Analog.Science.Fiction.and.Fact.Magazine.TruePDF-October.2015
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Vol. CXXXV No. 10

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October 2015

September 15, 2015

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66

SERIAL

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE, Part III of IV, Stanley Schmidt ________________ 66

NOVELETTE

STONEBROOD, Alec Nevala-Lee _______________________________________ 7

SHORT STORIES

THE DAUGHTERS OF JOHN DEMETRIUS, Joe Pitkin _____________________33

BUTTERFLIES ON BARBED WIRE, Marie Vibbert ________________________42

THE PHILISTINE, Ted White _________________________________________ 48

MY FATHER’S CRAB, Bruce McAllister _________________________________60

SCIENCE FACT

ALIEN ADVENTURES: RISING TO THE CHALLENGE, Edward M. Lerner ______23

POEM

HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE

HEISENBERG UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, Alan Ira Gordon ______________55

READER’S DEPARTMENTS

GUEST EDITORIAL: AD ASTRA! INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL IN

SCIENCE FICTION, Part I, Nick Kanas ________________________________ 3

BIOLOG: JOE PITKIN, Richard A. Lovett ________________________________41

THE ALTERNATE VIEW, John G. Cramer________________________________56

IN TIMES TO COME ________________________________________________65

THE REFERENCE LIBRARY, Don Sakers______________________________ 100

BRASS TACKS ___________________________________________________ 104

UPCOMING EVENTS, Anthony Lewis _________________________________106

Trevor Quachri Editor

Emily Hockaday Assistant Editor

Cover design by Victoria Green

Cover Art by Dominic Harman

Indicia on Page 4

GUEST EDITORIAL Nick Kanas AD ASTRA! INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL

IN SCIENCE FICTION (PART 1)

n 1634, Johannes Kepler published Somnium,
era (1926–1940), named for Hugo Gernsback,
arguably the first science fiction book. In this
editor of the first English language science fic-
story, the protagonist is transported to the
tion pulp magazine, Amazing Stories. He also IMoon where he encounters life forms engaged edited Wonder Stories, where in September in a variety of activities. Subsequent authors who 1934 a multigenerational starship narrative
wrote about space travel (e.g., Jules Verne, H.G.

written by Laurence Manning appeared entitled

Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs) also focused on our

“The Living Galaxy.” In this story, humans are

Solar System; particularly the Moon, Mars, and
able to undertake multi-million-year starship

Venus. However, after the turn of the twentieth
missions thanks to an anti-aging procedure.

century, articles involving spaceships traveling to Twelve scientists and their leader convert an
distant stars were written by prominent scientists uninhabited asteroid into a multigenerational
and engineers such as Robert Goddard, Konstan-
starship and undertake a four-million-year mis-
tin Tsiolkovsky, and John Desmond Bernal. In
sion to confront a monstrous, living, intelligent 1928, E. E. “Doc” Smith published the first of his assemblage of galaxies that’s devouring matter
many space operas entitled The Skylark of Space, in the cosmos through its huge stellar tentacle.

which describes the interstellar adventures of its The staggering temporal and spatial dimensions
protagonist as he travels through the cosmos in
in this story superbly illustrate the presence of his faster-than-light ship.

the science-fictional “sublime.” However, rela-

Here I will focus on the history of interstellar
tively little is said in Manning’s story about the travel in science fiction over the last three quar-psychological and sociological problems expe-
ters of the twentieth century. Part two (which
rienced by the crew as they travel into the lone-
will appear in the November Analog) will deal ly outer reaches of space. Instead, they are pic-with the year 2000 until today. As criteria for
tured as vigorous and inventive, with no major
discussion in this column, stories must include
personality or interpersonal difficulties.

a starship transporting people to a distant stel-

A less ambitious story takes place in Don
lar destination,1 and the normal laws of physics

Wilcox’s “The Voyage that Lasted 600 Years,”

must apply for the method of propulsion (sor-
which appeared in Amazing Stories in October ry, no faster-than-light ships or warp drives!). I 1940. Here, the crewmembers have a normal life
will employ the useful classification outlined by span and undergo a mission to colonize planets

Simon Caroti in his 2011 book The Generation
around a star named Robinello. A person called

Starship in Science Fiction: A Critical History, the Keeper of the Traditions is put into hiberna-1934–2001, in order to delineate important tion and awakened every one hundred years to
trends in the interstellar literature.

educate succeeding starship generations about
the purpose and goals set forth by the original

The Gernsback Era
mission planners. However, his infrequent

The first of Caroti’s periods is the Gernsback
lessons prove ineffective, and over time the crew 1 By this criterion, some excellent books depicting world-like societies in space are excluded, such as Larry Niven’s Ringworld (1970); Stanley Schmidt’s The Sins of the Fathers (1976) and Lifeboat Earth (1978); and the four parts of Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the Long Sun (1993-1996).

2 For more on this and other novums in SF, see I. Csicsery-Ronay’s The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction (2008).

3

ANALOG
culture devolves into a condition of social decay learns the secret of the interstellar mission from and loss of technological know-how, with dis-the mutants, and, partnered with the two-head-
ease and instability plaguing the population. The ed mutant leader, rebels against the ruling oli-story describes the tension between these events
garchy. Throughout, Heinlein concerns himself
and the Keeper’s attempt to correct matters.

with the emotions of all the inhabitants and with Stories of the Gernsback era reflected tradi-issues related to the sociology of the culture. He tional American values involving good guys and
describes features of the multigenerational ship
bad guys and formulaic plot lines. They offered
in vivid terms and reveals aspects of the plot
a relatively inexpensive escape from the stress-
through the actions of the characters rather than es and strains of the Depression. Science fiction relying on info-dump statements.

was seen as a guide for a better future that pro-
moted values in accordance with the tastes of

The Birth of the Space Age
its largely young male readership.

Caroti characterizes his next era, The Birth of
the Space Age (1946–1957), as a time when the

The Campbell Era
notion of technology producing a better future

During the Campbell era (1937–1949), when
was combined with Cold War fears of a dangerous

John W. Campbell, Jr., took over the editorship of present. The number of starship stories increased.

Astounding Stories magazine and renamed it As-Some of the previous era’s storylines were contin-tounding Science Fiction, science fiction stories ued, but with better descriptions of technological became attuned to real human concerns, reflect-features, concerns with the psychological well-being the turbulent international scene leading up to ing of the starship inhabitants, and attention to and including World War II. There was also more
ecology, (e.g., using hydroponic systems for the
demand for scientific plausibility and better story-food supply).

telling. These trends are illustrated in two related Frank M. Robinson’s novella “The Oceans are
stories by Robert A. Heinlein, “Universe” and

Wide,” ( Science Stories, April 1954) concerns a

“Common Sense,” which were originally pub-
multigenerational starship mission governed by
lished in Astounding Science Fiction in May and a hereditary board of executives whose dying

October 1941, respectively. They have since been
chairman is supposed to be succeeded by his
combined and are available today as Orphans of son. Unfortunately, the son is ill equipped to
the Sky. Together, they represent the first novel-take over due to his less aggressive personality
length tale about a multigenerational starship.

and the scheming of competitive family mem-

The action takes place on board a giant inter-
bers. With the help of a Machiavellian-like Pre-
stellar vessel whose inhabitants have forgotten
dict, the son grows up to become the chair-
the purpose and nature of their mission due to a
man, and the ship successfully reaches its
long-ago mutiny. Most are illiterate farmers living destination. Outwitting his mentor, the protag-in a pre-technological culture marked by super-
onist himself became the new Predict. In this
stition and a belief that the ship is the entire Uni-story, the tensions and nuclear fears of a Cold
verse. They periodically must defend themselves

War are front and center in the rationale for the against a group of mutants that occupies the up-mission and the justification to create a better
per decks of the giant ship. The protagonist
society on the new planet. Ecological concerns

Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Astounding), Vol. CXXXV, No. 10, October 2015. ISSN 1059-2113, USPS 488-910, GST#123054108. Published monthly except for combined January/February and July/August double issues by Dell Magazines, a division of Crosstown Publications. One-year subscription $55.90
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NICK KANAS

OCTOBER 2015
also are part of the story line. Life on board the While exploring the environment, he and his
ship is clearly described, including recreational colleagues encounter a more sophisticated tribe
activities, the intrigues of governance, and the
and learn that they are on a multigenerational
need for population control.

starship whose inhabitants are returning from a
planet around the star Procyon, where they had

The New Wave Era
suffered from a pandemic some 23 generations

Science fiction changed dramatically during
earlier. As they explore further, they learn a num-Caroti’s New Wave era (1957–1979). The
ber of additional facts that change their entire
launch of Sputnik, Viet Nam War protests, the
outlook of the mission. Aldiss addresses a num-
rise of feminism, and the hippie generation de-
ber of New Wave themes in this novel, such as
throned traditional male American values as the
biological issues related to the environment and
only acceptable blueprint for the future. Science psychoanalytic theories and terminology to defiction expanded into venues beyond pulp mag-
scribe the interactions of the inhabitants.

azine stories, such as television, movies, and

Hard science fiction could also be found dur-
board games. A number of sub-genres emerged,
ing this period. Groups such as the British In-
such as feminist and young adult science fiction
terplanetary Society showed interest in propul-
and science fantasy, and traditional “hard” sci-
sion systems to send people to the stars, and
ence fiction itself became a sub-genre.

some science fiction stories revolved around

These trends affected interstellar travel sto-
this interest. In Joe Haldeman’s Hugo Award-
ries as well. According to Caroti, some two
winning short story “Tricentennial” ( Analog,
dozen multigenerational starship narratives ap-

July 1976), scientists located in a space colony
peared during this era, about ten times that of
at the stable L-5 Earth-Moon Lagrangian Point
the Gernsback period and double the frequen-
have intercepted broadcasts from the star 61
cy of the Campbell era.3

Cygni eleven light years away. To investigate,

An example of the above trends is found in
they develop a plan to build a starship powered

British writer Brian Aldiss’ novel Non-Stop, origi-by reconverted hydrogen bombs. However, the
nally published in 1958. The story begins like a
public does not support the mission, fearing
typical forgotten-mission multigenerational story.

that any aliens discovered would be hostile.

The protagonist is a member of a primordial

Years later, the L-5 scientists propose a shorter tribe living in a primitive jungle-like setting.

mission to collect antimatter from one of a pair

3 Caroti, S. (2011), p. 201.

TREVOR QUACHRI ........................................ Editor PETER KANTER

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EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE ONLY analog@dellmagazines.com AD ASTRA! INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL IN SCIENCE FICTION (PART 1) 5

ANALOG
of small black dwarfs at the edge of the Solar
buried under a Chinese desert by an Asian con-

System. Disguised as a celebration of America’s
sortium superpower. They discover a facility built Tricentennial, the mission is approved. But the
to support an interstellar mission simulation ex-
scientists plan to modify the engines en route
periment. It contains three starship analogs inhaband continue on to 61 Cygni, and their subse-
ited by thousands of people considered undesir-
quent adventures complete the story. Using
able by their government. When the people from
lively dialogue, colorful characters, a clever way one of the ships try to escape, they’re attacked by a of telling the story that moves us back and forth swarm of self-replicating biotech robots and are
in time, and contemporary ideas involving in-
reimprisoned. The robots subsequently break
terstellar propulsion and time dilation at near-
through to the surface, revealing the horror of the light speed, this gem of a story is hard science
underground prison to the people above.

fiction at its best.

The epitome of computer tech stories is

Another excellent hard science fiction short

Greg Egan’s novel Diaspora, first published in story, written a few years later, is Gregory Ben-1998. This far-reaching and creative tale begins
ford’s “Redeemer,” ( Analog, April 1979). A man in 2975 and spans more than two millennia.

traveling in a very fast spaceship intercepts a

Humanity has evolved into three major cate-
slower interstellar starship launched 75 years
gories: citizens (units of sentient computer
earlier that is headed for Tau Ceti. The slower
software operating within reality-based virtual
ship uses an older propulsion system that en-
communities called polises); gleisners (units of
ables it to travel at slightly less than 10% light sentient hardware that reside in physical robot
speed. This ship contains many thousands of fu-
bodies and interact with the world in real
ture colonists in suspended animation, a cache
time); and fleshers (humans that remain flesh
of frozen DNA that will be used to supplement
and blood but can modify their genes to adapt
the colony’s genetic pool, and three people
to many environments). After an unexpected
who have been awakened for a five-year tour of
collision of two neutron stars in deep space,
duty monitoring the ship. The man in the faster
the resulting gamma ray storm reaches Earth
ship plans to hijack the DNA and take it back to
and wipes out most of the fleshers. The gleis-
the Solar System in order to replenish radiation-
ners and citizens decide to undertake interstel-
damaged DNA resulting from a devastating war.

lar travel to learn more about the Universe and

The plot is thoughtful and takes unexpected
discover what went wrong to cause the
twists, such as the man finding that one of the
burster episode. The diaspora of the title refers awake crewmembers is his great-grandmother!

to the actions of the citizens of one polis to
clone themselves and send each clone to one

The Information Age
of a thousand stars. Egan deals with new con-

Caroti’s final era is the Information Age
cepts and his own unique physics in this cre-

(1980–2001). Science fiction once again took on a ative story published near the end of the
technological character, partly due to the growth 1900s.

of computers and smart phones—but this was of

New trends began to emerge in the interstel-
a more personal and intimate nature. A new group
lar literature in the twenty-first century, as we of technologically savvy writers promoted novel
shall see in the November Analog. ■
ideas such as cyberpunk and nanotechnology.

These trends worked against multigenerational

Dr. Kanas is a Professor Emeritus (Psychiatry)

starship stories with their large vessels, lofty goals, at the University of California, San Francisco.

and faraway destinations. Caroti states that only He has been a NASA-funded researcher and has
seven multigenerational starship narratives ap-
studied psychosocial issues affecting astronauts
peared between 1980 and 2000.3
in space. He has written two books on the his-

A nice example of a story from this period is
tory of celestial cartography ( Star Maps and So-Bruce Sterling’s novella “Taklamakan” ( Asimov’s, lar System Maps) , published articles in Analog, October/November 1998). Two spy protagonists
and written two science fiction novels ( The
use digital camouflage suits, biotechnological mis-New Martians and The Protos Mandate), with sion gear (e.g., gelbrain cameras, enzyme-driven
a third novel ( The Network) on its way. He can drills running on sugar energy), and information-be found on the web at nickkanas.com and on
seeking equipment to locate a mysterious base

Twitter @nick_kanas.

6

NICK KANAS

Illustrated by Kurt Huggins

Stonebrood

Alec Nevala-Lee

I.

She had been a single mother in her late
hen Marius was out in the f ield, his
twenties with an open, friendly face that he
thoughts often turned to the day
only knew from studying her headshot in the
the earth caved in. He had not been
papers. That evening, she had been driving

Wthere to see it,but he remembered west on the highwaythat ran the length of every victim, and whenever he felt over-Schuylkill County, keeping one eye on the
whelmed by the challenges ahead, he repeat-
clock on the dashboard. She worked after-
ed their names to himself as a reminder of
noon and overnight hours at two different
the human cost. One woman in particular
coffee shops, with a third stint on the week-
stood out in his imagination, and although he
end, and now she was afraid that she would
had never met her, he sometimes caught
be late for her graveyard shift in Frackville.

himself telling the story of what her last mo-

Perhaps she had been tired. Even when
ments alive might have been like.

her parents were available to watch her son,

7

ANALOG
she rarely had a chance to sleep more than
before lay at an angle, and, as she watched, a
f ive hours at a stretch, and her schedule was
man emerged from the driver’s side, trying
packed to breaking. On most days, the drive
for a foothold in the muck. She undid her
to her second job took no more than twenty
seatbelt with shaking f ingers and unlocked
minutes, but tonight the traff ic was inching
her own door, but when she tried to open it,
along, and she was on the point of pulling
it refused to budge. Putting her shoulder into
out her phone to call her supervisor when
the handle, she managed to open it a crack,
she saw a white wall of smoke drifting across
pushing it through the mud that had already
the two lanes ahead.

risen above the level of the chassis.

She decelerated instinctively and switched

The smell hit her f irst. It was sulfurous,
on her headlights. Along this stretch of road,
like a noseful of bad eggs, and it made her
the cars had slowed but were still moving. As
gag. Looking up at the sky through the gaps
she neared the fog bank, she had enough
in the fog, she forced herself to keep going,
time to notice that it was strangely isolated,
squeezing through the single foot of space
with the trees along the highway unobscured
between the door and the frame. Only after
to either side. And she was almost at the
she was out of the car, the rim of the sink-
cloud when the car in front of her, a little
hole just inches out of reach, did she under-
hatchback she had been following for the last
stand her mistake.

few miles, simply disappeared, falling out of

She saw the man at the hatchback collapse
sight into the ground.

in a faint as her own head began to spin. Per-

Her foot hit the brake. Behind her, she
haps she tried to crawl back into her car, but
heard other cars screech to a halt, followed
instead she fell to her knees in the mire, feel-
by the crunch of fenders colliding. Through
ing the soft mud between her f ingers. She
her windshield, she saw the wave of fog ad-
would have lost consciousness within f ifteen
vancing and a widening circle of crumbling
seconds, and her last thought, or one of
asphalt along its leading edge—the cracks ap-
them, would have been that the mud was
pearing and spreading on the surface of the
very hot.

road as a low vibration welled up through

By the time rescue vehicles arrived, it was
her tires.

too late. Hers was one of the f irst bodies to

Then the highway collapsed. Chunks of
be retrieved, her features f lushed and oddly
the gray paving cracked and broke off, frag-
lifelike. The total came to eight dead, all from
menting and toppling in wedges f ive feet
carbon monoxide poisoning, on an ordinary
across, and, before she could react, the hood
stretch of highway a few miles north of Perry
of her vehicle tilted downward, swallowed

Township, Pennsylvania.

up by the sinkhole that had covered the dis-

Marius knew precisely how they had died,
tance to her car in seconds. The view
and his only consolation was that they had
through her windows was erased by the
felt no pain. More than three months after
smoke, and then she plummeted.

the disaster, he found himself ref lecting on it

She was caught by her safety belt as her
all over again, looking into the mouth of a
airbag engaged. The car slid off the surface of
much smaller hole a mile from where the
the highway and crashed ten feet below, the
sinkhole had appeared.

headlights winking out as the nose crumpled

The hole in question was a metal pipe,
under the impact. She clutched the wheel,
about six inches across, that had been set
shocked, feeling a series of reverberations as
into a wellhead in the ground. Above it stood
more hunks of asphalt tumbled around her. It
a tripod from which a taut white cable de-
was only when the noise subsided that she
scended into the borehole. It snaked through
realized she was gently sinking—the car and
a sheave wheel to the motorized winch that
the fragments of the highway slowly settling

Marius was operating now, his hand resting
into the soft mud.

on the manual brake as he reeled in the

Around her, the air was thick with vapor,
probe that had been taking readings three
but through the lights of a car that had land-
hundred feet below.

ed with its headlamps on, she could make

He was seated before a computer monitor
out a few other vehicles. The hatchback from
mounted to a second tripod, its legs secured

8

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015
to a wooden pallet with tiedown straps. A
table, where it was tethered to a power pack
man named Vincent Lucas stood by the
by a f ine metal f ilament. Marius was familiar
borehole, wearing a pink respirator and an
with the technology, but it did most of its
orange jumpsuit, monitoring the tension in
work underground, so he had rarely been af-
the line. Lucas was pale and quiet, but he
forded a chance to see it in action.

had shown a special aptitude for this work,

The drone was misleadingly delicate in ap-
and Marius had asked for him to be assigned
pearance, with a pyramid of four slender legs
here. It was a demanding job under any con-
attached to a slim thorax of carbon f iber. At
ditions, and particularly in this kind of envi-
the moment, its wings, made of polymer
ronment.

f ilm, were moving too fast to be seen, beat-

Whenever Marius glanced up to take in
ing one hundred and twenty times per sec-
his surroundings, he saw a hellish land-
ond. Marius heard a soft insectile hum as the
scape blanketed in the bonelike remains of
drone executed a lateral move, f loating six
dead trees and the smoke drifting up from
inches to one side before returning to where
the vents in the ground. Through the pal-
it had started.

let, the earth was noticeably warm. De-

Elkies switched off the power, sending the
spite his own respirator, the smell of sulfur
drone tumbling to the tabletop. He picked it
had given him a headache, and he was glad
up with tweezers and detached the tether. “I
to have an absorbing task to distract him
had to do a spot check. They’re holding up
from it.

well under the circumstances.”

A second later, the winch hauled up the

A white cylinder with a tapering base had
last of the cable, and the probe emerged
been set up nearby on the table. Unscrewing
from the borehole attached to a long metal
the top of the hive, he pulled out the core,
joint at the end of the line. As Lucas f ished
on which row after row of identical
it out, Marius turned off the winch and not-
drones—eight hundred in all—were lined up
ed the depth reading at the surface. Then
like corn kernels on a cob. Elkies slotted the
he gave Lucas a nod. “You can power it
remaining drone into position and lowered
down.”

the core back inside. Then he screwed on

Lucas nodded back. As the other man un-
the top and rose. “Let’s do it.”

hooked the probe, Marius headed for a white

Without being asked, Marius picked up the
tent pitched twenty yards away—close to
hard case of equipment from next to the
where they had parked the jeeps. Lifting the
chair. Putting on his own respirator, Elkies
f lap, he ducked his head and went inside
followed Marius outside, the hive cradled un-
where Ben Elkies was seated at a folding
der one arm.

table and chair. “We’re all set. Looks like the

At the borehole, Lucas was still powering
hole came through a chamber thirty feet
down the transponder. Elkies paused for a
from the f ire area—”

second at the entrance to the tent. “I’ll admit

Elkies raised a hand without looking up.

that I wasn’t sure what to expect when they

“Not right now. Give me a minute.”

said they’d be using convict crews, but they

Marius knew better than to be offended.

work as hard as anyone else here. Maybe

He had spent much of his life dealing with
harder.”

spiky personalities, and he had brought in

Marius followed his eyes to Lucas. “You

Elkies with full knowledge that the partner-
shouldn’t be surprised. These are nonviolent
ship would not be an easy one. Elkies was
offenders. We’re out with them in the woods,
slender but intense, ten years younger and a
cutting f ire lines with chainsaws. It doesn’t
full head shorter than Marius, and, although
work if you don’t trust them.”

he could come off as abrupt or worse, this

Elkies adjusted his respirator straps with
was only a sign of his exceptional concentra-
his free hand. “You work with them a lot?”

tion.

“You could say that. I used to be one.” See-

Without crowding Elkies, Marius exam-
ing that the other man was about to apolo-
ined what the graduate student was studying.

gize, Marius cut him off. “It’s no secret. And

It was a tiny mechanical drone, no larger
it was a long time ago. But I’ve met a lot of
than a housef ly, hovering softly above the
guys like this. I grew up ten miles from here.

STONEBROOD

9

ANALOG

And I know you can’t tell anything about
had been demolished. Marius had taken read-
them at f irst glance.”

ings in the shadows of the few remaining

Even as he said this, Marius wondered if
buildings and the old Lithuanian church, and
part of him had revealed this fact to make a
he could see why such places had inspired so
point to Elkies, who had not been the
many ghost stories.

warmest of companions. He indicated the

As Marius looked at the cable hanging into
borehole. “Come on. The others will be wait-
the borehole, he found himself astounded
ing.”

once again by the negligence on all sides. The

By now, after six days in the f ield, they had
f ire had been ignored, with no systematic
everything down to a routine. As Marius
study attempted for more than twenty years,
checked the generator, Elkies assembled his
as it spread through an unsurveyed network
equipment on the pallet and powered up a
of chambers and drainage tunnels, criss-
rugged laptop, which was connected by a
crossed by the bootleg mines that residents
wireless access point to the data center at the
had dug for their household furnaces. No-
f ire camp at the edge of the impact zone. Af-
body had any real idea of how big the fire was
ter swapping in a new winch, they suspend-
or where it was burning, and, without an ad-
ed the hive from the tripod, ready to lower it
equate map, there was no hope of putting it
down.

out. One stray hot spot could undo it all.

Lucas took up position at the wellhead,

A month ago, on a cold night allowing for
keeping an eye on the line, as Marius zeroed
maximum contrast, they had conducted a fly-
out the depth indicator and powered up the
over with an infrared camera, but Marius had
winch. A minute later, the hive was descend-
still been haunted by the gaps in the data.

ing into the borehole with Elkies stationed at

When he read about Elkies, he knew that he
the monitor that would receive updates as
had his answer. Released from the hive, the
they came in. Marius cleared his throat. “I’ve
drones could go anywhere, mapping every
been getting an earful from Boise. They want
corner short of a direct f lame. It was expen-
to know how much longer—”

sive, but after the collapse of the highway,

Elkies gestured impatiently for silence.

the political will was f inally there. And the

Marius obliged, aware that this was a crucial
conf luence of factors that had allowed his
part of the process. As he stepped back from
company to hire Elkies had presented him
the pallet onto the ground, he could feel the
with an even greater opportunity.

heat coming up through the soles of his

Looking up, he saw Lucas signaling that
boots.

the cable had grown slack. Marius turned off

The coal seam f ire under their feet had
the winch and checked the display, which in-
been raging for close to f ifty years. It had
dicated that the hive had reached the f loor of
been kindled, as far as anyone knew, on the
the chamber. Elkies was bending over the
outskirts of Perry Township at the heart of
same readout. “Beautiful. I’m heading back.

anthracite coal country. The most widely

Once the data comes in—”

held theor y was that residents had been

Marius had heard all this before. “We don’t
burning garbage in a landf ill in an aban-
touch anything. You’ve got my number. We’ll
doned mine outside town, and through an
keep an eye on things here.”

unsealed opening, the f ire had entered a

“Then I’ll see you in six hours.” Rising to
vein of coal, surging from there into a wild
his feet, Elkies began to head for the jeep. He
honeycomb of subterranean tunnels and
paused. “I haven’t forgotten about Boise. You
chambers.

can tell your team that we’ll be ready tomor-

Like all coal f ires, it had smoldered quietly,
row.”

rarely f laring, its presence indicated only by

Marius only gave a thumbs up, trying to
its fumes and the sinkholes that appeared
conceal his excitement. He watched as Elkies
when a seam of coal subsided. After running
drove off toward the f ire camp, from which
the numbers, the state had decided that it
he would monitor this hive and the f ive oth-
was cheaper to evacuate the town and let the
ers that had been positioned throughout the
f ire burn out, even if it took another two
impact zone. Then he went to help Lucas
centuries. In the end, f ive hundred homes
pack up the probe equipment.

10

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015

The survey itself had been diff icult—with
or boreholes were in sight, and the land
more boreholes drilled each day as Elkies re-
around them was as empty as a moonscape.

fined the map—but it was nothing compared

“How do you know that word?”

to the next phase. An army of workers had

Lucas gestured at the wellhead, his hands
been moving in machinery and equipment in
clumsy in their big gloves. “The bugs told
parallel with the observations, and many of
me. You don’t hear it?”

the parties involved were anxious to get start-

Marius looked across the yard of space that
ed. Firef ighting, as Marius had learned f irst
separated them. “I don’t hear anything.”

in Pennsylvania and then in Texas, was as

Lucas glanced down at the borehole, his
much a human problem as an environmental
brow furrowed, as if trying to grasp an elu-
and logistical one, and he had long since lost
sive idea. “They’ve told me about you. I
track of the web of negotiations that had
know what you did. The old man never
been required to get even this far.

woke up. When they took him out, his face

Marius saw the terminal by the borehole
was pink. Just like the rest. They’re all down
blink into life. Leaving Lucas by the wellhead,
there, too. Underground—”

he went over to study the monitor, where a

When Lucas looked up again, his eyes had
spike had appeared on a graph. It indicated
acquired a distant, almost dreamy sheen. “It
that the f irst sortie had begun, with a wave
all happened here. The memory doesn’t fade.

of drones emerging to spread throughout the

I know what you really are. The bugs pick it
darkness. Each drone could f ly for ten min-
up and send it above. If you don’t hear it
utes, after which it returned to the inductive
now, you will. And so will everyone else. I
charger in the hive to power up before being
can feel it coming.”

dispatched again. All told, there would be

For a few seconds they stood face to face.

time for ten to twelve sorties before the hive

Marius found that his f ists were clenched,
had to be pulled up, cleaned, and reset for
and with an effort, he forced himself to relax.

the next day’s round of readings.

“Go back to camp. Tell Fisher we’re starting

The resulting map, as the drones recorded
tomorrow. I’ll stay here.”

the temperature and pressure in ever y

After another wordless moment, Lucas
crevice, was nearly complete, although
headed for the remaining jeep. Marius kept

Elkies had repeatedly pushed back the time-
his eyes f ixed on the back of the other man’s
line. Marius sometimes wondered if Elkies
head, and he did not look away until Lucas
knew how much was riding on this mo-
had driven off, moving past the vents of
ment, toward which he and so many others
steam and the spinal columns of the dead
had worked for years. But whenever he felt
trees that lined the way to the south.

his own energy failing, he only had to think

Marius stood there alone for a long time.

of the sinkhole to the north and the eight

His heart was still pounding, and with every
lives that had been lost there for no good
passing second, the conversation with the
reason.

convict seemed increasingly unreal, as if he

Marius was repeating the names of the
had only imagined it. But he hadn’t.

dead once more when Lucas straightened up

Remembering what Lucas had said, he
at the borehole. His voice was muffled by the
took a step closer. He hesitated. For the f irst
respirator, but it was still clear in the silence.

time, he noticed a sound. It was barely

“Biciulyste.”

there—a vibration that he felt more than

It was the f irst time he had spoken in
heard—but, for an instant, with the other
hours, and, at f irst, Marius wasn’t sure that
man’s words still r inging in his ear s, it
he had heard him correctly. He turned to the
seemed like the hum of many tiny wings.

member of the convict crew, his thoughts

Marius knelt by the metal pipe at the
contracting to a single point. “What did you
wellhead, his neck stif f from work. He
say?”

reached out to touch the casing top, then

“Biciulyste.” Lucas stared back at him, his paused again. A borehole, he knew, was
eyes wide. “The kinship of bees.”

nothing more than a column of air going

Marius suddenly became aware of how
into an empty chamber, and it could res-
alone they were. None of the other workers
onate in strange ways, picking up seismic

STONEBROOD

11

ANALOG
noise from circulation or shifting rock.

of the experience still lingered. On his re-

Sometimes it could sound like a voice. Or
turn, he had checked the f ire barracks for Lu-
something else.

cas, who was nowhere to be found. And as

He put his hand on the pipe. At once, he
urgently as he needed to think through this
felt it. It was not a voice, or a sound, or any-
new complication, he also had to deal with
thing that could be expressed in words. In-
more immediate concerns.

stead, it came as an image—as vivid as if he

The representative from the Off ice of Sur-
had seen it only a moment earlier—of his
face Mining, which would be footing most of
grandmother. She wore a veil and a wide
the bill for the operation, peered down at the
straw hat, and her voice echoed strangely in
display. “What concerns me is the schedule.

his mind as she looked at the white husk be-

We’ve got a lot of men standing idle. I was in-
tween her fingers. “We all make mistakes—”

formed that we would be starting tomor-

Marius withdrew his hand. The image dis-
row.”

appeared as if a circuit had been broken. But

“That’s what I hoped, too.” Elkies tapped
the sound of wings was still there.

the upper right quadrant of the screen. “But

He straightened up very slowly, still look-
this area concerns me. We’ve seen a lot of
ing down into the round eye of the borehole.

timeouts. Drones aren’t making it back to the

For an instant, he f lashed again on those
hive. I want to do another round of sorties to
eight bodies in the dark, and he knew that
f ill out the data. Assuming, of course, that

Lucas had been right about one thing. The
there aren’t any objections.”

memory of the past did not go away. He had

Even in his troubled state of mind, Marius
run from it for most of his life, and now that
was faintly amused by this. Elkies might be
he had f inally come home, he realized that it
prickly, but he knew how to stick to his
had been waiting for him here all along.

guns. The representative seemed uncon-
vinced. “You said when we got here that you

II.

needed four days. If you push on tomorrow,

Elkies pointed at the map of the f ire on the
that’s seven and counting—”

screen, which was rendered in shades of or-

Fisher spoke up quietly. “The f ire’s been
ange, blue, and white. Next to the laptop
burning for f ifty years now. One day more or
stood the line of six hives that they had re-
less won’t make a difference.”

trieved an hour earlier, a few still crusted

Seeing the representative bristle, Marius
with green patches of sulfur from their so-
had an uncomfortable feeling about where
journ underground. “We’re looking at four
this was going. Hal Fisher was a veteran
distinct limbs of f ire moving in four different

Texas f iref ighter who had moved from the
directions. Maximum depth of three hundred
forests to the mines, spending years devel-
and ten feet, covering f ive square miles. At
oping the technology being deployed here,
least as far as we know.”

and he was a man of seemingly limitless pa-

Marius had positioned himself at a spot in
tience, which was a big part of the reason
the tent where he could easily see the com-

Marius had wanted to work for him in the
puter while keeping out of the way of the
f irst place. All the same, after eight years,
others. They had managed to restrict this
he knew the older man’s limitations. Fisher
meeting to core personnel, but it was still
had never been particularly good at the po-
crowded, with representatives from the Na-
litical or business side, and while Marius
tional Interagency Fire Center in Boise and
had fought hard to win them this contract,
the Off ice of Surface Mining standing next to
he knew how tenuous the situation really

Hal Fisher, his boss, and Maya Narayan, the
was.

doctor in charge of the medical and environ-

Marius saw that Fisher was waiting for him
mental impact team.

to speak. He looked around at the others.

As he looked over at Narayan, she gave

“Elkies can do the last round of observations
him a sardonic smile. He managed to smile
in parallel with us. Even if we start right this
back, which wasn’t easy. Since coming back
second, we won’t be fully staged until tomor-
from the borehole, he had neither seen nor
row. He can ref ine his data while we get the
heard anything unusual, but the impression
infrastructure in place. We’ll turn the key in

12

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015
the morning.” He glanced at Elkies. “That
greatest test, and, as Marius got to work, he
work for you?”

ignored an old sense that he had pushed

Elkies nodded. “Just give me one more
them into this contract before they were en-
borehole. I can sit on it through the night.”

tirely ready.

“Good,” Marius said, before anyone else

He spent the rest of the day going from
could speak. “Just get me the coordinates.”

borehole to borehole, ticking off locations

“Already sent.” Elkies closed the laptop.

on the map. Because of the scale of the oper-

“And I’d appreciate it if you could come by
ation, they were obliged to use a combina-
once we’re running.”

tion of methods. Half of the boreholes had

“I will,” Marius said. After conf irming the
been equipped with huge fracturing tanks,
plan for the rest of the day, he left Elkies’s
cumbersome but effective, with a capacity of
tent at the edge of the camp, which included
twenty thousand gallons. The remaining
barracks for the crew, catering trailers, tem-
boreholes had a system that Marius had de-
porary warehouses, and all the equipment
veloped, with a mixing chamber installed
needed to kill a f ire that covered three thou-
right at the injection point. It had never been
sand underground acres. He welcomed the
tested on such a massive scale, and he was
chance to plunge into action, but there was
determined that it go off without a hitch.

one issue he still had to address. Passing the

As he made his rounds, he caught a
barracks, he waved over a member of the
glimpse of Narayan and the environmental
convict crew, a friendly hulk named Suarez.

impact team, which had been quietly taking

“You seen Lucas?”

soil and air samples for most of the last week.

Suarez shook his enormous head. “Not

As he watched her at work, he was struck by
since this morning. Anything I can do?”

another thought, and he motioned for her to

“Tell him I want to see him. He’ll know
come over. “Find anything tasty?”

why.” Marius continued on, checking his

“The usual,” Narayan said, stowing a sam-
watch as he headed for his own tent. It was
pling syringe. “Arsenic, selenium, mercury.

already three in the afternoon, and he had a

The surgeon general would love it here.”

lot to do before sundown.

Marius knew what she meant. A coal f ire

The f irst order of business was to send a
smoldered like a cigarette, releasing toxins
mobile drilling rig to put down the borehole
into the environment instead of burning
that Elkies had requested, along with two
clean. Ever since his experience at the
more to prepare additional injection holes at
borehole, the question of what they might
the points the model had indicated. As he
all be inhaling had disturbed him more than
watched them roll away on their clumsy
once. “Anything we should be concerned
track carriers, he unfolded a map. Over the
about?”

last six days, the crew had drilled a network

“We’re keeping an eye on the crew. Atmos-
of exploratory holes that had to be converted
pheric levels are low if you’re not standing
to injection boreholes by tomorrow. These
right over a vent. There shouldn’t be issues if
were familiar problems of organization and
your guys are good about wearing their res-
engineering, and he dug into them with rel-
pirators. How are you feeling?”

ish, hoping to forget what Lucas had said.

Marius paused, wondering how much he

Yet the technical challenges were still for-
could tell her. “I’ve had some headaches.”

midable. Every f ire presented unique prob-

“Ibuprofen should help. Listen, it isn’t the
lems, and Marius had learned long ago that
toxins that keep me up at night. Most climate
you had to outwit any enemy you couldn’t
change models don’t take coal f ires into ac-
outf ight. A f ire close to the surface could be
count. Take this and multiply it by four thou-
dug out or smothered with f ly ash, but here,
sand, and you’ll start to see the problem.”

the usual options were either unworkable or

Marius did. As a f iref ighter, he had seen
prohibitively expensive. Using water could
the impact of global warming f irsthand. The
cause steam explosions, and tankers of nitro-
thousands of coal f ires raging in countries
gen were slow, costly, and hard to transport
from China to Borneo released millions of
on rough roads. Fisher had come up with an
tons of greenhouse gas, and like most other
ingenious solution, but this would be its
ecological crises, it was easy to ignore until it STONEBROOD

13

ANALOG
was too late. “Thanks. I’ll let you get back to

“You want to know what I was in for.” Mar-
work.”

ius smiled. “I ran a policy game.”

As he moved on, he managed to put the

For the f irst time in their acquaintance,
conversation with Lucas out of his mind, and

Elkies regarded him with interest. “A num-
he did not think of it again until dark, when
bers racket?”

he drove out to the borehole where the last

“That makes it sound more exciting than it
round of sorties was taking place. As he
really was. They used to call it the bug. You
parked and climbed out, ten yards from the
could say it ran in the family.” Marius looked
wellhead, he sensed the vibration on the air
at Suarez, who was still facing away. “I got
at once. The closer he went, the louder it be-
picked up and was assigned to a f ire crew. It
came, and by the time he arrived at the
was better than running numbers. But both
mouth of the hole, the hairs on the back of
taught me to think in percentages. Like
his neck were standing on end.

you.”

Elkies was seated at a terminal across from

After another short exchange, in which he

Suarez, the crew member he had seen earlier
conf irmed that he would check in again
that day, who was positioned by the cable
once the sortie was done, Marius returned to
hanging into the ground. The hive was al-
the jeep. When he closed the door, the vibra-
ready active. Marius approached, taking care
tion around him diminished, but as he
to keep well clear of the borehole. “You hear
looked at the borehole in his rearview mir-
that?”

ror, he saw another f lash of his grandmoth-

“Hear what?” Elkies asked. When Marius
er’s face. Before, her features had been tired
didn’t respond, the graduate student turned
and drawn, but now, she was smiling.

back to the screen. “Everything under con-

He shut his eyes, waiting for the image to
trol?”

fade. As soon as it was gone, he started the

It took Marius a second to understand
engine and wound his way back to camp.

what he meant. “It’s hard for anyone to con-

Drawing closer, he saw a line of crew mem-
trol a project like this. You put the pieces in
bers coming back from the f ield, and as he
place and hope for the best. Even your
passed, he noticed a man watching him until
drones must act in ways that take you by sur-
he was out of sight. It was Lucas.

prise—”

A few hours later, he was lying in his tent,

Elkies laughed. “You’re talking about the
trying to snatch a little sleep before the f inal hive mind. That term gets thrown around a
push. Most of the senior team had taken
lot, but this system doesn’t allow for swarm
rooms at a hotel in the next town, but he had
behavior. It’s exactly what we’re trying to
wanted to stay in the f ire barracks, near his
avoid. Ninety percent of the weight and en-
equipment, and tonight he was starting to re-
ergy budget for an individual drone is devot-
gret it.

ed to the wings. There’s not much left for

As he looked up at the ceiling of the tent,
sensing or control. So we push most of it to
he knew that the drones would be going on
the hive.”

their last sorties, and although he told him-

He indicated the monitor. “The drones
self that nothing could emerge from the hive
can’t even communicate in the f ield. People
that had not been coded into it, in the dark
are always disappointed when I explain that
that logic seemed harder to accept. If f ire
they’re just f lying sensors. An inertial sensor
had taught him one thing, it was that there
for navigation, two more for temperature and
were limits to how well you could predict
pressure, and they aren’t even particularly ac-
the behavior of any system. It did not seem
curate. We get good data in the aggregate,
impossible that a murmur underground
but only after they come back. Until then,
could cause unforeseen vibrations above,
we’re f lying blind.”

traveling up the holes in a kind of sympathet-

Elkies glanced over at Suarez, who was tak-
ic resonance, as one tuning fork could set an-
ing no apparent notice of their conversation.

other in motion. But only, he knew, if they

“There’s something else I wanted to ask, if it
shared a harmonic likeness.

isn’t too personal. When you said you were

Then he thought of the bees. As he fell
on a convict crew—”

asleep at last, the reverberations he imagined

14

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015
from below merged with the memory of his
bees fascinated him in their own right. Ac-
grandmother, whose face he still saw when-
cording to his grandmother, you could in-
ever he closed his eyes.

spect the hives only a few times each season.

His grandparents had come over as dis-

Whenever you lifted of f the cover, you
placed persons after the war, settling in a
disturbed their work, so you had to use
town outside New Philadelphia with the
deduction and observation instead. Marius
largest Lithuanian population in the country.

never forgot this lesson, just as he always re-

In those days, immigrants had taken on the
membered the exotic words she used. Propo-
mining jobs that others didn’t want, like an
lis. Supersedure. Stonebrood.

opportunistic species looking for a niche to

There was also a darker strain of tradition
f ill. His grandmother had endured for longer
that he absorbed without fully distinguishing
than anyone, holding on after black lung had
it from the rest. You told the bees about
taken her husband, just as it would one day
events in your family, until the hive became a
claim Marius’s own father.

repository of your secrets, and when you dis-

But that had come much later. His father
covered a dead bee, you buried it just as you
had been a big man, quick with his f ists and
would another human being. In Lithuanian,
belt, and once he was old enough to move
distinct words were used to describe the
around on his own, Marius began spending
deaths of different types of animals, but the
more time with his grandmother—arriving at
words for a dead bee and a dead man were the
her house after school and staying until well
same.

after dark. She was a stern but lovely woman,

Mar ius thought of this on the day he
still intimidating in her seventies, and even
learned that his uncle had died, in the sum-
his father kept his distance.

mer he turned f ifteen. Algis had been miss-

Algis, his uncle, also lived there. Unlike his
ing for close to a week before his body was
brother, he was cheerfully irresponsible, and
found in the Schuylkill River, weighted down
for years he had worked as a runner for the
and shot twice in the head. After hearing the
local numbers game, carrying money and
news, he ran to his grandmother’s house,
betting slips for Garastas, the neighborhood
only to f ind her preparing for the inspection
gangster. Garastas was a supremely ugly man
she had planned for later that day. She took
of sixty who sometimes came by the house,
in his tearful face and adjusted her veil. “You
treating everyone with coarse familiarity, and
can tell it to the bees.”

Marius was wary of him until his grandmoth-

He followed her outside to the rear porch,
er told him about biciulyste. In the old coun-where she prepared the smoker, f illing it
try, the bees kept by one household would
with crumpled paper and lighting it with a
swarm and take up residence on another
match. As she added a handful of kindling,
man’s land, binding them with a kinship that
followed by coils of hemp twine, her expres-
could not be broken. Garastas, for all his pos-
sion remained impassive. “Algis was a fool.

turing, came from a family that was united to

He was my son, but even I can say what he
theirs, so there was no reason to fear him. Or
was. He did not understand that you cannot
so she claimed.

control certain men. You must be ready for

Marius trusted his grandmother’s word on
trouble before it breaks out. But he was al-
all matters, but particularly here. She kept a
ways too careless.”

pair of hives in the southeast corner of her

She squeezed the bellows, releasing a
garden, propped up on cinderblocks near
wreath of white smoke. Marius ran behind
the hemlock trees that had been planted as a
her as she headed for the garden. “But the bi-windbreak. Out of respect for tradition, she
ciulyste?”

did not sell the honey, but gave it freely to

His grandmother blew smoke into the en-
friends and family, and she tended the bees
trance of the f irst hive. “It is just a word.”

ungloved, wearing only a veil for protection.

