Magic Microbes

Figure 1. SIHȺM: SIH Microbes.
Search for Interesting Hollywood Microbes.

Unless I have forgotten something, the first magic 'microbe' I ever saw was the single-celled space organism in "The Immunity Syndrome". Of course, the alien space cell in Star Trek was hugely pregnant and big enough for Spock to spend an entire afternoon filled with scientific investigations inside of it. In the end, and in the spirit of scientific discovery, Spock deploys his calm and cool intellect to reach the logical conclusion that this amazing alien life-form must be disintegrated with an antimatter bomb. 💣 💥

 Impossible Fiction. Back in March,  I began my 2026 Search for Interesting Hollywood Aliens by mentioning the film "Project Hail Mary" which was being advertised as depicting an "impossible scientific mystery". My first question is: does this movie provides us with a couple of hours of entertainment featuring an interesting alien? Bonus: is there an interesting microbe?

 Sun Fiction. Back in 2022 I commented on the 1942 story "Proof" by Hal Clement. That story featured life-forms with a "matrix of electrons" that could convert stellar radiation into neutrons. Not only does the "skin" of these Sun creatures (the hero of the story is named "Kron") surround a core of neutronium (held in the creature's "nucleus"), but the "skin" can convert energy from the environment into new "particles of neutronium" that are then guided by magnetic fields towards the body core. I'm a huge skeptic when it comes to imaginary life-forms that live in or on a star, particularly if they are biological life-forms composed of cells.

 Alien Invasion. In "Project Hail Mary", we are apparently being asked to believe that some alien cells are able to fly through outer space and gather around stars and store lots of energy as neutrinos. Maybe all of this fantasy biology is explained in the book, but in the film, people just talk fast when "explaining" this alien biology and hope that we will be distracted by the one other alien life-form that is in the movie: Rocky, an Eridian.  

 Alternate Technologies. We are told that the technologically-advanced Eridians are "unaware of relativity". A memorable example of this kind of "technology blind spot" is in Clifford D. Simak's story "The Big Front Yard" where there are aliens who never thought to invent paint. I find it hard to believe that any alien with technology advanced enough to be traveling around the galaxy would either never have invented paint or never noticed relativity.

 Thanks for the memories. I don't mind when futuristic technologies come bundled with with constraints and costs. In "Project Hail Mary", we are told that an incredibly great source of energy is available (the conveniently wrapped neutrinos in the space microbes), but we can't store ten years worth of food in our interstellar spaceship. Would sleeping for three years cause selective and temporary loss of some memories? I don't know, but I do know that this overly long movie could have been improved by not including this issue in the film.

 Rocky and hoodwinkle show. The Eridians might have skipped class on the day when relativity was discussed, but they do have some cool technology. I can't stop myself from imagining that they might have advanced nanotechnology and access to hierions. Imagine a type of hierion that could be made into a composite with xenon, forming a metallic substance that is both easy to form into useful shapes, yet is also very strong.

The Rocky character in "Project Hail Mary" is amusing for about 30 minutes. Not sure I'd want to spend the rest of my life teaching young Eridians. Shouldn't someone be out trying to prevent more habitable planets from having their solar energy supply blocked? Maybe that is for the sequel.

 Disclosure Day. Apparently there actually is an alien on screen at the end of "Disclosure Day", but the movie seems to actually be about some absurd corporate/government conspiracy like in The X-Files. While searching for "Disclosure Day." I saw a marketing trick for the film, a red cardinal flying across the search results page. Good to see Google has endless ways of making $$$ from corporations even while providing search engine results for a movie that claims to be about aliens helping to take down a SuperSecret™ conspiracy by some mysterious corporate entity.

Figure 2. Image source.

 Microbe Search. I decided to search for old science fiction stories about weird microbes. Before taking a deep dive into the ISFDB, I'll mention two of the earliest science fiction stories featuring microbes that I read or saw on television: "Surface Tension" and "Fantastic Voyage". In James Blish's "Surface Tension", Blish had the audacious idea of a character who was an intelligent paramecium which deeply offended my 12-year-old self's view of the universe. "Fantastic Voyage" was only memorable for a scene in which Raquel Welch gets encased in white blood cells which then have to be pealed off of her curvaceous body by three groping men. Related Reading: see the stories by Arthur Porges, see also "Un homme chez les microbes" by Maurice Renard which features a man who is shrunk. 

