The Next Question

Figure 1. Zarabeth and Aryal in the cave.

A common theme in many early science fiction stories was the idea that humans must always be searching for new challenges. Getting in your spaceship and going off to explore outer space can make for interesting adventure stories, but what if there are other ways to entertain yourself that don't require interstellar travel? This summer I re-watched Star Trek, including the episode "All Our Yesterdays". I've previously listed that episode as one of my favorites, mainly because as a young boy watching this episode I was greatly impressed by Mariette Hartley dressed as a cave girl. 

Interesting Biological Structures Come in Pairs. However, it seems to me that Zarabeth should have been serving time in Sarpeidon's Ice Age with her twin sister, Aryal. I had Mr. Wombo generate an image depicting this fantasy of mine (see Figure 1).

Figure 2. The Atavacron II from
Next Quantum Computing.

 Time Travel. The people of Sarpeidon apparently never developed space travel, so when they had to escape the catastrophic death explosion of their star, the entire population of the planet all traveled back into the past eras of Sarpeidon.

 Alien Technology. I've long wished that when departing from Sarpeidon, the crew of the Enterprise had beamed up the time machine that had been used to send the entire population of Sarpeidon into the past. The atavachron (Figure 2) was a mysterious [plot] device that ensured that Spock would not live happily ever after with Zarabeth in her cave. 😠

 Did Not Compute. Viewers of Star Trek were told that because Kirk, Spock and McCoy had not been "prepared through the atavacron", they could return to the future after having accidentally passed through the portal of Sarpeidon's time machine into the past. Seemingly wanting to stay in the far past with the fetching Zarabeth, Spock at first seemed prepared to live out the rest of his life in Sarpeidon's ice age, but eventually Spock did go back to the future (after some arm-twisting by McCoy). However, Spock and McCoy did not return to the Enterprise until after the frosty ice age air had tossed Zarabeth's hair for what seemed like a near eternity of emotionally charged screen time. 💇 What exactly was the atavacron? For Figure 2, I had fun re-imagining the atavacron as some sort of futuristic computing device.

Figure 3. The original black & white interior artwork by
Paul Orban as re-worked (colorized) by Mr. Wombo.

 Positronic Computation. In the 1960s, television audiences were becoming comfortable with the idea of large, powerful computers. Ten years earlier, Isaac Asimov began writing his Multivac stories. One of Asimov's favorite stories was "The Last Question", a story in which Asimov took magical disembodied brains to the extreme. In The Last Question, Multivac begins its artificial life as a computing device with HiTek™ positronic circuits, but ultimately (it takes trillions of years) Multivac becomes a god-like disembodied entity with the power to create a new universe.

The very first story in the Multivac series was "Franchise", first published in the August 1955 issue of "If" magazine. The name "Multivac" was Asimov's playful variation on UNIVAC, the real world computer that famously predicted the outcome of the 1952 presidential election.

Figure 4. Image source.

 In "Franchise", Asimov took readers into the future when even some large newspapers like the New York Times had COMPUTERS. Golly gee. But only the government had the Multivac. And in "Franchise", only men get to vote. Make that a man. One man. The events in "Franchise" all take place in the far future year of 2008.

In retrospect, it is interesting that Asimov depicted the future as being a place where for each election a man (and never a woman) is selected to vote. Asimov informs us that 2008 is the sixth Multivac election, so we might be tempted to guess that the first such one-person election was in 1998. 

Figure 5. Interior art by Sentz,
updated by Mr. Wombo (also Figures 6-9).

In the real world, the late 1990s was about the time period when computerized autopilots were good enough to fly airliners. However, in the story, Asimov states that 1988 was a Multivac election, so I'll assume that was the first one (one every 4 years). In the late 1980s the Cray Y-MP provided improved weather forecasting, but as shown in Figure 4, improvements in computerized weather forecasting have been incremental.

Electronic Democracy. In Asimov's imagination, a key part of his fictional "just one man votes" system was that Multivac could predict which person was the most representative voter in the entire country. Readers are told that before election day, Multivac has already collected almost all of the data needed for determining how people would vote in the election (if they actually had the chance). On election day, Multivac will have just a few questions to ask of Norman, the voter of 2008. In addition to verbal questioning, Norman is monitored for his physiological parameters like blood pressure (see Figure 3) while answering Multivac's questions.

Figure 6. Ken's fever-fueled
vision of Sandra.

Sadly, in this story, Multivac can't even speak (Multivac's abilities do improve in later stories). Multivac's questions are printed on paper and read to Norman. The one question from Multivac to Norman that readers are told about is: "What do you think about the price of eggs?" Norman never actually sees Multivac; they are linked by some kind of telecommunications network. In passing, Asimov casually mentions National Medicine, Inc., apparently some kind of national health care system.

 My Next Question. Where did Asimov get the idea of a computer that could predict the outcomes of every election in the country? I began this year by blogging about Inter Ice Age 4, a novel that included computers that could predict the future. However, Inter Ice Age 4 was published a few years after "Franchise". "Spy" was a novelette published by J. T. McIntosh one year before "Franchise" was published. In "Spy", McIntosh included the idea of a future where it becomes possible to more efficiently evaluate public opinion. I discussed "Spy" with Gemini...