As she lifted of f the top, he caught a

They would not sting, she said, if you treated
glimpse of the fear she had always kept
them with respect.

locked inside. He watched, sick at heart, as

He listened attentively, f irst as a way of be-
she pried up the inner cover with the end of
coming close to her, and later because the
her hive tool. “Are you afraid?”

STONEBROOD

15

ANALOG

Pulling out the f irst frame, she studied it.

“Here?” Marius gestured at the ravaged

“It is not my concern. This was between Al-
landscape around them. “All the trees died.”

gis and Garastas. You’re an intelligent boy. If

“There’s one left. You’ll see it when the
you knew what was best, you would not ask
time comes. They can tell you where it is, if
questions. Look here.”

you listen to them.” Lucas seemed about to

She showed him that only a few stray bees
say something more, but instead, he de-
were crawling across the comb cells, many
tached himself and walked away into the
of which had gone black. When she shook
night. A moment later, he had disappeared
the frame, crusts of mummif ied larvae fell to
into the darkness.

the ground. She picked up the nearest husk,

Marius stared after him. Faintly, the sound
turning its chalky remains over in her fingers.

of wings rose again in his mind, less like a

“We all make mistakes. No matter how care-
real vibration than a memory, although he
ful we are. And we have to learn to live with
did not know if it was from the drones or his
it.”

grandmother’s hive. Then he went to f ind

Marius looked at the larva, then at the

Elkies.

smoker, and last of all at his grandmother’s

Work resumed early the next day. At eight
face. He had thought he was safe here, but
in the morning, his head aching, Marius
none of them were. And it wasn’t until much
found himself standing beside Fisher at a
later that he had begun to see a way out.

borehole near the center of the impact zone.

That had all been twenty years ago. Now,

Fisher grinned. “You ready?”

opening his eyes, he found himself back on

Marius managed to nod. He had not heard
his cot in the barracks. He rose, his neck
the wings again. “Let’s turn the key.”

still stiff, and saw that it was time to meet

Fisher signaled to the crew member by the

Elkies.

borehole, who knelt at the wellhead and

Outside, the f ire camp was quiet. Marius
switched on the mixing chamber. Marius
was making his way to the jeep when he saw
heard a hiss as the pipes engaged: one for
a man standing by the line of transport vehi-
foam concentrate, which was based on ordi-
cles, his head tilted to one side, as if listening nary dishwashing detergent; one for water,
to a whisper from the ground.

which was pumped from the creek; and one

At the sound of his steps, Lucas turned. He
for nitrogen gas, extracted by a membrane
was smiling. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

system from the atmosphere.

Without quite knowing what he was do-

Once it was running smoothly, he opened
ing, Marius came forward and pushed Lucas
a valve on the wellhead, sending an arc of
roughly against one of the trucks. “You can’t
foam spurting into the air. As the crew ap-
threaten me. And I’m not frightened of you.

plauded, he kept his eye on the foam, which

Tell me what you want.”

was good and dry, like shaving cream. He

Lucas shook his head. “Nothing. I just tell
closed the valve and gave a thumbs up to
you what I hear. It has nothing to do with

Fisher. “Let’s check the rest.”

me. Only you. I know this now.”

They headed off on their inspection tour.

Marius released him and stood back, his

At the moment, there were twenty injection
head pounding. “Who else have you told?”

boreholes, along with relief holes to manage

“No one,” Lucas said. “There’s no need.

the buildup of steam. Five thousand gallons

Everyone will know it soon. The bugs hear it
would f low into each wellhead every min-
all. You can’t drown it out, no matter how
ute, coming to seven hundred million before
you try. You would know this if you had ears.

they were done.

They’re still there—”

As they moved from one borehole to an-

Marius thought randomly of what Elkies
other, Marius tried to picture the scene in
had said. Some fraction of the drones had
the mines. When the foam reached the un-
timed out, never returning, lying forever in
derground chambers, it would saturate the
the tunnels as their power ran down. “And
interior, penetrating every crevice until it
what are they telling you now?”

roofed out at the ceiling. As the bubbles met

Lucas turned away. “We will meet again. At
the heat, they would burst, the pressure
the tree of life. The last one standing.”

from the nitrogen pushing out oxygen and

16

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015
the water on the coal making carbon diox-

Marius felt his headache return, along with
ide, suffocating the f ire where the foam
the sound of wings, now louder than ever.

couldn’t reach. Nothing down there, he told

Turning, he saw more drones in the air
himself, could survive.

around him, f loating like motes of dust in the

Around dusk, he encountered Lucas again.

dying light.

The convict was working with a team at a

At his side, Fisher swatted the drones
borehole near the camp, and as Marius ap-
away. “What’s happening? Where’s Elkies?”

proached, the other man regarded him evenly.

Marius was about to reply when his eyes fell

Marius moved on without speaking, but all
on Elkies’s tent, which stood at the edge of the
the while, his mind was considering the many
camp, recognizable by the antenna on its roof.

ways a man could be killed on a job like this.

He found himself moving forward, passing

Between the drilling, the heavy equipment,
more of the drones, and as he did, he saw that
and the uncertainties of any industrial opera-
they were all heading in the same direction.

tion, it would not be hard to arrange for an ac-

He reached the tent and yanked open the
cident. Not if he was careful—
f lap. Inside, Elkies was lying on the ground,

Marius suddenly realized what he was
one of the hives overturned beside him. He
thinking. He halted, feeling that he had been
was convulsing, his face rigid and pale, the
confronted by a side of his personality he
corners of his mouth f lecked with white
had tried to deny for years, and he had al-
froth. Throughout the tent, like a cloud of
most succeeded in pushing it away again
gnats, the drones were beating their tiny
when he saw foam pouring out of a relief
wings against the air, trying in vain to f ind
hole in the ground.

their way home.

It was not unusual to see foam emerging,
but even at a glance, he could tell that it was

III.

coming out far too fast. It was soupy and

Narayan shone a penlight into Elkies’s
thin, with too much water, which could lead
eyes, raising the lids one at a time. The three
to dangerous levels of pressure as the vapor
of them sat on the tent f loor, with Marius
underground built up faster than they could
supporting the graduate student by his
put out the f ire.

shoulders, feeling the tremors racking his

Even as this thought f lew into his mind,
slender frame. Through the door, he could
the foam gave way to a funnel of steam. Be-
see the rest of the team standing outside,
neath his feet, the ground shuddered, and as
talking quietly but ner vously. Narayan
he ran toward the wellhead, the earth itself
switched off the light. “Let’s get him to the
seemed to bulge around the pipe.

medical tent.”

A member of the convict crew stood by

As they rose, Marius saw that the doctor’s
the mixing chamber, staring into space. Mar-
expression had darkened. “What is it?”

ius rushed to shut the valves, then seized the

“I don’t know,” Narayan said. “But I need
man by the shoulders and spun him around.

to see everyone else. You can send them to

“What the hell were you thinking?”

me one at a time.”

The man stared back. It was Suarez, the

Marius helped her haul Elkies, who was
convict who had been working with Elkies
semiconscious, to his feet, handing him off
the night before. Looking into his eyes, Marius
to the others. Instead of following, he stayed
saw an empty, distant expression that he
where he was, waiting as the voices began to
knew all too well, and before he could stop,
fade.

he heard himself speak. “You’ve heard it, too?”

The drones in the tent had all clustered

Suarez nodded, evidently dazed. Marius
above the tabletop, and he could hear count-
saw the other crew members coming closer
less others beating softly against the tent’s ex-
when he felt something settle on the back of
terior. Kneeling, he picked up the hive from
his neck. It was delicate, almost gentle, like
the f loor and set it back on the table, at the
the touch of an insect.

spot by the laptop from where it had fallen.

He reached back and plucked the object

At once, drones began to enter through the
away, feeling it vibrate between his fingers. It
openings at its base, returning for their
was a drone.

scheduled charging cycle.

STONEBROOD

17

ANALOG

Marius went to the f lap of the door and
happy. Glancing at their faces, he saw Suarez,
pulled it back. Then he sat down across from
but another man was missing. “Where’s Vin-
the desk and watched as the drones made
cent Lucas?”

their way into the hive, arriving one by one

A quick check of the camp conf irmed that
and burrowing inside.

Lucas was nowhere to be found. Marius re-

He remained there for a long time, turning
mained where he was, thinking of what the
things over in his head, and he did not stir
convict had said. We will meet again. At the
again until a voice came from behind him.

tree of life.The last one standing—

Looking up, he saw that Narayan had en-

It took him only a fraction of a second to
tered, and he realized that nearly an hour had
make his decision. When Narayan returned
passed.

to usher the group into the van, Marius

Narayan knelt beside him. “We need to
drew her away. “I need to see Fisher. If I’m
talk. You said you’d been having headaches.

gone, I want to make sure he has what he

Where are they?”

needs.”

Marius pointed toward the center of his

Narayan looked as if she wanted to object,
forehead. “Right here. Between my eyes.”

but something in his eyes seemed to con-

“What about other symptoms?” Narayan
vince her. “Five minutes.”

asked. “Any muscle stiffness or rigidity?”

“I understand.” Marius moved away from

“My neck has been stiff for days. I thought
the van. As soon as Narayan was looking in

I was just out of shape.” He began to under-
the other direction, he switched course,
stand. “Is it the toxins?”

heading away from the center of camp. No

Narayan shook her head. “I don’t think so.

one paid him any attention in the confu-

How’s your mental state? Have you experi-
sion.

enced visual or auditory hallucinations?”

His jeep was where he had parked it, be-

The whisper of the wings still persisted in
hind his own tent. He climbed in and started
his head. “Tell me what’s going on.”

it up, keeping the lights off. Checking the

Narayan only straightened up and indicat-
rearview mirror to make sure nobody was
ed the hive on the table. “There are six
watching, he put the vehicle in drive and
hives altogether, right? I need to f ind them
eased forward on the uneven ground, going
all.”

at a crawl, until he was certain he had not

Marius rose from the chair. Going to the
been noticed. Then he turned toward the ru-
corner of the tent, he undid the clasps of the
ins of Perry Township.

cases on the f loor. Inside each one, on a bed

Marius knew the map of the area by heart,
of sculpted foam, lay a hive. “Five here. Plus
but he still took it slowly, his tires crunching
one over there.”

over the dead branches and vegetation. He

“We need to seal off the tent.” Narayan
managed to f ind the old state road without
shut the lids, then put on gloves and picked
using his lights. In places, the asphalt had
up the remaining hive, holding it at arm’s
cracked as the ground beneath it subsided,
length until it was safely inside its case. “As
but it was comparatively easy going, and be-
far as I can tell, what happened to Elkies only
fore long, he saw that he was nearing the
affected workers who were in contact with
abandoned town.

hives or drones. We need to get you to a hos-

When he switched his headlights on, his
pital. I’ve already called ahead to the medical
surroundings came into focus. He was enter-
center in Potsville.”

ing a grid of deserted streets—the sidewalks

They left the tent together. Narayan paused
still lined with stop signs and f ire hydrants,
as they emerged into the f ire camp. “I’m sor-
but the buildings themselves long since de-
ry, Marius. We should have caught it earlier.

molished. At intervals, smokestacks the

But the environmental factors confused
height of a man had been set into the
things—”

ground, releasing columns of steam, like cig-

Outside, night had fallen. As Narayan led
arettes sprouting from an ashtray.

him away from the tent, Marius noticed that

All of the houses were gone. As he drove
a group of workers had been pulled aside
toward the center of town, he passed drive-
near a transport van, and they did not look
ways that led nowhere, terminating in weeds

18

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015
after twelve feet. In places where the earth

In the bedroom, Marius checked that all the
had settled and cracked open, the grass was
windows were closed and then headed for the
strikingly green. An absolute silence covered
closet. He sat among the coats, his knees to ei-
the ruins, and he heard nothing except his
ther side of the pail, and drew the door shut
own engine and the rising murmur of wings
behind him. His greatest fear had been that he
in his head.

would somehow nod off, but now the possi-

Feeling a dip as the road under his tires
bility of sleep seemed very far away.

sloped down, he saw that long stretches of

He waited for perhaps two hours before
the street had buckled, sagging in the center
hearing the front door unlock and open
like a worn mattress. He slowed to f ive miles
downstairs. Straining to listen, he made out
an hour, then pulled over and got out. Before
voices on the porch, a low chuckle, and the
he left the car, he took out a pair of respira-
sound of the door closing again. He had
tors, fastening one over his face.

made a careful study of the old man’s habits,

It was not far to the center of town. He
and he knew that he spent most nights out
had been here earlier that day, checking a set
drinking with his cronies, rarely returning be-
of injection boreholes that had been drilled
fore one or two in the morning.

near where a handful of the original wood-

After another minute, he heard the risers
frame houses still stood. The sur viving
creak. Marius was afraid that the beating of
homes had been boarded up—the plywood
his heart would give him away, but he forced
covered with danger notices and graff iti—
himself to remain still as a light appeared un-
and empty cigarette packs and bottles of
der the closet door. There was the sound of
booze littered the sidewalk.

urination, followed by the f lush of the toilet.

In the distance, he saw a dome silhouetted

Then the footsteps returned to the bedroom,
against the sky. As he neared it, he found
where they paused directly in front of his
himself thinking of another night, from twen-
hiding place.

ty years ago, and although he had been push-

Marius tensed himself, his heart knocking,
ing the memory away, he f inally let it in. To
bracing for the closet door to come open. In
keep his thoughts from f lying apart, he had
the end, the steps turned aside again, and the
to remember everything.

light went off. The box springs sang as a

Two weeks after his uncle had died, Mar-
heavy shape lowered itself into the bed. Al-
ius had slipped out of the house after his par-
most immediately, he heard the sound of
ents had gone to bed. He had moved on foot
snoring.

through the familiar streets of his hometown,

He did not move for a quarter of an hour,
keeping as much as he could to the shadows,
and when he began to ease open the closet
carrying nothing but a metal pail with his
door, it was another f ive minutes before the
tools.

opening was wide enough to get through.

After covering a mile in the dark, he ar-

Then he was standing in the center of the
rived at the house he had come to visit.

bedroom, looking down at the slumbering

Lowering his pail over the fence at the rear,
form of Garastas.

he vaulted across, landing noiselessly in

The gangster was passed out on his back.

the back yard. Earlier, he had determined

Marius stared at the rising and falling chest
that the window leading into the kitchen
for a long time, telling himself that it was still could easily be forced, and now he pried it
possible to leave. Finally, however, he re-
open.

membered his uncle, whose body had been

Except for the hum of the refrigerator, the
so ruined by the river that the casket at the
kitchen was quiet. Leaving the lights off, he
funeral had been closed.

closed the window and crept through the

Pulling on heavy gloves, he set down the
dining room toward the stairs. In the glow of
pail in the farthest corner of the room, mov-
the streetlamps outside, he saw that the
ing slowly to keep the boards from squeak-
house was small and sad, and for a moment,
ing. Earlier that day, he had punched a series
he nearly reconsidered his plans. Ultimately,
of holes around the pail’s base. Taking the
however, he moved on, ascending the steps
bottle of lighter f luid from his pocket, he
to the second f loor.

squirted the liquid into the pail, his hands

STONEBROOD

19

ANALOG
shaking, and when it had soaked into the

His grandmother only looked at him.

briquettes, he lit a match and tossed it in-

There was something gathering in her eyes
side.

that frightened him, although he would have

Behind him, the old man stirred in bed.

found it hard to explain why. Then she knelt

Marius looked over sharply, his pulse racing,
and opened her arms.

and saw Garastas shift position. A second lat-

Marius buried herself in her embrace. Even
er, the snoring resumed, louder than it had
then, however, he had been troubled by
been before.

what he had seen a second before, and it had

Marius turned back to the pail, where the
taken him a long time to understand what it
briquettes were glowing. After what seemed
meant. For an instant too shor t to be
like forever, he saw that the charcoal was cov-
processed, his grandmother had smiled, but
ered in gray ash. He stirred it with the tip of
it had not been with relief. Instead, it had
the long knife he had carried in his other
been with a kind of dark satisfaction. And he
pocket, and once it was ready, he lifted the
had seen it before on the face of only one
pail by the handle and set it in the middle of
other man.

the room.

More than twenty years later, as he neared

He gathered up his tools and left without
the heart of what remained of Perry Town-
looking back, pausing only to make sure that
ship, Marius thought back to that smile. He
the door was tightly shut behind him. Mov-
understood now that it had been the mo-
ing downstairs, he went back the way he
ment his life had truly changed, and all that
came, raising the kitchen window and hoist-
had happened since had only served to bring
ing himself onto the sill. A second later, he
him to this very place.

was in the yard and over the fence.

He stood before the church. Looking up,

When he raised his head on the other side,
he saw that its onion dome was wreathed
he found himself looking at a boy standing in
in the smoke drifting up from the vents in
the shared alley to the rear of the houses.

the ground, which was covered in warm

The boy was maybe twelve years old, too
fog. The steps were lightly dusted in ash,
young to be out this late, his dark eyes wide
and when he neared the door s, which
beneath a high, pale forehead. They were
were open, he saw a line of fresh foot-
about ten feet apart, and for a moment, they
prints.

simply looked at each other. Before either of

The inter ior was in darkness. Mar ius
them could speak or move, the boy turned
groped his way down the aisle, waiting for
and ran, vanishing almost at once into the
his eyes to adjust, past rows of pews covered
shadows.

with f lakes of plaster like leaves. As he

Marius remained rooted to the spot. At
moved toward the altar, his feet crunching in
last, he stood and went the other way. A
the debris, he felt as if the last twenty years
block from his house, he stopped at a patch
had fallen away. The murmur of the drones
of dirt in an abandoned lot, where he buried
was rising.

his gloves and knife with a trowel he had left

He halted in the apse, before what re-
there earlier. As he covered the hole with
mained of the stained glass window. Incredi-
earth, he tried to tell himself that the boy had
bly, it was nearly intact, and in the moon-
only seen him for a second, and in any event,
light, he could make out the shape of a cross
it was out of his hands.

superimposed on the image of the world

The following day, he went to see his
tree, its roots going down to the underworld,
grandmother. She met him at the door, and
its branches spreading to welcome birds and
he knew at once that she had heard the
other f lying creatures. Lithuania had been
news. Garastas had been found by his men at
the last countr y in Europe to accept the
home, dead from carbon monoxide inhala-
church, and its pagan symbols had survived
tion. Neighbors who had seen the body re-
wherever they could.

moved said that its face was f lushed and

At the base of the window stood a row of
pink.

saints. Marius recognized Saint Casimir, his

Standing on the porch, Marius drew him-
three hands each holding a lily, and Saint
self up to his full height. “We’re safe.”

Christopher, who bore the savior on his

20

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

OCTOBER 2015
back, and he was trying to remember the
passing silently into the wall of smoke, and as
others when one of the shadowy f igures un-
they emerged, Marius found his mind return-
expectedly moved.

ing repeatedly to the same thought, guided

Lucas was seated beneath the window, his
there by the sound of wings in his head. He
knees drawn up to his chest. He was shaking.

had killed a man, twenty years ago, and the

“I’ve been waiting for you. They must have
guilt still lingered. Tonight, he had spared an-
told you where to f ind me. Can you hear
other. Yet no matter how many lives he
them?”

saved, here or anywhere else, it would never

Marius removed his respirator. He spoke
be nearly enough.

carefully, knowing that it was the only way to
cut through the delirium that threatened to

“Thanks for making time for this,” Narayan
claim them both. “Yes. But that wasn’t how
said. “I had a feeling you were avoiding me,
you knew who I was. You say your name is
but I wasn’t sure why.”

Vincent Lucas. What was it before you

“It’s been busy. And I had to work out a
changed it?”

few things f irst.” Marius looked across the

Lucas glanced aside, as if recalling a person
street at the row of houses. “My f light leaves
long forgotten. “Vincas Lukminas.”

in two hours. I was making one last stop

Marius felt a tremor pass through him.

when you called.”

“You saw me that night. And you remem-

Narayan followed his eyes. “I didn’t mean
bered my face all this time?”

to interrupt. This is where you grew up?”

“I used to see you around town. You prob-

“Something like that,” Marius said. “It’s a
ably don’t remember me. When I saw you
place from the past. I wanted to see if there
again here, I wasn’t sure it was you.” Lucas
was anything here. But there isn’t.”

rose slowly to his feet. “I didn’t know until I

Marius studied the house, which had been
heard it underground. It was so quiet there in
sold shortly after his grandmother died. He
the f ield. And I started to listen to what they
had waited until the last possible moment to
were saying.”

come. To one side of the brick porch, he saw

“It was nothing you didn’t already know.

that the hemlocks were still standing in the

Why didn’t you give me up then?”

garden. He had thought about ringing the

Lucas looked at him as if he were a fool.

bell, but instead he had walked along the

“Because of your grandmother. We all knew
sidewalk, searching for any trace of reso-
who she was. She was always the one we
nance but f inding nothing. “You can walk
feared most. Garastas was the only man who
me to my car.”

could stand up to her. When he died—”

As Narayan accompanied him up the

“I know.” Marius managed to force out the
block, he felt her scrutiny on his face. “How
words. “I didn’t understand at f irst. By the
are you feeling?”

time I did, I was already a part of that world.

“I’m f ine,” Marius said quickly. “I still hear

I did what she wanted without knowing it.

the sounds sometimes. But that’s all.”

When people came to pay homage to her, af-

He wasn’t sure if she believed him. In
ter Garastas was dead, I thought to myself
the end, he had spent two weeks in the
that this was true power. And I wanted to go
hospital, receiving a cocktail of antimicro-
deeper. But after prison, I started to see what
bial drugs, along with twelve other mem-
she really was. A queen pushing out a pre-
bers of the team. He had persuaded them
tender. So I got as far away as I could. I
to let him return for the last phase of the
thought it would be safe by now. But I was
project, long enough to conf irm that the
wrong.”

f ire was out. After his recovery, Elkies had

The words hung in the air between them.

wanted to do one last set of sorties to make

Lucas came forward until they were only a
sure, but he had been quickly overruled.

few feet apart. “Are you going to kill me?”

“You must have wanted to see me for a rea-

“No,” Marius said. “It’s biciulyste. The
son.”

drones started with you and settled on me.”

“I owe you an explanation,” Narayan said.

He extended the second respirator. After a

“And an apology. We’re f inally starting to get
second, Lucas took it. They left the church,
a sense of what happened.”

STONEBROOD

21

ANALOG

He indicated that she should go on.

Marius nodded. “The drones used induc-

Narayan turned away, looking at the fall fo-
tive chargers. They give off a lot of heat.”

liage that had been kindled on the trees lin-

“And they were down there for hours at a
ing the street. “You’d think that nothing
time,” Narayan concluded. “It was a perfect
could live underground in those conditions,
recipe for contamination. We’re not sure
but that isn’t entirely true. We knew, for in-
what the lasting effects will be. But it only af-
stance, that there were thermophilic bacte-
fected those who handled the drones or the
ria in the soil near the vents. They reduce
hives.”

carbon in the coal and leave sulfur behind.

A word from his own childhood unex-

That’s why we saw sulfur encrusted on the
pectedly f loated into his mind. “Stone-
hives when they came up.”

brood.”

Marius had gathered much of this already.

Narayan seemed to think that he was suf-

“But that wasn’t what caused all this.”

fering another hallucination. “Excuse me?”

“No. But it was the basis for an ecosystem.

“Stonebrood. That’s what it reminded me

We’ve found all kinds of things by the vents.

of. It’s a disease of bees. The larvae become

Microarthropods, like springtails, and mites.

chalky and mummif ied. If you’re not careful,

Opportunistic organisms taking advantage of
it can be caught by the beekeeper. And we
reduced competition. You f ind interesting
all make mistakes.” Marius halted by his car.

things in extreme environments. Pharma-

“I wanted to ask about Lucas. He never re-
ceutical companies sometimes look for leads
turned to the project.”

at coal f ires. They won’t have a chance to do

“I saw him a few days a go. A routine
it here.”

checkup. He’ll be f ine. But he says he

He sensed her circling around the real
doesn’t remember anything. ” Narayan
point. “You still haven’t given me a name.”

looked at him as he pulled out his keys. “So

“Our best guess is that it was amoebic
where are you going now?”

meningitis,” Narayan said. “We hadn’t heard

Marius unlocked the car. “Back to Texas.

of this form of it before, but cases in the lit-

Fisher and I have work to do at home.”

erature are rare anyway. You see similar or-

When he extended his hand, Narayan only
ganisms living in thermal discharges at pow-
folded her arms. “How many coal f ires are
er plants. The human body is at the low end
still burning in Pennsylvania?”

of their temperature range. We didn’t f igure

“Forty,” Marius said. “Under the circum-
it out because everyone was feeling the ef-
stances, I doubt we’ll get a shot at them. At
fects of the environment. It was only when it
least not until someone else dies. It took
had progressed far enough to cause halluci-
eight people here. Hopefully, next time, it’ll
nations or convulsions that we knew.”

be fewer.”

Marius overheard a note of reproach in

Narayan shook her head. There was some-
her voice. “It wasn’t exactly your fault.”

thing like sadness in her eyes. “They’ll ig-

“We could have been more careful. The
nore it until they don’t have a choice. As if it
respirators were f ine when it came to the
will go away on its own. But I guess that’s
fumes, but cysts can stick to exposed skin
human nature.”

and be inhaled or absorbed through the eyes

“I suppose it is,” Marius said. He opened
on their way to the brain. We’re still not sure
the door and slid inside, watching as
about the mechanism. Either the drones

Narayan headed for her own car. Then he
picked it up in the chambers or it ended up
started the engine and pulled away without
on the hive itself. I understand the hives got
looking back. ■
pretty warm underground—”

22

ALEC NEVALA-LEE

Science Fact

Alien Adventures:

Rising to the

Challenge

Edward M. Lerner
mong the simplest explanations for
sored the f irst 100 Year Starship conference.

the Fermi Paradox (right after “we are

The purpose of that gathering was “to begin
alone in the Universe”) would be that
studying what it would take—organization-

Acommunicating or traveling between ally,technically,sociologically,and ethical-stars is simply too hard.1 Does that make all
ly—to send humans to another star, a
science fiction of an interstellar nature merely
challenge of such magnitude that the study
a willing-suspension-of-disbelief pact between
alone could take a hundred years.”3
storyteller and audience?

How was such an epic study to be per-

Are we all starship trope-ers?

formed? By enlisting, initially with DARPA

Perhaps. But I recently spent a long week-
seed funds, an organization dedicated to that
end with a couple hundred people, from
long-term project. That initial conference and
twelve countries, determined to prove there is its grant competition led to several forward-a way to the stars—and who are working to
looking endeavors and follow-on symposia.

make that happen within a century.

100 Year Starship (100YSS) is the organiza-
tion that came about directly from the grant

100 Year Starship
competition, and whose most recent (Sep-

Back in 2011, NASA and DARPA2 cospon-
tember 18–21, 2014) annual symposium I had

1

The paradox: if, as some suppose, the vast Universe must be home to other intelligent beings, why don’t we have any evidence of them? Why haven’t we detected their radio transmissions, or seen their starships, or found some trace of their past stopovers?

For (much) more about the absence of such evidence and many possible explanations, see my article

“Alien AWOLs: The Great Silence,” in the October 2014 issue.

2

That’s the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, best known—outside the defense community, anyway—for the R&D that gave rise to the Internet. (The defense interest, back during the Cold War, was in creating a highly distributed, hence highly reconfigurable and fault tolerant, communication network to supplement the very hierarchical, very vulnerable public switched telephone network.) 3

“Offering Funds, U.S. Agency Dreams of Sending Humans to Stars,” Dennis Overbye, The New York Times, August 17, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/science/space/18starship.html.

One of the presentations at that conference became the basis of “Homesteading to the Stars: Colony vs.

Crew,” Arlan Andrews, in the December 2013 issue of Analog.

23

ANALOG
the good fortune to attend. In this article, I’ll interstellar distances will require both new, far draw upon that symposium’s technical-track
more powerful, means of propulsion and the
and plenary sessions—and from cocktail-party
taming of vast energies. 100YSS certainly in-
conversations and chance hallway encoun-
cludes those topics among its interests. I sat in ters—to give a big-picture look at the chal-on, for example, an update from NASA propul-
lenges of interstellar travel. I won’t cite any
sion technologist (and SF author) Les Johnson
symposium papers—as I write, the proceed-
on the state of solar sailing. I also saw a pre-
ings remain unpublished. I’ve referenced oth-
sentation by physicist Jeff Lee on exploiting
er supporting material where available.

the Hawking radiation of a quantum-scale

(For a bit of background on the 100YSS or-
black hole.6
ganization itself, see the sidebar Physician.

Cool stuff, that, to be sure, but Analog of-Former astronaut.Woman with a mission.

ten offers fact articles about propulsion and
on pages 27 and 29.)

energy.7 A better use of our limited space is to

As usual in this science-behind-the-f iction
focus on other challenges to be faced (some of
article series, expect the occasional SFnal cita-
them anyway—to have attended every techni-
tion. Many among the symposium presenters
cal presentation at the symposium required
did the same.4
being in several places at once) on our way to
becoming an interstellar civilization.

Why interstellar travel is so hard

The most obvious diff iculty of interstellar

Staying in the loop
travel is that other stars are so remote. Proxi-

Humanity evolved in a particular environ-
ma Centauri, our Sun’s nearest neighbor, lies
ment. We rely upon Earth’s air, water, gravity,

4.22 light-years—that’s just less than 25 tril-and narrow range of temperatures. The plan-
lion miles—away. Humanity’s farthest ranging et’s atmosphere and magnetic field protect us
spacecraft, the Voyager 1 probe—after 37
from solar ultraviolet radiation, solar wind, and years of flight, and just barely entered into in-cosmic rays. We share our world with a rich
terstellar space—remains within one light- day and varied web of life, upon which we depend
of the Sun. That’s a fraction of 1% of the
for food and the very oxygen we breathe.

Sol/Proxima Centauri distance.5

All of which must somehow be provided (or

The Voyager probes were sent on their long substituted for) throughout any spaceflight. Un-journeys by chemically propelled rockets
less the Universe’s speed limit turns out to be

(supplemented by repeated gravity assists via
faster than light, that artif icial environment
precisely planned planetary f lybys). To cross
must be sustained, at the least, for years.8 Quite 4 Science Fiction Stories Night, a discussion among SF authors, was one of the main events. I was one of the panelists, and (full disclosure) the symposium organizers reimbursed many of my costs to participate.

5 Controversy rages as to when (or whether) the Voyager probes crossed the ill-defined border between the Solar System and interstellar space. For more on that debate and the latest statistics on the two probes, see the JPL project home page, http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/.

6 I grant you, a quantum-scale black hole sounds small. It is small: far tinier than an atom, or even an atomic nucleus. But small needn’t mean insignificant: a quantum black hole masses about three-quarter million tons, and spews out one hundred petawatts per second. It will pump out energy for years before evaporating.

And a funny thing about black holes: the more one evaporates, the faster it emits energy. (Until the object has lost too much energy (which—recall your Special Relativity—is a form of mass) to remain a black hole. You really don’t want to be around when that transition happens.) For reference, the U.S. Energy Information Agency reports worldwide energy-production capacity in 2011 (the latest year for which data are available) at about 5.3 petawatts.

Humanity is—for now, perhaps for the best—unable to fabricate black holes.

7 Many of John G. Cramer’s “Alternate View” columns here in Analog have addressed one or another speculative interstellar drive (links to articles are at http://www.npl.washington.edu/AV/av_index_sub.html#8).

8

See my article “Faster Than a Speeding Photon: The Why, Where, and (Perhaps the) How of Faster-Than-Light Technology,” January/February 2012 issue. Of course, even if an FTL technology does prove possible (and practical), an FTL journey may still be of significant duration.

24

EDWARD M. LERNER

OCTOBER 2015
possibly, the environment must be sustained
similar in extent to two years of menopause.

for generations. As the Biosphere Two experi-

Will the deterioration continue as long as
ments and the frequent resupply missions to
crew are in micro-gee, or will effects plateau
the International Space Station both attest,
after a period of acclimation? That remains un-
we’re a long way from knowing how to sus-
known. Absent near-light-speed travel (so that,
tain a closed-loop ecosphere.

courtesy of relativistic time dilation, from the

In a closed-loop, bounded environment,
crew’s perspective the journey seems short)

every type of resource is in limited supply.

or FTL technology, bone-mass loss on an inter-

Everything must be reused. Tools, repair parts, stellar flight could be severe.9
furniture, and many other items will be pro-

Bone mass doesn’t just disappear. Minerals,
duced as needed, then broken down and recy-
mostly importantly calcium, lost from bone are
cled, rather than tie up scarce space and
processed through the kidneys. That’s why as-
materials. Whatever the daily shipboard
tronauts are prone to develop kidney stones.

processes turn out to be—perhaps to include

Nor is bone-mass loss the only health conse-
agricultural, industrial, machine-shop fabrica-
quence of microgravity. The shifting of bodily
tion, and 3-D printing activities—byproducts
f luids under these conditions increases in-
and waste, if only in trace amounts, will insinu-
traocular pressure and can lead to degenera-
ate their way into the closed-loop environment.

tion of the optic nerve. That is, prolonged

Will the gradual accumulation of such con-
micro-gee can impair eyesight.

taminants degrade the ecosphere? Be toxic to

That’s microgravity. What about unfamiliar
crops or crew? Prove carcinogenic or muta-
levels of gravity? Will long periods spent on
genic? Trigger addictive or allergic reactions?

Mars or Europa, on worlds in other solar sys-
tems, or in the gravity-simulating context of a

Staying alive
large, rotating, 2001: A Space Odyssey-like A major theme of the symposium, with many
spacecraft also impact health? Likewise, to be
recurring subtopics, was keeping humans
determined.

healthy while off Earth. In a summary as abbre-

Does the presence or strength of gravity
viated as this, I can’t always attribute a particu-play a role in the development of fetuses? Ges-
lar concept to a single life-sciences speaker. To tating in microgravity, at the least, may be
everyone thus synopsized to anonymity, I apol-
problematical.10
ogize.

Then there’s radiation. Cancer is an obvious

Let’s consider some aspects of the life-sup-
risk, but not the only one. Over the course of
port problem.

evolution, earthly life has incorporated into its Among the health consequences of micro-DNA many long dormant retroviruses. If radia-
gravity conditions is the gradual loss of bone
tion should activate or mutate such retroviruses, mass. At least one extrapolation from astro-we’ll have no experience with, or immunity to,
naut experience to the duration of a round-
them. We already know that the spacecraft envi-
trip Mars expedition suggests bone-mass loss
ronment isn’t friendly to our immune system.11

9

Bone-mass loss in microgravity conditions (and candidate preventive measures) is a complex topic, with outcomes influenced by the extent of exercise, type of exercise equipment, and drug treatment. At least one exercise-and-drug regimen might limit long-term bone-mass loss to 15%. See Reference 5 on the last page for a fuller discussion.

Of course even the longest experiences to date with microgravity are far briefer than any (non-FTL) interstellar transit.

10

“Making Babies in Space May Be Harder Than It Sounds,” Brandon Keim, August 25, 2009, http://www.wired.com/2009/08/spacebabies/.

11 “According to Crucian, the immune system is likely being altered by many factors associated with the overall spaceflight environment. ‘Things like radiation, microbes, stress, microgravity, altered sleep cycles and isolation could all have an effect on crew member immune systems,’ said Crucian. ‘If this situation persisted for longer deep space missions, it could possibly increase risk of infection, hypersensitivity, or autoimmune issues for exploration astronauts.’”

See http://www.nasa.gov/content/study-reveals-immune-system-is-dazed-and-confused-during-spaceflight/.

ALIEN ADVENTURES: RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

25

ANALOG

Nor will only human genes be at risk. Micro-

Not surprisingly, crossing deep space in
bial hitchhikers (our “microbiome”) outnumber

“cold sleep” is an SF staple (as in, for example, human cells by ten to one.12 These cohabiting
the Alien movie franchise). But is cold sleep cells will also be exposed to radiation and other possible?

unnatural aspects of the spacecraft environment.

Marcel Dirkes, M. D., in his presentation on

New diseases may emerge. Critical symbiotes
suspended animation, noted that state-of-the-art
may die off. Familiar diseases may become more
hypothermic treatment lowers human body
potent and resistant to the pharmaceutical
temperature for days to the range of 86–93oF.

stocks with which the voyage began.13

State-of-the-art cardiovascular support may low-

Light-years from the rest of humanity, at risk
er body temperature for hours to the range of
of these diff icult-to-pre-characterize hazards,

68–78oF. Set aside that those intervals are far
the journey is certain to be stressful—and pro-
too brief for an interstellar journey; at those
longed stress is yet another health risk. Among
temperatures, the body is still actively metabo-
its effects, stress can negatively impact the im-
lizing—read: consuming food and oxygen.14
mune system.

In contrast, hibernating mammals (the de-

Lest anyone suppose this was a complete
tails varying by species) sustain temperatures
enumeration of interstellar travel’s medical
of as low as 27 oF for months.

risks, some humility is in order. Not long ago

Dirkes cited experiments showing that hy-
medical science didn’t know that our health
poxia can trigger hibernation in mammal
required trace nutrients. Geophysicists had no
species that don’t normally hibernate. Ordi-
inkling that an invisible magnetic shield pro-
nary lab mice don’t hibernate—until sealed in
tects us from a deadly sleet of equally invisible a chamber whose oxygen is lowered to 5%
solar and cosmic radiation.

(versus the atmospheric norm of 21%). Ther-

Life aboard a starship may reveal things we
mal imaging of these mice shows their bodies
don’t yet know.

uniformly reduced to ambient temperature.

That is, the metabolism has shut down. After

You are getting sleepy. . . .

a few hours, the mice returned to normal—in-

Several of the life-support challenges aboard
cluding their performance in cognitive tests—
a spaceship seem more tractable if passengers
within an hour of normal oxygen levels being
sleep their way to the stars. Passengers in deep
restored. If this process can be carried over to
sleep would use less food, water, and oxygen.

larger non-hibernating mammals—such as hu-

They would generate less waste to be recycled
mans—especially over longer periods of time,

(and less waste that, eluding recycling, de-
that would be A Big Deal.

grades the shipboard environment). They

Alas, there isn’t yet (as I type) evidence that
would avoid the stress of years-long travel, and
human hibernation is possible. If it is, I won-
could be more readily sheltered from radiation.

der how this solution would compound the

12

“The human body contains trillions of microorganisms—outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1.

Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about 1–3 percent of the body’s mass (in a 200-pound adult, that’s 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play a vital role in human health.”

For the complete article, “NIH Human Microbiome Project defines normal bacterial makeup of the body,” see http://www.nih.gov/news/health/jun2012/nhgri-13.htm.

13

“Super-bacteria are growing in space . . . and we’re the ones breeding them,” Meera Senthilingam, CNN, October 1, 2014, http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/01/health/super-bacteria-growing-in-space/index.html.

14

That said, small reductions in body temperature may lead to useful savings. Days after the symposium, word came that NASA planners of 180-day (each way) Mars trips are investigating “therapeutic tor-por” (to the 89–93oF body-temperature range). The prospective benefit: a reduction in mission consum-ables from 400 to 220 tons.

Of course to date, no one has spent more than a week in hypothermia and sedation, getting nutrition-al support all the while through an IV. Nor (in the scenario that the process can’t safely be extended) has anyone gone through the cooling/sedating-and-reviving process over and over and over. . . .

See “Making the long trip to Mars? Let NASA put you in a deep sleep,” by Anthony Domanico, CNET, October 6, 2014, http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/making-the-180-day-trip-to-mars-let-nasa-put-you-in-a-deep-sleep/.

26

EDWARD M. LERNER

OCTOBER 2015
problem of preventing bone-mass loss. It’s dif-

Physician. Former astronaut.

ficult to vigorously exercise in one’s sleep.

Woman with a mission.

And on the other side

Starships will happen, if they happen,

What about the alien life to be encountered
only by a great undertaking. At best, we are
at the end of the journey?

at the very beginning of that effort. We’ll

Because we should anticipate extraterrestrial
never see the end without a broad commu-
life whenever an interstellar mission sets its
nity of support. We’ll never assemble a vi-
sights on a world with a breathable atmosphere.

able mission without a holistic approach,

Oxygen is highly reactive. That’s why metal
encompassing everything from propulsion
rusts. A planetary surface rich with rust—iron
and energy storage to how, light-years from
oxide—has given Mars its characteristic ruddy

Earth, clothing is produced and laundry gets
color.

done. Not to mention without f irst answer-

The only way to sustain an oxygen-rich
ing a host of life-science questions. . . .

atmosphere is to endlessly replenish the oh-

That’s where the 100 Year Starship orga-
two supply. On Earth, that process involves
nization comes in—not to launch a mission
cyanobacteria.

to the stars, but to lay the groundwork.

There’s little reason to expect life on another

For a more complete look at 100YSS, its
world will be Just Like Us.15 That said, there’s
aspirations and priorities, I sat down with
no reason why alien life can’t have some simi-its principal, physician and former astronaut
larities. For example, biogenesis elsewhere

Mae Jemison. She is a tireless, intense, and
may have favored the same common chemical
infectiously enthusiastic advocate of the
elements—e.g., carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, ni-
mission. I won’t of fer many verbatim
trogen—that proved workable on Earth.

quotes—she speaks way faster than I can

David Almandsmith observed that amino
scribble notes—but rather the distilled gist
acids, the basic molecular components of ter-
of our conversation. My (synopsized) ques-
restrial life, are often found in meteorites. For tions are in italic.

that matter, many organic compounds (and or-
ganic chemistry literally means carbon-based), Why starships? We have yet even to es-amino acids among them, have been remotely
tablish a permanent lunar presence. We’ve sensed in distant nebulae. That’s not to say
been to the Moon. A Mars mission wouldn’t
amino-acid-based alien life must use the same
be easy to accomplish, but still we can imag-
amino acids as earthly life. Human biochem-
ine one. To pursue the extraordinary, and to
istry relies upon twenty distinct amino acids
inspire new generations— that requires a

(or 22, or 23, depending which source you
tougher goal. As we saw with the Apollo
credit), but the gamut of possible amino acids
program, when we tackle truly challenging

(again, exact numbers varying by source)

goals, our progress comes faster.

reaches well into the hundreds.16, 17

(Continued on page 29 . . .)

15

See my “Alien Aliens: Beyond Rubber Suits,” in the April 2013 Analog.

16 Terrestrial DNA uses three consecutive nucleotide bases, each of which can be any of four types (that is, a three-letter genomic “word” written in four genomic “letters”), to encode for the production of a specific amino acid. 4 X 4 X 4 would seem to permit specifying any of 64 distinct amino acids, but that turns out not to be the case. After disallowing reserved combinations (that cellular machinery recognizes as “stop codes” to terminate a related sequence of amino acids) and multiple three-letter combinations that all code for the same amino acid, terrestrial biology gets down to the twenty-or-so amino acids earlier mentioned.

The four-letter alphabet appears to be arbitrary, given that cells have been altered in the lab to use six bases (which, sticking with a three-letter word to encode for a particular amino acid, allows many more combinations).

See “Hacking the Genome Alphabet,” John Cramer’s “Alternate View” column in the December 2014 Analog.

17 Many organic molecules, amino acids among them, exhibit “handedness.” Mirror-image versions are chemically stable—but not found in earthly organisms. Could alien life use different isomers (molecules of like chemical formula but different chemical structure) than earthly life? Or use left- and right-handed versions at the same time? Unknown.

ALIEN ADVENTURES: RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

27

ANALOG

(One of my favorite interstellar novels is Brian
of one or more of our gut symbiotes, might

Aldiss’s Starship [Non-Stop in its original, 1958, suffice to convert native food to forms we can

U.K. edition]. The root cause of disaster aboard
digest. (Not that the such reengineering
a generation ship is the unfamiliar/alien amino
would be a snap. The biomolecular processes
acid that taints the onboard water supply.)

of living cells are complex, numerous, and of-

Will alien life, even with somewhat Earth-
ten interdependent.)

like biochemistry, seek to eat us (or vice ver-

The gengineering-ourselves approach—
sa)? Likely not. People and any life form from
with unintended consequences, of course—
an alien world will have less in common than
underpinned my novelette, “A Stranger in
do people and paramecia. How about infect-

Paradise.”

ing us? That’s also unlikely, though a bit hard-
er to discredit.

