulse was there, and the worn black phone rang.
phone book with its string of nine-year- She could have taken the call then and

Teevee was mostly news these days.

The entertainment programs had
been largely taken over by cassettes,
old names and numbers. But the people
she had known must have changed. She
was reluctant to face them.
there, but she went to a wall phone in
the lobby. Karin preferred to see
she was talking to.
who

which could be sold devoid of adver- There had been a vindictive impulse She recognized him at once.
tisements, and which could be aimed at to drop in on her ex-husband. Here I Robin Whyte was a round old man,
more selective audiences. am at thirty-six, and you— stupid. Ron his face pink and soft and cherubic, his
And newspapers had died out; but knew where she had been for nine years, scalp bare but for a fringe of white hair
headlines had not. The announcers were and why bug the man? over his ears and a single tuft at the top
saying things like Centaurus planets de- She had cocktails at Mr. A’s ijn San of his head. Karin was surprised to see
void of life colony ships to return
. . . Diego and lunch at Scandia in Los An- him now. He was the last living member
. failure of Lazarus scout ship engines
.
.
geles and dessert and coffee at Ondine of the team that had first demonstrated
. .rescue attempts to begin
. details . . . in Sausalito. The sight of the Golden teleportation in 1992. He had been pres-

20
 “With his mind’s eye he saw six coffins, deathly still,
and sixhuman beings frozen inside. Three men, three women,
frozen, falling through space forever.”

ident of JumpShift, Inc. for several dec- York prefix. making their drinks and served them.
ades, but he had retired just after the Karin Sagan was curious and a bit truc-
launching of Lazarus II. t was evening in New York City. ulent at being summoned so abruptly.
“Karin Sagan?” His frown gave him I Whyte’s apartment was the penthouse Jerryberry Jansen had known him too
an almost petulant look. “My congrat- floor of a half-empty building. The city long for that. He was only curious.
ulations on your safe return.” itself had lost half its population during “You’ve put JumpShift in a sticky
“Thank you.” Karin’s smile was the past forty years, and it showed in situation,” said Whyte. “Both of you.
sunny. An impulse made her add, “Con- the walls of dark windows visible and the of the news media too.
rest
gratulations to you. too.’? through Whyte’s picture windows. Karin, Jerryberry, how do you feel about
He did not respond in kind. “I need “The thing I want to emphasize,” said the space program?”
to see you. Urgently. Can you come Whyte, “is that I didn’t call you here “Fm for it. You know that,” said Jer-
immediately?” as a representative of JumpShift. I’m ryberry.
“Concerning what?” retired. But I’ve got a problem, and “Fm in it,” said Karin. “I feel no
“Concerning the interview you gave pretty quick I’m going to have to take strong urge to quit and get an honest
this morning.” it up with someone in JumpShift. I still me?”
job. Is this a preliminary to firing
But the interview had gone so well. own enough JumpShift stock to want to do want to know why you went
“No. I

What could be bothering the man? She protect it.” into somuch detail on Lazarus. ”
said, “All right.” His guests made no comment on his “They asked me. If someone had
The number he gave her had a New disclaimer. They watched as he finished asked me to keep my mouth shut on the
subjectI might have. Might not.”

“We can’t rescue Lazarus,” said

Whyte.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Perhaps it was in both their minds, but
it was Jerryberry who said it. “Can’t or

won’t?”
“How long have you known me?”
Jerryberry stopped to count. “Four-
teen years, on and off. Look, Fm not
saying you’d leave a six man crew in
the lurch if it were feasible to rescue
them. But is it economically infeasible?
Is that it?”
“No. It’s impossible.” Whyte glared
atKarin, who glared back. “You should
have figured it out, even if he didn’t.”
He transferred the glare to Jansen.
“About that rescue mission you pro-
posed on nationwide teevee. Did you
have any details worked out?”
Jerryberry sipped at his screwdriver.
“Fd think it would be obvious. Send a
rescue ship. Our ships are infinitely bet-
ter than anything they had in 2004.”
“They’re moving at a seventh of light-
speed. What kind of ship could get up
the velocity to catch Lazarus and still
bring them back?
“A drop ship, of course! A drop ship
burns all its fuel getting up to speed.
Lazarus II is doing a third of lightspeed,
and it cost about a quarter of what Laz-
arus cost; it’s so much simpler. You
send a drop ship. When it passes Lazarus
you drop a rescue ship through.”
“Uh huh. And how fast is the rescue
ship moving?”
“. . . Oh.” Lazarus would flash past
the rescue ship at a seventh of lightspeed.
“We’ve got better ships than the best
they could do in 2004. Sure we do. But,
censored dammit! They don’t travel the
same way!”
“Well, yes, but there’s got to be—”
“You’re cheating a little,” Karin said.
 “Everyone in the world lives next door to his boss,
his mother-in-law, the girl he’s trying to drop, the guy he’s
fighting for a promotion. You can’t move away!”

“A ship of the Lazarus type could get “So we don’t get them back,” he said. would take months, assuming I can get
up tospeed and still have the fuel to “What are we holding, a wake?” anyone interested in doing a cost es-
get home. Meanwhile you send a drop “They knew the risks they were tak- timate of something nobody really wants
ship to intercept Lazarus. The rescue ing,” said Whyte. “They knew, and they built.”
ship drops through the receiver cage, fought for the chance. We had over a Jerryberry paced. “Suppose we do a
picks them up— hmm,” thousand volunteers of train-
at the start cost estimate. CBA, I mean. Then you
“It would have to be self-teleporting, ing, and that was after the preliminary wouldn’t have anything to defend. It
wouldn’t it? Like Phoenix. ” weeding-out. Jerryberry, I asked you wouldn’t be very accurate, but I’m sure
“Yah. Hmmm.” before about how you felt about the we could get within a factor of two.”
“If you put a transmitter hull around space program.” “Better give yourselves a week. I’ll
something the size of Lazarus, fuel tanks “I told you. In fact—” He stopped. give you the names of some people at
included, you’d pretty near double the “Publicity.” JumpShift; you can go to them for de-
weight. It couldn’t get up to speed and “Right.” tails. Meanwhile I’ll have them issue a
then decelerate afterward. You’d need “1 thought I was doingyou some good. press release saying we’re not planning
more more weight, a bigger hull.
fuel, Public support for the space program a rescue mission for Lazarus at this
Maybe it couldn’t be done at all, but heavy right now, and frankly. Doc-
isn’t time.”
sure as hell we’re talking about some- tor Sagan, your report didn’t help
thing a lot bigger than Lazarus. ” much.” umpShift Experimental Laboratory
There had never been another ship as
big as Lazarus.
She flared up. “What were we sup-
posed to do, build a planet?”
J Building One, was a tremendous
pressurised Quonset hut. On most of his
Karin said, “Yah. You’d ditch a lot “Failure of the first expedition. No previous visits Jerryberry had found it
of fuel tanks getting up to speed, but planets. A whole colony fleet onits way nearly empty; for too many of Jump-
still— hmm. Fuel to get home. Dammit, home without ever having so much as Shift’s projects are secret. Once he had
Whyte, I left Earth nine years ago. seen Alpha Centaurus! I know, it’s safer come here with a camera team, and on
You’ve had nine years to improve your for them, and better not to waste the that occasion the polished, smoothly
space industry! What have you done time, but dammit!” Jerryberry was on curved hull of Phoenix had nearly filled
with them?” his feet and pacing. There was an odd the building.
“We’ve got lots better drop ships,” glow in his eyes, an intensity that could He had never known exactly where
Whyte said quietly. Then, “Don’t you communicate even through a teevee the laboratory was. Its summers and
understand? We’re improving our ships, screen. “I tried to emphasize the good winters matched the northern hemi-
but not in the direction of a bigger and points. Now— I damn near promised the sphere, and the sun beyond the windows
better Lazarus. ” world a rescue mission, didn’t I?” now stood near noon, which put it on
Silence. “Just about. You weren’t the only Rocky Mountain time.
“Then there’s the drop ship itself. one.” Gemini Jones was JumpShift’s senior
We’ve never built a receiver cage big He paced. “I’m pretty good at ex- research Physicist, an improbably tall
enough to take another Lazarus. Phoenix plaining. I have to be. I’ll have to tell and slender black woman made even
isn’t big; it doesn’t have to go anywhere. them— no, let’s do it right. Robin, will taller by a head of hair like a great white
I won’t swear it’s impossible to build a you go on teevee?” dandelion. “We get this free,” she said,
drop ship that size, but I wouldn’t doubt Whyte looked startled. rapping the schematic diagrams spread
it either. It doesn’t matter. We can’t build “Tell you what,” said Jerryberry. across the table. “The Corliss acceler-
the rescue ship. We don’t even have the “Don’t just tell them why we can’t rescue ator. Robin wants to build another of
technology to build Lazarus again! It’s Lazarus. Show them. Set up a cost these. We don’t have the money yet.
gone, junked when we started building breakdown, in dollars and years. We all Anyway, we can use it for the initial
drop ships!” know—” boost.”
“Like those damn big bridges in San “I tell you it It—”
isn’t cost. On a flattish disc of asteroidal rod a
Francisco Bay,” whispered Karin. “We both know that it could be done, mile across, engineers of the past gener-
“Sorry, gentlemen. I hadn't thought it if we gave up the rest of space industry ation had raised a tower of metal rings.
out.” and concentrated solely on rescuing Laz- The electromagnetic cannon had been
Jerryberry said, “You’ve still got the arus for enough years. R and D, re- firing ships from Earth orbit since 2004
Corliss accelerator. And we still use building old hardware—” AD. Today it was used more than ever,

reaction drives.” “Censored dammit! The research on to accelerate the self-transmitting ships
“Sure. For interplanetary speeds. And a drop ship that size alone—” Whyte partway toward the orbital velocities of
drop ships.” cocked his head as if listening to an inner Mars, Jupiter, Mercury . . .

Jerryberry drained his screwdriver in voice. “That is one way to put it. It would Jerryberry studied the tower of rings,
three swallows. With his mind’s eye he cost us everything we’ve built up in the wider than any ship ever built. “Is it wide
saw six coffins, deathly still, and six past thirty years. Jerryberry, is this really enough for what we’ve got in mind?”
human beings frozen inside. Three men, the way to get it across?” “I think so. We’d fire the rescue ship
three women. Someone must have “I don’t know. It’s one way. Set up in sections, then put it together in space.
thought that a scout crew might just a cost estimate you can defend. It won’t But we’d still have to put a transmitter
decide to colonise the Centaurus system end with just one broadcast. You’ll be hull around it.”

without waiting. Fat chance of that now. challenged, whatever you say. Can you “Okay, we’ve got the accelerator, and
Three men, three women, frozen, falling be ready in two days?” we’d use standard tanks. Beyond that—”
through space forever. They couldn’t Karin gave a short, barking laugh. “Now hold up,” said Gem. “There’s
possibly have been expecting rescue. Whyte smiled indulgently. “Are you an easier way to do this. I thought of
Could they?” out of your mind? A valid cost estimate it this morning. If we do it my way we

22
 “But what use were the worlds of other stars?
Even the worlds of the solar system had given no benefit to Man,
except for Venus, which made an excellent garbage dump.”

won’t need any research at all.” called. She said, “I’ve been wondering SOLAR SYSTEM: N$51,500,000,000
‘‘Oh? You interest me strangely.” if you needme for the broadcast.”
“See, we’ve still got this problem of “Good idea,” said Jerryberry, “if One self-transmitting hull costs
building a ship big enough to make the you’re willing. We could tape an inter- N$ 70,000,000
rescue and then decelerate, and a drop view any time you’re ready. I’ll ask you Twenty-two self-transmitting hulls cost
cage big enough to take it. But we al- to describe the circumstances under N$ 1,540,000,000
ready know we can build self-transmit- which you found Lazarus, and use that Interstellar drop ship costs N$ 500,000,000
ting hulls the size of Phoenix. What we to introduce the topic.” R & D costs nothing.
can do is put the deceleration fuel in “Good.” Support systems in solar system:
Phoenix hulls. We wouldn’t need an Jerryberry was tired and depressed. It N$ 250,000,000
unreasonably big drop cage that way.” took him a moment to see that Karin TOTAL COST OF RESCUE: N$ 2,360,000,000
Jerryberry whistled. He knew what was too. “What’s wrong?”
Phoenix had cost. Putting a rescue ship “Oh ... a lot of things. We aren’t
“. . . which is just comfortably more
together would be like building a fleet just going to forget about those six astro- than it cost to build Lazarus in the first

of Phoenixes. And yet— nauts, are we?” place, and a lot more than it cost us to
“Robin was wrong. We could do that. His laugh was brittle. “I think it un- not colonise Alpha Centaurus.
It

We’ve got the hardware.” likely. They

aren’t decently dead. wouldn’t be impossible to go get them.
“That’s exactly right. I figure maybe They’re in limbo, falling across our sky Just inconvenient and expensive.”
twenty Phoenix hulls full of suspended forever.” tie up
“In spades,” said Karin. “You’d
hydrogen, plus a Phoenix-Xy^e ship for “That’s what I mean. We could wake week solid.
the Corliss accelerator for a
the rescue, plus a couple more hulls to them any time in the next thousand The whole would take about thirty-
trip

hold the drive and the rigging to string years, if we could get to them.” four years starting from the launching
it all You’d have to assemble
together. “That’s my problem. We can.” of the drop ship.”
it launch and accelerate it to a
after “What?” “And if it could be done now it could
seventh of lightspeed, using a couple “But it’d cost the Moon, so to speak. always be done; we couldn’t ever forget
hundred standard tanks. Then take it Come on over, Doctor. I’ll show you.” ituntil we’d done it. And it would get
apart, stow the rigging, and send every- more difficult every year because Laz-
thing through a Lazarus II drop ship one LAZARUS COST N$ 2,000,000,000 arus would be getting further away.”
hull at a time.” LAZARUS II COST N$ 500,000,000 “It’ll nag us the r.est of our lives.”

“We could do it. Does Robin know Phoenix cost 110,000,000 Karin leaned back in Jerryberry’s guest
about this?” Colony (six ships adequately equipped) cost His apartment was not big: three
chair.
“Who’s had time to call him? I only N$ 660,000,000 rooms with doors knocked between
just thought of this an hour ago. I’ve TOTAL COLONY PACKAGE, INCLUDING COLONY them, in a complex that had been a
been working out the math. AND PHOENIX AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN / turn to page 88
“We could do it,” Jerryberry said, his
eyes afire. “We could bring ’em back.
All it would take would be time and
money.”
She smiled indulgently down at him;
at least she always seemed to, though
her eyes were level with his own. “Don’t
get too involved. Who’s going to pay for
all this? You might talk your bemused

public into it if you were extending

man’s dominion across the stars. But to
rescue six failures?”
“You don’t really think of them that
way.”
“Nope. But somebody’s going to say
it.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should go

for it. Those self-transmitting hulls could
be turned into ships afterward.”
“No. You’d drop them on the way
back.”
Jerryberry ran a hand through his hair.
“I guess you’re right. Thanks, Gem.
You’ve done a lot of work for something
that isn’t ever going to get built.”
“Good practice. Keeps my brain in
shape,” said Gem.

H e
a
was at home, doggedly working out
time and costs schedule for the
rescue of Lazarus, when Karin Sagan
 At one time the medical men wondered if the human
body could stand long periods of weightlessness. Now
they wonder how man manages to withstand gravity.

article / Gregory Ben ford

artist / Tom Newsom
B efore man ever ventured into space,
some planners thought the sensation
of weightlessness might prove unbear-
revolves slowly. This usually passes as
the body’s equilibrium
just to new
and
conditions. Asleep, a
reflexes ad-
man
tion may come
as a harmless
during their
to view weightlessness
amusement and recreation
rest periods. If the station
able. Weightlessness is the same feeling automatically assumes the fetal position, is the familiar “wheel” type, with spokes
one gets when falling, such as at the top floating. Usually astronauts sleep inside out to the rim, a cylinder at the center
of a roller coaster when the descent a bag to keep them from
light, ventilated would still be weightless. Weightless
begins. In fact, weightlessness is not so drifting about the cabin and striking games may be invented, to make use of
terrifying as was feared, but it can be things. Sometimes, strangely, sleeping the new freedom.
uncomfortable. t&is way results in a backache. NASA is already projecting that the
In orbit, a spacecraft is failing toward Most movement requires less effort; space shuttle can begin to pay back its
the Earth. It is also speeding parallel to men tire more slowly. The body com- investment through tourism, perhaps as
the Earth’s surface, and the Earth curves pensates with lessened hunger— a man early as the late 1980s. Aside from the
away from the spacecraft because the eats only about two thirds his normal drama of the flight and the spectacle of
Earth is a sphere. If the spacecraft moves fill. Often his weight drops in space. For Earth seen from orbit hundreds of miles
quickly enough, the Earth “curves away” reasons not fully understood, the ele- up, one of the major tourist attractions
at just the same rate that the craft falls ment potassium is lost quickly in orbit will be weightlessness (or lessened grav-
toward it, so that the craft stays the same and this ups«s the mineral balance of ity, if the ship spins). A stringent physical
distance above the Earth. This is why the body. The imbalance seems to shrink examination will be required before
an astronaut feels himself always falling. muscles, causing the heart particularly takeoff, and full weightlessness may not
Without weight, the distinction be- to grow smaller. The blood also changes, be used until the passengers have proven
tween up and down vahishes. Water often making fewer white cells. These they can take it. But in a world jaded
floats in little spherical droplets. Pencils cells fight infections, so astronauts are with ordinary pleasures and distractions,
and other loose objects float about the more prone to some illnesses. Also, the the experience will be new and unique.
cabin,blown by eddies of air. Just after red cells sometimes are not replaced It should sell well. The steep price— cer-

reaching orbit, there is a feeling of hav- quickly enough, and their oxygen-carry- tainly several thousand dollars or more
ing a stuffed head, a fullness that comes ing function declines. Gradually, in for a few hours in orbit— will probably
from a sudden rise in blood pressure. sometimes subtle ways, the delicate bal- deter few. Ask the question of your-
This is because the heart does not im- ance of processes in the body is upset. self— would you spend the money?
mediately adjust to the fact that it Muscle tone lowers when a man is The low-gravity environment avail-
needn’t pump as hard as it did on Earth. weightless, because less exertion is re- able in orbit will also hold out the possi-
The body’s blood no longer must be quired. After a time, this decline over- bility of lessened strain on heart and
pushed against the force of gravity. comes the ease of working and it takes other internal organs, particularly the
A typical response to the first experi- longer for a man to complete a given circulatory system. Patients in need of
ence of no weight is a giddiness, a new task. This fact may well set a limit upon extensive operations might find recovery
feeling of freedom. An astronaut can the time spent in weightless condition. easier in low gravity. If the high-g strain
effortlessly “fly” across his cabin, twirl
in the air or
ation.
of
He
how much
is
simply float in total relax-
conscious for the first time
an Earth-bound
strain
creature endures just to get through life.
W hen the astronaut returns
gravity field— the Earth or our
moon— his heart strains to readjust to
higher work load. He tires more
to a

the
easily.
of getting into orbit aboard a space shut-
tle can be lessened, it might become
feasible to transport patients into orbit
for delicate operations and let them re-
cover there for indefinite periods. Inevi-
Present spacecraft cabins are cramped So bodies have returned
far, astronauts’ tably, some would be unable to tolerate
and not the ideal place to practice a to equilibrium after a few days back on the stress of return to Earth on the shut-
newfound freedom from gravity. The the surface. tle. This would lead to the first perma-

“space walk,” now a standard item on Weightlessness can be avoided by nent population in orbit, a colony tied
orbital flights, reportedly gives the as- spinning the cabin. Centripetal force to space by life itself.
tronaut a new burst of enthusiasm for presses things outward, toward the walls
weightlessness, as he spins and sails of the cabin, and provides the sensation f these possibilities come about,
around the outside of the craft. Routine of weight. This technique will be neces- I weightlessness may be an unsuspected
tasks, such as retrieving film canisters, sary in long-lived space stations, to avoid resource of the space program. Instead
become exciting expeditions. the bad effects of weightlessness. A large of the mild hazard it is now, the prospect
These are the immediate, positive ef- space station, two-hundred feet in di- of liberating man from the grip of grav-
There are others, not so pleasant.
fects. ameter, need only rotate every ten sec- ity could become an attractive side ben-
Feelings of nausea and seasickness onds to provide a full Earth gravity at efit to working, living and doing research
sometimes occur, especially if the cabin its rim. The people living in such a sta- in space. O
Edward E. White II, pilot for
the Gemini-4 spaceflight,
floats under weightless
conditions outside his craft.
He is holding a "Hand-Held
Maneuvering Unit," which he
uses to control his movements
under weightless conditions.

(NASA Photo)

27
28
EXPERIMENT
The Zookeeper had them in a cage— the trouble
was they didn’t know why. They didn’t even know
who they were, how they got there, who the zoo-
keeper was, or even, for that matter, what they
were there for.

fiction / Wiiiiam Carison

artist / Alicia Austin
 “George slowly looks around.
They are inside a hemisphere of
hey bump into each other. “Oof!”
huge dimensions—
she says. his estimate of a two mile diameter
He reaches out, steadies her.
“Uh— thanks, Mister, uh, it is cannot be far off.

T mister?”
“Yes.” He removes his hands
from her bare arms.
And if the diameter is two miles,

“Hmm, would be, with that voice! the center point of this dome
This goddam darkness— you seem pretty
strong, uh . .
.”
is a mile high!
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I— don’t under- It looks it. But, of course,
stand. I seem to have forgotten my

name.” it might be some kind

“Y’know, I have too! Just came to me,
I mean didn’t, when I tried to think of of projection.’’
it. What the hell’s going on here, with

this darkness and— uh, you still here?”

She reaches out, touches his bare chest.
“You mind? Itouch— uh, you
feel better
don’t seem have many clothes on.”
to
“I don’t believe I have any.”
“No, I don’t believe you— oh, sorry.”
“That’s all right.”
“You’re definitely a mister.”
“That is correct.”
“You’re big all over, aren’t you? God,
your legs— you work out or something?
Jog?”
“No— well, maybe. I don’t know.
Come to think of it, I don’t know any-
thing about— do you mind. Miss? I’m a
little ticklish on that left knee.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll just work my way up

again here.”
“Shouldn’t we consider— Miss!”
“Umm.”
“Please— Af/w.'”
“I see you’ve noticed that I’m
naked— why don’t you touch me a little,
it might make you less lonely or some-

thing. Here.” She pulls his arms around

her back. “Isn’t that nice— sir?”
He moves his hands-up, down. “Very
nice!” He presses her against him.
“Now that’s more like it! I don’t think
this floor is too cold, do you?”
“No.”
They lie down on the floor and make
love. Then they sit up, shoulders touch-
ing. “I’ve done that before,” she says.
“So have I— wish I could remember
where.”
“So do I. I don’t remember a home
or family or anything, do you?”
“No. I remember mathematical prin-
ciples, and some physics and chemistry
and statics and thermodynamics.”
“Really? I remember novels, plays,
poems. Shelly. Keats. You’ve heard of
them?”
“Vaguely. You’ve heard of thermo-
dynamics?”
“Vaguely.” He moves. “Hey, where’re
you going?” She grabs his left foot.
“Examining this floor. Hmm, feels

30
something like cork, not so porous, no “Oh no you couldn’t! I’m not letting straight line?”
seams, can’t pick it with my fingernail. you out of touch, brother!” Joan is silent “I don’t know. Have we? That’s your
Strange odor, barely perceptible— where for nearly a minute. “OK, I capitulate. department.”
on earth could we be?” He gets up. “Let’s You’re the leader and the father-figure “Can’t tell without landmarks,” he
go, Miss. It’s time to start getting some and all that. Bold and brave, just like says.
answers.” in the story books— lead on. Sir George! Joan leans against his shoulder. “I’m
She tries to pull him back down, but Just don’t let go of my hand.” tired and thirsty and my feet hurt and
he is much stronger and pulls her up George steps firmly ahead. Joan fol- I one single thing about
don’t understand
instead. “All right— iake. it easy, Tarzan! lows, clinging to his hand and talking this place and I just want to close my
There— that’ll be your name! Make me about the imagery of darkness and light eyes and go to sleep and wake up some-
plain Jane, but it’ll have to do.” in Paradise Lost. They walk for what where where there’s light. ”
“Could you call me something else?” seems a long time. Joan talks about the George puts his arm around her. “I
“Sylvester?” first canto of the Inferno, where Dante know. It’s frustrating. We’ve hardly
“Not Sylvester.” is lost in a dark wood. Suddenly George enough data for a reasonable first ap-
“How about— George?” stops, and she bumps into him. “Now proximation.”
“That will do.” what?” “God, I can’t get over the way you
“Good. I’ll stick with Jane— no, let’s “Shhh, I want to listen.” talk!” She reaches for his ear, finds it,
make it Joan. OK?” “Did you hear something?” tweaks it. “You’re not a robot, are you,
“OK-Joan.” “Shh.” George kneels to examine the Georgie?”
floor. “No. But I seem to know about com-

S till holding her hand, he takes a step,

but she hangs back. “God, this dark-
ness-how can any place be so dark?”
is
“You know,
almost— loud.”
the silence in this place

“Same material,” he says, getting up.

puters; I must have worked with
them— before. Are you ready to move
on?”
“Probably one of two things. Either “And this damn darkness is so dark “I guess. God, what a stinking misera-
this place is absolutely light tight, or it’s almost visible. Don’t you like para- ble mess.”
we’re both blind.” doxes, George— no, I guess not. I do, I “The situation is not without interest
“W-what?” think they stretch the mind. Wasn’t it though.”
“Either this place—” Jonathan Swift— or was it John Donne, “Shit,” says Joan.
“I heard you! Blind—oh
heard you, I who—”
God!” She grips his hand with both of
hers.
“Yes. Whoever erased our memories
it
“Excuse me, Joan— I don’t care which
was.”
“Well, for-”
G eorge leads the way. They are
scarcely into their stride when he
crashes into it. “Ouch! Damn it!”

could also have blinded us, temporarily “And furthermore,” he says firmly, “I “You can swear!” cries Joan.
or permanently. Blind, or in absolute don’t care what they said about para- “You goddam right,” he says, rubbing
darkness— how could one tell?” doxes or anything else. I think we should his nose.
“I don’t know!” Joan cries. Again she both be listening as we walk— we need Joan drops his hand and feels, up,
hangs back, as George tries to move allthe clues we can get— and we can’t down, crosswise. “It’s a wall!”
forward. “Where are we going?” hear anything with you chattering like “It is,” he agrees, touching it, smelling
“If I don’t know where we are, and a teletypewriter. Now let’s go.” He steps it. “Apparently the same material as the

I can’t see any destination, how can I off. floor.” He strikes it with his fist. “Solid.”
possibly know where we’re going?” Joan follows, still holding his hand. “Now what?” asks Joan.
“That’s what I thought! Yet you just After several minutes she says, “I hate “First I’ll hoist you up.,’ He does.
take olf, just like that! Here we are stark you.” George doesn’t answer. “You “Can you feel the ceiling?”
naked, helpless, where or why or what could have told me in a nice way instead “Nope— let me down!” George slides
kind of place this is we don’t know— of being such a crude pig about it.” her down the front of his body. “Hmm,
maybe there’s a bottomless pit three Another long silence. “Next time you try nice trip. OK— now what?”
steps ahead, or big traps with sharp teeth, to rape me, brother, you’re gonna have “We follow the wall.”
or mines to explode, or some kind of a fight on your hands.” “Now wait a minute, George. You’re
knife thing coming out of the floor. We George says nothing, and Joan trudges the boss— I admit it— but can we just sit

don’t know what there is, we can’t see beside him in silence. After what seems here and talk a minute?”
anything, yet you just blithely walk off!” like hours she tugs at his hand. “Can “OK.”
“I wouldn’t say blithely. I have evalu- we rest?” They sit, backs against the wall.
ated the situation, and it is obvious that “Yes.” “George, I’m not saying it’s not right to
we need more data.” They sit down. “Can 1 say something?” walk around and investigate the— the ex-
“Oh, data. I think we should stay right “Yes, but first I want to say I’m sorry When you’re put
ternal situation here.
here!” about— back there.” in a prison you try to get out. That’s
“But if we move we might come to “You’re really sorry?” normal. But my question is, why were
some or sound, or be able to feel
light, “Yes.” we put here? Ikaked, our memories partly
something that will help us. The risk is “OK— 1 forgive you. It’s just— I’m gone? This thing is obviously somebody’s
justified by the data we may acquire.” scared! And talking seemed to help.” plan, and if we could figure out what
“You talk like a computer, you know “1 understand.” kind of plan, you know, what the hell
that? Good thing you don’t make love Joan presses his hand. “This building this might be all about, wouldn’t we be

like one!” must be awfully big, we’ve been walking ahead?”

