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SPECIAL HOLIDAY ISSUE THE REAL BIONIC LOVER DID DIARRHEA KILLTHE DINOSAURS? EXCLUSIVE: WHY WE HAVE SEX MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS IN THE ANDES 30 BEST GAMES IN THE WORLD BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR PLUS: A COMPLETE SF NOVELETTE annruiVOL. 6 NO. 3 DECEMBER 1983

EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESDENT: KATHY KEETON EDITOR: DICK TERESl GRAPHICS DIRECTOR -RANK DEVINO

A^l DIRECTOR: A.iZASOH I WOODSON V EXECUTIVE ED TOR: GLR\£ W LLIAMS III lvl.ANA.GTJ3 [Till OR PAL A. -ILTS

CONTENTS PAGE

FIRST WORD Opinion Paul Zweig 6 EARTH Environment Douglas Starr 16

WHY WE HAVE SEX Lite Kathleen McAuliffe 18

SPACE Comment Nick Engler 20

GROUP DREAMING Mind Patrick Huyghe 24 T-A ^cALB'ONIC LOVER Body Ruth Winter 26 BREAKTHROUGHS Technology Phoebe Ho ban 28 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Compufers Phoebe Hoban 32 FILM. The Arls Jonathan Rosenbaum 36

ELK I ROCKS OF THE YEAR The Arts Charles Piatt 38 LX-LORATIONS Travel Phyllis Wollman 42 STARS Astronomy Terence Dickinson 44

CONTINUUM Data Bank 49 LIGHTS IN THE ANDES Article Patrick Tierney 58 THE CIRCUS ANIMALS' Fiction Scott Russell Sanders 66 DESERTION

DAWN OF A NEW RAY . Article T A. Heppenheimer 74 CITIES OF TOMORROW Pictorial Charles Piatt 78

GEORGE SCHALLER Interview John Stein 84 CYBERSHOCK Article Robert Malone 92 TRACK OF A LEGEND Fiction Cynthia Felice 98

VEGETOLOGY Pictorial Lee Boltin 107

MONOLYTH Fiction Jayge Carr 114 MOTHER SUN Article Edward Regis, Jr. 122

THE LURKING DUCK Novelette Scott Baker 130

SOCIAL DINOSAURS Article Kathleen Stein 138

ANTIMATTER UFOs, etc. 153 BE5"f 30 GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 190 BRIDGE OF SHADOWS Phenomena Barrie Rokeach 200 Clyde James Aragon

Ellen Schuster, owner and director of Ella Studio, in Dallas, is an advertising :e photographer- Oil is Found in the Minds of .Men was commissioned by : Forest Oil Corporation. The mind is cracked open, and the symbolic Slight oi imagination.

4 OMNI '

More than 30 years ago George Orwell years of aerial bombardment, and erected a signpost in our future wih remember the atom bombs dropped on his foreboding novel 19S< By that terrible Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the date, according to Orwell, mankind as. Second World War, ' we know it would' have ceased' to exist. So Orwell wrote his terrible fairy tale There Would 'have been no nuclear and changed the way we all think. Big-' holocaust, no war to. end all wars that Brother, newspeak, and thought-control— would' leave the earth to. be inherited by later we called it brainwashing—became insects. The disaster Orwell predicted part of our vocabulary. Orwell's desperate was subtler, almost unnoticed. You might v:eion was only a fantasy, a kind of call it a death by government. People negative utopia. but we saw. with a shiver, would goon living, working, singing. They that he had been right about many would simply have stopped thinking;, things. We didn't have "iiciion machines." individual consciousness would have been but we did have-floods of soporific TV abolished. In Orwell's imagined lutu;e entertainment, and we had the Cold' War the activities of-life would obey an and the paralyzing jargon of government unrelenting plan, devised by technocrats- bureaucracies. So 1984 continued to scientists of manipulation — as if men stand in our future, as something we had been reborn as* ants in a vast shabby laughed about nervously but secretly nest known as the world. feared. And now, next month, it . Orwell was will terribly ingenious in working be here, and we cannot ' help seeing that out how this silent holocaust was going for all Orwell's grimly prophetic fantasy, to be accomplished. In 1984 governments he was wrong. rewrite the.past in colossal word lacto- Oh, yes, governments—and potentially FIRST nes. Propaganda spills all day from science—have turned- out to be pretty television sets that also have (he chilling much as destructive as Orwell predicted. ability to spy on the viewer. Thorp are Yet, man, gritty and unpredictable, spies everywhere ("Big Brother is watch- buoyed by private WORD feelings, slightly ou; ::•; ing you!.") on the lookout not only tor control By Paul Zweig. af all times, has not succumbed. acts ot political resistance but for any kind: The individual has proved to be the of independent feeling. Novels-. and flaw in all plans'; he is the sauare pen in * Next month 1984 popular songs, a; all the -round holes of political power" wilt masses, are manufactured by devices be here, and we cannot He is the dissident who will -not yield, or called Sic-tiqn .-machines and are widely help seeing that at least not yield ail the way. And so 1984 dis*;ibi..re;-.l lo ihe people. Even language has become a date like other-dates, a for ail George Orwell's itself— that last gritty opponent of the year in which there will be the usual mix powers of government -has been recast grimly prophetic oi contradictions plenty of unemployment' as a farm of pseudosoenhlic noubte- and hunger but lower oil prices, more fantasy, he was wrong3 talk known as newspeak. .personal' computers Ae a soiling for all this, the world Is in of.education, Some of our rivers will a permanent state of war. .Nothing become polluted, but others will get catastrophic, simply a string of crises cleaner. Television will putthe .nation to announced on television and in- the . sleep, yet there will be plenty who will be newspapers to Justify economic shortages awake. The Cold War will rattle on inces- and longer work hours, and also to santly. But the end will not be in sight. provide public expression for the . 1984 will be swept into history as a curious abolished private pleasures. of sexuality .obsession with disaster, as mankind- and love. fumbles on unpredictably in a mixture of In one sense [1984 is the ultimate mad- tragedy and renewal. scientisf novel. Big Brother exists only Maybe in the 30 years since Orwell as an assemblage of machines that wrote his book, the world has become less fabricate information, distribute it and interested in total solutions: more spy on people; .machines rule. The Ministry pragmatic and open-ended, probably of Truth is a Rube Goldberg contraption more confused. We don't quite believe- in of speaking tubes, -chattering typewriters. "progress" anymore, but we don't believe Shredding devices. In its basement are in a. slide into the abyss either. Unless it laboratories that- dissect- men's minds, is- the abyss Jonathan- Schell meditates on making of use the sort of mad, methodical in his recent book The Fate of the Estrtri: science we. associate with' the sorcerer's a last, nuclear devastation. Until then, r l e The ^tate is virtually a however, mankind will get on with its twentieth-century Frankenstein; It is piecemeal, contradictory, and probably science' gone wild-. unsinkable existence, and there will be In away Orwell didn't have to invent all no "1984. "DO that muqh. He had only to- look at-Stalins political purges and- the. subsequent Paul Zweig is chairman of the comparative Soviet recasting of history, or at Hitler's literature di scientifically efficient death camps. He .V,?'.v York h'.-?, bioj'api;,' : o- ;V;;.'{ Wh:>:!hvi w,.i had only to look at Europe, ruined by fan a* published oy Basic Socks m -'934 DfUirUIBU!

hfP=£NHI:lf,T:f- mot far from San Francisco, behind began to flower this summer. This mother and father ree:s a psychopathic high fences and tight security, phenomenon occurs every 80 years and duck hater. Scoff Baker's chilling there is a dazzling white room precedes a years-long dormant period novelette begins on page 130. that's almost large enough to hold a during which the plants don't regenerate. In "Track of a Legend" (page 98) football field. It is filled with a massive Unless alternate food sources are found, science-fiction writer Cynthia Felice tells steel lattice that supports long chains of many pandas will die of starvation. a gentle, warm story about a Christmas blue cylindrical pipe. The sophisticated But pandas are not Schaller's only on the ragged edge of tomorrow. A space equipment is just part of the world's passion. The subject of this month's colonist is exiled to Earth and faces most powerful laser, now under Interview (page 84) is the world's leading enormous problems of readjustment. construction, which will be used for expert on the ecostructures of many Pocket Books has just published Felice's research on controlled fusion. rare animals, including African lions and novel Eclipses. Much of the work on large lasers is top gorillas, Indian tigers, and Tibetan snow In "Monolyth" (page 114), a modernized secret because it is conducted at the leopards. As readers will quickly space opera, a mad scientist wants to laboratories where the nation's hydrogen discover, he's also a purveyor of modern rule the universe. He recruits a hard- bombs are being developed. In "Dawn jungle tales, His life is dedicated to bitten, cynical old space pilot, the only of a New Ray" (page 74), science writer saving near-extinct species and to one capable of implementing the

T. A. Heppenheimer penetrates the inner educating us about the tragic implications megalomaniac's plans. Author Jayge sanctum, revealing the intricacies of of habital destruction. "The world is Can says she grew up on stories with the devices themselves and explaining being totaled," Schaller warns, "and, God such classic plots. Carr's second novel, the reasons for the secrecy, knows, this [Reagan] administration Navigator's Sindrome, was published this

Heppenheimer has written two needs all the pressure it can get, because spring by Doubleday and is scheduled widely acclaimed books, The Real it has the worst attitude toward the to go into a second printing. Her third Future and Colonies in Space, which environment of any in this century." novel, The Treasure in the Heart of the became a national best seller. His latest Writer John Stein, of Nashville, talked Maze, will be published next year. effort is The Man-Made Sun, an Omni to Schaller in the rustic environs of the Scoff Russell Sanders says: "l have Press book, which will be published next zoologist's converted tobacco farm always been fascinated with the interface month by Little, Brown. in Connecticut. "Schaller has an amazing between nature and machine. Most of According to renowned field zoologist array of field notes that he refers to when my novels and short stories center on this

George Schaller, most Americans are . he speaks. He is very careful, really theme," In "The Circus Animals' Deser- ecological illiterates. Species die out meticulous, about the information he tion," which begins on page 66, constantly, and we do nothing. More to dispenses. He doesn't want to be a mechanical beasts begin to abandon the point, we don't care. Schaller is doomsayer. but he knows we are their maker. When the master goes in involved in a race against extinction. His destroying our future. Behind his low-key search of his wayward animals, he finds goal is to save the world's wild pandas, . manner is a tidal wave of intensity." more than he lost. Sanders teaches which now number about 1,000 and Our lead science-fiction offering this literature at Indiana University. His live in preserves in China. The pandas' month is "The Lurking. Duck," in which a historical novel, Wilderness Plots, has just main food source, the arrow bamboo, strange little girl, unhappy with her been published by William Morrow.DO 8 OMNI Ifllllij

KATHYKEETON LETTER! carmanuRJiCMTiDais

Let Me Say This About Thai anything. Furthermore, the war he so In response to Nigel Ifooks's Last Word shamelessly speaks of amounts to global [August 1983], I'd like to say this about incineration. Zumwalt could easily that: Mr. ffooks, your column and your become a political liability for President Densa organization bespeak your ignorant Reagan in the 1984 elections, where British arrogance. Tongue-in-cheek nuclear arms and atomic waste are sure though Last Word may be, the (act to be very sensitive issues. that you're soliciting U.S. dollars looks to Michael Bly me likea pathetic attempt to line your Chicago pockets. Who am I? Merely a twenty- four-year-old Mensan halfway through Birth Control Vanderbilt University's MBA program. As the sponsor and manufacturer of the "Does Mensa have a purpose?" ffooks device that was discussed by Rick Boling asks. Does a dog have Buddha nature? in the article "Birth-Control Plugs"

I'jl grant you lhat some of your points [Continuum, May 1983], we must notify approximate validity, bu! why isn't the firsl you thai some of the information contained letter of your last name capitalized? in the article was incorrect and mislead- "Surely you're not posturing! ing. We wish to advise Omni readers ADMINISTRATION Richard Davies of the following:

Nashville 1) The device is not 100 percent effec- tive, as was stated in your article. To

I certainly appreciated the Last Word on dafe there have been seven pregnancies the new organization called Densa. in women who followed the protocol of For those of us in between Mensa the study and who were told during their {genius I.Q.) and Densa (several people three-month checkup that they were whose total I.Q. equals genius), however, successfully sterilized.

I recommend starting a new society, 2) Our clinical investigation is designed called Sensa. This is for people with to provide a safe and efficient method abundant common sense, who refuse to of permanent 'sterilization and not a pay $15 for a pin and a piece of paper. temporary form of birth control. Linda Long 3) The exact method by which the

Union Gap, WA device prevents pregnancy is no! known. ADVERTISING 4) Food and Drug Administration

I wish to take exception to Nigel Ifooks's approval is not expected before mid-1984.

article concerning the Mensa Society. 5) The term birth-control plugs is He implied that Mensans do nolhing and misleading when applied to our device, serve no purpose. Not true. Mensans since such a term could refer only to regularly hold large gatherings where they a device that has proven reversibility. drink immense quanlities of wine, and Frank Bonadio eat a lot of cheese. Mensans also tell dirty RSP Laboratories jokes and have hugging contests. Stamford, CT Mr. ffooks should do more research

on a subject before he maligns it. Cheers for Chaos Mary Hollifield Judith Hooper is to be congratulated for Rossville, GA her excellent article "Connoisseurs of Chaos" [June 1983]. The theoretical Warriors aspects of physics are usually quite dull The First Word- by Admiral E. R. Zumwalt. to read about. Ms. Hooper did a superb FOREIGN EDITIONS Jr. [July 1983] was both enlightening job of enlivening this essentially boring and disturbing. The man is a warrior subject, prompting me to read the article looking for a war. As we approach the no less than three times! twenty-first century, we must acknowledge Paul Bothwell that war has never been a solution for El Sobrante, CADQ .

DIALOGUE FDRUfUl

In which the readers, editors, and They believed that in order to better the terhouse. And I should have to go with correspondents discuss theories and race, human procreation should be them, for in such a world I too would speculation arising out of Omni. Readers restricted to those bearing the "best" be hopelessly impaired —by moral are encouraged to debate views and genetic material. This position was compassion and an irremediable beliet pose questions to scientific Omni, the enthusiastically adopted by the Nazis in the essential dignity and value of community, and the science-fiction during the Thirties because it fit in well all human life. establishment. The opinions published with their notions of racial superiority W. Luther Jetl are not necessarily those of the editors. and inferiority. Point of Rocks, MD Blake states that "in this age" child- Nobel Sperm Bank bearing "is no longer a right but a privi- A friend showed me Afton Blake's First Alton Blake's First Word lege." [August 1983] But who will decide who should be Word, which described Blake's use of the made me chuckle. I am also the producl granted this "privilege"? What criteria Repository for Germinal Choice (RGC), o! a "Nobel sperm bank," only in my case will they use? Intelligence, creativity, in Escondido, California, to have her the donation came directly !rom my father health, psychological well-being? What child. Since I am also an unmarried woman [Edwin McMillan, winner of the 1951 prize measurement of these traits (proposed and in the process of having a child by for chemistry] to mother. my Genetically implicitly by Blake in her own choice of a an artificial-insemination donor (AID),

I am one-half Nobel. I The more chuckled sperm donor) will determine the potential I'd like to offer some of my impressions the I more thought about the implications -parent's "privileged" status? on Blake's story. of Nobel a sperm If I bank. people are am especially sensitive to this issue The article illustrates the primary failure going there to get Nobel genes, then what because I teach in a school for emotionally of RGC: They do not screen their appli-

I have must be what they I want. am and mentally disabled children. If taken cants. Nowhere in her piece does Blake reasonably smart and reasonably happy, to the extreme. Blake's proposition that express any real interest in a child as but I am not smarter, richer, or happier only the fittest should be allowed to a child. Instead she seems to see the child than anyone else. Do people think Nobel procreate becomes the proposition that as a vindication of her apparent percep- genes automatically bring brilliance, only the fittest should be allowed to tion of her own lack of worth and failure as

fame, glory? I and can say from experi- live. In the latter case, every one of my a woman because she has remained ence that they do not. Nor do they bring students would be slated for the slaugh- unmarried through no wish of her own. I stupidity or obscurity. They are just Blake obviously does not want a child; genes from someone who was rewarded she wants a symbol. She doesn't want a for his or her efforts. What bothers me normal, fussy, curious, loving little the about sperm-bank idea is that I fear person to share her lite, but a perfect women will believe that obtaining Nobel and superior being who will validate her genes for their is children more important existence. Her attitude should have than having father a present when their disqualified her from consideration by offspring are growing up. In my case, any AID clinic. it was not my father's Nobel prize that Pamela Geiger brought joy to childhood my but his Decatur. GA presence. He was always there, sharing his wit and humor, giving things me to Afton Blake's endorsement of the "Nobel think about, and listening when I had sperm bank" was very informative. I'd something to say. It was my father, not like to jump on that wagon, too. I hesitate his genes, that made my childhood only because I've heard some pretty special. I'd gladly give up the genes and nasty stories about a few of our most keep the if I had man to make a choice. distinguished geniuses and Nobel laure- Ann McMillan Nunes ates. I've heard that Einstein actually Santa Clara,' CA chewed his pipe stems ferociously when told he should cross his fs. And didn't

I found Afton Blake's First Word deeply Freud have some fixation about his beard? disturbing. What Ms. Blake has to say I'd rather not mention some of the rumors regarding selective procroaiion is not new. I've heard about the living, since it'd She is simply restating the position held probably be in bad taste. by proponents of the eugenics movement Martinique Winslow during the early years of this century. Ars genius gene* ail a kia needs San DiegoDO 12 OMNI EARTH By Douglas Starr

was in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo that conditions in their homelands, hundreds Altracted by the odor, the bears would ItWarden Michael McBride first encoun- of thousands of Koreans, Chinese, converge to forage the carcass, making tered the trade. inspector As an for the Cambodians, and Vietnamese poured easy prey tor the poachers. After killing state's marine-resources department, it into the United States, settling in San the bears the poachers would freeze the was his to check job restaurant freezers for Francisco, Los Angeles, and other West calrjladdors and paws until their illegal fish. Bui this time he found nine Coast cities. Soon window-shoppers contacts in Southern California were pink, freshly frozen animal feet daintily laid in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles ready to buy, Klein also sent another out on an tray. aluminum began seeing strange new powders in warden, John Dawson, south to make "I suspected something was amiss," stores. Then rangers began finding bizarre contact with one of the major Iraders. recalls McBride, who then went out to his evidence in the woods—dead elk, deer, Posing as a hunter, Dawson called trader car radio to report what he'd found. and bear, with nothing removed but Robert Soon Park and told him that he Thai's when an officer back at headquar- their antlers or inner organs. would sell him bear gallbladders. ters identified the feet as bear Those leads paws- prompted Captain Wayne For months it continued, with Wheeler illegal to own under California law. McBride Klein, of the California Department ot tracking the hunters and Dawson tricking returned to the restaurant, where Michael Fish and Game, to launch an undercover Park. Finally Klein, who was coordinating K. K. Wong, the owner, told all. Many operation in April 1981. To the north he the investigation, decided it was time Orientals, he explained, eat bear paws sent Warden V. Richard Wheeler, who to close the net. On the evening of as a health food. He had bought them posed as a new hunter eager to join in November 9, 1981, at nearly the same from a dealer named Duk Bo Kim. the illicit trade. Local hunters were suspi- moment but hundreds of miles apart, Months later filed wardens charges cious at first but eventually accepted agents Dawson and Wheeler made their against Kim. He did business in at least him, taking him on dozens of bear hunts. moves. In the outskirts of Los Angeles, five states, they found; in one four-day Wheeler learned that scores of hunters Dawson pulled his truck into Park's drive- period alone he had bought 300 bear were poaching for the Oriental market. way, having arranged to sell the dealer paws. Kim's records also led to Jesse hunting bear out of season or illegally an entire bear. When Park walked out to Caswell, a bear hunter in Washington attracting them with bait. Their methods meet him. Dawson Hashed a search State. In a state 1 where bear per were simple: They'd get a dead cow and warrant, In the house, he found 17 frozen person per year is the legal limit, Cas- let it rot in the woods for a few days. bear gallbladders and records that well had sent parts of 40 bears to Kim. implicated hunters in eight states. In The activities of Wong, Kim, and Caswell Northern California, meanwhile, Wheeler provide an insight into one of the newest visited a trafficker named Michael forms of wildlife poaching and smuggling Shanahan. Finally Wheeler and Shanahan in America today. For the past decade settled on a price. Then Wheeler said, an underground market has grown to "I have a headache. Do you have an provide bear, elk, and deer parts for aspirin.?" medical potions hailing from the Orient. Thai was the signal. "Move in!" Today, authorities say, poaching animals commanded Klein, who was picking up for Eastern medicine may occur in the conversation through a hidden mike. practically every state. Several ofticers ran to the door. On a In a sense the problem began 1,000 table were 187 bear claws. years ago and halt a world away. For Based on the evidence. Klein signed centuries Oriental doctors injuries treated warrants for eight hunters in the north and disease with potions made of such and two more dealers in the south. Within things as bear gallbladders, considered a one year the courts had fined six of the blood purifier, and powdered antlers of hunters and sentenced two to prison. deer or elk, thought to be general Shanahan was sentenced to pay a $1,000 energizers. So potent were fresh antlers fine and spend one month in jail. Park still covered in velvet, rumor had it, that paid $8,400; two other dealers in Southern mandarins used them as aphrodisiacs. California received stiff fines as well. "It Westerners don't know how or whether went like clockwork," Klein recalls. these potions work, and they may never Klein was troubled, however, by the ' have cared if it weren't for the influx of sheer volume of the poaching. Far from Asians in the early Seventies. Spurred' by being a local operation, this was a loosened immigration laws and poor The bear: slaughtered for Oriental potions. multimillion-dollar business involving 16 OMNI CON7INULDONPAGE 163 —

WHY WE HAVE SEX

By Kathleen McAuliffe

is something of an embar- with the overwhelming Sex numerical advan- starting to look ,ke an al:,-aciive alterna- rassmenl !o evolutionary biolo- tage of asexual proliferation. Indeed, tive to evolutionary theory. Surely there gists. Textbooks understandably disenchantment with the variability must be a more plausible—not to mention skirt the issue, keeping it a closely hypothesis led George Williams to aesthetic — explanation for why sex guarded secret. But honest scholars will concede in Ihe last paragraph of his evolved than the parasitic-DNA theory admit openly— at least when cornered classic book Sex and Evolution: "I am sure can provide. Has some crucial function of that Ihey are genuinely baffled by the that many readers have already sex been overlooked? widespread popularity of this activity in concluded that I really do not understand Microbiologists Harris and Carol nature. Their confusion comes down the . role of sex in . . evolution," Bernstein think so—and a sizable body to this: Whereas every asexual reproducer The problem is so perplexing (hat two of evidence backs them up. A husband- can generate offspring, only half the respected b>o;ogis!s recertly proposed wife research team at the University of population of sexual reproducers the viewing — sex not as an adaptation bul "as Arizona, in Tucson, they did not sel out lo females— are of bearing capable young. a form of disease that animals and solve this evolutionary conundrum. By all rights simple cloning should be plants live learn lo with," Michael Rose Rather they were interested in studying a much more efficient method of dissem- and W. Ford Dooliltle, of Dalhousie the causes of aging. But in their quest to inating one's (though if genes it's any University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, noie understand what triggers our decline, consolation, it would not appear to be thai certain genes found inside bacteria they also may have uncovered the nearly as much fun). cause them to sprout phallic projections, secret to rejuvenation. Traditionally biologists have insisted which they thrust into neighboring cells. In the mid-Seventies, the biologists that sex is beneficial to survival because The genes then escape through these noliced a number of research reports that it generates diversity. It is a simple protrusions lo infect new bacterial targets. showed how damage accumulates in matter of common sense that a species Such "parasitic DNA sequences." the the DNA of cells as they grow older. whose members are varied should be scientists theorize, may have brought Fortunately, minor deterioration gets better equipped to meel the catas- next about the first primitive form of copulation repaired over the course of normal cellular trophe. But as lalter-day evolutionary early in the' evolution of life, starting an growth by special enzymes, or chemical theorists have demonstrated mathemati- epidemic that spread throughout nature. tools, that "snip" out the damage and cally, this bonus is negligible compared By this stage creationism may be then "glue" the molecule back together again. This is possible because two complementary strands of genes make up DMAs double-helical structure; Enzymes repair a nick on one chain, for

example, by modeling it after the pattern on the duplicate chain. But heavy-duly damage, such as a breakage at the exact same location on both strands of

the double helix, cannot be fixed; it builds up over a lifetime. Could such genetic erosion, the Bernsteins wondered, be the hidden cause of senescence and. ultimately, death? A review of the literature strengthened their conviction. In several. studies animals subjected to agents known to harm DNA were found to suffer from such signs of accelerated aging as

premature graying and menopause. Still olher researchers have uncovered evidence suggesting that the efficiency of a species' DNA-repair system determines the upper limits of life span. Summing up these findings, Carol reports that "the level of DNA-repair capacity spnir damaged DNA ar.ci keep babies young. correlates with life span in twenty-one

CON"INIIFD0N PAGE 165 By Nick Engler

Less than a year after Valery the uncommon stress of spaceflight The group also puts cosmonauts through Ryumin returned from a six-month interferes with crew performance. And' survival missions, isolation tests, and stay aboard Salyut 6, he was poor performance may cause a mission courses in "self-programming" (autohyp- asked to accompany the inexperienced to end in failure — or disaster. During nosis). So extensive is this psychological cosmonaut Leonid Popov on another the Tektile marine experiments, a joint training thai cosmonaut Vladimir Kovale- marathon space mission. Significantly, NASA and US. Navy study of human nok once joked, "You might say we're Ryumin did not give much thought to his behavior in isolation, a man was lost when trained as psychonauts." crew mate's competence as a pilot or the crew inexplicably abandoned estab- During a mission, the group monitors scientist. Rather, his most immediate lished safety procedures while carrying the crew for signs of tension or mental concern was Popov's personality. out work underwater. distress, analyzing voice harmonics, facial The senior cosmonaut knew from To avoid a similar disaster in space, gestures, eye contact, and other body experience that a long stay in space with the Soviet Union has implemented the language. When a problem is found, the even the most pleasant-tempered person Group for Psychological Support, which group tries to counteract it through "would create tremendous psychological assists in spaceflight training, planning, surprises, activities, gifts, or conversations pressures." Among the training corps, and management. Before each mission, over two-way television. During Ryumin's Popov had a reputation for being calm, the group teaches the space crew to first six-month Salyut mission in 1979, judicious, and warm. Yet, even though cope with both psychological and he and his crew mate Volodya Lyakhov the two-man team went on to become an physiological stress. For instance, tried to grow a small vegetable garden "to "amicable crew," there were bursts of cosmonauts are drilled in "autogenic give us some relief in our small world of hostile behavior, not only between techniques" (biofeedback) to relieve the assemblies and machines." Unfortu- themselves but between the crew and nausea and discomfort they may feel nately, the plants died soon after they the Russians' mission control. Once as their bodies adapt to microgravity. To sprouted, g^eaily o sap pointing the during their 185-day flight, the cosmonauts learn to concentrate in times of danger, cosmonauts. On the next Progress supply apparently turned off all spacecraft- each cosmonaut makes at least 100 ship, there was a nature book full of ground communications for two days. parachute jumps, performing progres- photos. "We shall always be grateful," The Soviet Salyut experience shows that sively more difficult tasks during each wrote Ryumin in his diary, "to the person as missions become longer and more jump— before he or she opens the chute. who sent the book ... to lighten our complex, the psychological aspects space watch." of spaceflight become increasingly The United States has no program important. Aboard a spacecraft, cosmo- comparable to the Russians' psychologi- nauts are confined to an artificial cal-support system, for the simple reason environment, isolated from accustomed that there has been no need for it—at social relationships, and surrounded least not yet. The shuttle missions that by potential danger. Microgravity causes NASA- has planned for the remainder of subtle shifts in their metabolisms, the decade will last an average of seven biorhythms, and endocrine and nervous days, hardly long enough to strain the systems. As the spaceflight progresses, mental resources of an adequately trained, crew members can become depressed, professional crew. As the United Stales anxious, defensive, or belligerent. They begins to think seriously about building its may withdraw from one another, show an own space station, however, NASA is unusual need for oral satisfaction, or exper encing a renewed interest in display regressive, immature behavior behavioral science—particularly as it and attitudes. According to one NASA pertains to small groups of people in report, life on an orbiting space station confined, isolated, risky environments. may be "conducive to an eruption of At NASAs Ames Research Center, the unconscious." in Mountain View, California, a small team None of these observations support of behavioral scientists —Mary Connors. the notion that space travel may cause an analyst at Ames; Albert Harrison, severe mental disturbances (though of Ihe University of California at Davis; some behavioral scientists warn that the

20 OMNI CONTIN'jLD on PAGE 105 '

h RTIirUD

By Patrick Huyghe

like trying to gel a bunch of chickens establishing such communities of in the dark, but when they started dancing It's to walk in the same direction," is how dreamers began in the early Seventies. in a strange, ceremonial way, the dark Bill Stimson, a former biologist and now "Henry Reed is the pioneer; he started dreamscape exploded into light. Later on,

a struggling science-fiction writer, it all," says Stimson. after speaking of this dream in a talk,

describes his frustrations in trying to "It's true," says Reed, a frizzy-haired, Reed was told it closely resembled the organize an inlernational network of dream blue-eyed dream scientist who lives sun dance, a religious ceremony ot

communities across the country. So far in a modest lakefront home in Virginia the Plains Indians. Reed liked the title, his newsletter, the Dream Network Bulle- Beach, Virginia. "I was probably the and in the mid-Seventies he began putting tin, has linked up about 2.000 individu- originator of the group-dreaming experi- out a publication, the Sundance

als, some from as far away as Yugoslavia ment in modern culture. But all 1 did Community Dream Journal, to encourage and Australia. What they all have in really was bring up-to-date a tradition those interested in the phenomenon of common is an interest in sharing their that is long-standing, especially among dreaming to come together and share dreams and using them, when possible, American Indians." their experiences and visions.

to help one another. Reed's story is that of a modern-day "I was trying to create an alternative Today there are dream communities all shaman. He was afflicted. He was cured. scientific community that anyone could across the country. New Jersey has a He- made his cure available to others. participate in by virtue of his being a dream community, as does California, His affliction, Reed admits openly, was dreamer," he explains, "because in effect Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Massachu- alcoholism. The cure came as the result of every dreamer is a researcher, and every setts. Maine, Florida, and Puerto Rico. a graphic dream in which he saw the dream is an experiment in consciousness." Their size and popularity vary. Those in image of a wine bottle coupled with a His role as a shaman came into being the New York City area who are involved in repulsive image of oozing, suppurating when he thought there might be some the dream-community concept, for sores. The imagery of the dream was therapeutic potential in dreams. Reed, who

example, number about 300 strong, so potent, it became the catalyst that set is a licensed professional counselor, Stimson said over breakfast one morning him on the road to recovery. was experimenting with aprocess in a noisy Manhattan coffee shop. That His idea for a dream community also whereby certain individuals would spend is roughly equivalent to the membership came, appropriately, from a dream. He three days meditating on a pro.blem, of the entire Midwest. The idea of and a group of associates were wandering making a conscious effort to dream about

it. in order to arrive at some new insights. "Part of the philosophy of the dream- incubation procedure," explains Reed, "is io encourage the dreamer to share the benefits of the dream quest with the rest ot the community." When Reed conducted his dream-incubation proce- dures "with a member of the dream cdmmunity, some of the other members found themselves inadvertently dreaming about that person's problem even without

having been told what it was. This was a specialized form of group dreaming. Reed talked about this phenomenon with clinical psychologist Robert Van de Castle, a professor in the department of behavioral medicine at the University of Virginia Medical School and director of the Nocturnal Cognition Laboratory, the university's dream laboratory. Van de Castle himself had been a subject in dream-telepathy experiments back in the Sixties and had a long-standing interest in the subject. Together, Van de Castle and Reed decided to try to tap into this The problems ot waking tile will sometimes iind their solutions in the world of the dreamer. dream resource. Out of their efforts came 2d OMNI CON'INL,EDGNPAGE12a ~HE BIONIC LOVER THE BODY By Ruth Winter

Priapus, the Greek god of fertility, erection is known to occur in response of all men with organic-related impo- held sway over women wilh to psychological, neurological, and tence can be helped. his penis— always erect and sensory stimuli. When the physiological A variety of physical problems can spectacular in size — the envy of every and emotional components are in sync, bring about impotence. These include red-blooded male. While most men can blood engorges the corpora cavernosa, vascular problems, hormonal imbalance, emulate Priapus when the need arises. two spongy, tissue-filled cylinders lying nervous-system disorders (like Parkin- for an estimated 10 million sufferers on either side of the urethra, and the son's disease), diabetes, drug and alcohol of impotence in the United States, an penis becomes stiff. side effects, and the aftereffects of erection is the stuft only of myth. Until now. As recently as three years ago, health surgery on, or injury to, the penis. Researchers have recently uncovered professionals believed that al least 90 One of the catalysts for the current information on why impotence happens percent of all impotence resulted from scientific interest in organic-related and have developed techniques that offer such psychological problems as depres- impotence occurred in 1979, when Dr. these men an erection that might give sion, anxiety, and fear of hurting the Richard Spark and his colleagues at Priapus pause. sexual partner. Now doctors have Harvard Medical School reported on a New drugs, hormone additives, silver- discovered fhat a large percentage of study of 105 impotent men. Of these, wire implants, and anal electronic stimu- impotent males have an underlying researchers found that 37 had endocrine- lators are among the treatments designed physiological condition. gland disorders. Once the appropriate lo restore normal sex lives to the "Because of better diagnosis today, it therapy was started, potency returned in impotent. There's even an apparatus that has been found that at least fifty-five 33 of the 37 turns the scrotum into a little pump room percent of all cases of impotence have As a result of these and other findings, for inflating flaccid cylinders implanted in organic causes, most of which are doctors now consider several factors the penis. We'll discuss these later. First, medically or surgically correctable," when seeking a cause of impotence. A let's take a look at the recent strides says Dr. E. Douglas Whitehead, founding diagnosis starts with the physician's researchers have made toward finding member of the Association for Male taking a complete medical history and a the real—and often misunderstood- Sexual Dysfunction, a New York-based detailed psychosexual history, which causes ot impotence. group that diagnoses and treats includes some psychological testing. He Although not fully understood, an impotence. He estimates that 75 percent then does a physical exam—concentrat- ing on the genitals and on the vascular and neurological factors contributing to erection —and evaluates the blood's hormone and sugar levels. Another variaole weighed is the man's ability to have erections during sleep. (Normally, a man has four to seven

erections while sleeping.) If erections occur and are firm enough to achieve penetration, then the problem is usually emotional, because the erectile mecha- nism obviously works. To assess these erections accurately, a doctor may recommend nocturnal testing in a special sleep lab. There are also two new tests that can hefp speed the diagnosis.

The first, a cuff that is positioned on the penis with Velcro fasteners, contains three snaps that break at varying degrees of pressure, providing an accurate reading of penile rigidity during sleep. Called the Dacomed Snap Guide,

it can be used at home. It doesn't, however, give information about the

Some mates have had tht number of nocturnal erections or their 26 OMNI ROBOT NURSES BREAKTHRDUEH5 By Phoebe Hoban

is a candlelight dinner for two. but cated — a radical depa'ijro irom the its molion and position. The robotic aid is Itonly one person is eating. He is sitting robotic state of the art. The key to their equipped with a voice-recognition unit in a wheelchair. Across Irom him sits 'effectiveness is a unique partnership that understands about 70 vocal his dinner companion: a robolic arm that between man and machine; rather than commands, and a speech-synthesis responds to verbal commands. Its being designed to work independently, system that enables it to repeat the electronic voice echoes each order as they are geared to work with people. commands for verification. the man directs it through the motions to 'The man-machine interface is the wave But instead ol the usual robot claw, the serve him his meal: "Up, right, lelt. ol the future," says Stanford University's robotic aid has a "sensate gripper," a open, close." First it takes a prepared Stefan Michalowski. "The idea of the two-fingered hand equipped with optical plate of food from the refrigerator and robot's replacing a human being has sensors that tell the robot how lar its loads it into the microwave oven. When cultural and literary connotations. But hand is from an object. The sensors' the oven beeper sounds, the arm removes complete machine autonomy is no! our signals are constantly monitored and the plate and sets it on the table. As a goal. For actual applications, the important analyzed by the microcomputer to control final touch, it lights the candle. thing is how the human works with the the arm's motion. Thus the robot arm This futuristic scenario was recently machine, and this relationship has infinite can hover close to an object without enacted at the Veterans Administration potential to extend man's own abilities." knocking it over, until it is given specific Medical Center in Palo Alto, California, The V.A.-founded Robotic Aid Project grasping directions. where a team of researchers is developing (RAP), at the Rehabilitation Research Say, for instance, the user wants a a new generation of robots. Adapted and Development Center, in Palo Alto, was glass ol juice. He gives the arm step-by- from industrial assembly units, these designed by a group from Stanford step directions lor locating the bottle, robotic aids are no-nonsense systems University using otf-the-shelf components. picking it up, pouring the juice, and designed to assist an estimated 7 million The heart of the system is a Unimation moving the cup toward his mouth. Similarly severely handicapped people in the Puma 250 arm typically used on automo- the robot can be navigated through the

United States alone. tive assembly lines. It has six joints and appropriate moves to play board games,

Although the basic technology used to can extend to about 18 inches. The arm is turn the pages of a book, pick up a build the robot nurses is relatively simple, coupled to an eight-bit microcomputer telephone receiver, punch the keys on a their design principle is quite sophisti- that continuously processes data on pocket calculator, give someone a shave, or even serve an entire meal. So far 90 patients at the V.A. Medical Center have been trained to use the robotic aid; this tall the robot will go home with one of the patients as the next step in its clinical evaluation. But according to its designers, the current model is just the-beginning — the robot's evolution is already under way back in the laboratory

at Stanford. Here is what's coming up:

To give it some, much-needed mobility, the Puma arm has been mounted on a

three-wheeled, cylindrical platform so it looks something like R2-D2 with an antler sprouting from its head. The omnidirectional vehicle has special wheels with circumferences made up of a series

of rollers so that it can scoot sideways and rotate freely. The responsive machine also has a vertical track so that the arm can be moved from ground level up to a 30-inch working height. The robot's hand is being redesigned. In addition to carrying optical sensors,

it will be covered with delicate whiskers, electrical sensing coils thai will scan

CONTINUED ON PAGE IflS —

LASER CARDS MRTIFOML IfUTELLIGErUCE By Phoebe Hoban

floppy disk of the future may / really hale So throw away that frame," Drexler claims, the memory cards will be

Thenot all I be a disk at but a snippet Drexler says. "What can do with the packing 7 megabytes. And ten years of plastic resembling a credit material? And that triggered the idea, not from now these remarkable archival card. And this inconspicuous memory some big marketing study." products will be able to hold about 25 device, small enough to lit into your Floppy disks and laser discs are both megabytes per side. wallet, will be able to store an entire capable ot storing computer programs The Drexon card is an optical sandwich book of data about you. instructions to the machine for carrying made by bonding Drexon, a proprietary According to its maker, Drexler out tasks, from word processing to playing mix of silver and gelatin, between two Technology Corporation, in Mountain games. And both storage media can sheets of impact- and scratch-resistant View, California, the Drexon Laser Card hold words or numbers, like file folders. plastic. First, the Drexon material is made will be widely used as portable software But floppies, ihin-coated Mylar circles by treating silver halide photographic for personal computers and video the size of a small record, store bits film in a patented chemical process that games. It will make possible a new kind of data magnetically. Laser discs hold purifies the silver. This optical material of personal identification— from electronic data in the form of microscopic pits— or is rolled out in 1 ,000-foot-long sheets, passports to miniature medical files that the absence of pits —on an underlayer laminated with plastic, and cut into could hold hospital records and even of the disc. Laser discs are "read" by a rectangles the size of credit cards. A tiny, X-ray images. Your driver's license, regis- thin laser beam glancing off the underlayer five-milliwatt laser about the size of a tration, insurance, and entire automobile- into a photodetector. thumbtack records data onto the card by maintenance history could be carried The small cards are likely to offer burning a series of microscopic pits in your pocket. So could a James tvliche- extraordinary storage space. Right now into the reflective optical material. Each ner novel —recorded on a single card. the cards, which will sell in quantity for pit represents a single bit of digital data. The Drexon card is a spinoff of optical- about $1.50 each, can store two The Drexon card will be available in laser-disc technology. Its developer, megabytes of information— as much as two versions, as a read-only memory Jerry Drexler, was stamping out circular ten times the capacity of today's floppy (ROM), for permanent storage of computer optical discs when fie looked at the disks and the equivalent of aboul 800 programs, and as a blank card for leftover square frame. "I thought to myself. pages of text. Within two to three years, recording data.

In either version, the card will hold its

data permanently. It cannot be erased,

and it cannot be rerecorded: so it's secure for storing records of financial transac- tions or medical treatments. But users can update the card by adding data. For many applications, the huge memory will provide enough space to accommodate new entries tor years. Industry experts agree that the laser card could be the ticket to the next computer revolution. Drexler has already signed up as licensees some of the most famous names in the computer industry, including Fujitsu, Toshiba, NCR. Wang, Canon, Ericsson, Omron, Sharp, and Honeywell.

"I think there is definitely a laser card

in our future, and that is simply because I

think it fills the need for a cheap, rugged, high-density medium for delivering digital information," says Michael Tyler, presi- dent of CSP International, a market-

research firm. "I wouldn't be surprised if the laser card caused another change

Future storage Fin-s, ,'' Lir.oe.-iiyei of a piis'ic. xrep/jHf. in the way we design personal computers.

32 OMNI CONTiNUFO ON PAGE SB5 THE ART5 By Jonathan Rosenbaum

his more if were Landa continues, describing makes perfect sense that Manuel De at each other— as he a mad bohemian digs before he moved uptown, ItLanda, a thirty-year-old Mexican scientist, controlling their shrieks "they have also taken over some areas anarchist filmmaker who specializes in with the twist of a knob. Annihilation of of my unconscious. Whenever the flip side the aesthetics of oulrage, inhabits a In his Massive Fetuses of things appears in my dreams, it is midtown Manhattan apartment so tidy (1982), shot in super-8 and announced as part one of his projected Jerry Falwell always intensively populated by hundreds and upstanding that it could almost films cockroaches and of these perfectly designed creatures. belong to a divinity student. The point series, De Landa

then plays God by delivering afflictions Ever since I started the film, seems to be that if you want to shake the biblical nature on them. the structure of my nightmares has civilized world at its foundations, it helps of an almost slab of striped toothpaste, a screw, and changed, almost as if I had violated the your credibility if you wear a jacket A the prong of a fork successively drop cockroaches' laws, and they were getting and tie— especially if you speak with Others ready for their own revenge." an accent that makes you sound like from the sky to crush three bugs. He brings a touch of the happy charla- Father Guido Sardueci. are sliced by a razor, drowned in honey, all carnage tan to his glitter-punk credentials that For a talented artist who has an asocial or ignited by a match— the h gh-puched screams hark back to such Spanish-speaking image to sell and a highly social way of accompanied by by Landa and his girlfriend. masters of surrealism as Fernando putting it across, it isn't surprising that De "furnished De Arrabal, Luis Buhuel, Salvador Dali, and Landa makes wild, aggressive films "The film is my tribute to the real will inhabit the Alexandra Jodorowsky. Unlike most of that leap all over the place while standing master race that soon offers his predecessors, however, De Landa absolutely still. In The Itch Scratch Itch planet," De Landa by way prefers LSD and computers to the sacra- Cycle (1977) and Incontinence; A of explanation, clarifying his intentions by ments and Antichrists of Catholicism in Diathetic Flow of Mismatches (1978), revealing that his sadism is actually a establishing the paradoxical terms of his quarreling couples in tacky settings are form of advance revenge for a species actually shock (and mock) rebellion. One of his subjected to all kinds of optical violence: that, unlike mankind, might most modest efforts. Magic Mushroom The camera moves around them in the survive a nuclear holocaust. Mountain Movie, charts his eight-year shape of a figure eight, or De Landa "Cockroaches not only invaded the flip relationship with a Mexican family that crazily cuts back and forth between two side of my house—the back of my psychedelic mushrooms as static shots of the principals screaming kitchen, the other side of my walls," De used part of its religious ritual. Although gross-outs of various sizes and shapes are a kind of De Landa trademark (he considers Frank Zappa's early rock albums seminal influences), an intellectual bent— fueled by an odd mixture of arcane French theory and late-night TV—seems no less apparent. In Raw Nerves: A Lacanian Thriller (1980), a private eye out of the paranoid film noh tradition stumbles upon a coded message on a roll of toilet paper in a men's room stall. The resulting intrigue, which improbably mixes Mickey Spillane slang with an allegory about the Oedipus complex, is defined by De Landa as "my personal testament against psychoanaly- sis. The main point of the movie," he tells me somewhat more obscurely, "is that the words on the toilet paper are the final scribble of a man who has just taken his last crap in this world." A former film student who recalls growing up in the most Americanized Mexico City suburb, De Landa currently a living working on computer e Landa acquired large quoniwss of snakes, wriich vi makes CONTINUED ON PAGE 164 5 OMNI THE ART5 By Charles Piatt

judge from iheir 1983 output, with small noses'7 Of course they are! level of our solar system, the surface of Tobook publishers have realized And here are all the charts and figures Earth, and closer and closer, into the what Omni readers have known you need to prove it. Nearly 200 scientists subatomic realm. Authors Philip and Phylis for some time: Science doesn'l have to (Nobel laureates among them) poke Morrison have borrowed an idea first be dull. A good science writer can make fun at all areas of scientific research in used in the classic Cosmic View, by Kees his topic truly entertaining without its this classic of self-satire. Boeke. Merely by turning the pages of being any less accurate or imporlani. Less humorous but still entertaining is this book, you experience the true scale Larry Gonick's work is a classic case T. A, Heppenheimer's The Real Future of the universe, from quasars to quarks. in poinl. His Cartoon Guide to Genetics (Doubleday). Are we on the brink ol It's fascinating and it's fun. and Cartoon Guide to Computer Science a new Ice Age 9 Will we swelter to death Two other books of special visual (Harper and Row) are so consistently from the greenhouse effect? Are interest focus not on the cosmos but on witty and clever that the reader is barely computers going to make human beings the computer continuum. State of the Art: aware of being given a thorough ground- obsolete? Will we atomize ourselves? A Photographic History of the Integrated ing in those subjects. Gonick's Cartoon Heppenheimer tackles these and other Circuit, by Stan Augartan (Ticknor and History of the Universe was one of the topics with a demented gusto, unleashing Fields), sounds like a dull title until you best science books of 1982. His new flurries of facts and dozens of different discover that microphotographs of micro- volumes are valuable for anyone who is answers to the recurring question: What's chips can be as vibrantly graphic as easily bored by baud rates, baffled by going to become of us? modern abstract painting. Clear, informa- bacteria, but willing to lackle these topics Powers o/ Ten (Scientific American tive text on facing pages describes in a spirit of fun. Library) is considerably lower-key. silicon history from the first transistor to Scientists themselves can be amusing, Suppose you sat at the edge of the modern computer technology. especially when they're off duty, as in universe with superpowered binoculars Turning from pictures of computer The Journal of trreproducible Results, trained on distant planet Earth, and hardware to pictures produced with the edited by George H. Scherr (Workman), you increased magnification by ten times, aid of it, we come to Computer Images: Is time actually passing faster as we and then ten times more, and ten times State of the Art (Stewart, Tabori, and

get older? Definitely! Are . . people with large again. . The book's lull-page pictures Cheng). Assembled by Omni art and noses more aggressive than people show exactly what you'd see, down to the photo editor Hildegard Kron and former Omni articles editor Edward Rosenfeld, this grab bag of video technology includes everything from Star Trek simulations to JOSEPH DEKEN enhanced views of the human body. The text, by Joseph Deken, is somewhat TER superficial and gee-whiz in tone, but COMPU IMAG ES this is a-very attractive book, containing nearly 200 full-color pages. STATEOFTHEA Still in the picture-book category, but on a more human (?) level, is Humphrey Robot, a cutout paper model kit by John Boswell, Patty Brown, and Will Elder (Addison-Wesley). Elder, who used to illustrate Mad magazine, has given H. Robot a friendly grin, movable arms, and a complete robot-a bout- town wardrobe, including a doctor kit (built-in X-ray machine, ECG, and golf clubs) and a

mogul kit (factory-installed computer terminal and water cooler, plus optional monogrammed pen set and briefcase). This is probably too cute for kids who are

serious about science, but it would be a good gift for people who dislike "cold, unfeeling technology," In Humphrey, For the computer lover in your Hie. entertaining and colortui took at video technology. you see the soul of a nude machine,

38 OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 193 PENGUIN ENCOUNTER EXPLORMTIDRJS "By Phyllis Wollman

penguin oopualion numbers 350. stand Ihere stiffly in not- of spectators that glide by them each the birds, Theyquite-even rows, smooth white week. More important, the winged, though Until Todd brought back no fried to breed polar penguins, chests jacketed in black, flightless, creatures have started to one had in and very little was known-about their nervously expectant—like escorts at a breed, a crucial step the survival of processes. For instance, what debutanle ball. With just a trace of various penguin species endangered by body necessary io incubate a hesitation, a few of them waddle over in the slow depletion ot their food supply. temperature is Todd needed to know their flat-footed way and, after inspecting Sea World's penguin exhibit was set up penguin egg? birds because young adults are often careless us, turn toward something even more mainly as a scientific lab where the breed. irresistible— a woman holding a bucket could be observed and the difficult task of the Mrs! time they One young at World went swimming while filled with fresh herring. breeding in captivity tested. Supported male Sea incubating an on his feet, They are a few members of the largest by the National Science Foundation, he was egg nearly lost it. Todd fished the egg colony of Anlarctic penguins outside the Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute and he pool and replaced it with a Iheir natural habitat, and they live on an began planning for a self-perpetuating from the of "hot" an actual penguin eggshell ice shelf in 28°F air ai Sea World, a marine penguin colony in 1972. A team egg, that had been tilled with a gelatinous park in San Diego. The mock Antarctic specialists led by Frank S. Todd, Sea and a small transmitter. The ice shelf uses 10,000 pounds of ice daily World's curator of birds and an authority substance penguin never knew the difference. "Most and an artificial-lighting system to on waterfowl, spent several summers such a strong brooding simulate Antarctic seasons: six months of studying Antarctic penguins and penguins have anything, near-darkness followed by six months decided to return with members of instinct that they'll incubate in their even hot-dog bun," says Todd. of light. A moving sidewalk carries species that couldn't be studied a temperature spectators along a 100-foot-long window, natural habitat because of location or The hoi egg relayed the where they can observe the penguins weather conditions. Consequenily, Sea range created by adult penguins incubating an egg. The data have allowed sitting on the ice or swimming in the World's penguin colony began with 20 successfully hatch in 148,000-gallon saltwater pool. emperor penguins, which spend almost researchers to — incubators— penguins that would other- So authentic is the space that the all their lives in the sea, and 80 Adelie important, penguins adapted easily and don't seem penguins, a smaller black-and-white wise not have survived. Equally on September 16, 1980, the first emperor the least bit bothered by the hundreds South Pole species. Today, Sea World's penguin hatched naturally outside the Antarctic peered from beneath its father's

feathers. (It is impossible fo determine the sex of live penguins because their sexual organs are internal, Only their behavior and the subtle differences in the patterns of their cries provide scientists .with clues to their sexual identity.) Seven others have since joined the colony, and more are expected soon. The colonies at Sea World may be essential for the survival of the penguins, since both their food supply and nesting areas are slowly being eroded. For instance, the tropical Humboldt, or Peruvian, penguins (who have Iheir own habitat at Sea World) are being threatened because anchovies, which are a staple of their diets, are being harvested for human consumption. Penguins from zoos all across the United States have been gathered into the Penguin Encounter building at Sea World. For them, this San Diego sanctuary may well be the most important home away they'll have ever have.DO Warm-blooded, well-leathered, and these polar penguins have a v home in Caliiornia. from home 42 OMNI MEGACLOUD TAR5 By Terence Dickinson

^^^bout 30 million light-years from the missing mass. The discovery of this But the bic s. uprise came when

#^^* Earth, in the direction of the strange cloud may lead to a clearer measurements revealed the cloud is m \ constellation Leo. lurks an understanding of the mystery. rotating as if it had a mass at least as enigmatic object unlike anything seen "It was a serend pilous discovery," says great as the Milky Way's, equivalent before: a celestial giant with the mass of Yervant Terzian, an astronomer at Cornell to several hundred billion stars. To keep a galaxy but the density of the wispiest University It happened early in 1983, a cloud this huge from dissipating under of clouds. Its discovery marks the first when Terzian and his colleagues, Stephen the rotational momentum, it has to have time that an object this massive, with no Schneider, George Helou, and Edwin a large amount of invisible matter in visible stars, has been detected between Salpeter, were using the 1,000-foot radio it. "But it's not in the form of stars, or we galaxies. The find could have profound telescope in Puerto Rico. Under contract would have detected it long before implications for our thinking about the to the National Science Foundation, now," notes Terzian. He suggests several content and evolution of the universe. the university uses the telescope to search possibilities, the most obvious one being Until now astronomers listed galaxies for hydrogen in known galaxies. several black holes.

as the only known structural components . "When we were calibrating our instru- One supergiant black hole seems of the universe. They estimate there are ments, we moved the telescope off the unlikely, according to Terzian, since X-ray more than 1 billion galaxies. Together galaxy we were observing to what we emissions from cloud material inevitably with their possible precursors, the quasars, thought was blank sky," Terzian explains. drawn into such an enormous hole galaxies are visible at the edge of space "We got a signal instead. By sheer luck would be easily picked up by orbiting and time 15 billion light-years from Earth. we just caught the edge ol the cloud." X-ray instruments. Another possibility Yet when astronomers add up the What they got was the faint radio could be that the cloud contains low- estimated mass of all the galaxies, the signature of a cloud of hydrogen. luminosity objects like neutron stars, white- total comes far short of the amount needed Although extremely diffuse, the cloud dwarf stars, and red-dwarf stars, or to explain how they move. This may is enormous; 300,000 light-years across, planet-size objects that produce no light mean there are gravitational forces or about three times the diameter of at all. But none o! these are likely to exist operating on galactic scales but emanat- the Milky Way. And this thinly spread cloud in abundance in such a total stellar desert. ing from no visible objects. This has of hydrogen gas totals about 1 percent "Perhaps we are seeing the first known triggered a search for what's been called of the mass in the Milky Way galaxy that didn't quite make it to star formation," suggests Terzian. Since no such objects have ever been seen before and none were expected, the discovery offers some intriguing possibilities. Number one is that similar objects exist. "If there is one. there is likely to be more," muses Terzian, But

since it has taken this long to find the lirst cloud, he predicts they probably are not as common as visible galaxies. Number two is that this discovery will indicate where other clouds might be found. One clue is that they would be located among a cluster of galaxies deficient in small galaxies. "Small galaxies frequently passing through a cloud such

as this would have dispersed it long ago," Terzian explains; "so the clouds

n'ay still ex:st only in regions that are deficient in small galaxies,"

Meanwhile the Cornell team is mapping the structure of the cloud to define this one known example more clearly.

