In my
previous blog post I discussed some of the stories that were published in the first issue of
Infinity Science Fiction magazine (
1955 ). The most famous story in that issue was "
The Star" by
Arthur C. Clarke. I first read "The Star" sometime in the 1970s, in an anthology of stories that had been written by Clarke. It is the kind of short story that you can quickly read while standing in the stacks of a book store. I then went on to buy some of Clarke's novels. However, it was not until this month that I learned there was a 1956 follow-on story called "
Rebuttal" by Elizabeth M. Curtis.
One of my favorite lines from a science fiction story is: "People believe whatever they want to believe." That line is spoken by the Demon Prince Howard Alan Treesong in Jack Vance's novel The Book of Dreams. "Rebuttal" is all about belief. Clarke's "The Star" centers on a Jesuit astrophysicist whose religious faith is mocked by other members of the spaceship crew who go off across the galaxy to visit the charred remains of the star system where a supernova explosion created the "star of Bethlehem".
The Future. The futuristic setting for "The Star" is a Hi Tek™ future where interstellar spaceships use "
countless miles of magnetic tape" to record photographs of the places they have visited. Clarke hints that the story takes place in approximately the year 2572. In Clarke's imagination, the "star of Bethlehem" heralded a true miracle. An intelligent alien species lived on a planet near that exploded star. Those aliens had enough technology to reach a planet far from their star and leave behind a Vault with records of their civilization. However, none of those aliens could survive the supernova explosion.
Set the world on fire. I'm skeptical about the core idea of Clarke's story: that an intelligent species with space travel technology could evolve on a planet that is then destroyed by a supernova. However, we readers are not supposed to ask probing questions about stellar physics. Clarke is trying to make a point: that the universe is large and impersonal and primitive peoples who don't understand the vastness of the universe can invent religions featuring anthropomorphic imaginary gods that seem quite silly in retrospect, especially to folks like Clarke who learned about astronomy in college.
As an aside, Clarke mentions that the remnants of other obliterated alien cultures have previously been found by human space explorers prior to 2572. Sadly, Clarke tells us nothing of the faster-than-light space travel technology that is used by Earthlings in 2572.
However, futuristic human technology is not the point of the story. Clarke proclaims that the "aliens of the star of Bethlehem" were a special case ("This tragedy was unique") and we should all feel particularly sad that this once glorious alien civilization was destroyed "in its prime". It is Clarke's story and he kept heaping implausibility upon implausibility... just to sharpen his point.
I like to say that there are no swords in science fiction, but Clarke even wrote the "rough punkish swordsman" Íñigo López into his story "The Star".
Rebuttal. The follow-up story by Curtis features a research pathologist (Father Molina) who uses the advanced tools of 26th century medicine to diagnose what ails Father Phillips, the astrophysicist who in "The Star" discovered that the "star of Bethlehem" was a supernova that exterminated an alien civilization on a distant exoplanet. Upon returning to Earth, Father Phillips is hospitalized with a mysterious illness.
In the
Star Trek fictional universe, doctors of the 23rd century could use a
medical tricorder to instantly probe a patient's body and find existing medical problems. In
The Voyage Home, Dr. McCoy gave a pill to a sick woman and she almost instantly grew a new kidney. So, who knows what medical wonders might be possible for Dr. Molina in the 26th century? The sad news is, according to Curtis, leprosy is still a medical problem in 26th century and being a highly-trained scientist, Father Phillips refers to bacteria as "
little beasties". The good news of the 26th century is: cancer is no longer deadly (although, strangely, the learned Father Phillips seems unaware of this).
Kidney Cells. After Dr. Molina deploys his 26th century microscope and discovers that the kidney cells of Father Phillips are doing nothing, he rushes to speak with Father Phillips. Dr. Molina patiently explains to his patient that kidney cells are "
busy little widgets doing a tremendous job night and day". How does Dr. Molina account for the fact that tireless kidney cells of Father Phillips are not functioning? According to the wise Dr. Molina, the problem is that space is simply too big for mere mortals to understand, so Father Phillips must forget about the distressing fact that the "star of Bethlehem" marked the extinction of a glorious alien species. Instead, Father Phillips must turn inward.
