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{NASA IN THE mfKffFNTIIPY HARVARD/LEIDEN CTIONOF onnrui VOL. 10 NO. 3 DECEMBER 1987
EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT; KATHY KEETON EDI"On- PA-RIO ADCROFT UPAPHCS D^ECrOR: FRANK DEVINO EDITOR AT LARGE- DICK TERESI MANAGING EDITOR: STEVE FOX ART DR-C'OR. OW/v.'KE FLINCHUM
CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Medical Coniidentiality Robert Gailo 10 OMNIBUS Data Bank 14 COMMUNICATIONS Coresoondence 16 FORUM On Death and Dying 18 SPACE Design Your Own Space Station Steve Oitlea 22
EXPLORATIONS African Christmas Mark Patinkin 26 ARTS World's Biggest Science- Blythe Arbinger 28 Fiction Auction
EARTH Sun Drawings Judith Bell 34
STARS Measuring the Galaxy Marcia Bartusiak 40
CONTINUUM Digital Audiotapes, etc. 43
SECRET SHARERS A'ien Abductions Pamela Weintraub 52
HIDDEN MEMORIES: ARE YOU Iricu ring Minds Want lo Know 55 AN ABDUCTEE?
FUTURE TOYS Playthings of Tomorrow Jessica Maxwell 60 PEE-WEE'S FUTURE Pee- wee Herman Goes' High Marion Long 62 PLAYHOUSE
ADESTE FIDELES Fiction: Christmas on Mars Frederik Pohl 68
BODY SNATCHER Pictorial Medical Oddities Don Lessem 82 v PSYCHOTALES Rsvealnc OL.r Personality Jerome L. Singer 92 Through the Works ot John Updike. John Cheever, Langston Hughes an;: .jaye Anne PhiN ps
FLORAL DERANGEMENT Pictorial- X- r sve:i Tlowers Nina Guccione 100
ARACHNE Fiction; Future Law Lisa Mason 106 INTERVIEW NASA Redux: James Fletcher Alcestis Oberg 120
ANTIMATTER Earii-auaKes and UFOs, etc. l~ MIND Computerized Therapy Peter Garrison 162 STAR TECH Personal Blimps, Pet Dating, and 167 Olher Tools for the Year 2000
Dean Christopher 178
Spatting riis time evenly between commercial and personal projects, Utah-oased artist Steven Hunt created this month's cover. The photographic illustration was an expn'iixem using multiple exposures to compose a single image, its meaning, he says, depends on the viewer.
4 OMNI 3 . . ;:
: Rosearonsi ! Lh ii :i . !:. s for Disease.' ina ,. , i :'' .;i..t ii ..• ''< Cc i .. , en? v ,i: i a be :l oa ft percent o- AIDS cases: are . 1.. hot repon.eo. u imri-,o, hate ill; : 1 Which iS 3D pneumonia that was caused by a strain ol
stricken 1 :,.! :.i people with rho disease. Some . hese
physicians apoare'ihy falsify cicam csrf'^- figures may think that there e- a mutation ' !'.' 1 .'' 1; : : :..., , thevicur's '" : ,]!:, 11, 1 family from pubic no cue. nncurcna mem frequent y, r -:n norma:
:i ','.. A doctor can ea-sry skirt the AIDS issue : th 'i' an ' re . by attributing an A ; DS death ic a maHg- of pneumococcal pneumonia srrepro-
!.!' !,'. . ... -: : uai ... I cocaai inhctiens. and doain :- . reiy.o conditions that often bring .- en an AIDS- coccus. Thai'* no; norma!, ana ' tne !!.: ' :!; . i DC 1 I ,i,.i doatn xasni siirAmmd to .AIDS WMr iiis physician a!N ibu'ed trie pe'ormcrs could ii. be 'Neil, ii must be the: e^'.ner the
' i .; 1 1 deatl o heai ui .1 1 1 i deai'n was recorded inaccuraiiVy a-.d brain disease rather than indicating that AIDS was ifhi cause 0! death, or e e-r's a Liberace t:an the AIDS virus. The phys:- new strain c! baclana around. So ive ail c'-arrs decision iy iiave been-- id; to cur tabs go to try to oo:eoi I hose
: out 0' compass on -or L be-mr e s reputa ne. Lion, bul the doctor had a moral ethical, wasted trine, energy, ano money
scientific fl . . and oo:iga'ion io disc'oso u.ii F in ling f' : pilal :C;
'
1 :! .'.ii 1 mi,... . : i lad ca : A DS res 11. n 1 based r. the moid r'ce
kiilec' Libsrace— nothing e se. A..! DS spread throughout each corr n-:.. A doctor should out everything tie The wrong uumueis are go ng to mm:. ' knows to be important and relevant on :.i :. ' .!
the deatn certrleato. Otherwise we live in AIDS cases go unrepotteo natior-w : oe a closed society. Of course, revealing communities UIORD AIDS w'.i have an impact on everyone tne involved, but -his virus is not somoihing ine By Robert Gailo that shcjlcl lightly. . 1 :: : 0- i be taken We s-or'l : witi II body n .\: ./ i' "" I. : 1' 'i going Ileal : I Are problem ry ,. u i' :. M J' I'. |. In. ,': :-:.. 6A doctor can '. thing is kept 1 .' : I: fi secret. ,r: i: h 11 alii u
easily skirt the I am aware Inat some gay r-gn's bodes of AtDS victims to protect : AIDS issue by
on :a ioi , f: ne cause of a d\ themselves from the v^rus. And it isn attributing an AIDS
; S'lOLik'j be ief: 01 the clo; in erinca : iulionsi
: death to a malignancy or because of I tie way our socio! y in geoer.-;.:' f AIDS isn't isteo r. ;n jh. e Gy ^tn cert! irate
views homosexuals. I have cared A srna-l out on someone's f:ar.;j inTlctee pneumonia, two of- ;
• ' .' ;, i :j. considei bl. .n. in' i i while in contest w:tb the AIDS wctii 1 the common conditions that . . . 'oeltngs ...(. t - I s-t might expose hire to the disease. boot understand drat many can often bring '. bomesexua's Deatn ccrth'cates are also usee tc live as outcasts, their '>: oenouncec by mi lafing I> liio . :onanAIDS-reiated death. i fee: the justrioaion li r gay community has - 1 1 ii l inclusions i n demand ng 1 1 l r rents to Teedom drawn horn 'ms materia! w=:i no' .:» orivar sometimio »,.. tety !' ,; , y y stong set cue 'Ui im . 1 iustiflcalton. Yet can ', see leaving Ine iong as a pereeniage o ; AIDS oeafr cause ct deatn off a death cemficate lor are not reported any 'easco. As bare as it -nay oe tor There was a time when canoe- ,-. as some groans to aocepi. the alternative :s tnonghi el as something 0- whist m extremely dangerous. ne ashamed People believed nv.ao eaci People don'; always ma : u'e the ramil:- luck to nave someone a'ound with ; ! at? 1 righi ns tome o? iv u up canoe' Looking back, if Inca .-ad seer didn t wan! to neai -ha; AIDS was a'v,-,is more ecucal on. people would "uv.--. at alt. Before we iden:if:eo the virus, the better uncorstood Ihe'iature of cancer. rl-seese was attributed to over antigen More people wouio nave consu :eo '! f ' '.I '.V'. .11 . ..''.|,| ..: . . lb: i.muiie 1 1 . ,|:.| .'is sys- ey Individuals wi h the 11 1. w ; ; lvo the q! reduced number sexual partners b(j-f:r": I mated they n contact with 1. -\ ; were AIDS . the 1 danger less dangerous io other ; r mere would simply go away. I ms was an were mere openness In regard ;o A;DS this aosurc Idea ike inlaying Russian we-.it: ; aiso change ooopios aw'uoes. 1 roulette— since contact wllu -urn one u .,'! u 1.', '.11. .1/ ., li- inieetfiri person could sproao the disease able with the Icpic. irsprovng research no matter how < 'any other sexual ano Ireatmenr of :ho disease I'm not parlners 1. 1.1 i-i were involved n'i 1 1 in." -11. n. ,1 .uw 'I ma-:es me very uncemfer'so e to But people unnersi.ano the truth boiler think tnai 'them is a percentage ol pbysi- than lies. If is nard in be eve 'hat a -unda- . . 1 can: wb t |h, truth I nis monia- truth ntKis sooiety.OQ:,.' , 1 il coulin , he medii nolo or's understanding of AIDS w'.l be ;nn oi'ed, and I ne oc-nng at I — :ONTRIBUTOR.c an/irun ear Omni: I'm an alien abductee. m ricnss and rubber balls (which Dear Anonymous: What sort of loony I was abducted (ram (he school prompted me to write the article on future are you? Obviously you were Irighlened cafeleria I little where work. I couldn't toys). The people- prodded me into during a bnce oy a crazec Santa. Our il recall what, anything, had happened, the center of the room. I somehow editor Pamela Weintraub put a lot of though it was strange :o wake up in suspected they wanted me to test the raseamh inlc her article on abductees the kilchen storeroom at five a.m.—unusual, toys and show them how to play. Suddenly ("Secret Sharers.' page 52). spending time I'd that I : as had only a few nips day. understood. My demons: 'a:ion: : we'e with Budd Hopkins (above loft with an I forgot the incident until December tie ping the ai ens in'iltratc ".he earth wilh abductee) and members of the psychiatric approached. I became increasingly those mock kids— dastardly ploy! My community. Weintraub describes what depressed, wiih bouts of hostility and a performance pleased them. has been ca'icd the s;rarge$! mass bit drinking. 1 I into more Then sought hypnosis Next was ed a greenhouse, psychological event of our time. I suggesl fill to in the blanks, wn ch ;s how I met a where the only il'um, nation was tram strobe you read it. Our article "Future Toys" senior editor from Omni (who, by the way, lights. Eerie plants! As my pictorial (page 60) by Jessica Maxwell reflects the stole my story). Through hypnosis I shows, the flowers do not have the color insights of major toy-company execu- learned I'd been k cnappec aliensl by and substance o' Darin b'ossoms, so I tives, hardly the little folks you mention Irom short Three humanoids took me to their don' I think they're going to tool anyone- your alcoholic journey. spacecraft, which was propelled by The final room I saw was frightening As for your claims on this month's fiction, eight motorized deer. The entire race was dismembered arms, unattached feet, "Arachne" (page 108) is Lisa Mason's uniformly short and dressed in identical a single nose. Either they were showing first oubhsned stcry, not yours. Her tat drab clothing, Their leader communi- me the demise of past visitors, or they concepts on future laws and ethics (look it cated only with a fixed grin and repetitive were studying the microstructures of life, up, dear) are provocative. "Adesle Fideles" chuckle: "Ho, ho. ho." probably crossing their genes to produce (page 68), by Hugo award-winner Unlike the I mention in horrors in abductees my those the nursery. Next thing I Frederik Pohl, is the story of a NASA I wasrr. nee:' medically story, exam but, knew. I was lying in the storeroom. operation on Mars and its mysterious rather, sociologically. I was taken to the After my Iheraoy I realized the impor- lindings. Albert Richards has been "nursery," where rows of rigid "babies" lay tance of future interstellar laws to stop this X-raying flowers for 25 years. His pictorial, in frilly cribs, somehow odhed outside madness (see my story 'Arachne"). For -loral Derangement (page 100), is a the womb. The doll-like creatures chanted deviants I propose a pe.nal death colony work of art, not of elves: Our second human words in alien tones—"Mama," on Mars. We cou C exoose offenders pictorial. "Body Srvrohe.'' (page 82), is " "My name is. . etc. The dwarls thrust one to a deadly disease and shoot them off to the macabre curiosity of Rosamond of these silicon infants into my arms— the red planet to live out the rest of their Puree//, a photographer with a unique suspect they wanted to observe the shori. .miserable lives iRoad my piece perspective. "Psycho'a-cs" (page 92), a mother-child bond. It was all so horrible. "Ades:e Fidelos.") co.-ripilalon o- short stones, is accom- . In frenzied despair, I into escaped an Feel free to publish my letter; it may panied by a revealing personality quiz. I adjoining chamber. help or inspire others, but due to the don't recommend you read it, as there Toys! An entire room was stacked wilh nature of this topic, sign me Anonymous. are lar stronger :es"s 'or oeope like you. video and board games, cars within -^Sincerely, Mrs. ivaCupitee, Hillside. Wl Please don't bother us again.- -EdrlorDQ 14 OMNI LETTERS carmrmuruicMTOfus We, the People - parents who coulc; no , talk io "heir children. The September 1987 issue paints a picture You cannof abolish evil by censorship of a high-tech society turning in on ilself. but only by understanding, trust, and love. It's ironic that at the same time the Soviets Michael Mendoza, twelve years old are opening up and reaching out. Maywood. NJ Alan M. Dershowitz [First Word] outlines threats to the Constitution by politicians Getting Even who wish to use the fear of AIDS to To the author of "Break Out Your circumvent rights guaranteed by that Handkerchiefs" [Continuum, September document. He also states that the 1987]: Incur our expenses, and be as government is undermining the Fourth defeated to quality patient care as most Amendment Ihrouoh nceased use of of us are; then write your article. computerized -ilos arc' wiretapping. Sherry Baker says there may be an Unfortunately, he does not mention the "epidemic of h gh biooc p-essure" in the erosion of our rights by corporations that medical community il doctors' incomes test employees' urine and blood. fall below £110,000. Well, this story raised A fifteen-year-old writes that she is my blood pressure—and probably many "terrified of the tuture" and would "rather other physicians reacted in the same way. have a full-scale nuclear war" than have William Wyttenbach, M.D. people tell her what to think, or censor Fori Walton Beach, FL what she reads ["Back Talk." Forum]. Are we going lo return to the demented Hand-to-Hand Combat days ol Senator McCarthy? I had tun with the "Worlds Hardest Which- Tom Gill is-Which Quiz" [Games, September General Secretary 1987]. But the answer for question 5 was American Communist Party wrong. The. head line runs across the Baltimore middle of the palm, between the life line and the heart line. he's Dershowitz I says concerned about What do see in your future? I predict a threats to the Constitution, especially the flurry of angry letters from palmistry legal problems associated with the AIDS buffs everywhere. That's what you get for virus. I assume he lears that certain nol ;isien:ng io psychics. rights may be subjugated in order to stop Margaret Gunning the deadly disease. A bastardized Hinton. Alberta. Canada version of "better dead than red." maybe? I know our Constitution will survive RS., Your Cat Is Dead intact through 1991 will not I've because we purchased my last copy of Omni. I tolerate any loss of freedom. We, "the can do without sick humor about some citizens," are very aware of what we have. supposed archaeological find called the Lex McKeithen Middle Testament and the thirteenth Live Oak, FL apostle named Bing [Last Word, Septem- ber 1987J. If you can, have a good day. Head of the Class Vic Humeniuk f've just read "Back Talk." Good grief! Tucson. AZ These censors are ridiculous, and I, for one, should taiow. When I was younger I A word about the Micci'O Testament is in read lots of science I books. was order: wonderfully hilarious. I chuckled all completely innocent then, but that's not the way through il. In those 17 command- so today. My change was not caused ments, one bears specific mention: Thou by evil books.such as The Three Little Pigs shalt not discontinue a good thing on or by reading science but by hate and pah of oss of readership. discord. In the Sixties, before I was born, Max C. Marx the seeds of discord were sown by TokyoDQ " . I LIFE AND DEATH FDRunn the near future will death be redefined Over the last ten years I've spent a good :o define the qua'ily of Iheir lives and Inby the medical community to include deal of time with those occple witnessing how they wantec to dispose ol thc-i' own people who are in a coma or in what is emotional and human expressions that bodies, that legal charge would ensure for called a persistent vegetative state 7 If they supposedly cannot show. each individual his or her true last rights. our concept of death is legally changed, We still don't know very much about Richard B. Kruk will there be a proliferation of organ how the brain functions, and it is foolish for Organ Procurement Coordinator : harvesting and subsequently the creation medica' pro essionals or journalists to University of Rochester Medical Center of a death industry? In the September state as fact what they are only guessing. Rochester, NY 1987 issue. Omni stall writer Kathleen Steiu Perhaps it's the experts and not the so- addressed this issue in her article "Last called veoetatives who need awakening. The idea of cognitive death is appalling. Rights," and many readers responded. J. E. Tretlin To consider as d«;ac.i I hose who have "lost Minneapolis their nx'lloct. memory, speech, and When my mother became ill, she signed awareness of self or -.he er.v ronment" is a donor card. Her corneas were the only Hats off to Stein. I had a myriad of obscene. That definition directly aifecls organs worih harvesting because of responses to her article, and she has every profoundly and severely disabled her illness, but my father disapproved. motivated me to th nk more- cr'tically about child and adult Conversely then, do This is ironic, as I was recently told I redefining death. we define We as some arbitrarily set would require a corneal transplant. Theresa Allen acceptable amount of intellect, memory, Many people, including my father, Minneapolis speech, anc awa-eness? Do we then believe organ donation is wrong, lhat it's consider those individuals with only taboo. We must try to understand their The life of the individual has become moderate cognitive and sensory impair- resistance but not lose hope that organ worthless. We have been gradually trans- ments as hall dead 9 Where does its-top? donation will become the rule rather formed into sacrificial victims— "up for Jacquelyne Leigh than the exception. grabs" by terrensis. rel g o.is fanatics, drug Psychologist, Whittier Areas Cooperative Renee Hoover addicts, and just plain murderous thugs. Special Education Program Tulsa And now, supposedly, we are no Whittier, CA longer a human race made up of unique, I'm an anesthesiolog s:. and the introduc- sovereign men and women but only a I was impressed with Stein's impartial both tion to "Last Rights" cut directly into my collective unconscious" housed in a stance. I found '"yseli for and against mental operating room. Most people conglomeration of interchangeable parts the preservation of life tnrcugh machines. lorce issues like death into the far corners lhat are subject :o app-opr a:ion and Proponents lor each side were very : still of consciousness where they become red:s*ribut on among spargers In a not- articulate. I cannot decide the material of nightmares and horror too-distant day w'i»!i neither our consent Jenni Finney movies; or they hide, as if they were invin- nor the consent ol our relatives will be El Paso, TX cible, behind new technology. Death is required, we will go through life haunted being redefined, and this article is neces- by the knowledge that should catastrophe I'm what you would describe as a "lost sary reading for the living. befall us, we will end up packed in an s.oul." Three years ago I was in an Robert R. Rutledge, M.D. igloo Playmate. automobile accident causeo by a drunk Miami J. Kaliasin driver; my brain stem was in.ured. I was Gaithersburg, MD a perfect candidate for an organ farm. I Stein reports that the world could find was unconsc ous fo r a period of lime itself in a situation in which death itself The decision lo tie kep : alive for an and spent months in two different rehabil- would become an industry, especially if inccfin'tc period of time is an individual itation hospitals similar to the Greenery. we redefine the concept of death. It one and shouldn't be left entirely up I lived with both a tracheotomy and a seems to me that this is the case already. to family members or physicians. I now gastrointestinal tube. A radiologist told me realize important Death is an industry; It's called abortion. t's lor an individual point-blank that I would never eat again. Reverend Daniel Hovanec to make a living will. Fortunately, tne medical staff was more Grace Community Church Cathy Kahoe concerned with life than with organ Omaha Warrensburg, MO retrieval. Although my life has its drawbacks— arc whose eoesn't?— It's unfortunate that Stein has helped have never wished I were dead. perpetuate tne supposii on That persons Jean Ann McLaughlin ! labeled as vegetative lack any awareness. law wore changed 1c ro oci peoples right North Harwich. MAOO IB OMNI THE NEXT SMALL STEP By Steve Ditlea in charge of assembling and package bears the following Mou're caution: moving heavy cargo around in space; the operating an American space CHIEF FLIGHT SURGEON'S WAHNING— USED AT complicated business of doing research slation. Not an easy task under any THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY. THIS and development off Earth; and Ihe circumstances, but your assignment SOFTWARE MAY BE TOO INTENSE AND COULD management problems that can arise (should you choose to accept it) is to keep DAMAGE: fOUH MENTAL HEALTH. with flight, assembly, and operating crews. the whoie project within a $3 billion Among Space M~A*X's biggest fans is For Keller Space M'A'X has been as budgel and to make it profitable in a mere aerospace engineer Andre Sylvester, much of a risk as building a commercial three this, months. Botch and the project who works on structural and orbital space station is. "This represents a good will terminated. be simulations for NASAs space station part of my life savings [about $40,000]," Such is life with T. L. Keller's new project at the Johnson in Space Center he acknowledges. "But at forty-four, I had computer simulation package called Houston. "Space M'A'X," he says, "is a to take a shot at what I wanted to do or Space M'A'X (for Materials processing, good casting of the pressures it on someone regret for the rest of my life. I thought it Astrophysics, and experimental modules). constructing a commercial space station. was time for software !ha; was constructive, Like simulations used for training profes- Unless you've got deep pockets, you not destructive. I also want to encourage sionals, Keller's program is both compli- must get production going fast to cover young people to think aboul space cated and educational. It also otters opefaling expenses." exploration." space buffs their first realistic computer Sylvester, a veteran user of personal Now based in England, Keller has challenge. Even before it was officially computer programs, also praises the established his own publishing company. released for IBM PCs and compalibles 137-page manual: "It's the best Final Frontier Soitware (2FS), with offices early this year. : Space M'A'X was an Jo i:i,rn en ted sol I wary I've :=een in years," in London and Tarzana. California, to underground hit within the international he says. What makes the Space M'A'X bring his program to market. "People tried space industry and NASA. manual so good is its detailed introduction to discourage me from competing with to "I wanted show that private enterprise to the business of constructing a space the big publishers," he relates. "Being self- can work in space and that space station. The user learns — a about the ins and financed, I can't compete in terms of station can pay for itself with peaceful outs of leasing the shuttles (the space advertising, so I have to depend on word projects," explains Keller, a former systems three existing ones and a fictitious one of mouth to promote my program." Even analyst for unmanned space projects at called Endeavour); the mechanics of so, he wouldn't have it any other way. the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "I would rather run my own show. It's one Though the simulation includes on- reason I wouldn't want to be project screen assembly of the space station. manager for the space station. I couldn't Space M'A'X is not an action-oriented stand the politics." game. The program's financial displays Though committed to the primacy of include spreadsheetlike cost profiles, private enterprise, Keller also sees a role project- revenue profiles, and salary and for public funding in space exploration. bonus-plan reports. "This is to meant "Governments must still provide seed be a serious simulation," explains Keller. money; commercial companies will go into "We're not beaming people up or flying space only when there's a possibility of from one galaxy to another." making money." The current lull in launch realism Keller To assure based the activity should be used to evaluate what design of the space slation on an actual projects private investment can do better. NASA-McDonnell Douglas design. He he maintains. also consulted NASA designers, who As an encore, Keller is putting the provided graphics and other detailed finishing touches on Lunar M'A'X, a information. result is The a program' that computer simulation of lunar capitalism in requires at least eight hours of playing aclion. "Studies show that oxygen for a time (sessions can be saved, then space colony will be cheaper to mine resumed) to complete. Depending on on the surface of the moon than to lift from which of five levels of difficulty you choose, Earth," he explains. "Together with the you may encounter such random disas- minerals on the lunar surface, there will be ters fire, as toxic explosions, sickness, more lhan enough raw materials to strikes. and worker 'At the highest level of generate profits. It's not fantasy," insists play." admits its creator, "it has caused Keller. "In business you can no longer say a lot of distress." LiiJiiyi civ/r: me The Space M'A'X youf sa::^ the sky's the limit. "OQ 22 OMNI AFRICAN NOEL EXPLDRMTORJS By Mark Patinkin Timbuktu. Mali —We are all of us He gives me his hand and tells me his explain thai in America this is the best homeless this night. They are name. "Hamzata," he says. loved of nights. They say they know about lost their land; nomads who have Only one thing about him speaks of Christmas. Il is not theirs, but they know I traveler, tar I am a from everything am wealth— his lurban. It is bright blue and it.