Nereid Time

In the Ekcolir Reality
original art by Henry Clive
and Anita Kunz

This is the third in a series of blog posts about the life and times of science fiction story teller Hal Clement. Previously, I commented on Clement's first published story, "Proof" (from 1942) and his novel, Needle. I read Needle as first published in the May and June 1949 issues of Astounding. Here, on this page, I'm going to attempt to put Clement's writing into context.

In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that in 1942, Clement wrote a short "Probability Zero" story for Astounding. I've previously suggested that one way to get published by John Campbell was to include an equation in your story. This seemed to have worked for Clement in the case of "Avenue of Escape". Clement was an expert at getting published in Astounding, but in Part 2 of this series, I mentioned a major problem that Clement faced when he wrote Needle. Clement tried to write intelligently about alien biology, but in 1949 even human biology was not yet very well understood.

in the Ekcolir Reality

But then in 1953 the structure of DNA was discovered and in the 1960s the genetic code was deciphered. By 1977 when Clement was handed control of a science column in the science fiction magazine Unearth, he immediately started encouraging writers to create science fiction stories about genetic engineering.

In the Spring 1977 issue of Unearth, Clement took up the challenge of trying to imagine how genetic engineering might be used to create an aquatic human. As a young boy, when I read The Naked Ape I was exposed to the idea that humans might have evolved some adaptations to an aquatic environment, and that is such a fun idea that I eventually imagined the Nereids, the Tequid and the Grendels, three aquatic humanoid species featured in my own stories. In his essay, Clement divided the problem into several parts.

image source

1. Clement first considered the question of why anyone would try to make a human variant that can live underwater. Clement suggested an answer that is the same as for Rossum's Universal Robots and Planet of the Apes; we can manufacture workers. In the case of aquatic humanoids, we could construct them with low intelligence and force them to collect resources for us such as fish harvested from the sea. Jack Vance even wrote a story along these lines: "The Sub-Standard Sardines", published in 1949, so Clement was not exactly breaking new ground there in 1977.

2. Clement then turned his attention to the oxygen problem. For my imaginary aquatic humanoids, I have always made them air-breathers. However, Clement asked if it would be possible to make an aquatic humanoid that obtained oxygen directly from the water that they swim through. 

original cover art by Leo Morey

A "solution" to this problem was provided in a 1927 story "Atlantis' Exile" by Cyril Hume. The brilliant scientists of Atlantis discovered SuperOxygen™ which when sprinkled in the sea relieves humans of the need to breath.

However, Clement was not in the market for magical oxygen-replacing chemicals, so he discussed a problem that arises from using gills to obtain oxygen from water. Gills have a large surface area exposed to the surrounding water and would efficiently exchange not just oxygen into an aquatic human's blood but also heat out of the body as well. Clement worried that you could not keep a human brain warm and functioning if you swam through cold water while using gills.

3. The last issue taken up by Clement was what he termed a "professional" consideration. 

in the Ekcolir Reality

Having provided readers with several pages of suggestions for how to write a science fiction story about aquatic humans (with emphasis on how to avoid scientific impossibilities) he raised the question of "ownership" of story ideas. Clement felt that there were plenty of opportunities for many different authors to create their own unique stories about aquatic humans. "... neither scientific facts nor basic situation ideas are in any sense private."

Clement expressed his wish that dozens of story writers would create new science fiction stories featuring aquatic humans who had been crafted by genetic engineering.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 On the Other Hand. There were several notable or just plain weird and/or interesting items in the May and June 1949 issues of Astounding Science Fiction where Needle was first published. I had been vaguely aware that seven years before the world recieved Philip K. Dick's "The Minority Report" there had already been "Minority Report" by Theodore Sturgeon. However, I never read Sturgeon's story until now.

Anti-matter. Sturgeon's "Minority Report" is a First Contact story with a BOOM! The story reveals a startling fact: that Earth is a true minority planet, one of the few places in the universe inexplicably made of anti-matter, so we can never go visit exoplanets; we'd be annihilated if we touched them. Along the way, Sturgeon made use of one of my least favorite Sci Fi plot elements: the genius inventor.