Dealing with change

None of which lets our hypothetical space

Every starship and exoplanet colony will
explorers out of the metaphorical alien woods.

need a health system responsive to the full

An escaped-to-the-wild sample of primitive ter-
range of familiar diseases and accidents, but
restrial life—and starship crew, their crops, and quite possibly also to unfamiliar problems.

their domesticated animals will carry their mi-And yet, the population of a starship, even a
crobiomes—might out-compete native varieties.

colony ship, is apt to be small—”merely” a

Such upheaval at the base of the food chain
small-town-sized community will be a chal-
could throw a native ecology out of whack.

lenge to sustain—and yet every possible med-

Or some of the metabolites produced by alien
ical specialty must be represented.

life might be toxins—biologically produced poi-

How will that work?

sons—to humans or our microbiome, to one of

Here on Earth, per Terrence Mulligan, D.O.,
our crops or its microbiome. . . .

M.P.H., we have recent experience with re-

Consider Botulinum toxin. The Illinois Poi-
making medical-delivery systems. How so? The
son Center indicates it is “the most toxic sub-
most prevalent adult diseases today, in many
stance known to man. It takes only a tiny
countries, are heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

amount of botulinum to kill a human. The

Notwithstanding the Ebola crisis (unfolding as
lethal dose of botulinum is estimated to be 70

I type), these typical modern scourges are non-
micrograms for an adult human (by compari-
communicable. Throughout history, until as re-
son, the estimated lethal dose of cyanide is
cently as a half-century ago, infectious diseases 200,000 micrograms).”18
dominated medical practice.

In like manner, transplanted earthly microbes

The medical community is also adapting to
might exude metabolites that are wildly toxic to
demographic shifts. Young populations have
elements of an alien ecosphere. Such as, per-
different health problems than older-skewing
haps, alien bacteria that replenish the exoplane-
populations. Urban populations have different
tary atmosphere with much of its free oxygen.

health problems than rural populations.

Will such inter-biology complications arise?

Around the globe, populations are skewing

Not necessarily. Perhaps not even likely. But
older and more urban. . . .

neither are such scenarios far-fetched. The

Thirty years ago, only five countries recog-
possibility raises issues both practical (how
nized emergency medicine as a medical special-
can an interstellar mission prepare?) and ethi-
ty. Today, 55 have EM systems and more such
cal (is it moral to put an entire independent
systems are being deployed. The Global Emer-
ecosystem at risk?).

gency Medical Initiative is developing methods

Rather than try to transplant significant seg-
by which to start up and deploy a national-scale
ments of a terrestrial ecosphere to a new

EM system within ten to fifteen years.

world, it might be more practical and ethical

Perhaps in setting up a healthcare system
to reengineer ourselves. If alien life uses a diffor starships and deep-space colonies we’ll
ferent amino acid(s), or isomers of a familiar
build upon these recent terrestrial learning ex-
amino acid(s), than terrestrial biology, a
periences.

change to our genome, or to a tailored version

* * *

18

http://ipcblog.org/2011/09/06/mother-natures-most-toxic/

28

EDWARD M. LERNER

OCTOBER 2015

Space medicine—

Physician. Former astronaut.

improving life here on Earth

Woman with a mission.

Space is a radiation-intensive environment.

( Continued from page 27 . . .)

Patients on a spaceship don’t need to add di-
agnostic radiation! Spaceships are small (so

All that said? “No one,” she said, “would
far, anyway); bulky, power-hungry diagnostic
be happier than me to see a lunar base.”

instruments like MRIs would also be problem-
atical. Not surprisingly, therefore, mission

Why 100 years? That horizon originated in planners have an interest in new diagnostic
the DARPA request for proposal, but more
technologies, with ultrasound-based scanning
than that, 100 years is an appropriate time-
high on the list.

frame. Clearly, interstellar travel is unlikely

Portable, battery-powered, ultrasound scan-
within a few decades—but let the goal ex-
ners are a boon here on Earth. The Interna-
tend much beyond the century mark, and it
tional Space Station (ISS) now stocks one.

would divorce the goal from any sense of ur-

We’ve seen that long-term spacef light
gency.

brings an increased risk of kidney stones. Be-

That would be unfortunate. This is a mis-
cause the ISS isn’t the most convenient place
sion to inspire an outpouring of scientif ic
to have a kidney-stone attack or to undertake
and engineering progress here on Earth, for

(or undergo) surgery, NASA has funded re-
everyone’s benef it. As the 100YSS mission
search in pulsed-ultrasound techniques to
statement notes, “pursuing an extraordinary
reposition kidney stones and remove block-
tomorrow will build a better world today.”

ages without surgery.

We’ve also seen that microgravity can ad-

What do you consider the top accom-
versely impact intraocular pressure. And so,
plishments of 100YSS? Holding three sym-

NASA is investigating 3-D ultrasound imaging
posia in two and a half years. Broadening the
to infer intraocular and intracranial pressures.

community beyond the original fans. And

A portable, noninvasive tool for measuring
added with a grin: moving past the giggle fac-
these pressures would be handy on Earth, too.

tor.

In recent years, genomics—characteriza-
tion of the genome—has become well estab-

Given your medical background, what
lished. Personalized genomes are becoming
do you see as the biggest challenges? Making affordable and personalized medicine is enter-the commitment to take on the mission. Find-
ing the mainstream.19 Proeteomics—charac-
ing suitable governance models for starships
terization of the proteins expressed (or not)

and off-world colonies.

from a genome—is the next frontier.

That brings us to a presentation by Kurt Zat-

How do you see a starship program be-
loukal, of the Medical University of Graz, on
ing funded and organized? As an interna-
the (still nascent) science of metabolomics.

tional undertaking,
not necessarily

Monitoring metabolites in urine, sweat, and
governmental, because governments don’t
other exudations may offer a way to noninva-
often take on such long-range projects. Orga-
sively detect bodily changes in advance of
nized virtually around modern communica-
overt symptoms. Imagine that technology
tions tools—and evolving as the tools do. As
available here on Earth, embedded in a smart-
for mission funding, she offered no predic-
watch-like health monitor.

tion, noting that f inancing models change.

(Kickstarter, anyone?)

Second Life and second chances

The bottom line: keep an eye on 100YSS.

From Robert A. Heinlein’s Orphans of the

And stay tuned for an interesting one hun-

Sky 20 to Harry Harrison’s Captive Universe, dred years.

the interstellar generation ship whose crew

19

“The Fabulous Fruits of Mendel’s Garden,” Fran Van Cleave, July/August 2013 Analog.

20

Orphans of the Sky novelized “Universe” (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1941) and its sequel,

“Common Sense” (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941).

ALIEN ADVENTURES: RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

29

ANALOG
has forgotten its purpose—and even that any-
can’t opt out of the latter—so extrapolation
thing exists outside the ship—is a staple of SF.

from this Second Life study has its limits.

Part of interstellar mission setup will be to

It seems prudent to consider as alternative
establish societal structures that can persist in social models the types of communities that
isolation for years or generations. That’s easier have proven stable despite isolated and harsh
said than done. We wouldn’t choose the Or-
conditions. Among candidates McKnight men-
phans of the Sky precedent, but we might tioned were indigenous populations (e.g., Inu-look for social stability in the rugged individu-
its), Antarctic research staffs, and nuclear
alism of another Heinlein novel: The Moon Is
submarine crews.

a Harsh Mistress.

The takeaway: social engineering is as mis-

It seems obvious that modern virtual com-
sion-critical as propulsion engineering. Be-
munities and social networks could serve as tween stars is a dangerous place to be testing
the basis of a technology-enabled, nonhierar-
the length of our “genetic leash.”21
chical, highly participatory democracy. Such a
distributed, inclusive, transparent governance

Don’t be a stranger
model might be more robust and resilient

Faced with the complexities of mounting a
aboard a starship than (as so often seen in SF)

round-trip mission to Mars, some advocates of
the authoritarian naval/hierarchical model.

exploration have proposed one-way expedi-

But perhaps not.

tions. Not suicide, but colonization.22 How

In the virtual-worlds service Second Life, a
much stronger is the case for one-way mis-
million-plus regular participants interact in
sions to the stars?

many virtual communities. In a survey of thou-

Of course, we already maintain communica-
sands of established communities, Lancaster
tions between Mars probes and Earth. Armchair

University sociologist John Carter McKnight
adventurers can observe—and will someday, per-
reports, only f ive communities had retained
haps, buy reality-TV subscriptions to fund—ex-
democratic governance. Most communities
ploration of a neighboring planet. Who will invest opted for professional (paid, contracted-for)

in interstellar missions if all that is discovered—
management—and, in instances where the
even the knowledge of whether a journey was
manager lost interest, imploded.

completed—must remain unknown?

Rather than form freewheeling, tolerant, in-

Fortunately, there may be a way to maintain
clusive communities, like-minded netizens often
contact across interstellar distances. What we
clustered. Among the like-minded, zoning laws
need is a really big lens in space. As it hap-proliferated. Ungoverned virtual spaces, rather
pens, we have one.

than become libertarian oases, were abandoned.

The Sun.

A famous cartoon in The New Yorker intro-Glossing over the details from general rela-
duced the meme that “On the Internet, no
tivity, any large mass significantly curves near-
one knows you’re a dog.” Maybe so, but
by space-time. Like a familiar glass lens, that
through behavioral and verbal cues, race, gen-
curvature bends the path of light rays. Such
der, class, and education are often discernable
gravitational lensing has become an important
even in avatar-to-avatar interactions. Some Sec-
tool of astronomers. Unlike a glass lens, which
ond Life communities have been hostile (to
works in visible wavelengths, a gravitational
the point of real-world rape and death threats)

lens acts on all electromagnetic radiation, in-
against newcomers and “others.”

cluding radio waves.

To be sure, a virtual community is an imper-

Rather than (as an astronomer might) exploit
fect analogy for a starship community—you
the mass of a distant galactic cluster to magnify 21

“The genes hold culture on a leash. The leash is very long, but inevitably values will be constrained in accordance with their effects on the human gene pool. The brain is a product of evolution. Human behavior—like the deepest capacities for emotional response which drive and guide it—is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact.”

So wrote sociobiology founder Edward O. Wilson in On Human Nature.

22 “A one-way trip to Mars,” Kera Rennert, CBS News, May 22, 2014. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-one-way-trip-to-mars/.

30

EDWARD M. LERNER

OCTOBER 2015
the image of some yet more remote galaxy,
to build in-space manufacturing facilities. That
why not position a communications relay such
in itself will entail delivering a great deal of
that the Sun focuses and magnifies signals from
mass, and it may take a space elevator to make
a starship? The not-so-minor wrinkle: our lens’s
lifting so much mass into space affordable.

focal length. A dispersed-with-distance incom-

(A space elevator? It’s just what it sounds.

ing signal beam, skimming the surface of the

Rather than rocket into space—carrying fuel

Sun, comes into focus more than forty billion to carry the fuel to carry yet more fuel . . . to miles away. That’s where the relay must be.23
carry a comparatively tiny payload—creep up

But once we can station a relay at that disa long cable in an elevator car. The elevator tance, directly behind the Sun along the line
ride will take days, not minutes, but it will be
to the outbound starship, the comm link can
far more economical, and far more environ-
achieve tremendous amplif ication. With our
mentally friendly, than rocketry. First pro-

Sun as a lens—the more massive the star, the
posed in 1895, the space-elevator concept
more powerful the lens—gains of a 100 dB or
was popularized by Arthur C. Clarke in his
more are practical. In terms of signal-power

1979 novel, The Fountains of Paradise.)

gain, that’s a factor of ten billion.

Some raw materials for the starship might

Once a starship reaches, say, Alpha Centau-
come from captured-to-orbit asteroids. More
ri, the explorers can (comparatively easily) de-
might be gotten from the Moon. Given the
ploy a relay station to that star’s anti-Sunward

Moon’s comparatively weak gravity, about one-
side. Thereafter, the two solar systems will
sixth that of the Earth, we’ll likely see a space share a robust two-way comm link.

elevator there before we see one on Earth.

Is a space elevator practical? Not yet. Single-

By our bootstraps
walled carbon nanotubes, many times stronger

Once we know how to design a starship,
than steel, might be strong enough to make a how does its construction come about?

cable reaching all the way to geosynchronous

We probably won’t build it on Earth and lob
orbit, roughly 22 thousand miles overhead.

it complete into space: lifting all that mass

Alas, the longest single-walled carbon nan-
against Earth’s surface gravity seems prohibi-
otubes yet made measure no more than several
tive. We’re more likely to build starships in
centimeters. There’s something of a materials-
space, from resources already there. At the
science challenge to be overcome.25

Earth-Moon Lagrange points, where (relative

On the heels of the materials challenge
to Earth and Moon) the gravitational attraction
comes the radiation problem: the space-eleva-
of those worlds balance, smaller objects—
tor car creeping along its cable will spend
such as a ship under construction and living
days within the Van Allen Belts. Before pas-
quarters for the construction crew—can main-
sengers ride these vertical rails, we’ll need to
tain a stable position.24
execute yet another massive engineering pro-

The construction and mission crews will
ject: clearing the Van Allen belts of their eons-
likely come from Earth. Ditto lots of special-
long accumulation of charged particles.26
ized equipment—if not many components of

Such an undertaking would mean, among
the starship itself, then equipment with which
its effects, the elimination of auroras. Try to

23

See “Interstellar radio links enhanced by exploiting the Sun as a Gravitational Lens,” Claudio Maccone,
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claudio_Maccone/publication/222558702_Interstellar_radio_links_e
nhanced_by_exploiting_the_Sun_as_a_Gravitational_Lens/links/00b7d53b09c4947df3000000.pdf

24 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point 25 Post-symposium, a new contender for a space-elevator cable hit the news. Diamond nanothreads appear to be stronger than single-wall carbon nanotubes. Alas, like nanotubes, the largest diamond nanothreads so far produced are also mere centimeters in length. See “Scientists Might Have Accidentally Solved The Hardest Part Of Building Space Elevators,”

Ajai Raj,

October 13,

2014,

Business Insider,
http://www.businessinsider.com/diamond-nanothreads-make-space-elevator-2014-10.

26

“Hacking the Van Allen Belts: Could we save satellites and astronauts by wiping out the Van Allen belts?”

Charles Q. Choi, February 26, 2014, IEEE Spectrum, http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/astrophysics/hacking-the-van-allen-belts/.

ALIEN ADVENTURES: RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

31

ANALOG
imagine the Environmental Impact Statement

And because science thrives on good SF,
to be filed for that project.

100 Year Starship chose Science Fiction Sto-

So, far-fetched, right? Maybe not. Obayashi
ries Night at the 2014 symposium to an-

Corporation, one of the largest construction
nounce a new award program. The annual
f irms in Japan, has aspirations to deploy a

Canopus Award for Interstellar Fiction will
space elevator by 2050.27
recognize achievements in literary f iction at
every length, on television and in movies, and

Why it matters, here and now
in video games.29 ■

That was a lot of daunting challenges.

Why would we even think to attempt an in-To read further
terstellar mission, much less strive to see a

1. 100 Year Starship (http://100yss.org/).

starship launch within a century? Don’t we

2. And a few likeminded organizations:

have enough challenges here on Earth?

Icarus Interstellar (http://www.icarusinter

Because (echoes of JFK’s Moon speech in-
stellar.org/).

tentional) the undertaking will be hard. Be-Tau Zero Foundation (http://www.tauze
cause the science and technology the quest
ro.aero/).

must inspire—certain to include medical break-

Centauri Dreams (http://www.centauri-
throughs and eco-management insights—will,
dreams.org/).

first and foremost, benefit everyone on Earth.

3. International Space Elevator Consortium

Economists, employers, and educators alike

(http://www.isec.org/)

regularly bemoan a shortage of science, tech-

4. Starship Century: Toward the Grandest
nology, engineering, and math (STEM) spe-

Horizon, Gregory Benford and James Benford, cialists.28 The excitement of a Moon race once
editors. Papers written for this mixed fact-and-
drew thousands of young Americans into
fiction anthology (does that remind you of an-

STEM careers. Many of those workers con-
other publication?) served as the basis of
tributed to the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo

2013’s Starship Century Symposium.30
programs—whose spin-offs went far beyond

5. Using Medicine in Science Fiction: The

Tang. Others brought their knowledge and en-

SF Writer’s Guide to Human Biology, Henry thusiasm to the broader economy, and we all

G. Stratmann, M. D.31
benefited from that.

As much as a pathway to the stars, 100YSS

About the author
is about inspiring generations of young people

A physicist and computer scientist, Edward
to see science and technology as the pathway

M. Lerner toiled for thirty years in the vineyards to a better life for everyone on Earth.

of aerospace and high tech. Then, suitably in-
toxicated, he began writing science fiction full

Wrapping up
time. When not prospecting beneath his sofa

Becoming an interstellar civilization will re-
cushions for small change for his f irst space-
quire sustained effort and substantial invest-
flight (or at rest upon those cushions, practic-
ment. It will stimulate developments in
ing hibernation for his first interstellar trek), he science and technology, with spin-off benefits
writes technothrillers like Energized (power-first and foremost here on Earth.

sats), the InterstellarNet adventures of First

What do the diff iculties portend for inter-
and Second Contact and, with Larry Niven, the stellar science f iction? Good things! Story-Fleet of Worlds series of space operas. Ed’s web-telling thrives on challenge.

site is edwardmlerner.com.

27
http://www.cnet.com/news/japanese-company-plans-space-elevator-by-2050/

28 See, citing a recent Brookings Institute study, “Report Claims HUGE Shortage Of STEM Workers,” Jonah Bennett, July 1, 2014, http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/01/report-claims-huge-shortage-of-stem-workers/.

29
https://100yss.wufoo.com/forms/m1heus1917g8yva/

30

See John Cramer’s “Alternate View” column in the December 2013 Analog for an overview of the Starship Century Symposium.

31

Dr. Stratmann graciously reviewed a draft of this article and suggested clarifications to the life-sciences-intensive material.

32

EDWARD M. LERNER

Illustrated by Tomislav Tikulin

The

Daughters
of John

Demetrius

Joe Pitkin
endel had run the whole day in his

Camino de San Juan Demetrio. There had
graceful, tireless way, southerly
been little water all day, just a single dusty
down the road that some called Old
rivulet past noon where he had drunk and

MMexico 45 and the locals called El where he had tried without much success to 33

ANALOG
wash the crusted blood out of his tunic.

always did, always assuming that the gods

Mendel was dark enough that it would do him
spoke English, and always following the an-
little harm to go naked in this Sun, and he
cient Mexican law of hospitality that demand-
even considered such a possibility, but it
ed the visitor be made most comfortable. If
would have scandalized the local vulgaris
these people were gringos, they had at least
more for him to have walked naked into a vil-
learned this much from the land that had tak-
lage than for him to have appeared in a blood-
en them in.

stained tunic.

“I am following the road of John

Mendel came upon such a village at the end

Demetrius,” Mendel said to them, “and I
of the day, only an hour’s run over mesas from
would be grateful if I could spend the night
the main road, a rammed earth wall guarding
here.” This was not, in fact, so different from
an inner circle of adobes and ancient shipping

Mendel’s plans, but regardless of his plans,
containers. The sign hung above the arch of
this was what he always said when he traveled
the outer wall said Pozos Desecantes/ Desic-through this part of the world.

cant Wells. It had the sloppy look of an old The head woman bowed and spread her
gringo settlement, though Mendel could not
arms wide in the heartbreaking theatrical way
be sure on this mesa an hour from the far-off
they always did, as though to offer Mendel
stretch of the road that the gods hardly ever
their whole forsaken village. Then she began
traveled.

ordering the younger adults in Spanglish to be-

He walked through the open gate unchal-
gin preparing a place for him; with one of
lenged except by a troop of scrawny clucking
them, a gaunt hardscrabble woman of about
hens. Most of the central square was taken up
thirty, or maybe f ifty, the head woman ex-
by a dusty yard where crust-skinned children
changed some brief taut words that even
in homespun shirts and loincloths carried out

Mendel could not quite hear.

a listless game of Chihuahuan-rules football.

They had never heard of him, he was sure.

They seemed not to notice him. Beyond, the

They had never spoken to travelers from an-
adults congregated around a cluster of worn
other village where he had wandered. If they
stone troughs, beating the dirt out of their
had, they would have learned to boil their
sullen piles of laundry.

corn in ashes and these children would not be

Mendel walked to the edge of the game and
half-dead from niacin deficiency. As they shuf-
watched the children. In those moments be-
f led about to f ind a shipping container for
fore anyone in the village noticed him, his eye
him to sleep in and to bring him an ancient
fell on one different from the rest, perhaps
cut soda bottle full of rusty water, Mendel
eight years old, her dark skin pristine as the
looked around again for the beautiful green-
flesh of an avocado. No pellagra with this one.

skinned girl. But she had disappeared. Anoth-

He would have run all the way to Oaxaca to
er girl, smaller and wretched, stood before
find another like her.

him fearlessly, staring at him relentlessly be-

They noticed him then. The children went
fore Mendel noticed her.

silent and marveled. Then one mother less ex-

Mendel knelt down to look her in the eye.

hausted or more anxious than the rest turned

“Y tú? Cómo te llamas?” he asked in a con-to regard the newly quiet children, and she
spiratorial tone, as though she would be giv-
saw divine Mendel in his sweat-glistened lumi-
ing away a secret to tell him her name.

nescent beauty. He was so beautiful, or they

The girl stared at him as though mute. But
were all so bone-weary, that no one screamed
the gods are imperturbable, and Mendel only
at this bloodstained stranger who had walked
looked back at her with the serenity of some-
unopposed into the heart of the lost little vil-
one beyond hunger or thirst. They stared at
lage.

one another a minute or more before the grav-

Mendel knew that he must be the one to
elly hen’s voice of an old woman shouted in
speak first. He asked in Spanglish in his clear
their direction: “Floribunda! Inútil! Trae aca high voice whether the villagers spoke Spang-your scrawny ass!” The girl spun around as lish or Spanish or English. One of the adults,
though the words were a leash the woman
perhaps the head woman, said they spoke all
had jerked; the girl ran in a dusty pad-footed
three. She answered in English as they nearly
way toward the squalling voice.

34

JOE PITKIN

OCTOBER 2015

The villagers put Mendel up in a clean-
notice the children’s reaction, added for good
swept, well-ordered shipping container,
measure: “Es un god muy malo, who will take painted turquoise and salmon and bearing the
you away if you don’t stop asking questions.”

name “Coper” in tawdry letters of rhinestone

The next morning all seventeen children in
appliqué. The woman who opened the house
the village had questions about the evil god.

to him said nothing beyond “here you have

Mendel regretted a little his explanation of the
your pobre casa,” but whether her silence night before, though of course someone was
was resentful or the reaction of a broken
bound to have asked him about the blood
woman cowed by the presence of a god,
stains and, as was typical of Mendel, he had

Mendel couldn’t immediately tell. The four
spent the previous day telling himself that he
children like shriveled rag dolls seemed
would need a good story instead of actually
cowed by him. He decided in that moment
coming up with a good story. He told them
that he would give the knowledge of prepar-
that the god he had bloodied had hated the
ing the corn to this family only, as payment
natural people, had wanted all of the natural
for their putting him up for the night. Señora
people to take on the bodies of demons and to

Coper would be one of the most important
fill their minds with the nonsense of dreams.

people in the village, if not the headwoman,

The children seemed to regard this explana-
for passing along the secret. And she would
tion quietly and utterly without skepticism,
pass it along, because he would warn her that
which suggested all the more to Mendel that
he would return in wrath and vengeance if
what he said was strictly true. Yet, on account
she didn’t.

of their pellagra, they showed none of the awe

She served him cornbread on a plastic buck-
that children of the other villages had; they sat et lid, and he weighed the silence carefully be-stooped and downcast like feverish hallucina-
fore he asked them to what family the green-
tors, their crusted hands held out before them
skinned girl belonged.

like barnacled flippers.

“She is Lupe Hansen’s daughter, ” the

The f lawless green girl stepped up to the
woman replied with a wary eye on him every
circle of children as artlessly as a little deer.

moment, as though she knew why he was ask-

Studiously, Mendel continued his tale: He told
ing, though of course she didn’t.

how the evil god had stolen many children for

“You know she is a child of San Juan
his terrible purposes (pure fabrication, but

Demetrio?” he said.

Mendel could not resist their attention, even

“We are all children of San Juan.”

limp as it was). But Mendel loved the natural

At this, Mendel thought it wise to say only
people so much that he risked himself to save

“Indeed, así es.”

them. The green daughter of Lupe Hansen

None of the children had taken their eyes
watched him, and he observed her without
off of him. The smallest, with eyes like shining
ever looking directly at her; he felt her watch-
black olives, was the first who dared to speak.

ful presence as though soon she would eat

“Pero por qué estas bloody?”

from his outstretched hand.

“César!” the woman hissed, scandalized.

But the children were called to school by a

But Mendel held up his hand to the woman to
long cracked note from an old trumpet, and
gesture that he was not offended.

Mendel watched them all, from the green girl

“I was in a fight.”

to the most encrusted lad, retreat to a cluster

“Did you die?”

of four shipping containers at the edge of the

“No—if I had died I would not be sitting
houses, like a square bounded by the larger
with you here.”

circle of the village structures. The one who

“Were you hurt?” asked the oldest.

blew the trumpet was a woman somewhat

“Un poco. But my body recovers muy
less slack than the rest, without pellagra, with
quick amente.”

a faint tint to her skin that announced to

“Who did you fight?”

Mendel that she was Lupe Hansen.

“An evil god,” Mendel answered. “A god

Mendel rose from the ground where he had
who didn’t like people.”

sat cross-legged, and he noticed only then that

The answer seemed to awe the children. But
not all of the children had quite retreated. The
the woman, who seemed too mortif ied to
other girl, the one called Floribunda, stared at

THE DAUGHTERS OF JOHN DEMETRIUS

35

ANALOG
him still. He found her look a little hostile. Or

“Your daughter could be schooled in ways
perhaps terrif ied. But just when Mendel de-
that you know you cannot school her here,”

cided that it must be terror that made her look

Mendel continued. “She could come back to
at him so, she held out to him a tiny green

Desiccant Wells as a god, and yet as one of you
wisp of locoweed, which he took from her be-
as well.”

fore she ran after the other children to the

Lupe Hansen began scrubbing down the
school.

students’ tables with a dusty rag.

While he waited, Mendel busied himself

“Your students could use those tablets to get
with helping around the village. The village
to the real internet, if you had a guide,” he said, technical council, three craggy-faced men,
pointing at the stack of tablets as though the
came to him like a humiliated embassy offer-
woman was also looking at them, and not in-
ing surrender. “Our molino runs poorly; we tently at the dusty tabletops. “It is the ones like believe there is a short in the photovoltaic sys-your daughter that will bring reunification.”

tem,” the most venerable of them said.

Lupe Hansen’s mouth was set as she

“Perhaps the film needs cleaning,” Mendel
scrubbed at the tables.

answered. “The village is very dusty.”

“What is your daughter’s name?”

“Perhaps,” the man said with pained cour-

“Chloe.”

tesy. “But we have tried to keep the f ilms

“Chloe would be a god,” he said as rever-
clean.”

ently as an evangelical missionary.

The f ilms were in fact scrupulously clean.

Lupe Hansen said nothing but looked di-

The village technical council had guessed cor-
rectly at him with a pain that seemed both
rectly about the short, which Mendel found
powerless and impervious to reason.

buried in the adobe wall where the old man

It offended his sense of dignity to wheedle
had thought it might be. He peeled the wire
for the girl. For every parent that handed
out like an intransigent root from barren
over a child to him without f linching, seeing
earth, and he wondered why the old men had
the benef it of entrusting a child to the care
not trusted themselves enough to f ind the
of the gods, there was another like Lupe
short themselves with their antique volt-

Hansen, for whom the benef it Chloe might
meter.

receive would not justify separating her from

Mendel visited Lupe Hansen at the school
her mother.

after the children had cleared out to play Chi-

He stared back at her, and unlike so many
huahuan rules football. “Do you know who I
natural people Lupe Hansen was not awed
am?” Mendel asked her.

into looking away. But of course, she was no

She did not look up from stacking the chil-
natural person, either— otherwise, why
dren’s tablets. “You are a god.”

would Mendel be bargaining with her over

“But do you know who I am?”

her daughter?

She stopped to look at him. “No. I know

It occurred to him, with some relief, that he
only that you are a god.”

had not told Señora Coper the secret of corn

Mendel approached from another tack. “Do
nixtamalization. “If I could cure everyone in
you know that your daughter is hija de San the village of their sickness, would you let

Juan Demetrio?”

Chloe come to school with me? Please consid-

“Sí.Así es.”

er it.” And with that he walked out of the little

“You are also one.”

school and past the water troughs and the so-

“Sí.Así es.”

lar ovens, where he said to the headwoman

“Why did you never go to Phoenix?”

that he would return the next morning to Des-

“This is my village.”

iccant Wells.

“Have you never thought to send your

He ran out into the desert a safe distance,
daughter there?”

back toward Old Mexico 45 where no one

The woman said nothing. When she lifted
would have been shocked to find him. Safety
the stack of tablets to put them away, Mendel
was relative, of course: Perses had had friends,
saw a tension in her shoulders, what he took
shedim and lilin who certainly would know to be stubbornness, though he knew he was
of his death by now. And when their suspi-
not so godlike as to be above projection.

cions fell on Mendel, Old Mexico 45 was one

36

JOE PITKIN

OCTOBER 2015
of the places Perses’ friends would think to
night’s sleep, the revitalizing Ambrosias, the look for him.

brilliant white tunic all convinced him that

But he was safe at least from the villagers’ at-
success was a foregone conclusion.

tentions for a moment. He closed his eyes and

Then, walking out of the Hotel Vieja Deli-
linked up with the satellite, got lost a few
cias, he saw a lilith snooping about as she hours in his mails—mostly advertisements
came up the road, peering into windows,
clouding up his neurons. He tried to get in
swiveling her half-snake head to and fro like
touch with Handy, which had been his pur-
a f lashlight. Mendel had worried about the
pose linking up in the first place: did he have
blood on the old tunic. It wouldn’t have hurt
room for a little green girl, unusually quiet
him to have worried about it a little more.

and, so far as Mendel could tell, totally un-

But he had thought it unlikely for one like
trained? Mendel found it half charming and

Perses to carry radio tags in his blood like a
half infuriating that Handy, who could stay
child or a criminal. Mendel’s main worry had
linked up the livelong day if he wished it, had
been that the bloodstains would frighten the
an old-fashioned autoresponder on his ac-
naturals.

count like some telephonical answering ma-

The lilith was a good way up the street, chine from another age.

moving past a trio of vulgaris hauling an enor-Mendel took a risk and accessed one of his
mous handcart toward some market or ware-
thoughtbank accounts he had squirreled
house. Mendel was the only other divine on
away. None of his acquaintances knew about
the road; she would spot him for sure if he be-
the account, and he doubted any of Perses’

gan to run. To his left a laundromat operated
cronies had tried hacking into Mendel’s inter-
out of a family’s garage. He turned into it as
net history yet. Just over three hundred new
though that had been his errand all along.

dollars sat there beneath anybody’s notice.

A broad-faced natural with a thick braid of

Lying on the baking hardpan in the f limsy
hair in the ancient style looked up at him
shadow of the creosote, he closed his eyes
from the pile of laundry her neighbors had
and moved, quickly and quietly, a hundred
left for her. Mendel wondered for half a sec-
dollars to a terminal in Delicias. Then he
ond whether the old bloodstained tunic was
logged off and delinked and, in the heat of
in the pile, sent over by the hotel to be
the day, ran two hours southeast down Old
washed instead of incinerated as Mendel had

Mexico 45.

demanded. He raised the back of his hand to

In Delicias, at the Hotel Vieja Delicias,
her like a strange greeting; his f ingernail, ta-

Mendel checked in as Conrado Hermés, paid
pered and sculpted, began to grow out of his
with N$61 from the terminal. Nobody asked
index f inger into f ifty fatal centimeters of
him about the bloodstains. Delicias was one of
talon.

those towns where the naturals had some ex-

“Is there a bloody tunic in your laundry?” he
posure to the divines and treated them with
asked in Spanish.

deference but not awe. The hotel clerk,

“No, lord,” she answered, emotionless.

whose nametag said “César,” was young

He sheathed the claw back into his hand.

enough and beautiful enough that he might

“Is there a back door?”

have passed for a god, but Mendel could tell

“It leads to our house, lord.”

by his genetic summary—or, more properly,

He asked if he could get to the roof by that
his lack of a summary—that he was as natural
way. He could. For a short, waddling woman,
as Floribunda and would be handsome a few
she moved in a hurry, and silently, and he fol-
years more at most. With the rest of the hun-
lowed her into a dusty cinderblock courtyard
dred new dollars he ordered a fresh tunic, six
with a legion of geraniums growing in old
tacos de suadero, and three liters of Am-rusted cans. The lip of the roof hung three
brosia beer, and he slept that night in a bed meters or so above the ground; Mendel leapt,
that bore some resemblance to the bed of a
caught the lip, and vaulted himself up. He
god.

looked back at her only a moment to say in

On waking, he felt again the perfect confi-
his antique Spanish: “From this day the gods
dence that he would walk out of Desiccant
bless your house.” Then, with the same f in-

Wells with the child of Lupe Hansen. The
ger that a moment before had been a blade of

THE DAUGHTERS OF JOHN DEMETRIUS

37

ANALOG
f ingernail, he exhorted her to be silent. He

Or not so silently. Before he had run a kilo-
stayed not a moment to see her bowing defer-
meter, he heard the child’s racking breathless
entially, but like a loon lifting off from the wa-sobs. Only, they came not from the girl on his
ter he glided across the roof and leapt into
shoulder: He looked back to see another child
the street behind, and then he ran faster than
who had run after them, who had covered
any lilith deep into the mirages of the desert.

only half the distance and now stood alone on

He took a roundabout way back to Desic-
the empty mesa in the gathering night. The
cant Wells, running far to the west into the
twilight had darkened so that he had to dou-
creosote and circling back southeast. It was
ble back to see who was there. In her thread-
nearly noon when he arrived, and a call went
bare loincloth and dusty as an unearthed root,
up when he came into sight of them. By the

Floribunda stood wheezing and snot-nosed
time he walked into the central courtyard they
and miserable.

were arrayed in front of him in all their scabby

“You have to go back to your parents,” he
glory like a choir. In the center of the forma-
said to her. “I can’t take you with me.”

tion, looking more desolate even than the day

“No tengo parents,” she gasped. “I am hija before, Lupe Hansen stood with her arms
de San Juan Demetrio.”

draped protectively over her daughter before

“Who cares for you in the village? They are
her. Yet at the girl’s feet was a backpack, and
worried for you right now.”

she stood dressed and washed and combed

“I am hija de San Juan Demetrio.”

like a lamb for sacrifice.

The gesture he made, running a hand

The headwoman was the f irst to speak,
through his hair while he looked down at the

“Will you, lord, cure us of our sickness?”

problem she represented, was the gesture any

He showed them the trick with the water
god, or any natural, might make in answer to a
and ashes that would soften the corn kernels,
stymie. He might scoop her up and carry her
that trick which even the poorest village in
back like a sack of meal, if he could put up

Mexico would have known in the last age, that
with the indignity of returning, of appearing
trick which in fact had been discovered not far
before the vulgaris like one of them, like from Desiccant Wells nearly four thousand
some harried uncle with a kicking child under
years before. As far as the villagers were con-
his arm. Or he could leave her. She might re-
cerned, Chloe Hansen was a fair trade for such
turn to the village on her own.

knowledge.

He considered the problem longer than he

During the celebratory dinner, the little girl
intended to, staring a full minute at the im-
looked at him balefully and silently. If she had
pediment before him. Floribunda looked nei-
cried on learning that she would go with him,
ther at him nor at Chloe but rather kept her
or if she was to cry about it later, she wasn’t
eye on the purple and green horizon with a
crying now. Of course, Mendel had taken the
grim intensity, like the captain of a little ship other children whether they had cried or not.

in the open sea.

But it was always easier for him if they didn’t

Then he saw another shape far off in the
cry.

failing light. But moving quickly: low to the

The Sun was low before they were ready to
ground on four feet, head thrust forward like a
set out. The headwoman and others clamored
jackal, limbs sweeping along double-jointed
for him to stay one more night, to leave in the
and implacable it came toward them. It was
morning—give the girl one more night with
the lilith.

her mother. But the girl would be safe at night,

He scooped up the other girl and ran. He

Mendel assured them, and no marauder on
moved like a gazelle even with the two under
the road would be so foolish that he would try
his arms, though he ran with an effort that
to steal a child from a god.

was unfamiliar to him. He ran toward the line

They relented at last, and as the Sun was set-
of mountains far in the west, a kilometer, two
ting, he hoisted the little girl with her back-
kilometers, three. But soon enough he could
pack full of undoubtedly useless things. He left
hear the lilith scrambling not far behind him at a loping, gliding pace, not wanting to jar
over the hardpan, tearing the creosote from
the poor child more than necessary as she
its roots when she juked to match his turns
wept silently on his shoulder.

and scrambles.

38

JOE PITKIN

OCTOBER 2015

Both girls had fallen silent. With an instinct

He crouched to face her, his sword held
that had been honed in some ancestral mam-
above him like a scorpion’s sting. She crept
mal from a prehuman epoch, they had drawn
sidewise before him on the tips of her fingers
in their limbs to make of themselves tight bun-
and toes—he concluded that yes, her fingers
dles that Mendel grasped, one under each
were surely strong enough to break him if she
arm, like two lean footballs. But he knew after
should lay a hand on him.

a few minutes that the lilith was outrunning A rock struck her head from behind,
him, that any moment he would feel the
bounced away. Close behind the lilith he saw shock of her jaws around his Achilles tendon,

Floribunda, recovering her balance; the rock
and he would go down.

she had heaved had been the size of a loaf of

He cast the girls to either side, into the cre-
bread. But the lilith’s head twitched, no more osote and tamarisk. They flew from his arms
than that, no more than a flinch at the annoy-
silently, but before they crashed into the bush
ance of being struck by a rock that would

Mendel had spun about with the blade of his
have crushed a natural’s skull.

finger spiking like a chitinous rapier.

Mendel knew then that he was likely to die.

But she was faster than Perses had been,

The two girls would, too, if the lilith had it in and she had known what to expect from
her head to bring harm to them. The lilith

Mendel. The lilith cast herself wide of his arm, reared onto her legs a moment, her mouth
wary as a dog, and from her fangy mouth she
widened in the now-familiar grave contrac-
spit at him, something hot and corrosive that
tion.

seared his arm and shoulder.

Mendel took his fatal chance and did not

She had scrambled past him and turned to
dodge. A stream of the venom splashed his
face him again, just out of reach of his talon,
chest and funneled down his breastbone as he
and Mendel saw that when she spit at him her
leapt at her. But, as he had hoped, aiming her
mouth contorted like one about to vomit, and
venom took some concentration: One thing
the acid shot from beneath her tongue in two
she had not expected was that an enemy
streams. He dodged, and, spinning like a
might leap to embrace her just as she vomited
dancer, he leapt at her, throwing his arm wide
her poison. He too was stronger than he
to slash. But she too was fast and leapt back
looked: she fell back in his arms, just as the
beyond his reach, and once more, he felt the
spike of his finger slid into her side, under the searing stream cross against the skin of his
ribs.

midriff.

He felt himself weakening, his body strain-

The pain blinded him, or would have. But
ing to respond to the acid devouring his skin,
he had been blessed with a divine measure of
the systems going into shock, his heart chat-
endorphins in times of agony. In that timeless-
tering, his thoughts scrambling in the fog. Yet
ness brought on by death whispering in his
he retained the presence of mind to know that
ear, Mendel considered what he might do dif-
the lilith had gone weaker still: He could see ferently to get at the body of this spidery
the tip of his f ingerblade sprouting from the
woman, her elbows and knees all angles as
other side of her body, the blood draining
quick as Mendel Hodios could manage, almost
from her in great sheens down her legs. Her
as quick as Mendel even at his strongest. It
face showed neither panic nor suffering but
was he who dodged and leapt back now,
rather an impregnable calm.

keeping always her stream of venom from

And then, he could hold her up no longer
landing on his flesh.

and she fell back, and he also, a moment later.

He did not know this lilith. Her hands and The sky was purple above him. He heard a
feet looked slender, not for crushing, though
rushing sound that might have been the wind,
he had been fooled by slim hands before: He
or perhaps a sound coming from within him.

had seen more elfin hands than hers choke the

The pain hammered.

life out of a full-grown vulgaris. Perhaps it was A minute later, or perhaps five, perhaps af-her jaw that would crush him, or her sinewy
ter he was already dead, he heard the two girls
legs, when the venom finally wore him down.

breathing above him. He heard the zipper of

Her tactic would be the last thing he discov-
the little green girl’s pack. Then a trickle of
ered, or he would never discover it at all.

water into his mouth, ambrosia.

THE DAUGHTERS OF JOHN DEMETRIUS

39

ANALOG

“Pour the water over my skin,” he said. He
water could be found. He had no compunc-
was overcome with gratitude that Lupe
tion now about linking with the satellite—the

Hansen had sent her daughter with a three-
girls watched him and noticed nothing more
liter bottle in her backpack. The water ran
than that he closed his eyes for a time. If the
cold and excruciating over his pulsing, blis-
maps were accurate, a creek ran sixteen kilo-
tered flesh.

meters to the west, near the foothills of the

The two girls crouched in front of him as he

Sierra Madre.

lay on his back. They watched silently like two

He logged off, opened his eyes as though he
creatures inured to suffering, or so acquainted
had been sleeping for a few minutes, smiled at
with it that they did not consider his agony
the two girls who looked at him like two in-
worthy of comment.

scrutable frogs. He pushed himself to his feet

He lay there through the night, his skin
and observed the pounding of his head as his
howling in the cool of the breeze. When the
humors balanced. Behind the girls the lilith’s sky had brightened enough that he could
corpse lay staring at the Sierra Madre.

make out their features, the girls still watched

He crouched over her body and drank what
him, sleeplessly, the way old women had tend-
blood he could from the wound. There was
ed f ires for a million years. He could feel the
not much left. If her blood carried radio tags,
flood of macrophages and growth hormones
perhaps no one would catch up with him un-
already released into his tissues; by dawn he
til he was safe at Handy’s.

was able to hoist the three liter bottle himself,

“Now you have to walk with me a long
to drain the last milliliters of water into his
way,” Mendel told the girls, extending a hand
mouth.

to each of them. Floribunda took his right

If he could run unburdened, Handy’s re-
hand, caked with the lilith’s blood. The three doubt lay six hours to the west. As it was, he
of them walked in the direction of the pass,
might walk there with the girls in three days if
and water. ■

40

JOE PITKIN

BIOLOG Richard A. Lovett

JOE PITKIN
t’s not uncommon for Analog contributors to start life as scientists and then become writers. Joe Pitkin did it the other way: He began

Ias a writer and then became a scientist.

The son of a literature professor from Utah

State University, Pitkin grew up reading classic
science fiction and fantasy and watching Carl

Sagan host the original Cosmos on public television. Not that those were his only interests. “I
was reading all kinds of other stuff,” he says.

Photo by Carolyn Eames

In college, he followed his father’s footsteps
by majoring in liberal arts, and then getting a
master’s degree in English—a decision that tem-
porarily cooled his passion for science fiction.