Simultaneously a search is under way tor more intergalactic rogues that will yield insights into the universe's fabric. DO caruTinjuunn

ACID AIR

k hil had lived all of his 32 years in the cold, polluted sions in those regions are carried south by prevailing winds.

t environment of Pittsburgh, working in the steel mills And in the process sulfur dioxide is chemically converted into and raising his family under gray, ominous skies. sulfuric acid, leading to an exceptionally high content of acid in

Leaving friends and relatives to accept a lower- the air "The assumption that you are safe from such pollution if paying construction job in Jacksonville, Florida, was difficult. you live far enough away is not necessarily true," says Win-

But after getting a clean bill of health on his recent company chester. "Acid air can travel long distances, chemically reacting physical, he felt as if it might be his lasl opportunily to start over with other factors along the way to make it even more danger- in an environment relatively free of pollution. ous, These emissions may trigger a long chain of seemingly Unfortunately for Phi), he was unaware of slatistics that had unlikely events that eventually affect human health." puzzled National Cancer Institute officials for years: For some To uncover those events Winchester and colleagues are using reason Jacksonville citizens have more lung cancer than any themselves as guinea pigs. First they combine sulfur dioxide other group in the United States. with various aerosol particles and subject the mixture to heat Just four years after the move Phil lay in a hospital bed, his and humidity, paralleling conditions found in the atmosphere. body ravaged by lung cancer. He had been a heavy smoker, Then Ihey inhale the mixture and watch for changes in breathing consuming about 1.5 packs a day. but there was another factor function. Asked about the dangers of such experiments. Win- that ultimately may have contributed to his death: tiny particles chester replies that he's using quantities the experts now con- of sulfuric acid, also known as acid air. sider safe The question; Are these presently accepted levels Acid air's notorious cousin— acid rain— is produced when adequate to ensure human health? coal- and oil-fired power plants spew sulfur dioxide into the James McCarroll, senior scientific adviser at the Electric Power atmosphere. The sulfur dioxide combines with precipitation and Research Institute, says his own tests indicate the answer to falls to earth as raindrop-size particles of sulfuric acid, polluting that question is yes. "Even asthmatics exposed to levels of sul- hundreds of lakes and even contributing to the disintegration furic acid higher than have ever been found in any American of such historical monoliths as the giant Sphinx. The tiny parti- city showed no adverse effects," he says "The human body cles of acid air, on the other hand, don't do much damage to normally secretes ammonia in saliva and other fluids in the up- the physical environment. But their impact on human health could per airways. That ammonia is more than enough to neutralize turn out to be devastating. any sulfuric acid present, even in the worst of cases." That devastation was reported just recently by atmospheric But Winchester disagrees "Cigarette smoke contains a lot of chemist John W. Winchester, a professor at Florida State Uni- formaldehyde," he says. "And if sulfuric acid and sea-salt par- versity According to Winchester acid air can be "a thousand ticles mix with formaldehyde, a carcinogen known as BCME [bis times more acidic than acid rain." And because particles of acid (chloromethyl) ether] will result." Moreover, in the regions we air are so small, they are capable of penetrating the human have studied, he adds, the concentration ol acid air generally respiratory tract more deeply than a variety of other pollutants, correlates with the incidence of death due to lung cancer. The combined effect of this highly acidic aerosol and such car- Winchester's work has recently received the tacit approval of cinogens as cigarette smoke, says Winchester, may render the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Though his findings lungs vulnerable to cancer, may not be conclusive, the organization points out they are quite Winchester's recent report indicates that the concentration of disturbing. "The occurrence of certain cancers in defined geo- acid air increases steadily from the Carolinas south, hitting a graphic areas is something the National Cancer Institutes have peak around Jacksonville and then tapering off. Much of that pointed out in the past," says an agency spokesman, who re- aerosol, he adds, originates in the Northeast and Midwest, where quested anonymity. Acid air is something we need to study and power plants produce large quantities of sulfur dioxide Emis- understand."—RICK BOLING coruTinjuurui

ELECTRONIC council of San Diego de- have helped solve similar HANDCUFF cided to install high-pres- problems at Northern Cali- sure sodium lights on all its fornia's Lick Observatory District Judge Jack Love, streets. As the city grows, Brucato maintains that of Albuquerque, is experi- such lights could effectively the low-pressure lights are menting with a new way blind Palomar's giant eye not only less damaging to monitor people on proba- with a pink, fuzzy glow that to the operations at Palomar tion or bail: an electronic would eliminate much of but are more economical handcuff. the visible spectrum. than the high-pressure The new handcult is "It's a disaster," says lights favored by the city. actually a pocket-size trans- Robert Brucato, a Caltech Although there are a few mitter attached to a wired astronomer and assistant intransigents on the city band. Though the device is director at Palomar. "What council, other members still too large to wear on San Diego proposes is seem willing to reexamine the wrist, it fits nicely around a serious setback in our the issue. Because a new an ankle and transmits efforts to preserve the information program has signals to a nearby receiver scope. The future growth of been designed to convince that reports to a main com- the city will effectively the council of the merits puter. If the wearer strays halve the amount of light of low-pressure lights, Bru- ." more than 200 feet from the the telescope can detect cato says. "I'm hopeful receiver for more than Caltech's plan is to try that we'll be able to turn this three minutes, the computer to sell San Diego's city thing around."— Bill Lawren lets ofticials know some- bail jumpers a three-minute fathers on the advantages thing is wrong. head start, says Love, of low-pressure sodium "What is now proved was Numerous safeguards "well know when they go." lights, which emit an easily once only imagined." —William Blake are built into the system. If —Allan Maurer filtered yellow color and the bracelet is cut or the signal jammed, the com; IMPAIRED VISION AT puter alerts officials imme- MOUNT PALOMAR diately. Backup batteries provide in a blackout. For years the giant optical power I And duplicating the coded telescope at Mount Palomar signal, says Love, "is theo- Observatory, in Southern | retically possible but practi- California, has been casting j cally impossible." I its huge, Cyclopean eye Love wore the first proto- toward the farthest reaches ; type, developed by NIM- '. of the visible universe. The

COS Inc., ol Albuquerque, • 200-inch scope is -used for several of testing. to observe quasars, meas- weeks :

; "They told me not to take ure distant galaxies, and tub balhs, but you can i explore what one astrono-

it on," calls "the limits of shower with he says. i mer very

And just recently several . delegability." Indeed, probationers have been astronomer Carl Sagan has j sentenced to wear the declared Mount Palomar j device in a trial program. I "the largest productive

The judge believes the i scope on the planet." cuff could help monitor But if San Diego—the prisoners and mental pa- closest metropolitan area to tients /""increasing their 1 Palomar—has its way, the to walk around scope's vision may soon freedom and 1 be the security of the institu- seriously impaired. In a Palomar j Blurry, blurry night: The starry views Irom the Mount

tion." Although it would give ! recent 4-:3 vote, the city telescope (above) are threatened by San Diego's sodium future. so OMNI — —

stroke—caused by a drastic 1 Wood. "It's still in the inves-

reduction of blood flow to 1 tigative stage, but if con-

a portion of the brain ; trolled studies confirm our appear to idle for hours or initial results, this may even days before they well become the treatment die. Though they have of choice."— David Dreier ceased functioning, they still receive enough oxygen- SODDEN HEKOR1ES ated blood to remain viable

This means it's possible to Comedian Richard Pryor rescue the brain cells of says he stopped drinking ischemic -stroke victims, who because of terrible memo- represent 77 percent of ries: He shuddered every the halt-million stroke cases time he recalled waking every year. at the steering wheel, his Such rescue, in fact, has car speeding helter-skelter already succeeded in a down the freeway Maybe

handful of cases. Emory if other drunk drivers could neurosurgeon James H. remember vivid details of Wood and his colleagues scary traffic incidents, they'd Lucidity drug: Mortifying i

i treated nine stroke victims also retire the bottle, or memories may keep you sober. with infusions of either hu- stop driving. man serum albumin or Now that may be possible, disrupted by alcohol; we low-molecular-weight dex- thanks to zimeldine, an wanted to see whether that Any neurology textbook tran, a carbohydrate pro- experimental antidepressant disruption might be atten- will tell you that a stroke duced in sugar solutions. drug that actually prevents uated by zimeldine." The zi- alcoholic causes immediate and | These substances thinned memory blackout. meldine, he suggests,

irreversible brain damage. , the patients' blood, ena- In a recent study by the counteracts alcoholic mem-

But now there's a treatment bling it to flow easily through National Institute of Mental ory blackout by increasing that seems to reverse the ' the smaller, undamaged Health (NIMH), in Belhesda, the activity of a brain chem- irreversible. I collateral arteries and reach Maryland, the drug was ical, the neurotransmitter j

Within minutes or hours ' threatened brain tissue given to a dozen normal serotonin

I according to the prevailing before it too late. young men who then drank But it's premature to ] was i medical wisdom a stroke ' The results were impres- alcohol in amounts equiva- suggest zimeldine will play — i irrevocably destroys brain i sive: Eight of the nine pa- lent to six cocktails. These a role in the treatment of I cells, typically those in : tients regained some or drugged drinkers, when alcohol abuse. Weingartner the speech, sensation, and all of their lost motor or later sober, had unusually cautions. 'A number of

motor areas led by the . speech abilities within 24 clear memories of their drugs have already been middle cerebral artery. The hours. Encouraged, Dr. inebriate behavior and were tried, and none have been conventional treatment of 1 Wood tried his treatment on even embarrassed by it. particularly effective." bed rest and anticoagulant 30 more stroke patients, "Zimeldine substantially Eric Mishara j — drugs doesn't save the '. and more than halt im- reverses memory impair-

it "It's funny the way most affected neurons; simply ! proved dramatically, He has ment caused by alcohol," people love the dead. Once contains the damage and . also halted brain-cell death concludes NIMH psycholo- staves oif complications. in dogs that had laboratory- gist Herbert Wemgartner, you're dead you're made j for life." Later, of course, comes i induced strokes. who researches the bio- tedious physical therapy "Ours is one of the first chemical underpinnings of —Jimi Hendrix designed to teach new I therapies aimed at reversing the human brain's cognitive areas of the brain old tricks, ischemic defects, im- functions. "Memory is a "Aim at heaven and will j by you

But the good news from i proving collateral blood flow cognitive process." he ex- get earth thrown in. Aim

Atlanta's Emory University ; until these vessels can plains, "in this study, we at earth and you will get "

Hospital is that the neurons I dilate and carry blood of were trying to unravel those neither. affected by an ischemic i regular viscosity," notes components of cognition — C, S. Lewis

51 —

conrnruuuR/i

aged cotyledon had been, I Voyager 1, will get there first. MEDICAL METAL

iroving that bur marigolds ' Designed and built by the DETECTOR ive long-term recall. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Marie Desbiez, one of the Pasadena, Voyager was You walk through an lirectors of the study, says launched more than five airport metal detector, and

that plant memory seems to years after its rival, but it is though you're not wearing depend on the movement faster. Traveling in the or carrying any metal ob- of lithium and potassium opposite direction, Voyager jects, the machine starts to ions between cells. She will have crossed the paths beep, What to do? Accord-

comments: "While plants I of all the outer planets by ing to a Milwaukee hematol- have no actual nerves, they early 1987. ogist, you'd better "hightail

seem to possess cellular Even then, the race to it to a doctor." mechanisms whose evolu- leave the solar system may Dr. Joseph Libnoch, of tion has led to the develop- not be won. Astronomers Milwaukee's Medical Col- ment of the nervous system suspect there's a tenth lege of Wisconsin, discov- in animals. Plants," planet, the diagnostic possi- PLANT MOMMY she , a massive, dark ob- ered adds, "could be among the ject beyond Pluto, causing bilities of airport metal ; Plants don't hold grudges, simplest experimental the observed perturbations detectors when a patient

I but they apparently do systems for studying mem- i in the orbits of Neptune mentioned he couldn't get remember an insult. Re- ory and information trans- and Uranus. Perhaps Pi- through one without setting searchers at the University fer."—David Dreier oneer or Voyager will dis- off the alarm. The patient of Clermont, France, found cover it.— Edward Regis, Jr. had hereditary hemochro- that when the bur marigold "Naturally, if I were abso- was wounded, it retained lutely alone on this super- a "memory" of the offense, highway, it I saw no other and that memory affected cars speeding in either its later development. direction, then everything " The bur marigold, an would be much clearer. herb with yellow flowers and —Italo Calvino prickly seeds, typically begins its growth by BEYOND PLUTO sprouting two small, nearly identical leaves, or cotyle- June 13, 1983, was a red- dons. The French scientists letter day for space sci- upset this balance by put- ence. That morning NASAs ting several tiny needle Pioneer 10 spacecraft holes in one cotyledon while technically became the first leaving the other alone. man-made object to leave After five minutes they re- the known solar system. moved both cotyledons Admittedly the occasion from the plant so that any was largely symbolic; subsequent growth altera- though Pioneer was tempo- tions would be a result rarily farther from the sun of memory and not simply a than Neptune and Pluto, the response to injury. A few farthest point on Pluto's days later they also cut off orbit still lay far beyond. Built the tops of the plants to by scientists at Ames Re- allow the axillary buds search Center, in Mountain those adjacent to the coty- View, California, Pioneer ledons—to sprout. The 10 won't actually cross the result; The plants tended to outer edge of the solar grow new buds only on system until May 1989— the side where the undam- and another spacefarer, 52 OMNI —

i, a potentially deadly enough, some get too much. blood disorder in which Medical recommendations iron reaches toxic levels. concerning il are at a Although "something like standstill because of these one out of sixteen people" two schools of thought." are at risk of developing the Unless you make airport ailment, says Libnoch, the metal defectors clang, symptoms are often attrib- a simple blood test is the uted to diabetes or cirrhosis easiest way to determine if of the liver. One late-stage you have a problem. symptom— darkened, —Allan Maurer iron-rich skin— often passes for a tan. FACING KING TUT To treat the problem, most doctors return to an Ever since visiting the ancient remedy: They bleed land of the pyramids several the patient. "We take a years ago, orthopedic pint every week or so," Lib- surgeon Patrick Barry has noch says. "Each pint has wondered if a reconstruction a quarter gram of iron. If of King Tutankhamen's you want to get rid of fifty head might reveal medical grams of iron, it takes two clues as to the cause of hundred bleedings." the pharaoh's death at nine- Untreated, adds Libnoch, teen. So he commissioned the iron deposits may cause Betty Pat Gatliff, a forensic arthritis, digestive prob- sculptor, to bridge 3,300 "I started this with no he had a straight nose,"

lems, shriveled testicles, I years by putting a face on preconceived notions of notes Gatliff. "But the golden and sometimes heart failure. the boy king's skull. what Tut should look tike." burial mask showed a

receive I People who many i Gatliff became a national says Gatliff. "Everybody's tipped-up nose. think that regular blood transfusions expert in the field of head skull is slightly different: was an idealized, flattering |

also can develop the disor- reconstruction while helping so every face is different." ! view. Also, his eyes are

I identify der, which presents prob- i to plane-crash Gatliff began measur- abnormally large in the a by |

i lem because they can't victims for the Federal Avia- ing 26 skull landmarks, I mask. That was probably be bled. They are treated i tion Administration. But then used the measure- another idealization by

' with an expensive drug. I rebuilding King Tut's face ments to calculate the shape the Egyptians." Regarding dietary intake posed a special problem of the face Afterward, she Though Barry, who heads ] of iron, Libnoch says, the actual skull could not used clay to re-create Miami's Egyptology Society, | people don't from the. believes "Some get 1 be removed the tissue depth indicated that Tut probably mummy in the tomb. An- by the calculations. When succumbed to deadly thropologists Joe Young and finished, the reconstructed genetic defects, the bust of Clyde Snow, who worked head of Tut revealed a the young pharaoh gave with Gatliff on the project, strong, handsome face. none of the hoped-for medi- studied X rays and meas- According to anthropologist cal clues. But Barry is so urements of Tut's skull taken Young, Tut was a pre-Cau- pleased with this realistic after his tomb was exca- casoid with some Negroid look into a face from the vated 61 years ago. Then, characteristics. All in all, past that he hopes to work with the aid of a computer he says, the bust resembles with Gatliff on reconstructing enhancement of the skull's the depictions of Tutankha- the heads of two other key points, Snow created a men found on his tomb's ancient Egyptians—Ramses

blueprint thai was used artifacts. But there are II and an unidentified to construct a three-dimen- discrepancies. mummy that Barry believes sional model of the skull "The skull nasal spine could be the remains of from dental plaster, was straight, indicating thai Ikhnaton. — Sherry Baker " "

COnJTIRJUURJl

for low-altitude, high-speed munching caterpillars. bombing runs. You have That's the idea behind A technician al Arnold Air the possibility of running into research on insect phero- Force Base, in Tennessee, birds under those condi- mones, or sex attractants, reaches into a freezer and tions as well.'' being conducted by the putls out a frozen four- The chicken-firing range, U.S. Department of Agricul- pound chicken. After the at Arnold Air Force Base, ture, in Brownsville, Texas. fowl thaws, it is loaded in a has motion-picture cameras Scientisfs with the USDA's special 20-foot-long cannon and electronic sensors Agricultural Research Ser- and fired at a speed of that measure the effect of vice have discovered that a 700 miles per hour at the each bird's impact. "The particular pheromone of windshield of an aircraft testing provides vital infor- the female tobacco bud- cockpit. The chicken car- mation," Jamison says, worm moth, when released cass flattens harmlessly on "that has resulted in signifi- into the air in relatively high impact, and the bird-proof cant improvements in sev- concentrations, will lure canopy is subsequently eral canopies," including male cotton bollworm moths. behavior of insects." he approved for installation in one used on the advanced The result for both male says, "there won't be nearly the Air Force's newest plane. F-16 tactical fighter jet. and female is death. as many eggs getting In the past 17 years, —Eric Mishara USDA entomologist Don fertilized, and subsequent notes Lieutenant George Hendricks explains that generations of insects Jamison, birds have inflicted 'The present, like a note in the two species are closely will be greatly reduced." $100 million worth of dam- music, is nothing but as related and share many —David Dreier age to tow-fiying Depart- it appertains to what is past of the same pheromones, ment of Defense aircraft and and what is to come. which the male moths detect "7b command nature to caused the death of ten — Walter Savage Landor with their antennae. Inter- release in a pint pot the en- air crewmen, often by species mating between the ergy that fuels the stars, crashing through the can- MOTH moths doesn't usually oc- to lift by pure thought a mil- opy. The chicken-cannon SELF-DESTRUCT cur, because one of the lion tons of rock into the test was designed to help female budworm's phero- sky—these are exercises eliminate these tragedies. Question: What do you mones includes a com- of the human will that pro-

Though many of the acci- get if you persuade moths of pound with a dual pur- duce an illusion of illimitable dents occur in the vicinity of two different species to pose— it attracts male power. airports, Jamison says, mate? Answer: Dead moths budworms and it also repels —Freeman Dyson "new tactics in fighting call and fewer ravenous, crop- male bollworms.

But it the air is permeated INHUMAN CONTROL with that compound— ROOMS because of its potency, 10

to 20 grams per acre will do ! Nuclear-power-plant

the trick—the male boll- , control rooms often show

1 worm's antennae get fraz- "an appalling disregard for zled by chemical overload. 1 human factors," a study He then responds to the group has told the Nuclear i budworm's other phero- Regulatory Commission

mones and mates with her. ! (NRC).' Since their genitalia are "In some cases, distribu- mismatched, the two moths tion of displays and controls gei locked together, They seemed almost haphaz-

die in each other's "arms." : ard," says Charles Hopkins, Hendricks thinks this technical director of the

technique will be applicable > Human Factors Society to other closely related study. "These rooms often ]

insect well, if To simulate the impact ot birds on its jets, the Air Force shot species as "If | look as someone took tour-pound fryers out ot a cannon and checked out the damage. we can disrupt the natural I a box of dials and switches, cas of incredibly sharp set of the hand-chiseled FH\:\\:i In! Pip? n knives made by the Mayan replica blades afler Hannus Indians of Mexico some convinced him that volcanic 2.500 years ago. glass is sharper than the Mexico, once a hotbed of conventional steel scalpel eruption, has abundant "These obsidian blades volcanic glass, also known have paper-thin edges as obsidian rock, explains that are only one molecule Hannus, a professor of thick," Hannus says, "a archaeology at Augustana thickness at which normally College, in Sioux Falls, straight surgical steel curls." South Dakota. Hannus be- Medical researchers in came fascinated with the the United States are study- Mayan knives when, in ing the potential of vol- an effort to re-create ancient canic-glass scalpels, which turned his back, threw the study's recommendations Indian butchering tech- Hannus suggests would box. and attached things for improvement in man- niques, he used a set of rep- be ideal for intricate eye where they landed." agement, operating proce- licas to carve up a buffalo surgery. — Eric Mishara Hopkins, a psychology dures, and control-room and other wild game. and engineering professor design have already been "What intrigued me about "Our present earth may- at the University of Illinois, heeded where possible. actually using these blades have been repeated a billion explains that "in some "In some cases, that in- in my surgery." Hannus times. Why, it's become instances, ten to fifteen feet cludes significant rear- says, "is that I constantly extinct, been frozen, separated controls from rangement of control-room tell my students that bits of cracked, broken to bits, displays that had to be boards." says the NRC's useful knowledge can be disintegrated into its ele- while controls monitored Voss Moore. "I think the util- recaptured through archae- ments , . . then again a were operated. Sometimes ities are looking seriously ological study. Here was comet, again a sun, again there were no displays to at this human-engineering a chance to show this." from the sun it becomes provide critical information problem. In one instance The surgery, to repair earth—and the same se- to operators. In many in- we told a utility it didn't Hannus's defective colon, quence may have been stances, displays provided need to make certain was performed by Dr. repeated endlessly and ex- unusable or misleading changes to meet NRC stan- James Adwers at Methodist actly the same to every information." dards. They said they were Hospital, in Omaha. Adwers detail." The NRC, which commis- trying to make their opera- agreed to operate with a —Fyodor Dostoyevski sioned the study after the tors happy, not just meet our

Three Mile Island (TMI) standards. I think that's a accident, is still working to improve the situation in both existing and planned reactor control rooms. "-As we have opportunity, let Hopkins terms the TMI us do good to at) men." incident "a textbook exam- —St. Paul ple of what can go wrong m a man-machine system ANCIENT SCALPELS when people in the system have not been taken into A thin, six-inch scar account." He emphasizes, stretches across the abdo- however, that "failures of men of archaeologist L automatic equipment that Adrien Hannus. It is a re- had nothing to do with minder of recent gastroin- human engineering" also testinal surgery done with played a role. double-edge, volcanic- Pre-Columbian surgery: To prove his point about Mayan obsidian NRC officials say the (ass blades— exact repli- blades (shown above), a brave archaeologist ottered his abdomen. —

coruTiruuufui

UNDERWORLD SEXtSM Steffenmeier, who bases MEDICAL his report on interviews SOOTHSAYING Ever wonder why, in this with male and female crimi- age of equal employment nals, notes that "if females Robert Davis is no side- opportunity, more women are involved, they typically show palm reader. When he don't rob, mug, and murder act as accomplices to peers into the intricate for a living? Sociologist males who both organize patterns of ridges on your

Darrell J. Steffenmeier, of and execute the crime," The fingers and toes, it is not Pennsylvania State Univer- criminal activities usually mysterious, dark strangers sity, has spent five years available to women, he but diseases like diabetes asking that question, and adds, are entry-level-like that he foresees. he's finally come up with an positions, such as prostitu- Davis is a physiologist answer: underworld sexism. tion, petty thefts, shoplift- skilled in dermatoglyphics "Men who populate and ing, small con games, and a science that has linked control the world of crime writing bad checks. certain genetic diseases, prefer to work, associate, Why such systematic notably Down's syndrome and do business with other exclusion of women? "Sur- (or mongolism), with dis- Steffenmeier says. vival in the world of crime," tinctive finger- and foot-print patterns, Now Davis and colleagues at the Pennsyl- vania College of Pediatric Medicine report that a high percentage of people and multiple pregnancies." with a loop pattern on And that's Just the tip their index fingers and a of the iceberg, "I'd like to triangular loop on the balls blow up footprints of new- of their feet are diabetics. born babies and see what "For thirty years," the we can learn about predict- researcher points out, ing future diseases," says "we've known that certain the scientist. "I envision patterns are linked with taking fingerprints one day different diseases, particu- and having them run larly the retardation syn- through a computer to dromes. We reasoned, correlate patterns and dis-

therefore, that if these prints ease."— Sherry Baker are laid down in preg-

nancy, and if diabetes is a "Particles no longer move genetic disease, then print stiffly and formally, if not patterns might predict majestically, in predeter-

the likelihood of the illness." mined paths. Rather, it Indeed, fingerprints and is Marx Brothers hyperki- footprints turned out to netic pandemonium, Charlie be 85 percent accurate in Chaplin slapstick, helter-

"It's unlikely that the career Steffenmeier observes, identifying the diabetics skelter now you see it, now of a male thief would be "entails dealing with at least among a group of 100 pa- you don't. . . , It's psyche- advanced by a female thief two major threats: the tients. Perhaps in the future delic confusion—until one spreading the word that threat ot arrest and impris- such biofortune-telling will sees the subtle order." he is 'solid.' And collaborat- onment and threats from forewarn the diabetes- —Jack Sarfatti ing with a woman would other criminals. Therefore, prone before symptoms not provide the distinction criminal participants who occur, Davis notes. "Then "The physicists have known or recognition that would seem most capable of force the patient will know to sin: And this is a knowledge advance a male criminal's or violence will be avoid factors that promote which they cannot lose" Oppenheimer career." recruited."-^Rich Levine diabetes — like overeating —'. Robert 56 OMNI In the pure, bright air of the northern Andes, mystics and astronomers search for cosmic truths HIGHEAN BY PATRICK TIERNEY

Astronauts on some of the early And he is not alone. Already Gemini flights puzzled over bril- an odd combination of Yogis, a liant, flashing lights both in the few Tibetan monks, and these Himalayas and in the Chilean hermetic Christians can be Andes. Some dismissed the as- found perched high in the Chil- tronauts' experiences as a pe- ean Andes, all staking some kind culiar reflection of the sun, but of claim in this spiritual gold Padre Ramon Borrega, a con- rush. Some of the Yogis even servative-looking Catholic priest insist that Chile is the planetary in his mid-sixties, believes oth- center for a "spiritual magnet- erwise. "What the astronauts ism" complete with "magnetic saw confirms a prophecy we re- windows to outer space." ceived in 1947 from Tibet, an- Not far from these pilgrims is nouncing that the spiritual light - a different breed of believers. of the Himalayas was shifting to They are astronomers at the the Andes," he says. "Russian three international observato- cosmonauts also saw tangible ries also perched high in the evidence of this radiance in Andes. They keep a wary eye northern Chile." on the religious enthusiasts liv- Borrega and his organization, ing nearby. "The neighbor- called the Hermetic Society of hood," some of the astronomers the Pacific, believe these mys- feel, "is going downhill." Just the terious lights revealed the same, annoying parallels be- world's "New Jordan." which will tween what the mystics and the replace the Himalayas and the scientists say about this area of Holy Land as humanity's prime Chile keep popping up. destination for spiritual pilgrims.' Scientists naturally scoffed at PHOTOGRAPHS BY DOUGLAS KIRKLAND —

&When sundown comes, astronomers rush to enjoy every instant

of clear seeing.?1

the Yogis' claim that the objects. The center of area had a spiritual the galaxy, thought to magnetism— until NASA hold a key to under- told them this area has standing galactic evo- the strongest concen- lution, can barely be tration of natural mag- discerned from North- netism in all of South ern latitude: irthei America. As for those ™ore. the two closest windows to outer space. galaxies to us. the many astronomers con- Greater and Lesser Ma- sider Chilean skies the gellanic Clouds, lie be- clearest in the world, yond ihe range of North-

making them, in effect, ern observatories. 'All of the earth's most trans- the interesting objects parent window to the are the universe. So while mys- South." says John Wood. tics believe they hold a assistant director of ringside seat to a cosmic Cerro Tololo. "But eighty spiritual center, astron- percent of the tele- omers boast about hav- scopes are in the North." ing an unequaled view That's changing rap- of the Milky Way's lumi- idly. Cerro Tololo now nous galactic core. It has eight telescopes, seems like everybody in northern Chile thinks he has some sort including one with a 4-meter mirror. Ihe largest in the Southern of direct hookup to the heavens. Hemisphere. Las Campanas has 3 telescopes, and ESO has At first glance Chile is an unlikely candidate for a scientific 13, the biggest of which is 3-6 meters. But that's only the be- Shangri-la. One astronomer has compared building an observ- ginning. Cerro Tololo plans a 5-meter telescope that would equal atory here to putting one on the moon, except that in Chile there the 200-inch monster at Mount Palomar. And the Europeans are is air and water—although not much of the latter. going for the Guinness by erecting an unprecedented 16-meter Even so, the astronomers who flock here are more than eager telescope at a Chilean site. to exchange their comfortable and more accessible sites in de- "Building a sixteen-meter telescope poses some problems," veloped countries, with their pollution and urban lights, for Chile's admits Arne Ardeburg, whose Swedish calm seems undis- fair, dry climate. The frigid Humboldt Current, running parallel turbed by the prospects. "Right now the world's largest tele- to the Chilean coast, fends off tropical storms from the Pacific, scope is the Soviet Union's six-meter, followed by the five-meter while the Andes, rising 20.000 feet barely 100 miles inland, block at Mount Palomar. A sixteen-meter would function as an array disturbances from the Atlantic. The result is an ideal sky for of four-meter telescopes that simultaneously photograph stellar astronomers "Visibility is spectacularly good," says Arne Arde- objects. The cost would be about one hundred million dollars burg, director of the European Southern Observatory (ESQ). cheap compared to satellite telescopes. We expect European "Most people don't believe it, but on a clear, moonless night governments to come around once they realize satellite tele- " you can see your own shadow by starlight." scopes aren't much good without ground follow-up Astronomers believe if. Each year 500 of them migrate to the The current Infra-Red Astronomy Telescope Satellite (IRAS) Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, operated by the Na- is a case in point. IRAS, put in orbit by the United States, Great tional Science Foundation; the ESO. an eight-nation venture; Britain, and the Netherlands, studies star formation in the Ma- and the Las Campanas Observatory, owned by fhe Carnegie gellanic Clouds, where Southern Hemisphere telescopes can Institution of Washington. Together the three international view- provide indispensable follow-ups to sightings. "The importance ing sites make this Norte Chico region of Chile the main center of ground-based observatories will increase with satellite tele- for studies of the little-known Southern skies. scopes." Ardeburg concludes. Most astronomers agree. But Southern Hemisphere observatories have decided advan- there's also a reeling that the future of grounc'-based astronomy tages. Astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere don't see a depends on telescope arrays like the 16-meter project- third of sky, the because if never rises above the southern ho- Building a 16-meter telescope is science on an immense scale. rizon. bright But most stars and galaxies, as well as strong Right now there are only two 4-meter telescopes in the world- infrared and X-ray sources, are primarily Southern Hemisphere one at Cerro Tololo and one at Tololo's sister observatory at Kitt Peak, Arizona. Previous page: The massive Gome oi Cerro Tololo's tour-meter tele- The 4-meter mirror at Tololo took 2 5 years to scope slides open in readiness lor another night's work. The Schmidt polish and finish, and many scientists regard it as the world's telescope stands to its right. These pages: The busy night sky (left) finest large-telescope reflector The entire telescope measures offers a wealth oi seeing tor smaller telescopes in the Andes (above). 45 feet high, weighs 375 tons, and works on the same optical 3

; billion iigt-t- principles iha . a camera employs—in this new spectrograph^ techniques. Tololo's he found no quasars beyond 15 case, a camera lha! photographs objects director. Patrick Osmer, detected the most years. Astronomers had expected to find 6 million times fainter than can be delected distant known quasar in the universe— them much closer to the time oi the Big with the naked eye. It's housed in a gleam- billion light-years beyond previous sight-- Bang—some 20 billion years ago—be- ing, metallic dome atop a 7,000-ioot moun- ings. Because quasars are both the bright- cause quasars are thought to be the active tain. The 135-foot dome presides like a est and the most distant objects in exist- nuclei of young galaxies. strange, white elephant over surrounding ence, scientists are racing to discover new Osmer's work poses intriguing para- hills of red-flowered cactus. "It better not quasars farther and farther away. Quasars doxes. If quasars are the most distant ob- be a white elephant," says John Wood while are markers of both the edge and age of jects in existence, and Osmer looked sev- making the 60-mile drive inland from the the universe, and most of the very distant eral billion light-years beyond the most coastal town of La Serena. "The four-meier ones were discovered at Cerro Tololo. They distant quasars, then what was he looking telescope cos: ten mill or dollars. You can't are still mysterious objects whose light is at? Is there any "there" out there 9 imagine how hard it was to haul thai thing so far shifted toward the red end of the Quasars have unexpectedly made black up ihe mounlain. spectrum that they must be receding from holes more respectable. To account for the "I hope you're not planning to look Earth at fantastic speeds, as judged by amazing energy output of quasars, astro- through the four-meter," Wood warns as the Doppler effect. A single quasar can be physicists suggest we're seeing vast we reach ihe peak. "Astronomers in the 1,000 times brighter than a galaxy with 100 amounts of matter explosively sucked into United States wail years to use these big billion stars. black hole's. The search for black holes, telescopes, and they're pretty nervous "The farther out in space we look, the however, lags behind theoretical physics about having visitors around." With their further back in time we see," Osmer ex- and science fiction. Astronomers can look strict time limits, astronomers rarely in- plains, with the slightly far-off gaze of for these bizarre, superdense objects only dulge in the old-fashioned technique of sit- someone who's spent a decade staring indirectly because nothing — not even ting in a telescope perch or gazing directly farther into space than anyone else in his- light—escapes a black hole's gravitational through an eyepiece. The large tele- tory. Using quasars as reference points, grasp. Until last year the only accepted scopes at all three observatories are op- Osmer deduced the structure of the uni- black-hole candidate was the Cygnus X-1 erated remotely from separate rooms, verse at an early stage of expansion. "As binary star; the black hole's presence was where computers control telescope and a result of our Cerro Tololo investigations, inferred from gravitational effects on its dome apertures and use TV cameras to we can now describe what the universe visible partner (a binary star consists of establish focus. "Some of the Boy Scout looked like twelve billion to fifteen billion two stars revolving around a common cen- feeling is gone," one astronomer admits. years ago." His quasar map of the sky in- ter of gravity). "But the Boy Seoul feeling doesn't mean cludes 150 quasi-stellar objects detected Now a Cerro Tololo research team re- much when you're freezing all night in the at Cerro Tololo. It's one of the most con- ports a second candidate, much larger telescope perch." crete, and controversial, attempts to de- than Cygnus X-1, and the first one located By combining the four-meter telescope scribe the early history of the universe. outside the Milky Way. The newly discov- with an ultrasensitive TV camera and some .Osmer's most surprising discovery is that ered black-hole candidate orbits a com- panion star every 41 hours. Gases si- phoned from the companion accelerate to extreme velocities as they disappear into this theoretical black hole, estimated at 8 to 12 solar masses. These gases become superheated and emit streams of X rays, which first alerted U.S. and Canadian sci- enlists to the black hole's existence. "It's comforting to know that Cygnus X-1 is not the only black-hole possibility," says Anne Cowley, a member of the Tololo team and an astronomer and research scientist at the University of Michigan. 'And we can pre- sume there are many more." Comfort isn't usually associated with black holes and their power, but without them astronomers would be hard put to explain the cosmic birth that occurs in Ihe nuclei of young galaxies. Black holes and quasars— the most brilliant, exploding ob- jects —may be different names for a single quasar/black-hole phenomenon, one that gave birth to stars and galaxies like our own. In fact, Southern observatories have found preliminary signs of a black hole in the center of the Milky Way. But the study of stellar exotica like qua- sars and black holes doesn't solve the more mundane problems of working astrono- mers. The worst of these is weather. During one totally overcast night a! Tololo the only aerial objects visible were two Andean condors with 12-foot wingspans. All the big

telescopes were grounded, blinded. It seemed a good opportunity to ask astron- omers what they thought of another prob-

lem: the local Yogis. Touchy subject. , CONTINUED ON PA<3E 146 THE CIRCUS AMIMAL5' DESErTnON

BY SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS

I llone in his go-house after tucking the beasts in their lairs for the night, Orlando Spinks was stitching a tear in

PAINTING BY MICHAEL PARKES —

the lion's mangy hide when the monkey si- the predecessor of the lion whose tattered as he did now while mending the lion's pelt, dled in to announce thai the lion itself had skin Orlando was now holding in his lap. a year of wonders and miseries, Orlando

vamoosed. Respued from the rubber teeth, the girl be- still could not bring himself to regret a min-

"Without its skin?" asked Orlando, for- gan scolding him for having made the an- ute of it. First she had persuaded him to lornly raising the shabby pelt from his lap. imals so prissy and jovial. make the beasts more natural, which meant "You got the number on that ticket, boss," "Me, I'd make them wild, like in the old smelly and shiftless. When this failed to said the monkey, which picked up slang days," she said, "so when people come impress the visitors, she urged him to make from the street kids. snooping, the beasts would eat them," the beasts vicious? He was one of the first Orlando closed his eyes and thought "If these had been wild," Orlando pointed victims of this new regime, getting a leg about the skinless lion slouching through out, "you'd be in two or three pieces." broken in the alligator pen. While he was the spick-and-span avenues of Oregon "If they'd been anything but windup kit- recuperating, Mooch programmed the City, its naked chassis gleaming in the flu- chy-coos, you don't think I'd be fool enough beasts to attack anybody who put a foot orescent light, the wires in the belly snarled to stick my head in one, do you?" in their territory. When the Overseers tried like spaghetti, computer chips encrusting Her name, she said, was Mooch. She to shut the place down, four of them were its forehead like jewels. Blinking his sad lived at the orphanage in Suburb Seven. kilted, two others were mangled, and in all

eyes open, he asked, "Where did it go?" How she had come to be stuck there, no the hubbub Mooch rode an elephant out

The monkey turned its palms toward the one would tell her, but she had a notion it through the gates of the disney, leading an ceiling and hoisted its shoulders. There was was because one of her lungs was scrawny exodus of beasts down the shocked ave- a faint whining of motors, a gritting of metal and her eyes turned up at the corners like nues. Every last beast was vaporized by on metal, and the monkey was paralyzed the eyes ot foxes, and whoever had the aircops. Only the girl was spared. While

midway in its shrug. hatched her out into the world had been Mooch and Orlando were awaiting trial, she "We're getting old together," Orlando too cheap to get her fixed. To her way of built a drilling machine, bored a hole sighed. He was feeling more rheumatic thinking, the ancients had been a good through the wall of the city, and escaped. than ever. This news about the lion only deal kinder when they dumped 'orphans Waking up to find her gone was the worst made his joints ache worse. Opening a pain he had ever felt. door in the monkey's belly, he fiddled with The Oregon City disney was torn down the controls. When this did no good, he while he sat in prison, In its place rose feel- slapped the animal between the furry ie-farms, eras parlors, games arcades, a shoulder blades. Immediately the monkey thousand and one delights. '•When finished its shrug. An amnesiac fog thick- he found Orlando spent the three years of his sen- ened in its glass eyes. the girl, her legs were tence fixing gadgets for the warden and "What's happening, boss?" the monkey thinking about Mooch. The warden tried to kicking in the asked, bewildered. get him to stay past his allotted time and "You were in the process of telling me air, and her top half was live rent-free in her basement since she that the lion had run away." stuffed inside had a houseful of appliances, and one "I was?" gizmo or another was always breaking the jaw of his principal lion. "Yes, you were," said Orlando wearily, down. But Orlando wanted out. "If you ever knowing he was losing the tug-of-war with Rescued, the change your mind," said the warden,

entropy. He could almost see the circuits "come back, and I'll put you to work." girl began scolding him3 unraveling in the monkey's brain. "Now He would need work, all right, since the please go back to the trailer and keep authorities had confiscated his meager watch on the others." savings and auctioned off his tools and There were not many others to watch— clothes to help pay for the damage wrought the kangaroo, the anieater, the twin pan- by Mooch's beast parade. Only his grand- das, the boa constrictor, the crow, and the on a hillside for wolves to raise. She kept father's collection of stuffed animals, pro- musk ox. These seven, plus the monkey, escaping, but the orphanage people kept tected under the law as family heirlooms, were all that remained of the thirty-nine hauling her back because she was only had been saved. When he crammed these

beasts he had constructed for his Spinks ten years old. But if somebody would take moldering trophies into the little rolling go- Animal Circus. One by one they were leav- custody of her—some old man, say, with house he had bought with his prison-leav- ing him, slinking away in the night. Where a steady job and a clean police record ing bonus, there was barely room enough could they possibly go? they would be glad to get rid of her. inside for his stove, workbench, and bed. He imagined the grizzly bear shoulder- "As a matter of fact;" she said, gazing The city gave him a job repairing robo- ing its way onto the pedbelts among com- around with shrewd eyes at the walkways cops. "Don't make no mistakes," advised

muters with briefcases, the python coiling and pens of the disney, "I wouldn't mind one of his workmates, also an ex-con, "be- its great length into elevators, the elephant staying here, livening up this place." cause next time they arrest you, you don't

blocking the doorways of shuttles at rush Orlando knew right then he was in trou- want them going haywire and frying you." hour, the gorilla swinging from balcony to ble. He had,never found the nerve to ask Although Orlando frequently bungled his balcony. None of them had ever been a woman to live with him and had never dealings with people, he hardly ever made

caught and returned to him, even though been permitted to breed; so he had no mistakes when it came to machines. Within his name was clearly stamped on the con- mate and no offspring. The children who a few months they promoted him to fore- trol panels. He was afraid to ask the police came to browse through the disney set up man of the maintenance crew and gave for help because he had already run afoul currents in his heart like the motions of fish. him his own shop, where he could tinker in of the authorities several times —and all on So when Mooch popped out of the lion's his off hours. First he built the lion, in mem- account of Mooch. mouth and offered to let him adopt her, ory of Mooch. Next he built the monkey,

Mooch was a sore point for Orlando. In Orlando was doomed. The orphanage had rigging it with, all the smarts he could put fact, she was several sore points, He had him filling out forms for six weeks before into it just so he would have somebody to discovered her some seven or eight years they surrendered- the girl into his care. He talk with during those lonely hours in his ago. back in the glory days when he was framed" the certificate that declared him to shop and at night in the cramped house- engineer of beasts for the Oregon City dis- be Mooch's guardian and hung it on the bus. Then he went on to construct a rhi- ney. When he came upon the girl, her legs wall of his workroom between a moose noceros, a gorilla, the two pandas, a Ko- were kicking in the air, and her top half was head and a swordfish. modo dragon, an abominable snowman, a stuffed inside the jaw of his principal lion, Thinking back on his year with the girl, unicorn, a griffin — every beast, in fact, for a —

collec- population chiefly gawking Wildness onstage! Secrets ot the woods somebody else might yell halfway which his grandfather's taxidermy The — through "How can there be grumbling? They're He made discreel inquiries in Ihe neigh- tion or claimed to provide— youngsters and hawking oldsters was revealed!" Only when the price dropped the gala performance inside the rented hall. off." provided— — all turned borhood, referring to the escaped tiger in or skin. (Even !o Orlando's amateur mildly intrigued. When the yellow bus and to fifteen and the ringmaster in despair be- It was discouraging. People "I head had no eye for hear what I hear, boss," said ihe mon- the vaguest terms, to avoid scaring peo- in neigh- gan climbing info his bus did a few people eyes, some of the specimens appeared blue trailers glided to a stop a art and even less of an eye for nature. key sagely. ple, but nobody had seen anything what-

rather if borhood, loudspeakers blaring with circus step forward to buy tickets. Early in his second improbable, as they had been season a heckler Limping back to investigate, still wear- soever crawling about on all fours. Or- crowd would gather. The These rare customers later reported to cried, all patched together out of scraps from var- tunes, a skeptical "Is that they do, jump around and ing his white ringmaster's tuxedo, which lando was slumped A tiger, even a spindly, balding, white-haired man who friends that there wasn't much more to see growl?" Orlando ious antique animals.) shouted back, "Did you was beginning to fray along the seams, mechanical tiger, could not just go mean- inside show than they had already The monkey he left running all the time, climbed down from the bus and an- at the expect them to maybe play the organ? Orlando listened outside each of the three dering unnoticed through the streets. voice seen for free on the sidewalk. The liveliest for the sake of its chatter. But the others nounced himself in an age-cracked Glow in the dark and sputter like fireworks? trailers, and sure enough, through ihe alu- A tew days later the myslery multiplied, part of it was the scrawny ringmaster, this Drive he could fire up only one or two at a go to be Orlando Spinks. ringmaster, was not motorcycles?" After some weeks of minum walls there came a low rumbling, for a gazelle and a griffin vanished during Spinks, who waltzed and because there was so little space for ihe much of a showman. But once he got Orlando ca- such heckling and after wrestling with his like the burbling of an upsel stomach. one of Orlando's affernoon naps. hooting hollering about vorted among his sluggish beasts. He bal- conscience, beasts to do their tricks inside the bus. "Not cranked up, and Orlando reprogrammed his "What are they saying?" he whispered to "Could be they eloped, hey. boss?" said of his beasts, he on the back of a zebra, wrapped beasts room enough to swing a cat in," his father the wonders mechanical anced to perform such foolishness and the monkey. the monkey, trying to cheer him up. half-bad. himself in a boa constrictor, made a tiger would have said. Certainly not room wasn't He wore white boots, white worse. The pandas now played duets on "You got me by the big toe. boss." Orlando was not cheered. He was enough for a gorilla to beat on its chest tuxedo, while fop hat, and purple bow lie. jump though a hoop. The audience the organ. The cheetah's spots and tiger's turned "Who them on?" The monkey downcast, He was mystified. It could only in at time his lumbered down yawned. The more they yawned, the more stripes now blinked off without hammering dents the neighbor- One a beasts on and tike neon gave its shrug. When Orlando flung open be a judgment on him for having made fools from the trailers, ambled onto frantic the ringmaster became, revving up signs at shuttle ing animals. As soon as he had saved the ramps stops. The orangutan sped the door of the first trailer, a hush fell over out of his animals, and now they were their turns. sat his to higher and higher speeds so its enough money. Orlando bought a trailer to the sidewalk, and did Bears beasts about on motorcycle like a maniac, The the beasts. "What are you all chattering abandoning him like sailors jumping ship that twitched through their routines in hitch on behind the bus, then a second up, lions roared, elephants chomped bales they dragon swooped through the air, blizzard- aboui?" he cried. No answer, only a heavy to escape a mad captain. of rings, matter of seconds. When the rhino thrust ing the with trailer and a third. seaweed, dragons blew smoke a audiences Styrofoam snow, shifting of limbs. Angry and more than a He doubled the locks, shortened his rabbits did cartwheels. "All authentic!" the its horn through the trunk of a plastic tree Waving its long snoul like "You ought to take that show on the road," a baton, Ihe ant- little frightened, he rushed down the aisle naps, and slept ai night sitting up in a La- Ihe angling for ringmaster yelled while skipping among and stopped dead, as if shot in its tracks, eater tossed rings at the unicorn, advised ex-con, who was which throwing swilch after switch until every last Z-Boy chair in Ihe middle trailer. But still gnawing on its own neatly the foreman's job. "and see what you can them, prodding the beasts with his whip, and the wolf began caught them on its horn. beast was stilled. "You keep a sharp eye," Ihe beasts stole away. While Orlando was again thwapping one of unruly hind leg, shorting wires and producing a Even though the milk out of Ihe rubes." now and his audiences, aitracted by he told the monkey, "and if anybody comes counting up Ihe skimpy gate receipts after skull. billow of acrid smoke, Ihe audience stood these antics, "That's exactly what I'm going to do." pets over the unbeasily were larger and messing around with them, give a howl." an evening performance, both the gorilla the ringmaster yelled, "it's not more Orlando replied. But no sooner had this sidewalk show up, "Wait!" attentive for a while, Orlando took lit- "Right you are. boss." and the big-fooled, shambling Sasquatch He painled spinks animal circus in bold begun than the while-suiied ringmaster half over yet!" tle joy in his success. Mooch would hale Later ihai night ihe tiger slipped away, disappeared. That reduced his menagerie trail- his scorned menag- him for scarlet letters on the sides of the bus and was herding the beasts back into the Orlando loaded up what he had done to ihe animals. Ihe first of his animals to desert him. to twenty-three beasis and reduced Or- the three trailers. He furnished the trailers ers, crying "See the whole show inside! erie and drove the caravan to a new neigh- His ears burned from just imagining what Swearing up and down that it never saw lando himself to tearful repentance. It was with pretty might with grass-colored rugs and plastic trees Tonight at eight! Tickets only a hundred borhood, There he met much she say about these shenanigans, [he great cat slink off. Ihe monkey advised, indeed a sign. Mooch had warned him kids fancier and inflated stones to give the effect of Cs!" When no one stepped forward to buy the same reception. "My got "You want things watched, you ought to againsl violating nature, and here he had wildness. everything was ready he a ticket, he lowered the price to ninety dolls than that!" somebody might yell dur- "There's grumbling back in the trailers,. build When a dog." gone and done it, jusi lo put on a gaudy -then fifty— all the while bellowing ing the tease performance on the side- boss," the monkey reported quit his job a! the robocop shop and set eighty— to him one "You know, I mighl just go and do that show. Immediately he began reprogram- jungle! walk. show gonna start?" thai out to astonish the population. "Mechanical marvels simulate the "When's the night during second season. someday," Orlando threatened. ming the animals, erasing their tricks.

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The audiences dwindled. Who wanted the future and saw only a great dark hole "What I'm saying, boss, is when you to pay to watch a herd of grubby animals his entire menagerie run off, the empty slung those lariats and noosed the pan- ironed sit around and scratch imaginary fleas? rented halls echoing to his solitary voice. das, why, the crowd was wowed. You After a while, only hecklers showed up. out the wrinkles in their ticker tapes." They ignored the lazy beasts and focused In the weeks following the lion's depar- "It's kind of you to say so." the their mockery on (he fidgety little ringmas- ture, all the remaining beasts except the "Nilly dilly, boss," proclaimed mon- ter in his threadbare tuxedo. He strayed twin pandas and the monkey stole away. key, which exited by_ swinging nimbly from among the beasts like an overgrown lab- Orlando sold the last trailer and moved the the light fixtures. oratory rat nosing through a maze. The on- remnants of his circus into the bus. He Perhaps he was only getting old, but Or- lookers flung taunts. at him, and he flung could not do anything very flashy with two lando could understand less and less of them right back. He was plucky, you had slow-going pandas and one sassy mon- what the monkey said. It was spending too street to give him that much credit. While the cir- key, but he tried putting on a show anyhow. much time jabbering with kids on the cus animals lounged and gaped and Four drowsy bums made up the audience, corners instead of watching the menag- snored about him, the ringmaster danced. and they sat through the performance only erie. Mooch would have been able to He juggled plastic coconuts. He twirled his because Orlando had given them a bag of translate for him. She always had an un- baton, He performed tricks of derring-do popcorn along with the free ticket. Once canny rapport with the beasts. Thinking with butcher's knives and bullwhips. At the the popcorn was gobbled all four began about her, Orlando felt a cold wind whis- conclusion of his act he removed his top snoring. Orlando shut off the lights and left tling through the corridors of his heart. She hat to make a sweeping bow, and the them in peace. The pandas and the mon- had kept him young, right up to the mo- houselights struck reflections off his bald key shambled out behind him, nylon joints ment when she made her escape. For the scalp, sweat stains showed beneath his and aluminum ribs showing through rents ten thousandth time he found himself won- arms, his legs trembled with latigue. Oc- in their hides. dering what had become of the girl. After casionally a few onlookers would clap Later, when he was soaking his feet in a drilling through the wall of the city, she halfheartedly. But more often Orlando tub of hot water, the monkey scampered might have found shelter in one of the out- would hear the scuffle of departing feet. in on a mission ot consolation. law domes that floated on the ocean After his performances he would put his "You were dynamite tonight, boss." nearby, or else she might have made her liked to animals away in the one remaining trailer "Yeah— that's why they fell asleep," said way by boat to the mainland. He he had sold the other trailers and two thirds Orlando. think of her living in one of the rebel com- of the plastic-wilderness furniture to pay "Only at the very end, boss. You had them munities on the Oregon coast, red hair in his bills—and go sit on the bus, worn out, fagged out from clapping. You razzled defiant pigtails, feet bare, hunting in the heartsick. He didn't even bother locking them and dazzled them. You wore down forest with bow and arrow, tracking wild animals. he tried to imagine the wilds, the beasts away anymore— if they were so their buzz buggies. You tuned their eye- When eager to go, let them go. bulbs for them." all he had to go on were the pictures he Some nights he tried to think ol new "Buzz buggies? Eyebulbs?" Orlando had gleaned from video and old books, taxider- tricks. Other nights he let himself think of asked, bewildered by his pet, and the tales his grandfather the mist used to tell about what things were like before the Enclosure. Orlando hoped the air was no longer poisoned out there, the water no longer foul, the soil no longer radioactive so that Mooch could live a

healthy life, an animal among the real an-

imals. He wondered if she ever thought about him. She would be only eighteen or nineteen, primed for' life, sniffing the breezes. Why would she bother to think about an old man? Orlando gazed down at his pink toes. There was water dripping steadily from his chin into the tub.

He was still sitting in this mournful pos- ture when the twin pandas sauntered up from the rear of the bus. They drew near the tub and sat back on their haunches. He hiad never rigged them to speak; so they gazed at him in silence, four dark, melancholy eyes. Feeling a bit foolish, Or- lando pulled his feet out of the water and squished them down on the linoleum. "What are you two after?" he asked, just to break the somber silence. The twins gathered into their faces all the primordial sadness that pandas seem to have been designed to show. "You can't be after juice,

you rascals. I just charged you up." Orlando was on the point of calling the monkey, which could often interpret these melancholy silences, when the pandas quit gazing at him and set off waddling down the aisle. Instead of returning to their com- partment; however, they shoved out through the front door of the bus into the alley. Speechless, Orlando walked over to the window, leaving wet footprints on the gone. He felt old, loose in his skin. So what mouth. "What girl?" Orlando cried. The linoleum. He drew the curtain open a crack if they were deserting him? He would hold monkey's eyes grew larger and larger. Or- and peered out. The monkey was in the gothing against its will, not even a me- lando peeled the paws away from its lips. of the alley middle with a wrench in its fist, chanical beast. "Come on down now," he "I said, who's this girt?"' stooping beside an open hatchway and said quietly. "They'll rip me apart if I tell," the monkey waving impatiently at the pandas. As they "You won't unplug me? You won't undo whimpered. waddled to a halt beside the hatch, the my screws?" "I'll rip you apart if you don't!" Sitting up monkey opened the control panel on each "I won't. Promise." with a lurch, Orlando grabbed the monkey panda's chest and punched buttons. Orlando sagged onto his bed, lay back by its frail shoulders and squeezed. Fierce yellow lights came on in the pandas' against the heaped pillows, -drawing a "The Liberator! The one who led our eyes. Orlando's own eyes opened wider comforter over his bare legs. The monkey ancestors out of the disney!" and wider with a sense of outrage. The swung down from the ceiling and squatted "Mooch?" said Orlando, incredulous. monkey bent over to whisper some last beside him on the mattress, Its fuzzy, tri- The monkey trembled, yanking its head in message their ears, and then down the angular face loomed a hand's breadth up and down, "She's what they ran off to."