Do you
'

“On the other hand,

could explore I for hours.” “We would. have any ideas?”
by myself, keeping within sound—” “But have we been walking in a “Well, not exactly.”
 ” I

“I have.” be detectable to us in the darkness.” a little over six miles, the diameter about
“I might have known,” Joan sighs. “You mean we could just be walking two miles, the area a little over three

“We’re obviously not in a conven- round and round the outside wall?” square miles; if elliptical, it would de-

tional prison or insane asylum, so unless “That’s right.” pend—”

this is an hallucination—” “Jesus. I hate this place! I want to “Never mind,” says Joan, “it’s a big
“I don’t think so, George. 1 mean, you see!” cell— that’sall I know, God, I’m tired.

have to accept your senses— I touch the George is silent for several rninutes. I’m even too tired for sex.” In a few
floor, the wall, you, myself— I’m hungry, “All right, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll minutes she falls asleep, and shortly
thirsty— we’ve made love for God’s mark this spot and start walking again. after, George does too.
sake— no, we are here in a big dark But this time I’ll count my steps, so when
building of some kind— I’m sure of it!”
And even
as
if we aren’t
though we are, because— because what
we have to act
1 get back we will have established the
approximate shape and dimensions of
the building.”
L ook, George, look, /oo/-- god-
dammit, will you wake up!” Joan
pounds on his chest.
else can we do?” “What good will that do us?” George holds her off" with one arm
“I agree.” “The more data, the better,” George as he opens his eyes. He blinks, sits up
“So where does that leave us?” says firmly. sharply, rubs his eyes, looks.
“In a zoo. Or a laboratory. Somewhere “Oh. One question. How do we mark “Isn’t it fantotic, George? We can see!
under observation.” the spot?” You’re not bad looking, you know— God,
"But who, and why, and where?” “Well, I know you’re tired, and—” I’m thirsty—just look at this incredible
“Who knows? Someone or something “No.” place!” George looks around, then turns
with huge resources, that’s certain. “I could go faster alone. I’d probably back to Joan. She smiles slowly as he
Where? Underground somewhere? be back before—” studies her face and body. “Do I pass?”
Why? Some kind of test? Preparation for “No.” “You pass.”
something? What?” “In that case, I hope you feel as much “Am I beautiful?”
“You know what I’m thinking about, pressure in your bladder and bowels as “Your body is beautiful; your face
the Zookeeper! If you’re right, he’s I do.” is— interesting, striking.”
watching us right now. Could he see us “In my— oh, God. George.”
I see! “My nose is too long, isn’t it? I’ve been
in the dark?” “Can you think of another way?” feeling it.”

“Certainly. Infrared light.” “No. Where do you want me to go?” “It’s part of what makes you striking.”
“You think— you don’t think— he “Let me measure from the wall.” He “I wish I had a mirror— do you like
would listen to us? I mean if we ad- guides her to the spot, lets go of her dark hair?”
dressed him directly?” hand, steps away. “IJo as much as you “Very much.”
“He might. If there is such a person. can,” he adds. “George, I am scared! What kind of
I wouldn’t count on it.” “Oh, shut up.” She does hers and then place is this?”
“I’m going to try!” Joan clears her he does his. As soon as he finishes she George slowly looks around. They are
throat. “OK, Mr. Zookeeper, we know grabs his hand. “C’mon, let’s get go- inside a hemisphere of huge dimen-
you’re out there— uh, 1 just want to tell ing— yours smells worse than mine.” sions- his estimate of a two mile diame-
you that we—/ think this is very stupid, “That,” George says, “is a matter of ter can not be far off. And if the diameter
keeping us in the dark this way and opinion.” is two miles, the center point of this

fooling around with our minds— why not They walk and walk and rest and walk dome is a mile high! It looks it. But of
just treat us decently and talk to us— we’ll some more. Joan’s increasing tiredness course it might be some kind of projec-
tellyou what you want to know, and— slows them down, but George continues tion. The surface of floor and dome
guess that’s all. For now.” to try to take three foot steps. “Are you appear absolutely smooth, light tan in
There was a long silence. still counting?” Joan asks after a long color, no windows or light source no-
“He’s not going to answer,” Joan says. time. ticeable— the even illumination seems to
“No.” “Still counting.” come from the surface itself.

“You son of a bitch!” she shouts. “How far have we gone?” Joan puts her arms around George.
“There, I feel better. Now what do we He “Four miles and—”
stops. “I’m really scared, George. I’m glad we
do?” “Four miles!” can see, but I feel so small— \he Zoo-
“Follow the wall.” “And 462 steps. I count to 1,760 and keeper, he’s so, so much in control.” She
keep track of the miles on my right hand presses her face into his chest. “Oh,

T hey set off,

to the wall,
levels with
George walking
brushing
the fingertips of his right
it at
close
various
as I check out the wall.”
“God, no wonder I’m tired. Can we
rest a little?As long as we’re stopped?”
thank God you’re here— without you
Will you love me, dear? Please love me,
please!”
. . .

hand, while Joan as usual holds firmly “Sure.” They rest and walk and walk George loves her.
to his left. and rest and walk. Joan leans heavily
They walk on and
bles Joan,
got to
“how big is
come to another
on. “God,”
this place?
wall pretty soon.”
mum-
We’ve
on George. Finally she becomes com-
pletely exhausted, stumbles, and begins
to sob, “F, sorry, George, I’ve tried— I’ve
A fterward, they sit quietly, George
with his back against the wall, Joan
on his lap. “Did you get a good look,
George stops. “Ah! Stupid!” really tried— but-I-just-can’t-go-on.” At you bastard!” she suddenly explodes.
“What? I was ju— thatmoment, George steps in it. “What?”
“No, no— I was referring to myself! They move away from their marker “Talking to the Zookeeper.”
There may not be another wall, Joan. and sink to the floor. “How big?” mur- “Oh.”
If the building is circular, for example, murs Joan as she cuddles against him. “I hope the sonofabitch got— hey, look
or elliptical, the wall’s curve wouldn’t “If it’s circular, the circumference is over there!” George looks. About fifty

3?
 “Here we are, stark naked,
helpless, where or why or what
kind of place this is we
yards away a pillar is rising from the
don’t know— maybe there’s a floor.Joan leaps to her feet. “What’s that
on the platform on top? Isn’t it—it is!
bottomless pit three steps ahead, Food! Look, fruit, bread—and water! A
pitcher of water! Come on!” But while
or big traps with sharp teeth,
she speaks the pillar starts to sink.
or mines to explode, or some “Hurry, George!” They run desper-
ately— too late. It sinks back into the
kind of knife thing coming out of floor. They stop, panting, but although
George examines the area on hands and
the floor. We don’t know knees he cannot discover where it was.
“Wonderful engineering,” he murmurs,
what there is, we can’t still searching.
“Screw the engineering! I’m hungry
see anything, yet you just blithely
and thirsty and that sonofabitch— wait,
walk off!’’ look! Way over there! Isn’t that another
one?”
Still on George looks to-
his knees,
ward the center of the building, where
Joan is pointing. Another black pillar is
rising from the floor. George gets up.
“Yes. Can you see any—”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s got food and water.
I’m sure! Let’s go!” And Joan dashes
oif, George pounding after. He is only

a step behind her when she hits. “Oww!”

She hits hard, falls flat. George cannot
stop himself in time, but his outflung
arms help cushion the blow. Joan lies
on her stomach, head cradled in her
arms, crying. George kneels, pats her on
the shoulder. “Are you hurt, Joan? Are
you hurt, dear?”
“My head, my knee.” He gently turns
her over— angry, purplish-red splotches
on forehead and knee indicate bruises
and swelling to come. “You called me
dear.”
“I did?”
“Yes. When you asked if I was hurt,
you said dear.”
George gently caresses her hair. “Be-
cause you are dear to me.”
“Thank you for that.” She sits up. “I
suppose you want to try to get around
this— obstruction?”
“I think it would be advisable.”
“Well, I don’t! This is where I get off
the trolley!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I quit! I’m through jumping through
that bastard’s hoops. The pillar will sink
anyway.”
“Not necessarily. Depends on the ex-
periment.”
“Screw the experiment. I’rn sick of
these goddam games.”
“I know.” George gets up, begins to
examine the transparent waB. “If you’d
rather stay here— wonder if this came
down from above or up from below?”
He feels the material, smells it, beats on

it, kicks it, breathes on it. “This is in-

credible stuff! Doesn’t feel like glass or
/turn to page 54

33
 Paul Anderson, winner of many
literary awards and one of science
fiction's top writers.

34
interviewer / Paul Turner

VERTEX: Mr. Anderson, why did you talking to someone who wants to become
begin writing science fiction? a writer, never mind what kind. The late
Anthony Boucher said that a contem-
ANDERSON: Oh, I have been writing plated writing career is like a contem-
as a hobby practically as far back as plated marriage. If it can possibly be
1 can remember, and since 1 like science discouraged, it should be, because it’s
fiction, thattended to be what 1 wrote. going to have difficulties at best. Of
Finally, while in college, 1 got up the course, there are rather few full-time
nerve to actually submit some of this Most published writ-
writers in the field.
stuff, and nobody was more surprised ers, including even very well known
than me when it was accepted. ones, have bread-and-butter jobs. It
might be college professorships, or what
VERTEX: What were the influences have you, and, in that case, not being
which caused you to want to write dependant on sales for a living, they are
science fiction? in a less precarious position. In these
cases the only advice I could give would

ANDERSON: I think simply having be; go ahead and write and don’t be too
been a reader of it for years and, by-in- discouraged.
large, enjoying it. And, writing what 1,
myself, enjoyed. In a way, I suppose as VERTEX: You have been the recipient
a young boy on the farm, or something of a great number of awards during your “There was talk
like that, I couldn’t get enough science writing career-many Flugos and The
fiction, and had to write my own to Science Fiction Writers of America
of the ‘new wave'
fullfill a need. award. . . ,
as something
revolutionary.
VERTEX: You did go through college ANDERSON: Oh, not a colossal Actually it just
and take a technical course. What was number. At present, four Hugos, one
amounted to the
that? Nebula, and a Cock Robin in the mys-
tery field.
introduction of
ANDERSON: 1 went to the University the more advanced
of Minnesota with the idea of becoming VERTEX: What were your influences? mainstream
a physicist or, possibly, an astro- What writers do you feel influenced you ’’
techniques.
physicist, and took a bachelor’s degree most in your writing?
in that. But, along about then, I was
beginning to realize that probably nature ANDERSON: Well, we would start. 1

had cut me out to be a writer rather than suppose, with the classics. Homer, Sha-
a scientist. So, except to try and keep kespeare— the rest of those boys who
up with science, I’ve never actually used influence everybody. Getting closer to
that training. But, it is, of course, helpful home, I would say, outside the science
in writing fiction, or, for that matter, fiction field (except to the extent that
non-fiction. they wrote it) the two primary influ-
ences. would be Rudyard Kipling and
VERTEX: What would you say to any- a Dane named Johannes V. Jensen.
one who wanted to become a science Within the science fiction field, probably
fiction writer? Do you have any advice Heinlein.
to those people?
VERTEX: What did Johannes V. Jensen
ANDERSON: Weil, the first thing 1 write? I’m not familiar with him.
would say be well bank-rolled. Al-
is,

though, admittedly, most of my own ANDERSON: Well, as I say about

work has been in science fiction, it hasn’t Scandinavian writers, they have the
all been, and I don’t think this would choice between being buried alive in
be a healthy thing. 1 think one ought their own language and mutilated in
to diversify as much as possible. Perhaps someone But it happens I do know
else's.

I could put it better in general terms, those languages. Jensen wrote on every

35
 conceivable topic. He was a writer of A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter mainly to Jules Verne and H. G. Wells.
tremendous sense of style, keen observa- Miller. I think starting out on something Verne as the prototype of the tech-
tion, great sense of humor, and tremen- like that would get this prospective nologically oriented— you might say
dous gusto. He obviously enjoyed every reader pretty well hooked. ‘hard science’^writer. Wells is the one
moment of his life. For the Anglo- who was primarily interested in sociol-
American reader, his best known trans- VERTEX: While we’re on the subject ogy, in what strange developments did
lated work is The Long Journey, which of favorite works, how about your own to people, and so on. Then, there . . .

is a science fiction being

novel of sorts, works? Which works of yours do you have always been many practitioners on
about man’s progress from before the like most? an occasional basis. I believe I men-
Ice Age up through the time of Co- tioned Kipling as an occasional author
lumbus. ANDERSON: Well, if I may quote of science fiction. Extremely good
Anthony Boucher again, he said that the science fiction. You couldn’t better it
VERTEX: While we’re on the subject, least qualified person to judge a writer’s today. Well, then we get into the pulp
what are your favorite science fiction work is the writer himself One does get era where Hugo Gernsbeck founded the
authors? too personally involved. But, combining first magazine devoted exclusively to this
personal opinion and reaction that I’ve sort of fiction. And, for a while science
ANDERSON: Oh, I think probably the gotten from other people, I would say fiction was down in the usual pulp
usual list. In my opinion, far-and-away that the two best bets would be rather cliches; mostly glorified westerns. But,
the best writer in the field, and one of widely different. One being a pure fan- there were a few very good practitioners,
the very best writers in any category is tasy novel very thinly disguised as even in that era. Stanley Weinbaum
Theodore Sturgeon. Beyond that, 1 think science fiction called Three Hearts and comes to mind as one of the most se-
I would agree with the list of the distin- Three Lions, and the other a very, very minal writers the field has ever had.
guished practitioners: Heinlein, Asimov, hard core, heavy science fiction novel Them, under the editorial influence of
Van Vogt, etc. Then, of course, promi- called, Tau Zero. John Campbell, a very sharp upswing
nent younger writers too, like Zelazny, in quality was seen. Both quality of writ-
and Delany. One of the most incredibly VERTEX: Mr. Anderson, could you tell ing and quality of thinking, so that, for
neglected writers in the field has been me how you feel about the progress of example, the glorified western was no
Gordon Dickson. 1 do not say this be- science fiction, without too much elabo- longer acceptable. That was just a lazy
cause he an old friend of mine. I think
is ration, from the beginnings to today’s way to write science fiction. Campbell
of considerable artistry and
he’s a writer science fiction, and what you envision had higher standards than that. He de-
considerable depth. Not enough people for the future. veloped most of the people who are now
appreciate this fact. the giants in our field: Heinlein, Azimov,
ANDERSON: Do you mean the history Van Vogt, etc. Then, after World War
VERTEX: What stories or novels would of it? Or a judgement of contempory II, under the editorial influences of

you recommend to someone who is value? Anthony Boucher and Horace Gold,
starting out in science fiction and wants there was another very interesting
to read some of the best? VERTEX: What do you feel about the period, an upserge in purely literary
development of the quality of it? quality. I think this amounted to writers

ANDERSON: Well, I think probably the using more and more of the technics of
best thing to do would be to go to your ANDERSON: Well, let’s see. ... Of main-stream fiction. This Second
friendly neighborhood library. You course, science fiction has as many defi- Golden Age— if we call the early Camp-
could look for the classic Conklin an- nitions as it has definers, so some people bell era the First Golden Age; if we call
thology, Adventures in Time and Space, trace it clear back to, Lucian of Samo- the Boucher-Gold era the Second
which was published about 1947 or ’48 sata. But, I think we can say it’s a child Golden Age— also slipped into the dol-
and contains a vast amount of what of the 19th century. Our roots go back drums. For a while it was a fairly dull
many still think of as the very golden field. Then, about ten years ago we got
age of science fiction. The Science Eic- another crop of brilliant new writers. I
tion Writers of America has published mentioned Zelazny and Delany as two
a Hall of Fame anthology of classic of them. And a lot of old-timers also
stories, chosen by vote of the members. caught fire again. There was talk of the
The volume of short stories has been in ‘new wave’ as something revolutionary.
print for a year or so, and the volume Actually, that reallyjust amounted to the
of novelettes is due very shortly for pub- introduction of advanced mainstream
lication. I think either of those or the techniques. I think this is a very healthy
various Conklin anthologies, such as you development. My guess is— I could be
can find in the library, would be very dead wrong in this, of course— that
good. That would be for shorter stories, science fiction is going to become less
of course. For novels, well, if you wanted and less a distinct field. For quite some
to start out with something unusually time now we have seen highly respect-
good you rriight look for almost anything able writers, like John Hersey, writing
by Heinlein or the one or two novels straight science fiction, which simply
Theodore Sturgeon has done. Anything isn’t labeled as such. It comes out as a
by Fritz Leiber is guaranteed to be good. mainstream book. And I think more and
I mentioned Gordon Dickson. And, of more of this ghettoization is going to
course, one of the most famous ones is fade away, and, even as science fiction

36
has been borrowing from the main- Then, as every one knows, gradually it temperature is likely to be, and so on.
stream, so now mainstream
is borrowing came intomore and more respectability You go on to the biology of life on it,
from science fiction, as far as the English Departments go, then, if there are intelligent beings, what
until now I think it would have the status are they like,and so on, until finally you
VERTEX: Just a short time ago we had of a fad. Perhaps not an altogether good get down your individual characters.
to
the last Apollo flight to the moon, and thing. Leslie Fieldler, I believe, who’s All of this takes weeks of work, and
that changed a great many things in our a science fiction buff himself, has involves many pages of notes. After that,
lives. What do you think about that? worried about it getting academized to when it comes to the actual typing, I do
How did that affect you as a science death. But my feeling is, in the first get very solitary, and pretty much lock
fiction writer? place, the fad will pass, and in the second myself up with the typewriter. And I
place, if the literature is fundamentally work a pretty long day. I do as many
ANDERSON: As a science fiction writer healthy it will survive this sort of thing. pages of typescript as seems feasible
it hard to say, because everything is
is during the day, then spend the evening
He has to try to
grist to a writer’s mill. VERTEX: What kind of discipline do going over them several times, with a
keep alive to everything going on in the you use in writing your stories? Do you pencil, making corrections. When the
world, and Apollo, per se, was only one sit down in a closed room and seal your- first draft is finally done probably no
thing among many. I would say I found self off? Just what techniques do you one but me can read it, it’s so scribbled
it a tremendous experience. One of the use? over. Then I make a clean copy, making
greatest, and emotionally most impor- other corrections as they occur to me.
tant, in my life. I admit to a terrific ANDERSON: Well, I should preface I go over this two or three times, to see

emotional bias in favor of space flight this by saying that, over the years, I have if there are any further changes to be
generally, and manned space flight par- met a great many professional writers, made, then ship it off.
ticularly. My wife and I made some of I have made a hobby of collecting their
the flights with journalistic credentials working methods, and have never found VERTEX: Sounds like your approach is

so we could get as close as possible to any two alike. So, what works for me similar to the systems analysis approach
the actual launching. There is just no is simply what works for me, and has that was developed for the space pro-
experience like one of those. And so it no universal significance. For me, the gram.
is tremendously saddening to know that writing of a story, particularly a novel,
we have now seen the last of this sort is only the tail end of a rather long ANDERSON: I never thought of it that
of thing for a long time tocome. It is process, which began years before with way. It just seemed like the thing to do.
also maddening, in that we were just the notation of some idea that occurred, When I first started to write, as a young
beginning to get some pay-off. In speak- or some fact which might conceivably squirt who was only thinking of writing
ing to various audiences, including chil- lead to a story. Jot it down and throw as a temporary way of supporting him-
dren in poverty area schools. I’ve had it into the and eventually it will
file, self while looking around for something
no problem at all convincing them not coalesce with several others, and there’s else, I would just dash it out in one draft
only of the inherent interest in space the possibility of a story. For me it is and put it right in the mail. But I got
exploration, but of the direct value to a long process of planning. Trying to increasingly less satisfied with this, and,
them. It’s easy for them to see. It just figure just how this story can go. Espe- whether it is because I’m getting old or
seems to be the cocktail party intel- cially if it’s the hard science kind of story because. I’m getting more careful and
lectuals who are deaf and blind to these I sometimes write. If it to be on an meticulous, I find there is increasingly
things. Perhaps you have to have a bit imaginary planet, I want to know exactly more work per page as the years go by.
of an emotional pre-disposition in favor what kind of star that planet goes As for the systems analysis approach . . .

of something in order to see the argu- around, what distance; given those two well, suppose so. In either case, it is
I

ments in support of it. factors, you can calculate how long the a complicated process, and you begin by
year of the planet is, what its mean blocking off the different areas into
VERTEX: When you first began to write manageable sizes and working with them
science fiction, how acceptable was it to individually. For example, developing
the general public, and how did you feel an imaginary planet in some detail. I also
about that? sit down and write biographies of all the

important characters.
ANDERSON: Well, my first story was
published in 1947, at which time science VERTEX: How do you feel about this,
fiction still had no academic respect- while you’re doing your work? What
ability, except among scientists. I recall kind of emotions do you experience?
with what tremendous delight I saw that
the chemistry library at the University ANDERSON: Mostly I’d rather be out
of Minnesota, where I was at the time, fishing. Well, seriously, it’s a lot of work.
had begun regularly putting out copies It’sa demanding profession, while you’re
of Astounding Science Fiction, along with actually at it. I don’t want to sound
the technical journals. But, scientists and self-pitying, because it has many advan-
engineers and so on were still considered tages too, such as being your own boss,
the rough-necks of academe. Actually, not having to commute, not having to
a number of people over in the English wear a necktie, and so on. But mainly
Department were reading the stuff too, what draws on the nerves is the concen-
but they had to keep quiet about it. /turn to page 90

37
^4
There are times when it is ail but impossible to tell who or what
a person actually is — especially if you go only by external appear-
ances.

COMFRONmiON
arney paused in the doorway of the dance hall, peering through the shroud
V of cigarette smoke.
He threaded his way past the twined couples toward the bandstand, where
a young woman watched a pianist fingering “Stardust” out of a battered upright.
He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned with the rapt smile lingering
on her lips.
“Elizabeth Peters?” /turn to page 91

fiction / Herman Wrede

artist / Tim Kirk
 FUrURE
PERFECT
A ''perfect'' society can tolerate
the occasional rebel. But when
that rebel attracts supporters, and
the supporters become a majority,
the very fabric of society
is threatened.

fiction / A. E. Van Vogt

41
 Datkins was the
typical rebel, the O n the day that Steven Dalkins was
eighteen years old, he received an
advisory letter from United Govern-
man-against-society ments Life Credit that a million dollar
drawing account had been opened in his
found all through name. The congratulatory cover note
our history, who contained the usual admonitions for
eighteen-year-olds: gravely explained
wanted what he that the money being made available to
wanted, no rhatter him— the million dollars— constituted his
anticipated life earnings.
what the cost. —Spend it carefully; this may be all

you will ever receive: that was the sum-

mation.
Dalkins was ready. In nine days, be-
ginning on his birthday, he spent
$982,543.81. And he was wracking his
brain as to where he could dispose of
the other seventeen thousand when a
Treasury officer walked into his lavish
apartment and arrested him.

D alkins put out his cigarette in a

convenient ashtray— he was sur-
prised to find one in the psychiatrist’s
office— and then walked to the door the
girlhad indicated. He entered, and
paused with cynical respect, waiting to
be noticed.
The man behind the desk was about
gaunt, hair still without gray; and
fifty,

he was busy drawing lines on a chart.

