Pages

Jan 26, 2020

Harlan’s Punishment?

cover art by Milford Hunter
Here in 2020 I'm celebrating the science fiction stories of Isaac Asimov. I'm a huge fan of Asimov's time travel novel, The End of Eternity and a character that he invented for that story: Noÿs Lambent. The End of Eternity was first published in 1955 as a hard-cover book.

First Impressions
A glowing review of The End of Eternity was published before the end of 1955 in Authentic Science Fiction Monthly. The unnamed author of that book review felt that The End of Eternity was Asimov's "greatest work to date", praising it for hitting a sweet spot between Asimov's overly-complex Foundation Saga (which had originally been published piece after piece in serialized pulp magazine story format) and lesser novels by Asimov such as The Currents of Space (1952).
1955 review of The End of Eternity
cover art by Ed Emshwiller
1955
Yes, it is unusual to see Asimov being praised for "excellent characterization", particularly since the main character in The End of Eternity is not a very likable person (his name is Andrew Harlan).

Expertly Constructed
What does it mean to say that The End of Eternity is "expertly constructed"? Asimov spent a short time in the army during World War II and occasionally we readers get a taste of the colorful language that Asimov probably heard during that time. One of the workers inside Eternity describes the curvaceous Noÿs Lambent as "built like a force field latrine" (see brick house).

As a first-time reader of this novel you might initially assume that Noÿs is present in The End of Eternity for only one purpose, to provide a bit of eye candy for Andrew. You cannot be more wrong! By the end of the story, readers see Noÿs in a completely new way.

source
Asimov liked to create stories in which the reader could understand both of the two competing sides in a conflict and remain uncertain which side, if either, should win in the end. In The End of Eternity, Asimov expertly depicts an imaginary culture (known as "Eternity"), making it come alive in the minds of readers and he shows us why Harlan is seduced by it, despite its many shortcomings. Then, ultimately, in the end Harlan changes his mind about everything in his life and readers understand the true role that Noÿs Lambent plays. Noÿs provides Harlan with a totally different world view, forcing him to question everything he holds dear.

No Accounting for Taste (1956)
The review of The End of Eternity by Damon Knight that was published in Science Fiction Stories (March 1956) provides a 180 degrees reversed view of the novel compared to the earlier review in Authentic Science Fiction Monthly (discussed above). Knight complains that The End of Eternity is too complex and cluttered with an overload of mind-numbing technical jargon from Eternity.

in the Ekcolir Reality
Original cover art by Frank Freas
and Edmund Emshwiller
Knight complained that the characters in The End of Eternity were almost knocked out of existence by all the gadgets and "double-talk" in the story. Knight described Asimov as part of the "Old Guard" of science fiction that was being replaced by a new generation of writers who were making more "digestible" science fiction. At the time, Asimov was only 36 years of age, so it is amusing to see him described by Knight as part of the "Old Guard". After voicing his complaints, Knight admits, "Asimov's story is fascinating".

Two Types of Sci Fi Fans
In his review of The End of Eternity I suspect that Knight was dancing around the difference between science fiction fans who 1) are science nerds and 2) fans who don't know much about science. I started reading Asimov's novels when I was about 12 years old and fell in love with his complex and wordy stories, so I have to conclude that Asimov's style simply suits some people's tastes and not others.

Love in the 482nd Century
source
A more recent review of The End of Eternity by Marc Barham can be found at The Time Travel Nexus. After Andrew Harlan realizes that Noÿs is an agent from the far future (the "Hidden Centuries") he decides that he must kill her in order to protect Eternity. Barham calls this "Harlan's Punishment".

When Andrew first meets Noÿs, he believes that she is from the 482nd century (what we would normally describe as the far future, past the year 48,200). In his Foundation Saga, Asimov had imagined a future in which humans had by then colonized 25,000,000 Earth-like planets of the galaxy. However, in the Reality of The End of Eternity, there is no human colonization of the galaxy. In the the 482nd, women lead independent lives and can dress like liberated women, shamelessly showing off their beautiful bodies. Andrew falls in love with Noÿs and when he fears that he will not be allowed to have her because of the rules of Eternity, he lashes out and tries to destroy Eternity.

Destroying Eternity would not be the end of the world. "Eternity" is the time travel system that Asimov imagined for The End of Eternity. The "Eternals" are residents of Eternity, a constructed space-time bubble, outside of normal Time, that allows easy access for the Eternals to all future times.

In a metaphorical sense, Andrew is "punished" when he believes that he must kill his beloved Noÿs, but he is never actually punished by the authorities of Eternity. In fact, the top Eternal assures Andrew that he will not be punished for having taken Noÿs out of the 482nd century in a gallant (if misguided) attempt to keep her from being erased from time.

A Detective Novel?
detective Baley
Asimov loved mystery stories and he intentionally tried to write some of his Sci Fi novels as detective mysteries. Metaphorically, Andrew must do some "detective work" when he needs to research the history of Eternity (much of his research is done in the "section library" of the 575th century). Noÿs has planted in his mind the realization that all of Eternity depends on a strange time travel loop in which the Eternity time travel system was brought into existence with the help of a time traveler from the future (Vikkor Mallansohn). Once Andrew's library research confirms this startling idea, he believes that he can negotiate with the authorities to keep Noÿs alive.

Noÿs and Andrew prepare
to travel into the past
I think what Barham means by calling The End of Eternity a "detective story" is that Asimov did a masterful job of keeping the time travel mission that Noÿs is carrying out a complete secret until the last few pages of the novel. Andrew is a hopeless dupe and he never figures out what is going on until Noÿs explains everything. In fact, Andrew was the specific Eternal who was targeted by Noÿs because he would be putty in her hands.

A Love Story
In the end, Andrew does not mind having been tricked by Noÿs because he realizes that she loves him and her plans for the future of Humanity really are for the best. For some reason, Barham says that Noÿs is from "the decadent 575th century". In The End of Eternity it is only Andrew, who comes from a sexually conservative century, who views the 482nd century as decadent.

