This is the second in a series of blog posts (
series start) in which I travel back in time to search for interesting aliens that were included in
Possible Worlds of Science Fiction. I'm discussing the stories that Groff Conklin assembled in his 1951 anthology and doing so in my own idiosyncratic order. Number 8 in my search for interesting aliens is
Arthur Clarke's story "A Walk in the Dark" which I previously mentioned
back in April.
#8. I don't have much more to say about "A Walk in the Dark". I don't enjoy this type of "suspense" story, but some people do. Here is the plot... the story is set in a future time when people have settled even the most remote planets at the far edge of the galaxy. After visiting one such remote planet, Robert Armstrong is ready to catch the next spaceship in Port Sanderson and get off of this particular dismal little world. It is only a short drive of six miles to the spaceport, but then his vehicle breaks down.
In the HiTek™ galactic future imagined by Clarke, there is no AAA, so Robert decides to walk the rest of the way into town. But poor Robert has heard scary tales about strange creatures on this world... alien creatures that run away from light, and now the battery in his flashlight had died. Will he make it through the dark to the safety of the spaceport? Clarke never actually shows the alien creature that is haunting Robert. We have to feel sorry for the alien... apparently it has nothing else to do but wait in the dark hoping that some bumbling human will come walking by.
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Martian number 774 (lower left) using his telescope to view Earth
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#9. "
Operation Pumice" (1949) is a story by
Raymond Z. Gallun. Even after reading
this, I still don't know why it is called "operation pumice". In any case, the story depicts the first rocket trip to the Moon, in 1959. It is a manned mission, but sadly, there are no aliens waiting on the Moon. In search of interesting aliens, I took a look at Gallun's 1934 story "
Old Faithful" which features a Martian astronomer (with the unfortunate "name" of Number 774) who visits Earth. Before visiting Earth, Mr. 774 uses his HiTek™ telescope to observe Earth and even manages to exchange communications signals with Earth. Gallun adopted the notion that Mars was a dismal world with few resources and Mr. 774 is due to be killed because he is a waste of precious resources.
I give Gallun credit for sending a Martian to Earth without even a hint of the typical alien invasion plot, but his imagined Martians in "Old Faithful" somehow did not seem very interesting. However, a year later, Gallun published "
The Son of Old Faithful" which provided more information about Martian civilization.
No Sex For You! You might not be surprised to learn that the son of Mr. 774 is named 775. These Martians have neither spoken language or telepathy, but they can communicate with each other through direct linkage of their nervous systems. That is an interesting idea and there are also handy robotic helpers on Mars. However, we also learn that the poor Martians only get to have sex once every 100 generations. No wonder things are so gloomy on Mars and Mr. 774 decided to leave Mars and go visit Earth.
Try, Try Again. If things are dull and boring on Mars, then what about the more distant Jovian Moon,
Ganymede? Published at almost the same time as "Old Faithful" was Gallun's story "
The Machine from Ganymede". The interior art for "The Machine from Ganymede" was drawn by Elliott Dold and gave us a glimpse of Louise and Wallace (see the lower left corner of
Figure 0) during a close encounter with the Machine.
"The Machine from Ganymede" is set in August of 1951 and Gallun casually mentions the canals of Mars, but then draws our attention to Ganymede and Europa. Telescopic observation suggest that there is a terrible space-war taking place between Ganymede and Europa.
First Contact. This is the first evidence for life beyond Earth. How do Earthlings react? According to Gallun, many people on Earth experience a "hilarious emotional spasm"!
Boris to the Rescue. The brilliant scientist, Boris Lutkin, is worried that the victor in the war between Ganymede and Europa might soon turn their superior military forces against Earth. However, Lutkin has recently made a revolutionary scientific breakthrough in the field of chemistry.
Fictional Chemistry. The November 1934 issue of Astounding Stories was a hot bed of fictional chemistry. Also in that issue was the story "The Hormone", which I've previously mentioned as presenting readers with an account of the astounding research of Dr. Arnold Breve. Dr. Breve finds a magical hormone which, when injected into his body, speeds up all of his bodily processes. Sadly, under the influence of the hormone, Arnold rapidly ages (see the image to the left) and then dies of old age. The End.