Dr. Molina informs Father Phillips that he is the god of his body and that he must tell his cells that they are loved and needed and immortal. If not, the sad atoms inside his cells will soon "
disperse" and the "
electron shells fall away". These hard-hitting facts of 26th century medicine impress Father Phillips and soon he makes a miraculous recovery.
The outstanding science-fictional event. Yes, according to Curtis, 26th century science has shown that every cell in a human body has a soul and is destined for immortality.
Using his SuperHiTek Infrascope™, the good Dr. Molina has "
seen the souls of 'dead' cells in heaven". And Dr. Molina goes on to assure Father Phillips that the immortal souls of the exterminated aliens are safe in the hands of God, so the destruction of their civilization should be celebrated, not mourned. Hearing all this good news, Father Phillips miraculously recovers from near death and charges out into the world to spread the good news. ✞
I suppose when the little baby souls depart from dying cells and atoms, the cell membranes and electron shells "fall away" just like the shell of a bird egg when a chick hatches. I wonder in what sense Larry Shaw, the editor of Infinity magazine, thought that "Rebuttal" was outstanding? As far as I can tell, the story was never anthologized.
Poster Boy. In 1956, the poster boy for faith healing,
Jack Coe, died of polio.
I went to the September 1951 issue of Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories to read Shaw's story "Stairway to the Stars" which features the aquatic humanoid alien shown on the cover of that issue. I'm a complete sucker for stories about mysterious aliens who are secretly watching Earth. Shaw imagined that there is a Galactic Federation of aliens who know all about Earth and humans but who avoid having contact with we primitives. Then a human 'inventor' makes the device shown on the September 1951 cover of Future and opens up a portal to other planets.
Until now, I think the only story by H. Beam Piper that I'd read was his Time and Time Again. I read his story "Genesis" in the September 1951 Future. Apparently there is some debate about the place of "Genesis" within Piper's Paratime Police fictional universe.
As a fan of time travel and alternate-timeline fiction, I've long been intrigued by the idea of Piper's "Paratime Police". However, last year I read Keith Laumer's
Imperium stories and it may be too soon after
that experience for me to be bounced between alternate timelines by Piper.
"Genesis" is built around the idea of a dying civilization on Mars. A dying human civilization. The Martian humans never do anything in a small way, so their first spaceship carries hundreds of settlers to Earth. But then disaster strikes (the Martian spaceship is destroyed by meteors) and only one lifeboat makes it to Earth. Sadly, the Martians did not read "The Jameson Satellite" and learn how to use a "radium ray" to efficiently repulse dangerous meteoroids. But, 50,000 years ago the small surviving group of Martians lands on Earth, fights off the "hairy ones" of Earth and that is the alien origins story for you and me.
"Genesis" starts out like a wish-fulfillment fantasy for Piper. I'm skeptical that anything about the personal life of Piper is actually known and understood. However, according to
this webpage, Piper had not yet been married when he was in his 40s and "Genesis" got published. The Martian settlers who reach Earth are two men (Dard and Glav; Martian soldiers) and a six women (Olva, Varnis, Kyna, Analea, Dorita and Elra) who must be dutifully impregnated in order to propagate the species. I'm not sure why Virgil Finlay depicted one of the Martian girls screaming when it was time to abandon ship and she was being taken into the lifeboat, but maybe it had something to do with the dorky hats worn by Martian men.
Of course, Piper had to do a significant amount of furious hand waving to explain why after that first bungled trip to Earth from Mars there were no other such missions to Earth. As told in "Genesis", the Martian settlers on Earth were just barely able to survive and their descendants forgot about their Martian origins. Apparently some of Piper's alternative versions of Earth's history feature Earthly civilizations who did not forget their Martian origins, but I'm not rushing out to read them. I don't think I'll ever understand the popularity of stories about Mars the "dying planet" and Martians who visit Earth.
For those who like the idea of alien involvement in our past, I recommend Jack Vance's story Star King which provides an account of alien-assisted human evolution without bring Mars into the story. Don't be deterred by the cover art shown to the right. Vance did not include any swords in his story.
Next: fictional biology from 1952.
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