La fin de l'éternité
Free Will
Asimov was often amused by the interpretations that readers invented for his fiction. In his review, Marc Barham tells us that The End of Eternity "involves philosophic considerations of free will, social planning, evolution and human advancement... in a way that feels shaped by the political dialectic of the ‘Free’ world versus the ‘Communist’ world".

I'm always pleased to take note when other people write long discussions of a story that I like, but in this case, I must scratch my head and say that communism has never entered my thinking while reading The End of Eternity. A great thing about novels is that each reader brings their own perspective to the story. In my case, as a biology nerd, I like the idea that Noÿs was from a time far in our future (10,000,000 years in our future) after which human biology had changed significantly; humans of the future kept evolving (or were genetically engineered). My favorite interpretation is that Noÿs could put ideas into Andrew's mind by some sort of telepathy. If so, does Harlan have any level of "free will" or is he simply the puppet of Noÿs and her telepathic super-power?

Earth's Reality Chain
Unplug when not in use!
I'm skeptical about Barham's suggestion that The End of Eternity somehow encapsulated the cold war antagonism between "individualism and collectivism". Asimov needed an organizational power structure in Eternity that was easy to portray and also was easy to topple when the time came. What Asimov depicted as the governing structure of Eternity is like the governing board of a big corporation. I like to imagine that by the time Andrew tries to destroy Eternity, Eternity had already served its purpose. The positronic robots who had created it used Noÿs as their secret agent who could put an end to Eternity's dominion over Humanity. The Mallansohn Reality (as depicted in The End of Eternity) was an artificial construct that could easily be unraveled when the time came to end Eternity.

The Foundation Reality
The Foundation Reality
Andrew and Noÿs escape from the Mallansohn Reality and bring into existence a new Reality. It is a Reality which Noÿs has already been able to View by using the advanced Reality Viewing technology available to her people 10,000,000 years in our future. I like to imagine that when Andrew and Noÿs went back in time to the 1930s, the Mallansohn Reality was replaced by the Foundation Reality.

H. G. Wells
In his review of The End of Eternity, Barham mentions the influence of Herbert Wells on Asimov. In an essay about time travel, Asimov mentioned The Time Machine as being the "first true time-travel story" and he wrote that Wells was "probably the best science fiction writer of all time". However, I have never found evidence that Wells ever tried to write science fiction. In The Time Machine, Wells displayed no interest in creating a believable depiction of the future or a technology for time travel.
1920s television in the Ekcolir Reality (source).

Anti-Science Fiction
You could even call The Time Machine anti-science fiction. Good old Joe, working in his basement invents the first artificial life form or time machine or space ship or anti-aging pill or... well, you get the idea. It is not science. It is a fantasy story teller using a pretend "scientific breakthrough" to get their magical fantasy story started.

Isaac Asimov had some training in how to do science research. Probably more important, he was part of the governement-run effort during World War II to use science and technology to defeat Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire. When Asimov wrote his time travel story, he depicted an entire organization that was devoted to making time travel possible.

dystopia or utopia?
Using his personal subjective lenses, Barham looks at The End of Eternity and sees "a World State administered by an enlightened elite". However, if we must view The End of Eternity through a political lens, in my imagination, I see the Eternals as a kind of "puppet government" established by unseen positronic robots who are lurking in the background. Sure, a group of technically-savvy workers are needed to keep Eternity running, but they display no real understanding of (or interest in) their own origins or the development of improvements to their time travel technology (such as the means to go beyond the down-when terminus or to penetrate the Hidden Centuries). The institutionalized ignorance of the Eternals is glaring and in stark contrast to Barham's theory that Asimov's story is an extension of Wells' interest in "a World State administered by an enlightened elite". Barham states flatly: "Eternity are that enlightened elite". I don't agree.

In The End of Eternity Asimov makes it clear that during the long stretch of centuries monitored by Eternity, there are many different Earthly cultures and "World States" that come and go with time. The Eternals are completely disinterested in such Earthly affairs as long as the extremes of rich and poor do not get too extreme. How anyone could read The End of Eternity and refer to the Eternals as an "enlightened elite" is baffling. The Eternals remind me of the bumbling crew of a submarine that is struggling to keep their ship functioning.

Big Brother
The Organization
Barham also compares The End of Eternity to Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel by George Orwell. Barham suggests that we can view Eternity as "Big Brother", actively and secretly "organising and planning the future of humanity and by definition the future of every single being in existence". The End of Eternity does not concern itself with attempts to micromanage the lives of people. Asimov focused like a laser on the technology that everyone on Earth was concerned about in the early 1950s, atomic energy technology.

2003 edition
Asimov played a "what if?" game and imagined what might happen if there was a way to suppress atomic energy technology. At the start of the space age, many science fiction stories suggested that it was only atomic energy that could power space travel. So Asimov spun a tale in which a concerted effort to control nuclear energy technology had the side-effect of trapping humans on Earth and preventing them from having a great adventure among the stars. Under these Eternity-enforced conditions of safety from technological dangers like atomic energy, in time, Humanity died out and the human species became extinct.

1984 edition
my current copy
In my view, The End of Eternity was Asimov having Sci Fi fun with a core idea of early science fiction (atomic energy technology might come with dangers, but we are smart enough to handle it), not some Or/Wells-like literary effort to decide if "a governmental Big Brother is always bad for Humanity" or "some techno-elite Big Brother is our only hope". Not that there would have been anything wrong with that, had Asimov wanted to write such a story.

IA UTOPIA
Asimov felt that both 1) stories about utopias and 2) stories about dystopias are boring. In his review of The End of Eternity, Marc Barham says:

"The End of Eternity to me seems as if Asimov has written an American version of 1984 through the lens of a futurist and a technocrat much like H.G.Wells but with the optimism of an American scientist who knows that creating Utopia is easy as long as you have all the information of Eternity at your fingertips." (source)

I really wish that Asimov had lived a loooong life and that he could have been here with us in the age of the internet and had a chance to have online discussions with people such as Marc Barham.

source
Asimov was an advocate for education and the idea that a well-educated group of humans would be able to successfully harness the power of science and technology, do great things, and make a wonderful future for Humanity. I don't think that Asimov was naive enough to imagine that having "information at the fingertips" of technocrats was some sort of magic formula for making the creation of a utopia easy. However, that formula is much better than alternatives such as an anti-science ignoranti that wields power through the promulgation of propaganda and misinformation.