, pandas went, beneath the pavement and above his own. Orlando heaved up from the bed, toss- into the bowels of the city. "Hey, boss; don't blubber like that." ing the monkey onto the pillows, He limped Just as the monkey was tugging the "It would take more than a bunch of mu- from one end of the bus to the other, hunt- cover back into place on the hatch, Or- tinous machines to make me cry," said Or- ing for his socks, lifting the suspenders into lando flung of open the door the bus and lando with stiff pride. place with his thumbs, roaring "Where is charged into the alley. "You crummy pile "They made me spring them loose, boss. she? No— don't tell me—show me!" and of scrap metal! You walking sack of rusty They threatened me." hopping into his shoes, tying his purple tie gearsi You traitorous babble box!" "The pandas?" with shaking fingers. "Come on, move that The monkey hoisted the wrench over- "The pandas, the lion, the griffin —all of furry tail!"

head and clutched it in both fists if to ward them. They said I breathed a word to you, From its throne on the pillows the mon- off blows. "Whatever you're thinking, boss, key regarded him with an expression com- you got it all wrong!" pounded of terror and hope. "You mean "Wrong!" Orlando yelled, scuttling in a we're going to Mooch? Right now?" furious circle around the monkey, looking "Right this minute." for an opening where he could punch the "It's a long way, boss, and hard."

because I'm old? Thief! Rustler! I bet that's can make it, I can make it." turned up at where they've all gone, sneaking away un- "You're going to get your duds all filthy." der the city!" the corners like the eyes of "Who cares? They're rotten anyway." "Hey, boss, lay off! Listen a minute!" foxes. Whoever "We'll need a light and some food, and "I'll lay you out, is where I'll lay you! I'll you maybe better juice me up," said the had hatched her out into put out your lights!" But the monkey was. the monkey, growing excited, but Orlando was with quick the wrench, and Orlando could world had been already in motion, seizing an electric torch, land no wallops. stuffing grub into too cheap to get her fixed^ a satchel, hooking the Just then a robocop came trundling into charger to the monkey's electrodes. the alley, headlamp swiveling to fix Or- A short while later they were climbing lando and the monkey in its glare. A thought down through the hatchway, Orlando feel- of how he must look—bare feet, trousers ing for the rungs with his feet, the monkey rolled up to the knees, suspenders dan- clinging to his neck. They paused long gling from his wajst, white hair slung out in they'd come back and shred me into little enough to drag the cover back in place a ragged aureole about his gleaming bitty pieces and feed me to the recycle above their heads, As they made their way pate —sobered Orlando immediately. chute." The monkey crawled onto Orlan- down the echoing passage, the monkey "Problem?" said the robocop. do's stomach and clung to the rumpled skipping ahead with its eyes ablaze, Or- Orlando patted the monkey on its shoul- front of his shirt. "You won't let them do me lando thought fleetingly of the yellow bus der. "No, no, Not at all. We're just out for that way, will you, boss? I never told oh parked above, spiwks animal circus painted exercise." some them. You spied out the truth for yourself." on the side, its doors unlocked, and he "Loud exercise," the robocop remarked. Running a hand over the monkey's small hoped somebody would steal it. Or let the "And late. It's 0200 hours." skull, Orlando said, "Nothing's going to hurt robocops haul it away. He could let it all "Is it indeed?" said Orlando, forcing a you." It unwrapped its paws from his shirt go, and gladly, for now he was on his way, laugh. He grabbed the monkey by one paw front but kept its seat on his belly. With a the last animal to desert his own circus, and dragged it toward the bus. "You lose martyred tone, Orlando asked, "Did they headed for Mooch, track of time when you're having fun." all go down into the pipes under the city? "My boss is going to tear me down into Even the elephant?" Every now and again during that long screws and gears and CPUs," "We had to take the elephant and the meander through the tunnels of Oregon Orlando gave dismissive a laugh. "One hippo apart. The gorilla carried them down City, Orlando's body recollected its age of our little jokes!" in pieces. Even then it was a tight fit." and the time of night and sat him down "Kindly joke indoors," the robocop in- "And what do they plan to do down there unceremoniously. While on the floor Or- structed. It kept the headlamp focused on under the city? Start a junkyard for worn- lando noticed a foul breeze flowing in the them as Orlando lugged the 7 monkey into out beasts Who's going to juice them up? direction of their travels. It smelled of ex- the bus and slammed the door. Who'll keep them running when their gears haust fumes and clothes dryers and ne- While Orlando peeked out from behind freeze and their circuits short out?" glected refrigerators. He decided the pas- the curtain to make sure the robocop was "Oh, she will, boss." sageways must be drains for sucking away rolling away, the monkey jerked free and "Who will?" the city's used-up air. Fortunately, there was clambered- up among the light fixtures. "The girl,.you know. She's almost as tricky a thin current of fresh air near the ceiling; "I can explain everything, boss. Just with tools as you are," so by walking tall he could avoid gagging. promise you won't undo me." Orlando lifted his head from the pillows. All the monkey cared about was getting to Orlando turned around. The anger was The monkey slapped both paws over its Mooch. Whenever Orlando sat down for

CON-INL JFD ON PAGE 112 73 — ;

DAWN OFA NEW ti*ui£Et)miu*it.

i rains from the lop L of a reactor cl ies high. A gunlike H£§33 pellets of nuclear-fi the through the falling spray. At end of this cen- ry it will provide enough as the mixture — supply

million people. But pa ically, the payoff in fus

ergy for home and I walls. The rays r layers of the pellets violently, exerting a

bombardment, the center of

' i pellet heats to four times the temperature at the center of tf & Lasers will first be used to set off the explosions of H-bombs the size of sand grains3

In Livermores lase' piogram, the am- and at New Mexico's Los Alamos National plifiers use large, dark-purple slabs of glass Laboratory, the nation's centers for the de- containing the element neodymium. The velopment ot hydrogen bombs. Lasers built slabs are surrounded by flashlamps. Just at these labs will first be used to set off the before the laser fires, the flashlamps blaze explosions of H-bombs the size of grains with light; the flash stores energy, this time of sand. The resulting microexplosions will in the neodymium atoms. The laser pulse resemble those of full-size bombs, pro- following the flash causes this energy to ducing strong bursts of radiation. be released as additional laser light. But the scientists who are building these By alternating amplifiers with pinholes lasers don't think of themselves as H-bomb and their lenses within the laser arms, re- designers. For one thing, each explosion searchers can boost the energy in the pulse in their labs will be no more powerful than as high as they want while maintaining a the pop of a firecracker. And many of the clean, focusable beam. After several such researchers are looking ahead to the day amplify-and-clean cycles, each arm comes when the mass detonation of tiny fusion- to an end. The laser beams in these arms fuel targets will be routine and cheap, when are now at full power, ready for focusing their laser devices move quietly into the onto the pellet, The rays strike the target country's power plants. from as many different directions as there For decades many of our most valuable are arms in the laser. technologies have grown out of military re- Such descriptions of the inner workings search. Some of today's commercial jetlin- of lasers don't give much of an idea of what ers were originally designed as Air Force the devices actually look like. The world's transport and tanker aircraft. The micro- largest, at Livermore, is called Nova. Many chip, the heart of any computer, was de- - of its components are in a room the size of veloped to meet the needs of the Air Force' gymnasium three stories Minuteman ICBM program. The explora- a high-school high. Within it are two tall frames built from tion of space owes a debt to early military steel beams, reaching nearly to the top and work in rockets and missiles. The Air Force painted a dazzling white. The frames are has already used airborne lasers experi- then enters an "arm" of the laser, a train of the .laden with intricate instruments. Along two mentally to shoot down small missiles, a amplifiers. These amplifiers boost while these of the walls are sets ot holes, each more step toward the kind of "star wars" tech- power in the subpulses. But than three feet across, to let the laser nology President Reagan suggested in a subpulses are being amplified, they lose remaining pre- beams pass through. All the gear is as speech last March. sharpness. Rather than flare out like flash- clean as the fixtures in a hospital's oper- In their preliminary forms, the huge la- cisely focusable, they after stage of ampli- ating room; visitors wear white booties over sers of the future bear little resemblance light beams. So each their their shoes, and they don nylon jackets to to the trim laser guns of science fiction. It's fication, the beams are cleaned up, re- keep from bringing in dust. But this isn't easier to compare today's most advanced fuzziness removed and their sharpness laser in each the Nova laser itself. It's merely the laser- lasers to a house of immense halls and stored. To do this, the beam lens and passes beam switchyard, where beams are turned chambers with all of its plumbing showing. arm is focused by a in metal plate. The main and focused to enter the target room. The The beam is born in one chamber, in a through a pinhole a of goes through, but the frames hold a set of mirrors to redirect the master laser of low power. It produces a part the beam sur- beams from the laser and its amplifiers. pulse of the proper wavelength and du- fuzzy smears of light hit the plate and are absorbed. The laser, next door, is in a long, open ration— a billionth of a second, for in- rounding the pinhole fresh from hall nearly large enough to house an in- stance. The beam has all the characteris- Each laser beam then emerges anew. door football game. Dominating the scene, tics needed to set off the fuel target except its pinhole, ready to be amplified At Los the chambers of each almost filling the volume of the bay, is a one. It is a million or more times weaker Alamos and steel lattice the size of a baseball grand- than the final laser pulse that will be fo- amplifier are filled with carbon dioxide is be stand, its beams and interlaced frames also cused onto the pellet. nitrogen gases. When the laser to sweeps painted a brilliant white. Along the length This master pulse is then split up into tired, a powerful beam of electrons lattice, engineers today are metic- subpulses by using beam splitters, par- through the gas. The electrons collide with of this store energy in the ulously assembling Nova's components, tially transparent mirrors that let half the the carbon dioxide and cylindrical pipes holding amplifiers pulse go through and that reflect the other molecules. Then, when the laser pulse blue mole- and filters. The pipes resemble oversize half in a different direction, Each subpulse comes through, it triggers the gas for cules into releasing their stored energy, versions of long telephoto lenses cam- additional laser light, eras and convey a similar impression of Above' A welder works on a portion of Liver- which comes off as precision cost. Nova represents nearly more's Nova system. {Photo by James Sioots) amplifying the original pulse. and CONTINUED ON PAGE 155 JHftk H

' )iK

CITIES The Caves of Steel to Blade Runner, science OF TOMORROW fiction has shown us futuristic cities as potent symbols of tomorrow's technology. Not everyone BY CHARLES PLATT ilt's seductive to imagine a monster metropolis spangled with Sights under a neon sky3

can imagine conquering an alien world or exploring interstellar space. It's easier and more seductive to see ourselves settled in a metal meiropolis spangled with lights under a neon sky. Almost 100 years ago H. G. Wells predicted vast, Utopian cities as an answer to the social evils of his time. More recently writers have dwelled on darker visions, as in Thomas M. Disch's bleak 334, where

social ills are overwhelming and inescapable, or J. G, Ballard's High Rise, in which a huge new building spawns a collective insanity that leads to riols, rape, cannibalism, and death. Colin Hay's paintings (on these and the previous pages), which include giant towers of concrete and glass with pinnacles poinling toward infinity, don't necessarily offer practical solutions to the urban

ills predicted by these modern science-fiction writers. But Hay's dream of massive geometric dwellings gliding on calm, blue seas provides a hopeful counterpoint to pessimism: The urban worlds he creates

"' 3

-W^i'* it the triumph ot technology over the natural world. Ian Craig envisions tomorrow's cities as enclosed steel habitats broken free of the restraints of gravity and drilting endlessly through the sparkling universe (above left). The outer shell of the space me- tropolis may be cold and hard, but once a city has been built, we

know life is possible within. Even if the city rests on a foreign planet

whose atmosphere is hostile to human life, its inhabitants could exist comfortably in the complex towers, serviced by soaring ramps and shuttles bearing needed supplies from other worlds (in John Harris's painting, left, and Angus McKie's metropolis, above right).

The lure of the city will always retain its power. Maybe i! would be a recipe for madness to eliminate the natural world and take our cities

into space. Still, such visions call out to us, and their power is proved by the way they keep recurring in fiction and art. The lure of future cities is as deep rooted as our fascination with science itself. DO

»lt would be madness to eliminate the natural world and take our cities into outer spaced The eyes are the

mirrors of the mind. One time I watched a male lion die after a fight with another

male, and I saw the amber fires die from his eyes IRJTERV/IELTU

pursued by a bear. Exit, This famous Shakespearean To his role as a scientist, therefore, Schaller must add the stage direction has at limes been a reality in the life of responsibility of being an educator and lobbyist for conserva- fiefd zoologist George Schaller. In Schaller's tion. case the Dollars for conservation are not easily won. But if the com- pursuers have also included a gorilla, a lion, a tiger, and many plex demands of his chosen course discourage him, his quiet other wild beasts. It's all in a day's work for ihe director of the confidence coolly masks whatever pressures he feels. For his Animal Research and Conservation Center (ARC] at the New conservation efforts he has received many national and inter- York Zoological Society—the Bronx Zoo— in New York City. An national awards, including the 1980 World Wildlife Fund's Gold award-winning author on wildlife, Schaller has sludied birds in Medal, that group's highest recognition for strides in conser- Alaska, gorillas in Zaire, tigers in Nepal, jaguars in Brazil, and vation. Schaller shrugs off the kudos, preferring to talk about most recently giant pandas in China. A National Geographic endangered animals and the people who inspire and encour- television special earlier this year documented his study of the age his work, like his wife, Kay. endangered panda. As a zoologist. Schaller has gained great Although Schaller's work as a field zoologist is confined to respect, but his ultimate goal is to protect the animals he studies strict scientific methodologies, his writing reveals a dimension from the droning roll call to extinction. II is against this ecological of deeper understanding, a feeling of kinship with the animals holocausl that Schaller fights a multifront battle. he observes. His Serengeti Lion received the National Book

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN MUTH . Award in 1973, and Stones of Silence you soon won't have any left to study. At (1980), written in a sharp, crisp mountain best, you'll have some fine obituaries. style that blends his skills as a naturalist Explaining why you are doing some- with his descriptive images, is a fascinat- thing involves' your whole psychological ing account ol wildlife in the Himalayas. basis, your whole being. If you really like Having heard about Schaller's numer- observing things alone for hours and days personality ous accomplishments and his jungle and and months and yearsA your has mountain adventures, Omni interviewer to be such that you basically enjoy being John Stein was prepared for a robust trek- alone. You have to be fairly self-contained. ker, replete in khaki safari suit and pith hel- Omni: If you could ignore any economic met. Physically, however. Schailer is an un- factors and could say, "X percent of the field," assuming figure— a modestly built, trim, year I would like to be alone in the well-toned fifty-year-old who likes to wear what would that percentage be"7

I sneakers in the field. "But his eyes hold the Schailer; I don't know how long could be power to snare you," says Stein. They are satisfied being alone to indulge my private eyes that have caught and held fleeting passions. I'm very fortunate in having a visions of nature few other people have had wife who is willing to come along with me;

the patience and determination to wait for. so there's a focal point, a base to which 1

Because ol his urgency to communicate can return at frequent intervals. But I like

off I like to. the serious consequences of species an- the feeling that I can go when

nihilation, Schailer granted this rare inter- Omni: If you had to pick one favorite spot view. But during the course of the long in the world, where would that be? conversation, the storyteller emerged, and Schailer: There are so many variables. For his meticulous attention to detail and vivid living conditions, lots of wildlife, and beau- recollection of events allowed the listener tiful climate, it's difficult to find a place bet- in 6tVe have expelled to feel as if he too were sitting side by side ter than the Serengeti National Park, endless space, mil- ourselves from the Garden with the cheetah or had glimpsed the young Tanzania. You have male panda, partially obscured by fog, high lions of animals. of Eden. Humans in a spruce tree. Once, after getting treed II you're looking for another kind of by a tiger he had surprised trorn its nap, beauty, you can look at the Virunga vol- have become outsiders. gorillas. Schailer remembers; "I clapped my hands canoes, where I studied mountain Nearly all the and said. 'Go away, tiger, go away,' and Thai's on the border between Zaire. the tiger got up like a big Saint Bernard Rwanda, and Uganda. The scenery is animals fear us. But that and wajked ott. Same with the gorilla." spectacular; there are forests, plains, ac- gorillas, needn't be. It's Perhaps it is the sense of identity that tive volcanoes—and you have the comes with sharing space with animals which are among our closest living rela- well known that animals during the long, solitary months in the field tives. But the weather in the mountains may who are not that inspires Schaller's dedication to con- be rather grim, providing a very different disturbed have no fear3 servation. The B.A, degree from the Uni- kind of beauty. versity of Alaska and the Ph.D. from the It's very difficult to say, "This is the place

University of Wisconsin cannot alone ac- I'm going to stay." Obviously I haven't found all count for his passionate conviction. After it because I keep searching over the

talking with him in his rural Connecticut world. For just what, I do not know. home. Stein could not help feeling that Any remote area will tend to give you a Schaller's dedication was something al- feeling of peace. You may have a lot of most visceral, that after too many months- problems, but you live from day to day, an away from the open terrain, Schailer him- existence very different from our modern self might experience a sense of being hassle here, where you are tense from caged. And that his obsession comes from things that happened in the past, that are having seen his own reflection in the eyes happening now. and that you are worried of so many vulnerable animals— a reflec- about for the future. When you are in the tion that mirrors us all, (On the preceding field, when you go camping, it takes you a page Schailer holds a lennec, a rare and while to shed some of the tension. little-understood African tox.] Omni-: What can we learn from the animal world that will improve the human condi- Omni: How did you originally become in- tion or even let human life continue?

terested in thg-work you do? Schailer; This is what it really comes down

If all most animals Schailer: I find this a difficult question to to. you exterminate or answer for the simple reason that, as far and plants, humankind will automatically

it's the only thing I've ever been die, too. Most of our food comes from an- as I know, imals plants. Approximately forty per- interested in. I started out in wildlife man- and agement. But wildlife management con- cent of all the drugs we use are based on sists mainly of raising more animals for animal or plant products. Preventing the hunters to shoot. That did not appeal to extermination of species is one of the most me. But then the field of behavioral ecol- basic, and probably the most urgent, is- ogy— studying the relationships ot ani- sues tacing us today. It's something most mals' behavior to the environment—be- people don't consider, because it's very came prominent, and that is basically what insidious. Species disappear constantly, I've been doing. My activities include a quietly, slowly, with seldom anyone to note conservation component—that's essential their passing. these days. Many animals are disappear- Omni: Approximately how many species

ing so fast that if you don'tconserve them, would you say there are in the world? that patch Schaller: Nobody knows. Certainly five Omni: Many people don't understand the cost millions of dollars for what forest for free. million (o ten million. Most have never been problem. They think we want to save an of has always done presented scientifically described. The ones that are endangered species because it's a nov- Omni: How can this concept be described are often the big ones that you elty to view the animal or because it's an to the public? live, everybody can see. But there are millions of others- adorable, cute creature. Such people are Schaller; Everybody has to to a short-term economic gain. insects, worms, microbes— small ones that not thinking about the angle of crucial con- wants make

"Well, if There's no way around it. People who are are still unknown. The same applies to servation. They're thinking, we don't often say, plants. Yet, they're disappearing at a tre- have any more pandas, that's unfortunate, against conservationists "You put

I don't think any mendous rate because their habitats are but people are starving in Bangladesh." animals over people." But being destroyed by human-population Schaller: Well, take the panda—since you thoughtful person does that. What you're really striving for is rational development, growth. Somewhere somebody is plowing brought it up. It's probably the animal peo- that life operates by biolog- up a swamp. In thai swamp, there may be ple love most in the world. Sure, we must the admission can develop also pre- a number of unique species that evolved save an animal like that for its own sake. It ical rules you and

it serve, it takes some forethought, an there in isolation. They disappear, and that's is unique. It is beautiful, and too has a but adjustment of values and priorities, and it that. Nobody will ever know about it. right to exist on this planet. There's an eth- trade-offs. A current ex- Omni: How fast is this extinction process? ical or moral imperative to conservation as takes some good is California sea otter. There are Schaller: Many species will be gone by the well, not just an economic justification. ample the that. approximately eleven hundred sea otters end of the century at this raie. It is esti- But it's even more than We use the in California. they happen to mated that thirty-five to fifty acres of rain panda as a symbol, a symbol of our com- left Because forest are chopped down every minute, mitment to the future. Similarly, India has eat abalone, the shell fishermen shoot them. Sure, the sea otter eats abalone. People will still say, "So what? We don't the tiger, and the rain forest, the jaguar. re- There's no question about that, and they need them." But if you took all the major One needs a symbol to which people the interests environmental issues that we have today- late—something to arouse empathy. If you impinge on vested economic otters also eat overpopulation; depletion of minerals, par- can preserve that animal in its natural en- of a few people. But sea sea kelp. In areas ticularly depletion of oil; soil erosion; turn- urchins, which in turn eat no otters, sea urchins ing pastures into desert—these are really, where there are sea much kelp that the kelp beds in the end, all secondary because we can have eaten so are virtually gone. This is ruining the kelp solve them. If we don't have oil anymore, I industry. Additionally the kelp provides think our technology will find some alter-

it end of living and when a bear hibernates he lives off his fat. tragic loss there. But by saving the panda continues will be the world His cholesterol levels are tremendously in those forests, Ihere is less of a chance the beginning of survival. The Is high, but tie doesn't have heart attacks. that the forests will be cut down. being totaled. Only internal pressure from Why not? So from a hibernating black bear Omni: Other than providing food and shel- everyone can change such an attitude. you've got two medical phenomena with ter for pandas, what do the forests do? Omni: What effectively generates this kind direct applications to humans. Schaller: Any mountain forest provides of pressure in the United States? Omni: What other examples can you give? watershed protection. China had big floods Schaller: One thing that makes conserva- country is the Schaller: The capybara— an oversized in Szechwan province the year before last, tion at all tolerable in this conservation orga- guinea pig —has an antileukemia factor in which were blamed on deforestation in the work of all the private nizations Sierra Club, Wilderness Soci- its blood. Sharks are remarkably resistant mountains. Once you have removed the — Defenders of Wild- to cancer. Just about any creature may ul- forest cover, the soil erodes, leaving the ety, Audubon Society, pressure on the timately benefit humankind. skeleton of the mountains. It takes millions life, and others—that put government. And God knows this govern- Now, if you go around thoughtlessly wip- of years to replenish the soil. ing these animals out, you can be sure that People are always worried about eco- ment needs all the pressure it can get be-

it worst attitude toward the future generations will hate us. After all, nomics. How much is it worth? In fact, you cause has the of any administration in this we've assured their poverty. If you plan to could, calculate how much it would cost, environment

It have the excuse remain on earth for a while, as we all hope for example, to purify the same amount of century. does not even of ignorance. other countries don't we will, we have no choice but to try to water that one square mile of forest, with Most involvement; change save as many species as possible. We its soil and roots, will filter for nothing. If have this private so difficult to achieve. Institu- must realize that there is a cost to all our you had to build a plant— a factory—to do is much more actions, that the responsibility for- the fu- such purification, ridding the water of tional indolence is amazing. various international ture is ours and ours alone. Everybody's. harmful bacteria and toxic wastes, it would Omni: What are the 88 OMNI '

It estimated lhat one male lion organizations, and how successful have for officials. But it takes time. When you are has been nearly half a million dollars in tour- their efforts been? a foreigner you are always a guest in a is worth most tourists Schaller: One organization with a very dis- country. Until people know you and know ist reserves for Kenya, since wanl a lion all else. tinctive approach is the World Wildlife Fund. that you are sincere and mean well for the io see above they are worried your mo- But few countries have spectacles that It functions as a fund-raising organization, country, about

it several years before you draw large numbers of tourists. And what and then it provides money for needed tives: so takes over- work. Conservation organizations do a can have much impact. We have some ed- of a major recession during which if on the most important service for their country by ucational projects for schoolchildren, as in seas travel ceases? No, they build alone, there is no monitoring the actions or lack of actions of the Sudan, because that is where you really basis of foreign tourism areas state and. federal governments with re- have to start. Oh, you can train a few gov- iuture for these areas. These have to people in the countries spect to wilderness. On the other hand, the ernment officials, and they can sign de- be managed by Animal Research and Conservation Cen- crees setting up reserves. But a reserve for their own people. Every country has a heritage important, or rather ter [ARC, at the New York Zoological So- is not going to survive unless people at the natural as cultural one, and ciety] emphasizes overseas research and local level are in favor of it. They hold the more important, than the 'conservation. Most countries do not have fate of these areas in their hands. it is encouraging that countries are begin- "1980 to in their remnants of wil- even one geologist in the field. Therefore, Omni: Around the U.S. Fish and Wild- ning take pride tenuous harmony between man those of us in ARC concentrate our efforts life Service proposed removing the leop- derness. A wilderness can be achieved if we mix in East Africa because of the wildlife there. ard of the Sub-Sahara African region from and But we do what we can with whatever the endangered-species list to make it le- idealism and realism. is working? A money we can raise. Until five or six years gal for sport hunters to import leopard tro- Omni: Where this Kenya's Amboseli National Park' ago most of our money came from the gov- phies to the United States. Previously there Schaller: In tro- people, need water tor their ernment. Now virtually none is from there. had been a ban on importing leopard the Maasai who Funding now comes from foundations and phies into the United States, thereby less- cattle, lead them to a beautiful spring in This being the only generous individuals. We often collabo- ening incentives to kill them. Doesn't this the middle of the park. wildlife drink there also. rate with the World Wildlife Fund, as in the water around, the tram- panda project. National Geographic has a The area thus becomes dusty and for the grant-giving program, and they're a very pled— not an aesthetic experience Western, staff zoolo- good organization to work with, aside from tourists. So David a Zoological Society, being one of the few organizations to pro- gist with the New York Ql got down on my program pipe the water out vide funds for overseas conservation work. developed a to of the area for the Maasai to use, thereby This is important. We tend to be parochial; hands and knees to lower separating wildlife and cattle. people want to support conservation in this my silhouette. country only. But the way things are going, In addition, every tourist who visits Am- boseli pays what is called a bed fee, A almost every country is becoming de- The cheetah kept looking other one. fraction of the total bill for staying in the pendent on every at me. I then lodge is given to the Maasai council to I read a startling statistic the other day: sat down quietly within six hospitals, and forth Forty percent of Americans don't see the spend on schooling, so relationship between poverty and environ- feet of him. And we for the Maasai people. This provides the Maasai with a direct economic return from mental degradation. A frightening stalistic. stayed there side by s/cfe* Obviously many Americans remain eco- tourism. They have water, and the tourists not logical illiterates. Look at Saudi Arabia. Su- have their pleasure. The Maasai may park, which, perwealthy people at play in the world's be completely happy with the largest sandbox. But based on what? On after all, traditionally belongs to them, but get a. enough return that they a nonrenewable resource. Once the oil is they good in of it. gone, there is little but sand. It's the same encourage hunters to hunt in countries less are favor you here. Once our resources are depleted and concerned with conservation? Omni: Where else around the world do of the environment is degraded, there's no Schaller: Yes. Each country decides for it- see signs progress? Schaller: example comes from a way we'll be able to maintain the American self what it wants open for hunting and what One delivered by Louis Alberto Monge, life-style. The wealth of nations lies in their it doesn't. Some countries have enough speech of Rica. He cited the im- soil, and countries are beginning to realize leopards so that regulated hunting poses president Costa resolving economic that. They are learning that they can greatly no immediate danger. But in others the portance of a severe modify. their environment only at the risk of numbers are critically low. And when one crisis while maintaining a deep commit- with national pro- I to a their own survival. Still they permit multi- country perm; is a log a expo'tof skins, then ment conservation national corporations to operate with few control is lost. Leopard hides have a way gram called "Return to the Land." restrictions— converting forests, stripping of crossing international borders illegally. Now here is a developing country with leadership. minerals, and depriving their people of a But of whatuse is a leopard slain? To dress a conservation ethic in its And administra- future because of sheer avarice. The mul- a few wealthy women'' To nail to a wall? A what do we have in our own tinational companies have a moral obli- disgusting idea in our age. Leopard skins tion? The blindness is scary. At least we fact is, gation to establish conservation programs look best on leopards. will soon have a change. But the by this administra- in the countries whose resources they take. Omni: Wouldn't these countries recover the attitude as shown They too operate on a principle of short- higher revenues from tourism —from peo- tion has considerable support among the or else [former Secretary of the term gain, however, even if this ultimately ple coming specifically to see. the ani- people, for example, would will cause their demise, mals — than from allowing a few sport Interior James] Walt, or Omni: What steps can be taken to change hunters to go in and shoot them? not have been able to be appointed sur- office. this situation? Schaller: The national parks in most coun- vive as long as he did in Schaller: Organizations like the New York tries can never be financially self-sufficient Omni: Aside from man's doing too much ' environmental Zoological Society try to work with local through tourism. Even many of the best- development, what single governments to develop imaginative so- known parks in East Africa are not. Foreign factor— lead, mercury, air pollution — most lutions to problems and then to lobby for tourists do"bring in money to "spend in the threatens the animal world? those solutions. We may try to establish a country as a whole—a significant contri- Schaller: It's simple habitat destruction. The resilient, is evident national park in a critical area, initiate a bution to countries like Kenya— but little ot earth is surprisingly as local-education program, provide training that money goes back to the parks. from the amount of pollution it has ab- 90 OMNI COMTNUED ON PAGE 168 Two visionaries of robotics and automation look to a future of silicon brains and automaton slaves CYBERSHOCK

BY ROBERT MALONE

There are never-to- supernovas, and a revi- be meetings we'd all long-awaited like to see: Albert sion of Asimov's Einstein discussing Guide to Science. the nature of the uni- And he recently pub- verse with Sir Isaac lished The Robots of Newton; Sandy Kou- Dawn (excerpted in fax pitching to Babe Omni's Oclober is- Ruth; or, somewhat sue), a science-fic- messier, General tion novel in the tra- George S. Patton dition of his classic /, going to war against Robot, the first in the Genghis Khan. Re- series of shod stories cently, the idea for that gave birth to the one such encounter term robotics. occurred to us, the first meeting between John Diebold Beyond coining familiar words. Asimov and Diebold and Isaac Asimov, two of the great practical theorists of proved to have many things in common, Both started ca- the Information Age Omni was able to arrange it. reers in one discipline and moved to related but distinctly John Diebold (above right) coined the word automa- different ones. Diebold started out as a naval engineer; tion. In 1952, m a book of that title (now revised in a 1983 Asimov holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia Uni- edition), he described for the first time in layman's terms versity and for many years held a post in biochemistry at the basic elements of automation and computer technol- Boston University. Bolh are fascinated by the history of ogy. More than any other work, Diebold's book awakened science in ancient China. Both are deeply concerned with executives to the promise of computers. Since then he the impact of technology on society and individuals. and his international consulting firm, The Diebold Group. The two met in Diebold's richly paneled and tapestried Inc., have been a leading force in the development ol New York apartment, a startltngly realistic re-creation ot business automation. Over the years his company's client Elizabethan England. Seated in the plush sixteenth-cen- list has included such corporate giants as ITT, IBM, Exxon tury drawing room, the two peered into the automated, Enterprises, Lockheed, Texas Instruments, and Xerox. robotized future. Will the new technologies displace hu- Isaac Asimov (above left) has been one of the world's man workers? Will they create a classless society? Or will leading practitioners of science fiction and popularizers they produce an underclass of humans so low that their of science. Extraordinarily prolific, he has published well status would be inferior to thai of machines? Will people over 300 books, in fields ranging from physics to the works become just another form of intelligence as machines of Shakespeare to biblical studies. He now has three non- evolve their own kinds of brainpower? All seemed pos- fiction books in production —one on robots, another on sible to these founding fathers of the Computer Age. Chatiing with wriler and robotics experi play R.U.R. [for Rossum's Universal Ro- a topic and then were free to pursue it. I Robert Malone and a group of Omni edi- bots], by Karel Capek? came in with the idea that someday the r would tors, the two visionaries traded insights: Asimov: Ycs, I was. The. word robot came diflerent parts of the factory be Asimov waxing philosophical, Diebold into being in 1921. Until then people had brought together into one automatic sys- often resorting to macroeconomic theory spoken of automatons. Robot caught on tem. Doriot felt that the project should be that de- and three decades of experience in big the world over, I believe it's Ihe word for very specific and suggested we business. What emerged was a fascinat- robot in every single language. It is a short sign a factory to make a piston, That is ing dialogue between two of the more orig- word, and everywhere but in the Slavic what we did. inal thinkers of our time. They started by languages it has no meaning; so it sounds Omni: It is interesting that you both had looking at their own beginnings. like science fiction. such positive attitudes toward automation Diebold: Does robot have a meaning in the and robotics. That was unusual at that time.

Omni: Isaac, can you start by telling us Slavic languages? Asimov: Well, I recognized that people how you came to coin the term robotics? Asimov: Yes. It means worker but with a would not necessarily embrace robotics stories Asimov: It was in a story, of course. It was connotation of involuntary service. with relief and joy. Many of my as- to per- sumed that there would be considerable in June 1939 that I wrote my first robot story, Omni: That meaning seems have

opposition to the robots. I called it the primarily because I d.dn't like the ones that sisted to this day. were being published. By and large there John, could you explain the origins of Frankenstein complex, a feeling that ro- were only two kinds. Some were works of the word automation? bots were dangerous and would mean a morality, such as Frankenstein. In these, Diebold: It seemed like the natural thing. I loss of jobs. men were not supposed to create artificial was writing a paper at Harvard Business In my stories generally, ihere were laws life but were supposed to leave it to the School in 1950. It was for General Doriot, against using robots on Earth. They were Creator alone. Therefore, any robot had a Frenchman who had enrolled in the U.S. used in space, in dangerous conditions only one function: to destroy its creator. Or, Army during the war and had worked for where human beings either could not or less likely, stories were works oi pathos. Vannevar Bush [an MIT scientist in charge would not work. In "Galley Slave" the use You have this poor little robot who is mis- of a robot on Earth was introduced quietly treated, and you are on his side. as a means for correcting galley proofs.

Sometimes that was rather effective, but Hence the title. I wrote it while I was cor- recting galleys for my next book. The whole it wasn't what I thought a robot story should be. A robot was a machine that would be story was set in a courtroom because Ihe / don't spell Earth, which was built with saieguards. So I wrote a story robots had been used on about a robot nursemaid who was loved well—i have problems with against the law.

full of I am not surprised that there still is op- by a child. It was palhos, but the my own name; so point was that the mother did not want Ihe position. There is very good reason for it. kid brought up by this nursemaid, which I shortened automatization, But we must be prepared as a species to

largely metallic. She was afraid it would pass through this difficult transition in a was / thought it hurt the kid. The husband explained that thoughtful and humane way. We cannot would be much easier to use the robot could not hurt the kid because it take the attitude that people who are dis- was made not to do so. automation, and placed should just die. Omni: This was decades before. the idea Omni: Which of these words, automation I could consistently spell it3 of programming was developed? or robotics, do you think people find more

Asimov: Yes, it was. The story was not suc- threatening?

it Diebold: I am not sure either one is partic- cessful. In fact, I did not sell for a couple ularly threatening. of years. I wrote another story, which was

sold, and then a couple more. In all of them, Asimov: I have a little piece of evidence the robots were machines with built-in of coordinating most of the university's re- that robots and robotics are not as fright- the ening as they might be. In casting asper- safeguards. Finally my editor told me I search programs -or government dur- would have to make this systematic. What ing World War II]. The correct word at that sions upon those congressmen who have control of the ninety- exactly were the safeguards? Together we point was automatization. I don'l spell given Ronald Reagan

worked out the Three Laws of Robotics. well — I have problems even with my own seventh Congress, the Democrats have

I of clones. Omni: Was that John Campbell? name; so I shortened the word. thought been speaking Reagan They

it easier to automation.. should speaking oi l-ioaaan robots: you Asimov: Yes. I wrote a story called "Run- would be much use be

it. everything. But around, "which appeared in the March 1942 and I could consistently spell have the alliteration and issue of Astounding Science Fiction. This Omni: Can you tell us how you came lo be robots is not a sufficiently pejorative term in to they speak of Reagan clones. was the first in which I quoted the Three interested automalion? apply; so

II I bad. Laws of Robotics. I did not realize at the Diebold: In World War was a cadet mid- Clones sound somehow time that this was the first printed appear- shipman in the .Vlorcnant Marine. After the Omni: As we enter the Information Age, or

it thai ance of the word robotics. war I went to the Merchant Marine Acad- the Postindustrial Age, seems many leaders are as frightened The Three Laws of Robotics, which I can emy. Two things particularly inlerested me: of the industrial quote in my sleep, are: A robot may not automatic control of devices used to help as the workers. Why bother with reindus- harm a human being or through inaction in aiming guns; and the fact that a ship's trialization at all? allow a human being to come to harm. A engineer had to be able to build every part Diebold: Many are worried about national in- robot must obey the orders given to- it by of the ship's engine with his own hands planning. [Francois] Mitterrand, for human beings except where those orders and very simple machine tools. The theory stance, has declared that the future of

would violate the first law. A robot must' was that if you. broke down in some god- France will depend upon information tech-

proteci its own existence, except where lhat forsaken part of the world, you would be nology. That will be the key to international would violate the first or second laws. able to make the missing part from raw competitiveness. The Japanese, in current

It lo their Ministry of Interna- I used the word robotics simply be- stock. occurred me that the automatic statements by thai cause it was logical. Most branches of systems being used to move guns could tional Trade and Industry, agree the physics end in ics: hydraulics, aerody- be applied to the machine shop. main determinants in international com-

namics, celestial mechanics, and soon. After the war ended I went to Swarth- petitiveness will be iniormation technol- So the study of robots became robotics. more and on to Harvard Business School. ogy. It is key to Japan's survival. Omni: Were you aware at the time of the Doriot'had a system in which you selected Omni: How about in the United States? 94 OMNI have been up creases occurring faster than can be ab- is less well rec- that vision. John Glenn may Diebold: I think Ihe fact more of Ihe sorbed. I think that more and believe that in- there, but — ognized here, but I do not more governments of the world realize the dan- leaders are trying to reject auto- Omni: But here on Earih we need dustrial enor- for the future? gers of population growth. There is mation. Again, though, they fear the specter thought Yes. should be thinking of the mous pressure being put on the concepl ol unemployment. Even in 1957. during an- Diebold: We should be making so that we of the one-child family. other recession, there was talk that auto- changes we ahead. need a big change Diebold: One of the grejat problems will be mation would put forty million people oul can all move We maintain a free society our institutional relationships to society figuring out how to work in the United States. This impres- in of of growth. We arenot and still move into this new era. Many sion of automation seems to cling to pe- in order to have this imagination to our institutions. tomorrow's tasks will require an enormous riods of unemployment. applying of an scale of effort; space ventures are an ob- Asimov: One reason the United States may Asimov: Sometimes the side effects great deal more event nothing to do with the imme- vious example. We need a be more resistant to these concepts is that have have robots that coordination within the society. If this is not we have been the leading industrial nation. diate purpose. Say you jobs too dull, too re- handled well the results will tend to be an- We have the feeling that we are tops and are intended to do of whether soci- petitive, or too dangerous for human tidemocratic, regardless that all we have to do is stay on top. So we leans toward the right or the left. If robots are really complex and ety do not feel the need lo change as much beings. To take the optimistic view, John, versatile, even humaniform, it kills fhe con- Asimov: as a nation well aware that it is behind. human beings must form a at the time the United Slates was formed, Diebold: Amitai Etzioni, who first defined cept that some that a nation is forced to do Frederick the Great doubted reindustrialization during the Carter servant class. If no person are truly approaching a so large could remain together for long. He Administration [as a senior economic ad- menial labor, we break up, and it classless society. thought it would have to viser], said that there must be a nationwide compared yourself to ro- almost did. The telegraph and the railroad, policy to guide business. Though Once you have industrial together important to compare however, made it possible to hold some people forecast a postindustnal era bots, then it is not so easier to a larger country and have a representative would be only services and yourself to foreigners. It may be in which there whether, as form of government. I wonder no manufacturing, Etzioni denied that we now develop a more complex govern- manufacturing will disappear. What we mental system, computerization will allow really need to do is to move into the new us to solve our problems and keep our per- industries. One of the difficulties in this is sonal freedom. the scale of change. Think ot all that in- of my it will, Isaac. We now £ Many Diebold: I think that dustry out there and what it would mean there would have many more options than we have ever to change it all. stories assumed had. But we depend upon a very skilled Omni: The stress in business and in soci- be considerable handling of those options in order not to ety in general seems to have shifted to- opposition to the robots. end up with an Orwellian society. ward intellectual and communicative skills Look back to the nineteenth century. and services as opposed to hardware. This I called it the There was a heroic scale to the things peo- is particularly clear in robotics and factory Frankenstein complex, ple tried to do: cross the continent, build and office automation. and railroads. All these were sci- that the canals Diebold: It interests me very much that a feeling accomplished with simple tools. Today it ence fiction has made an important leap. robots were dangerous.^ is hard to clear a line to cross the street, From being interested in technology, it has even with all the very sophisticated tools become interested in human and social that are at our disposal. questions. It seems to me that this leap has John F. Kennedy used lo tell of going into not been made in the real world. an almost vacant Senate chamber where The really important thing about this McGee was giv- all human benns as kin when you [Wyoming] Senator Gale technology is that automation and robotics accept difference between them and ing a talk from crumpled notes. You could are agents of social change. The most im- see the great to him and ask what he was about, It be. as some have said, that go up portant concern is how we are going to robots. may and he would say nothing. Yet Grand Cou- change our concepts— our ideas of time the Industrial Revolution killed slavery be- the the managed to get inanimate ma- lee Dam was built. Thai was way and our political horizons. The real world cause we after the war. chines to act as slaves. Now we wi" Senate was immediately is now international and interplanetary, but and the nation was servants and foreigners in the form of ro- When Kennedy died most people still perceive it in terms of how had already beings will finally be able to galvanized by his death, he far a person can ride a horse in a day. Our bots. Human picked out a site for his library memorial. concepts are. tied to a different era, To- be just human beings. at think this robot-in- The power of the Kennedy family was day's problems may require a very differ- Omni: When do you to society will appear? its highest. Yet, it was impossible move ent time scale to be understood. duced classless jobs disap- a car barn to ensure the site of the me- We must also change our institutions in Asimov: It might come as the It took almost a decade to get four- provided we make it through the morial. order to cope with these new problems. pear— successfully and do not teen communities to agree on the new site You cannot just stick to the rules of Har- transition period that barn a decade in which inflation School. The big change of end up viewing the unemployed as sub- for — vard Business reduced human beings or even as sub- raised the cost of the library and science fiction, refocusing from technol- standard robotic human beings. its scale and importance. ogy lo its meaning, has not yet occurred contrast between the experiences Omni: Is something like a subrobotic class The in our real world. of the early Fifties, when there were still We mighl gain by involving science-fic- of people possible?. of heroism, and later, when just It an extremely unstable vestiges tion people and scientists with those who Asimov: would be paving a street became nearly impossible, I would not wish are Irying to apply automation and robot- society and one in which should be a lesson to us. In the nineteenth ics technology. Years ago we brought Isaac to be apart. . with enough vi- City is to have century there were people and Fred Pohl to speak at a Diebold Group Omni: Mexico expected inhabitants by 2.000, and sion to say that a project would be impor- research meeting to consider real futures thirty-one million throughout the tant to the future. Today we have one hun- that are possible. We ought to invent better- the population is swelling anything in will all those people do? dred mechanisms to stop ways to mix these people into the fabric of Third World. What of the transition may Washington or in any other capital. We need society. In the Senate dining room, where Asimov: The problems have intelligent trade-offs. That is Ihe breakfast recently, those guys need well 'be exacerbated by population in- to I had 96 OMNI - '

- key to the successful of all this ' use science pactness of Ihe brain I think we might. w'll make mistakes now and then. and technology. farther How much do we need to go? I Suppose you could computerize a hu- Omni: Although the World Trade Center was do not think that in the future we will stick man being just to the extent of preventing constructed in New York, the Second Av- to the three-pound limit. Our bodies run on him from making those stupid mistakes. enue subway was never completed. Is it a nerve impulses that do not go very fast, Now he would play at a great intuitive level mix of economics, politics, and social fac- whereas in a computer we may go toward all the time, and no computer would be tors that causes that sort of failure? Are the speed of light. We could have an ob- able to touch him. This would be a small these obstacles increasing? ject as dense as the human brain but, say, patch job that "would -produce something

Diebold: I think they are, half but they also have a mile long, and we'd still be able to much better. This is the sort of experience a cyclical characteristic. II is interesting to send information from one side. to the other we might look forward to. look at the Japanese model, where we can as fast as it goes from one side of the brain Diebold: Going beyond that kind of phys- see a different culture and what kinds of to the other. ical merger is the possibility of creating things are If possible. you have a vision, Diebold: John von Neumann, of course, biological machines more versatile than Ihe the way you do things is different. came up with a sequential computer. That Von Neumann machine. I am sure we are Omni: Is it possible to get ourselves out of is just one way to mimic human intelli- going to proceed to biological computers our cycle? gence, and it is not like the way we think. or biological components that make up

Diebold: I think it is controllable. Politically All our computers" today follow that one systems. I suspect that these things are we need to understand what the problems concept. That cannot be the end of it. going to happen in the near future.

are— the real institution?! 1 problems, as op- Someone soon will come up with a non- Asimov: Let us assume that everything that posed (o whatever happens on the news Von Neumann machine that could be. far impinges upon the senses is permanently tonight. If the is of blackout, news a the more powerful. recorded and that our difficulty is in re- fundamental problem is that Asimov: we should We tend to think of intelligence as call — in tapping this immense tapestry we have -recognized the for single need greater a thing. We measure it one way, with have. My own advantage over many peo- electrical capacity ten years ago. the I.Q., as if it were that simple. There ple is not that I remember everything but

Asimov: I wonder whether this is a symp- that I have relatively instant recall with no tom of the notion that Earth is crowded too difficulty, If we can find out how this total to anything. do No matter what you may recall takes place and how to duplicate

want to do here, it interferes with people this talent, perhaps we can adapt it to living there. Perhaps the next huge tasks, computers. It could improve them by sev- the next • The real world Grand Coulee Dams, are going to eral orders of magnitude. We need some be in space. Is now International and breakthroughs here, Diebold: How does our society rank prior- interplanetary, Omni: How do we prepare the next gen- ities? We can have anything we want il we eration for these changes? stay with it, but we usually off in but go several most people still Diebold: One useful practice is to look at directions at once; we're distracted by conceive of the things, that have not happened but whatever is most immediate. should. One of the big ones is the use of What kind of attention are it in terms of how far a we paying to all this technology in education. When a Ihe energy question at this point? There person can child learns about the battle of Jutland it are no cars standing in front of gasoline should all be there in three dimensions on pumps; ride a horse in a day^ so energy issues have no serious a screen in front of him. impact on the political process. We need We still teach in the pre-Gutenberg way, mechanisms for trade-offs priorities, on with script methods that were designed for Isaac. We need your kind of thinking on physicians and lawyers of the fifteenth these trade-offs. century. Nobody is saying that we need a " Omni: Are there inherent limitations to must be many varieties of intelligence. I system that will educate a child better and progress, say. in or robots computers or suspect that as we continue to develop more productively. Instead we have a call information handling? computers, we are going to have artificial to put some computers in schools. That is Diebold: People in the field of information intelligence of many kinds. Some will do certainly helpful, but nothing substantial is technology keep reminding us that com- one thing very well, and others will spe- happening in any sort of an organized way puter storage capacity is limited, And yet cialize in different areas. in the public sector. every cell of the holds human body the Perhaps none of these computers will- Everything is labor-intensive in the history of our entire biological organism and do human things very well. We will take our schools. Society knows science and how also the instructions needed to make that place as one more form of intelligence. We to build and distribute cieap products, but cell. When put a limit of we Ihis or that on may even come to recognize diflerent jt doesn't understand any of the important a chip, we should that acknowledge we forms of intelligence in human beings and things. People do not want to talk about carry around in our cells a much more ad- not be so ready to ascribe intelligence only this fact. We must first define the need to vanced ' and condensed system. We really to people who think like those who con- educate children to their fullest capacity. do not know how much tarther we can go. slructed the test. We have not learned to organize ourselves Asimov: We have a three-pound brain, Diebold: What aboul the merger of biology to achieve these social objectives. which contains ten billion neurons, and and information? instance, For a direct-ac- Asimov: I wonder if the problems of one each neuron is connected to a great-many cess link between a computer and the hu- segment of our society will help us solve others. We have an incredibly complex man brain. Are Ihere new, less mechanistic the problems of other segments. During telephone network, to speak, so made of forms this might lake? this transition many people will lose their microscopic bits, each- one made of mil- Asimov: Itis now clear that chess-playing jobs and need retraining. This will make lions of items much smaller still. computers can beat almost anyone be- adult education extremely important. Since* The brain has elements that function neath the grand-master level— not be- there will be few people to do the educat- down to the molecular size. are not We near cause they play good chess but because ing, we may be forced to turn to computers the molecular level If in computers. we the humans they playmake occasional for assistance We will enter the era of wanted to-build a machine as complex as blunders,, and the computer always computer-assisted education because of the human brain, God knows il how large catches them. It plays bad chess but with the need to retrain adults rather than to would have to be. Will we eventually be no mistakes. The human, by contrast, is educate children. able to duplicate remarkable the com- Jikely to play better intuilive chess, but he Diebold: Very possible. A great deal of CON-[|Ni.lFDONPAG_ 57 97 FICTION

Christmas started at school right atter we returned trom Thanksgiving holiday and took down the paper turkeys and pilgrims from the windows. The teacher sang 'Uingle bells. Santa smells, Rudolph laid an egg" all the while that he was supposed to be reprogramming my December reading assignment, and the computer printed out merry Christmas

every time I matched a vowel sound with

the right word, and bah. humbug whenever I

was wrong. And it said sak humsug a lot and didn't light up the observation board. We used the gold math beads as garlands for the tree because we ate most of the popcorn, and paper chains were for kindergarteners who weren't smart enough

to scheme to get out of lessons. Still, we had to listen to civic cassettes so that

we would know it was also the anniversary of the Christmas Treaty of 55 that brought

peace to all the world again. And to top it off, on the very last day before Christmas ourteacher improvised a lecture about how whole stations full of people had nowhere to go but back to Earth, their way of life taken from ihem by the stroke of a pen. The cassettes didn't mention that

part. I didn't think Earth was such a bad

place to go, but I didn't speak up because

I was eager to cut out prancing, round- humped reindeer with great racks of antlers from colored construction paper. I put glitter that was supposed to be used on TRACK OFA LEGEND

BY CYNTHIA FELICE

One Christmas morning a young boy discovers the truth behind an ancient myth PAINTING BY BOB VENOSA the bells on the antlers and hooves, and keep Bigfoot and everyone else out. The ways wanting to know if I ate my peas." the racks were so heavy that my reindeer's hill was treeless, acres of grass manicured Warrior Timothy was patting the card- heads tore off when I hung them up. After by rqbots with great rotary blades in sum- board elephant sled, making ready to re- lunch teacher said he didn't know why we mer and smooth as'a cue ball in winter. sume our journey in the Alps. were sitting around school on Christmas Perfect for sledding. The only trouble with "Why doesn't she come out of there?"

Eve day when it was snowing, and he told the hill was that Timothy's aunt lived in the "My dad says she's got a complex or us to go build snowmen, and he swept up shiny tin-can-lying-on-its-side house at the something from when she lived up there." the scraps of construction paper and cel- top. I knew she was weird because Timo- He gestured skyward again. luloid and glitter alone while we put our thy said she never came outside or went "What's a complex?" Christmas stars in plastic sacks and tucked anywhere, and my parents would shake For a moment Timothy looked blank, then them into our jackets so that our hands their heads when they talked about her. he said, "It's like what Joan-John and Les- would be free to make snowballs. But we had the cardboard sied in our ter-Linda Johnson have."

I My best friend, Timothy, and I took some hands, and he was pulling strongly; so "You mean she goes to the clinic and

of the gingerbread cookies sprinkled with guess he didn't care about his weird aunt. comes back something else?" I said, won- red sugar to leave in the woods for Bigtoot, The fence might keep clumsy Bigfoot out dering if his aunt used to be his uncle. then ran out the door and got pelted with but delayed us only a few seconds when "I mean she doesn't go anywhere." snowballs by upper-graders who must we snagged a ragged edge of the card- "But like to the consumer showcases have sneaked out earlier. board on it and had to stop to free it. Then down in the mall and the restaurant. She

Timothy and I ran over the new-fallen we climbed what seemed to be fourteen goes there, doesn't she?" snow in the playground to duck behind the thousand one hundred ten meters of ele- "Nope. Last year when her mux cable farthest fence, where we scooped up snow vation to a place a little below the odd got cut and her video wasn't working she and fired back. We were evenly matched house, where we finally rested, breathing practically starved to death." for a while, snowballs flying thick and heavy. as hard as ancient warriors who'd just "But why?. Is she crippled or some- Then the little kids came out of school and dragged their elephant up the Alps. thing?" The teacher had said he knew a betrayed us by striking our flanks. spacer who spent most of his time in a "The little brats," Timothy muttered, swimming pool, and when he did come out

throwing down a slushball. I suspect he he had to use a wheelchair because he was less upset that the little ones had de- was too old to get used to gravity again, cided to team up with the big kids than that "No, she's not crippled." one of them was crying and making his Q/Vejust knew "What's she look like?" way to the school building, and someone that Bigfoot came out in "My mother." was sure to come checking to see who Timothy's mother was regular looking; the dark storms was making ice balls. "Come on," he said, so whatever a complex was, it had nothing still feigning disgust, "Let's go build our looking for stray kids to do with getting ugly. The Johnsons own fort and get ready tor Bigfoot." to eat, and weren't ugly either, but they went through The creature of yore was not so legend- what my dad called phases, which he said that gingerbread cookies ary in our parts, where we kids often found was all in their heads. Maybe Timothy's footprints in mud after rainstorms and in merely whetted aunt's complex was like Lester Johnson's the snows of winter, especially in the woods Linda phase, but that didn't seem right be- the creature's appetite^ surrounding the school. The grown-ups just cause Lester-Linda came outside all the shook their heads and said someone was time and Timothy's aunt never did. playing a joke, that nobody wore shoes that "What does she do inside all the time?" big and that a real Bigfoot would be bare- "Works." foot, like in the video show. But no one really I nodded, considerably wiser. The old knew what Bigfoot's toes looked like. My Timothy's aunt's house whirred and public buildings were down in the woods

dad said even the video maker just clicked, and I looked up. There were no with the school, mostly monuments to waste guessed. We kids figured Bigfoot's foot was windows, but it had a thousand eyes hid- of space ever since we got our mux cable full of matted hair or lumpy skin that left den in the silver rivets that held the metal that fed into every building in the com- those strange-looking ridges. And we just skin over tungsten bones. munity. Most of the grown-ups stopped knew that Bigfoot came out in the dark In the white snow it looked desolate, save going to work, and they stopped coming storms looking for a stray child to eat, and for a trickle of smoke. to school on voting day, but we still had to that gingerbread cookies merely whetted "Hey, youraunt's house is on fire," i said. go, and not just on voting day. the creature's appetite. Timothy gave me a look that always "Come on," Timothy said.