Without looking up, he said, “Find
yourself a chair.”
There were only two chairs to choose
from. A hardbacked affair and a com-
fortable lounge type. With a sigh, Dal-
kins settled himself into the easy chair.
Without glancing up. Dr. Buhner said,
“Wondered if you’d pick that one.”
He made another line on the chart.
Dalkins watched him despisingly. He
was not alarmed. He had come to this
interview expecting stereotyped re-
sponses.He was prepared for the verdict,
whatever it might be. But the trivia was

insulting.
He said with that sardonic respect,
“You sent for me. Dr. Buhner.”
That was an understatement. He had
been delivered into this office by the
Law. His words received no answer.
Dalkins shrugged, and leaned back pre-
pared to wait.
The older man said, “Your reaction
to thatwas quite interesting.” He made
a lineon his chart.
Dalkins glared at the bent head.
“Look here,” he said angrily, “is this the
way you treat Imman beings?”
“Oh, no.” Promptly. "For legal pur-
poses, we define a human being as an
(//jalienated person. We’re trying to de-
cide you’re one. If you are alienated,
if

then you are not a human being, by

42
definition.” You muffed it. baby.” “He sounded sincere in the alienated
Dalkins bristled, then caught himself. “Still,” argued Dr. Buhner, who was fashion,” said the psychiatrist.
Cynically, he quoted, “Have I not hands, very happy that this freeswinging dia- Before his visitor could reply, or make
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, logue had been triggered while the in- a move, the door opened. The girl who
passions? fed with the same food . . . struments were still focused and record- had been in the anteroom came in with
subject to the same diseases? . .
.” He ing, “if I it, I could make
understood two copies of a computer print-out. She
left the phrase unfinished, and waited things easier. you as luxury-
I picture handed one to each of the men, and went
for a reaction. He felt pleased with him- loving. No Steven Dalkins.”
ascetic is out.
self Steven laughed. “I chose that easy There was a faint rustling of paper
As before. Dr. Buhner spoke without chair because you expected me to. I got as Dr. Buhner and his guest scanned the
looking up, “Strong word associations.” mad because you thought I would. 1 information on the print-out. The visitor
The chart received its inevitable mark. consciously fitted into your preconcep- folded his in a deliberate fashion, and
The older man straightened. For the tions. I don’t fit them.” for the first time spoke. “His physiologic
first time, now, he raised his head. “Everybody fits in somewhere. Man’s reactions when you asked him that
Bright, gray eyes gazed at Dalkins. “I enduring structure permits only minor question,” he said in a soft baritone,
have one question,” he said. “Did you variations of personality and even of “establish that he did know about the
have a reason for spending that money experience.” ten day lag between the time a lot of
within a ten day period?” Steven shrugged. money is spent and a human being finds

The small, scrubbed looking face of Dr.Buhner hastily tried another tack. out about it.”
the boy sneered at him. “Wouldn’t you “What’s wrong with every normal person “The information,” was the reply, “is
like to know?” he asked sarcastically. receiving a million dollars on his eigh- merely classified as Special Knowledge.
Dr. Buhner stood up. “Well, I think teenth birthday? Everybody else thinks It is not secret, but simply is not publi-
that does it. I shall recommend that you that and a number of similar develop- cized. Tens of thousands of individuals
be fined whatever you purchased except ments are the Millenium.” learned of the delay in specific trainings
two suits and accessories, and fined the “Rumble on. Little Boy,” said Steven they took.”
$17,000 of the balance remaining in your Dalkins. “But when you’re through, let The second man tapped the print-out,
account. This will leave you a few me out of here. You’re too late for this which now lay on his lap. “I notice,”
hundred, and you may also keep your conversation. In future I talk only to the he said, “he spent most of the money
apartment. I should advise you that big boys.” on the rapid production of a film. Any
human beings may be sued for, or fined, Without waiting for a reply, Dalkins chance of it being worth anything?”
as much as $100,000 in arty five year now opened the door. As he did so, the The gaunt man shook his head. “1 had
period. Alienated persons, of course, lose older man said, “As you leave, pause a committee of film people of diverse
everything when convicted. In your case. before the mirror in the anteroom and backgrounds look it over. Their report
I plan to requisition $100 each week take a good look at who’s talking about reinforced my own impression. It’s a
from the fine, to be paid to you if you little boys.” disjointed piece of junk. Apparently,
show up at my office for therapy. No “Okay, okay,” said Dalkins. “So I’m none of the hastily assembled cast ever
show, no $100.” only five feet six. So I don’t even look saw the whole script. They acted it out
Dalkins laughed derisively. “You’ll eighteen.” in bits and pieces. Clearly, the project
not see me again,” he said, “unless you “Maybe fifteen.” interjected Buhner, was intended to spend the kind of large
have me brought here by police action “In this instance,” said Steven, sum you can put into a film.”
to listen to your phony analysis and stu- “courage comes in a small package.” The visitor seemed non-plussed.
pid judgments.” Pause, into which Steven projected: “Have you ever had a case like this
The psychiatrist stood gazing at him. “And for your information, I am not an before?” he asked, bewildered.
If there was an expression on his hol- alienated person. And it’s you that will “Once, with the difference that, when
low-cheeked face, it was not recog- have to make the decision to change, and we traced down the expenditures, we
nizable. Yet his next words seemed to not me.” discovered that he had tried to hide
indicate that Dalkins had penetrated his Buhner smiled like a man who is ac- about fifty thousand and had paid an-
professional neutrality. He said, almost customed to talking to people who think other fifty out as a bribe.”
curtly, “All right, what is in your mind? that it is thee not me who is irrational. “For heaven’s sake—” in astonish-
What do you want?” He said, “If you’re not alienated, I don’t ment— “to whom?” When Dr. Buhner
Dalkins was at the door, contemp- know who is.” smilingly shook his head, the other man
tuous. He stood there and he felt in He was talking to a closed door. apologized. “Of course, the recipient was
himself a renewal of the greatness feel-
ing that had made him act so decisively.
For brief hours after his arrest the feeling
had dimmed. There had even been a
shadowy agreement in him with all the
W hen the youth had gone, the psy-
chiatrist sat
that faint smile
down
on his face. He was
still

joined by another man, who silently

in his chair with
penalized, and the incident
on his record,”
He broke
with Dalkins?”
off.
is

“We’ll just have to wait and see. He

no longer

“What’s your next move

people who would regard as madness settled into the chair where Dalkins had has no hidden money. Therefore, the
what he had done. sat a few minutes before. moment of truth should come rapidly.
Never would he sink to such a doubt “Well, you heard it all,” said Buhner. “Still—” the visitor was thoughtful— “it
again. The other man pursed his rather full says in the print-out that his apartment
The reaffirmation of his own rightness lips, and nodded. ispaid-up for two months in advance.
was in his voice now, as he said, “You' “What do you make of it?” What’s the state of the larder?”
had your chance. Next time tell Big The second man’s answer was to “Lots of food.”
Brother to use a man for a man’s job. stroke his jaw thoughtfully. “So he can live in total luxury for two
 "

months.” effect, “Well, why don’t we just let things much is important to him.”
The specialist tapped the print-out. happen as they normally would for an “Maybe all he wants is an opportunity
“What bothers me,” he said, “is that the eighteen.” to use up her cash.”
computer agrees that he is not an alien- Accordingly, there arrived at Dalkins’ The grim smile did not leave the psy-
ated person.” apartment a notice from Computer- “No, we’ve already lim-
chiatrist’s face.
Mate. It informed him that a young ited her withdrawals to exactly double
teven Dalkins came out of Dr.
S Buhner’s office into a gleaming
corridor, along that corridor to an eleva-
woman, Stacy Aikens, age 23, had been
selected as a suitable marriage partner
for him.
what she has been living on up
with extra money available on special
request for specific purposes. No, no—”
to now,

tor, and so down to the ground floor. “—As you probably know,” the com- he shook his head— “when biology solved
From there he sallied forth into a world munication concluded, “after a com- the problem of locking up the male sex
that had not in fifty years changed much puter selection, both parties have four- organ, and later opening it up so that
in appearance. There were the same teen days to meet and either accept, or it could function only with one wom-
buildings, or at least the same types of not accept, the selected person. If one an— his wife— the entire course of fam-
buildings. Glass, stone, brick and plastic selectee is willing, and the other not, the ily relations, and in fact, human history,
cast into various high-rise configurations. willing individual is free and has three was altered in a positive fashion. And,
It differed from earlier eras in that it more opportunities to accept a marriage of course, since women live an average
had told him every day in his conscious partner. On the other hand, the one who of seven years longer than men, we nat-
recollection that it was perfect. refused to accept the computer selectee urally set it up so that our youths must
The millenium had arrived. True, the has only two more chances. marry girls who are four to seven years
18-year-old recipient of a million dollars
had to work until that sum was paid off.
But, then, work was good for people;
normal individuals didn’t question that. "Dalkins was ready.
Most people never succeeded in pay- In nine days, beginning on his birthday,
ing off the debt; they simply didn’t earn
enough money. But they also, being un- he spent $982,543.81 And he was .

alienated, seldom spent all the money. wracking his brain as to where he
When an individual died what was left
of the million reverted to the state. The could dispose of the other seventeen
work debt, if any, was simultaneously thousand when a Treasury officer
wiped off the books. The children could
only inherit a few personal effects; not walked into his lavish apartment
money or property. There were no loose and arrested him.
ends. Everybody started with a clean
slate— and one million dollars. Legally,
that sum could not be paid twice to
anyone, nor could any portion thereof “When the candidate has used up all older than they are.”
The law did not provide alleviations for three choices, one year must pass before He concluded, “My bet is, he shows
the condition in which Steven found another three opportunities are avail- up for the wedding ceremony.”
himself If he worked, his salary would able. If in private life the candidate
automatically go to pay off his already meets a potential life partner whose per- he sign above the door read: HOR-
existing debt. sonal qualifications come within the MONIC COMPENSATION
Apparently unconcerned by any of frame of the computer programming for CENTER and ALTERNATE MAR-
this, Steven climbed into an electric taxi each of them, a marriage may also take RIAGE REGISTRATION. There was
and was on his way. place. It should be noticed that in this a line-up in front of the door when
In due course, the taxi turned onto special situation Stacy Aikens has al- Dalkins arrived. A group of males stood
the street beside the river and pulled into ready waived the requirement that her on one side of a long, narrow fence-like
the driveway of a high-rise apartment alter-mate must have money. barrier, and a group of women on the
building. Steven climbed out into the “A potential candidate, who does not other. With one exception, the males
warm day, paid the driver, and then wish to be married at this time, should were all boys in their late teens and the
sauntered to the glittering front entrance. so advise Computer-Mate.” females were all young women in their
As he did so he was aware of another Dalkins did nothing. Neither objected, early twenties. The exception among the
car pulling to a stop across the road next nor asked for his name to be withdrawn. men was an individual of about forty.
to the river. The man in it got out and He did not call the girl, and when she When Dalkins arrived no woman of
pretended to be interested in the river finallyphoned him on the twelfth day, corresponding age had shown up among
view. he informed her that she was acceptable the females, so he assumed that the man
The spy later reported to Dr. Buhner to him.” was there to spy on him. Dalkins smiled
that “Mr. Dalkins entered the building Appraized of these details. Dr. Buhner contemptuously.
in which is his apartment, and after two had another meeting with the repre- He took his place at the rear of the
hours has not emerged.” sentative of the Treasury department. male lineup, then glanced over at the
The days went by, and he continued The man asked, “Do you think he’ll women on the other side of the fence.
not to emerge. marry the woman?” At once he saw Stacy Aikens. The young
Buhner smiled. “There we have him. woman had already seen him, and was

A fter a
I
week of nothing, the watchers
out there, shrugged, and said in
To
to.
get his sex organs unlocked, he’s got
Evidently, whatever his plan, that
gazing eagerly in his direction. Their
gazes met. It was the first time they had

44
seen each other in the flesh; and it oc-
curred to Dalkins that he had better
smile. He smiled. She smiled back, re-
vealing rather large teeth.
Stacy left her place in the lineup—she
was in third position from her door— and,
as required by the rules, came back op-
posite him in tenth position. The way
she walked back toward him indicated
that she had very short legs.
Dalkins was not critical of her physical
appearance. The new'style thinking
about such things had been around for
more than forty years; and in spite of
his antagonism to part of the world
around him, that one he had not noticed.
The new style thinking required that all

normal girls, women, boys, and men be

'considered beautiful without exception.
So appearance, in terms of what old
stylethinking would have called beauty,
was not a factor in computer mating.
Height was. Weight was. Age was. The
young woman who now stood just across
the barrier from Steven was 5T" tall (to
his 5'6"), 100‘/2 pounds to his 128, and
five years older than he.
All over the world fatties married fat-
thinnies thinnies, and intermediates
ties,

other middlings. And, of course, the

ridiculous tendency that men had once
had to marry females younger than
themselves was nullified by an exact
opposite system based on good sense and
the findings of bio-chemistry. Sexually,
as economically,it was the millenium.

Soon they were inside the building

and were seated in adjoining booths,
each other and to the boys and
visible to
young women in other booths through
thick, transparent plastic. Since, at Ste-
ven’s insistence, they had opted for the
alternate marriage, they signed a plastic
plate with a special type of pen. Their
signature was automatically transferred
by the computer to the distant depart-
ment of vital statistics in the state capitol.
The signature, of itself, was the marriage
ceremony, requiring only the medical
recompensation of the male, and the
second step of hormonic alignment to
make it legal and permanent.
At the computer’s request Dalkins
unzipped the right hip of his special
marriage trousers. Then he leaned back,
also by request, and waited while he was
strapped in by two mechanical hands.
As the “hands” withdrew, a glass-like
structure fronted by a needle and a beam
of light focused on his exposed thighjust
below the hip. The needle moved slowly
and entered the flesh. The red fluid
visible in the transparent needle disap-
peared inside him. The needle withdrew.
The computer said, “Hold your arm
/turn to page 76

45
46
4W
 T here has been quite a

Soviet space
bit in the
about the coming joint U.S./
lately
flight, something that ap-
news N. Petrov, Dr. I. P. Rumyantsev and Dr.
K. D. Bushuyev. Following that meeting
Dr. Lunney and Dr. Bushuyev were
pears to be a new field, but actually named project managers for the cooper-
cooperation in space between the U.S. ative mission.
and the Soviets goes back to 1955, the
International Geophysical Year. In a
series of meetings in 1954 and 1955 U.S.
and Russian scientists, as well as those
D uring that 1972 meeting many of
the major problems which could
have plagued the mission were ironed
from other nations, sought to develop out.Agreements were reached on such
systems for cooperation in space research matters as regular and direct contact
and the exchange of space data. through frequent telephone and telex
Unfortunately, few of these meetings communications as well as reciprical
had any concrete effect, at least until the visits, the requirement for and control

successful orbital flight of John Glenn of detailed formal documentation of the

in February 1962. With the U.S. in space, mission, joint reviews of designs and
with an orbital mission on the books to hardware at various stages of develop-
show that the U.S. was not that far be- ment, the requirement for joint tests of
hind the Russians, our government again interconnecting systems, early partici-
approached the Soviets with proposals pation in the joint preparations by flight
regarding cooperation in space. The then operations specialists, the development
Deputy Administrator of NASA, Dr. of crew training plans, and the training
Hugh L. Dryden, met with Academician in each country of the other country’s
Anatoly A. Blagonravov, and the even- flight crew and operations personnel.
tual result was the three-part bilateral Agreement was also reached on the
space agreement of June 1962. principles of communications, command
and control of the actual flight, the re-

T hat agreement provided for coor-

dinated launchings of meteo-
and for the exchange
rological satellites
quirements for flight plans and mission
rules for normal and contingency situa-
tions, the immediate transmission of in-
of weather data from the satellites over flight television received in one country
a special Washington-Moscow channel, to the other’s control center, the level
coordinated satellite mapping of the of reciprocal language familiarity (which
Earth’s magnetic field, and joint com- was later to turn out to be a major head-
munications experiments using the U.S. ache), and the need to develop public
passive comm-satellite. Echo II. information procedures, taking into ac-
A second agreement providing for the count the “obligations and practices” of
Apollo command astronaut joint publication of U.S.and Soviet in- both sides.
Thomas Stafford and formation on space biology and medi- Even beyond this ambitious first mis-
cine was signed three years later, but, sion, the accord announced that future
Soviet cosmonaut Andrian
unfortunately, the material was never generations of spacecraft built by both
Nikolayev inspect the released. countries would be capable of docking
inside of the Soyuz Then, in October 1970, Dr. Robert with each other. This capability will fa-
capsule simulator vrhich Gilruth, Director of the Manned Space- cilitate emergency assistance to astro-

the U.S. astronauts will craft Center at Houston, and Academi- nauts or cosmonauts in difficulty, and
cian Boris Petrov, Chairman of Inter- will also hopefully make possible the
use for familiarization
cosmos, the Soviet office concerned with scheduling of cooperative projects, with
while their Russian international cooperation in space, met the attendant savings in dollars and
counterparts study a and began discussing the possibility of rubles as duplication is eliminated.
Apollo simulator. a rendezvous and docking between U.S.
and Soviet spacecraft. This led directly
to the provisions of the Space Accord
signed by President Nixon in 1972 re-
O ne of the first“hard” questions
which had to be answered was what
vehicles were going to be used? On the
garding the rendezvous and docking U.S. side the answer was fairly simple:
mission, presently planned for the latter the proven and readily available Apollo
part of 1975. command and service module which has
Another meeting was requested, and served so well in the Lunar landing pro-
in April 1972 Dr. George M. Low, Dep- gram. The one major change is the addi-
uty Administrator of NASA, Arnold W. tion of the docking module, a cylindri-
Frutkin, Assistant Administrator for In- cal-shaped structure approximately 1.52
ternational Affairs, and Dr. Glynn Lun- meters in diameter and 3.05 meters long.
ney. Special Assistant to the Apollo Pro- It will serve as both an airlock for the

gram Manager, met with V. A. Kotel- internal transfer of crewmen between the
nikov, Vice-President of the Soviet different atmospheres of the two space-
Academy of Sciences, Academician B. craft (pure oxygen at 5 psi in the Apollo

48
49
 DOCKING MODULE OVERALL DIMENSIONS

and oxy/nitrogen at 14.7 psi in the we get usedto the marvelous), with some
The docking module is the
Soyuz) and as a stowage area for the modifications such as additional propel-
one completely new piece new equipment needed for this particu- lants, testers for thermal control, and the
of equipment needed for lar mission. While the Apollo end of the controls and displays required for the
the Apollo-Soyuz mission. docking module will have the same sort proper operation of the docking module.
One end matches the of docking collar the LEM was equipped The actual craft to be used has already
with for the Lunar missions, the other been built and checked out and is pres-
standard Apollo-Lem
end will have a new peripheral docking ently in storage, awaiting a mission.
docking collar, while the system for mating to the Soyuz. This is
other end conforms to the
new U.S./U.S.S.R. standard
docking mechanism.
the docking system with which all future
spacecraft, both Russian and U.S., will
be equipped with.
O n the Soviet side there was .initially
some talk about using their Salyut
space station as the docking vehicle, but
The docking module will also contain a combination of problems, not the least
equipment for radio communications of which has been the bad luck they have
and TV docking displays, as well as had with the Salyut system, led them to
antennas, and the necessary stored choose, as we did, a proven vehicle; the
gasses, a thermal control loop and the Soyuz spacecraft.
displays and controls necessary for the The Soyuz has been the workhorse of
operation of the module with different the Soviet space fleet since its introduc-
pressure levels at each end. tion in 1967, being used for such widely
The command module is pretty much differing missions as solo Earth orbit
a standard Apollo model (how quickly flights, manned and unmanned rendez-

50
vous flights, two-man Earth orbit flights, bother eliminating that “useless” 78% or somewhat sluggish. The key words there
long duration flights (18 days), and as so of nitrogen from the air. One major are might and somewhat. After months
a shuttle vehicle to the Salyut space advantage of this system showed up in of wrestling with the problem the Rus-
station. a tragic way, when a flash fire in the sians, specifically Dr. Bushuyev, sur-
The spacecraft consists of three dis- pure oxygen atmosphere of Apollo 12 prised everyone by offering to drop the
tinct modules, the descent module, the as it sat on the pad going through a test pressure in the Soyuz from 14.7 psi to
orbital module, and the instrument mo- took the lives of three U.S. astronauts— 10 psi, which cut the waiting period to
dule. The descent module is a pres- fire that wouldn’t have happened in a practically nothing.
surized compartment of somewhat coni- normal air environment.
cal shape located between the orbital
and instrument modules. The crew
couches and main control panels are in
The problem confronting the planners
of the Apollo/Soyuz mission, though,
had nothing to do with fire. Indeed, there
O n January 30 of this year another
milestone in the Apollo/Soyuz
mission plan was reached, when NASA
this module, and the crew remains in was no problem as far as going from announced the crew for the U.S. half
this section during launch, reentry, and the U.S. capsule to the Soviet ship. Just of the mission. Named as prime crew-
during certain maneuvers and exercises close the airlock door, raise the pressure men for the flight were Brigadier Gen-
performed Earth orbit.
in in the docking module, and exit into the eral Thomas P. Stafford, mission com-
The descent module is connected to Soyuz. The problem came when trying mander, Vance D. Brand, command
the orbital module by an airtight hatch. to go the other way. Under normal pres- module pilot, and Donald K. Slayton,
The orbital module is used as a rest and sure some of that nitrogen in the air gets docking module pilot. The backup
work area during the Earth orbit part dissolved into the bloodstream. Yes, it’s crewmen are Alan L. Bean, Ronald E.
of the mission, and it contains many of in your blood right now. No problem, Evans and Jack R. Lousma.
the experiment packages carried into as long as you don’t reduce the air pres- Stafford, 42, is an Air Force General
orbit. It is approximately spherical in sure too quickly. If the pressure drops and one of NASA’s most experienced
shape, and doubles as an airlock for faster than the nitrogen can escape from and senior astronauts. Since his selection
extravehicular activity.
The instrument module, at the op-
posite end of the spacecraft, is an un-
pressurized compartment and contains
all the various sub-systems required for

power, communications, propulsion, etc.

The exact configuration of the vehicle
used in the docking mission will, as with
the Apollo, be a modification of the
basic Soyuz design. The main modifi-
cations will be the construction of the
compatible rendezvous and docking sys-
tem, including radio communications on
both U.S. and Soviet frequencies, radio
guidance equipment, an optical tracking
beacon, the peripheral docking system,
docking aids and targets, and the equip- APOLLO/SOYUZ CONFIGURATION
ment for crew transfer. The basic char-
acteristics of the Soyuz vehicle planned
for the test mission are: the bloodstream, such as when coming by NASA in September 1962 to join the
Number of crewmen: 2 up from a deep dive in the ocean, or Astronaut Corps he has logged 290 hours
Weight: 6795 kilograms going from the 14.7 psi pressure in a and 15 minutes in space on two Earth
Length: 7.32 meters Soyuz to the 5 psi pressure in an Apollo, orbitalflights and one Lunar orbital
Diameter: 2.29 meters the nitrogen forms bubbles, and the mission— Gemini 6, Gemini 9 and
Nominal flight: 5 days bubbles give you the “bends,” a quite Apollo 10. He has served as Chief of
painful and sometimes fatal ailment. the Astronaut Office and since June 1971
One way to cure this is to drop the has been Deputy Director of Flight Crew

O
sion
ne of the first “major” problems
crop up in the planning of the mis-
was the difference in atmospheres
to pressure in the docking
but, at a safe speed,
module slowly,
would take some
it

IVi hours to move from the Soyuz to

Operations. He is a native of Weather-
ford, Oklahoma.
Brand, 41, is a civilian and is the
in two vehicles. The U.S. and
the the Apollo, which would put a definite backup commander for the second and
U.S.S.R. had taken different paths right limit on the number of trips which could third manned Skylab missions scheduled
from the start of the space age, and there be made back and forth. to be flown this year. Selected as an
seemed to be no simple way to bring The solution to the problem was sim- astronaut in April 1966, he served as a
the two back together. The U.S. had ple, but it’s a small miracle they were crew member for the thermal vacuum
opted for the simple (and lightweight) able to work it out. Neither side was testing of the prototype Apollo com-
solution of using liquid oxygen, keeping about to admit that their system was mand module and was an astronaut
the cabin pressure at only 5 psi. The inferior, raising the oxygen pressure in support crewman for the Apollo 8 and
Russians, on the other hand, taking ad- the Apollo would make the astronauts 13 missions. He was backup command
vantage of the giant boosters (compared drunk, and lowering the pressure in the module pilot for Apollo 15, and he has
to us) they had in the early days, didn’t Soyuz might make the cosmonauts /turn to page 75

51
52
 You thought that black
thingie was some sort of
teaching device/signalling
device/transportation
device, didn't you? Boy,
do we have news for you!

fiction/ F. M. Busby

A tribe of savage apes dances to the

background strains of “The Red
River Valley.” Others approach, shriek-
ing, jumping up-and-down; it may be
that they do not like “Red River Valley.”
The two groups scream and make faces
until the number comes to an end; then
they separate and go in search of the
modest evening repast: grubs under
rocks. The first tribe finds more. Replete,
it seeks a shallow cave under a cliff, for
shelter through the night.
It isdark. The little clan awakes, star-
tled by a strange sound and a flash of
light. The young are frightened; at first

they cry, but soon quiet, for the Old Man

of the tribe reassures them. He shakes
a fist and reassures them that he is much
more to be feared than any strange
sound or flash of light.
/turn to page 82
53
THE EXPERIMENT
from page 33

plastic. And why doesn’t my breath con- pillar, but the last three compartments George looks once again at the pillar,
dense on it?” are particularly tortuous. They wearily then lies down on his back, hands behind
“You asking me? I don’t even know push on one wall seems to
until only his head. “So we’ll just— wait?”
why your breath condenses when it does separate them from their goal. At last “If you want to try it, go ahead.”
condense.” they find a small, square opening, close “I don’t want to leave you.”
George walks along the invisible wall, to the floor. “Can you make it?” Joan “You can leave me. I’m resigned now.
touching as he goes. asks. If you want to try it, go ahead.”
“You— you’re going?” “I think so, but you go first— here, “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I have to, Joan. I’ll do my best to quick”— he helps her through— “before “You can leave me. I’m resigned now.
get back.” it sinks again.” If you want to go, go.”
Joan gets to her feet, gingerly rubbing Joan wriggles through and streaks for “No, I’ll stay.”
her forehead. “Never mind. I’m not the pillar. George keeps an anxious eye Joan snuggles up to him. “I think
staying here alone.” She follows him, on it he squeezes his shoulders
as you’re wonderful.”
running her hand along the invisible through the opening, but it doesn’t move. “Yeah, it’s sure wonderful the way I’m
barrier. “Let’s see what’s being walled Apparently the Keeper is going to let getting us out of here.”
in or out here, as Robert Frost would them have their reward. George forces “That isn’t your fault! You can’t fight
say.” his body through just as Joan arrives at this, this— it makes you wonder if- that
“Sure you’re all right?” the pillar. He is running toward her as sonofabitch is human even.”
“Oh, I’ll live. I hope,” she adds in a she reaches up for the water container. There is a long silence. Finally George
whisper. She raises it to her lips, then holds it says, “That thought has crossed my
“You feel low and I’ll feel high,” he away from her, touches the material mind. In the absence of data I suppose
says, “I wouldn’t want to miss an open- inside, and hurls it to the floor. Then, you can make any guess you want.”
ing.” shouting incoherently, she flings the loaf Joan kisses him. “That’s my computer
wouldn’t want you to.”
“I of “bread” to the floor and is throwing talking! You’re the— Hey! Aren’t we— we
They walkthe perimeter of their new “fruit” at the transparent walls as George are! We’re moving! Down— the floor!”
cell. George calculates it to be a rec- comes panting up and grabs her arms. “Joan! I-can’t-move-arms-legs—
tangle, about 75 by 100 yards, one side “Wait, please, wait! Joan!” “Oh Jesus Christ I can’t either!” The
bounded by the hemisphere’s wall. But Joan’s rage turns into screaming section of floor continues to descend.
There is no opening. “All right,” says hysteria— her body alternately curls up George exerts all his strength, but can
George, “next step. Lean against the and extends rigidly— it takes all his not lift a limb. Only his head, cradled
wall, and I’ll boost you up the way we strength to hold her. At last her emotion on his folded arms, is free. He twists it
did before.” can drive her overstrained body no fur- to and fro. They are descending swiftly;
“I hate this,” Joan says as she steps ther, and it goes limp, and her screams is the square above
the only light visible
into his interlaced hands. turn to sobs, and George lowers her to them. “God, oh God, oh God,” whispers
“Up you go!” the floor. He kneels beside her, reaches Joan.
“Whoa!” she cries, “here’s the ceil- out for the water and bread. Hard. Light They stop. Darkness. A humming
ing.” She feelsalong it. “Same stuff as in weight. Some kind of plastic or glass sound. Then, gradually increasing illu-
the walls. Kind Of curved here where fiber, almost perfectly resembling the mination. Their slab rests about live feet
it joins the wall.” She reaches out as real material. He touches an “apple” and above the floor of a small, square room,
far as she can. “No opening.” a “pear.” Same. He knows he should empty except for a number of mechani-
“Ceiling’s about 10 feet high,” George investigate further, but he feels very cal arms bristling from the walls. The
says as she lowers her to the floor. tired. Joan whimpers, curls up in a fetal arms are extensible, retractible, ex-
“OK— spread your legs.” position. George lies down behind her, tremely maneuverable, and they move
“George, for—” fits her body into his. She pillows her in a weird ballet over the slab. Some
“I want to hoist you up on my head on his left arm, and after a long of the arms terminate in 6-finger-2
shoulders, there’s got to be an opening time, stops crying. thumb “hands,” others merely have a
in that ceiling.” George gently withdraws his arm and cylindrical ending. The terminators
There is. It takes them about ten min- sits up to stretch his muscles. “Oh, hell,” range in size from about six inches to
utes to find it. George boosts Joan he says. less than one inch across.
through, then leaps up, catches an edge “What?” Four large arms now descend pur-
of the circular opening, and pulls himself “Another one.” posefully to George’s body and me-
through. This compartment is smaller, “Another what?” Joan sits up, looks chanical hands arrange him on his back,
and the second opening is fairly easy to where he is pointing. “Oh, another pil- with legs apart, arms just slightly out
find,being waist high in one of the walls. lar.” She laughs shortly, lies back down. from his sides, palms facing upward. The
So they move through the invisible, “Apparently the experiment isn’t over force holding George to the slab is
three-dimensional maze, approaching yet,” George says. turned off for this actioij, and he fights
the pillar slowly and roundaboutly, “It is for me— my mouth is so dry I to escape. “What are they doing?” Joan
sometimes as high as a hundred yards can’t spit, myhead hurts, my knee hurts. asks.
above the floor, sometimes running into I’m just tuckered out— I couldn’t get over “I don’t know,” George grunts—
a dead end which sends them back to there if I wanted to, and I don’t want “preparing us.”
find a different opening in a preceding to,because that water is plastic.” “For what?” she cries.
compartment. It is hot; their bodies are “I suppose it is.” George’s struggles are in vain; his
soon slick with sweat and frazzled with “You know it is. He’s just pushing us, muscles are no match for the arms which
exhaustion. They get close enough to see seeing how far we’ll go. Tm not going casually manipulate him. When his body
the fruit, bread, and water on top of the any farther.” is positioned, the holding force is reacti-
 vated under him and the arms begin to through his ribs and scalpels begin cut-
arrange Joan. ting into his lungs and heart. Samples
Now she struggles— uselessly. “Oh, of bronchial tubes and lungs, of large
God, they handle us like animals”— her and small veins and arteries are taken.
voice rises to a near-scream— “we’re His heart is put into a bottle. George’s
human, you hear, human!” skullis opened. Scalpels and mechanical