That was partly because he was becoming a
poet and translating Spanish poems for a poetry

Not surprisingly, his interest in biology has in-
journal. (He is also conversant in Hungarian and
fused his fiction. His first Analog sale, “A Mur-German, although not at that high a level.) But
muration of Starlings” (June 2012), involved
academia can be hard on science fiction enthusi-
birds and plagues. His second, “Full Fathom
asts. “In school, I picked up a lot of the preju-

Five” (September 2013), involved alien life be-
dices my English teachers had against [the]

neath the ice of Jupiter’s moon Europa. This is-
genre,” he says, “It wasn’t until my thirties that I sue’s story is about genetics and the future of hu-went back to the science fiction I loved and realmanity. “One of the real, morally complicated
ized there was a lot more there than some peo-
issues in science has to do with how we define
ple gave credit for.”

ourselves and how we are coming to alter our-

Meanwhile, he’d moved to Vancouver, Wash-
selves,” he says.

ington, where he’s worked ever since as an Eng-

The ideal science fiction story, he says, works
lish professor at Clark College. It was teaching, in for the same reasons as any other form of good
fact, that brought him back to science fiction.

art. “Good art creates expectations and then vio-

“There was a science fiction and fantasy course
lates [them] in a way that is more pleasing than
in our department that was going begging for a
you expected. If a story just ends the way you ex-teacher,” he says. “I took it because there was no pected it to end, then what you’ve read is a
one to teach it, and I had some background in
bunch of clichés or something that’s trading in
science fiction. Teaching that class, I thought,
theories that have [already] been covered. A real wow, there is some great literature there.”

piece of art will surprise you with something

Simultaneously, his interest in science was
better than what you hoped for.”

resurging to the point that last year, he complet-Analog stories, he says, are special because ed a master’s degree in environmental science,
they add an unusual degree of science. “One of
studying the regrowth of vegetation on a portion
the things I love about Analog stories is their rig-of Mt. St. Helens that had been totally devastated or,” he says. “The best really pay attention to the by the 1980 blast. “It’s one of the few primary-science.” But they are also good stories. “The
succession laboratories on Earth,” he says, “one
writer understands how dialog works and how
of the few places on Earth in recent history
to achieve an effect with subtlety,” he says.

where all of the biology was wiped out. We’ve

“The[y] work as literature and also are scientifispent the last 35 years watching it come back.”

cally provocative.” ■

41

Butterflies
on Barbed

Wire

Marie Vibbert
amien goes to the front of the shop, a

“Flexi-Print is the state of body art today.

room papered in tattoo designs

You’re behind the times.”

grouped in large chunks—animals to

Damien points to the “NO SOLICITORS” sign.

Dthe left,tribal designs to the right,let- “I’d sure love to talk,ma’am,but I’ve got a tering and fonts all along the top and in be-customer.” The comforting buzz of Grand-
tween things squeezed here and there. Up
pa’s tattooing in the room behind makes his
high on one wall, where children won’t be
lie obvious.

able to get to it, is a f lap that says “This tat-She stretches an arm between him and the
too is free” covering a shot of a guy’s dick
curtain to the back room. “Let me leave you
with a tiger on it. It’s been up there since be-
a sample. You may change your mind.”

fore Damien was born, and no one has ever

“Okay,” Damien says. “Then go.”

taken them up on the offer. He doesn’t

She sets her case on the cashier stand and
know if the tat was done in this shop or is
f ishes around in it. “I know you don’t even
one of those pictures passed around the in-
have the basic model, but what I’m really sell-
ternet.

ing is this new technology that works off of

An older woman stands eyeing the f lap du-

Flexi-Print. It’s called Scrim. It not only displays biously. She has a leather briefcase hugged to
both animation and still art on your skin, but
her chest like schoolbooks, and this makes
also real 3D. Imagine a hole in your arm show-
her seem young, but he can see the grey un-
ing your bones or a parrot on your shoulder.”

der her red hair dye. “Can I help you?”

She taps her wrist with a pen, and the

Damien asks.

lizard pops out of her skin with a rippling an-

She smiles a sales rep smile. As she turns,
imation. It pauses to glance up at him after
he sees an animated LED tattoo, a lizard
each circuit around her wrist.

crawling around her right wrist. “I see you

Damien imagines exposed gears inside his
don’t yet carry Flexi-Print.”

arm and a dragon on his shoulder. He takes

“No ma’am,” Damien says. “We’re just a
the silver plastic baggies from her and thanks
tattoo shop.”

her.

42

OCTOBER 2015

He cuts back through the workroom with-

“No, I won’t. I love it.”

out looking at Grandpa and the girl getting

She drew deep cobalt lines down from the
her son’s name on her neck. He goes through
edges of the butterf ly wings, lighter on the
the door that leads from the shop to the
front side like a real insect.

house.

The next day at school, he peeled the ban-

Dad and Uncle Ray sit on the sofa watching
dage back carefully while his friends gath-
a documentary about sea life. Damien sits
ered close around the cafeteria table. There
next to Ray because that’s where Aubery sat,
was a moment of silence that lasted too long.

with her long, f ish-white arm touching his.

Frank wrinkled his nose. “Dude,” he said.

Damien doesn’t like to think about other

Like one beast, his friends all dropped
ways they touched, about how Aubery was
back into their chairs, away from him.

Ray’s wife even before she was Grandpa’s ap-

“That’s a girl tattoo,” Liam said.

prentice, but even so, he f inds himself laying

Jake got up on his chair f lapping his arms
his arm, in its long white sleeve, next to Ray’s
and singing in falsetto, “Damien’s a butterf ly!

on the couch. Ray shifts and scowls at

A pretty butterf ly!”

Damien. “What are you doing?”

Damien’s admiration for Aubery’s art solid-

Damien gets up. “I’ll start dinner.”

if ied right then into passionate love for the

“Why aren’t you in the shop?” Dad asks,
butterf ly tattoo. He stood up. “Forget you
without looking away from the TV.

guys,” he said.

“Grandpa’s got it,” Damien says.

Frank stepped in his way. Damien pushed

He leaves the Flexi-Print samples in the
him. Like the natural pull after a wave hits
cupboard with the baking supplies. No one
the beach, Frank pushed back. The f ight felt
else will see them there.

right, even the part where Liam and Jake
wrestled them apart.

When Damien was sixteen, his father said

Dad came to the school in his stained T-
he could get his f irst tattoo. Aubery had
shirt that showed too much of his hairy belly.

moved in just a year before. She waited for

Damien got to go home early and wondered
him to settle into the client chair. “What do
at how it felt like neither a reward nor a pun-
you want?” she asked.

ishment. Dad was silent in the car. He

His skin tingled with possibilities. “What-
pushed Damien’s shoulder as they entered
ever you want.”

the kitchen. “Go on up to your room; you’re

“You don’t mean that. You’ve had sixteen
grounded for f ighting.”

years to look at the pictures in the front of-

Their house was (is) like an anthill; human-
f ice.”

thickness paths worn through the piled de-

“I want to see what you’ll draw when no
tritus of time and absent people—quilts,
one makes you draw something,” he said.

teacups, board games. Damien lay on a bed

For the first time, she really looked at him,
that used to be his great aunt’s and watched
like he was interesting to her. “You’ll take that the bowling trophy and clown lamp, both of
back,” she said. “I could want to do the tiger.”

unknown origin, rock into each other as his

He pointed to his arm. “Whatever you
father’s heavy steps shook the hallway.

want. Right there.”

“You’re turning him into a woman!”

So she picked up a pen and sketched a but-

“Ray! Don’t let your brother talk to me like
terf ly. She raised her eyebrows at him. He
that!”

knew she expected him to squirm and com-

The hollow-core laminate door did little to
plain about a girly tattoo. “Whatever you
block the progression of the argument.

want,” he repeated.

Damien looked at the cracks on the ceiling

They stared at each other like it was one
and concentrated on the pleasant burn of his
long game of chicken as she inked in that
new tattoo.

butterf ly. Her hands were good, and her eye

Aubery pushed his door open so hard the
for detail and line. The butterf ly came to life
top hinge cracked. “You’re coming with me,”

on his arm in delicate tracery even before she
she said.

added color. “You’re going to get made fun of

Her face was wet and her hand shaking.

at school,” she said.

He let her lead him down into the shop, let

BUTTERFLIES ON BARBED WIRE

43

ANALOG
her peel his bandage off and wash away the
is familiar with the basic concept. Inside the
ointment. With a look of angry determina-
foil packet is a rectangle of white mesh with
tion, she carved barbed wire into his skin.

a sticky backing. You laid this sticky-side

Sharp point after point, she caught the but-
down on your skin where you wanted the
terf ly in it, tore its wing, and made it help-
image to be, and then used a special stylus to
less.

push each cross of the mesh into your skin,

The guys at school preferred this tat.

embedding too-tiny-to-see emitters, like in-

Damien didn’t like to see a creature suffer,
jecting ink for tattoos. Damien can try the
even an imaginary one suffering imaginarily,
display out without injecting it, instead just
but he didn’t complain. He’d already decided
leaving it on his skin.

his skin was hers to do with what she want-

He rolls up his sleeves. His f irst instinct is
ed.

to cover the vulva. He sets it there, and then
immediately pulls it off. The embarrassing

Damien wakes up early and takes a shower
tattoo is his, and so is the humiliation, and he
with the pink soap Aubery used, which is
doesn’t want to lose any of it. He looks
still in the shower since no one will throw
brief ly at his other arm—at the butterf ly
away. He watches the bubbles slide over his
caught in barbed wire.

tattoos. Damien has a vulva tattooed on his

He sits down and lays the mesh on a bare
inside right forearm. It is open and glistening
patch of skin above his knee. He doesn’t
and not at all stylized.

want to cover any of Aubery’s tats, not the
ones that mean something nor the ones that

It was Aubery’s last attempt to play tattoo
are just doodles. He loves the doodles best,
chicken with him. Her face was thin and pale
because the y don’t mean anything but
under the thick bandana that covered her bald

Aubery.

head. Her eyebrows and lashes had always

There’s a memory chip that can hold your
been pale and wispy, always half gone, but
custom program. Right now it has a demo in
still the f leshy, naked edge of her eyelid was
it. He pops it into the provided stylus and
horrifying. She was silent, and he feared a
passes it slowly over the mesh to activate it.

space had opened between them, but when

The mesh shimmers, and then an orange and
she f inished the initial ink, a grin cracked
blue oval is f lipping, end over end, into and
across her cheeks and she said, “I really ruined
out of his thigh. The illusion is only slightly
you, didn’t I?” Her hand ran over the lines of
marred by the mesh backing.

previous tattoos, and they kissed and cried.

It is, in a way, his first tattoo since Aubery’s
death. He’s trying to decide if he hates it for

The tattoo doesn’t look like Aubery’s vulva,
being unworthy of that when Grandpa shuf-
which was darker on the outside and pinker
fles in, his slippers scraping on the linoleum.

inside and altogether more wrinkled.

Grandpa holds a cup of coffee to his face

Damien wears long shirts a lot. He puts on
and inhales deeply, leaning back against the
a second-hand shirt for a baseball team he
draining board. He takes a long mustache-
has never watched or cared about. Long red
strained slurp and opens his eyes. They im-
sleeves.

mediately track to the colorful animation on

He goes to the kitchen and sets a pot of

Damien’s thigh. Coffee spills over the clean
cof fee brewing with chicor y, just how
dishes as Grandpa throws his mug in the

Aubery always did.

sink. “Where’d you get that?”

Grandpa and Uncle Ray won’t come down

“A sales rep,” Damien begins. He reaches
until they smell the coffee already brewed.

for the control wand, but Grandpa tears the

Dad won’t come down until the day is half
adhesive f ilm from his skin before he can
over. Damien opens the cabinet for baking
pick it up.

supplies so he can make the scones Aubery

The logo blinks and sways in the air, hol-
used to make and sees the silver foil packets
low on the back as Grandpa shakes it. “We
from the sales rep.

make permanent art. It hurts. It’s a part of

There is a pretty, plastic-feeling card with
you. You get buried with it.” He slaps the
instructions and holographic images. Damien
mesh down on the table. The image breaks

44

MARIE VIBBERT

OCTOBER 2015
into two identical copies, one smaller than

He’s making the black currant scones
the other, rotating into each other like beat-

Aubery made.

ers on a mixer.

Ray looks like he might cry, and he knows

Grandpa turns back to the sink, his passion
it, and it scares him. “I don’t want any more
def lating. “Shiiit. Look at this mess you made
fucking scones,” he says.

me make.” The pieces of the cup clink to-

Damien is frozen, unprepared for a morn-
gether as he gathers them.

ing without scones. How will his family not

Damien carefully picks at where the sticky
f ly apar t without Auber y’s scones and
backing has folded against itself.

Aubery’s coffee holding the center?

Grandpa returns to the table with a fresh

“I like to cook,” he says.

cup. He watches Damien working to straight-

“Make bacon. Make eggs.”

en out the sample. He turns it off, so it’s just

Dad comes stomping down the stairs care-
a piece of mesh, like a square of sticky ban-
lessly like a large weight dropped from the
dage.

landing above. Everyone turns to watch him

“Just throw it out,” Grandpa says. “You
enter, and he looks at everyone else.

know I how I feel about that shit.”

“Damien, why the hell do you always have

“It was free,” Damien says. “I wanted to try
to be doing women’s work when I see you?”

it.”

Dad asks.

“These candy-asses today. They don’t even

Damien leaves the half-formed dough on
know what the scene was about.”

the counter and walks out the kitchen door.

Damien pushes the wrinkled gauze back
into its foil packet. “You do capsule ink,” he

There is nothing in their tiny town other
says.

than the tattoo shop, a bar, an old general

Grandpa scowls. “The hell! Boy, that ain’t
store, which sometimes opens as an antique
even the same thing!” His face is red enough
shop, and an abandoned gas station. There’s
to wash out the dragon that curls around his
a new gas station with a convenience store
left eye.

f ive miles up the road near the freeway en-

Damien goes back to the baking cupboard
trance, and, for most people, that’s the real
and gets out the big mixing bowl. “I’m mak-
center of town.

ing scones,” he says.

Damien knows his dad has a sometimes-sex-

“Thank Christ,” Grandpa says, “Finally
ual relationship with Madison, the bartender at
something useful.”

Billy and Charlie’s. The bar is owned by a man

Damien is cutting the butter into the f lour
named Mike. He chose the bar name because
when he hears Uncle Ray enter and get his
he thought that two men’s names sounded
coffee. “Can you believe what your nephew
friendly, and he didn’t know anyone named
brought into this house?” Grandpa asks.

Billy or Charlie who could take offense.

Damien listens to all the reasons tempo-

It’s daytime, and the bar is empty. Madison
rary tattoos are evil. He thinks about capsule
leans her heavy breasts on the bar top,
ink, which they sell. It’s just the same as a
watching Damien play a simulation he has
regular tattoo, but the ink is water-soluble. It
just written on the Flexi-Print. It’s supposed
sits in microscopic capsules that protect it,
to be Aubery’s face, but he hasn’t quite got-
but if the owner decides they don’t want
ten her, yet.

their tattoo anymore, a quick spray of a cer-

“I can select a solid shape, or a point,” he
tain chemical breaks the capsules and the tat-
explains, tapping the stylus on Aubery’s too-
too bleeds away as quickly as a phone
round cheek and then sliding it thinner. “You
number written in pen.

never have to stop changing it.”

The embedded projectors are more perma-

“That’s why your grandpa doesn’t like it.”

nent.

“But I don’t even need a device to run the

“Stop that,” says Uncle Ray. It takes a sec-
software. It’s all included. I can really do this, ond repeat for Damien to realize he’s talking

Madison. Maybe you could talk to my dad
to him. He turns from his mixture. Ray is
about it?”

standing directly behind him. “Stop making

Madison purses her lips and pulls away
those. Make something else.”

from the bar. She busies herself wiping down

BUTTERFLIES ON BARBED WIRE

45

ANALOG
the taps. “Truth is, your dad asked me to talk
blames Grandpa for both his sons being un-
to you about something.”

able to move on or get a job. He wonders

“I don’t want to go to the junior college,”

about Grandma, and if there was another

Damien says. His visit to the local junior col-

Madison, or another cancer. She’s only a pho-
lege depressed him. There was all that empty
to in the living room, in a swimsuit, squinting
hope that knew it wasn’t going anywhere but
into the sun, the color all faded from age.

was trying so hard to pretend.

There’s a photo of Aubery next to it, now.

Madison smiles. “No, not about that.

Its wooden frame is the newest, most expen-

Though you should, you know. Get out of
sive thing in the house. It looks spliced in by
this place, somehow.” She gives the taps one
too-sharp special effects.

more thorough wiping each and steps back.

Damien can’t use the model of Aubery

She looks guilty. She walks around the bar
when he demonstrates the Flexi-Print to Dad
and takes the stool next to him. “When’s the
and Ray. In his room, he starts a new f ile. He
last time you were with a woman?” Her eyes
will make a butterf ly. He pulls up the shapes
move back and forth, searching for some-
tool and makes two rectangles to start the
thing in his face. She leans closer. “When’s
wings and a cylinder for the body. Then the
the last time you had sex? Have you had
heel of his hand pushes the mesh accidental-
sex?”

ly and because the mesh isn’t perfectly on its

“I . . . uh, I’m eighteen. ” He thinks of
slick backing it wrinkles. One of the rectan-

Aubery naked, skin like paprika sprinkles on
gular wings distorts. It’s not simple, not like
egg white. Aubery holding a f inger to his lips
a water ripple. A tiny iteration of the rectan-
as she steps into his shower, silently daring
gle has popped out of it. He thinks about the
him to make a sound. He thinks of Madison
logo splitting.

with his father, about where her tan-lines end

Damien spends a long time wrinkling and
and about the picture when she was younger
folding the mesh. He puts the butterf ly on
and had just gotten the star tattoo on her hip,
the fold of his elbow and watches it change
holding her pants down lower than neces-
as he moves.

sary and laughing at his father behind the

No one calls him down to dinner. Grandpa
camera.

makes pork and beans, and no one saves

Madison pats his hand. “Your father’s wor-

Damien a portion. He eats a scone and makes
ried about you. There aren’t that many girls
more coffee and stays up all night, working
your age around here.”

on his butterf ly. The way 3D images fold is

“When I’m ready to meet someone,” he
different from f lat images, and it fascinates
says, “I know where to go.”

him. The motion of the skin becomes a part

Her f ingers curl around his wrist as he
of the art.

starts to stand. “You do like girls, don’t you?”

Sometime around two in the morning, not
she asks.

knowing why, he adds a curl of barbed wire

“Very much,” he says.

under the butterf ly. Low and shallow, it is

He leaves before she can ask the next ques-
harder to break with folding. It holds its form
tion.

as wings tessellate and compress over it.

Damien doesn’t blame his Dad for his

Damien shows them the logo f irst, then
mother leaving. He doesn’t blame his moth-
the butterf ly. He doesn’t wrinkle the mesh—
er, either. She left because Dad slept with
he doesn’t want to have to explain it. With-

Madison. Dad slept with Madison because he
out any wrinkles the lines on the wings
couldn’t help himself. Damien understands
appear random, but it is still a passable but-
that.

terf ly, if not real and alive like the one

They are living with Grandpa and Uncle

Aubery drew.

Ray temporarily, until Dad gets his affairs to-

Dad chews the inside of his cheek. “Dad’ll
gether after the divorce. It’s been ten years,
never agree to it,” he says.

and Dad still hasn’t gotten his affairs togeth-

“I’ll sell designs online, from my room. I
er. Damien does blame him for that. He
just need my own data plan,” Damien says.

blames cancer for killing Aubery, and he

“Grandpa will never know.”

46

MARIE VIBBERT

OCTOBER 2015

Dad looks at Ray. Ray shakes his head.

face, like he and Aubery are spliced together.

“There’s just no money for it,” Ray says.

The nose isn’t quite right.

“Why can’t you do something,” Damien

He turns to the side and watches her slip
asks his dad. “Why can’t you get a job? Some
into negative, like a wax casting.

kind of job?”

He turns it off.

Dad’s face gets red just like Grandpa’s.

He thinks about sex on the bunk beds in

Damien blacks out for a second after the
the storeroom. Solidity. Solid objects. His f in-
punch to his jaw. Not long enough to fall.

gers crushed between the headboard and

Dad stomps away.

wall. He thinks about his father and his un-

“You shouldn’t have said that to your own
cle, on those same bunks as boys, also trying
father,” Ray says.

so hard not to be heard. That is his family—

“Why don’t you get a job?” he asks Ray.

living on top of each other and trying not to

“Why don’t you?”

touch.

Damien doesn’t answer that he has a job as

Holograms can’t bruise each other.

Grandpa’s assistant. Grandpa doesn’t pay him

He opens his butterf ly f ile. He deletes the
because times are tough. He stands mutely
barbed wire and watches the butterf ly f lex
while Uncle Ray storms off muttering, “Like
its wings a few times on his arm. He has f ig-
jobs can just be got.”

ured out how to match it to the range of mo-
tion of his elbow. As he bends and

Damien smoothes the Flexi-Print sample
straightens his arm, the butterf ly twists and
over his Adam’s apple. He looks at himself in
takes off, hovers and drops. He smiles.

the dusty mirror. The clown lamp is behind

Damien packs scones and beer into the
him. He turns on the simulation. Aubery’s
lunch box Dad used to use when he had a
face f loats against his chin. He adjusts its size job. He writes out the directions to the sales
up as high as the small patch will allow. He
rep’s address on old receipt paper. He leaves
moves the image in front of his face.

Aubery’s diminutive face playing in the air

It won’t expand further than the width of
over the kitchen table, a placeholder for the
the patch. One third of Aubery covers his
space he leaves behind. ■

BUTTERFLIES ON BARBED WIRE

47

The

Philistine

Ted White
destroyed another painting today.

protesters out there every day, ready to scream

I fed it into the big machine and waited
imprecations at anyone entering or leaving,
while the machine hummed and sliced and
waving signs that ranged from professionally

Idiced it,extracting the entiretyof its made to crude,misspelled placards.

essence, and reducing it to a f ine powdery

“Philistine!” they shouted at me, day after
ash. Another van Gogh, gone. Like so many
day, since the day I started working there.

others. Canvas, frame, all gone.

Some almost struck me with their signs, which

But not for good. Not really. With the push
they brandished at me like threatening
of a button another machine would produce a
weapons.

new replica, theoretically indistinguishable

“Just ignore them, Harry,” Betta would say.

from the original—not that the original was

“They can’t hurt you. The police will see to
still available for comparison, of course. The
that.” My wife has never gone through this ex-
machine had created a digital file of “Still-Life perience. “Just pretend you don’t see them
with Straw Hat and Pipe” and as many copies
and walk right through, like they don’t exist.”

as were wanted could then be made. In time,

But I do see them. And then one day I saw
every major art museum that wanted one
someone I used to know. He caught my eye and
would have it.

it was too late to pretend I hadn’t seen him.

Ironically, I’m an artist—the traditional kind

“Harry,” he said in greeting. “Been years.”

who works in oils, although I’ve tried acrylics.

I shook his hand. “Robert,” I said. “How’ve

And I’m hugely conflicted about what I’m do-
you been?”

ing. But I had no choice. I could not support

Robert Lightner was a fellow artist. We’d ex-
myself and my wife as a gallery artist, and my
hibited together several times. He glanced at
wife was adamant that I take this job when it
the government ID hanging from my neck and
opened up.

said, “I didn’t know you worked here.” He

Leaving the downtown D.C. building where
didn’t have to say “you of all people.”

I worked as a Smithsonian employee was

I nodded. “Want to get a drink down the
always like running a gauntlet. There were
street? Catch up some?”

48

OCTOBER 2015

Once we were settled on stools in the Oasis
prevent that, due to the nature of the artworks

Bar & Grill, drinks in front of us, Robert asked, that have been destroyed to create them.”

“Harry, what happened? I never expected to

“Have they ever experimented with, you
see you working there. I mean, you—you have
know, mice or anything?”

a tradition in art.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But probably, be-

He’s referring to my Italian heritage. Three
cause really it’s a duplicator. You can duplicate generations back, the family name was
anything, but I don’t think they’d come out
changed from Bellagio to Bell, a fact I once
alive. Anyway, it doesn’t have to be art.”

confided to him in another bar. My grandfather

“So why is it art?”

was a stone carver, but I think I’m the f irst

“Money. It costs a lot to create a duplicate.

known painter in the family.

The machines themselves cost millions. Then it

“I’m not entirely comfortable with it,” I ad-
takes a ton of energy at both ends, just to start mitted.

with, and of course there’s the raw materials

“Reducing great art to machine-made, mass-
used, which already have a lot more energy in-
produced pieces—” Robert said.

vested in the state they’re in to make them us-

“Making great art accessible to the whole
able. Very little direct labor cost, the machines world—” I responded, and for a few minutes,
are automatic, once started. But still—a hypo-
we recited cant back and forth. We both knew
thetical example. Say I put a gold bar through—”

all the arguments, and to give Robert his due,

“Does it get destroyed, or can you use the
he was no more welded to his side of the argu-
same gold in the reconstitution?”

ment than I was to mine.

“It’s destroyed. What’s left is no longer gold.

“Have you ever seen one of those things pro-

But real gold has to be used to build the dupli-
duced?” he asked.

cate—along with all that energy. The result is

“I have. We have a duplicator, an art print-
that the duplicate costs five or six times what
er in the room next to where I work.” I sup-
the original bar was worth. So,” I grinned, “no
pose the art printers had their earliest origins
gold bars are replicated. But great art—it’s
in color printers—those devices which some
priceless. And if you could have a hundred du-
used to reproduce currency, if not great art.

plicates of van Gogh’s ‘Still-Life with Straw Hat But I think their real genesis was in the 3-D
and Pipe’—that’s what I did today—at some
printers, which could create three-dimen-
thousands a pop, well, most museums f ind
sional objects by building up very thin layers.

that very affordable, even with the 100 percent

Art printers, which we call duplicators, take
markup to help pay for the program.”

it a step further, reassembling a painting from

Robert nodded and sighed and was about to
molecular components, producing a painted
respond when the bar’s door opened, and the
canvas on a frame that looks as real as the
decibel level went up 50 percent as a dozen
original—even to the wooden frame over
men and women carr ying protest signs
which the canvas has been tautly stretched.

swarmed in and saw us. They recognized

“When they come out, there’s this odor of

Robert. And I hadn’t taken off my ID badge.

turpentine. Ever y time I smell it I know

That was a mistake on my part.

they’ve printed something.”

I grew up in Brooklyn, a street kid until I

Of course I told him what I did. He’d already
went to Pratt, and normally I like to think I
guessed. “I don’t just feed in paintings,” I said.

handle myself well in bar brawls, but I’d had

“Prints, drawings, anything, really. I’ve fed in
just enough drinking with Robert to lose my
small statuary—I’ve got a size limit, but you
edge. That, and it’s been more than twenty
could feed an adult body through that ma-
years since I last got into a physical fight.

chine. Maybe not an obese one. . . .” We both

So when I was surrounded by those demon-
chuckled.

strators, I was slow to react. I didn’t immedi-

“If you wanted to get rid of a body . . .”

ately swing around and put my back to the bar.

Robert mused.

That was mistake number two.

“You’d have a digital file of what you’d done.

And I guess expecting Robert to be on my

Someone could recreate the corpse, and there
side was my third mistake.

you’d be again. And those digital files can’t be

But ultimately my biggest mistake had been
tampered with. There are software protocols to
not to realize that, due to its proximity, this bar THE PHILISTINE

49

ANALOG
was the demonstrators’ regular hangout,

Borgmann was at least twenty years younger
where they were known and liked—and either
than either Robert or me and had a fresh-faced
agreed with or sympathized with.

earnest look. He belied that by taking immedi-

This came home to me when—my back fi-
ate control of the situation, ushering us all into nally to the bar, people thrusting their signs
the restaurant, where he had a reservation for
and screaming abuse at me, Robert no longer
us. We were in luck and got the one table by
close by—the bartender tapped me on my
the front window in an almost private alcove
head with a from-behind-the-bar sap.

formed by the front door vestibule. Borgmann

I didn’t pass out, but my legs turned to rub-
and I sat facing each other, and, to my discom-
ber, my vision blurred, and I slid down to the
fort, Robert took the chair next to me, on my
f loor, one leg tucked under me, the other
left, furthest from the window and blocking
sticking straight out. An overweight woman
me in.

tripped on my outstretched leg and angrily

After we’d ordered, Borgmann leaned to-
stamped on it. An unshaven man leaned down
ward me and said, “I’m from Full Disclosure.

to yell at me that I wasn’t getting away from

Have you heard of us?”

them this easily and punched me in my left ear.

“One of those groups devoted to making

I ended up curling into a ball while some of
everything public? Government secrets, busi-
them kicked me or whacked me with their
ness trade secrets?”

signs.

“Essentially, yes. But we’re not interested in

When it was over, I saw several tattered
most government secrets. We devote our ener-
signs abandoned on the f loor. I staggered to
gy to ferreting out the illegal activities of the my feet, and the husky young bartender told
major global corporations, of which there are
me I’d have to pay for cleaning up the mess. I
too many.”

told him I ought to have him arrested, and

“I’ve never worked for any corporation, ma-
made my way out.

jor or minor,” I said.

“What’s wrong with you?” Betta said when I

“Robert tells me you work on art duplica-
got home. “Are you drunk? You look a mess!

tion.”

Disgusting!”

I turned to look at Robert. I realized I had

“I got beaten up,” I said through puffy lips.

him to thank—or blame—for this meeting. “I

“Because of the job. I don’t think I can take it.”

do,” I said.

“What are you talking about? You have re-

“What exactly do you yourself do?”

sponsibilities. You can’t quit. The way things Borgmann asked.

are, where would you find another job? You’re

“I’m not comfortable with this conversa-
lucky to have this one!”

tion,” I told him. “What’s your agenda here?”

“I could go back to painting.”

“Well, unlike Robert,” he said, nodding at

“No,” she said emphatically. “I won’t have

Robert with a brief smile, “I’m not a protester.

that. You’re too old for the starving artist bit.

I’m not opposed to art duplication. And I’m

That’s for young, single men.”

naturally curious. All I know is what anyone
knows, which is not much.” His voice grew

Less than a week later, I was contacted by a
softer, more earnest. “Please do me the favor of
man who asked to meet with me, and we
explaining a bit about what you do. I’m not
arranged to get together in a downtown restau-
asking for any secrets.”

rant for lunch.

“Nothing I do is secret. Most of it is drudge-

Of course I was suspicious. But I was sur-
work. Before any piece of art is duplicated it
prised when I was met by two men, and the
has to be as clean and, um, perfect as possible.

second was Robert Lightner.

Paintings are removed from their decorative

I did not greet him with enthusiasm, and I
frames and then cleaned. You might call it
avoided his proffered hand.

restoration. I don’t work alone. Several of us ar-

“What is this,” I asked him, “another setup?”

tisans work together. This is the most time-con-

“Harry,” he said, “this is John Borgmann.”

suming part. It can take hours or it can take

“I know that,” I said, shaking Borgmann’s
days. We are very careful, of course. When the
hand briefly. “We’ve spoken on the phone. But
piece is ready, I put it through the scanning
what are you doing here?” I scowled at him.

machine. As you know, it destroys the original.

50

TED WHITE

OCTOBER 2015

It breaks it down into its component mole-
lights flashing. And double-parked beyond them
cules.”

was an unmarked black car with lights flashing

“Have there been any cases where the origi-
from inside its windows. More uniformed cops
nal was destroyed and the duplication file was
and more men in suits now stood around the
corrupted? No dupes possible?”

fallen man. No one was assisting him.

“No,” I said, wondering if this was the dirt

“Is he dead?” Robert asked.

Borgmann was digging for. “No corrupt files.

“With nine or ten bullets in him—give or

You must understand that this isn’t some f ly-
take one or two—what do you think?” I failed
by-night operation. It’s a government enter-
to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

prise, as careful and as thorough as the

He gave me a what’s-wrong-with-you look

Manhattan Project. Everything was tested over
and said, looking past me, “Did you see, did
and over before an actual work of art—some-
the guy they shot, did he have a gun?” Then,
thing of value—was destroyed for the f irst

“What’s he doing?”

time. I’m sure there were failures in the early

One of the suits had noticed us staring out
days, before I was hired. I think most of them
and was nodding at us to his companions.

were in the duplicating machines, though—

Three of them walked over to the window and
not the digital files. I’ve heard talk from the en-positioned themselves directly in front of it,
gineers. But there’s incredible redundancy
their backs to us, blocking our view.

built in. If a f ile was corrupted, it wouldn’t

“That’s not very smart,” Borgmann said. “All
matter. There are multiple f iles created for
we have to do is—”

each artwork.”

“All you gentlemen need to do is to pay your

“I wondered about that,” Borgmann said as
check and leave,” said another man in a suit
our meals arrived. Mine was an odd variation
standing at our table. “By the back door. Now.”

on a BLT using fried pork belly for bacon.

Robert was seated closest to him and took it

I was swallowing a bite of my sandwich
on himself to remonstrate. He’d barely gotten
when there was the sound of gunshots imme-
his first syllable out when the suit interrupted
diately outside. I turned to look out the win-
him.

dow as Robert grabbed at my arm and said,

“I can have you taken in for interrogation,”

“Down, man!”

he said. “It takes hours, most of it spent in an

I shook him off, transfixed by the sight out-
empty room, alone by yourself, because we’re
side. A man had fallen on the sidewalk, just be-
very busy right now. I couldn’t guarantee your
yond the restaurant’s entrance awning. A
release in less than twenty-four hours. You pre-
uniformed MPD officer and two men in suits
fer that?”

stood nearby. One of those two men was hold-

Robert shrank, his shoulders signaling his
ing a gun. The way he was holding it, I was
defeat.

sure he’d been the shooter. The three were

I quickly picked up the second half of my
talking calmly. No one was arguing, and no
sandwich as Borgmann said, “I’ll take care of
one appeared to be in detention.

it,” brandishing his mobile, and the suit ush-

“My God,” Robert said. “Did you see that?”

ered us to the cashier, who got f lustered be-

“I did, no thanks to you,” I said.

cause we didn’t yet have a bill. But she knew

“I didn’t know who was shooting! For all I
something had happened out front and that
knew, bullets could be coming right through
we’d seen it.

that window. There were so many shots.”

In moments we were standing in an alley-

I looked across the table at Borgmann.

way next to the restaurant’s dumpster.

“John, do you know how many shots there

I checked the time on my mobile and said, “I
were?”

need to get back.”

“I counted nine or ten. Give or take one or

“I’m glad we met, Harry,” Borgmann said.

two.” He gave me a wry smile. “I wasn’t trying

“I’d like to stay in touch.”

to count them, but I have OCD and do it un-

I shook his hand and ignored Robert’s and
consciously. But I often forget as soon as I’ve
went back to work.

done a count.”

We both looked back outside. Two marked

The next time I saw Borgmann, he was

Metropolitan Police cars were now at the curb,
alone, waiting for me down the block from the

THE PHILISTINE

51

ANALOG
protesters when I got off work. He asked me if
it. But I tell myself I’ve just helped endow the

I’d join him for a drink. I agreed, as long as it world with that piece at its best. That helps.”

wasn’t at the Oasis.

Our drinks came. I sipped mine. Borgmann

He laughed. “I heard about that. I asked
said, “I agree. I don’t think that great art should Robert why you were being so short with him
be hidden away in private collections, hoarded
and he gave me the story. For what it’s worth,
by some very rich person.”

he’s really sorry. He wasn’t trying to set you up

“No,” I said. “It shouldn’t. It should be in
in there.”

public view, there to be seen. And duplication

“He certainly made no effort to help me,” I
makes it that much more accessible. And
said, and hoped I didn’t sound like I was whin-
something else duplication does—it keeps
ing. But I was glad Robert wasn’t with us.

these pieces from aging, from being destroyed

We walked several blocks in companionable
by fires or floods. As long as the file exists and silence to a smaller, quieter bar and took seats
a duplicator exists, the piece ‘exists.’” I made
across from each other in a booth near the
air quotes with my fingers.

back. I wondered if we were both avoiding

“Ah, those files,” Borgmann mused after sip-
windows overlooking the street.

ping his drink. “I’d love to liberate them.”

“You know,” I said as I slid into my seat, “I

“It’s not like going after corporate secrets, is
checked the news and there was nothing
it?”

about that shooting. Did you hear anything?”

He shook his head.

He smiled. “Oddly enough, I did—at work.

“Besides,” I said, “even if you had the files—

The plainclothes cop saw a man running down
copies of the f iles—what could you do with the street, so naturally he shot and killed him.

them? I mean, it’s not like you have a duplicator.”

Turns out, the man was running because he

“That wouldn’t be an insurmountable prob-
was late meeting his fiancée for lunch.”

lem. That machine was manufactured, and to

“Cops,” I said. “What’re you going to do?

government specs. By a contracting manufac-

Don’t run, obviously.”

turer, which will have those specs. Actually, the

“You said something that interested me,”

complete design will be locked up somewhere

Borgmann said, once we’d given our drink or-
hackable.” He was musing now, thinking aloud,
ders. Again he leaned toward me, as though
almost as if I wasn’t there. But then he looked
creating a more intimate setting for our con-
up, and we locked eyes for a moment, and he
versation. “You said when you created a file for
smiled. “You see how my mind works.”

a piece of art, you created many files.”

“So if you had some f iles, you could use

“Well, I don’t. The software does all that.” I them?”

shrugged.

“Not right away, but in time, yes.”

“Of course. But the f iles are created. Then

“What would you do with the duplicates?”

what? How are they transmitted to the printing

“Display them publicly, of course. But
machines?”

maybe not in stuffy art museums. Maybe

“It’s all done right there,” I said. “A hard-
where more people are, public places. And
wired network. Nothing leaves the building—
probably in areas—countries—where great art
except the duplicated art, of course. There are
is less commonly seen.”

only four duplicators—printers—with only

“You know these won’t come cheap. The
one in use at any time. The others are for back-
duplicator will cost you big time and each du-
up. Like I told you, redundancy.”

plicate will run up the tab. There’s no way to

“Robert told me you’re an artist,” Borgmann
get around that. This won’t be free art for the
said. “How do you feel, destroying all that
masses. You can’t make hundreds of dupes and
art?”

broadcast them to the world—unless you can

“Conflicted, of course. I’m not sure my be-
pay for it. And they don’t get any cheaper, the
ing an artist makes any difference. Look at all
more you make.”

those protesters—demonstrators—whatever.

He grinned at me. “Money is not an issue for

How many of them are artists? It bothers me

Full Disclosure. We are very well f inanced. I
every time I feed a piece into that machine. It
thought you knew that.”

doesn’t help that I’ve just spent time lovingly

I shook my head. “I know very little about
restoring it—investing something of myself in your group. Where do you fit in it?”

52

TED WHITE

OCTOBER 2015

“We’re not very hierarchical, but you could
box the original globe had come in. It seemed
say I run it. At least here I do.”

unnecessarily bulky. It wouldn’t fit in my pock-

“So you don’t have to clear anything with
et.

higher-ups?”

“Are you sure this is a good idea? Couldn’t

He shook his head. “No. What do you have
you come up with something less conspicu-
in mind?”

ous?”

“Something for each of us. Win-win. See,

“Take it back with you. Display it on your
here’s the thing. I think I could download
desk.” I didn’t tell him I didn’t have a real desk, some f iles—they’re very big—onto a f lash
just one I used when I needed it and shared
drive, some f lash drives. That I could do.” I
with my coworkers. I felt no need. I accepted
gave him a sharp look and continued.

the box and the plastic shopping bag it had

“But then what? Let’s say you get your du-
been in. The envelope with the money was in
plicator and you put it to use and you start
my jacket pocket. Throughout our lunch, I
making dupes. These things are going to at-
could feel its bulk between my left upper arm
tract attention. Sooner or later, but inevitably, and my breast. I found it reassuring.

the Smithsonian will f ind out. Unauthorized

That night, Betta’s after-dinner running
dupes of pieces they destroyed are turning up.

commentary on my def iciencies was longer

How did that happen? They investigate. They
and more cutting that usual. I turned the
narrow it down to me. I’ve violated the terms
sound off and stared at her with bemusement.

of my employment. What happens to me

How had I ever thought I loved her? Once,
then?”

she’d admired my paintings. Now she belittled

“We could easily hire you an attorney, Har-
me for them.

ry.”

She’d had a sizable inheritance and for a time

“Thanks. Someone to represent me while I
was willing to use it to subsidize me. I sold
sit in jail awaiting trial?”

some of my pieces, some of them for good

“We could post your bail.”

sums, and I’d had a spate of good sales in the

“I don’t think you’re getting it,” I told
first months of our marriage, but they dropped

Borgmann. “I have no appetite for being ar-
off and ceased to be dependable income. I’d
rested and put on trial, win or lose.”

never had a regular income, in the best of

“Okay. What do you have an appetite for?”

times. Feast and then famine. This was not

“Ideally? I’d like to get back to painting, to
what Betta wanted. She threw acid on our rela-
my own art.”

tionship.

He waited.

It was hard this evening to completely avoid

“In practical terms, that means I’d need the
hearing what she was saying, and gradually it
money to leave the country, relocate, and
dawned on me that she was leading up to
reestablish myself. Someplace where there’s no
something. Finally she delivered her punch
extradition to the U.S. I’m sure that could be
line.

done for no more money than you’d just said

“I’m leaving you. I’ve discussed it with an at-
you’d spend on me. The difference is, it would
torney. You’d better keep your day job—your
come directly to me—the artist. Support for
support payments will be hefty.”

the arts, huh?”

I think she intended that as a body blow, but

“So you want money.”

I didn’t flinch. Instead, I smiled at her and said,

“And you want the files.”

“That’s f ine. I’ve been wondering why we

He nodded. “I do. Let’s talk numbers. How
were still married.”

much would you need?” The haggling had be-

“You’ll have to move out, go to a hotel,” she
gun.

said. “Pack a suitcase.” She stood up. “I’ll call you a cab.” She plucked her mobile from her

I met with him a week later for another
purse.

lunch in a different restaurant. Borgmann gave
me a down payment on our agreed upon sum

I lived for nearly a month—four full
and a flash drive. It looked like a snow-globe, a weeks—in a residence hotel in Georgetown. I
kitschy paperweight. Unscrew the base to re-
used the time to get everything ready. At the
veal the USB connector. He gave it to me in the
end of the fourth week, I called Borgmann,

THE PHILISTINE

53

ANALOG
and he came to my hotel room. He had an at-
flash drive with incredible garbage he’d creat-
taché case. I had the snow globe, once again in
ed by literally scrambling code that he said he’d its box.

taken from a porn site. He didn’t think anyone

Borgmann took the globe out of the box and
could unscramble it in less than a week, but I
twisted off its base.

knew I couldn’t wait that long. I checked out

“I should tell you right now that you won’t
two hours later and left via the garage en-
get much if you plug that into most comput-
trance. I found a cab a block away on M Street.

ers,” I told him as he looked at the USB con-

It was Georgetown, after all.

nector. “All the code is proprietary, unique to

There were good reasons why I hadn’t got-
the duplication project—another layer of pro-
ten Borgmann the real files, the least of which
tection, I guess. One of the reasons it took me
was that I didn’t trust him to do what he said
so long; I had to get that thing reformatted.”

with them.

He balanced the globe in the palm of his

The best reason was much simpler: I
hand, its snowflakes swirling gently. “What are
couldn’t do it. I had no knowledge of the pro-
the other reasons?”

prietary computer system. I didn’t have the

“Are you kidding? Just finding a time I could
passwords. And a cursory covert examination
download a file wasn’t easy. I had to fit it in,
didn’t reveal any obvious USB connections any-
one here, one there. Some days I never had ac-
way. This was no off-the-shelf consumer com-
cess. And I wasn’t sure how many f iles it
puter, after all.

would hold. They’re huge, you know.”

I’d seen the man and his organization as

“How many files did it hold?”

heaven-sent, however. They had money and

“Seven.”

had given me some of it. Not a lot by their stan-

“Seven f iles? Seven paintings? We’ve paid
dards but a small fortune by mine. And it was
you awfully well for just seven,” he said, glanc-
good luck compounded when Betta finally de-
ing at the case.

cided she’d had enough of me. I’d planned to

So I picked it up and opened it. It was filled
pull a disappearing act as soon as I became
with banded bundles of hundred-dollar bills. I
aware of Borgmann’s interest in the art f iles,
riff led through several, digging down to the
but she made it easier, kicking me out.

bottom layer, and all were real, and they

I left D.C. that night, a late flight out of Na-
weren’t new and weren’t in sequential serial
tional. A rather cheaply purchased fake driver’s
number order. I counted the bundles, did a
license got me through security and onto the
quick calculation, and decided it was good.

plane. I took it to Atlanta, and from there, an-

“You’ve got the best there,” I said. “Da Vinci,
other f light to Los Angeles. There I bought a

Rembrandt, Picasso, top of the line. You’ve
used car with a second fake driver’s license
bought the best.”

and some cash, and drove east to Albu-

“Picasso?” He sounded dubious. “What peri-
querque, New Mexico.

od?”

I’ve settled into an artsy little community

“His best period, what did you think?” I
outside Albuquerque, and I’m doing what I al-
laughed. “Not his blue period.”

ways wanted to do. I’m painting. It feels

“Okay,” Borgmann said. “Good. I heard your
good. I’ve grown a full beard, which has trans-
marriage broke up. Are you going to continue
formed my appearance to a surprising degree.

living here? I guess you’ll be able to afford it.”