 The first candidate microbe story I came across at the ISFDB was "A Major Microbe" by W. L. Alden, but that story is not science fiction and is not actually about a microbe. The same can be said for "The Princess and the Microbe" by Margaret Sherwood.

 Weird title. I discovered that the French translation of "Needle" was titled "Le microbe détective". My best guess is that misleading title was used because there was an existing sub-genre of crime fiction about using microbes as murder weapons. 

At "First fictional lab-created plague" it says that "Professor Bakermann's Microbe" (published in 1890) is set in 1935, where the microbes causing all known diseases have been studied. The wacky Professor Bakermann cooks up a new disease microbe that can't be stopped; it is resistant to all known drugs and treatments. I've never read the story, but Google's AI Mode agent likens it to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The story was first published as a serial in La Science Illustrée (see Figure 2).

image source

I've skimmed through "The Master of the Microbe" (1926) which seems incredibly long and muddled, something like a James Bond movie with an evil character threatening the world. In the story there is a "crimson carnet", the "silver cylindar", assorted uncles, detectives and doctors along with several women to chase around after while a man-made plague spreads. The microbiology in "The Master of the Microbe" seems diseased and confused, although Google's AI Mode agent assured me that Robert Service had written into the story the idea that a pathogenic bacterium could be countered by a bacteriophage. However, the word "virus" appears only once in the story, in a sentence that makes no sense and we are told that Professor Hermann Krug (the discoverer of the plague bacterium) is a "well-known savant of Swiss origin, and considered in University circles to be a supreme authority on Micrology." It seems clear that Service knew nothing about microbes or microbiology. I could not sort out what is going on in the story with the dude named "Sinistra" who was apparently an "alias of Maximus Quin", not to be confused with "Cyrus Quin". However, I am still confused, but not interested enough to actually read the story.

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 Murder by Microbe. In "The Microbe of Death" by Rudolph De Cordova, a doctor kills a fellow doctor using anthrax (1897). "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not" -George Bernard Shaw. In the case of De Cordova: "Some men go to medical school and save lives, I learned in medical school how to take lives." In the same spirit was "The Microbe Murders" by Frederik G. Eberhard (1935), featuring a killer who commits murders using deadly germs and microbes.

 A Strange Case. Not much is known about John Geo. E. Leech, author of "The Microbe of Love" published in Pearson's Magazine, October 1902. This is a joke story in which a "bacillus" is found that causes people to experience the pangs of "love sickness". The discoverer hopes to make big $$$ by selling an antidote, but he falls in love before he can devise the antidote. Related Reading: "Mate in Two Moves", published in the May 1954 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. 

full sized image here

 In "The Secret of the Extinct Microbe" by Clement Fezandié (1924, part of the Dr. Hackensaw's Secrets series) the bumbling Dr. Hackensaw unleashes a virulent microbe from an ancient Egyptian archeological site. Readers are told that the only way to defeat the virulent "extinct microbe" is to find another ancient microbe that is able to destroy the first one.

 I skimmed "The Bacillus of Beauty" by Harriet Stark (1900). It is impossible for me to say that "The Bacillus of Beauty" is about a microbe. Readers are told that a woman's appearance is transformed by a bacillus, but there is no reason to believe it. The story seems like a fantasy where a magic spell does the transformation. 