Now one mechanical hand and one hands range freely over both bodies:
cylindrical terminator approach each arms are dissected, a humerus is cut in
head. The cylinders click, blades flick two, bone and marrow samples are
out. Joan screams, then moans as the taken. Throats are slit, samples taken of
blade descends. But the machines merely tongue and larynx and esophagus. Then
shave them. Heads first, then George’s the bodies are turned over, backs of
face and chest, then the pubic hair of skulls removed. Samples are taken of
both. No lather is used, but the blade Joan’s lower brain, but George’s brain
is so sharp, and the machines’ touch so and spinal cord arelifted out in toto and
delicate, that there is no pain. placed in a large container. One knife
There only fear.
is exposes George’s back muscles, another
When the shaving is completed, the slices into Joan’s buttocks, dripping
“razors” retract, small nozzles click out, scalpels and mechanical fingers open the
and jets of air clear the bodies and the backs of thighs and calves. Finally feet
slab of hair, neither George nor Joan are dissected, a toenail is ripped out and
can take their eyes off the cylinder as put into a test tube, and the sample racks
the nozzles retract and the equipment disappear into the room’s walls. Hoses
whirrs gently. What will come out next? extend themselves from the wall and
In some part of their psyches both al- shoot steam and hot water onto the me-
ready know, but still they watch, vir- chanical arms and hands and tools,
tually hypnotized, as the scalpels emerge. washing off blood and bits of flesh.
“Is— is an operation?” Joan asks. Clean, the arms retract. The slab lowers
Two
it

other arms extend over each to floor level. A door opens, water pres-
“When you’re put in

human, holding taut the skin of the sure increases, and amid the hiss of a prison you try to get
abdomen. The scalpels position them- steam and whoosh of water, George and
selves. “Is it an operation, George? Why Joan are washed out of the room.
out. But my question
don’t they have some anesthetic? Give The water is cut off, the hoses retract. is, why were we put
.us some anesthetic you bastard! Oh you The empty slab rises to the hemisphere
here, naked, with our
filthy murdering basta-a-aiii!” above, the lights dim, and the dissecting
George’s scream of agony blends with room, in darkness, waits. O memories partly gone?’’
Joan’s as the scalpels make their inverted
T-shaped incisions— one horizontally
across the lower abdomen about two
inches above the pubis, and the vertical
one beginning at the upper diaphragm
and slicing through the navel to intersect
the first cut at a perfect right angle.
Mechanical hands lift skin and muscle
as intestines spill out of the incisions.
Other arms move in. Small scalpels and
forceps and syringes click out, and trays
of various sized containers appear
through openings in the wall. Mechani-
cal arms methodically cut, probe, take
samples. A tool resembling a fine golden
wire cuts off the top of Joan’s skull.
Electrodes are inserted, moved, inserted
again. Joan dies. The electrodes click
back into their cylinders, and tiny scal-
pels cut out slices of Joan’s brain as
others take samples of her stomach, liver,
pancreas, spleen, and large and small
intestines. One of her ovaries and her
uterus are cut out and preserved. One
of George’s kidneys is cut away and
bottled. One of his testicles is removed.
George dies. Samples of his muscle, fat,
and nerve tissue are taken. His thoracic
cavity is exposed; a wire tool slices

55
 How can a man who is blind
appreciate a rainbow?
How can a people who live in

sequential time understand

a man who does not?

fiction / Norman Spinrad

57
 . . knowledge of the future is useless , . .

the future cannot be changed because it was not changed

”
because it will not be changed.

me, the spark of mind that is my understand that I am not insane. It is Then the plant will be outlawed as
I consciousness, dwells in a locus that allthey will understand, but it will be a dangerous narcotic. Eating Temp will
isneither place nor time. The objective enough for them to release me. But on become a crime. But, as with all . . .

duration of my lifespan is one hundred September 8, 2050, I am in a mental forbidden fruit. Temp will continue to
and ten years, but from my own locus hospital. be eaten. . . . And finally. Temp addicts
of consciousness, I am immortal— my September 2050 is the day the first
8, will become
most sought-after crim- the
awareness of my own awareness can expedition returns from Tau Ceti. The inals in the world. The governments
never cease to be, I am an infant am arrival is to be televised, and that is why of the Earth will attempt to milk the se-
a child am a youth am an old, old man I am in Dr. Phipps’ office watching tele- crets of the future from their tortured
dying on clean white sheets. I am all vision with the Director. The Tau Ceti minds. . . .

these mes, have always been all these expedition is the reason 1 am in the All this is in my case history, with
mes will always be all these mes in the hospital. have been babbling about it
I which Dr. Phipps is familiar. For eight
place where my mind dwells in an eter- for the previous ten years. I have been years, this has been considered only a
nal moment divorced from time. . , . demanding that the ship be quarantined, remarkably consistent psychotic delu-
A century and a tenth is my eternity. that the plant samples it will bring back sion.
My life is like a biography in a book; be destroyed, not allowed to grow in the But now it is September 8, 2050. As
immutable, invariant, fixed in length, soil of Earth. For most of my life this I have predicted, the ship has returned

limitless in duration. On April 3, 2040, has been regarded as an obvious symp- from Tau Ceti. Dr. Phipps stares at me
I am born. On December 2, 2150, I die. tom of schizophrenia— after all, before woodenly as the gangplank is erected
The events between take place in a
in July 12, 2048, the ship has not left for and the crew begins to debark. 1 can see
single instant. Say that I range up and Tau Ceti, and until today it has not his Jaw tense as the reporters gather
down them at will, experiencing each of returned. around the Captain, a tall, lean man
them again and again and again eter- But on September 8, 2050, they carrying a small sack.
nally. Even this is not really true; I ex- wonder. This is the day I have been The Captain shakes his head in con-
perience all moments in my century and babbling about since I emerged from my fusion as the reporters besiege him. “Let
a tenth simultaneously, once and forever. mother’s womb and now it is happening. me make a short statement he says first,”
, . , How
can 1 tell my story? How can So now I am alone with Dr. Phipps as crisply. “Save wear and tear on all of
I make you understand? The language the image of the ship on the television us.”
we have in common is based on concepts set lands on the image of a wide concrete The Captain’s thin, hard, pale face fills

of time which we do not share. apron. . . . the television screen. “The expedition is
For me, time as you think of it does “Make them understand!” I shout, a success,” he says. “The Tau Ceti system
not exist. I do not move from moment knowing that it is futile. “Stop them. Dr. was found to have twelve planets, and
to moment sequentially like a blind man Phipps, stop them!” the fifth is Earthlike and bears plant and
groping his way down a tunnel. I am Dr. Phipps stares at me uneasily. His simple animal life. Very peculiar animal
at all points in the tunnel simultaneously, small blue eyes show a mixture of pity, life. . .
.”

and my eyes are open wide. Time is to confusion and fright. He is all too famil- “What do you mean, peculiar?” a re-
me, in a sense, what space is to you, a iar with my case. Sharing his desktop porter shouts.
field over which I move in more direc- with the portable television set is a heavy The Captain frowns and shrugs his
tions than one. oaktag folder filled with my case history, wide shoulders. “Well, for one thing,
How can 1 tell you? How can I make filled with hundreds of therapy session they all seem to be hebrivores and they
you understand? We are, all of us, men records. In each of these records, this seem to live off one species of plant
born of women, but in a way you have day is mentioned: September 8, 2050. which dominates the planetary flora. No
less in common with me than you do I have repeated the same story over and predators. And it’s not hard to see why.
with an ape or an amoeba. Yet I must over and over again. The ship will leave I don’t quite know how to explain this,
tell you, somehow. It is too late for me, for Tau Ceti on July 12, 2048. It will but all the critters seem to know what
will be too late, has been too late. I am return on September 8, 2050. The ex- the other animals will do before they
trapped in this eternal hell and I can pedition will report that Tau Ceti has do it. And what we were
going to do,
never escape, not even into death. My twelve planets. The . . . fifth alone is too. We had one hell of a time taking
life is immutable, invariant, for I have Earthlike and bears plant and animal specimens. We think it has something
eaten of Temp, the Weed of Time. But life. . The expedition will bring back
. . to do with the plant. Does something
you must not! You must listen! You samples and seeds of a small Cetan plant strange to their time sense.”
must understand! Shun the Weed of with broad green leaves and small purple “What makes you say that?” a reporter
Time! I must try to tell you in my own flowers. The plant will be named
. . . asks.
way. It is pointless to try to start at the tempis ceti. ... It will become known we fed some of the stuff to our
“Well,
beginning. There is no beginning. There as Temp. . . . Before the properties of lab animals. Same thing seemed to hap-
is no end. Only significant time-loci. Let the plant are fully understood, seeds will pen. became virtually impossible to
It

me describe these loci. Perhaps I can somehow become scattered and Temp lay a hand on ’em. They seemed to be
make you understand. . . . will flourish in the soil of Earth. . . . living a moment in the future, or some-
Somewhere, somehow, people will begin thing. That’s why Dr. Lominov has
”
eptember 8, 2050. I am ten years old. to eat the leavesof the Temp plant. They called the plant tempis ceti.

S I am of Dr. Phipps, who

in the oflfice will become changed. They will babble “What’s this tempis look like?” a re-
is the Director of the mental hospital of the future, and they will be considered porter says.
in which I have been for the past eight mad— until the future events of which “Well, it’s sort of. . .
.” the Captain
years. On June 12, 2053, they will finally they speak begin to come to pass. . . . /turn to page 92
 fiction / Charles Fritch
artist / Monte Rogers

am not.” the naked blonde girl with

the saucer eyes declared firmly,
“going to eat that apple. Apples give me
a rash, and I don’t care much for them
anyway. You’re not going to get me to
take even one tiny bite out of it, no
matter what awful things you do to me.”
The snake had decided what he’d like
to do to her. Specifically, he wanted to
tear her limb from limb, and in general
to remove all her working parts and
return them to the transformation ma-
chine in the space rocket. Unfortunately,
there was no time to start over.
“I’m losing my patience,” he warned
her. “You’re going to eat this apple, and
you’re going to eat it now!”
The girl shook her fuzzy mop of hair.
“In this scheming dog-eat-dog world,
thank heaven there’s still room for the
little person with ambition and the

gumption to stand up for her rights.”

The snake hissed a wistful sigh. His
longing gaze fell once again on the dis-
tant star twinkling faintly just above the
planet’s horizon. His dwelling on that
star was only a hole in the ground, but
he called it home, and he wished fer-
vently that he were there drowsing in
the noonday sun instead of on this
strange, desolate, alien, unfriendly world
with this female humanoid who refused
to cooperate.
The plan of the scientific expedition
was to seed unpopulated worlds with
different life forms, but this particular
planet seemed to be going to seed on
the first day.

opefully, the snake nudged the red

luminescent fruit toward the girl—
whom, out of a sense of tradition, he
had named Eve. Disdainfully. Eve
pushed it away.
"1 don’t have to if 1 don’t want to. And
1 don’t want to,” she told him with a
brazen flounce of her curly golden head.
“Do you think was born yesterday?
1 I

“Do you think I was bom yesterday? know my rights, and won’t stand for 1

any snake brutality!”

I know my rights, and I won't stand by “You were born this morning.” the
snake reminded her. “Besides, what’s
for any snake brutality!” this about rights and brutality? All I’m
asking is that you take one little bitty
bite out of this nice. Juicy, shiny, deli-
cious apple. Is that a fate worse than
death?”
“For all 1 know, the apple might be
 drugged, and when I’m unconscious and
unable to protect myself, you’ll take all
sorts of terrible liberties with my lush
young female body.”
Gritting his fangs, the snake said, “It’s
got a nice-tasting aphrodisiac in it, that’s
all.”
The girl sniffed suspiciously. “An
aphrodisiac? What’s that?”
“It’s a— well, it’s a kind of vitamin.”
She smirked. “I’ll bet.”
“Would I lie to you?”
“Beats me. I don’t even know what
a nice girl like me is doing in a place
like this.”
snake shotgunned im-
Frantically, the
ploring glances elsewhere, but of course
there was no one in sight except Adam,
and that clod was dozing under a palm
tree at the end of the garden beyond
the snake’s rocket, without a care or a
worry in the world.
The snake tried another approach. He
whispered. “Listen. You take one bite
out of this apple, and Adam will chase
you all over the garden and out the front
gate.”
The girl favored him with a thoughtful
frown. “Why would he want to do that.”
“Because he’s naked,” the snake ex-
plained, “and because you’re naked,
and—”
The frown grew deeper, creasing the
ordinarily smooth forehead above the
saucer eyes. “What’s naked?”
The snake cleared his throat, gathered
his thoughts, and prepared to launch into
the standard briefing on humanoid biol-
ogy-
girl grabbed the snake “If this is exposed—”
”
“Oooooooooooooh !

and shoved the apple into its mouth. “—and this—”

“Mmmmmmmm.”
The snake coughed^ gasped “—and this—”
“Wow!”
sputtered chomped and finally, “—itmeans you’re naked.”
gulped!** “Hey, that felt pretty good. Do it

again.”
The snake’s eyes glittered with re-
newed hope. “Okay— if you’ll take a bite
out of the apple.”
“Sure,” she agreed, “but you first!”
The
girl grabbed the struggling, pro-
testing snake and shoved the apple into
its mouth. The snake coughed, gasped,
sputtered, chomped and gulped. The
fruit slid queasily into his stomach, ex-
ploding with a warmth that made his

60
scales glow.
A promise, Eve told herself, was a
promise— even to a snake. She had to
admit the apple didn’t taste bad at all,
but she had hardly time enough to chew
and swallow just a little piece before the
snake was chasing her all over the gar-
den. past the dozing Adam, and out the
front gate.
The snake skidded to a halt when he
realizedwhere he was. Turning, he
hurled himself at the gate, trying to re-
turn to the garden where his spaceship,
lay ready to carry him home.
But the force shield he had thought-
fully constructed hurled him right back.
Coiling on the cold ground, he cried
snake tears of genuine misery.
“1 failed.” he wailed.
The girl grunted. “Big deal. A person’s
got to make his way in this land of
opportunity and not depend upon the
sympathy of others. See you around,
snake-eyes.”
As the snake pondered this bit of
philosophy, he watched the naked
blonde girl swivel-hip over a nearby hill.
Another movement from within the gar-
den caught his attention, and he turned
to see Adam wandering into his space-
ship. A moment later, the humanoid
accidentally touched controls which
whooshed him into outer space and away
from the planet forever.
A moment before the glow of the
rocket’s red glare vanished, parachutes
blossomed and floated downward as
excess weight was jettisoned to lift the
craft into inter-stellar orbit. The snake
knew there would be things he could use
among the jetsam, but sadly, nothing
that would take him from this planet and
the female he had created.

found Eve kneeling in the sand

liU beside a crystal clear stream of cool
water, primping her shaggy hair in front
of the reflected image.
Resigned to his fate, the snake blurted
it out. “Eve, will you marry me?”

She shook her head. “1 can’t. 1 don’t

have a thing to wear. Besides, I’m too
young to get married. I want to have
fun first.”
“Fun? Fun with whom? You and I
are the only persons on this planet!”
“Well, not with you. 1 may be hard
/turn to page 71

6t
62
Black
Hole
Mines
In The
Asteroid
Belt
article / Jerry Pournelle

C osmologists haven’t known about

Black Holes very long, butthey've
become fascinated with them; there
are even a few theorists who think half
the matter In the universe may be In
Black Holes. As we!ll see, there’s even
some evidence to show that we’re all
inside a Black Hole in somebody
else’s universe.
The ’’classical” or Schwarzschild
Black Hole— it seems silly to speak of
something dreamed up only a few
years ago as “classical,” but Black
Hole theory changes so fast that it’s
appropriate— is formed by the col-
lapse of a star. Beginning at about
five stellar masses, the star finally runs
out of fuel for keeping its thermo-
nuclear reactions going. It goes out.
Light pressure ceases. There’s
nothing to hold the stellar stuff out,
and there’s alot of mass at the center.

Gravity takes over, and the star col-

lapses. It generates a lot of energy
and radiates away perhaps as much
as four-fifths ofits mass, but goes it

right on collapsing.
If the gravitational field gets intense
enough, the atomic shells collapse
also. The electrons are pushed in,
leaving nothing but nuclei. Since the
electrons which are forced into the
nucleus react to make neutrons, the
result is called a neutron star. The
whole thing is about a dozen kilome-

ters across: but it’s visible.

Neutron stars are only half-way
things, though. They may be stable,
but if the gravitational field was in-
tense enough the process goes all the
way. /turn to page 70
63
 Does survival of the fittest
mean that those who cannot adapt to our
technological society must die?

BRAVE ARMS, STRONG ARMS

fiction / Greg %Joy artist / Monte Rogers
64
 A tomic Age garbidgemen. Boss Joe
Harkins calls us. He ’n’ I load the
radia-active junk in cansters from the
chines grumblin’ to each other. I bet
machines bitch about what they have to
do, too. They hiss and crackle when
his
I
eyes at the window like James Bond.
look in, and see another pair of metal
arms just like the ones out here. “When
reacters into a grey VW panel truck with they’re mad, and hum when they’re 1 move my arm,” he says as he waves
red radiation signs all over it, an’ Joe happy. his right arm, “and wiggle my fingers,”
drives it down to the fish-stinkin’ docks. They’re hissin’ and spittin’ at me now, he says as he makes like a drunk piana
1 can’t drive ’cause I can’t read. Stupid, and they’re watchin’ me through all them player, “the arm in the other room does
huh? drive real good, when nobody’s
I dials on the wall to my left. I don’t like the same.” And it does just that, and
watchin’. We unload the stuff and put this place ... I feel like pullin’ all them the dog grins at me. His breath stinks
it on a Navy ship, usually one of them levers and switchin’ all them dials to of hamburger with onions and white
destroyers named after states, with a rack OFF. All they’ve left for me to do is pick bread, and there’s still white crud be-
o’ depth charges in the back that look up it away.
their shit ’n’ take tween his teeth. No wonder he’s so
like our cansters and sometimes with walk past a big doughnut-shaped
I sickly.
some o’ them big, fast-lookin’ rockets machine covered with wires like a spa- “Why d’ya need that, Doc?” I says to
on board, all ready to blast the Russkies ghetti-makers nightrhare, and spot a him. But I already knew the answer . . .

or Chinks. Mebbe both. They take our door with some writin’ on it. “D-r.-L-e- it was so some skinny bastid can take
junk way the out in the ocean and
hell e” it says. know that “D-r.” spells
I over a real man’s job.
dump it. Seems stupid to me. I don’t doctor, but how can “L-e-e” be Lee? Lee “It isn’t safe to go in there,” he says,
see how a hunk of fancy coal can hurt is a shorter word than doctor. "because of the invisible but deadly
you. I open the door anyway, and here’s a gamma rays.” Haw! Sounds like the
Look at that rumdum Joe over there pale, skinny runt with his back to me. bogeyman Pa used to warn me about.
on the dock, gruntin’ like a pig in heat His arms is in some kinda contraption Pa couldn’t fool me. though. One day
as he lugs the last can to the truck. Hell, as he stares into a little window in the I heard him arguin’ with Mom. She said

I’ve pressed more than that one-handed. wall. He must

be a doctor, ’cause he’s they should try to explain things to me.
Joe’s lats aren’t big enough for the job got a white coat hangin’ on one o’ the but Pa said I couldn’t unnerstand, an’
... he oughta work out every day, like levers next to the window, just like the it was better to scare me with a bogey-

me. I’ve hauled twice as many cansters people at the hospital. He don’t wear man than take a chance on me hurtin’
today as him. glasses, though, myself I’m fed up to here with other
He heaves the can in through the big “You
Dr. Lee?” I says, and he turns people’s hobgoblins.
side doors, and the truck rocks a little. around and gives me a fish-eyed look. “How do you open this thing up?” I

Sweat cryin" off his face, he pushes the “Yes, who are you? What are you says to him, walkin’ over to the door
canster across the floor with a skreaky doing here?” He talks out of the side to the other room like it’s nobody’s busi-
sound over a
like fingernails pulled of his mouth, like a fly with the zipper ness. It’sallcovered with dialswith twitch-
blackboard as some little rocks is caught half open. in’ needles like the tach on my Pa’s
under it. The can finally drops into a “Joe says to ask you if they’s any more old ’52 GMC
pickup, and there’s a
hole built into the floor to keep it from radia-active cansters to take out,” I says. steerin’ wheel in the middle.
slidin’ around and tippin’ over. Wipin’ “No, they were all on the loading- “You turn—” he starts to say, then
his face with one of them stupid lace dock,” he says, turning back and looking stops when he knows what I’m gonna
hankies his old lady gives him, he turns in the window again. “You can leave do. “No, don’t!” he says to me, and his
to me and says; now,” he says. I turn to go, but then I eyes bug out like them leopard frogs I
“Go into the building,” he says, “and look at him and stare. What the Hell used to catch in the cattle-pond on our
ask Doctor Lee if this is all. There’s is that guy tryin’ to do? He’s wavin’ his farm. Man, is that cat scared! 1 know
fewer cans than usual.” As I open the arms and openin’ and closin’ his fingers, what to do now, though, and I grab the
door and climb outa the front seat, he grabbin’ at nothin’ . . . thin air! wheel. It’s got a smooth, metal feel, and
comes in through the side door and sets “Whatcha doin’, Doc?” asks him, as I it turns real easy.
down to rest. As I walk away, he props I move to his side. He looks at me and The doc is goin’ wild. He tries to reach
up his crossed legs on one o' the cansters smiles. He must like to explain things me, but he forgets he’s still hooked up
and takes out that ugly-smellin’ pipe. He to dumbbells like me ... all doctors do. to the metal arms, and he can’t. hear I

lights up, suckin’ on the stem like his “These are pantographic arms,” he somethin’ heavy fall over with a thud
mother’s tit. He’ll never build up his lats says, noddin’ his pointy chin at the metal in the next room, and look through I

if he doesn’t stop smokin’. bars runnin’ along his arms, and up to the little window in the door. It’s one

a socket in the ceiling. I look at ’em close. o’ them cansters with the lid off, rollin’

T he wood dock makes

.sound to my
a nice thunkin’
boots, the only thing
about this glass an’ metal place that
The bars
his wrist,
is bent same place as
at the
elbow and arm joints. Each
finger has a small bar above it runnin’
across the floor. The doc reaches over
and flips a switch, shiittin’ off the arms,
but not before 1 hear ’em knock over
reminds me of home, our farm. push I to the big bar, and rings around the somethin’ else with a sound of breakin’
through a swingin’ door with a sign on fingers and arms holds the shiny glass.
it that Joe told me says “Authorized brushed-metal arm to the doc’s own I turn the wheel five times, until it

Personnel Only.” I must be a authorized skinny arm. He has more rings and won’t turn any more, and pull. The door
personnel now! look around, but don’t
I bracelets than a fat Sultan 1 once saw don’t open.
see nobody. The place smells like a hos- in a Sinbad flick. The doc yanks and pulls at the arms
pital, but there’s the sound of big ma- “Look in there,” says the Doc, flickin’ till he’s free, and the next thing I know
66
 clammy, bony little hands
he’s got his
on my arm, tryin’ to pull me away. I
harden my arm muscles and break his
grip. He can’t even put his hands all the
way around my arm, and he wants to
try to stop me! I gotta twenny-inch bicep.
“Stop botherin’ me, Dbc,” 1 says, and
push him away. He’s so light my little
shove picks him up and sends him flyin’
across the room. He trips and falls over
the leg of a swivel chair. Another little
rabbit in a white coat comes in, looks
at me, says to Doc Lee he’s gonna get
the guards, and runs out. I turn around
again and start pushin’ buttons and pul-
lin’ levers. God! I’ve never seen so many

buttons and dials in all my life.

The stubborn little bastid is on my

back again, climbin’ all over me. I pull
him off and hit him, easy-like, and he
folds up with a wheeze like a Wop’s
squeezebox. Them bigdomes sure bleed
easy he’d probly pull a muscle if
. . .

he tried to lift even one o’ them cans

in the other room. Yeah, I bet he would.
I pull down on a handle stickin’ out

from the wheel like a gear-shift lever.

Snick! I hear the bolt slide back.
Goddam! These eggheads don’t miss
a trick. A siren screams, and a round
light redder ’n my Pa’s nose winks at
me like a whorehouse gone wild. A sign
flashes on and off, the same sign that’s
on the radia-active cansters . . . looks
like that Iron Cross Grampa brought
back from the big war, ’cept it’s red and
has one arm gone. The Jerries thought
they were tough, too, but my Grampa
put ’em in their place and he couldn’t . . .

read, neither.
I start to open the door, but that
stubborn sonofabitch squeezes in be-
tween me and the door. He spits out a
couple of his teeth at me and yells some-
thin’ about five thousand “rentgenth” How easy it might be—
or something like that. Haw! Even Pa and how terribiy deadly—
never tried to tell me how many goblins
would get me
watch out. if I didn’t to confuse the demons
I don’t even bother to push him outa
the mind,
the way, I just reach around him and
the terrors of the past,
grab the wheel again. I’m drivin’ now.
The doc screams again and runs outa the fears of childhood,
the room. I hope that gimp in his leg
with the dangerous realities
1 gave him won’t last ... he runs pretty
dam fast with it, though. But now I’m of the present.
gonna pick up those cans like I said I
could and I don’t need no goddam
. . .

mechanical arm. neither.

I pull on the wheel and the door

swings open.
See? Nothin’s happened don’t feel . . .

a thing. O
 9 *

• HV

“Ah, you are awakening,” a voice behind

him whispered gently.
He groaned, raised his head and an arm,
propped his chin on the heel of his palm.
“What’s going on? What happened to me?”
His voice quiet, yet insistent.
“Better lie back down. You’re rather weak
Accidents sometimes happen,
from the accident.” The same smooth, sooth-
even in the most ing whisper.
regulated of societies— “Where are you?” he demanded. “Come
over by me so can see you.”
and accidents can I

Suddenly a tall, elderly man dressed in white

sometimes have startlingly pajamas stood beside his bed. “Put your head
unusual repercussions. back down, please. I'll stay here and keep
you company.”
“What happened to me?” he repeated, star-
ing straight up into absolute whiteness.
"An accident. You were hit on the head by
a meteor. Rather serious. I’m afraid, but you
seem to be recovering well.”
“Serious? How serious?” he glanced

11
around once more. White and white only. “No,
don’t answer. I’m in heaven, right?”
“Why, yes, of course. Where else would you
be?”
“Then there really is a heaven! With clouds
and everything!” He began to rise from his
bed, eager to explore his surroundings, then
recalled his attendant’s request and eased
himself back down again. “Tell me, when do
I meet God?”
is head had become the casing for a The face lost its smile. “Are you quite all
H jackhammer;
most
itthrobbed powerfully, al- right?” the attendant asked softly.
His
violently. eyes bulged out, then re- “Yes, think so,” he said. “Why? sort of
I I

treated back into his skull, then bulged out assumed that everyone was healthy in
again. And his mind drifted about randomly, heaven.”
despite his efforts to anchor it. A frown. “Oh my. This is far more serious
Slowly, he raised an eyelid, then another. than we had imagined.”
Whiteness confronted him on all sides, but “Hey, I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to
it was not a hospital-room whiteness. He could sound ignorant, but are you God?”
see no seams where walls met walls or walls “Oh no . no. I’m not God
. . . .

met the ceiling. Instead, the fluffy whiteness "Then Who is?" he demanded.
fiction / Scott Edeistein seemed to be endless, as if space itself had Tears appeared in the corners of the atten-
artist / Tim Kirk been transformed into its own negative image. dant's eyes, “You are.” O
69
 —
BLACK HOLE MINES
from page 63

gravity waves seem to come from the

core of our galaxy.
Anyway, Black Holes have mass;
that is, they interact with normal mat-
ter through gravity. They can orbit a
sun, for example. They can also have
an electric charge. You could manip-
ulate a charged Black Hole, carry it
around, vibrate it with an electromag-
netic field, and like that. You’d only
do those things to a little one, of
course; there’s no way to vibrate
something as massive as the sun, or
even a good sized asteroid. But if
there were tiny Black Holes, say a
kilogram or so in mass, you could

vibrate it to produce gravity waves.