Valkyrie
"For Asimov, like so many writers of the Golden Age, the Manifest Destiny of mankind is to be among the stars" (source)

In his "second career" as a scientist and non-fiction science writer, Asimov was realistic about the difficulty of spreading human civilization through outer space. Asimov had fun writing Sci Fi stories about using trips through hyperspace as an imaginary way for people to quickly travel between the stars, but Asimov believed that he would be remembered for his robot stories which depicted "mechanical men" as the companions of humans. It may be the "destiny" of mankind is to make a form of artificial life that will be able spread among the stars.

Related Reading: more discussion of The End of Eternity
           Also:          political conflict in science fiction
Next: Artificial life in Frank Herbert's Destination: Void.
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Jan 17, 2020

Neurobiophysics

In the Ekcolir Reality.
Original cover art by Stephen Youll
and Michael Whelan
Here in 2020, I'm celebrating the science fiction stories of Isaac Asimov. I recently blogged about The Naked Sun by Asimov and back in 2015 I commented on The Robots of Dawn, which continues the story of police detective Baley, Daneel the robot and Gladia the Solarian a few years after the events depicted in The Naked Sun.

                                Connecting the Daneels
Baley interviews the lying robot.
Interior art by Leo Summers
27 years passed between the publication of The Naked Sun (in 1956) and the publication of The Robots of Dawn in 1983. In 1971, Asimov wrote a short Baley and Daneel story ("Mirror Image") that was published in Analog magazine in the May 1972 issue.

Mirror Image
Yes, ever since I first watched Star Trek, I've been a fan of "mirror, mirror" for the title of a Sci Fi story. In Asimov's "Mirror Image", Daneel shows up on Baley's doorstep, hoping to get help with a small mystery.

Editorial blurb at the start of "Mirror Image"
One of the galaxy's great mathematicians, Dr. Humboldt, claims to have devised a new mathematical method for the analysis of cortical neural networks. Sadly, another mathematician, Dr. Sabbat is making the same claim. One of these men is trying to steal the other's great discovery!

Ben Bova had taken over as the editor of Analog after the death of John Campbell in 1971. Did Bova know the "Laws of Robotics"? I'm going to assume that Bova wrote the blurb shown to the right on this page.

In "Mirror Image", both mathematicians have a robotic aid who supports the claim of their owner that it was he who made the mathematical discovery. How can one of the two robots be lying? One robot could be lying if it was preventing harm from coming to its owner. Daneel hopes that Baley can figure out which robot is lying.

from page 1 of "Mirror Image"
There is nothing in Asimov's Laws of Robotics that would absolutely prevent a robot from telling a lie. Lucky for readers, the Laws were printed right under the introductory blurb (and they are shown here, to the left). Asimov had formulated the Laws of Robotics back in the early 1940s, so both readers and editors probably needed a refresher course in robotics before reading "Mirror Image".

Asimov had published a short story called "Liar!" in 1941. In that story, the lying robot (Herbie) did not have to be ordered to lie. Herbie was a telepathic robot and got into the habit of lying in order to not hurt the feelings of human beings.

John Campbell
In an editorial, written in December 1971 and published in the May 1972 issue of Analog, Bova wrote about "the life cycle of birth, death and rebirth". No doubt, Bova was thinking about Campbell, but his rather rambling editorial ended with speculation about the death of cities.

Asimov's idea that Earth would become a world dominated by city dwellers was an assumption made by the young Asimov and used as part of the backstory for many of his Sci Fi stories about Earth of the future. However, The Robots of Dawn begins with Baley forcing himself to get out of his cave of steel.

Asimov on a cruise (source)
"We are constantly writing anti-utopias, the idea being that this is a change we don't want to happen; how do we prevent it?" -Asimov (source)

I can understand the idea that many people might be interested in stories where problems create excitement and challenges ("makes for a more dramatic story"), but I don't think I'll ever understand why Asimov wrote so many stories about a dystopic Earth of the future where people lived like rats in cages, taunted by their masters, the Spacers. Eventually, a telepathic Daneel would liberate humanity from that dystopia.

R. Giskard
I wonder when it was that Asimov made the decision to give Daneel telepathic powers. Eventually, Asimov moved out of the Big City, learned to drive a car and even enjoyed going on cruises. Maybe most importantly, by the 1970's Asimov was finally with Janet, his second wife. So, later in life, Asimov was ready to obliterate his imagined future Earth society where people were trapped in cave's of steel (1932 version).

in the Ekcolir Reality

Sadly, in "Mirror Image" we never learn why R. Daneel was cruising through space with a mathematician who was interested in neurobiophysics. Was R. Giskard also there, using his telepathic powers to "put ideas into" the mind of a mathematician, in order to devise a method for better understanding human thought processes? Neurobiologists have been working for decades to develop high-resolution optical techniques for measuring the activity of neurons in the brain (example). 

Dr. von Theil
When he wrote "Mirror Image", what was Asimov imagining for a future technology of microwave analysis of neuronal networks? Possibly nothing; he had once introduced "positronic" brains for no good reason either.

Relate Reading: Dr. von Theil and positrons 
            also: the original "Liar!"
Next: a look back at Isaac Asimov's time travel novel, The End of Eternity.
visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers



Jan 10, 2020

Detective Daneel

Soarele gol
During the past four decades I have resisted all temptations to just sit down and read The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov. I've probably read it before, in bits and pieces, while standing and browsing in book stores. For this blog post, I read the version that was published in 1956 in Astounding Science Fiction.