I’m living frugally, because even though I’m

“For now,” I said. “Eventually I think I’ll buy
starting to get a few sales, I’ve got to make my
a house in the upper Northwest.”

“fortune” last as long as I can. And I’ve

“Nice part of town,” he said, carrying the
changed my style. I’m “regional” now, and
globe, returned to its box, as he headed to the

I’m using a lot more bright primary colors—I
door. “Let’s stay in touch,” he said, and I closed used to think it was sophisticated, more sub-the door behind him.

tle, to use subdued colors. I don’t want to be

Of course, I had no intention of staying in
recognized as Harry Bell, and I’m not reveal-
touch. I knew it would take him and his crew a
ing my new name here. But as an artist I’m
while to break the code. I’d paid a sizable
thriving.

chunk of Borgmann’s down payment to an IT

I regard John Borgmann and Full Disclosure
guy I knew. He’d loaded the megacapacity
as patrons of the arts. ■

54

TED WHITE

THE ALTERNATE VIEW John G. Cramer THE RETARDING OF SCIENCE
ast October I added a Google Analytics
the “sure thing” that would be certain to lead
link to my online archive of these AV
to publishable results, thereby filling the sci-
columns. Among other things, this al-
entific journals with trivial results and chan-

Llows me to conduct a “popularitycon- neling research in the direction of the safe, test” of my old columns. Rather to my sur-the fashionable, and the obvious, and away
prise, the clear winner as the most popular
from the more risky innovations and break-
of my 177 Alternate View columns so far is
throughs at the frontiers of knowledge.

AV-04, “The Retarding of Science,” published Inspired by this concept, in 1984 I an-in the mid-December 1984 issue of Analog.

nounced the creation of the American Asso-

That column was my only tongue-in-cheek
ciation for the Retardation of Science and En-
foray into humor in writing these columns,
gineering (acronym: AARSE), dedicated to
but the surprising interest this 30-year-old
the retardation of scientific progress wherev-
column seems to have gathered encourages
er it may occur, in whatever field, in whatev-
me to do it again.

er place. AARSE is created for the specific

The December 1984 column was inspired
purpose of encouraging the retardation of
by a Leo Szilard short story, “The Mark Gable
scientific progress and of giving appropriate

Foundation,” which described the creation
recognition to those who have done the
of an endowed nonprofit foundation for the
most in the recent times to further this goal.

specific purpose of slowing the pace of sci-

Not having a zillionaire backer like the
entific progress. In the story, a physicist physicist in Szilard’s story, I have had to
emerged from cold-sleep two hundred years
change the rules slightly. I have made mem-
in the future to find that most of his scientific bership in AARSE free and open to all. AARSE
training was obsolete, and that science was
members are self-electing. Anyone can elect
progressing “altogether too fast as it is.” He
to become a member of AARSE. To become
enlisted the help of the world’s wealthiest
an active AARSE member, one has only to
man to create a nonprofit organization, the
make a copy of the Gold-Plated AARSE Cer-

Mark Gable Foundation, dedicated to retard-
tificate of Meritorious Effort reproduced fol-
ing scientific progress.

lowing this column and present it to any and

The Mark Gable Foundation achieved this
all who are worthy of recognition for their
objective by creating, for each major field of

work toward the goals of the AARSE organi-
scientific investigation, a panel of distin-
zation.

guished scientists that would meet monthly

In the first incarnation of AARSE, the 1984
to award prizes and grants for the best recent

Gold-Plated AARSE Awards went to Senator
scientific work. (The Foundation, as Szilard

William Proxmire, to the administrators of
pointed out, bears some resemblance to the

Columbia University and Catholic University,

U.S. National Science Foundation.) This plan,
to the Institute for Creation Research of El
it was explained, would keep the best of the

Cajon, California, and to the State Legisla-
older scientists away from their laboratories
tures of Arkansas and Louisiana. However,
and busy with unproductive travel, meetings,
many other awards were presented privately
and report writing and would cause the
by active AARSE members.

younger scientists in need of funds to go for

* * *

56

OCTOBER 2015

I had originally intended to present Gold-
pressure, a completely rigid steel football

Plated AARSE Awards each year in my Alter-
would have no change in volume, while a
nate View Columns, but somehow writing

“balloon-like” football with an elastic skin
columns about real science got in the way,
that responded linearly to gauge pressure
and the 1984 Awards turned out to be a one-
would have a volume decrease of 15.4%. A
time thing. However, in view of the amazing
real football that had been “rubbed down” by
online popularity of the old 1984 column,
the professional ball handlers to make it
and the fact that this is the thirtieth anniver-
more elastic should have a fractional change
sary of the creation of the American Associa-
in volume somewhere between these limits,
tion for the Retardation of Science and Engi-
which I estimate to be around Δ v/v = 3%.

neering, I want to revive the tradition and

(Enterprising readers of this column can get
present the 2015 Gold-Plated AARSE Awards.

out their footballs and check my estimate ex-

The first 2015 Gold-Plated AARSE Award
perimentally, perhaps by using a variation
goes to Boston Patriots Coach Bill Belichick
the method of Archimedes.)

for the press conference in which he provid-

The net result is that Belichick was at-
ed a “scientific explanation” of how 11 out of
tempting to explain a 10.2% change in Δ p/p

12 Patriot footballs and zero out of 12 Colts

+ Δ v/v with a 4.7% change in Δ T/T. His ex-footballs became deflated during their play-
planation was more than a factor of two off,
off game. Belichick set a new standard for
and he also failed to explain why the Colt’s

“baffle ’em with BS” in his pseudo-scientific
footballs did not show a similar pressure
explanation of the deflate-gate phenomenon,
drop. Complete confusion in the science of
which should strongly promote the retarda-
footballs and gas dynamics resulted. It is
tion of science. The “scientific experts” quot-
therefore with profound emotion that I pre-
ed by the media, and reaching a variety of
sent Coach Bill Belichick with the first Gold-
conf licting conclusions, did not do much

Plated AARSE Award of 2015.

better and also deserve Gold-Plated AARSE

Awards.

The second 2015 Gold-Plated AARSE

In view of the great number of botched ex-

Award goes to the 56% of Congressional Re-
planations of the role of the ideal gas law in
publicans who deny the existence of climate
the Patriot’s kerfuffle, let me here attempt to
change of human origin. This group has done
present the real issues. The ideal gas law,
an outstanding job of ignoring the views of
pv=nRT, for a constant number of air molethe roughly 98% of climate scientists who
cules and small changes in absolute tempera-
have a consensus agreement that anthro-
ture (i.e., temperature relative to absolute
pogenic warming is real and serious, while
zero), can be manipulated into the dimen-
quoting profusely from fringe sources and
sionless form Δ T/T = Δ p/p + Δ v/v, where the 1–2% of climate scientists that have ex-Δ T/T is the fractional change in absolute pressed other opinions. This is a brilliant ap-temperature, Δ p/p is the fractional change plication of a previously little-used technique
in absolute pressure (i.e., pressure relative to
that at a stroke confounds the distinction be-
vacuum), and Δ v/v is the fractional change tween science and uninformed opinion and
in volume. None of the media’s science ex-
brings scientific research into direct conflict
perts mentioned or considered the volume
with public ignorance in a way that has been
term and its effects.

sadly absent since the Flat-Earth consensus

If the footballs were inflated to a pressure
that existed before the voyages of Columbus
of 13 psi in a 70º F room, and then taken to a
and Magellan.

45º F field, the fractional change in absolute

This group has recently increased its
temperature is Δ T/T = 4.7%. If the gauge strength and effectiveness by assuming con-pressure drops from 13 psi to 11 psi, the
trol of the U.S. Senate, and it includes the
change in absolute pressure is Δ p/p = 7.2 %, leading climate-change deniers Sen. Jim In-so there is already a discrepancy.

hofe (R–OK), new chair of the Senate Envi-

However, a football does not have a con-
ronment and Public Works Committee, Sen.

stant volume when its internal pressure

Ted Cruz (R–TX) new chair of the Senate Ap-
drops. For a 2-psi-out-of-13-psi drop in gauge
propriations Subcommittee on Science and

THE RETARDING OF SCIENCE

57

ANALOG

Space, Sen. Ron Johnson (R–WI) new chair
eliminated from our shores. It is therefore
of the Homeland Security and Governmental
with profound emotion that I present to all

Reform Committee, and Sen. Mike Enzi
of the anti-vax parents their Gold-Plated

(R–WY), new chair of the Senate Budget

AARSE Awards for 2015.

Committee. We of AARSE are confident that
under this new and aggressive leadership,

Due to the space restrictions of this col-
the retardation of science will be able to
umn we are not able to give public recogni-
reach new levels of accomplishment.

tion to the many other individuals and orga-
nizations who richly deserve to receive a

The third 2015 Gold-Plated AARSE Award

Gold-Plated AARSE Award for their contribu-
goes to the many anti-vax parents of children
tions and efforts. However, we are confident
in the U.S. A. and U.K. who have wisely pro-
that the active members of our AARSE orga-
tected their children from autism by prevent-
nization will be able to give recognition to
ing their vaccinations for measles and other
most of these individuals on a personal basis
childhood diseases. They have bravely resist-
in the coming year, by presenting them with
ed the heavy handed prompting and require-
copies of the 2015 Gold-Plated AARSE Cer-
ments of government agencies and health au-
tificate of Meritorious Effort provided below.

thorities, who think that just because a link

And we expect a fruitful year of accomplish-
between vaccination and autism has been
ments in retarding science that will lead to a
overwhelmingly rejected by a long series of
whole new set of Gold-Plated AARSE Award
scientific studies, all children should be vac-
presentations in 2016.

cinated. These parents instead prefer to be

“on the safe side” by accepting the validity of

SF Novels by John Cramer: My two hard
an autism-vaccination link originally suggest-

SF novels, Twistor and Einstein’s Bridge, are ed in 1998 in a paper by British gastroen-newly released as eBooks by the Book View
terologist Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield’s

Café co-op and are available at:

publication has since been discredited and
http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/?s=Cr
retracted by the publishing journal, and he
amer.

has lost his medical license. These thoughtful

Alternate View Columns Online: Elec-
parents cover a broad range of ideologies
tronic reprints of over 177 “The Alternate
from Oklahoma redneck libertarians to Cali-

View” columns by John G. Cramer, previous-
fornia alternative medicine liberals, and they
ly published in Analog, are available online have done an outstanding job in confusing
at: http://www.npl.washington.edu/av.

the distinction between medical science and
uninformed opinion. It is clearly better to

Reference:

protect our children from the possibility of

Leo Szilard, “The Mark Gable Foundation”

autism, even if it means that thousands of
in The Voice of the Dolphins and other sto-
other children will be sickened or killed by a
ries, Simon and Schuster, New York (1961). ■
disease that we thought had been completely

The one sure way to conciliate a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured.

—Konrad Adenauer

58

JOHN G. CRAMER

My

Father’s

Crab

Bruce McAllister

“We’re not alone in the universe. Even
miniature golf wherever we could on the way
crabs know that. Watch them some-
to the other coast. My mother and her moth-
time. . . .”

er—my grandmother, who lived with us—

—Jasper Cummings,
would watch TV in the motel rooms or go
marine biologist, Scripps Institute
shopping for souvenirs in the beach towns.

of Oceanography, 1962

We were happy on those trips. My dad was
the boy who’d left the Blue Ridge Mountains
don’t know where it was—that miniature
of Virginia to “see the world.” I’d never see
golf course in the sand—but it had to be
him quite that happy and alive until the end of
the Gulf of Mexico somewhere. We were
his life, when he wasn’t in the same world as

Idriving from one coast to the other,like al- the rest of us.

ways. “The Great Southern Route,” my dad

It was evening. That was half the fun. The
called it. It had to be Florida, Mississippi,
golf course had a hundred lights strung on

Louisiana, or Texas—one of them.

wires, and all were shining brightly so people

I was seven, and my dad had driven us
could play as late as possible. You could hear
across the U.S. and back half a dozen times by
the ocean somewhere, but the sand was
then. Looking back, I don’t know why a
close. You’d step in it if you didn’t watch your-
young officer doing “top secret” work for the
self. It was fun, the sand still warm from the

Navy was making that many cross-continental
day’s sun on your bare feet while you’d tried
trips by car, but maybe it was what his con-
to get the ball into the miniature castle or
stant reassignments demanded. Or maybe he
windmill. When you did, you got to listen to it
just liked to be on the road, see relatives, get
spin around inside the little structure and
away from his desk whichever coast it was on.

make its way to the next hole—this one a

That changed as he moved up the ranks and
loop-de-loop or tiny mansion or an alligator
was given more responsibility, but I remem-
with an open mouth.

ber what he was like back then, in the ’50s,

“Great job, Brad!” my father would shout,
the Cold War, when he and I would play
even if it weren’t a great job (four attempts to

60

OCTOBER 2015
get the ball into a candy-cane house?). He said

I thought it would be cool. I wanted to see
it the same way he’d say “Rise and shine!” or
them fly through the air—crabs that could fly.

“Up and at ’em!” in the morning to wake me

We hit a dozen. They didn’t f ly very well.

up. Corny lines, but I loved them. These trips

They came apart, claws going one direction
were the only time I got to do much with him,
and carapace going another, and I could tell
and they mattered to him, too. I could tell.

my dad’s heart wasn’t in it. He liked living

When we were at home —and home
things. I did, too, but I was a kid. I liked to exchanged every year or two—he’d leave for
periment.

work in San Diego or San Francisco or Wash-

When we stopped swinging, he picked up
ington D.C. or Key West so early I’d have to
one of the crabs we hadn’t hit, holding it be-
get up at f ive if I wanted to have breakfast
hind the shell where the claws couldn’t get
with him (Cheerios, of course) and listen to
him. Then he carried it to a light and looked at
the radio together before he headed out. He’d
it, watching the legs and claws f lail trying to
return at 6:30 in his uniform, change into civil-
pinch him.

ian clothes, and after dinner fall asleep in front That was cool, too, I remember thinking—
of the television set watching Edward R. Mur-
how you could hold them that way, and they
row or Perry Mason. Watching him sleep, I’d couldn’t get you. I was glad we hadn’t killed
get sleepy, too.

any more than we did.

“Look at this thing, Brad. This is a different

That evening, as we reached the farthest
species than the ones in Key West.”

hole—where the ocean waves were loudest—

I looked closely. He was right. It was the
he looked down at the sand and laughed.

same color as some of the crabs in Key West.

“Well, would you look at that!”

What made this one so strange was its shell. It

I did and jumped. There were crabs every-
looked like plastic. All crab shells look like
where, gray-green and walking sideways, and
they’ve been made in molds, but they don’t
about as interested in the little buildings on
look like toys. This one did.

the holes as they were in us. Where were they

“Maybe it’s not a crab,” I said.

heading?

“Of course it’s a crab, Brad. An arthropod, a I had no idea.

crustacean. It’s just a kind we haven’t seen be-

“Where are they going, Dad?”

fore. When we get to San Francisco, we’ll see

“Who knows?” He was staring at them the
new kinds there, too.”

same way I was—I remember that—as if they

My dad loved sea life. He didn’t just want to
were most remarkable things in the world.

float in ships on the seven seas, be a sailor sail-Which they were, the ocean breeze ruff ling
ing the world. He wanted to know what was
our hair and freezing time forever.

living in those seas, miles and miles down,

“Sometimes,” he said, “crabs migrate. Some-
and what kinds of ships you could build to ex-
times they’ve got some place they’re going,
plore them. If he could have taken a bathy-
and they’ll cross roads and fields and swamps
scaphe—which he almost got to do a few
to get there.”

years later—to the bottom of the Marianas

“Do you think that’s why they’re doing

Trench, he would have. He was an engineer,
that?”

an inventor, and a naturalist at heart, not a bat-

“No. I think they’re here to play miniature
tleship captain or a warrior. I didn’t know it,
golf.”

but the work he was doing then was about

At that, he grabbed me and swung me

“special warfare”: sonar for f inding Russian
around laughing, and my club f lew into the
submarines, jammers to stop them from firing
twilight.

missiles, microwave communications before

When we’d retrieved it, I said, “Can we hit
anyone really knew what “microwave” was,
them like golf balls?”

and the beginning of GPS. As a lieutenant in

“What?”

Undersea Research, he was interested in what

“Can we hit them like balls?”

would help our country defend itself, sure,

He looked at me, then at the nearest side-
but he was also interested in how marvelous it
stepping crabs, then at my golf club.

all was—the sea, everything in it, creatures

“I guess so.”

and the human beings visiting it.

MY FATHER’S CRAB

61

ANALOG

I loved my father if for no other reason than
own room next to ours, Dad lay down on the
that he loved living things. I know that now.

bed.

“You’re a living thing, too, Brad,” he told me

“Shouldn’t you go to an emergency room?”

one day. “Don’t you ever forget that. A wonder-
my mother asked, her long hair beautiful as al-
ful living thing.” So I knew he loved me, too.

ways. She was Hawaiian. A lot of Navy men
had Hawaiian wives after the war. He’d met

“But it looks like plastic,” I said.

her in Pearl Harbor when his ship—his f irst

“Yes, it does. But it’s moving, so it must be
cruise after the Academy—almost sank that fa-
alive, right? Did you know there’s a crab
mous day.

where your mom was born, on the Big Is-

“It’s feeling better. If it’s worse tomorrow
land—a kind called Carpilius—that has spots morning, I’ll go. Crabs don’t carry rabies and
on it like a cow; and another one—Big Island,
aren’t poisonous, so I’m sure I’m okay. . . .”

too—that has pom-poms on its claws like a

He was falling asleep, tired for some reason.

cheerleader? And dozens of kinds, big and

As he lay there on his back, I walked quietly
small, that can pull their claws in to make box-
over to him and looked at his hand. The pinch
es of themselves—so no one can get into
mark, which looked more like a big spider
them.”

bite, hadn’t gotten any worse. Again I thought

“Really?”

I could see something wiggling under the skin

“Yes!” His eyes were bright and wide, and
near his wrist, but Dad didn’t seem to feel it,
my heart skipped a beat. What wonderful
so I had to be wrong. Besides, skin didn’t wig-
things to know.

gle like that.

“Does this one make a box?” I asked.

The rest of the way to San Francisco, Dad

“I don’t think so. It’s long and thin, like a
scratched his hand but didn’t look white or
runner.”

dizzy anymore.

The crab was still f lailing, trying to pinch,

We stayed in a motel in Palo Alto for a week,
but all I could do was stare at its shell. The sur-looking for a house a lieutenant could afford,
face was bumpy in a too-perfect way, and that
and f inally moved in when the van arrived
made it look like a toy, too. And the color pat-
from Florida.

terns, green on gray, weren’t very natural-look-

He was still itching. “You need to go see a
ing either. They looked like a commando’s
doctor,” my mother insisted, her brown eyes
camouflage.

flashing. “It could be infected.”

Before I could ask him about that, he jerked

“Yes, infected,” my grandmother added. She
and nearly dropped the thing.

would have wrapped his hand in herbs she’d

One of its claws had pinched him.

dug up herself with an o’o—she’d been born

“That was stupid of me!”

in 1898 near Pahoa and knew traditional

He put the crab down on the sand, let go,

Hawaiian cures—but he wasn’t going to let
and shook his hand—the one the claw had
her do that.

gotten.

I wasn’t there for the meeting. School had

“Now that hurts.”

started. But I heard them talking about it:

He was looking at his hand. I was, too.

“The doctor thought I might have a splinter

There was a mark near his wrist, and for a mo-
of crab shell in me, but he couldn’t f ind one
ment I thought the skin was wiggling there,
even when he opened it up.”

that something was in it and moving around.

“Does he want you to take medication for

But then it wasn’t moving, and I looked up at
it?

my dad. He looked a little white, as if he might

“Yes. Just in case.”

be feeling dizzy.

“Be sure to do that, John.”

“You okay?”

“I will, Beatrice.”

“Sure. It just surprised me.”

He was lying, I could tell. He didn’t feel

My dad got better. He stayed better, and be-
good, but what could I do? I was a kid.

fore long, we all forgot about the crab pinch.

In three years he was a commander. We were

Back at the motel, where I had my sleeping
living in San Diego, and he was executive of-
bag on the floor, and my grandmother had her
f icer of a Navy research laboratory—more

62

BRUCE MCALLISTER

OCTOBER 2015
anti-submarine warfare research. It was a
for the first time in years could see it. I could beautiful bay, San Diego, and I knew I wanted
see the skin move again.

to be a marine biologist. It’s what my father

I jerked back in surprise, my chair moved,
would have been if he hadn’t joined the Navy,
and my dad woke up.

I told myself. We lived near the bay on the

“What’s going on, Brad?” he asked.

base, had a beach we could use, two little

“Nothing. Just wanted to see how you were
boats, and a tiny base grocery store—even a
doing.”

barbershop. Life was easy, and I could collect

He looked at me strangely, we talked for a
all of the ocean creatures I wanted.

while, and then I let him get back to his nap.

One day after school, I came home and

If he didn’t catch up on his sleep on the week-
found my father lying in bed in their bedroom.

ends, he couldn’t do his “top secret” work

He looked white.

well for the Navy, could he? He might get sick,

“What’s wrong, Dad?” I asked. Mom wasn’t
too. Sleep was important, I knew.

back from the high school where she taught,
and Grandma never came up to the second

Three years later he was the executive offi-
floor since her bedroom was downstairs.

cer of a NATO antisubmarine warfare research

“Sometimes, Brad,” he answered, scratch-
center in Italy (a big step up from San Diego),
ing his wrist, “I think I got a bug of some kind
and we were all living in a fishing village not
that day. Do you remember?”

far from that center. We’d be there for two

“Yes.”

years, the Navy said. My mother and grand-

“You can get a bug, and it’ll last for years,
mother loved it, the green hills and the beauti-
coming and going and coming and going.”

ful Ligurian Sea, but I didn’t know what to

“Do you feel sick?”

think. I’d left my friends behind and didn’t

“Just a little. Once every couple of months.”

know if I’d make new ones.

“I’m sorry.”

I’d forgotten about Dad’s “illness” because

“Nothing to worry about.”

he never talked about it, it didn’t show, and I

Why, a voice whispered to me, did it thought it had disappeared a long time ago. I’d
choose him?

asked him once, back in San Diego, and he’d

Back then I didn’t even know what the
said, “Think of it like malaria. It won’t kill you, question meant. It was a whisper, an idea I
but you feel lousy sometimes.”

could barely see.

I could’ve gone to a base school in the Navy
port of Livorno to the south, but Dad wanted

He went to see a Navy doctor. My mom was
me to learn the language and stay closer. With
pushing for an answer, and the doctor did
a tutor helping the f irst summer we were
blood tests, probed more, took more x-rays.

there, I pulled it off, and the more Italian I

Some things don’t show up on x-rays, I re-learned, and the more days I attended school,
membered thinking. I was in middle school
the more friends I made. Even two girls—one
now.

part German, with braids; the other dark with

Again, they found nothing. He felt better in
the biggest eyes I’d ever seen.

a couple of days, and we went back to living

Dad liked to take me on Saturdays to fish in
our lives.

the village’s little cove. The fish were tiny, but very colorful, and the place was like a pretty

One Sunday, when he was napping, I went
postcard. We could swim with masks, check
to their bedroom and watched him for a long
out the f ish and other creatures, talk about
time. I don’t know why. I watched him
them all, and get back late with no com-
breathe, worried about him even though he
plaints from Mom. She knew it made us both
hadn’t said he felt sick. I was afraid he was
happy.

going to stop breathing. That was silly, and I

We didn’t have TV—or at least didn’t watch
knew it. I wasn’t f ive or six anymore, with
it much—but I knew from the adults and the
fears like that. I was thirteen and knew bet-

American kids who went to school in Livorno,
ter.

where we bought our groceries, that the Rus-

He twitched once or twice. I moved in clos-
sians were about to do something. It was in
er, putting my face down next to his arm, and
the news. Everyone was scared. My dad and I

MY FATHER’S CRAB

63

ANALOG
hadn’t really talked about it, but I knew it was

And then it was over. My dad relaxed, color
on his mind. It would have to be. Besides, he
returned to his cheeks, and he said, “Let’s go
had a newspaper with him that day in the lit-
in. I need to contact a couple of people at the
tle boat and kept looking at it while our lines
center. There’s something they need to
sat in the water, bobbers not bobbing.

know.”

He was reading an article and then suddenly

Without explaining why, I let my mom
stopped. He stared at the page—no, past it—
know Dad needed to have his arm checked
and cocked his head, as if hearing someone
again. She pressed, but I that’s all I would say: talking. He wasn’t blinking. Then he was

“He needs to have it checked, Mom.” The doc-
blinking again, as if he’d come awake.

tors—even a team on the base at Livorno—

“Jesus!” he cried and sat bolt upright. The
still couldn’t f ind a thing. They didn’t know
little boat rocked. Fear raced through my
you could make incredible things out of plas-
chest, but it wasn’t about capsizing. I didn’t
tic. And the thing the crab had put in my dad
know what it was about. “Why didn’t NAVSIC
when I was seven moved in his skin only
tell us?” Dad was saying.

when it was told to, when something in our

I had no idea what he meant—it was a Navy
world was important enough— scar y
acronym, but I’d never heard it before. His
enough—to have it wake and listen and trans-
eyes were wide open.

mit . . . so that those who’d made it could do

And then he stared into space again, was
what they needed to do.

quiet for a long time—long enough that I got

I didn’t think these things all at once. They
scared again—and suddenly began talking. But
came in fragments, whispers, and it wasn’t un-
it wasn’t to me.

til I was a man myself that I saw them all in a

I didn’t understand what he was saying. It
single picture—a lifetime to make a picture.

was English, sure, not another language, but

Someone had been watching and listening
every other word was technical. He was talk-
and wanted to make sure we didn’t destroy
ing as if someone who could understand it
the seas. Not the land. The seas.

were there in the boat with us, wanting to

When my dad was eighty, he got dementia.

know, and it was time for him to report.

Alzheimer’s. It ran in his family. Dementia is

He was white as a sheet, but he didn’t
common enough in the world, especially after
sound scared. He was just white.

a certain age, but his was different.

He had a short-sleeve shirt on. Something

With each passing year of dementia he
moved in his arm near the wrist. I could see it.

lived more and more in the sea, with the crea-

Anyone could have. It was moving to the
tures that lived there, with the wonders of
words he was speaking. He talked, and what-
it—both in our seas and others. His doctors
ever was in his skin listened. That’s how it felt, had never seen anything like it. He was so
though I had no idea what this meant.

happy, they said. Alzheimer’s so often has its

I was scared, sure. The world was a scary
darkness. His didn’t. Sometimes he was a
enough place—with the Russians putting
whale, sometimes a seal, sometimes some-
down a revolution in Hungary, launching a
thing he just couldn’t describe. Sometimes he
satellite, and frightening everyone with the
lived for weeks in a submersible at the dark-
kind of submarine my dad was trying to de-
est, deepest depths of the sea where fish had
fend us against—and now this. This wasn’t a
their light and worms that were usually a few

“bug” you got from a crab, I told myself. This
inches long in our world were the size of
was something else. I wasn’t dumb, and I
ships. His eyes were always wide when he de-
wasn’t a kid anymore. I thought of the movies
scribed these things, as if he were already in
people were seeing— Invasion of the Body
heaven and could spend his days reporting

Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, and all how beautiful it all was and always would be
the others . Movies my mother hated but my even if he weren’t there yet.

dad loved to see with me. I wondered again

Sometimes, he said, he was an immense
whether a crab could be something other
crab-like thing in a purple sea, happy to be
than a crab, whether there were things in the
there but knowing that creatures in distant

Universe that could think and watch us even if
seas by distant stars needed to be cared for,
they weren’t like us.

too; that machines—ships that didn’t travel on

64

BRUCE MCALLISTER

OCTOBER 2015
water—needed to be built to reach them, so

Sometimes, he once told my mother and
that what needed to be done could be done.

me, he was the purple sea itself, alive and

Sometimes (he said) he was a mechanical
aware, wanting only the joy and wonder of liv-
thing, tiny, one of thousands crawling across
ing things to last.

the sands of another world, or flying through

Were they grateful to him? I’m sure they
its skies, or scampering across its fields, wait-
were. All of this—these dreams, his heaven
ing for an alien creature to pick him up, to
and happiness, not fear and worry—is what
present skin and flesh so that the device could
you give someone when he’s worked for you
be delivered, so that it could begin to tell what his whole life even if he never knew it.

it needed to tell to keep that world from dying

I did become one—a marine biologist—and
in the terrible fires the creature and its broth-
as the years pass I’m still waiting for my crab. ■
ers were about to make.

IN TIMES TO COME

Next month, we learn that dangerous things can come in very small and numerous packages, in our lead story, “The Season of Ants in a Timeless Land,” by Frank Wu.

• Psychic powers have long been a common genre trope, even with a lack of scientific evidence for them . . . but maybe technological telepathy isn’t quite so unlikely. Find out in our featured fact article, “Brain Hacking,” by Richard A. Lovett.

• And if uploading our minds to a machine were to turn out to be more complicated than we expect, how would we really know? Lettie Prell’s “Baby Steps” raises the question.

• We all understand stories have value, but truly grasping just how much value might be one man’s only chance to save his own life in “The Story of Daro and Arbolita,” by Shane Halbach.

• Sometimes you have to risk everything to know if you’re really risking anything, as in Ken Brady’s “Building, Antenna, Span, and Earth.”

• It’s easy to say we should think of the greater good, but who gets to decide just what the greater good is? Adam-Troy Castro’s “Evangelist”

poses some uncomfortable questions.

• Then we see the final days of an alien prison in Timons Esaias’s

“Exit Interview,” the conclusion of Stanley Schmidt’s serial, Night Ride and Sunrise, and all our dependably excellent columns.

See you next issue!

All contents subject to change

65

Illustrated by Tomislav Tikulin

Night Ride
and Sunrise

Part III of IV

Stanley Schmidt

By the late 22nd Century, human civiliza-
tion for continuing exploration of Solsystem, tion had filled much of the Solar System—
and after decades of unsuccessful SETI, most
and begun to stagnate.Terror wars and nan-
humans assumed they were alone in the
otechnology research had led to crowding
universe. People who earlier would have ex-
and tight security; populations were dense
plored new frontiers were reduced to study-
but not allowed to grow. Nanotech made life
ing the work of those who did that before
unprecedentedly easy, reducing the motiva-
them.

66

OCTOBER 2015

Phil Bertram, an academic scientist born
them, led by Hazel and a few misfit Second
on Luna, found unread data from un-

Wavers, established a new colony, Break-
manned interstellar probes sent out in the
away, on Zo, a continent in the northern
previous century. One of them had appar-
hemisphere. Phil, hoping to fix the problem
ently gone through an artificial spacewarp
in Newtown, stayed behind, but got little for (the Gate) that brought it out into normal
his trouble but frustration and bitterness.

space far beyond where it should have been,
and found a startlingly Earthlike but unin-

A year after most of his friends and col-
habited planet.

leagues left, Phil is surprised by a visit from Tantalized by the possibility of a real fron-Hazel. She asks him to come to Breakaway
tier, Phil and Hazel Castagna, a literary aca-to help with a mysterious problem that is
demic on Earth, hatched a scheme to estab-
threatening the new colony. Half-convinced
lish a colony there with a few selected
that she wasn’t responsible for telling the
friends and colleagues.The key was another

Fruitful about the Gate and the new world,
forgotten 21st-century discovery: a “mole
he agrees to take a look.

drive” that could get them to the Gate and

He is introduced to Breakaway and its set-
beyond in a reasonable time.While working
ting by Hazel and Luk Zakowitz, a young
to turn the dream into reality, Phil moved to man born into the Fruitful but not comfort-Earth and grew personally and profession-
able with them. He joined the Breakaway
ally close to Hazel. Eventually, they made the group to get away from social pressures at
leap, a one-way trip, hoping to build a secret home and for the adventure of exploring
colony with a whole world to explore and
and developing a new frontier. A talented
shape as they wanted.

amateur scientist and tinkerer, he has estab-

Initially it was easy and exhilarating.The
lished windmills as a major energy source
technology they took with them made estab-
to make the colony less dependent on im-
lishing a base and dealing with the new en-
ported technology.

vironment easier than any such effort in

Phil begins to feel for the new colony
human history.Newtown, in a Mediterranean-
some of the enthusiasm he originally felt for like setting in the southern hemisphere, pros-the old, but everyone seems reluctant to talk pered and grew; Hazel and Phil drifted to-about the problem they hope he can solve—
ward a long life together.

and everyone is afraid to go out at night. FiBut their colony was not as secret as they
nally Phil gets Luk to show him the problem:

hoped. Soon an uninvited Second Wave of

Some of his windmills have been damaged
colonists came through the Gate and moved
at night, and nobody has been able to deter-
into Newtown. Phil felt that Hazel must have
mine how. Lately the damage has spread to
told them about the Gate and the mole
houses, and two people have died mysteri-
drive, and his feeling of betrayal led to their ously while trying to investigate. The fright-falling out.

ening events and elusive causes have seri-

Like the original colonists, the Second Wa-
ously undermined morale.

vers craved something they couldn’t have in

Phil’s attempts at indirect investigation

Solsystem, but not the same something. A
fail, so he resorts to direct observation, pa-motley assortment of people who felt op-
trolling the village alone at night, carrying a pressed by the reproductive laws on Earth,
flashlight and a wireless stun gun (dazer)

they saw New Horizons as a place where hu-
but trying to avoid using either. He does see mans could again “Be fruitful and multiply.”

a house being damaged, apparently by tiny

They did so with a vengeance, using techno-
organisms or machines disrupting it and
logical aids to achieve an unprecedented
the surrounding soil.When he tries to get a
growth rate. Soon the Gate quit working, but
closer look, he is seized by unseen beings,
by then, “The Fruitful” were well established losing his nightglasses in the process, and
in Newtown.

hauled off on a harrowing ride through the

Twenty years after they arrived, the origi-
forest.

nal colonists, outnumbered 15:1, felt that

After passing through a narrow canyon,
their dream had been hijacked. Most of
the vehicle emerges into a rugged valley that NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

67

ANALOG
has been carved into a hidden city. His cap-

Calantha receives a cool reception in
tors, large “otters,” take him into a subter-

Breakaway, but she and Phil plan a strategy
ranean hall and give him a show, in which
for initiating contact. She’d rather do it
both otters and comparably large “bats” par-
alone, but Phil insists on going with her.

ticipate.They show him a working model of

Borrowing a trick from the otters and
one of Breakaway’s windmills, with both
bats, they drop a model into the native town
bats and small flying creatures flying into
to suggest that they’d like to meet—made in
the blades and dying—and then they de-
part by Srella Lindholm-Muhindi, ten-year-
stroy the windmill and look expectantly at
old daughter of one of the Breakaway resi-

Phil. His understanding is that the wind-
dents killed in a suspected native attack.The mills are killing bats and disrupting their
model is soon noticed, and two residents of
food supply, and the otters want the wind-

“Ottertown,” whom Phil and Calantha call
mills destroyed—or they’ll do it themselves.

Sylvie and Goldie, study it—while Calantha,

Phil tries to tell them that he’ll talk to the with powerful tools for pattern recognition
humans about it, and then tries to escape.

and analysis, begins to learn their language

He gets almost out of the canyon, but injures and program a translator.

an otter in the process.

Sylvie and Goldie soon get the hint and

He calls Breakaway for help, and Hazel
dialog begins, awkwardly at first but accel-
and Luk pick him up in a minicopter. They
erating as humans, otters, and translator
call an urgent town meeting to discuss their
improve. The otters make explicit their de-
options. Leaving the planet is impossible;
mand that the windmills be stopped as
leaving the continent would only postpone
dangerous, but humans need them. The ot-
a problem that must be confronted sooner
ters are willing to discuss a compromise,
or later. Factions quickly form, some (led by but insist that the windmills be shut down

Rod Corcovan) calling for a preemptive at-
while they talk. Luk does this, over strong
tack to wipe out the otters and bats as fu-
objection from Corcovan and his followers.

ture threats to human survival, and others

And when Calantha reports back to Mag-
for shutdown of the windmills as a goodwill
nus, he hints that he might favor extermi-
gesture.

nating the natives, which Calantha finds

Both extremes are rejected. The colonists
disturbing.

decide to leave the windmills running while

The humans get a look inside Ottertown
waiting watchfully—and to get a linguist to
when Sylvie tells Phil he must visit the otter try to communicate with the natives. But the
he injured during his earlier escape. That is only linguist they know is Calantha Mc-Daredevil, who earlier advocated destroying

Quade, a former missionary and zealous
the human colony but is now willing to con-
follower of the Fruitful in Newtown. Lacking
sider compromise—if humans and otters
a more palatable alternative, Luk calls her
visit and try to understand each other.

with an urgent request for help.

Hazel begins going along on tours of the

Calantha is intrigued but skeptical, and
native city, and the humans are impressed
asks Magnus, the charismatic cult leader of
by what they learn of otter society, including the Fruitful, for permission to go, which he
its use of marine agriculture, metallurgy,
grants reluctantly. They’re both shaken by
and phytotechnology.There are also mystify-
the alleged discovery of an alien intelligence ing gaps, such as the almost complete ab-on the world seen as a divine gift for the
sence of the bats so evident on Phil’s first vis-Fruitful to fill. She goes to Breakaway in one it. Phil and Hazel enlist biologist Dick Sysler of Newtown’s VTOL craft, promising to keep
to help them understand native society,

Magnus informed of her findings.

adding him to the group that shows Sylvie

Meanwhile, Breakaway must get through
and Goldie around on their first nighttime
a night of apprehensive waiting. No more
visit to Breakaway.

damage occurs, but the bats put on a “show

They don’t see much during that visit,
of force” during which moderate colonists
since humans are diurnal, and realize
must keep Corcovan’s “exterminationists”

they’ll have to come back during the day, de-
from further destabilizing the situation.

spite their fear of bright light. They accept 68

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015
the addition of Dick to the next party visit-
crack of dawn, not knowing exactly when the
ing Ottertown. During that visit, the humans
ambassadors would arrive but not wanting to
learn that the otters have both boats and
miss it.

steam engines, though they have apparently

They arrived quite early, perhaps because
not combined the two. Dick has more funda-
they hoped to get this over with before they
mental questions, like: Why haven’t they
were too far from the perceived safety of dark-
seen any young? He thinks understanding
ness. Phil was still in his cottage when he
the otters’ reproduction is a key to under-
heard a burst of chatter outside, slightly mut-
standing their society, but it’s likely to be a ed by the walls and the low setting on his au-touchy subject, and he is concerned about
dio pickup. “Here they come!” he heard some-
how to bring it up.

one call, and then he noticed the familiar
sound of an otter wagon, though it was differ-

XX.

ent here since it wasn’t running on construct-
side from Hazel’s well-taken point
ed road.

about the humans’ need to catch up on

He scrambled to finish dressing and hurried
sleep, there were two main issues in
out the door. A handful of people were gath-

Agetting readyfor the otters’daytime vis- ered outside,all looking toward the wagon as it. One was logistical, the other psychological
it emerged from the woods a couple of hun-
and managerial.

dred meters away. Its sound grew louder as it

Hazel and Phil saw two options for getting
approached, and more Breakaway folk poured
the otters to Breakaway. Hazel could give
out of their houses. Hazel was among the first,
them a ride in the copter, or they could drive
quickly joining Phil, but Calantha was
themselves over in one of their wagons. The
nowhere to be seen. “Somebody get Calan-
copter would be quick, easy, and not leave
tha!” Hazel yelled. “And tell her to bring her
their vehicle exposed to human tampering
stuff.”

while they toured the village. But it would

As soon as the wagon halted near the edge
show them more than some humans might
of the cluster of houses, it was surrounded
want of how it worked, and it would probably
by people pressing in much too close,
be uncomfortable for them since it contained
though most of them were obviously intimi-
no seating suited to their bodies. (Not that
dated by the big draft animal in front of it.

they’d considered that when carrying humans

Phil wasn’t sure who looked more apprehen-
in their wagons . . .)

sive: them, the otters, or the dragonhorse. It

So everybody agreed that Sylvie and Goldie
was even harder than usual to tell, as both ot-
should come in their own cart, which led to
ters and horse wore very dark goggles. The
the second problem: how would humans re-
townfolk were seriously crowding the visi-
act to the otters’ presence in their midst, and
tors, moving around chaotically (some of the
what could be done to prevent any major trou-
younger ones practically dancing) and all jab-
blemaking or counterproductive reactions?

bering at once, louder and louder in their ef-

Hazel and Phil agreed that reactions would
forts to be heard.

vary widely, and they couldn’t anticipate them

Most of which were in vain, since Calan-
all. A logical place to start was to post a guard tha’s translator was not yet on the scene.

by the visitors’ vehicle before they left it, and Hazel tried to restore some order. “All right,
who that should be seemed obvious.

all right!” she barked from atop a convenient

“Luk,” Hazel and Phil said simultaneously
rock. “Give our visitors some room! You’ll all
when the question was raised. Not only did
get a chance to meet them and talk to them,
they trust him not to do anything stupid,
but not all at once. Think how you’d feel if
but guarding the wagon would give him a
you’d just arrived in their town for the f irst
good excuse to look it over and see what he
time.”

could lear n about its constr uction and

People tended to listen to Hazel, and that
workings.

did the trick, for most of them. Corcovan and
his friends, unsurprisingly, scowled and grum-

Tension ran high in the village the morning
bled, but even they backed off when Hazel
of the visit. It seemed everyone was up at the
scurried around shooing everyone away from

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

69

ANALOG
the carriage. Otters and horse relaxed a little
we made them. As you know, we’ve shut
but still seemed nervous. Phil was relieved to
them down for now, while we try to f igure
see Calantha hurrying toward them, obviously
things out.”

not yet fully awake but with a newly compact

“We appreciate that,” said Sylvie. “But
version of her translator in hand.

still—”

“Sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly as she

“I’d like to show you how they work,” said
settled into the freshly vacated space around

Luk. “But for now I have to guard your vehicle
the visitors. “I didn’t realize you’d be this early, while Phil and Hazel show you around. Maybe
but welcome.” Phil couldn’t tell whether her
later?”

expression was really welcoming, but he was

“Maybe,” said Sylvie. “But why do you have
confident the otters couldn’t either.

to guard our vehicle?”

“We’re glad to be here,” said Sylvie. “We

“Some of our people distrust you,” Luk said
look forward to getting to know you.”

with obvious discomfort. “They might . . .

The hubbub started up again, and the trans-
bother it.”

lator couldn’t handle it all. Again Hazel inter-

“Oh,” said Sylvie—but she neither looked
vened, throwing her hands up and saying, “All
nor sounded reassured.

right, people! The translator can only handle

The rest of the town was a mixed bag.

one at a time. Here’s what we’re going to do.