We already have antennae to detect
gravity waves. Black Holes could in-
stantlybe used for a new form of
communication. They penetrate mat-
so to talk to Sydney from
ter nicely,
Los Angeles you just aim your gravity
wave generator downward toward
The atomic nuclei themselves col- is formed it’s stable. In fact, once Sydney and let fly. There are even
lapse. When the Radius, R, gets small formed, it grows every time it contacts more interesting things we can do
enough that: any matter. But, because it takes so with them, and I’ll get to that in a
R is equal to or less than — much force to make a Black Hole, minute.
c- nobody thought there’d be any small Hawking’s theory suggests that a
where M is mass, G is the Newtonian ones. lot of Black Holes may have been
universal gravitational constant Comes now a young man named formed during the Big Bang. They’ll
(present value, Michael Hawking. He’s an English- still be around. When they encounter

6.67 X 10 " — man, crippled, unable to walk. He

and writes with great difficulty.
a large object, they’ll tend to be at-
kg sec" talks tracted to it. If the Hole is big enough,
but some cosmologists think G has And the world’s leading physicists it will "eat” the object and go on

changed since the formation of the think he may be to Einstein what Ein- growing. Most would be very small,
universe; it’s an empirical value, not stein was to Newton. though.
something basic to the universe; and Hawking has revolutionized the For example, it’s now thought
changes in G do really wierd things theory of relativity. He's also worked there’s agood chance that there is

to the structure of the universe. That, on the theory of Black Holes and their a Black Hole massing 10"" grams in

however, is another article) and c is relationship to entropy. As part of his the center of the Sun. Any matter that
our old friend the speed of light. work he’s shown how Black Holes itcontacts will vanish down it, disap-
may have been formed during the Big pearing from the universe; but since
A quick look at that equation will Bang that created the universe. Once the Hole in the Sun, even at that
give you, besides a headache, the formed, they never vanish; and they enormous mass (Earth masses 6 x
idea that Black Holes can be very must still be out there somewhere. 1 grams; the asteroid Vesta masses
0""

small and contain a lot of mass.

still Or are they? Black Holes aren’t 10"‘, so a 10"" gram Hole in the Sun
In fact, a Black Hole the mass of our precisely in our universe. Light cannot is respectable; lots of asteroids are
sun wouldn't be more than about a come out of them. The gravitational much smaller) will only be 1 0 centi-
kilometer across. In the original field close to a Black Hole is so in- meters across, it can only swallow a
theory of Black Holes there weren’t tense that the "escape velocity” is few atoms a day. The Sun will never
thought to be any small ones, be- greater than the speed of light; light miss them.
cause it would take such enormous undergoes infinite red shift and van- Most Black Holes, in fact, will be
gravitational forces to form them. ishes before it can leave the Hole. So smaller than atomic nuclei. They’ll
There’s no theoretical reason why does nearly everything else. However, pass right through large objects, then
small ones can’t exist— any matter that gravity waves can come out of Black back again, through and through,
gets compressed to where the radius Holes, and it’s thought that we’ve gradually losing velocity relative to the
isless than the 2 GM size will be a detected some of them. Where they object that attracted them, eating up
Black Hole, and once a Black Hole come from no one knows, but most a few atoms at each pass, until they
70
 ADAMANT EVE
from page 61

come whatever
to rest in the center of shouldn’t be any reason to question
they encountered. There are probably Lowell’s calculation that Pluto, to
Holes inside all the planets including have the proper effect on Neptune
Earth. Unfortunately, they aren’t very and Uranus, must mass about six
easy to get at. times as much as the Earth.
Except in the asteroid belt. Out No reason, except that when the
there we could find a lot of Black Palomar Big Eye took a look at Pluto,
Holes, little ones, big ones (but not it seemed to be about 3600 miles in
too big, as I’ll explain m a moment), diameter— about the size of Mercury.
all sizes. We already have mass de- If Plutomassed six times the Earth
tectors thatwould tell if an asteroid it would have to have a density
weighed too much. All we have to do hundreds of times that of water; and
is get the detector to the asteroids. the densest known normal material,
Then we search, and when we find osmium, is only 22 times as dense as
our overly massive asteroid, move it water.
out of the way. So, if Pluto is as massive as theory
The Hole will still be in orbit around says,and as small as observation up, but I’m certainly not going to make
the sun— the same orbit as the center shows, there’s something strange it with a snake. Now would you please
of the asteroid was in. We pick up our about its structure. leave. If I can’t have the companionship
Hole and bring it home. Could it have a Black Hole inside? of one of my own kind, then I want to

It could be most any size. The theo- There are also asteroids thought to be alone.”
As the girl with the disc eyes turned
retical lower limit for a Hole is 10 be far too small for the mass we be-
'

away study her reflection further in

to
grams; but there isn’t an upper limit. lieve they have. This has been ex-
the water, the snake realized the futility
In fact, from what we can measure, plained by assuming they are less
of continued discussion. He sulked for
our whole universe very closely satis- bright than we think; but it might be about a quarter of a mile until he came
due to something else. to a piece of equipment that had been
fies the R = ? equation, and we Black Holes inside would produce
c"
parachuted down to the planet. He in-
strange asteroids. With so much mass stantly recognized it as the transforma-
may be a Black Hole in somebody
in such a small volume, the surface tion machine.
else’s universe.
gravity would be quite high. It’s theo- The snake chuckled. “Of course. I’ll
On the other hand, we know from simply force Eve into the machine and
retically possible to have asteroids
the orbits of the other planets and change her into a female snake.”
less than a mile in diameter with sur-
asteroids that there aren't any really The snake frowned. “Except forcing
face gravities as great or greater than
big Black Holes in the asteroid belt. that girl to do anything is an impossible
Earth’s. (And no, of course the as-
If there were, they’d move the other task.”
teroid wouldn’t mass as much as The snake shrugged. “All
asteroids around. But the largest one right, if I
Earth; you get the high surface gravity must, must. transform myself into
out there, although very tiny in size, I I’ll

because you’re so close to all that one of her kind.”

could be as massive as, say.
still
concentrated mass.) Having made up his mind, he set the
Earth’s Mooh. It would have the ra-
Finally, if we had Black Holes of automatic controls, bid a tearful adieu
dius of a large atom. Even so, tiny as
reasonable size— say one to a few to snakehood, and slithered into the
itis, if we could get out there, and
hundred kilograms— we could do machine.
there were one that size around, we There was a buzz, a whir, a clank, a
could find Easily. You don’t miss
some very practical work on gravity
it.
groan, a whistle, a hum, a tweet and a
and inertia. When you can generate
something the size of the Moon, and toot.
gravity waves at will you can experi-
you don’t miss something that has as Groggily, the creature that was once
ment with their interactions— not only from the machine.
much gravitational pull either. Not a serpent tottered
with electro-magnetism, but also with “I’ve got legs. I can walk and run and
close up.
inertia and momentum. jump,” he enthused, doing all these
It’s more though, that we’d
likely,

find Holes of kilogram size, or that

You see, Michael Hawking’s work things.
suggests that inertia and gravity may Eagerly, he bounded over the hills,
order of magnitude.
be related but separable, like magne- scampering toward the sandy stream.
tism and electricity, and that we might The girl, seeing him approach, rose to
her feet in surprise and wonderment.
s there any evidence for all this, or be able to play games with gravito-
“heapin’ lizards!” she exclaimed.
I is it merely a nice thought from far inertial systems. Such as building a
A smile lit her features as she wel-
out scientists given an assist by a Black Box that sucks out the inertia
comed him into her arms.
science fiction writer? from your space ship. “What a pretty boy,” she cooed, pet-
Well, it happens that Pluto drives This would give us low cost, low ting him. “And you’ve got blank circle
astronomers crazy. It’s right where energy space transportation, not only eyes just like mine!”
Lowell predicted it would be, and the to the planets, but to the stars. “Arf!” said the former snake, wagging
orbit is just right: in fact, there And that’s another article. O his tail happily. O
71
 ALAS,
POOR TIDY
TOIDY GIRL
fiction / Rachel Payes

. . And so, as president of Stellar

Hostelries, serving the world with Good
Beds, Clean Restrooms, and Bacon and
Eggs for Breakfast, I arn happy to pre-
sent the Tidy Toidy Girl award of the
year to Miss Gwendolyn Winterbottom,
who inspected a grand total of one thou-
sand, sixty three Stellar Hostelries Ap-
proved Restrooms located on seven con-
tinents.”

tem from Friday column of Reggie

I Knowall; Rumor has it that one of our
leading hotel chains plans interplanetary
expansion. Another ‘star’ in their crown?

Dear Margie,
I’m so excited. It was thrilling when
they gave me the Tidy Toidy Girl of the
Year award— it’s the cutest little pin—
gold brush. Now my supervisor has
toilet
told me I’m up for a wonderful new
job— and I’ll be graduating from rest-
rooms to the entire inspecting range-
food and lodging as well.
They’ve given me a battery of psy-
chological tests. Oh, I do hope I pass
them. They haven’t said where the terri-
tory will be; but as I’ve covered the seven
continents this past year, it’s bound to
be familiar.
Love,
Gwen
P.S. Each interviewer I talk with men-
tions the fact that I’m a foundling with
no next of kin. I do hope this doesn’t work
against me.
G.

tem from Vour Friendly Broker: Ex-

Ipect a jump in Stellar Hostelries com-
mon stock. They have purchased Gentry
Starline and plan to push tourism in space.

eature from Scandal Monger: Ex-

F clusive Interview with Gwendolyn
Winterbottom, Stellar Hostelries’ Star
Inspector.

72
The trouble with
carrying your
prejudices into
space is that you
might find them to
be deadly miscon-
ceptions on some
other planets.

73
 Q. Are you nervous about touring the Personal observations by inspector (G. xcerpt from Inspection Report 6,
outer galactic planets, Miss Winterbot- Winterbottom) E
Location— Igpay Eye-stay in the
tom? The egg the waitress served to me
first Arnbay-Ardyay System.
A. No, it’s just too exciting for words to cracked itself, and out crawled a horrid Subjects: Good Beds and Clean Rest-
be the first inspector in space. snaky thing. It seems they have no rooms.
Q. Have you ever taken a space trip chickens here. The only eggs are rep- Personal observations by inspector (G.
before? tilian. On an empty stomach, or after Winterbottom)
A. No, but I’ve traveled by rocket to the a night out, this can be a bit disconcert- They’re regular pig pens!
seven continents. ing. Recommendations by inspector: They
Q. Then you don’t expect to get space Recommendation by inspector: Maybe could use a Clean-up Committee here-
sick? cereal’s safer here. —and a whole bouquet of toilet bowl
A. (Ed. Here Miss Winterbottom gave a brushes (and not fancy little gold ones,
superior little smile) Not with Stellar xcerpt from Inspection Report 3, either).
Hostelries’ Space Pills to chew. E Location— New Hades in the Dante
Q. What is your first planetfall? System. Further reports on Igpay Eye-stay
A. New Batavia, in the Coral System. Subject: Clean Restrooms. Snbject: Bacon and Eggs for Breakfast.
Q. Best of luck, Miss Winterbottom. Personal observation of inspector (G. The natives, who resemble overgrown
Have you any special message for our Winterbottom) hogs, are hostile. There was a demon-
readers on the eve of your departure? They have NO restrooms in New stration at the space port, and I was

A. Just that I intend to uphold the stan- Hades (that’s the hell of it!). The natives mobbed by these swine carrying signs
dards of Stellar Hostelries— Good Beds, are real, honest-to-fire-breathing drag- saying, “Cannibal, go home!” I can’t
Clean Restrooms, and Bacon and Eggs ons.They burn it up, and the smoke goes understand it. I never tasted human
for Breakfast. up the chimney. They Just do not me- flesh, and I never intend to. I was res-
way humans do.
tabolize the cued by the local constabulary, who
ntry in medical log of S. H. Starliner Recommendation by inspector: Portable, seemed annoyed with me. Why, I can’t
E I: One patient. Miss G. Winterbot- disposable potties for unwary tourists. imagine. I didn’t even refer to them as
tom, suffering acute space sickness. Pa- ‘pigs.’ I tried to explain my position to
tient is allergic to Space Pills. xcerpt from Inspection Report 4, the local officials, but they were down-
E Location — Love-Love in the right pig headed. I’m now virtually a
ostcard received by Miss Margie Friendly System. prisoner in the Stellar Hostelry— they say
P Spooner from Port Jump-off: Dear Subject: Good Beds. it’s for my own protection.
Margie, Wish you were here— or I were Personal observations by inspector (G. They do have odd customs here. The
there. Have been dreadfully space sick. Winterbottom) chef of the hotel just came to my room
They assure me my system will acclima- It wasn’t that there was anything to measure my mouth. Do they tailor-
tize in time. If it weren’t for all the wrong with the beds. On the contrary, m.ake the size of the bites? Perhaps I’ve
publicity. I’d resign right now. Just they were terrific. Round, Emperor size, been a bit harsh on them.
thinking about inspecting kitchens and covered with velvet or fur, and very I heard loud cheers outside my win-

restrooms makes me feel queasy. comfortable. Never a squeak. It took a dow, and looked out to see a large basket
Love, while to get used to the huge ceiling of apples being carried into the hotel.
Gwen mirror, but I did manage that after a Perhaps they’re fixing apple pie for me,
few nights. But I never did get used to as a special treat— a sort of peace offer-
xcerpt from Inspection Report 1, the Love-Love natives’ ideas of hospi- ing.
E Location— New Batavia in the Coral tality. They could give lessons to the
System. Eskimos. tem from Monday column of Reggie
Subject: Good
Beds. Recommendations by inspector: Don’t I Knowall: Whatever happened to Stellar
Personal observations by inspector (G. let this get noised around, or the ticket Hostelries’ Tidy Toidy Girl,who was sent
Winterbottom) offices on Earth will be stampeded. to outer space to inspect facilities for
Sleeping here is rather awkward, as them? Their drum beaters have been silent
the natives are winged, resembling in xcerpt from Inspection Report 5, of late. Could they be busy muffling their
some respects giant bats. They sleep E Location— Outer Muglubia in the drums?
hanging head down from bars which Chintzie System.
reach across the sleeping quarters near Subject: Clean Restrooms. tem from Your Friendly Broker: Stel-
the ceiling. I found it impossible to cling Personal observations by inspector. (G. I lar Hostelries common stock fell ten
to these bars without falling, as I am not Winterbottom) points when it was rumored that they were
constructed in the same manner as the I haven’t caught sight of a single na- unloading Gentry Starline and releasing
New Batavians. Slept rather uncom- tive, as they are reputed to be extremely all extra-terrestrial franchises.
fortably on the floor all night. shy, but I’d like to see what they look
Recommendation by inspector: Ham- like! The restrooms are empty tiled cu- “. And so, as president of Stellar
. .

mocks. bicles about 3 feet by 3 feet by 15 feet Hostelries, serving the univ — uh— the
high. There is an opening about one foot world with Good Beds, Clean Rest-
xcerpt from Inspection Report 2, in diameter in the middle of the ceiling. rooms, and Bacon and Eggs for Break-
E Location— Qinzzg in the Lzr Sys- (Maybe they blow their tops.) fast, I am happy to present the Gwen-
tem. Recommendations by inspector: See dolyn Winterbottom Memorial Tidy
Subject: Bacon and Eggs for Breakfast. recommendations in Inspection Report 3. Toidy Girl Award of the year to. .”o . .

74
APOLLO-SOYUZ MISSION
from page 51

thing goes wrong with the prime vehicle

they can immediately launch the backup.
Although there are several launch win-
dows for the Apollo to rendezvous, the
first shot is some 7'/z hours after the
Soyuz launch. The two vehicles will orbit
separately for two days before docking,
then will go through several dockings to
give everyone on board a chance to run
through the docking maneuvers.
After the final docking two of the U.S.
crewmen will go through the docking
module and into the Soyuz, stay a while,
then return to the Apollo for a night’s
sleep. The next day two U.S. astronauts
again go over to the Soyuz, but only one
returns, bringing one of the Soviet cos-
monauts with him. Later the other U.S.
astronaut, the one who stayed in the
Apollo, escorts the Russian back to the
Soyuz, Stays there with him, while the
American who had already gone over
comes back to the Apollo with the other
Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand and Donald K. Slayton were recently named Russian. Or something like that. Unless
as crewmembers for the U.S«, half of the Apollo-Soyuz mission.
they change their minds again in Hous-
ton.
participated in operational support roles age weren’t even considered for the pro- After two full days of this the Apollo
for other Apollo missions. Brand was gram in those days. and Soyuz will separate, their prime
born in Longmont, Colorado. “1 don’t think anything’s changed all
mission completed. Present planning
Slayton, 48, is also a civilian and is that much. I don’t think it was ever all calls for the Apollo to stay in orbit for
one of the original seven astronauts se- that big a deal to begin with, except that
up to 10 more days conducting various
lected in April 1959. He was scheduled itwas an unknown quantity in those days experiments, but, with only a 5 day en-
to fly the Mercury 7 mission, which flew and I think we had to fly some flights durance, it is doubtful if the Soyuz will
in May 1962, but was relieved of that to prove that it really wasn’t. But I think
stick around for long. The Soyuz will
assignment when a heart condition was these guys can correct me, but in my reenter and make the usual Russian soft
discovered. He refused to quit the space opinion the biggest physical work we’ve landing in Central Russia, while the
program, even though he wasn’t allowed had in Apollo flights has been associated Apollo will come down in the usual
to fly a mission, was named Coordinator with the lunar surface operations. It’s
Apollo landing-place— in mid-Pacific.
of Astronaut Activities, and since No- certainly not launch and reentry. And
vember 1963 he has been Director of it’s certainly no big deal there. We’re
Flight Crew Operations. In March 1972,
following a comprehensive medical re-
view, Slayton was festered to full flight
talking about a shuttle here in the future
that we
anybody up
anticipate being able to haul
standard pas-
to orbit as a
O ne unusual, and unexpected, facet
that came to light
stages of mission planning
during the early
was a lan-
status. He is a native of Sparta, Wis- senger. And we certainly wouldn’t expect guage problem. The crewmembers se-
consin. to run everybody through a full nine lected, both backup and prime crews,
yards of physical exams any more than immediately began studying Russian,

S
how
layton, who will be 50 by the time
he gets into space, was recently asked
it felt to be making a “come-back”
you would to go out and fly on a 747
from here to Tokyo or someplace. I don’t
think I consider the physical part as
and the Russian technical experts who
were here to study our operations, and
who will be working in Houston Mission
at this late date; whether it bothered being all that big a deal.” Control during the flight of Apollo/
him. Soyuz, began studying English. Then
“Well, no. I’ve always been a slow t seems as though every time NASA they discovered that being fluent in the
starter, I guess. For some people life I decides to hold a press conference other’s language wasn’t nearly enough.
starts at 40, and for me it’s going to be (about once a month) there’s been a One Russian, Dr. Tatistcheff, who speaks
more like 50, but I guess I’d rather be major change in the flight plan for the excellent English, visited Mission Con-
a 50 year old rookie than a 50 year old Apollo/Soyuz mission, which is only trol during a practice mission and dis-
has-been. That’s one way to put it. It natural when you consider that it is still covered that he didn’t understand a
doesn’t bother me at all. I’m in as good two years away, and the space program thing. Space has produced a vocabulary
a physical shape as about anybody you is still moving at such a fantastic speed of its own, and not just in technical areas.
can find around here (the Manned Space- that what might be a brand-new and Indeed, it looks like, just as in the old
craft Center), and I intend to stay that exciting idea today is completely out- space operas, spacemen may someday
way.” of-date tomorrow. The latest plans go have a language all their own. And both
Next Slayton was asked about the something like this, though: NASA and the U.S.S.R. Academy of
strenuous physical testing that he, and The Russians will launch first, and will Sciences are officially working on that
the rest of the original seven astronauts, have two complete launch vehicles and language right now, for use by the crew-
went through, and the fact that men his Soyuz eSM’s on pads, so in case some- members of Apollo/Soyuz One. O
 "

FUTURE PERFECT
from page 45

steady for Step Two.” the face in the pix screen. Finally: “What own apartment.”
Dalkins, who had located the older areyou going to do?” “And where is Steven?”
man; saw that he was standing a few “Nothing.” “He has not yet returned to his apart-
feet away watching the “marriage cere- “Why not?” Sharply. ment.”
mony,” and saw that theman seemed “There’s no law against what Steven Roosley said after a pause, “As I un-
so convinced that all was going well he did.” derstand it, for the first time in a quarter
had half-turned away. “You mean you can deactivate a ma- of a century a male is out there—” he
“Now!” thought Dalkins. chine, and shoot your way out of a made a vague gesture with his arm, tak-
locked building?—” ing in half the horizon— “who is able to
he pix-phone rang. Dr. Buhner “Hormonic Compensation may sue
T pressed the button that connected
the tiny receiver in his ear and said, “Dr.
him for damages, but since he has no
money it will do them no good.”
perform the sex act with more than one
woman?”
“That used to be the way every male
Buhner here.” “B-but,” his caller protested, “isn't it was.”
The picture that formed on the pix- illegal tobe in the condition Steven is “And that isnot illegal?”
plate was that of his erstwhile visitor and in now, a sexually free male?” “No, it is merely undesirable. But it’s

confidante. The man said, in a fretful “No.” a natural state. No natural human state
voice,“Roosley at this end. What went “But—” the other man groped. has ever been specifically declared to fee

wrong?” “It is required by law that a male child illegal.”

Buhner could not fail to notice the reaching the age of puberty have his sex The on the pix-screen, in the
face
accusing tone of blame, and he said, “We performance capacity placed under con- course of a few moments of contemplat-
must first of all have an understanding, trol. It is required by law that he can ing the potentialities of the situation, had
you and 1.” get married, since marriage is a man- acquired a distinct mottled look. The
“About what?” Astonished voice and made relationship, only if he goes man muttered, “But good God, one man
face. through the process of being recompen- and all those unmarried girls and women
“1 had no control over that situation. sated and aligned with his future wife. between eighteen and twenty-three!”
The law does not permit it.” If this does not happen, then no marriage “It could be,” soothed Dr. Buhner,
“You had your observer on the scene.” has legally taken place. You see,” Dr. “that seduction is not his purpose. For
Buhner ignored the second assignment Buhner continued, “the technique for all that he didn’t have to get rid of his
of blame. “Have I made my position this has been taken from the old Chinese money.”
Roosley said blankly, “But what could
be his purpose?”
“My assistants,” said the psychiatrist,
“are continuing to check into Steven’s
"Look here,” he said angrily, "is this background, trying to find the clue.”
the way you treat human beings?” “What do you think he will do now?”
“He seems to have covered his tracks
"Oh, no, " Dr. Buhner said. "For legal well,” the older man admitted reluc-
purposes, we define a human being tantly. “I have no report on him. Maybe
he’s woman chasing.”
as an unalienated person. Roosley made a choking sound in his
We're trying to determine if you're one. throat. And broke the connection.
Buhner hesitated, then spoke a very
if you're alienated, then you are not special number. This time, when there
a human being. was a click, no face came on the pix
screen, but a man’s voice, deep, deter-
mined, interested, said, “I’ve read your
report, doctor. I agree that Steven should
receive publicity. If your prediction
clear?” Communist People’s Army concept, ex- about him does not come true, at least
“Yes, yes.” Resignedly. cept there’s no death penalty. But it’s we’ll have made our first try this decade.
“What happened,” said Dr. Buhner in simply now, as then, a trap for the un- Good luck.”
a brisker tone, “is that again our Steven wary individual who, in both the Com-
seems to have taken the trouble to dis-
cover in advance the details of a process
that most people go through without
munist and in our situation, was a teen-
age male still in a naive state. Before
he can think we capture him sexually.
S teven sat on his buttocks on the
back against a free at the
grass, his
edge of the park, and stared up into the
pre-knowledge.” Before he can grow up we align him sky. It was a pose. Actually, he was

“When it was done to me,” said Roos- sexually with his future wife, and the keeping a sharp lookout for possible
ley, “I was in a locked room, strapped law states that once this is done it cannot spies. He was not entirely certain that
into a chair. I didn’t have a chance to be undone. The state isjustified in taking he had got away without being seen. He,
get away.” these arbitrary steps because its goal is presumed that the treasury lords would
“If,” said Dr. Buhner, “you had a peaceful, hardworking populace.” like to find out how he proposed to
brought along a computer repairman's Pause. survive without money.
key, and an automatic pistol to shoot “Where is Steven’s wife now?” “It’s easy,” he called out to four suspi-
your way through a locked door—” “She’s not married. The final step was cious looking men who walked by while
There was an impressed expression on not completed. She has returned to her he sat there (as if they would understand

76
 "

his meaning). “The world pays more for

creativity
lion. Tell that to
and most for successful rebel-
your masters.”
T he group that first night at ten con-
sistedof eight single responders,
including two young women, and a sur-
behind the assassins of Alexander the
Second of Russia in the 1880s. Surely,
five hundred is not too much to expect.”
One of the four, a puzzled individual prisingly large group of seven intense “I think there’ll be more than that,”
of about thirty, came over, and said, young men and four equally sincere said Steven, non-commitally.
“Hey, you’re the fellow who gave away young women. This was Jack’s “gang.” At the end of Month One, there were
your million, according to the news re- There were no questions of why. Each 2782 members. Each member during
port. Why?” male and female knew that this had to Month Two was given the task of locat-
Steven said, dazzled and delighted, be done. Each was relieved that someone ing five more alienated persons. Since
“You mean, they’re giving me publi- had taken the step of no-return.
at last the receipts totaled more than a million,
He caught himself; shrugged, said,
city?” It was had their own view
as if they all Steven said he would donate the dif-
“Move along, bub. If you don’t know of the reality of things deep inside their ference to expenses. He had confided the
why, telling you wouldn’t do any good.” viscera; and that part was taken for first step of his plan to a small inner