 "The Bacillus of Conscience" (1905) by Wilbur Dick Nesbit (Wikipedia) is pretty funny. It inspired a song titled "B. Conscience". In  "The Bacillus of Conscience", Nesbit followed a standard Sci Fi formula with a scientist, his daughter (Constance) and a man who is love with the daughter. Song lyrics:

[Verse 1]
I must offer some comments
on the bacillus of conscience 
but refer to it as B. conscience
“B is for Busy,” giggled Constance
Busy B stands before our conscience
shall I confess to giant nonsense? 
Small it is, in the strong sense

"B. Conscience"

[Chorus]
It’s a tiny little bug with a heavy load
Screaming down a dusty, lonesome road
If you got a secret, it’s gonna find a way
To make you spit it out by the end of the day
(B. Conscience, honey)
(It’s a heavy price you pay)

[Verse 2]
In the bacterial inventory
was it new or a priori?
Obtained from a criminal gory
it made just a little history
For Professor Bindham's glory
and to be a science fiction story
B. conscience left the laboratory

[Bridge]
Is a man still a man if the truth is forced
Like a dry creek bed or a dying horse?
It ain't a choice when it’s under your skin
Just a fever burning out the original sin
(Burning it out)
(Let the truth walk in)

[Verse 3]
A microbe from 1905, I confess it
discovered by Wilbur D. Nesbit
It began with a crime committed  
Bacillus conscience with no respite
made the criminal confessed to it
We need it in 2026 just a bit
to use it on our president

[Final Chorus]
Oh, it’s a tiny little bug with a heavy load
It don't care about the laws or the code
If you got a secret, it’s gonna find a way
To make you scream it out by the end of the day
(B. Conscience, honey)
(It’s the only way)

[Outro]
Just a little drop for the man at the top
Once the valve is open it’s never gonna stop
(B. Conscience)
(Sinking in)
Yeah, it’s catching
Watch your mouth now
(B. Conscience)
It’s catching
(Catching) 

Figure 3. Interior art by Leo Morey

 Most Tedious. As fun as "The Bacillus of Conscience" (see above) is,  "The Bacillus of Death" by Arthur B. Reeve (1912) is contrived, tedious and pointlessly formulaic. In the competition for "most tedious" was "The Beautiful Bacillus" by Patrick Dutton (1931). This meandering story is science fantasy, very light on the science. First we are witness to a bacterium that grows quite large (see Figure 3) and becomes conscious then one of the two microbiologists responsible for this "advancement" shrinks and becomes a microbe that infects his buddy.

 Wells, Wells. In "The Stolen Bacillus" (1894) by H. G. Wells, an anarchist threatens the London water supply with cholera stolen from the laboratory of a bacteriologist. Disaster is averted when we learn that the stolen bacterial strain is not cholera, but rather a microbe that turns the skin blue... and only the anarchist is infected.

Figure 4. Interior art by George T. Tobin.

In 1895, the antics of anarchists was taken up in "The Purple Death" by W. L. Alden. After having published "A Major Microbe"  (see above on this page) someone must have explained to Alden what a microbe is (or maybe he read "The Stolen Bacillus"). In "The Purple Death", readers are told that the "purple death" is a a disease caused by a microbe found in snake venom. A nutty microbiologist hopes to use the "purple death" to cure poverty... by killing the poor.

 In "Dr. Cox's Discovery" by Herbert D. Ward (1903), the second paragraph includes this sentence: "What will not the bacillus be responsible for next?" Dr. Cox wants to isolate a "microbiote" that can cause death from old age. Here is another line from the story: "Nothing pleases an Englishman more than a spice of adventure in which the superstitions of an inferior race are trampled upon." 

Figure 5. Imaginary cover
art by Flow. (original cover)

Eventually, Dr. Cox finds something that that acts like a fountain of youth. In this fantasy story, Ward could not be bothered to provide a coherent explanation, just the hint that it involved test tubes. Then there is a contrived "explanation" for why Dr. Cox throws away the "fountain of youth". The End. As hinted at in Figure 4, much of the story revolves around a weird love triangle. The only two test creatures for the "fountain of youth" are a dog and the mother (the brunette in Figure 4) of Dr. Cox's girl friend (the blond in Figure 4). After dear mom dies, Dr. Cox apparently gets to live happily ever after with the daughter.

 Another "fountain of youth" story was "The Blue Germ" (1918) which is available via Google Books. I tried to read "The Blue Germ" but I soon began skimming and then at page 38 is: "The bacillus was ultra-microscopical. It could not be seen even with the highest power, under the microscope". Other people have interpreted this as indicating that the "fountain of youth" was a virus, but the term 'virus' does not appear in the story. I suspect there is nothing resembling science fiction in this novel.