Hazel and Phil took Sylvie and Goldie around,

I’m going to introduce our visitors now—this
showing them everything from the interior of
is Sylvie and this is Goldie, and no, of course
a couple of houses to the gathering hall to the
those aren’t their real names, but they’re what
farm plots where food was raised. Calantha ac-
we call them and Calantha’s translator handles
companied them with her translator but took
the details. And now you’re all going to go
little part in the conversation. Everywhere
back to your usual posts and do what you usu-
they went, hosts introduced guests to whatev-
ally do at this time of day, and we’ll show our
er colonists were around. Most seemed glad
guests around. You can ask what you want
enough to talk about what they were doing,
when we get to you.”

though wary of saying too much. All were ob-

Conversation died off gradually as people
viously curious about the otters but varied
dispersed. “I never imagined they’d be so
widely in their reactions. Some bent over
noisy,” Sylvie remarked when they were gone.

backward trying to be polite, even though

“It was rather frightening.”

they had no idea what the otters might con-

“I’m sorry about that,” said Hazel. “It cer-
sider polite or rude. A few, like Corcovan,
tainly was different from the response when
were sullen and closed-mouthed but stopped
we visited you, wasn’t it? But they weren’t
short of open hostility.

threatening you. Most of them don’t want to

It was hard to read the otters, especially
hurt you, if we can work out a better way.

with their opaque masks, but Phil had the im-

They just get excited. It will be better when
pression that they were at least surprised, if
we just meet one or two at a time. Let’s start
not puzzled, by much of what they saw—
here. This is Luk Zakowitz. He’ll be watching
even things as basic as the fact that the hu-
your carriage and horse. He’d be interested in
mans lived singly or in small groups in sepa-
hearing about them. . . .”

rate above-ground houses. They stared
intently at each human they met (which natu-

Luk and Sylvie hit it off well. They were
rally made some of them uncomfortable), and
both gadgeteers, and talking shop about

Phil could only speculate about what they
things they’d worked on was apparently a
were contemplating with such intensity. Were
great relief after the high-pressure crowd
they, for example, marveling at how much in-
scene when the wagon arrived. But even that
dividual humans differed—or how much they
was not without its tense moments. “You built
were alike? He didn’t know how easily they
the windmills?” Sylvie said, rather sharply, it
recognized individuals.

seemed to Phil. “That’s . . . interesting. But

Some of the people they met were children,
they’ve done so much harm to—”

of course, and it increasingly seemed to Phil

“We never intended that,” Luk interrupted
that Sylvie and Goldie stared at them with es-
gently. “We didn’t know you were here when
pecially concentrated curiosity. He had no

70

STANLEY SCHMIDT

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idea why until something completely unex-
suggestion not only startling, but also vaguely
pected happened.

embarrassing; and he saw Hazel giving him an
odd look that he couldn’t quite decipher. But

They had pretty much completed their
he also found it exciting, because he recog-
rounds, undoubtedly leaving Sylvie and Goldie
nized it as the opening Dick had been hoping
as tantalized and unsatisf ied as the humans
for to start a discussion of reproduction and
had been by their first glimpses of Ottertown.

child-rearing in both humans and otters. Ironic

They were on their way back to Luk and the
that the humans had agonized so over how to
waiting wagon when they came around the
bring it up, and an otter was the one who did
corner of a house and found Srella Lindholm-
it. “Srella’s the daughter of . . . a friend,” he Muhindi standing right in front of them.

said and bit his tongue before saying more.

Another child might have fled in shyness or

Now was not the time.

fear, but Srella just stood there looking straight

“How remarkable,” Sylvie remarked, “that a
at Sylvie and Goldie. “Hi,” she said in her little-child should play such an important role in
girl voice. “May I ask you a question?”

your society.” She seemed to hesitate. “It also

The touring party stopped in its tracks, all
surprises us to see so many children moving
startled for their own reasons. “Of course,”

freely among the adults. Is it always so among

Sylvie said after a moment’s hesitation.

you?”

“My name is Srella. Did you like my model?”

“Often,” said Phil. “Not always.” Heart

For a long moment, no one answered. Then
pounding, he added, “And how is it among

Sylvie asked, “What model?”

you? We were just as surprised to see no chil-

“The one Uncle Phil and Calantha showed
dren—or at least none that we could recog-
you. I helped make it.”

nize as such—when we visited your home.

Again both otters were speechless. Finally

But we feared the subject might be delicate,

Goldie said, “Yes, we liked it very much. It
so we didn’t ask.”

was very good.”

“If we are to understand each other,” said

“Thank you.” Srella stood silent for a goodly

Sylvie, “we must ask such questions—and an-
while, as if she wanted to say something else
swer them. Such matters are basic to how we
but couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. Final-
live. No doubt we will ask you more later. In
ly she said, “It was nice meeting you. I hope
the meantime, when you come to our home
we can all be friends.” Then she turned and al-
tonight, we will try to start answering yours.”

most ran away.

When she was gone, Sylvie looked at Phil

The tour didn’t last much longer, but Phil
and Calantha, who happened to be standing
finished it in high spirits, feeling that a major next to each other, and asked, “These small in-milestone had been passed and looking for-
dividuals we have seen—they are new ones?”

ward eagerly to what they might learn tonight.

“Yes,” said Phil. “Though we say ‘young’ in-

When Sylvie and Goldie were safely aboard
stead of ‘new’ when talking about people. We
their carriage and on their way back home,
also call them ‘children.’” That should help
and all the other humans had dispersed, Hazel
the translator be more colloquial the next time
turned to Phil. “So they thought you and
the subject came up.

Calantha were an item, eh? What have you

“And this one who just spoke to us,” said
two been doing over there, anyway?”

Sylvie. “Did she really help make the model

“Just trying to get to know the natives,” Phil
you brought us?”

said, blushing in spite of himself. “Remember

“Indeed she did,” said Phil. “In a big way.

they know little of humans. They can easily

She’s remarkably good at such things, for one
jump to wrong conclusions, just as we’re un-
so young.”

doubtedly doing all too often.”

“I would agree,” said Sylvie. She looked

“Indeed,” said Hazel. “Well, see you tonight,
from Phil to Calantha and back again. “Did

Phil.”

you two make her?”

She went off without further comment,

“What?” Phil frowned, then understood.

leaving Phil to wonder why she cared what

“Oh. You mean, is she our daughter—our
the otters thought about his relationship with
child? No. We’re not a couple.” He found the

Calantha. It sounded curiously like jealousy.

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

71

ANALOG

Could it be that she was hoping to revive the

“It works here, too,” said Sylvie. She laid a
relationship he and she had once shared?

hand brief ly on Goldie’s neck. “This one, for

Watching her go, he thought that might not
example. Goldie came from my body not far
be so bad.

from this spot. Then raised in crèche, but
we sometimes saw each other. Now we’re

XXI.

very close, in both work and life. Not so,

On that night’s visit to Ottertown, Sylvie

Goldie?”

and Goldie cut right to the chase. They used

“So,” said Goldie, similarly ruff ling Sylvie’s
the same larger wagon, since Phil, Hazel,
neck fur.

Calantha, and Dick had all come, but this time

Phil was still trying to process what he
they went directly to a place unlike any they’d
thought of this unexpected parallel between
seen yet. Here, at a glance, Phil saw the an-
the otters and the Fruitful when something
swer to the question, “Where are the kids?”

else caught his eye. Here and there among the

They were here. Maybe not all, but at least a
little otters he saw even littler bats, in greater great many—several dozen at least.

numbers than he’d ever seen bats here except

It was a large room carved from the outer
on the night of his abduction.

cliff face, with a big window overlooking the

At first he thought they were toys. Then he
sea as in Daredevil’s home—but here the win-
thought they were pets, when he saw that
dow was covered with some sort of sturdy
they were clearly animate and clearly interact-
mesh. Broad steps led up to the sill, though,
ing with the otter kids. Then a suspicion be-
and miniature otters sporadically scampered
gan to form, and he tried to think how to
up the steps to peer outside and tug at the
word his question. All he got out was, “Some
screen, then scampered back down to do
of them have wings. . . .”

things with other objects—toys?—strewn

“Yes,” Sylvie said before he f inished. She
about the room. The otters came in a wide
made a sound that the translator ignored, then
range of sizes, from tiny to almost adult, with a added, “Let me show you something—and I’d
correspondingly wide range of toys and activi-
like you to meet somebody.”

ties. A few who were obviously adults wan-
dered among them, apparently keeping an eye

She and Goldie led the humans out of the
on the younger ones and occasionally stop-
playroom and around its outer wall through a
ping to help or otherwise converse with one,
passageway onto a sort of balcony, set back
or to break up a squabble.

under an overhang and giving a clear view of

It reminded Phil immediately of Mrs.

the starlit sea, with waves crashing on rocks

Cripps’ Baby Farm, his neighbor back in New-
below. She let out a startlingly loud cry, also
town, and he saw Calantha’s face light up as if
untranslated but repeated several times. Then
the analogy resonated with her, too.

she said, “Now we wait.”

“All babies are born,” Sylvie was saying,

Several minutes went by, giving Phil plenty

“here in the city. They’re brought to places
of time to wonder what they were waiting for.

like this to be cared for and taught our ways

Finally he heard a new sound, vaguely similar
until they’re old enough and know enough to
to otter talk but reminding him even more of
take their places among adults. We call this a
something else that he couldn’t quite place at
crèche.” They obviously didn’t, of course, but first but which sent a shiver up his spine.

Calantha’s translator was smart enough to of-

Then, just as he remembered where he’d
fer that translation on the basis of Sylvie’s de-
heard it before, he heard f lapping wings,
scription.

growing rapidly closer, a big shadow swept

“Their parents don’t care for them and
across the cliff next to him, and a full-sized bat teach them?” Hazel asked.

landed on the balcony railing two feet from

“No. Parents have other jobs. Crèches have
his side. Hazel, Calantha, and Dick all gasped,
people who do this as their job. Learn to be
then regained their composure with a con-
very good at it.”

scious effort. They’d never seen one this close

Uncharacteristically, Calantha jumped in. “I
before; it was appreciably smaller than Sylvie
can understand that. My people have some-
or Goldie, but still comparable to an eagle on
thing like that in our city far away. It works.”

Earth.

72

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Sylvie said, “Folks, this is”—as usual, the
natural way to us. The fact that you all speak
translator arbitrarily picked a human-pro-
the same language doesn’t. So it took us a
nounceable name—“Bob.” She paused as if
while to realize you had two sexes.”

for dramatic effect, then added, “My mate.

“Fascinating,” said Calantha, in a stiff voice

Goldie’s father.”

that suggested she was trying not to show her

She and Goldie stepped very close to Bob,
true feelings. “But it’s going to make an extra
and they exchanged nuzzles and caresses, he
challenge for us. We’ll want to get to know
using the hands on his front limbs while

Bob and others like him, but my translator
briefly wrapping his wings (the middle limbs)

doesn’t know his speech yet. Can I get a
around them, then folding them neatly out of
chance—soon—to spend some time with
the way. Phil struggled to get his mind around
him, to train it?”

the idea that what he’d assumed were vaguely

“I hadn’t thought of that,” said Sylvie, “but
symbiotic species were actually two sexes of
of course. We can do that in a little while, but
the same kind. It hardly seemed possible; he
f irst I want to tell you a bit more about how
knew some animals on Earth had marked sex-
things work. Bob, why don’t you go mingle
ual dimorphism, but he’d never heard of any-
with the kids for a while and we’ll let you
thing like this.

know when Calantha’s ready to chat with

How could it work?

you?”

Calantha’s translator did at least as well as

Bob said something not yet translatable,
he did at adapting to new concepts. “Males
then disappeared down the passageway
and females,” it said as Sylvie explained, “all
through which they had come from the nurs-
start their lives here. They learn to be com-
ery. “Females live their whole lives here, farm-
fortable with each other, which will help
ing and making things. Males, like Bob, spend
them in later life. But let me f inish introduc-
most of their nights traveling the countryside
ing. Bob, these are the guests I mentioned to
and their days in communal lodges out there.

you: Phil, Calantha, Hazel, and Dick.” She in-

Their wings let them roam much faster and
dicated each as she spoke whatever she used
more widely than we can, which enables
for their names. “They say they are from an-
them to bring us things and knowledge that
other world. Their kind built the windmills.

we can’t get right here. We females provide a

We’re tr ying to decide what to do about
stable base for our culture and make many
them.”

things both sexes need.”

Bob said something—a rather lengthy some-

“But not food,” said Calantha.

thing—that sounded a little like otter talk, but

“No. Not food. Males and females eat differ-
now that Phil’s ear had become somewhat at-
ent things.” Out of the corner of his eye, Phil
tuned to that, he decided this was something
saw Calantha frowning again. “Though some
quite different.

of the things they bring us are substances that

And the translator couldn’t handle it. Calan-
make food taste better or more interesting. We
tha looked baff led and anxious, then said,
give them things that do the same for them.”

“I’m honored to meet you, Bob, but I doubt

She gestured toward the path by which Bob
you can understand my telling you so.” She
had left. “Sometimes, when they come back
turned to Sylvie. “Forgive me if this question
to town, males come here to visit with the
offends, Sylvie, but do males and females
kids and show them what adult males are like.

speak different languages?”

Females need to know because eventually

“Of course.” Sylvie didn’t seem at all of-
they’ll have to interact with them as adults
fended. “As you can see, there are many dif-
themselves. Males need to know even more
ferences between our bodies. We gather that
because eventually they will be adult males, you humans also have two sexes, but we mar-and need examples to emulate.

vel at how little they differ. We’re not always

“When they’re a little older and have be-
sure which is which. With us, it’s easy to tell,
come stronger f lyers, they learn even more
but that means we do many things very differ-
about what’s expected of them. They leave
ently. Bob and I can’t make the same kinds of
the crèche and go out, often with their fa-
sounds, but I can understand his and he can
thers, to live in one of the male lodges and
understand mine. It works, and seems the
learn male things. Soon they’re full members

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

73

ANALOG
of male society, and start doing useful male
whether they did. As he pondered where to
tasks and coming back here to carry things,
begin, Dick took the initiative. “Well, we defi-
visit, find mates of their own.”

nitely need a new name for the whole lot of

“Fascinating,” said Calantha. “I can’t wait to
them. We can’t keep calling them otters and
hear more about all this—from Bob.”

bats if they’re just two sexes of the same

“You don’t have to wait,” said Sylvie. “Let’s
species.”

go get Bob now.”

“How about Zoeys?” Hazel suggested. “You

She led them back through the short pas-
know, from Zo.”

sageway and into the crèche. Bob crouched in

“Yes, we get it,” said Phil. “Sounds as good
the center of the room, wings partially but im-
as anything. Let them be Zoeys. But how can
pressively unfurled, surrounded by little otters
sexes be so different?”

and bats, all apparently clamoring for his at-

“Actually,” said Dick, “I have some ideas
tention. Sylvie caught his eye and asked him to
about how that might have come to be. I think
come over. It took him a couple of minutes to
my subconscious was beginning to get an
disengage from eager kids of both sexes, but
inkling even before I met them personally, and
then he came over to where he and Sylvie
now I think it was on the right track. It’s pure
could talk privately.

conjecture, of course, and I can’t prove it’s

Calantha’s translator caught Sylvie’s side of
right. But I think it’s plausible. Want to hear
the conversation, but not Bob’s. “Calantha
it?”

would like some time alone with you. I’ve told

“Of course,” Phil and Hazel said together.

you of her box that translates between our fe-

“I think they diverged from an ancestral
male speech and their human speech. . . . Yes,
form that was amphibious and evolved to ex-
just one kind of human speech. Males and fe-
ploit the intertidal zone. As we’re well aware,
males speak same . . . Yes, I know it’s odd, but
that has a lot more character here than in
their sexes are much more similar than ours. . . .

many places on Earth. It’s rocky and exten-

She needs to talk with you. Let her machine lis-
sively fractured and jumbled, and the planet’s
ten and watch what you’re doing while two of
position relative to Sun and Selena is con-
you talk, so machine can learn to interpret male
ducive to very high tides. It’s a turbulent
speech as well. Okay? . . . Good. We’ll drop you
place, and creatures that live in it have to ei-
two off in a private room, and I’ll find another
ther adapt to deal with huge tidal changes, if
for the rest of us.”

they stay, or move back and forth, or up and
down, to stay within the zone.

It felt odd being alone in a room with Sylvie

“I’d guess the Zoeys’ ancestors took that ap-
and Goldie but not Calantha or her translator.

proach. They not only learned to move with

Sylvie and Goldie stayed, to keep an eye on
the tides to stay close to the water’s edge, but
them Phil supposed, but they probably
ventured beyond it in both directions. The in-
wouldn’t understand anything the humans
tertidal zone has one set of resources to offer,
said.

the ocean beyond the low tide line another,

Or would they? Their whole society de-
and the land beyond high tide still another. An
pended on both sexes being able to under-
organism that could exploit two of those
stand a language they couldn’t speak. During
would have a big evolutionary advantage. One
their interactions with humans through Calan-
that could exploit all three would have an
tha’s translator, had they learned to under-
even bigger one. That much could explain
stand any human speech without it? “Sylvie,”

how the otters became top dogs, so to speak.

Phil said tentatively, “can you understand

They can, for example, eat things that grow
what I’m saying?” If she did, she gave no sign.

both in the sea and on land. And by staying on

“How about you, Goldie?”

land for a while, they can do things that would

Neither of them even seemed to be listen-
be very difficult in water, like make and con-
ing. Which might mean that they couldn’t un-
trol fire.”

derstand, or that they didn’t want the humans

“Yes,” said Hazel, “but what about the
to know that they could.

bats?”

Phil shrugged. They’d have to proceed as if

“I mentioned three zones, but there’s a
they actually had privacy, without knowing
fourth: the air. A creature that could live and

74

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015
travel there would have another big advan-
makes gliding or f lying relatively easy. That’s
tage. If it could fly, it could venture much far-
how the bats—male Zoeys—are able to be so
ther from the water, gathering information
big.”

about what lay beyond and bringing back use-

“Part of it, anyway,” said Hazel. “A writer
ful things it found out there. That’s what the
named Poul Anderson once invented a race of
bats have done.”

big, intelligent f lyers with built-in ‘super-

“I can see that,” said Phil. “I’ve read about
chargers’ to make more efficient use of the air
similar things happening on Earth. And I can
they took in. Do you think the bats have some-
see why it would be too much to expect for
thing like that?”

one form to thrive in all four zones. But when

“They might, though with such a thick
things as different as swimmers and f lyers
atmosphere they don’t need them as much as
evolved on Earth, they were different species.

they would on a less well endowed world.

Why the same one here? Why didn’t the flyers

Anyway, big f lyers are feasible here. They
evolve from something else entirely, that
could evolve by mutations that change the
wouldn’t remain so tied to the water?”

structure of a set of limbs, and if that kind of

“Probably because the otters’ ancestors
mutation happens to be sex-linked, it could
were already so far along that they squelched
easily spread through one sex of a species like
anything else that threatened to evolve into a
the Zoeys.”

serious competitor. Let me anticipate your

“Would it even have to be sex-linked?” Phil
next question: How do you get such different
asked. “Even if it weren’t, couldn’t the otters
forms from a common ancestor? It isn’t really
themselves select to steer each sex toward a
that hard. All the vertebrate analogs on this
different kind of specialization?”

continent have six limbs. In the otters—ex-

“You mean by selective infanticide or some-
cuse me, female Zoeys—the hind pair have
thing like that?” Dick smiled. “Yes, that could
become f lippers for swimming; the middle
easily happen. Good suggestion, Phil. Anyway,
pair is multipurpose hands useful for swim-
however it happened—one of those or some-
ming, walking, or grasping, but not optimized
thing we haven’t thought of—it would give
for any of those; and the front pair are high-
the Zoeys, as a species, a huge advantage to
quality, dexterous hands.

have two sexes specializing in different envi-

“Now, suppose you got an occasional muta-
ronments. Females are at home here, on land
tion that caused the middle pair to take a step
and in the water; males on land and in the air.

toward becoming wings. In a lot of species on

Naturally the sexes would develop separate

Earth—including humans, I fear—such mu-
cultures, with such different environments
tants would be outcasts and likely killed as
and ways of life, but they intersect here,
abominations before they could reproduce.

where land, air, and water come together. And

But the female Zoeys seem to be less inclined
the intersection should be stable for quite a
than us to automatically view anything new as
long time, because the sexes are about as in-
a threat. Obviously they recognize that possi-
terdependent as they can get.”

bility; their first reaction to our presence was

He fell silent. Finally Hazel said, “Well, I
to try to protect themselves and get us out of
don’t have any better ideas. That’s a fascinat-
the picture. But it didn’t take them long to
ing picture of who they are, if it’s anywhere
move beyond that and try to learn about us
close to the truth. We may never know, but at
and find a better way to deal with us.”

least it gives us some idea of what we may be

“Not unanimously,” Phil pointed out.

up against. Now, I wonder how things are go-

“Of course, but they got there impressively
ing with Calantha and Bob, and how do we
fast. I can easily imagine such folk, f inding
get back together?”

some of their offspring with new features
and abilities, trying to f ind ways to exploit

XXII.

those instead of destroying them ref lexively.

For Calantha, the night was very different.

It wouldn’t take much for winglike structures

She felt apprehensive, settling into a room
to start hinting at their utility around here.

alone with Bob, knowing none of his language

There are plenty of cliffs they could glide off
and not having Sylvie or Goldie to fall back on
of, and New Horizons’ thick atmosphere
if failed attempts at communication raised

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

75

ANALOG
hackles. This was, after all, one of the beings
several times, and had several conversations.

who had attacked—or at least pretended to at-

Mostly with females, who are the permanent
tack—human citizens of Breakaway on their
residents of the town. But last night I started
own turf. He might even have had a part in
learning to talk to the males, and something
killing a human or two.

about how they live.”

He certainly looked fearsome enough.

She could practically hear Magnus frown-

But she plunged bravely ahead. The room
ing. “‘Learning to talk to the males.’ Don’t you
they’d been given had an improvised stool for
talk to them the same way as females?”

her and ledges and bars at various heights for

“Not quite. Their mouths aren’t built the
him. And, she was pleased to note, an assort-
same way, so they make different kinds of
ment of objects, a few of them even with rec-
sounds. But the underlying linguistic struc-
ognizable functions, to manipulate and talk
tures are similar enough that the translator is
about.

picking up the male language much faster

The basic process was the same as with
since it already knows the female. Dick

Sylvie and Goldie: They both did things, talked

Sysler—I don’t know if you remember him,
about them, and the translator looked for pat-
but he’s a biologist who moved up here—
terns and correlations. As patterns began to
thinks they diverged from an amphibious an-
emerge, Calantha was more relieved than sur-
cestor in the intertidal zone, females specializ-
prised to discover that though males and fe-
ing for swimming and walking, males for
males had different vocal machinery, the un-
flight, both comfortable enough on land to in-
derlying structures of their languages were
teract there.”

similar, much as Hamlet in Pig Latin or Morse

“Hmph. I suppose I’ve heard stranger
code is still Hamlet, in English despite the thin things, though I can’t remember when.” Long
disguise. That made the learning process go
pause. “And I can’t remember any more dis-
much faster than it had with Sylvie and Goldie.

concerting. What other cheerful tidings do

Not once did Bob try to attack or even
you have for me?”

threaten her. By dawn she was almost begin-

“Well, they have technology. We’re only be-
ning to like him.

ginning to know how much and what kinds.

So far it looks pretty primitive. But they have

The f irst order of business back in Break-
agriculture, and they make things out of met-
away was sleep, but she only allowed herself a
al—some of which they get from plants and
few hours. Then she spent an hour reviewing
animals by methods that humans didn’t start
the translator’s findings, and another hearing
calling phytotechnology until around the be-
and discussing Dick’s speculations about how
ginning of the twenty-first century. They have

“Zoey” society worked and how it had gotten
wheeled vehicles. And steam engines, though
that way.

we’ve only seen one and it looked pretty prim-

Then it was time to call Magnus—and this
itive.”

time she made sure to double-check the time

“Hmph,” Magnus repeated. “Primitive or
difference. “Big breakthrough,” she said. “I
not, their very existence is a huge blow to
don’t remember how much I’ve told you
both the foundations of our faith and our
about the natives, but we thought there were
plans for the future. Sister Calantha, I hardly
two species: one that looks a little like big six-need tell you I would much rather not have
legged otters, and another like big fruit bats.

known all this. But if it’s true, I suppose I’m

Turns out that they’re the same species, but
glad I sent you there to learn about it.” In her
the ‘otters’ are females, the ‘bats’ male. They
mind’s eye she could see him grimacing.

spend most of their time apart, but they meet

“Now we have to decide what to do about
in their town at the water’s edge, and they’re
them. What do you think we should do, Sister completely dependent on each other.”

Calantha?”

Magnus took his time in answering. “How

He was asking her? Was this a test? “Well,”

many of these towns are there?”

she began cautiously, “we can’t just ignore

“We have no idea. They’re not obvious until
them. They’re here, and they’re not going to
you’re almost inside one. But some of the
ignore us. They may or may not be a threat to

Breakaway people and I have been in this one
our survival or continued colonization. I’m

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inclined to doubt it. Even with our limited
entrances to their town, so they have a strong
numbers and the relatively little technology
defensive position. But that cuts both ways. It
we brought with us, ours is still way beyond
could mean they’d be easy to bottle up and
theirs. If it came to a f ight, I think we could
then send in something that was very bad for
take them easily.”

them. We wouldn’t even have to go in person-

“Do you think it will come to a f ight? Will ally. We do have nanotechnology, you know,
they try to start one?”

and explosives and other chemicals—”

Calantha considered. “I doubt it. Initially

“And they have the home court advantage.

they tried to scare us off—and almost suc-

They may know ways to use it that we haven’t
ceeded. Since then they seem to be trying
thought of. And we have no idea how many
hard to avoid a f ight.” She considered some other towns they have, or what technology
more. “But the fact remains that just by being
we don’t know about yet. They’ve surprised
here, they’ve shattered one of our deepest be-
us several times already.”

liefs: that humans are alone in the Universe

“True. We don’t dare let them surprise us
and it’s ours to fill.”

too often. As for other towns, what good

“Exactly. For the less thoughtful elements of
would those do them if they’re trapped in
humanity, that may not be too much of a
their own? And if they can somehow commu-
shock. They’ve pretty much just stopped
nicate, that could ultimately work to our ad-
thinking about other intelligences, after all the vantage. If we destroyed one town, that could
decades of looking and f inding nothing. But
be a sobering example to the others—and
for us, the Fruitful, it’s one of the pillars of our maybe draw them out of hiding so we could
belief system. The best thing for us would be
deal with them, too.”

if we could just make it go away.”

Calantha felt sick. He was serious about

He stopped talking, and Calantha’s throat
this! She had never before actually argued
went dry. He’d come close to this before, but
with him, and the very thought verged on
he wasn’t leaving much doubt this time. She
blasphemy. But how could she avoid it?

decided that, bold though it was, she

“Mightn’t there be another way?” she said
wouldn’t either. “Are you talking about geno-
slowly. “As you said yourself, nobody has
cide?”

thought much about the possibility of nonhu-

“That’s such an ugly word. I don’t like the
man intelligence in a long time. We just as-
idea, either. But sometimes one must choose
sumed there wasn’t any. Now that we know
the lesser evil. If it were possible to simply
there is, shouldn’t we look at every possible
eliminate these . . . What do you call them?”

way to rethink our position on it?”

“Zoeys. Though it’s too early to say whether

He was silent for quite a while. “Such as?”

that will stick.”

“How about conversion? On Earth, when

“Zoeys. If it were possible to simply elimi-

Europeans colonized other continents, one of
nate these Zoeys before our people even
the f irst things they did was to convert the
knew about them, I must confess I’d be sorely
people already living there to Christianity—
tempted.”

making them subservient to church authority.

Calantha had long considered herself one of

Might something like that work for us here?

Magnus’s most faithful followers, but she felt

Sell the Zoeys our own theological doctrines,
herself shudder. “Fortunately,” she said as icily allowing them to survive, but with you as
as she dared, “that probably isn’t possible.

their spiritual leader?”

How could we ever f ind them all, much less

“Hmm. That might be worth considering.”

get at them when their town’s practically a

He pondered a moment. “What kind of reli-
subterranean fortress? Especially while keep-
gion do they have now?”

ing them and their extermination secret from

She hadn’t really thought about that and
your flock.”

was startled to realize what her answer must

“Are you sure that’s fortunate, Calantha? I’d
be. “I haven’t seen any evidence that they
think very carefully about my priorities, if I
have any.”

were you.” His words quickened. “And are

“Ah. A tabula rasa. That might make them
you sure it’s impossible? I think what you’re
particularly susceptible to new ideas.” Pause.

saying is that there are only a few small

“Or particularly resistant. Keep an eye out for

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

77

ANALOG
evidence about that, Sister Calantha. But I see

Was sparing them even a choice he could
another problem with your idea. If we tried to
make? He—and apparently all the colonists—
dominate them by treating them as close
knew too little of these troublesome beings to
enough to human to let them live and give
be sure they could exterminate them even if
them the gift of religion, it can’t really be our they wanted to. It could even go the other
kind of religion, now can it? Not the whole
way. He could imagine that the natives could
package.”

have already exterminated the Breakaway

“Why is that, Brother Magnus?”

colony, if they’d wanted to. What did it mean

“Don’t you see? Our very name comes from
that they hadn’t?

the biblical admonition ‘Be fruitful and multi-

He needed to meditate and pray, all right,
ply.’ We don’t want to encourage them to do but he needed more than that. He needed to
that, do we?”

consult with trusted colleagues—but were

“Of course not,” she said stiff ly. “But if, as
there any he could trust enough? He had
you said, we can’t give them ‘the whole pack-
thought Calantha was one, but she was show-
age,’ couldn’t we give them some of it—or a
ing signs of becoming a loose cannon.

modif ied version? Like, teach them that we

For now, it was his problem alone. He
came from God and are destined to f ill the
feared there would be a lot more meditating

Universe, but we’re willing to let them use a
and praying than sleeping tonight.

little piece of it—if they behave. Certainly
there’s ample precedent for that sort of thing

XXIII.

in human history.” She’d always thought the

The next human visit to Ottertown was dif-
phrase “getting hot under the collar” was just
ferent. It started with the usual carriage ride
a figure of speech, but now she felt it happen-
through the Way In, but then they stopped at
ing literally, as more words tumbled out.

the entrance to a sparsely furnished room on

“Please, sir, there has to be a better way than
the outer sea cliff, with a big, uncovered win-
wiping them out! I know they’re not human,
dow overlooking crashing waves and marsh
but they’re surprisingly like us in some ways.

farms beyond. “You’ll get out here,” Goldie an-

And they seem like basically decent folks, de-
nounced. “Sylvie and I will be back to pick
spite some weird primitive habits like making
you up later.”

males and females eat different diets.” Now

Phil scanned the room and saw no one
why did I bring that up? She hurriedly added, else there. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Why, they even raise their babies in crèches

“Where are you going? What are we sup-
like ours—”

posed to do?”

“Which makes me wonder if they’re doing

“Bob will be along shortly,” she said. “He
it for the same reasons we are. I’ll try to save
tells me he and Calantha learned enough
them if I can justify it, Sister Calantha, but I
last night that you can conver se. We
can’t promise we’ll go that way. This whole af-
thought it good for you all to get to know
fair is too troubling on too many levels—prob-
him, without us females in the way. So
ably, and I mean no offense by this, more than
please go in and wait. Goldie and I have oth-
you can understand. I must meditate and pray
er business.”

on it—and in the meantime, I require that you

A bit warily, Phil and Hazel and Dick got out
say nothing about it to anyone else. Do I make
and entered the room. For once, Calantha
myself clear?”

looked more at ease than they did. As the car-
riage pulled away, Phil reflected that this was

After they had disconnected, Magnus stared
the f irst time humans had been left alone in-
at the phone as if it had betrayed him. Trou-
side the town. Were they really alone, or were
bling on more levels than she could under-
they watched by unseen eyes?

stand, indeed; it was troubling on more levels

He didn’t have long to wait. Soon he heard a
than even he could understand. Which was
crescendo of wings outside, and with a few fi-
worse: to exterminate a whole nonhuman
nal flaps, Bob settled onto the window ledge,
species that shouldn’t even exist, or to sell
his slightly unnerving form silhouetted against
them a twisted, dumbed-down version of the
the starry sky. He made his own kind of nois-

Truth as an excuse to spare them?

es, and Calantha’s translator said, “Howdy,

78

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folks. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too
steer clear of them—though we didn’t like
long.”

having to. This was our land since long be-

Phil knew such translators had come a long
fore you came. Why should we have to avoid
way in handling nuances and inductive inter-
parts of it because you put strange new
pretation, but he couldn’t help wondering
things here?”

how much Calantha’s own sense of humor

“We’re very sorry for your losses,” Hazel
had influenced its ways. Not that he’d ever re-
said. “We never intended to hurt anybody. We
alized she had one. . . .

didn’t even know you were here, since you’re

This time Calantha had the advantage. “Bob,
mostly out by night and your dwelling places

I’d like you to meet my colleagues: Phil . . .

are hard to see. If we had known, we might

Hazel . . . and Dick. I know you’ve all seen
have done things ver y differently. ” She
each other before, but I hope tonight we can
paused. “As you know, we have stopped using
get to know each other better. Maybe I can
the windmills, for now.”

start the ball rolling.

“We appreciate that,” said Bob, “for now.

“You, and your fellow males, were born in

But we fear you will soon start them up again.

this town, yet once you’re grown up, you live

And while we Zoeys, being intelligent, can
somewhere out there, f ly around a lot, and
avoid them, the little f lyers we eat cannot. If
only come back here sometimes. How do you
you start killing those again, that will be a big feel about that?”

problem for us.”

Phil got the distinct impression that Bob

“But why must you eat those?” Calantha
didn’t understand the question. “What is to
said suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at her.

feel?” Bob asked. “That’s just . . . the way

“Your mates and children back in the city
things are.”

don’t. It looks to me like blatant sexual dis-

“Do you ever wish they were different?”

crimination.” Phil’s analytical part wondered

Calantha asked. “That you could spend more
what her translator would do with that, but
time in the town, and less far away?”

most of his attention was fixed on Calantha’s

“That would be wrong,” said Bob. “We be-
unexpectedly acting like a full representative
long out there. Except when we come back
of Breakaway instead of just a hired techni-
here.”

cian. “Why should you have to eat bugs just

“But why—”

because you’re male?”

“Excuse me, ” said Phil. “Thank you,

Bob just stared for a good many seconds.

Calantha, but I think we’d like to hear Bob’s

“We like bugs,” he said finally.

own view of what his life is like, and how

“Do you really?” Calantha asked. “Or have
we’ve affected it and how we might affect it
you just been taught that you should for so
less.”

long—”

Phil had no experience reading male Zoey

“Calantha!” Hazel interrupted sharply.

body language, which was necessarily quite

Calantha stopped and looked at her with an
different from female, but he could have
annoyed frown. “Excuse us for a moment,
sworn Bob looked relieved. “Thank you, Phil,”

Bob.” Hazel gestured at the translator and told
said Bob. “I’d be happy to tell you. Flying is

Calantha, “Off. Now.”

simply a joy. To soar over the land, seeing all

Calantha glowered briefly as if she were go-
spread out below, seeing far, then swooping
ing to defy Hazel, but then turned the device
down low when see something of interest . . .

off. “We very much appreciate your help in

Not to offend, but for you who can’t do it, it
communicating with the Zoeys,” she said,
must be hard to imagine.”

“but please remember that your job is to help

“I believe that’s true,” said Phil. “Is it . . . less us communicate with them, not to proselytize
joy now? Since we came?”

or try to foment discontent with their way of

Bob seemed to hesitate. “Sometimes,” he
life. That’s not for us to do, and we don’t
said. “Can’t deny it was scary when we start-
know anywhere enough about them to do it
ed f lying into your . . . what do you call
well. Do I make myself clear?”

them? Windmills? It was deep pain to lose

“Besides,” said Dick, “Bob’s right. There re-
friends that way. Once we began to under-
ally are fundamental differences between
stand what they were, we could learn to
males and females—”

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

79

ANALOG

“That’s how men used to rationalize op-

“True. Usually we just bring things that are
pressing women,” Calantha said with a scowl.

valuable in small amounts. If we f ind some-

“True,” said Dick, “and completely irrele-
thing that they could use in large quantities . . .

vant. The Zoeys’ sexual dimorphism runs a lot
well, usually, we just leave it there. If there’s deeper than ours. You can see how different
enough, and they need it enough, and it’s in a
almost everything about their anatomy is.

place that’s easy to reach, they may build a

They’re adapted to different environments;
road to take wagons there. But that doesn’t
their only common ground is the intertidal
happen often.”

zone. Your translator had to learn separate

“I see,” said Hazel. Phil made a mental note
speech for males and females, didn’t it?”

that much of what they could do, they

“Yes, but humans have also imposed differ-
couldn’t do on a large scale. “What else do
ent dialects on different groups to reinforce an
you bring?”

artificial class distinction—”

“Sometimes we bring plants or animals that

“Do you really think this is artificial? Could
females eat in addition to their usual food—

Sylvie speak Bob’s language if she wanted to?

just as we sometimes eat bits of theirs when

Or vice versa?”

we visit there.” He looked at Calantha. “But

Calantha stared, obviously seething. “No,”

neither they nor we could live mainly on the
she admitted at last. “There are anatomical dif-
other’s food. Too different.

ferences—”

“And sometimes,” he went on, “we bring

“You bet there are. I’ll bet they run to their
information.”

digestive systems, too. They can’t eat a lot of

“Information?” Phil asked quietly.

each other’s foods—and they can’t get them

“Knowledge brings strength,” said Bob. “If
where they spend most of their time. There
we see a storm coming before it gets here, we
seem to be good reasons for that, too, though
warn females so they can prepare. Or any oth-
we’re hoping you’ll help us learn more about
er danger. In old days enemies sometimes got
them.”

into town and caused trouble, fear, damage.

“We’re immensely grateful for your help

By flying abroad, we could spot those coming
with that,” Hazel said, a bit more gently. “But
and warn females to ready defenses. And we
don’t presume to speak for us. You’re not one
could help head them off ourselves, by attack-
of us. We can thrash out the rest of this stuff
ing from the air.”

later, in private. For now, let’s just get to

“You say there were enemies in old days,”

know him. Let him speak for himself, without

Hazel said. “How about now? Are they still
trying to reshape his worldview in our image.

around?”

Okay?”

“Don’t know,” said Bob. “Not much trouble

“Okay,” said Calantha, looking as if the
with old enemies lately.” He paused as if delib-
words tasted bitter in her mouth. “But don’t
erating, then said, “But we found you. Don’t
you forget that you need me.” Without wait-
know yet whether you’re new enemies.”

ing for permission, she switched the translator

“We’d rather be friends,” Hazel said quietly.

back on. “Bob, I’m sorry if I offended. I be-

Phil thought, Some of us, anyway. As if sens-lieve my colleagues would like to ask you
ing the need for a change of subject, Hazel
some questions.”

said, “Do you like visiting the crèches?”

Then she just waited.

“Oh, yes,” said Bob. “Life is joy. Sharing that

Hazel started things off. “Bob, Sylvie said
joy with young is special. They are hope for
you males roam the countryside to bring
future of all of us.”

things back that they can’t get here. May I ask

“We feel the same way,” said Hazel.

what sorts of things?”

“Glad to hear that,” said Bob. “Another

“Many sorts,” Bob said. “Some you can
thing we sometimes do —” He broke off
touch, like special rocks that the females use
abruptly as if he’d thought better of what he’d
to make things. Sometimes things to use,
been about to say. “Glad to hear that,” he re-
sometimes just to look at.”

peated.

“What if you need to bring a lot of some-

After an awkward silence, as Phil and pre-
thing? One of you can’t carry very much f ly-
sumably all his colleagues wondered what
ing.”

Bob had started to say but didn’t, Hazel said,

80

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015

“I suggest we continue this conversation in

Bob to see those signs. He couldn’t read the
our town, Breakaway. Can you come tomor-
words, but the pictures could be a problem.”

row?”

He looked in the direction the protesters had

Bob considered. “I think so. But prospect is
gone. “I don’t think we’ve seen the last of
scary. I’ve never f lown in daylight before.

them.”

Among us, ‘f ly-by-day’ is a term of derision

“Of course we haven’t,” she said. “I may
and disparagement.”

have handled that well enough, but I’m begin-

“Understandable,” said Hazel. “But this time
ning to think we could have handled some
there’s a good reason for it. You can get eye
things better right from the start.”

protection from your craft workers in town,

“Like what?”

and we can try to keep our lights from being

“Well, when we moved here, we all had this
too bright. We’ll try to make you as comfort-
idealistic vision of ourselves as a rational, wellable as we can. Can we count on you?”

intentioned bunch who were above the com-

He seemed to be thinking it over. Finally he
mon throng and didn’t need to saddle our-
said, “I’ll be there.”

selves with formal government. That’s easy
when there aren’t many people involved and

XXIV.

things are going smoothly. But it was only a

Phil knew from the start that Bob’s first vis-
matter of time before some problem that
it to Breakaway would be psychologically dif-
would come up that would divide us. Once
ferent from Sylvie and Goldie’s. Human per-
that happens—as it has—maybe we’d be bet-
ceptions are strongly colored, often
ter off if we had some clear rules about what
subconsciously, by association with past expe-
will and won’t be tolerated. And ways of en-
riences. Many humans f ind otters cute. Few
forcing them.”

feel the same way about bats.

“A police force.”

But Phil wasn’t expecting Corcovan and his

Hazel nodded. “Yes. It pains me to say it,
cohorts to be so blatant about it.

but yes. I’ve seen this split coming for some

They were there even before Phil arrived,
time, and now I see the wedge being driven
standing in an unruly knot at one side of the
deeper and deeper—just when we can least
area where they expected Bob to land, bran-
afford it. In the midst of all this, can we still dishing placards with slogans like BREAK-hope to organize ourselves and deal with the AWAY IS FOR HUMANS, BATTER THE BATS,

Zoeys? Or is it too late?”

and THE ONLY REAL SOLUTION—the last

Before Phil could answer, he heard distant
with crude cartoons of otters and bats lying
f lapping and saw Bob materialize over the
belly-up. Phil cringed, but before he could re-
nearest trees, then descend to land right in
act, Hazel came storming onto the scene,
front of Phil and Hazel. Again a throng of vil-
charging toward the protesters and yelling,
lagers gathered around him, but this one was

“Get those things out of here! Right now! I
smaller and seemed more wary than the one
said now!”

that had greeted Sylvie and Goldie. Bob, his

For a moment they stood their ground, star-
face partly hidden by a dark eye mask that un-
ing sullenly. But nobody could stare Hazel
doubtedly made him look even more sinister
down, and already a group of her supporters
to people who thought of bats that way,
were forming into a small army of their own
looked them over and said, “Howdy, y’all.

and advancing on Corcovan’s gang, many of

Thanks for letting me come to visit.”

them carrying objects that could serve well as

“Our pleasure,” said Hazel. “Was your trip
weapons.

okay, with the daylight and goggles and all? Is

Corcovan looked momentarily indecisive.

there anything we can do to make you more

Then he muttered something to his gang that
comfortable?”

Phil couldn’t catch. They lowered their signs,

“I managed,” he said. “It was . . . an interest-
backed off and dispersed, discreetly followed
ing new experience. And no, you don’t need
by some of Hazel’s supporters.

to do anything special. Just show me what you

But there was no feeling of resolution.

want me to see.”

Phil moved closer to Hazel. “You handled

Hazel and Phil started by introducing them
that well—and in good time. I wouldn’t want
to a few of the boldest onlookers, a bunch

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

81

ANALOG
self-selected for high curiosity and openness
his but with individual touches reflecting her
to the unfamiliar. Not surprisingly, quite a few
personality and background—including, to
of them were kids, and Bob’s standing among
his surprise, a picture of the two of them on a
them and answering their questions reminded
mountain ledge near her old place in Col-

Phil a little of his visit to the Zoey crèche. But orado.

only a little: in the crèche, Bob had towered

He wondered what Bob would make of the
over his questioners, little “bats” and “otters”

electric lights and plumbing f ixtures. He’d
who looked up to him both literally and figu-
seen evidence of indoor plumbing in Otter-
ratively. Here they were aliens who, even the
town, but the obvious parts didn’t look much
children, towered over him and must have
like their counterparts here. He had no idea
seemed intimidating.

whether the males’ lodges had such things at

Hazel must have agreed. She let it go on
all.

only brief ly before she said, “Okay, folks,

Bob made no comment on those, but he did
that’s enough for now. You’ll all get chances
ask, “You live here alone?”

to talk to Bob later, but now we have things

“Yes,” said Hazel.

to show him.” As they dispersed, she told

“Is that usual among you? One house, one

Bob, “I thought you might like to start by see-
person?”

ing what our homes are like. I’ll offer my own

“Not usual,” said Hazel, “but not uncom-
as a sample.” She started toward it, the hu-
mon. Some of us live alone, but many in small
mans easily following. Bob scurried along in
related groups. Often one adult male and one
an awkward-looking gait with quick walking
adult female who’ve chosen to spend their
motions of his short hind limbs aided by us-
lives together. Sometimes their children too, if
ing his longer front arms as auxiliary legs and
they have any.”

his middle wings folded out of the way as

“Interesting,” said Bob. “All the time?”

well as he could manage. But they were big

Hazel frowned. “What do you mean?”

wings, and after a few steps, Hazel stopped

“When a male and female and their off-
and looked down at him. “Bob, would you
spring share a house, do they spend all their
like us to get you a cart or something? I didn’t
time together there?”

think about our legs being so much longer

“Well, not all, but a lot of it. They may all
than yours.”

have their own things to do in different places

“No, I’ll be f ine,” he said. “But thanks for
during the day, but usually all come home to
asking.”

spend the night.”

They got to Hazel’s house and went inside.