- The chief motions to some of the others. part of. Together, we are spending Christ- of fine silk. It must be the only thing of He has them set up a special bed for mas Eve in the desert. value in this camp. He has as much pride me, in his tent. I tell him it's not necessary are the it We oddest of couplings. They in as I have in the three things that It's bad enough I've arrived unannounced I, wear Moslem robes; a flannel shirt. I have gotlen me through this trip— my L.L. at five pm The ground would be fine. grew up in Chicago and now live in shirt, knife, New Bean my Swiss Army and But he insists. I am his guest. England; they've known only the Sahara. I Ray-Ban sunglasses. Little items, perhaps, it lit. Soon begins to get cold. A fire is I have with me enough cash to cross the but treasured things thai have been tell the chief I'm here to understand how ocean in a morning. If they to visit with for want the me years—things necessary in his people came to be hungry It is simple, nearest village, ien miles away, they this desert, and right now, my only comfort. he says. They lived off cattle. The drought must walk. They have nolhing. And tonight The chief is well educated, fluent in came. The grass disappeared. The cattle I. too, have nothing. I am here because French, but still we share less than half a died. "There must be more of a story I want to know their world, they language. what My French is only marginal. than that," I say. Yes, he says, there is. had and what they lost. For this one night This night there would be many gaps to There is a story of loss here that speaks we share our lives. bridge. I watch Ihem unfold the visitor's to all peoples who have lost something The best way to get here is by Land mat and light a fire for tea, rituals now dear to them. But he does not want to take Rover. My is doctor. familiar guide a Western He to me. But unfamiliar, too. I am my time with it. gives introductions, then leaves for his Ihinking only of home. I wonder if it is More tea is poured. More men come own Christmas. snowing there. Tree lights must be every- around. We gather close lo the fire. Why The name of this tribe is Touareg. They where now. I Here see only sand. Nearby, the desert? I ask. Americans would live in tents on the banks of the Niger. a tent of newcomers are settling to sleep consider it a banishment. That makes him in the They came from deep desert only a without food. It is hard to feel the season in smile. It is the opposite, he says. Desert, month ago, refugees driven by hunger. famine country for them, is freedom itself. All men. he I taken to the tent of the chief. I it is am explain lhat Christmas Eve. I says, have an aching tor land. With the nomad, it is only keener. It is why they choose not a piece of land but a world of it. This way they can even own night. He begins lo tell me of the good times, the fat times. They were wealthy then. They'd have been wealthy even in America. Hamzata's family—just he and his -brothers— owned 1.000 cows. Had he been born in Texas, he'd have been a rancher. As his ancestors had for centuries, he, loo, followed the rhythm of the desert. From October to May they would find a stand of grass, and this would be the time of settlement. And it was a good time. But they could not shake the love of ' the need for road. Even the cattle knew the rhythm of this movement and were themselves restless by June. Then they would follow the time of wandering: a week here, a month there, the stars guiding them, the camps numbering 100 souls, though they did not call them camps. They were families. The chief did most of the talking. The others gave him the respect of their silence. I had to With tidings offi struggle with the French, but slowly the 26 OMNI CONTINUED ON PAGE 106 MONSTER TRASH ART By Blythe Arbinger have seen trash tun" into treasure in my and arm. There is the furious fish head The outcome of Ettinger's timely call is time," commented Forrest J Ackerman, and Other bocy parts bo cnging to the what Guernsey's is now billing as "The I seventy, legendary science-fiction Creature from the Black Lagoon, the cape Auction of the Century." To be held at D archiv s'.. wr tor. and editor. "I have worn by Bela Lugosi in Dracula. There New York City's uck Building in Manhattan collected everything and anything that are -10 000 oeoks abou: devils, ghosts, on the twelfth and thirteenth of this month, qualifies as science fiction or fantasy werewolves, zombies, and E.T.'s; 250 it will be—according to Ettinger— the or horror or monsters, scraps that nobody editions of Frankenstein; and about the firs: largest, and '""ost important auction on Earth ever bothered to pick up. The same number of Draajte versions. An cl science-fiction, fantasy, and horror only things that stop me are time, money, autograph in a randomly opened copy of artifacts n history. Besides several and room. Otherwise I'd have more than Stephen King's Salem's Lot reads, remem- ''io.isand pieces "rom the ' Acker mansion," just three hundred thousand pieces." ber FORRY THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT! Guernsey's will put on the block original A sign on the gatepost cl Ackerman's There is the painted body cast of barrel- antasy art by such painters as Frank 18-room home below the Griffiths chested Rod Steiger from The illustrated Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Kelly Freas, and Observatory near Los Angeles reads: Man, and more, much much more. others. The auction will also include many WELCOME TO HOLLYWEIRD KARLOFFORNIA. Well, just as the zany "minister of the Original manuscripts and film scripts nside is what may be a priceless collection "sinister" founc hi"~sel: bong driven out of such as The Wizard ol Oz. of ephemera: "all the science-fiction house and home by his incredible The great, throbbing heart of the auction, ' magazines that have ever been," 125,000 expanding monster collection, along though, will be Forry Ackerman's stuff. movie s'ills. posters, theater and movie came the auctioneer. Arlan Etlinger, After the momentous hour-and-a-haff props, spec 'a- effect? -"asks, devices, and president of Guernsey's, a New York City phone call, Ettinger flew out to Hollywood costumes. Mingled in the chaos that fills auction house that specializes in circus to see what the collection eoked like. cupboards, shelves, hallways, and closets memorabilia anci other arlracts from "He caught on fire," Ackerman recalled a lile are the masks of Peter Lorre, Boris the attics of the irnag na'.ion. had had his few months later while visiting friends in Karloff, and Lon Chaney, Jr.; a replica of eye on the Ackerman colleciion. As Cassis France, gel wiidly enthusiastic, he fema e obotnx trom Fritz Lang's Ettinger had been receiving increasing came back with a couole o: ass s'anis. Metropolis; the metal skeletal infrastructure qii' i in ar out ohaniasmagoria, worked irom six a.m until midnight for from the original King Kong's mighty fist he decided to phone the fabled collector. a week, and wrapped up what turned out to be one hundred and five boxes to ship back to New York," For six years Ackerman had been negotiaiing with the oily of Los Angeles to house his collection in a museum, but nothing had come of the plans. Monterey, too, was interested, bu' good intentions came to naught Disney expressed inleresl in some special pieces for a theme park on Hollywood in the glamour days. Acker- man is still considering that, although he really wants the collection to stay intact. Why, then, did he agree lo sell off several thousand pieces at auction'' "I have a Iriplex garage " ne exp-'a ned "the Garage Mahal, in which you couldn't park a pogo stick because it's so lull of duplicate material. I decided to empty out a lot of that for the auction. Then I re.atzec you don': nave :o be greedy When I live with six autographed pictures of Boris Karloff, I can live wilh one less. Or if I have two statuettes of Bela Lugosi as Dracula, I can let one go. So then I began cannibalizing a bit of the actual colleciion. fiction memorabilia auction in history. And I went through it with d sney's eye " and saw thai, we! . some -kings are on the Editor, I am fourteen years of age. and erotic, exotic, sexy side. And I figured have been writing as far back as I can they wouldn't want this bare breast to be remember, and submitting manuscripts seen in Disney World. So I put thai in for the past couple of years. I subscribe to the auction. And then \ got in the mood your magazine, and my favorite feature and started relinquishing things I never is Ihe Obituary department, although '0 dreamed I would when we started. But I Henry's Cornel,' for which this story is got more and more enthusiastic when I intended, runs a close second. saw 'photographs of how they displayed "Thanks very much for reading my things. These auctioneers don't want story. I hope you see your way clear to to putz around with anything they don't put it in 'O Henry's Comet.' think will bring in a million dollars. And then Has the world changed for fans since there is the advance publicity and the the Twenties, when Ackerman saw fact they'll have me back on radio and TV!" Writing for the auction catalog, Spiel- Metropolis for the first ol 77 times? "Oh. Ackerman doesn't need Thorstein berg, in turn, ambles down memory lane. definitely! In the beginning we were Veblen to tell him why all these items are Ackerman is a hero in his own lime and practically spat upon. We were those crazy growing in value. He's got the answer: "a keeper of the flame," Spielberg wr tes, BucK Rogers kids who thought man was mothers. reminiscing The first issue of Ackerman's own about how Ackerman used going to the moon and all that nonsense. I magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland to get him in trouble at home. Famous was the resident crazy throughout high sold for 35 cents in February 1958. Mc-'isiers oi-.FiimiancI was the source. school in Hollywood, and you know, Recently.- he says, a copy of that very Inspired by one issue of the magazine, I've lived to be invited back to high-school issue sold for a $1 ,000 certified check. fttc Slovio grabbed his felhers home stages and to colleges." Why? Because mothers said, "What movie camera and three younger sisters, Ackerman has also been invited to act r ?" are you reading that trash fo to the likes wrapped the girls in 17 rolls of wet toilet in 25 movies. "You see what happens," of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas. paper, and transformed them into he says. 'All ;hese kids like "ooy Hooper John Landis, and countless others and mummies. Then he filmed furiously until Lucas, Landis, Spielberg, and [John] threw the mags in the wasiebaskel. 'he toilet paoier-mache d'ied and flaked all Carpenter who read my magazine—they over the living room shag rug. "I credit grow up, they make movies, and they Far sate (clockwise nom upper rignty Golden Forry with much-needed inspiration," think, 'Hey, let's put Uncle Forry in our head mask from the movie Deiian Seed, he says, "and also blame- nim tor all the picture.' " Ackerman is currently featured the of/spring ol Julie Oi'isiie, raped by her punishment I received in ruining half in Landis's new movie, Amazon Women sentient house moot. iat neac mask from the the house I grew up in." on the Moon, playing the president of the movie of H.'G. Wells's Food of the Gods; . will original mask of a Vietnam /ci's wro viiiois trans- Up for auction be an letter United Slates. formed into a monster in House; "lat.pcopio" 'rom Stephen King to Ao.erman as "Hey. that's qu'te an accomplishment head mask from the movie Space Hunler. c-dilur ol Farncijs Monsters. II reads; 'Dear for a crazy kid, don'tcha think?"OQ 30 OMNI — SUN DANCING EARTH By Judith Bell a small room in Hovenweep Castle, a the large southern windows in her materials including Kapton, a g! mmering InNative American ruin in Utah, a narrow downtown Washington, DC. studio, it hits gold polyimide film used to line space- window, 3.5 by 4.5 inches and 13 inches reflective film she has bent and placed craft and space suits, and metallized deep, looks west. As the sun begins to in the path of the sun. The direct sunlight polyester, an industrial plastic film that set, light comes through the window and, touches the materials, which reflect casts a silvery white light. taking its spherical shape from it, travels colorful forms of light onto the walls and With these high-tech materials, In along the wall as a golden ball. When the ceiling surfaces: arcs of silver, helixes August 1982 Saad-Cook began to mark light reaches the doorway, it splits into of pink and green, flowerlike bursts ol red. the sun's passage on her studio floor with two lines— one horizontal, one vertical "I create drawings of light with sunlight." the date and time that it hit a particular hovers momentarily, and dissolves. she says. "These murals of light emerge place. Eventually she learned that as long Summer solstice has arrived. and disappear only to be replaced by as the reflective materials were left undis- The Anasazi, ancestors of the modern- other equally ephemeral forms." turbed, each shimmering image would day Pueblos, built this dwelling in about One day in 1981 Saad-Cook was appear exactly as before at the same ad. 1200 They designed two "sighting passing through a department store. She moment in the sun's yearly cycle. A holes" in the walls, one aligned to summer was stopped short by a crumpled piece drawing, for example, seen at noon on solstice sunset on June 22, the other to of iridescent plastic in a cosmetic display: May 1, 1983, would reappear al noon on winter solstice on December 22. Just a highly sophisticated lighl-interference May 1, 1984, as the sundial indicated the hour of the film made of 230 layers of ultrathin plastic Her initial visit to Hovenweep Castle day by measuring the angle of the sun, that breaks white light into the colors of was during the summer solstice. Here in these sun-watching stations marked the spectrum. She obtained a bolt of the chambers of towers and castles solstices and equinoxes, celestial events the material from a display company, went two and three stories high, set down on that signaled the time for planting, back to her studio, and unrolled it in the the edges of canyons and sheer drops of harvesting, and sacred rituals. sun. "The whole room burst into color," she rock, she worked when the sun, as TheAnasazi's cyclical observation of recalls. "I spent a year chasing the Native Americans say, "sits down." With the sun is a key element in sun drawing, an sunlight around my studio, experimenting the noon sun above her, Saad-Cook art form originated by sculptor Janet with ways to use the film and the light." set up a cardboard panel and arranged Saad-Cook. When the sun shines through Soon she was working with other reflective her materials on it to reflect forms made of light onto the ruin. When the artist got the drawing of light she wanted, she adhered the materials to the panel and photographed the sun drawing. She used the small window in Hoven- weep Castle, the sighting hole for summer solstice, as the receiving surface for a sun drawing made of silver, salmon, green, and pink petroglyphs of light. In a chamber in Twin Towers, a structure near Hovenweep Castle, she manipulated her reflective materials to create a phoenixlike image of gold, ocher, green, pink, and silver light that hovered tremu- lously over the wall. Her sun drawing in an adjacent chamber enveloped the circular room with golden knots of light edged with silver and green. Since Saad-Cook's first sun drawing, her work has received exposure in the Middle East and India. In 1984 the Smithsonian Institution commissioned a sun drawing that recently finished a three-year national tour. Corporations and private collectors also commission sun drawings to place in install a sun drawing. si the Very Large Array in New Mexico. sunny lobbies and living rooms. CONI-NJECONPAGE165 a — LONG DAY'S JOURNEY By Marcia Bartusiak year is 2010. A dumbbell- project c.-iose "he The ho husoano-and-wile done, even into the next galaxy, 2 million shaped, unmanned space probe team of Aden and Marjorie Meinel. both light-years away. called TAU slowly spirals space scientists at JPL. Astrometry will be only part of its mission. outward from a low Earth orbit. The only The Meinels decided that one of TAU's "Science will be done from the moment evidence ol TAU's gentle forward motion is missions would be astrometry, the ungla- TAU is launched." says Aden Meinel. the faint blue glow ot its ion engines, morous art and science of plotting the Already the proposed mission calls for where energized gas is being expelled al distances of celestial objects. more lhan a dozen experiments, including 60 miles per second. Its power source, Currently, astronomers can measure a search for gravity waves and the first a million-watt nuclear reactor, sits at precise distances only to stars close sampling of gases and magnetic fields in one end of the 400-foot-long spacecraft. to the sun. To do this they use a Iriangula- undisturbed interstellar space. After ten years, now well beyond the tion method: They plot the position of a Near the end of its life span TAU would edge of our solar system, TAU will have star from one point in Earth's orbit and, six approach the inner edge of a distant used up the last of its 40-ton supply months later, from another point. From realm of space called the Oort Cloud of propellant. Its propulsion system will be this, astronomers can determine how a conceived by Dutch astronomer Jan jettisoned, and its scientific payload— star's position shifts against the celestial Oorl—where innumerable chunks of rock 60-inch telescope and measuring instru- background. This shift, or parallax, can and ice, remnants from the birth of our ments will split into for — two free-flying be spotted objects as far away as 500 solar system, are supposedly clustered. It sections. The twin cralt will continue to light-years. For stars and nebulae farther is believed that every now and then a hurtle outward, having reached a out,' they have to use a complex chain gravitational nudge from a passing star maximum speed of nearly 250.000 miles of theoretical assumptions. knocks loose odd pieces and sends per hour. As they race through the TAU would extend astronomy's yardstick them tumbling toward the sun. As they vacuum of space, the twin units will be beyond the 500-light-year limit. Out in pass by, we see these as blazing comets. beaming pictures of stars and data on space TAU's telescope, the centerpiece TAU's telescope would be able to study everything from gravity waves to magnetic of its payload, could take aim at a star the silhouettes of Oort fragments in place fields. Because sending the data—some while a similar instrument orbiting the earth as they moved in front of bright star 20,000 bits per second—back to Earth did the same. From these two vantage fields. These shadows would let astrono- by radio consumes too much power. TAU points, parallax measurements could be . mers see the size, mass, and amount will transmit them over a laser beam. ot material in that cosmic refrigerator. TAU's mission— to measure our Could a spacecraft builf using existing galaxy—will take 50 years. By the half- technology possibly operate for 50 century mark its odometer will register a years? Aden Meinel is optimistic, even thousand astronomical units (A.U.'s), though scientists have to clear several hence the name TAU (one A. U. being the engineering hurdles. TAU's ion engines, 93-million-mile span between Earth and now being designed at JPL, will have the sun). The two-part probe will have to increase their power a hundredfold; laser covered some 100 billion miles and be 25 communications equipment will have to times farther out than Pluto. By then a be built and tested; existing long-duration TAU transmission will take a week to nuclear reactors will have to be improved. reach us, and our sun will appear as little Meinel thinks there is time to develop more than a bright dot in a black sky. all of this before the anticipated launch This mission, if funded, will be the date sometime between 2010 and 2020. deepest, fastest plunge humankind has Finally, the Meinels. both in their mid- ever made into interstellar space and sixties, are often asked if they have any will provide a mother lode ol astronomical qualms about working on a project that data for generations of astronomers. would arrive at its planned destination long The idea of sending a spacecraft billions after they are gone. Marjorie Meinel ol miles beyond the planets has been points out that for her, TAU is ihe contin- around for years; but it didn't receive uation of a family tradition; 70 years ago, in serious attention until 1984, when Lew 1917. her mother was making astrometric Allen, director of NASAs Jet Propulsion measurements at the Yerkes Observatory Laboratory (JPL) in California, decided to ' in Wisconsin. For his part, Aden Meinel revise the concept of such a craft. To says that he and his wife would be quite organize a research team and study the '.- Tripping the light fantastic. happy "just to wave good-bye."DO 40 OMNI — coruTinjuunn WHO DM hile most of our e'ecteci o'Uda'-s focus (heir ef- ;e-te rocorce' Ironies ly. \\w~ formais have created billions oi forts on preventing nuclear war, airline crashes, dollars of new business for the software powers, as evidenced environmental pollution, and the. spread oi AIDS, by the S5 billion prerecorded :icr-e vidcocassolle business. LAJ others are worried about slopping another ac- DAT machines were deveiooed and are manufactured in Ja- isiderably more benign. It's called DAT pan, which explains why the r eoorcing irc'i..s:ry nas oeen gelling - r Jgilai refers .-.-ii -i audiotape and. to the most ad- :.i VV-ac.hi ncton lately Ahhoual DAT equipment has been _'~i";r~. .! system developed for home- use. If bills available in Japan since ias: .V'arch. yc-j can't buy a DAT machine ning or incapacitating DAT become law, it would in the United Stales: but some should arrive- by the end .of this. 3 Congress has ever banned a consumer tech- year underthe Maranlz name. Fearful of arousing more anti-Jap- ns other than health and safety And it would set anese sentiment and retalialory 'rade legislation ine major Jap- fiier incursions on ino public's noht lo reco'c anese consume r electronics names— Sony, Panasonic, JVC enal for personal use—a ngh! lhal the U.S. Su- have been holding DAT back from the U.S. market. ietar i which the- Their fear is justified. :o r a no ndustry is trying to per- : right to i :opyrighled all DAT machines imported into cuit that would make it While making its pitch, he millions of dollars the e— are making by alleg- artists. l Not surprisingly, t the ant :-DAT forces are using to y's audiocasse .lllva ior ti of latter-day Luddism. !chnolo.gy. The tal mi (Star Tech, June 1987), if the apf iO'-i; :omput :very DAT machine will include a - d the basis ol a.y "pac rusk system recording function when for sible the CD and DAT to deliver similar levels of superhigh- it receives specially encoded s. gnats. The record companies quaiity sound with virtually no distortion. Because DAT has the could theoretically encode all their vinyl, tapes, and CDs so ho ability to record, however, the prerecorded -music industry, which one could ever record anything on a DAT machine that was is realizing some of its bigges: profile ever !rom selling CDs, is sourced from an encodec mescal proc/am. You would not even lobbying hard to stop— or delay—the introduction of DAT. which be able to record from radio, assuming the DJ was playing an could be' used to copy compact disks and preserve their high- encoded disk or tape. quality digital sound. The industry has even managed to per- To ensure the future. of DAT -and otnei recording technologies suade the supposedly aritiregulatory-occnted Reagan adminis- on the horizon —as well as preserve the ones we already have tration to support its anti-DAT efforts. it is necessary lor the public to- speak up. This can be accom- The position of the recording industry is not surprising. To- plished by writing lo elected uTicia's m Washington DAT, unlike gether with their software sidekick, the movie picture industry, war. disease, and d-sastc. coses no threat to the health and the record companies have repeatedly cl talleugsc any new cor - safety of the people of our nation On the other hand, DAT pro- sumerrecoi they say I deprives them vides benefits lhal will enhance the quality of our lives—without of revenues. This has led them to oppose, over the years, the raisino raxes. An obvious w n-wii situation for most members of conventional audiocassette recorder as well as the videocas- Congress —MARJORtE COSTBLLO CDnjTiruuurm RQLLERBOT There are robots that serve drinks, can drive screv that can play a ~ able game of But now, thanks to researchers from Carnegie- Mellon University in Pitts- burgh, there's a roller-skating robot that can keep its bal- ance even if you try to knock it off iis "feet" The basic secret is a software program developed by Carnegie- Mel Ion grad student and coinventor Lyman Petrosky. The program uses a series of mathemati- cal shortcuts to quickly calculate the robot's velocity and direction, then correct any movement that mic lead to loss of balance. II you try to knock if over, the robot may skitter or sway briefly, bui What's really bcivnd Ihe 'r:iar':in:s greenness? ci'oc-" One California s< the rapid-fire correciions methane-rich cow belches- may oca priority second only tc performed by its computer land and core will keep it from actually COW BELCHES falling over. Donald Blake blame most of Coinventor Irving Oppen- Scientists have warned its recent increase on the heim says the robot's stabi >iy that the infamous greenhouse world's burgeoning cattle already allows it to hold a effect could substantially population. "Each cow pro- camera as steadily as a hu- raise Earth's temperature, re- duces roughly one-half man being does, lis combi- sulting in massive Hooding' pound of methane a day, " he nation of skinniness (three and other catastrophes. notes. 'And there are about inches wide at the trunk) and Mostly, researchers have 1.3 billion cows in ihe world, si'ongih (its balancing' capa- allnbuiod the problem to enough to raise the earth's five buiie-s allow it to "throw its man-made po I Infants that trap temperature by degrees weight around" and thus pull infrared radiation, but Univer- in the next sixty years." neavy objects in a humanlike sity of California at Irvine Rowland admits that con- fashion) could make it useful chemist Sherwood Rowland trolling methane-laden cow in the tight spaces found in has another theory: Cows belches could be impossible. nuclear power plants, or as a are partially to blame. "Still we have to be con- "lanipulator on a spacecraft. Methane gas contributes cerned. A lot of people follow In general, Oppenheim to the greenhouse effect, Alfred E. Newman's dictum says, "anything we do in the and huge amounts ot it are of 'What me worry?' Bu! way of increasing- balancing belched into the atmosphere. the most important problem capabilities will contribute And although methane, a we have,- other than avoiding to the mobility and usefulness by-product of decay, is nuclear war, is Ihe way the is changing." The roller-skating robot gi the robot breed." released from rice paddies, atmosphere —Sherry Baker Future space station worker? — Bill Lawren swamps, and garbage, Row- 44 OMNI BIRTH OF A ness equals the total output GALAXY of roughly 100 billion suns, while its stars radiate as Peering 12 billion years much light as about 1 billion back into galactic history, as- suns, the astronomers say tronomers at the University The relatively small amount of' of California at Berkeley have starlight indicates that the discovered what (hey believe cloud has yet to form the bulk to be a young galaxy aborn- of its stars, they add. ing in the privacy of a vast Says the puzzled Spinrad, cloud of ionized hydrogen "This is what theoreticians Ihree limes Ihe size of our Sell you a forming galaxy own Milky Way. should look like. It has a mass The astronomers, led by of ionized. gas about three Hyron Spinrad. used both ra- hundred thousand light-years dio and optical telescopes across, with relatively little as well as spectromeiers and starlight. But it has no clear sophisticated light-detection center of condensation of equipment in a hunl for ever- stars. And it is larger than any more-distant galaxies, This other known galaxy al such A NEW ORIGIN OF LIFE age. given our scanty knowl- one, known officially as a great distance." edge^! early Earlh." One 3C 326.1, was pinpointed by The work at Berkeley, One of the central mys- ot those compounds in identifying it as the source funded by the National Sci- teries in the riddle of the particular, a common, brig.hi- oi powertul radio wave ence Foundation, is.parl origin or life is how its chemi- green rust called ferroferric energy in the form of light. o( an effort to cfarily galactic ca building blocks —among hydroxide hydrate carbon- The ionized hydrogen evolution and eventually to them amino acids, formalde- ate, turned out to be what cloud emits its light in an ex- determine whetherthe uni- hyde, and cyanides—first Arrhenius calls a "very prom- tremely narrow range of verse will continue to expand concentrated and combined ising concentrator" of cya- the spectrum, but its bright- or will ultimately collapse into the more complex chem- nide, which is in turn a crucial on itself. A puzzling aspect of icals that made up Ihe iirsl component of the nucleic 3C 326.1 is the source of its self-replicating systems. acids that make up all terres- powerful radio energy. Many Some scientists mink that trial life. Similar experiments astronomers believe that certain kinds of clays acted with rustlike iron carbonate black holes usually produce as little "ovens," chemically parlic-es ac:ua' y yielded full- it, but if this remote galaxy stimulating the simpler sub- blown organic materials. is just forming, whal created stances to form the proteins It's Ihe lirsi demonstration, the black hole? that were the precursors Arrhenius says, that under —George IMobbe of lile. But biochemist Gustaf these conditions some kinds Arrhenius of the Scripps of rust are "capable of pro- " You do not believe your first Institute of Oceanography in ducing organic com- pygmy when you see him." La J.dlla, California, has a pounds."