 "Max Hensig: Bacteriologist and Murderer" (1907) by Algernon Blackwood is long, tedious and contrived. The story seemingly includes an attempt to depict a man getting so drunk that all the alcohol in his body will serve as protection against bacterial infection. The imaginary cover art for "Max Hensig: Bacteriologist and Murderer" (see Figure 5) was made using this text prompt: "A full color movie still showing two men in a prison cell, the accused criminal is a light-haired stripling with blue eyes and drooping mustache, that rare type of deliberate murderer, cold-blooded and calculating, who kills for a song, delights in killing, and gives its whole intellect to the consideration of each detail, glorying in evading detection and reveling in the notoriety of the trial, if caught. At first he had answered reluctantly, but then the young murderer warmed up and became enthusiastic with a sort of cold intellectual enthusiasm, till at last he held forth like a lecturer, pacing his cell, gesticulating, explaining with admirable exposition how easy murder could be to a man who knew his business. And he did know his business! The reporter watched in dismay and horror."

 Heart of Gold. "The Golden Rat" by Alexander Harvey (1913) is one of the most unique stories that I have found while investigating old stories that involve microbes. It is a fantasy story with only very minor science fictional microbiology elements. The narrator (a psychoanalyst) imagines that he was infected by golden bacterium from a golden pet rat (named 'Philander') that turns his blood into gold. "The Golden Rat" is also a strange "love story", in that the golden rat eventually leads the narrator to realize that one of his patients, Miss Lancaster, is in love with him.

 "Strangers on Paper" is an episode of "Murdoch Mysteries" that was first shown about six months ago (January 2026), but I only just watched it. In one of the silliest "mad scientist" stories ever, the plot of "Strangers on Paper" includes an angry scientist who tries to put Staphylococcus aureus into the water supply in revenge for loss of funding for research on Staphylococcus aureus. Related Reading: Amerithrax.

Figure 6. Interior artwork by Leo Morey

 Great Northern Protist. "Nœkken of Norway" by Bob Olsen (1934) provides an account of a close encounter with a giant amoeba that lives in a lake in Norway. Readers are told that if an endocrine problem in the pituitary gland can make for a giant human then why not an amoeba that just keeps growing? As shown in Figure 6, the giant amoeba is usually found in water, but when it gets hungry it will go onto shore and grab yummy people for a snack. It turns out that mistletoe is the giant amoeba's kryptonite. By the way, Wikipedia's article on kryptonite has more references than the article about mistletoe.

 Figure 7. Interior artwork by Malcolm Smith

 "Amoeba 'Roid" by Henry Bott (1948) takes us into the age of radar and rocketry when life has already been found on Venus. So why not also on an asteroid that is two miles long? That's John and Grace (see Figure 7) having a close encounter with an asteroid amoeba. As the story "Amoeba 'Roid"  is told, this amazing life-form does nothing more exciting than extend a tentacle out from its pit that curls around the curvaceous Grace, but John insists on incinerating the creature with burning rocket fuel.

image source

 Leaping ahead to the 22nd century, "Amoeba-Hunt" by Morton Klass sends us hunting for a giant amoeba on Procyon IV. Humanity has evolved since the old days of "Amoeba 'Roid" and the alien amoeba must be captured alive. Why? I have no idea. I suppose because it is there.

 The first mention of microbes in this blog was in 2012 when I was speculating about the everyday microbial horrors that might have motivated some of the horror elements in Frankenstein. I wrote, "Our species is in the middle of figuring out the world we live in. In the past, millions were mysteriously struck down by infectious diseases and it was all too easy to adopt an attitude of desperation and helplessness when we had no tools for observing microbes. Now the science of microbiology routinely makes it possible for us to understand, treat and prevent microbial diseases." Even a story as goofy as "Amoeba 'Roid" can be viewed as a human reaction to the never ending conflict between humans and microbes.