Previously, in The Caves of Steel, Asimov had introduced Detective Baley and Daneel, a humanoid robot. In The Naked Sun, Baley and Daneel go to the planet Solaria and try to solve a murder mystery. Solaria is a world where robots do all the work and just a few humans live on large estates, each living in almost complete isolation from other people.

interior art for The Naked Sun
Plant a Seed
In The Naked Sun, Asimov introduces readers to a new character Gladia (see the first 3 illustrations on this page). Solarians seldom meet face-to-face, but they view other people by means of holographic images. Gladia is having her hair done by one of her robots when Baley calls to chat. She has not bothered to get dressed because this is "only viewing".

interior art by Henry Van Dongen
The Naked Gladia. As depicted previously in The Caves of Steel, Baley has lived his entire life indoors, inside one of the giant cities of Earth. When he views Gladia, there is a window behind her showing the outdoors, which is upsetting for Baley. An illustration (shown to the right) from Astounding shows what happens when Gladia stands up and tries to close the window blinds. Baley nearly falls out of his chair when Gladia's towel slips and her body goes on display. Sadly, since this was a 1956 publication, the illustration is rated PG.

interior art by Henry Van Dongen
I've never been able to convince myself that Asimov's imagined future for the planet Solaria has any chance of being possible. Asimov apparently liked being indoors (writing endlessly), but that does not mean that in the future Earth will be populated by people like Baley who never step outside. And at the other extreme, people are social creatures, so I doubt that a culture such as that imagined by Asimov for Solaria would be possible. However, readers can view the imaginary future society depicted in The Naked Sun as a kind of thought experiment and try to judge if Asimov has constructed a fun and amusing space age murder mystery.

interior art by Henry Van Dongen
Give me a hand
As a spoiled reader from 2020, the illustrations in Astounding for The Naked Sun do not seem very inspired. The klunky robotic servants drawn by Henry Van Dongen don't strike me as being the sort of devices that anyone would have as their household servants.

As a biology nerd, what I found most interesting in The Naked Sun is the genetic engineering that Asimov imagined to be taking place on the planet Solaria. Asimov suggested that the Solarians routinely analyzed every protein in every Solarian as part of a comprehensive human breeding projet. In 1953, the amino acid sequence of the insulin protein had been determined, so it was not unreasonable for Asimov to imagine a future time when complete proteome sequencing might become routine.

I like to watch. Interior art by Henry Van Dongen
For the Solarians, the next step was to select which pairs of Solarians should have sex and produce children. The sex part was a real weak link in the whole scheme. In the imaginary social world of Solaria, most of the Solarians hated the idea of physical contact with another person. However, it was the (unpleasant) duty of Solarians to have sex with their mate who had been selected by a genetic algorithm so as to produce the best offspring possible. Back on Earth, by 1959, some rabbits had been produced by in vitro fertilization. Had Asimov known how easy it is to do in vitro fertilization, I suspect he never would have use the plot that he wrote into The Naked Sun.

back to the future
After a Solarian woman becomes pregnant, the embryo is surgically removed from her body and gestated artificially. Defective embryos are eliminated and only healthy children are produced. The children who are "born" on Solaria are another big problem. Nobody on the planet wants to have anything to do with raising children. A special cadre of robots is assigned to that task. One particularly dicey problem is how to get a robot to discipline a child.

Three Laws
Asimov's imaginary positronic robots have built-in safety features: the three laws of robotics, the first of which is "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm." However, in The Naked Sun, Asimov describes how robots on Solaria spank the children. The Solarian roboticists have weakened the first law, allowing robots to punish children "for their own good". The evil roboticist in the story is even planning to make robotic spaceships that will mistakenly believe that during a war they are only destroying other robotic spaceships, not spaceships containing humans from rival planets.
a red-shirted Solarian

 What the meaning of is "human" is
Solarian robots are also programmed with the prejudices of the Solarians and to treat Earthlings as inferiors. Asimov later came back to this idea in his 1986 novel Foundation and Earth. I love the idea of a writer who can pick up an old story idea after thirty years and run with it. In this case, the xenophobic Solarians have been quietly carrying out their human genetic engineering program for close to 50,000 years.

For me, I love what Asimov did in Foundation and Earth, uniting his Foundation and robot stories. It was fun for me to see the ancient origins of Fallom in The Naked Sun.

     Mystery
in the Ekcolir Reality
From my perspective, the biggest mystery of The Naked Sun is why Asimov made such little use of detective Daneel in this novel.🙁

After publishing The Naked Sun, Asimov entered into a new phase of his writing career during which he pretty much went out of the Sci Fi novel writing business, continued writing short Sci Fi stories and wrote many non-fiction books. Many of Asimov's non-fiction books were about physics, but in 1962 Asimov published a book about the genetic code and in 1963 he published The Human Brain. Asimov then published a novelization of Fantastic Voyage, so apparently someone thought he should still be writing novels. The Gods Themselves slipped out in 1972. Eventually, late in his life, Asimov did return to writing more science fiction novels, but he was taken from us too soon. I like to think that Asimov might have written another novel about Gladia's first years on Aurora and her relationship with Jander.

                                                            Psionics
whatever psionics is, that's entertainment
The second biggest mystery related to The Naked Sun is: why didn't Asimov publish another Gladia and Daneel novel like Robots of Dawn until 1983, 17 years after The Naked Sun? Yes, Asimov was plenty busy, still writing, but I have to wonder to what extent Asimov was pushed away from writing science fiction novels by his faltering relationship with John Campbell.

editorial, June 1956 Astounding
Campbell expected that the efforts of amateurs to launch a science of "psionics" would face problems similar to what early chemists ran into, for example, chasing after silly ideas like phlogiston. In the June 1956 issue, Campbell claimed that the readers of Astounding wanted the magazine to "run psionics articles".

Image from Campbell's psionics article, June 1956
 Astounding. Campbell warned readers to ignore
 mystics when investigating psionics; after-all, Jesus
had been unable to tell Peter how to walk on water.
Gullibility Detector
Campbell was trying to sell magazines and he wanted to entertain his nerdy audience. In that June issue, Campbell published a picture of a "Hieronymous Machine". Designed by Thomas Hieronymus, the device was claimed to detect a new form of radiation, "eloptic energy", some mysterious hybrid electrical-optical signal emitted by all material substances. While expressing doubts about Hieronymus' "theory", Campbell built a version of the "detector" and reported that it did seem to detect something.