Figure 7. Ken's spy mission:
discovering Earth's military secrets.

 Me: Gemini, are you familiar with "Spy", a novelette by J. T. McIntosh?

Gemini: Yes, I am familiar with "Spy" by J. T. McIntosh. It's a science fiction novelette that explores themes of artificial intelligence, consciousness, and identity. The story revolves around a highly advanced computer named SPY, which is tasked with infiltrating a hostile alien civilization.

Me: Gemini, your description of the plot of "Spy" is pretty funny and a great example of an AI hallucination. There is no computer called "SPY" in the story. However, in the first few pages of "Spy", McIntosh mentions the idea of a "new" method for accomplishing the same thing as an expensive public opinion poll, what is called "survey reporting", which apparently involves a way of recognizing and canceling out personal biases and which allows for meaningful surveys to be conducted with only a very few subjects being questioned.

Figure 8. Ken the spy.

 Gemini: You're absolutely right! I apologize for the incorrect information. It seems I conflated the plot of "Spy" with another science fiction work.  The idea of "survey reporting" that you mentioned in the first few pages of "Spy" is a fascinating concept. It's a clever way to address the limitations of traditional public opinion polls by introducing a method to minimize personal biases and obtain accurate results with a smaller sample size.

Me: It seems possible that Asimov got the idea for his story "Franchise" by reading "Spy".

Gemini: That's a very interesting observation!   It's certainly possible that Asimov was inspired by the concept of "survey reporting" in "Spy" when he wrote "Franchise." Both stories delve into the idea of using advanced technology to gather and analyze data about people in order to make predictions or decisions.  While I don't have specific evidence to confirm this connection, it's intriguing to think that McIntosh's work may have influenced Asimov in this way. Both authors were pioneers in the field of science fiction, and it's not uncommon for writers to draw inspiration from each other's work.

Figure 9. Beam weapon.

The spy in "Spy" is a man (Ken Corvey, see Figures 5-8) from one of the first exoplanets that was colonized by humans from Earth. Much of the story takes place in Ken's confused mind (he is suffering from an infection that causes him to hallucinate). In the end, we are told that the people of the colonies are paranoid, fearing that Earth is a military threat to the colonies. Thus, they send men like Ken to Earth to spy and learn about Earth's military powers (see Figure 9). However, having lived on Earth for many years, Ken has good friends including Dave and Babs (Figure 5) and Ken falls in love with Sandra (Figure 6).

No spoilers. You'll have to read the "thrilling" conclusion of "Spy" to learn what happens to Ken.

When he wrote "Spy", I wonder if McIntosh was influenced by Asimov's story The Caves of Steel, which depicts political tension between Earth and "Spacers". "Spacers" is the term used by Asimov to refer to the inhabitants of the human colonies on nearby exoplanets. I like to imagine that science fiction story tellers are always reading each-others work and discovering new ideas that they can incorporate into their next story and take in new directions.

Figure 10. See the original
cover art by Mel Hunter.

 Secret Base. I'm currently writing "The Fesarians", a science fiction story that pits R. Nyrtia against Balok the bumpha. Nyrtia is trying to keep secret the location of her base of operations which is hidden inside the Hierion Domain. As a positronic robot, Nyrtia must try to protect humans and she can never fully trust the alien bumpha.

In "Spy", McIntosh depicted Earth as having military superiority over the colonies because of Earth's larger population. There is no mention of robots in "Spy". Asimov made robots central to his stories about Earth's colony worlds, depicting the "Spacers" as being more technologically advanced than Earthlings and having the best robots. In "The Fesarians", Nyrtia is the master of the Hierion Domain and femtobots while Balok has technological superiority due to his access to zeptites, the Sedron Domain and time travel technology. There is also technology-assisted telepathy in "The Fesarians", which comes in several varieties. Dani and Balok both have telepathic powers, but one is based on hierions and the other involves using sedrons to send the telepathic signals.

Cover art by Mel Hunter.

As a positronic robot and a field agent for Nyrtia, Dani has some valuable information about the location of Nyrtia's secret base of operations in the Hierion Domain. Balok sets a complex trap for Dani in an attempt to obtain useful information from Dani's positronic brain. Dani's fate in "The Fesarians" is similar to Ken's fate in "Spy". 

I had Mr. Wombo re-work the original interior art for "Spy", changing the black and white images by "Sentz" into color images (Figures 5 - 9). I also used WOMBO Dream to update the cover art by Mel Hunter for the October 1954 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction (see Figure 10), which I take as depicting a secret rocket base. Another example of Hunter's cover art is shown to the right: that's a telepathic alien "plant person" with spindly vine-like limbs on the right hand side of the cover for "Man of Many Minds".

More cover art by Hunter (1971).

Mel Hunter made a cover illustration for Asimov's novel "The End of Eternity", making that the example of his art work that is most familiar to me. 