Foundations of Eternity

 In 2013 I wrote, "Imagine that the Huaoshy have a monitoring system that is analogous to the way that humans might monitor microbes for pathogenicity and potential to harm people." It is fun to compare the relationship between the technologically-advanced Huaoshy and we humans to the relationship that we humans have with microbes.

 My story Foundations of Eternity included the idea that Neanderthals were driven to extinction because they were susceptible to microbial diseases that were spread by modern humans. When Manny the bumpha takes an interest in the unusual behavior of the Neanderthals, she Intervenes by secretly providing Neanderthals with key resistance genes.

Back in 2015, I introduced the idea that in a past Reality, Earth might have been intentionally pushed towards having high green house gas levels. Such a Reality could be used as a laboratory for "developing microbes that could efficiently metabolize methane and trap atmospheric carbon dioxide in marine sediments". The climate change mitigation methods developed by humans in such a Reality might then be re-used in another Reality to prevent global warming. In "The Hierozyme Intervention", I explore this strategy. How can a microbial solution to global warming be brought into a Reality without alerting the pek Overseer of Earth to such an alien Intervention? I'm currently writing Chapter 10 of "The Hierozyme Intervention" in which Marda is trying to gain access to Eddy's Reality Viewer. Anthony has been moved out of Casanay and his replacement, Ada B. Catalana, has just been hired. Systolina suspects that Ada is a secret agent for Manny the bumpha, but how can Ada be used to give Marda access to the Reality Viewer that is hidden inside Eddy's computer?

image source

 In 2018, I wrote a story that depicted the Phari as having arrived on Earth before the arrival of the pek. The idea that a Phari facility for evolving new microbes and positioned deep inside Earth survived intact for two billion years seemed a stretch, but more recently I've written stories depicting the pek as having reached Earth about four billion years ago. For "The Hierozyme Intervention", the Phari and the bumpha seem to be collaborating to solve Earth's global warming problem without alerting the pek to the fact that alien technology has been used.

 For "The Hierozyme Intervention", I'm still deciding on exactly what Marda will be able to learn from past Realities by using Eddy's Reality Viewer. Possibly in the Ekcolir Reality, humans eventually engineered microbes by artificial evolution that can be "re-animated" by Marda in the Final Reality and combined with hidden hierozymes. However, it is not clear why the pek would fail to notice the deployment of hierozymes. Maybe after first allowing Tyhry to be punished for using hierozymes, the final solution deployed by Marda will involve zeptites that are not detected by the pek.

This image was made
using Mystique VI
by emden09 available
under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
image source

In "The Hierozyme Intervention", I depict Manny as making an effort to prevent Systolina and replicoid copies of Tyhry at Observer Base from obtaining information about the future of the current Reality. Maybe the end of the story will involve Systolina and the replicoid copies of Tyhry finally Viewing the actions of Marda on Earth, but still being unable to notice her use of programmable zeptites. I'm imagining that Systolina and the replicoid copies of Tyhry can waste decades trying to re-invent positronics. In the end, will they believe that their positronic tools broke Manny's embargo on information about Marda's future or will they recognize that all of their efforts were a waste of time and only a distraction engineered by Manny?

Back in 2022, I read a large number of old science fiction stories featuring doctors and some of those stories involved microbes. One of those stories by Murray Leinster featured a microbe called the "chlorophage" that not only ate chlorophyll and killed plants, but which also had an appetite for hemoglobin. I don't know if Leinster's story was inspiration for the Star Trek episode "Obsession", but maybe the "gaseous Di-Kironium creature" was actually some form of advanced nanotechnology, a kind of femtozoan.

Related Reading: Ooze & Liquid Life. Magic microbes at the end of the world.

Related Music: Weird Swamp Protist.

Next: plans for Chapter 11 of "The Hierozyme Intervention".

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Cell Souls

In my previous blog post I discussed some of the stories that were published in the first issue of Infinity Science Fiction magazine ( 1955 ). The most famous story in that issue was "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke. I first read "The Star" sometime in the 1970s, in an anthology of stories that had been written by Clarke. It is the kind of short story that you can quickly read while standing in the stacks of a book store. I then went on to buy some of Clarke's novels. However, it was not until this month that I learned there was a 1956 follow-on story called "Rebuttal" by Elizabeth M. Curtis.