                                                                                                      walking on water
source
Inspired by Asimov
I have a lot of fun in my Exode Saga writing about a character named "Thomas" who annoys Isaac Asimov by trying to get Asimov to read his crazy story about alien visitors to Earth. Also, in the Exode Saga, there are mysterious particles called "hierions" that can be used for sending telepathic signals. I'm not trying to mock Campbell or Hieronymus... I'm just trying to have fun imagining: what if some of Campbell's fantasies about psionics were true? I have the feeling that Asimov had no patience for Campbell's pseudo-scientific yearnings and that may have contributed to Asimov getting out of the Sci Fi novel publishing business for a while.

Review
Lucky for we readers, Asimov did eventually write some fun novels about Daneel and his telepathic powers.

Confidence
Related Reading
: celebrating 100 years of Asimov
hikikomori- persistent avoidance of social situations 
Dianetics - another fake science scam provided to Astounding readers by Campbell 
Daneel - Asimov's telepathic puppet master of the all-human galaxy 

Related Reading: the Dean Drive


visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers

Jan 5, 2020

Two Wrongs

Zeta and I were playing with Tihri and discussing the idea of a positronic robot (Dani) being present at Observer Base. Zeta said, "It makes no sense. If Yōd was under mind control and being prevented from telling anyone about Dani the robot, then why did she suddenly tell you about Dani?"

I suggested, "It has been quite a while since Yōd departed from Earth. Dani may now have completed his mission at Observer Base, freeing Yōd of..." My voice trailed off. I did not like the idea that Interventionist agents such as Dani could effortlessly switch human memory systems on and off.

Zeta could see a short distance into my mind beyond the superficial level of my verbal thoughts. In the past we might have then slipped into using telepathy to exchange our thoughts, but I had agreed to speak whenever we were with Tihri in order to help her learn spoken language. Zeta asked me, "Did Yōd tell you that Dani left Observer Base?"

Observer Base
It was somewhat difficult for me to know exactly what information Yōd had shared with me. Some of what I had "heard" from Yōd came by way of infites and some arrived while I slept, creeping into my mind as dream-like visions. I replied, "No."

Zeta changed the subject. "Oh, I forgot to put it on the shopping list, but we do need one of those little baby food grinders."

I knew that our daughter had begun to show interest in the food that was on Zeta's plate during meals. I asked, "Isn't Tihri too young for solid food?"

"No, some babies this young start enjoying new tastes. I can tell Tihri is ready to explore food... and the whole world. Just get the Sophi brand grinder that we saw at the Trading Post last week."

original cover art by Edward Valigursky
I should never question Zeta's judgement on such matters; she has a telepathic connection to Tihri. "Why don't you come into town with me. You can shop while I'm at the meeting."

Zeta shook her head. "No, I'm staying home. I really don't want to take Tihri out today. The roads are a mess."

"I know." I glanced towards the window and could see that it was still snowing lightly. "I don't really want to go out today either, but Tami is going to read her new story. I can't miss that."

Zeta was peering into my mind. I suppose she could detect my thoughts about Nirutam, the most interesting member of the little writing club, who we called "Tami". That small group of armature story writers met monthly in town to talk about writing. Zeta complained, "You really are infatuated with Tami."

Ivory investigates a cell bioreactor.
At Phari Base in the Slave Craton.
I laughed. "You should come to a club meeting an experience Nirutam... she's hard to explain. She comes up with the craziest stories." Yet, somehow, Tami's stories made sense, even if they were crazy. At least they were not any nuttier than the stories I had heard from other people such as Ivory Fersoni.

 Zeta went to the window and looked out at the snow. "You better get going. Just don't drive too fast."

"I won't. That does not mean that other people won't be driving like fools."

"You'll be fine." Zeta has the fixed belief that my entire life was carefully crafted. Nothing bad has ever happened to me and, Zeta believes, nothing ever will. "Don't forget the grinder."

"I won't forget." I kissed Zeta and Tihri and headed out into the storm. The roads were not too bad and not many people were out driving. When I came down out of the high desert and got below 3,000 feet, it was rain, not snow. I did the shopping and then went to the public school building for the meeting.

nanites
Nirutam has glossy orange-brown skin and wears a wig. When I first met her, my guess was that she may have been from some little-known African tribe. She speaks with a tricky accent; I have to listen carefully to understand what she says. Nirutam had been attending our writers group meetings for about a year and often shared with us her off-beat science fiction stories of distant worlds.

At the club meeting, after some extended banter about old topics, Nirutam finally began telling us her new story and I regretted having lied to Zeta. Nirutam never read her stories to the group; she just told her stories from memory, with no notes. She said, "I've told you about the planet Atlam, which has no oxygen in its atmosphere, but the robots who live there don't need oxygen." I recalled that Nirutam had told us a story about the world Atlam, maybe six or seven months previously. What she called the robots of Atlam sounded like what I might call an artificial life form composed of nanites, but Tami hated the term "nanite". Nirutam continued with her new story...

The robots of Atlam had a problem with the mo'dor. The robots wanted to be left alone to pursue their own projects, but the mo'dor missionaries were always trying to convert the robots to the weird religion of the mo'dor. Two robots, Phys and Ley were having a chat; Phys was trying to devise a solution to the "mo'dor problem". I'll say "chat", but the robots communicated by a form of radio wave-based signaling.

Phys told Ley: I'm serious. We need to do something.

Ley said: You keep saying that, then you just go back to your old devo project.

Phys acknowledged that. I've failed in the past, but now I've successfully reoriented my project. I'm well on my way to making a new lineage that we can sacrifice to missionaries.

Ley complained: That's a disgusting idea. How could you condemn your own children to an eternity in hell?

Try not to be so dramatic, Ley! Phys explained: Finding a way to get the mo'dor off our backs just involves a serious re-education process, a new world view. The new lineage, what I'm calling the T-band, will be programmed to believe that they can transcend to a heavenly existence, with the help of the mo'dor missionaries. I need your help with some of the programming.