About dusk Steven came lazily to his granted. Only the details of what to do circle of the conspiracy, which included
feet. Sauntering— in case there was a needed to be worked out. And, of course, Jack. These individuals told inquiring
watcher— he walked back into the park there Steven had his plan. members that the plan was “the great-
to where a tiny stream flowed into a They organized Overthrow Associa- est,” but that it would be unwise to
-culvert.Bending, he reached into the tions that first night. It was agreed that reveal its details to any but key figures.
darkness of the culvert, groped, and then Steven Dalkins would be recompensed Overthrow Associates had 53,064
straightened. In one hand he now held for his lost million. Each person present members when, shortly after the end of
a waterproof container. From its interior at the founders meeting wrote him a Month Four, it undertook its first act
he drew a rolled-up sign. This, like a check for $1,000. All future members— it of total defiance.
sandwich-man of old, he slipped over was authorized— would be assessed the
his head.
white canvas with a
message was;
The front of the sign was a
message on it. The
same amount entirely on behalf of Ste-
ven.
“You may not get back your full mil-
T he authorities had decided to pub-

women were
Steven’s condition. Girls and
licize
urged, if they were ap-
I’m Steve Dalkins, the nut lion,” said the flush-faced man, Jack proached by a small young man, to call
who gave away his million Brooks, “but surely we can get together the police if he manifested ulterior mo-
dollars. as many determined persons as were tives. Buhner, in his reports, doubted if

The back of the sign, also canvas,

read:
I invite you to hear my
story any night at West
Park, 8 o’clock.
That part didn’t mean what is said.
Maybe, if it could be arranged, he’d send
somebody over .there, in case people
showed. But the purpose would be to
mislead possible observers.
Steven walked along, confident, smil-
ing. The sky grew dark, and the side-
walks began to give off the light they
had accumulated during the day. Walls
of stores glowed in the same way. People
walked up, glanced at him and his sign,
and rfi’oved past. Most gave some kind
of disapproving indication; but the alert
Dalkins noticed one here, one there, who
had a different reactiorP.
To each of these, if it could be done,
he spoke quietly in a low voice, “We’ve
got to do something— right? Meet me any "He thereupon explained and
night at the—” and he named another demonstrated {on himself and a
park. The biggest moment of the evening
occurred when a young man with a girl who suddenly appeared)
flushed face briefly fell in step beside the chemical method whereby the sex
him, and gaid, “You got a plan for beat-
ing these bastards?” alignment of a man and wife
“Sure have,” said Steven. could be terminated.
The young man did something twisty
with his body. It was a gesture that had

in it an “I’m with you,

infinite hostility.
and I’ll bring the gang. My name is
Jack.”
“Good.”
 " .

any woman would be resistant to the The society, of course, did not permit himself, that Steven has been behaving
charms of a sexually free male. How- people to be arrested merely because like a responsible person all these
ever— he suggested— Steven couldn’t be they wrote a check to Steven Dalkins. months and has not been out there on
sure of that, and so he would be the There had to be an association with an a seduction spree?
careful one. illegal action. But if not that, what had he been
Nevertheless, the psychiatrist, when he “But what can they do to a perfect doing?
lay awake at night, felt somewhat more world?”T\\ditwas the question most often Thenext morning looked absolutely
restless than was usual for him. asked of Dr. Buhner, and here it was delightful when he glanced out of the
Daytimes he monitored Steven’s again. He made the same statement now window of his high-rise apartment. The
progress by the number of checks that as he had in the past. “Twelve years ago sky was as blue as a brightly lighted tidal
were made out to him. As the total grew, Charley Huyck led a revolt aimed at our pool ... A little later, he was peacefully,
a shiver of anxiety almost visibly os- computer education system. Twenty- and unsuspectingly, eating a delicious
cillatedthrough those members of the three years ago the rebellion of the Gil- meat substitute breakfast— when the red
United Governments who, by agree- bert brothers had as its target the group emergency light flashed on his media set.

ment, had to be kept informed of such method of electing politicians. After The alarm buzzer sounded. Then a
matters. each outbreak, all of the participants young man walked onto the media
Whenever people got too nervous they were arrested, charged with being alien- screen.He began:
contacted Buhner. This particular morn- ated persons, convicted, and disposed “Ladies and gentlemen, do not be
ing the caller was a beefy face with an of.” alarmed. This is a message from Over-
edgy voice that said, “What are you “What,” asked the heavy-faced VIP, throw Associates. We have temporarily
doing about these rascals?” “do you think Dalkins will attack?” taken over the principal broadcast
“We’re getting ready for a clean-up.” “Something more basic is my feeling.” centers of the American continent. We
“How do you mean?” “For God’s sake,” exploded the poli- want to tell you something our leader,
Buhner explained. Police were turning tician, “what could be more basic than Steven Dalkins, believes you would like
their attention from routine, and point- an attack on the political system?” to know.”
ing toward an elemental force. Out of “Well—” temporized Buhner diplo- He thereupon explained and demon-
the wooodwork of the society, a strange matically. strated (on himself and a girl who sud-
breed of human creature was emerging. The edgy voice calmed, and said, “Do denly appeared) the chemical method
The tense, determined individuals were you think Dalkins is aware that you can whereby the sex alignment of a man and
drawn into the light by a common im- follow up all those checks?” wife could be terminated. He named
pulse to smash an environment that, in “Yes, I think he knows because he has several locations where the chemical
some obscure way, had angered them. transferred some of the money over to could be secured locally, and said that
Their non-conformist impulse to do a company.” similar messages were being broadcast
from the other stations across the land.
He urged: “Have your check for
$1,000 ready, and remember this may
be your only chance to get the little case
When it was done. Jack Brooks paced the floor. of syringes with the compensating shots
"That S.O.B.," he said, "is going to get away with in them. You can buy them now and
decide later if you’ll actually use them.
over 800 million dollars. If you’re a person of decision you’ll act
at once before there is any interference
with the sale, and think later.”
One of the locations named was about
a mile from Buhner’s apartment. In sec-
violence had its own purity. They loved “Oh, that! But, surely, in this special onds he was out of the door and heading
each other and were loyal to their group situation—” groundward in a high-speed elevator . .

leaders. In earlier decades there' had Buhner shook his head firmly. “How Outside, he ran for an electric taxi. En
been other dramatic actions to motivate companies spend their money cannot be route, he wrote out his check. Even as
affection for and obedience to one or checked on, because it might give a tip it was, by the time he had paid the taxi

more leaders. In this instance, this year, to their competition. The computer sys- fare several hundred men and about fifty
they were proud to be associated with tem would eitherhave to be re- women were crowding around a heli-
someone who had had the will to give programmed, or a public statement copter which stood at the edge of a small
away his million dollars. After that, no- would have to be made by the authori- park. As Buhner pushed forward, waving
body vaguely questioned the right of ties. But we don’t want to do that. We his check as the others were doing with
Steven Dalkins to be “the boss.” want to catch all of these people and theirs,he saw that three girls and four
That made it easy for the police. All get rid of them.” men were passing out small boxes, and
the checks were made out to one man. That night, as Buhner lay awake, he anotherman and girl were taking the
The signatures were written plain to see. was disturbed to realize that slightly over checks, examining them, and putting
Every man, boy, girl, and woman was four months had gone by. So if Roosley’s them into a metal container.
identified; and the computers sent fantasies had been ever approximately The psychiatrist was barely in time.
print-outs to police centers across the true, then it was time for violated virgins He handed over his check, waited nerv-
land. Quietly, detectives visited each to be showing up in small hordes. What ously while it was scrutinized, and then

person’s neighborhood, and located him was disturbing was the possibility that grabbed the box that was held out to
or her, exactly. there weren’t any. Could it be, he asked him. He was still backing away, clutching
 .

the precious kit protectively, when one turning point! That very day he dialed purchases? I want a total power of attor-
of the young people yelled a warning: the computer code that connected him ney over the cash in your account, except
“The police are coming. Beat it, every- to his followers everywhere in a closed for maybe ten million. Show your sin-
body!” circuit. He placed himself in front of the cerity.”
In bare seconds the nine were inside pix camera. They were on private line, so Steven
with their cartons ad their checks. As the There he stood. His eyes were small said, “If I don’t retain control of the
door started to close, the machine lifted gray marbles bright with intelligence. money, you might be tempted to do
into the sky like a scared falcon. Up His cheeks were flushed. His small body something against me.”
there it looked exactly like the dozens was tense. He glared into the eyepiece, “Sign over twenty-eight million right
of other craft like it in which buyers had striving to fix every viewer out there with now to pay for the next allotment,”
arrived and which had for many minutes hisdetermined gaze. screamed Jack.
been taking off from all the surrounding He explained the views of the shocked “Okay,” said Steven.
streets. members, whose leader was Jack Brooks, When it was done, Jack Brooks paced
Buhner arrived at his office looking and he finished, “Jack’s vision has the floor. “That S.O.B.,” he said, “is
dissheveled, but he made his report to proved greater than mine. Every man going to get away with over 800 million
Top Level feeling triumphant. The re- has his limitations. What has already dollars.”
port from the government laboratory happened seems to be just about what He stopped pacing, scowled; said,
later that day confirmed that the seven I’m capable of. So— “Like hell he is.” He walked to the
syringes of the kit he had bought did He paused dramatically, then made pix-phone again, Thi time he called Dr.
indeed contain the de-alignment chemi- his firm statement, “Ihereby resign any Buhner, and said, “Every evening at
cal. control that I have had of Overthrow dusk Steven Dalkins takes a walk in one
According to a still later report from Associates in favor of my dear friend. of the parks.”
the computer network. Overthrow As- Jack Brooks. I give you all my love and
sociates sold 883,912 kits that
1
day at 6224
locations for $ ,000 each. And the checks
were all made out to Steven Dalkins.
best wishes.”
He finished graciously, “I’ll still

checks for all valid purchases for the next

sign T he psychiatrist had at least three
meetings to attend while he consid-
ered what he would do with the tip-ofi'. ,

Power and money cast long shadows. move of the organization. For that you —First, with computer engineers and
The images in the minds of certain can always reach me on the code. Good- administrative staff. The question: Were
shocked persons flickered with the pos- bye to all you wonderful people.” the great thinking machines pro-
sibility that the next allotment of chemi- As Steven’s voice and face faded, in grammed to check out 883,000 names?
cals would bring in 8 billion, or even a distantapartment a young man with The answer: There were endless flows
eighty. a red face that was positively scarlet of exact logic, total information some-
grabbed his own pix-phone, spoke a where, every transaction of every person
t was too much. Dark rumors came number, and yelled into it, “Steven, you available, not a single natural barrier in
I to Steven’s ears. He thought: the so-and-so, what do you mean— valid the entire system— so, yes.
Buhner’s second meeting was with the
directors of the bio-chemist guild. They
had an analysis for him on the basis of
one clue. A long-time employee, who
was not a member of the trust group
that controlled the sexual de-alignment
ingredient (one of seven) manufactured
at the plant where he worked, had quit
his job a few months ago. Investigation
had shown that he had made a secret,
unofficial study of chemistry over many
years.
“We may speculate,” concluded the
board, “that a group of seven or more
persons either separately motivated or
in a conspiracy sought employment in
such laboratories long ago, and bided
their information until sorrieone like
Dalkins came along.”
—Buhner’s third meeting was with a
committee of the United Governments.
A leading economist explained in a
shaky voice to the distracted members
of the committee that the million dollars
to everybody system depended on the
statistical reality that the needs of the
populace be consistent. An additional
expenditure of $1,000 per person by a
“Stupid goddamn human programmers! ought to give
I sizable percentage of adults must not
them a good quantum of my data bank!" happen.

79
 “No question,” thought Buhner. “Ste- himself? It didn’t really matter, for departed.
ven has hit the perfect world a blow Buhner’s purposes. He stood across the Silently, Buhner set up his equipment,
below the belt—” street from the public pathway of one then faced the youth who sat behind a
The problem was, what to do about of the parks, and watched a five foot gleaming desk. Steven Dajkins waved
it. In his own speech, he said cautiously. six youth jog toward him. If it was Ste- him at the two vacant chairs, one soft
“It would appear
as if the attempt to ven, he was well disguised. A good and one hard. The M.D. settled into the
control mankind’s genitalia has been makeup job concealed every significant hard chair.
nullified by Steven Dalkins as an in- feature of his face. “Hmm,” said Steven, “I was wonder-
cidental act in the accomplishment of As this particular Steven came oppo- ing which one you would choose.”
a secret goal of his own.” site him the psychiatrist walked rapidly He leaned back with a twisted smile
He pointed out— when 800,000 persons across the street. “Please tell Mr. Dal- on his small face. “How does it feel, doc,
did a similar act of vandalism against kins,” he said loudly, “that Dr. Buhner to have someone giving you that superior
a system, then by theory the system must would like him to call. TeU him he’s now treatment?”
be examined and not the individual. going to have to admit why he did all Dr. Buhner stared at him with his pale,
He made his recommendations and this—” gray eyes, and said. “Steven, slightly over
concluded, “1 refrain from offering a That was as far as he got. Dalkins forty thousand members of Overthrow
solution for Steven himself. Vague turned in mid-stride, ran across the Associates had been arrested by the time
rumor has it that he is trying to break street, and then along the sidewalk. Sud- I started out for your place.”
off his connection with his followers. denly, he seemed to see what he wanted. “This is only one of my places,” said
That may not be easy to do.” He darted to a car by the curb just as Steven.
At noon the next day, the United a woman was climbing into it. There The older man ignored the inter-
Governments issued a determined- seemed to be some struggle between ruption. “Four out of five have already
voiced statement through their elected them; which Dalkins won. The car elected to go voluntarily to one of the
secretary: started up. The last thing Buhner saw space colonies. That way they can keep
was the machine receding down the their money for sure.” He smiled grimly.
It has been deemed inadvisable to street, with Dalkins at the wheel and the “Not everyone cares to gamble his mil-
permit 883,000 males to prey on a woman lying back against the seat. Her lion.”
hundred million unmarried young head rolled limply, and she slipped out “So only I am in jeopardy?”
women. The United Governments of sight. “Steven,” said Buhner tensely, “who
accordingly authorize drug outlets to Buhner’s men found the abandoned could have killed, or ordered the killing,
make available harmonic de-com- car twenty minutes later with the dead of that woman?” As the silence length-
pensation kits to those persons over body of the woman owner lying on the ened, Buhner said. “Maybe we’ve al-
eighteen who choose to unalign floor of the front seat. ready got him in custody, and can verify
themselves with their spouses. The “—Let him get out of that!” said Jack your story in a few seconds.” He in-
price of the kit shall be $10. The Brooks when the news was phoned to dicated the machines that were focused
names of all persons who make this him by the murderer. His flushed face on the boy in front of him, and urged,
choice will be publicly available. If smirked into a grimacing smile. “Send- “Steven, you mustn’t be loyal to some-
individuals who have already pur- ing out fourteen of him was the smartest one who’s trying to pin a murder on
chased the kits turn them in before idea I've had up to now.” you.”
the end of the current month their He was feeling better for another rea- “What happens to a convicted mur-
names will not be among those son. There was a possibility that a per- derer?” asked Steven, after another
posted. centage of men would be willing to sign pause.
over a car or other property in exchange “Nobody is convicted of murder in our
As Jack Brooks heard those fateful for the kit rather than pay $10 and be day,” was the reply. “The only crime is
words, he leaped to his feet and charged idetifiable and on a list. It was too bad alienation.”
against the nearest wall of his apartment, that there was no cash in the perfect “All right, what happens to a person
hitting it with one shoulder. Flung off world, and that every money transaction convicted of alienation?”
by the force of his violent action, he had to be by computer credit, but still— “That’s classified information.”
threw himself at another wall. Presently, he shrugged— there was always a way. “The rumor is that they’re executed.
exhausted, he sank into a chair and The murder was announced over the Is that true?”
brooded on the reality that no one could news media; the circumstances de- “I’m not a member of the board that
pay $10 would buy the same product for scribed. handles that. I’ve heard the rumor.”
$ 000
1 , . “Now—” the psychiatrist reported— Buhner smiled his grim smile. “Now that
His fantasy of 8 bilHon was now a “Steven has no alternative. He has to you’ve met some of them, Steven, what
mere foam of rage in his clenched contact us.” would you do with alienated individ-
mouth. The rage was directed entirely uals?”
at one person; Steven. Steven must have t was a quarter after three when Ste- Steven hesitated. “It’s unfair,” he said
known this would happen How can . . . I ven phoned Dr. Buhner. finally, “for the unalienated to pass
we get even with that— that— that?— Carrying his equipment, the psychi- judgment on those persons who, through'
Steven Dalkins, all fourteen of him, atrist arrived at the prearranged rendez- some accident of childhood trauma, got
took his usual evening workout shortly vous. A man at the door guided him to to be alienated.”
after dusk. At least, those were the re- decorated anteroom.
a large, tastefully “But you noticed?”
ports relayed back to Buhner by the The pretty girl there escorted him There was a faraway expression in the
agents he sent to each of the city parks. through a door to a large inner office, boy’s eyes. “Many of them are excep-
Could one of the fourteen be Steven then closed the door behind her as she tionally warm-hearted—” he temporized.

80
 ing reason for what you have done.”
Buhner refused be sidetracked.
to seemed no question. The four months Steven said, “I should like you to
“Steven, how many murders that you of close contact with the endless twists accompany me somewhere.”
heard about were committed by your and distortions of truths which alienated “Could you use some reliable wit-
followers in the past four months?” persons live by had left their scarring nesses?”
The barest shadow of a sad smile was marks. “Yes.”
suddenly on Steven’s face. “Most of On his face was the consequent judg-
them are alienated about other things,”
he said, “but those
that way killed
who are alienated
about eight hundred
ment.
Steven
Brooks.”
said, “His name is Jack B uhner and the United Governments’
secretary, and Roosley, and two
other important persons, stood behind
persons.” Buhner pressed some buttons on his a treeon one side of a tree-lined street
“Why? Did you find out why they did machinery, watched the dials briefly; as Stevenwalked across to a small sub-
it?” then: “He’s among the captured.” Once urban house on the other.
“The victims said or did something more, manipulation, followed by the He stopped outside the gate and whis-
that violated the ideals of the murderer.” comment; “The computer is asking him tled twice long and twice short.
“And so,” said Buhner with the touch if he ordered, or committed, the murder. A minute went by. Then the door of
of grief in his voice that he always felt He denies it. But his heart, his lungs, the house opened.
at such revelations, “in this great uni- his liver, his blood vessels, tell a different Out of it there emerged a rapidly
verse where a man’s life, so far as we story.” moving figure of a young girl. A Child?
know, is only a tiny span of years, they, Their gazes met across the control No. She charged over to Steven Dalkins
in theirinner fury of rightness, denied instrument. “Well, Steven,” said the and flung her shiall body against his
even that short a time to nearly a thou- older man, “I’ve been proceeding on the small body with an impact that sent him
sand human beings. Tell me, what assumption that you’re an unalienated back several steps. The two— the dynamic
should be done with people like that?” person, and that therefore— though it girland the high energy boy— thereupon
Once more, their gazes met. This time, would be a little hard to imagine what proceeded to hit one mouth against the
the boy looked away quickly. And there it could be— you have some deep-mean- other, and to squeeze their bodies to-
gether in a series of minor but definite
blows.
“Good God!” said Buhner, involun-
tarily, “he did all this in order to marry
a girl his own age.”
As he had heard the words, or de-
if

duced they would be spoken or

that
thought, Steven turned and called out
into the gathering dusk, “But it’s not
illegal; not now.”
“Love,” mumbled the psychiatrist. “I
haven’t thought of anything like that
since I gave up little Esther when / was
eighteen.”
Suddenly, his legs wouldn’t hold him.
He lay down there on the grass, vaguely
aware of the others bending over him
anxiously.
It was ridiculous, of course, but the
shameful tears streamed down his
cheeks. After he chided himself. Lit-
all,

tle Esther would now be big Esther,

married with a broodofEsther-ettes. And,
besides, it was well-known that people
always out-grew age eighteen attach-
ments.
The arguments, so cogently true,
flapped unheeded through his head. The
feeling that had leaped at him out of
his forgotten past somehow conveyed the
wordless meaning that he had never
been given the chance to grow through
those emotions. Muttering, Buhner
struggled to his feet, shook away helping
hands, and hurried off along the dark-
ening street.
He had important things to do, like
recovering from thirty years of living
without love. O

31
 2000V2
A SPACED ODDITY
/from page 53

ardess who offers her repertoire of

demure King’s-X flirtation. He looks
around the ship’s interior. The steward-
ess passes by; this time she ignores him
also. Serves him right.
The Moon alongside
ship lands on the
the Serenity-Hilton. The lone passenger
has reservations; he checks in at the
quaint old-fashioned modernistic 20th-
century desk. In the bar he meets some
old friends.
A lady greets him. “Hello there, Joe.
What are you doing here?”
“Adjusting to the crummy gravity, like
everybody else.”
“Aw, come on, Joe. You know you
can trust me; I won’t tell anyone.”
“Sure, I know,” he says gently, patting
her under the clavicle. “Well, I have to
go now. Goodbye, Brenda Starr.” She
looks after him wistfully.
In his hotel room the man looks
somehow pensive, as though troubled by
irregularity.His eye lights upon the pic-
turephone, and lights. He punches sev-
enteen digits by pushbutton. The screen
glows red, indicating that he forgot to
punch the area-code first.
Eventually he gets it right. A picture
appears, that of a young girl. Not too
young; either she has passed puberty or
she owes much to the garment industry.
“Hello?” she says.
“Hello, dear. My, but you’ve grown!”
“Hello?” she says. Although electro-
magnetic waves travel at 186,000 miles
per second and the Moon is about
240,000 miles from Earth, there is no
delay between statement and response,
due to anti-delay networks developed by
"A tribe of savage apes dances to the
Bell Laboratories. The advantage of
background strains of Red River Valley. Others these devices is even more evident, later
approach, shrieking, jumping up-and-down; it on.
may be that they do not like Red River Valley!" “Yes, hello!” he says. “I said, you’ve
grown!”
“I suppose so. I seldom shrink!”
“But only two weeks ago, dear, you
were just a little girl. Now you’re a young
Next morning the tribe forages for its second tribe. The latter flee. It is time woman. I never heard of such a thing!”
breakfast: roots and berries. The group for lunch; nuts and grasshoppers. “You ever hear of getting a wrong
comes upon a huge object, black and The first tribe does not forage for nuts number, clabberhead?” The screen goes
rectangular. A strange sound is heard; and grasshoppers. In prehistory, a great blank.
all pause, awed. They cannot see the milestone has been reached. Man has Next day our man attends a secret
upper surface of the object; it is too high. invented cannibalism. meeting fraught with dire verbiage. A
Could they view it, they would see but dozen or so people calmly tell each other
not understand the message in Vegan
script; “Live Cargo. Other End Up.”
Again the second tribe approaches.
A spaceship thrusts itself up from
Earth. Inside, one man sits alone
amid a number of empty seats. Outside
a lot of things they already appear to
know. Our man, who is being briefed,
is the only one who doesn’t know what

Shrieks are shrieked; faces are made; can be seen the famous name “Mother everyone is talking about, because no-
ups-and-downs are jumped. But the Old Ferguson’s Space Line And Storm Porch body ever states anything explicitly. The
Man of the first tribe remains silent; he Company,” painted over the original scene is very true to life, for a true-life
makes no faces and does not jump. He legend “V-2.” scene.
is thinking. Finally he picks up the The man shuffles papers from his Spacesuited, our man and several
thighbone of an antelope and with it briefcase in obvious boredom, puts them others inspect the depths of an excava-
smashes the skull of the Old Man of the away again. He ignores the lovely stew- tion on the bare vacuum-packed surface

82
of the Moon. Vacuum does not conduct that the mission may succeed, once in the ship. Laurel pulls his plug. Down
sound, but the “Red River Valley” is each 24-hour period a crew member the drain swirls Henry’s consciousness,
playing; their helmets are wired for must go outside the ship for one hour. counterclockwise.
Muzak. And push. Another historic milestone has been
The group reaches its goal: a huge Laurel is in his quarters. If he isn’t reached. Man has invented a machine
black rectangular object, still half-buried bored silly he’s faking it nicely. His pic- that has invented cannibalism.
in the Lunar conglomerate. A strange turephone screen lights. He yawns and
sound is heard; everybody falls down.
No one knows why they fall down, or
whether they ever get up.
says “Hello.”
“Hello, Stanley,” says a lovable grey-
haired old lady. “This is Momma.”
L aurel’s ship is

or Saturn; Laurel can’t be sure,

approaching Jupiter

because of the ringing in his ears: “The

On the bottom of the object, still “I can’t come over for dinner, Red River Valley.”
buried, is the notation in Vegan script: Momma. I’m busy.” Suddenly in his viewscreen appears a
“Do Not Litter. Use This Container.” “I know, I know; a mother is always huge black rectangular object. A strange
wrong. Just remember someday, Stan- sound assualts his being: he reaches
n deep space a ship is enroute to ley.” The screen goes blank. blindly for the pain-reliever most often
I Jupiteror Saturn, depending on who The ship lurches forward heavily for recommended by doctors. The object
wins the toss. Aboard it, two men are a moment, but Laurel doesn’t notice. looms, then vanishes to one side as the
talking with a third sentient member of Why can’t his mother understand that ship swings left and plunges into a mon-
the crew, a highly-developed computer you can’t always get away for dinner at tage of spectra swinging wildly up and
called Henry 8000, who speaks very a moment’s notice? Especially when down the electromagnetic scale at
softly. To be polite about it, Henry 8000 you’re halfway to Jupiter or Saturn and 186,000 miles per second. Laurel barely
sounds as though he might have been can’t find most of your crew. has time to realize that instead of aspirin
assembled at the bottom of someone’s The exercise hour is long past, but he has dropped about 600 mikes of
garden. Hardy has not returned. Laurel punches “clear window” acid. He has not seen,
“Henry,” says one crewman, “I can’t one of Henry’s buttons. “Hey, Henry; on the black monlith, the clear Vegan
seem to find the rest of the crew. Do where’s Hardy?” script that reads: “No Left Turn.”
you happen to know where they might “Why, I’m sure I don’t know. Isn’t he
be?”
“Why, I’m sure I don’t know. Laurel,”
croons Henry. “Where have you
with you?”
“You know he isn’t. You can see all
over the ship, you peeping-Henry.”
S
among
everal hundred years
time. Laurel recognizes a
later, subjective

the splendors of his visual dis-

few realities

looked?” “But I don’t tell, do I?” play. He is coming down; so is the ship.
“In the Bullmoose Room; where “Never mind that. Is Hardy on the No matter that it has not been built to
else?” says Laurel. “Once you’re in the ship, or isn’t he?” land anywhere; it does, anyway.
deep freeze, you don’t walk around a “Well ... he isn’t.” Just alongside a nice big homey-
is
lot, you know.” “Why not?” looking house, fresh out of early 20th-
“I wouldn’t know about that,” says “I had to accelerate to avoid a meteor. century Earth. Laurel doesn’t question
Henry 8000. “I don’t walk around much, Laurel.” it; he’s still more zonked than not.

anyway. Is it pleasurable to walk around, “So it’s goodbye-Hardy? Is that right?” He leaves the ship, paying no heed
Laurel?” “Yes, I’m afriad so, Laurel. I’m sorry, to whether the air is fit to breathe. It
“Well ...” you know. I really am.” must be; he doesn’t fall down.
The second crewman cuts in. “Hold “Yeh. I’ll just bet you are.” Laurel is now inside the house. Oh,
it, Henry; this is Hardy. Are you sure “Well, I am! And now might I have it is so homey! And well-kept, too. He

you don’t know where the rest of the a little silence for some decent mourning, sits down to a meal, served by no seen
crew is?” you crude man?” hands. He smells the meat first.
“Why, of course I’m sure, Hardy. Sta- “Yeah; crude. First, you fell me what He opens a door to another room and
tistically, at least.” happened to the rest of the crew!” sees an older version of himself. The
“But .”
. . “Laurel, dear boy; believe me, that practice must be habit-forming, because
“It is now time for your exercise knowledge would not help your morale.” the second one opens another door and
period. Hardy.” my morale! You tell me . .
.!” sees a really decrepit specimen of Laurel.
“I want to know a few things first!” “Ooh; what you said!” “How come we are getting so old so
“Please, Hardy; not have any
let’s “Never mind what I said; let’s hear fast?” says the latter. “We better stop
unpleasantness. you what; we’ll
I’ll tell what you say.” this,or we’re in real trouble.”
have a game! I’ll give you 55 seconds “You know, it’s going to spoil your “I know,” says the other. “But I have
to get to the airlock and put your space- whole day. Laurel.” this problem. Every time I come to a
suit on before I let all the air out. Start- “Between you and my mother you’re door, I open
and there you are.”
it

ing— now.'” beating a dead horse. Get on with it.” “Well, try to watch it; OK?”
Hardy serambles to the airlock and “All right. Laurel, if you insist. But “Sure. And you try not to be there.
frantically dobs his suit. He wins the if I had known you were going to be Right?”
game with four seconds to spare. Now like this, I wouldn’t have even wanted
it istime for exercise.
The planners of this expedition know
the vital importance of exercise on a
to be your friend.”
“Say it!”
“Well— a food-freezer went bad and
S omewhere two skeletons face each
other through a door frame. One of
them says nothing; the second answers
prolonged space mission; they do not all the other meat spoiled, Laurel.” in kind.
leave it to chance. Deliberately, they It is an urgent moment. Before Henry At the other end of everything, a baby
have shorted the fuel supply. In order 8000 can move to exhaust the air from mumbles. It’s probably hungry. O

83
 THE ART OF

Ever hear of Shelfanger, Diss?