One of my favorite lines from a science fiction story is: "People believe whatever they want to believe." That line is spoken by the Demon Prince Howard Alan Treesong in Jack Vance's novel The Book of Dreams. "Rebuttal" is all about belief. Clarke's "The Star" centers on a Jesuit astrophysicist whose religious faith is mocked by other members of the spaceship crew who go off across the galaxy to visit the charred remains of the star system where a supernova explosion created the "star of Bethlehem".

interior art by John Giunta

 The Future. The futuristic setting for "The Star" is a Hi Tek™ future where interstellar spaceships use "countless miles of magnetic tape" to record photographs of the places they have visited. Clarke hints that the story takes place in approximately the year 2572. In Clarke's imagination, the "star of Bethlehem" heralded a true miracle. An intelligent alien species lived on a planet near that exploded star. Those aliens had enough technology to reach a planet far from their star and leave behind a Vault with records of their civilization. However, none of those aliens could survive the supernova explosion.

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Set the world on fire. I'm skeptical about the core idea of Clarke's story: that an intelligent species with space travel technology could evolve on a planet that is then destroyed by a supernova. However, we readers are not supposed to ask probing questions about stellar physics. Clarke is trying to make a point: that the universe is large and impersonal and primitive peoples who don't understand the vastness of the universe can invent religions featuring anthropomorphic imaginary gods that seem quite silly in retrospect, especially to folks like Clarke who learned about astronomy in college.

image source

As an aside, Clarke mentions that the remnants of other obliterated alien cultures have previously been found by human space explorers prior to 2572. Sadly, Clarke tells us nothing of the faster-than-light space travel technology that is used by Earthlings in 2572. 

However, futuristic human technology is not the point of the story. Clarke proclaims that the "aliens of the star of Bethlehem" were a special case ("This tragedy was unique") and we should all feel particularly sad that this once glorious alien civilization was destroyed "in its prime". It is Clarke's story and he kept heaping implausibility upon implausibility... just to sharpen his point.

I like to say that there are no swords in science fiction, but Clarke even wrote the "rough punkish swordsman"  Íñigo López into his story "The Star".

editorial blurb for "Rebuttal" by Larry Shaw

 

interior art for "Rebuttal" by John Giunta

 Rebuttal. The follow-up story by Curtis features a research pathologist (Father Molina) who uses the advanced tools of 26th century medicine to diagnose what ails Father Phillips, the astrophysicist who in "The Star" discovered that the "star of Bethlehem" was a supernova that exterminated an alien civilization on a distant exoplanet. Upon returning to Earth, Father Phillips is hospitalized with a mysterious illness.

image source

In the Star Trek fictional universe, doctors of the 23rd century could use a medical tricorder to instantly probe a patient's body and find existing medical problems. In The Voyage Home, Dr. McCoy gave a pill to a sick woman and she almost instantly grew a new kidney. So, who knows what medical wonders might be possible for Dr. Molina in the 26th century? The sad news is, according to Curtis, leprosy is still a medical problem in 26th century and being a highly-trained scientist, Father Phillips refers to bacteria as "little beasties". The good news of the 26th century is: cancer is no longer deadly (although, strangely, the learned Father Phillips seems unaware of this).

kidney cells

 Kidney Cells. After Dr. Molina deploys his 26th century microscope and discovers that the kidney cells of Father Phillips are doing nothing, he rushes to speak with Father Phillips. Dr. Molina patiently explains to his patient that kidney cells are "busy little widgets doing a tremendous job night and day". How does Dr. Molina account for the fact that tireless kidney cells of Father Phillips are not functioning? According to the wise Dr. Molina, the problem is that space is simply too big for mere mortals to understand, so Father Phillips must forget about the distressing fact that the "star of Bethlehem" marked the extinction of a glorious alien species. Instead, Father Phillips must turn inward.

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Dr. Molina informs Father Phillips that he is the god of his body and that he must tell his cells that they are loved and needed and immortal. If not, the sad atoms inside his cells will soon "disperse" and the "electron shells fall away". These hard-hitting facts of 26th century medicine impress Father Phillips and soon he makes a miraculous recovery.