The first science fiction book cover illustration credited to Hunter at the ISFDB was for "Man of Many Minds". In that novel by E. Everett Evans (read it here) telepathic contact is established with "plant people" on the planet Algon. In "The Fesarians", the "plant people" of Elemacha-z (the Noema) can alter their physical form. Readers are never told what the original biological form of the Noema actually was.

Hunter painted many magazine cover images that depict metallic robots. The example that is shown to the left is amusing, given my obsession with the sport of baseball. Pitching machines were in routine use by the late 1970s.

Figure 11. Spock telepathically
probes Zarabeth's memories.

 Precognition. As mentioned above (at the beginning of this blog post), one of my favorite Star Trek episodes is "All Our Yesterdays" by Jean Aroeste. Apparently Aroeste had an idea for another Star Trek episode about some aliens who could perceive the future, but sadly that episode was never produced. In "The Fesarians", Talia Vance is depicted as having visions of the future. However, rather than this being a true vinculochronic ability, it may be that Balok simply provides Talia with information about the future in order to guide her through life to the distant exoplanet, Elemacha-z.

 Time loop. As described here, there were some sequel novels published by Ann Crispin for "All Our Yesterdays", built upon the idea that Spock was able to impregnate Zarabeth. Maybe the inter-fertility between Spock and Zarabeth involves the strange loop in time that makes Zarabeth a descendant of Spock? "Yesterday's Son" makes use of the Guardian of Forever as a means to return into Sarpeidon's past, after the sun goes nova. However, there is a more direct path to such a sequel story. When departing from Sarpeidon, the crew of the Enterprise could use teleporter technology to beam Mr. Atoz and the time travel machine up to the Enterprise.

Figure 12. Aryal & Spock.

 Telepathy. The "future technology" issue that I would like to explore in a sequel to "All Our Yesterdays" is the possibility of telepathic communication between Spock and Zarabeth. I'd start with Spock using telepathy to obtain information from Mr. Atoz about how to use the time travel machine. After Spock learns what he can from Mr. Atoz, the resentful and rather cranky Mr. Atoz would finally be sent into the past of Sarpeidon so that he can join his family there. 

 Violation of the Prime Directive? In "All Our Yesterdays", Zarabeth mentions Zor Kahn, who sent her into the past, stranding her in the ice age of Sarpeidon. In my imagination, Spock is able to telepathically examine Zarabeth's memories of Zor Kahn (see Figure 11) and he realizes that Zor Kahn was a time traveler from the future and was not a native of Sarpeidon. Sadly, Mr. Wombo really struggles to depict one person reaching out to touch another person (see the oddly constructed hands in Figure 11).

My sequel to "All Our Yesterdays". Spock's ability to telepathically access and "read" Zarabeth's memories creates a quandary for him: Zor Kahn was an outsider who interfered with the development of the society on Sarpeidon, but Zor Kahn was motivated by a desire to save the people of Sarpeidon from the impending explosion of their sun. Potentially, the crew of the Enterprise could travel back in time and prevent Kahn from carrying out his interventionistic mission on Sarpeidon. However, it is best for the people of Sarpeidon to allow the plan of Kahn to play itself out. Spock proposes to Kirk that they can at least use the captured time machine from Sarpeidon to go back in time and rescue Zarabeth, without themselves altering the historical development of Sarpeidon.

Figure 13. Mr. Atoz shows Spock
how to View events in the past.

Kirk questions Spock's analysis of the situation. He raises the question: might we just as well use this newly-acquired time travel machine to go into Earth's past and rescue Edith Keeler? In "All Our Yesterdays", Zarabeth mentions her family, but no specifics are given. In my imagination, Zarabeth had a twin sister, Aryal (see Figures 1 & 12) and Aryal's fate is a key concern in my imagined sequel to "All Our Yesterdays". 

 Mr Atoz: One Man to Process Them All. Fans of Star Trek have long been puzzled by the mysterious workings of the atavachron, a device that I imagine was used as a way to prevent time travelers from traveling through time twice. In the case of Sarpeidon, the time machine creates a kind of time portal that apparently remains open all the time, potentially allowing people who were sent into the past to return to the future at any time, simply by walking through the open portal. It might have been quite chaotic if even 5% of the population grew tired of living in their chosen time period of the past and returned to the Library, forcing the over-worked and irritable Mr. Atoz to spend precious time sending them back to some different time period of the past after the first choice did not work out. 

Figure 14. Mr. Atoz and Spock discuss
rescuing Zarabeth from the past.

Possibly the biggest danger would arise if the time portal were to remain functioning even after the sun went nova. I accept the plot element that most people sent into Sarpeidon's past were processed by the atavachron so as to prevent them from returning to the future.

 A Warning. It makes some amount of sense to assume that Zor Kahn might have used the atavachron on some of his enemies, but not all of them. I imagine that initially Zor Kahn wanted to threaten Zarabeth and Aryal (I imagine they were both reluctant to help him alter Sarpeidon's society) but he did not use the atavachron to lock them in the past ice age when they were sent there for the first time. 