“Interesting,” Bob repeated. “And a bit

She gestured at a coffee table in the center of
strange, if I may say so without offending.”

the living room. “You’re welcome to sit there,

“No offense,” Hazel assured him, but Phil

Bob. You’ll see better from there than on the
sensed that the topic was making her a little
f loor.” He thanked her and took her sugges-
uncomfortable. “Let’s go outside and we’ll
tion with a quick hop. “We don’t use it for
show you where our food comes from.”

that, of course,” Hazel said. “But you’re wel-

On the way there, they stopped off at the
come to.”

gathering hall, and Phil explained that this was

There were a couple of big old-fashioned
something like the hall in which the Zoeys
books on the table, with pictures and text.

had f irst shown him their model of a human

Bob glanced at them, but only briefly, and Phil
windmill and its hoped-for destruction. There
wondered if he had any idea what they were
weren’t many people in it now, and none
for. Did the Zoeys have a written language? If
came over to talk or meet Bob—but most of
so, was it the same for males and females?

them stared. That made Phil uncomfortable,

So much they still didn’t know!

so they didn’t linger.

As Bob scanned his surroundings, and Hazel

Outside, he pointed out a couple of crop
pointed out furnishings and lights both here
f ields and livestock yards, and asked, “Bob,
and in the rooms opening off it, Phil looked
would you rather f ly over and meet us
around too. He hadn’t been in Hazel’s home
there?”

since their time in Colorado and couldn’t help

“That would be easier,” Bob said. “See you
being curious. Her furnishings were much like
in a minute.” He took off after a rather comical

82

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run on his middle and hind limbs to gather
don’t recognize the material. Same with your
speed. It looked easier than Phil would have
houses.”

expected, but he made a mental note to try to

Phil had been afraid that would come up, so
offer some sort of raised platform for Bob’s
he had thought a little about possible answers
next takeoff.

and wasn’t caught completely off guard. “It’s

Bob solved that problem for himself by
something we brought with us,” he said. “Ac-
perching on a fence rail next to a field where
tually, we grow them. A little like growing
beans and corn were beginning to sprout,
plants, but different.”

along with a presumably native plant that Phil

“Could you teach us?”

didn’t recognize. Bob seemed to find the idea

“Probably not,” said Luk. “We may not al-
of cultivating plants on dedicated pieces of
ways be able to do it ourselves. To maintain it
dry land surprising. “What is that one?” he
we need other tools that we couldn’t bring
asked, pointing at a still-standing row of last
with us.”

year’s dry corn stalks.

“Hmm,” the translator said Bob said. “How

“Corn,” said Hazel. “It’s a plant from our
do they help you? Why do you need them?”

home world that produces seeds that we like

Phil had given that a little thought, too.

to eat. It’s not easy to grow here, but we’ve

“You remember the conve yor belt that
found ways.”

hauls things up from your marsh farms to

Bob pointed a wing tip at the native crop.

the city, and the engine that drives it? The

“But this one is not from your world. We eat it
windmills provide the driving force for
too.”

many of the things in our town. But they

“That has problems for us too,” said Phil.

get what they need from the wind rather

“It’s easier to grow than the plants we brought
than steam.”

from our home world, but we have to do ex-

“You mean energy,” the translator said,
tra things to it before we can eat it.” He hoped
which startled Phil until he remembered the

Bob wouldn’t press him for details. How could
time he had inadvertently used the word to
he possibly explain nanotech to the Zoeys—

Sylvie, and she had seemed to understand it
and would he even want to?

right away. “But how can a windmill up here

“Would you like to go see the windmills?”

drive things in town?”

he suggested.

“That’s hard to explain,” said Phil. “I don’t

“I’ve seen them,” said Bob, with what Phil
fully understand it myself.”

suspected was some version of a grimace.

“Understood,” said Bob. “We have things I

“But never from this angle. Yes, I’d like to see
don’t understand, too.” He paused. “We ap-
them. This time I’ll definitely fly ahead, if you preciate your shutting them down while we
don’t mind.”

work this out, but I’m concerned. How are

“Understandable,” said Hazel. “But we’ll be
you managing without them?”

driving up. Want to ride along?”

The question, and especially the way he

“No, thanks. I’ll f ly, and watch where you
phrased it, surprised Phil. “It’s some hard-
go.”

ship,” he said, “but we’re managing. We have

Hazel and Phil picked up Luk, just in case
other ways to do the most important things,
any technical questions came up, and all the
for a while.” He hoped he wouldn’t have to
humans piled into a bug to head up the
try to explain antimatter power supplies. “But
switchbacks to the windmill farm. Bob liter-
we can’t keep doing it indefinitely.”

ally f lew circles around them as the y

“I hope you won’t have to,” said Bob. “For
climbed, then landed and sat on the bug’s
both our sakes.”

roof when they parked it near the base of a

Phil was feeling pretty good about the way
windmill.

things had gone as they drove back down the

There were no corpses or fresh litter of
hill, but he felt a sinking feeling as they ap-
f lying “insects” on the ground this time, the
proached the spot where Bob had arrived and
windmills having been out of commission
from which he would leave. Corcovan and his
for several days. Phil was grateful for that,
cronies were back, signs and all, in a semicir-
but Bob still hit on a touchy subject right
cle right where Bob would presumably be tak-
away. “What are they made of ?” he asked. “I
ing off, blocking his obvious run-up path.

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Bob and his human escorts had already be-
the other humans he’d just met. “Please, sir,”

gun saying their good-byes as they ap-
she said. “Mr. Bob. I’d just like to meet you,
proached, but Bob broke off what he was say-
too.” She was staring more obviously than she
ing and came to a nervous halt as he saw what
had with Sylvie and Goldie, and seemed a lit-
lay ahead. He stared at each obstructing hu-
tle afraid to get too close.

man—and each sign—in turn. His eyes lin-

“Well, here I am,” he said, staring back.

gered longest on the one with the cartoon of

“And you are . . . ?”

dead Zoey males and females. Then he turned

“Srella. I just wanted to tell you I hope we
to Phil and asked quietly, “What does this
can all get along. I don’t want any more bad
mean?”

things to happen.” She looked down at the

“It means,” said Phil, “that some among us
ground and said, “My mother was one of the
have bad tempers and not much sense. Pay no
ones who . . . died.” Then she looked straight
attention to them.”

into his eyes, though none of the humans

He knew that was a nonsense suggestion
could actually see them through his dark
even as he said it, but he tensed painfully as
shades. “Did you kill my mother?”

the encircling mob edged deliberately closer,

Bob was caught so off guard by her ques-
jeering rudely and brandishing their signs.

tion that for a long moment he made no re-

“No, Batface,” Corcovan said with a sneer,
sponse at all. Then, just as he was starting to

“that’s not what it means at all. It means—”

attempt one, there was a f lurry of loud foot-

“That’s enough!” Hazel interrupted in a
steps headed this way, and a man’s voice off to
tone that stopped even Corcovan in his tracks.

Phil’s right shouted, “Srella!”

“Corcovan, we’ll deal with this later. For now,

Phil recognized him just as he puffed to a
you’ll show our guest the same courtesy you
halt in front of them and grabbed Srella’s
would expect if you were visiting in his home.

hand: Olaf Lindholm, her father, though few

Or you’ll get out of here, right now. Do I make
would guess that by looking at the two of
myself clear?”

them. Despite the abrupt way he had an-

Corcovan just glared at her. Then he started
nounced his arrival, Phil remembered him as
to take another step toward Bob. “I said
a powerfully built but soft-spoken Scandina-
now!” Hazel yelled. Then, glancing at a couple
vian biochemist who had played a key role in
of her closest associates who “just happened”

making it possible for humans to grow Earth
to be armed, “Clarify!”

crops and digest native ones. “Srella,” Olaf re-

They drew their weapons and stepped res-
peated, speaking only to her, “don’t bother
olutely toward Corcovan. He stared incredu-
our guests.” He told Bob, “I’m her father. I
lously, then glowered. “You bet we’ll deal
hope she hasn’t been bothering you. She
with this later,” he growled. He turned to his
didn’t mean any harm.”

associates. “Later,” he said, quietly but omi-

“She hasn’t bothered me at all,” said Bob. “I
nously, and they moved off.

find her . . . refreshing, after some of your fel-

“That was most disturbing,” Bob said when
lows I just met. And her question is a fair one,
they had gone.

though the answer isn’t as simple as you might

“To us, too,” Phil and Hazel said together.

think.”

“But remember that your people don’t all

“No need to go into detail,” Olaf said hasti-
agree about how to deal with us. Then maybe
ly. “At least now.” He turned to Phil and Hazel.

you can understand that we have the same

“I hope she hasn’t been causing you any trou-
problem.”

ble, either. She gets curious about things, and

“Maybe,” said Bob. “But now I must go.”

sometimes plunges right in without asking.”

“Understood,” said Phil. “We’ll look forward

“No problem,” Phil assured him. “Actually,
to our next meeting.”

she was a big help in getting as far as we have.

“I wish I could say the same. But we will

I don’t know how we would have managed
meet again soon. And now, good—” He was
without her model-building skills. You should
starting his run to reach takeoff speed when a
be proud of her.”

small, high voice called out, “Wait!”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Still, I should

Bob stopped and looked for the source, per-
keep better tabs on her. I’m not as good at it as haps because Srella sounded so different from

Giselle was, and now that I don’t have her—”

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“No need to apologize,” said Phil. “I’m sor-
had more friends than she had ever had be-
ry I haven’t come to spend any time with you
fore.

since I got here. I was very sorry to hear

Till Daddy told her they were bad people,
about Giselle. How have you been managing
and she couldn’t play with them any more.

since . . . ?”

That tore her: she had always felt deep down

“I manage. I won’t say it’s easy.” He took a
that whatever Daddy said, she could trust. But
lengthy moment to compose himself and his
now he was telling her that her friends were
thoughts. Then, to Phil’s surprise, he ad-
bad, and she felt just as sure deep down that
dressed Bob. “I don’t know how I feel about
they were good.

you folks. On one hand, after spending my life

What was she to believe?

assuming humans were the only intelligent life

In her dream, her head was physically split-
there was, it’s exciting to learn that there’s
ting, one side trying to pull her being back to
somebody else. Part of me wants to get to

Daddy, the other trying just as hard to pull her
know you, to learn all I can about you—just as
away from him and off to join her new friends

Srella’s mother would have wanted to do. An-
forever. The pain was excruciating. She felt
other part fears that you did cause her death
her body and soul splitting right down the
and wants to hate you for it. But I know—or
middle, opening along an actual zipper that
think I do—that you’re not all responsible for
she hadn’t known was there—
what one or two of you did.” Phil saw his low-

It was at that moment that the rasping
er lip trembling slightly. “So you’ll understand
sound of the zipper morphed into the insis-
that I, too, am interested in the answer to my
tent beeping of her communicator. Confused,
daughter’s question.”

she dragged herself up out of the dream and

“I do understand,” said Bob. “I find talking
reached out to answer it—but remnants of the
to you reassuring, and I hope to be able to
dream clung to her like mud on a person
give you a good answer later. For now, I’ll just
climbing out of a puddle she’d fallen into.

say that we never meant any harm, just as you

“Hullo?” she mumbled groggily.

say of us. Anything that happened before was

“Magnus,” a voice said, and it took her a
an unfortunate accident, and we regret—”

moment to relate it to a person. “Sister Calan-

He broke off abruptly, suddenly staring over
tha,” it said. “We have to talk.”

Phil’s shoulder at something behind him. “We

“Now?” she said. “Brother Magnus, I know
really do regret,” he said. “But we shall have to I disturbed your rest once before, but I apolo-f inish this discussion later.” Without another
gized—”

word, he turned away, did that frenzied run,

“I know, and I made you promise you
and was airborne, flapping off just above the
wouldn’t do it again unless you had news so
trees.

important it couldn’t wait. I wouldn’t do it to

Phil turned around to see Corcovan, alone,
you unless it was that important, either.”

striding this way with fierce determination in

She struggled to process that. What could
his face. “Coward!” he muttered, watching
have happened at his end that was that impor-

Bob fly away. Then, glaring at Hazel, “You said
tant? This was where the action—and the
everybody would have a chance to talk with
trouble—was. “Then you clearly did the right
him. I want mine.”

thing,” she said, more out of duty than convic-
tion. “What is this thing that couldn’t wait?”

XXV.

“I’ve made my decision,” he said. At f irst

This time it was Magnus who woke Calan-
she thought with annoyance, What decision?

tha with a call. She was sleeping soundly,

Then she abruptly realized what he must
dreaming of herself as a little girl back in
mean, and the fog cleared immediately, re-

Kansas, running happily through cornf ields
placed by an unbecoming wariness.

and giggling. Then her father, whom she had

Why should she be wary? He was Magnus.

always admired more than anyone, whisked

If he had a decree to make, her duty was sim-
her up and told her the whole family was mov-
ply to accept and follow it.

ing to St. Louis, and suddenly they were there.

“The last time we talked,” he said, “I found

At first the crowds and hustle made her afraid,
your news deeply troubling. I told you that I
but once they were settled in, she found she
needed to meditate and pray, but at first that

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ANALOG
didn’t seem enough. For a while I also felt that

“Try to control them with a distorted ver-

I should seek counsel among my peers. But
sion of the Truth? That would be a betrayal of
then I realized that that very thought was but
the Truth itself, and of the God we serve. I
a momentary weakness. You see, Calantha,
cannot be a party to that.”

even I am subject to moments of such weak-

“You’d rather be a party to genocide?”

ness.

“Regrettably,” he said with exaggerated

“But I have long cultivated the inner
piety, “there is no other way.”

strength to rise above it, and I soon realized

She could hardly hear her thoughts over the
that showing it to my fellows would only fo-
hammering of her heart. Finally she said, “But
ment confusion and weaken our people’s faith

. . . how can you do that?”

and thereby our cause. There was only one in-

“We,” he corrected. “Not me. We’re all in dividual whose counsel I needed, and it was a
this together.”

f law in my faith that I ever considered any-

“We,” she said dully, the word tasting bitter.

thing else.”

“How can we do it? A successful general must

“And that individual would be . . . ?”

know his enemy. There is so much we don’t

“Why, Sister Calantha, isn’t it obvious? God,
know about the Zoeys. How many of them are
of course.”

there? What are their strengths and vulnerabil-

She was silent for a long time. “God spoke
ities? How many more are there besides the
to you? Directly?”

town we know about? How much contact do

“He’s been speaking to us for a long time.

they have?”

Think back to our credo, based on the correct

“Details,” said Magnus. “Obviously we will
interpretation of Genesis. The King James ver-
not plunge into this blindly. We shall learn
sion says he gave humankind dominion over
these things. Since you’re there and I’m here,
the Earth and all that lived on it.” A detached

I’m counting on you to be my eyes and ears.

part of Calantha wondered what it really said.

To learn all you can and report back to me,

She’d never read it in the original, and, as a lin-with a full awareness of why we need the
guist, she knew what could happen in transla-
knowledge.”

tion. “We now know,” Magnus was saying,

“Oh,” she said—and no more.

“that that merely reflects the limited perspec-

He waited quite a while and f inally said,
tive of the translators, and what they rendered

“Sister Calantha, I need to hear your answer.

as ‘Earth’ really meant the entirety of creation, Are you with me or against me?”

of which Earth is but a small part. Is that not

She, too, took a long time to answer. Rem-
so?”

nants of her interrupted dream were rising up

“So we are taught,” Calantha said stiffly.

and wafting around her, making her think,

“Because it is true. We are really meant to

Even daddies can be wrong. . . . At last, very have dominion over everything, not just our conscious of what a bold, dangerous, disquiet-little Earth, and the Gate was a gift from God
ing move it was, she said, “I can’t be with you.

to open our way to this new planet. Anything

Not on this.”

that appears to be somewhat like us, or to

“Then you are against me,” he said quietly.

want a share of that dominion, must be a test.

“Not a good position to be in, and a profound

We must not be deceived. We were com-
disappointment to me. But I can be as mag-
manded to have dominion, and dominion we
nanimous as my name. I will make allowance
shall have. It’s all right there, in the revealed for the unfamiliarity of what I am asking, and
word.

the possibility that your judgment is simply

“But yes, since you ask so directly, God has
warped by the concerns of the moment. Call
spoken directly to me, to confirm that this is
me when you change your mind—regardless
what he wants. It is what we must do.”

of the hour. But my patience is not unlimited.”

“We must destroy the Zoeys?”

He broke the connection.

“It’s the only sure way to have dominion
over them.”

XXVI.

Calantha was shaken. “How can we have

To Phil’s surprise, it was Corcovan who
dominion over them if they no longer exist?

called for a general meeting and took the

Couldn’t we try what I suggested instead?”

initiative by calling it to order. Most of the

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village was there, and since there was not—

“Just as I was about to say,” Corcovan said
so far—a formal government, anyone could
with a smug grin. “That’s what you say you’re
call a meeting of anyone who cared to show
doing, but most of us have heard very little of
up. Hazel called Phil right away and asked
your f indings—or what else you might have
him to attend with her. “I don’t know what
been discussing over there. I think it’s high
he has in mind,” she said, “but I think we’d
time we did, especially if you expect us to
better f ind out and be prepared to defend
continue putting up with what we’ve been
ourselves if necessary.”

putting up with. And you’ll have to convince

Phil agreed, so now they found themselves
us of that.”

side by side near the front of the gathering

“That can be arranged,” said Hazel. “We’re
hall. Corcovan took a commanding stance at
still learning so much that it won’t be a f in-
the very front and boomed out, “May I have
ished product, but we can certainly prepare a
your attention, please? Your attention,
report on our findings so far, for everybody to
friends!”

read.”

It took a moment for the gathering to fall

“Good,” said Corcovan. “You do that—be-
silent, but it did. Clearly Corcovan had follow-
cause we’re going to have to make an impor-
ers. “I’ve asked you to come here,” he said,
tant decision soon.”

“because we’ve been living under unusual

“Right. So are they. And since this involves
stress for quite a while, and some of us think
both them and us, we ought to have some
it’s gone on long enough.”

Zoey representatives in on these discussions.”

“It’s only been a few days,” somebody called

Scattered cheers and catcalls f loated up
out.

from the gathering. “I hardly think so,” said

“Some of us,” Corcovan repeated, “think

Corcovan. “The most basic decision we have
that’s several days too many. Several days with-
to make is whether we’re going to try to coex-
out our windmills. Several days of unnecessar-
ist, or one or the other of us has to go. Surely
ily depleting our valuable antimatter reserves,
you can all see why we don’t want them here
which we’re in no position to replace if we
until we know which way that goes.”

use them up.”

“On the contrary,” said Hazel. “I don’t think

“A few days don’t matter,” the heckler inter-
we have any right to make that kind of deci-
rupted, and a small murmur of voices and
sion without giving them a chance to defend
countervoices began to swell.

themselves. Remember something in the

Somewhat to Phil’s surprise, it was Hazel

American constitution about the accused hav-
who cut them off. “Let the man speak!” she
ing a right to confront the accuser?”

shouted.

“This isn’t America, and they aren’t hu-

Corcovan looked as surprised as Phil.

man.”

“Thank you,” he said with a wary glance at

“Exactly. Isn’t that exciting?” Without being

Hazel. “As I was saying, we’ve had several days
asked, she rose from her seat and strode to the
of having our privacy invaded by nonhumans
front of the room, turning right beside Corco-
invited here by a few among us for the express
van to face the audience. “Folks, let me re-
purpose of showing them how we live. That’s
mind you of a few things about how and why
information they could use against us, and we
we came here. There was a time, which some
should be thinking real hard about whether
of you are old enough to remember and some
it’s smart to let them have it. Meanwhile,
of you aren’t, when people dreamed about
those same few among us have been spending
meeting other intelligent species from other
long hours among the enemy on their own
worlds. They didn’t want humans to be alone
turf—”

in the Universe. They thought meeting others

“I object to your calling them the enemy,”

would give us an unprecedented opportunity

Hazel interrupted loudly. “We don’t know
to see everything from a new perspective and
that.”

exchange ideas, much as human civilizations

“We don’t know that they’re friends, ei-
had long done among themselves. Some want-
ther.”

ed that enough to put a lot of money and ef-

“And we’re collecting similar information
fort into searching for extraterrestrial intelli-
about them.”

gence.

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ANALOG

“But after years of coming up dry, the very

“That’s sometimes described as ‘burrowing
idea that there was anybody else out there—
through subspace,’ another concept I couldn’t
out here—faded away. We quit looking, and explain in detail and you wouldn’t want me
began to take it for granted that we were
to. What matters is that it lets a ship get from
alone. We couldn’t expect company, but by
one point to another at apparent speeds
the same token it seemed the Universe was
greater than what used to be called the light
ours for the taking.

limit—but not enough greater to get us all the

“How we wound up here is a story too long
way out here in a reasonable time. But it could
and complicated for me to tell in detail here
get us out to the Gate, and that could plop us
and now, but if you don’t know it, I strongly
out close enough to get here in a respectable
suggest you look it up. The gist of it is that an total time.

interstellar probe sent out before we collec-

“I don’t remember which of us first thought
tively lost interest wound up sending signals
of putting them together, but when Phil told
back from a place a long, long way from
me what he’d learned and I told him what I’d
where it belonged. Nobody off icial was pay-
learned, we both saw an exciting possibility.

ing any attention to the incoming signals by

Like most of you—maybe all of you—we’d be-
then, but a young academic working in the
come terribly tired of what Earth had become.

history of science on Luna stumbled onto this

We saw this place as a chance to try again—
one and realized what it must mean: that that
quietly bring a few dozen carefully selected
probe had hit something in space—what we
people out here and start over, trying to treat
now call the Gate, and assume to be the prod-
our new planet right from the start, avoiding
uct of an alien technology that we don’t un-
the mistakes our ancestors had made.

derstand—that catapulted it through a short-

“It took years to pull it off, but we did. Most
cut to a distant region of space. There it found
of you were among the few we invited and
this planet, surveyed it, and found that it was
were proud to call friends, colleagues, and co-
eminently suited to human habitation, and ap-
pioneers. We never expected to find anything
parently without intelligent inhabitants. Not
here but room and resources, and when the
that the probe looked all that hard, given a

Zoeys started making themselves known—ad-

Zeitgeist that had pretty much abandoned the
mittedly in a weird and disconcerting way—
idea of ETI as a serious possibility.”

we understandably saw them at f irst as a

“Maybe it should have looked harder,”

threat.

somebody said with audible bitterness.

“But maybe that was wrong. Maybe we

“Maybe it should have,” Hazel agreed. “But
should see them instead as an opportunity
it might have missed the Zoeys even if it had,
that our forebears had long hoped to find and
given that they’re nocturnal and their civiliza-
given up on. Now it’s been given back to us.

tion is so hard to see from outside that it might We need to remind ourselves why it was
as well be deliberately hidden. In any case,
worth seeking, and learn to take advantage of
that’s irrelevant now; we don’t get a redo.

it.”

“That same young historian, who you all

“They’re primitive,” Corcovan interrupted
know as Phil Bertrand, had been e-corre-
loudly, apparently having had enough. “They
sponding with another young academic—that
kill humans.”

would be me—on Earth. My specialty was an

Hazel stopped and looked at him. “Can you
old branch of literature called science fiction,
prove that? And even if it’s true, was it ‘they,’

which had faded away when the real world
or just one or two of them? Can we hold an
became so much like its imaginings of the fu-
entire species responsible for the actions of a
ture that most people didn’t see much differ-
few? Would we want them doing that to us?”

ence any more. Ironically, that led to my stum-

She turned back to the general assemblage.

bling onto another piece of the puzzle that

“Look, friends, we still don’t know exactly
ultimately brought us here. While researching
what happened in those frightening early
some of the last stories thought of as distinctly days—which were not very long ago. But we
science fiction, I stumbled onto records of an-
do know, from what we’ve learned already,
other bit of real research that had been largely
that there’s far more to them than our early
forgotten: Renton Ingvald’s mole drive.

dark imaginings. Let me give you a few—”

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“Put it in the report,” Corcovan broke in.

“But now we do. And Srella and I know that

“We’ve listened to you long enough, espe-
if Giselle had lived to know it, she would have
cially considering that I called this meeting.”

considered the chance to get to know them

He, too, turned back to the audience, lean-
the opportunity of a lifetime. If we don’t want
ing toward them and gesturing earnestly and
to dishonor her memory, we have to learn to
emphatically with his hands. “Listen,
see it that way too.”

friends—and I think I have at least as much

He stopped deliberately, sweeping his eyes
right to call you friends as she does—we can
over everyone in the room. Finally his gaze
read what they claim to have learned later.

came to rest on Corcovan, just for a moment,

For now, I want to make sure you fully grasp
and then he looked back at the group. “I
and appreciate one key fact that overrides
know some of you don’t agree with me. But
anything else. These creatures have killed
we have to decide how we’re going to handle
some of us! Do we want to let them do it this, and we have to do it like rational beings.

again?”

We can’t just plunge ahead with whatever im-

A considerable number of voices shouted,
pulses we feel and let the decision be made by

“No!”

whoever has the hottest head and the biggest

But they were by no means a clear majority,
hammer.

and as they faded, a single, much quieter voice

“We need a better way of making group de-
said, “May I say a few words about that?”

cisions than we’ve had—or needed—since

Suddenly the room became very quiet as
we came to New Horizons. I suggest that we
eyes sought and found the speaker. Here and
begin by agreeing to some basic democratic
there jaws dropped, and the one man standing
procedures, and electing a leader—right
in the middle of the room walked calmly for-
now.”

ward, holding Srella by the hand, and the two

Scattered applause began here and there
of them took a position in front of both Hazel
and grew into a steady roar punctuated by
and Corcovan. “If anyone here has a right to
cheers. Then, as if that process had somehow
be angry or vindictive about those deaths,”

cleared the air, the chaos rapidly coalesced

Olaf Lindholm said in his usual calm voice,
into a semblance of order. It didn’t take long

“it’s me and my daughter. She lost her mother;
to establish that most people at least grudg-

I lost my wife, my f inest colleague, my irre-
ingly accepted Olaf’s suggestion, and that the
placeable soulmate.

obvious candidates for an elected leader were

“But are we putting up a battle cry and de-

Hazel and Corcovan. A voice vote was held
manding vengeance against an entire peo-
less than half an hour later. It was too close to ple—yes, I said people—because one or more
call, so they tried again by counting raised
of them may have been responsible for
hands, and that gave Hazel a clear majority—

Giselle’s death? We emphatically are not. Prob-
but not a large one.

ably the Zoeys— some Zoeys—really did cause Looking surprised but tentatively gratified,
what happened. Bob, the one of them that
she said, “Thank you, my friends. I realize I

I’ve gotten to know a little—has hinted as
don’t represent all of you now, but I’ll do my
much. But he also said that it was an accident.

best to make sure we work toward a consen-

Until I see more evidence to the contrary, I
sus we can all accept.”

consider that a plausible hypothesis that de-

Corcovan, though visibly disgruntled, at
serves to be tested. Especially since we, too,
least had the sense to recognize that he need-
have accidentally caused injury and even
ed to seem willing to work within the hastily
death among them.”

established system. “And I,” he said, “will do

An angry murmur started in a couple of
the same. But don’t think you’ve heard the last
pockets within the crowd, and Olaf let his
of me.”

voice rise just enough to cut it off. “Don’t

His expression was such a cryptic mixture
deny it. You know about the bodies, large and
of feigned good humor and veiled threat that
small, among the windmills—and you know
nobody was sure how to respond. The result
that wasn’t what we had in mind when we set
was a round of halfhearted applause that
them up. It couldn’t have been; we didn’t
gave Phil less hope than he might have pre-
even know the Zoeys existed then.

ferred.

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89

ANALOG

And as that faded away, a completely unex-
in a place where people could again have
pected woman’s voice said clearly, “Before
big families and enjoy them without apolo-
you all go, may I say something?”

gy.

“But there are limits to what I’m willing to

XXVII.

do to protect that. When Magnus told me God

As Calantha stood to speak, her heart was
had told him I had to do more . . . I did a hell
hammering even more loudly, and the rest of
of a lot of soul-searching and finally decided I
her was shaking harder, than in her last con-
didn’t believe God had told him anything. He’s
versation with Magnus. It didn’t help that
just a charismatic man who’s let power go to
most of the audience was staring at her as if as-
his head, and he’s scared.

tonished that she should think she had any-

“I’m scared, too—but I’m also excited. I’ve
thing to say.

gotten to know the Zoeys a little, and I’m ea-

So she cut right to the chase. “I’m asking
ger to know them better. I’ve seen their chil-
you,” she said quietly, “for asylum.”

dren; I’ve seen Bob bonding with them. When

The room became even more hushed, as

Magnus said I had to keep sending him infor-
if everyone had stopped breathing. “I can’t
mation so he could use it against them, I told
go home,” she went on. “I always assumed
him I couldn’t. He expects me to call back

I would, but I’ve been put in an impossible
soon and tell him I’ve changed my mind. But
position. Partly my own fault, because I

I’m not going to. If I send information to any-
f ind I have to be true to my own beliefs,
body, it will be to my few friends who I think
and I’ve just learned what those actually
will see it my way.

are. I think.

“That makes me his enemy. If I go back

“As you know, I came here because you
there, I’ll be regarded as a traitor. My life
asked me to, and you had a problem that in-
would be in imminent danger from the mo-
terested me. I had no delusions that you
ment I stepped out of my VTOL.

wanted me here; you needed me, which is

“But if you let me stay here, and accept me
not the same thing. I told Luk Zakowitz
into your community, I’ll be more than willing
when he invited me that I would need per-
to help you continue to learn all we can about
mission from our leader, Magnus, and a con-
the Zoeys. I know some of you would like to
dition for getting that was that Magnus ex-
use that knowledge the same way I would.”

pected me to keep him posted on my

She glanced involuntarily at Corcovan, then
f indings. I naïvely thought he would be as ex-
tore her eyes away. “I also know some of you
cited as I was to hear about the Zoeys. I can
wouldn’t. But no matter what side we’re on,
hardly tell you how shocked I was when he
we need the knowledge before we can decide
called me last night and told me God has told
what to do.

him that . . . I must help him do something I

“So what do you say?”

can’t even say.”

She closed her eyes, trying to stop her trem-

She closed her eyes briefly. “But I couldn’t
bling as she waited for their answer. The si-
accept that. As some of you know—and oth-
lence went on a long time.

ers probably don’t—the Fruitful are not really

Finally Hazel said, “I sympathize with your
a religious body. Some of us are; I thought I
situation, but this is a big decision for us.

was. But when the chips came crashing down

You’re right, though, that we need the infor-
and I had to really examine what I believed,
mation before we can move on. And we need
and why, I found that I was one of the many
you to get it.”

who tagged along not because we believed

“I don’t trust her,” a Corcovan supporter
strongly in Magnus’s preachings, but because
growled—but not, Phil noted with interest,
we liked some of the other ideas that came

Corcovan himself. “She’s still one of them, no with them.

matter what she says. I don’t want her here

“Me, I just like children. I’ve always been
any longer than necessary.”

more comfortable with them than with

“Well, we haven’t reached that point yet,”

most adults. When I found out about the

Hazel told him. “Right now, her presence—

Gate and New Horizons and Magnus’s plan,
and help—is still necessary. So we’re going to

I was excited about the possibility of living
have to give her the asylum she wants, at least

90

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015
for a while. Whether that turns out to mean in-
just local sources of energy and materials if we
definitely, remains to be seen.”

ever have to.”

She turned to Calantha. “Calantha, I’m sor-

“When we have to,” Olaf said gently. “We’re ry we haven’t made you feel as welcome as
both tech guys; we can speak plainly to each
we might, but you can understand why you
other about what we know is coming. You
make some folks uncomfortable. We are grate-
grew your windmills with nanotechnology
ful for the help you’ve already given us, and
that has the same problem: increasing en-
appreciate your willingness to keep doing so. I
tropy, and we’re less and less able to do any-
can’t tell you you’ll be welcome here indef i-
thing about it.” He glanced around to see who
nitely. Eventually there will have to be a vote,
might be listening. “I assume you’ve noticed
and how that goes will depend partly on how
how old Calantha looks?”

you impress people in the meantime. Person-

Luk nodded. “I don’t know how many re-
ally, I hope it will work out to everybody’s
juve treatments she’s had, but I don’t think
benefit. I want to know more about the Zoeys
they’re working as well as they used to. Nan-
too, and it’s no secret that I oppose extermi-
otech systems do break down, and there’s less
nation or anything like it. But what we ulti-
and less we can do for it. And rejuves are the
mately do is everybody’s decision, not just
least of our worries.”

mine.

Olaf grinned wryly. “Oh, you think mere

“Meanwhile, I want to know more about
survival is more important? Well, you’re right,

Magnus and his plans. . . .”

of course. I ought to know. Do you know how
much I had to do to enable us to grow Earth

“Actually,” Luk remarked to Olaf when the
crops here, or let us digest native stuff ? And
pandemonium died down and the gathering

I’ve never thought of it as more than a stop-
hall had mostly emptied, “that was something
gap. If we really want to be at home here, we
of a relief. Looking back a year from now—if
need simpler and surer ways to survive with-
we’re still here a year from now—I think we’ll
out constant dependence on artificial aids.”

feel lucky Calantha wanted to stay with us.”

“That’s a tall order,” said Luk. “But the

“Yes,” Olaf agreed. “I’d hate to have this de-

Zoeys’ natural adaptations may give us some
generate into an orgy of mutual destruction
good ideas. And their ways of doing things
when we’ve made such a promising start on
may help us see ways we could do them bet-
understanding each other. Giselle would have
ter. Have you heard about this phytotechnolo-
hated it even more. She would have loved to
gy Phil says they have?”

be doing what Calantha is doing, you know.”

“Yes, and I can’t wait to learn more. . . .”

“Yes, I know,” said Luk. “And I’m so sorry
she couldn’t be the one to do it. We all miss

The next time Magnus got a call from Break-
her. But I was thinking of even more than
away, he frowned as soon as the caller started
that.”

speaking. That voice was definitely not Calan-

“So was I,” said Olaf. “Aside from the adven-
tha.

ture and romance of getting to know an alien

“This is Rod Corcovan,” it said, in male
intelligence, I think we’re going to need
tones that struck Magnus as rough-edged.

them—and maybe sooner rather than later. As

“You don’t know me, Mr. Magnus, but we
enemies, they’d just drain our limited re-
have something in common.”

sources. As friends, they could help us learn

Magnus bristled at being called “Mr.” Mag-
to use a fair share of the ones we’re trying to
nus. “What could that possibly be?”

share with them.”

“We both see the native creatures we’ve

“Yes. They’ve had a lot more practice than
found as a threat to humanity. We both see
we have, and I can already see the stuff we
what needs to be done about them, but not
brought with us starting to fade. That’s why I
everyone sees it our way.”

started the windmill project. Our antimatter

“How do you know that?”

power systems aren’t going to last forever, and

“Your spy talks too much. Or should I say
we’re a long way from having the infrastruc-
your former spy?”

ture to replace them. So I wanted to start de-

Magnus sat up straighter, frowning but lis-
veloping ways that we could carry on with
tening attentively. “Who do you mean?” He

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

91

ANALOG
knew the answer, of course, but he wanted to

“Unfortunately, no. There are some here
feel out what this Corcovan character knew
who think like your renegade linguist. They
and what his angle was.

think they’re going to use the information

“I think you know. Calantha McQuade. The
she’s helping them gather to get all cozy with
linguist you sent over here to help those
the natives, and we’ll all live happily ever after.

among us who want to treat these primitive

You and I know that isn’t going to happen.

beings as equals—and incidentally to gather

They’re way too different.”

information about them for you. I understand

“Indeed.” Magnus thought it over. “This is
she’s let you down lately.”

very interesting, Mr. Corcovan. Most of us

“That’s between her and me,” Magnus said
have always thought the main conflict on this
stiffly.

planet was between you First Settlers who

“Of course,” said Corcovan. “But maybe it’s
ducked out to Breakaway, and us Fruitful. But
more than that. How long since you’ve had a
if some of you agree with us . . . well, that
new report from her?”

could make things a lot simpler in the long

“Why should I tell you?”

run, couldn’t it?”

“Have you told your people there about

“Only about this,” said Corcovan. “We only
your plan to exterminate the natives?”

agree with you about the native problem. On

Magnus frowned. “Did Calantha tell you I
the population question, most of us in Break-
had one?”

away still agree that we need a place to live

I wish I did, he thought glumly. A goal is very differently from you. But since some of us
not a plan.

agree with you on what to do about the local

“Not in so many words, but I read between
creatures . . . well, they say politics makes
the lines. Do you deny it?”

strange bedfellows. This may be a case in

“No,” Magnus said with a sigh. “I’m wait-
point.”

ing for the right moment. But it won’t be

“It may indeed.” He doesn’t see the bigger
long.”

picture, Magnus thought. If some of them

“Presumably,” Corcovan said with irritating
align with all of us on this issue, when it’s all smugness, “because you’d like to know more
over there may not be enough opposition to
before you go public, and you’re not getting it
keep the Fruitful from following our man-
from Calantha any more. How would you like
date on the whole planet. Aloud, he just re-another source?”

peated, “It may indeed. Please do keep me in-

Magnus perked up but remained cautious.

formed, Mr. Corcovan. Let’s see if we can help

“What do you mean?”

each other toward a worthy goal.”

“She’s still helping a few of us—not includ-
ing me—gather more information about the

XXVIII.

bats and otters. They’ve promised to put to-

Magnus had plenty of conf idence in his
gether a report on what they’ve learned so far,
power and his popular support, but he
and keep providing updates as they get more,
nonetheless felt a bit apprehensive when he
supposedly to help us here make an informed
put the word out that he was going to make a
decision when we vote on what to do. I’m
big announcement. Only after he made that
guessing you’d be interested in that informa-

“preannouncement” did he call his advisory
tion, too.”

council together.

“Maybe. Are you offering to supply it?”

He knew Newtown had a much better orga-

“Maybe. If you can’t trust Calantha to any
nized government than Breakaway. With its
more, I’d be more than willing.”

much larger population—several thousand

“Why? What’s in it for you?”

compared to a few hundred—it had to. But he

“Isn’t it obvious? I want the same thing you
also knew that he was the heart and soul of it.

do. But I’m not sure there are enough of us

These people were his devout followers; he
here to pull it off, by ourselves. There are a lot needed a council mainly to make it unneces-more of you folks. If we got together . . .”

sary for him to get involved in petty details

“It’s worth considering,” Magnus said care-
and to keep him informed about develop-
fully. “Do you speak for everyone in Break-
ments and trends that could grow into major
away?”

problems if not nipped in the bud.

92

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OCTOBER 2015

Today he sat at the head of the big table in
and the males a little like bats—big bats. I
his private conference room and surveyed the
haven’t personally seen them, but this is what
handful of faces around it. He’d handpicked all

I’ve been told.”

these people, but it was disquieting to reflect

“Otters and bats,” Shun Lee mused. “That
on how little he actually knew about them.

hardly sounds possible. How can they be . . .

The discomfort didn’t last long, though. They
compatible?”

all had a good record for acting as his eyes and

“I don’t know,” said Magnus. “But that’s an
ears and then rubber-stamping his decisions.

unimportant detail. Presumably they have

Why should today be any different?

found ways.”

Maybe, an annoying little part of his brain

“Clearly very different from ours,” said Shun
suggested, because what you’re asking them

Lee. “So how can you say they superficially re-
to do is different from anything in their past semble us?”

experience? He squelched that part quickly

“Some aspects of behavior. They have
and called the meeting to order.

towns—or at least one town. That’s all the

“Thank you for coming,” he said. “Some-

Breakaway colonists have seen, and it’s not
thing has come up that completely upends
easy to see, so we don’t know how many
much of what we believed about this world,
more they might have missed. And they have
ourselves, and perhaps the Universe. It does
some technology, though it seems to be quite
not change what we need to do, in the long
primitive.”

run, but it does require us to do one addition-

“I gather,” said Shun Lee, “that we don’t
al thing that we never imagined we would
know a great deal about them yet. How do we
ever have to consider.

know what little we do?”

“As you well know, one of our most funda-

Magnus had been hoping that question
mental beliefs is that we humans are alone as
wouldn’t come up, though part of him knew
intelligent, sentient beings, so the Universe is
it had to. “You may have noticed that you
ours to f ill and utilize as we see f it—as God
haven’t seen Calantha McQuade around lately.

wills us to see fit.

You may also have seen one of our smaller

“We have no reason to doubt that essential

VTOLs take off some days ago, and noticed
truth—but our former compatriots on Zo
that it hasn’t come back. Calantha took it,
have discovered something that threatens to
with my blessing. One of the Breakaway peo-
confuse the unsophisticated and shake their
ple asked her to come and try to learn to com-
faith in it. That’s a chaotic landscape over
municate with the natives. I wasn’t entirely
there, and literally hidden among its nooks
convinced that was a good idea, but the very
and crannies they’ve discovered a kind of life
existence of these creatures was disturbing
with enough superf icial resemblances to us
enough that we needed to learn as much
that some might mistakenly believe they have
about them as possible—before I bothered
as much right to this place as we do.

you with the question of what to do about

“This, my friends, is a test God—or perhaps
them.”

Satan—has placed before us to see how easily

“Don’t the Breakaway people have their
we could be swayed from our sacred mission.

own linguists?” Adrian Beaufort asked.

There are some among our renegade cousins

“They did. They don’t any more. There is . . .

who think we should try to reason and coop-
reason to suspect she was killed by natives.”

erate with these beings. To share with them!”

That provoked a small flurry of small but ag-

He spat the word out with obvious distaste
itated conversations. Finally Beaufort said,
and paused to study the frowns and question-

“And after that, we’re still considering trying
ing expressions before him.

to talk to them?”

Before he could continue, Shun Lee, long

“They claim it was an accident, if they had
one of his most trusted advisors, said, “You
anything to do with it at all,” said Magnus.

say these beings bear a superf icial resem-

“That’s not inconceivable. We’ve had acci-
blance to us. You mean they look like us?”

dents, too.” It pained him to say the next part,

“No, no,” said Magnus. “Not at all. If you
but he felt a need to have all the cards in the
must compare them to anything, the females
table before this group, if not the colony at
look a little like the otters we had on Earth,
large. “The people who’ve been trying to talk

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

93

ANALOG
to them say they seem to be of good will.

“We have a whole planet,” said Shun Lee.

They claim the natives seem to be making an

“And we’re filling it at a rate far beyond any-
effort to live peaceably with us, and think we
thing in past human history. You’ve all seen
should do the same.”

the numbers. This is a relatively hospitable

“And they were here f irst,” said Shun Lee.

world, and in addition to an opportunity that

“That is awkward, isn’t it?”

has not existed on Earth in recent centuries,

“To say the least. The question before us to-
we have an unprecedented combination of ad-
day, gentlefolk, is whether we should attempt
vantages enabling us to take full advantage of
to deal with these beings, or whether that
it. We have biological technologies like life ex-
might be suicidal in the long run. I’ve made
tension, rejuvenation, cloning. We have social
my decision, and God tells me it’s the right
inventions like baby farming and neural im-
one. I’m counting on you to give me your sup-
plants to accelerate learning so people can be-
port as well.”

come productive members of society at early

The assemblage sat silent for quite a while,
ages. We have nanotechnology to make build-
and none of their expressions were easy. Fi-
ing infrastructure faster and less labor-inten-
nally Shun Lee said, “This is too important to
sive.

expect us to read between the lines. Why

“The upshot is that our population doubling
don’t you tell us, straight out, what your deci-
time is about sixteen Earth years. True, there
sion is?”

are only f ive thousand of us now, but there

Magnus sighed. “I’ll do that. It might seem,
were only two thousand when we arrived
on casual consideration, that trying to get
twenty years ago. If we continue on the same
along peacefully with these beings, perhaps
path—a path for which we are divinely des-
even to cooperate with them, would be re-
tined—there will be twenty million of us in a
quired by the moral teaching of our faith. Cer-
couple of centuries, and twenty billion in less tainly that would be true if they were human.

than four. So while most of the planet is un-

But they are not human, and encouraging
populated now, it won’t be long before we
people to treat them as if they were would
need all of it. Now is the time to nip obstacles
undermine our even more fundamental teach-
in the bud.”

ing of humanity’s uniqueness and our man-

Shun Lee, with deeply furrowed brow, said,
date to fill the Universe to the best of our abil-

“Why? These natives are, as you said, primi-
ity. Furthermore, at a more pragmatic level,
tive. They can’t have any of the advantages
we will be competing with them for the same
that let us multiply so fast. Why not wait until
resources.

it’s more definite that we have a clear numeri-

“For all of these reasons, we need to re-
cal advantage over them?”

move them from the picture as quickly and

“Because,” said Magnus, “we don’t need
unceremoniously, and with as little discussion
that numerical advantage, and it’s better to
and agonizing, as possible.”

stop an incipient problem at the earliest op-

He waited. The silence was even longer this
portunity than to put it off and hope it will
time. Finally Noreen Beaufort said carefully,
get easier later. Things seldom work that

“You’re saying we should exterminate them?”

way. Our best bet is to strike decisively, now,

Magnus nodded solemnly. “A regrettable ne-
while it’s pretty clear that we can do so suc-
cessity. Remember, these are not human be-
cessfully.”

ings. This will not be a question of homicide.”