The outstanding science-fictional event. Yes, according to Curtis, 26th century science has shown that every cell in a human body has a soul and is destined for immortality. 

1951 cover art by Milton Luros

Using his SuperHiTek Infrascope™, the good Dr. Molina has "seen the souls of 'dead' cells in heaven". And Dr. Molina goes on to assure Father Phillips that the immortal souls of the exterminated aliens are safe in the hands of God, so the destruction of their civilization should be celebrated, not mourned. Hearing all this good news, Father Phillips miraculously recovers from near death and charges out into the world to spread the good news. ✞

I suppose when the little baby souls depart from dying cells and atoms, the cell membranes and electron shells "fall away" just like the shell of a bird egg when a chick hatches. I wonder in what sense Larry Shaw, the editor of Infinity magazine, thought that "Rebuttal" was outstanding? As far as I can tell, the story was never anthologized. 

Time and Time Again

 Poster Boy. In 1956, the poster boy for faith healing, Jack Coe, died of polio.

I went to the September 1951 issue of Future Combined with Science Fiction Stories to read Shaw's story "Stairway to the Stars" which features the aquatic humanoid alien shown on the cover of that issue. I'm a complete sucker for stories about mysterious aliens who are secretly watching Earth. Shaw imagined that there is a Galactic Federation of aliens who know all about Earth and humans but who avoid having contact with we primitives. Then a human 'inventor' makes the device shown on the September 1951 cover of Future and opens up a portal to other planets.

Until now, I think the only story by H. Beam Piper that I'd read was his Time and Time Again. I read his story "Genesis" in the September 1951 Future. Apparently there is some debate about the place of "Genesis" within Piper's Paratime Police fictional universe. 

my favorite Martians
interior art by Virgil Finlay

As a fan of time travel and alternate-timeline fiction, I've long been intrigued by the idea of Piper's "Paratime Police". However, last year I read Keith Laumer's Imperium stories and it may be too soon after that experience for me to be bounced between alternate timelines by Piper.

"Genesis" is built around the idea of a dying civilization on Mars. A dying human civilization. The Martian humans never do anything in a small way, so their first spaceship carries hundreds of settlers to Earth. But then disaster strikes (the Martian spaceship is destroyed by meteors) and only one lifeboat makes it to Earth. Sadly, the Martians did not read "The Jameson Satellite" and learn how to use a "radium ray" to efficiently repulse dangerous meteoroids. But, 50,000 years ago the small surviving group of Martians lands on Earth, fights off the "hairy ones" of Earth and that is the alien origins story for you and me. 

Martian head-gear

"Genesis" starts out like a wish-fulfillment fantasy for Piper. I'm skeptical that anything about the personal life of Piper is actually known and understood. However, according to this webpage, Piper had not yet been married when he was in his 40s and "Genesis" got published. The Martian settlers who reach Earth are two men (Dard and Glav; Martian soldiers) and a six women (Olva, Varnis, Kyna, Analea, Dorita and Elra) who must be dutifully impregnated in order to propagate the species. I'm not sure why Virgil Finlay depicted one of the Martian girls screaming when it was time to abandon ship and she was being taken into the lifeboat, but maybe it had something to do with the dorky hats worn by Martian men.

cover art by Gino D'Achille

Of course, Piper had to do a significant amount of furious hand waving to explain why after that first bungled trip to Earth from Mars there were no other such missions to Earth. As told in "Genesis", the Martian settlers on Earth were just barely able to survive and their descendants forgot about their Martian origins. Apparently some of Piper's alternative versions of Earth's history feature Earthly civilizations who did not forget their Martian origins, but I'm not rushing out to read them. I don't think I'll ever understand the popularity of stories about Mars the "dying planet" and Martians who visit Earth. 

For those who like the idea of alien involvement in our past, I recommend Jack Vance's story Star King which provides an account of alien-assisted human evolution without bring Mars into the story. Don't be deterred by the cover art shown to the right. Vance did not include any swords in his story.

Next: fictional biology from 1952.

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