Figure 15. Spock (left) and McCoy (off image bottom)
meet the twins Zarabeth and Aryal in the ice age.

In my imagination, after being escorted to the cave by some of Kahn's soldiers (or, maybe like Mr. Atoz, , Kahn had some puppet-like replicoid copies of himself who could perform menial tasks) and after experiencing the harsh living conditions of the ice age for a few days, the two women returned through the portal to the future time of Zor Kahn. 

Aryal then agreed to submit to Zor Kahn's wishes and was not sent back into the past. However, Zarabeth refused the demands made by Zor Kahn. At that point, Zor Kahn processed Zarabeth through the atavachron and sent her back into the ice age, trapping her there "permanently". Although later Sarpeidon history described Zor Kahn as a tyrant, I don't imagine that he did much more on Sarpeidon than force the rich rulers of the planet to build time machines and Temporal Libraries such as the one of Mr. Atoz, using advanced alien technology that was provided by Zor Kahn.

Figure 16. Mr. Atoz examines the past.

 Screening Time Travelers. I put "permanently" in quotes because I assume that there is a HiTek™ way of reversing the effects of the atavachron. Sent into the past, Zarabeth does not have access to the technology that could reverse the changes that were made to her body by the atavachron, changes that prevent her from returning to the future through the time portal. However, I assume that Spock, McCoy and the other technical crew of Enterprise can study the atavachron and learn how to work around its effects. I assume that the time machine is designed to detect some "marker" that is inserted into people by the atavachron. When the time machine detects the marker, that person is not allowed to exit from the past, pass through the portal and emerge in the future. Thus, by inactivating that particular screening feature of the time machine, it becomes possible for Spock to rescue Zarabeth from the past.

Also. I also must assume that the Sarpeidon time travel machine also automatically marks the bodies of people who exit from a Time Library into the past of Sarpeidon. Such people are "marked" in such a way that should they pass through the time portal again, they will be automatically returned to the Library at a point in time close to the point in time when they exited from the future to go into the past. Other people of the past who a not "marked" by the atavacron and who have never traveled through time are unable to pass through the open time portal.

Figure 17. Mr. Atoz with a time viewing device.

 Visiting Kahn. However, before Zarabeth can be rescued, Kirk (not trusting telepathy) wants direct confirmation that Zor Kahn was a time traveler from the far future (after Sarpeidon's sun went nova) who brought alien time travel technology to Sarpeidon from another planet (or wormhole) of the galaxy. Spock agrees to go back in time and obtain the "time disc" for the historical period of when Zor Kahn was living on Sarpeidon. Spock visits the library and obtains the required time disc (they already have the time disc for the ice age, having teleported it to the Enterprise when they beamed up the time machine and associated equipment).

Figure 18. A copy of Spock
explains chronitons to Zarabeth.

 A Gift from Zor. Studying the disc that holds information about the time period when Zor brought time travel technology to Sarpeidon, Spock learns that Zor Kahn was assassinated shortly after sending Zarabeth into the past for the second time. Mr. Atoz shows Spock how to view the past and select a precise time destination. Spock then travels back in time and meets both Zor Kahn and Aryal (Figure 12). Spock confirms that Zor Kahn is actually a non-corporeal prophet who is temporarily using the body of a native of Sarpeidon. Before Spock returns to the Enterprise, Zor Kahn gives Spock a chroniton generator, saying: "Take this with you. You will need it in the future." Spock also tells Aryal about Zarabeth's great loneliness, living alone in the past era of the ice age.

Returning to the Enterprise, Spock consults with Mr. Atoz in preparation for rescuing Zarabeth from the ice age. Mr. Atoz discovers that Spock's visit with Zor Kahn has changed the historical timeline of Sarpeidon. After meeting Spock, Aryal joined her sister in the ice age. Mr. Atoz shows Spock the new alternative timeline that was created by Aryal, in which Spock and McCoy met both Zarabeth and Aryal in the past and decided to stay there with them (see Figure 15). Spock discovers that McCoy has vanished from sickbay, having been "erased" from existence when Aryal's actions created a new timeline for Sarpeidon.

Figure 19. Spock remains with
Zarabeth in the past.

 The Perfect Pair. The existence of this alternate timeline raises the possibility that Spock could also be erased from existence. Spock hypothesizes that the chroniton generator he obtained from Zor Kahn has protected him from being erased from existence. Mr. Atoz admits that he has his own chroniton generator which he has long used to remain protected from accidental changes to Sarpeidon's timeline arising from sending so many people into the past history of the planet. 

Using a "chroniton generator" to protect Spock against the effects of his actions in the past is analogous to the way Asimov used a "physiotime generator" to protect time travelers in his time travel novel The End of Eternity.

Once again, Spock travels back to the ice age. Spock explains to his other copy that there are now two Spocks. He explains to McCoy that it is possible to take both him and Aryal back to the Enterprise. One copy of Spock returns to the Enterprise with McCoy and Aryal, leaving the other copy of Spock with Zarabeth in the past.