In contrast to Arnold Breve's chemistry misadventure, Boris Lutkin has discovered a
Magical Ray™ that is able to
stop all chemical reactions. But don't get the idea that Lutkin has found a fictional science method for putting long-range space travelers into
suspended animation. No! The
Boris Ray kills any living thing that it touches. Louise is the daughter of Boris Lutkin. Louise and her boyfriend, Wallace, arrive at the destroyed laboratory of her father just in time to see the pineapple-like Machine from Ganymede (see
Figure 0) zoom back up into outer space, having stolen Lutkin's death ray. Soon the folks from Ganymede use the death ray to defeat Europa. At the end of the story, Louise and Wallace are rather desperate to replicate the research that had allowed Boris to create his death ray.
I love the idea of aliens who send robotic machines to explore outer space. It seems likely that if we here on Earth ever have visitors from a distant exoplanet, such visitors will be artificial lifeforms, not fragile biological organisms. Sadly, in the telling of "The Machine from Ganymede", Gallun did not tell us much about the Machine or the aliens living on Ganymede and Europa. My theory: life is possible on the icy surface of Europa because the women are so hot (see
Figure 1, above).
Alternate Realities. I like to imaging that in an alternate Reality there were analogues of science fiction writers who wrote somewhat different versions of the stories that we have here in our Reality. Following close on the heals of the Martian "Old Faithful" was Gallun's 1936 story "Saturn's Ringmaster". I wonder if this story influenced the young Isaac Asimov. It features a tiny alien from Uranus named "Ruzza" who fits into the pocket of Raff Orethon, a space policeman.
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| Azazel |
In the 1980s, Asimov wrote several stories about
Azazel and I've long wondered what inspired Asimov to invent this pocket-sized character. I've previously mentioned Asimov's 1990 story, "
Cal", which features Azazal.
#10.
Venusian Swamp Jitters. Last year I commented on the lime-loop story "
Doubled and Redoubled" by Malcolm Jameson. His story "
Lilies of Life" (1945) was included in
Possible Worlds. Jameson was born in 1891 and he probably grew up hearing about "jungle diseases" that hampered
construction of the Panama canal, so when he began publishing Sci Fi stories at the age of 47 he might have found it tempting to create science fiction stories echoing Earthly affairs from the turn-of-the-century.
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welcome to Panama
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During the 1940s, Jameson published
more stories in Astounding than Isaac Asimov. With no serious interest in what astronomers knew about the planets, it was apparently easy for Jameson to simply adopt the cliche idea that the planet Venus should be inhabited by humanoids who enjoy the jungle-like environment of their world. I find it hard to condemn Jameson for this choice, since Asimov did exactly the same thing when he started writing stories about aliens on Venus (see "
Half-Breeds on Venus"). My question: are Jameson's Venusians (the Tombov) interesting?
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| Venus |
Jameson describes the Tombov of Venus as "filthy beasts" and we are "off the the races". Can Earthly science find a cure for the deadly Venusian Swamp Jitters?
For "Lilies of Life", Jameson tried to create an other-worldly biosphere for Venus, even if the Tombov drawn by Paul Orban and shown in the image to the right (↗ and slightly above) looks like a human. Orban's drawing does not include the duck-like, webbed feet of the Tombov. Even after Jameson's efforts to imagine another planet, his fantasy version of Venus seems too much like Earth. Some days, the sun even breaks through the thick layers of clouds.
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Venusian Biology
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Venusian Biology. To catch his readers up on the mysteries of Venusian biology, Jameson provided the long infodump paragraph shown to the right. I'm glad I read "Lilies of Life" because I've long puzzled over this kind of alien biology when it appears in the stories that were written by Jack Vance (see the image above with a biology footnote from Vance).
Which races? Two medical researchers (Parks and Maxwell) must go to Venus in search of a cure for Venusian Swamp Jitters. Jameson observes that it is difficult for "white men" to go to Venus without picking up some terrible disease. You might wonder why Earthlings would bother going to Venus, but Jameson mentions that there are uranium mines on Venus. The "white men" from Earth need only dangle tobacco in front of the natives in order to attract a steady supply of workers. The natives who come out of the Venusian jungle to work for the Earthmen are called the "tamed Tombov". They suffer from Venusian Swamp Jitters, but the Earthmen never waste any medicine on the sick natives.