“What makes you so sure we can?” Adrian

“But it is unquestionably genocide,” said

Beaufort asked. “What do we know of their

Shun Lee.

numbers and specific abilities? What weapons

“Do not think of it that way, ” Magnus
will work against them? What defenses do
warned. “Think of it as a surgical operation
they have and how might they retaliate?”

needed to ensure our own survival and pros-

“Enough,” said Magnus, trying to sound as
perity. If we knew there were lots of other
confident as he wished he felt. “Calantha and
places to go, and we had ways of getting to
the people she’s working with are preparing a
them, we might have the luxury of trying to
summary of their findings so far. Calantha her-
find a gentler way. But we have nowhere else
self, I’m afraid, has become a bit of a loose
to go, and no way to get anywhere else.”

cannon—”

94

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015

“Exactly what do you mean by that?”

The ensuing silence was the longest yet.

Noreen interrupted. “And how do you ac-

Then Shun Lee pushed his chair away from
count for it?”

the table and stood up. “I’m afraid the ‘unani-

“She’s become one of the bleeding hearts
mous’ part isn’t going to work,” he said. “I
who think we should try to work with the na-
quit.”

tives, with some vague idea that we can all live

“So do I.” Noreen Beaufort stood up and fol-
happily ever after. She doesn’t like my plan,
lowed Shun Lee out the door, neither of them
and has threatened to stop supplying—”

looking back.

“Doesn’t it bother you,” Noreen asked,

Magnus stared after them, trying to control

“that she opposes you so strongly, when she
his trembling. Then he forced his attention
probably knows more about the natives than
back to the remaining members of the council
any other human?”

and, keeping his voice f irm with an effort,

“Of course it bothers me, ” Magnus
called for a vote.

snapped, “but not because I think she might

And was relieved that his proposal did pass
be right. The point is that you have all sworn
unanimously among all those still in the room.

allegiance to me as the leader of this colony,
and to the sacred purpose on which it was

He went public the next day, announcing a
founded. Calantha has lost perspective be-
meeting of “utmost importance” to be held in
cause she’s standing too close to the problem.

the largest public space in the town—the

I’m conf ident she’ll come to her senses and
open f ield people called “the square” even
back into the fold. But just in case she doesn’t, though its shape was nowhere near that regu-I’ve been contacted by a member of the Break-
lar. He also set up to send his announcement
away group who does agree with me and
out electronically for anyone who didn’t want
wants to work with us to make sure my plan is
to show up personally but was curious.

carried out. He has promised to keep sending

The in-person turnout was impressive. He
me reports even if Calantha doesn’t. We will
stood on a high dais, decked out in full regalia, have an ongoing source of intelligence from
before a sea of some two thousand souls, and

Zo, and we should get some of us over there
felt confident that there were at least as many
soon to check things out for ourselves.

unseen but listening.

“Meanwhile, the important facts we already

His presentation to them was to the point,
know are these. There is only one native set-
but less detailed than the one he’d given his
tlement near Breakaway. The natives are small-
private council. As he expected, the an-
er than us, have far less sophisticated technol-
nouncement that their strayed brethren in
ogy than we do, and are not much, if any,

Breakaway had discovered seemingly intelli-
more numerous. They’re bottled up in a com-
gent life provoked gasps. “This is not the
pact target. A swift, fairly conventional attack
end of the world,” he assured them. “It is
and a show of our superior strengths, which
merely a test God has placed in our way, to
must seem like magic to them, should put an
ultimately strengthen our faith in our divine
end to the immediate threat. If we learn there
mission.

are more elsewhere, we can tailor a biological

“We must never forget that we have no way
or nanotech weapon to take care of them af-
to leave this planet. The Gate is gone; we
terward.

could see its functioning becoming more er-

“As for Calantha McQuade’s current misbe-
ratic as our successive ships came through,
havior, that’s a passing aberration and a good
and the last one didn’t make it. The ones that
illustration of why we must move ahead
did make it, we have long since cannibalized
promptly. Otherwise our people will confuse
to build our burgeoning new home. It will be
themselves with too much thinking about
a long time before our descendants can build
how this unexpected discovery should affect
new ones. And as well as we could determine
our worldview.

experimentally, the Gate never did work in

“So: are you with me? I want to take this to
the other direction.

the people very soon. And I want to be able to

“So this planet is our future. We cannot risk
tell them that this council unanimously backs
it by attempting to share it with creatures that
my plan.”

could seriously compete for its resources.

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

95

ANALOG

Some of you may be uncomfortable with the
chosen. “Choose us!” he heard one couple
idea of destroying beings whose behavior
cry out. “We’ve got a boy over there. . . .”

looks superf icially a little like ours, but my

And they were just two among many. Yes,
council, myself, and above all our God, have
he assured himself, this was going to work.

determined that there is no other way. If ever
in the course of human history a choice really

XXIX.

had to be made between ‘Them and Us,’ this

Despite the rumblings of brewing trouble
is it.

from Magnus and Corcovan, after the big

“If you have doubts, I ask you to ponder
meeting things seemed to settle down into a
your faith until you see the wisdom of this
comfortable routine. The small human delega-
choice. If you are already on board, I ask you
tion and their Zoey counterparts continued to
to come forward without delay. We have al-
visit and study each other, but Phil increasing-
ready begun collecting, with the help of sym-
ly felt that there was more than study in-
pathetic persons in Breakaway, the informa-
volved. Different as these beings and their
tion we will need to carry out our mission. But
ways were, he was coming to like and respect
we must not rely solely on them.

them—and to feel surprisingly at ease with

“The very name of their settlement—Break-
them.

away—makes clear that most of the inhabi-

Still, he reminded himself periodically that
tants of Breakaway have already broken faith
disturbing questions remained unanswered,
with us. So while we welcome the informa-
and he needed to keep thinking about those.

tion they send us, we must also have some of

One morning a few days after Corcovan’s
our own people over there to see for our-
meeting, Phil took advantage of a shortish
selves what the situation is and what we can
night in Ottertown to get up after a relatively
do about it.

brief sleep and go out for a stroll among the

“I’m organizing an initial party, right now,
ruins scattered through Breakaway.

to fly to Breakaway and set up a base camp for

There hadn’t been any new activity there
scouting out the situation. There has never
since the visits started, but the mysteriously
been such an opportunity for men and
half-collapsed houses and such were still
women of courage to provide a great service
much as they had been. He paused next to the
to their people. If you would like to volunteer,
first one he’d seen, staring at the ground at its please come forward right now. If you’re not
base and letting his gaze go half-focused and
quite ready, go in peace, and I shall look for-
his mind wander where it might. He remem-
ward to your joining us later. God be with
bered when his little group had stopped by
you!”

one of these, and Dick Sysler had asked Sylvie

He stood with benevolent arms out-
how they did all this damage without setting
stretched and said no more. For a moment,
off alarms or leaving tracks.

the crowd was hushed, then a mighty roar of

It wouldn’t do to leave tracks, she’d said; if
cheers broke out, and people began streaming
it was obvious how it was done, it wouldn’t
toward the dais. Only a couple of hundred, he
be scary. She’d indicated that they’d done it by
estimated, but even that was more than the
controlling swarms of small creatures that
first large VTOL could carry.

they brought to the “job site” and left them

It had gone well, he thought. That had been
alone to do the dirty work. But she’d been
a gratifyingly loud round of cheers, and he’d
sketchy about details. Now Phil found himself
heard no obvious jeers among them. A small
trying to imagine how the blanks might be
doubting part of him wondered if that meant
filled in.

that the common people were more solidly

How, for instance, did they get the destruc-
behind him than the council—or that those
tive little beasties to where they were needed,
opposed were too stunned to say anything
without whoever brought them leaving
yet.

tracks? What made them stop when they were

He chose to believe the former and to revel
f inished, instead of just continuing to wreak
in the adulation of the smaller but energetic
havoc indefinitely?

crowd now gathering at his feet, pressing for-

Well, given that the Zoey males were the
ward and clamoring to be among the f irst
very “bats” whose corpses he’d seen with so

96

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015
little idea of their import, the track question
sheer astonishment. Then he began to worry
was easy. Maybe one of them could f ly over
about what its presence here might mean.

the site they wanted to sabotage and drop a

He had forgotten about everything else by
bag of the mini-destroyers—or eggs that
the time the VTOL had settled into a vertical
would grow into them. If the Zoey delivering
orientation above the hanging plain where the
the package f lew at just the right height, he
windmills stood and begun settling toward the
might be able to drop it without signif icant
ground. He watched just long enough to be
damage, while staying above the visual field of
sure it was really landing, then turned and ran
camera traps.

headlong toward Hazel’s house.

As for the destroyer bugs’ doing only so
much damage and then disappearing, maybe

“It’s some of them!” he told her breathless-they were programmed in some way. Or
ly, as soon as she’d let him in the door.

maybe they just had short life spans and were

“They’ve followed us here! In a VTOL! A big
all males, or sterile, so they couldn’t repro-
one!”

duce. But that wouldn’t account for why their

Hazel frowned but otherwise remained out-
bodies weren’t found in the rubble. . . .

wardly calm. “Sit down,” she said, gesturing

Or were they? Phil remembered the un-
toward her couch. “Who’s followed us here?

pleasant sense of the ground crunching un-

Let’s take this from the top, slowly.”

derfoot because he was walking on thousands

“We may not have time to take it slowly.”

of dead flying bugs. How closely had any hu-

He sat as directed but remained on the edge of
man examined those? Might some of them be
his seat, leaning anxiously toward Hazel. “I
the destructive agent? Did their sheer num-
was outside thinking about the ruined houses
bers keep people from noticing them? Or
and windmills, when I heard and saw some-
could the destroyers be the flying bugs them-
thing f lying this way. When it got close
selves?

enough, I saw that it was a human-built VTOL.

If they really weren’t there, maybe that was

Now, who could have one of those on this
because they left when they were f inished.

planet?”

Phil tried a new scenario. Maybe even before

Hazel’s mouth took a grim set. “The Fruit-

Zoey males airdropped bags of tiny destroyers,
ful. Now why would they suddenly be coming
they laid down some sort of invisible fence to
here, and with no advance notice?”

keep the bugs’ destruction within a well-de-

“I can’t think of any good reason,” said Phil.

f ined boundary. Maybe the boundary lost ef-

“Neither can I. But I can think of several bad
fectiveness over time, so the bugs could wan-
ones. Do they think they’re going to set up a
der off, either finished with their destruction
branch off ice right next to us? Turn Break-
or, as isolated individuals, doing too little dam-away into another Newtown? If so, what does
age to attract notice.

that mean for us?”

Too many hypotheses; too little data to

“Well, at the very least, there goes our
choose among them. Phil couldn’t exactly say
dream of making this our kind of place instead
he was on the right track, but he felt that he
of theirs. But it could be even worse. Do they
was standing at the junction of the right track
want to try to browbeat us into going back
with several wrong ones. All he had to do was
there? Or sabotage our settlement?”

figure out which one it was. . . .

“Why bother?” said Hazel. “We’re no threat

But before he could pursue that very far, or
to them over here.”

even get very excited about it, he was distract-

“Not now. But maybe they’ve started really
ed by something new and totally unexpected.

thinking about how fast their population can

At f irst it was just a distant drone, almost
grow, and decided to eliminate us sooner
too faint to register consciously. But it drew
rather than later.”

his eyes toward the western sky, and there his

“Yes, I suppose it could be an actual inva-
peripheral vision caught a tiny dot, moving
sion. It seems bizarre, but so does a lot of
and growing almost imperceptibly. Over the
what they do. You say this is one of the big
next couple of minutes it grew louder, and

VTOLs?”

bigger, and took on shape. As Phil realized

“Yes. Big enough to carry our whole popu-
what that shape was, his jaw dropped from
lation.”

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

97

ANALOG

Hazel frowned intently. “I don’t like it. If it’s orange hard hat.” He pointed, then looked at
any of those things, it’s not good for us.”

Hazel and added, “He would have come to

“Of course,” Phil mused, “maybe we’re not
see you in a little while, if you’d waited.”

who they’re after. Remember what Calantha

“Couldn’t wait,” said Hazel. “I need to talk
said about Magnus’s idea of destroying the
to him before you people get too settled.” She

Zoeys. Could they be planning to try that al-
climbed back into the bug, told the tent man,
ready?”

“Thanks,” and drove off to see Burl.

“That would make no sense at all,” said

He was as burly as his name, no doubt cho-

Hazel. “The first rule of conflict is ‘know your
sen for his leadership role because of his in-
enemy. ’ What do they know about the
timidating appearance. But Hazel did not look

Zoeys?”

intimidated. “You’re Mr. Sanderson?”

“Maybe more than we think.” Phil paused

He made a point of looking down at her.

to let that sink in. “Or maybe they’re here to

“Yes. And you are . . . ?”

start learning.”

“Hazel Castagna. What’s going on here?”

“I don’t like that any better than the other

“We’ve come to help you,” he said gruff ly.

possibilities,” Hazel said after a while. “I think

“We understand you have a pest problem.”

we’d better go up and ask them—with an

“I don’t remember asking for help, and po-
armed escort.”

lite people generally call ahead before show-
ing up on other people’s doorsteps. What

Combat had not been high on the list of
kind of problem do you think we have? And
things either wave of colonists expected to
why did you assume we’d be so eager for your
do, so there wasn’t a lot of weaponry or train-
help that you don’t have to bother with man-
ing among them. But they had anticipated a
ners?”

possible need for hunting or defense against

“Don’t give me that,” Sanderson growled.

predators. It didn’t take long to round up a

“You know perfectly well what problem you
couple of sympathetic souls with long guns,
have. Some people here still talk to friends
and in less than an hour, Phil and Hazel were
back home, you know. We know about the ot-
back in a bug, winding up the rough road to
ters and bats. We’re here to get rid of them for
the windmill f ield with the two gunmen in
you.”

the back seat.

Hazel glared. “You must also know that a lot

When the road smoothed out onto the
of us consider that a really bad idea.”

plain, Hazel gasped at the sight of the VTOL

Sanderson made a little travesty of a grin.

standing proudly among the windmills—and

“Yes. I also know some of you don’t. Some of
at what was going on around it. Dozens of
you have the sense to realize that these critters people were scurrying among the windmills,
can be nothing but trouble for human plans.

setting up instatents and moving gear into

We—” He broke off, frowning, and looked off
them. Evidently they were here for the long
in a direction where conversation had sud-
haul—which was no surprise, after they’d
denly become loud and agitated.

gone to the trouble of moving that many peo-

Several of the new arrivals were looking to-
ple all the way here.

ward the VTOL and pointing toward a sizable

Hazel looked around but didn’t see anyone
winged form flying toward it. The flyer made
obviously supervising. She just drove up to the
several circles around the big craft, then spi-
nearest tent, got out, and strode up to the
raled out for a broader survey of the assem-
biggest man outside it. Phil, following close
bling multitude. When it got close, Phil rec-
behind, didn’t recognize the man; it had been
ognized it and smiled. “Hi, Bob!” he called
a long time since anybody knew everybody
out.

else in Newtown. “Hello,” Hazel said neutral-

He knew Bob might not understand him,
ly, looking the man in the eye. “I’m the elect-
and he couldn’t read Bob’s expression as he
ed leader of Breakaway. Who’s in charge
f lew by and then off toward higher ground.

here?”

But he suspected Sanderson’s reaction should

The man by the tent stopped what he was
be interesting.

doing just long enough to say, “That would

He wasn’t disappointed. “‘Bob?’” Sanderson
be Burl Sanderson. The guy over there in the
said, glaring.

98

STANLEY SCHMIDT

OCTOBER 2015

Phil nodded amiably. “That’s what we call

Calantha showed up a few minutes later,
him. We can’t pronounce his name for him-
only minimally burdened by the latest version
self, but he can’t pronounce ours, either. But
of her translation gear, and stood outside, lean-
we get along.”

ing on the bug and standing so she could face

Sanderson radiated disgust. “You know that
everybody else. “Hi, Bob,” she said. “What’s
thing?”

up?”

“Yes,” Phil and Hazel said together. “And

Bob pointed toward the windmill plain with
some of his kinfolk, too.”

a wingtip. “New machine up there,” he said.

Sanderson shook his head. “Ugly thing.” He

“Big. Just came, with many others like you all.

took a moment to compose himself, then

They seem to be f ixing to stay. What’s going
drew himself up and looked haughtily down
on?”

at Hazel. “I’ll be coming down to visit in a

“We wish we knew,” said Hazel. “These are
while. I especially want to talk to Rod Corcov-
people from the old home we left, and we
an. Since you’re about to go back down there
didn’t ask them to come. We’re not sure why
anyway, why don’t you give me a ride down?”

they did.”

“I can think of all kinds of reasons,” said

“We don’t like it,” said Bob. “When you

Hazel, “beginning with the fact that I haven’t
came, we were afraid of what your arrival
invited you, and you haven’t asked if it’s all
might mean for us. Then we got to know you
right. So it isn’t.” She paused very brief ly. “I some and seemed to be working things out.

can’t tell you you can’t come, though our vil-

Now these new ones are here, and we’re
lage as a whole may decide to later. But I don’t
afraid again. Are they planning to do some-have to welcome you, and you’ll have to get
thing to us?”

there on your own.” She gestured at the near-

“We hope,” Phil said carefully, “it’s just a dis-
est couple of windmills. “Meanwhile, don’t
pute between two groups of us with different
touch anything up here. I’ll leave Rocky and
ideas about how to handle things here. We

Brad in case you need any help.”

hope we can work it out with them, and you

She gestured at their bodyguards in the
won’t need to get involved at all.”

back seat of the bug, and they got out, con-

“I hope so too,” said Bob. He seemed to hes-
spicuously displaying their weapons. Then
itate, then added, “When it was just your first
she and Phil got back in and drove back down
group and we thought you might be danger-
to Breakaway. As they pulled away, Phil no-
ous to us, we f igured we could overpower
ticed a couple of the newcomers staring at
you if we had to, but hoped that wouldn’t be
him with what looked like hostility. They
necessary. If there are this many more of you,
looked faintly familiar, but he couldn’t quite
that would be harder. If more are coming, and
place who they were.

we see them as a threat, we may not be able to
wait much longer before taking action.”

Even before they got there, Bob swooped

“Well, we certainly hope that won’t be nec-
down next to them and paced the vehicle the
essary,” said Hazel.

rest of the way, flying gracefully a few meters

“We all hope,” said Bob. “But we are not
to one side. As soon as they stopped at the
sure. We feel threatened again.” With no fur-
edge of town, he swooped down and landed
ther words, he flew off into the distance.

on their hood. Hazel opened the window and

Phil, feeling suddenly chilled, looked at

Bob chattered animatedly but incomprehensi-

Hazel. “Do you think we should have been
bly.

more candid with him?”

“Hang on, Bob,” Hazel murmured. “I know

“Not sure,” she said. “I do hope we can re-
we’ve got a lot to talk about, but we need
solve the situation with these newcomers, but
help.” She pressed a com button, waited for

I’m not at all confident about that. I fear he’s
an answer, and said, “Calantha, we’ve got a sit-
right to feel threatened.” ■
uation here and need an interpreter. Can you
come out to Bob’s landing spot right away?

We’re all in a bug.”

To be continued . . .

NIGHT RIDE AND SUNRISE PART III OF IV

99

THE REFERENCE LIBRARY Don Sakers n reading, as in most other pursuits, we do

This is how we spend so much time at-
love our categories. And why not? Well-
tempting to pin down exact definitions of “sci-
drawn categories are extraordinarily useful.

ence fiction” and “fantasy,” or arguing whether

IThe modern publishing industryspends the movie Gravity was science fiction or not.

untold effort putting literary works into partic-

We want our categories to have rigidity, be-ular categories, and then helping readers to
cause we fear that non-rigid, unfocused cate-
identify those categories. We call this process
gories will lose their usefulness. And let me tell

“marketing” and decry it as superficial and ma-
you, there’s even worse waiting out there than
nipulative.

Mr. Sammler’s Planet.

Yet despite our insistence that “you can’t

Recently the New York State courts have
tell a book by its cover,” try to imagine the
been embroiled in arguments over categoriza-
nightmare world that would result if there
tion. Because New York taxes the sale of sand-
were no categories, and all books had identi-
wiches differently than other foods, the exact
cal featureless covers with no blurbs, no sum-
definition of the category called “sandwich” has
maries, only author and title? (Actually, I
great import. Is a burrito a sandwich? Is a taco?

don’t have to imagine it—it’s the world in How about a slice of pizza (especially if you fold which an adolescent me stumbled across a
it in half before eating)? A veggie wrap? A but-
plain-covered public library copy of Saul Bel-
tered bagel? Soup in a bread bowl? A dumpling?

lows’ Mr. Sammler’s Planet . . . which was de-It’s clear that a binary model of the “sand-
cidedly not the novel I was expecting.) Trust wich” category just won’t do . . . it’s not a sim-me, you want to be able to identify books ple yes/no choice. Instead, we need a more
and stories by category.

(ahem) analog model. A burrito is more of a

So yes, categories are useful. In a way, Ana-
sandwich than a dumpling is, just as a
log itself is a category: a place where Trevor dumpling is more of a sandwich than a cucum-gathers and presents works that fall into the
ber is. And any of these things is more of a
category we call “Analog stories.” On the title sandwich than a steel ingot.

page you’ll see those works grouped into oth-

So it is, I suggest, with most of the cate-
er categories that convey useful information to
gories we use in our reading. Take a broad cat-
readers (Novelettes, Short Stories, Science
egory like “SF.” As a thought experiment, one

Fact, Reader’s Departments). Even here in the
could evaluate every published book and give

Reference Library, you’ll notice that I include
each a numerical score of SF-ness. At one end
genre categories for the books I review.

of the scale would be unquestioned SF titles

And yet, and yet . . . there’s something unsat-
like (I’ll defer to decades of Hugo voters here)

isfying in the way we use categories. We tend

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. At the other to view them as intrinsic and immutable, like
end would be . . . oh, I don’t know, what’s the
fast-food cups (medium, large, jumbo) or can-
least SF-ish book ever published? The Toledo, dies (red, yellow, blue, green). We imagine that

Ohio phone book? In the middle, a vast con-
all our categories operate like classic Linnaean
tinuum of books, each fractionally more or less
taxonomies, defined by authoritative check-

SF than its neighbor. At some arbitrary value
lists: a creature that has hair, gives milk, and re-we would set a threshold, decreeing that any
produces through live birth is a mammal (and
book above this line belongs to the category
nothing else).

“SF.”

100

OCTOBER 2015

Similarly, we could do the same thing with

And when Gene Wolfe starts to write about
categories like fantasy, steampunk, time travel,
clones of dead writers living on library shelves
space opera, and a million others. Every book
waiting to be checked out, well . . .

could (in theory) be ranked against every cate-

It’s a new world, about a hundred years from
gory, so that each book would have its own set
now. The population is a lot smaller, there are
of scores.

more robots, and there are clones. In particular, Under a scheme like this, consider one of
there are borrowed people: clones who host
our favorite arguments: Is Anne McCaffrey’s
the recorded personalities of dead authors. In

Dragonriders of Pern series SF or fantasy? The particular, the main character of A Borrowed
answer would be, “Well, it scores x on SF and y

Man has the memories and personality of Ern on fantasy. Since both x and y are above their

A. Smithe, the author of Murder on Mars.

fields’ thresholds, then yes it is SF, and yes it is Smithe’s life is peaceful and uneventful until
fantasy.”

the day Colette Coldbrook checks him out. Co-

In some sense, that’s not an emotionally sat-
lette is the scion of a wealthy family, and she
isfying answer. Intellectually, we know that a
needs Smithe for a particular purpose. It seems
book can belong to more than one category at
that her murdered father was clutching a copy
the same time—but we don’t necessarily like
of Murder on Mars when he died, and Colette it.

is sure that the book contains a secret—a se-

Yet—and here’s the really sweet part—as far
cret that could unlock her family’s vast fortune.

as we know now, this is how the human

Reluctant to involve the police, Colette has
brain works. Our thoughts take place within a unsuccessfully tried to find the secret herself.

neural network, and any given thought causes

She borrows Smithe in order to get access to
the firing of associated neurons. If enough of
his memories and perhaps solve the mystery.

the proper neurons fire, then an associated

And then it gets complicated.

concept enters consciousness. If you’re look-

This is Gene Wolfe at his best: an engaging
ing at a burrito and enough “sandwich” neu-
mystery; a tongue-in-cheek social satire; an ex-
rons fire, then that burrito is, at least within
amination of the relationship between author
your skull, a sandwich.

and reader; and a serious meditation on identi-

So let’s look at some books that will hope-
ty, individuality, and personal responsibility—all fully make enough of your proper neurons
rolled into one fun book. Don’t miss this one.

fire.

Mother of Eden

A Borrowed Man

Chris Beckett

Gene Wolfe

Broadway Books, 480 pages, $15.00 (trade

Tor, 304 pages, $25.99 (hardcover)

paperback)

iBooks, Kindle, Nook: $12.99 (e-book)

Kindle: $7.99; iBooks, Nook: $9.99 (e-

ISBN: 978-0-76538-114-9
book)

Genre: Psychological/Sociological SF, SF

ISBN: 978-0-8041-3870-3

Mystery

Series: Eden

Genre: Other Worlds

As a general rule, when writers start to write
about writers, readers should start to be care-

In 2014’s Dark Eden, Chris Beckett intro-ful. It’s usually a sign that before long, things duced the world Eden: a sunless planet of
are going to get awfully meta. There might be
lantern trees and night leopards. The human
different levels of reality flying about, symbol-
population of about five hundred, descendants
ism crashing down hither and yon, and you’re
of the first settlers, struggled for survival until apt to get bonked on the head by a Meaning or
population pressure split the community. In
two.

the resulting chaos, brothers John and David

As another general rule, when Gene Wolfe

Redlantern became the leaders of two warring
starts to write about something, readers
factions.

should relax and follow him wherever he

Dark Eden was a triumph of social world-
leads, in secure knowledge that the journey is
building, down to an effective and well-
going to be well worth it.

thought-out dialect in the tradition of Anthony

THE REFERENCE LIBRARY

101

ANALOG

Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange or Robert A.

In addition to the three novels, this volume

Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

also includes half a dozen Grimes short stories,

Mother of Eden picks up the story about
including one that’s never appeared in book
two hundred years later. Starlight Brooking
form before. And as a special treat, there’s also lives in a small fishing community that’s been
an autobiographical essay by Chandler,
relatively isolated from the still-raging wars. Un-

“Around the World in 23,741 Days.”

til she meets Greenstone, a traveler from a con-

This book, like the previous volumes, is a
tinent across the sea called Worldpool. When
must for anyone who likes space opera . . . as

Starlight returns with Greenstone, she discov-
well as anyone who’s a fan of the old Ace and
ers an advanced society with some secrets. She

DAW SF paperbacks.

also finds that she’s expected to fill the role of Ringwearer—a symbolic Mother of all folk on

Deco Punk: The Spirit of the Age

Eden.

edited by Thomas A. Easton and Judith K.

But the more Starlight learns, the less sure

Dial
she becomes about her new home . . . and the

Pink Narcissus, 246 pages, $15.00 (trade
more certain she becomes that she doesn’t
paperback)

want to be Ringwearer.

ISBN: 978-1-39056-09-2

The Eden books are reminiscent of Ursula

Genre: Original Anthologies

K. Le Guin or the late Theodore Sturgeon: a
combination of alien societies in turmoil

We’re familiar with the genre of steampunk,
with language that can only be called lyrical.

which brings the sensibilities of the Victorian

If you read Dark Eden you don’t need me to and Edwardian Ages to science fiction and fan-tell you to read this one—and if you haven’t
tasy. Now Thomas A. Easton and Judith K. Dial
had the pleasure, you deserve to treat your-
have taken the next step, with an original an-
self.

thology that brings together stories based on
the Art Deco aesthetics of the 1930s and

Gateway to Never

1940s. It’s an interesting choice; as the editors A. Bertram Chandler
point out in their introduction, this is the peri-Baen, 649 pages, $14.99 (trade paperback)

od that birthed modern science fiction as a dis-
iBooks, Kindle, Nook: $8.99 (e-book)

tinct genre; it was an age in which change was

ISBN: 978-1-4767-8047-4
in the air, and technological progress was an

Series: Rim Worlds
exciting new idea.

Genre: Space Opera

In an even dozen stories, fourteen writers
ring changes on the basic concepts, and as you

This sixth and final omnibus concludes
would expect it’s a varied lot.

Baen’s reissue of the Rim Worlds series by A.

Paul Di Filippo takes pulp superheroes as his

Bertram Chandler. The protagonist, Com-
inspiration in “Airboy and Vooda Visit the Jun-
modore John Grimes, is one of those swash-
gles of the Moon,” in which a famous sky ad-
buckling space heroes based on Horatio Horn-
venturer and a jungle queen travel to an inhab-
blower—but Grimes is definitely his own man,
ited Moon to defend the peaceful Black
a bit of a rogue and not always trustworthy, yet

Leopards from the dastardly White Apes. In Jeff
a true hero.

Hecht’s “Mr. Tesla’s Radio Rainmaker,” a pair of

This volume collects the last three Grimes

Long Island mechanics enlist science rockstar
novels along with some shorter works. In The

Nicola Tesla to solve the problem of the Dust

Gateway to Never, Grimes and his crew visit Bowl. In “Corn Fed Blues,” Catherine Asaro and
one of the worst planets in the galaxy. The

Kate Dolan tell the story of a small-town jazz

Dark Dimension takes Grimes into an alter-singer and her encounter with an unusual time
nate universe where he meets another version
traveler. And in Melissa Scott’s “The Wollart
of himself and characters from other Chandler

Nymphs,” the daughter of a shipbuilder boards
books (and even a few from Poul Anderson’s
the liner Nereid on an expedition to chase work). It’s a grand adventure. And The Way
down her sister vessel, now a ghost ship.

Back tells how Grimes and his folks, displaced Other authors include Rev DiCerto, Debra
in time, search for lost Earth.

Doyle and James D. Macdonald, Duncan

102

DON SAKERS

OCTOBER 2015

Eagleson, Linda Tiernan Kepner, Edward M.

Some of the authors are well known for

Lerner, Shariann Lewitt, William Raciot, and
their work in the video game industry: Chris

Sarah Smith.

Avellone, Austin Grossman, Marc Laidlaw,

The editors readily admit that Decopunk

Micky Neilson, and Rhianna Pratchett. Others
may not be the next big thing in SF, but never-
are more names from SF/fantasy: Corey Doc-
theless, this is a darn fine group of stories.

torow, Hugh Howey, Ken Liu, Seanan

McGuire, Catherynne M. Valente, and Charles

Press Start to Play

Yu. Seven stories are reprints, while the rest
edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John
are published here for the first time.

Joseph Adams

Among the standout stories is Holly Black’s

Vintage, 506 pages, $15.95 (trade paper-

“1UP,” in which a dead gamer’s friends discov-
back)

er a game he wrote, a game that leads them on

Kindle, Nook: $9.99 (e-book)

a desperate chase to—just possibly—restore

ISBN: 978-1-1018-7330-4
the life he lost. In “Stats” by Marguerite K. Ben-Genre: Anthologies
nett, a privileged pharmaceutical rep gets a
much-needed lesson in diversity via a powerful

In a world in which new video game releas-
video game. Cory Doctorow’s “Anda’s Game”

es bring in more money than new movies, it’s
brings a paid video gamer face-to-face with the
not surprising that SF should eventually turn
real enemy behind the anonymous players
to the concept of the video game itself. Daniel
she’s been killing in games.

H. Wilson (author of Robopocalypse and

There’s plenty of variety in this volume,

Amped) and John Joseph Adams (editor of
from outright comedy to deeply meaningful

Lightspeed and The Best American Science stories questioning the economics and ethics

Fiction & Fantasy series) have selected 26 sto-of games and the gaming industry. Whether
ries, by as many authors, inspired by video
you’re a hardcore gamer or an occasional dab-
games.

bler, you’ll find much enjoyment and even

I have to clarify that these aren’t stories
some food for thought between these covers.

based on specific games; you’re not going to And now I see that I’ve entered the category
find any Halo or Skyrim stories here. Instead,
we call “out of space.” Until next time, enjoy.

these are stories about gamers, gaming, and
the field of video games. Or, as editor Adams

Don Sakers is the author of Children of the
says, “. . . narratives that explore the way we

Eighth Day and Meat and Machine. For more create and experience video games[.]”

information, visit www.scatteredworlds.com. ■

THE REFERENCE LIBRARY

103

BRASS TACKS
ear Editor Quachri,
airlock. And that makes the story upbeat be-

Congratulations on being editor for
cause it is a story of growth compressed into
the 1,000th issue! I love the idea of us-
a short time.

Ding a 1930 cover but with a modern Again,congratulations on the 1,000th issue!

twist.

Marian Powell

I was delighted to see a special feature de-

Prescott, Arizona
voted to Campbell. He well deserves to be re-
membered. Ben Bova did a fine job in the

Dear Editor,
space he had. If he had covered all there is to

I have become more and more annoyed by
say about Campbell, it probably would have re-
the increasing appearance of the word
quired the entire issue! I hope you will publish

“reigns” appearing where the word “reins”

more articles about Campbell.

should appear. When I saw this occur in your

I’m a second generation Astounding reader.

editorial, I was roused to actually write. Ana-I grew up reading Campbell’s editorials and
log has been my favorite magazine since 1958.

feel he taught me how to think. That’s why I

I look forward every month to its arrival.

hope more can be written about him, because

When you took your place as editor I had fears
in recent years, there are some who seem de-
that changes would be made to the ancient
termined to discredit him. What is forgotten is
formula that supplies the type of stores I ap-
how playful he was intellectually and how
preciate but I have been pleased so far. Please
much he loved controversy. Only in his final
continue the good work.

years did he seem to lose his spark and be-

Jeffrey W. Shook
came dogmatic. The rest of the time, he
seemed to be thoroughly enjoying saying

Right you are! That particular goof is in
things that would spark debate. Bova alluded
the original draft of my editorial, too, so I to that in his article, but I think it should be
can’t even blame it on an overzealous auto-
expanded on.

correct. Alas, just because I know the differ-Another area to explore is how many of the
ence doesn’t mean I always catch the error.

classic stories originated with ideas tossed out
by Campbell. Asimov always credited him

Dear Mr. Quachri:

with the idea for “Nightfall”—That is, Camp-

Colossal congratulations for reaching the
bell asked what would happen if people could
unmatched (in the SF field) 1,000 mark. I es-
only see the stars every few thousand years.

pecially enjoyed the fascinating statistics pre-

Apparently, that happened a lot.

sented by Mike Ashley, indexer extraordinaire.

I’ve heard that the classic “The Cold Equa-

One small correction, however. Jack
tions” was the result of Campbell working

Williamson’s reign as Analog’s longevity
with the author until he got it right. Since Tom
champ is even longer than Ashley thought. His

Godwin never wrote anything else nearly as
last appearance was in April 2005, which
superlative, it’s likely that this is true.

makes the span from his first to final contribu-

And I must say that I am in total disagree-
tion a truly astounding 74 years.

ment with Ben Bova on his comment on “The

I have slightly more than half of all your

Cold Equations.” He says the pilot forces the

1,000 issues on my shelves, and I am looking
girl out the airlock. The story would not have
forward to the centennial issue in January 2030.

the impact it does if that were true. The pilot

Marc Russell
explains the situation to her. Once she under-

Los Angeles, CA
stands, she grows from the impulsive teenag-
er to a true hero who writes a farewell letter

Trevor,
to her parents telling them it wasn’t the pi-

WOW! One thousand issues!! A real mile-
lot’s fault and then voluntarily walks out the
stone. Small issue to pick with you: the cover

104

OCTOBER 2015
art. Where’s the cowering cavewoman? It’s a
the magazine name to Analog, I thought it dude in the background, man. The spacesuit-more limiting than I wished, even though it im-
ed . . . err . . . flightsuited figure looks more plied a mechanical, engineering like idea of
like a woman than the guy in the background!

something that literature does. It “hardened”

And you missed a REAL opportunity with this
the product extra. But his own compelling sto-
one. You should have reprinted that first story
ries weren’t really hard SF, not as hard as the
and included a story from the first issue in the
military stuff he published by favorite authors
next 11 monthly issues or until the whole mag-
again and again. And in fact, the story value
azine had been reprinted. Would have been
was all-important to him. Witness non-military
nice for all us longtime fans who never saw the
writers like Asimov that he nourished. I think
original issues. I’ve been reading your maga-
it was a good decision, however, to take a
zine since the ’60s. No subscriptions till the
stand for rational thinking about content by

’80s I think. Couldn’t afford them, and, be-
changing the magazine name to Analog. Some-sides, there were other places in New York to
times, a name might merely gild a lily that is
pick up the magazine. Not so much in New Jer-
best appreciated for what it is without any dis-
sey or PA, but in NYC it was easy. I’ll probably
tracting window-dressing. Therefore I have
continue reading it as long as I’m around. It’s
come to embrace the name Analog. The Ana-my one vice left to me. Anyway, keep up the
log stories are astounding, as they cannot help good work. Great magazine and hopefully it
but be in taking play seriously.

will continue for another 1,000 issues.

This seriousness toward play I feel you do

Bill Seiler
with distinction above all Analog editors thus Chambersburg, PA
far. I loved your editorial, composed through-
out consistently with that virtue, seemingly

I did toy with the idea of reprinting at least naturally just the right length for its purpose, a that story, but in the end, I decided that using real feat. Campbell, Jr. intentionally stirred up the space for new content offered you, the
controversy with his editorials to build up a
reader, better bang for your buck (even
stimulating Brass Tacks. Stanley Schmidt put
though it would have saved us a few).

himself on the line, representing the need for

And to address your quibble with that cov-
reflection we all share to be the people we
er art detail: I’m guessing you missed the last would like to be, both as individuals and as U.

footnote in the editorial.

S. Constitution-empowered, United States citi-
zens. And you are going for the jugular,

Dear Messrs. Quachri and DiFate:

straight at the heart of the most fundamental

I was ready to pen a six-paragraph ode to Di-
kind of need to read. I am for it 100%. And I

Fate’s 1,000th issue Analog cover, praising his can see why you don’t want to go to so much
revision of the voluptuous-blonde-in-skintight-
creative trouble for editorials every month.

spacesuit-menaced-by-BEM trope—including

But I am hoping for a little more frequency
the heroine’s short hair-do, which is more sen-
than we have at present as you come to like
sible than long tresses for space helmets.

editing Analog more and more thoroughly. In Then I read your editorial. Oh, well.

fact, in the meantime, I’d be delighted to run

Richard M. Boothe
into micro-editorials of yours, say one to three

Sunset Beach CA
paragraphs in length, on timely if less momen-
tous occasions or in connection with some-

Great minds think alike, my friend!

thing you publish in the same issue or recent
issues that is worth playing with so seriously.

Dear Mr. Quachri:

Despite the high quality and interest of all

Analog is indispensable as a forum for
your guest editorials, this one is the single best putting play accessibly into our lives. That’s
editorial that you have published thus far, for
play with ideas, with language, with story ele-
me.

ments, with identity, all at a serious level

And I always read each issue in its entirety.

where the quality of what is unexpectedly dis-

That’s what I subscribe for.

covered matters to all our navigation of all our

Joseph E. Quittner
personal realities. When Campbell, Jr. changed

Cleveland, OH ■

BRASS TACKS

105

UPCOMING EVENTS Anthony Lewis NOTE: Membership rates and other details of-16–18 October 2015
ten change after we have gone to press. In ad-

ICON 40 (Iowa SF conference) at Cedar
dition, most conventions have age-based

Rapids Doubletree, Cedar Rapids IA. Author
membership rates in advance and at the door.

Guest of Honor: David Gerrold; Artist Guest of

There also may be rates for single days. Check

Honor: Sarah Clemens; Author Guest of Hon-
the websites for the most recent information.

or: Ann Leckie; Cosplay Fan Guest of Honor:

Kalli McCandless; TM: Jim C. Hines; Mama &

2–4 October 2015

Papa of ICON: Gay & Joe Haldeman. Registra-

ARCHON 39 (St. Louis MO area SF conference)

tion: before 1 October: Adult $45; Youth (7-
at Gateway Convention Center and Doubletree

12) $25. At the door: Adult $65; Youth $35.

by Hilton Collinsville, IL. Guest of Honor:

Info: http://www.iowa-icon.com/; 308 E

Jacqueline Carey, Artist Guest of Honor: Brent

Burlington St 300, Iowa City, IA 52240.

Chumley, Filk Guest of Honor: Tricky Pixie, Me-
dia Guest of Honor: RJ Haddy, Science Guest of

16–18 October 2015

Honor: Jordin T. Kare; TM: Esther Friesner, Mas-

CON†STELLATION XXXIII: Coma Berenices
querade MC: Victor Milán. Memberships: Ad-

(Alabama area SF conference) at Four Points by
vance rates good until 31 July 2015/at the door.

Sheraton Huntsville Airport, Huntsville AL.

Adult ($55/$70); YA 17-20 ($30/$30); Youth

Guest of Honor: Orson Scott Card. Info:

11–16 ($20/$20); Child 6–10 ($8/$8). Info:

http://www.con-stellation.org/constell/wiki/
http://www.archonstl.org/.

index.php?title=Con%E2%80%A0Stellation_M
ain_Page; constell@con-stellation.or g; PO Box 2–4 October 2015

4857, Huntsville AL 35815-4857; Google Voice-

VCON 40 (Vancouver, BC area SF conference)

mail 256-270-0092.

at Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, Rich-
mond, BC. Author Guest of Honor: Joe Halde-

23–25 October 2015
man; Game Design Guest of Honor: Ed Green-

MILEHICON 47 (Colorado SF conference) at Hy-
wood; Artist Guest of Honor: Rick Sternbach;
att Regency Hotel-Tech Center, Denver CO.Au-

Editor Guest of Honor: Eric Choi; Fan Guest of
thor Guest of Honor: Kevin Hearne; Artist Guest

Honor: Steve Forty; MC: Spider Robinson.

of Honor: Ursula Vernon; Author Guest of Hon-

Memberships until 15 September 2015: Adult
or: Kristine Kathryn Rusch; TM: James Van Pelt.

CAD40; Student/Senior (65+) CAD30; Youth

Info: http://www.milehicon.org/index.html;

(7–18) CAD20. Info: http://www.vcon.ca/.

info@milehicon.org.

9–11 October 2015

30 October–1 November 2015

CONCLAVE 39 (Detroit area SF conference) at

CAN-CON 2015 (The Conference on Canadian

Doubletree by Hilton Detroit-Dearborn, Dear-

Content in Speculative Arts and Literature) at
born MI. Guest of Honor: Jody Lynn Nye. Info:

Sheraton Ottawa, Ottawa ON. Editor Guest of
http://www.conclavesf.net/; conclave@con

Honor: Trevor Quachri ( Analog editor, yay!!).

clavesf.net; Conclave, Inc., c/o Barber, 2737

Info: http://can-con.org/cc/.

Colony Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

30 October–1 November 2015

9–11 October 2015

TUSCON 42 (Tucson area SF conference) at

CAPCLAVE 2015 (DC area SF conference) at

Hotel Tucson City Center InnSuites, Tucson

Hilton Washington DC North/Gaithersburg,

AZ. Author Guest of Honor: Seanan

Gaithersburg MD. Guests of Honor: Gordon

McGuire/Mira Grant; Artist Guest of Honor:

Van Gelder, Alastair Reynolds. Membership:

Bridget E. Wilde; TM: Ed Br yant. Info:

$55 until 31 July; $60 until 30 September; $65
http://www.tusconscificon.com/; basfa@
at the door. Info: http://www.capclave.org/cap
earthlink.net; BASFA, PO Box 2528, Tucson
clave/capclave15/.

AZ 85702-2528.

106

ANTHONY LEWIS

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