In the original 1960s television program, Spock could not actually be shown making love to Zarabeth. In contrast, it was acceptable to show dozens of people being killed in Star Trek episodes along with other "entertainment" like physical torture, but naked breasts were against Hollywood's prime directive. In the glorious "civilization" of the 1960s, children could be exposed to sickening violence, but they could not be allowed to see beautiful naked bodies.

Figure 20. Mariette Hartley?

 WOMBO the Artist. I've been exploring the ability of WOMBO Dream to generate images that resemble particular actors and other famous people. I doubt if there were many images of Mariette Hartley in the training set for Mr. Wombo (see Figure 20). However, I was satisfied by the depictions that Mr. Wombo generated for Zarabeth and Aryal (Figures 1 and 11 - 19).

Figure 21. Leonard Nimoy?

In the case of Leonard Nimoy, apparently all of the images in the training set for WOMBO Dream are of him as an old man. I found it impossible to get Mr. Wombo to generate an image depicting Nimoy as a young man without a wrinkled face (see Figure 21). 

Here is the text prompt that I used for Figures 21 and 22: "A very young Leonard Nimoy, Leonard Nimoy is twenty years old, Leonard Nimoy is happy and smiling, Leonard Nimoy has black hair, Leonard Nimoy has pointy ears, Leonard Nimoy has smooth youthful skin". Strangely, some of the images generated with this text prompt were in black and white, which may be Mr. Wombo's way of saying, "That dude is old!"

Figure 22. Another Nimoy.

For the images of Spock that are shown in Figures 11 - 19, I took the AI-generated images and manually smoothed out most of the wrinkles. One more unaltered AI-generated image of Leonard Nimoy is shown in Figure 22. This is the image with the least wrinkled Nimoy that I managed to get Mr. Wombo to generate.

After I made Figure 2 by asking Mr. Wombo to depict Mr. Atoz as Steve Jobs, I continued using that strategy for Figures 13, 14, 16 and 17. I liked the appearance of this AI-generated version of Mr. Atoz better than Ian Wolfe, the actual actor who played Mr. Atoz in "All Our Yesterdays". I feel that Mr. Wombo's AI-generated images of Steve Jobs look more like a librarian. 

For the depictions of Ken the spy (Figures 5 - 8) I asked Mr. Wombo to make images of Steve McQueen.

Figure 23. Kirk and Miramanee.

 Humans Get Around. In my science fiction story "The Fesarians", I provide an explanation for why it is possible for the Enterprise to travel through the galaxy and find planet after planet that is populated by human beings; in the Ekcolir Reality, technologically advance aliens have periodically "transplanted" humans from Earth to other planets of the galaxy. Depending on factors such as how long ago these human variants left Earth and the possibility of genetic engineering, humans found on other worlds of the galaxy may or may not be inter-fertile with the crew members of the Enterprise.

My fan-fiction stories such as "The Fesarians" and my sequel for "All Our Yesterdays" build on characters and planets that were featured in Star Trek episodes and my stories include the possibility of Enterprise crew members being able to impregnate people found on other worlds, as was the case for Kirk and Miramanee (Figure 23).

Figure 24. Kirk gets to break bread
play in bed with slave girl Drusilla.

In "All Our Yesterdays" and many other episodes of Star Trek (example: "Bread and Circuses", see Figure 24), the existence of humans on distant exoplanets was not questioned. For my imagined sequel to "All Our Yesterdays" (outlined above on this webpage), I left unanswered the question: can Spock impregnate Zarabeth? I want to say "no" because I have to believe that if Spock lived out his life in Sarpeidon's ice age making babies with Zarabeth then some of Spock's descendants could have survived and altered the historical timeline of Sarpeidon. If the people of Sarpeidon did originate on Earth, their ancestors may have been taken off of Earth about 100,000 years ago. If the people of Sarpeidon evolved independently for 100,000 years, they might have become a human variant that is not inter-fertile with either Earthlings or half-Vulcans like Spock.

Next: Colorizing and updating old pulp Sci Fi interior art.

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Love Virus

Wired patient.

 Back in 2018, I blogged about "The Wages of Synergy" by Theodore Sturgeon (1953), a story about the fictional chemistry of orgasm. In 1954 there appeared "Mate in Two Moves" by Winston Marks, a story about a virus that causes people to fall in love. "Mate in Two Moves" was originally published in a 1954 issue of Galaxy and later collected along with 17 other stories in Great Science Fiction About Doctors. Here in this blog post (and the next one, too) I'm going to comment on several stories about doctors, much as I did previously (in April of this year) for Groff Conklin's anthology called Great Science Fiction by Scientists.

 Winston Marks. "Mate in Two Moves" is of interest to me because I'm currently writing my own science fiction story called The Nanites of Love. My story concerns imaginary nano-scale devices (nanites) and genetic engineering that makes possible telepathic humans with great amounts of empathy and who can only establish telepathic mind links to those who they love.