Lest you imagine that the tamed Tombov are paid for their services, Jameson soon refers to them as slaves. One of the "services" rendered by the enslaved Venusians is carrying the Earthmen around. Maxwell quite enjoys being carried along on the shoulders of "half a dozen jogging slaves".
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follow the lily flower
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A good supply of Venusian slaves is needed because they dig up the uranium in the mines. Yes, in this HiTek future, you can easily catch the next space-liner to Venus, but nobody uses machines for transportation or mining on Mars. It is easier to use the enslaved Tombov.
However, the native Tombov are a cantankerous lot and the mere availability of tobacco is not really enough by itself to attract and keep useful slaves. Jameson assures readers that the other needed ingredient for an effective slave economy on Venus is missionaries who can indoctrinate the natives with Christianity ✞.
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paracobrine injections
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Parks and Maxwell are hot on the trail of Venusian lily flowers which they suspect might provide a cure for Venusian Swamp Jitters. The crafty Shan Dhee, a native who seems to have been cured of Swamp Jitters, mentions "kankilona", which comes out of the lily flower. Parks and Maxwell are well motivated to find a cure for Venusian Swamp Jitters. They both have the disease, which Jameson hints is caused by a virus. In order to live with Venusian Swamp Jitters, victims must periodically be injected with a drug (paracobrine) which causes extreme pain. Eventually, they discover that the lilies "give birth" to the spider-like kankilona and it is the kankilona that supply the Tombov with "venom" that is a cure for Venusian Swamp Jitters.
Parks and Maxwell return to Earth, confident that they will be able to make a synthetic version of the curative agent and eventually put an end to the deadly Venusian Swamp Jitters.
Photobiology. Is the fictional biology invented by Jameson for "Lilies of Life" interesting? An additional part of the life-cycle of the Venusian lilies concerns the eggs that are laid by the kankilona. In order to hatch, the eggs must be stared at by another Venusian creature whose eyes emit light of a special wavelength that is required for the kankilona eggs to mature and become lily seeds. Sadly, Jameson provides no molecular details explaining how his fictional biology works. Lily eggs are like crystal spheres, and are at first mistaken as gems by the Earthlings.
Evil Weed. What about the Tombov? Jameson asks us to believe that the Tombov have been able to survive Venusian Swamp Jitters by developing a religious ritual during which they gather at temples once every six months, get drunk and drink kankilona venom. However, because they like tobacco, they will abandon their jungle temples, become slaves of the Earthmen and die from Swamp Jitters. Really?
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Figure 2. Mona on Mercury
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#11. "Cones" (1936) by Frank Belknap Long was the oldest of the stories collected by Groff Conklin for Possible Worlds of Science Fiction. We are off to sunny Mercury for another space adventure with Mona the cute astronomer (Long proclaims that she is "too beautiful for Earth"). As the story begins, Mona's Persian cat has already been fried to a crisp. Why? By the intense radiation from the Sun? No. It is because the "metallic soil" of Mercury builds up "shock patches" where there is enough of an electric charge to kill you if you step there.
Plenty of Room on the Spaceship California. Mona is also too beautiful for Frank Long to kill her off, but the same cannot be said for most of the rest of the crew of the California. In the image to the right is a dead crewman who has mysteriously had all of the calcium extracted from his body by a mysterious flash of purple light. When I was a little kid I was unable to accept the salt monster of Star Trek. I wonder if George Johnson had once read "Cones" and took it as inspiration for "The Man Trap".
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No, I don't.
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As part of the fantasy "biology" created by Mr. Long for the mysterious aliens who "live" on Mercury, the creatures sometimes appear as cone-shaped blurs while using their
Purple Rays to extract calcium from human victims. I'll never understand the popularity of "energy creatures". There in
Figure 2, Crayley is demonstrating the lack of calcium in the body of the dead man by burning his hand and observing the color of the flame. From among the entire spaceship crew, only Mona and Crayley escape from Mercury. 💕
This blog post is called "Remotely Possible", but I don't think Mr. Long's energy creatures of Mercury fall into that category. I really dislike horror stories that get passed off as science fiction, so I felt that I should read more than just one Frank Long story before moving on. According to the
SF Encyclopedia,
John Carstairs was a space detective and "
biological expert". With much trepidation, I took a look at Mr. Long's 1942 story "
Plants Must Slay". It isn't just a killer plant that Carstairs must subdue, but an
invisible killer plant.