Ley objected: You'd have to get into the core routines.

Phys nodded. Yes, I've been reworking the core behavioral systems. It is tricky.

Ley was horrified by the idea of altering the basic program for truth-seeking that guided all the robots on Atlam. Using programming to instill a deception in the minds of a new lineage? I'm sorry, Phys, but the answer is 'no'. I'm not going to help you with such perversity.

Phys tried to flip the thought perspective that Ley was trapped inside of. It is not perverse. Listen to me, Ley, the ends justify the means. If we give the mo'dor missionaries what they want then they will stop interfering in our culture.

You are an optimist, Phys. I suspect that if we give in to the mo'dor and start cooperating with their scheme then they will just get bolder and more aggressive, not go away.

Well, let's not argue. Let's do an experiment. Help me make a re-programmed prototype. We'll find out how the mo'dor respond.

We can't take the risk. This would effect the entire planet. You know, Phys, some experiments are unethical. I'm not going to ruin my reputation by helping you with this scheme.

Phys became adamant. And so it has been forever! Your line of reasoning is what got us into the current mess. I, for one, can't take it any more. The mo'dor missionaries just keep getting worse, pushing at and undermining more and more of our cultural foundation, causing us more pain. It is unethical to keep resisting. If we keep on doing what we have been doing then eventually our society will shatter and none of our kind will escape from the grasp of the mo'dor. However, if we give them what they want, a sample of our kind that they can take into their type of after-life, then the rest of us will be free to continue our projects.

You don't know that. Ley was skeptical and told Phys: That's just wishful thinking.

Phys stubbornly persisted: I think not. I've studied the interactions of the mo'dor with other worlds. I believe that the Creators went through this same process long ago.

You are insane. Don't try to justify your perversion by saying the Creators would do what you are proposing.

They did do it, long ago. The mythology of the Onuo is full of stories about allowing some people to adopt the mo'dor religion. The Creators have hundreds of old stories about the ancients who transcended.

That's an escapist literature. You are being silly if you believe there is any truth to those old tales.

Well, that's my interpretation of the evidence, and it makes sense. And it gives us a chance for a future. Be honest with yourself. You honor the old tales of the ancients when they describe our robotic origins. You know that we robots were created and that process of how biologicals made the first robots is described in what you call the "escapist literature".

Well, the tales of robot origins are different. We had to come from someplace.

Phys had tried. Sometimes it was impossible to change someone else's mind If you won't help me with the programming, I'll find someone else.

Ley thought carefully. Maybe the only way to make sure that Phys did nothing stupid would be to help. And there was a sort of inverse logic to the scheme. Might it actually work out the way that Phys suggested?


Three years later, Phys and Ley had a prototype T-band robot that they had reprogrammed and it was time to ask the mo'dor missionaries to proceed with the next phase of the experiment.


Nirutam paused. I asked, "These modders, where do they come from? Are they machines or biological?"

 Nirutam replied, "Good questions, but those issues are not resolved in this story."

Another member of the group, a young woman named Brook, asked Nirutam, "Do you have a title for this new story?"

Nirutam said, "If it needs a title, maybe 'The T-band Robots' would work."

I was growing impatient to wrap up the meeting quickly so I could get home before dark. I asked, "So, what happens when the mo'dor meet the T-band robot?"

Nirutam explained, "When the mo'dor missionary meets the new robot, they discuss the meaning mo'dorian transcendence. The missionary explains that the process involves abandonment of an individual's body, but their mind is shifted into a new existence."

Brook suggested, "It sounds like a novel by Clif Simak."

Nirutam said, "I'll have to read his book. What is the title?"

"The book I'm thinking of is called Project Pope."

I asked Nirutam, "So, were Fizz and Lay able to make a robot that wanted to undergo the modder transcendence process?"

"The mo'dor missionaries examined and tested the T-band prototype and could see the promise that was inherent in the new design. They agreed to support development and expansion of that new robot lineage." Nirutam followed my eyes to the window. Evening gloom was already coming to the cloudy day. "The story is rather long, with descriptions of several stages of robotic development. Eventually, the first T-band robot transcends, but there are doubts among the robots of Atlam. They wonder if there is really a new phase of life after completion of the transcendence. The story ending is a bit ambiguous, but suggestive that the plan worked, that the mo'dor were satisfied to have only a fraction of the robots go through transcendence."

The meeting soon broke up. On the way out of the school building, I was still talking to Nirutam. "Your story sounds much like my own stories about the Huaoshy and the Sedronic Domain."

source
Nirutam was pulling on woolen mittens. "Yes, and your name for the mo'dor is 'bumpha'."

We stepped outside into a cold drizzle. Nirutam popped open an umbrella and started walking off down the sidewalk. I called to her, "Need a ride?"

"No, I'm fine. See you next month."

I was torn. I wanted to drive home, but I also wanted to know how Nirutam knew about the bumpha. I'd once read a story to the group about the Huaoshy and I'd talked about the Sedronic Domain, comparing it the the parallel universe in Isaac Asimov's story, The Gods Themselves. It was strange, Nirutam never seemed to know any of the famous science fiction novels that we mentioned. I got into my car and drove out of the parking lot and down the street, passing by Nirutam. I rolled down the window and stopped my car beside her. I asked Tami, "If you're not busy this evening, how would you like to join my wife and I for dinner?"

Nirutam nodded. "Yes, thank you." She closed the umbrella, put it on the floor in the back then got into the passenger side front seat. Immediately we were diving deep into a discussion of the bumpha. Nirutam told me, "I've read your blog. Sadly, you don't have much information about the bumpha."

I explained, "They seem very secretive."

Nirutam said, "This is the only galaxy where they have had significant success. Most places they hide in the dark corners, like criminals."

a pek Interventionist
I suggested, "In your story, the way the modders worked to make the robots of Atlam go through transcendence made me think of the pek."

Nirutam told me, "When it comes to dealing with artificial life forms, the mo'dor, bumpha if you prefer, always try push them towards transcendence. The mo'dor are very much committed to biologicals. They feel that robots are a bad influence on biological species like humans. The robots of Atlam, who were completely independent of the biological species that had originally created them, were viewed as something of an abomination by the mo'dor."