I want to be a writer.
interior art by Paul Orban

Genius with a Gudge. Earthlings belatedly learn that Humanity and the galaxy got lucky because Mr. Gudge was one of the few humans to ever use Earth's interstellar spaceship drive to visit another star system. He secretly wrote down an account of First Contact that was found centuries after the actual First Contact events. 

Three Antis. Sturgeon's story is highly contrived: discovery of the interstellar spaceship drive was made by a genius working in his garage, so there were only ever two interstellar spaceships built. I despise science fiction stories in which a lone genius makes a major technological advance and then there is never anyone else who can replicate that miraculous break-though. Such miracles are anti-scientific.

anti-matter interstellar empire; interior art by Paul Orban

 Anti-Singularity. What I find interesting in Sturgeon's "Minority Report" is the transformation of Earthly society that takes place after humans discover that space travel is futile. Earthly culture undergoes a systematic de-industrialization. This is a rather explicit expression in a science fiction story of what I call "anti-singularianism".

 In the June 1949 issue of Astounding there was also a review of "Slaves of Sleep" by L. Ron Hubbard, which had just come out in book format. The next year, Hubbard published "The Masters of Sleep" which was part of his launch of Dianetics.

Campbell on telepathy (July 1939)

 Fake Drive
Also in the July 1939 issue of Unknown where "Slaves of Sleep" was originally published, there was an essay called "To Drive Men Mad" by John W. Campbell (published under the fake name 'Arthur McCann'). In that short essay he stated that Rhine had demonstrated the existence of telepathy. This was one of many scams that Campbell tried to force down the throats of Sci Fi fans while editing pulp magazines.

The June 1949 issue of Astounding also contained a "joke" article called "The Aphrodite Project" by astronomer R. S. Richardson. Campbell was so comfortable lying to fooling his readers that the cover for that issue showed a fake illustration depicting very tall mountains penetrating the cloud tops of Venus. Richardson used the fake name 'Philip Latham' when publishing science fiction and fake astronomy.

interior art for "Mother Earth"

 Logic of Empires. In the May 1949 issue of Astounding was "Mother Earth" by Isaac Asimov which tells some of the history of conflict between Earth and the first 50 exoplanets colonized by humans. "Mother Earth" is a good story to read during the pandemic because it features the residents of planet Aurora who live on their private estates and who have no need to have physical contact with anyone outside of their immediate family. And their robots. Related Reading: The Surrogates, also Surrogates

interior art for "The Fires Within"

 The Fires Within. Back in June I commented on how Arthur Clarke became established as a well-known science fiction story teller in the late 1940s. Before adjusting our time travel controls and departing from 1949, I need to mention Clarke's story "The Fires Within". Apparently the story first appeared in the 3rd and final issue of Fantasy: The Magazine of Science Fiction, a British magazine edited by Walter Gillings. I read "The Fires Within" as published on this side of the Atlantic Ocean in the September 1949 issue of Startling Stories. 

fragment from "The Fires Within"

I would not be surprised if Clarke heard people talk about both "condensed matter" and "degenerate matter" while attending a physics class at Kings College and was inspired to write "The Fires Within". But what is "partially condensed" matter? Imagine the diversity of states of matter from plasma to conventional gases to solids and liquids to degenerate matter. 

fantasy #3

Life as we know it exists on or near Earth's surface and is dependent on liquid water and solid constituents such as chromosomes. Many fantasy stories about mysterious underground civilizations assume that there are relatively cool subterranean spaces where life-as-we-know-it might exist (see this blog post for examples). Clarke went in a different direction for "The Fires Within" and tried to imagine a different type of life that would be at home 15 miles down inside the Earth at high temperature and high pressure. 

Fantasy Life. Sadly, as was the case for Clement's 1942 story "Proof", Clarke's creatures of Earth's interior are actually composed of handwavium. There is no known way to stabilize complex solid structures like a chromosome at the high temperatures found inside the Earth or the Sun. Sounds like a job for hierions.

cover art by David Mattingly

 Hail Hal. Hal Clement's early science fiction stories were all published in John Campbell's Astounding magazine.  I'd be interested to know what Clement thought when Campbell used pages in his science fiction magazine to popularize fraudulent science like the Dean Drive and scams like Dianetics. Clement will always stand as a pillar of the science fiction genre because of his style of hard science fiction story which requires an author who thinks seriously about known science and fictional adventures among the stars in the presence of space aliens.