Leaving the school behind us, we made made me feel stupid. "Her heat exchang- But the smoke fascinated me. It puffed our way toward the greenway along the er's broken. She's burning gas," he said. out of a silver pipe and skittered down the hoverpath, where the freighters sprayed us "I know because she asked my dad to get side of the house as if the fluffy falling snow with a blizzard of snow when they her a new one before Christmas." was pushing it down. It smelled strange. I whooshed by. "Does she come to your house for formed a snowball, a good solid one, took

"Look here," Timothy shouted, tugging Christmas?" aim at the silver pipe, and let it fly. at something he'd stepped on in the snow. "Nah, Sometimes she comes video, just "Missed by at least a kilometer," Timothy Both of us scratched at the snow and pulled like she used to when she lived up there." said, scowling. until freed we a great piece of cardboard. He gestured skyward, where snowflakes Undaunted I tried another, missed the

It frozen stiff. was were crystallizing and falling on us, but I pipe, but struck the house, which re-

"Let's go to the hill," I said. knew he meant higher, one of the space sounded with a metallic thud. I'd closed Dragging our cardboard sled behind us, stations or orbiting cities. "It's better now one of the house's eyes with a white patch we trudged along Bigfoot's own trail because there's no delay when we talk. It's of snow. Timothy grinned at me, his mind through the woods. You could tell the crea- like she was' in Portland or something." tracking with mine. She'd have to come out ture had passed here from time to time be- "What's she like?" I said, suddenly won- to get the snow off the sensors. Soon we cause branches- were broken back wider dering about this peculiar person who had had pasted a wavy line of white spots about kid than any could cause, and the path been a fixture in my community since I was midway up the silver wall. circled the hill outside a wire-and-picket little, yet whom I'd never seen. "One more on the right," commanded fence, and the gate was always locked to Tjmothy shrugged. "Like an aunt ... al- Timothy. But he stopped midswing when 100 OMNI "

being outdoors and his eyes as bright as we heard a loud whirring noise. Around the Timothy and I looked at each other. fluttering in the warm convection was still watching me. "It won't do tinsel hill came a grass cutter, furiously churning Mom currents of the house. I said finally. "We were up on snow with its blades. any g'ood," parents were firm about the grass I shrugged. My "Retreat!" shouted Attila the Hun. Tim- the hill, and Timothy's aunt sicced keeping the Christmas list up-to-date, and othy grabbed the frozen cardboard sled. cutter on us." that started every year on December We leaped aboard and the elephant sank "Why would she do a thing like that?" the fighting kite twenty-sixth. I still wanted to tell Timothy and I shrugged. to its knees. I didn't need Timothy into the list last March, and the I'll call her ask her to let you I'd keyed me to run, "Well, and his chair bicycle sail and the knife and the Adven- At the fence we threw ourselves over the get your glove," Dad said, rolling ture Station with vitalized figures and voice frozen pickets, miraculously not getting our to the comm console. the hundred and control. I also wanted two cutter got it," I said, more clothes hung up in the wires. The grass "The grass punishment for losing a glove eighty other items on my list and knew I'd cutter whirred along the fenced perimeter, willing to face tomor- be lucky if ten were under the tree thank goodness, by the limits than what might happen if Dad found out frustrated, would the before Christmas that we'd closed row morning and that some of them of .its oxide-on-sand mind. day for but be clothes, which I never asked "Ever seen what one of those things does her house's eyes.. she was getting crazier by always received. 'An Adventure Station," I to a rabbit?" he asked me. "I told you finally said, more hopeful than certain. It "No." the minute," Dad said. was the one thing I'd talked about a lot, but "Cuts them up into bits of fur and guts," "She isn't dangerous." like grass cut- Dad kept saying it was too much the Timothy said solemnly. "How do you know that? The Hovercraft Depot set I'd gotten last year. grateful ter, of all things." "Your aunt's weird," I said, to be be delib- "Me too," Timothy said, "and a sled. on the right side of the fence. "She has too much dread to Which should we play with first?" I for a second "Uh oh. You lost a glove," Timothy said. erately mean. don't doubt the terminal sled! I didn't have to go to turned to look that she knew a couple of kids could out- A I nodded unhappily and cutter, and what else could and ask for a display of my Christmas list over at the wrong side of the fence. Shreds run the grass to know that a sled was not on it. My old of felt and wire and red nylon lay in the one had worked just fine all last winter, but grass cutter's swath. I'd used it in June to dam up Cotton Creek We walked on, feeling like two dejected to make a pond for my race boats, and a warriors in the Alpine woods without our flood had swelled the creek waters and elephant and minus one almost-new bat- tmThe wide runners carried it off and busted the runners. Too tery-operated glove until we spied Big- late to be remembering on Christmas Eve, foot's tracks in the snow— big, round splots didn't steer very well as I believe in Santa Claus or because I didn't leading up the side of the wash. Heart- picked up Kriss Krmgle. Only in Bigfoot, because I ened by our discovery, we armed our- path had seen the footprints with my own eyes. selves properly with snowballs and told speed, and there was no "We should play with the sleds first," each other this was the genuine article. The in the snow. Timothy said, "before the other kids come was heavier now, really Bigfoot snowfall I'd I wasn't completely sure out and ruin the snow." weather, and we knew how much Bigfoot "I'm going to get a knife with a real L-5 liked storms, or we'd find tracks all the time. be on target crystal handle." We followed the footprints all the way to to make the fence jump^ Timothy shrugged. "My aunt's going to the Wigginses' house, only to find little give me one of hers someday. She has lots Bobby Wiggles in them, hand-me-down of stuff from when she was a spacer." boots overheating and making great pud- "Yeah, but my knife will be new. Then I'd dles with each step. see Bigfoot get away from me!" Bobby stood looking at us, cheeks like to "We can bring Bigfoot back on my sled," flushed from heat or stinging wind. Then she do? Go outside and ask them to go "Her heart Timothy said excitedly. He chugalugged if away?" Mom shook her head. he or she— I couldn't tell Bobby Wiggles leaving her the rest of his chocolate. "Early, right after was a boy or a girl— giggled and went run- would stop from the anxiety of presents. Meet me at the hill." ning into the house. liltle sanctuary."

at hill'?" I said suspiciously. But "She left the clinic fast enough when it "Why the Timothy and I stayed out in the snow Timothy was already heading for the door searching for Bigfoot tracks but found only caught on fire, and when she first came sanctuary as and pulling on his boots. rabbit tracks, which we followed in hopes back that was as much her now." "Best place for sledding." that Bigfoot might do likewise, since aside her spaceship house is to have enough "But what about your aunt's mower?" I from children there was nothing else for it "You can't expect her treat minor day-to-day in- said, whispering now. to eat in our neighborhood, and no chil- energy to every he reminded me as he stepped dren had ever been reported eaten. Big- cident like an emergency." "Early," him, holding back where she out'into the snow. I followed foot may not have been hungry, but we "I think she should go 1 the door open. "And bring your sled." had had only a few gingerbread cookies came from.' "What time do you open presents?" I since noon; so when the rabbit tracks "Hush, dear. We voted for the treaty." But if Timothy answered, 1 didn't hear. zagged near my house, we didn't turn "They ought to have sent them to L-5." said. — The snow was falling in fat flakes, and again. We forgot the rabbit and Bigfoot and "Couldn't, and you know talking his the wind had come up and the snow was I about walked the rest of the way through the Timothy and left them probably not heard the starting to drift over the hedges. Funny how ghost-white woods to my front door, where aunt, but I knew I'd all that white the problem it wasn't really dark with we kicked off our boots and threw down end of the glove. That was all around, and funny, too, how I wasn't so jackets and gloves. Mom and Dad were with sexagenarian parents; they knew our What good first set of kids, and they glad that it was coming down. in the media room in front of the kitchen the tricks from the the card- was it without a sled? I could use monitor, checking the Christmas menu. had very good memories. it again, which 1 chocolate, board if I could find "Go back and plug your gloves into the In the kifchen'we had- hot if it kept snow- doubted, for I could tell that recharger," Dad said without glancing up. slopping some on the puzzle my big sister

the rate I was seeing from my door- But Mom must have looked up because had broken back into a thousand pieces ing at half meter or more it way, there would be a she said right away, "Both of them," ' before she gave to me. the grass "What are you getting for Christmas?" by morning, which also meant "I lost one," I said. it got five cheeks still pink from cutter would get clogged before "Go back out and find it." Timothy asked me, his 102 OMNI —

meters from Timothy's crazy aunt's house. was even dawn and not caring that it wasn't and feel the stuff collapse beneath my feet

Timothy let it would me try his sled I pulled when they their had coffee and I put their and to stand under the tallest pines and it up the hill, 'cause if he didn't I wouldn't first presents to open in their laps. I wanted shake off the snow the branches, as if I lei him hold my L-5 cryslal-handled knife to open the red plastic-covered package, were in a blizzard and not in the first spar- if ... I got one. but I couldn't tear the plastic, big and my kling rays ol sunshine. I went the long way "Close the door!" my father shouted, and sister was hogging the slitter; I so opened to the hill, sure I would find traces of Big-

I closed it and went to bed early, knowing a smaller one with my name on it, A shiny foot early in tee so morning, and I did. Huge I couldn't sleep but wanting to because blue crystal that was almost mirror bright prints that were bigger than I could make,

morning would come sooner if I did, but not quite, I and so could see the steel blade even though they were filled in with new when it did 1 would not have a sled maybe in the — was package, and suddenly I felt snow, and the stride sure wasn't kid-size. not even an L-5 crystal-handled knife good about the snow, too, and about look- Besides, what grown-up would walk only an old Adventure Station that Timothy ing for Bigfoot even if we did have to carry through the woods on Christmas Eve dur-

didn't want to play until after lunch, it and back on Timothy's sled. I got the slitter ing I'd a snowstorm? follow them, I de- who cared about snow anyhow, even if it away from my sister and sliced open the cided, until I had to turn off for the hill, then did come down so fast and hard that it was Station, it Adventure only wasn't. I looked Timothy and I would come back and follow catching on my bedroom window like a at my parents in complete amazement and the tracks to Bigfoot's lair. But I didn't have blanket before my sleepy eyes. that saw they both had that special know- to turn off. The fat tracks headed right off

I woke to silence and the sure knowl- ing twinkle in their eyes that parents get through the woods along the same short- that it edge was Christmas morning. I didn't when they've done something you don't cut Timothy and I had used yesterday, know whether to look out the window or expect them to do. In the packing popcorn Timothy wasn't there yet, and because I check the tree first, under until I heard my was a new sled, the collapsible kind with couldn't wait to try my sled on the hill and sister in the hall and made a dash to beat a handle for carrying it hill back up the and not because I was afraid to follow the tracks her to the living room, where my parents a retractable towing cord three and runner alone, I stopped at the place we'd climbed had piled all the packages, with their red configurations so that it could be used on over yesterday. The snow had drifted along bows and wrappings, under the tree. hard-packed snow or powder. I extended the inside of the fence, almost hiding the The big one wrapped in red plastic had it to its full length right there in the living pickets from view. I figured that with just a to be the Adventure Station, though my room, its metallic awed by gleam and little more accumulation it would have cov- parents were famous for putting little items classy black racing stripes. ered the top, then my silver sled could carry like L-5 crystal-handled knives in pack- then wi-.n -mile And my snapped around me all the way from the top of the hill, over ages the size of CRTs, complete with rocks the outside of my jacket and my sled in the fence, and deep into the woods, where to weigh it down couldn't I I so you tell. hand, was off to meet Timothy, deter- the trees would provide a test of steering couldn't wait to find out for sure what was mined to have Bigfoot in before lunch- tow skill or a fast stop. I climbed the fence, sled in it, but I had to because my parents time. came The going was slow because the drifts in hand, then carried armfuls of snow to in muttering about coffee asking if it and tall I were and loved to break their peaks the highest drift, scooping and shoving until Anew Shure phono cartridge can improve your sound more than $800 speakers.

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You'll hear more from us. the tops of the pickets were covered. When rected just before hitting the big drift. The aunt! Maybe her house had ears as well

eyes, I and shouted, over, I along (he downside of the as and shouted I was satisfied Ihe sled would glide sled skidded snowballs at her looked around for Timothy, who mighl still drift and into a hole. I hit on something that promising I'd never throw

again. 1 thought that all the blood in I hard, hurt be opening his presents for all I knew, then sen! me flying. came down and house

hill. crying, my body was pooled behind my eyeballs, I started to the top of the I was only a upside down.

if I tears It realize that I wasn't cried again my would be little bit wary about the grass cutter, for I took me a minute to and

I to cry again because figured it would get clogged if it came out badly hurt, just scraped and bumped here blood, and wanted in the snow, but you never know what else and there, and stuck. My head felt funny, I knew that Timothy's aunt never would a crazy lady who sent out grass cutters to almost like someone was choking me and come because she never wenl anywhere. hack up kids might have. But the little house pressing against my skull, but it wasn't so And then in the stillness of the morning, hear in the snow- I there nothing to at the top was almost completely snow bad that I couldn't see once stopped when was

crying, 1 heard what covered, and there was no sign of smoke. crying. But I couldn't get loose. I could get packed world but my Either Timothy's iather got her that new heat hold of the fence and turn a bit but not sounded like an animal breathing into a exchanger or she froze. enough to unhook my foot, which was firmly microphone — a very powerful micro-

At the top of the hill, not too close to the wedged between two pickets as far as it phone or a very big animal.

I I held listened carefully, house in case she was just sleeping and could go. Try as I would, as nimble as my breath and

in I watching the woods, terrified that the crea- not dead, I extended the sled, putting the was, and as desperate knowing that runners in their widest configuration to keep was quite alone and there was no one to ture was lurking there behind the snow-

I I covered bushes. But hanging upside I "loose. was me atop the deep snow. I climbed on and send for help, could not get to took off, the Teflon bottom gliding like ice shouted for Timothy, prayed he would come down, and it took me a moment realize on ice, and the wind stinging my face, and out of the woods and get me loose, but he that the sound was coming from behind

hissing. I turned wildly and my heart beating with joy at the sled's never came. I cried again, and my tears me, closer now, speed on its very first trial run. Only trouble froze, and the plug in my mitten power pack pressed my face against the pickets to see was that ihe wide runners didn't steer very must have come loose, because my fin- what was on the other side. gers cold, too. woods were things A towering hulk. well as I picked up speed, and there being were The frozen the sky, the Shoulders like a gorilla. no beaten path in the snow, I wasn't com- with icy tentacles to and pletely certain I'd be on target to make my sun reflected brightly off the snow-topped White as the snow. The wide Breath making great clouds. fence jump. I pulled hard to the right, and world and made me cry again. tracks. the sled came with it sluggishly, but enough expanse of sky looked vast and forbidding Feel leaving massive confirmed worst fears There wasn't a doubt at all in my mind so I started to think again that I would make and somehow my within mil- that I'd finally found Bigfoot. and it was more the jump. I could see the pickets on either that there was no one but me a

I side, and those would make a paintul stop, lion klicks. And I wondered how long a per- awful than anything had imagined. quite willing live Didn't do I screamed and struggled, but 1 was going to make it and know what son could upside down. they

It leave loot behind in the fence, if only it was like to fly on a sled for a few meters, that all the time out in space? had made to my

weird oh, that were possible. I tried to unsheathe my I Timothy's or I would have known if hadn't overcor- Timothy's aunt but,

it in the It knife, and I dropped snow. was

it, within reach, and I might have retrieved but the massive creature grabbed me by my coattails and hefted me up. With my

I nIMUMiMtj foot free I kicked blindly, and must have hurt it because it finally put me down. The fence was between us, but its hands still gripped me by the shoulders —smooth hands without fur, white and slightly slick looking, except there were wrinkles where Hw\ gi^i" lour the joints ought to have been, and those were like gray accordion pleats. I stood, dazed and dizzy from being on my head so long, staring up at Bigfoot's shiny eye. Her face was featureless but for the eye, and she still hissed angrily, and she had a vapor trail drifting out from her backside. She let.go of me, reached over to pick

up the L-5 knife, and twirled it between her thumb and forefinger. The crystal flashed

in the sunlight, just like the ads they'd filmed

it on L-5. She flipped it, and I caught two-

handed. I backed away toward where my

sled lay, didn't bother to collapse it, but

grabbed the cord. I ran for the woods.

When I looked back, Bigfoot was gone, but her tracks left a clear trail to the des-

olate little house at the top of the hill, where Christmas was wholly a video event, where Timothy's crazy aunt would rather starve to death than come out for food. And

sometimes when it snowed, especially

when it snowed on Christmas Day, I climbed over the fence of her universe to wipe the drifts of snow off the eyes of her

house. It fell like glittering Christmas stars, peaceful again for all the world. OO homosexuals are not necessarily ex- As to the future role of psychology in fhe cluded from spaceflight. U.S. space program, no one has a clue. » Heterogeneity. Future crews will com- NASA has no immediate plans to form a

I CON r:J-JJ I HOVHiGLX prise not only both sexes buf also people team similar to the Soviet Group for Psy- entitled "Living Aloft: Human Require- of different cultures. The resulting differ- chological Support, even though the ments for Extended Spaceflight" summa- ences in altitudes and priorities could be agency seems to be gearing up for long rizes the team's findings from Soviet and a source of friction. According to Czech missions on a manned station. In fact, the American space missions. The report atso cosmonaut Vladimir Remek, cultural "men- question of wfiether behavioral science

compiles data from many different sources: tal features disrupt the harmony among should be involved in spaceflight at all is submarines, oil rigs, distant weather sta- crew members." People of different back- extremely controversial within NASA. Mary tions, Antarctic bases, fallout shelters— in grounds and occupations may also rub one Connors, like any behavioral scientist worth short, any remote environment where men another the wrong way. The U.S. space her salt, has a theory explaining why,

and women are closed in and cut off and program has already experienced dissen- NASA, she points out, is composed must cooperate to survive. sion between astronauts from the military mainly of engineers and physicists— peo- Although none of the Earth-based stud- test-pilot tradition and scientist/asfro- ple dealing with technical issues. "The

ies exactly replicate the conditions in orbit, nauts. On the British research vessel R/V rocket either works or it doesn't," she says. certain events occur in isolated environ- Bransfield, military and scientific minds "The social sciences are a great deal more ments with sufficient consistency fo form clashed over a refrigerator. The scientists ambiguous," Finding a niche for psychol-

a general picture of the problems likely to needed it to preserve biological speci- ogy in NASA will depend on increasing the arise on long spaceflights. mens; the sailors were used to keeping iheir space agency's "tolerance of ambiguily."

During the initial phase of the mission, beverages cold in it. When a scientist re- There is some evidence that this may be there is a good deal of anxiety as the crew moved fhe drinks and locked the door, the happening. At the Johnson Space Center, adapt to the unusual living circumstances. sailors broke in and threw the specimens in Houston, a group of medical doctors and Members overshare personal confidences overboard— an action thai cost $50,000 spacecraft designers have come together and quickly learn everything there is to and a doctoral dissertation. to address the habitability of the proposed know about one another. Later on, this good Crew selection is further complicaied by space station. And the Marshall Space- fellowship evaporates as close physical a lack of adequate testing procedures. In flight Center, in Huntsville, Alabama, started relationships and a resulting lack of pri- the Antarctic and in the Tektite experi- a project nicknamed THURIS—The Hu- vacy magnify annoying habits and differ- ments, psychological tests failed to pre- man Role In Space— to closely examine ences in atfitudes. Pent-up frustrations find dict the behavior of either the individuals some of the more important psychological release in hostile behavior, usually aimed or the teams. The Ames group explains variables fhe Ames group has pinpointed. at outsiders such as the spacecraft com- that these tests are usually designed to "We may never be able to nail down the municators at mission control. eliminate candidates with psychological truth about human behavior in space," Once the mission becomes routine, disorders. We have no reliable way of iden- concludes Connors, "but we can dispel

boredom sets in. The crew become de- .. tifying positive mental qualifies. some of the ignorance." DO pressed and lose motivation, and morale reaches a low just over halfway through the. flight. As the end approaches, they be- come emotional, aggressive, and danger- ously rowdy. Depression may vanish and morale may recover, but social withdrawal continues right to the conclusion.

It should be emphasized that this is only a behavioral model for groups in space; these psychological events are probable, not certain. The likelihood of each event depends on thousands oi variables. These are some of the most important: • Neurophysiology. Some neurological properties may boost human performance in orbit. For instance, there is evidence that people whose right and left brain halves are symmetrical —that is, neither side is dominant— are better problem solvers. The Soviets have also found that a regular cir- cadian rhythm helps cosmonauts mainlain a productive work cycle. Sexuality. As space crews of mixed gen-

der become more common, there is every

possibility that all the sexual problems that plague humanity on Earth —jealousy, love triangles, spurned suitors —will follow us into orbit. Promiscuity may have been the cause of one murder in an Antarctic sta- tion, and the same could happen in space. The antidote seems to be a healthy dose of professionalism and crews made up of "repressed heterosexuals," individuals who keep a tight. rein on their sexual feelings and get along with members of both sexes. David L Winter, NASA's Director of Life Sciences, has been careful to point out that VEGETOLOGY

wno inougni n orove away evil spirits, spent fortunes ir :j - onion necklaces for the men working on the pvram

leers are tinkering to r is technically a truit—-a si nonfmit in 1893 by the Supreme Court. At duty-free, and the court overruled the t Originally thought to be both he once-delicate tomato is now hardy enough to withstand mechanical pickers fA\ close relative of the tomato and the deadly nightshade, the eggplant was thought to b

1 and a cause of insanity by northern

soaking up cooking oil; in one Arab tale a prospective husband reqi — -~' s dowery include enough oil to cook his favorite i Irees to thrive. More likely it v ™ -pedes of apple, about 25 cultivated in the United States,

future? If the genetic engineers have their way, it could —

"Oh, no, boss. Mooch isn't camped out knife and slice cubes of it to swallow. in the wilds. She's downstairs in the rag- "You got a hitch in the get-along, boss?" CIRCUS AMIMAL5 and-bone shop." "No, I'm fine, just fine." Orlando heaved ilTINUED^ROM PAGE T-. "Where on earth is that?" himself upright, "Lead on," he said. He high-class for burned-out panted in the stale air. He wished he had rest it fidgeted constantly, running up the "The dump his chassis sides and across the ceiling oi the pas- juice-jewels and frazzled magic boxes." a few spare parts for own joints, say, right foot and sage, darting -glances forward, its head- Translating his monkey's arcane chatter, some knee and a pair of air bags for his lamp eyes casting spears of light. Orlando said, "You mean where they sal- a new ticker and a the orig- "How did you ever find her?" Orlando vage stuff from electronics junk?" wheezing chest. But he reckoned inal equipment would last him as far as the panted during one of these dizzy halts. "You got it, Mooch bosses the robos that been there once "She found us," replied the monkey. do the divvy-do. Tiger says she's got a electronics dump. He had

; field trip during school, and he re- "She found you?" workshop and , i parts warehouse that make on a with "One night at the show, there she sat, our old operation look like a jar of bolts. membered the conveyors heaped shattered appliances and mysterious giz- wearing a black wig and welder's goggles, After Tiger snuck back to the circus, I fired robots sorting through the junk doing the old incognito number. But we up all the beasts —to chew it over, you mos, the rows of cub- could see right through that getup. Tiger know—and we'd lay up in the trailers at and testing each scrap, the byholes with salvaged parts, the gave her the first squint, let out a growl, night and buzz on about Mooch and her crammed teacher lecturing them on the text of "Waste and in two ticks we all spotted her, The shop and about how she'd goose our gears little Mooch reign- Liberator! Her face did a kaboom in my for us and unkink our circuits and set us Not, Want Not." Imagine all that. memory. Just like the photos all over yoiir all purring." ing over "said Orlando ab- Would she even want to see him? he bus. A little older, but it was the number- "Of course, of course, wondered, limping down the tunnel behind one gal all right, Mooch the mysterious." sently, "She was a goddess to you. You'd have recognized him How could she have come so close and heard me talking about her from the day I the monkey, She must to the circus. And she must made no signal to him? Orlando won- made you." when she came these were that dered. Maybe he had aged too much and "Mooch ran in us like electrons, boss. have known whose beasts arriving at door Yet all this time she had taken him to be just some silly old We knew all the stories about how she'd kept her never said boo to him. And why man in a white tuxedo. "Then what?" sprung our ancestors from the disney. she had to the things pulled with the should she? What was he to her? Just a "When she saw we'd got her I D, she beat Compared she old-timers, the circus Podunk city." chump who had let her run loose in his- it for the exit. Old tiger slunk out and trailed was for a year when she was eleven. He her home, Ihough, and then came back "I see," said Orlando. He had filled them disney probably a joke to her, and she had and growled the directions in my ear, and with his own loving legends about the girl. was watch his circus merely to confirm I've been whispering them in everybody No wonder they had run away to her. The come to score. else's ears from that time on." air down near the floor where' he was rest- her judgment on that thicker Orlando's steps began to drag, His chest "You mean Tiger made it clear to the ing seemed to be growing and more Feeling more a fool, mainland and back in one night?" sour. Soon he would have to take out his burned. more and wishing he had never seen the pandas es- caping down the hatch, he said to the monkey, "So you all conspired to steal away. one by one, and desert your maker?" Over its shoulder the monkey muttered, "A bunch of pure-D ingrates, right, boss?

If we had to eat loyalty, we'd all starve, that's for sure." "Then why did you stick around?" The monkey cut its eyes round at him, a blinding glare, and then looked ahead

down the tunnel. "I thought about hightail-

ing it, but you'd croak if we all ran off." "You could have told me about Mooch long ago." others to "Like I said, the threatened

shred me if I squealed." "Bui why did they care?" "They figured you'd lasso them and stick them back in that rinky-dink circus."

"It was pretty wretched." Orlando con- ceded. Feeling about as low as he could, wanting some reassurance, he said. "But you were going to stick with me no matter

what, even if that meant being cut off from Mooch forever?" "Not forever, no. Jus! until you cashed in your chips." Each of Orlando's feet was beginning to

feel as if it had a bale of wire wrapped

around it. He shuffled along painfully. "And

Mooch never sent word back that ' should come? She never sent any of the beasts to fetch me?"

"I'll bet if Thomas Edison could have seen this house, he would have "Well, there was one thing," the monkey disinv_en!ed the light bulb." said reluctantly. "A message? What was it? What?" Even — "

as he shouted the question into the echo- stretcher and then onto the makeshift pal- smoothing Ihe wrinkles as if the skin were ing tunnel, Orlando knew ho would not want let in her workroom, at how little of him there a letter that has been folded too many io hear the answer. was. She remembered him as being enor- times. His eyes twitched beneath the lids In a grudging voice the monkey whis- mous, a filler of doorways, and she lound but did not open. She felt deeply ashamed, pered, "She said don't any beast date tell it hard to believe that this dwindled, doll- thinking of the pain she had caused him. you where she was. because she was light man was Orlando, the lather she had During the year she had lived with him in afraid o! you." ruined. What was left of him seemed aw- the disney. loving him and afraid of loving,

"Of me?" Orlando ground to a haft. fully tough, like a dog bone with all the meat wriggling to break free of these strange "Afraid and ashamed. She'd been cruel and gristle worn away. new bonds of affection, she had tor- as cruel to you, she said. The beasts all "He made me show him the way, mented him in every way her adolescent told her you'd never breathed a mean word sweetie," the monkey whined from its re- mind could imagine. about her in all our days. And she said you doubt among the packing cases. "He's a Despite the shame, Mooch always weren't the sort to talk mean, but in your holy terror when he's riled." looked back on that year as the one lighted heart, you just had to hate her." Mooch had to laugh at lhat, but softly, window in the gloomy streel of her fife. The "Me hate Mooch'' All these years she's leery of waking her patient. Orlando was years before had been spent in the or- been imagining that?" the most peaceable soul she had ever met. phanage, and the years since had been

Orlando sagged against the side of the Whatever else might have changed in the spent first in the wilds, the glorious wilds tunnel and just sat there. The air down near seven years since she had destroyed the for which she had hungered, the poisoned the floor seemed thick enough to chew. It disney and abandoned him to all his trou- and filthy and murderous wilds; next in a smelled of parking lots, overheated cir- bles, his great sea ol gentleness could not juvenile reform school after she had sur- cuits, the ravaged trays in cafeterias. He have evaporated. But could even so deep rendered herself: and finally here on pa- imagined that millions of people had al- a sea wash away the taint of her cruelty? rale in the bowels of the city, supervising ready breathed this air and left in it what- "I'll jerk a knot in your tail later, Mr. Mud," the electronics dump, living solely in the ever they had no more use for—the wool she said to the monkey. company of machines, which she had long of worn-out thoughts, the poisons of the since teamed to prefer to the company of heart. The monkey jumped around him, people. A single bright year amid eighteen tugging at his elbows, jabbering in that in- dark ones— a single kind man among the comprehensible street lingo. When the regiments of the heartless. And she had monkey's lit-up eyes played over his out- been too stupid back then to realize what air stretched legs, Orlando noticed the stains, QThe was a treasure she had uncovered. the ragged patches, the holes where his thick enough to chew. Mow here he lay on her workbench. Why blue knees showed through. It used to be He imagined had he come? For seven years she had quite a fine tuxedo. He could not remem- longed and feared to see him. Only once ber now just why he had bought it, but there that millions of people had she worked up the courage to go in had been a good reason, he was certain. had already disguise and watch him from the crowd Sitting down felt so good that Orlando de- during his circus performance. It was all breathed this air and left cided to lie flat, and he did it in one sly she could do to keep from running down glide, rapping his head on the floor. The in it whatever into the ring and seizing him in a hug. But monkey's jabbering played all around him she afraid would cold they had no more use for3 was deathly he turn a like a gang of kids yelling, and then it was eye on her or even look away—he had gone. He breathed in gulps. He imagined every reason to hate her—and that rebuke the used-up air inflating him with its se- would put out the last light in her heart. crets, its kisses, its curses, its lies and mur- Each time one of his animals had come to murs. And he imagined himself swelling her during the past two years, shabby and with vapors, bursting up through the pave- She gave Orlando a few more whiffs of confused, telling her stories about Orlan- ment, rising into the sky of the city and oxygen to clean the poisons out of his lungs do's ridiculous circus, a new layer had been hovering there beneath the dome, an un- and then pulled the blanket up to his chin added to her guilt, like a winter's snow on forgettable sight, a cloud of memory. and let him sleep. His old face, as cracked a glacier. Once the beasts found her they and stained as an antique leather purse, absolutely refused to leave, even when she When light divided momentarily from was beautiful to her. The rim ol while hair tried programming them to go back to Or- darkness in Orlando's head, the first object encircled his bald scalp like Irost-covered lando. They seemed to possess an elab- to appear was a woman's face, screwed bushes around a winter pond. orate mythology about her in which she up with worry, fox eyes uplilted. He blinked. "The show kept getting worse, " the mon- figured as a savior, a wonder mechanic, a "Mooch?" key said. comforter. Orlando must have planted the

The face disappeared, as if jerked away "You hush," said Mooch. seeds ol that mythology with kind words. by a rope. "It was pathetic. An old clown and his But what unspoken bitterness did he keep "Mooch?" He ordered his muscles to fagged-out beasts." locked up inside? prop him up, ordered his arms to reach out / reduced him to that, thought Mooch. Orlando stirred, mumbled something, for her, but he lay flat as a sidewalk and To the monkey she whispered, "Why don't resumed snoring. The smile on his bat- felt about as tramped over. There was a you go mess around in the warehouse with tered face reminded Mooch of licking choking sound, a word caught rattling in a the rest of the menagerie?" honey from a spoon. She waited ner- throat. His? Hers? Then he felt a hand on "They'll hammer me into a cookie sheet. vously. When he had called out her name his chest, just where the burning had been "I told them to leave you alone." a few minutes ago he was still groggy, and so fierce. Mooch— or a dream of Mooch? "I want to stay here and see the boss she could read nothing in his face. As soon Orlando yielded once again to the bullying when he wakes up." as he awoke she would bend down to show

- darkness before he could decide. "Go," Mooch hissed, "or I'll reach down herself to him. A glance from him would

Mooch it was, all right. The monkey had your throat and grab your tail and yank you either push her away or draw her once fetched her—Orlando had passed out inside out." again into the orbit of his love. within a "hundred meters of the dump The monkey scrambled away into the Orlando, meanwhile, was dreaming of his and she had come running with go- storage bay, where the refurbished circus beasts. One by one they were returning, stretcher and oxygen tank. She had been animals were milling about. Mooch bent their pelts shiny, their eyes lit up with a se- amazed, lifting Orlando first onto the over Orlando and stroked his forehead, cret they could not wait to tell him. DO — —

FICTION

So she's chained to the wall

and has to save the world—can she help it if sex is the only thing on her mind? MONOLYTH BY JAYGE CARR

I didn't bother to pull on my chains. watched out of the corner of my eye I'm no dumb brain. You don't have while the Gorgeous Piece laid my

to tell three times. I me knew I tray of utterly nourishing pap on wasn't getting out of my friendly the float-a-table and sashayed out, neighborhood dungeon or my giving me one last flutter of out- lovely titanium chains—titanium is rageously thick lashes over huge in for chains this year—by any blue eyes before disappearing unaided efforts of my own personal with a last wriggle of the neatest bod. And no one was going to male rump it'd been my privilege let me out of there unless to watch in a dozen planets.

I And lo think, when I landed on was left alone, in my oh-so-solid this ridiculous rock of a planet, dungeon and my lovely, clinking,

I'd been complaining about titanium chains, to think it over.

boredom. Well, there's nothing Monolyth, ol' space eater. I told boring about being abducted, and myself for the nth time, you've gone (hreatened, and chained inside a down the gravity well once too

. dungeon. Still. I'd been in tighter often. Or, more accurately, picked corners, and— caveat abductor! up that one piece of pretty the ol' space chewer still had a space jetsam too many. good bile or two left in her. Should have known better. Even

But for the time being I merely without the opalescent body-do PAINTING BY WOLFGANG HUTTER —a —

— and the black starfires blinking coyly in his "He is not " Pause. Very deep breath. the damaged nerves, and set it all back golden curls, the Gorgeous Piece was— "He's an experiment that didn't work out. in, so you could never tell there'd been Gorgeous Piece. Whal did a veteran lem Useful for brute muscle work and for se- an accident, was it?" skypilot, one-eyed battered survivor of ducing idiot pilots that think with their—" I shrugged. The darth had been trying countless brawls, have to offer a bit of prime I couldn't help myself; I started laughing. for my throat; I ducked but not fast enough. choice male like that? I'd realized what kind of experiment had Not fast enough to save my eye, that is.

Now I knew, produced the Gorgeous Piece. Geneding- But you should have seen the darth after

The float-a-table nudged against my ling. Tricky work, even for a team of ex- I gol through with him. knees, and I glared down at a bowl full of perts, and I'd be willing to wager the Sane The Sane Scionissi loaned closer, stared "1 gray goo. I swallowed—and decided I Scientist had gone it alone. And used his in. knew there was nonorganic material wasn't hungry enough lo ea! the glop, yet. own germ plasm for the source, to boot. in the socket from the mediscanning. I'd

That was why the odd teeling ol farniliarily assumed it was prosthetics. I could tell it

I'd been staring at the current serving of when I'd first opened a reluctant eye to find wasn't an implanted component ... but it yecch for about twenty standard minutes Ihe Sane Scientist welcoming me to my own isn't prosthetics, cither What is it?" or so when the wall opposite me rumbled personal brave new dungeon. I'd thought "Some of what did the damage. Busted aside, with much creaking and groaning it was racial similarity, but they were closer bottle. The medics were afraid to do much (typical of mere matter), and the Sane Sci- than that. The Gorgeous Piece was the meddlmg. They left a bit." entist walked in, carefully staying in the Sane Scientist, younger, muscled out (but "Butchers. I could lix it so there wouldn't safe —that is, out of the reach of my not much; S.S. evidently kept the ol' mus- even be a scar." chains— hall of my little dungeon-cell- cle tone up, despite his work load), hand- I shook my head. Live with something away -from -home. somed up with a skill a sculptor mighl have long enough, and it's too much bother to

I snarled at him. envied — but something had gone wrong change. Besides, no telling what tricks he'd

He smiled, showing more neat, green in the brain department. You could pack be playing with my mind while I was "under shark teeth than any two humans are en- the G.P.'s brains in a space flea's head, the influence." Course, if that was what he titled to have. (Local mutation? Planetary wanted, he could have done it a long time fad? All I knew was, it made him look at ago. Like he'd already zonked my remote

least half as dangerous as I knew he was.) control for the Key, implanted under my left

"Changed your mind yet?" he inquired ear. Spotted it on his scan, and pfffft— one genially, in a deep, compelling voice that dead implanted remote control. Far as I Even though would have made anybody but a hard- * could tell, though, he'd done no meddling ened space sinner like me trusl him. I knew he'd seen it all with my think tank. I was still me, and in full

Now, I didn't believe for a second he control. I hoped. And he needed, he said, before, my fury could pull off what he claimed he could my active cooperation went If even with my help. But I wasn't going to nova. looks could He said. risk fouling up things for everybody else it And he likely to get it, too. Sure. kill, what he got was As he did somehow manage it. soon as the galaxy stopped rotating. Not even for the chance to be Number from my one eye would Two of the known universe. have stretched him

Especially if he was Number One. out on his dungeon floor. T> "Fellow skeet pilots," I spoke through a entist, the Gorgeous Piece, and I, doing smile as false as his own. "Would you buy aboard my skeeter, heading for the S.S,'s a used skeeter from this human?" prime goal in this life?

it "Stubborn," he said, but sounded Easy. I like my bod in one piece. I be- something like a compliment. "I could lieved the S.S. At least, I believed he'd do sweeten the pot," he offered. and they'd still have room lo rattle. what he said, once his patience ran out.

"You'd let me be Number One." I contin- He knew why I was laughing all right: no After all, there are lots of space pilots- ued lo smile. problem in his brain department. some of them almost as good as me. All

if I "I "Would you believe me said yes?" could," the shark teeth —filed, I de- he had to do was keep trying, until he found "Will you' let me out of this obsolete Ti- cided, for that very effecl— glittered hun- one (a) good and (b) willing. tanium Maiden if I say yes?" grily, "perform a vivisection on you—with- Besides, 1 was getting itchy, surrounded

"I might consider it." out anesthetic. My skill is considerable. I by all that old-fashioned non-f-lield matter.

"And return my Key?" I had to give him believe I could guarantee to remove every The Gorgeous Piece loved spacing; ho

all, points for subtlety; My Key— heart, soul, important part, nerves and and keep kept telling me so, until I was ready to clip control, and all of my skeeter—was there, them connected and alive. Especially the him one, gorgeous or not. at the far end of my dungeon, out of my nerves. Especially the pain nerves." And the questions he asked. "Do you chained-up reach but oh! so tempting a Heard that threat several times already. weally contwol all the ship twom this one " reminder. "Some pilot Itl be, spread out all over your contwol, Captain Monolyth?

"Under the, shall we say, proper condi- operating table, brain-drained." "Yes, dear." I patted one honey-gold tions." I could tell he trusted me as far as "True, you'd be utterly useless as a pilot. shoulder. "I really control all the ship from

I trusted him. But as an example, you'd be perfect." this one control console." Six times already

"And how, may I ask, are you planning I made one good try at pulling my wrists I'd told him the same thing. "My Key—this to sweeten the pot?" out of his so-clever manacles. Uselessly. console—controls everything, the speed

"An—advance payment, shall we say. He reached up, and before I could stop we're traveling at, entrance and exit to hy- With what you can't lake your shifty eye off him, flipped up the silver patch that cov- per, direction, everything." of, Captain Monolyth." ered my empty eye socket. "Master says it contwols the walls, too."

I sat back and thought about it. Gor- "Tsk. Butchery." His point, on my Achilles' "Master" was the Sane Scientist, lying geous the Gorgeous Piece certainly was heel. Even though I knew he'd seen it all on a force-field lounge I'd programmed for but. "You'd give up your tweetie, brain- before, my fury went nova. If looks could him, cuddling his own console (medical, drained? Sure you will! Tell me another kill, what he got from my one eye would mediremote, brain, and Wheel knew what sleepy-time story, Daddy," have stretched him oul on his clammy else— I didn't) to his chest, a privacy shield l.could hear him grinding his pointy teeth dungeon floor, permanently unrevivable. around his head so he could concentrate

together; gotten him in Ihe raw with that. "Now, I could clone you a fresh eye, and on whatever he was concentrating on. 115 OMNI "

The Key itsell is carry-size — barely. one out. Anyway, not to worry, that's what programmed this route myself, and the Key When on standby, with all shields in place, the transmuter was for, has an excellent auto circuit. I'll be warned ." it is a big, featureless box. (An arlisl amigo "Suppose . . . suppose . . He took a in plenty of time if anything unpredicted of mine once covered all accessible sur- deep breath. and got it out. "Suppose the turns up. So"— I pinched—the G.R's pouting bwo^nouts while we're twa- lip and pushed il back in "unless you wan! faces with the most ingenious porn. I finally enewgy gwid disappear to join the party, pulse off!" had to scour it off; too distracting.) veling —would the whole ship — Open and activated, it is a montage ot and leave us stwanded?" "Captain Monolyth " His medical- attached to his interfaces and instrumenfs. When using it, I didn't understand for a second—and plus!—control console was umbilical well I His of wrist force as the I like to set it on shorl f-field legs, to bring then did. must have been one the by a as

physical link; it suggestively in the top io desk height;, then I add an f-field worlds that use an interconnected grid to he swung front of just to what chair Io sil on. Sometimes I perch on the broadcast power to individual users. Sim- my face, remind me of

to great it could do. Key itself, but I like' to have something ple system, cheap, but chancy. Too

of the grid I it with an elbow. "This rest my elbows on; so I usually program a a demand on one segmenl can knocked aside separate seat. cause a feedback and temporary loss of how you keep your deals?"— B'esides (he implanted remote inside my some or all power in that segment of the "Not"— through his teeth "while you're

head, which the S.S. zonked, and the pres- grid. Brownouts they were called. supposed Io be piloting this skeeter. If I

hyper, I sure-sensitive inputs on the surface of Ihe I couldn't help laughing. "No chance of could pilot a skeeter through Key itself, there is also a physical link to a brownout in space, dear. Where do you wouldn't need you."

the Key, a meter-plus flexible tube that think energy comes from in the first place? I gol my hands on the G.P's shoulders. connects into a special socket above my We're crossing space, there's gobs of en- He was whimpering, trying to wriggle away, isn't terrified his "master" was going ear. I had it in; so my attention was divided ergy for the taking. There much en- obviously to been ordered between the data I was receiving from the ergy in any one cubic away from the suns, punish him, though he'd Keybrain, and the G.R's babble. but we're jumping tors of cubics, and hyper to obey me, and it had been all my idea. pilot, we'll I twisted "If "They aren't walls, I told you, dear; they're gives access to their total energy. Oh, my head. you were a confrolled-energy fields, force fields. They you'd know you don't have to sit on the Key only look like walls, like ihe rigid matter all the time. It's my neck as much as yours;

I'd it of portside fun?" you're used to, because I programmed think risk for a—bit them to polarize light so you can't see "Your reputation — "I take only calculated risks. the last through. The Key controls everythi " I For QAs far as I lime, join or off!" wasn't getting through. "Look." I erased pulse the polarization command of the ceiling's could teii, he'd done no He pulsed off. tricks that nice program, and we could bolh see through I taught the G.P a few meddling with little it, out into hyper. (And what Ihe stars seem boys rarely get a chance to learn. He think tank. I still enthusiastic pupil. to be doing in hyper— if you haven't ac- my was was an extremely

it.) I it just right. Key chimed I timed The tually seen it, can't describe me, and in full "Ohhhhhhh. How did you do that?" loudly, I gave one last, luxurious stretch, control. I hoped. he "That's hyper, you're seeing hyper. And And rose, patted the G.P. told him what a good strolled to the Key did it. The Key is my skeeter. said he needed boy he was, and over the Key. Everything you see, except the supplies The S.S. was sitting on the seat I'd pro- my active cooperation.^1 and exlra instruments we brought aboard grammed. I flicked a glance back. The G.R rolled his side, shut and after I programmed the hull for Ihis run, is had over on eyes a force field, controlled by and produced snoring lightly, moulh open in a satiated

it, from the Key. The walls, the hull, the fur- grin, I picked up the Keylink, inserted niture—everything." programmed a chair opposite my old one,

'And you contwol it all?" use a tad more energy than we can ab- and sat down. " il? I entropy, but that's the "I would say" again his enunciation was 'At's what I just said, isn't program sorb, thanks to what —— the Key, and Ihe Key— Look, inside the Key's concentrated source is- there to re- overprecise "that, if anything, your rep- utation was understated." Key is a mega-K brain, a —field projector, place. That, and what we use on takeoffs of I "Well, plenty and an energy source. No " I cut off the and landings. Repulsor fields take a lot shrugged. he does have of youthful energy. course, rnaturer sub- questions that I could see bursting out of energy, but there's lots floating around a Of for— the those beautifully shaped lips. "No, I'm not sun. I recharged the source on Myriah, only tlety can make up " He tapped

I shrugged and got lo work. going to Iry to explain how any of it works. a couple ol trips back. I'm flush. —No need Key. I to " I fin- A lew standard minutes later, could give Jusl take my word,—it does." worry- about energy. And now "Does that mean " He frowned; this was ished the programming so (here was noth- him his good news. "We're orbiting your atoughie. "Does that mean you can make ing more for me to do; the Key could run idiot black hole. Igor." (Igor wasn't his name,

your ship bigger or smaller if you want to?" the ship. I widened its lounge, increased just an old piece of space slang, meant

I it, "Sure, babe." I patted his hand; it was its resilience, tnpiuggec '\~\o Keylink, mag- worse'n brain-drained. kept using hop-

trembling. "Doit all the time, no sweat. De- need it to the side of the Key, and stood ing it'd make him lose his temper.) ." . . pends on how much cargo I want to haul. up. "And now. my dear "How close?" smiled, his "Couple of AUs." Or when I'm aground, like when I met you, He touched something on

7 ' Icollapsethehulldown, only carry the Key. garment so it opened from here to there, "Over three hundred million kilometers? (Set to levitate and to follow me rather lhan and held out welcoming arms. We have to approach the evenl horizon,

me literally carrying it. of course.) "Why Captain," he said lirrnly.

haul a hull around on the ground, for Moth- I was about to enjoy thirdses when a hard "We will, we will, Igor." (Right after the

it, universe turns in er's sake? When I get a cargo, I go to iinger tapped me on my back. I stiffened, cold entropy-death, we

program a hull around it, program my liv- and 'the G.R looked over my shoulder; his will! Approach the event horizon? The point ing quarters, and off we go. Made the liv- lower-lip came oul in a petujanl pout. ot no return? The place where even light ing quarters bigger than usual this time so "I suggest" —theSane— Scientist's voice is trapped forever?) "I take only calculated you and the Sare Scisnl p: car. have plenty. was meticulously even "that you return to risks," I muttered, too low for him to hear.

of room. And plenty ol breathable air, loo. your duties. Captain. I'd hate for this skee- Nonetheless, I altered our orbit to a very

if that's what's worrying you." He shook his ter to encounter the hyper image of a sun." cautious spiral and felt the tug of the little

it head. No, he hadn't the brains to work that I didn't even bother to turn my head. "I mother "below" us. Call black hole, sin-

118 OMNI —

job. trying, his plan could actually work. gularity, chunk of another universe, what- thousand test runs wouldn'l do the series of cometary ma- He could wind up master of the universe. I for ever, the little sucker had pull. computed a effect. Once he used me and my skeeter and And Igor the Sane Scientist— maybe he neuvers^ with plenty of slingshot the pull of the sucker skills to bottle up a black hole. wasn't so sane, alter all —wanted me to Which meant in, use itsell to around, and Simple, once somebody thought of doing come-close enough to its claws to skim the black hole swing you there's limit it around it. Assuming enough energy, no event horizon, the Schwarzschild radius, out. Would be fun, if I wasn't doing the size of a force wall. Or— a force bub- the distance from the black hole at which a deadly black hole. to only way to ble, And there's lots of energy around a (he escape velocity was greater than the Actually, a cometary was the straight in slu-uuurp, eat- black hole speed of light. pull it oif. Go and of ships, old-style maiter sorts of oddball en by a black hole. But a cometary, a side- Plenty good No way, I decided. AN suckers, if I'd calcu- and f-field, got lost around the things happen at the event horizon of a swipe— if he was right, and just much energy they had. if I could proving how black hole. Like time running at more than lated the trajectory just so, and enough, if the Key But if you could -get close and one speed. Frozen infinite gravitational handle the Key all the way, and gravity use the energy of the hole itself to power forces. Good stuff like-that. could protect us from insane and few other ifs, your force wall, you could (theoretically) Nd fool, Igor the S.S. "Captain," he said horrendous X rays and a close as he englobe it. Now you had a black hole in a softly, tapping his rotten control. maybe I could come as wanted to it. to the event horizon and back out. (big!) bottle. The next step is move I the event I changed my mind. mean, wouldn't I'd been a bit skeptical. I it the out horizon was a risk, but Igor and his meta- If did all right, back After all, the one thing a black hole has bolic-control" console (his control— my be a problem. is And the more mass, the more force metabolism!) were a sure loss. He'd al- He had plans, you see. mass. it takes to move it. And the more energy to ready given me a couple of samples. So did I, of course. force. And the. to elim- He'd told me all about his, even before produce the And I couldn't even use Key is convertible to energy, even first run. I kept thinking But mass inate his console, because he'd put a.neat I started the and went in and were hurled the pre-spacers knew thai. And, accord- little program lock on my Key, to stop me about them, as we when we go jolly back out, went in— Mother, that sucker had ing to the S.S., what we do from using it to separate him from his minisingularity, the . is produce a . into hyper slammed uack out . little alter ego. No f-field knives to cut the power! —and just stated heart of a black hole, which exists so badly umbilical, no f-field walls to do a little He hadn't even gloated, set in norm space that it pops through to hyper smashing with. Limiting. everything matte r-of-lactly. I've up these pulls us after. Coming out, just the re- they say, between the devil equations and solved them, and these are and So I was, as they'll verse. He says we can do the same with a and the deep. Very deep, in fact. the results. Implemented correctly, bottled big black noie/singuianty. He says. What he wanted to do was theoretically make me master of the universe. When you've got your bottled singularity possible. Theories isn't piloting. Lovely. Always wanted to be Number Two otEverything. somewhere else— the ultimate weapon, "Lemme make a few test runs," I mum- like a black hole unbottled on trouble was. assuming I could do Would you bled, wondering how long I could expect The what-he wanted and we didn't all get killed your planet? his patience to last. I knew that even a few Instant destruction. Whether it'd spread the planet into a rapidly expanding smear of disassociated atoms or merely tour or five big Chunks shooting off in various di- all rections, I didn't ask, I wasn't that anx- ious to find out. Neither was he. He didn't figure any in- habited planet—and who would want to rule any other kind?—would take the risk.

I didn't, either. the little sucker I played Skyhook around three or tour times, coming a little closer

each time. Then I orbited, well out, and turned to the S.S- "No good, brain-drained." "No?" He smiled. "No, Too risky. The odds against getting close enough to set up your englobement before the forces around this nasty little beauty tear us to shreds are—are astro-

nomical. Can't do it. Won't even try. Why should all three of us die for nothing? I'll take you back to your homeworld, no hard charter fees. feelings; I won't even charge You're comparatively young, you've plenty of time to work out another way to conquer terrible pain ihe— " I doubled over, as

I arched through me. "No . . . use," gasped through lips that felt on fire. "Won't ... die ... for nothing." still The pain stopped .abruptly, but I was racked with dry heaves and the afterim- ages of pain. Then even that was gone. console of his! I sat up. blinked. Crummy

"You're a skilled liar. Captain. I do be- lieve you'd let me play symphonies on your nerves indefinitely, rather than go down and do what you agreed to do earlier" — " ——

"Suicide is permanent," I said. "While I'm And I was the shin, and I he ship was me, hurting, I'm alive." and I balanced u.s, down into the sucker's

"I could make you regret that last." But waiting arms, down and down and >• there was no threat in his voice; it was I'd set up a screen, so we could see what Rt led th not exactly jovial, more like a man making we were falling toward. Not see actually, a p recalculated move in a game, space because a black hole is black, black be- chess, say. cause even light can't escape. But it w AWESOME

I caught my lip between my teeth. I've pulling in space dust and other debris, and

played space chess myself, and I knew the as the small stuff accelerated toward doom, taste of being outmaneuvered. it gave off X rays and other radiation, which

"Do what you" please. I can't do it." my instruments detected, and the screen

"Don't try to lie to somebody who's mon- overhead interpreted what it saw as a big itoring you, Captain." Another shark-teeth rapidly enlarging red maw. of your mind

smile. "Even if I believed you, that you were Mother, it was a big mother! ." With SCWL- Subliminal Techniques you convinced you couldn't do it, it wouldn't "I — don't kno-ow . . can go beyorc voir g.-crt;: expectations. Learn stop me. I'd simply recruit somebody else. "Too late to back out," he snapped, the truly remarkaole principle ol these new

As it is, you do think you can do it. So, no could hear an odd whimpering, but I wasn'- tist'SviLiral Science lechniques. SCWL* lias I'll give count of five sure it from more games. you a to whether was coming the G.R's now become th-? choice 0' r.'cc:o"5. Prcies; one

Either throat or mine. ; change your mind and cooperate. Htriere; and men and women irom a l wiiks of you continue the englobement, or you die "Mo-ther—

now. And your death wouldn't stop me. I It wanted us. I could actually feel its pull New you can eliminate Pear, worry, anx- can make it look so natural no one would through the fields; come to Mama! It wanted ieties and got more from everyday riving. Under- ever suspect. And I may be no pilot, but to eat us. It was grabbing, tugging, trying stand your inner thounhts. Dictate total control I'm sure that Key of yours has some sort to overbalance my tightrope act; it of emergency circuits, to call for help or wanted—we were going — to —fall tract I01- art! I nd ccn p ete success in get us to some civilized port or whatever. We fell. everything ,;. ;•. SCWl ' Techniques work I'll just recruit the best pilot available, re- At the event horizon — or almost—every- wihou 1 . aptie.n ""a tarrsicaty". Beeaiss yc_i thing turn here, and complete my plan. How al- Happened at once. already have Iha na'.j i stoflfty la make It hap- truistic are you. Captain?" We played our last game of cosmic

"I can't," I asserted sullenly, putting every crack-lhe-whip. Sciente iias jiuvtii you ui y iiptaiicis are ounce of sincerity that I could muster into A cometary is a nice, smooth curve, but that ot your conscious thought — sel'-moosed those two words. most important, it's in and. out. Toenglobe, limitations thai unconsciously determine your "You can, and we both know it. My pa- we had to get close—and stay close. But laopness. you persona wel beirg. successor tience is beginning lo wear thin. One. Two. not too close. In and orbit. It's not the fall- ." failure SCWL"' Techniques simply release your

Three. Four. Five , . ing, as the saying goes, it's the stopping. mind's own natural abilities by reaching the most

'All right," I said hurriedly. But he was Or, as any spacer knows, the changing. powerful source (your own sub-conscious mind). smiling; he'd known I'd give in, once I was Even the pre-spacers with their animal- With this there is no limit lo whal you can sure I couldn't lie my way out of it. "All right, drawn carts knew. Take a curve at too high achieve.

I'll make the try." a speed, and whoopie, over you go! You'-r e only ore small siep irom getimg the "Good," He nodded. "And my word is Force— either on you or exerted by absolute besl Irom yourself and your lite. Take better than yours, Captain. You'll be sec- you— equals the change in momentum the step. Send (or our tree catalog today. Your ond only to me." (mass times directional speed) divided by sar ifjonor is gjo-Mireed SCWL- Subliminal

"Thanks a heap." I muttered, pulled the the time. Bigger the change— in speed or Audio Tapes for every purpose, including these: privacy shield over my head, and ordered direction— or smaller the time, bigger the the Keybrain to begin generating flight" force. I was trying for a big change in a • Lose Weight • Control Stress • Increase Self- paths. The Key could produce trajectories, small time, complicated by relativistic ef- Confidence Learn lo Study and Remember • • flight paths, as many as I wanted. But I was fects at those velocities and the little suck- Expand your Creativity Develop your Psychic the one who had to choose between them. er's enormous pull. Ability • Motivate Yourself for Success • In- crease Sexual Pleasure Become a Dynamic And maybe alter that choice, again and 'Course, at those speeds, I had plenty Personality • Increase Concentration Improve again, as we went in. Comes a point when of energy to work with. Athletic Skills and Much, Much More! logic and calculations and all the rest have But nobody's ever figured out how to re to give way to good ol' human instinct. peal inertia. Body at rest stays at rest. Body That's why pilovng is cons de'ed an art in- in motion stays in motion. And the faster a Mail Coupon Today, stead of a science. body is going, the harder it fights change. Like a balancing act. keeping two heavy We were going very fast. weights on a pivot even, only you had to For one crazy nanosecond, as the en- Midwest Research, Inc. add the balancing before they started to globement succeeded, the skeeter tried to teeter. But it wasn't weights-, and it wasn't go in six directions at once.