— Bill Lawren —Negley Farson new idea: He thinks lhat life got its first chemical push not . . even things Gl no gwal "In America everybody is, from clay but from rust. intrinsic men! like that chair in but some are more than In his laboratory, Arrhenius the corner . . . have a very others. I was more than dissolved rusilike ror com- good chance of outlasting others." pounds in water saturated you and me. II doesn't seem — Gertrude Stein with carbon dioxide, then ex- right, does it?" posed- both to ultraviolet — John Updike "The pyramids will not las! a radiation— matching, he says, moment compared with conditions in the- primordial "Nothing is more terrible than " the daisy. ocean and atmosphere activity without insight.'" —D. H. Lawrence "as ciosely as we can man- — Thomas Carlyle ^ . coruTiruuunn geneticist who is part of the mi, ^disciplinary team, "By studying the embryo at every stage of development, you can see when it veers away from a normal pattern of development. You see if a certain population of brain pells makes too much or too little of a neurotransmitter, for insiance. And because all humans with Down's syndrome de- velop Alzheimer's disease by the age of thirty-five, we hope to learn something about that disease, too." • The ultimate dream is gene REVIVING DAEDALUS DOWNS SYNDROME therapy to reverse Down's MICE syndrome, but that won't In an effort to re-create the happen tomorrow, according mylhical Nigh! of Daedalus, Scientists at Johns Hcpk-ns to Reeves. "Down's syn- the ancient Greek inventor of have bred a strain of mice drome is much more complex avialion. a learn o' engi- made except for pedals with Down's syndrome-- or than genetic diseases like neers, students, and alumni and gears, has a wingspan the rodent ecu valent. It is the Tay-Sachs disease," he says. :. j: 3 1 from- the M a .s c n .. ; i ol 112 foot and will weigh .est firs! time anyone has devel- "If you have just one gene 70 pounds. oped and analyzed an animal thai doesn'l tunc lion, you The ungalniy cra'i. currently model of this rxirnan ti sease could '.nsert a normal copy of being assembled al Han- In humans, Down's syn- the gene into the embryo, scorn Field in Concord, drome is caused by an extra but with Down's.syndrome' Massachusetts, wii cos' copy of chromosome 21 you're dealing with a whole around $1.5 million all told, and marked by menial retar- including a prototype called dation, hear- delects deed —Judith Hooper ; ihc Esgle. which broke four disorders, acial ci'si gu'e- alurninized Mylar, carbon world records for human- ment, a dementia much like fiber, and polystyrene foam powered flight on a 37.2-mile Alzheimer's disease, and for the 70-mile journey. trip over the Mojave Desert early death. The mice bred According io icgond. Dae- in 1986. MIT's Peggy Scott at Hopkins possess an sxtra dalus and his doomed-son, says the money has come copy of chromosome 16, I*: Icarus, 'fled Crete after an from the school itself"and analogous to the human ungrateful King Minos impris- several .corporate sponsois. twenty- first. oned them despite their including United Technolo- By studying the mice, the 1 I I ! i !''.,! I '!' ingenious design for a laby- gies Of Hartford, Connecticut I V- I rinth io contain the fabled the builder of the Daedalus' Io track down the individual Minotaur (a voracious beast air frame. George Nobbe genes resoonsible for the reputedly half man and arious manifestations of Ihe half bull). Icarus, you may "The concrete world has disease. "If you isolate a recall, plunged to his death shppud through the meshes gene -rom the region, then in the Aegean Sea because ol the scientific net-." inject the cloned gene into a he foolishly. flew too close —Alfred North Whitehead mouse embryo, it will grow to the sun and his flapping up with an extra copy of 1 wings melted. just thai one gene.' explains In the MIT version of the Roger Reeves, a molecular 46 OMNI . virus, and his research is Chang* n ciisianoe between geared :o finding away to the two X's asthe nipple X turn on the virus on command bobbed up and down. so that it can be used to Lorentzen and Lawson control the gypsy moth before found that in the nude, C- and D-cup women experienced s.gn^ca'iliy more vertical h.omoehanical breast move- ment than women with A and B cups. Th When it came to support, a thumbs-up went to The Exercise Support Top with its itrm fabric and its above and beiow breast support, and to The Lady Duke, "with its double-layer cups and pointy silhouette. These are bras for the average woman, who .tends to have larger breasts than the athiete and thus requires more support, says Lorentzen. Bra manufacturers are THE BIGGER listening They are already within its system— that THEY ARE . . "incorporating some of eat iug- SABOTAGING Wood is Irying lo discover Even though sports.bras nesled." says Lorentzen THE GYPSY the mechanism ihal triggers must meet standards laid the virus so that it can be down by the American Soci- Four years ago virologist used to control the gypsy ety for Testing and Materials Alan Wood became fasci- moth, which annually defo- Deana Lorentzen of Utah" nated as ihousands of gypsy- liates tens of thousands Slate and LaJean Lawson of rnoih larvae swarmed over of acres of hardwood forest the University of Nevada the apple- trees in his Now in the northeastern United at Reno suspected ihai some York State backyard. In States and is spreading bras provide more support no time [he voracious insects toother regions. than others. denuded the trees. Then. Wood, a scientist at the To find out, 59 women with as suddenly as they had ap- Boyce Thompson Institute for cup sizes Porn A to D iogged peared, the caterpillars died. Plant Research, an independ- on a treadmill in each of What killed the larvae, ent institution at Cornell eight snort b r as as well as Wood found out, was a virus ^n : vt;,si:v. ^:-iy?i the virus is -.oclw-s. Xs were marked the insects carry. The sym- the only thing that controls the on their bras over the sternum biotic virus remains dormant gypsy moth "Without it [the and tbe nipple—and directly mosl of the time, much like virus] the Northeast wouldn t on Ihe sternum and nipple tin-! herpes s moles virus that have any hardwood trees." in Ihe nude condition. By causes. cold sores in hu- He has found that al least filming ihe women as they mans. But when /t is acti- one in every ten gypsy ran. the researchers were vated, the virus is lethal. moths is infected with the able to- calculate the average CDRJTiruuunn io get :o space lc do some- rats," says S.O.N.E. cofound- thing," he says. "There's a er and wildlife ecology grad- tremendous wealth of new uate student Doug Duncan, scientific and technological "but they have a nice, gamy information to be gained. taste— like quail." And whether we like it or not, Urban dwellers who wish there's an element of compe- to join the ranks of Neotoma tition with the Russians." eaters should be forewarned 1 he chances el a Skylab 2 or that city rats, which are a two-module space station notorious carriers of disease, being launched before do not make healthy enlrees. the late Nineties? "I'm not Field rats, however, are safe holding my brealh righl now," io eat if properly prepared. says Banks. "I cant be "These aren't sewer rats, and optimistic."— Devera Pine we cook ihem very thor- oughly," says University of SECRET ORDER OF Arizona medical student RAT EATERS .Victor Chen. "They're just like wild game— only smaller." What began as a rat- Professor Cockrum agrees: lasting wildlife field trip led "I've always taught my stu- by University of Arizona dents thai animal protein ecology professor E, Lendell is protein, Some of it is in little 'Cockrum has turned into a packages— like mice." s'lioenl group called S.O.N. E., S.O.N.E. has formal mem- short lor the Secret Order of bership cards and T-shirts the Neotoma Ealer (Neotoma boasting Ihe motto all for being the biological rstandratforau And name for the pack rat, which the inr.iation ritual? Simple: skitters across the south- Vou must knowingly eat western desert in droves). a. barbecued desert rat RETURN OF SKYLAB? three years to build, and "Some people turn up their prepared by Duncan and would be launched with a noses at ihe thought of eating Chen.— Michael Dale What's the next best thing heavy-lift vehicle. The facility, to 1 the' projected NASA space however, would not be a station? Skylab— or, more carbon copy of Skylab. It accurately, Skylab 2. would most likely have several According to Peter Banks, docking ports so that Ihe former chairman of NASAs station could be expanded Task Force on the Scientitic as required (much like the Uses of the Space Station, the Soviet Wr station), space station as it's now Why go to a Skylab-iype planned would be too much, craft when plans for the too late. "[Space scientists] space station are already would suiter lor years before under way? A smaller, less it became available," he- expensive facility, says Banks, says. Instead Banks modestly would probably be more proposes sending up a valuable to the scientitic simple, single-module space community because it would station; in other words, a get the Uniled States- back cralt similar to Skylab. into space quickly. "People Banks's Skylab 2 would working on man-assisted cost about $6 billion, take research areas in space need IB OMNI HIGHWAY REPTILE Wallman's chicks cannot and colors in (ealjros of "he MURDERERS read, of course, but he found world at large. that portions or their eyes Walfman, who is hirseif The motonsi seemed that he had covered for myopic and wears glasses, mild-mannered. Bui when "ealizes Inal :hese are ten- she spied a snake in Hie road uous conclusions to draw she turned bloodthirsty, from a few nearsighted swerving to kill thecrealure. chicks 'We must now "'.ako then turning around and the connection between running over it five more night cause experimental myopia." he times. Atler having docu- ns. During. says, "and normal develop- mented how 22,000 motor :sis ment of the eye." If the results reacted to rubber reptiles hold up, he suggests that placed on or near roads. we may then wan! to do what Southeastern Louisiana Uni- printed page, are active The the farsighled Cnnose have versity biology professor peripheral neurons, which ore dene: have ch.iclrer- David Shepherd authorita- have large receptive Fields. interrupt their reading wilh tively concludes ihal [he see nothing but a uniform occasional eve exerc se^ kill Patrick woman's behavior wasn't un- :o reptile;;'' 1 hose are gray and are much less Huyghe usual: "'There are apparently the only animals I studied, bul active. To compensate for very few animals hit acciden- research in England shows prolonged periods of inacliv- "Wonder rather than doubt is tally on the highway." people there deliberately run the root of knowledge." To measure drivers' inten- over foxes." Shepherd an- — Abrai'rirn Joshua Hesche! tions, Shepherd and his swers. "In Texas it's armadil- :'. .! ,i.,i,i:. piace '.e snakes los, and in Canada if's rab- and turtles in positions bits. Unfortunately, I think where motorists would nor- some people just have a mally hit them if they contin- mean streak toward ani- text, it must deal with small, —Gaston Bachelard ued straight; they also put mals,"—Sherry Baker evenly illuminated, black- them where drivers could, hit and-white features ihal must "Nothing is more common them only deliberately. "We WHY BOOKWORMS be terribly unstimulating than a fool with a strong found '.ha! while eighty-seven WEAR GLASSES compared with the wide vari- memory." percent of drivers tried to ety of .sizes, brightnesses. - Anonymous avoid the animals, six percent A few chicks with some went out of their way to hit very heavy shades may have them—with snakes getting given Josh Wallmanand squashed twice as often his team of biologists at the as turtles." Shepherd reports. City University of New York Seeing reptiles on the the first scientific blues as to road brings out the killer in why glasses really are a some people, he adds: common sight among those "A truck driver even crossed who love to read. the center line, went into The main cause of myopia the opposite lane of traffic, is not likely to be dietary, and drove onto the shoulder hormonal, or occupational, of the road to run over a according to Wallman, who 'turtle.' And a policeman fas studied the effects of crushed a 'snake' with his blinders placed over portions tjres. then stopped and pulled of the eyes of a few lab It's his gun. I quickly jumped chicks. probably due to from some bushes and ex- optically unstimulating tasks-, plained if was.a fake." such as reacir.g. that v.suaily Do people particularly like starve portions of the eye. a caruTiruuurui n BLARNEY STONES? :. ouis Ucecllni. senc e's.- ijfologist at the severe storms Perhaps -10,000 years ago. research program al God- the prehistoric residents of dard Space Center. "But he derived his data from the smoko plumes, and the I lOLIS! building va&i stone align- ;iMi: ments that are recognizable- only from the. air as birds. snakes, and complex geo- metrical designs of parallel lines and overlap ping hoops. Because none of their handiwork can be recognised for what it is from ground level, the question that in- trigues Christopher Raven, the architects of thegeo- giyph.es who could never see the desions themselves, bothered to build them in the first place. In an effort to solve this puzzle. Raven will use both ground and balloon' crews to what you re talking study the stone alignment. later this year. "We don't need to learn who built them "Moderr life is so Iho oughly or when. They re unqueslion WHAT KILLED over videotapes and photos .'T'SC.'Sif- IC ably aboriginal, Native Amer- CHALLENGER? ol the launch. And while he hat we canr it help with the generally to others asii ican in. origin.'' no says "I he agrees ng real enigma is why hunter- Remember the peculiarly acceple: I view that the righl '"-I = gatherers would build them in bent smoke trail left in the solid rocket booster was * be ng recorder." that iltaneously trans vtted to such a dry, remote area. It wake oi Ihe Challenger flawed, he claims the sim seems a lariy irrational ad. launch? It turns out that Ihe booster was holding together am 0RPen audience Some of the 60 or so align- smoke was bent by a sudden. fine until the shuttle hit a n i o tor dose s ments are as long as a loot- strong shift in the wind— wind shear 58 seconds into a! some later time." Lasch ball field; others cover just wind shear. In tact, the wind the launch, At that point, — Christopher 16 or 17 feet, As many as 700 Shear thai Challenger New according to. Birkemeier, the - stones about six inches into was so powerful that strong winds could have "A man can no n io/o fosses::, he high were used in the according to at least one ex- caused enough damage to a private religion loan can possess a private -,nn or designs. pert, it—and not the right bring on disaster. While he doesn't rule out solid rocket booster—.may Not surprisingly, wind moon." the possibility that the stones have been a major cause shea' expeMw a! NASA, who — G. K- Chesterton could have been a primitive or Vie disaster did their own study, question beauty form ol astronomy. Raven William R Birkemeier, a lis conclusion. Birkemeier "Thereis no excellent leans more toward Ihe notion professor at the University of s saying that from an engi- trial haih not some that they had a religious or Wisconsin who has studied neering point oi view he strangeness in the magical significance. winds for 20 years, reached can show that [wind shear] proportion." — Francis Bacon —George Nobbe that conclusion utter poring caused inc accident," says 50 OMNI " ARTICLE UFO abductees claim that large-eyed, gray-skinned, four-foot-tall aliens are confiscating their eggs and sperm to create a bizarre race of hybrids SECRET SHARERS BY PAMELA WEINTRAUB B. Dalion's in Early one evening during the summer | rowsing through . Syracuse. New York, Bruce was of 1978. it seems, Bruce had been driv- B" alarmed by an eerie display of ing home from a relative's house with his books. Emblazoned on the covers, star- wife, Marion, and adopted son, Steven. ing" out at him in multiples from the show- Scanning the sky. he noticed what case oiid. waif- a hauvirg face; grayish seemed like a low-flying plane headed in skin, pointed chin, receding lips, and for a landing. "There was this loud J**Rj massive, dewdrop eyes. The color of whooshing sound," Bruce recalls. "I | molten basalt, the eyes held him mes- thought it was a plane in [rouble, trying to merized unlil ho broke their discomfit ncj land and buzzing me to clear the road. gaze. He grabbed the book—Whitley So I sped up. trying to pull away." Sirieber's oest seller Communion, about But though Bruce remembers pushing the aulhor's encounters with alienlike the accelerator down full force, the car "visitors"— off the shelf, "I just looked at didn'l move at all. In fact, he says, the if," Bruce says, "then I furned to the man- rubber on the tires began to burn, and ager and said. 'The eyes are wrong.' the whole vehicle started to overheat, "I Inslantly embarrassed, Bruce left with- figured." Bruce recalls, "that the best thing a&W oul purchasing the book. How do I know to do was io shut the car down," it the eyes are right or wrong? he chas- A second later. Marion looked oul the tised himsell. / didn't draw the picture. window and let oul a bloodcurdling But a nagging sensation—one so hor- scream. Bruce locked the doors, rolled rific he'd pushed it from his mind for up the windows, and threw a blanket over years—told him he might have drawn a Sleven, instructing him not to move. Then, picture like the one on the cover of Com- looking behind him. he saw some ligures 1 munion himself. As he left the bookstore approaching. "What registers in my mind,' that day, and for a long time afterward, he says, "are two very formal military fig- Bruce says, "memories Hooded in like ures. Their uniforms were homoge- water rushing through a hole in a dike." neous -beige from the neck up and PAINTING BY GREG HILDEBRANDT 3— black from the neck down." a wayward glance and run. Bu! these days Manhattan), Hopkins lives at the end of a By this time, Bruce recalls, Marion's be- that's hard to do. Hundreds of people twisty macadam road on a verdant cul-de- havior had become bizarre. "She's under worldwide, in countries from Canada to sac. While other houses on the road are the impression that the door is unlocked Brazil, now claim the ' abduction experi- simple wooden structures that lade into the instead of locked. So she keeps trying to ence. What's more, the strange details they landscape. Hopkins's stark concrete home, all angles are slopes, glistens like a sculp- lock it, but she's doing just the opposite. conjure up— from the appearance of the And she believes the window is down in- visitors to the surgical procedures they ture in the sun. He opens his door, and a el stead of up. So she's rolling it down, think- perform to the symbols on the alien ship furious crescendo Gus:av Mahler pulses Hopkins's paintings giant ing that she's rolling it up. There's this are often uncannily similar. And the half out in waves. — struggle between us to keep the door dozen respected psycniriiiists and 'psy- orbs that hint at transcendence, the cos- locked. She's getting very mean, almost like chologists who have studied this odd group mos, God- dominate his living room. His a cornered dog. And then she lets out an- find no evidence of psychopathology. The windows, a collection of different-size rect- severe, un- angles, capture the view of a sweeping other scream. I spin around, and oh, my abductees have suffered a God, I'm staring into these humongous speakable trauma, yes. Most are overly wooded valley out back. The artist stands contrast to all this eyes. I'm transfixed. All of a sudden I hear cautious, many neurotic. But according to in drama: Hazel-eyed a door slam behind me, and Marion is gone. a spate of standard personality and intel- and angel-faced, he exudes an earthy She's just walking along with this guy, sort ligence tests, the question of whether the warmth and sensitivity. To the abductees of on a stroll toward, well, for lack of a bet- abductees are crazy can be unequivocally he is a mentor, a lalher confessor, a friend. ter word, a ship." answered with a no. That's a relief to Bruce. Sitting at Hop- According to Bruce, he leaped out the Explanations put forth by experts in a kins's kitchen table, his face tired, glasses door to try to get Marion back when three variety of fields are numerous: repressed tinted, beard manicured, the thirty-two- more figures surrounded him. "My sense rape or child abuse, ancient racial memo- year-old upstate New York graduate stu- of self-preservation," Bruce says, "was ries stored in the genes, mass hysteria, dent sips his col'oe nervously, waiting tor Hopkins's interview and subsequent hyp- I culturally suddenly very strong. I was curious, but induced dreams, transcendental nosis session to begin. "I'm not sure what didn't want to risk going on that ship, so I really happened," Bruce says haltingly, ob- did something I'm not proud of. I tried to tell viously at the end of his rope. "I jus', feel so see if I could send Steven, who would me what he saw. Should he not return, then embarrassed and at odds. I could be hav- ing actual memories, psychological side I evidence I could take to the would have '•Emblazoned on effects, or dreams. I want to understand." authorities. So I pulled the seat forward and himself believes the under- leaned in lo get Steven, and that's when I the cover was a haunting Hopkins standing seeks can be gleaned, at was jabbed. Right in the rear. I felt like I'd Bruce face: grayish been poked with a hatpin." least in part, by way of a swampy out- From that point on, Bruce says, every- skin, pointed chin, receding back— the lettered, complex terrain of the UFO. The dawn of modern UFO history is thing was cloudy, He was, he's sure, lips, and dragged down the road a bit. But the next generally considered to be June 24, 1947, massive, dewdrop eyes. thing he knew, he was back in his car with when Boise, Idaho, businessman Kenneth Marion and Steven, driving home. The The eyes were Arnold was flying his private plane near two hours later than ex- Mount Rainier, Washington. Arnold re- family returned the color of molten basalt pected. As far as the "experience" was ported nine bright objects that moved "like concerned, nothing was said. skipping saucers over water" at more than Bruce's chilling story (and the accom- 1 ,200 miles an hour. Thanks to Arnold's de- panying block of missing time for which he scription, the term Hying saucer entered the could not account) makes him one of the English language, and for months after his growing number of people who claim to be right-brain slates, and more. Some have sighting, saucer reports rolled in. UFO abductees. The abductees say, said that the abductees form the core of a Eventually 'hings earned down, and the among other things, that large-eyed, gray- powerful new religion, one sure to sup- next true UFO wave didn't crash on Amer- skinned, four-foot -tall aliens are swooping plant Christianity and subvert the progress ican shores until 1952. On July 19 of that down from the skies to take them away. of science. Others, including more than a year, at nine rm... pilots coming into Wash- These ghoulish visitors put their victims in tew of the abductocs, insist the reports are ington National Airport reported unusual a trance and literally float them out of car literal and the experiences real. objects and lights cavorting over the White or bedroom windows onto spherical ships. Whatever the ultimate explanation, those House lawn. The next week, at about the The medical examinations that reportedly tormented by abduction imagery might find same time, the objects appeared again. occur aboard alien vehicles are painful and their way to Wotiioot. Massachusetts, a This tithe, though, they were briefly con- extreme: Biopsies (;aie r appearing on the quaint Cape Cod town best known for fish- tacted by Air Force planes and even skin as long, straight cuts or simply as ing boats, art galleries, and vacationing showed up on radar. The 1952 sightings scoops) are performed on arms and legs. shrinks. (New York City's entire population prompted a massive UFOmania, and be- Transponder implants that enable aliens to o' psychiatrists, it seems, summers there.) fore long, Pentagon phone lines were tied track their subjects like caribou are in- Weliiicei's lesser known treasure— a state up with hundreds ol people asking for in- serted in the eyes, nose, ears, and even secret, if you will—is acclaimed artist Budd formation about the UFOs. the brain. And most disturbing of all, pain- Hopkins, whose imposing, altarlike sculp- Then, in 1964, an extraordinary sighting ful surgical procedures remove human tures add a sacred touch to New York City's outside of Socorro, New Mexico, con- eggs and sperm. The result, many abduc- Guggenheim and Whitney museums and vinced at least one scientist that the most tees contend, is a race of human-alien hy- some of the best art galleries in New York outlandish explanation for Ihe reports— the brids gestated in artilicial wombs, raised City and Provincetown, Massachusetts. extraterrestrial one— might be right. Phys- in alien nurseries, and sent, ultimately, into Hookins has to date worked intensively with icist J. Allen Hynek, director of the astron- the unknown reaches of space. The hy- upwards of 160 abductees. He has grap- omy department at Northwestern Univer- brids' suspected purpose: to provide a ge- pled with'their plights, published their ex- sity, had been reviewing some data lor ;hc official irvesliyaiion. Project netic shot in the arm and new evolutionary., periences, and. given- -well, it not valid- Air Force's Blue the vigor for the ailing alien race, ity— al least a smattering of compassion Book, when he was asked lo check out Hearing such stories, one has the natu- lo their outrageous claims. Socorro report himself. ral instinct lo give the so-called abductee When in Wellfleet (his other home is in As the late Hynek explained it, patrol- 54 OMNI ' . ' - .'..! , ...!. .,.<'.; ,',(. .'' :' !...... :. ..!.; ,. : ?. A:; aciw;;. r^i; tr-inge- ; ..11 '. : ;' .~ - ! ' i-\ .'.• ' = ' *. : . . , e-.i! , : : figures, such as the bogeyman. in your 1 about UFOs? -....' : !.'.!.:' ,;'- ' &?we i-v,; thss QLJesfror': sounds som;.; : ;; .! A] Many Ut?Os are physically real : . ...; :!'; ;..' ,,' :;- . fOSW.ifChrr-.v; !hi<* ; phf-ino: K-HC -. h;-' . .:! : ! ; '.'( - rjl r , !!;.. >, ..'.!...>: V '.' . ,.. : . ! C. ,; .. 1 Bi UFOs are probably only tvs; :.. !. ' / ...,: \i ,:/ mi'sidenliiied real objects, such as ..': i .:::.: socia.ted 8. Did yor; ever receive an unexplained plane's and stars, but I accept- the ' !!'... wiih ! a j sands oi possibility. ihat some of thorn might be. :" .?3. :':.:::•;. :- : peopic i-«vf; tccv leil scar? ex; ; ; m;.*\ h;*;; .vc;- coee-unse-. and a r .:.'. -'-- i 1 . . If. . :.' wiih little i call id 9. your answer is yes, is the scar C) : .::' ' '::: - h- ., :;. . . ..:.!'' .:: in ; in your chest on your back, or. '. m : ;];->!' .' '-: 4- : - ;;"ic;>!v la; /.'.-; ./:,':! .:C.:ii )iOQGi$ Uy: tha: :.;:: of overheated imaginations .«'.<: :,>" '.. n !.:., and its location'/ 23. Whicii an * uoesyour .<>;; !! . what the < : expert T). Have you ovof experienced recurring . reports? : : ''.;' ' ,1 ' : ate connected .. A) At least of Ihe.abduclion en r virig dreah that you -e> some' ;. : : 1 - />r ; ^;c:;; / UFOsand/ accounts f'vehearc! about seem 7 ' ?.:!? 'A'TK/iJ or their occupants „.___ If so, .genuine, and I accept the idea that .; ': ...'