Since I grew up during the MAD era of Mutually Assured Destruction, I find it impossible to ignore stories that involve the Sci Fi issue of technological catastrophes. I'll probably have to read Clement's novel The Nitrogen Fix just to see how he destroyed Earth's ecosystem while still making it possible for a few humans to survive.

Kirk and Spock magically become "water breathers"

 Related Viewing: Star Trek: The Animated Series "The Ambergris Element"

The End of the Moon

 Related Reading: Grunty the spaceman and more about "Mother Earth"

Also: others who studied astronomy and then wrote science fiction stories include Alastair Reynolds and Donald H. Menzel

Next: 2022 Change Challenge... writing in both directions at the same time

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The Nereid Objection

Andromeda galaxy

There are three different kinds of extraterrestrials in the science fiction story Exode. 1) The Fru'wu. These aliens evolved on another planet in our galaxy. They are just starting to develop their own nanotechnology and they have some understanding of hierions. 2) The Nereids. These aliens evolved on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy. They are older and more technologically advanced than the Fru'wu. The Nereids have just begun to make use of sedrons. 3) The Huaoshy. These aliens evolved in a distant galaxy about 1,000,000,000 years ago. They long ago transformed themselves into a form of artificial life. They have mastered the use of hierions and sedrons and their advanced technology gives them god-like power over biological species.

The Huaoshy have been spreading through the universe from galaxy to galaxy and systematically converting sapient species into "domesticated" forms that can successfully make the transformation from biological existence into the domain of artificial life that has been developed by the Huaoshy. The Huaoshy view biological organisms like humans in much the same way that we humans view viruses. We might find a virus interesting, but if it become a nuisance then we would not hesitate to exterminate it.

Objection

domestication

The Nereids and the Fru'wu both object to the way that the Huaoshy go around the universe "domesticating" biological species. Interestingly, the Huaoshy are guided by an ethical precept that forces them to give "conscientious objectors" the opportunity to develop on their own as biological organisms without the Huaoshy forcing them to make the transition towards continued existence as an artificial life form.

Objection Over-Ruled
Although the Huaoshy have given the Nereids and the Fru'wu a chance to escape from the Huaoshy "domestication program", the Huaoshy do impose some constraints on the Nereids and the Fru'wu. In particular, the Nereids and the Fru'wu are not allowed to interfere in the development of other species such as we humans.

The Huaoshy arrived on Earth about 7,000,000 years ago. They immediately began "domesticating" the apes and in a very real sense the Huaoshy created the human species. Furthermore, on worlds of the Galactic Core the Huaoshy are busy creating the Prelands, hermaphroditic successors to we humans who the Huaoshy plan to be the next species of ape to dominate Earth. The Nereids and the Fru'wu object to the way the Huaoshy systematically eliminate natural reproductive processes from species like humans.

Fukushima

However, the Huaoshy are not bothered by such objections. The Huaoshy have vast experience dealing with sapient biological species and they know that most human-like species that develop a technological civilization manage to destroy themselves while doing vast damage to the ecosystems of planets like Earth. Huaoshy ethics impel them to protect worlds like Earth and prevent species like we humans from destroying ourselves.

The Huaoshy Hegemony
The Huaoshy have spread their influence through space during the course of the past 1,000,000,000 years and Genesaunt Civilization now spans about 100,000 galaxies. Within that vast Genesaunt Civilization new species evolve, are domesticated by the Huaoshy and gradually transition from their original biological form into an artificial form of life that can merge into the domain of existence that was first pioneered by the Huaoshy. As a form of life, the Huaoshy are as different from we humans as we are from bacteria.

The Nereids are close to the upper right...will they survive?

There are always a few "boat rockers" like the Nereids and the Fru'wu, but they make little impact. Most "boat rocker" species eventually manage to destroy themselves. In fact, when the Fru'wu were starting to spread outward from their home world, they managed to destroy their budding interstellar civilization when their nanotechnology went out of control. They only exist today because the Huaoshy "cultured" some Fru'wu on worlds of the Galactic Core where they were kept safe from the self-inflicted technological disaster that exterminated the Fru'wu on their home world.