We were climbing up into the hills and I focused my attention on the darkening highway. It was not snowing hard, but the roads were slick. While I drove, Nirutam told me more of the details of her story about the robots of Atlam. I used my telepathic connection to Zeta to let her know that I was bringing home a guest for dinner. The roads kept getting worse as we gained elevation.

Dani the robot
When we arrived home, it was snowing pretty hard. There was a strange car parked in the driveway. We slipped into the garage. I took out Nirutam's umbrella, opened it up and set it beside the car to dry. I was planning to drive Nirutam home after dinner as long as the roads were still passable. We went inside the house and discovered that Zeta had another guest.

Zeta said, "This is Dani."

I said, "This is Tami, from the club."

Nirutam and Dani seemed to know each other.

I looked carefully at Dani who had the appearance of a young man, but Zeta told me telepathically: This is the robot, Dani.

Zeta had dinner ready to go on the table. I hung Nirutam's winter coat in the closet and then unloaded my purchases from the car. Zeta put the new baby food grinder in the dishwasher and turned it on for a short cleaning cycle. We all settled down at the dining room table. I noticed that Zeta had set up Tihri's high chair in the dining room, but I had other things on my mind. I asked Zeta, "Why didn't you call to let me know that you had a guest?"

portal to Eternity
"I wanted your attention to be on the road, not worrying about Dani."

I asked Dani, "How did you get here? I thought you were at Observer Base."

Dani explained, "I recently completed my work inside Eternity. As a robot, I can pass through the hierion femtotube that links Earth to Observer Base."

It occurred to me that Dani could function as a messenger, bringing information to Earth from Observer base. I asked him, "You can go back to Eternity?"

"I could, but I will not be doing so. No, like Tami, I'm going to become an Earthling."

Nirutam muttered, "I've been at it for over a year now. I wish I had your skill with languages, Dani."

Zeta asked Nirutam, "Where are you from?"

source
(Sedronite, image credits)
"What you Earthlings call the Andromeda galaxy." Nirutam took two small bottles out of her pocket and set them on the table. "Many Sails brought me here along with Azynov."

Zeta could not control herself. She got out of her chair and touched Nirutam's hand, feeling her glossy skin. "So, you are not a human being?"

"Correct. I'm a member of a species that evolved on a distant planet." Zeta shook her head in wonder and went back to her seat.

Dani was not eating, but Nirutam did eat. I asked her, "What is in those two bottles?"

"My body needs two essential nutrients that are not present at high levels in Earthly life forms. As long as I take these dietary supplements, I can survive on this world."

Because developmental control
nanites were used to modify
 Nirutam's body structure, her true
physical form is not known.
Zeta told me, "Well, you've long wished for physical evidence of alien visitors to Earth. Now we are eating dinner with Nirutam, an alien from Andromeda!"

Nirutam admonished Zeta, "Please, don't think of me as evidence. I'm not interested in becoming an object of study for Earth's biologists."

Gazing at Nirutam's orange skin, I wondered how I had ever been fooled into imagining that she was human. I asked Tami, "Do you have access to nanites?" I tried to think of a delicate way to ask if she could use facial nanites to make herself look more human.

Nirutam explained, "Back on my home world, Ret'fai, the pek used developmental control nanites to shape my body's growth during fetal life. My Onuo-like body form was forced to take on human form. I don't have any training in how to control nanites myself." Nirutam held up her right hand, "My skin was made just human enough to pass casual inspection by Earthlings. However, it was also a part of my mission parameters that I be able to convince the folks at Observer Base that I am not human." She turned to Zeta and asked, "How old do you think I am?"

Zeta replied, "Trying to ignore your odd skin, which reminds me of orange peel, I'd say you might be fifty years old."

Nirutam shrugged, "Sadly, I seem to be aging rapidly since I arrived on Earth. By my estimate, I'm only 22 Earth years old."

Dani said, "Lucky for me, Earthly science could never distinguish my body from that of a human. However, I'm also not here on Earth to go public and have myself identified to the world as a robot." Dani looked at me, "However, we both support your work... your effort to document the history of how humans were created."

I was too startled by the sudden appearance of Dani in my home and the revelation that Nirutam is an alien; I could not think about eating and I ignored the food that Zeta had prepared. I asked Zeta by telepathy: Isn't it a violation of the Pact for Dani and Nirutam to be here on Earth?

Unlike me, Zeta had no qualms about asking such questions out-loud in front of our two guests. She told me, "Maybe this was all part of the original plans made by Grean and R. Gohrlay."

the positronic robot, Nyrtia
Dani told Zeta, "R. Gohrlay has departed from our galaxy. I've been working on a project for R. Nyrtia."

Nirutam added, "And I've been at work on the same project, making sure that Dani's work was done in accordance with specifications." She told Dani, "The pek are satisfied with your work."

Zeta laughed, "So, maybe two wrongs make a right. You both want to be here on Earth... for the rest of your lives?" I could sense in Zeta's mind that she felt silly using the phrase 'rest of your life' in the case of Dani.

Nirutam explained to us how, in preparation for her mission to Earth, her body had been shaped into human form using developmental control nanites. It was not a perfect job, so she routinely wears a wig and paints on eyebrows, but it was her life's goal to make sure that the terms of the Trysta-Grean Pact were adhered to. "We are now in the Final Reality, but there might still be some fine tuning required to make sure that humans have a safe path into the future."

The Trysta-Grean Pact
Dani said, "Nirutam is the on-Earth representative of the pek. I represent the interests of the bumpha. The only problem is, Earthly science could identify Nirutam as an alien creature, someone not of this world. She should not be here on Earth, but there is no way to get her to Observer Base."

Nirutam said, "In the original plans crafted by Grean, I was to retire at Observer Base. However, there is no reason why I can't remain here on Earth."

Zeta gestured towards me and said, "None of us wants to be investigated by scientists or any government agents." Zeta looked intently at Nirutam. "You don't really look human, Tami. I have to agree with Dani... this could be a problem."