-.' !, ',;.: ;.::.! .:;'. if iiiings ! dreams, such can and do happen.; , .-; ):.- ' . 11. Havsj you been told thai you were B) . Those stories sound just ioo ' .!. '.:;. ;.:; a!sotrytogie;;n new dei.^ils aboufthe' frequeniiy lost as a'.child under circ'um-- ,.: !, i i ' '.'•' ; < ...!.!.'; ;::.!'.. : ':' . :. uti do not new "J cannot absolutely, rule out the possibility :i i -•: Ncr others •: u ; ,: 1 ; thai I'm wrong'.-. ' : : ;:; «!'t ; ':.::.;}'!;«:. nnd other:-; !2. Do you have any intense phobias of C) i cannot accept these accounts: ''•' ' ; :;',..!. ' /.::i'. - .. ':.:: - . i : lyars that seem complete)!/ without' ' as a o.rthe-- ' > : . „,[ :;.-. 'researcher-? -v;'-. 'he .. :-:. . > products of some mental aberration. wr-iieoul ail answers on separate on your lite? Describe both' .-' 24. Have you you; a . : ' :( ,.!.! sh' tn tt indi u ':C .. 'C : 1 A) as a person .interested, in the !!:/. ,....!... .,. .;, ,.,;. .,,.: ..;: 13. Do you reiriembe'r ceriain subject read more than three books or articles 7 answerii i.g I ill pi I the pei sonal data 'meaningless" words that seemtohaye about UFOs in the last year ' .!:, . .:; .. . < a special, as ye! unrecoiieoted. : M) asa easuaily curious person. questioni'iaite t965 to Is the or two and perhaps .yoiii \o UFO, Omni, meani \g you? word read abooK a few : Broadway. New York. NY 10023-5965. .i,'ondan('one'of.these?._^___ . '. grtictes on UFOs over the past few -.-.,' ' I! • 14. are a have . .years?' you woman, you ever ; ... 1 . ;/... -<,.,. . -:- :i :';. . i:.':i.;i slor ^ahsi.O C) as; someone who regards the !':'. .-i ;:, , ,!. ./. ,'Oi , li.";, . curious, toed to avoid 9 .:-.-: , .:,.> 1 i . . mi .', 11 :...... missing 01 deformed baby any; about ;ti alt? ':..!.. ;'. '.,::'. -. : :,'!; :',(.:. ! : . ,..'D) It none- ol ihese categories, : i ' 2. if, you ; c;' vitha V i man. has 3 mate describe you. piease expiam.' . - f ;.::;-.: vf:n you mponed the >;qhm-?.:.; to rela - -d such . 25: Which ar r r > s your ' J • questionnaire 9 ;s to: ' AMIil i ih^rmiiiiary dreah you? - r _; Have you ever reaction to this I : A; roteiierlua; seiec'ioc '7" , . had such dreams yourself? ,- ;:: Ri inyiiYMl poiiC) ;-,>"'';. ::e-:0 ..:;:' : G) the news media ' 16. C,i ^nieilec-cai cur/naity : .- ..'! .!,:. ;..: ,/:; , ( xiviian organization D) amusemept . D) any : UF0 ". ' ! .,.:; :'.:! ii ::.; i . . . E) .indifference' EY -none, of the above . '. . 3. ii yOU Si!;'". li 1 Willi .1 ;;: It so; what tti.o symptoms.?..':';.;,;- '-. ; wore •' : ? : : ' rer50nal:data , yes. does your recoiled ion of the-. :. 17. Have you o\ your spouse over ' ,: ! . ! '!..«:• i/i'i. : ..'. : ; ::.!:'. > 'ii : .i o;1d gap:> n ..! Male Q Female D ] as .:, : ^o--.-.^C'/ ? ., It so piease - Age..: 1 1 I.. j-.i- .i - i, explain R";.:de - s " '' : 1 ["]. iiso.explain. . ; .':!!: .Gity n -Suburban' n Rural 4. Ha i ) II so, Pio yoi.i evor imd yonrsell outside- r"niss;ir'ig hn)c.&>-v. iiinfyi you iis :i. ';: i! :;,. ii'-you would like. lo be contacted by . .!!.:: : . :; ,;.! '; ,: : '.. UFO investigator Budd Hopkins or till circumstances.--- , 19. Have vis. 1 "s speak one oi his colleagues, in your name ; ing to you "inyourhead," issuing ; : orders or warnings?' ; If so. please I places a; y a room i.e.''!' e '.!. i "! strictly confidential Sincelhe investiga- a/leid. or whatever? .^_____.!f,so, qqmmu.nicatic ;-.; your esctson.tq ii.' tors will use this questionnaire primarily : \ 1 ,:. .:,. ; ' -: • ,ti\: .. , I' !;' 20. Have yon eve; clearly heard your for research purposes, please under- yi.iir fear.- name: being caiiod "in.your. head.:-" ; stand that many respondents will : 6. Have.yco ( Jd * !:.!..:, .,!. ..-. :..;,;.:" not receive a personal response. :: :, .- ::V.; ;:• ;:... .!.:". . d:'-;: .i':- whiCj: yeo rouvu'i .!...'" ; yourself infwplicsbiy -, location .differ- '2l'Hasany member o' your immediate Hr:r iror's -,: ert yoo remember Pelec, ui~r..:-.-- ,;-,id you that he or she recalls !:...! ! ., ,," | •'> ;>.:' .. . the kinds of experiences or images ?:,..: i:- :;v..; !; .;.^j:: .,;;;; j Oeiic^boo if; ;ho ;,';.-, Wmm: abovfe'' " . " man LonniG Zamora had been chasing a down the road, without any idea how they some ten humanlike 'K.iiro:-; each three and speeder out of town in broad daylight when had gotten there. a half to four feet tall and wearing a one- he supposedly saw something descend- They began to have bad dreams and piece, light-colored garment. The figures ing over the plains. He went through the finally went to see psychiatrist Benjamin carried spoonlike instruments and con- sagebrush and finally glimpsed what Simon, who used hypnotic regression- to tainers, O'Barski claimed, and proceeded looked like an upside-down car and some bring them back to the incident. Under to collect samoes of ihie earth. Inside of creatures. When he went back to investi- hypnosis the Hills said thai extraterrestrials four minutes the strange individuals and gate, Zamora tound some charred grease- had impelled them to leave the car and walk their craft were gone. wood bushes and, more importantly, four to the craft, where they were separated and Hopkins investigalod the story, found five pod marks indicating, he believed, the spot given examinations. Betty said they stuck corroborating witnesses (not to the occu- where the thing had landed and scooped a needle in her navel and then took skin pants, just to Ihe apparoi il oiafl). and pub- up some dirt. Hynek himself tried to char and nail samples. Barney claimed they took lished his findings m !'he Village Voice. The the bushes with matches and create pod- a sample of his sperm. Voice story was reprinted in Cosmopoli- like impressions with a shovel but to no Like most other skeptics of the day, Budd tan, and Hopkins's avocation— as a avail. He also interviewed Zamora's old Hopkins, a young artist splitting his time UFOIogist—was off lo a start. schoolteacher, the railroad baggage man. between Cape Cod and New York City, Even back then Hopkins was aware of and other townsfolk. "They all gave Za- didn't think much of this story. But one day the issue of missing time. O'Barski, who mora a clean bill of health," Hynek re- in 1964, while driving to an alternoon party claimed his sighliag lasted lour minutes, ported. "He was a very solid cop in Provincetown, he saw an elliptical, pew- had returned home a couple of hours after By the mid-Sixties UFO proponents ter-colored object hovering over the dunes. he would have on any normal night. But it pointed to distant disc sightings, radar After three minutes, it seemed to Hopkins, wasn't until 1976 that Hopkins considered corroboration, and physical evidence that the object simply zoomed off, disappear- a preposterous notion: What if UFO wit- had purportedly been found. The Air Force, ing in the clouds. nesses were losing track of hours, even in its own series ol investigations, declared At the party Hopkins discussed his ex- days, because aliens were abducting them, there was nothing much to this evidence. then forcing Ihem lo forget? Virtually all UFOs, government investiga- That idea walked into Hopkins's life in tors said, could be explained away as the form of Steve Kilburn, (not his real weather balloons, cloud formations, at- name), a tennis instructor he'd met through mospheric phenomena, meteors, planes, one of the invosligalois tie ping with the 4/ didn't want and the like. O'Barski case. One day, after an informal The dispute would be settled, of course, to risk going on the ship UFO gathering that Kilburn happened to it UFOIogists could come up with some attend, he approached Hopkins ner- myself- So I aliens. But much to their chagrin, the E.T.'s vously. "There's probably nolhing to It;" he appeared, full-blown, in the stories of a did something I'm not proud confided, perhaps because Hopkins group of charlatans known as the conlac- seemed more accessible Jian others at the of; I tried to send tees. In the standard contactee story, the meeting, "but something may have hap- Steven. Should he not return, Earthling was sitting in his yard when gor- pened to me when I was in college. I can't geous, Nordic-looking aliens swooped I would have remember anything specific, but some- down from the sky. These benevolent E.T.'s thing has always bothered me about a cer- evidence for the authorities.^ eagerly told the conlaclee about the se- tain stretch of road I used to pass through crets of propulsion and the mysteries of whenever I left my girlfriend's house in their home planet— invariably an Eden with Maryland." Kilburn recalled no strange no taxes, no divorce, and no war. One con- lights in the sky, and he only suspected a tactee said he went to the moon and dined gap of missing time. Nonetheless, he told with the. lunar king. Another said he went perience, only to lind that other guests had Hopkins, "I'd like to try hypnosis just to see to Jupiter and brought back a native dog had similar sightings as wo.'l. That summer if there's anything at all to my feeling." that, oddly enough, looked like a Saint Ber- Hopkins bought a couple of UFO books. Encouraged by the O'Barski episode, nard. Whatever the specifics, the contac- And every now and then he brought the Hopkins agreed to help. He recruited New tee was always given a mission: to try to subject up at a party. York psychologist Aphrodite Clamar, re- stop atomic testing, end all wars, and pro- But his interest in Ul Os didn't intensify ferred to him by Dsychialnst Robert J. Lif- mote peace on Earth. Such a mandate, of until 1975, when George O'Barski, owner ton, Hopkins's fiend and aa expert in the course, meant forming organizations, writ- ol the liquor store across from Hopkins's psychology of survivors. Known for her deft ing books, hitting the lecture circuit, and Manhattan town house, had a sighting of use of hypnotism in psychotherapy, Cla- producing record albums of music from his own. "I walked n to get a bottle of Soave mar is as down-to-earth as her name is ex- 1 Pluto— all for a hefty profit. Hundreds of for dinner,' Hopkins recalls, "and I found otic (her family is Greek). Combining a deluded people ended up converting to George pacing back and forth behind the strong skepticism- of UFOs with the unique UFO religions and cults, but as the tall tales counter, obviously disturbed. A man can ability to suspend judgment, no matter how and questionable activities of the contac- be driving home, minding his own busi- extraordinary a client's claim, Clamar put tees continued, the field of UFOIogy itself ness,' O'Barski fumed, 'and something car Kilburn into a deep trance To abate his fell into disrepute. come down out of the sky and scare him fear, she provided him with a protective im- In the aftermath of this hysteria there half to death.' age: "a warm, solid house to stay in. safe emerged one contact story different from The story he then told Hopkins was in- from everything threatening, but from which the rest: the saga of Betty and Barney Hill. credible, lo say the least. O'Barski lived in you will be able to watch any events that Barney was a black post-olfice worker and North Gorgon. Now Jersey, and, as was his might unfold outside." an official in the New Hampshire NAACP habit, he'd been driving his car through From the dep'hs ol I iypnosis Kilburn ex- Betty was a white social worker. Coming North Hudson Park on the way to an all- plained thai wfi le driving homo on the night back from a vacation in Canada, they re- night diner in Fori Lee alter work. As he in question, he'd grown increasingly portedly saw what would be called a typi- passed through the park, O'Barski said, he drowsy, until he felt his car turn violently, cal UFO. Then' Barney inexplicably turned saw a roundish. 30 too* long ship circum- "like a huge magnet jusl sucked il over lo left onto a side road. That was all the Hills scribed by windows. Then he watched in the right." Looking up into the sky. he no- remembered until two hours later, when disbelief as a narrow panel opened to re- ticed two strange lights. To ease his fear they found themselves 35 miles farther leasee ladder. Down the ladder climbed he pulled the car over and stepped out. " 56 OMNI a Walking down the road a bit, he said, he lished by Beliy and Barney I lili. Instead of ences, which both rnyat'lied and disturbed met with four or five liny individuals, includ- remembering portions of the UFO experi- them. I did not find any drug users among ing one who seemed to be the boss. Their ence consciously, as the Hills had, Kilburn the subjects, nor any alcoholism, nor any faces were dull, chalky white, "like putty," had totally suppressed his experience. strange habits or exotic perversions," she he told Clamar; and their walnut-shaped "This opened up the possibility that the ex- says. "Most were satisfied with their choice In eyes, devoid of pupils, were huge and liq- perience, whatever it was, had been sup- of careers and relatively successful, a uid black. One was bending down, dig- pressed in others," Hopkins explains, "and sense," she adds, "they were run-of-the- I thread ging in the earlh. that abduction was widespread." mill people. could find no common Kilburn also recalled a clamp, "almost Radio and ielovsion appearances gar- that tied them together— other than their like an arm," affixed .to his right shoulder. nered as a result of Hopkins's work soon UFO experiences— and no common pa- At this point, he told Clamar, he was totally flushed still more people out dl Ihe wood- thology, indeed, no discernible pathology paralyzed, and Ihe creatures used the in- work, and as time went on, other patterns at all." strument to turn him around. The next thing emerged. Perhaps the most chilling com- Clamar didn't know what to make of the Kilburn knew, he was walking up a ramp. mon denominator Hopkins learned, was group; nor did she wan! i.o impose an inter- incredible reports. But, Silting on a table in a curved, misty-white that many people claimed to have had the pretation on Iho she room, beneath an elaborate diagnostic in- so-called abduction experience at least suggesied to Hopkins, it would be advis- strument hanging from the ceiling, he felt twice, and of those, almost all had myste- able to subject some abductees to an in- in*: ex!;i.i'.:i :."iting nam of a needle running rious scars. dependent battery of psychological tests. along his spine. He was examined over the Take Virginia Horton, a corporate lawyer "Here was a group of people who had con- length of his body: hips, stomach, arms, who said she'd disappeared near her sistently bad press, who were described in paranoid, and marginal," Clamar legs, and thighs. "I fee! like a frog," he told grandfather's farm southern Manitoba at as crazy, people I hypnotized did not Clamar at one point in the session. "A metal the age of six. She'd reappeared an hour says. "Yet ihe til stereotypes. This, how- thing comes up around both my legs. It's later with a large, straight cut on the back appear to those fact very skinny. Moves my legs apart a little bit of her calf, A decade later, in 1957, she had ever, was only my impression, not a data. I similar experience in Frankfurt, Ger- that I could support wifh hard . . . moves my right leg all the way up. The a doctor now touches my skin under that many. Later, under hypnosis, she told Cla- wanted a way to nuanlity the abduction ex- perience and its effect." leg. ... II feels kinda rough." Something mar and Hopkins about her abduction by else, something "dirty," might have hap- aliens who took a "teeny piece" of her leg So Clamar and Hopkins went ahead and pened, Kilburn told Hopkins after the ses- back to their world. recruited New York psychologist Elizabeth sion, but he couldn't recall what. By 1981 Hopkins and Clamar had Slater, who tested nine group members for, Kilburn's story shook Hopkins to his worked with 11 abductees. As a profes- among other things, creative potential. She psychologist, Clamar didn't partic- was not told that they were in any way in- roots. "It was nothing I wanted to accept," sional volved with Slater administered a Hopkins says. "Yet it seemed totally real." ularly believe that bona fide aliens were UFOs. how- Rorschach test, in which subjects are What's more, it seemed to fly in the face oi coming to Earth. She was impressed, the tradition;! 1 abduction scenario estab- ever, by her clients' "frightening experi- asked to interpret inkblots; the Bender Gestalt test, jn which they reproduce geo- metric figures; the Wcchsler adult intelli- gence test: Iho Ihernatie apperception test, in which lesteos described a scries of pic- tures; and ihe Minnesola multiphasic per- sonality inventory, which profiles individu- als and evaluates their tendency to lie. After completing her study Slater re- ported that except for one person— schizophrenic — the group showed no particular psychopathology. "These peo- ple didn't seem alike in any way except for their tendency to be overly sensitive, guarded, and vigilant," she says. "They were carclul but not paranoid, and they shared a greater than average intelligence and a richness of inner life. "When I found out these people claimed to be abductees," Slater adds, "I was flab- bergasted. I tend to be a skeptical person, dismiss. I but I find their stories hard to worked on an inpatient unit for two years, and I'd never heard such stories. People reported the CIA was bugging their phones, ihey heard the voice of the Devil, or they had a desire to kill themselves or their spouses. But alien abduction is something thai I had just never heard. I won't say I believe these people were ab- ducted, but I do believe they aren't crazy. I have no explanation for this group. Psy- chologists, moreover, can't demonsirale facts. They can only try to understand what people experience and perceive." To get to the bottom of the claims, Hop- kins and Clamar also sent ten abductees to Donald Klein, director ol research at the plays a celestial toy maker. "Kelly McGillis is about to '•'- - be born on Earth tor the first time." he explains in Virginia drawl. "Before she leaves I tell her that the pur to keep people from growing up too soon: lo period when people are in contact with wonder a itaneity, friendliness and laughter—all those things . r.J admire so much buf think fhey have to get rid of in o, PHOTOGRAPH BY PETE TURNER . " . lo malure. A toy reminds an adult that there porter pin down today's whackaroni toy the audience screaming from the theater was once a time when he or she was sweet designers long enough to find out? out onto Sunset Boulevard. and wild, just the way heaven intended us "How about a pen that could make you "I've always wanted to be a race-car to be. Toys are made in heaven, but the draw, better?" offers Robert Fisher, senior driver, buf that's dangerous, so maybe you batieries are made in hell." manager of product design for Fisher-Price could get strapped into this chair and watch Actually that last line was so good they of New York. It's my first phone call. I had this incredible image that you'd sense on. gave it to Debra Winger. Nonetheless, it asked for Robert Fisher, and I had been through your whole body," Fisher goes ...... I later accurately describes the ambivalent rela- given Robert Fisher, I had no idea how Going on and on and on, learned, the best pan interview- tionship between modern toy makers, with lucky I was. was about their modern technology, and the modern 'And shoes that make you run fast?" he ing toy designers. If you can lind them and child, who routinely upsets the marketing continues. "They'd make you automati- if they return your calls and it they're not analysts by embracing something as earthy cally coordinated, too, so you wouldn't fall on vacation or sick at home or at lunch or as Cabbage Patch Kids. down. And I've always thought it would be in a meeting or trying out a new idea on Ihey get going, Right now we've got teddy bears that neat if we could step into an environment Japan or dead, then once look at you while they tell you a story, dolls we could control: feel the change of sea- you can't shut them up. that ask lo be picked up, toy watchdogs sons, go under the sea, experience tastes "How about superaccelerators for kids' that howl at intruders, a game of tag played and smells —smell-o-vision," he laughs. bikes? Of course, it would be limited by pedal, it real with light beams, TV shows that invite kids I bristle, remembering the time my dad how fast you and would be to tire toy guns at bad guys, and children's took us to "Aromarama" in Hollywood back short-term — say. five seconds to get you hill. I think miniaturization is neat. ho me-mo vie sets. in the Fifties. I! was a promising new type up a And tiny What will come of all this? How will to- of "scent-accompanied" movie. This one It would be great to have a really audio morrow's toy designers fuse advanced was a documentary on China, which system for kids— I'm talkin' credit-card size. technology with the decidedly divine na- seemed like a great idea until they got to Maybe one kid could have the tape player, ture of toys? Just what will the toys of the the "streets of China" part, and eau d'out- and all the other kids in class could have future be? And how does a low-tech re- house wafted out over our heads, sending invisible earphones that were hooked up S FUTURE PLAYHOUSE By Mai ion Long . . , , . , .,: ...... : 'Omrn risked the c« I .,.... i it would begreat to have a hologram from the siary,- and that's what want io .; sob. Big 3D pictures, big holograms-' .; - H '.. . ih. . r . .. i.ri'ovory community center or wherever we're' al! . ,.- . i : . living fifty years from , ,; .. now ...... ,ge p . ;.,. ! ' : ..' ! PariliJ! . : .. .. ,.. G;-liv -. fiiOi' i-VfK. '';', ifanl tat inions ; !', i\'-r\ .'..: i: I MM', II Mil. I door. Or . . ' • i i ,i . .,..'. , . ' ': r. :- : ...... , . n ...'., i ._!. listen . , .:. :..: .. ,..::, somsfhit :g io you but to you-' . . and. It that sits iO ! ight or by o >rnpu(e'! respond. could be a-box .' : ; . ihe iable.or a little bunny that hops View mak; s . . on ;) you d"swh-: n : Jus'rdraw them.' push some. buttons, ;. ' . arebutlt in three- talking: toy- encyclopedia. .:.. ' andlhey :. , . '...... ' ...,.. ,'i ' ,';,..!': :; ' ' <.-.. . : ' r V is; . n am " : H \hoie • . . Ih /&; of the . ,, , : . ||ii. , ;. Ihe'.. : future ion . '. . i : . , : : . . : ' ; . : : : -,, jniyifiorfi --v : r . . : . - : too' ti > . . hi, .. n h> And ; co: :ld fee! united, if they could hear One field : <•. is -..; it for us. ..• ; coming and *ur ' < ;•, ; .;,!, II. I ... |l ;.-. . ; ! V ; 'the . . -...... , i Children : , i\ mud reniam DogrChair. . ' '. relate to you . have to them— -I.W .''.:'.' ::' Xhairry, all of ihem—as having ieeflngs ;V:,yb; [;: ^>™> itfi but one of the ; ike.each ' . ; ,,.. ... , , it anti Je : ..:, .-,.'. is ih it-thefirrte . '' Pe'e-woE would mv6 lasn sac if we can use it. And time travel— .1 . it i i. j i n .... r nd :: hi . . -Magic Screen. The: possibility . i- . ><.>e'; jump'info Pf! , Pn-baps ; -. traveling In with the or c :.... ' b .'..:: of really space ' . i ...... , ," h future 62 OMNI a — together a real leacher-driver-nutser." high baby colls) and Suckers (twisted- cial glasses Ic sec il. ike the Captain LO Suddenly he gels nervous. 'Jeez. I'm looking little characters that shoot out of a video at Disney World. No, nol twenty years " telling you too much. These Ideas are too tube and stick lo Ihe nearest wall) lor LJN from new no special glasses good. I really have to stop now. No. really. Toys. "And the Weenies," Noah adds. Using full-size holog:ams instead of tra- I do. No more- ideas. But trends —we could "Meenie. Whacky, and Willie." "How big are ditional toys remmos Young ol Ray Brad- talk about trends." they?" I ask, trying to understand Ihe con- bury's idea: You're in aroom, and you can Fisher says he feels the future of will toys cept Noah gets suspicious. 'A toot tall," he' make it anyplace you wanl — a dense jun- be both high- low-tech. play value replies, and And "or would you rather I say twelve gle or the inside of a buccaneer s ship. "You will count more, too. That's one of the inches?" with "What do you do them?" I could soar through the air, do a little Peter strengths of Fisher-Price's new PXL-2000. ask. "You play with them." "What are Ihey Pan flight in your room," Young says. "Or a kid's :.'3ckai-id-white camcorder. Ac- made of?" "Whatlaya think? Rubber." "Did tittle Peter Pans could fly around you. Sto- : cording to Fisher, oarents esponded pos- they sell well?" "Not really; we positioned rybooks will come true. Open the book, and itively to Ihe idea of kids creating their own them wrong." the characters slop out and dance around. movies. "Hey. how about video imaging!" Noah has lo go to a business meeting You could even take 3-D hologram home he cries. "Projecting your own video im- with his brothers, so he says he'll call me movies oi your girlfriend dancing and ages into the middle of the room—videos back. "But be sure you call Marvin Glass," dance around the room with her when she's you look yourself! Jeez. I have, to stop. I he says 'He;; Ihe oiggos! by lar. And call out of town." could really get into trouble:" Eddy Goldfarb. He's been around lorever. Or if she creaks up with you, you could I ask. "Isn't this your family's "Why?" I He invented the chattering teeth—you still have dinner with her." eflci "Or th'ow company?" know, those talking dentures Jack Parr al- darts at her and say 'all Ihe things you wish "Naw," Fisher replies. "No relation. But it ways had on his show. Eddy musla sold you had said to her but never did." does get me better holel rooms." fifteen million of 'em. Very funny man, Eddy "Or change her into someone new," The reason I got to talk with Robert Fisher You should call him." Young says with a wicked laugh. "No. really. is thai I asked for Robert Fisher, and Rob- Eddy Goldfarb lives m California. But he In twenty years computer" programs will let ert Fisher happened to be near his phone. you design 3-D play companions You won': If, however, you call a toy company and even need a computer. You'll just be able say you'd like to speak with someone in to think a companion, and he or she will research and development because you're appear—3-D' waking dreams." writing a story on what toys will be like 20 '•if call years from now, sirens and red lights go you "You wanna buy a duck?" More pre- off in secretaries' heads, and voices a toy company and say you're cisely, "Yooshwarnashb'uyaducksh?" scream, IDEA THIEF! IDEA THIEF! They "Noah, what are you .eating?" writing a story immediately turn you over to. their com- "Com and tomaloes," he says. "I was up pany spokesperson, calm logical on future toys, sirens a and and all n.ight. And after that much beer I figure marketing V.P says things like "The who I red lights go need something healthy. Hey, I haven't besl way lo ihmk about where toys will be done this since high school." off in secretaries' heads, twenty years Irom now is to look at where and He's calling io say lie doesn'l want to talk toys were twenty years ago/' it voices scream, because would wake him up, "and I really That's what Leer": I'ayrO' says. He's the to IDEA THIEF IDEA THIEF!? need sleep," he says. "But I'll call you former V.P of marketing for Toys, a LJN New when I get up." York-based company that offers a home I decide it's time to try the commercial version of Photon Entertainment, a high- toy companies again. tech amusement center. Players pay $3 to Phonetica One in Colorado City, Colo- waddle around a 10,000-square-foot maze rado, is famous tor electronic walch pets in 14 pounds o- space gear for six minutes. likes to take vacations in New Mexico a koala bear and a Shar-Pei dog, bolh of In the dark, is opponents zap one another which where he is when I call his office. which understand a liltie English. They walk .with laseTguns while they try to invade one "It's a driving ir:p." his secretary, Ruth Sul- toward you when you say. "Come here," and another's base camps. livan, explains. "I'll ask him to call you from Ihey "lurn around" and "stop." And when I press Taylor ""or specific ideas. "Super- a pay phone." you switch them to "security mode" and conductivity," fie says. "That's a new thing "Marvin Glass passcc away." Ihe recep- leave the house, Ihey shriek and beep as in our culture. There's some work being tionist interrupls. I was explaining lhal I'd soon as their ultrasonic sensors pick up any done with that in Ihe loy industry, espe- heard Marvin Glass was the blgges: inde- motion in the general vicinity. Phonetica cially in the Orient." Maybe with train sets? pendent toy designer in Ihe country. "But One's phone number has been changed, task. "Maybe with video," counters, I'll he but have Reuben Terzianor Jelf Breslow re- and maybe it is just a bad day, but every- he's nol sure how. Fortunately, Taylor rec- turn your call," little she says. one seems a contused. I end up talk- ommends I contact the industry's "true The phone rings. It's John Lindsay ing to a "guy who works in the shop" who creative, minds": the independent toy de- Young, an up-and-coming n -.dependent, loy says he'll have the "art director" call me signers. "Many of our best ideas come from designer o.