I only two. had to balance (he energies and I had programmed for that; force fields forces we were plowing through, pulling at cushioned all three of us. space and us, and protect our fragile hu- But we were pinned, helpless, and that's man bodies at the same time. when the secondary program I'd sneaked The Key would do the actual englobe- into the Key worked. ment; its reflexes were far faster than a hu- Igor was lying on an f-field lounge, his L : 1 -lH!' ;e.-;er::: 1 := n"C yc-jr frou s": c"i I c : f) man's. But I did the programming. Then mediconsole still linked to him by its um- bilical he— untrusting soul, the S.S.—checked my but not actually touching him. (I'd | Nome . programming, and I checked his check. rather counted on"ihat; hard matter being

Always, I tell you three times. slammed around makes bruises.) During

"Give -me. victory or give me death," I the whap, a secondary field went around muttered, deliberately misquoting an an- his (deleted) console. His program lock cestress of mine, one Patrice Henry. didn't work, because I carefully didn't sep- He laughed. We went in. Hellslide. arate him from' his toy, just placed a field

co\ti!\u-:don page 175 When energy r >ort plasma frorr MOTHER in BY EDWARD REGIS

It's a.d. 2600, and the solar system has been gob- bled up, plundered. The planets from Mercury to

s web, and there are far more people living oft Earth than on it. Space settlement is old hat, with people on the moon, on what's left of the planets and their remaining satellites, and ' •• in the --)ace homes—that have proliferated bacteria. Sol's entire planetary sys- faster it This that every 1 2 years "that the larger a star is, the burns iem has been colonized, and it now har- cent a year. means supplies of hydrogen, helium, and bors a population greater than many Earths the volume of industrial "mass handling" up its fissionable elements." could have sustained. doubles on Earth. other While our sun's life span sounds plenty But there's a catch. Although there are Criswell foresees an even greater rate long 12 billion years smaller stars, the hundreds of billions of people spread out of increase, maybe 20 percent per year for — — growth white dwarfs, will last 2,000 times longer. from one end of the solar system to the the next 400 years. Such explosive "If Sol could be gently unwrapped of its other, planetary materials are nearing ex- will be a product of space utilization — of outer layers and converted into white-dwarf haustion. A solar system-wide materials our going into space to get our raw mate- form, then the new dwarf would live much crisis looms, something' that will make the rials and to make our homes. Criswell says. earthside "energy crunch" of the 1970s At these rates of expansion, we'll be us- longer," clip. Thinking billions of years ahead is more seem like just a ripple. ing planetary resources at a steady than of us can handle. So let's lower There's no anxiety, however, no sense of Criswell projects that at the 20 percent many our sights think along with Criswell a urgency. For the people of 2600 have a growth rate, we will have consumed the and few millions of years or so into our plan, a plan that goes way back to 1983 asteroids by 2140: They will have been modest future to see what his plan would bring. and to a forward-looking space scientist made into spacecraft, space stations, On such "short" time scales, we'd reap by the name of Dave Criswell. s'homes (a word Criswell coined), and this point," says, an immediate benefit from skinning the sun: plan is to dismantle the sun. macromachines. 'At he . The solar "continued growth will require the disas- We'd be making truly efficient use of planets. Ju- energy for the first time. All energy on Earth David R. Criswell walks the earth today sembly of the moons and the start at and is ultimately converted sunlight. Our just like the rest of us. But for most of us, piter processing could 2200 — — stocks of coal, oil, and wood are just rem- that's where the similarity ends, for Cris- be complete approximately four hundred nants of the solar energy that's been falling- well spends a lot of time thinking on im- years later." years. mense spatiotemporal scales. He has pat- So imagine we're to the year 2600 and to Earth for 4 billion 'As race we live in an era of enormous ent applications pending for lunar power Jupiter is only a memory. In its place float a of solar energy," says Criswell, "Not stations; he has an idea for capturing the waste are failing to use the eighty-one solar wind. He's president of his own space- only we gigawatts [a gigawatt is a billion applications company, Cis-Lunar Inc., and million waits] per person of power the sun is pres- when not there he divides his working time ently sending irretrievably to cold deep between the California Space Institute, at

1-26 OMNI before we'll be able to start husbanding [he sun, we'll have to know a heck of a lot more about it than we do now. The thought of modifying the outer envelope of the sun scares me; it sounds like someone telling he's me going to take my leg off. "The problem," Eddy continues, "is that we don't understand, even though Cnswell says we do, the basic physics of the en- ergetic-generation process within the sun Performing critical surgery on a beast that we don't fully understand frightens me " Worse still, in Eddy's view, are the changes to the earth's climate that tinker- THERE'S . ing with the sun would produce. "If you alter the sun's radiance by ten percent, / A LIGHTER you've done a catastrophic thing." We have only one sun, after all, and if our well-in- SIDE TO tended meddling fouls things up, we won't ; get another chance. ALLEN- In Criswell's eyes, however, worrying about climatic EDMONDS. changes to Earth will even- tually be irrelevant. By the time we're ready to work on the sun, / most of mankind will THE NEW be living elsewhere, in s'homes that can be moved closer to or farther from our new MERIDIEN sun in accordance with its radiance. Our current and conservative earthly perspec- COLLECTION. tive will have vanished. It's possible to go beyond even a solar- system perspective. In 1964 the Russian astronomer Nikolai Kardashev postulated three types of civilizations in the universe which he ranked according to their energy bases. Primitive civilizations like our own

are I: Type They live off the decaying fossil fuels of the past. Type II cultures, on the other hand, have harnessed the power of their sun, "for example," he said, "by the successful construction of a Dyson sphere." The most advanced of all, a Type III civilization, has instantaneous access to all the energy in its galaxy. Criswell has suggested an alternate means to becoming a Type II civilization. And almost as an afterthought, he has suggested a way to detect possible Type III cultures. In fact, he speculates that we may already have detected some. The key to this is the "missing mass" problem. Astronomers have found that stars in our galaxy move as if under the gravitational spell of a halo of mass encir- cling it. The problem is, there's nothing op- tically observable out there. "An intriguing possibility," suggests Criswell, "is that the nonluminous, or missing, mass in the halos of our own galaxy and others is composed of husbanded stars, the associated indus- trial facilities, s'homes, and stores of hy- drogen, helium, and other elements." ' Whatever the fate of this or Criswell's other ideas, even his critics acknowledge that his thoughts are inspired. "He's really an impressive mind," says Eddy. "His ideas ALLEN are wonderful, exciting, heady stuff," EDMOAD: Will any of what he foresees ever hap- for a free caialog. pen? I ask Dyson whether Criswell's star- Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corp, lifting scenario is absurd. "No, on the con- Bi-igium, U'lKi^in 5301)4 trary," he replies. "It's not 1-800-558-8653. Telex 26-0021 absurd enough IV HanJcrattcd World of Aikiv Edmonds In I mean, Wisconsin, what will really happen will be much (414) 285-.U61 more surprising. "DQ begin with, the target sider learning how to swim again. for psi research. To problem is often multifaceted, not In another instance an enigmatic but ap- person's single image or rrniruD parently harmless dream of objects helped easy to summarize in a helpers seem to CONTINUED FHOM PAGE 24 break down the reserve of one of the target dream. And Ihe dream Castle experiment. pick up on just part of the problem. In ad- called the dream-helper exper- persons in a Van de something the helpers' was not at all dition the process of relating group oi people are asked to con- She was a shy woman who iment. A only with seeking help. But one of the dreams to the target can be done centrate their dreaming on an individual forthcoming in target himself, a subjective helper's dreams, in which he saw objects the help of the and his problem, which is never stated. art than science. if their own process that is more before the dream night, some ol whizzing through the air as by The day a problem triggered a powerful reaction in As an example of the layers the dreamers may meditate with the per- volition, she was brooding over might have, Reed tells the story of one or just spend time with him. her. As it happened, son difficulty, j had young woman who had she following morning, when the group her unhappy childhood. Her mother The transfer small child, and her thought, choosing what college id gather to recount their dreams, died when she was a members pursue. But remarried. The stepmother and to and what area of study to they are often surprised to find they have father had this, girl and tor- when the group went to dream about dreams with similar details. Reed her two children disliked the shared imageries that her. favorite daily cruelty of her many reported confusing and Van de Castle call these individuals mented A was to throw had nothing to do with school but instead dream helpers. "Each would pick up a stepbrother and stepsister as she walked home from seemed to be related to illicit sex. It turned piece of a puzzle," Van de Castle says of stones at her brought back that out that the woman had had' an affair with their special dreams. "It's a little like the school. The dream told her precipitated the emotional a married man. When the group blind men with an elephant. When they put memory and help. of their dreams, she realized thai it was not together they had the whole breakthrough that caused her to seek the pieces school and to uncover unspo- just a question of choosing a picture." After each dream helper reports Because it seemed dream-helper experi- a subiect but of deciding whether to stay what he dreamed, the target person, whose ken thoughts, the telepathy seemed with her lover. With the group's help she problem was the subject of the dream, is ment smacked of and decided to move and ended up pursuing encouraged by Reed or Van de Castle to to confirm a long-held notion among psi successful career. might relate to researchers that telepathy was more likely a discuss the images as they phenom- use If, however, the dream-helper some valuable in- to occur when put to some practical the problem. Very often uncon- solely for the sake enon does occur naturally and sight comes of the session. rather than when tested sciously in everyday life, if dreams do in- about one woman's of a lab experiment. Even more significant, When dreaming dreamer telepathy was replic- deed peek outside the world of the problem, for example, the group shared a the dream-helper provide valuable information about the could always get it to recur. and recurring image of water. It turned out the able; you could about this as- world, it seems such knowledge be woman had a phobia of water. Discussing Initially Reed was excited he had put to good use in other areas. the various dream images with the group pect of his discovery. He thoughl University of Cape . Researchers at the helped her focus on how that phobia came a way of testing psi. But he quickly realized tool Town, in South Africa, think so. They have about and gave her the courage to con- thaf the test was a less-than-perfect found that interpreting a collection of a family's dreams can be almost as infor- mative as the kind of diagnostic informa- tion a family therapist gleans from personal interviews. In one experiment five families were asked to keep dream diaries and also to go to a family therapist. Each family member was interviewed by a therapist who didn't see the diaries. And each dream diary was examined by a dream inter- preter who didn't meet the individuals. The experiments found that in 70 per- cent of the cases, the dream interpreter agreed with the interviewing therapist's assessments of the families' problems. At times dream interpretation even provided additional information that had been un- detected by the family therapist. But the value of the group-dreaming concept isn't only in therapy. "There may be political ramifications to the process of a group of people focusing their dreams on a central topic," says Reed. "We know that the unconscious shapes society. If we can become aware of this process, we can

nurture It and foster its growth into some visible and practical consequence." "These dream communities are just the start of an explosion," notes network or- ganizer Stimson. "When two or more peo- ple get together to talk about dreams, that's when the magic happens. "DO

Anyone interested in more information about participating in dream communities can write to Dream Network Bulletin, 333 West Twenty-

first Street, New York, WY 10011. FICTION

An angry little girl becomes the unwitting accomplice in a criminal's vengeance THE LURKING DUCK BY SCOTT BAKER

JULIE. 1981: It was Tuesday evening, just before dark, a few

weeks after my birthday. I was four years old. Mother and Daddy had just had another tight Daddy used to be a policeman before he got paralyzed, but Mother was still a policewoman, and she was very strong and sometimes she lost control and knocked him around a

little. That's what she called it, and that's what happened this time, but even after she got him to shut up they were still both really mad; so she took me down to the lake to watch the ducks and the swans while she ran around the lake to calm down. The swans were mean,

but I liked the ducks a lot. She put me on one of the concrete benches and got out the piece ol string she always kept in her pocket when she was with me, then made a circle around the bench

with it. The string was about ten

feet long, but the circle it made

was ajot smaller, and I had to stay

inside it all the time. Then she went off to do her jogging.

After a while I noticed there was an old green car with no one in

it, one of those big bump-shaped cars like the ones in the black-and- white movies on TV, parked a

little ways away from me on the

gravel, up under a tree where it was PAINTING BY CHARLES BELL "

Terrace Cafe—have cal hatred of birds in general and of ducks pretty close to the water. The sun was al- Pagoda, and Ho's charged with serving the sea gulls in particular. I been ready gone, and it was almost dark, but is anything really duck and chicken in a variety of dishes "But I ask you, there could still see that every now and then one as duck, Polio con mole, all that sick about the defendant's feel- of the ducks would get curious about the such as Cantonese and Duck a I'orange, while the cats are ings? Would any of you have had a great cat and waddle up to it and stick its head the basis for a fondness for our feathered friends if you'd underneath to look at something, then sort alleged to have served as been repeatedly beaten by a sadistic older of squeeze down and push itself the rest number of rabbit dishes. Dubic has not only been convicted on brother with a lead-filled duck? If you'd of the way under the car. I couldn't see violence against been so badly mauled by your aunt's flock what happened to the ducks underneath, three previous charges of birds and wildfowl but is'also the of geese that you were hospitalized for but none of them ever came out again. I domestic County Prosecutor three weeks? How would you have felt if saw two of the ducks with the bright green man whom Monterey disinherited you in heads—mallards—and one brown duck Florio Volpone attempted to prove last year your grandfather had ring that favor of a bird sanctuary in Guatemala? go under the car before Mother came back was the head of the dognapping responsible for the deaths of "I'm not going to pretend that James to do her jump roping. has been Dubic is just like everybody else. ' thousands of Irish setters sold for their Patrick When I told her about the ducks, she got beautiful "pelts" to the Mexican fur indus- He isn't. But what he is is a man of intelli- real mad again. At first I thought she was ruled the in- gence and principle, a research scientist mad at me, but then she went and found try. Judge Hapgood evidence prove Dubic guilty of the dog- who has made invaluable contributions to a man hiding in the car under a blanket, sufficient to conspiracy charges. our national defense and a teacher who and she arrested him. He was all dirty and napping and related was always respected by his students. He ragged and skinny, and he smelled bad. "Ob- is neither irrational nor insane. His dislike His hands were big and red. Mother said JAMES PATRICK DUBIC, The Trial: but it of birds, regrettable though it may be, is a he was a drunk and that he was sick in the jection sustained," Hapgood ruled, able perfectly normal reaction to the unique and head but he wasn't very old. He'd made a was already too late, Volpone'd been to jury thinking about the dognap- unfortunate events of his childhood." hole in the bottom of his car and put a lot get the It wasn't going to work. Not this time. of duck food on the ground beneath it so "We'll appeal," Wibsome told me when the ducks would come under, where he he came back and sat down again. Mean- could grab them by the. neck and kill them ing that there was no way they were going without anybody seeing what he was doing. innocent. "Those articles in the Mother said Daddy'd arrested him for the to find me QMother was yelling Tattler— I'm pretty sure we can prove they same thing back before the accident. She prejudiced the jury and kept you from get- found five mallards, seven brown ducks, at Father, and he was whining ting a fair trial. And there may be other and two white ducks under the blanket with back. Pretty soon time things I can turn up when I've had the him, but they were already dead. he'd start yelling, and then to study the transcripts from the trial."

I "Wibsome," I said, "you know didn't From the Sand City Tattler, May 9, 1981: she'd start hitting NABBED AGAIN! have anything to do with the dogs or with DUCKNAPPER drinking him. They'd been the cats, either. You know I always liked by Tattler staff writer Thorn Homart — dogs and cats The Tattler learned yesterday that twenty- a lot, like always. I "Of course, Jimmy." He didn't believe me nine-year-old aerospace heir James Pat- stand either of them.9 couldn't even though he was supposed to be on rick Dubic;'a former instructor o! computer side. "Not the dogs and cats. Just those sciences at Monterey Peninsula and my Chapman colleges, was arrested Tuesday nasty, nasty birds." He was laughing at me again. Like evening by Police Officer Mrs. Virginia. "Yes!" before they shipped him Matson on charges stemming from the al- Bobby used to off to Vietnam and killed him. But I swore leged theft and slaughter of fourteen ducks ping charges again, with that bit about

I get if I ever got out of here was going to from El Estero Park in downtown Monterey Mexico thrown in to appeal to their racism. all just like I was going to get the Officer Matson, who was recently pro- The bastard. He knew as well as I did that Wibsome anything rest of them. That oh-so-sweet little girl and moted to the Monterey Municipal Police Tac it was all bullshit, I'd never had paralyzed fa- Squad (where she replaces her husband, against dogs. Or cats either, and he was her bull-dyke mother and her about at the dognap- I ther, who'd lied me Thomas Philip Matson, paralyzed in a tragic trying to get them to believe was killing who'd written those skateboard accident during the Parent- cats, too, and that wasn't true. I'd always ping trial. The bastard for articles for the Tattler and all the restaurant Teacher Day celebrations at Monterey High loved cats. I even had one of my own

it, it didn't make owners who'd tried to put each other out School last tall), was off duty at the time of a while, and he knew but of. business by accusing one another of the arrest. She had taken her daughter Ju- any difference to Volpone. He was going try for cats anyway. hiring me to get their sea gulls and cats for lie, four, to the lake to "get out of the house to to get me the "... them when they'd hired me to get sea gulls for a while," when Julie noticed that a lot a rubber duck," Wibsome was say-

in to themselves and knew I wouldn't touch cats. of ducks were going under an old car ing the next time I bothered to tune missing anything. I'd And Judge Hapgood and Florio Volpone parked near them, but none of the ducks him, I hadn't been even and the jury and the ducks. were coming out again! heard it all before, and anyway he was All of them. But especially the ducks. She told her mother, and Officer Matson clumsier than usual. Probably because he investigated, only to find James Patrick knew there was' no way he was going to City Tattler, July 3, 1983: Dubic hiding under a blanket in the back get me out of anything this time no matter From the Sand trying. You remember that the jury agreed with seat. With him she found. a cloth, sack con- how hard he tried; so he wasn't even our editorial staff that Dubic was sen- taining fourteen recently killed ducks. The "A rubber duck," he continued, "that the and concurrent terms of ten to floorboards of the car had been removed late Robert Tyrone Dubic had the habit of tenced to three

it years in the state penitentiary. Since and duck pellets were scattered on the filling with ball bearings before he used twenty brother into then his lawyers have made repeated ef- ground beneath it to attract the birds. to beat his defenseless baby rubber duck forts to have his convictions overturned, Dubic is currently out on bail on previous unconsciousness. The same the Tattler's charges stemming from the alleged sale with which he often threatened to kill that most recently by charging that editorials unfairly prejudiced the of sea gulls and cats to four ethnic restau- baby brother, James Patrick Dubic, here crusading against him so precluded a fair rants on the Peninsula. The restaurants— before you on charges stemming from what jury and pathologi- trial. Dubic's lawyers accompanied this Casa Miguel, la Poubelte de Luxe, the ivory the prosecution claims to be a 132 OMNI —

people could see could hit him with a good enough shot. latest appeal with a multimillion-dollar suit ducks onshore, where it would too Suddenly he started doing that thing against the Tattler for libel and defamation what happened and where be when they're real mad at each I watching the ducks do of character. easy to be fun anyway. was female, or that the water so I other or fighting over a We are very happy indeed to report that ducks and swans out on the females do when they're telling all the males Dubic's appeal has been denied and that could find them again after dark. The swans to away and they stick their necks for- nasty, but I didn't dislike the ducks go all charges against us have been uncon- were either, with ward with their mouths wide open and ditionally dismissed. though I didn't much like them their to their mean, little suspicious eyes and the charge at each other using wings way they walked around on land like they go fast so they're almost running on top of JULIE, April 1988: It was a really hot night the most important the water. But the weird thing was, the duck and the air conditioner was broken again. thought they were wasn't any- wasn't charging another male; he was Mother was yelling at Father and he was things in the world. But there at charging a whole group of four or five fe- whining back. Pretty soon he'd start yelling thing else I could do to get back some- like Father males I could tell they were females be- and then she'd start hitting him. They'd thing when I felt like this. Just — yelling at Mother whenever he got to think- cause they were brown and speckled and been drinking a lot, like always. I was

it par- even had some black and yellow baby eleven, and they'd been doing the same ing about how really bad was to be one that we had to feed him and ducklings swimming around her— and he I alyzed and thing tor as long as I could remember. or wasn't making that sort of hissing warning couldn't stand either of them. help him go to the bathroom, Mother when they hunting kind that hitting him when she couldn't stand look- all the other ducks always made I got my slingshot— the it for him anymore. charged like that. shoots steel balls, not one of those rubber- ing at how horrible was ducks were all paddling around in He didn't stop like they usually do when band things for little kids—and went down The quacking at each other. A lot he was close enough to warn them off. to the lake. We lived four blocks away, by groups and doing that thing either. All at once he was in with them, and the Navy School. Sometimes when there of the male mallards were all swim after they were all squawking and beating their wasn't anybody else there I'd try to get the they do together when they

I without ever wings and trying to fly away. I thought saw swans or ducks with my slingshot— I'd al- one of the brown females something real bright like a knife-blade ready killed one of the black swans with flash, only it was too dark for a piece of the red beaks and hit four others and a lot metal to flash like that, and then all but one of ducks. But there were too many people of the females were flying off, and the ba- out on the lake on those stupid little two- bies were running across the water peep- person boat things you pedal like bicycles. */ didn't dislike ing and trying to escape. Aquacycles. Couples mainly, some high- But one female maybe the mother, I school kids but mostly old people, tourists, the ducks—though I didn't — couldn't tell —was floating with her belly up and golfers. They all looked stupid. like them much and her orange legs twitching. Then the I I didn't like the park much, but didn't tell either, with their mean little legs quit twitching, and I could she was have any friends that lived close, and I dead. The male was gone. It hadn't flown didn't feel like riding my bike all the way eyes and the away, and it wasn't anywhere I could see; up Carmel Hill to Beth's house. But I around like , way they walked so it must've dived down to the bottom and couldn't stand staying home any longer stayed there. Maybe it was lurking down either, not with them still fighting. It would they were the most there like a snapping turtle. be okay later, when something they both important things on land.V It was getting too dark to see anything; wanted to see came on TV or when Father

I so I bought a Big Mac with some money had some more to drink. After a while he took from Mother's purse the last time she just got quieter and quieter until he went left it around the house, then went home. to sleep. Which was why I was glad he with When I went to the lake binoculars drank all the time, even though he got pretty the next morning the dead duck was gone. nasty at night and when he woke up in the catching her, and then they take off to- it was I find the other one then, but morning. That was okay anyway because gether and chase her through the air but couldn't school. It her, few of them were there when I came back after he had a right to get angry, even if not at still don't catch and a always stayed floating out near the middle, me, the way Mother treated him. She doing that thing where they beat their wings like they away from the shallow water where the treated him like shit, and he never did any- and sort of get up out of the water beating their other ducks liked to feed, and it only moved thing wrong; all he did was sit watching TV are standing on tiptoes and like of them were just enough to keep away from people on and drinking a little beer through his tube. chests Tarzan. But most around and sticking their their aquacycles. He didn't hurt anybody, and it wasn't his just swimming it, when down underwater the way they do That's how I noticed because fault if he sometimes smelled bad and that heads to eat an .aquacycle came within maybe fifteen he'd gotten sort of fat and droopy faced when they're looking for something feet of it, it would move away so it stayed and pasty looking, not like he looked in but don't feel like diving for it. or doing that just same distance away, then come those pictures Mother had irom before the thing where they turn all the way upside the their heads back as soon as the cycle was gone. And accident, when he still looked a lot like that down like they're standing on it thing once with a boat, mess sergeant Mother sometimes brought with their tails sticking straight up out of did the same Besides, it never dived or preened itself home with her from Fort Ord, the one who the water. there or seemed to be looking for food, and all kept telling me he was going to fix the air Down at the other end of the lake ducks ignored it. conditioner but never did. Only Father'd was an old lady throwing bread crumbs to the other didn't seem scared, they just didn't I think she'd notice They been a lot handsomer. the swans, but didn't attention to it. if I until it jus! pay any I waited was The sun was going away, but it wasn't what was doing But that was when the sun was shining. quite dark yet. Everybody was coming in a little darker. mallards, really pretty male As soon as things clouded over, it would to shore and turning in their aquacycles. I One of the a with bright green head and a big patch start swimming toward the other ducks, but had to be careful. I could still remember a out again the duck al- watching Mother arrest that man who was of shiny blue on his side, was off alone out when the sun came of the lake, hot doing much ways stopped and went back to floating killing ducks, under his car. I still had the in the middle on its own, away from everything else. clippings, including the one in the Outlook with the other ducks, just sort of floating lot of really really like he was half-asleep, though he didn't All except one time, when a where they said I was the one who covered the sun for fifteen caught him. have his.head tucked back or anything. He dark clouds started swimming to- I minutes. duck the was pretty far away, but I thought that The I didn't want to try anything with 134 OMNI .

ward another duck— a male mallard this

time— but it didn't stop like before, when the sun had come out from behind the

clouds again. I was watching it through the

binoculars to see what it would do if it at- tacked the male.

It swam closer and closer until (he two ducks were maybe a yard away from each

other, then it put its head down like it was looking for food on the bottom and dived. A second or two later the other mallard gave a sort of shocked squawk and got pulled under, just like a giant snapping tur- tle had reached up from underneath and

• grabbed it in its jaws and pulled it under.

Only I knew it wasn't a snapping turtle; it was the other duck,

I watched where it went under for a while, but there wasn't any blood or feathers, nothing to show a duck was getting killed

or eaten under the water except that it never came up again. But five minutes later the killer duck came

bobbing up again. It was all muddy, and I

thought it had been lying down there on the bottom eating the other duck and then had buried what was lett like a dog with a bone it's finished with.

It preened itself for a while, looking pretty and silly like any other mallard, then went back to sunbathing.

I went back to the lake after dinner and

just as the last light was going away, I saw

it make its other kind of attack. Only this

I time had the binoculars ready; so I got to

see how it worked.

It charged just like any duck, only it didn't stop when the other duck tried to get away. It was after another male mallard—there were lots of them out on the lake, like al- ways—and the killer duck kept right on going faster and faster with its bill wide

open until just before it was going to ram the mallard, when a pair of shiny steel shears came out of its mouth like a giant metal snake's tongue and cut the other duck's head off.

The scissors went back in the killer duck's

mouth, and it grabbed the dead duck's head in its bill, then dived. Only this time

it left the headless duck's body floating in

the water, and it didn't come up again be- fore dark.

I was there with the binoculars the next day at sunrise. There was a cluster of big

water lilies I hadn't noticed before where the duck had vanished. About an hour later the water lilies dis- appeared like fishing-line bobbers yanked down by a big fish, and the duck bobbed

to the surface. It was all muddy, but it

preened itself until it was clean, then swam back to the middle.

I went home. Mother hadn't come back at all last night, but Father was already

awake. I helped him get up and dressed, then made us scrambled eggs and toast. He yelled at me for spilling prune juice on

- his shirt; so 1 just left him there and went to school early, without taking any lunch. Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Prop., It rained all afternoon, and when I went mte 1, Lynchburg (Pop. 361), Tennessee 37352 to the lake after school, I couldn't find the back on, and then it would get me. I watched at Beth's house, duck duck, though all the others were still out. afternoon that

I really The Invisible Boy, with Robbie the Robot, But I didn't want to give up. needed I to and I looked a long time. went some sporting-goods stores and checked out where an evil computer takes over Robbie that duck a lot.

things doesn't want A few days later I got the idea of putting their fishing nets. They all cost too much, and makes him do he with ra- a noose at the end of a bamboo pole we and anyway the duck could've cul its way to. That made me think about kids it to snag the toy sailboats, and I started had in the garage and using out with the scissors in its mouth. Besides, dio-controlled

il to watch duck's lily pads. They had to be connected it after it pulled the wondering someone came down I didn't know what did it to the duck; I could use them to drag ducks under. the duck with the controls hidden in his so

the water. thing is, I didn't or something. when I came back up out of The The scissors meant it was some kind of pocket So anything, just but know if that would wake the duck or not or machine or maybe a real duck that had I didn't do watched, to pull it there were some people who came if the stems were strong enough been changed so it was part duck and though them out of the water without breaking. If it was part machine, like the bionic man. So down to watch the ducks and feed almost every day, there wasn't anybody all metal except the feathers, it had to be maybe it had all sorts of ways to break out

it I single duck very heavy. And if I woke up like that, of the net. Like claws or a hooked sword who was there every time the if it would try to get away or if I for two didn't know or 'something else hidden under its feath- killed something, and watched to sure. il would try to kill me to make me stop and ers it could use to drag down the ducks weeks make other people from learning about it. then I had enough money from Moth- keep that it got in the daytime. By Mother's er's purse and baby-siiting to buy a net. I'd never seen it onshore; so for all I knew I went home and checked figured out to catch the it couldn't even walk and I'd be safe as purse, but all she had was twenty-dollar The only way I'd

its lily long as I didn't go in the water. if any duck was to wade out to where pads bills, and I was sure she'd notice or But then I'd already seen it do that half- were missing. But she had six quarters and were some night when it was sleeping it partway out of quarters turned off and scoop it up off the bottom flying thing where came a fifty-cent piece; so I took three

it turned off or the water to attack the other ducks; so and put two nickels in their place so it would in the net and hope stayed it ten-gallon it could really fly. And I didn't know I into the maybe feel like she still had about the same whatever until got it the other ducks under or I scared how dragged amount of money. And that night one of her grease can I had ready. But was it to them there. Perhaps it had to try because for all I knew the duck never what did friends called to ask if I could baby-sit his in big knives hidden in its wings, or maybe it kids Saturday afternoon. really turned off, it just went down the some kind of built-in Mother had already decided to stay mud to cut the dead ducks into little pieces had hooks or even spear gun it used to harpoon them from home with Father; so she said go ahead, with the scissors in its mouth so nobody it could reel them down, then dollars. would ever find their bodies, and I couldn't the bottom so and I ended up making twelve there. it wouldn't kill me like cut them into little pieces I any reason It rained the whole next week; so stayed think of the real thing wrong with trying to away from the lake and didn't get to see the ducks. Besides which, 1 was afraid But .somebody'd by in a car and see me, catch it at night was that I wouldn't be able I come the duck. But I was glad stayed away

it light; so I wouldn't know because there was a movie on TV Sunday or that the car's headlights would turn the to see without a it what was doing. And somebody might I put the bag in the can, but the Ihe lump duck was still in the can. I closed the

a light / little see and come to find oul whai was was a too long, and I couldn'l get the door and dragged the can out, then pulled

doing. So I finally decided to pull it lid .on. But it was too late to Ihe out now open the bag out of it. I the stayed by door so I

some morning it let in near I when was shore, just sack and some light; so just put the could run away if Ihe duck came after me. after the sun came up but before Ihe lid in the net, carried duck everything home, and Then I turned the lights off and used the was ready to surface on its own. way, put it all in the toolsiieci behind the That garage. flashlight while I dumped ihe duck out of maybe it wouldn't be all the way turned on. Mother never used the shed, but her mess the sack-

and even if it it was, maybe would just swim sergeant sometimes made things out of It was just a big lump, ttsmelled like mud back out lo the middle and start sunbath- wood for us back there or fixed things. He and sewers. I poked ai it twice with a hoe, ing a little early. wasn't really a bad man, even ff I il hated and didn't do anything; so I turned on

Then one night I" saw it was down in the him. So it was real full of dusty and cob- the lights, I was right by Ihe door with my

mud close to shore. I hid webs and junk, lights my ten-gallon but the worked and hand on the switch, but it still didn't do can, some plastic rope, and a heavy khaki the shed was in good enough to shape I anything, even when poked it again. I sack from the army-navy surplus store in keep the rain and sunlight out. watched it for three or four hours, but it

I somebody's hedge. had a little wafer in When I went inside the and closed door, never did anything. I was afraid I'd broken

the I can in case the duck needed it. could turn on the lights could it and nobody somehow, but if I hadn't maybe I'd be

I went to the lake early next morning see from and me (he house. able to handle it safely at night with the 'waited for things to get bright out. Nol many I put the ten-gallon can under the work- lights on, which was good. cars drove by, and nobody paid atten- bench, behind a broken any television set so I got it back in the sack, Ihen pushed it tion to me. nobody could see it, and so even when behind the TV again.

the I When sun came up went after the the door was open the light from outside Mother was home all day Ihe next day, duck. It was easy to snag the lily pads with wouldn't touch the can. I'd been planning and she and Father had some of his old

the I noose, but what I when pulled them in lo to do for a long time, and had it all friends over for a barbecue. They cooked

shore I saw ihey just slrelched back to the figured out, or most of it, anyway. chicken and hamburgers in the backyard, part of the bottom they'd been floating over. then sat around drinking beer and talking

I waited a momenl, then touched the pads abouf what things had been like before Fa- and stems. They felt like some sort of lough ther's accident and how good a cop he'd

plaslic; so I got all the slems together and been then. I couldn't get info the toolshed started pulling on them. At first they came with them there. Father and Mother seemed «/ thought I real easy, then I felt them grab, and when lo be having a pretty good time, like Ihey

I pulled again I could feel the duck on Ihe liked saw something real bright like each other again. After a while I gol other end. It was heavy, but it didn't seem a knife-blade bored and uncomlorlabie; so I put my snagged, it wasn't fighting and me like a _ swimming suit on under my clothes and

I flash. fish or anything: so knew it wasn't trying Then ail the females rode my bike to Beth's house, but her to get away or come after me. were flying off brother had all his friends over lo use Ihe red A Porsche came by, going a lot faster pool, and her cousin was there, too; she and the so it babies were running than was supposed to. I just stood still, couldn't go away with me even though she

pretending all I was doing was looking at didn't like across the them any more than I did. I went the wafer. The Porsche went by without water, trying to Swensen's and got a double cone and slowing and to escaped even I down, but now could see a banana split, then rode down to the wharf another car over on the other side of the and watched the tourisls for a while. Il was

lake; I so knew that people were getting a nice day, all hot and clear, and Ihere were up and starting off toward I work and thai two sea oilers playing in the water. One of had to drag in lot the duck a faster. the tourisis threw a beer can at them. He

Pretty soon I could see it, and it wasn't I even knew whose it was. duck James missed, but I told the cop who was keep- a duck at all, more like a big piece of wood, Patrick Dubic's, the one I helped Mother ing people from driving out on the wharf, a branch about a yard long and a couple arrest. There couldn't be two people who and he came and made the man leave. inches thick, with four or five broken-off hated ducks that much, and of the It some was almost dark when I got home, but

little branches sticking it. out of At first I clippings talked about how smarl he was Mother and Father were still out back with thought it just was a branch I'd snagged, and how good he was wilh computers. I'd their friends. Father was making nasty

but Ihen I saw that the lily-pad stems figured it out for came sure that time I saw The comments about Mother every now and out of the ends of the broken-off branches. Invisible Boy. then. I didn't understand everything, but I

As as I the soon had I branch out of the Afterward got my clippings out and could tell when somefhing was mean by water it to change. began The ends started studied them so I could be sure what he Ihe look on Mother's face humping into the middle, and the middle looked like and an keep eye on the people I asked her about Dubic, but she said bulged out, everything but was real, real at the lake, but he wasn't ever there, at she hadn't had a chance to check yet and slow, like a slug creeping up the porch least not unless he'd changed a lot. she'd find out for me Monday. I said I had

steps after it I rains. threw the sack over it, I locked the shed and left the duck in homework and went to my room to read

but I could it see kept on changing under- the dark until Saturday night. That way, if about ducks.

neath until I got the lily it pads under and out had solar batteries maybe they'd run Monday she didn't go to the station until of the light, too; then it slopped. It wasn't down soil enough couldn't hurt I me even late. tried to tell her I was sick and couldn'l much bigger real than a duck, though it il it wanted fo. go to school, bul she had a hangover and

didn't look like a it duck any more than Saturday night before Mother went to got really angry and hit me. She said she like looked a branch, just a big lump of work I asked her what'd happened to Du- had enough sick people in the house wilh- .

mud. I pushed it into the sack with the pole bic. She said she didn't know but thai out she me pretending to be sick when I wasn't;

and tied Ihe closed, then it if sack picked could lind I out I It wanted. said yes. was so I had lo go.

up, sure it making didn't swing too close only six-thirty when she drove it away; so She wasn't home when I got back, but to body. my The duck was just a lump in- wasn't dark yet. she'd put Father's wheelchair by Ihe win-

side, and it-didn't It move at all. only I went back to the shed around nine. dow because there wasn't anything he weighed about Iwenty pounds, but lhat was When I unlocked the door and pushed it wanted to watch on TV, and that way he still heavy it enough so was hard work I get- open shone a flashlight inside I before could look at the birds and flowers if he it ting to where I had hidden the can. went in and turned the real lights on, but didn't feel like reading. I couldn't get in the C0NIINULDONPAGE1/8 137 Were they hulking reptilian loners or SOCIAL gregarious mammals in tight-knit family groups DINOSAURS

BY KATHLEEN STEIN PAINTING BY RUDOLPH F

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been divided into various camps along ihc pacious tyrannosaurs, 'he 80-ton brachio- birds and mammals rather than cold- metabolic spectrum between hot and cold. saurs, [he lissome slruthiomimi with their blooded, or ectothermic, like reptiles. until recently the evidence was almost delicate hands and big brains, the mighty "The' best way to be attractive to dis- And "is have a warm too ambiguous to afiord Bakker the solid horned ceralopsids —all were obliterated. ease," Bakker says, to incubator. That's one edge he needed to drive back the pro- The cause of the dinosaurs' Gdtterdam- body. It works like an ol being cold-blooded. ponents of ectothermy. merung is one of the mysteries scientists of the advantages recent years, however, new discov- are most obsessed about. Semipiausible In general, ecta1hf.vrr.ic animals will be less In introductions of dis- eries may have tipped the balance in his models for extinction proliferate: There is alfected by sudden spe- favor. The most dramatic fossil find, dis- the theory ol death by glaciation; the su- eases." That may explain why some turtles" sur- covered by paleontologist John R. Horner, pernova speculation, in which an explod- cies of the crocodilians and is a complete dinosaur nursery, evidence ing star perturbed Earth's magnetic field, vived the dinos' Armageddon. of the sort of intensive parenting usually causing the atmosphere to cool; the me- Regulation oi body heat is a complex provided by mammals. And on the Pur- teorite hypothesis, featuring a run-in be- mechanism to understand, even in living gatoire River, in Colorado, geologist Martin tween Earth and a big hunk of iron. Most animals. Cold-bloodedness is a thermal Lockley has been sweeping away the mud recently scientists proposed the bom- state in which the creature's core temper- of millennia to reveal trackways bardment postulate, offering neutron-pro- ature remains close to the varying outside and sand strat- by a large herd of dinosaurs about ducing cosmic rays as the culprit. temperature. The advantage of this made reptiles and amphibi- 140 million years ago, during the Jurassic Then there is an idea put forth by paleo- egy, employed by low rate Period. The footprints indicate that many biologisl Robert T. Bakker, often consid- ans, is that it requires a relatively dinosaurs were highly gregarious social ered the most iconoclastic dino hunter to of internal heat production; instead of re- creatures living in structured groups wield a fossilized corythosaur femur. lying on metabolic energy, the animal de- heat uptake from the sun or the again, much like mammals. "I can tell you why the dinosaurs went pends on of the dinosaur as a monstrous oi rocks. It means the animal The idea extinct, and it wasn't because of the cosmic warmth food for fuel cold-blooded lizard is a tradition handed zap of a supernova or meteorite," he de- doesn't need to burn as much down by a faction of Victorian paleontol- clares. "It was because of the Great Cre- the curse oi science," taceous Diarrhea Attack. And what caused ogists. ("Tradition, fumes Bakker.) An early-mneteenth-cen- that was tourism." French anatomist, the Baron Georges Bakker, a professor at Johns Hopkins tury Cuvier, accurately classified the terrifying University, is referring to large-scale epi- */ can tell you why sea leviathan, the mosasaurus, as a lizard. demics that result when new animals enter went ahead to put all the land dino- previously stable and isolated environ- the dinosaurs went extinct. then saurs in the same taxonomic basket. ments. Dala show that extinctions— and It wasn't the zap Yet, there are profound differences be- there have been ten big ones through geo- or meteorite. tween dinos and lizards, as a casual run logic time— generally occur when sea level of a supernova through the American Museum of Natural drops. As the oceans recede they often It was the York City, will make ob- expose land bridges connecting the con- History, in New -Great Cretaceous Diarrhea vious. The distinct sprawl ol the legs, which tinents, allowing formerly separated spe- evokes the "crawling on its belly like a rep- cies to mingle. The animals, with no im- Attack. And what tile" line, does not apply to dinosaurs. Their mune protection against newly introduced that tourism^ caused was skeletal postures in both tetrapod (four- disease and no defense against unknown bipoda', groups are much more predators, simply succumb. footed) and upright, closer to birds' and mammals' "What happened to the Amerindians stances. The differences between dino- when the whites introduced smallpox? saurs of all varieties and reptiles are pro- What happened to Stanley Livingston and sized warm-blooded found enough to cause some comment. all the other white imperialists who went to as a comparably Bakker. "is a kind Adrian Desmond, in his classic (and ob- the Congo?" Bakker asks rhetorically. "They beast. "Ectothermy." says viously biased) The Hot-Blooded Dino- all dropped like flies." Likewise, if at the of Zen state." other saurs, noted that "all is not well with our end of the Cretaceous Period, 65 million Warm-blooded animals, on the model of the dinosaur." years ago, sea levels fell and hundreds of hand, are tremendous energy con- But for more than a century the reptile species flooded a continent, the animals sumers— gulping down fuel like finback ot dinosaur life remained pretty would introduce hundreds oi diseases that Cadillacs from the Fifties. This high-oc- model en- unchanged. That is, until the Sixties, had not existed before tane inner furnace is a precondition for much temperature. (In hu- when independent studies by two scien- "If there's one thing we know about, it's dothernis' stable core tists-began to suggest the mammal as a that sudden introduction of disease causes mans it's 98.6"F) This temperature remains first all of weather, allow- paradigm ior the dinosaur. The study extinction," Bakker says. "So it wasn't a constant during kinds was published by Yale geologist and ver- giant fireball from heaven but the Mongol- ing the animal to survive colder climates night. im- tebrate paleontologist John Ostrom, who ian diarrhea in North America or the Wy- and cruise around at And most crea- said that the Dinosaurs' erect posture might oming tlu in Mongolia multiplied many portant, perhaps, the warm-blooded to high activity imply a "high metabolism." Upright pos- times. Epidemiological^ speaking, it you ture has immediate access the ture, with a long vertical distance between take dozens of tropical species from Africa levels, whereas the reptile must bask in enough .tirain and heart, he explained, might re- and put them in Asia and vice versa, all sun before his muscles are warm by pa- quire a fully divided, four-chambered car- hell's gonna break loose. It's got to. This is for action. The big question posed diac pump to push blood to the brain—the a case where a discipline totally outside of leontologists is, Does the capacity for in- birds and paleontology— disease management- stant activity .compensate for the energy kind of heart characteristic of but not reptiles. Furthermore, gives us a powerful tool for understanding spent finding and then consuming addi- mammals structure of the legs things geologists and paleontologists tional food? said Ostrom, skeletal shoulders of some dinosaurs suggest themselves couldn't understand." Bakker thinks so. But his idea of the and they could run long and fast, the sort of UnderlyingBakker's hypothesis is a rad- warm-blooded dinosaur has met with vig- -rum scientists studying activity usually requiring the high metab- ical conceptual structure, one that many orous opposilion endotherm. other paleontologists are loath to accept. the Mesozoic Era, which includes the olism of an pe- Across the Atlantic, at the Universite de Bakker believes that dinosaurs, all of them, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous meanwhile, an anatomist named Ar- were warm-blooded, or endothermic, like riods. For a decade paleontologists have Paris, 140 OMNI 3

That question has yel to be mand de Ricqlos observed Ihal bone rni- There, a number of experts took highly so- have breasts? parental care is crostructure was a sensitive indicator ol phisticated potshots al one another's the- answered. But extended trait of and birds and rarely activity level. In endolherms, who have a ories, especially Bakkor's. "We cannot put a mammals reptilian species. steady, high level of activity, the blood ves- a thermometer in a dinosaur's cloaca," occurs among Horner's evidence: implies that mom and sels in long bones are densely packed and complained one participant, summing up hadrosaur took care of their little ones allow for great transfer of blood to and from fhe frustration surrounding Ihe issue. pop half the linear the active regions. These blood-bearing Bakker defended himselt against a mul- until the offspring were one That suggests structures, called Haversian canals, are titude of charges, including that of "mam- dimension of the parents. kids were either in the nests for an in- sparse in reptiles. Ricqles found that di- malian chauvinism." To that he responded: the lime or, likely, that they I more nosaur bone coniains numerous Haver- "I am a commuted herpeiophiliac. When ordinately long rapidly, adult size in I reaching sian canals, but the French paleobiologist. read [Kipling's] 'Rikki-likki-tavi,' root for grew very or eight years (about 20 tons and 18 like Ostrom, never stated publicly that di- the snake." There is nothing disreputable seven growing nosaurs were endotherms. or immoral, he continued, about being a feet tall for most types). "A rapidly with low metabolic rate. And, yes, dinosaur would have to have a very high It was Robert Bakker, a Yale student, who reptile a metabolic rate, and that most certainly took the ball and ran with it. In the early extant reptiles and amphibians show an Seventies he began publishing a series of extraordinary range of adaptations that spells endothermy," says Horner. dubious about the papers that raised powerful arguments make the bioenergelics of mammals seem At first Bakker was

' he about dinosaurs' thermoregulalory strate- unimaginative. It's just that the warm- significance of Horner's find. Bui 'Jesus, there's nests, gies. From these papers many new ques- blooded creatures were,- he said, evolu- changed his mind. hatched eggs, and young tions began to arise. And so did objections tionary dominant. High internal metabo- broken and working. It's magnifi- from the old guard. lism gave them a slight edge—on land. everywhere Jack's animal that No one entering vertebrate paleontol- For a few years after the conference cent. You're talking about an light as much as a circus elephant and ogy should be averse to dirt, sweat, and nothing extraordinary came to lo bol- weighs controversy. Indeed, internecine warfare ster Bakker's position. In fact, he quipped, that's growing as fast as a whale," Bakker that can among dinosaur scientists has been a adds. "There's no living reptile or close." specialty of the field, and strange person- grow that fast even come strengthening the endothermy case alities seem drawn to this most fantastic of Also baby empirical sciences. During the last half of is the bone microsiructure of the since he is the nineteenth century the two great pillars hadrosaur skeletons. "In man, * With crews of bold measure of all things," says Bakker, with of paleontology, Edward Drinker Cope and the "in Ihe very young Olhniel Charles Marsh, were at each oth- men, they made forays into the just a hint of sarcasm, fetal when bone growth er's throats. With crews of strong, single- and in the stage, badlands, where every minded men, they made forays into the is very fast, the bone crystals grow If cut of these bones badlands, where spying, theft, and be- spying, theft, and betrayal which way. you one open you see a sort of woven texture." trayal accompanied excavation of the rich- accompanied lent baby hadro bone, est Jurassic fossil sites in the world. "Ugly Horner Bakker some excavation of the richest sectioned it and pul it under incidents were rife," reports Desmond. and when he that the "Men deserted to the opposite camp, and Jurassic the electron microscope, he saw "every man strong-arm tactics were employed to move juveniles all had woven bone, fossil sites in the world inlo rival territory or drive invaders out." jack of 'em." his initial find, Hor- When a team moved out, remaining fossils In the two years after dis- were smashed so that competitors could ner returned to the site often, once adult skull that convinced him not get their hands on them. But out of this covering an and species of paranoid, frantic war of egos came mighty he'd found a new genus catalogs of new animals, from the huge he suffered a theoretical setback when hadrosaur. He named it Maiasaurus pee- camarasaurus and barosaurus dinosaurs Ronald Reagan was elected president, blesorum, from the Greek meaning "good mother," and in honor of John and James to the first" tiny, primitive mammal fossils. "showing that a cold-blooded animal can whose ranch the nests were Things in the paleontological commu- achieve great political success." Peebles, on report that the nity have calmed down since the "great But then, in late 1978, Jack Horner, of found. By 1982 he could their site year after bone rush of the 1880s." But vestiges of Montana State University's Museum ol the hadrosaurs returned to year, probably migrating from the wetter the spirit still linger, for instance in the way Rockies, in Bozeman, found the skeletons lay their eggs the more flamboyant scientists talk about of 11 baby duckbilled hadrosaurs jumbled sea banks to these uplands io one another. As one friend said ol Jack together in a fine-grained mudstone nest. in less humid conditions. Horner excavated a Horner: "You wouldn't wani to meet him in The young dinosaurs had hatched with tiny At the same time, nearby area he calls Egg Mountain and an alley, even in broad daylight." Or an- but full sets ol Ihe amazing dental baltcr- containing about 20 eggs other of Bakker: "I thought he'd be like a ies unique to hadrosaurs: rows and rows found nine nests offspring of a college professor from the Fifties, instead of closely paeked, self-sharpening, contin- per clutch. These were the little ornithopod, the speedy he's a veritable Rasputin, black beard and uously growing cheek teeth capable ot more primilive little beasts, says hair down lo his waist, blazing eyes." pulverizing and grinding enormous quan- hypsilophodons. These Horner, like the hadrosaurs, probably re- And fire still rages in the learned de- tities of tough plant tissue. Mouniainyear afler year. The bates. By the time the Seventies rolled "I think the hadrosaurs were warm- turned to Egg around, though, the scientists were argu- blooded," Horner now says in his blunt, elongated hypsilophodon eggs were me- concentric circles, with the ing about body heat. The debate itself, re- flat-out manner. "The fact that numerous ticulously laid in in the members University ot Ottowa paleontol- baby hadrosaurs had been eating and smaller end of each egg planted hatched, the tiny ogist Dale Russell, "should have been fun, staying logcthei sugges-.s Ihe presence of sediment. When the egg hypsilophodon crawl out the top, . that would lightheaded. But it wasn't." The arguments extended parental care comparable to eggshell intact. The between the pro-warm-blooded factions, practiced by warm-blooded mammals. If leaving the rest of the trampled, he led by Bakker, and the traditionalists, which food was being brought to the nest, some- faci that the shells were not that the flower-browsing included almost"everybody in the field at one had to doit. And if the babies ranged thinks, indicates in the nest like the that time, came to a head at a symposium out of the nest, it's unlikely they'd find their hypsilos did not stay sponsored by the American Associaiion for way back wilhout .parental supervision." hadrosaurs but ran around nearby. skeletons in the nest the Advancement of Science in 1978. Did hadrosaur mothers, like mammals, Ho found 1 2 juvenile 142 OMNI vicinity, suggesting that the offspring re- mained in Ihe colony or returned to the nesting site frequently, perhaps assem- bling in birdlike creches lor proteclion. Either case suggests a good amount of parental care, distinctly nonreptilian. A tenet of evolutionary theory is that one of the best ways for a species to proliferaie is for certain genes to spread faster than others. If a species can develop a gene for fast growlh, it can inorease in number and swamp the market. Says Bakker: "There's no adaptation more fundamentally pow- erful than breeding early and breeding often. It's like , voting in Chicago—vote early, vole often. That's probably the most im- portant explanation lor Ihe exiraordmary success of the dinosaurs and, later, the mammals. Breed early, reach sexual ma- turity, go lo ihe junior prom, breed." And more of same.

Bakker compares Horner's dinosaurs to the oslrich and Ihe moa, the latter a big ground bird that was boiled to extinction in the Maori cooking pots. Ostriches and moas are closer in struclure to dinosaurs than io alligators. "They're like looking backward in time through a telescope," ._'jB"iiii i*£j says Bakker. And the bones of ostriches have the same woven microstructure as the hadros'; the birds have the same nest- ing habits; they offer parental care with communal nesting, day-care centers that combine groups for protection. And they grow up almost overnight. The ostriches, Bakker adds, offer the key to a persistent paleolithic puzzle; how Ihe garganluan sauropod dinos, with iheir del- icate heads and insignificant" teeth, proc- essed enough food to be endothermic hay burners, requiring grealer quantities of en- ergy lhan reptiles. The ostrich too, noles Bakker, has a small head, sans ieeth. But its diet of Iruit and grasses is ground up

by tough little pebbles that it swallows and stores in the walls of its gizzard. The hall- ton moas had the same liny heads and grinding gizzard stones. And clumps of gizzard stones have been found in dino- saur fossil sites, right where the gut would be. "I know agreal many dinosaurs picked

up pebbles, and these were polished in Iheir stomachs," Bakker says. "So the final link to this story is that we've looked at the pebbles' microstructure under scanning microscopes and found that sauropod pebbles have the same type of polish as do the stones of ostriches and moas. Di- nosaurs were quite capable of digesting masses of vegetation wilh Ihe gizzard stones," he continues. Ostriches have small brains, Bakker concludes. It's been argued lhal superlast growth in warm-blooded animals can be

accomplished if the creature is willing to sacrifice brainpower. Ostriches have a rather limited power to read Proust. Simi- larly, hadrosaurs. lor all their great beauty, were bearers of very little brain. Further proof of sauropod warm-blood- Tua«* edness may have been Irozen in time in Lockley's Jurassic trackways. The Juras- 3

adds, reflects differing en- bones," he says. "If you can't make the sic is the golden age of the sauropods: If ation, Lockley mammals, for in- case on morphology, ihen whether they you jump on the Mesozoic express at the ergy requirements. Large in were warm-blooded or not has nothing to Cretaceous Period and speed one stop stance, must consume their own weight a big do with it." backward, you are at the late Jurassic, 135 food every nine or ten days, whereas dino- reptile as the 100-pound Hotton himself doesn't cotton to to 165 million years ago. Send a postcard modern-day such a the- lizard of Indochina may consume saur endothermy. He subscribes to home with a picture on it: a lakeside fed Komodo every months. ory of "thermal inertia"—that the dinosaurs by rivers and rimmed by thick, alluvial de- a comparable amount two dinosaurs may had no special mechanism for the internal posits. Stately sauropods mingle with some The tracks thus indicate that production of heat but kept warm with heat carnivorous therapods and three-toed have been as warm-blooded as any dog. generated by the muscular movements of bipeds. Their footprints on the bank of the The range of new evidence makes di- than their huge limbs. "Otherwise I can't imag- Purgatoire River, Lockley claims, -are the nosaur classification more difficult anyway? ine why dinosaurs would be so much big- best Jurassic tracks ever found. ever. What were the dinosaurs warm-blooded ger ihan mammals," he muses. "But look, The events leading up to Lockley's in- Cold-blooded reptiles or ectothermic in or I don't think dinosaurs were vestigation of the Purgatoire typify the mammals; cold-blooded mammals the way living reptiles are. My complaint sometimes meandering nature of the dis- warm-blooded reptiles; or some unimag- current forms? One Irom the beginning has been the tendency cipline. The Purgatoire prints were known inable hybrid of the two certain: giants were of the participants in the controversy to put to the great fossil and trackway expert Ro- thing seems These combination of metabolic down ectothermy and endothermy as mu- land T. Bird in the Thirties. But Bird, then propelled by a

exclusive options. I think there are a investigating a spectacular sauropod strategies for which we have no analogies. tually concerned, dino- whole bunch of strategies in between." trackway by the Paluxy River, in Texas, As tar as Bakker is altogether from Bakker, of course, believes ihai dino- never got around to studying the Purga- saurs should be removed Reptilia reinstated taxo- saurs were warm-blooded. "Even without toire site. Then, during the Fifties, geolo- the class and Dinosauria. Today's system specialized limbs and brains," he notes, gist Frank Frazier visited the region. The nomically as ada- "high heat production is an irresistible ad- tracks would be particularly revealing, he is not only pre-Darwinian, he says vantage for big tropical tetrapods," And it speculated, because the Purgatoire lay at is highly unlikely that the suppression of the neck of the Morrison Formation, a Ju- large mammals throughout the Jurassic rassic-fossil gold mine that stretches across and Cretaceous periods could have been seven states. It wasn't until two decades accomplished by your standard-issue rep- had passed, though, that Frazier recom- Qfoy're talking tile. The first small dinosaui '.-. appeared 215 mended the site to his friend Lockley, of million years ago. Within 5 million years they the University of Colorado. about an animal that weighs were dominant land vertebrates in small, Lockley mapped the entire area, fight- as much as an medium, and large groups in both the flesh- ing against the river's erosion, floods, and and that's growing eating and plant-eating categories. "That's extremes of heat and cold. His work paid elephant a very fast rise to ecological hegemony," off in the form of some 1,000 footprints be- as fast as a Bakker exclaims. "Enormous ecological ihan 60 animals. In the last longing to more living . whale. There's no success." And this success, he empha- two years, he has identified the prints of sizes, was possible because of their warrn- several brontosaurus-type species, some reptile that can bloodedness, an advantage that became bipeds, and even prints from the camp- possibly grow that fast part of an unreversed and inexorable pro- tosaurus group, relatives of the iguano- gression leading from fhe first four-legged don, with its flexy fingers and spiky "hitch- land beast to the "grand complex of mod- hiker's" thumb. ern mammals." Lockley's trackways add evidence to the As a sort of afterthought, Bakker was theory that dinosaurs were gregarious, so- inherit the earfh should it's pre-French Revolution. "The asked who would cial creatures — a characteristic of mam- marrtly, humans and other primates disappear. mals but not of reptiles. The tracks reveal problem with classifying dinosaurs as rep- association. To "That's easy," he replies, "but every- a picture of three and four hefty sauropods tiles is that it's guilt by an body gets it wrong. They all want to say walking parallel for at least 230 yards, average person, reptile means a cold- to that di- cockroaches or bugs. Nonsense. You need Lockley says, and "the scene is tranquil. blooded, scaly lizard. And say reptiles iheir heads a technological species capable of manip- There is no evidence that carnivores were nosaurs are heaps on ulating objects, interacting socially, and instilling panic, no skirmishes." More study all this innuendo of physiology." of building things— big-brained creatures. of the trackways will provide information Horner, however, thinks that because morphol- That leaves out cockroaches. Anything that about the dinosaurs' stride length, gail, and the dinosaur's distinctly reptilian can make tools will become supreme. herding structure — patterns different from ogy (iorm and structure), today's classifi- Raccoons, for instance. Their hands are those followed by today's reptiles. cation holds. "If a crocodile is a reptile, ever had a is reptile." says. "It's incredibly sensitive. Have you In addition the trackways suggest that then a dinosaur a he with a massage delivered by a raccoon? Seri- dinosaurs had the same ratio of predator sort of like comparing an opossum primitive, but ously, the nerve endings in their fingers are to prey as most large mammals— a ratio cheetah. An opossum is more fit controlled by huge areas of the brain; so distinctly different from that of reptiles. "The it's still a mammal. Yes. I think dinosaurs then they're probably more tactilely oriented flesh eaters' footprints occur in small pro- well within the category of reptiles, but

it. draw than we are. portion to the prints left by herbivores like so does a bird if you siretch We to their or- "Get rid of primates and within ten mil- the sauropod," Lockley says. lines, but if we take them back years raccoons will be getting bigger, The Mesozoic was obviously a dino-eat- igin, those'lines are going to break down. lion more social, and bigger brained. In fact, dino world. Bui exactly how many and what Dinosaurs were special; they don't corre- either. their brain size increased in their evolu- kind of prey did the carnivorous dinos eat? spond to lizards or mammals They tionary history just a little later than pri- Ruthless culling agenls like the albertd- were not birds. They were dinosaurs!" curator mates'. Instead of just manipulating cray- saurus and the tyrannosaurus stood in Nicholas Hotton III, a research they'll start knocking rocks together, about the same ratio to their prey as lions in paleobiology at the Smithsonian Insti- fish, making tools, building roach motels. I and cheetahs do to their prey today. And- tution, in Washington, DC, agrees that no "You've got the mean, raccoons, they've got the prereq- that ratio is far larger than hunter/hunted reclassification is required. front of uisites! Imagine, a whole civilization run by ratios in such ectothermic communities as reptile morphology right there in raccoons. Planet of the Raccoons!"DQ snakes, lizards, and crocodiles. The situ- God -and everybody when you study the 144 OMNI old but have low metallicity." he tronomy is often a battle of competing da- not very "So tabases—academic star wars. For exam- says with a touch of disappointment. CHILEAN the nice predictability of me- ple, some estimate the age of the universe this shoots by using a complex series of assumptions tallicity we were counting on." expansion, These are the kinds of "contradictory, The nearby mystics aren't terribly pop- about the universe's rate of Hubble's constant. (Astronomers noncooperative data" that make Ardeburg ular at Cerro Tololo. "The wives of a few called so cautious, almost pessimistic. I; Osmer astronomers went on a picnic near one of jokingly call this a variable constant, be- to constantly changing.) The most is the scientific enthusiast who helped the spiritual groups," a tired technician said cause it's Tololo the intrepid newcomer reshuffling took place after it turned establish as during his midnight snack. "And some of recent globular clusters—tremen- in world astronomy, Ardeburg is more like these characters told them to leave, shout- out that the to get over- old, massive stars that form a halo a benign schoolmaster trying ing that they were, interfering with the dously Milky are excited astronomers back in Ihoir seals. cosmic vibrations from outer space." around the center of the Way— the universe was sup- His conservatism is justified, since we But the astronomers and the Yogis have much older than of our galactic sur- posed to be. As astronomers acquire more hardly know the ABCs much in common— an obsessive search technologies, embarrassing- roundings. Aslronomers still furiously de- for sites at high altitudes as well as a pref- sophisticated could get smaller. Or larger. bate such lundamental questions as, erence for hermetic isolation. They're both discrepancies Huoble's constant may start Where are we in the Milky Way galaxy? nervous about visitors, and they gel equally Guardians ol walls when they hear about What kind of galaxy are we In? irritated when anything interferes with their climbing the spiral done by ESO. "It seems like we're in a galaxy, communication with outer space. On this yet another study, this one definite if phoiometry to study but the information is not all thai cloudy night astronomers could do noth- "We used narrow-band outside the you look at it objectively," declared Ste- more than grumble and grind data on the metal abundance of stars ing astrono- clusters," Ardeburg says. "The phen Federman, a leading U.S. their trusty computers. At daybreak three globular formation uses mer from the University of Texas, during a scientists staged a mock debate on conventional model of star During ra- measure of age. Old stars lecture given at the ESO. 1983 whether the moon is made of blue or green metallicity as a space. So the old- dio astronomers mapped oul concentra- cheese. Both sides marshaled impressive throw heavy melals into tions of carbon monoxide (CO) in the Milky arguments. est stars should have the lowest metallic- to there Way because CO is a good indicator of There's a chance that present under- ity. But we were astounded see inter- stars with lower metallicity hydrogen, the principal element of standing of quasars and black holes will are a number of From their low stellar clouds that define spiral arms. Some prove as enduring as the green-cheese than the globular clusters. conclude Ihese think the CO maps confirm a spiral slruc- of lunar landscapes. "We have to metallicity it is lempting to theory holes older than the globular clusters." ture. But Federman feels "there are admit we get a lot of contradictory, non- stars are will have lo age the in the CO mapping." cooperative data when we talk aboul a If so, cosmologists his isn't ready At least a dozen times during hour- cosmological picture," says Arne universe in a hurry. But Ardeburg broad chal- drums about the new findings. long talk, European astronomers Ardeburg, at the La Silla site of the ESO. to beal the know are lenged Federman— a good sign of how Ardeburg points out that high-tech as- "We've also found stars that we controversial topics like galactic slructure and evolution still are. Armed with a Texas drawl and wearing blue jeans and a hang- ing shirttail — a perfect picture oi the American innocent abroad—he defended

himself well. "It was a good lecture," con- fided German astronomer Hans-Emil Schuster after the talk. Schuster should know. He started work- ing at the La. Silla site of the ESO 15 years ago. when not even cactus grew on the bare, 8,000-foot mountain. Today, with a budget of $18 million a year and a resident stall of 150, La Silla could pass for a lux- urious Alpine resort. Located 60 miles north of Cerro Tololo, in drier, more desolate ter- rain, ESO is his baby. Schuster also devoted more than ten years as a staff astronomer to the pains- taking and unglamorous job of mapping the Southern- skies. And even though he discovered four new comets in the proc- ess, he's not a believer in spectacular breakthroughs- "It's better to take things gradually and go*, a st'ong statistical base for any new discovery." Staff astronomers like Schuster can put in more telescope time in Chile than most colleagues in the United States or Europe. But they also run the risk of becoming strange, nocturnal creatures who shun all forms of light— because it interferes with ?-C.\i&i> their sleep by day and their work by night. They spend long periods on remote moun- never . - tains looking for . what? They're "Someday, son, alt this wilt be yours." sure. Neither are their wives. "I'm leaving for a three-month vacation in the United an say the light that once illumined Tibet has States," the wife of one staff member an- fore sunset Ihey gather in unadorned sanctuary. Sitting cross-legged they burn come to the Andes." nounced. "And I'll be coming back too Not even electric light illumines Vega's soon." Like local mystics, astronomers in wood^ purified butter, rice, and dried cow container while century-old adobe shack. Still, Vega and Chile practice a lot of celibacy. dung inside a copper chanting Sanskrit hymns to Agni, the god his friends will put up with a few inconve- If looking at Chilean skies seems like in emulation of a Vedic ceremony niences to live in the neighborhood where drudgery, it's high-class drudgery. On a of fire, Tibetan lamas are rumored to live. typical evening, when sundown comes at perhaps 5,000 years old. Ihe of Hindu These mythical monks are said to med- La Silla, astronomers rush to enjoy every A band under guidance is one ot several itate at etheric heights in the Andes, sur- instanl of "clear seeing," the astronomer's monk Vaisant Paranjpe val- rounded by a self-sustained force field that equivalent of high surf. The night sky is groups who meditate in remote river riv- protects them from, among other things, bright with whole clouds of luminous ob- leys 40 miles east of Cerro Tololo. The carve airplanes and journalists. jects. The white metal domes house alien ers, led by snows high in the Andes, plane spotted a large mon- watchers dedicated to tracking stars through red-and-yellow mounlain walls "A military astery near the Argentine border," says a across the sky. Occasionally some pale reminiscent of parts of the Rockies—ex- higher, the valleys nar- Chilean naval lieutenant who has set up his astronomer will emerge from a dome, his cept the Andes are and practices yoga next to an icy image flickering for an instant as he lights rower, almost claustrophobic. tent Ihese valleys be- stream. "But when it tried to approach, its a cigarette in a doorway. Then he vanishes Meditators in Andean spiritual center. cngmes failed." back into his hole. lieve they live in the world's "Would it be possible to rent a plane and Overhead the Southern Cross stands Swami Vaisant calls the north of Chile "the

find this monastery?" I ask. out— three stars of diamantine blue con- planetary heart chakra [or principal spir- the Her- "Look," the lieutenant says sympatheti- trasted with a single point of fiery pink. itual center]." Padre Borrega and people meant to find the mon- Dazzling constellations suddenly seem to metic Society of the Pacific are founding a cally, "only astery will find it. Someone like you, just dance to the songs of Santana's rock al- retreat, hoping a world savior will be born interested in the external aspect of public- bum Abraxis, which pours out from one of nearby. Still others talk about an axis of for story, will never make it." the smaller domes. Tonight some monastic "spiritual magnetism." It's commonly be- ity a American astronauts were much astronomer with a cassette tape has seen lieved the sources for these claims include The easier to track down. "Oh, I've heard that farther out into the universe than his tele- Tibetan lamas, at least one scientist/guru, in Chilean Andes scope, TV camera, spectrograph, and American astronauts, and even the astron- story about the lights the Himalayas," answers a switch- computer combined. For him Ihe sky be- omers from Cerro Toiolo. and the board operator at NASA's Washington, DC, comes a "Black Magic Woman." And he "Tibetan lamas have come to this val- After long search, the buck stops sings along. ley," says Jose Vega, a typical freelance office. a head of the Photo Sundown inspires a different song pilgrim living with two friends, one of them with Dick Underwood, at the Johnson Space among white-robed recluses not far from a German writer named Iris, in the upper Interpretation Lab Houston. the observatories. Within two minutes be- reaches of a remote Andean canyon. "They Center, in "It's true lhal astronauts on one of the Not all the believers come from a Yogic early Gemini flights were surprised by bril- tradition. One group of American physi- liant, flashbulb-type lights in (he region of cists was filmed performing a similar cer- the Himalayas and the north of Chile," Un- emony to welcome the rising sun. Anthony derwood admits. just [he re- "They saw Campbell, , a transcendental meditation flection of the sun at a particular angle- expert and' British fvl.D. who writes on the it happens now and again. This could eas- relation of Eastern thought to Western sci- ily occur in the Himalayas or the Andes ence, says these seemingly deranged because the atmosphere there is very thin physicists are reexperiencing in their cer- and clean. Once we explained whai was emonial greeting a "participation mys- happening, the astronauts never men- tique" with the universe. Like Yogis, they

tioned it again." express friendship toward the sun as a liv- But the Latin American press has men- ing being, not as another object in space. tioned the story again and again, and the Ceremonies aside, the idea of a partici-