Well, that’s where, in the Old
Rectory, a young man named
Josh Kirby is to be found. You
may not know who Josh Kirby is yet,
but, if you’re a science
fiction fan, chances are you
wiil before very long.
While he hasn’t been seen much
(yet) in the United States,
his work is familiar over much
of the rest of the worid,
illustrating stories
from Burroughs to Bradbury
and back again in Britain,
doing magazine art for German,
Beigian and Dutch pubiications,
and, most recently, doing
art for the covers of ACE and
DAW paperback books.

84
85
86
Mild-mannered, married
and just past twenty-five,
this talented Englishman
draws the smallest, most
Intricate and detailed
pictures since the late
Virgil Finlay. A man
who Is proficient in
several of the established
science fiction “styles,”
such as those of
Powers, Bama and Emsh,
Kirby is developing a
distinctive of his own,
which you will see next
month— on the cover
of VERTEX.

87
 ALL THE BRIDGES RUSTING
from page 23

motel on the Pacific Coast Highway real killer gets lost in the crowd. for it with their taxes.
thirty years ago. “There’s another thing. “But the real beef is something else. It had been the most expensive space
What are we really doing if we do it There are people you have to get along project of all time. Lazarus had been

Whyte’s way? We’re talking the public with, right?” loved. Nothing but love could have
into not backing a space project. Suppose “Not me,” said Karin. pushed the taxpayer into paying such a
they got the habit? I don’t know about “Well, you’re unusual. Everyone in the price. Even those who had fought the
you—” world next door to his boss, his
lives program thirty-one years ago now re-
“I just plain like rocket ships,” said mother-in-law, the girl he’s trying to membered Lazarus with love.
Jerryberry. drop, the guy he’s fighting for a promo- The reaction came mainly from older
“Okay. Can you really talk the public tion.You can't move away from anyone. men and women, but it was world wide.
into this?” Itbugs people.” Save Lazarus.
“No. Lazarus didn’t even cost this "What can they do? Give you the
much, and Lazarus almost didn’t get
built, they tell me. And Lazarus failed,
and so did the colony project. So: no.
booths?”
“No. There aren’t any more cars or
planes or railroads. But they can give
L ikewise there were those dedicated
to saving the
trusion of
ecology from the in-
man. For them the battle was
But I’m not sure I can bring myself to up space.” never-ending. True, industrial wastes
talk them out of it.” Karin thought about that. Presently were no longer dumped into the air and
“Jansen, just how bad is public sup- she gave her considered opinion. water; the worst of these were flicked
port for the Space Authority?” “Idiots.” through a drop ship in close orbit around
“Oh ... it isn’t even that, exactly. The “No. They’re just like all of us: they Venus, to disappear into the atmosphere
public is getting unhappy about Jump- want something for nothing. Have you of that otherwise useless world. But the
Shift itself.” ever .solved a problem without finding ultimate garbage maker was himself the
“What? What for?” another problem just behind it?” most dangerous of threats. Hardly a wil-
“CBA runs a continuous string of “Sure. My husband well, no. I. . . derness was left on Earth that was not
public opinion polls. The displacement was pretty lonely after we split up. But being settled by men with JumpShift
booths did genuinely bring some unique 1 didn’t sit down and cry about it. When booths.
problems with them—” someone hands me a problem, I solve They would have fought JumpShift on
“It solved some too. Maybe you don’t it. Jansen, we’re going at this wrong. I any level. JumpShift proposed to leave
remember.” feel it.” three men and three women falling
Jerryberry smiled. “I’m not old “Okay, so we’re doing it wrong. across the sky forever. To hell with their
enough. Neither are you. Slums, traffic What’s the right way?” profit margin: save Lazarus.
jams, plane crashes— nobody’s that old “I don't know. We’ve got better ships
except Robin Whyte, and if you try to
tell him the booths brought problems of

their own, he thinks you’re an ungrateful

than anyone dreamed of in 2004. That’s
fact.”
“Define ship.”
T
returns
here were groups
against anything
who would vote
done in space. The
from space exploration had been
bastard. But they did. You know they “Ship! Vehicle! Never mind, I see the great, admittedly; but they all derived
did.” point. Don’t push it.” from satellites in close orbit around
“Like flash crowds?” So he didn’t ask her what a 747 circling Earth. Observatories, weather satellites,
“Sure. Any time anyting interesting the sinking Titanic could have done to teevee transmitters, solar power plants.
happens anywhere, some newstaper is help, or whether a Greyhound bus could These were dirt cheap these days, and
going to report it. Then people flick in have crossed the continent in 1849. He their utilityhad surely been obvious to
to see it from all over the United States. said, “We know how to rescue Lazarus. any moron since Neanderthal times.
If it gets big enough you get people What’s the big decision? We do or we But what use were the world of other
flicking in just to see the crowd, plus don’t.” stars? Even the worlds of the solar system
pickpockets, looters, cops, more news- “Well?” had given no benefit to Man, except for
tapers, anyone looking for publicity. “I don’t know. We watch the opinion Venus, which made an excellent garbage
“Then there’s the drug problem. polls. I think ... I think we’ll wind up dump. Better to spend the money on
There’s no way to stop smuggling. You neutral. Present the project as best we Earth. Abandon Lazarus.
can pick a point in the South Pacific with can finagle it up. Tell ’em the easiest
the same longitude and opposite latitude
as any given point in the USA and most
of Canada, and teleport from there
way
leave
to
it
do it,

at that.”
tell ’em what it'll cost, and
B
were
ut most of the public voted a straight
Insufficient Data.
right.
And of course they

without worrying about the Earth’s rota-

tional velocity. All
You can’t stop the drugs
it takes istwo booths.
from coming
T he opinion polls were a sophisti-
cated way to read mass minds. Over
the years their sampling techniques had R obin Whyte was nervous. He was
trying not to show it, but he paced
in. I remember one narcotics cop telling improved enormously, raising their ac- too much and he smiled too much and
me to think of it as evolution in action.” curacy and lowering their cost. Public he kept clasping his hands behind his
“God.” thinking generallycame in blocks: back. “Sit down, for Christ’s sake,” said
“Oh, and the ecologists don’t like the JumpShift’s news release provoked no Jerryberry.“Relax. They can’t throw
booths. They make wilderness areas too immediate waves. But one block of tomatoes through their teevee screens.”
available. And the cops have their prob- thinking began to surface. A significant Whyte laughed. “We’re working on
lems. A man used to be off the hook segment of humanity was old enough to that in the research division. Are you
ifhe could prove he was somewhere else have watched teevee coverage of the almost ready?”
when a crime happened. These days you launching of Lazarus. A smaller, still “An hour to broadcast. I’ve already
have to suspect anyone, anywhere. The significant segment had helped to pay done the interview with Doctor Sagan.
88
 “Failure of turned his back on the audience, he
covered what he was drawing with
the first expedition.
the chalk. But he didn’t look nervous.
A whole colony He grinned into the cameras as if he
fleet on its way could see old friends out there.
home without ever “The heart of it is the Corliss acceler-
having so much as ator,” he said, and with the chalk he

seen Alpha drew an arc underneath the tower’s

launch cradle, through the rock itself.
Centaurus!” “We excavate here, carve out a space
to get the room. Then—” He drew it in.
A JumpShift drop ship receiver cage.
“The rescue ship is self-transmitting,
of course. As it leaves the accelerator
it transmits back to the launch end. What
we have then is an electromagnetic can-
non of infinite length. We spin it on its

axis so it doesn’t get out of alignment.

It’s on tape.” Whyte, prowling restlessly, was back We give the ship an acceleration of one
“Let’s see what you’ve got.” in frontof the launching scene. “I always gee for a bit less than two months to
What CBA had for this broadcast was thought they should have drilled right boost it to the velocity of Lazarus, then
a fully detailed rescue project, complete through the asteroid. Leave the Corliss we flick it out to the drop ship.
with artist’s conceptions. Jerryberry accelerator open at both ends.” "This turns out to be a relatively cheap
spread the paintings along a wall. “Using Activity in the sound studio had di- operation,” Whyte said. “We could put
your artists, whom we hired for a week minished. Against a white wall men had some extra couches in Phoenix and use
with JumpShift’s kind permission. Aren’t placed a small table and two chairs, and that. Wecould even use the accelerator
they beautiful? We also have a definite a battery of teevee cameras and lights to boost the drop ship up to speed, but
price tag. Two billion, three hundred and aiming their muzzles into the scene. that would take four months, and we'd
sixty million new dollars.” Jerryberry touched Whyte’s arm. have to do it now. It would mean build-
“Let’s go sit down over there.” Whyte ing another Corliss accelerator, but—"
Whyte’s laugh was still shaky. “That’s
righton the borderline. Barely feasible.” might freeze up if confronted by the Whyte grinned into the cameras, "—we
He was looking at an artist’s conception
cameras too suddenly. Give him a should have done that anyway, years
chance to get used to it. ago. There’s enough traffic to justify it.
of the launching of the rescue mission:
a stream of spherical fuel tanks and
Whyte didn’t move. His head was “Return voyage is just as simple. After
cocked to one side, and his lips moved they pick up the crew of Lazarus, they
larger, shark-shaped Phoenix hulls
silently. flick to the Pluto drop ship which is big
pouring up through the ringed tower of
“What’s the matter?” enough to catch them, then to the Mer-
the Corliss accelerator. More compo-
nents rested on flat rock at the launch
Whyte made a shushing motion. cury drop ship to lose their potential
Jerryberry waited. energy, then back to the Corliss acceler-
end. “So Gem thought of it first. I must
be getting old.”
Presently Whyte looked up. “You’ll ator drop cage. We use the accelerator
have to scrap this. How much time have for another two months to slow it down.
“You don’t expect to think of every-
we got?” The cost of an interstellar drop ship is
thing, do you? You once told me that
“But— An hour. Less. What do you half a billion new dollars. A new Corliss
your secretary thought of the fresh-water
mean, scrap it?” accelerator would cost us about the
tower gimmick during a drunken office
Whyte smiled. “1 just thought of same, and we can use it commercially.
party.”
something. Get me to a telephone, will Total price is half of what Lazarus cost.”
“True, too. paid her salary for thirty you? Has Gem still got the schematics
1
Whyte put down the chalk and sat.
years, hoping she’d do it again, but she of the Corliss accelerator?” Jerryberry said. “When can you go
never did. ... Do you think they’ll buy An hour to broadcast time, and Jer- ahead with this. Doctor?”
it?” ryberry began to shake. “Robin, are we "JumpShift will submit a time and
“No.” going to have a broadcast or not?” costs schedule to the UN Space Author-
“I guess not.” Whyte seemed to shake Whyte patted him on the arm. “Count ity. I expect it’ll go to the world vote.”
himself “Well, maybe we’ll use it some on it.” “Thank you. Doctor Whyte, for .”
. .

other time. It’s a useful technique, ship- It was a formula. When the cameras
ping fuel
bly need
Star,
in

which
it
Phoenix
to
is moving
hulls. We’ll proba-
explore, say, Barnard’s
pretty censored
G em Jone’s big white-on-blue sche-
matic had been thumbtacked to the
white wall over the table and chairs.
were off Jerryberry sagged in his chair.
“Now I can say it. Boy, are you out of
practice.”
fast with respect to Sol.” Below it Jerryberry Jansen leaned back, “What do you mean? Didn’t I get it

“We don’t have to tell them they can’t' seemingly relaxed, watching Whyte across?”
do it. Jujt tell ’em the price tag and let move about with a piece of chalk. "I think you did. 1 hope so. You smiled
them make up their own minds.” A thumbtacked blueprint and a piece a lot too much. On camera that makes
“Listen, I had a hand in launching of chalk. It was slipshod by professional you look self-satisfied.”
Lazarus. The launching boosters were standards. Robin Whyte had not ap- “1 know, you told me before,” said

fueled by JumpShift units.” peared on teevee in a couple of decades. Whyte. “I couldn’t help it. just felt so I

“I know.” He made professional mistakes: he good. ” o

89
 POUL ANDERSON
from page 37

tration of trying to make everything go, I’ve already admitted to being very in a material way. There’s almost no
come out right, of trying to find the exact much of a I think we should
technophile. limit, however, to how much information
descriptive phrase, and so on. go on. I some hypo-
think, even without you can carry, especially with modern
thetical faster-than-light travel, we can and future data bank technology. So
VERTEX: Up to this point we’ve been make it out to the stars, if we want to. there would be no reason, say, why a
talking about science fiction; its affect Whether we actually will want to badly fifty man expedition, making a twenty

on you, and on the world. What about enough, I don’t know. I think we should, year survey somewhere, couldn’t carry
other interests which you have? The as you might say it’s as much as spiritual along the entire culture of Earth in its
other things that you’ve done in your thing as a matter of acquiring knowl- data banks, to be referred to. On the
life— what are your other major interests? edge, or the power that comes from other hand, fifty people don’t really have
knowledge. At the same time, we can’t enough room in their heads to carry all
ANDERSON: Oh, I suppose the usual neglect our own Earth. I’ve been active that, I would say, if man is going to go
human ones. I like to travel as much in various conservation movements for to the stars under those difficult condi-
as possible; foreign countries, out in the a long time, long before itbecame fash- tions, he’ll only do it carrying along his
wilderness, or just in scenic country. Or ionable. We need to do much more dedication, his desire to explore, to make
get out on the water in a boat of some there. Here, however, I’d like to point himself more at home in the universe
kind. As a hobby I do a certain amount out to some of these ‘back-to-nature’ by coming to understand more of it, in
of gardening, carpentry, etc., etc. I enjoy people that man has always preyed upon much the spirit that the early polar ex-
good food and good wine. I think that the earth, has always used up his envi- plorers went. If, on the other hand, it
a writer has to be interested in every- ronment, and with modern machinery turns out to be easy to get out there,
thing. There’s no such thing as too much we merely do it faster. Actually, what then, you’ve got room for other motiva-
input. we need is not less science and technol- tions. You can see the human race, re-
ogy, but more of the right kinds, which peating all its old mistakes all over again.
VERTEX: That’s an interesting line of will let us, for the first time, really un- I really don’t know how it will go. Just

thought. How do you go about accom- derstand how the biosphere works. Re- wait and see. I’ve said that science fiction
plishing that? ally, not just sit back and enjoy, but has no more pipe-line to the future than
actually create something that has never anything else.
ANDERSON: Just, more or less, by liv- existed before. A balanced ecology. So,
ing the way I like to live. By reading while basically I would say that man is VERTEX: There are a lot of young per-
a lot, meeting and talking to aswide a an animal, he’s also a spiritual being. sons in the world today interested in
variety of people as possible, traveling, You can take this in a religious or in science fiction, and interested in what
trying out different things, and so on. a non-religious sense, but he has emo- you have to say about it. In conclusion,
tionsT'-he perceives mysteries, and he what would you say to those people?
VERTEX: Publications. Do you get a wants to belong to something bigger than ANDERSON: Well, let me think. know I

variety of publications? himself. He’s also a reasoning being; a what I want to say because I’ve tried,

being that can acquire knowledge, and again and again, to say it in my fiction,
ANDERSON: Oh, yes! We subscribe to usually wants to. I think all of these with varying degrees of success or fail-
a number of magazines, buy a lot of aspects are equally important, that we ure. It sounds, perhaps, a little bit like
books, and so on. Naturally. can’t neglect any of them. From time a collection of cliches if just laid out
to time we’ve over-emphasized one at explicitly. These are not the easiest times
VERTEX: What about conferences and the expense of the others. I would hope the human race has ever known, and
conventions? Do you get a lot of infor- that eventually we can get to a balanced they may get much worse before they
mation out of them? attitude, where we will develop all get better. Even if they do get better,
aspects of ourselves, as we have found out here in America,
ANDERSON: Well, frankly, they’re peace and affluence have their own
mostly just fun. To the extent that they VERTEX: What do you think man will penalties. So, however much the world
are business, they tend to just be negoti- take with him when he goes to the stars? may change, and it is changing now
ations. Some editor might make a writer In the way of culture and feelings and faster than before, I think certain things

a good offer to do a book, or something development. will always be true. There will always
like that. However, again, it’s an oppor- ANDERSON: That would depend very be a need for the old-fashioned virtues,
tunity to meet people. An astonishing much on itself. If you can
the technology like courage and loyalty. There will also
variety of people show up at these things, get the favorite science fiction theme of always be, a desireability for a spirit of
and some of them become good friends. vast fleets of space ships, with enormous inquiry, a spirit of open-mindedness, a
VERTEX: So far we’ve been talking cargo-carrying capacity, traveling much respect for the integrity and freedom of
about things that are pretty well locked faster than light— then its one thing, be- the individual. I would like to think that,
into this earth, and past experiences cause you can transport everything so along with all the other things it has
common to most people. Let’s take to much more easily. You can take your invented, the human race can keep these
beyond that and go out into the stars, artifacts, you can take a lot of people, more recent inventions— namely those
if we can. What feelings do you have and so on. If, on the other hand, we having to do with the rights and the
about which direction the human race suppose that it’ll just be a matter of importance of the individual. I’d like to
and the planet, this planet Earth, should comparatively few vessels, with small think it can keep those alive.
go- crews, and with each expedition taking
a long time, taking years at least, then VERTEX: Thank you very much, Mr.
ANDERSON: As to the way it should what you can carry is much less, at least Anderson, O

90
CONFRONTATION
from page 39

Her eyes widened slightly. “Yes?” 8317, we caught up with them last He opened the door for her and then
“Agent Thomas Varney—Robot In- month. They pleaded a lot, but it didn’t steered her by her arm to the sign
vestigatory Agency,” he saidshowing the do them any good in the end.” marked They walked down to
“Exit.”
badge with “RIA” set deep in blue let- She rocked slightly. “Oh: Oh.” the street leveland he turned her around.
ters, “Do you have some place where “We’re wasting time,” said Varney; “You said something that sounded
we can talk?” “let’s go downtown,” sincere up there. Do you think that you’ll
A balding man in his early 50s stepped “Please, Mr. Varney; look at me. I was actually get a jury to believe you?”
up. Although he spoke to the girl he kept created from metal and wires and rubber “I’m sure of it.”
his eyes on Varney. “Everything all right, but I’m as human
as you are. I was He looked into her eyes and said: “I’m
Betty?” programmed Mozart and Shakespeare
to going to ask you a very important ques-
Her voice was calm. “Yes, George, it’s and a hundred others who celebrate tion and I’ll know if you’re lying. If we
all right. It’s a business matter. May we Man’s achievements. Souls aren’t made give you a break, will you help us track
use your office?” of flesh and blood. Please!” down the others who went into hiding?”
He waved his hand in assent, but slid “You’re wasting your time, sister,” She hesitated for a second. “Why, I

his eyes again over Varney, who ignored said Varney, “let’s go.” don’t know how I could help but yes,
him and followed the young woman to Her mascara-smeared from the
eyes, I would, if they were guaranteed a fair
a door in the back of the hall marked tears, suddenly blazed defiance. “You’ll trial.”
“Private.” He followed her through it never believe me; I see that now, but “That’s all I wanted to know he said,”
and then leaned against it as she stood others will. All right, then;I plead Ar- as he pulled a wedge-shaped object from
with her back to him, arms folded. ticle 9of the Post Rebellion Consti- his pocket. “Johnson and Keller said we
“Well?” she said after a moment. tution, trial by a Jury of my peers,” couldn’t trust you.”
Varney casually took a notebook from Varney snorted: “What would that be? She opened her mouth but the scream
his pocket, flipped it open and read: A parking meter and a vacuum cleaner?” died unborn as her face burst into a
“Since crossing over, subject has used “No, Mr. Varney; other human white-hot mass of writhing wires and
the name ‘Elizabeth Peters.’ Given beings. People were frightened before, running metal. She fell and Varney
name: Helen Singleton. Believed to be but I can convince them of my innocence stepped over her body toward the door.
residing in District 12, possibly Los An- now. I’m ready to go.” .. “Traitor,” he hissed. “Traitor!” O
geles and may be working as singer. .” . .

He looked up from the notebook at

her back for a moment, then resumed:
“Advanced model of 8300 series,
number 72; created by Robco in Cleve-
land, 1991. . .
.”

“1993!” she said, turning to face him.

Varney laughed shortly and returned
the notebook to his pocket. “Just like
a woman almost; you have to
shave a couple of years off your age.
All right, Miss Singleton or Miss Peters,
you’ve got some explaining to do.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Come off it; I might buy that if you
were an 8100 or even an 82 but you 83s
can think independently. You’re charged
with illegally leaving place of residence,
assuming false identity and failing to
register with the authorities. And that
doesn’t even specify any charges from
the Rebellion.”
“You must believe I had nothing to
do with that! The first 1 knew of it was
when I saw people running and scream-

ing in the streets. I tried to protect my

owner but ” Her voice choked off
and she shook her head.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s true! Most of us were innocent
who had always
but the people
us seized the opportunity to
resented
stampede
"Ifwe give you a break, will
the others. When Johnson and Keller you help us track down the
escaped, everyone seemed to go crazy.
others who went into hiding?"
Thousands of robots were deactivated,
even the computers. Johnson and Keller
are the ones you should be looking for.”
Varney smiled. “If you mean 8309 and
WEED OF TIME
from page 58

begins. “Wait a minute,” he says, “I’ve December in the year 208 1 . I know they and I see my life as one sees a painting,
got a sample right here.” will not be satisfied until I have told a painting of some complicated land-
He reaches into the small sack and them all 1 know of the years between scape; all at once, whole, a complete
pullssomething out. The camera zooms this time-locus and December 2, 2150. gestalt. I see my strange, strange infancy,
in on the Captain’s hand. I know they will not be satisfied because the incomprehension as emerge from I

is holding a srnall plant. The plant

He they are not satisfied, have not been the womb
speaking perfect English,
has broad green leaves and small purple satisfied, will not be satisfied. , . . marred only by my undeveloped vocal
blossoms. So I tell them of that terrible De- apparatus, as I emerge from my mother’s
Dr. Phipps’ hands begin to tremble cember nine years in their future. . . . womb demandingthat the ship from Tau
uncontrollably. He stares at me. He Ceti in the time-locus September 8, 2050
stares and stares and stares. ecember 2, 2150. I am old, old, a be quarantined, knowing that my de-
D
. . .

hundred and ten years old. My mand will be futile because it was futile,
ay 2062. am small room. age-ruined body lies on the clean white will be futile, is futile, knowing that at
M
Think of
12.
Think of
it
it
1 in a
as a hospital
as a laboratory, think of
room.
it
sheets of a hospital bed, lungs, heart,
blood vessels, organs, all failing. Only
the moment of my birth I am have been
will be all that I ever was/am/will be
as a cell; it is all three. I have been here my mind is forever untouched, the mind and that I cannot change a moment of
for three months. of an infant-child-youth-man-ancient. I it.

I am
seated on a comfortable lounge- am, in a sense, dying. Beyond this day, emerge from my mother’s womb and
I

chair. Across a table from me sits a December 2, 2150, my body no longer I am dying in clean white sheets and
man from an un-named government exists as a living organism. Time to me Iam in the office of Dr. Phipps watching
intelligence bureau. On the table is a forward of this date is as blank to me the ship land and am in the government I

tape recorder. It is running. The man as time beyond April 3. 2040 is in the two years babbling of the future
cell for
seated opposite is frowning in exasper- other temporal direction. and I am in a clearing in some woods
ation. In a sense, I am dying. But in another where a plant with broad green leaves
“The subject is December, 2081.” he sense, I am immortal. The spark of my and small purple flowers grows and I
says. “You me all you know of
will tell consciousness will not go out. My mind am picking the plant and eating it as
the events of December, 2081." will not come to an end, for it has neither know I will do have done am do-
I

I stare at him silently, sullenly. I am end nor beginning. I exist in one moment ing. , . .

tired of all the men from intelligence that lasts forey^r and spans one hundred I emerge from my mother’s womb and
sections, economic councils, scientific and ten years. 1 see the gestalt-painting of my lifespan,
bureaus, with their endless, futile de- Think of my life as a chapter in a a pattern of immutable events painted
mands. book, the book of eternity, a book with on the stationary and eternal canvas of
“Look.” the man snaps, “we know no first page and no last. The chapter time. . . .

better than to appeal to your non-exis- that is my lifespan is one hundred and But I do not merely see the “painting,”
tent sense of patriotism. We are all too ten pages long. has a starting point
It 1 am the “painting” and I am the painter
well-aware that you don’t give a damn and an ending point, but the chapter and I am also outside the painting view-
about what the knowledge you have can exists as long as the book exists, the ing the whole and I am none of these.
mean to your country. But just re- infinite book of eternity. And Isee the immutable time-locus
member this: you’re a convicted crimi- Or, think of my life as a ruler one that determines all the rest— March 4,
nal. Your sentence is indeterminate. Co- hundred and ten inches long. The ruler 2060. Change that and the painting dis-
operate, and you’ll be released in two “begins” at one and “ends” at one solves and I live in time like any other
years. Clam up, and we’ll hold you here hundred and ten, but “begins” and man, moment after blessed moment,
till you rot or until you get it through “ends” refer not duration.
to length, freed from this all-knowing hell. But
your head that the only way for you to 1 am dying. I experience dying always, change itself is illusion.
get out is to talk. The subject is the but I never experience death. Death is March 4, 2060 in a wood not too far
month of December in the year 2081. the absence of experience. It can never from where I was born. But knowledge
Now, give!” come for me. of the horror that day brings,, has
I sigh. 1 know that it is no use trying December 2, 2150 is but a significant brought, will bring can change nothing.
to tell any of them that knowledge of time-locus for me, a dark wall, an end- I will do as I am doing will do did
the future is useless, that the future can- point beyond which 1 cannot see. The because I did it will do it am doing
not be changed because it was not other wall has the time-locus April 3, it. . . .

changed because it will not be changed. 2040. April 3, 2040, and I emerge from my
They will not accept the fact that choice mother’s womb, an infanf-child-youth-
an illusion caused by the fact that 2040. Nothingness abruptly
pril 3, man-ancient, in a government cell in a
is

future time-loci are hidden from those Aends, non-nothingness abruptly

I am born.
mental hospital dying in clean white
who advance sequentially along the time- begins. sheets. . . .

stream one moment after the other What is it like for me to be born? How
ignorance. They refuse to un-
in blissful can I tell you? How can 1 make you arch 4, 2060. I am twenty. Earn
derstand that moments of future time
are no different from moments of past
understand? My life, my whole lifespan
of one hundred and ten years comes into me
M
in a clearing in the woods. Before
grows a small plant with broad green
or present time; fixed, immutable, in- being at once, in an instant. At the “mo- leaves and purple blossoms— Temp, the
variant. They live in the- illusion of se- ment” of my birth I am at the moment Weed of Time, which has haunted,
quential time. of my death and all moments in be- haunts, will haunt my never-ending life.
So I begin to speak of the month of tween. 1 emerge from my mother’s womb I know what I am doing will do have
 inescapable.
March 4, 2060. 1 reach down, pluck
the Temp plant. 1 pull off a broad green
leaf, put it in my mouth. It tastes bitter-

sweet, woody, unpleasant. 1 chew it, bolt

it down.
The Temp travels to my stomach, is
digested, passes into my bloodstream,
reaches my brain. There changes occur
which better men than 1 are powerless,
will be powerless to understand, at least
up till December 2, 2150, beyond which
is blankness. My body remains in the

objective timestream, to age, grow old,

decay, die. But my mind is abstracted
out of time to experience all moments
as one.
It is like a deja vu. Because this hap-

pened on March 4, 2060, I have already

experienced it in the twenty years since

my Yet this is the beginning point

birth.
for my Temp-consciousness in the ob-
jective timestream. But the objective
timestream has no relevance to what
happens. . . .