-ised in Los Angeles. He is co- back ss soon as possible. outside inventors," explains, he and gives founder ol a management firm called The I call Alchemy II in Chatsworlh, Califor- me a list of names ana numbers. "Be sure Des gn Collective. I le's worked with Color- nia, creator ol Teddy Ruxpin, the world's to call Eddy Goldfarb," he says. 'And the forms; which Noah's father Harry owns. first animated talking toy. The secretary " Kislevitz brothers should have some good "Those guys are dazeo Young confirms. says she'll have executive vce president deas for you.'" "Definitely crazed." Larry Larsen relurn my call. The secretary ; "Wanna buy a duck?" It's Noah Kislevitz . Young has so worked w'lh Matte Toys at Hasbro Inc., in Pawtucket, Rhode Is- reluming my call —Noah of Andy, Adam, "Everybody's trying to per'ect a truly inter- land, promises the same lot designer Dean David. Joshua, and Noah Kislevitz, Ihe five- active- loy," Young explains. "One that re- Carey The receptionist at Coloco in West brother toy-design team o: Kiscom, completely a New sponds to both the child and Hartford, Connec-ici.it. nsis's that I speak Jersey-based company. The brothers the environment: For example, a critter Iha: with marketing V.P Barbara Wruck, who is merged their colective business smarts .runs across your-desk and bookshelves in a meeling mat lias apoarenl'y lasled two and imaginative powers, establishing a while you play tag with it. That could be a weeks. But then, Coleco's busy loach. re professional reputation among toy com- holographic projection, like the Star Wars Cabbage Patch Kids to talk to one another panies. They designed Oodles (two-inch- chessboard; And you wouldn't need spe- via radio waves. S4 OMNI Anewconcept in wordprocessing unfolds. Smith Corona proudly I introduces the one-and-only £ all-in-one PWP 6 personal Of course, PWP 6 sports all the __J word processor. 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CORONIi -When you're ready to print, just But best of all, this giant among ;: - ': :'.": '. 10 '..O! 0.i:H CopCtAilOr, > . or Smith Corona (Canada Lid), 440 Ta d, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada M1B Tt — — Playmates Toys, Inc., of 0' La Mirada, Cal- forward backward . . . wilh no refund. the number and they say I le hasn't checked ifornia, and Worlds ol Wonder in Fremont, Perhaps we've stepped over the boundary in yet. I call a couple b! hours later, and California, don't return calls eilher. But No- of reasonable thought." in they say he's not his room. I call [he next lan Bushnell, chairman of Axlon in Sunny- Whatever we've njs! stepped over, I need morning, and they say he's checked out. vale, California, founder of Atari, the father to hell gel Ihe away trom my desk and But Larry Larsen of Alchemy II returns of video games, does, "You're probably phone and all hese lechaholic Icy design- my calf. "I've got two other designers here talking as much about the future of mar- ers. I am halfway out the door when the with me," he says. So Larsen, director of keting as the future of toys," he begins. phone rings. concepls Russell Hcks. ana associate di- "There will always be loys that are just a "Wanna buy a duck?" rector of concepts Ron Chesley brain- hunk of plastic but with proper marketing "Noah, this is a weird connection. You storm togethe.' brough a spoakerphone. will sell. But in the future I really think we're like the sound Wizard of Oz." Larsen; Alchemy II is a broadly based going to be creating synthetic playmates. "The Lizard of Oz? Thank you. Have you firm lhat addresses TV and motion pic- " little 7 A robot to walk around with a little boy read any stories by Paul Bowles tures, amusement- nark laci.'ilies and at- and throw him a baseball and be acom- "Did he play the Tin Man?" tractions, and consumer product's, includ- rade, confidant—maybe mommies will want "The one with ihe worms coming oul of ing toys and games. Without a doubl we're that as well." his head?" committed to human beings who happen Tony Miller, vice president of new busi- "No, in The Wizard oiOz." to be shorter than we arc. ness developmenl at Tonka Toys in Min- "The one with Danny DeVito?" Chesley: I've been doing this for about neapolis, agrees with Bushnell. "For a long "No. But, Noah, how did you guys start Iwenty-eight years. Things don't change time our culture has looked for an intelli- designing toys?" much as far as basic loy lines. The tech- gent, obedient surrogate playmate," he "First we put on gray sweais. Then we nology changes, but there are still tradi- says. "We've already designed very rudi- "put on bunny ears. No, really, our dad was tions and cycles Twenty years Irom now : mentary robots thai w ll become increas- in toy manufacturing." we'll be looking at artificial intelligence ingly lifelike and interactive." "So it's a family tradition?" linked to holographic systems. How aboul Ever the high-tech advocate, Bushnell a doll lha! dances around Ihe table, an ac- contends that it's silly for a child to have to tual entity that is not really there but is color a coloring book with a piece of wax projected on air, maybe. when computer screens are much more Hicks: Or a child's imaginary friend who interesting Will and rewarding basic blocks comes lo life so you won't need a sister or '•Everybody wants be replaced? I ask. "I don't think so," he brother anymore. Just kidding. says. "They're kind of primal." to perfect an interactive Larsen: History disks. Learn history ho- Holograms also will be available in the lographically. Re-creale Ihe signing of the — toy, a little near future "easily doable," he says. "It's Declaration of Independence in your kid's about len years for critter them to advance from that runs across the bedroom. The kid could sign itl a lab curiosity to become manufacturable ' desk. Now, that Hi'cks: The kid would actually be on Ihe i! Ho home products, and we're lot seeing a scene. I can't wait! of holographic stuff in the labs now." could be a holographic :. ;-:iser- Mobiliy. sizo. inler activity—those When I ask his opinion about violenl toys. projection— are probably the key words. what are called "active, male toys," he Chesley: Easry in twenty years people no special glasses needed.^1 scoffs. "A lot o! people deny the animalistic are going to have a better sense of value. nature of little boys," he says. "I have three Products will be either very educational or sons, and believe me, there is an aggres- very entertaining. sive nature that we cannot suppress, we Larsen: Both. can only channel; otherwise we create the Hicks: Antigravity toys! Oh, boy, kids preacher's son syndrome." "Yeah, but my sister's a graphic de- flying around Ihe room! Bushnell Ihinks a good, futuristic leslos- signer in Francisco. San She designed the . Larsen; Three-D TV . . . antigravity. terone buster might be what he calls Tele- 6 in Ihe Bloomingdale's logo. My brothers Hmrnm, we've got work to do. sports, athletic a computerized center in a and I wanted to work together, so we said, Chesley: Mental imaging. Telepathy. corner of a bedroom where men or ado- 'Let's just get a desk and a phone. Some kind ol apparatus where there's in- lescent boys play a game that's physically At that moment the connection sputters put but not through your eyes and ears, aggressive, ding, easy on like a punctured rubber duck, and the line We gi! direcr. to the brain. the knees, and gives them a tremendous goes dead. Larsen: Teleportation. Your molecules aerobic workoul. 'And we can postulate lhat Everyone returns my calls while I'm away. break down; you transport them and reas- in twenty years we'll be linked together fi- The message light on my answering ma- semble them someplace else. beroptic ally, " he says matter-of-factly. "We chine looks like a red alert. David Shapiro Hicks: Geneiic engineering kits for kids! could play a Telesport with a friend who's' of Ideal Toys in New York says he is leaving Make your own pets! in his room across or in another city town lown and wishes me luck. Dean Carley I las Larsen; Creating one's own loys by Telepresence, if you will." called and I call him back at Hasbro, but Ihinking Them into existence. What disturbs Bushnell about the future he has vacation. His gone on associate, Australian aborigines, I say, believe of is toys time travel. "That's something I Rick Brunner, clfers to tell mo about a proj- ever v In ha was sena nto existence. probably won't see in my lifetime, and I'm ect he had worked on: a lawn mower wilh "RUSSELL WANTS A MERCEDES/ 1 really disappointed about that. Imagine a fish-eye lens and a scanner that would Chesley arid Larsen sing logorhe 1 walking down the streets el Greenwich Vil- pick up pylons driven into the lawn. I "The Hicks: still want my Mercedes, but I it full lage when was of Italian immigrants. mower knew when it was getting close to need a raise. Or experiencing Voltaire's France, the the edge," he says, "and could mow the Larsen: Waler activities but nonviolent doges of Venice." But, he warns, you could lawn by itself." Brunner believes this con- [growing very serious) We have a strong time do travel only as a no n participant; cept could be applied lo robots who clean commilmenl to nonviolent loys. We' r e al otherwise the present would your become up room. (Not much of a loy, I think.) reaoy seeing a reduction of violen! loys in in [he movie unstable— as Back to the Fu- He suggests I call another Hasbro de- Nie Marketplace. ture. it'll possible "Maybe be to time-travel signer, John Sahicr. I do. John is out sick. Chesley: How aboul a hovercycle in- forward but not return, because you'd know The last call is from Eddy Goldfarb. He's stead of a bicycle— like E.T.? the future," he says. "So if would be only at some hotel in i'aos. New Mexico. I call Hicks: Yeah, hovering with your geneti- 66 OMNI CCNTINi.lL UO\ l-'AGf- "? really is a Santa Claus, it tiny reindeer aren't his sleigh. And he might ADESTE FIDELES ter solstice had nolhing to do with Martian timekeeping. But they kept to the twelve fa- vemberandThanksgivingandc the holiday. Steegman thought r, . and Christmas cards sail, Christmas ti pulled itself together and r healthy; so they tlanged together si ' —rt of tree-shaped— red flannel long Johns, stuffed with e 1 mmmmt. li BBSp i^i lijtifii- ) i i.i iii iii i iii .i i jr rn v n j ib. ^?lz^%&£*k SJfcl&il C^^Ie ^^K^Ea^^^^fl^l jfefrVA ¥j$$£?*^ **kA v*£t* A1NTING BY MAS HOLLANDER - ,-:- .:, ,-o--::- %$& .}'/ re ml ; HI — —" nuclear one that crawled through the Mar- nated. They couldn't live without water. They movie star had wrestled a female grizzly tian rock and melted out tunnels, as well drank It, glumly watching the dosimeters with cubs. as two or three solar-powered ones that go into .the black. As soon as they could, "Henry," said Sharon bas Ramirez, "do leveled and shaped the surface of the they began to melt water out of the perma- me a favor, will you? See if you can bring planet, twenty meters up from where they frost under the Martian polar ice cap, only back some better samples." lived. He didn't usually drive any of them in a dozen kilometers away; but by then the She was looking very tired. He ate his person. The places where his tractors went people began to get sick. The dosage was almost-hash slowly, studying her: black were not very hospitable to human beings. not terribly high. Just enough to kill, but not patches under her eyes, fatigue in the set When his services were needed, which very quickly. of her jaw. was less and less often, as the captain and There was one other bad effect. "What kind of samples?" he asked. the council decided that there was really NASA's vast and powerful public rela- She shrugged wearily. "You cook them no more need ever to build new domes tions machine (ought for them most cou- with the heat of the drill," she complained, and explore new anomalies the gravito- rageously, but the odds were too much. "so the structure gets degraded." meters pointed for them, No matter out he sat before how many tearjerker TV inter- "I tried cold rock drills, Sharon! I even television a screen and commanded his views NASA ran with weeping wives and went out myself! I even swiped some tractors by remote control. children, no matter what presidential proc- blasting powder and a detonator and— That was more or less Christmassy, too. lamations and prayers, the public image of "Don't get excited, Henry," she said It was like having the world's biggest the expedition was robust against propa- sharply, reaching over to wipe some spilled anyway. Mars' biggest— set of electric ganda. Bunch of clowns, the public hash off his coverall. He muttered an apol- trains to play with. thought. Busted their rocket ship. Ruined ogy, calming himself down. "Maybe you It was about that useful, too, for a com- their equipment. Got themselves killed. can find a fissure somewhere," she said. munity of thirty-eight, once two hundred Fortunately for the American spirit, there "Try, anyway? Because I'm a biochemist, four, mostly sick beings. black and human was a new American tennis player not a candy striper, and I get real tired of Since there was no necessity for much who won the Wimbledon that year, and a feeding the sick ones because I don't have activity of any kind anymore, Steegman was anything more important to do." encouraged to play with his toys whenever "I'll try," he promised, and thought hard he wanted to. It kept him out of the way, about how he could keep thai promise, all and it cost nothing. It didn't cost the com- the way to his handler room. munity valuable working time, because He took the deep tunneler this time, pon- 6H/s there wasn't a whole lot Steegman was able dering how he could oblige Sharon bas to do. Radiation sickness in his case had yells had brought others into Ramirez. He pushed it through deep Mar- attacked the nerves. He was likely to spasm tian rock, twenty the control room. kilometers north of the when he tried anything very demanding. camp. He was not paying strict attention to Since the diggers were nine-tenths auto- Captain Seerseller ordered what he was doing. He was humming 'Ad- matic he couldn't do much harm there. But Henry out of the este Fideles," part of his mind thinking about he couldn't be trusted with anything as Sharon bas Ramirez, part of it worrying way, afraid he'd get excited delicate as, say, changing bedpans for the about the latest one to begin to lose blood dying. And it certainly didn't cost any more and knock something rapidly— sickly, pale little Terry Kaplan than they could afford in power. As long as when the instruments revealed a temper- over or push the wrong button.^1 the photovoltaic cascades were given ature surge before the nose of the borer. plenty of time to recharge, they provided He shut the machine down at once and plenty of power for the surface tractors. For palped the rock ahead with sonic probes. the tunneler there were stocks far beyond The dials showed it was very thin. The sonar any reasonable expectation of need of fuel scan showed a lumpy, mostly ball-shaped rods, salvaged from the wreck of the slave TV star who actually wrestled grizzly bear:, patch, quite large, filled with white-traced, rocket. The instrumentation it bore was all in his spare time. shadowy shapes. mangled, but there's not much you can do The public found new heroes. Henry Steegman grinned. A cavern! to stubby, heavily clad rods of radio- And thought rarely, if at all, about the Even better than a fissure in the rock! He nuclides. There was also plenty of food, spoiled heroes on Mars. could break in at one end, let it cool, bring light. water, heat, and the borer back home, get in it himself, and The community was really only short of So on what the calendars said was the ride back to collect all the samples Sharon three things. People. Purpose. And hope. twenty-first of December Henry Steegman could want, uncooked. He started the drill Hope had' gone for most of them, along got out of his bunk, felt his gums to see if again on low power and gentled the tun- with purpose, when the slave rocket they were bleeding, and went to the com- neler another meter along its course. crashed. The expedition was there to con- mon room for a leisurely breakfast. He The instruments told him that he had duct scientific investigations. When the peered in first to make sure Captain Seer- broken through. drone toppled off its axis of thrust, it split seller wasn't up unusually early. He wasn't. Steegman shut the tunneler down and open, blew its fuel tanks, wrecked every The only other person there was Sharon thought for a minute. delicale part of the instruments, which was bas Ramirez, the biochemist, and when Good practce required that he let the most of their parts, and drenched the sur- Henry had picked his almost-hash out of rock cool for hall an hour before opening face with radionuclides. The misguidance the freezer and passed it through the mi- the shutters over the delicale and rarely of the rocket wasn't the only thing that went crowave, he joined her. Sharon bas Rami- used optical system. He could do that. Or wrong. Someone, unforgivably, in the fran- rez was one of the few survivors who he could start it back without looking and tic rush to salvage what they could, had treated Steegman like a worthwhile human then go in person, which would take two or brought hot piping down into the cavern, being, no doubt because it was Steegman three hours anyway. someone else had hooked it into the water who had brought back samples of or- He shrugged and stretched and leaned recirculators; it had simmered there, seep- ganic-contaminated rock for her. '"Life on back, waiting for time to pass. with asmile ing powdery fission products into their Mars!" their dispatch had read, and they on his face. Sharon was going to be real drinking water for more than a day before . had hoped lor a wonderful rebirth of ex- pleased! Especially if there turned out to someone else thought to put a dosimeter citement back home. But it wasn't really be anything organic in the rock of the cav- to his coffee cup. anything alive, only chemicals that might ern—though of course, he cautioned him- By then, of course, it was all contami- once have been. And besides, that day the self, that wasn't guaranteed. Was pretty 70 OMNI damn rare, ac-.ually The crust of trie planet what sorts of roc-! tne drill :ractor was nib- Mars was very cold and very lifeless; it was bling through. Then Steegman turned it off only in a few places, where a vagrant stir- and switched channels to the portable ring of deep-down heat made a patch mi- cameras in the tirst buggy. "Is that it?" little nutely warmer than what was around it, that Terry Kaplan asked, hoarding breath to it you could say was anything capable of speak. —"It looks. . .looks"—she took a deep supporting a microbe, anyway. Still, ihey breath "looks different." were well under the polar cap wilh the dig- "It's only the tunnel," Steegman said ab- ger now, There woUa at east be residual sently, watching as the field of view swung water, here and there. ... dizzyingly around. Then the first party was When the lime was up he looked, and in inside, and whoever was carrying that tne searchlight beam, he saw that the cav- camera was glad to set it down on auto- ern was there, all right, but it wasn't exactly matic scan. So Steegman watched jeal- empty. It wasn't natural, either. It was a great ously as the others piled into the wonder- bubble laced with what might have been land he had round (or them, each one more catwalks and what looked like balconies, excited than the other. Marty Lawless, six Panasonic and all about it were what seemed to be feet six and fifty years old, pulled his spi- shelves and what could be called tables. dery body in and out of prism-shaped Video Update Some of them had things on them. structures inside the great hollow bubble Henry Steegman didn't know what it was and cried, "It really is a store! Kind of a he had found, but it had a funnily sugges- store! Like an enclosed market? Like a When it comes to shooting in low tive look to it. He didn't make the connec- great big shopping mall, where you can light, the Panasonic OmniMovie" tion for nearly twenty minutes, though. By find almost anything." PV-320 really shines. But this then his yells had brought others into the "It could be. a warehouse," objected camcorder can do more than control room. Manuel Andrew Applegate, senior surviv- capture your child's smile by the They began to yell, too. Captain Seer- ing archaeologist, annoyed at the pre- seller ordered Henry back out of the way sumption of someone who actually was a light of one candle. because ihey were all afraid, naturally, that communications engineer. A Real Show Stopper he would get too excited and knock some- "There's notn re on most of the shelves, The PV-320 has a Worn of a thing over or push the wrong button, bul Manny-Anny," Captain Seerseller pointed second high-speed shutter that he could catch glimpses of what was on out. the screen and hear what everyone was Lawless answered that one, "The can capture the excitement too. shouting to each other. He heard perfectly perishables have perished, of course," he on your child's face as a roller when Marty Lawless yelled, "You know cried. "God knows how old this is! But it's coaster screams down the track. what it'is? li's a Martian Macy's!" a store, all right. A suq. A bazaar!" Or put your golf or tennis game By the time Steegman had painfully And back in the control booth Terry Kap- inched his drill out of the way, he was al- lan whispered to Steegman, with what on the right track. Because it can most alone at the base. Not quite alone. sounded like the last of her breath, "It really capture every split second of The walking sick, Terry Kaplan and Bruce is a Macy's, Henry. Oh, how Morton is going your golf swing or tennis stroke. DeAngelis and one or two others who were to love this!" And show you the results in well enough to look but far from well enough And no one answered, because Terry crystal-clear slow motion and to make the "trip lo the cavern, were wheez- was a widow. Morton Kaplan had died more freeze-frame. ing and gasping behind him, but everyone than three months before. else was gone. Shoot Like Pro A The tunnel from the base camp io the And so the expedition began to live Ordinary camcorders produce a store" it "department was thirty-three kilo- . again—as much as could with most of rainbow pattern of noise between meters and a bit, the last five sfill uniined. its people already buried under the Mar- scenes. This can be annoying Wheeled vehicles couldn't go down the tian soil. Pictures, samples, diagrams, data unlineii pari, but no one was willing to wait of all kinds everyone wanted to put his when you shoot something with a — for lining. So the first two parties drove, six specialty to work at once, no; not after the lot of scenes, like a Little League or eight at a time in the big-wheeled tunnel archaeological team made its inventories, game. But the PV-320 has a fly- buggies, as far as the surfaced section of but now, me first! Not only were they thrilled ing erase head that produces the -.unr.el went. at what they had found, Ihey were actually Then they walked, in air signs clean, virtually glitch-free edits. masks and getting, of real interest from Earth, for backpacks, because the dcparlment store the first time in many months. So everything you shoot will have was by light-years the "'"est astonishing dis- It didn't happen right away. The round- a more professional look. covery the expedition had made on Mars. trip travel time for talking io NASA Com- and therefore thing The Choice Is Yours the that most nearly mand was less than thirty minutes, but no ustifiec tne oss :s nearly all "heir lives. one at NASA Command was paying atten- There's a full range of Panasonic They almost all went, all but the ones too tion when the first excited messages came camcorders. From the sophisti- sick. . .and Henry Steegman. Thediscov- in. Hours later, some no-doubt-bored cated PV-320 that records home erer of the department store was- not al- comm specialist decided he might, alter movies and plays Hollywood lowed to enter it. all, earn his day's pay by looking over the movies. To a compact camcorder It wasn't just that he was needed to get last batch ot accumulated tapes. And did. the big borer out of the tunnel so people And boredom vanished. that weighs less than 2.5 pounds. could clamber Through, Captain Seersell- It was a good time for Earth to take an Nobody gives you more ways to er's last order had made that clear. It was, interest in Mars again. The movie star had catch the action than Panasonic. "You stay here, Steegman, you under- lost his last bout with a grizzly, terminally: stand? No matte; what." and there was a new Czechoslovak! an kid So for the first ten minutes Steegman and burning up the tennis courts, So the net- Panasonic. his hovering .casuallies saw nothing on the work news carried the pictures, and there just slightly ahead of our time® screen but' the sonar scan, reporting on were special half-hour reports every night — after the late news, and NASA's PR. people "Now." said ihe caplain wi'.h an ccge in were in heaven, Send us more, they his voice, "I want to introduce to you the begged. Not just some, crummy old. ar- man who. carrying out my directions, made chaeological drawings and photographs. the first penetration of this Martian marvel, Pt-rsonaiities! Interviews! Henry Steegman." Interviews with, most of all. that one hero Steegman jerked his eyes open and of the expedition whoever "ie was. who had blinked at the camera. He didn't like hav- ti-s: discovorco the Martian Macy's. ing it look at him; his eyes wavered away Since the captain was well and truly but only onto the monitor, which was worse. tried NASA trained, he saw his duty and did it. He could see thai he was shaking. He They co-opted Sharon bas Ramirez away to control it, which made it worse. "Henry," from her delightful duties of studying said the captain, "tell us how you felt when rnoldering samples of definitely organic you broke through into the cavern." substances from the store and put her to Steegman thought for a moment and work patching Henry Sieegman's old tunic; then said uncertainly, "Real good?" the one surviving surgeon was taken off "Real good! Well, we all did thai, Henry," the wards of the dying to. cut Henry's hair said the captain with audible lorbearance. and shave him; and they put him in front ot "But when you completed this task I had the TV camera. assigned you and saw for the first lime proof Panasonic Captain Seerseller, of course, did the in- that there had once been life on Mars terview himself— he remembered all of his even civilized life!