Introducing the Author: Winston Marks

I have not been able to learn very much about Winston Marks. In an autobiographical essay ("Introducing the Author: Winston Marks") written for the July 1954 issue of Imagination, he stated that he was going to try making a living by writing. Back in July I commented on "Manic Perverse", a story from his "early phase" (two of his stories were published in the early 1940s then there was a pause of 12 years before he resumed publishing Sci Fi in 1953).

interior artwork by W. E. Terry

Back in February of this year, I briefly commented on two other stories by Marks: "Kid Stuff" (1955) and "John's Other Practice" (1954). Since February, I've investigated Sci Fi stories about baseball, and "John's Other Practice" mentions baseball. The story is set in Hi Tek™ New York City of the future: in spring 1984, the centennial year of the Dodgers in Brooklyn. Sadly, the Dodgers actually left Brooklyn in 1957, just three years after "John's Other Practice" was published.

"John's Other Practice" features several doctors including Dr. Calicoo, a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) who readers quickly learn is a cute blue-eyed redhead with shapely hips. 

in the Ekcolir Reality

Near the beginning of the story, Dr. Calicoo crosses paths with Dr. Klinghammer who works for the Malpractice Board of Control. I'd like to know which medical school Dr. Klinghammer attended; he is soon telling readers that he has "a virulent case of the quim-quim". Is this a disease you can get from the love virus?

Dr. Calicoo claims expertise in mathematics and electronics. Dr. Klinghammer meets Dr. Calicoo in the women's room of the Hotel Celt where she services electronic devices that look rather like slot machines, but they dispense medical advice for specific medical conditions. Dr. Calicoo has in red letters on her blouse: JaySee Symptometer Service. Apparently worried that Dr. Klinghammer is going to interfere with her job, Dr. Calicoo is soon smooching Dr. Klinghammer. Only after a long, sultry kiss does Klinghammer learn that her name is Sue.

Approved by the IMA.

The driving force behind the JaySee Symptometer is Dr. John Cunningham who lasted only three years as a gynecologist before learning that he needed a way to apply his medical knowledge that did not involve any contact with patients. Dr. Klinghammer is told that with the help of Sue, John is building an electronic diagnostic computer, an electronic brain, that will "reduce physician error to practically zero". Dr. Klinghammer is told that the less complex Symptometer is simply a way to earn money to finance development of the more complex full diagnostic computer. 

The end of the story is something of a let-down. Dr. Klinghammer sells the Malpractice Board of Control and the International Medical Association on the idea of licensing the Symptometers for use in doctors' offices, but then Klinghammer learns that the partially constructed full diagnostic computer was just a fake. 😞

interior artwork by Ashman

Maybe Marks had plans for a sequel, set in 2022, in which that super-duper physician-computer would have been built by Sue's daughter, Sofia Klinghammer, a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

However, Klinghammer does get the girl and the story closes with more fiery kissing between Sue and Klinghammer. We are supposed to believe that Sue has long had her eye on Klinghammer as the dude who could get Symptometers into doctors' offices and I guess the hot romance that develops between Sue and Klinghammer is just icing on the cake.

medical research

 Murt's Virus. "Mate in Two Moves" was originally published in the May 1954 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. The artwork for the first page of the story by William Ashman was rather strange. Maybe Ashman had no idea what a virus is, but that hand on the lady's face is sure creepy. The story is set during the pandemic of 1961. When the pandemic begins, pathologist Dr. Sylvester Murt is working quietly at High Dawn Hospital and training his assistant, Phyllis Sutton, a resident, who has lovely eyes and a shapely body that includes "generous breasts" which can't be hidden by her lab coat. 

Hi Tek™ wonders: nylon and
higher-than-practical heels

During working hours at the hospital, Sylvester spends much time in contemplation of Phyllis' sheer nylon stockings and her sexy legs. However, he's a bachelor and does not want his life complicated by a wife or even a girl friend. Sylvester and Phyllis maintain a strictly professional working relation for six months, but then one day Phyllis takes off her lab coat and seems even sexier than usual: "He looked back at the profile of his assistant's body, which was now stretched out full length, suspended at three points- her higher-than-practical heels on the linoleum tile, her spine and curved hips using only an inch off the chair's edge, and her head tilted over the chair's back". At that moment, with Phyllis in such a provocative pose, Sylvester can't help but notice the way that Phyllis' breasts bounce when she speaks. Sylvester starts having sexual fantasies about his assistant, an affliction which he aggressively treats with long cold showers. Readers don't find out until later in the story that Phyllis has been infected by the "love bug".

the travails of virus research

 The pathology of pantie raids. Her keen eye always on the look-out for a new research project, Phyllis calls to Sylvester's attention the fact that college campuses are being swept by an epidemic of pantie raids and unprecedented levels of intramural romance. Statistical analysis indicates that the marriage rate among high school students is also rising. Phyllis offers her preliminary assessment of the news: the poor school kids "can't control their glands". Can Phyllis control her own glands?

The entire story is constructed around the idea that love is the result of over-active endocrine glands and a virus can target those glands and cause people to fall in love. While Phyllis and Sylvester work to understand the love pandemic, eventually they are both infected by the virus ("the love bug") and in dramatic fashion they use their own bodies to test a newly discovered chemical cure for the affliction. 

the cure

 Move 1. By July of 1961, the marriage rate has doubled. Since this is the early 1960s, when Sylvester catches the virus and falls in love, although his hormones are raging, he and Phyllis take the time to get married before they hop in bed. Phyllis reveals that she has been infected and in love with Sylvester for months before Sylvester became infected. 