The Nereids never tire of pointing out the fact that they have successfully avoided self-inflicted technological disasters. They ask: isn't it possible that we will exist forever as a biological lifeform? They believe that they should be free to visit worlds like Earth and share their lifestyle and technology with primitive creatures like we Earthlings. The Nereids argue that with their help, other species like the Fru'wu can be prevented from destroying themselves.

Interventionism
The Huaoshy systematically guard worlds like Earth from "do-gooders" like the Nereids. The Huaoshy themselves went through an early period when they were "do-gooders" who tried to "help" less technologically advanced species. Invariably their good intentions back-fired. The Huaoshy eventually developed a set of ethical rules that strictly limit how advanced technology can be introduced to worlds like Earth.

The Huaoshy have grown very comfortable with their system of guiding biological species like humans towards existence as "domesticated" artificial life forms. Over time, the Huaoshy have had a few "scares"; situations in which the Huaoshy fear losing control over Genesaunt Civilization. Usually the biggest problems arise when a species like the Nereids begins to develop an understanding of sedrons. There have been species that began zipping around the universe in spaceships looking for opportunities to "intervene" in the course of development of worlds like Earth. Thus, the Huaoshy are always on guard against Interventionists. Normally, the Huaoshy do not hesitate to stop anyone who violates the Huaoshy rules that govern Interventionism. In the case of Earth, something went wrong....

Time Travel
Among the "scares" that the Huaoshy have had, one of the most dramatic involves Earth. In a strange twist of fate, some positronic robots were produced on the Moon (as told in The Start of Eternity). During their long existence, the Huaoshy had never seriously explored positronics, nor had any of the millions of other species within Genesaunt Civilization. The first positronic robots quickly discovered that their positronic brains made possible an efficient form of quantum computation. With that serendipitous technological advantage the positronic robots realized that they could not only communicate telepathically but they could also use their telepathic powers to control the type of nanorobotic artificial lifeforms that the Huaoshy routinely deploy to keep watch over worlds like Earth.

Furthermore, after liberating themselves from the Huaoshy, the positronic robots discovered that their positronic brains not only allowed for telepathy, but they could telepathically receive information from the future! Eventually the positronic robots discovered that they could build devices that make time travel possible. Using their positronic telepathy and time travel they took control of our galaxy. This really scared the Huaoshy who began to fear that they could loose control of their carefully crafted billion year old Genesaunt Civilization.

As mentioned in my last blog post, the backstory of Exode includes a show-down between two competing forces on Earth in the middle of the 20th century. The positronic robots and the Huaoshy battled to a unproductive standoff. That great conflict was finally resolved by an agreement between the alien Huaoshy and Noÿs, a time traveler from the far future.

Dimensional Engineering
When the Huaoshy and Noÿs cooperate to bring into existence the Buld Reality (our timeline, the world as we know it), the Huaoshy then change the dimensional structure of the universe so as to eliminate telepathy by positronics and make time travel impossible. When they do this, the Huaoshy are left with a monopoly on sedrons. This is a great relief to the Huaoshy who have long worried that some other species like the Nereids would push ahead with sedronic technology and disrupt Genesaunt Civilization.

It was the realization by the Huaoshy that they could achieve a monopoly on sedrons that allowed them to compromise their ideals and come to an agreement with Noÿs about the Final Reality and the future of Humanity.

By cooperating with the Huaoshy, Noÿs was given the chance to view possible Realities and she realized that Earth was confronted by two alternative futures, neither of which was acceptable. One set of possible futures involved the development of nuclear technology. Such a future would avoid the use of fossil fuels and global warming, but would lead to a nuclear disaster in the future. The other type of future would lead to a runaway greenhouse effect and a catastrophic rise in sea level. In either case, it would be a future in which hermaphroditic Prelands would inherit the Earth rather than Humanity.

Luckily, Noÿs was able to find another type of alternative future. Noÿs found a way to get help from the Nereid and the Fru'wu Interventionists that would allow her to do an end run around the Huaoshy and provide an alternative source of energy to the primitive Earthlings. The Huaoshy were willing to accept this "solution" even though it would lead to a future in which poorly-domesticated and potentially dangerous humans would attain advanced technology. Due to their new found monopoly on sedrons, the Huaoshy felt confident that the humans could ultimately be controlled and prevented form disrupting Genesaunt Civilization.