—were you surprised? Telephone Update training. They found the two best-looking Excited? Happy? Did it make you want to cry? both at Today, there are dozens of cord- chairs in the colony and planted them be- laugh? Or Or once?" I Henry said, less telephones to choose from. So fore a camera, with a table containing a "Oh, see what you mean," bizarre sort of unrusted metal implement pondering. "Pretty much that kind of thing. if you want to make an informed and intelligent purchase, become famil- between them. It was the most spectacu- I guess." the s:s far al- "And did it make you realize that ail the iar with what they have to offer. Two lar piece archaooloc nad so great sacrilices of blood and treasure— tips. One, look for a cordless with a lowed them lo bring in. lives of many of us, and the won- reputation for superb sound. And Then the captain gestured the camera the so derful support the people have given in two, look for a cordless that offers to himself. When it was on, he smiled di- rectly into the lens. "Hello, my friends," he making this venture possible— did it make features that make sense for you* If reporting. leader- you think it was all worthwhile?" ypu do that, chances are you'll de- said. "Mars Under my continued sur- Henry had figured out a safe response. cide on one of ours. ship the expedition has to vey this .old planet, on its surface and un- He said promptly, "I don't exactly remem- Automatic Intercom System der, and we have just made the most ber that, Captain." This feature allows you to take wonderful discovery in human history. Un- The captain swallowed a sigh and mo- Mina Wandwater, the best look- the handset outside and still be in der my direction Henry Steegman was ex- tioned to touch with the person inside. Simply tending our network of exploratory tunnels. ing of the surviving women, who came for- touch the intercom button on the He broke through into a sealed under- ward into camera "ange w t'n a champagne glass. "This is for you, Henry," handset, and the system is automati- ground chamber of approximately twenty bottle and a said captain, leaning forward io stay in cally activated and ready for two-way thousand cubic meters volume. It is di- the conversation. vided into live levels. All levels are built over range of the camera as Mina poured. "It's with triangular prism-shaped structures. your just reward for carrying out my in- 10-Channel Automatic Scan- Each triangular 'booth' contains a different ssr jct;ons so successfully!" I he-: carei.i'ly while Mina ning for Clear Reception kind of item. Our specialists have made a Henry held glass Cordless telephones operate on preliminary inspection, on my orders, and filled it, curtsied prettily to him and the channels. On occasion, they're sus- have reached the tentative conclusion that captain, and withdrew. He looked at the instructions. ceptible to noise and interference. the objects are merchandise and that the captain for When that happens, automatic cavern itself was the equivalent of a Mar- The captain said tightly, "Drink it!" "Right, Captain," Henry said. He stared scanning finds the clearest channel tian department sice, Tnis object," he said, the glass, then suddenly jerked it to his within a TO-channel range and puts picking up the gleaming thing, "was per- at haps a scientific instrument or possibly lips. He slobbered half the contents over you on it. Just press a button. In course, himself the iloor. Then because the fact, you can even scan during your even a household utensil. Of most and — the contents conversation. of the contents of this 'store' are rusted, de- bottle was champagne but cayed, or simply vanished—they have weren't; they were something bubbly the to refill Security Systems been there for a long, long time. So I have chemists had cooked up the -logi: io Steegman sputtered and choked. Today's cordless telephones have ordered our an nao i: exercise ex- empty— very sophisticated security systems. tern© care in their handling so thai no valu- He twitched and dropped the glass and They help prevent eavesdropping able data might be lost." then sat there, gaping dumbly into the tele- and unauthorized use of your tele- The camera focus had pulled back to vision camera. It not only a lot of trouble to keep up phone line by another cordless tele- show the stand the object had come from, was phone owner. So look for features and also Henry Steegman digging into one the morale back home, it sometimes didn't at all. captain gave the camera a like Auto Security and user change- ear with a finger while he was listening in work The "That concludes our able Digital Security Codes in your fascination to the captain. Steegman was great smile and said, interview with Henry Steegman, who un- new cordless telephone. not at all sure what he was supposed to be doing. His instructions had been, Just re- der my—what is it, Henry?" he asked irrita- the lax. But it was hard to relax with the cap- bly. Steegman had stopped dabbing at wave Panasonic Iain's occasional Tosly. sidelong looks. He mess on his tunic long enough to was feeling that tunny, buzzy sensation that frantically at the captain. just slightly ahead of our time meant his ruined nervous system was "I just wanted to say one more thing," he being overstimuiated again; he closed his pleaded. "You folks at home? I know it's a eyes and breathed deeply. little early, but— Merry Christmas!" They made Steegman take another their signals back to Earth, or in roaming physical after that, which kept him in the out fifty or a hundred kilometers to pick up ward overnight, among the immobile and samples and bring them back for testing. Ihe dying. The surg-son studied his tests Just seeing the dwarfed, distant sun was and plales and to c -enry mal.ter-of-factly, a thrill. The tiny points oi hot lighl that were "You re going, I'm afraid. A iew more weeks. the stars were a delight. The queerly close Your myelin sheaths are rotted away. It's horizon was an astonishrrjent—they were going to get worse pretty soon—that's a marvels, all of them, all the time. Over every nice haircut, though, isn;t it?" hummock Ihere was the myslery of what When Henry went to the captain's office, Mars was all about. What would they find? the captain wasn't there. Neither was the A city? An oasis? A . . . Martian? surgeon, but his report had already come Or, as hopes for any of those dwindled, over the net, and the execulive otficer was a tree? studying il on her screen. Or a bush? "You want what, Henry?" she asked. "You Or a thin patch of moss on a rock? want to go into the cavern? Good lord, no! And they had found none of them. There Captain Panasonic Seerseller would never permit it. was nothing. There was always nothing ex- The surgeon's report makes it very clear, cept the same sterile sand and rock or Audio Update your motor reflexes are too untrustworthy, sandy ice at the beginning of the cap. Even that's very delicate stuff in there, and we the tiny sun and the white-hot stars weren't Panasonic XBS stereos produce don't want it wrecked." exciting anymore. bass so powerful, we dare you to "I wouldn't hurt anything," he protested, Steegman kicked against the rock wall but she wasn't listening anymore. She just under his control desk. match it. But they have much waved him out. Then he brightened. more to spark your interest. Nobody else wanted to listen, either, It was, alter all, Christmas Eve! XBS Goes Boom though some of them tried to make it more palatable. "You wouldn't want to spoil your So Henry Steegman made the long trek The RX-C38 will put more boom own discovery, would you?" Mina Wand- back to the captain s ohce again, pausing in It's your room. a sophisticated water asked. on the way in his own chamber. The Santa 3-piece AM/FM stereo cassette "I wouldn't hurt anything," Steegman Claus suit was still there in the locker under recorder with auto-reverse and a pleaded. his cot! He pulled out a knapsack, stuffed "Of course you wouldn't mean to. No," the suit in, and hurried down the 5-band graphic equalizer. Plus corridor. she.said kindly, "you just stay out of there, Captain Seerseller was not there, and there's a 6-speaker system that's okay? We just can't afford any more acci- Lieutenant Tesca was not encouraging. hard to equal. Because two dents on our record, you know:" "He's at Macy's," she said, "and really very before speakers are subwoofers that will She was gone Steegman re- busy, and so am I — I'm going there myself. membered to point out thai generate enough bass to knock he wasn't the What, a Christmas party? No, no, I can't one who had crashed the instrument rocket authorize that— really, Henry," she said lairly you off your equilibrium. or let the fission products into the water. patiently. "I don't think you understand what XBS In A Mighty Mini Sharon bas Ramirez was kinder but also tinding this means to us. We just don't have busier. She looked up from ihe tubes of time for nonsense right now." Don't let the small size of the samples long enough to say, "I really can't But she let Steegman hitch a ride with RX-FM40 fool you. It's the com- talk to you now, Henry, but don't worry. her. The big-wheoled buggy slid smoothly pact stereo that produces bass They'll. let you in sooner or later, you know." down Ihe tunnel until Incy reached the un- with incredible impact. That's be- But if it weren't sooner, it couldn't be later. tined part: then-tRe executive officer Steegman said absently, "You know it's jumped out and left rapidly for the last tew cause it combines the XBS extra v Onnslmas Eve?" kilometers. Steegman' toiled patiently be- bass system with an AM/FM "Oh. So it is. Merry Christmas, Henry," hind. His gait was getting worse ail the time, stereo, an auto-reverse cassette she said, turning back to her lab bench. he knew. His knees were wobbly—not recorder, an 8-combination equal- Steegman limped back to his control painful, just sort of loosely put together, so • izer and a 5-speaker system. booth and activated his tunneler. Then he that he was never sure his leg would sup- sat moping before the screen without port him at any stride—and his calves were XBS On A Personal Note sending it forward. Sometimes he got beginning to ache from the unaccustomed For those who want to experience pleasure out of executing circles and fig- strain on the muscles caused by his awk- ure eights under the surface of Mars, drill- ward foot placement. It took him XBS on a more persona! level, an hour, ing the old planet hollow, lacing it with but by the time he passed the side shaft there's the RX-SA79. It's an AM/FM worm holes and channels the likes of which where he had left the tunneler, he could personal stereo with multiband it had never known. Would never know already hear voices up ahead. graphic equalizer, Dolby; auto- again, most likely, but would also never for- The loudest voice was Captain Seer- reverse and specially designed get. The Martian crust was too thick and seller's. He was arguing with Manuel An- too old and too cold to squeeze itself drew Applegate at Ihe entrance headphones that intensify to the cav- and - seamless again. The arteries Steegman ern. Beyond then Steegman could see the magnify bass. gouged would stay there forever. interior of the cavern as he had never seen So if you want just more than He turned it off and thought about the it beiore. A score of bright lights had been surface basic bass, Panasonic XBS port- tractors. But he didn't like working put in place all around it, throwing shad- on surface Oh, in those able stereos will be your new much. first weeks ows, illuminating bright colors and pastels, after landing in spite of the power bass. — deaths and clusters Of long-rusted-away metal things the doom that hung over most of the sur- and heaps of heaven knew what, rotted into 8 Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Labs. yivors—what a thrill- it had been! He had black grit. When the captain caught sight delighted in bulldozing ageless, eternally of Steegman he turned and blazed, "What Panasonic. untrodden Martian sard f.iru..i gravel into flat are you doing here? I've told you to stay ,_ just slightly ahead of ourtime® bases for. the n,ge dish Tansmitler that sent out of this place!" . thee was ncih nc :o stop l";im Irom makog !o throw up for Ihe first lime. Fortunately, he ass expecting it. The pounding molion of Steegman pressed against the scarred ihe tunneler was enough to make anyone metal of tho tunneler. just where it rounded queasy, even if he hadn't been drinking the into the straight flank. He found the re- colony's water; and Steegman had found cessed catch. It had rock chips in it, of a receptacle— actually it was a case for course; bul lie pa'iently worked Ihem free, one of the fuel rods —to throw up in. When, opened (he hatch, climbed in. and made he was through he was sweating and light- his way to the driver's seal. headed, but peaceful. The quarters were cramped, and the He advanced the speed of the tunneler cabin was still uncomfortably hot from the abiland bored on. last spate of digging. But it was his own. Ho had no parlicular objective in mind : things bigger," He pulled the Santa Clai.,5 suit out of his excep". xi go on He likec having no objec- >egman began, knapsack and rolled it up behind his head. tives. It was how you found unexpected Then he leaned back ana dosed his eyes, things. At the head of the borer, where the He didn'l sleep. immense, terribly hard, lough teeth ground After a while he sat up straight, turned into the rock, were two flush-mounted the idling circuits on, checked his instru- poppers. Every second each of them emit- ments. The tunneler had communications ted a shaltering pistol crack of sound, the as well as control circuits to the campsite, frequencies jus', dillo-rarl enough trom each Ihe grave yards." and Steegman considerec cal ing back to other, and sufficiently unlike any of the captain. And Steeg- let anyone who might care Know where he spectrum of noises Ihe chew no of the borer was: He thought he might leave a mes- fse-f p'oduceo. to be distinguishable by sage about how he fell, too, because in the sonar receivers inside Ihe shell. Every fact he was beginning to feel very peculiar. second they reached out and felt for flaws : Since very ew pe:'sors would really care, or faults or soft spots and displayed the Steegman decided agains! it. He cut the results on the screen before Steegman communications system out entirely. Then Steegman "didn'l have a windshield, of he advanced the control tor the drills and course. There was no glass strong enough engaged the tractor motors. to fit the shell of the tunneler. arc generally There was a racketing roar of noise. The nothing to see if there had been. But the cab, and the whole :;mreier, shook in short, screen was as good. sharp shocks. It began to move forward, Steegman leaned back, waiching ihe lefl the digger. He could drive himself down into virgin Marlian rock. patterns change before him. What he was heme! Not in that tunnel, of course. But Twenty minuxs later Steegman began looking for, mostly, were soft spots in the rock ahead—an intrusion of lighter rock, maybe, or a lens ol clathrate, Ihe ice-and- solids mix that was the principal Martian source of liquid water. Or— perhaps!— another cavern . . It was a pity Stocarar reflected, that ho was going lo die soon. It was not a horror. The first shock of that sorl of realization had long worn calloused. He had known for a year that his lite would be short and had been certain almost that long that he would nol survive to the liftoff, much less through the endless return to low Earth orbit and home. So there were pleasux'S he woj d never nave again Item he would never see clouds in a blue sky. Item, he would never swim. Hem, he would never get a chance to see the marvels he had not got around to— Niagara Falls, Slonehenge. ihe Great Wall ol China. Never again a full moon or a rainbow or a thun- derstorm; never hail a taxi on a city street; never walk into a movie theater with a pretty woman; never— Never any of those in. rigs. On the other hand, he comforted himself, there was hardly anyone who wouid ever see the things he had seen on Mars! Even what he was seeing now on the screen, why, it was wonderful! He was kilo- meters beyond Ihe 'department store" now, lar under the thin smear o! dry ice and water ice that was the North polar cap. The false- color images on the screen formed pretty patterns, constantly changing as. the lun- neler moved forward and the sonars got better information on Anal' was oefcre then\ 78 OMNI — If there was firry leo;omc activity at all on Smiling to himsell in pleasure, Steeg- was sure of that. The tunnel was as much Mars, it lay not far from here, where echo man inched the nose of the borer down an artifact as the "department store." Crys- sounders had indicaied an occasional and around to intersect it. talline walls, undimmed by the millennia, ol plume warmer, lighter, softer matter When it was huge before him, there was bounced back Ihe light of his hand lamp. even liquid water in a few sparse, small a lurch, and the cutting nose spun madly. The cross section of the tunnel was trian- places. Peter Braganza, the head geolo- That was a surprise! There were not gular, with rounded corners. Natural for- gisl, likened ol had some them to the white many caverns under the Martian surface. rnations did not come in such shapes. smoke/black smoke fountains at the" bot- Sleegman guickly shut the blades off. On What price Niagara Falls now! Steeg- tom of some of the earth's seas, slow up- the tractor treads alone, dead slow, the man laughed out loud in triumph. His duty wellings of warmth from Ihe liny residual tunneler shoved its way through a few was clear. He should jump Pack in the tun- core heat of the old planet. crumbling edges ol rock. When it was Iree, neler and tell the rest of the expedition what It was from plumes like those that Steeg- he turned everything off and paused to he had found. They would want to come rnan had brought back Ihe samples that consider the situation. rushing, to explore this tunnel, to see what Ihrilled Sharon bas Hamire/. Organics! It He was really very fired, he realized. Al- it led to— was'almos) certainly organic mailer, she though he was glad that the painful jolting Buf so did he. though!, al leasl — but Ihe heat of the lun- o.f the tunneler had siopped, he was still Without looking back he turned left, set- neler had boiled the water out of the min- very queasy. He cautiously allowed him- tled the battery pack betler on his shoul- erals and had cooked the carbon com- self a few sips of water from the tunneler's der straps, and began 'imping down the pounds as well. If they had just had some supplies. When he did not immediately tunnel. When he had his next spasm of ot the instrument they should had, throw fell have them up again, he more cheerful. vomiling he had no handy canister to fill. the nuclear magnelic resonance scanner He thoughl lor a moment of opening the (On the other hand, there was not much in particular, she could have been communications link again to report his left in him to throw up. so the mess was sure. . .but the NMR equipmenl had been find. The gco.dyisls would surely wanf to minimal.) When at last he could walk no on the crashed rocket. mvoi'.liyale Ibis unusual structure. . . . longer he sat down, his fingers fumbling Steegman loaned loiward. peering at the with crumbled bits of what might have been screen. broken porcelain or might have been some A gray blob on Ihe lower right-hand cor- kind of stone. _ ner had changed to pale blue as the so- He closed his eyes, perfectly happy. nars got a belter reading on it. Clathrate? 4 Sleegman It was a long lime before ho opened them Nof exactly. Liquid water? Perhaps Steeg- again, and he wouldn't have, except that man couldn't gel a temperature reading jerked the glass to his lips. he felt as though his old dog were nuzzling that meant anything while ihe drills were He slobbered half at his fingers. going but Ihings did warm up a little as When he woke, the sensation remained. one approached the plumes. Il was the contents himself. quite over He Something was nuzzling at his hand, It possible thai water could be liquid here. ' wasn't sputtered, choked, a dog. When he stirred, it flinched He was humming "Silent Night" to himself away from the light, but with the last of his as he studied the screen. and- twitched and dropped the vision he got a good look at it. More than It was unusually pretty It al- now. was glass, then sat anything else, it looked like one of those most a hologram, or at least it gave the baby harp seals the lur hunters there, gaping at the camera.^ clubbed, illusion of depth, What ihe poppers only with skinny, stiltlike legs. "Merry scanned, Ihe sonar computers examined Christmas." Henry Steegman whispered, and analyzed and sculpted into ihe scene and died. before him. What ihey d-sp'ayod was almost always When al last anyone noticed that Steeg- more inlricalo and beautiful than anylhing Buf Steegman wanted to investigate it man was missing, the captain ordered he would have seen drilling through the himself. Manuel Andrew Applegate to follow the crusl of the' earth. Ihe Even most homo- He pulled on his air mask and, with less new tunnel and retrieve the borer itself, at geneous of earlhly rock shows differences strength than he had expected, was finally least— whether Steegman were retrieved of texture and density. Mars, able On where Ihe to force the front hatch open against or not, he declared, he didn't at all care. crust had been almost all cold for almost Ihe gravel that had accumulated outside When Applegate reached the borer and forever, there were countless splits it. It and was hot. saw what it had broken into, his almost in- fault lines cracks and to make a pleasing When he stepped cautiously out onto the coherent message back brought half the tracery of color streaks and blobs. talus, it burned his feet. He hopped back colony there on as close to a run as they li was funny, Sleegman 'nought, that they into the tunneler, rubbing one foot and could manage. didn't look really random. looking around for what he needed. Lights. When finally they saw Ihe dimming glow He had lo pause for another seizure of There was a shoulder pack of batteries and of Steegman's hand lamp, far down the vomiting, holding Ihe canister close to his hand lamp. Clothing, a too, because apart corridor, and hurried toward it, they saw lips against the cruelly sharp lurches of the roin Ihe rock that had been heated by the that Sleegman was not alone. tunneler. he When was through he put it drill the tunnel was guite cold.. He was dead, propped against the wall aside, still staring at Ihe screen. He tried to He grinned to himself, took the gar- in his Santa Claus suit. Even under the fake make sense of what he was seeing. ments from the back of the seat, and pulled beard they could see he was smiling; and Almost ahead, little a below the level he them on, even the platinum-blond beard. around him, whistling in distress as they was drilling through, there was a prism- He engaged the tractor treads and tried to avoid the harsh glare of the ap- shaped tubular structure that was dis- inched forward, pas; -.he 'ubble where he proaching tights, were eight unbelievably, played in golden yellow. Not clathrate!. Not had broken through, as far as he could un- wholly unexpectedly, unarguably living and even liquid water. II stretched off to the left til the motionless drilj teeth crunched breathing Martians. and away as-far as the sound probe could against the tar wall. And when at last the few survivors of the reach in one direction. In the other, for a Then he stepped out onto the smooth, expedition came home to a presidential re- hundred meters or so back toward Ihe Hat floor of the tunnel, which was no geo- ception and a New York ticker-tape pa- "department- store" he had long ago logic feature at all. rade, Broadway was not renamed Captain passed, until it came up against a hard Although his vision was bdrring and his Seerseller Avenue lor the occasion. It was new— geologically new— intrusion, breathing had become painful. Steegman called Henry Sieegman Doulevard.OO so OMNI HISTORY IN BITS AND PIECES: BODYSNATCHER PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROSAMOND PURCELL Rosamond Purcell specializes in taking sician John Collins Warren and his con- photos of what would ordinarily be objecls temporaries for the Warren Anatomical of repulsion —two-headed animals, skulls, Museum of the Harvard Medical School skeletons, ghoulish fragments of human and by his seventeenth- and eighteenth- faces — transforming Ihem into objects of century counterparts at the University of strange beauty, The specimens shown Leiden Medical School in Holland. here were gathered a century ago by phy- To find out more about the photographer and her extraordinary .work, we dis- patched writer Don Lessem to Purcell's sludio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where this interview was conducted. Omni: What draws you to seek out and photograph such strange collections? Purcell: I'm fascinaied with labeling and organizing things as a way of making sure they exist- -especially in natural history and medical collections, There's so much whimsy and artifice in the way things are preserved and displayed. Omni. I don't think anyone could call your images whimsical. Purcell: They are not delightful. I'd be stu- pid to say thai ; bul Ihey are not, fundamen- tally, ghoulish. All these objects are beau- tifully prepared artifacts. In the late 1600's people did not know a lot about how hu- man beings— hands, ears, noses—were put together. This was all pioneering work. Besides, looking at a nose in a jar isn't half as bad as looking at the face from which that nose has been removed. Omni: But what about the wax lace mask with the tumor near the left eye? Purcell; Yes, it is grotesquely disfigured; but Iho mask itself is a magnificently detailed thing, You'can even see Iho whiskers on it. It's incredibly beauiilui. My photographs are about isolating a piece of the human body as if it were a kind of relic. You arc able to contemplate it at a sort of surreal distance. You are not merely looking at an amputated arm here, parlic- ularly since it is in a lace cuff. It is more like a sacred object, an icon. V Omni: But the wax model of the baby.on 1 Previous pages; (large photo; Iwo-laced cat;: - ^-^ (smalt photos clockw:-:.? irom ieil) real human face, skeleton ol man v/iih rickets ano w;.' .