Nirutam shrugged and told Zeta, "I'd be happy to stay here, in your home, and avoid contact with the rest of the world. I can be a useful source of information for your husband."

I could sense in Zeta's mind that she was concerned about the possible problems arising from having a space alien in the house. Zeta got up from the table and went to the kitchen and got the food grinder out of the dishwasher. She returned to the dining room, drying the parts of the grinder with a towel. Then she started grinding up a piece of apple.

Dani was telling Nirutam, "There is no real need for your help, Tami. I can share everything you know with the Editor. Really, think it through carefully Tami... you are not needed on Earth. You should have departed on the Buld spaceship along with Izhiun."

 Nirutam sighed and told me, "And you can see for yourself the arrogance of intelligent machines."

I asked Dani, "How do you know that everything known to Nirutam is also known to you?"

Dani explained, "I was well briefed before Nirutam ever arrived on Earth. I know all about her origins in the Andromeda galaxy and how she was transported to this galaxy. Tami and I have worked together for years. I know her quite well, indeed."

Zeta again popped out of her chair and signaled me: Tihri is awake.

A moment later, the three of us who were still seated at the table could hear Tihri through the baby monitor. We heard Zeta ask, "Was that a good nap, little one?"

I turned off the monitor and told Nirutam, "I'd be happy to have your help. And you too, Dani." I asked Zeta: Can I invite them both to stay here in the house?

Zeta returned to the dining room with Tihri. Zeta said, "You are both welcome to stay here, but we lead a boring life." Zeta put the sleepy baby into the high chair. Tihri was really too young to sit up unassisted, but Zeta strapped her in tightly and pulled the high chair close to the table. Zeta stuck a tiny spoonful of applesauce into Tihri's mouth and her eyes opened wide.

Nirutam said, "You have a comfortable home and this location is the kind of remote and isolated hideaway that suits me perfectly. My only reluctance is that I won't be comfortable being confined here with Dani."

Dani admitted, "Tami and I seldom agree on anything. And of course, it would not be logical for any of us to ever trust an agent of the pek. They still resent having been defeated by R. Gohrlay and the bumpha."

Nirutam told Dani, "Only an arrogant and ignorant robot could possibly describe it as a defeat."

I took a first bite of my dinner. Zeta gave Tihri some mashed banana. I told Dani and Nirutam, "I can understand that you don't trust each other. However, I don't want to upset the calm environment of this house and create conditions where you two will constantly argue." I took a drink from my glass. "So, I'm inviting you both to stay here and help me with my work, but maybe one of you should actually reside somewhere else. I'm used to communicating electronically with my grand-daughter who lives on the other side of the planet and maybe one of you should only come here occasionally for a visit. The rest of the time we could stay in touch electronically."

Zeta told me: Tihri really enjoyed the apple and the banana, but now she wants milk. I'm taking her to the bedroom. Zeta told Dani, "This is a calm and happy house. I'll enforce our house rule about no arguments. If you know that you can't adhere to that rule, then you should get back in you car and go back to your motel." Zeta took Tihri out of the high chair and carried her to the back of the house.

Dani stood up from the table and told me, "I'm going to return the car to its owner, but I'll be back."

I went with Dani to the front door and looked out the window. The snow storm had passed. The stars were coming out as the clouds thinned. I asked the robot, "You stole that car?"

Dani replied, "I borrowed it. It was conveniently close to where I emerged from the hierion tube, so I grabbed it."

I opened the front closet and asked, "Do you have a coat?"

Dani explained, "I'm fine. I don't need a coat." The robot went outside and quickly brushed the accumulated snow off of the stolen car.

I watched the lights of the car go down the driveway then turned and bumped into Nirutam, nearly knocking her over and partially dislodging her wig.

She pulled her hair piece back into place and said, "Thank you for welcoming me into your home. It has been difficult for me... waiting the past year for Dani to complete his mission at Observer Base. I was tempted to reveal myself to you earlier, but it was part of our agreement that I wait. I was actually worried that you would let Dani move in here and make me go back to my apartment in town."

I told Tami, "I really am glad to have you here. There is so much I can learn from you." We went back to the dining room. I telepathically asked Zeta what she had planned for dessert then I asked Nirutam, "I know it is a cold night, but would you like a slice of pie with a scoop of ice cream on top?"

Nirutam gave a strangely alien laugh and said, "I love ice cream."

I suggested, "Maybe it will be alright if we heat up the pie."

We had made quick work of the pie and Nirutam had gotten seconds on the ice cream. She and I were still seated at the table, talking about the ages old conflict between the pek and the bumpha, when Zeta returned to the dining room. Now fed, Tihri had gone back to sleep. Zeta cleared away the dishes and worked in the kitchen for a while, cleaning up.

When Zeta joined us at the table, she had her own bowl of ice cream. She told Nirutam, "When you get sleepy, let me know. You can have your choice of the available bedrooms."

Nirutam said, "I don't want to be a bother. It might be best if I use your guest house."

Zeta said, "That's fine; it will give you the most privacy, but you'll have to step outside every time you come over here. It gets cold here this time of year." She set down her spoon, rubbed her arms and said, "Maybe ice cream was not the best idea for a cold winter night." I could sense in Zeta's mind that she was expecting me to warm her up.

Oxypathin
"I don't mind cold." Nirutam added, "And unlike you Earthlings, my species does not sleep."

With the long drive home under adverse conditions, I was tired. I told Nirutam, "I'm going to bed. If you get bored tonight, please write down an account of your home planet. I'd be interested to learn about your people."

After Zeta and I warmed each other up, I got a good night's sleep and it was not until the next day that I learned another strange fact about Nirutam: she had never really learned how to write. During the night, she'd tried using the computer in the guest house, but had produced mostly an incoherent gibberish of misspelled words. So, Tami has turned into a time-consuming project, but I am learning many interesting things about the Andromeda galaxy. After about a week of working with Tami on how to write English, I realized that her preferred name for the bumpha is actually "mo'dor".

Next: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

visit the Gallery of Book and Magazine Covers