The language, the very thought pat-

terns are inadequate. Another useful lie:
in the objective timestream I was a nor-

I see of my
the gestalt-paining mal human being until this dire March
4, experiencing each moment of the pre-
lifespan, a pattern of immutable vious twenty years sequentially, in or-
der, moment, after moment, after mo-
events painted on the stationary and ment. . . .

eternal canvas of time.”

Now on March 4, 2060, my con-
sciousness expands in two directions in
the timestream to fill my entire lifespan:
forward December 2, 2150 and my
to
death, backwards to April 3, 2040 and
my As this time-locus of March
birth.
4 “changes” my future, so too it
“changes” my past, expanding my
done because I will do have done am at in time. Let me con-
any other locus Temp-consciousness to both extremes of
doing it. another useful lie. Let me say that
struct my lifespan.
can I explain? How can I
How make for me
action and perception are totally But once the past is changed, the pre-
you understand that this moment is un- independent of each other. At the mo- vious past has never existed and I emerge
avoidable, invariant, that though I have ment of my birth, 1 did everything I from my mother’s womb an infant-
known, do know, will know its dreadful would ever do in my life, instantly, child-youth-man-ancient in a govern-
consequences, I can do nothing to alter blindly, in one total gestalt. Only in the ment cell a mental hospital dying in
it? next “moment” do I perceive the results clean white sheets. And— . . .

The language is inadequate. What I of all those myriad actions, the horror
have told you is an unavoidable half- that March 4, 2060 will make has made me, the spark of mind that is my
,

truth. All actions I perform in my one is making of my life. I consciousness, dwells in a locus that
hundred and ten year lifespan occur Or they say that at the moment
. . .
is neither place nor time. The objective

simultaneously. But even that statement of death, one’s entire life flashes instan- duration of my lifespan is one hundred
only hints around the truth, for “simul- taneously before one’s eyes. At the mo- and ten years, but from my own locus of
taneously” means “at the same time” ment of my birth, my whole life flashed consciousness, I am immortal— my
and “time” as you understand the word before me, not merely before my eyes, awareness of my own awareness can never
has no relevance to my life. But let me but in reality. I cannot change any of cease to be. I am an infant am a child
approximate. it because change is something that exists am a youth am an old, old man dying
Let me say that all actions I have ever only as a function of the relationship on clean white sheets. I am all these mes,
performed, will perform, do perform, between different moments in time and have always been all these mes will always
occur simultaneously. Thus no knowl- for me life is one eternal moment that be all these mes in the place where my
edge inherent in any particular time- is one hundred and ten years long. . . .
mind dwells in an eternal moment di-
locus can effect any action performed So this awful moment is invariant, vorced from time. o . .
.

93
 vertex
GAS REVEALS
EXTRAGALACTIC
LIFE SOURCE
Scientists reported discovery in a
nearby galaxy clouds of gas which sug-
gest that the basic building blocks oflife
exist elsewhere in the universe as well
as in our own Milky Way family of 100
billion stars.
The discovery was made by Dr. Philip
R. Schwartz of the Naval Research Lab-
oratory (NRL) and Drs. William J. Wil-
son and Eugene E. Epstein of the Aero-
space Corp., Los Angeles, by means of
the national Radio Astronomy Observa-
tory’s 1 1 meter radiotelescope at Kitt
Peak in Arizona.
What Schwartz, only 27, and his col-
leagues found was enormous clouds of
carbon monoxide gas in a neighboring
galaxy known as M-33. Although con-
sidered “nearby,” M-33 actually is nearly
nine million trillion miles away in space
from our own galaxy. The Naval Research Laboratory said dicates, as the NRL report put it, “that
Carbon monoxide clouds were first inannouncing discovery of the M-33 gas the presence of complex molecules in
discovered by radioastronomers in the clouds thatmany scientists believe am- the interstellar medium is not unique in
Milky Way only two years ago. Scientists monia and formalehyde in the primitive our own galaxy.”
believe carbon monoxide is a “daughter” earth’s atmosphere and waters were “the Schwartz, a native of Philadelphia,
product of more complex chemical mol- basic building blocks of life” as it devel- received hisPhD in Physics from the
ecules, such as ammonia and formal- oped on this planet billions of years ago. Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
dehyde, which appear to be widespread Schwartz said that finding carbon 1971 and went to work for the Naval
in the stars of our galaxy. monoxide in a neighboring galaxy in- Research Laboratory shortly thereafter.

The National Aeronautics and Space observatories can now detect, according according to O’Dell.
Administration sent a four-man team to to O’Dell. That is a factor of 100,000 O’Dell told the audience, composed
Caltech to tell local astronomers and times better. of university scientists and aerospace
scientists about the Large Space Tele- The LST will collect both visual light industry representatives, that the space
scope— a sort of earth-orbiting Mt. Palo- and ultraviolet radiation from far-distant agency was open to suggestions about
mar Observatory planned for the galaxies and objects on its polished 305 the types of instruments to be mounted
1980s— and, in the process, to drum up centimeter diameter mirror. at the focus of the LST mirror. He also
support for this major unmanned space That size, of course, is smaller than urged them to participate in the planning
project. the 508 centimeter diameter of Mt. and selection of those instruments by
Dr. C. R. O’Dell, project scientist from Palomar’s mirror. Nevertheless, astron- applying for membership on different
the space agency’s Marshall Space Flight omers in the audience remarked that the LST panels.
Center in Huntsville, Ala, and leader of LST is still a large instrument and, be- The project, estimated to cost about
the visiting team, told an audience of cause it would operate well above the $300 million, is now just entering its
about 125 at Caltech’s Baxter Hall that earth’s obscuring atmosphere, would second phase, called preliminary design.
LST would provide astronomers with represent a major advancement for op- It completed its first phase last year,

a magnificent opportunity to explore the tical astronomy. when the agency decided it was a feasi-
deepest and darkest corners of the uni- Housed in a 12'/2 meter long, well- ble and worthwhile undertaking.
verse. LST would weigh
protected cylinder, the But its most critical phases— develop-
LST’s Capabilities between 9,000 and 11,000 kilograms. It ment and operations— are still in the
The space telescope would be capable would be carried to an orbital altitude future. LST could still suffer the fate of
of seeing celestial objects five magni- of about 550 kilometers above the earth countless other projects: death by budget
tudes fainter than the best ground-based by a space shuttle in the early 1980s, cuts.
A CHANGE OF QUAKE raEDICTlON
A trio of Soviet scientists recently re- —Changes in the relative velocity of
HOBBIT ported “encouraging” progress in their
experiments to find a reliable method
the
tremors.
seismic waves released by the

for predicting earthquakes. —Tilting and deformation of the

If you’re into hard science fiction, At a UCLA symposium with seismol- ground in the quake area;
fantasy, sword and sorcery, “new wave,” ogists from universities throughout —Increases in the electrical conduc-
or any of the other sub-genres that make Southern California, the touring research tivity of rocks in the vicinity;
Up the acronym SF, you may be inter- team reported it had predicted success-
Gas Isotope
ested in knowing that A Change of Hob- fully three earthquakes in Russia, in-
—Changesin the level of gas isotope
bit is the place to go when you can’t cluding one which reached seven on the
content in bore hole water in the quake
make it to London,New York, Berkeley, Richter scale.
zone.
or Saddle River, New Jersey. Those are The team’s research Includes noting Using some of these signs, the scien-
the only other places in the world that dramatic changes which occur in the
M. A. Sadovsky, I. L. Nersesov
tists— Drs,
boast SF specialty shops. earth’s surface just before quakes occur
and S. K. Nigmatulaev— have already
It’s a little like following the yellow and developing theories which might predicted quakes in different parts of the
brick road to Oz. First you look for the explain how the changes happen.
Soviet Union.
Kleenco Complex next to the Bruin Cof-
The quakes were forecast about two
fee Shop at Gayley and Kinross in West- ‘Premonitory Signs’ weeks in advance, according to Nersesov.
wood, California. The street number is
These changes, or “premonitory Sadovsky, the leader of the research
1101. Wander through the maze of
signs,” may occur from a few minutes team, said he and his colleagues are
American enterprise: Xpress Copy Ser-
to months before a quake is registered. “very optimistic” that earthquake pre-
vice, Income Tax Prepared— $5, the
They include: diction will become a reliable tool in the
laundromat. Bypass a steam-powered
—Sharp Increases In the recorded near future, and may account for vast
dress form that emits the same charm
numbers of small quakes along fault savings in human life and property
as the sweatshop scene in any documen-
zones; damage.
tary about tbe industrial revolution. To-
ward the back of the building is a stair-
case. Climb to the mezzanine; just follow Perfect Day and The Throne of Saturn with it. Customers are urged to browse.

the signs. by Allen Drury; good novels such as There are chairs for droppers-in to sit
Through either luck or the guidance Nabokov’s Ada, or virtually anything by and talk. A hotplate keeps water warm
of a Tenzing Norkay, you’ll find your way Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Then there are indi- for tea. It’s that kind of special ambience
to A Change of Hobbit. Hobbit is L.A-’s vidual freaks turned on to H. P. Love- you find in a good pipe and tobacco shop,
only Specialty shop in speculative fiction craft, James Branch Cabell, Robert E. except postdated in the future.
(or “science fiction,” if you’re that per- Howard (CONAN), Edgar Rice Bur- Another uniqueness of the store is its
son who is still uncertain of the distinc- roughs, ad infinitum. rogue’s gallery of Famous SF Authors.
tion between “black” and “colored”). It was only logical that someone Out-of-towners can hang around
Above tbe laundromat: “Not the should come up with the idea of focusing Schwab’s all they like, but the real stars
proper place for SF, but the traditional all the above in one location. Thus A are at A Change of Hobbit. It’s not un-
role.” That’s Hobbit proprietor Sherry Change of Hobbit. usual for local SF writers to drop in, sign
Gottlieb speaking. Born and raised in Once inside the store’s Tolkienesque their books, thrill the customers, and,
Lbs Angeles, except for a five-year hiatus walls (robin’s egg blue, with fleecy hopefully, increase their royalties. In
to Berkeley and Europe, Ms. Gottlieb clouds), you discover more than SF. addition. Sherry Gottlieb captures their
first got the idea for her bookstore while There are underground comics, a pinball souls with a Polaroid, to set on a shelf
in London: “There was a store called machine, a table of Chisholm campaign for all to view. Harlan Ellison, Norman
Dark They Were and Golden Eyed where literature (definitely not science fiction), Spinrad, David Gerrold and others are
I’d buy seven or eight books at a time. and other things much stranger than on display. Or at least their pictures are.
It occurred to me that if I had niy own you’d care to suspect. Yes, Mprlocks in If you feel the aberrant culture exhibit
store, I could get all the books I wanted.” the basement. Trolls under the bridge. at the Smithsonian would possibly inter-
Her wish became reality in February Bandersnatchii in the closet. Weird est you, then the Hobbit’s snapshots
1972 when A Change of Hobbit opened things. ought not be missed.
for business. Thus far, trade has mainly And there is SF too, of course; three Hours should be mentioned: open
come from the UCLA student commu- walls of Old and new. Both used and
it. Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 to 5:30.
nity. After all, is there any college stu- optically virgin.What you see isn’t nec- Open until 8:30 Tuesday night. You can
dent with pretentions to hipness who essarily all you can get. Owner Gottlieb get the place on the phone by dialling
hasn’t at least read Dune, Stranger in a will order anything you want, paperback GREAT SF— of course.
Strange Land, and The Ring Trilogy? or hard cover. She takes cash for books Whether you’re into Bradbury, Borges,
SF isn’t doing badly in the straight but will also buy, trade, or dicker. It’s or Burgess, investigate A Change of
comrnunity either. Mark the success of the kind of unstructured, personal atten- Hobbit. It’ll beat spending Arbor Day in
films like/4Clockwork Orange and Silent tion you can’t get elsewhere. Saddle River, New Jersey.
Running; TV movies such as The People That’s probably the bottom line: infor- Ed Bryant
or Duel; bad novels like Ira Levin’s This mality and character— the shop brims
 vert30c
UNDERGROUND
NUCLEAR PLANT
SITING WOULD
DELAY NEEDED
POWER 8 YEARS
SAN DIEGO, Calif.-Shifting the
proposed San Onofre nuclear power
plant expansion to an underground site
would delay the project more than 8
years, add almost a billion dollars to its
cost, and result in an increase of more
than 50 per cent in the cost of electricity
from the plant, a Southern California
Edison Company witness testified re-
cently before an Atomic Energy-Com-
mission hearing board.
Undergrounding the proposed two
new nuclear generating units is, there-
Always in Sunlight
fore, not a practical alternative,
J. manager of genera-
Ortega, Edison’s
Orlando
Orbiting Power The orbiting power station was de-
scribed by Glaser as a formidable un-
tion engineering and construction, told
dertaking, but one that seems within
the
Board.
AEC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing
Plant reach by the 1990s if enough tech-
nological and financial resources are
The “lead time” between a decision An orbiting power station several
committed to it.
to go underground and the beginning miles long was proposed recently as a
The massive satellite would be posi-
of full-power operation would be 15 to possible environmentally clean answer
tioned in a stationary orbit 36,000 kilo-
16 years, Ortega stated, so the new units to the world’s demands for electrical
meters above the equator where it would
would be of no help in meeting power energy by the year 2000.
be in sunlight for nearly 24 hours a day.
demands in the late I970’s. The huge satellite would convert heat It would require an improved version
The Edison engineer said his estimates from the sun into electricity and beam of the space shuttle being developed to
were based on the construction design the power by microwave radiation gen-
transport equipment weighing a total of
outlined in a study prepared by the Cal- erators to huge receiving antennas on
II A billion kilograms into orbit. Such
ifornia Institute of Technology. earth.
an assembly operation would require 500
Should underground construction be The idea was outlined by Dr. Peter shuttle flights.
attempted, Ortega calculated that con- E. Glaser, vice president for engineering
The proposed orbital power plant,
struction delays would total 58 months sciences of Arthur D. Little, Inc. of
with rectangular solar panels roughly 12
and licensing delays 40 months, or ap- Cambridge, Mass., in a report to the
kilometers long and 4.8 kilometers wide,
proximately an 8.2 year overall delay. 139th annual meeting of the American
would generate about 5,000 megawatts
This delay would result in a total cost Assn, for the Advancement of Science.
of useful electrical power.
penalty of approximately 94 per cent, “Power from space has the potential
Glaser said such a space generator
Ortega testified— not including capital to provide an economically viable and
would “permit society to look beyond
cost differences associated with changes environmentally and socially acceptable
the year 2000 with the assurance that
in plant design and equipment. This option for power generation on a scale
future energy requirements could be met
would amount to “close to an additional substantial enough to meet a significant
without endangering the planet earth.”
one-billion dollars,” the Edison execu- portion of future world energy de-
tive stated.
Pictures Lauded
mands,” Glaser said.
In another session discussing space

NEW SPEED OF LIGHT

technology. Dr. Vincent E. McKeldey,
director of the U.S. Geological Survey,
said the space agency’s earth resources
BOULDER, Colo.— Scientists at the National Bureau of Standards laboratories technology satellite launched last July
here have discovered a more accurate way to measure the speed of light— more was providing “most impressive photo-
accurate by about 15 thousandths of 1%. graphs” helping man inventory and
The scientists have announced they determined the speed of light 100 times more manage earth’s dwindling natural re-

accurately than any previous measurement. sources. He said it was too early to fully
Although the difference is infinitesimal, it becomes significant to researchers assess the satellite’s potential but that its

dealing with interplanetary measurements. pictures already have turned up pre-

The measurement was obtained from Dr. Kenneth M. Evenson’s work with laser viously undetected geological structures
beams. in Nevada and Oregon that may hold
new sources of copper ore.
 vert30c
Briton Runs Car The idea of running his car on meth-
Atomic Clocks
from page 6 from page li
ane gas first occurred to Bate at the time
of the Suez crisis in 1956 when a shortage the American atomic time scale and the
according to Bate, is that the residue of
of gasoline developed. international time scale maintained in
manure from which the gas is produced
“Everyone was talking about alterna- Paris.”
makes excellent fertilizer.
tive sources of fuel,” he said, and he
Difference, under international
There is one problem, Bate conceded,
decided to do something about the ma- agreement, must be no greater than 1,000
and that is that “not everyone has easy
nure-methane process, on which none microseconds (millionths of a second).
access to manure ... If you live in a
other than Louis Pasteur had written a So every year or so NBS buys a first
flat in the city your neighbors probably
paper in 1884. class seat on a transatlanticjet and sends
wouldn’t want you running in and out
Bate now has two methane “digesters” a portable atomic clock on a trip to Paris.
with buckets of manure.’’
bubbling away in his garage-workshop It is accompanied by a physicist “to
While may be a problem.
accessibility
and he gets the pig manure to keep them carry out the measurements and insure
Bate thinks manure (and human excreta)
going from a nearby farmer. careful handling of the continuously
and the methane gas that can be pro-
He estimates the cost of his methane running clock.”
duced from it should be considered an
gas at less than (U.S.) cent for the The most recent comparison of NBS
important energy source. 1

he said. equivalent of a liter of gasoline. and Paris time scales showed a dif-
“It’s the only alternative,’’
“It takes about 14 days” to get the first
ference of less than 150 microseconds.
“Oil is drying up, the world’s running
batch working. Bate said. And the best This was in September, 1971. Adjust-
out (of other fuels), but as long as we
way to start, he said is with a combina- ments made as a result since then have
have humans and animals there’ll be
tion of pig manure (“it supplies the resulted in an estimated difference of
methane gas.’’
less than three microseconds.
One human. Bate calculates, produces heat”) and chicken droppings (“good for
enough waste each day to make “one- nitrogen”). It also helps to add some

fifth cubic meter of methane.” It takes, water and maybe a little straw. Periodic Trips
by his calculations, about 1 cubic meter Once the stuff starts working it will The atomic clock jet trips are repeated
of methane to equal five liters of gaso- go on indefinitely as you add fresh ma- periodically to maintain the desired
line. \nure, so long as you leave a little of the agreement between time scales.
Bate says interest in his methane gas previous batch in the digester.” This agreement is needed “to avoid
converter for automobiles has picked up Any kind of manure will work, he international ambiguities when specify-
remarkably because of all the public emphasized, and he thinks city dwellers ing the exact time that events occur,
debate over the energy crisis and the U.S. especially who are always complaining especially scientific or astronomical
auto industry’s protestations about not about dog litter are overlooking a great events, and to permit international syn-
being able to produce a “clean car” by way to turn a problem into an asset. chronization of clocks.”
1975. The converter device Bate has devel- If nations developed their own
had thousands of letters from all
“I’ve oped can be removed and switched to independent time scales without coor-
over the world,” Bate said, and “lately another car at any time— so you only would diverge over
dination, these scales
my wife and I have been up to 3 o’clock have to buy one. It is also easy to rig the years until, conceivably, 8 o’clock in
in the morning some days answering up the car so that it can be run on either the United States, might coincide with
them.” methane or regular gasoline alternative- half past 8 in, say, Canada.
He figures he has sold well over 1,000 ly— which is nice if you suddenly run out The portable clocks always ride in the
of his patented converter devices. That of manure. first class section where they can be
hardly represents a mass conversion And, he said, it will work on any plugged into the aircraft’spower system.
among the world’s millions of motorists. horsepower engine so it can be used on So if you find yourself seated next to
Bate already has become a hero anything from a power mower to a one of them, says NBS, just ask it what
among the young back-to-nature people Rolls-Royce. time it is.

who like commune-style living.

He has dozens of clippings from so-
called “underground” newspapers and
magazines describing his method of
making methane gas from manure. He
has had scores of letters from communes
FLYING ROCKS
ELK CITY, Okla.— A patch of massive boulders, some of them weighing more
which convert manure into methane gas
than 27,000 kilograms, has erupted overnight on a previously smooth pasture south
and use it for heating and lighting.
of this western Oklahoma city. And an expert says more boulders still may emerge.
Bates lives with his wife in an isolated
“We aren’t able to make any statements just yet on what we think happened,”
400-year-old stone cottage about seven
Dr. Robert Fay of the Oklahoma Geological Survey office in Norman said, “but
miles from this west-country Devon
you can tell that the rocks blew out of the ground.”
town.
Some of the deepest oil and gas wells in the world— up to five miles deep— are
He is 65, has one wooden leg, great
located in the Elk City area.
shocks of wild white hair, gets about with
The boulders, some of them almost 6 meters high, burst out of the ground apparently
the help of a cane, wears glasses with
without causing any immediate notice.
broken rims, and dresses in straw-
“Some of the rocks that will weigh over 45 kilograms were blown 50 meters away,”
colored corduroy trousers, yellow shirt
Fay said.
and bow tie, heavy-duty suspenders and
“There are indications that the rocks are still emerging.”
a tan jacket.
 vertac
BOOK REVIEWS, from page 13
AMONG THE DEAD. THE ASTOUNDING-ANALOG
A SPECTRUM OF WORLDS. Edward Bryant. READER, VOL. 2.
Thomas D. Clareson, Editor. MacMillan, $5.95 Harry Harrison and BrianW. Aldiss,
Doubleday, $5.95. Editors.
If want to go to
you're tired, don't Doubleday, $7.95.
The big thing these days seems to sleep, and think perhaps a good fright
be reprint anthologies, and this is an- is just what you need. Among The Dead Forty-four years ago a new maga-
other, but with a slight difference. In- is for you. Or, if you have a weak zine was started — Astounding Science
cluded are 14 stories, from Ambrose stomach, and want to clean it out, Fiction — which immediately began to
Bierce to Robert Silverberg, some of you'll find Among The Dead excellent. set new standards in the field. The
which you may not have read before, And, if you're a science fiction fan (or name was later changed to Analog,
and an introduction and notes for each even if you're not) who has a hatred but the man who had edited it since
story by Thomas D. Ciareson. Mr, Glare- of science, you'll love Among The Dead. 1937, John W. Campbell, stayed on
son is a professor of English at the But, if you're a plain, old-fashioned until his death two years ago, main-
University of Wooster, Ohio, and his science fiction fan, you probably won't taining editorial continuityand setting
previous publications include Science care much for the book. Not that it's standards that every other magazine in
and Society: Readings at Midcentury, a bad book. It isn't. Ed Bryant is one the field, including Vertex, strives to
and Victorian Essays. He is also a mem- hell of a craftsman with words. It's just maintain.Campbell had a fine touch
ber of the editorial board of Victorian that the 17 stories which live be- for stories, and authors, with
picking
(?)
Poetry. All of which may tell us some- tween the covers of Among The Dead wide and long-lasting appeal, and in
thing about the qualifications of Mr. are a bit too much. Alone, they were this definitive history of Astou^ding-
Ciareson ds a science fiction antholo- a nice break from the more traditional Analog,Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss
gist. Then again, it may not, but Mr. science fiction, but grouped together have picked the best from across the
Ciareson makes an assumption which they're like having a steak appetizer, years. Volume One was excellent, and
we have run into before from members a steak dinner, and then steak for des- this second volume is even better. Con-
of the academic community who com- sert. damn much! And, finally,
Just top taining such classics as Sturgeon's Thun-
ment on science fiction; that readers of the said about the cover, which
less der and Roses, Arthur Clarke's Hide and
science fiction are stupid and need to might have looked good on a 1952 Seek, Tom Goodwin's The Cold Equa-
have the real meaning of the story ex- horror magazine, the better. tions, Eric Frank Russell's The Waitabits,
plained, and that often the author is and Harrison's own Rescue Operation,
also too dense to understand what he volume two of The Astounding-Analog
A PRIDE OF MONSTERS.
has written. Mr. Ciareson has written Reader is a must on any S-F fan's book-
by James H. Schmitz.
extensive notes at the beginning and shelf.
Collier Books, $1.25.
end of each story to inform of us of the
deep, real and significant meaning of Five reprinted BEM stories from out
each story, and, if you can manage THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND.
of the past by a master of the old-
by Poul Anderson.
to ignore those comments, it's a pretty style science fiction. If you're an ad-
Signet, $.95.
good book. venture science fiction fan, this book
is for you. If, though, you have to ask Poul Anderson has once again done
a friend what a BEM is, forget it.
his usual excellent job of blending ele-
THE REGIMENTS OF NIGHT. ments of fantasy and a science fiction
by Brian N. Ball. PROTOSTARS. world to produce an eminently read-
DAW Books, $.95. David Gerrold, Editor. able book,if you can ignore the cover,

Ballantine Books, $.95.

which might have been better placed
Some are saying that the new wave
on an Edgar Rice Burroughs reprint.
has passed, and behind the crest is the In this case the protostars are not
trough of old-fashioned, zap! blood all physical objects, but "the news stars
over the bulkheads, science fiction, mak- of science fiction." Writers just com-
DILATION EFFECT.
ing a comeback as a reaction against ing up, and while some of them are
by Douglas R. Mason.
the excesses of the new wave authors. on the farthest reaches of the "new
Ballantine Books, $.95.
We don't agree. We think that good, wave," some are right there in the
solid adventure science fiction has al- mainstream of science fiction, and all Once again new wave science fiction
ways been with us, and Brian Bali's of them have something to say. While -triesto meet adventure science fiction,
Regiments of Night is a pretty good the book is a little rough in spots, dol- and once again the result is a muddled
example. It could be better, and we're lar for dollar, or maybe we should say and impossible to follow story line.
sure Ball will do better in the future. 271 pages for 95 cents, it has to be Sorry, but any book you have to take
In the meantime, here's an easy and one of the best literary values on the notes on to keep track of where you
,

entertaining way to spend an evening. market today. you are is not a su,ccessful book.

98
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ENCLOSE PAYMENT WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

ORDER AND YOU CAN PICK TWO FREE INDIAN NAME
PORTRAITS INSTEAD OF ONE.
ADDRESS

MANKIND PUBLISHING CO. CITY_ -STATE- -ZIP CODE-

8060 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90046
Give Mankind as a gift. The best time Is now during free Indian Portrait
offer. name and address of each gift recipient on paper with
List
number of free Indian Portraits you wish sent. Include your own name
and address and payment at special gift subscription rate, $5 for first
gift subscription, $4 for each additional. A gift card in your name will
also be sent with each subscription.
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