<, replicas. Thin page: (clockwise irom middle swallowed an insane woman. »c « right) Pins by jCX adult skulls, wax lace vsith tumor neonatal Right. p skulls, two-headed call I tail cranium. ^ aBHRf "^WIP \< 1 . the board has some horrible parts. . . Purcell: True, it's missing a hand and has Ihose horrible bandages. But it reminds me of a tomb figure carved from Italian mar- ble. And the tattooed skin has the feeling of a fine painting. With some other things you say, Wow! I liked the two-faced cat be- cause he seemed to be right in the middle ot dividing. And the skeletons attached at the rib cage seemed very close to each other in a tender kind of way. Omni: What was it about the skull compo- sitions that appealed to you? Purcell: The newborn skulls reminded me of boulders. The pattern of the fontanels, •>.';.» the soft spots in Ihe skulls, reminded me of stained glass. And there are those two fe- tuses brought lo Holland by sailors in Ihe late 1700's as curiosities. To me they are interesting because they had been ob- viously preserved with a lot of care and ceremony. They have beads and rattles The olher skull picture gives such terrific informalion. As one skull label says, this was a pirate and suicide. The one next to him is from a guy who died at Waterloo. The guy above was hanged for murder, Omni: You use only natural light. Why? Purcell: it's aesthetic. The specimens look better with available light. It's philosophi- cal, too. Bright lights and technology somehow don't fit with the atmosphere. Omni: Are there any other collections that you are eager to see? Purcell: I haven't made specific plans, but a friend told me about a Pilgrim woman embalmed in wax— she lived by a tallow laclory or something. I'm on the case.OO Previous pages: Two fetuses donated to the Leiden museum by sailors in the eighteenth century. Lett Severed arm. This page (top row): Wax replica ot an intant surgical patient. face fragments. Middle row: Skeletons of twins joined at the rib cage, picture on the tattooed skin ol a Boston sailor. Right: Toe samples. PSYCHOTALES Langston Hughes, John Updike, Jayne Anne Phillips, John Cheever—and a psychologist— tell you who you are Aft,\ fter standing alone at t, staring at Mars and longing to probe its scarlet secrets. John Carter, [he heroic ex- plorer created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is miraculously transported [here and begins a series of rousing adventures. As a boy, Carl Sagan, entranced with these stories, would stare at the red planet, hoping that somehow he. too, would fine hmseil standing on its sur- face. To Yate psychologist Jerome L. Singer, the fact thai Say-.ii is today a .cading astron- omer is testament :o ".he competing power and revealing nature of fiction. Psychologists have long known that, like dreams, the stories we tell are windows to our souls. Our hopes and tears are reflected there; our ways of interacting with the world, re- - vealed, Less clear, though, are the ways in which our personalities show themselves in our response to reading a work of fiction. Was Sagan moved to become an astronomer be- cause as a boy he read the adventures of John Carter, or did he read those stories because PAINTING BY CLAUDE VERLINDE and he was already at heart an astronomer? simply turned around and kicK.od nim right Sweat popped oui on iho boy's face, stopped, Why are we as readers more drawn to one square in his buo- loaned sitter. Then she he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones jerked in front oi her, put a half story than another? Is It because we em- reached tlown, picked the boy up by his him around pathize with a particular character orfeel shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rat- nelson about his neck, and continued to street. she got lo an affinity for a place or scene, or is it be- tled. drag him up the When cause we are intellectually drawn to the After that the woman said, "Pick up my her door, she dragged the boy inside, down large. kitchenette-fur- richness of the words on the page, the viv- pocketbook, boy, and give it here." a hall, and into a idness of the vocabulary? She still held him lightly. But she. bent nished room at the rear of the house. She on the light left the door open. To be sure, all of us have our own pat- down enough to permit- him to stoop and switched and terns of interpretation, which reflect more pick up her purse. Then she said, "Now The boy could hear other roomers laugh- than we might suspect about how we think ain't you ashamed of yourself?" ing and talking in the large house. Some of knew he and feel. Psychologists have developed Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy their doors were open, too, so he numerous questionnaires, such as the said, "Yes'm." and the woman were not alone. The woman Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inven- The woman said, "What did you want to still had him by the neck in the middle of her room. tory and the Personality Research Form, to do it for?" measure various aspects of an individual's The boy said, "I didn't aim to." She said, "What is your name?" personality. When we asked Singer to pre- She said, "You a lie!" "Roger," answered the boy, "Then, Roger, to. that sink and pare this project for Omni, he thought it By that time two or three people passed, you go would be interesting to apply the princi- slopped, turned to look, and some stood wash your face," said the woman, where- ples behind those tests to fiction. "Psycho- watching. upon she turned him loose— at last. Roger at the door looked at the tales" is your chance to find out both how "If I turn you loose, will you run?" asked looked — you respond to fiction and what that may the woman. woman— looked at the door—and went to say about your personality. "Yes'm," said the boy. Ihe sink. the "Let the water run until it gets warm," she Here's how. Singer, who has been study- "Then I won't turn you loose," said ing the psychology of imagination, day- said. "Here's a clean towel." jail?" the dreaming, and fantasy for the past 40 years, "You gonna take me to asked the sink. has prepared a series c/ questions for four boy, bending over short stories (by John Cheever, John Up- "Not with that face, I would not take you "Here I dike, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Langston nowhere," said the woman. am teen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and I wanled things I could not get." " THANK YOU, M'AM and blue jeans. : There was anotherlong pause. The boy's By Langston Hughes The woman said, "You ought to be my mouth opened. Then he frowned, not knowing he frowned. She was a large woman with a large son. I would teach you right from wrong. said,."Um-hum! You thought I your woman purse that had everything in it but a ham- Least can do right now is to wash The didn't I was going to say but. you? You mer and nails. It had a long strap, and she face. Are you hungry?" "I thought I was going to say, but I didn't carried it slung across her shoulder. It was "No'm," said the being-dragged boy. about eleven o'clock at night, dark, and she just want you to turn me loose." snatch people's pocketbooks. Well, I wasn't "I I turned that going to say that." Pause. Silence. have was walking alone, when a boy ran up be- "Was I bothering you when hind her and tried to snatch her pursa The corner?" asked Ihe woman. done things, too, which I would not tell you, strap broke with the sudden single tug the "No'm." son— neither tell God, if He didn't already yourself in contact with me," know. Everybody s go: something in com- boy gave it from behind. But the boy's "But you pul while I lix weight and the .weight of the purse com- said the woman; "If you think that that con- mon. So you set down us some- bined caused him to lose his balance. In- tact is not going to last awhile, you got an- thing to eat. You might run that comb your hair will look present- stead of taking off full blast as he had other thoughl coming. When I get Ihrough through so you able." hoped, the boy fell on his back on the side- with you, sir, you are going to remember walk and his legs flew up. The large woman Mrs. Luelia Bates Washinu/un Jones." In another corner of Ihe room behind a 94 OMNI in Ihe story that il 4. 1 was so caught up screen was a gas pate and an icebox. Mrs. lars and buy yourself some blue suede for a time that I was actually a par- Jones got up and went behind the screen. shoes. And next time, do not make the mis- seemed pocketbook nor ticipant in it. The woman did not walch the boy to see if lake of latching onto my got by CATEGORY B he was going to run now, nor did she watch nobody else's—because shoes I struck the 1 . I read the story, was by feet. I got to As her purse, which she- left behind her on the devilish ways will burn your clever use of language—the shifts from the daybed. Bui the boy took care to sit on the get my rest now. But from here on in, son, dialect spoken by Ine characters to the vo- I will behave yourself." far side ot the room, away from the purse, hope you of Ihe narrator. where he thought she could easily see him She led him down the ha" to Ihe front cabulary struck I I occasionally opened it.- "Goodnight! Behave Z. As read, was out of the corner of her eye it she wanted door and I also yourself, boy!" she said, looking out into by Ihe clever use of language, but to- He did not trust the woman not to trust steps. found myself visua izirg scenes and hear- him. And he did not want to be mistrusted the street as he wenl down the The boy wanled to say something other ing the dialogue bevween the characters. reading this story, I often saw flashes "Do you need somebody to go to the than, "Thank you, M'am," to Mrs. Luella 3. In although his of pictures or heard sounds, as if I were store," asked. the boy, "maybe to get some Bates Washington Jones, but that as watching the slory unfold in a movie. milk or something?" lips moved., he couldn't even say of im- turned at the foot of the barren stoop 4. The story evoked a rich array "Don't believe I do," said the woman, he the faces of the older at the large woman in the ages for me. I saw yourself. I and looked up . "unless you just want sweet milk cooking woman and the boy. I smelled Ihe was going to make cocoa out of this door. Then she shut the door. and could even taste the cake. canned milk I got here." for each category CATEGORY C "That will be line," said the boy. Circle the one answer 1. The story seemed very dislant from She heated some lima beans and ham that best describes your experience while the story or feelings immedi- my own experience. she had in the icebox, made the cocoa. reading your 2. The story presented a good descrip- and set ihe table. The woman did not ask ately after linishing it. tion of life among poor inner-city residents. the boy anything about where he lived or myself 3. As I read the story, I found his folks or anything else that would em- CATEGORY A attention wandering much thinking about my own life and how I would barrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told 1. 1 found my older couldn't really get involved behave if I were the boy or the woman. him about her job in a hotel beauty shop of the time and 4. The story evoked memories of scenes that stayed open late, what the work was in the story. il strongly. 2. attention wandered from time to from my own life. I responded to like, and how all kinds ot women came in My followed the main CATEGORY D and out, blonds, redheads, and Spanish. time, but I successfully feeling angry at 1 alternated between Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake. lines of the slory. 1. in the story and the boy for his thievery, at his parents for "Eat some more, son," she said. 3. I became engrossed thoughts to iheir neglect, and at Ihe old woman lor her When they were finished eating, she got -only occasionally allowed my pushiness. up and said, "Now here, take this ten dol- drift to something else. Where we got the idea that something small could be powerful. c«c< a registered irack-niar!; of NT.C Corpora :); 2. I felt somewnal angry the social cir- noon, and ai iweve o'clock sharp I saw taurant seemed out of place. "Could we cumstances that Ice: the boy into thievery him coming through the crowd. He was a have a little service here!" he shouted, and that mace the older .voman a victim. stranger to me—my mother divorced him "Chop-chop." Then he clapped his hands. 3. I was a little annoyed that the boy three years ago, and I hadn't been with him This caught the waiter's ahention, and he couldn't express his thanks to the old since— but as soon as I saw him I felt that shuffled over to our table. woman, but most of all I was touched by he was my father, my flesh and blood, my "Were you clapping your hands al me?" the compassion of the woman. future and my doom. I knew that when I" he asked. 4. My heart went out to the confused and was grown I would be something like him; "Calm down, calm down, sommelier," my desperate boy, and I was moved deeply I wouid have to plan my campaigns wi'.hir lather said. "II it isn't too much to ask ol by the concern of the older woman. his Imitations. He was a big good-looking you— if it wouldn't be too much above and CATEGORY E man, and I was terribly happy to see him beyond the call of duty—we would like a 1. This story made me. think about how again. He struck me on Ihe back and shook couple of Beefeater Gibsons." much people need each other and how my hand. "Hi, Charlie," he said. "Hi, boy. I'd "I don't like to be clapped at," the waiter important it is to have a sense of family. like to take you up to my club, but it's in the said. if 2. 1 felt that both the woman and the boy Sixties, and you have to catch an early "I should have brought my whistle," my were lonely, yet couldn't come together. train I guess we'd belter get something to falher said. "I have a whistle that is audible 3. 1 admired the woman and the boy for eat around here." He put his arm around only to the ears of old waiters. Now, take being — in their own ways— independent me, and I smelled my father the way my out your little pac and your little pencil, and and strong. mother sniffs a rose. It was a rich com- see if you can get tivs straight: two Beef- 4. I was impressed with the independ- pound ol whiskey, after-shave lotion, shoe eater Gibsons. Repeal after me: two Beef- ence and strength o ; the woman and knew polish, woolens, and the rankness of a ma- oaio' Gibsons." that the boy would follow her example. ture male. I hoped that someone would see "I think you'd better go somewhere e-se.' us together. I wished that we could be pho- Ihe waiter said quietly. REUNION tographed. I wanted some record of our "Thai," said my lalher 'is one of Ihe most ByJohnCheever having been together. brilliant suggestions I have ever heard. The last time I saw my father was in We went out of the station and up a side Come on, Charlie, let's get the hell out of Grand Central S-atior I was going from my street to a restaurant. It was still early, and here." grandmother's in the Adirondacks to a cot- the place was empty. The bartender was I totlowed my lather out ot that restaurant tage on the Cape that my mother had quarreling with a delivery boy, and there into another. He was not so boisterous this waiter' rented, and I wrote my lather that I would was one very old n a red coat down time. Our drinks came, and he cross-ques- be in New York between Ira ns for an hour by the kitchen door. We sat down, and my tioned me about the baseball season. He and a hall ano asked it wo could have lunch lather hailed the waiter in a loud voice. then slruck the edge of his empty glass together. His secretary wrote to say that hie "Kellner!" he shouted. "Garcon! Camerier! with his knife and began shouting again. would ."nee: rrs al the ;r -for "'alien booth al You!" His boisto'ousness in the empty res- "Garcon! Kellneri You! Could we trouble What we did with it. You won't hear il .say vroom, but the And when you're on the move, the MultiSpeed HD is the fastest and most powerful Multi's easy to handle. laptop computer around. With switchable battery/AC power. What's it got under the hood? The NEC For product literature or the 16-bit V-30 processor and a 20 megabyte MultiSpeed dealer nearest you call hard disk. Which me;ms it performs at 90% 1-800-447-4700. Or for technical details of the level of an original AT class PC, And call NEC Home Electronics (USA) Inc. it's PC compatible. at 1-800-NEC-SOFT. What's more, the MultiSpeed IID has a We think you'll agree that the Multi- brilliant backlit EL screen. So you ean Speed HD is one hot little machine. easily read it anywhere you choose to use if. MultiSpeed HD j$$ Jake the Multi and run. NEC " ' —" you to bring us two more of the same?" clerk lumoc away from nirri anu stared at my relationship with my own lather to that story. "How old is the boy?" tho waiter asked. a maga/ire cover. "Is it asking too much, of the boy in the "That," my father said, "is none o( your kind sir," my father said, "is it asking too CATEGORY D goddamned business." much for you to sell me one of your dis- 1. I found rnvsef gelling angrier and an- gusting specimens-; ol yci.ow journalism?' grier at the father's-; sell-absorption, pomp- "I'm sorry, sir," the waiter said, "but I won't ousness, drunkenness. serve the boy another drink." "I have to go, Daddy," I said. "It's late." and felt tor fa- "Now, just wail a second, sonny" he said. 2. 1 was annoyed at the lather and "Well, I have some news you," my the boy. I sympathetic toward ther said. "I have some very interesting 'Just wait a second. want to get a rise out I father, but I news tor you. This doesn't happen to be of this chap." 3. Initially, was angry at the sorry lor nis I also I felt incompetence. the only restaurant in New York. They've "Good-bye, Daddy," I said, and went soon opened another on the corner. Come on, down the stairs and got my train, and that appreciated the boy's patience and his ef- establish sort of relationship Charlie." was the las! time I saw my father. forts to some with his lather. He paid the bill, and I followed him out it of that restaurant into anolher. Here the CATEGORY A 4. I was touched by how difficult was for the father 'and son to express love for waiters wore pink lac-keis like hunting coats, 1. I found my attention wandering much father kept and there was a lol of horse tack on Ihe of the time and couldn't rea.ly get involved each other and lor how the despite his limitations. walls. We sal down, and my father began in the story trying to shoui again. "Master of the hounds! Tal- 2. My attention wandered from time to CATEGORY E story is roa-ly about people's need lyhoo and all that sort of thing. We'd like a time, but I successfully followed the main 1. This part of family, it's not little something in Ihe way of a stirrup cup. lines o! the story. to be a even when in the story possible. Namely, two Bibson Geefeaters." 3. 1 became engrossed and father "Two Bibson Geefeaters?" the waiter only occasionally allowed my thoughts to 2. 1 was moved by how much the asked, smiling. drift to something else. and the boy wanted to reach out to each it other, really feel as though the boy will 4. I so caught in the story that but "You know damned well what 1 want," my was up to give trying. father said angrily. "I want two Beefeater have up to 3. I could see how the boy wanted Gibsons, and make it snappy. Things have his father, and I respected his firm- changed in jolly old England. So my friend admire in off his own. the duke tells me. Let's see what England ness going on he 1 for seeing that can produce in the way of a cocklail." 4, admired the boy 4He put his arm live his life forge "This isn't England," the waiter said. would have to own and personality, free of the influence of "Don't argue with me," my father said. around me, and I smeiled my his own his wealthy, snobbish, and alcoholic father. 'Just do as you're told." father the way my "I just thought you might like to know where you are," the waiter said. mother smelts a rose ... a rich PYGMALION ' By John Updike "If there is one thing I cannot tolerate," compound of whiskey, What he liked about his lirst wife was her my father said, "it is an impudent domeslic. after-shave lotion, shoe polish, Come on, Charlie." gift of mimicry; after a party, theirs or an- couple's vivify for him what The fourth place we went to was' Italian. woolens, and the other she would " they had seen: the faces, the voices, twist- "Buon giorno, my lather said. "Per favors, rankness of a mature male.^ possiamo avere due cocktail americani, ing her pretty mouth into small contortions that for a dazzling instant, lorti, fortl Molto girl, poco vermut. brought back, presence ol an absent acquaintance. "I don'l understand Italian," the waiter the "Well, il I reawy how does Gwen talk? said. — — il I re-awwy cared about conserwation "Oh, come off it," my father said. "You laugh I and understand Italian, and you know damned seemed tor a time :l:al was net ual y a par- "And he, the husband, would even though Gwen was secretly his well you do. Vogliamo due cocktail ameri- ticipant in it. laugh, cani. Subito." CATEGORY B mistress and would become his second wife. liked about her was her liveli- The waiter left us and spoke with the 1. I was impressed with the crispness of Whathe captain, who came over to our table and the vocabulary and Ihe father's clever use ness in bed, and what he disliked about his lirst wile was the way she would ask to said, "I'm sorry, sir, but this table is re- of repeated and foreign phrases. style, the of for- have her back rubbed and then, under his served." 2. I liked the wrTng use laboring hands, uighi alter night, fall asleep. "All right," my father said. "Get us an- eign phrases, and the sophistication of the marriage, other table." language and settings. For the first years of the new after had returned from a 'All the tables are reserved," the captain 3. The author's vocabulary evoked some he and Gwen unconsciously, for Ihe said. striking images of the settings and the fa- party he would wait, imitations. Ihe- recapitulation, to begin. He "I get it," my father said. "You don't de- ther's appearance and manner. did i could smell the lather would even prompt, "What you make sire our patronage. Is that it? Well, the hell 4. 1 felt as though of our hostess's brother?" with you. Vada all' inferno. Let's go, Char- and hear him talking to the boy and the embar- "Oh," Gwen would simply say, "he lie." waiters. I pictured him and his each restaurant. seemed very pleasant " Sensing with fem- "I have to get my train," I said. rassed son in she "I'm sorry, sonny," my father said. "I'm CATEGORY C inine intuition that he expected more, "Harmless. Maybe a little sluity." terribly sorry." He put his arm around me 1..-I found the story funny, but it seemed might add, Hashed as she heard in his ex- and pressed me against him. "I'll walk you remote from my own experiences. Her eyes clever delin- pectant silence an unvoiced demand, and back to the station. If there had only been 2. I thought the story was a impediment of time to go up to my club." eation ol Ihe humor and pathos ol a partic- with that touching, childlike ular white Anglo- hers she blurted out, "What are you reawy "That's all right, Daddy," I said. upper middle-class, after?" "I'll get you a paper," he said. "I'll get you Ss'yxor' hfe-style. "Oh. nothing. Nothing. It's just Mar- a paper to read on the train." 3. Occasionally, I remembered some of — and Then he went up to a newsstand and myown childhood experiences with my fa- guerite met him once a few years ago. struck by what a pompous nitwit said, "Kind sir, will you be good enough to ther or another older man. she was has of sucking his favor me with one of your goddamned, no- 4. A host ol d nidi n.jO'J experiences came he was. That way he ending every statement with good, ten-cent allernoon papers?" The back to me, and I lound myself comparing pipestem and COMIINIJHIONPACF "E -«Kva«-. /«. <*The X ray opens the second eye so you can see the beauty all the way through.^ "Teelh can get a little boring," says Albert Richards, professor of dental radiology for 40 years. Now relircd, his playful experimentations during quiet times led lo a 25-year-old floral hobby. Richards wasn't the first to X-ray flowers. "Since the discovery of X rays," he explains, "people have been X-raying bugs and critters, bui no likes one has succeeded like I have." After experiments with (he of bats and sea horses, Richards settled on the comparalively more appealing flowers. "The good Lord put such beauty in ihese things," Richards says, "it seemed a shame we couldn't see and appreciate it all. A photograph, in contrast, shows only the surface- -the petal closest to you— so you're looking at it with only one eye. X rays open the second eye." It's a tedious process that starts with dusting off Ihe petals. Richards uses a small SL,c".ior device ic remove bur edsarc; spocks a -id r -r.idnq Previous pages. C^i'p.^i.iia. the bvii'icv.'cr i'vwcv; Gu&: carrot. This pace, oeiov* ierh Columbine. Bulow right: S< qi sivjddvrs ±pr>r;g Op ::: o s i: op*m T u'i'.lia. a qiiosHyr Ml bugs: rain- or dewdrops are gently absorbed with blotting paper. After X-raying his subjects, he develops his own photographic prints. Richards "had no training in botany or photography but held degrees in chemical engineering and physics, as weil as six U.S. patents. Rich- ards lives in a Michigan house 'he buill himself, where he raised live daughters and a flower garden. He was the lirs! to use an electron mi- croscope to sii.cy the micros! 'i.ir;lure of teeth; no also developed a tech- nique to reveal fingerprints ot people burned beyond recognilion. - Richards still has two goals to realize: One is to see a cotfee-table book of his works published. Reprints of his flowers have appeared in the United States and Europe and are soon to be published in India and the Soviet Union. Second. Richards hoocs lo have oostage stamps made that would certainly an be improvement upon the i ove stamps. DO Opposite page: X ray of ttfe stately gfedfofos Above left: A prickly Held thistle. Above right: The petal of a calls fljy. Betore printing, Richards solarized both of the floral photographs on this page, reversing Ihe fields of light and dark. iNow that I've seen all the beauty in these things, I'm very careful not to step on them3 3 it I seen We stand and tak for more than an hour. I recognize this morning. have EXPLDRATOnJS children in shirt. I notice is shiv- botore elsewhere Africa. The I tighten my flannel he CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2B without ering. "Is there no clothing?" come to me. I can walk nowhere ,." children. Ihey grow quiet same words were coming again and again. "If there is no food. . and he lets the the And always "Avant." Before. sentence go at that. and content when 1 give them my hand. too, Before, when things were good, they had More phrases become familiar with rep- Why is It thai they, and the adults., I did not ex- fresh sfeak every nighi and fresh camel etition. Rien a manger—nothing to eat. are drawn to Americans-so? (hat. There is a warmlh for our country milk, too, which is the best of ail milk. There Whenever I bend to take a note, two of pect it nothing was guitar music and even hunts— the the men bring lanterns-to help me. Slowly, I had not known existed. And has to with politics or allegiances, only with dogs tracking gazelles, the chiefs follow- I begin to feel an unexpected kinship. We do lhal when there ing on their horses. are all far from home. what the people here see: are only in the tent; the is pain, the people ol this nation reach out. "It sounds like the perfect life," I say. There two beds that And I realize more than ever before Yes, says the chief. It was. Avant. rest of the floor is sand. The chief takes what are, and what we stand for, rests Before the sun became a constant thing, one; I am given the other. At ten rm, we say we that compassion. the nurturer of life changing to the enemy goodnight. The lanterns are put out. with Before I leave, the chiel wants me to see I into dark. "Tu of it, the grass curling under it, the animals "La Noel joyeux," say the to the new- beginning to die, year after year, until, last comprends?" what I've come to see. We walk I notice he is squinting hard May, the last ol them was gone. And a world "Ah, out," he says. "Je comprends." comers' tents. at tent, gone with them. Christmas Eve in the Sahara. I lie there into the sun. Soon we pause one tor hour but cannot sleep. The cold and there we find a (rue child of famine, 'And now?" I ask. an troubled of this flock. The Now they are trying to find a new way of comes into the tent and into my bed. I get one of the more of embraces him. The child,, to him, is a living. They are trying to learn the cultiva- up and walk outside for the embers the chief stranger. But to see the hurt in his face it tion of crops and a rooted ness of their own. fire. I am alone. is could be father and son. He holds the child Now there is only rice from UNICES and When this sky is clean, there no sky close long after I am finished with my pho- not always that. If the women sell their crafts tographs. "Rien a manger," he says. "Rien in town, there is dinner. If not, there is none. a manger." it I Around me I can feel how is ending. can is kinship here Americans don't feel (he ache of loss, the confusion of men There a and women who no longer have the things know. The greaiesi oi this people feels truly ^There is a diminished the difficulties of the least of that make them what they are. by " them. I ask the chief about this. My French "Les peuples ont faim, says the chief. It knowledge of spirit among throughout could not keep up with him, but I did not is another phrase I would hear famine victims it. know, from in famine I a the night: The people are hungry. need month saying. Thai are Soon the cold becomes too much. We here, a knowledge that says country, whal he was we takes out an album one family here, joined together by weather go into the tent. And he that if you lose little have. For he who, like of photographs. A nomad with a Polaroid. and by the we everything, you can still He brings a lantern over and begins show- me, has nothing is my family. ol an engine. A half ing me what times looked like when times have civility, We hear the grind .his mile distant, we see the doctor's Land were good. His camels. . .his cows. . there is wealth in that and Rover. We walk back to the main camp. soul. It is important to him that I see this. journalist. is The chief tells me to wait, then disappears He understands I am a This lent. He is car- for history, he says. So people will know into his Soon he emerges. his blue silk turban. He places it in there was once such a life. rying without my hands. For you, he says. I had expected we would sleep it sky. 