Move 2. Winston Marks never explains why Phyllis seems to be the one person on Earth who can resist the effects of the "love bug". However, in the end, having taken the cure and now free of the virus, Sylvester and Phyllis fall in love again without any microbial help. Yes, it was 1961, so Winston Marks only depicted boys in love with girls, but maybe in the Ekcolir Reality there could have been more variety.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 Science? Winston Marks explicitly stated in the story that the chemical cure (a "sulfa drug") functions by forming deposits in the endocrine glands. This soon leads to the virus being eliminated from a patient's body. I wonder which gland(s) Marks had in mind. And more importantly, how would a virus change the activity of a gland so as to cause someone to fall in love? It seems like there should have been a follow-up story about answering that question and then applying that knowledge.

Foster's Fever. Winston Marks published "The Naked People" in the September 1954 issue of Amazing Stories. "The Naked People" concerns the young Dr. Foster who, after a dangerous brain infection, is able to see the hard-to-see "naked people" who co-inhabit Earth with we humans. 

cover art by Jeff Jones

 Telepathy, too. Using their telepathic abilities, the "naked people" normally can prevent humans from being aware of the existence of the "naked people" as they live among humans, but Foster's fever-damaged brain is now resistant to telepathic control. Marks never bothers to explain any of this and the story seems more like magical fantasy than science fiction. Later, "The Naked People" was anthologized in Demon Lovers and Strange Seductions.      

Dr. Foster quickly gives up trying to convince other people that the "naked people" exist. Dr. Foster marries his nurse, the fetching Miss Kelly, and they live happily ever after, sharing their house with a cute blonde naked person.

Hidden Telepaths. As was the case for "Mate in Two Moves", I have to wonder if Winston Marks ever wrote a sequel story in which he provided readers with more backstory for the "naked people". Dr. Foster asks several of the "naked people" about their origins, but no satisfying answer is ever provided.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 Intelligent Asteroid. Before moving on from Winston Marks and his stories about doctors, I must mention four more of his stories. In the December 1954 issue of Fantastic Universe there was "The Pompous Asteroid". I've previously complained about science fiction stories that depict life as existing on every planet and asteroid of the galaxy. For "The Pompous Asteroid", Marks imagined a well-traveled, sentient asteroid that arrives in our Solar System. I wonder if Arthur C. Clarke was influenced by "The Pompous Asteroid" when he wrote Rendezvous with Rama. 

"The Pompous Asteroid" is a first contact story about Spud Herley's encounter with a talking asteroid. As strange as it is for Spud to encounter a sentient asteroid, the inter-galactic wandering asteroid feels much the same way about meeting Spud. 

Playing catch in the Ekcolir Reality

The asteroid claims to have visited billions of galaxies and Spud is the first chemistry-based lifeform it has found. The story seems like magical fantasy with an iron-containing asteroid that can cruise through the universe and telepathically communicate with the first human it encounters.

 Fantastic Fantasy. "The Pompous Asteroid" reminds me of "Proof" by Hal Clement, a 1942 story in which readers are asked to accept that living creatures could be composed of neutronium. Winston Marks tries to add drama to "The Pompous Asteroid" by telling readers that this intergalactic asteroid is composed of antimatter. I have to wonder if "The Pompous Asteroid" may have been written in the 1940s, but Marks could only get it published in the 1950s when there was a proliferation of Sci Fi magazines such as Fantastic Universe.

interior art by Frank Kelly Freas

 A Pitch Man. Sadly, Spud's scout ship does not have a baseball onboard, but he throws a handy wrench at the alien asteroid. The resulting explosion destroys the sentient asteroid, completing this silly First Contact story.

Telepathy. In the Spring 1955 issue of Startling Stories was "Double Date". Set in the not-too-distant future, a pill is now available, that when swallowed, can give people telepathic powers. These telepathic abilities are limited to "hearing" the language-like thoughts of another person who has also ingested a magical telepathy pill.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 Smith and Jones. "Double Date" is told from the perspective of "Smitty" who gets an invitation from his girl friend, Ms. Jones, to go on a double date with Betty. Yes, we wonder: what kind of drama will ensue when Smitty pops a telepathy pill and gets to listen in on the telepathic "conversations" between Betty and Ms. Jones?