, astronauts' sightings seem to confirm the patory universe may prove as healthy for claims of Raynaud de la Ferrier, a French astronomy and astronomers as it is for aristocrat and savant who popularized the Yogis. It's appropriate that ancient cos- notion that the earth's "spiritual cenler" has motheistic celebrations should lake place shifted from the Himalayas to the Andes. next to Chilean observatories whose high- Ferrier is especially notable because, as a tech telescopes still show man he is alone, doctor, mining 'engineer, architect, psy- friendless, and adrift in the cosmos—lost chologist, and president of the Interna- in space. But the image of man as Lone tional Federation of Scientific Societies, he Ranger in a universe of weird objects con- has an ample forum for his ideas about tradicts a perennial, cross-cultural belief in

spiritual magnetism. Today his followers the unity of man with cosmic life. Many as- conduct Yoga seminars in the same valley tronomers also feel the evidence of an ex- as the disciples of Swami Vaisant. panding, evolving universe means the uni- "These spiritual groups often claim Cerro verse more closely resembles a living, Tololo has proved there's a special mag- changing organism than a dead construe! netism in this area," says Tololo astrono- of matter strewn about by the Big Bang. mer John Wood. "I told the press we have One of the most consistent critics of the

no such study. Well, it turns out NASA did static, clockwork view of the universe is do a study that shows this part of Chile has llya Prigogine, who won the Nobel Prize for unusual magnetism. So in a sense the hip- chemistry in 1977. "It seems to me the re- pies were right, though Cerro Tololo wasn't ceht evolution of science takes us away involved with it. This magnetic center is from the cultural context of the West, where probably just due to iron deposits all along modern science was founded," he said in the region." Wood pauses reflectively. "Still, an interview with Omni last May, "The idea

I must admit I've always fell a special tran- of a self-organizing universe is close to the quilidad here. It's one of the reasons I've Chinese scientific tradition. The idea of a stayed so long." universe . we see in us . . converging with The Andean region of northern Chile and a universe outside us, is reminiscent of Argentina has the highest magnetic anom- many traditions of Indian thought." aly in South America—a strong, positive The quest to experience universal con- field that has been measured at six nano- sciousness prompted many scientists, in- teslas. (A nanotesla is a unit of measure- cluding Nobel Prize-winning physicist Brian ment of the earns rnag.nclic-lieid strength.) Josephson, to practice Eastern meditation "We don't really know what causes these before Yogis moved near Cerro Tololo, The magnetic anomalies," says Jorge Oyar- mutual attraction may give rise to unex- zun, a geology professor at the Chilean pected insights. Alter all, Vedic seers con- University of La Serena. ceived of multiple universes with innumer- Whatever the explanation, La Serena has able civilizations at a time when Europeans a magnetic attraction for seekers—and not believed in an Earfh-centered cosmos. The just for hippies. Up to 70 visitors a week seers' Yogic explorations of inner space make the long, arduous climb to the retreat somehow gave them a more cosmopolitan of Swami Vaisant. (The swami usually lives view of outer space. Veda Vyasa, author in Maryland, which may also be another ol the Bhagavad Gila, the second-century cenler of spiritual magnetism.) Madre Ce- Hindu scripture, wrote that the birth and cilia, a healthy woman in her early forties, death of the universe are relative events heads a community of ten hermits who dependent on the observer—a surpris- raise bees and vegetables at this hide- ingly modern view. According to Vyasa, the away 6,000 feet above sea level. Madre oldest observer in existence is the Univer- ,T, Cecilia's home— acie oread akes 30 miles sal Mother, whose life lasts 61.8 billion tril- of dirt roads and dizzying cliffs almost lion years. He perceived the physical uni- worthwhile. But the big attraction is the Ag- verse as her nervous system. nihotra fire ceremony. Absurd? Maybe. But astronomers are al- The initial impression of the fire cere- ways coming up with spectacular new dis- E W E L E R S mony is that the smell of burning cow dung coveries, like quasars and black holes, that i&as bad today as it must have been 5,000 suddenly make preconceived scientific years ago. Of course, the Sanskrit hymns, dogmas obsolete. That lonely astronomer directed toward the sun and whole cos- at La Silla, if he looks long enough, might mos, are soothing. find his Black Magic Woman. DO ^Technical advances are allowing amateur astronomers to search for civilizations throughout the cosmos'

SETI, or the search nia's Silicon Valley. lor extraterrestrial in- With black, horn- telligence, used to be rimmed glasses and the exclusive prov- a dialect of oom- ince of governments puter-chipese, Lind and universities. Us- has already pumped ing giant radio tele- $15,000 and 1,200 scopes and sophis- hours of work into the ticated equipment, design and con- only large well- and struction of his own funded groups could SETI gadgets. scan ihe heavens for At the heart of messages from be- Lind's setup are a yond. Now all that has couple of homemade changed. Technical amplifiers that en- advances that have hance incoming sig- rendered computers nals and reduce ex- and software readily traneous radio noise available have also Right now he's focus- put amateur SETI into ing his instruments on the reach of the gen- Sigma Draconis. a eral public. You can! sunlike star 18.2 light- yet rush out and buy years from tl a personal ap- SETI Ihe North paratus, but with suf- Star, Sigma Draconis ficient knowledge, IS always there for money, and help from UFD UPDflTE viewing: so if signals other amateurs, you can construct your own computer- >e possible to detect them at any time. ized receiving system and listen to the stars And according to Lind, detection will be made even like- Amateur SETI hobbled toit; en Nicholas lier by equipment designed to pick up signals at the radio Marshall, a Lockheed research specialist, founded his frequency of 1420 megahertz, the natural frequency of

Starquest group to build a listening • p< hydrogen Since hydrogen is the most abundant element Cisco Bay area. The post was never finished, for while in the the universe. Lind explains, other civilizations might in- group had plenty of radio know-how, they lacked the com- tuitively send their messages by thai route puter equipment needed lo separate an intelligent signal When NASA begins its own SETI project later this year, from radio static. But what they lacked then is today on it will use a receiver capable of monitoring 74.000 radio the market at low cost, and a number of amateurs are now frequencies simultaneously And Harvard physicist Paul on the verge of doing their own listening. Horowitz is now designing a receiver that can listen to a In Edmonton, Alberta, for instance, electronics techni- million or more channels at once. Lind's apparatus—which cian Bob Stevens founded the Amateur Radio Astronomy can search only one frequency a! a time—seems puny Observatory and is now searching the skies with two large by comparison, But the experts don't look down on SETI microwave dishes, in Chicago, data analyst Robert Gray amateurs "Were all amateurs in this, really," says Horo- is building a listening device sensitive lo enough detect ildn't give Lind a lot of encouragement that he'll a 75-watt light bulb as far away as the sun And then ng but i wouldn't give myself much chance of there's Karl Lind (above), of SRI International, in Califor- finding anything either. "—EDWARD REGIS. JR. "

FON Investigator Bill Case. The metal, he adds, con- By 1897 the railroad formed to the shape of taKmg settlers west had the stone in which it was already bypassed Aurora, discovered. Indicating that Texas the reason. A plague it must have been nearly hurtled of yellow tever had killed molten as it down off most of the people, and More significant, Andrus the place was fast becom- contends, an X ray verified ing a ghost lown Those the presence of pure alumi- who were not in Ihe ceme- num in the sample, "which tery prayed for a miracle is meaningful," he explains, to attract new settlers, and "because all known com- mercial aluminum must then it happened. this In the spring of 1897. contain copper. But local newspapers reported sample aid not have cop- that the nose of a "mysteri- per," Andrus, unfortunately, ous airship" had struck cannot reveal the name the water well {below) on of the laboratory that con- Judge J, S. Proctor's farm ducted the test, because, he "the lab normally those ot us who participated The charred body of an says, bur- charges seventy- five dollars in the Teacher's ghost hunt alien, reports said, was his group for only ied in the cemetery, and a an hour," but last fall Teacher's Scotch were at each pub a wasengraved managed to avoid the fee. sponsored an investigation day and a night porthole expert James that, in one on the tombstone UFO of 12 allegedly haunted Dellanoy says For the past 75 years Oberg, however, points oui pubs located throughout the pub, witnesses she rates have said that it doesn't take Sherlock Kingdom A prize highly credible reported UFO investigators United some- flying the crash was a hoax de Holmes lo realize of £1,000 was ottered 10 the objects around the signed to bring the curious thing's amiss. Since the lab pub owner whose establish- room "One man was to town But now Walter cant be revealed, there ment was deemed by in- struck in the head by a Andrus. an investigator tor is no way to verify the test vestigators to be a site flying ashtray And there the Mutual UFO Network results, he says. Moreover, of true paranormal activity were also reports of the (MUFON), in Texas, says a "if this is a hoax the popu- The ghost hunters came paranormal lighting of can- mysterious larity of the town's only up empty-handed, however, dles." says Dellanoy. But piece of the airship has been found. tourist atlraction would be and Teacher's donated despite the reported events, Modern metallurgical tests, ruined. You know, there's a the money to charity But nothing happened were he adds, have proved guy at the gate of the Au- that doesn't necessarily the investigators that whatever crashed rora cemetery who collects mean that ghosts and pol- on hand, wasn't man-made. money from people coming tergeists don't reside in "We sat in pubs and Andrus claims that a to see the alien's grave. some British pubs, accord- waited for ghosts We scrap of metal was found Why don't they just dig it ing to at least one of the looked (or apparitions in near Proctor's well by MU- up?"— Peter Rondinohe investigators. cellars. We sal on beds and "There were many in- waited for Victorian children stances where we found to come through the walls." very interesting reports of comments Teacher's public- hauntings." notes Debra ity director David Dorman of Edinburgh "Apparently, ghosts |ust Dellanoy. " University. "But a proper don't turn up on demand investigation is time-con- — Sherry Baker

suming— it involves tracking down stories and trying to "There are strange things come up with a normal done In the midnight sun." cause tor the events And —Robert Service

154 OMNI " " ;

have on the wearer When After giving the matter a

wears a grass ifht, he recalled

suit, he points out, he can Legend has it that the Ihe work of zoologist J (eel the roots growing empire of Atlantis was Manson Valentine Accord- through the fabric washed from the face of the ing to Valentine, ancient

lance l Know of earth by a great flood But artilacts found m the Ameri- being encased in a living now explorer and photog- cas had been brought thing other than the womb, rapher Richard Wingate has across the ocean by the

he says "And I find it makes another theory The Allan- seafaring Atlantear me very calm." teansdidn'l vanish They re around Harding, in fact, per- sent waves of colonists the globe. suaded pro bowler Bob around the world before the Researching this hypoth- Hendley to bowl wearing a deluge stn esis. Wingate soon found grass suit The suit didn't Wingate came u] a number of legends vie Improve Hendley's score theory wt scribing gods or founding

But using a galvanic-skin- Church of Maria Auxiliadora, lathers bom .. response machine Harding m Cuenca, Ecuador where le Atlantic is bowler's he found more than 7.000 Ocean The Aztecs ot Mex- skin registered less nervous energy when he was wear- ing grass. One day, Harding pre- II you pass a grass- dicts, the practical applica- covered man driving a tion of grass garmenls grass-covered Buick Le- will be realized. People will Sabre. it's probably Bill wear grass at home after «J££ Harding— a Iwenty-tour- a hard day's work Football year-old Kansas Cily artist players will wear grass who's into grass. According helmets at halltime And, he to Harding (above adds, astronauts will wear grass car is an at grass in space to remind expression "ol (he wedding them of Earth of grass and steel, lis a Toward that day, Harding ancient artifacts Iron metaphor tor survival." he has now pined the lecture tures around the world. lost homeland Azttan the says, "pointing toward mans lonning his grass Stored in a shed by the local Incas of Peru speak of need to balance nature suit, he speaks in shopping priest, Rev Carlo Crespi. Atland. and the Venezuelan technology. and malls all over the United the collector ii Parians sing of Allan To grow the grass. Hard- Slates. Recenlly, he admits, Egyptian mummy cases, Finally, according to ing spreads a petroleum- one skeptic chased him dlendars, Wingate. there is the legend based adhesive over his car around a Kansas farmers African war shields, and a of Tolh, Egypt's founi and clothes Then he sprays market for four hours— Hebraic ceremonial box lather. According to the seedlings onto the paste with a lawn rnowei decorated with hippopota- story. Toth came from a and puts clothes and car —Peter Rondinone muses parading toward mighty people But before into a tent. "The ten!.'' sun disks Every one of the he says, "keeps the ooiects "iArstes lull ol husbands! artifacts. Crespi explained, given a prophetic ia - moist while I water them Wives in the avocados, had been found in local "After you leave your island like crazy, four times a day, babies m the tomatoes!" caves. you will not find it again, singing to the seeds as I —Allen Ginsberg To Wingate the objects as this place will vanish un- go so they grow (aster posed a problem: If ancient der the sea waves." which they do" "You are a fluke of the folklore offered no eviOence —Peter Rondinone Right now, Harding ad- Universe. .'You have no right ol travel to the New World, mits, he's most interested m 10 be here." how did these relics get "Trie earth is just a silly ball." - the elfeci that grass clothes to the jungles of Ecuador ? —John Updike " — —

his theory by capitalizing on

this lact. If Sheldrake's theory is correct, once a When Rupert Sheldrake's large group of people A New Science of Life was recognize the figure, other published m 1981, Nature people should begin to

it readily as well. magazine callud tl "the besi see more candidate for burning there To begin the experiment, has been (or many years Sheldrake's volunteers The British biochemist sug- first showed their picture gested that trie form, devel- a human face embedded opment, and behavior of in an abstract design living organisms are orga- to random subjects, deter- nized by invisible, morpho- mining the percentage genetic fields that lunction that could see the image across lime and space. within one minute of expo-

leory posits that it a sure Then, on the after- group of animals learn a noon of August 3i, 1983. the behavior, other groups experiment was explained in other parts of the world and the figure pointed out might spontaneously de- on A Plus, a British television velop the same skill show viewed by about 3 Now Sheldrake is testing million people- After the air- his theory. The focus of ing, the volunteers tested fles are gone. Mironenko the experiment is an other groups to see how adds, the conductor must embedded- figure test, in many could then see the recharged often. But not ibjects are asked to figure within one minute. Good news from the be to worry Mironenko has identity a single image Time will tell if more Soviet Union: According to Mironenko, also invented a handy bat- hidden in a complex picture. people successfully saw researcher Yuri tery-powered recharger Only a few people tend to the embedded figure after the common cotd can now that can be worn in your see the hidden figure in August 31, Sheldrake says, be cured. The new treat- is painless, quick, and sfiirt pocket. less than a minute, and and if the increase is great ment inexpensive. Miro- Do American researchers e hopes to prove enough, "that would sup- fairly Soviet science port the hypothesis of nenko says. But it has one think has " formative causation disadvantage; You have eradicated the common cold? Not exactly. As Dr. Since it would be more to walk around with fampons Gary Noble, assistant direc- convincing if the broadcast up your nose. made the image apparent The tampons are soaked tor for science for the Cen- Control, to groups outside Great in a silver solution and ters for Disease Britain. Sheldrake's volun- connected to a conductor points out: "If this helps with teers have recently shown worn around the cold suf- colds at all, there's orobably • the embedded image to ferer's neck, Mironenko a simple reason—by plug- people living in Oregon. explains in a recent Lenin ging up the nose with California, North Carolina, Banner newspaper story. A tampons, you keep the cotd and New Jersey. Results low current of electricity viruses from getting down respiratory tract." should be fully analyzed in generated by the conductor the less than a year. supposedly activates silver —Sherry Baker —D. Scott Rogo ions, which rush through the skm, "oppressing the 'There are closet queens no "They speak better than activity of the cold virus." and closet drinkers, but sutlers more than the they know, and beyond your Because it is quite impor- one understanding." tant to keep the viruses closet psychic" —T. S Eliot "oppressed" until your snif- —Kenny Kingston "

They worked arms would have more power and energy readily absorb infrared light. better at short wavelengths. than all of Shiva. That was the measure of much get these shorter wave- NEW RAY the advances he had made in building la- The way to FROM PAGE 76 lengths is with frequency-multiplying crys- CONTINUED sers. He sought approval for Nova and won federal tals, which look like big slabs of window highly precise optical the backing of the director of the $200 million worth of shine large-laser program, an Army general glass set in frames. The idea is to technology, carried ou! on a massive scale. whose Alfred Starbird. the laser light through a window construction is completed next year, named T When The in- Emmett was working closely with John panes are made from the crystals. Nova will be five times more powerful than green laser light comes Nuckolls, an expert on the design of the frared goes in, and laser built before. any of the original zapped with the laser beams. out at half the wavelength The money for Nova comes from the U.S. pellets to be tilting rotating the crys- pellets is a complex infrared. Or, by and government, by way of the Department of The design of such that blue light Nuckolls believed he had a pellet tals, it can be arranged (DOE). is the manager of our art, and Energy DOE of the orig- would particularly well. comes out at about 30 percent federal energy programs, such as syn- concept that work inal wavelength. Shiva had been built with- and fusion-en- Then, in 1977, Emmett's plans began to go thetic-fuels development question was went into operation and began out these crystals; the ergy research. Less well known is DOE's awry. Shiva should go into Nova. They firing laser pulses at other pellets de- whether they role in the development and production of With the data from would give Nova greater flexibility for use the nation's nuclear bombs. Nova and the signed by Nuckolls. cost millions. experiments, Nuckolls went back to in experiments but would other large lasers will serve for research in these such issues are resolved and decided it In Washington both bombs and energy. The boss of Nova, work on his Nova pellet high-level commission to wasn't quite as good as he had thought. by setting up a however, is a laser man, pure and simple. look. commission that It undercut take an unbiased The Emmett, widely known among For Emmett this was bad news. He is John included building the full-size Nova, with would decide the fate of Nova physicists as a maverick. He drives a black his case for directors of Livermore, as well of its Moreover, pork-barrel two former Corvette at very high speeds and likes to all 20 arms. Richter, of Stanford, who had won raising its head. as Burton think of himself as a dashing technologist- politics was a Nobel Prize in physics. The commission about-planet. He concocts rare and exotic chairman was John Foster, who had been liqueurs to try out on friends. He has long director of Livermore Irom 1961 to 1965 been fascinated with high explosives and and who in those days had been an early is a licensed demolitions expert. Occa- and enthusiastic leader in pushing for re- sionally he takes friends on boulder-blast- ^Emmett drives search on large lasers. ing expeditions, going out into the desert From the outset the Foster committee and blowing large rocks apart with dyna- a black Corvette at high was sharply divided. Each member had a mite. In his younger days he graduated speeds and different view of the proper course for the among the top 10 percent of his class at exotic liqueurs. He large-laser program. Many of them wanted Caltech. Then he got his Ph.D. at Stanford concocts to use part of the Nova money for an en- under Arthur Schawlow, who had shared is a licensed tirely different laser project. After much de- in the invention of the laser and later won demolitions expert and takes bate, several committee members favored the Nobel Prize for his work with lasers. upgrading Shiva rather than building Nova. Emmett went on to the Naval Research friends on To Emmett such a course would have Laboratory, near Washington, DC, where boulders^ expeditions to blast meant disaster. he built up a world-class group of laser At that point Foster made the key argu- experts. Since 1972 he has been directing ment, which dealt with the details of pellet the laser work at Livermore. microexplosion. When the laser beams zap Like most large federal science pro- a pellet and the pellet core compresses grams, Nova has sprung from a mix of fire begins as a would cost $200 million, and within and heats up, the fusion technical considerations and politics. It got Nova flash in the center federal laser program, there was a lim- hot spot, a momentary its start in 1975. At that time Emmett was the sufficiently large, available. number of of the pellet. If the pellet is precursor to Nova. It ited pot of money A building Shiva, the which of the Nova cash. this hot spot can act as a match, to nearly as large in size as Nova, other labs wanted a cut was be fusion Wood, a leading la- spreads its fire into the surrounding but with about 10 percent as much power. In the words of Lowell into this fuel as a flash "There were a lot of people say- fuel, propagating In the mid-Seventies the laser world was ser expert, from a blasting cap spreads into a charge I can agog over the power and size of Shiva, ing, 'For only twenty million dollars of Foster pointed out that even such. Wouldn't it be a lot better dynamite. which would feature 20 arms and would fill do thus and one hundred eighty the full-size Nova would not be large very large bay within its quarters, Liv- if you gave Emmett a pellet the twenty million?' enough for such "propagating-burn" Building 391. But Emmett knew it million and gave me ermore's await over whether the la- experiments. These would have to was already time to begin planning some- Congressmen argued were getting the next laser beyond Nova. But the full- thing bigger. His laser builders had suc- ser programs in their districts would be larger than would be fair share. Of course, Nova had to have size Nova ceeded in inventing new types of neodym- their needed to produce that central hoi spot in ium glass, which could handle higher enough to do something significant; oth- would just a pellet. Foster suggested that Nova be power levels within a laser The research- erwise, as Wood explains, "you than away. Like giving one dol- built but on a smaller scale Emmett ers had also raised the efficiency of the fritter the money go had envisioned. Nova should be only as laser amplifiers and devised means for lar to each citizen and telling him to un- large as would suffice for experiments with fabricating particularly large components. support his favorite laser program— no larger. it six-pack." this hot spot, and Moreover, they had proved that, by using less he'd prefer to spend on a In June 1979 Foster called a gathering pinholes and lenses, even very powerful Another issue facing Emmett was the hills built merely as a of his committee at his home amid laser beams could be kept clean and re- whether Nova should be whether south of Los Angeles. It was a sunny day, cusable. So Emmett knew he could build more energetic version of Shiva, or around his have an extra degree of useful- and the visitors soon gathered a laser much more energetic than Shiva. it should Shiva operated "in swimming pool, which faces the Pacific. The broad outline of his plan was de- ness. In laser parlance, with cost Naturally the talk was of lasers, and as the ceptively simple: He proposed to double the red." This had nothing to do wavelength of discussion proceeded, a compromise the size of Building 391 by constructing a overruns; it referred to the solution infrared, at bubbled up among the group, a second bay. Within these two bays Nova its light. Shiva operated in the pellets did not to the Nova problem. They would recom- would also have 20 arms. But two of these long wavelengths. But the 158 OMNI mend building only half of Nova, with just was betting the success of Shiva on its at the time it was shut down, Shiva's po- ten arms. If the experimental results looked achievement. This alignment system tential was still far from wrung out. As Wood good enough. Emmett might ge! the go- showed its worth in January 1980, when puts it, "Up to the week before they started ahead to put in the oiher [en arms. an earthquake hifLivermore. tearing down Shiva, we were doing exper- Emmett was not happy. wanted all He When the ground started to rumble, Em- iments that were extremely interesting. The 20 arms, and he was angry al the entire mett looked up from his desk and saw a day it died it was the highest-power laser- Foster committee. He also was angry at big oaken bookcase full of books begin- research facility jn the world. It was torn John Nuckolls, his pellet expert, who had ning to sway. He under ducked the desk down to save money." It was torn down for been a consultant to the committee and and probably saved his life. The bookcase other reasons as well. had endorsed the compromise. As far as crashed right where he had been working. By 1981, with Nova well under way, the Emmett knew, next year Nuckolls might To Lowell Wood, "the building looked as laser program badly needed data from

come up with another good idea in if pellet a bomb blast had gone off inside. The high-power experiments using green laser design, which would achieve propagating fluorescent lights in the ceiling fell in. All light, a wavelength much shorter than Shiva burn when zapped by the full 20-arm Nova. the partitions in office the were turned over could provide. The data were needed to For his Nuckolls , pad was painfully aware sideways. I Emmett and went in there, and show thai Nuckolls could overcome pellet of the budget limits: "It was like people out the place looked worse than a building problems that had been uncovered using in a lifeboat. There's not enough food; trashed by vandals. The ceilings were Shiva. There were two ways to get such somebody's got to go overboard." What strewn all over." The quakes rolled and data: rebuild Shiva for improved perfor- went overboard was ten of the arms. But swayed for more than a minute, and the mance, or tear it down and cannibalize in their place, softening the blow to 200-ton Em- Shiva frame sheared some bolts some of its parts to build another laser. mett, Nova was given the frequency-mul- and rocked out of position, But within a Either move would cost money and leave tiplying crystals. Unlike Shiva, Nova would riggers week brought in jacks and Livermore without a major laser for some have short-wavelength laser light, enhanc- wrenched the frame back into place, put- time. But Emmett had to choose. ing the performance of its pellets. ting in double-strength bolts for good He chose to cannibalize. From the used Meanwhile, Shiva's success was settling measure. The computer alignment did the components of Shiva and other parts, he doubts as to whether Nova could be made rest. Within two weeks after the quake, fashioned another laser as a stepping- to work. One of Shiva's big problems had Shiva was back in operation. stone to Nova. The new device, called been how to keep all its components in But sometimes the story of the devel- Novette, has just two arms of the same de- exquisite alignment— its amplifiers, len- opment of huge lasers appears as maze- sign that will go into Nova's ten. It thus rep- ses, and pinholes. Emmett's solution like as had the pipes and chambers of the de- resents only 20 percent of Nova, yet has been to build a computer-controlled align- vices themselves. Despite its quick more power and energy than its parent la- ment system, which was something of a recovery, Shiva was shut down in Decem- ser, Shiva. But while Shiva filled a steel shot in the dark. No one had ever built such ber 1981. And during 1982 Livermore was scaffolding three stories tall, Novette is al- a computer system before, and Emmett left without any large laser at all. Moreover, most low enough to see over. Like Nova,

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Firestone Supreme 60!"Or get all the power you need Unbeatable prices f, pc$ f onc "People think we like to go out in the desert Novette features long chains of blue pipes And what will the country gain from Nova and shoot off bombs, but that isn't true," holding optical components, including la- and Zeus? A trip to the offices where Em- says one nuclear-weapons expert who has ser amplifiers 18 inches across. They re- mett's. scientists work demonstrates that toward a spent many years doing just that. 'A test semble components in the rocket-drive much of the research is aimed strength. can take a year or more from conception units of the spaceship Discovery in 2007; payoff in new military faced with tinted to completion, and they're usually over- A Space Odyssey. The laser is equipped The two-story buildings, subscribed with experiments. It's hot. You with the long-sought frequency-multiply- glass, are not open to visitors off the street. the buildings, guests get sand in your rerays, and things don't ing crystals. All of this gear—a kind of min- Even to approach At the always go as planned. Believe me, it's no iature Nova—stands in a white room that need a badge and official escort. picnic. Nothing survives in the thermonu- could hold two large movie theaters. end of a small entrance lobby is a closet- camera on clear environment. You do an experiment Why didn't Emmett rebuild Shiva? Em- like room monitored by a TV once and it's done. If the results are not mett knew the earlier system would lead the other side of a small plastic window. A to inner sanc- what was expected, it's difficult to repeat. nowhere in laser design, but Novette could door in this booth leads the with But with laser fusion in the laboratory, you pave the way for Nova. With only 2 arms tum of offices, their hallways decorated uncleared can repeat your experiments at will." compared with Shiva's 20, Novette would temporary signs like caution— UNCLEARED VISI- These big lasers could be especially be less costly to operate. VISITOR UNDER ESCORT and useful to weapons designers if a treaty But Emmett also had his eye on politics. TOR—UNCLASSIFIED DISCUSSIONS ONLY. are should ban all nuclear testing, the under- Any move to upgrade Shiva would give The security precautions evidence involvement ground tests as well as the aboveground ammunition to his critics, who would ask of Livermore's long-standing microexplo- ones that have been banned since 1963. whether in fact Nova might not be worth with nuclear weapons. A laser would maintain a cadre of trained delaying while the program went forward sion amounts to a nuclear fireball on a lab- "We thermonuclear designers," says Alex- with improved versions of Shiva. Emmett oratory scale, a model useful to designers ander Glass, president of KMS Fusion Inc., still wanted all 20 arms for Nova, and it of future bombs. a major pellet-research lab. "You could train happened that Shiva was occupying the "We are already doing weapons phys- people in thermonuclear design, train them space in Building 391 in which Emmett to understand thermonuclear physics. If proposed to mount Nova's second group there were no [underground] nuclear-test of ten arms. He had not been able to win program, the nuclear-design laborato- support for his plans within the DOE. But ries—Los Alamos and Livermore—would he had the support of Mel Greer, a key staff Qi was like have a hard time maintaining a cadre of member of the House Appropriations competent designers, because they would Committee, and with this support, he people out In a lifeboat. have no data to work with." But if the huge hoped to have the clout to get all 20 arms. enough There's not lasers work as planned, "researchers could Emmett's critics have charged that when got to maintain their design capability by work- he tore down Shiva, he was really engag- food. Somebody's ing on pellet designs." ing in a political pioy to make room for the go overboard. The big Livermore lasers will be well second group of Nova arms. In any case, And what went overboard this weapons research but will Greer's help proved unavailing, although suited to not be suitable for the next development, the ten-armed Nova was approved. was ten of the use of lasers to generate electric power. And what lies beyond Nova? To under- arms.? the new laser's Livermore's lasers are built with neodym- stand the scenario, consider the energies ium glass, which becomes quite hot each of high-power lasers. When they are built, time the laser fires. Afterward it takes sev- their energy will be measured in mega- eral hours for its thick rods and disks of joules, a megajoule being the energy of a glass to cool down. That isn't a problem half-pound of high explosive. A megajoule of for weapons work; bomb researchers don't laser pulse will be a remarkable phenom- ics," says Hal Ahlstrom, one Emmett's associates. "We can study the be- require more than two or three laser firings enon. If it is delivered within a billionth of close laser of materials within a nuclear explo- a day. But for use in a power plant, a a second, and it can hardly be of longer havior creating the temperatures, the pres- must fire up to ten times a second, zapping duration, it will be about a foot long. If it is sion, pellets rapidly to produce a continuous flow focused by lenses to an inch in diameter, sures, and densities that are appropriate weapons. There are no other of energy. Also, a power-plant laser must it will amount to a stick of dynamite flying to nuclear the have higher efficiency than Livermore's la- through space at the speed of light. Though laboratory systems thai can achieve

its conditions we can. sers of glass. it will be made entirely of photons, length, ef- These, requirements can be met with width, size", shape, and energy will be the "Then there are the nuclear-weapons other lasers whose amplifiers are cham- same as that dynamite stick. fects. To really do significant experiments able bers full of gas. Gas lasers also heat up Nova will deliver 0.1 megajoule. By the on weapons effects, we need a laser megajoules to a pel- when fired. But they can be cooled much standards of the future, it will be no more to deliver a couple of more easily than glass, and they cannot than of medium size. But even now Em- let and have-it give off a couple of hundred shatter or crack when hot; so researchers mett's designers are drawing up plans for megajoules of thermonuclear yield." That fire them many times a second. Fur- what may well be the king of the lasers. would be the energy of 100 pounds of TNT. can ther, such lasers offer higher efficiency than Appropriately this superlaser is to be "We would get lots of neutrons and X rays would be enough glass can provide. named Zeus. Emmett hopes it will cost no from the explosion. That could put a test cham- The center for research on gas lasers is more than Nova, but he expects it will reach energy so that we Alamos, and when large lasers come the Olympian energy of five or even ten ber with a whole satellite or missile nose at Los chamber. Ex- to be taken seriously as electricity produc- megajoules, making it brighter than 1,000 cone next to the reaction determine its re- ers, Los Alamos will take on even more Shivas. If Zeus is built and fulfills its prom- pose the nose cone and its electronics or other com- significance. ise, it may stand as the most powerful laser sponse, how The largest of its lasers is called An- that will ever be constructed. Future laser ponents hold up. See how well it would star by that name is big and builders then might treat Zeus as a point stand up to reentering theatmosphere in tares. The bright-red, radiating copiously in the in- of departure and work downward, seeking the presence of a nuclear blast." particular frared. The Antares laser also works in the to reduce the laser energy needed for suc- These laser experiments in with wavelength ten times longer cessful microexplosions using the pellet would add a new dimension to our under- infrared, a than that planned for Nova, This has put designs of the future. ground nuclear-weapons tests in Nevada.

.160 OMNI Los Alamos at a disadvantage, since it is the short wavelengths that work best with laser pellets. Still, gas lasers are poten- tially so important that the $62.5 million An- tares has been pushed forward even more rapidly than Livermore's Nova. Antares has only 40 percent of Nova's power, or twice the power of Novette. But the Los Alamos entry went into full operation in October 1983. more than a year ahead of Nova. Until Nova is complete, Antares will hold the title of the world's most powerful laser.

An unusual feature of Antares is the win- dows through which its laser light passes. Since no type of glass is transparent enough to let light of such a long wave- length pass through, the windows in An- tares are made of thick, circular slabs of pure salt, sodium chloride, highly pol- ished. The salt is somewhat foggy to look at. But at infrared laser wavelengths it is perfectly transparent. One such window is on display near the Antares offices. It is kept under a plastic cover, with moisture- absorbing chemicals close by it. The win- dow is more than a foot across and costs

if $25,000; you breathed on it, its surface would begin to lose its polish—from the moisture in your breath.

The laser amplifiers are in a large room. Here, however, is none of the whiter-than- whiteness of Nova. This big Los Alamos laser room is colored in green, brown, and red, and suggests a high-tech boiler fac- tory. The laser amplifiers themselves bear an uncanny resemblance to industrial boil- ers. In fact, the Los Alamos scientists refer to them as "locomotives." There are two amplifiers, heavy steel cylinders 55 feet long, each with a row of portholes along side. one Each weighs 165 tons and is built from flanged sections bolted together, just like a real boiler. But as one of the project leaders says, "Industrial boilers don't have to be optically stable." Thick steel walls en- sure that the amplifiers will maintain their careful alignment with the other optical components. Each "locomotive" holds carbon dioxide and nitrogen gases at three atmospheres of pressure. The two of them together cost $6 million. By contrast, when the transcontinental railroad was com- pleted in 1869, the iron horses on the scene cost about $15,000 apiece.

Antares has been a priceless source of experience in building large gas lasers. Vet the long wavelength of its carbon dioxide gas means that Antares itself will soon be a technological dead end. Carbon dioxide was chosen because researchers had had

experience in using it for high-power la- sers. But the large gas lasers of the future will have to achieve much shorter wave- lengths, easily absorbed by fuel pellets. Unfortunately, producing such wave- lengths isn't simply a matter of pumping out the carbon dioxide and pumping in some other gas. Everything must be de- signed anew. -What may well be the pro- totype of this short-wavelength laserof the future already exists at Los Alamos. It was first tested late in June 1983. Rather than being named for a god or a quency-multiplying crystals. This short Wood's at Livermore. Significantly. Wood's prosaically the Krypton wavelength permits the best possible per- work in advanced lasers formed much of star, it is called — — "star wars" Fluoride Laser. The name refers to the mix formance in a laser pellet. the basis for President Reagan's laser In fact, Wood originated many of ol gases in the chamber of Its laser am- This Los Alamos system is a am- speech. Ihe laser-rocket ideas that Hyde then de- plifier. Krypton is an inert gas closely re- plifier; it would need much additional op- further. lated to xenon, which is used in photog- tical equipment to qualify as a full-fledged veloped rocket set off fu- raphers' flash lamps and strobe lights. laser. Still, it has a number of features that These engines would microexplosions within a rocket noz- Fluorine, by contrast, is highly reactive. To point the way to the future. It is inexpensive sion in zle formed from magnetic fields. Powerful fire the laser, powerful bursts of electrons and simple. It was developed the re- fields, which flash through the chamber, depositing en- markably short time of 15 months, afa cost magnets would produce these channel the fireballs from the mi- ergy and momentarily producing mole- of only $3 million. It can be built in large would them to blast out cules of the compound krypton fluoride. sizes by combining many modules, all in- croexplosions and force Then when a pulse from a master laser en- corporating the basic Los Alamos design. the back, producing thrust. These fireballs

It highest efficiencies yet would be far hotter than the exhaust from ters the chamber, it makes the molecules has one of the of rocket fuels. Such break apart and give up their energy, which achieved in a large laser and can be fired even the best today's rocket could fly to Mars in as little as ten in turn amplifies the original laser pulse. many times a second. a to Jupiter in a month. Laser space- The Krypton Fluoride Laser is rated at Building large lasers isn't quite like days, could mankind's first missions 20 kilojoules, half the power of Antares but building aircraft for dusting crops; so it will craft power Arks for the 21st more than that of Shiva and more than be a while before we will really be sure that to the stars. (See "Space Century, "October 1983.) Novette can produce at its shortest wave- this Los Alamos design can be scaled up in the point of being Because of the close links between this length. Yel it is much smaller in size. Rather a hundredfold size to Never- research and continuing work on hydro- than filling a hall the size of a very large useful for an electric-power plant. builders are optimistic. gen bombs, the news that such long-haul ballroom, it could fit into a fair-size house- theless, laser They built remain classified hold basement. Its two electron-beam profess few doubts that if they are given ships can be may details. But generators are each no larger than a walk- enough money— say, $500 million —they long after scientists nail down big behind the lines of military security, some in closet. Their electrons pass down two can build a krypton fluoride laser giant lasers are long pipes each about four feet across and enough to power a small city. of today's designers of interstellar vessels. At the enter a laser chamber the size of a Volks- Large krypton fluoride lasers may offer dreaming about they're for wagen Beetle. Surrounding this chamber even more. They may well be the key to an same time, sketching ideas efficient, safe laser-power plants. are two thick, orange bands—electromag- entirely new type of rocket engine, with highly calls the light- nets that control the flight of the electrons. 1,000 times the performance of the en- Long before any general researchers are forging The laser then gives off a burst of ultravi- gines in the space shuttle. Such rockets swords into battle, peacelul use of the most pow- olet light at a wavelength even shorter than have been studied for a number of years plans for the on earth. the blue light available with Novette's fre- by Roderick Hyde, an associate of Lowell erful beams OQ EARTH ENGINEERING A BETTER PARKA organs from hundreds of bears. He com- pares il to the drug trade: 'A gallbladder SOMETIMES MEANS GOING TO may change hands six times," he explains, increasing in value from $60 in the first deal CONSIDERABLE LENGTHS. to $500 in the last. The same part may sell

for $3,000 If exported to Korea. So Klein and his men notified officials in other states, warning them to watch for the trade. Officials in those states will not comment in detail because their investigations are .still under way. But what little they do say hints that the exotic-poaching market has spread across the country. In Idaho and eastern Washington agents are probing several rings sending gall- bladders to California and overseas. "There's one individual who's killing two hundred black bear per year," says a Washington official who asked not to be named. "We haven't been able to put a noose around him yet." In Michigan officials have been luckier. They've arrested six persons, including the proprietor of a Zen meditation center in Detroit "There are probably hundreds of the houndmen involved," says investigator Jim Geilhart. supervisor of special inves- tigations lor the Michigan Department of Fish and Game. The same investigation has spread to neighboring Wisconsin, where

rumors have it that ginseng growers have been approached to sell bear parts to their buyers. Officials as distant as Maine re- port small-scale poaching for medicinal parts.. "I'm struck by the immensity of the trade," says Geilhart "It's much more widespread than anybody could guess." The results mean trouble lor wildlife. Bear in California, Wisconsin, and other states IT IS are becoming younger all the time evi- WHAT"Caviar in, — h ^^^^^^k caviar " dence that many are killed before they can M^^P ^^* 41^^F^^^ out reproduce "We have a real bad feeling fits just one brand ; Il iVH I ^Bfc about the populations in Northern Califor- Elll ^^B^fc of computer nia," says biologist Larry Sitton. In north- H^WI WKr& game software. Idaho, ern the animals are faring still worse. Because nothing else stimulates your imagination and chal- "In some areas we can't even lind enough lenges your computer's capabilities like infocorn prose games. bears to do an age study," says Lloyd Old- Our secret? We put ynu inside our stories. And once within, enberg. state wildlife manager. you'll find a dimension alive with situations, personalities, To control the damage, several states and logical puzzles that can't be experienced anywhere have hired more wardens and trained them outside our stories. to recognize poaching. Klein, for example, Step up to Infocorn. All words. No pictures. The secret trained has 60 new wardens to identify il- HH^fcTeaches of your mind are beckoning. legal baiting while ";". avoiding detection . The next dimension is in , there waiting themselves. Several states have enacted for you. legislation to create tough new penalties (For more information on Infocorn for dealing in animal parts. State officials games contact: Infocorn, Inc., P.O. have also shortened the bear season to Box 855, Garden City, NY 11530.) compensate for the illegal kills. Still, there's a special worry biologists feel whenever a formerly "worthless" spe- cies gains monetary value. After all. it was commercial demand for medicine and knife handles in the Seventies thai brought the African rhino to near-exlinction. Could the same happen-to the black bear? Klein says the answer is yes. 'A species is in jeo"p- ardy," he insists, "whenever people get dollar signs in their eyes."DO philosophy, and technology. A recent book boozoo's specialty is to put aluminum foil of firecrackers that interests him especially is a study of on his chest, tape a string single tuse, FILM computer crime. For De Landa the libera- to it, put them all on a replace CONTINUED FROM PC tion of technological society will come not his shirt and coat, and blow himself up— planning but through the an act he performs for the camera in In- animation ior TV commercials, which may through careful perverse-minded teen-agers continence, all the while leaping about like help to account for the relatively straight mischief of it, dreaming the Wild Man of Borneo. persona he presents to the world today. who, for the sheer hell of are to jinx the country's computer But the most notcfrious of all De Landa's (That he is a student of analytical philos- up ways collaborations with Mamboozoo look place ophy in his spare time also adds to the systems. of his flat is the most at an avant-garde program held in 1981 al image of respectability.) In the other room recently ac- The Kiichen, in lower Manhattan, when De Seven years ago De Landa was filling treasured of all his toys, a Landa hired the professor to contribute his New York with graffiti— mainly monstrous, quired image processor that's pro- video images 500 own form of Dada assault. After lying to gaping lips, teeth, and eyes affixed to, or grammed to construct the show's organizers (De Landa said he'd transplanted from, various street posters. lines high and 500 lines across. It's a mon- equipment appear with papier-mache sex organs), the At 'that time, he was arrested for deface- strous piece of computerized two concocfed a sort ot voodoo ceremony ment of public property and possession of with which, it would seem, De Landa hopes under Mamboozoo's guidance, which in- marijuana but was released a lew hours eveniually to disrupt the planet's future, a points in our discussion, volved a double-barreled shotgun loaded later. At a recent screening of most of his la WarGames. (At to gun.) with blanks, the freshly decapitated heads films, including Ismism, a super-8 chroni- he compares a computer a of a pig and a cow (acquired at a New cle of his graffiti-making activity of that Despite De Landa's respeci for tech- admiration for Jersey slaughterhouse), and large quan- period, he distributed photocopies of the nology, he expresses some tities of boxed snakes, frogs, mice, and police report as program notes. certain old-style rebels whose forms of crickets that were either released or thrown Apart from the facial distortions, De Lan- outrage are more primitive and preindus- the most ex- at the audience after the shotgun was fired. da's graffiti consisted of individual words trial than his own. Perhaps script," of is legendary Professor "Now that's all that was in the De painted all over New York with a spray can. treme these the cartoonist Landa explains, almost nostalgically. "But He filmed each word in a static shot, then Mamboozoo, an underground Professor Mamboozoo had to do strung shots together to form sentences- who has appeared in a couple of his films of course something that would shock me. his as- secret messages discernible only to peo- and whose exploits have earned the pro-

sistant, too. So at this point I had the snakes ple watching the movie: use/illegal/sur- fessor a reputation that makes De Landa by comparison. and frogs, and he had the mice. They Faces/ for/your/art, says one of these mes- seem tame crawl on him and bite him—we sages; LET/THE/SLA^CCF.-OUR/ DESIRES/DRIVE/ Characterisiically, when Mamboozoo started to rabies shots afterward— language/crazy, says another. met underground filmmaker John Waters had to give him ago, his un- so he started biting back and biting their In one of the two rooms of De Landa's at a premiere several years this time most of the audi- apartment, there are two walls of book- conventional form of paying tribute was to .heads off." By ence had fled the premises; it's no sur- shelves that reflect his interests in physics. bite Waters's hand. More frequently Mam- prise fhat De Landa hasn't been invited back to The Kifchen for any encores. Most often, however, the violence im- plicit in his work is internalized and for- malized in the form of hallucinogenic Day- Glo colors and giddy optical devices- making one feel at times like a fruit salad inside a blender. In Incontinence the im- age splits into halves, characters drop from nowhere into a room, and Mamboozoo en- ters the scene by emerging from a suitcase. In Raw Nerves, where the garish colors are even louder, one eventually discovers thai fhe offscreen narrating voice of the gumshoe hero actually belongs to a woman, who promptly announces, "Never trust a first-person pronoun," before shoot- ing her male alter ego dead. Oddly enough,

this. overall concept of the movie stems from French psychoanalytic theory whereby fhe private eye equals the private male ego, and the public space of a men's room rep- resents the site of a child's first encounter with language.

As De Landa puts it, "Displacing the pri- mal Oedipal scene from a private, middle- class warm space to a public, cold, wef public bathroom is a way of saying thai your first encounter with language is never

a private little cozy event. Your father is always somebody else's boss and ser- vant—there's always the social field pres- ent." Negotiating this social field as a wild man with charisma, De Landa works both sides of the street with a gleam in his eye, just like his films— carrying us nowhere and everywhere at the same time. DO- LIFE

mammaliar species, from shrew to man." If genetic damage is in fact the cause of aging, then this presents still ancil or prob- lem: By the time an organism reaches the age of procreation, the DNA in its germ cells—eggs and sperm—would presum- ably have accumulated a considerable amount of wear and tear. This would imply that each new generation should be born older than the next. Carol, then pregnant .with her third child, found herself ponder- ing: "Why are babies born young?" Enter sex. To produce eggs and sperm, the sex cells in the body undergo a special type of division known as meiosis. Prior to fer- tilization the chromosomes inside this type of cell perform what amounts to a highly ritualized mating dance. In perfect syn- chrony they move to embrace each other intimately, coming together in complemen- tary pairs (each consisting of chromo- somes inherited from paternal and mater- nal lineages). Thus entwined, the partners begin a molecular square dance. They perform do-si-dos with each other, swap- ping bits and pieces of chromosomes in a process known as recombination. As the dance comes to a close the partners split, apart, never to meet again. Each chrom- osome will remain a single strand until united with a new mate, when egg and sperm fuse al conception. Fascinated by this elaborate procrea- tion rite, the Bernsteins began to wonder Better than ^ Jogging, Swimming, or Cycling, whether it might explain how germ cells maintain their vitality. To pursue this hunch, they started experimenting with bacteria viruses— fNordicpack and organisms that have not yet evolved meiosis but nonetheless engage r Jarless Total Body in a rudimentary form of sex involving re- combination. From hundreds of tests, they Cardiovascular Exerciser concluded that recombination is a highly Duplicates X-C Skiing for the efficient DNA-repair mechanism, capable Best Motion in Fitness ol reversing the genetic deterioration of a lifetime in a single stroke. Unlike the simple formly exercises me large leg "cul-and-paste" procedure that occurs muscles and alsoadds important uppcrbody exercise. Higher pulse rates, during normal cellular repair, recombina- necessary for building fitness, scent easier to attain tion is more akin to transplantation surgery. because the work is shared by more muscle mass. By grafting DNA from one chromosome to Even Better Than Swimming NordicTtack the damaged site on its complementary more effectively exercises the largest muscles in the body, those iorjic.l in :hc lejis'.ir.d partner, the process can mend even the buttocks. When swimming, the body is supported Crass -country skiing is often cite J bv physiologists most severe tears and breaks in the he- by the water, thus preventing these muscles from us the most perfect form of cardioi ascular exercise reditary molecule, being effectively exercised. The stand up exercising for both men and women. Its smooth, fluid, total position on the NordicTtack much more effectively Far from being a disease, sex would ap- e.\ercises rhesc muscles. :-.:yt-=c-r pear to nature's hear; nic. seem i asicrto attain than when be method of "tuning up" A Proven, High Quality Durable Product i'liSiosorcicliog .NorditTrackclosc-h simulates tin- our DMA, thereby bringing about the mi- pleasant X-i" skiing rrioi ion and provides the same NordicTrackis in its 7th year of production. Nordic- raculous rejuvenation of life, In a cell cardiovascular endurance-httildirig benefits -right Track is quiet, motorless and has separate! v adjust- in the convenience of your home, able arm and leg resistances. Vifc manufacture undergoing meiosis it is unlikely that the year 'round. Eliminates Ihc usual harriers of lime, weather, and sell J:':vn. \\\\) era- ivsrrjiice set of DNA from the mother will suffer iden- trial chance of in jury. tie. Also It ighlv effective for weight day period with return privil ' fical damage as DNA inherited fronrthe control. Folds and father. Thus, one parental set of genes.. More Complete Than Running stands o to require only IS serves as a "correction NordicTtack gives key" against which you a more complete work out- storage space. errors in condirions holh upper body and lower hodv the other set can be checked. If muscles at the same time, riuid. jarless motion dots Call or write far... this process-had not evolved, argue the not cause lomt or kick problems. FREE BROCHURE Bernsteins, offspring would inherit worn- £k 1 More Effective Than Exercise Bikes TollFree 1-800-328-5888 * out DNA, Or, as Carol observes, ."Babies eVordiefrack's stand-up skiing motion more uni- Minnesota 612-448-6987 would be born old." DO psi, i; N Columbia < t., Chaska, MN 5531B Tbft Avtsgt © ART CUM1NGS

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How arc you at ladders ?

v_ much of history China was decades to Omni: Isn't there a penalty for change? The hundreds of years ahead CYBERSHOCK of us. Why is movement of robots into jobs formerly oc-

OOMINUEDFf'Ot.-' '•AG ] 0" China now a "less-developed . country"? cupied by human workers, for instance, will While our ancestors in the West were create economic hardships for a lot of hu- money is already being spent by compa- painting themselves blue, the Chinese had man beings. Can a society be risk-free and nies and not by public-school systems. developed and enjoyed the most sophis- still be productive'7 Omni: How would you attack the problem ticated culture and technology. Asimov: I do not think it is freedom from of education and reeducation in a de- Asimov: China was convinced that it was risk that people are opting for as much as pressed area like, say, Michigan? the most advanced nation. It is easy when equality of risk. If something is built from Diebold: These problems cannot be at- you are at the top to feel you do not need which some peop.e win bonoiil greatly while tacked successfully within one state. They to change. The result was that other, less others lose. everything, it is perceived as can hardly be solved within the country well-developed nations did change, while being unfair, and the people who are going The setting of the problem is the entire China clung to its perception of itself. to lose will fight it. This places great im- world. You can make Michigan a more at- Diebold: Still does. The meaning and portance on the tax policies of the govern- tractive place for things to happen, but measure of development, of course, is still ment, which can equalize the losses. fundamentally it is a mistake to think of the technological and scientific. There were Diebold: We need fundamentally new problem within one state, automatons being designed in Persia in thinking in these areas. We need some ex- Omni: What you seem to be saying is that the thirteenth century, modeled after the ceedingly imaginative thinking politically our problems, whether political, techno- Greek original, hundreds of years before about how we organize ourselves. That is logical, or economic, are related. One af- such a design was attempted in the West. the heart of the current problem. OO fects another.

Asimov: The Great Depression of the Thir- ties came to an end through the actions of

World War II. In relation to the present world situation and its recession, I think that the solution may be to end the arms race. Far

too much money is going into it in an un- productive way. leaving too little for con- structive efforts.