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Figure 3. Vera on her high horse
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In the end, we can't blame the killer plant from Ganymede for trying to kill Carstairs. The poor plant was "trained" to kill Carstairs by a murderous human.
He always gets his man plant. I had hopes that Carstairs secretary, Vera, might have a significant role in this story, but she is mostly window-dressing. However, Vera has spunk and she is always ready to stand by her man (Carstairs). Actually, it is handy to have Vera around because she can explain things such as how the killer plant was made invisible (see Figure 3). Mr. Long is honored by a place on a website about famous pipe smokers. Depending on what he smoked, maybe that explains his unusual ideas about plants and other living things.
Shantyboat Boy. Frank Belknap Long joined in the flying saucer craze by publishing "The Mississippi Saucer" in the
March 1951 issue of
Weird Tales. I was expecting that this story might involve an alien invasion by plant people, but no. I've read that Mr. Long lived his whole life in New York City, but in "The Mississippi Saucer" we are "treated" to a rural adventure in which little Jimmy, the shantyboat boy, experiences a
Close Encounter with the Shining Ones (see the text excerpt, below).
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the young of our race
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#12. For "Space Rating" (1939) by John Berryman, we are off on a HiTek futuristic interstellar adventure to map space around Rigel and other far stars.
The hard work of mapping the galaxy involves the annoying tasks of constantly replacing the graph paper in the cosmic ray detector and loading more film into the cameras. I suspect the only reason why Groff Conklin included "Space Rating" in
Possible Worlds of Science Fiction is that the story happens to include a character named "Conklin".
#13. In "Moon of Delirium" (1940), story writer D. L. James sends us off to Saturn's moon Dione, the source of "thought-nuggets" that can amplify human telepathy. It is the year 2371, so the first thing that our spaceship crew does upon reaching Dione is analyze the moon's atmosphere, which turns out to be quite thick (in our universe, Dione has no atmosphere).
Okay, so we can pretend that James' story is set on some distant
exomoon. Look at the artwork that was placed at the start of the story (image to the left). That's right, this moon has water-based life; green animals that have a special substance in their bodily fluids that prevents them from turning into a lump of ice at low temperatures.
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| the green monstrosity of Dione |
Monstrosity. The animals are all green because under their transparent skin there are chlorophyll-containing plant cells living as endosymbionts.
Floating in the atmosphere are small, flying green probes, waiting for a chance to penetrate a man's skin and grow connections into his brain and then take control of his behavior. The flying probes are telepathically linked to the "monstrosity".
I have to wonder if "Moon of Delirium" was inspiration for the Star Trek episode "Operation -- Annihilate!" and its orange flying telepathic parasites of Deneva. In Star Trek, the mind parasites (see the image to the right) had no redeeming features, but in "Moon of Delirium", humans, after having one's brain infiltrated by a flying green probe, now have amazing telepathic abilities.
#14. "The Day We Celebrate" was originally published in the
January 1941 issue of
Astounding by Nelson S. Bond. It is sometime near the year 2300 and something is finally going to be done about the unruly natives of Uranus. The heavily populated inner planets of the Solar System have been united under the Empire, but there are still problems with pesky aliens on the far frontier of the outer Solar System. If you can accept the idea of native humanoids on Uranus you might balk at the idea of inviting them inside the human base for a dinner of fried chicken, but that is how peace is finally brought to Uranus.
SIHA. While searching for interesting aliens in the stories collected in Possible Worlds of Science Fiction, I'm also looking for candidate nominees for a retro-SIHA award. In my previous blog post, I mentioned several old Sci Fi television shows such as "Beach Head", based on a story by Clifford D. Simak. A 1952 episode of Tales of Tomorrow called "Many Happy Returns" was based on Raymond Gallun's 1940 story "Stepson of Space".
Related Reading: see Great Science Fiction About Doctors.
Next: all the remaining Possible Worlds
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