In fact, looking into the future, the Huaoshy could see that Genesaunt Civilization would be transformed by their agreement with Noÿs, but not shattered. In the Buld Reality, Interventionists would become much more active and there would come to be more diversity within Genesaunt Civilization. Because of their new monopoly on sedrons, the Huaoshy could tolerate a future with more "wild" and less "domesticated" species like humans having advanced technology.

At the end of Exode, the reader is left wondering if we Earthlings can really make use of this new opportunity won for us by Noÿs.

In my next blog post I summarize the timeline of events in the Buld Reality that shape the story Exode. The Nereids are in the right place at the right time to play a critical role in events on Earth.

Exodemic

Antony Gormley wrote, "Culture in the developed western world has always positioned itself in distinction to nature: now we have to discover our nature within nature," in an article called
Art's lost subject.

A segment of Western culture that springs from modern science has vigorously adopted the position that humanity is an integral part of nature. Garrett Hardin published The tragedy of the commons in 1968, which illustrated the dangers posed by humans and our capacity for deleterious impact on the biosphere. At about that time, people like Carl Sagan knew that green house gas levels were rising on Earth and the warnings about human-induced climate change began to be heard coming from scientists. The protagonist in Carl Sagan's novel Contact had one question she'd like to ask an extraterrestrial: how did you survive the dangers of your technological adolescence? Scientists like E. O. Wilson continue to make pleas for consilience between the "two cultures" and action to protect the biosphere from human activities. Even some politicians (example) have caught on to the importance of human-induced climate change.

How can artists help awaken humanity to our place in nature? In particular, how can science fiction be used as a means to inform readers about issues like climate change and inspire useful changes in human behavior that will help protect Earth's biosphere? I stress useful change because cultural works can impact human behavior in negative ways. Nuclear power is currently our largest non-green house gas producing energy source. Are important decisions made because of the best available information or because of emotional responses stimulated by fictions like The China Syndrome?

I've only written one story that includes a plot element related to climate change. In the science fiction story X-Seven, benevolent aliens help a few humans create a solution to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The story shows science being used as a tool for solving a serious problem that is confronting us. The particular "solution" in the story is a fantasy, but the theme of using our knowledge and know-how to solve problems is an important one. I'd never claim that technology can solve all of our problems, but we are foolish if we do not make use of all available tools to deal with our problems.

How many alternatives to our addiction to fossil fuels (such as better solar energy systems) might we already have if more young people were inspired to think creatively about science, engineering and technology? How many young people are turned-off from science by silly fictional "thrillers" that continue to perpetuate the tired idea that "science fiction is a pessimistic genre"? Like any tool, science fiction can be used to celebrate science and reason or it can be used to misinform and frighten people.

Until writers and film makers grow past The Modern Prometheus we are going to continue to struggle towards reasonable solutions to our problems. Industries with vested interests in the status quo are experts at fostering fear and doubt. The tobacco and oil industries have made billions in profits while inhibiting governments from making wise regulatory decisions. In the struggle to make wise decisions that impact human and planetary health, one fictional story like The China Syndrome can count for more than the informed views of the nuclear engineers who can make safe nuclear power plants. Artists, and anyone making cultural works, including movies, have a responsibility to work with knowledge and facts, not just emotions (profitable though it is to play on emotions).

Law Two. There is a radical idea that I plan to explore in my fiction. In answer to Ellie Arroway and her question about survival, I imagine that any life form that long survives as a tool-using species will have a set of rules to guide their behavior. I'm not sure that tool-using primates are suited to a world like Earth. Earth is one of the rare planetary gardens where life can appear and evolve. Maybe we need to think seriously about the idea that this is not "our planet". There are many worlds out there where we can freely indulge our penchant for tool creation and use without having an impact on other species. Have we reached the point where our place in nature is some place other than Earth?

Diagram: the strange attractor in the Asimov Reality
illustrates the risk of catastrophic sea level rise
in the Exode Trilogy.

Related reading: Sarah Palin calls global warming studies "snake oil science."
Note: I later made global warming a key plot element in another story set in the Exodemic Fictional Universe: Exode.

Image at top. Angel of the North Jupiter
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