Omni: And yet militarism is not always a negative, is it? The English spent a great deal of their energy on longbows and stately ships and went on to become a great nation. Throughout history the dom- inant nations have often led in culture and technology, haven't they? Asimov: In the past the militarist nations took over large sections of the world, which they used to their own advantage. Great Britain advanced further than her colonies did. Within Britain the upper classes ad- vanced further than the lower classes. There was an uneven distribution of riches. Diebold: We can even ask of Britain: Was it profitable? It was the presumption of the late nineteenth century that wealth came from the dominant empire. The probability is that wealth did not come from the empire

but from the Industrial Revolution. But if you had stopped somebody on the street in London in 1880, he more than likely would have said that wealth came from the em- pire, not from industry. Asimov: The United States probably be- came the world's technological leader in

Edison's time. I like to date it from the in- vention of the light bulb, I think that the peak of our domination of the world came in the 1950s. The British decline I always date from the time of the Boer War, which was their Vietnam. Omni: Are we losing ground as quickly as the British were after the Boer War? Asimov: We are so far. This does not mean that it will continue to happen. Since the Vietnam War our technological leadership has been vanishing rapidly.

Omni: Couldn't it be more like Rome? Couldn't we" last for seven hundred years instead of one hundred? Diebold: We have a very Western view of technology and its advancement. During countries looked going to make Ihcsi": jucgmenls? What we wants. Once developing con- irUTERV/IEUU consider inconsequential now may be crit- to the United States tor leadership in environmen- ically important when that animal is ana- servation and for guidance in Just as frightening is lyzed in terms of its role in environment or tal ethics. No more. government, ignores the it produces. haven't got a the fact that our sorbed so far. Bui once a habitat is really what drugs We everything. environmental problems of developing gone or degraded, with whole vegetation clue. So we must fight for there any specific consumer countries. The effects of this in terms of types changed, then it's very difficult for it Omni: Are are threatening various ani- poverty and social" unrest are certain to to bounce back in a reasonable time. We goods that cost us dearly in the future. We spend one are very fortunate on "this coniinent be- mals' existence? consumer problem billion dollars to build a submarine. That is cause people really- didn't start mucking Schaller: The biggest pet trade im- anobscene perversion of priorities. Just things up on a grand scale until about two in the United States is the — of wild animals as pets. Tropical imagine how much good could come from hundred years ago. So there's still much portation imaginatively to fish, turtles, butterflies, songbirds— it applying so much money wilderness left. In fact, if you look here on trivial, but you are dealing with mil- various conservation problems. the East Coast, if you go from Washington sounds For example, at least one Omni: What is it like to work in this field, to up into Vermont, you see more forest now lions of animals. imported think about these thoughts day after day than you would have one hundred years hundred million tropical fish are year, most of them from certain and to be faced with such gloomy statis- ago— lar more. This area was virtually bare every Parrots, brought in by the tics? Do you have hope there will be some of trees, which were cut down to create coastal areas. type of major awakening, or are you just sheep pastures and charcoal. Sadly puma, thousands, are popular because they live are colorful. Some of these trying to slow down what you perceive to wolf, and others have vanished, depriving a long time and than five thousand be the inevitable demise? the forests of wildness. parrots may cost more extreme market Schaller: As Damon Runyon once said, 'As Omni: What will the United States look like dollars apiece. At such nine to five local in the bush are going regards the human race, it's in the future? values people possible. against!" Obviously things are still going Schaller: The future is here. Just look to catch and sell as many as downhill at a tremendous rate. Neverthe- around and see what has happened in less, one needs a certain optimism;- oth- other countries. Areas in Pakistan that are erwise there wouldn't be any purpose in now utter deserts had forests with lots of fighting, If you felt too much pity your heart wildlife some two thousand years ago. But would break. The fact that there is a greater people chopped down the forests. They 4/n India tigers consciousness gives some hope for opti- put little, ephemeral fields into areas where mism. Certainly future generations will wind blew the soil away. Now there is noth- wander through some villages characterize this century, if they think of it ing. In one hundred fifty years the United at night. Can at all, as a century of destruction. All I can States has lost one third of its topsoil. And that next century harmless . really hope for is maybe fifty million acres you imagine even a I think about two hundred will be one of rehabilitation. In conserva- are turning into desert because of over- mountain lion tion there are no victories. What you're grazing and other mismanagement. In the . showing up in the suburbs? doing is fighting a rear-guard action, hop- West the water table is dropping so fast ing to slow the rate of destruction until the that at the end of the century the big worry People would panic; day that humankind will want to rebuild what for survival will be water. The facts are they'd have the militia out3 it has squandered. This can be done as known. What we need now are administra- long as someihing is left. It is a task of tive visionaries who see beyond today's daunting dimensions. At least it is a per- crises, who work with abroad perspective. sonally satisfying field, no matter how great Omni: So, in your opinion, mismanage- the frustrations. This is one of the few sci- ment is the key problem? exotic birds has entific professions where you feel you're Schaller: Yes. For example, it's so simple Omni: The smuggling of with boats, drop- doing something beyond yourself, yet you to change bad watering methods—open gotten like the drug trade, prices. are not doing any harm, not discovering canals that lose a third ot their water to off points, and the escalation of anything that can be misused. Nobody's evaporation, or sprinklers that throw water Schaller: The import of all exotic animals banned, except for going to build a bomb or pervert yourfind- all over the place. You can have drip sprin- and plants should be educational scien- ings when you are trying to preserve a klers that water just one plant at a time. It's those needed by and to breed fragment of nature or goading others into just careless waste. Why? Because the tific institutions. If the dealers want tr'ade, great. As it is, a more enlightened attitude. United States feels it has a frontier when it their own for the pet Of course, everybody tries to find moral hasn't had one for a hundred years. We the suffering of most pets is tragic. Turtles snakes usually die a slow value in what he does. Nevertheless I think still lack what conservationist Aldo Leo- and lizards and tem- there is an obligation to fight for preser- pold called a land ethic, a shared view of death; they're maintained at improper Large vation, to struggle to the best of one's abil- man's responsibility to this small planet. We peratures and often die of starvation. assure ourselves, as well as the mil- face a constant dilemma—the desire to mammals, where do they end up? People ity to inarticulate lives, a future. That gives worship wilderness versus the need to desperately try to give them to zoos, which lions of a personal level, can't all. a person satisfaction on tame it for profit. A lot of habitat destruction keep them though there is only a forlorn hope If did anything to save en- even is due to poor thinking and poor planning Omni: no one with that one is really of help. not from need but from expedience and dangered species, might we end up other an- Omni: Do you think there is light at the end mental inertia. a world full of rats, roaches, and survive? of the tunnel 7 Omni: I've read a lot about the triage sys- imals that always seem to at the Schaller; So far I see only the dark tem, which proposes that we should help Schaller: Well, we certainly would elimi- of the tunnel. But the good thing is that only those animals with the best chance of nate a good percentage of the species that end have there are more and more people inter- survival. What are your views on that? exist which simply would mean we'd like yours are ob- utterly lost most of our genetic diversity. The thing ested, and magazines Schaller: I think the idea of triage is viously willing to do pieces on the environ- ridiculous. The fact that you ask the ques- thai people enjoy looking at— not even for still ment. The evening news sometimes has tion indicates the downward trajectory -of their needs— is diversity. This Country pieces about conservation, but our thoughts regarding our ecological. fu- has no integrated land-use policy, no na- bits and little. It is seriously derelict it simply drifting TV does far too ture. Who is to judge what to save and what tionwide policy or plan, is in its coverage. There ought to be environ- not to save? And on what basis are we along, each administration doing what it

168 OMNI mental news virtually every night. It is of Schaller: Yes. That has a future. But then, far MIND, ORDER, more relevance than the odd assort- on the other hand, you have to worry about ment of accidents, murders, and other trivia what future most species have in captivity that ENERGY make up the bulk of the news. anyway. Zoos can keep only a very, very Omni: How have zoos fared in trying to small number, and the costs are tremen- preserve various species? dous. There are about seven hundred fifty Schaller: For years many species in zoos Siberian tigers in captivity. That's far more have simply died out for no obvious rea- than there are in the wild. Now, let us just son. The fact is that inbreeding —con- say conservatively it costs five dollars a stantly mating father to daughter and so day to take care of one tiger. Multiply that forth decreases the viability — of the young. and see how much it costs to feed those Many of them are born dead or die soon seven hundred fifty per year— over one after birth. This can be resolved to some million dollars. Then you can see the kind extent by keeping larger herds. of investment zoos have in endangered Omni: How large a herd can a zoo keep? species. One can preserve a few species Schaller: It's better accomplished by ex- in captivity, but for the great majority, there's changing animals to increase genetic var- no hope. iability. We just shipped three Siberian ti- Omni: Is it possible to take a piece of ge- gers to China to add some new blood to netic code and store it so that if a species their tigers there. Zoos now also keep stud dies out in the wild, it can be re-created books for their rare species. Each mating and bred anew'' and each offspring is recorded so you can Schaller: To accomplish that we would have take care as much as possible not to mate to learn how to preserve the material so Which Governs the relatives. One aim of keeping large herds we could use it if it was needed again. That Universe and You? of endangered species in captivity is that is still very difficult. We don't even know the animals can perhaps be returned to how to freeze the sperm of some species What lies behind all existence? Is every- the wild some day. For thing a product of supernatural design? some of the hoofed and maintain its viability. The ovum is even

i fled animals it's certainly Are humans sh about b\ an arbitrary possible. The New more difficult. Ultimately there will be bet- will like pieces on a chessboard? Or does a York Zoological Society did that with the ter ways, but those are of secondary im- stupendous energy, without buffalo reference to early in this century, and it has re- portance at present. effort should The be purpose, bring about a cease-less transfor- cently been attempted with the Arabian made to keep animals in the wild. If you mation from atoms to stars and to life oryx. Reintroductions of big cats, however, have a tiger only in captivity, is that really itself? are unlikely. People fear them. They may a tiger anymore, or is it just a reminder of Mind— Order—Energy may these not agree that a tiger has a right to exist, but a better past? be summed up in one word: Conscious- they will ness? object to its practicing that right Omni: It's amazing that India, for example, Behind all a Universal Conscious- in their ness, impersonal, eternal, tt composes the neighborhood. And if the popula- has been able to keep its tigers. order of matter, the sensitivity of life, and tion has been inbred too much over the Schaller: Indeed. Tigers wander through that persona! awareness thai is Self. years it may have lost some of its genetic some villages at night, and they'll kill a cow This is a new age! It is time to reconcile variability. This may not hurt the survival of or buffalo. One has to admire such toler- science, philosophy, and mysticism. Truth the young directly, but it may prevent their ance. Can you imagine even the harmless is found in unifying all experience and successful adaptation to the wild. mountain lion showing up in the suburbs knowledge that man has acquired—no Omni: The bigger the herd, the better the here? People would have the militia out and longer must man be dealt with separately chance of preserving genetic variability. Is everything else. There'd be panic. For a lot with prejudice or preference. the same rule of thumb true with managing of these species, unless you fight to save preserves in the wild? ACCEPT THIS FREE BOOK them in the wild, there's no real future in Schaller: Yes. Let's say you have a rela- captivity or anywhere else. For a frank, fascinating presentation of a tively rational small reserve that has only ten tigers. Omni: You're studying the panda right now. persona! philosophy of life that Well, the dispels supersti nor; and obsolete traditions. chances are that those will ulti- Would you give us some background? mately die write for the free hook the Mastery of Life. out on their own anyway. The Schaller: The pandas are, of course, com- It is presented by the Rosi crucians (not a population is simply too small. Islands, pletely Chinese animals. They have always religion), a worldwide cultural society. whether real ones or islands of habitat, have existed only in China, except during the Through this book thousands have learned a smaller variety of animals than expected. Pleistocene Epoch, when a few of them how they may acquire a fuller life. That is very important to remember when were in Burma. The panda depends al- Please use this coupon establishing parks, which must be as large most completely on bamboo. Bamboo has and as ecologically varied as possible. But a peculiar life cycle in that it usually sends SCRIBE; DLY one is glad for any new national park, no up vegetative shoots, and then these grow matter how small, to serve as a genetic into a stem. But at long intervals —and the The ROSICRUCIANS reservoir for at least some species. interval can be fifteen to sixty or even one (AMORC) Omni: What about genetic engineering Jose, California with hundred twenty years—the bamboo, in- San 95191, U.S.A. regard io protection from extinction?' stead of sending up shoots, sends forth (Not a religious org an i zation] Schaller: Zoos are now taking the first step flowers and seeds. Then that plant dies, freeze to semen. The Bronx Zoo did an Later the seeds send up a second gen- Scribe DLY interesting experiment The ROSICRUCIAKOUIIER (AMORC) two years ago, and eration: So virtually all the bamboo on one San Jose, California 9S191. other zoos U.S.A. are now following. They took whole mountain range will bloom and die Gentlemen: the fertilized egg from one species, in this at the same time. If your main food is bam- Please send me the fret book the Mastery of case a gaur [a species of wild cattle from. boo you've got it tough indeed. Suddenly Life. I wish to learn more about Self and its India], transferred it into a domestic cow, all your food is gone. Cosmic relationship and how I may benefit

and let it her carry to term. By such a In the past most areas have had a cou- therefrom. method you" can raise more animals in a ple species of bamboo, but people moved Name . ^_^ year than you could normally. But Addre that's not into many of the valleys and cut down all really genetic engineering as such. the bamboo at the lower altitudes, leaving Omni: It's embryo transfer. only one species high up. So now, in some ficult is thinking, if jective science. You've no doubt read about quite large areas, if the bamboo blooms to know what a panda usually a similar problem in physics. The very fact and dies there is no alternative food source you have a cat or dog at home you looking at something and are for the panda. They starve, as happened know what the animal is feeling by its facial that you are interpreting it the incident in line in the mid-Seventies. Nobody knows how expressions and its ear and lip positions. changes preconceptions. person from many pandas starved then, but one hun- The panda has very little facial expression, with your A a different culture may perceive something dred thirty-eight bodies were found. That's which makes it difficult to predict the ani-

different, yet it just true. A an animal of which Ihere are only about mal's actions or evaluate its feelings. Most very may be as person raised in the aggressive West, with one thousand left. of the time it has a very placid demeanor. its Judeo-Christian culture where domi- The Chinese were very concerned, and But if something triggers attack, a panda con- they invited the World Wildlife Fund to col- can be rather dangerous. There have been nance and struggle is a sanctioned laborate on a panda sludy and prepare a two serious injuries- in the Chicago and cept, may see or watch a society of ani

1 dc management plan for the conservation of London zoos. In China people think a mals in terms of dominance—and is raised in an en- the pandas. panda is so cuddly that they can just go Whereas a person who cooperation and altru- Omni: And the World Wildlife Fund asked into a cage and give it a big hug. vironment based on perceive a very different the New York Zoological Society to do sci- Omni: You mentioned facial expression. Do ism is going to the focus is different. entific research? you think an animal's facial expressions society because working with the Chinese in the Schaller: Yes, the program is really in three accurately depict its emotions or thoughts? Omni: In study, have you found any con- parts. One is to improve breeding in cap- Schaller: They certainly depict emotions. panda cepts or techniques in their methodology tivity. Pandas just do not do well in captivity Omni: When you see an animal that looks it's and research that differ from yours? as far as breeding is concerned. So Wil- as if it's smiling, do you think happy? approach is the same. liam Conway, a director of the Zoological Schaller: You have to learn each species' Schaller: The basic

I have is that China has Society, went to China and worked with the expressions. Their expressions are not The one advantage turmoil in the past Chinese to design a captive-breeding fa- necessarily similar to our expressions. The had so much political thirty to forty years that the scientists have cility. We have two veterinarians, Emil Do- smile of an animal can mean any number lensek and Janet Stover, who twice went had difficulty gaining access to literature getting together with others and to China to work with the Chinese on arti- and jusi ex- ficial-insemination procedures and so forth. chatting about their work, They have

in China, and I depend That's one part of the program— captive cellent biologists things, from botanical management. The second part will estab- on them for many '•When a tiger identification to complete collaboration in lish an emergency plan in case bamboo dies again. And the third part will study the is attacking, you don't see gathering panda data. concern for the ecology and behavior of pandas so that a . Omni: Is the Chinese panda the teeth. Yet, solid conservation-management program emblematic of a slightly better-defined na- tigers with tional political policy on endangered spe- in the wild can be initiated. you see stuffed cies than we have in the West? Omni: I've heard that the panda has the a big snari. until when Com- digestive system of a carnivore. Why can't — Schaller: Well, liberation, That's a fearful response munists took over in 1949, there was really it eat things other than bamboo? What no policy. Then China was just beginning happens if it's given meat? not what a Schaller: The panda does have the diges- to get things in order when the Cultural hunter would convey.^ Revolution tive system of a carnivore. But so does a Revolution came. The Cultural everything ten years. So now. bear. The bear is a good comparison ac- set back the Chinese have tually. In summer and fall the bear eats a since the mid-Seventies, problems. They great number of berries, acorns— foods focused on environmental in their ag- high in soluble carbohydrates. Conse- realize the mistakes they made quently, the bear puts on a tremendous of things, depending on the kind of smile. ricultural practices —the denuding of wa- They are set- layer of fat. Then he hibernates for the win- The inward smile of an alligator is fixed, tersheds and so forth. now ter and lives off his fat. The panda has de- meaningless as an expression. Baring of ting up more reserves per year than any than sev- cided to go the other way. He's opted for teeth can mean aggression in baboons. Or other country in the world; more a constant resource, one that's always there an animal can draw its lips back, which in enty exist so tar. So conservation is a great right it's still in its develop- but one that is low in nutritional quality. cats and dogs indicates fearfulness. For force now, but course, the Chinese are A plant is composed of two parts nutri- example, you usually see stuffed tigers with ment phase. Of proud of the panda. It's a na- tionally. One is the cell content. And the a big snarl. Basically that's a fearful re- extremely other is the cell wall. The cell wall contains sponse. When a tiger is attacking seri- tional treasure. indigestible material, like cellulose. The ously, you don't see the teeth: the lips are Omni: The largest cat is the Siberian tiger, panda simply crushes the bamboo and way forward. So hunters who have their and there are just three hundred or four absorbs the cell content, of which there is trophy skins mounted with mouths in a big, hundred left in China. Is there a program to preserve this animal as well? relatively little. So the animal has to eat a fearful grimace— I don't think that's what Schaller: Yes, they are setting up a pro- lot, He just pushes the food through all they intended to convey. are day— a completely different system from Certainly an animal like a gorilla con- gram to study it. Unfortunately, there the bear's. veys a tremendous amount of information probably fewer than three hundred left. It

if outsider Omni: Pandas are not well equipped to through its eyes. They are subtle and silent would benefit their program an reflecting changing participated and brought in a radiotelem- hunt, and there is not a lot of game in their . mirrors of the mind, a etry tigers move over such environment. But could pandas live if they pattern of emotion. system. Those

lion large area that it is very difficult to de- were fed meat or grain? One time I watched a male die after a termine their range without the radios. Schaller: They love meat, and when they a fight with another male, and i saw the of radios, are in captivity, they eat all sorts of things, amber fires fade. from his eyes. It was sad Omni: What is the range these including porridge. and deeply moving. It's hard to know, how- and what kind of difficulties do you have Omni: A panda has a friendly appearance, ever, whether what you actually perceive in trying to trace an animal with one? transmitter is yet in one encounter you were chased up is happening" or if you are merely project- Schaller: The completely they a tree. Are they generally aggressive?- ing your emotions and knowledge into the sealed, the batteries are inside, and Schaller: They are generally very nonag- scene. That has come to be recognized as should run about eighteen months. But they ex- gressive and self-contained. It's very dif- a very basic problem in our so-called ob- sometimes don't run as long as you 170 OMNI .

pect. Transmitters operate on direct line of sight, which causes problems in moun- iains because you can't receive through a mountain. What you may receive is a bounce from another slope. So you have to be sure you're getting an accurate read- ing, which means that you must work from a high ridge or similar point, where signals can be received from all directions, Omni: When you are trying to trace an an- imal, how do you pinpoint its location? Schaller: We use a series of fixed points from which we take readings, then by trian-

gulation we locate the animal's position. In addition, the transmitter has an activity

monitor inside. If there's a slow beep, the

animal is inactive; if there is a fast beep, the animal is active. From that we can determine precisely what percent of the day the animal spends

active or inactive, A panda, for example, is active for about two thirds of the day, usu- ally stuffing itself with bamboo. Omni; Speaking of feeding habits, lions seem to hunt with an organized group strategy that is unusual for cats. Most cats hunt on an individual basis. Why have lions taken up that behavior? Schaller: Animals adapt in a way to make life easier, more successful for them- selves. By success one ultimately means leaving more living offspring. Lions tially live in more open terrain than most cats, and I think that group hunting is an adaptation for hunting animals in such a habitat. Number one, when prey are in the open it's easier to surround them and cap- ture them as a group. Number two, several lions hunting together can kill bigger ani- mals. One lion hunting alone has a hard time killing a buffalo, for example, but sev- eral of them can. They increase their food supply by hunting together. Omni: Would you say that is a learned be- havior or an ingrained instinct?

Schaller: I think it is learned. The actual hunting techniques, like crouching and stalking, are part oi their inborn pattern. But applying that innatehunting knowledge to catch something is part of learning.

Omni: Is it true as a rule that the female

CREDITS

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1. I

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af- I got down on my hands and knees to lower Schaller: Yes. In a group it's usually the become more shy or otherwise be silhoueite and crawled closer, and it females that hunt. Many solitary males, fected. This is a subject that needs re- my

just kept looking at me. I then sat down however, hunt for themselves. The male is search. The main thing you always worry quietly within six feet— as between you and big and fuzzy— he's more conspicuous and about with drugs is getting the animal back stayed there side by side. Cer- can't run as last as the female. So there's on its feet again. Deaths due to poor drug me. And we cheetah had never had a person a better chance that the female can catch use are not as high as they used to be. It tainly that

but not as often. It was not un- on foot that close. prey if the male sits back and waits. happens kill Such encounters are exhilarating. At an- Omni: There was a tiger known as (he son usual for some projects in the Sixties to other level there are meetings wiih rare and of Chuchuchi. In Nepal he killed a couple up to a third of the animals they'darted. secretive animals in the wild whether it's of people. The researchers were very con- Sedation is always potentially dangerous. — close by a I sleeping mountainside cerned that this young tiger might turn into You can well imagine the tension when on a kill or seeing a man-eater having once tasted human tranquilize a panda. snow leopard that stays near a a panda for the first time. flesh. Is there any validity to that? Omni: Describe your best day. see I Omni: How long did it take for you to Schaller: It's not the kind of subject for Schaller: The best kind of days for me, in the wild? which one has valid statistics. Animals in think, are those when an animal seems to your first panda

Schaller: I in the forest every day- general are rather conservative in the foods accept my presence. We have expelled was ourselves from the Garden of Eden—hu- cold, wet. Finally after two months I saw they eat, however. If a mother raises her mankind has become an outsider. Nearly my first panda, a youngster who'd been cubs on human flesh, I would think the a tree an adult who still chances are very good that they will also all animals are afraid of us, and that needn't chased up by

if waited below. After you work very hard for take to man-eating. be. because it is well known that animals don't have something, you are obviously very pleased Omni: A large cat is an amazingly effective are not disturbed in an area, they efforts are finally rewarded. stalker and hunter. much fear. The lions in the Gir forest of when your true something is Schaller: You could walk from my office to India, for example, hang around the vil- That's especially when like a panda, which no the house and you would never see the rare and beautiful seen in the wild since the tiger lying underneath that spruce tree, they Westerners had time Westerners were there hide so well. He would make one leap and Thirties. At that admire learn but to kill and cap- he'd be down on you. So there's no way not to and ture, which, to our modern sensibilities, you could escape. But the fact is, you can 677?e panda revolting. The young panda high walk with perfect impunity in the densest sounds in the that day seni long, drawn tiger forest, and you don't have to worry sent long, drawn hoots up spruce of distress across the silent and is known to hoots unless there's an animal that across the silent hills. sometimes ob- be a man-eater. snowbound Fog no detail to Omni: What causes some animals to be- .hills. Sometimes the fog scured him. Although seemed me, it was hard to believe that he come man-eaters? obscured him. escape sublime experience. Schaller: Sometimes they've been injured really existed — a It was hard to believe Have you ever had a close call with and can't hunt effectively. They've become Omni: an animal in the field? desperate. But in Tanzania we traced the he was real— Schaller: Oh, I've been in difficult situa- development of a man-eater, a young male a experience.^ sublime tions but only because of carelessness. lion I watched grow up from a cub. He ap-

I walking through parently saw d runks walking home at night One time in India was stopped at a big rock. And down the village road, and he started pick- the forest and some- I this very strong feeling that ing them off. The unsteady walk of the had talking about ex- drunks perhaps triggered the attacks. thing was wrong. I'm not

trasensory perception. It may be that I When a lion hunts he will pinpoint a sick lages, where they catch cows. You can walk something or heard something animal stumbling or something, and he'll to within ten feet of some of those lions if smelled

just subliminally or whatever. Then I looked go after it. There's no easier prey in the you care to. They don't run away: they around and, just at that moment, a tiger world than man if he doesn't have a gun. look at you. over the top of the rock. Our faces He's so easy to catch and has absolutely Near one national park in Canada, big- looked into wander were about two to three feet apart. The no defense. Therefore, it is amazing that horn sheep come town and been asleep on the sloping rock so lew big cats take to eating humans. around the streets, because they're not animal had Omni: What kind of traps do you use? bothered by people. This can be the case facing away.

animals do sense, I ihink, if you've Schaller: To calch pandas, we use big box with virtually all animals if they are not But a mistake; they can sense your lack traps. We place food inside and the animal hunted. So when I get into a situation where made

of aggression. I quickly backed off and I So goes in, pulls the bait that is tied to a trig- an animal accepts me, derive a tremen- tree. The tiger just came out and ger, and the door comes down. That's" the dous amount of pleasure from it. went up a the tree, sort of looking at best way to trap solitary forest animals. Omni: What are some particular instances sat underneath

of curiosity. After a few minutes I Animals living in the open can be shot where you've felt welcome in the animal me out hands and said, "Go away ti- with a tranquilizing gun. I've got a jaguar kingdom? clapped my ger, away," and the tiger got up like a project in Brazil right now in which we're Schaller: I was studying mountain gorillas, go walked off. using dogs to chase the jaguar up a tree. which for years were thought to be rather big Saint Bernard and

gorilla. I remember Then you can tranquilize the animal. ferocious. One day not too long after I The same with the

of a one rainy evening I was hurrying home. Omni: Is there any evidence that after an started, I was sitting on a low branch middle it I in the Before I was right animal has been tranquilized, it changes free. The gorillas were curious about me, knew behavior permanently? and one of them climbed up into the tree of a gorilla group. They all were sitting qui- the trees in the rain, and Schaller: There is a moral obligation to and sat on the branch with me to look me etly underneath

elation there I was among them. They just looked cause the animal as little distress as pos- over. Well, I had a great feeling of

I give that up. I just backed off ihe way came, and sible. If an animal is sedated well with the that an animal was willing to me for not a gorilla moved or made a sound. proper drug so "that it does not sense any- much of a chance, to reach out me.

they to know that I was not thing, the event is not going to have much Another similar instance happened in the Again, seemed the dangerous. If you carried a gun it would effect. But some drugs are just muscle re- Serengeti Park. I was walking across different matter. Carrying a gun laxants, which means the animal can see plain in the middle of nowhere, and I saw be a very 172 OMNI —

everything else has revolved. gives you a cocky demeanor that animals naturalist or someone that you hold up as her But the craziest thing? I should have certainly can sense. a hero or model? have now written elo- here to remind me of the crazy things I've Omni: Is there any animal that you are afraid Schaller: Many conservation and done. My life may sound romantic to some of? One that has such a disposition that quently on behalf of people, but basically it's very mundane, you'd rather avoid an encounter with it? wildlife, but two have influenced me most, is Aldo Leopold, except it's led me to exotic places with ex- Schaller: Any large animal is potentially directly or indirectly. One people that book Sand County Almanac has otic animals. I get letters from dangerous if approached too closely or whose the bible of the modern conser- say, "I think it's just wonderful for you to go carelessly. If an elephant doesn't like my become

animals, and I want to do the ele- vation movement. Unfortunately, I never out and study presence, I get worried because since he died in the late forties. that, too." But anyone soon finds out that phant is one animal you can't climb a tree met him, most of the work is rather prosaic and un- I an assistant to to escape very easily. Most animals tend In 1956, however, was an expedition to north- comfortable. You're usually in a country to give you the benefit of the doubt, but Olaus Murie during where one is not really wanted—a for- you can always meet an oddball who once eastern Alaska. That area, which is now established eigner, always the outsider. One can never had a bad encounter with man or is in a the Arctic Wildlife Range, was of his efforts. In his late sixties become a part of the local culture. For that I a lion as a result bad mood. I remember once met renowned naturalist, a fine artist matter, if you are studying animals, you are while driving in my Land Rover. It must have he was a Wilder- usually as far from people as possible. And been one hundred to one hundred fifty feet and writer, and president of the spent what does an animal do most of the day? it was ness Society. Yet, in spite of having away. I stopped to see which one more often than not individual, since a lifetime in the wilderness, he still ap- It eats or sleeps, and if 1 could recognize the can't it. Still, proached each day full of curiosity and with it does so where you observe many were ear-tagged. It was a young this lonely life I would not trade free and male, a stranger to me. Suddenly he an undimmed capacity for wonder—re- understand, for any other. It obviously does not suit charged the car and bit a big hole in the cording and attempting to with a everyone, however. fender. There was no direct provocation. looking and listening to everything tremendous Omni: But I can imagine that somewhere Well, he probably had been beaten up by responsive heart. He had a the line you must have departed from generosity of spirit that I greatly admired along some. other lion and was disgruntled. . a well-thought-out, conservative approach Omni: Can you think of the instance when and still try to emulate. your life, what and put yourself in jeopardy for purposes you were the most uncomfortable? Omni: If you think back over thing have of better observation. I can just see you Schaller. Not really. I've never been in any is the craziest or wildest you ever done? doing that. The lions are feeding. They've situation where I felt critically worried about of animals, and you have If were ask what is the killed a bunch survival. Comfort, or the lack of it, seems Schaller: you to me it gotten too close. I would say is maybe to be a constant presence when you are best thing I've ever done, wife, Kay. has followed Schaller: Oh, well, we are interpreting that in extreme environments, hot or cold. A truly marrying my She differently, which is an indication of my serious situation usually means that you've me all over the world and has been an in-

she personality. When I work, I don't think, "This made an error along the way. dispensable helper. In fact, I would say in sit- the stable thing around which is exciting." I work. Sure, I've been Omni: Is there an explorer of the past or a has been one uations that in retrospect I should perhaps

not have been in. But at the same time I needed certain information and took cal-

culated risks to get it. Take an example: You have some high grass, some bushes, and some jungle crows sitting silently in the bushes, waiting. The chances are good that a tiger has killed something there. Now. you want to know what species the tiger has killed, and you want to determine the age and sex of the kill; you want to collect droppings of the tiger, and you want to

identify the tiger itself if possible. What should you do? Should you come back in a couple of days when the hyenas may have carried off the remains, or do you check on the site now? The crows in the bushes may mean that the tiger is still there. You sit there for an hour quietly listening, hoping you hear something. Nothing hap- pens. So you very carefully go in. Some-

times the tiger is gone. Sometimes it isn't. Usually the tiger has heard you and crouches down and waits, judging your actions. You don't even know the animal is

there until it suddenly rises, some fifteen

feet away, and walks off. It is a rather tense situation, but it's part of the job. You can magnify such an incident to any level you

want, especially if the tiger growls, as it may do. The glimpse of the tiger moving away on silent paws through golden grass

is, to me, the vision that lingers. To some- one else such an encounter may become the high point of a book, an illustration of

life among dangerous beasts. It's all a mat- ter of perception. DO —

of us to the other, ready to obey orders MONOLYTH instantly, if only someone would give them. CC'N'T NULO FROM PAGE 12 "Captain, you'd better hope I've learned enough from you to put a field around you (airtight) around console and umbilical. without damaging you and to get us all Then— still part of the sneaky pro- safely back to Styx." ^> gram—the main hull field reshaped itself "And then?" I was curious. between the console and Igor; an outside He shrugged. "I can't trust you. But— observer would have said the hull had a my word—your prison will be glorious (oh, so carefully shaped) dimple in it. Filled with all Ihe pretty muscle boys you The hull fields point inward; they don't want, including that mistake of mine. And affect anything outside themselves. anything else you can imagine." Igor's little alter ego was not outside the "But no more space, ever." hull fields. He shrugged again. Igor found out about momentum and in- "I'd rather you killed me, here and now." ertia the hard way. His console zipped away I meant it, and he didn't need his console down that carefully planned groove in the monitoring me to know it. He frowned, and hull, pulled by its own momentum and the turned toward my Key sucker below. Igor's arm slammed against "No." the hole, but before the umbilical could pull "Pretty boy here could do it." I coaxed. his arm—and him—through a hole a frac- "A few ..." seconds pressure I put my tion of a square centimeter, it snapped. hands around my own throat. Thought it would, safety factor. I didn't do "No, I said." it; the umbilical's own safety factor did. Au- "Some universe master you are," I gibed. tomatic program closed the hull around the "Ready to kill worlds, but balks at killing a hole and smoothed it out. Whole program single person." ran in a millisecond. To slower human sen- "Don't fool yourself," he snapped. ses, the console simply disappeared. I stood up. "You can take your gilded Even my sensors couldn't keep track of cage, and stulf it up—" it, But who cared, long as it went. "Boy!"

I could have sent him on the same one- I smiled. "Do you really think he can stop way trip his as console, easier'n just dump- .me short of killing me?" ing the console. (Ignorant nonpilot; I'd had- "No." He slid into a trained hand-to-hand dangerous cargo before.) fighter's stance, easy as gliding down an-

I could have made the chop anywhere oiled ramp. "But the two of us can." along his arm, too. But I had my reasons "But I would rather die," I pointed out. fordoing it the way I had. "Be the good on trip back, and I might He wasn't dumb, or slow. He knew that consider it." I'd done it. I shook my head. "Not good enough." I "Boy!" he rasped. scratched a persistent itch back of my The G.P leaped, threw and me out of my knee, and ordered the Key through my re- forcelounge; the Link to the Key tore out of mote to put a force cage—permeable to my socket; and I screeped and landed on air, of course—around both of them. the deck. If human reflexes weren't im- . "What—" said the Gorgeous Piece. His measurably slower than forces of nature, master was quicker, as usual. I'd have died, mashed flat by the same "How did you do that?" almighty whap that had snapped the um- I walked between them and sat on the bilical. Key. "Remote." But he'd had to react, and so had the "But I depowered your remote—" G.R, and we were in free-fall orbit. It's the I flipped the silver eye patch up and stopping that hurts, not the falling. down. "Yeah. And scanned to be sure it "Keep her away from the Key, boy." The was the only one I had. But you took the Sane Scientist sat up, examined his wrist, eye patch off during the scan, didn't you?" rotated it gingerly, and decided it was still Obviously, or he would have detected the minimally usable. He gave me a look that remote built into the patch. "You found the promised much, none of it good. one, and with all (he redundancy built into

I returned it with I interest. had bruises my skeeter? you didn't look for another." from here to there, and he and his pretty "There was the physical link. Two puppet were going to pay for each and seemed sufficient," <$.

things too easy most of the time; so vari- lower :ake of it. "You know 1 haven't the creds," ankle, and I leaned to care ety — '" Living too easy, too long; bad Silence, except for the skritch, skritch. "Note, then. Pay back out of your salary, obviously share'of the profits. Work hard; in a few combo. Somebody like the Gorgeous "And then," I told him, since he between his ears, sim- r free c ear Piece, space dust wasn't going to ask, "it's your choice again. years own vol share ana Suspicious. "Why?" ple enough to keep amused. But some- I can take you back to your homeworld

. like the Sane Scientist or me . . Styx, isn't it?— and let you loose. You Damn itch. What had I picked up—be- body Some, of us work_ai a dozen different wanted a charter for scientific research, sides my two nasscngers— on the world ominously named Styx? professions: scientist, medic, and what but we disagreed on the conditions I could "Skeeter pilots, they're the proverbial have you. Or skeet from here tothere, chal- provide; so I brought you back." lenging the greatest menace of all— other He shook his head, "Everything you've rollin' stones. Popsy in every port, I've the play all it. But, y'know. a humans for amusement. Or kinds done all along has been aimed at one goal: rep. and I've earned — all of games, the riskier, the better. to prevent me from successfully acquiring woman gets older, gets a little tired of carouse Me, I've been' around long enough to a bottled black hole." He was wrong, or that. 1 don't want to bar-crawl and it have tried most everything and to know rather, not completely right, "I don't think for my fun anymore. I want with me. Lots first precisely what suits me best, Nothing you'll risk me recruiting another pilot and of older spacers gothis route. Have a succeeding." mate, or two, of the opposite sex. or the wrong with Igor that having a real chal- lenge to work against won't cure. "Ever hear of blacklisting? One same, if that's how their tastes run. Me, you I grinned. — itch! I over, ' "I feel " Damn that bent word from me, and there won't be a pilot already know about how my likes go." scratched furiously. "I feel"—there wasn't who'll get close enough for you lo make an Still suspicious. "Why me?" — a sign of anything on my ankle "that you'll otfer. Sure, pilots are like anybody else; "Both of you, actually. But why not? Had

. . find the challenge of . changing my mind there's some who'd love to run a chunk ol a chance to see what you were like on this fun much more stimulating than merely con- the universe. But there are more like me trip. You got brains, and I like that. No

quering the universe." I looked up and who like things the way they are. Walk away arguing with somebody who hasn't the watched emotions chasing from my skeeter on Styx, and you'll never smarts to answer back." smiled, and his face. I themselves across see another pilot tor the rest of your life." "I . . . see." Mother, he was so furious out of And when Igor the Sane Scientist had He frowned. "You said— a choice?" thought I could see steam coming personal equations, includ- "Might not want to walk away. Might want his ears. "Me for this amusement"—he solved all his- his head— "him for that"— he ing exactly how far away from the Key I'd to stay aboard. Who knows? Given enough tapped — remote I like I used the patch time, you might even change my mind." pointed downward. "You been when — pluck, I like, and the harder they are to He snorted. "Goon." "Oh, not hardly." I stood. up, walked to- what they lo chew a slow, re- easily. I be a the sweeter are — "I'll sell you a thirty percent share of my ward him, hips moving may old, I've good luctant grin spread across h s lace, -'aton- skeeter. The Key, if you want to be literal. couple of centuries but taken is prob- ing the smug one on mine. "I think," he said You got the creds, make it all honest, get care of my bod. "Boredom the big "I might."CO an outside appraiser." lem, you know, and technology makes .in a hoarse voice, just

-**zt&ajL;

Mir.nigan, Massachusetts. "Klork. I wan! you to head tor Earth and buzz iexas. and

It's tnno they had another rash of UFO sightings." said she'd been too busy to check, and and your mother with me like this,'' and

I he started talking aboul how won- why was I so interested all of a sudden? then LURKING DUCK the newspaper clippings derful Mother had been before the acci- told her I'd found dent, she hadn't had to take care of when I cleaned my room, and she seemed when for him again toolshed with him there. to think that answered her question be- him. That made me feel bad cause she didn't ask me anything else. and at the same time like Mother a little The next morning I sneaked back to the reason Father said something about liberal more, though I knew that half the shed before it was light out. judges and parole boards and how you he was telling me tttis was because, even I I used the flashlight to see by while got to exaggerate the truth a little some- though it was all true, he wanted me to tell the duck out of the sack. It still looked wet, had like Dubic and the dogs, and him it wasn't, so he could pretend things even (hough most ot the mud on it was dry times, with time any- weren't all his fault. and falling off. look how they'd let him out that talked about Wednesday morning when the sun came if it safe lo touch, even way. Mother agreed, and they I wasn't sure was while. in the door and hit the thing, it finally it it police work for a after I jabbed with the hoe again and We wheeled Father into the living room changed all the way back into a duck. The still didn't do anything. But I already knew tail wings pushed their way in front of the TV, and I set up his reader head and and it if I I had to learn how worked was going switch to out from inside until the duck was the right for him. I made sure the change I to make it do what I wanted; so opened to the was where he shape, even though it didn't have any legs I TV reader the door again. It was still dark out. got from the tight and was all smooth and brown, just like on the door side of the duck, then reached liked it on his shoulder and strapped of ducks that people use enough so it wouldn't slip back to where one Ihose pottery out and real quick I touched one of the

couldn't at it if it too hard for sugar bowls. spots still coated with dry mud. he get he nudged It reeling the lily pads in. The it with his chin. started The duck didn't do anything. I pushed stems got shorter and shorter and at the a little on one of the spots that looked like time the lily pads were closing up wet muck, but no motor or anything else Father was asleep in his chair by the time same into only it dark that evening. When I opened like flowers turning back buds, started running inside it. And it wasn't really got even tighter, so that by the time the stems wet at all, just all smooth and slick and sort had been reeled all the way back into the of greasy, like the bottoms of those non- lily pads weren't any bigger stick frying pans. duck, the around than the stems and they just fol- It still hadn't done anything; so I ran my lowed them into the duck. finger over it. It felt the same everywhere. £/\ second or Then all over the duck's surface a lot of Then I pushed it again, a lot harder. Noth- things like tiny doors opened, only none of ing happened. I was starting to get really two later the other mallard them were much bigger than the lead in a afraid I'd broken it somehow. gave a sort of trying to my pencil and they were all over the duck; so I watched it for a while, get it like whole duck was a Venetian courage up. The sky was beginning to go shocked squawk and got was the blind somebody was opening. Then the pink and purple. I picked the lump up and pulled under as doors all closed again but on the other side put it down by the door real quick, where if a giant snapping turtle so that what had been on the back of them the sun coming in would hit it soon. The the and hidden inside the duck was now on door opened in so I couldn't put lump had reached up the outside where you could see it. and right inside; it had to be maybe two feet and grabbed it in its jaws3 the duck had feathers again. back. I tied a long piece of string to the Finally the orange legs came pushing door handle so I could pull the door shut out, and it started trying to swim. It wasn't from outside if anything went wrong. real on land, it was Ten minutes after the light finally came walking like a duck trying to swim like it thought it was under- through the door and hit the duck, it started changed, but water and had to get to the surface. to change like before, only slower. It the shed I saw the duck had little. started to push A few seconds later it stopped, either humped itself in tighter and tighter until it just a Something had tail because it thought it was on the surface was just a little bigger than a real duck and out where its neck and and wings were starting to or because it had figured out it wasn't in almost the right shape, onjy it still didn't going to be. It was look almost it water. I couldn't tell which. But wasn't have a head or tail or wings or feathers or like a real duck. the standing or lying like a duck on land. It had legs. The dry mud cracked and fell off so After I got back in the house, Mother it was tilted the whole thing looked wet and glistening. called to say she wasn't going to be com- its feet sticking out backward so or the next day, forward with its tail in the air. That didn't That took another hour, and it was getting ing home that night She it, it started the string wanted to know if there was enough food seem to bother though, and late; so I pulled the door shut with itself like it always did after it came and went back inside the house. in the refrigerator. I checked and told her preening of in the morning, even Mother was already up and in the bath- there was, and she said if I ran out of any- up out the mud to sta- though there wasn't any mud on it. room with Father. I'd forgotten to close the thing or needed help just come the all tion her- friends there would take care When it finished it looked around just bathroom curtains, but she hadn't noticed and ; like real duck, only it was still tilted for- me or she would've come out to find out of it. I said okay, and she hung up. a

ward like a wheelbarrow. I wondered what while I took a nap, then made Father macaroni I coffee what I was doing. put her on

it being in the shed, if it knew she made us oatmeal. and cheese with tuna lish. When I was giv- thought about

said it thing there was anything wrong or what to do The phone rang. Mother got it. When she ing him his bath he was a good just tall about it. Then it started paddling, trying to hung up she told us a lot of cops had I was strong tor my age and not though it caught some sort of weird ten-day flu and and skinny, because even though he was swim out into the light, and even and wasn't walking, that pushed il slowly across she was going to have to fill in for all sorts still mainly skinny, he was awful flabby of people. Everybody's hours were going he'd be getting fal pretty soon, so moving the floor.

it the doorsill, it hopped to be messed up even worse than usual; him around was going to be a lot of work. When came to would for over it just like a duck hopping over some- so she wouldn't be able to come home I told him the exercise be good thing in shallow water, then it paddled off that all I to was wheel him much for a while. I could tell she was lying me and had do center of the yard, and had somewhere else she wanted jo around a little and help him in and out of across the grass to the the fence and go, maybe to Lake Tahoe to go gambling the bath sometimes, and anyway I was as far away from and shed still it. "Thank you for saying house as it could get, with its chest with her mes;; sergeant again. I asked if used to He said

it its legs slicking out be- she'd found out about Dubic yet, and she that, Julie, but I know how hard is for you pointing down and 178 OMNI into the middle of the yard. somebody out to make sure he really was hind and ils tail up, all slid and fake look- its way back Only that wasn't good enough because my father and sitting in his wheelchair par- ing. It looked more like it was trying to dig neck down, they were wel- in the lake I'd seen it avoid wooden row- alyzed from the into the lawn than like it was walking. said, "Sorry to it had some other come lo do so.' The school Since the sun was shining bright I knew boats, too. So maybe you, Mr. Matson," and he sort of thing to keep it away from wood, have bothered it wouldn't attack me; so I inched forward

me hang up. I kissed him and went . from it. plus whatever it used to find the ducks and had until I was about fifteen feet away back outside. 1 tried it with the wooden end of the too close. I went swans. but I was afraid to get it, si ill sunbathing in the mid- unlil I The duck was back inside and got Father up and fed him, hoe, and it didn't move touched

I push it into the it tew feet, just far dle of the lawn. wanted to then put him in front of-the TV with his back and then only moved a if it attacked me, even if the hoe'd been branch shade and see to the window. enough so that a It wouldn't the duck wouldn't have gotten snagged. though I was bigger than a swan. him I didn't want to go to school. I told dangerous because the duck il had some sort of radar or sonar be very He said okay, if the school called just give Maybe soon as it got back into the to it away from big things like boats would stop as Ihe phone, and he'd say I was sick, keep him when of the sun. But I didn'l want to be too close piers. I the metal end and he wouldn't tell Mother. and So used it in it moved a lot faster ' to herd it over to the side of the fence came at me case It was the only thing he was ever really hoe it paddling around. that still in Ihe sun, bul it wouldn't go than when was just able to do for me, and he did it whenever was tied bamboo pole ten 1 took the hoe and the he could, even though Mother sometimes close to the fence; when il was maybe it it longer, the metal ' then it always went off sideways at an to to make used gol real mad at him for it and yelled at him feet away got nearer. end to push the duck into the shade. It was and even hit him. angle and never any it, ten feet out of the sun when I real close The phone rang. I ran inside and got maybe I went back out and came up took almost ten minutes. it up to Father's ear and mouth. stopped. That behind the duck, but it still didn't notice then held it moved as I took the hoe away I soon front of It was the school, asking why wasn't there. As me, even when I circled around in like it was searching for some- He winked at me and told them I had the its head il, where a real duck would've seen me. started coming at me, paddling I thing, men on Carmel flu, it probably wasn't too serious, but then I remembered those old as fast as it could and ripping up the lawn Beach with their metal detectors looking wouldn't be able to come in today or to- doctor's little. even so it was just inching and no. I wouldn't have a a But for money people had dropped; so i got morrow. And father, and it sliding across the grass slower than I the hoe out and came at the duck with the excuse because he was my knees. to him whether or not he let me go could've moved on my hands and metal end, real slow. I got to maybe a yard was up its it only used to school, and he wasn't going to pay some It wasn't trying to use wings, away from it before it started trying to es- wasn't its when the sun was going down. I chasing it doctor just to write a note. And no, he wings cape, and then I spent a while just on the bright side of Ihe shad- it going to write a note for me either, be- stayed around. But I always made sure 1 kept away for a few days ow's edge and let the duck chase me. It away from the shade, even though it looked cause my mother was was so slow and stupid looking, and 1 was so clumsy and pompous and even stupid- and he happened lo be paralyzed from the Besides, I I worried. but il they wanted to send in the sun; so wasn't er than a real duck. When I quit, it worked neck down, wanted to see what il would try to do to me was still good to know that the duck would when Ihe time came tor it lo drag me under. try to kill people and not just other birds. METEORITES ! lei it When get to about three leet away, Then I remembered the duck had a

it stuck its head whole down under its body, different way of attacking things at NOTHING ON EARTH LIKE IT! pushing it in under its puffed-out chest, sunset, when it used its wings a bit and which made it look even sillier, because wenl a lot faster over the surface of the the way its chest was already resting on water to cut off other ducks' heads. So

the grass with its legs sticking out behind maybe that would work. Only if it did work

made it look like some sort of crazy toy I didn't want lo be there in the backyard

wheelbarrow. Then it kicked off with its legs when the duck altacked.

like il trying was to dive down to the bot- For a while I thought about getting a dog

tom, but all that happened was that it fell or cat and putting it in the backyard with back into the wheelbarrow posilion again. the duck to see what happened, but the

But it didn't it idea even seem to notice wasn't made me sick, and I couldn't do it.

Underwater, il because then pulled its head Then I thought of catching a real duck, but

out from under its it chest and stuck it straight would probably make a lot of noise un- v5.«y LtM:TS,< SUPPLY!

at it I me and paddled as fast as could at less killed it first. And if 1 got caught killing me until it was just at the shadow's edge. a duck, with the way everybody knew how

Then it suddenly arched its head and neck I liked to go watch the ducks, they'd get and body backward and did something suspicious of me and wonder how many

with its wings real last that it fall other made over ducks I'd killed and think I was crazy

on its back. I moved down the shadow line or evil, so il somebody got killed right alter

little it a so could come after me without that, they'd be sure I did il.

gelling in it the sun. Now that was over on But then, I thought, it doesn't have to be

its il its back was using wings like oars, a live duck. I had enough money to buy .. : • :? . CO! . \ and that was working better than Ihe other one that was ready to cook at the poultry

paddling because even though the grass shop, and I could get one with the feathers was smooth the wings could of sort catch and head and everything still on it. So 1

it in and scoot the duck along. I stood where rode my bike there, but all their ducks and

I was this time, and when it got maybe two chickens were already plucked: so I had feet away from me, its legs moved away to buy a goose, which cost a lot more than from each other and turned around side- 1 wanted to spend. They gave me a sheet ways its so feet were facing each other like of instructions for how to cook it, even

it wanted to clap them together. Big steel though I said it was for my mother.

claws like hooks ' meat came out of the ieet I put the goose hallway across the yard very fast, and its belly opened up and from ihe duck. That way I could see how like something a long rotary file and a drill fasi il could go when it was after some- and a buzz saw all at the same lime came thing. But the sun wasn't quite down yet; #

and I out started whirling so fast it was just so wenl inside to play checkers with Fa- auDia-fauum *

a blur, even it though didn't make noise like ther. I couldn't get interested, and after one the best in self-instructional drill or a a buzz saw usually would. game 1 went into the kitchen where I could foreign language courses using The duck had finally gotten to the. line watch the backyard out the window. audio cassettes —featuring

between the sun and shadow, and I knew But when the sun went down and the those used to train U.S. State if it came any farther it would be out in the lighi went away the duck didn't even try to Dept. personnel in Spanish, just sun and go backto being a lake duck; do anything to the goose. It jusi turned back French, German, Portuguese, so I used the hoe to turn the duck around into a log and stuck its lily pads out of the Japanese, Greek, Hebrew, facing ihe other way. ends of its broken-off branches. Arabic, Chinese, il I But used one wing to turn itself back I went back into the living room and ^y^* wm% Italian, so it was coming at me again, and this time watched Shanghai Express with Father. and USalX!

it I let get out into the sunlight. Shanghai moe Express was pretty good, but I'd a foreign As soon as its head was in the sun Ihe been refilling Father's drinking bottle with claws went back into its feet and the drill beer all day so he was pretty drunk by the language on thing stopped turning and started going time the movie was over, and instead of

back its I into stomach. got a better look getting sleepy the way he usually did, he your own! at it this time, and it was all covered with was wide awake, and something in the like barbs fishhooks and other little knives movie had made him all angry and sad at

that turned around on their own, not always the same time. It was awful. Audio- Forum in the same direclion as the whole thing, First he got angry at Mother and told me Suite S51, On-the-Greei but before I could gel a better look the what a bitch she was, she treated how him Guilford, CT 06437 duck's stomach closed up and it was just like shit and even brought the mess ser- a fake duck lying its on back again. geant home with her as if it didn't make It couldn't seem to turn itself back right any difference what Father thought. He

side up; so I used the bamboo-stick end went on and. on, yelling most of the time, of the hoe to tip it over. but then he got real sad again, and that It was too slow and clumsy in the day- was even worse. He started talking about City time to be any use if I just left it in the back- what a good wife Mother had been back State/Zip yard. I was sorry we didn't have a swim- when he could take care of her and he'd ming pool tried I am particularly interested in (check choice): and to think of how I could been handsome and strong and every- Beth's Spanish French German Polish use pool, but I couldn't come up thing the mess sergeant was now, only Greek Russian D Hausa Czech with anylhing. But even though I couldn't better, and how she would have been a _ D Bulgarian Tuikish Vietnamese see how to make the duck work right ex- pertect wife to him if only he hadn't had the % D Other cept maybe just throwing it on someone, it accident, and it wasn't her fault if he I school and like she wanted. I said had to make it impossible lor him to ever husband to her, and even if going couldn't be a Father got lonely some- touch another bird again without getting everything, but got angry at him and had to find some- she Sergeant Crowder said it'd been sick and throwing up. But even so his pa- times, and all the things that it was his one else to do come by, and he'd drop board wasn't going to let him out for too long since he'd duty as her husband to do for her, he role make I told him that would least three more years. in on us soon. couldn't blame her, because at least she at yet, Father feel good. It wasn't even eight in the morning divorced him or put him in a home. hadn't Father„up for dinner, then put what sounded like a I cleaned but I could still hear After a while he was crying, and then he Librium in his beer so I could cook in the background, a lot of drunks a whole yelling again. His bottle was empty; party was I laughing, or the goose without him noticing that was him another beer, only and yelling and music and I wenl and got so doing anything special. He fell asleep at she was in a casino in Tahoe or Librium in it like Mother maybe this time I put'half a with plenty I put him to bed tell she wasn't anywhere the table, and I could sometimes did when she wanted to make Reno. left before sunset. like she pretended, because there of time sure he got to sleep, and in a while he close, the sun was almost all the way much static on the line that I could When down and passed out. was so calmed in the microwave, but down I put the goose in barely hear her. . put the log back the I went out and long and all the feathers got see Desk Sergeant I left it in too figure out what to do She told me to go shed, but I couldn't and it smelled really disgusting Crowder at the station after school and he'd singed, rot if I left with the goose. It would probably it out. twenty-five dollars for what she called when I took it the freezer, have shack, but if I put in it in the up with toothpicks I propped its head at my "baby-sitting time." Mother'd find it if she came home, and yard put it down a really mad again, not that and ran out in the and of any reason to tell her That made me first 1 couldn't think from the duck. Then I ran trying to bribe me but that Ser- long way away goose in the freezer. she was why there was a into the house. covering up for her, as fast as I could back it with geant Crowder was I'd I bought my Then I thought say even though he didn't come The duck already had its neck stuck for- savings because she'd been away work- because its mouth wide open and was around to see us nearly as much as he ward with it for a celebration ing and I wanted to cook doing its paddling thing by the time I got used to, he'd always been one of Father's when she got home, and I'd gotten all the the door closed and could watch it through it and everything, directions for cooking ils the window. The way it was beating only they looked too hard. And if she asked wings wasn't quite enough to make it really instead of a me why I'd gotten a goose enough so the duck goose fly, but it was still close turkey I'd tell her it was because was sort of half-running and half-hopping people had for was something special that fast 4As soon as i across the lawn, and it was going as this to England, and I wanted Christmas in run or maybe even faster as I could have believe me took the hoe away, it moved be very special. She'd have to then the scis- until it got to the goose, and think of because she wouldn't be able to its head sors came out of its mouth I was close other reason why I'd have a goose to any this time to see they were all jag- . like it was searching enough put in the freezer. Unless I'd stolen it, and ged edged like the saws butchers use, and receipt and the piece of paper for something, I had the then the duck cut the goose's head off. with the instructions to show her. then it started coming at The scissors went back in its mouth and away and got Father into I goose put the it'd it closed its bill and did that thing done big baby, me, paddling bed It really was like he was a before, when it tried to dive down through strong for how only even though 1 was real ^ as fast as it could. the ground to get at me, only this time after twice as heavy as me, big I was, he was turned it paddled a while it just stopped and like I'd done a and I almost dropped him back into a log. few times before, but I didn't. all I to do was get So I knew that had and there wasn't I still wasn't sleepy, Mother out in the middle of the backyard frozen anything good on TV; so I got a the sun went away and the duck best friends, and Father still thought he was. when dinner out and put it in the oven. it night, Father she would kill her. I could do tomorrow After Mother hung up I told when I took It was a chicken dinner, and home, or whenever l wasn't going to be home for another two when she came off the tinfoil at the end I thought maybe Sergeant Crow- wanted to after that. days, but I didn't mention that's how the duck figures out if some- excited happy. I rode my I real and der. looked unhappy, more miserable was thing's alive or not, because if it's alive it's He bike all the way to Lover's Point and the only and hopeless than angry for a minute, but got a temperature, 98.6, |ust like 1 do, beaches in Pacific Grove be- I could Asilomar for birds. then he grinned at me even though maybe it isn't exactly the same I was laughing said cause I felt so good, and tell he was making himself do it and Unless the reason it hadn't attacked the better dial the to mysell all the way there and back. was because the goose had just that in that case maybe I'd goose next morning Father woke me up tell them I still But and not moving. But not school for him so he could been lying there his break- yelling because I was late with had the flu. all the real ducks I'd seen my duck attack the fast and he had a hangover and because flop- After he talked to them I put him in had been moving, and it had come put him to sleep so early the night be- even when living room" and poured a beer in his bottle, I'd ping across the lawn after me beer to ex- fore and he'd had all of yesterday's got the duck. I didn't bother be standing still watching it. So if then I'd been in the mid- the log still in him and he'd wet his bed this time, I just picked up Mother didn't come home tomorrow I'd put tra careful of the night and when he woke up the it the backyard. dle gel it out and dumped in the goose in the microwave and disgusting with Father most of the bed was all sticky and wet and sun I played cards in the backyard all hot right when the and he had to yell and yell and yell to get to morning—we had a little rack set up so he see if that'd be enough went down, to and come help him. He was could see the cards in his hand—and I let me to wake up make the duck attack it. better player really angry with me just the way he was . him. win even though I was a Mother called in the next morning to say always angry with Mother, even after I About four o'clock I rode over going to be gone two more. days than he was. she was and got him breakfast and station and got the money from Ser- cleaned him up if she'd found to the on an arson case. I asked her in front of the TV with Crowder. One of the other cops came set him up for the day out anything for me about Dubie. She said geant he'd de- his reader. doing over just as if it was something yes, he was" still in prison. He was and And when he yelled at me again at lunch special work there cided to do on the spur of the moment some sort of hush-hush real- that I should've I something told me what a great job my mother was realized for the Defense Department through some long time before. With Mother gone doing and how they all hoped pretty soon ized a sort ol special arrangement and had vol- left to take care of him could get a chance to stay at home there'd be no one unteered for aversion therapy, which was she 182 OMNI except for me, and pretty soon he'd hate then checked out the bathroom. It was in me just like he hated Mother, and I'd hate the corner of the house, with two big win-

him just the way Mother hated him. With dows. There'd be bright sunlight in it ior maybe a little love left that would come to the rest of the afternoon.

the surface now and then when we re- I opened the windows so the glass

membered what it had been like before, wouldn't screen out any of the sunlight in

but less and less until all we had left was case that made a difference, like it does that we hated each other. when you want to get a tan, then got the HEWLETT-PACKARD it Only would be even worse because log out of the shed and dumped it into the HP-75C 16K PORTABLE COMPUTER they'd put me in a foster home and him in bathtub. It was an oversized bathtub, all S Mfr. Bugg some sort of nursing home—and Mother'd long and deep, made out of that white stuff 719 promised never to do that to him. That had they use for bathtubs and sinks and. toilet

been the one promise she'd kept. Then bowls. The only metal in it was the faucet

when I was old enough to go back to taking and the drain plug. care of him I'd have to pay for him along Maybe forty-five minutes later the duck for rest with me the of his life, and I'd never was floating at the far end of the tub. It be able to go away or get married or even didn't seem bothered by the walls. Maybe "; l:a::c-, putts.-*: p:.»"5tl5 iroiiOLter which iru.udes have boyfriends or do anything, because they were pushing the same on it/from all bu.lr-ir HP IL ixs^ece, ce-d -saner, and time snd ap- he'd be jealous of me the same way he was four sides so it didn't have to try to go any- modes. Typewriter keyboard. of Mother. where else. S21G4A HPIL/R5-S32C Interface 8aiG8A HPIL Acoustic Modem He hated what he was, and the only way I put the goose in the microwave until it 8E169A HPIL/HP1B Interface he could stand hating himself like that was got hot again, then tossed it in the tub and 83700A BK Mem. Module to take it out on someone else. It wasn't his quick went out into the hall and closed the fault, couldn't he do anything about it, but door. I ran outside and closed the shutters that's what it was. He had to hate some- for both windows, not quite all the way be-

body and make them miserable, and if it cause I wanted the duck to think it was wasn't Mother it was going to be me. cloudy but not that it was nighttime.