Easy as 1, 2, 3. Here is how Winston Marks explains human telepathy. 1) Telepathy evolved as a way for the various parts of the brain to communicate with each-other using a high-frequency signal that had long been over-looked by scientists. 2) Further, there is a chemical in the blood which absorbs the telepathic waves, preventing their escape from the brain. 3) After 1 and 2 were discovered, then it was then easy for pharmacologists to make a drug that neutralizes the telepathic wave absorber. 

double dating in the Ekcolir Reality

So, just take the magic pill and PRESTO! You can telepathically communicate your thoughts to other people who also use the neutralizer. Smitty takes the magic neutralizer pill and soon telepathically learns that Ms. Jones only wants to marry Smitty for his money. From then on, with his telepathic insights, Smitty can't help noticing that Betty is actually much nicer than Ms Jones. Betty quickly falls for Smitty and he dumps Ms. Jones. Betty and Smitty soon learn that they are telepathically quite compatible.

in the Ekcolir Reality

 Telepathy in 1958. "Go to Sleep, My Darling", in the November 1958 issue of Infinity Science Fiction, is another telepathy story by Marks that ends up with a man transferring his mind into that of his young daughter. The possibility of human telepathy is discovered when a father wishes for his young daughter to sleep through the night.

Last Gasp. "The Cure-All" by Winston Marks was published in the July 1968 issue of If. According to the ISFDB, Marks only published two stories after 1959, so I'll say that "The Cure-All" is from the third and final phase of his Sci Fi career. "The Cure-All" reminds me of Hal Clement's 1949 story Needle. Spacemen return to Earth after exploring distant worlds and bring back a microscopic lifeform that has health benefits when it infects humans. The story ends with the discovery that women who become hosts for the aliens all become pregnant through parthenogenesis.

Spread the aliens. Internal art for "The Cure-All" by Brock.

Rappaccini's lovers in
the Ekcolir Reality.

Age Discrimination. Returning to the collection Great Science Fiction About Doctors, I'll bluntly ask: is "Rappaccini's Daughter" (1844) science fiction? In the story, it is suggested that Dr. Rappaccini created a poisonous plant that is like a sister to his daughter, Beatrice. Through long, close association with the poisonous plant, Beatrice has become toxic to other people, which curtails her love life. You can read the story here.

"The Man Without an Appetite" by Miles Breuer was apparently written sometime around 1916. When asked for a story by Conklin, this old story was found among Breuer's papers by his wife and there was no clear record of its prior publication in English. You can read the story here. A brilliant physician (Dr. Volny) discovers how to make his hemoglobin do a job similar to that accomplished by chlorophyll and photosynthesis in plants... capture usable energy for cells from readily available chemicals in the environment and sunlight. With his hemoglobin doing photosynthesis, now Volny does not need to eat food. Sadly, the story includes no details about this magical biochemistry. 😞

Dr. Wentworth checks the size of
the Ananias gland of a patient.

In the November 1928 issue of Amazing Stories was "The Psychophonic Nurse" by David H. Keller (himself a medical doctor). However, in that issue, there was also a very short and very silly story called "The Ananias Gland" by W. Alexander. As told in "The Ananias Gland", Dr. Wentworth has discovered a small gland near the base of the brain that controls the human capacity to lie. If the Ananias gland is too large, then a person will continually tell lies. I would have call this story concept completely silly except for having lived through a Trump presidency... 

Is there a doctor in the house? In "The Psychophonic Nurse" there are practical robots, including a nurse who cares for a young baby. I have to wonder if Isaac Asimov was influenced by this story, but it may have passed through the news stands about a year before the young Asimov began reading all the Sci Fi he could get his hands on.

A child care robot in "The Psychophonic Nurse". Interior art by Frank R. Paul.
Special bonus for 1929; liberated mothers are smoking in the baby's room.

interior art for "Expedition Mercy".

 PTH. "Expedition Mercy" by Joseph A. Winter (himself an M.D.) is a painfully sloooooowwww account of visiting a distant exoplanet where the water contains a chemical that apparently activates parathyroid hormone receptors. A team of medical doctors takes a very loooong time to figure this out and I suspect only a fellow medical doctor or fan of House would enjoy this story. "Expedition Mercy" originally appeared in the November 1948 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Fig. 1. interior art for "The Little Black Bag"

 Doctor of Time Travel. I'm generally a sucker for stories about time travel, but "The Little Black Bag" by C. M. Kornbluth has a slow start, introducing readers to the miserable life of disgraced physician, Dr. Full. 

Kornbluth imagined a future that is similar to what Asimov would use in his 1967 story "Profession". In the 25th century, most people are just smart enough to use the machines that keep society humming. A small minority population is intelligent enough to invent new machines... such as a time travel device. So, presto, a futuristic medical tool kit gets sent into the past and arrives in the hands of the miserable drunkard, Dr. Full. 

This basic plot was later used in The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Dr. Full tries 25th century medicine.

 Blue Pill. In The Voyage Home, McCoy gives a sick woman a pill and she quickly regenerates a fully functioning kidney. Dr. Full opens up the medical tool kit from the future, pops a blue pill and his drunkenness is cured. 

For a time, Dr. Full uses the futuristic medical tool kit to help sick people, but he meets the fate shown in Figure 1, above. His assistant uses the super-advanced surgical instruments to cut Dr. Full into small bits that are disposed of by the medical tool kit's Hi Tek™ waste incinerator. When Dr. Full's murder is detected in the future, the "lost" medical tool kit is automatically inactivated and can be used no more.

Next: more stories about doctors

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