I thought about it some more, and then And my duck dipped its bill in the water

I knew I'd have to kill Father first. He like it was taking a drink, then dived down wouldn't mind, not really, not if I put three under the goose, grabbed it in its meat-

or four Libriums in his beer so he wouldn't hook claws, and used its meat-grinder drill

feel anything. He probably would've killed to rip it into tiny, tiny pieces. That took about

himself a long time ago if he'd been able five minutes, and then the duck left what

to and if his mother hadn't raised him to be was left of the goose, like it was some sort a Catholic. I'd heard him tell Mother that a of mud on the bottom of the tub, and went lot of times. back to floating. then the And duck would go back to just I opened the shutters wide to let the sun

being a log, and I could it in, hide away again then got the hoe so I could hold the

until I was fifteen or sixteen before I used metal end between me and the duck, even it to Mother. get Nobody'd ever guess what though I didn't think it would attack me with it was if I kept it dark. the hidden someplace sun shining on it. I went back in and Only what if, when the other police came pulled the bathtub plug. by, all they found were my footprints and What was lett of the goose drained out

HP I. .tup Module they took the log in to examine it because of the tub with the water, except for a few Ji: >:i '.F.^etr.a C-v.j maybe they found blood on it? II didn't little of they pieces bone. When I picked them r-i-,i\;-.'f-'\i>i-=r\i:P-\: I 335 figure out what it really was they might up they were all soft and rubbery, like cau- blame me and then be sure it was me when liflower, so the duck had to have some kind SLIMLINE Shirtpocket Styled

I got Mother later And it they did figure out of poison or acid it used to make sure even Power Packed Programmable

it they what was wouldn't blame me, but I the little pieces that were left dissolved. LCD PROBLEM SOLVERS wouldn't be able to use the again. if it duck All But could do that I didn't know why HP-1DC Scientific (New) . . . S54 they'd have to do was pick it up and they'd it left the headless ducks floating on the HP-11C Scientific 70 know it was too heavy to be a real log. surface every night. Unless that was Du- HP-15C Scientific (New] But what if Father just disappeared, like bic's way of making sure that when he got HP-ISC Financial the ducks my duck pulled under? The thing out of jail he could come watch his robot HP-1BC Programmer {New} . . ,90 that out of its came stomach looked sort killing ducks for him even if what they'd of like HP-97 Desktop Scientific . ,560 a meat grinder. Maybe it ground up done to him made it so he couldn't touch their bodies so small there weren't any the ducks to kill them himself. left. pieces I went back into the living room. Father He wouldn't feel anything if there was was still watching the football game. His enough Librium in his beer. if did it bottle Or he was empty. I emptied his urine bag. wouldn't be much worse than it was like for refilled his bottle with beer and added four him just to be alive every day anyway. Libriums. He was still half-awake when he With him gone Mother wouldn't be angry linished the bottle, though he was passing with me all the time. She might even go out fast; so I gave him three more Libriums back to being like she was before, the way by telling him they were vitamins he had to he always told me she'd been when she take; He was too groggy to wonder why 1 married him. wanted him to take them just then.

And if she didn't, I still had the duck. But I went back to the bathroom and filled

I had to find out what happened to the the tub two thirds full. Then I pushed his bodies of the ducks my duck pulled under. wheelchair into the bathroom and got him

Father was watching a football game out of it into the tub. turned up loud. I refilled his beer bottle. The duck stayed down at the far end of gulls and cats from Dubic ten years the tub, floating over his ankles. could buy hamburgers or ice cream. sea So we rode our bikes down to rny house, ago—burned down, and its owner died in I closed the door and went oulside and week. I the fire last shut the shutters. Not all the way, just and when we found Father gone called down to the lake lo feed told I I've been going enough lo cut down the light like it was a Sergeant Crowder and him was the shut- scared because Father was gone but his the ducks almost every day now since Fa- cloudy day. I didn't watch through ther disappeared. It's not so much that I've I didn't ters, just walked around the yard looking wheelchair was still there and know

learned to like them or anything, though I up at the sky, out at the fences, over them what had happened to him, whether they'd

I used l them a"lot better than to the neighbor's houses, anywhere but at taken him to the hospital or somebody'd guess like

I to be there watch- the bathroom windows-. kidnapped him or what. to, but just that wanted right over. ing if another robot duck ever appeared. I still didn't He said he'd send somebody Then I closed the shutters, but There's another one there now. A female look in thrugh them. I went back inside, years ago. I'm mallard this time, brown with black speckle turned off the TV, turned it back on again, JULIE, 1991; That was three bright blue on its side—what walked around, finally opened the bath- fourteen now. A year after Father disap- marks- and married Don, but even the bird books call its mirror or specu- room door and turned on the light so I could peared Mother lum- and an orange and brown bill. It's se'e what had happened. without Father to take care of she was as almost month. every day The bottom of the tub was covered with bad as ever, and he divorced her a year been there a And little month and a half, red-brown mud. The log was half-buried. later, The duck's still back in the shed. I now, for just a over a man comes down to drained took it out lo check last week when Mother a skinny middle-aged I pulled the plug. The sludge ducks. He to out of town for the day and it turned sit on a bench and watch the out. I kept the water running a long time was morning, and he never make sure- the drain wasn't going to get from a log into a duck in the morning and comes early in the leaves before dark, and he never, ever plugged up, then pushed the log under the back into a log when it got dark out again. or or pigeons, I feeds the ducks swans of I it on Mother whenever want. running water so I could clean the last So can use spends all day watching them. It would better if I could wait two years, though he the sludge off it. When it was clean I picked be Patrick it Mother tells me that James Du- l stand that much I don't think it up and put it back in the shed, under the but can released from prison three months floorboards this time. longer. It might be better just to let them bic was there the hole put me in a foster home for a year or two. ago. So that has to be him, down 1 poured some Drano down plug his robot killing the ducks if I watching new to make sure nothing got clogged up, and Anyway. I don't know can wait any

I know what put longer at all now. Three weeks ago Judge he can't kill for himself. don't I washed the tub with cleanser, then thinks to his other robot. the wheelchair and urine bag and all of Hapgood disappeared, and a week ago he happened And while he's silting there on his bench, Father's clothes back in the living room. Thorn Homart, the one who wrote those Dubic's lawyers or maybe at night after he drives away, he's The football game was still going. articles for the Tattler that helped put him IrodeovertoBeth's, and we went swim- sued them for, also disappeared. Plus the killing all the people who with robot I maybe a ming, then Isaidmaybeitwouldbeagood Forbidden City—the Chinese restaurant in jail. don't know how, their Irom the Ivory Pa- .person or taxieab or something else that idea if we went back down to my house that changed name we goda after they were convicted of buying works just like the ducks. since I had some money there and Mother's one of those people; so if he lot gets to her before I do he'll save me a

of trouble, and I won't have to worry about getting caught. And in a way it's a good

if he'll thing to know that I don't get her get her for me for sure. But the thing is, I'm another one of the people who helped put him in jail. Maybe even the main person, except for Mother,

if you believe what the newspapers said. And from the way the skinny man watches -C&" me sometimes when I'm feeding the ducks

I'm sure he knows who I am. But he's too smart to try to get us all at the same time, at least not unless he's fig- ured out enough ways to kill us so that no- body'll see the connection between all our deaths. -He's probably going to wait before he -tries to get me or Mother. And I've still got his duck, and I've spent years thinking

about the best ways to use it. lot of Librium So I think I'm going to put a

in Mother's whiskey glass tonight if she's alone, or tomorrow night or the night after

if she isn't, sothat she'll still be knocked out the next morning when it's light enough for me to get her into the bathtub with the

duck. Only this time it won't be like with

it Father. I want to watch happen. And then the same evening, when the sun's going down and before Dubic has a

chance to find out about Mother, I'll take

the duck down to the park and watch it jump on him and cut his' head off with its

scissors. I've got it all figured out, and I'm not really scared at all.

This time it's going to be fun. DO software package irUTELLIGEIUCE for personal computers subscription to the Dow Jones News/ ; but CDVT.\'L'EG=nOI,.| PAG j; a new generation of programmable Retrieval service. (Texas Instruments. Box video-arcade games. Each card will be 42430, Dallas, TX 75240.) They will be more compact and simpler to able to run dozens of games. The laser operate. The distribution of software could card will not Just increase the be quantity but The WorkSlate lap computer, from simplified as well. I can even envision improve the quality of the games. The Convergent Technologies, was designed cards being sold at your corner newspa- optical technology should brighten up the for business per stand." users. The one-inch-thick, graphics and make possible more complex three-pound computer is embellished with Use of the card will depend on devel- animation and even the use of miniature a digital audio opment of microcassette recorder that optical readers and recording motion pictures. stores dictation equipment. and data. And there is a Drexler contracted SRI Inter- Drexler says his invention is comparable calendar, a national to speakerphone and autodialer, build prototypes, and based on in some ways to the first magnetic-tape a calculator, the first and a notepad. The unit dis- models, Drexler predicts that cassettes developed by Philips. "It could plays 16 lines of text devices to read data on the at a time. It has 64K cards could totally change the way we store data," he of ROM and 16K of random-access be manufactured for as little as $100. says. 'And we are taking a similar wide Writers memory and can store up to 12 pages of to record information with the tiny distribution and licensing tack so that the text. laser ($895—$250 extra for battery-pow- beam would cost from $200 to $500 Drexon card can be established as a major ered MicroPrinter— from to make, Drexler estimates. Great American standard. I really believe our card will be Technology Meanwhile a Center, 2441 Mission College number of companies the principal means of disseminating Boulevard. Santa Clara, including RCA, Hitachi, and Bell CA 95050.) Labora- recorded digital data in the future." tories, are working on the next generation NEW WARES: For the artist in every computer of lasers and photodetector arrays. These HARD AND SOFT hacker. Steve Gibson newer models could has developed the Rolls- increase the storage Owners of Texas Instruments' profes- Royce of light pens. The LPS-II capacity and reduce the cost of is one of the Drexon sional computer can query the Dow Jones the first light pens specifically designed for recordable cards. The improvements News/Retrieval database in ordinary use in would personal computers. It is currently make the cards competitive with English, thanks to a new software package available for the Apple II and will today's blank floppy disks within the next soon be called Naturallink. It divides the computer offered for Atari computers and the IBM four years, according to Drexler. screen into windows containing a list of PC. It comes with its own software The first 25 million ROM cards will start words, phrases, or parts of commands. The package. Once you plug it in, you can draw rolling out of Drexler's factory early next user can combine these elements to form everything from computer-aided year. Even more exciting, the first designs commer- sentences like, "What headlines cover the to complex animation directly cial product to use the Drexon on your card will be subject of inflation?" to access information unveiled computer screen. ($349, from Gibson in the spring of 1984. Not surpris- from the Dow Jones database. The Laboratories, 23192-D, ingly, it will not be Verdugo Drive a sophisticated new package costs $150, including a free Laguna Hills, CA 92653. )DO

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Total amount enclosed $ i In about 5 to 10 percent of all cases, through clothes. A newer model, from Da- hormonal imbalances cause impotence. comed, features a silver wire coated with EDDY They are of two main types: a shortage of silicone and Teflon, and wrapped as a coil. CONTINUED FROM Pi the male hormone testosterone or an ex- Since it's flexible, it can be bent down when erection is not wanted. durations, both of which may prove med- cess of prolactin, a hormone produced by an second type, an inflatable implant, ically significant. the pituitary gland. The first condition can The the raises the penis by means of a small hy- The second device, now in clinical test- be treated by giving testosterone and administering Bromocriptine, draulic pump. Fluid is stored in a container ing, is BIDDS— Biosonics Interlace Digital second by in abdomen, and the Diagnostic System. This transrectally stim- which inhibits prolactin production. surgically placed the blood-vessel pump is housed in the scrotum. Two in- ulates the nerves involved in erection. If no When impotence is due to implanted in the penis automatic response occurs, then a doctor blockage, vascular surgery may increase flatable cylinders are of the groin (so no incision is made looks for neurological abnormalities. the flow of blood to the penis. Unfortu- by way the itself), and when an erection Other tests that are used in diagnosis: nately, though, the success rate is low, and on penis the patient presses the pump. • Ultrasound, whereby sound waves help the procedure sometimes causes a per- is desired, He can deflate the prosthesis at will. in evaluating the adequacy of blood sup- manent erection. physical "Ejaculation and fertility aren't affected ply to the penis. If the impotence results from a either type of prosthesis," Whitehead • Arteriograms, in which doctors inject dye condition that either drug therapy or a by

or if says, "providing the functions were intact into the bloodstream and then take X rays change in medication won't remedy, implantation." of the penis to determine the condition of the patient suffers a psychological prob- before are pros cons to each of these the blood vessels. lem that therapy (including marital, family, There and semirigid type is relatively • Sacral nerve reflex testing, which meas- or sex therapy) can't help, penile implants implants. The costing about S800, and re- ures the electrical activity of the nerves af- are an option. inexpensive, three-day hospital stay. The fecting the function of the penis. More than 100.000 men have had penile quires only a about $5,000 for hospitaliza- • Skull X rays, which detect problems with implants. Most of these are young or mid- pump costs surgery, and the procedure de- the pituitary gland. Located at the base of dle-aged men who are in reasonably good tion and longer hospitalization, says Dr. the brain, the gland sends and receives health and have strong sex drives and en- mands professor of urol- chemical messages from the sex glands thusiastic partners. A surprisingly large Robert Davis, assistant University of Rochester. and other endocrine glands. number of older men, however, want im- ogy at the they're But Whitehead, who prefers the inflat- Once the diagnosis is made, doctors plants as well, says Whitehead, and contends that the semirig- begin considering the appropriate treat- "frequently pleased with the results." able prosthesis, of implants exist: first uses ids .don't increase the width or fullness of ments, "If impotence is a side effect of Two types The sometimes buckle during inter- medication," says Dr. Whitehead, "such as a semirigid prosthesis. The early models, the penis, make it difficult to treat urinary an antihypertensive drug or a tranquilizer, .which consisted of a pair of rods surgically course, and an equivalent prescription may be substi- inserted in the penis, caused a permanent and prostate problems. "The inflatable gives a much more nat- tuted and the problem solved very simply." erection, one sometimes detectable ural erection," he says. In fact, it's often undetectable to a woman who doesn't know that her partner has had an implant. Some men prefer to go into the bathroom or in- flate the prosthesis in the dark so their partner will remain unaware ot the implant. On the other hand, women who know about

it often incorporate inflation into their fore- play. Whitehead adds. No matter which implant a patient chooses, he'll probably be satisfied. "The latest surveys show that more than ninety

percent of all couples in which the man has had an implant are happy with the result," says Whitehead. Soon a prosthesis device that doesn't require surgery may be available. The MEGS (for Male Electronic Genital Stimu- lator), developed by Biosonics, Inc., is now

in clinical trials. It works like this: A bullet- like mechanism that's three inches long, just under an inch in diameter, and en- cased in plastic is inserted into the rectum. Remotely controlled by a radio-transmitter unit contained in a watch or other piece of jewelry, the MEGS, when activated, stim- ulates the nerves to the penis and prompts an erection. "Each unit will be custom-made," ex- plains Dr. Henry S. Brenman, research di- rector of Biosonics, "so that the man doesn't end up accidentally opening someone's garage door."

If the human trials now in progress are as successful as those with primates, Dr. Brenman predicts that MEGS will be avail- able by prescription in mid-1984. DO "

that at many other centers. At Johns Hop- BREAKTHROUGHS wanf . For example, 'Bring me cup over way there on your right' kins University, Woodrow Simone has- de- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 Tobe really useful, the robot must be. at vised a robot/ worktable system that cou- mechanical to a desk equipped objects to determine their position and vol- least somewhat self-motivating. So the ples a arm typewriter, telephone, reading rack, ume in space. These hairs were devel- team is now developing software that will with a oped by researcher John Jameson. enable the robot nurse to plan its own mo- personal computer, and eating utensils. system uses "The optical sensors are just not robust tions to avoid collisions, control its trajec- Rather than voice control, this enough," explains project director Larry tory, and plot grasping strategies. a chin control and "a mouthpiece to send to the robot's computer. Leifer. "If you dip them into a wet plate of "Human motion is determined by sen- Morse code Tokyo, Professor Hi- spaghetti, they'll go blind. But the whiskers sation," says Michalowski, "not by a pro- At the University of and his colleagues have can be dunked in pasta and will still be grammed sequence. People have tried to royasu Funakubo developed a two-armed robot nurse. The able to tell you when they hit the plate." In slaitjacket robots into predictable actions, conjunction with a sophisticated, force- but we are devising control schemes that pair of manipulators is controlled by an is capable of sensing wrist, these tactile sensors will en- allow the motion to be adaptable. Ifthe ro- eight-bit microcomputer and from picking up a tele- able the robot to calculate the best way to bot bumps into a wall, for instance, it should a range of tasks, Each grip objects, from tools to doorknobs. know belter next time. That is the direction phone receiver to setting the table. Eventually the hand may have three hy- robotics has to evolve in— to be data-driv- arm has nine degrees of freedom. of helping the draulically controlled fingers, and the team en rather than program-driven." "In the future the problem severely disabled will may also test a variety of thumbnail-size The team expects to have working pro- world's aged and important" Funa- sensors thai will act like fingertips. "It's our totypes of the second-generation robot become increasingly believes. he stresses that me- version of God's work," says Leifer, "a hand nurse within a year and, if it gets the nec- kubo But systems are an adjunct to, not a with multiple thumbs." While the robot it- essary funding, to build six improved ro- chanical for, human involvement. "The self will not be equipped with vision, a video bots. "If we had the money, we could pro- replacement camera may be mounted on the arm to duce these robots commercially within human heart has needs that a machine give the user visual feedback. three years at a cost comparable to that of simply cannot fulfill," he says. "First and by But the most significant improvement will a luxury automobile," says Leifer. foremost, people need to be helped other people, regardless of how advanced not be visible: It will be a daiabase pro- Meanwhile several new input devices are technology grammed to memorize new facts about the in the works. Stanford researchers have the may become," very robot's immediate surroundings as the developed an oral device, called the pal- It will become very advanced, ten years," pre- sensors feed them into its computer mem- atal splint, that enables severely disabled quickly. "Within the next Leifer, functioning as nurses ory. "Right now," Leifer explains, "you. have people to use their tongues to nudge the dicts "robots servants will be as common to identify every object individually, de- equivalent ot a miniature joyslick. The team and domestic will widely employed for . of ultrasonic as cars." They be scribe-where it is, and tell the robot how to is also working on a set sen- work, in nursing homes get there. In the next generation, you will sors that respond to nods of the head. useful household care for the elderly and in hospitals for just have to tell the system what it is you -Research on robot nurses is also under to routine work and intensive care. Interactive robots may also be used on battlefields as automatic soldiers, under- sea as bomb retrievers and offshore-oil explorers, and in nuclear facilities to clean up hazardous wastes. "I think the whole field of man-machine interaction is com- pletely open-ended," says Michalowski. "It

is the ultimate engineering goal." NEW PRODUCTS

A Swiss watch firm has developed an unusual timepiece: a watch that listens when you tell the time. This role reversal has a practical purpose. A voice-recog- nition chip in the watch responds to up to 15 verbal commands, including the num- bers through 9 and such action words as alarm. So now you can set the watch or any of its functions simply by murmuring

to it. The watch will respond only to the

voice of its owner. It should be available in about a year. (Asulab, Passage Max-Meu- ron 6, Neuchatel, Switzerland.)

Matsushita has shrunk its rear-projec- tion TV technology to create a tiny proto- type: a portable color model with a 6.3- inch screen. The collapsible unit folds into a 12-inch case and weighs just 6.5 pounds. The company says the high-resolution screen should be especially suited for dis- playing teletext and videotex and for use as a computer monitor. The unit will go on sale in Japan sometime in 1984. (Matsu- shita Electric Industrial Company Ltd., 1006 Kadoma City, Osaka, Japan. )OQ Thirty best games of the year

By Scot Morris

Last year the Invasion of the Video Games - forced us to expand our usual pick of ten best games to Iwenty: the ten best video and Ihe ten best general games. This year computer games expanded the game market in entirely new directions. As a result we have expanded the Games column to pick three lisfs of Ten Best Games: video, computer, and general. THE TEN BEST VIDEO GAMES

The games are listed in alphabetical order, not by preference.

1. Burger Time (Mattel, for Intellivision,

Atari 2600, IBM, Apple II). By now you have seen the ads and heard the plot: Try to make burgers while being pursued by pickles, eggs, and hot dogs. What more can we say? The concept is silly, but the game is great. It's one to play "just once more." 2. Centipede (Atari, tor 2600, 5200, and 400/800 computers). We can't say much about this game that you probably don't already know. This is combat gardening, the training ground for Millipede. The 2600 version is excellent, considering the limitations of that system. The 5200 version is better, and played with the track-ball controller, it's virtually identical to the arcade quarter eater. 3. Cosmic Chasm (GCE, for Vectrex) Of the new games ior this tabletop vector- graphic system, we like Cosmic Chasm best. You are given a brief map showing your location and the location of the planet's center; you must figure out the shortest route and battle it out in each way station. Once you have reached the planet's center, done in all the bad guys there, and planted your bomb, you have Action Video games (top. from left): Q'bert, Happy Trails. Centipede, Murder Anyone'', Super seconds to it out going Shuttle— Journey 15 make — Baseball, Qix, Burger Time, and Pepper II. No: shoan. Cos-nic Ohesir. Space A through the same path you took coming into S::iace ComfMier ua.-nes iboUcrr>.. Suspended Hignl S.mJator. Lode- Runner. Soccer, Necromancer, Wizardry. in, if you can remember it. WORMS?, Archon, and Pinball Const ijcCon Set. Not sn-yxn 4. Happy Trails (Activision, for Intellivision). Designed by Carol Shaw (she of the paths, you must rearrange parts of the player equipped with frame search, fabulous River Raid), this is an offspring screen in front of him so he'll go where you chapter search, and stop). Videodiscs ol the arcade Loco Motion. This is one want and never come to the end of a have become a new game medium the of the cleverest video-game ideas we've trail. This is the best Intellivision game we this year. You may have seen crowds arcades: Its seen. The easiest comparison is with have seen produced by an outside (non- around Dragon's Lair in Sam Loyd's classic 15 Puzzle, with the Mattel) company. game play is rather unrewarding, but its sliding blocks. As your characterfa 5. Murder, Anyone? (Vidmax, for a Pioneer, laser graphics are incredible— a Disney- cowboy hat on boots) moseys around the Magnavox. or Sylvania laser-videodisc quality animation. Videodiscs have the 19Q OMNI potential to be [he next wave in video gaming because Ihey can use real phoiographic images. (A San Diego group. Simulron, has an arcade Star Trek game using real clips from the movie. Another company promises a football game using footage of real NFL action between the Chargers and Raiders.) For home use there is now Murder, Anyone?, which lets you see the eight suspects in ihe murder of millionaire Derrick Reardon— all actors playing their scenes in the Reardon mansion. You decide whom to interview, what questions to ask, what physical evidence to examine, and what conclusions to draw. The game has 16 different plots, each with its own clues, story line, and conclu-

sion so fhat you can play it several times before a particular combination of

murderer, motive, and method is repeated. Zrk. Monty, Proteus, Scotland Yard, Godaikin robot. 6 Pepper II (Coleco. for ColecoVision). This is an irresistible maze game. Your 65 or 75 percent, say while — avoiding the thought anything this complex could be object is to "zip up" the walls around swirling Qix, the pursuing Fuse and created far the various 2600. Truly a giant leap rooms on the screen, but if you Sparx, and the Spiral Deathtrap. This is for video games. retrace your path, you "unzip" what an abstract thinker's video game and 10. Super Action Baseball you have already (Coleco. for done. (The game should a refreshing change from [he shoot-'em- ColecoVision). Finally there is be called a better Zipper— it has nothing ups. The screen often becomes a beauti- baseball simulation than the Mattel classic whatever to do with pepper.) Of course ful Mondrian-like mosaic by game's end. that sold so many I ntelli visions way there are whatcharnacallits back pursuing you, Qix demonstrates that a video game in 1980 Coleco hopes [his game will but if you zip out a side exit, you'll find doesn't have to be violent, repetitive, or sell its newest peripheral, Super yourself in Action a new maze. Work on this cute to be addictive. joysticks—you can't play the game without for a while until the going gets rough, then 9. Space Shuffle A Journey into — Space them. Two sticks and the cartridge sell slip back to first the maze or into another. (Activisicn, for Atari 2600). Steve Kitchen, for about $60. The stick is gaudy Simple but fun. and who adapted last year's top-rated bulky, with four colored triggers in a pistol 7. Q*bert (Parker, for most video and Donkey Kong far ColecoVision. spent two grip, a joystick, keypad and roller control computer systems). This was one of the and a half years creating this remarkably on top, and a huge casing hottest arcade like [he hand games of the year and accurate simulation of a shuttle flight. shield on a fencing sword. The flashy is now inspiring its own imitators. Q*bert From the cockpit, you view sunrise at hardware looks like sucker bait, an starts at the top of a pyramid of cubes, Cape Canaveral, then blast off, enter orbit. expensive and unnecessary add-on, and as you hop him onto but a new cube, its rendezvous and dock with satellites, it does turn [his baseball cariridge into top color changes. Change the whole accomplish reentry, and land safely at a whole pyramid new video-game experience. For to the targe! color and you Edwards Air Force Base. You control example, if move you want to throw to third on to the next screen, Various everything from airspeed and cargo-bay base, it's easier to remember to press your baddies chase you or change Ihe colors doors to orientation around x, z y, and third finger than it is to look on a keypad back so that you have to go land "on axes. An overlay fits on the Atari controls: to find the third-base the button. The controls cubes again, The game select switch becomes your give your pilcher a whole arsenal of 8. Qix (Atari, for the 5200 and 400 and FLIGHT INDICATOR; [he COLOR/BLACK AND throws: four kinds of pilches (set by the 800 computers).. An innovative game white switch is. now engine control, and finger buttons) and four speeds (set unlike any other a faithful and adaptation so on. It's less a than game an education by the keypad), which are fine-tuned high ol the arcade favorite. Your task is to fill on how the shuttle works, with details or low (by changing joystick timing) small areas of the screen until you "have accurate down fo ihe brief radio blackout and inside claimed or out (by adjusting joystick more than a certain amount— during reentry. We would never have angle). The screen concentrates on the

RAGE 194 191

A cutout book of quite a different kind is Make Your Own Working Paper Clock, by James Smith Rudolph (Harper and Row). Personally I think you'd have to be crazy to want to snip the cogwheels, fold zig-zag

strips to form iheirteeth, and glue all these itly-bitty parts together. But with deadpan humor Isaac Asimov's introduction urges the reader to "buy two, or even three, cop- ies of this book, since your second clock, 'constructed with the experience you gain with the first, will be better than the first' and the third will be better still," He doesn't mention the condition of the reader after this exercise, however.

Asimov's name inevitably crops up in any year of science books, although he pub- lished fewer than usual in 1983 because of his return to science fiction. My favorite Asimov title of the year is Creations (Crown), a collection of stories that Asimov edited with George Zebrowski and Martin H. Greenberg. This is an excellent assort- ment of scientifically accurate fiction, and it addresses the general question of where everything in the universe came from and where it will all end. The authors include scientists Carl Sagan. Gregory Benford, and, of course, Asimov. At the other end of the storytelling scale is Spaceship Titanic, by Richard Duprey and Brian O'Leary (Dodd, Mead, and Company). Unintentionally similar to the movie Airplane II and almost as ridiculous, this doomed novel about a doomed space shuttle is worth mentioning not only as a warning to readers of all ages but also to illustrate how badly non-science-fiction FOR writers can write science fiction, and how hopelessly ex-astronauts fumble when they try to pursue new careers. A few years back FUTURE REFERENCE Buzz Aldhn, the second man to walk on the moon, started working as a salesman in a California Cadillac dealership. Now Moving? We need A-6 weeks Brian O'Leary. who trained as an astronaut onnrui notice of a change of address. Fill for the space shuttle, P.O. applies his formid- m the attached form. Box 5700. Bergenfield. N.J, 07621 able skill and expertise to such sentences as "The digital display moved inexorably New Subscription or Renewal? forward." A sad and silly piece of work. One year of Omni is$24 in the U.S. Closer to Earth, and probably the most S34 in Canada and overseas. practical science-oriented book of the year, Please enclose a check or money is The new Jet-Lag Book, by Don Kowet order for the appropriate amount my (Crown). Kowet, a staff writer for TV Guide. and allow "6-8 weeKs for delivery seems more interested in popular appeal Listing/ Unlisting Service? than in hard facts, and at times his book Omni makes the sounds like a diet guide, with tips from names and addresses of its David Frost on how to avoid motion sick- subscribers available to other ness and Craig Claiborne on what to take publications and outside com- for an upset stomach. panies. The publications and Still, Kowet quotes some scientists as companies selected are carefully well as celebrities. He offers a jet-lag self- screened for their accep+ob.ity test and a useful set of routines to minimize and quality of- their offers. If you the trauma of transglobal travel. Regard- would' like your name removed Attach mailing abet less of whether this prescription works, from this mailing list please anyone who receives the book as a pres- check the appropriate ent will feel someone must care about his box on the coupon. well-being—which is probably all anybody should expect from a Christmas gift. DO plane before you get the hang of things COMPUTER GAMES THE TEN BEST (taking off is easy— it's landing that's the but when you set down on a new EAfUlES The winners are listed alphabetically. real trick), feel like John Wayne in The Prices usually range from $25 to $50. airfield, you'll Atari, High and the Mighty. 1. Archon (Electronic Arts, for Apple, pitcher and batter (insets show the action nice 3. Lode Runner (Brederbund, for Apple II). to an Commodore, and IBM). This game is a at all three bases), then switches very the start Multiscreen games have become show large- wedding of strategy and action. At overhead of the whole field to Donkey Kong took you like chess— a checkered grid with popular since are practice modes for it looks scale action. There and the el- and mine, (or the through the barrels, the rivets, and two levels of head- your pieces on one side batting and fielding, scenes that played computer's) on the other. Pieces have dif- evators—three different to-head play. Unfortunately, there is no three different ways. Now there are many ame. ferent powers and values. When one piece in player-versus-computer g including Jumpman, Jump- challenges another, the screen changes to such games, SUMMARY Jr., and the ubiquitous Miner 2049er. VIDEO-GAME-SYSTEM a battlefield, and you use a joystick to let man, Runner, not just their weapons The best, we think, is Lode for this most them fight it out with various Atari 2600: Our latest favorites astounding 150 different Another nice touch is that because it has an popular system are Ms. Pac-Man (a much and defenses. just because it is a lot of fun- of the game board changes—some scenes or better adaptation than the original Pac- part permanently black or white climbing, jumping, digging, and even fall- and Volleyball (all by squares aren't Man), Vanguard, the gold and outwit the nas- but cycle from one to the other through ing to collect Atari). Solar Fox (CBS), River Raid, Robot your because it will let you create of gray. One piece might be safe ties—but (all by Activision). Dol- shades Tank, and Dolphin the ladders, walls, trap- square for now, but as that own games. Put first use of sound as an on a black phin features the elements right where you square turns whiter over the next few turns, doors, and other integral part of game play ralher than as include just the number of ene- the piece might become a sitting duck. want them, background. then play. If you better on boards mies you want to take on, Pole Position, Joust, and Tennis Most board games play Atari 5200: you've created, you can save your than on video screens. Archon could be like what (Atari). All games for this system are of uni- game or make copies for friends. To our formly high quality and include the best thinking, Ihis sets a new standard for com- classics: Pac-Man, Defender, Missile become puter games: It lets game players Command, Space Invaders, and so on. game designers. (See also Pinball Con- ColecoVision: Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, Jr., struction Set, below.) Mousetrap, Lady Bug, Looping, and Space £ Picture this: 4. Moondust (Creative Software, for the Panic are the best of a very good lineup. the queen's Commodore 64). This little cartridge is Coleco's games for its own system are ex- You open with really a form of interactive art. Your joystick cellent. Their spinoffs for Atari and Intelli- knight; the computer controls a spacewalker and a fleet of five vision tend to be markedly underpro- knight. spaceships (quite a sight in itself). Drop a that counters with its The duced, as if to give the impression "seed," then direct the ships to smear it those systems are capable of running only pawn slides out, like peanut butter on a plate, toward second-best versions. out of the way, the knight the center of the screen. The color trails Intellivision: White Water. Safecracker, accompani- place, generate their own musical Swords and Serpents (all by Imagic), and slides into ment—an infinite variety of riffs to go with Dreadnaught Factor (Activision). moves back3 then the pawn the infinite number of on-screen designs. Vectrex: Fortress of Narzod and Art Mas- The music and colors may make you more ter (a remarkable cartridge that lets you interested in creating your own computer draw and animate on the Vectrex screen). art than in winning the game. We think that Gameline has an idea that could be a was the idea. dedicated Atari 2600 players. godsend to (Synapse, for Atari. Ap- computer: It would be 5 Necromancer master cartridge that fits played only on a For $75 you get a has three scenes impossible to duplicate the game ple). This colorful game Atari can be loaded over the next to into the and interdependent. In the atabletop version. or "acts," all nicely telephone with any game in the company's in forest, you cast spells and grow Flight Simulator (Microsoft, for IBM PC). first act, the lineup (currently about 75). For $1, charged 2. second, the vault, you kill spi- This remarkable item goes beyond mere trees. In the to your credit card, you get 10 to 12 plays with your trees. In the third, Nec- and into the realm of pure experi- der eggs of your chosen game. You can look at new game romancer's lair, you have to cover 13 the stores and de- ence. You could really learn how to fly a titles before they reach the spiders that There are two air- gravestones while battling cide whether they're worth buying. Imag- plane with this thing. missed in Act II. choose from, a single-engine hatch from the eggs you e's games are the best on the system now. planes to The more trees you can grow in Act I, the I biplane. The to join up (as Cessna 172 and a World War If Atari and Activision agree II and the cockpit view: window more eggs you can kill in Act expects), Gameline will be monitor shows your the company deal with in instrument panel below. With fewer spiders you will have to [he best deal in video gaming. For infor- above and in beautiful, high-reso- Cessna, you can fly out of 20 different Act III. And it's all mation call 1-(800) 282-2100. the from LAX to lution graphics. is Mogul Maniac airports in Ihe United States, An also-ran this year Arts, simulation; so flying 6. Pinball Construction Set (Electronic 2600), a skiing game lhat JFK. This is a real-time (Amiga, for the 64, IBM). The York to Boslon takes about two for Atari, Apple, Commodore with the 'Joyboard/' a platform, you from New comes first booting this disk is, speed. In the biplane, you usual reaction on in various directions to hours at cruising stand on and lean could do that." strafing runs on "I had no idea my computer is no great can make bombing and control the game. Mogul Maniac feature on If making is an added can used on German airfields and factories or fight game shakes, but the Joyboard be of point . Lode Runner, here it is the whole Imagine the dogfights in the sky. You can set the flying any joystick-controlled game. has given you want, from no the game. Designer Bill Budge workout you can get trying to coax Ms. to be as complex as coordinated away the keys to the store: Now you can Pac-Man through her maze or slaloming" weather and automatically pinball game to your own liking. ailerons and rudder to "reality mode," create a down the road in Pole Position. The Joy- control a hand lhat moves things on where you're in charge of the controls, and You board turns" Activision's nothing-special or off the board— as many launchers, exercise program. set the time of day, temperature, wind Decathlon into a video want, wher- altitude of clouds. bumpers, and flippers as you titles of the year: Re- speed, and number and Best video-game "magnifying glass" lets booklet is nearly 100 ever you want. The of the Beefsteak Tomatoes and The The accompanying venge particular area, change its You'll crash many a simulated you blow up a Farth Dies Screaming. pages long. 194 OMNI may follow a diagonal from lower left to

upper right, for example, until it comes to

a point that is connected in an unfamiliar way (with lines to upper left and lower right, for example). Then you give your worm in- struclions: proceed to upper right or turn left or turn right. When your worm comes to the same sort of intersection again, it

follows your previous instructions. When it

comes lo another unfamiliar intersection, it slops and waits for a new rule. The idea is to train your worm to cover more of the field than mine— or the one generated by the computer— does. If you like your worm,

save it for future games. THE TEN BEST GENERAL GAMES

These games are listed alphabetically. Prices are on the high side— you may want to shop around for discounts. V Crosstalk (The Powar Company, PO. Box 9234, San Diego, CA 92109). Subtitled "The Game of Precision Communication," Crosstalk is an unusual idea for four or six players, with teams of two playing against An exceptional labor each other. Players try to get their partners to reproduce an exact pattern of five col- force makes MetroAtlanta work. ored tiles on a board. Teams use four lev- They're young, ambitious, energetic,— and development. Metro Atlanta work- els of communication: Bolh partners talk, skilled. Trained at 36 different or" ers. 50,000 of them are ready to go to only the sender talks, receiver asks yes/no universities and vocational work for you right now. questions, and both partners use sign lan- Ii.istconr.aa Cooper, schools in Metro Atlanta. Rov guage only. It sounds stupid but turns out 1740, And qualified to handle MACFED, P.O. Box to be a lot of fun. Atlanta 3030L Tele_ (Bandai, various any job you may have. From ' GA 2. Godaikin Robots ATLANTA 577-3838. nuts and bolts to research phone (404) prices). These futuristic Star Wars-type ro- Clayton Cobb DeKalb Douglas Fulton Gwinnef bots are more works of art than games, more for admiring than playing with, They're take apart and reassemble and to colors, or carve your own initials, pixel by pended. You wake up on a computer-con- great to as have-you-seen-this? objects. pixel. A screwdriver and AND-gaies let you trolled planet where inhabitants are dying display -line Go- adjust the scoring and bonuses. You can by the thousands, and only you can save Our favorites are the top-of-the apart into five lions (and even change the force of gravity (ever tried them. You have six robots at your com- lion, which comes capabilities. lots of guns): God Marz. which separates weighliess pinball?}. If you like your board, mand, each with its own You in questions and your into six robots; and Voltes V, which be- design a logo for it and save your game type commands and you. designer, Mi- comes five assorted military vehicles. Each on a separate disk. See if you can sell it robots report to The sells for about £84. The whole line is a trib- and recoup your investment. Bill Budge chael Berlyn, has mercifully included a map meaning in Japan. doesn't, mind. He's already at work on his of the computer complex to help you keep ute to the new of Made Chess (Milton Bradley, next project, a computer game that will let track of things, and you can make a si- 3. Grand Master you generate your own game-generation multaneous transcript of the proceedings $500), It's expensive, yes, but this is the most amazing chess machine ever made. games like Pinball Construction Set. if you have a printer. (Sir-Tech, It moves its own pieces without an "arm." 7. Soccer (Thorn EMI, for Atari). This is the 9. Wizardry: Knight of Diamonds magnets un- best multiplayer computer game we have for Apple). This is the second chapter of Instead, it controls them with the board, Picture this: You open seen. The computer can play itself, or as Wizardry, one of the most popular com- derneath tell the com- many as four humans can play simulta- puter adventure games ever. You create with the queen's knight and knight on the neously. One person can face three, for six different characters, wilh complemen- puter by pressing the down "to" squares. The computer example, or all four of you can be Team tary strengths and abilities, and send them "from" and knight's one competing against the computer, Team into the adventure, which is partly graphic, decides to move its knight. First the slides out of the way, then (he knight two. This game is the best reason you'll mostly text; and all directed by the words pawn appropriate spot, and then find lo buy a second set of joysticks. you type on the keyboard. Some charac- moves to the back into place. The pro- 8. Suspended (Infocom, for most sys- ters succeed, gain experience, and are the pawn moves 0:'iersdieoff will challenge all but top-ranked tems). This is a text game— no pictures, saved for fukre games and gram It designed by David Levy, no joysticks. You type instructions on a are replaced. To play Knight ot Diamonds players: was master featured in one of the first keyboard to move the game along, and the you must already have Wizardry and ex- the grand interviews (April 1979). We like the action takes place in your imagination. If perienced characters who have reached Omni replaying memory, and - you don't think an all-prose game can be at least the thirteenth level. "hint" mode, the capability. It's exciting, just ask anyone who has stayed 10. WORMS? (Electronic Arts, for Atari and the "let's go back to step x" of machine. up nights exploring the caverns of Adven-' Commodore 64), Starting with an idea from a lot to pay, but this is a lot Classics, RO. Box 7338, ture or mapping the labyrinth of Zork. In- a 1979 Martin Gardner column. David S. 4. Kaliko (Future Arbor, Ml 48107. $30 postpaid). Known focom is the undisputed leader in text Maynard has created a marvelous ab- Ann a few years ago, this games, responsible for Zork and its recent stract game with a tentative title. The idea as Psyche-Paths in- has been streamlined and simplified offspring, Zork II and III, a couple of mar- is to design an idealized "worm" and game Kaliko. The 82 hexagonal pieces are velous mystery games {Deadline and Wit- struct it how to move through a grid of into all this on a big table- ness), and this SF tale of terror, Sus- points arranged at intersections. Your worm different. Play game

. 196 OMNI top that will allow you to extend lines in That gives the detectives something to work several directions. It looks mathematical, from, and every fifth turn Mr. X must sur- but this game is accessible even to nu- face and show himself. A German import, merophobes. Production value is first Scotland Yard can be enjoyed by non- And then class—packed in its hexagonal box are gamers, especially when they are part of clear acrylic tiles with painted patterns, and the dedicated team from the Yard. there were four bamboo curtains to hide players' 8. Upwords (Milton Bradley, $10 to $12). hands from one none. another— all of which ac- This is the best word game since Scrab- counts for the first-class price. ble. It allows you to stack letters- on other Monty 5. Plays Scrabble (Ritam Corpora- letters to create new words. Whereas tion and Selchow & Righter, $150). This item Scrabble makes you think of how to add and the previous one are lull-fledged com- words to the board, Upwords makes you puters, but we put them in this category think of how to change the words on the because they are tabletop games. No one board into something new. expected a Monty so soon. An article in 9. Who Killed Roger Ellington? (Jamie the December 1981 issue of Byte said that Swise Games, about $15). This is like in- a microcomputer could play a viting good game your friends over to enact the last of Scrabble if it could use words of only scene from an Agatha Christie novel, it's two or three letters. "Without this or other the best game we have seen this year for selected constraints," the author said, "the people who don't like games. Invite seven time spent calculating a move and the friends to join you in playing the five male memory-and -file The list -space requirements and three female suspects (the estranged of already extinct animals grows ... the great auk, the Texas gray would most likely exceed the capabilities stepbrother, the business rival, the ex-mis- wolf, the Badlands of a microprocessor." bighorn, the sea mink tress, and so on) in the poisoning of the passenger Roger pigeon . . . But that was a full 24 months ago. Now Ellington.. Each gets an invitation to come What happens if civilization it's 1983, and we have Monty, a tabletop continues to slowly choke out wildlife to the meeting in order to "clear [his] good species by species? Scrabble opponent that is surprisingly name, " along with a one-paragraph sketch Man cannot live on a planet unfit tough to beat, using words of for any length. f the other seven parts. At the party, each You can draw your own tiles (and Monty's) finds out. more about his character and Join an organization that's doing and enter !hem into the computer, or let something about preserving our whether or not he did poor Roger in. The Monty choose tiles for both of endangered species. Get involved. Write you. Monty killer may lie; others must tell the truth. It the National will play one, two, or three Wildlife Federation human oppo- takes about two hours to play, then every- ' Department 105, 1412 1 6th nents, or human players can cooperate in one chooses a most likely suspect and the Street, NW. Washington, a match of wetware versus software. Monty solution is revealed. All have a good time, DC 20036. comes with a It's not too late. 12,000-word vocabulary, and even players who guess wrong—which advanced modules can bring it up to may be most of them. You can't play it a 44,000 words, including xi and qatd and ' 'second time, but for a good party, it's worth many others we'd have to look up. the price. You can record the STATEMENT game in pencil on 10. Zoid robots (Tomy); Capsela (Play Jour). the sheets provided or, even better, with If you like the Godaikin robots but wish they OF OWNERSHIP reai tiles on a regulation board. would do something, look into the inex- 6. Proteus (Kadon Enterprises. 1227 Lor- pensive series ol snap-together Zoid kits. ene Drive, Suite 16, Pasadena, 21122. MD Of the smaller wind-up Zoids (about $6). $32). You would think that variations the on we like the spider, with its eerie walk. But three-by-three game board would have best of all is the Giant Zrk {about $29), a been exhausted by now, but Michael brontosaurus-robot kit that takes about an Waitsman has come up with a tic-tac-toe hour to assemble and walks on battery variation that can make you wish you had power, lis neck movements alone are a a computer to keep track of the possibili- marvel of engineering. ties. The spaces in which you play your If play value is more important than ap- pieces are of different shapes and colors pearance, look into Capsela. an Erector set =r,"; and can be moved around the board. There for the Eighties. There are eight sets, priced are three ways to win, three ways to move Irom $10 to $80. And everything you make ,;','.". Ciena Fami ly. Cc-Ofgs !,.--, Gi-,i'i:: ";.,- ,« .; - pieces, and three ways to move ,_;.;,-, spaces, something, %!> ',(-:;, .-.:;:.;:; does from the speedboat to the -'OK.vJv. Ni:* Yc:H r-.K .-. ;/,,,.,. but only . one rule of each type is in effect vacuum cleaner to the robot tank. Most of at a time. You be may planning a great the key elements in come clear, spherical mo'^atiKs :io:hS' mwis; \<.-:t: Avraqs ii:r-:;cr :i three-in-a-row win, then ".. your opponent capsules. The engine capsule (powered ' "" ..!: changes the rule so that now you must be by AA batteries) turns out enough RPM to in three spaces of the same shape or same spin a propeller for your bafhtub models. color to win. It is difficult to plan far ahead A step-down capsule lowers the RPM for -'"' '' ' .,". because the rules ' ' .: keep changing. (, We are land :,:|, ,r .;.:>. vehicles. t i:i; Other capsules have gears ss co: :ftli ,>;.;:: ;:!,, :,.--c. to ns*s '•-, impressed that agents taut net sci:: .:- :_ ;<,-?.. ' such a simple game board to convert -n ; rotary motion to up/down or on/ = 0-.:.3.jte ::.-. v, r ..i>a: ,!.. could give rise to such = szcA'- a complex game. off, and '" horizontal rotation to vertical. il Vl" i, ' !. ,.: 7. Scotland Yard (International Playthings, If your local stores don't have Capsela ! ii! ' l',.i $22). Here's another game played ii , : .,! on a inquire at Play Jour, 200 Fifth Avenue Suite street " map of London. This one pits i; " one 1024, ' New York, NY 10010 '' ' .1 :,n H':.ii>i- playeragainst all the rest (best with two to ??

' try to determine "his location (.( sole 302. si-) roial aisr-ici..:iii- S--r : - and close ill. for this year's list, we are thankful E S;>; C"ir;s to Mi- :":> HSU. feftGHSMJnaccu.. :::; 3 :-: r.-fr-;-g tier; 0-1 Mr. X keeps i: a secret log of his moves but chael Blanche!, Bernie DeKoven, James tells which mode of transportation -' and eomplete ' fl - he uses Delson, Sid Sackson, Dav J Myfif30n - Execu,lue v,ce Wayne Schmittber- - on each turn (Sttwt —taxi, bus, or underground. ger/and Phil Wiswell.DQ fUEXT DRJinil

his original personality s creativity. „ the far-tuture, high-tech civilizati' Cadigan depicts, Gardm ing Child' takes place in ' more familiar to us. "Morning Child" PHErUDfWEnJM

Sacramento River i

Souisun Bay. In the changing light the

:t interplay of ,^. The jet-black shadow bridge became a key design ele-

p holography, F intrigued by the juxtam angle. Quickly grabbing his camera, al shots of this

ie 64 film, using 1F3.QO a .

Ifseems like every lime you open. ihe act.. Can you imagine a Holiday Inn magazine or peek inside a newspaper, grown in a jar? ft would be- the life of you run into astory heralding the latest the party at the annual stockholders' breakthrough m biotecunoiocy Geuocc Teeing. And ii the company ever wanted engineering— cloning and recombinant to change the color of its buildings, ail DNA—wiii revolt: lionize our iives. we it would have to. dp is add a few. drops are told time and sime again. of food coloring. * But how? Sure, anyoodv can -me a And there are so many things that

mouse or frog eel! and clone ii. But then could be combined-. You could cross a 7 guitar wiih an- generator to get .an what have vol: go* - Another mouse or siectnc wouldn't to frog. And then you. have, to feed it. 1f one . electric, guitar that have be extrapolates from mac our future wend plugged in. O r you could combine a will be ever populated .vith identical irogs sedative with coffee to get a drug that and mice. Then we writ have to start wouldn't let you down, .cloning eats and owls io coniro ; me This is not to say there wouldn't be coming population exploscn. problems with engineering goods for Frogs-and mice are ; .ne. ou; wnai profit. One scenario could run like (his. with- of capital, a genetic enc i initially, the help venture to dots clone things ol value, fnings typical business would begin small, as

' we can use— like sport shifts 35mm a:mom-and-pop corporation. The children cameras,. and refrigerators. Cloning woela work on the clone farm for a white inanimate objects should no! be ail thai out would grow weary of the long hours run olf to hard. If one lonely cell contains enough and nard work end woutl .genetic information to reproduce the ihe cry. Eventual iy. iliega; auens would

whole creature, why couldn't- an individua 1 be sneaked' in to harvest the camera anc atom be used to re-create an exact sport-shirt crops. In time, ihe large copy' of an entire thing? corporations would see there are mmerse Atoms are analogous ro DNA. '..V'-'My do amounts of money to be made and IAJDRD think are ca.ee: 'he building would get into ins? business, "hey would you they 7 ' oi if cell has stifle competition and ca; ise any ol Aragon blocks catue ! So a mouse By Clyde James for oank'upicy. all Hie necessary m'ormaiion to n^ake the smaller firms io tile ihe smalt mouse. |us'. thmk wha; one flake of us; A'isr seeing the p.-cbiems « There are moral a from your car must contain. 3y this American clone: is havng the govern men? and ethical questions that theory, the piece of plastic thai civooed would- develop some- sort of cione-farm-

Steering wheei ! as! summer suppo'i pro-g/am \o relieve, the plight will have to off my contains ait ihe instructions necessary to oi these floundering entrepreneurs. When settled about cloning *97" become seriously be build a new ; Chevy C-10 truck. prices of seme goods consumer goods: Cioncig could alec ne'o a : :ev ate so™'e depressed, producers might oe g'ven ; " ..i : sorts oi incentives subsidies to ,. i! iditi: i " ! uu seme o Do we have the right e c: economy. Think of the money the buy or store their bumper crops of bath quota's would to play God Defense Department could save if it towels or watches. Import

to-, protect American indus- with our underwear? ?' could clone MX missiles or B-1 bombers. be introduced And- you doai have to- go to extraordi- try from the cheaper Japanese goods. there nary lengths to store atoms. No agar As with a:- science experiments, solutions. No special heating units. No is always the potential tor catastrophe. glass pe.tri dishes. You could keep atoms Suppose a discount shoe store, for

' if .example, was accidentally combined . in a paper bag you'wanted: and they would not wiiherand die. Drop them with a McDonald s restaurant. The result on the floor, and you just dust them off. could be a business that produced Whatsmore, we wouldn't need any of tough, vinyl hamburgers with fallen arches.

' those monoclonal antibodies. Just And if someof those vintage-wine into our waterways, a : stereocfonai antibodies — preferably microbes, got AM/.FM stereocional antibodies. disaster of biblical proportions could The techniques of recombinant DNA occur. Obviously we will have to develop could, also be adapted to make handy some stringent safeguards lest we items. Already researchers have injected wreak havoc on ourselves. ethical £, coli with an interferon gene to produce And lastly, there are moral and assembly-line interferon, and they h 3ve questions that will have to be addressed done the same thing with' insulin. Why not about cloning batches of consumer

' defects, .inject E. coli with atoms from a fine goods. In the event of. growth vintage wine? That way we wouldn't have who will decide the right time to pull the right to to worry' about poor weather, bad crops, drain plug? Do we have the or grape-pic*e? sthk.es play God with our underwear? initiative Many people cannot afford to buy a If genetic engineers take the home nowadays, but that could be now, we can look forward to a future changed. By u';ecting atoms- from quality of incredible material abundance. If they 'building material into low-cost 'FH'A don't, we may have to develop a taste homes, home doners could produce for frogs and mice.DQ houses more cheaply and- easily. It would also- be acineh to include marble Clyde James Aragon is a consumer and a vanities', oak cabinets, or a Jacuzzi- fteelancs wit?.:' s;"o i:ve^ in Aibacmcr-ub ;v:ir: Even the motel industry could get in on his vei-io-bs-cionca Chevy C-10 truck.