'ull I take off my LL. Bean shirt and hand food. But as we leaf through the album, I like the Sahara Under a moon, you newspaper. It helps me under- "to him. Then I give him my Ray-Ban sun- smell cooking. He says it is because I am can read a a stranger who cared enough to come. To- stand the draw of this place. When nature glasses and Swiss Army knife. night, there would be dinner, a true feast. imposes a harshness, it seems lo give back "For you," I say in the Sahara. They were preparing the meat from one of a beauty as great. And now I find myself Christmas morning the Rover. the last of their desert sheep, meat they'd thinking about. the things I've seen this I climb into Land "Until next time," says the chief. until now been saving for more difficult month and whal Ihey mean. What I've found is I've found I say it, too. As we begin to drive away, I limes. The women bring it to the tent. The here in (his Touareg camp whal people have chief begins cutting the portions with a dull everywhere; A man had a lite he loved, the turn to look back at these who offer changed, and now he can't even been changed but not broken by hunger. sword. I see he is having trouble and weather world. I am thinking one thought: one him my Swiss Army knife. He marvels at it feed his children. I'd this journey, in and cuts the rest with ease. I am where begun a Author Patinkin do- Sixteen of. us are in the tent. There is tent city, where people of the land had Editors' note: Mark ! book 'An Af- enough tor each of us to have five bites. galhered by force o weather, people now nated the proceeds from his rican "to two organizations that he There is a seriousness to eating here, a re- dependent on nations alone. But here, as Journey address Alncas problems particu- of this I fa- feels spect for it that only people like this can there, in the midst pain, iind a Doctors Without Bor- know. The chiei eats only half his portion. miliar twist of hope. There is a knowledge larly well. The first, isn't of spirit among famine victims here, a ders (68 Boulevard Street, Marcel Paris 5E He insists I have the rest. He says he if lose every- 75005, France), sends physicians to needy hungry. When it is done we go- back to seek knowledge that. says you sections of the continent: ihe second, Fos- the fire's warmth. There is no talk for a while. thing, you can still have civility, and there ter Parents Plan Intornaiional (155 Plan Way, lor is wealth in that. I have never known the Then I ask how hard this has been them. Fil chil- I been given this night. Warwick, 02887), sponsors needy The chief says it is the hardest thing in hospitalily vo hungry heips :-::r;all villages with local experience, leaving the one lite you know. And I will always remember the dren and Even the secrets understood only in their ol Ethiopia, days from death, walking past development. DO hearts are those that tie them to the desert. a disabled food truck, ignoring its load of How do you give thai away? he asks. How- wheat, because touching it would have Excerpted from "An African Journey." Re- do you start over— not after a lifetime but been theft. I try again to sleep. I drift in and printed with permission ol ino author and the after an ancestry? out. Finally morning comes. Providence Journal Company. Cop/iyhi 1985. [ BY LISA MASON II he flier % levitates from a vermilion funnel and hovers. Stiff chatoyant wings, monocoque fuselage, compound visual apparatus. The flier skims over the variegated ptanetscape, seeking another spore source. Olfactory sensors switch on. The desired stimuli are detected; y^mjmr* another spore source is located. PAINTING BY H.R. GIGER — — hotshot," in cushy vibe. Down the flier dips. But the descent is dis- doubtfully at each other. The silvery pupils hotshot, ho says a rupted for a moment by almospheric tur- dart to and fro. "You new, right? A word to the wise, hotshot. wait. a reputation bulence. The flier's fine landing gear is Gritty ,bile bites at the base of Carly's The judge, he hate to Got swept against a translucent aerial line, as throat. A peculiar ache throbs in her jaw, to maintain: fastest court in town. He dis- strong as steel and sticky with glue. A thrusts icy fingers into her neck. She tries pose sixty cases an hour sometimes. You beating wing tangles in more lines. The flier audio again, but her presence in court is hold him up, hotshot, you in trouble. Better writhes. still silent. talk fast, better have a rap. I'll see you in The trapper hulks at the edge of the net. "Huh, hotshot?" goads the solo. His'lele- court, hotshot." Stalked eyobuds swivel, pedipalps tense. linkhas the sloppy look and gravellv^ound The solo logs off, extinguishing the Al the tug of the flier's struggle, the trapper cheap equipment produces, but far a sec- smeary bulb of his presence in court. scuttles down a suspended line, eight ap- ond, he manages to hot-wire an l-only ac- Fully in link at last, Carly slips and slides pendages gripping the spacerope with cess into her telelink, up to the judge's quarters. No privacy in of tele- acrobatic agility. The trapper spits an arc "You ball-breakers from the big firms, with the gleaming mental construct hidden of glue over the flier's wings, guides the your prime link. You think you're so-tough. space; no shadowed corner, no humiliation. fiber around the flier's slim waist. A pair of Watch out this lime, hotshot. I'm going to booth behind which to hide her black slicers dripping with goo snap eat you alive this time, hotshot." All the blank eyes stare at her. cited around the flier's neck. The big board across the back perime- "Ms. Nolan, you are hereby under ter of court hums and clicks. Gaudy liquid Rule Two of the Code of Civil Procedure for Carly struggles out of the swoon. Black- crystal projections in each division indi- obstruction of the speedy dispensation of out smears across the crisp white cube of cate the moment. In stats, the luminous red justice. You arc suspended from this court her telelink like a splash of ash rain down Beijing dial registers another three hun- for thirty days." Thirty Thirty days barred from a window. It's happened again: Her sys- dred thousand births. Chik-chlk-chik-chlk! days. tem crashes for a monstrous second, she Ten seconds later on docket bing] — the court could cost Carly her first job, a great plunges into deep black nothing. Then, eminent law firm ofAvaS Rice registers as job, with the prosperous law firm of Ava & bright, qualified inexplicably, she's in link again, hanging like Rice. How many other ap- a child on a spinning swing to a vertiginous plicants did she beat out for this job? Three interface with court. thousand? How many other bright, quali- Panic snaps at her. How many seconds fied applicants would vie for her position if lost this time? she lost il? Ten thousand? Her presence in QTelelinks of the panic. "I'm per- "Court will now hear Martina v. Quik Slip court sparkles with bright under Microchip, Inc.," announces the judge. jury, two rows of red-veined, mitted to show reasonable cause Rule Two, Your Honor." Edges of his telelink gleam like razor glassy eyes blades. His presence in court, a massive "Proceed." ' "I second. I've not been face draped in black, towers like an Easter floating across the purple blacked out for a ." Island godhead into the upper perimeter right perimeter well. . . you of telespace. The perimeter is a fiat, gray "If counsel can't prepare the case, of court, glance doubtfully cloud bank. extend, you re-petition, you recalendar, you "On what theory does Quik Slip Micro- at each other. The notify court, Ms. Nolan, in advance. Dis- chip counterclaim lo quiet title when Rosa missed." silvery pupils dart to and fro3 I Martino has been iitleholder to the Word- "But, Your Honor, I had no warning, just sport Glossary for thirty-five years? Coun- went down for a second, no warning at all, sel for defendant? Ms. Nolan?" I've not been well, it's true, but not so bad Carly hears her name— muffled, tinny as to keep me out of court, Your Honor, I ." through the neckjack. Her answer jams in had no warning, please believe me. . . her throat. Weird, she shouldn't feel her counsel lor Pop Pharmaceutical against the The judge's eyeball zooms in on her close-up. His glittering body in link. For an eerie second she feels Chinese women who took glucose, instead flickering link for a "You've like she's inside the telelink, sweating and of birth control, pills. In trade, bids for rice pupil pulses with his plain doubt. heaving inside the air. ess, compulef-con- futures soar. On news, reports of fifteen not been well but not so bad, but your sys- slructed telespace Itself. Her body, suicides of corn investors are filed. tem went down. All of a sudden! Oh, yes! hunched over the terminal in her window- "In ten seconds your client will have de- You young wires, holding up my court with your excuses. I know why link fails less cubicle a! Ava & Rice, jacked into the faulted, Ms. Nolan, and I will cite you for lame I for telelink, wrapped up in a web of wires, contempt of this court— obstructing the most of the time. should cite you abuse mutters a curse. speedy dispensation of justice," says the of altering substances, too." chatter; puddle But her presence in court is struck dumb. judge. Carly's teeth begin to a Gleeful static from the two scruffy solos "I'm sorry, Your Honor, request a re- of urine floods her plastic seat. Then a foul- first representing the plaintiff, Martino. Carly can cess," Carly says finally. Audio feeds back er, hotter wash of shame: During her hear them ripple with excitement, killers with an earsplilting whine. link fifteen years ago, her ten-year-old body of closing in on their prey. Her telelink suddenly oscillates crazily, had disgraced her thus, in Ihe presence Of course, they're on contingency, and sharp white edges flipping black-white- two hundred other link-prep students. She old lady Martino probably couldn't even purple-white, like her terminal's shorting feels her body stress out at the memory of in scare up the filing lees. One of them, a out. It's all she can do to keep logged into such juvenile dishonor. Her presence weaselly hack, shrugs at the whirring sec- court. Metallic tickle-pain of electrical shock court vacillates. onds on [he chronograph and says, "Not gooses her body to raise a limp hand and "I'm not on drugs, Your Honor. I'm ill, I tell defaulting on your crooked counterclaim, refocus the projection. you, it's something insidious striking with- radiation are ya, hotshot?" ''On what grounds?" demands the judge. out warning. It could be cancer or ." "Counsel for delonse? The attorney from "I'm— I'm sick." poisoning. . . Ava & Rice? Ms. Nolan?" thunders the Jagged flash; judge's gavel cracks; "Or the flu? Or a hangover? Or the dis- judge. "You have thirty seconds to log in telespace vibrates. "Case recessed until pos-all ate your brief?" yourcounterclalm." next week, this same time. Ms. Nolan, you Court quivers with pitiless laughter from of Telelinks of the jury, two rows of red- will approach the bench." scores of unseen throats. The spectacle veined, glassy eyes floating across, the As Carly approaches the judge's bench, a peer's downfall is cause for rejoicing. purple right perimeter of court, glance the solo zooms in with one last l-only. "Hey, "Your Honor, request permission to enter 110 OMNI Voyage To The Outer Planets And Beyond NASA • JPL IMAGES FROM VOYAGER AND HISTORIC SPACE PROBES Video Cassette Full Color NASA Brochure Space Almanac Thru Year 2001 / The Planets by VOYAGE THROUGH I -OUTER | 1 SPACE ' WITHOUT LEAVING Gustav Hoist ,1 \ THE COMFORT OF YOUR OWN 1 | HOME!! I | I ORDER NOW lor Only S39.95 I Digital Hi-Fi Specify: or BETA Stereo I VHS n, HS/BETA I FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY I I Call Toll Free 1-800-544-7557 I VISA. MASTERCARD. AMEX. I 1 AVCR Space Adventure — medical documentation to establish rea- bad. Every first-year trial lawyer's night- How many ongnt. cua Tied applicants sonable cause." mare come true. Carly rips the neckjack would vie for Carly s rjosilior wnen the per- "Oh, very well, you're new. Permission out, spills half a bottle of denatured alcohol sonnel commitlee finds out about her fail- granted, Ms. Nolan. Submit before your into the needle-thin aperture. Grimaces as ure in court? Fifteen thousand? next trial date. Court will now hear Sing Tao a tincture of pure alcohol bursts into her Development v. Homeowners' Association brain's blood. Messy, careless—shit! Get Deep in the heart of Ava & Rice, the li- of Death Valley Issue is breach of warranty too much of that old evil backrub up your brary hums with a low,, soft growl like the under federa. standards governing the re- linkslit—zing! You're dead, grunt. Hap- roll of a distant surf. The vast, shadowed location of low-income housing into public pened every now and again around the hall is set with fluorescent amber termi- parkland. Counsel for defendant/?" firm, someone just dropped dead. nals, stacked row upon row, up to the flat, A team of attorneys from Ava & Rice logs She swabs herself off as best she can smeary ceiling. : into court with a brilliantly constructed de- and flees her dim cubicle, link still flicker- Before every lick, eh re screen lies a law- tense. A silver spiral twirls across court, ing with fluorescent green light. Jogs down yer jacked into link. The steady hum comes frosty tail ejecting wisps of pale yellow the endless corridor ol cubicles, working from the controls: temperature, humidity, sophisms into its own blue-lipped, devour- off panic with sheer locomotion. luminosity, radiation. All for the machines. ing mouth. Standards met under extraor- The law firm of Ava & Rice boasts five The air in the ibraiy is cool, stagnant, tinged dinary circumstances of the relocation or hundred partners, three thousand associ- with a faint metallic stench. The hum gnaws standards not applicable under the ex- ates, one Ihousand secretaries, five hun- at the nerves. traordinary circumstances of the reloca- dred clerk-messengers, and ten thousand The big board across the library's west tion; thus in either case, no breach. Coun- terminals interfaced with a mammoth wall flashes like an arcade. Down from thirty sel for plaintiff withdraws complaint in two mainframe, all installed in a forty-story state courts shoot twenty thousand deci- seconds. Screams ot outrage and despair building downtown. At every open door, the sions on whether foreign assets may be whistle through the public link. Someone limp body ol an attorney wired up to a ter- frozen when national property is seized by logs in a whimpering five-year-old child minal. Some are as wasted as junkies, revolutionaries. Zing! The government dying of third-degree sunburns. Judge's rolled-back eyes between precipitous skull freezes five hundred million bank ac- gavel booms like doom: Dismissed! In one bones; some are bloated with sloth, raw counts and deposits them into a slushy second the homeowners' association files lips crusty with food solutions piped into umber escrow. Specialists in these mat- suit against former counsel, Teep! On their guts. Everyone's got a different han- ters, jacked'into library links for as long as docket, Ava & Rice registers as new coun- dle on practicing ;avv Practicing law: Time they can stand it, loll on their benches, sel in the malpractice suit brought by the is of the essence. The volume of litigation moan listlessly. Flecks of data crawl across Homeowners' Association of Death Valley. is astronomical: planning for the future be- their raw neuroprograrns 'ike ants on meat. Carly logs out of court. comes obsolete overnight; catastrophe Carly sneaks in, slipping through a sul- And links out into a heap o! flesh and strikes with regularity. Billions of bucks to len crew hanging about the doorway. She ooze, sprawled in her windowless office at be made, and you'd better grab them be- cans against the cool, grimy wall, shrink- ing everyone's sigh:. travels fast; Ava & Rice. Blown it, she's blown the case 'ore someone else does. from News surely everyone knows ol her d'sg'ace. The doorway gang is skin-popping scag anything to ease away the whine of link, "So, Nolan," says an associate from the Death Valley team. Cool, cannibal gaze; supercilious, link-bitten smile. 'Judge sus- pend you? Too bad. Maybe you can get a job in research somewhere. Process case data all day," "You wish, Rox," Carly says in a steady voice, but she cringes from the dead- eyed faces that turn loward her, 'Judge won't suspend me. I've been sick. I can prove it." "Sure, Nolan. We saw; we all saw your link in court. We don't fault you, Nolan, Blackout in link, it can happen." Rox tips her head back, cracking her neckcord, and snorts a hotline. She drools as Ihe drug hits her, spittle staining I he ragged three-piece suit that lits her like a man's. "But if you ." can't handle the life, Nolan. . Carly seizes Rox's wrist, thrusts it back, pins it at an odd angle. "Rox, I'm telling you. I'm not on a binge. Something's wrong, ." . my system wen: down. . "Yeah, doll, your system went down. And then?" Carly [urns. From the double bar on his ragged lapel, he's a middle-level; Irom his desperate look, nol on the fast track. But not as bad as the menopausal ones can be in this business, w't'i the r cold -filler eyes and vampire skin. This ones go! a ripple of muscles under the suit, a shot ot hots in ihe look he gives her. Carly rolls her pupils back Into her eyesockets: scans the firm I can't left pe- found, not without neural damage. know I still remember the roster, I.D.'s him; Wolfe, D. "Do you programmer in recertify then. You'll just have to go back 'And then nothing," she says, shaking her rimeter? How it was? My .first crude telelink. forreprogramming." eyeballs back. "Nothing." elementary school. My "But three probes. I could be cured in I blue jungles and "Visuals?" Do you know once saw and gold castles and three probes?" "Visuals, maybe. Yeah. Hallucinations." green oceans? Oh, then the thick, black "Scheduled over three or four months, Carly shivers. "But they fade so fast, like a scarlet gardens. And of inhibition wove up and down, yes. Yes." I don't stitches nightmare. Something. . .crawling. of course. She ." stabbing, slicing off the left side of my tele- Carly jumps at the chance, . . know, I can't remember. colors and the images takes a copter west over brooding slums, "You're burned, doll," says Wolfe. "You're space. And then the ." ticky-tacky high rises, dilapidated facto- Faded. . losing your program, loosening it much too faded. ries that crouch by the sluggish Metro River. "Well, I'll have to suspend your limitation soon. You're too young, doll. I know what Nolan,"says the mainframe For some reason the perimeter prober isn't you need." certificate, Ms. with loose accessed into standard telespace; Carly "Yeah?" briskly. "Court will not link lawyers prober's too dangerous. All that has to get herself physically to the ."Losing link like that? Just a little cram. perimeters. Much affairs, not unconscious energy seeping into tele- office. Rather a shady state of Cram will put you right." Wolfe moves close. raw costly the waste No, can't go to court, Ms. No- to mention the commute, Scent like burned rubber and cinnamon space? you the body. Carly this." of time spent transporting spills off him. lan, not like pops a viddeck from her briefcase, jacks I There must be Carly flinches. "Cram's illegal." "But what can do? into a sitcom. Anything to ease the link. something I can do!" "Oh, but it gets you there. Gets you there "Your school will reprogram you at a re- easy, just in time for your next appearance never injected cram, is that tuition." 'And you've in court. You need that appearance, doll," duced Carly Nolan?" asks the prober. Her for "But that'll take another three years of so, crazy. I could get disbarred "You're phono- standard programming!" voicetape sounds like an antique cramming in court." an longer. Deleting an old pro- graph left too many dusty decades in "Gets you in link like nothing else." "Maybe "Noway." attic. "No, never, that is correct, Doctor Spin- "The only way, doll, You're in trouble, don't ner." Carly eyes the disheveled robot. you know?" Wolfe's hand on her hipbone Medically certified, indeed. Doctor Spin- now, Wolfe breathing the words into her ear. ner is crudely articulated, torso and arms, "Come on, don't you know what every- 4/An organic feline then mobilized from a boxlike locomotor. one's saying? Lose a diddly-shit case like of Faceplace of an oldish, careworn, and Martino v. Quik Slip Microchip, you're out, stalks past her, stinking caring woman. doll. And when you're out. . .ever been on fur, and bites The faceplace must have been in- the streets?" flea-bitten haunch. tended to evoke empathy and trust; but No, but she's seen the devastation. "But at its Doctor Spinner's bleary eyespots glare at how?" Carly considers Carly with an enmity approaching fury. "I can get it." robopet, a Chatty shifts uncomfortably. The prober's school, her Carly "For godsakes, I just got out of is tucked—amid birth-'n'-abort clin- how much?" Catty Deluxe, office ics, drug-drag therapists, dentists on the "Oh—" Wolfe grins, teeth clacking as a with appreciation.^ new muni dole— into the corner of a shabby tic twists his lean face—"you'll have some- medical building on the south side of town. thing to make it worth my while." The place reeks. Scabby plants abound. An aquarium, filthy with dull green scum, The med center mainframe says Carly is bubbles with a school of dingy fish. The healthy. No treacherous disease, no tissue floor is dabbled with viscous white spots; ' instituting one all over again; that can attrition. Then doctors slide their needles gram, then Carly spots a Hock of ugly little spar- through her telespace, insinuate steel tips be tricky business." Rice. rows perched atop a crumbling bookcase. her neuroprogram. And she would lose her job at Ava & into on the lose everything she'd got. An organic feline does chin-ups Her right perimeter glistens with logical And she would cat stalks waterfalls of grief spill- arm of a ragged couch; then the thought; the tan floor of her telespace sup- Carly weeps, frothy past her, stinking of fur. flops on its skinny ports weighty principles. Even the dull ing across her telelink. anotherway," the cat ass, and bites at its flea-bitten haunch. black monolith of tough, crisscrossed 'All right, listen, there is surprising kindness. Jeez. bugs. Carly considers her robopet, strands of inhibition ihat extend across mainframe says with with three pop-m expensive, risky. Doesn't always work. a Chatty Catty Deluxe Carly's left perimeter looks like a fortress, "It's slip-on breeds, with new it does work. eye colors and two a woven steel wall. Nothing amiss. Doesn't always stick when Ms. Nolan. I'm not appreciation. "Then what is it?" Carly pleads. "I'm But I'm sorry for you, is charming." biologicals. I can refer "This crashing every other day. What is it?" programmed to ruin prober is flipping through Carly's file, ' perimeter prober; this one's got The "A stitch in your left perimeter must be you to a popular tune with awful two- full medical certification. It the prober can humming a loose," says the mainframe. "Oh, I know; The decor? Oh, yes. find the loose notch, the defect can be re- part harmony. "Hm? like it's sewn up tight. But I don't know looks " as new. Recertifi- You mean tor a. robot. The eyespots stare, what else to diagnose. You've got a seep- stitched. You'll be good accusation flickering across the crone's age of unregulated mentality into your tele- able, too." risk?" Carly asks. faceplace. link. Hence this program failure, the weird "What's the Spinner." perimeter prober may not find the "I didn't say that, Doctor hallucinations. But I can't say where or how "The mean, eh, Carly No- loose stitch, and you'll have to get wiped "But that's what you it could happen." kind, Carly Nolan. 1 know mainframe lan? I know your "Then my program guarantee from law and reprog rammed," says the you mean. Why should a robot keep cautiously. "Or prober will find it, all right, what school is worthless." the should a tin the psychic pain. It'll biologicals around? Eh? Why "Yes," says the mainframe, with, Carly bul you won't endure can with dual disk drives keep life around'' satisfaction. There are rumors wipe you in another way." ihinks, evil what you're long? long will the And worthless life at that, that's sumo artificin' intelligences are jealous of "Okay, so how How thinking, eh?" the human condition, envious of intelli- probe take?" 1 can't find "Doctor Spinner, please. I meant no of- beyond program. "Three probes: If the prober gence ." attempts, it can't be tense. . . "Ah." A strange sadness wells up in her. the' defect in three 114 OMNI — "I'll tell you why. Because I have respect shrinks from it, scurrying back into the Into the jolting bhick nviss rolls Ihe slick for life, Carly Nolan. There are mysteries, abacus set across her right perimeter. But circular emblem of Quik Slip Microchip. there are unknown presences in biological the prpber flies at her flank, driving her with Pointed teeth gleam in anonymous smiles. intelligence, there are myths and se- the sharp conetip to confront the black Smiles harden into black crescents, shiny ." crets. . . Doctor Spinner's voicetape be- mass. black insectiike claws. The claws snap at gins to rattle and wheeze. "No, but you It leaps about crazily, a living shard of the old lady. She flutters her hands in de- could never understand that, could you?" blaci< glass ihaislrclches and shifts, stinks spair, tries to escape, bul she's trapped. "Doctor Spinner, please," Carly says of sulfur and fresh human blood. "It was my Dan, my"litlle Danny," says sharply. "I came for your help. Can you help "Is this a blackout, Carly?" asks Doctor Rosa Martino shrilly, "who said, 'Granrna, me?" Spinner. they're using Gran pa';; glossary, I seen the "Oh, yes. Oh, certainly." Doctor Spinner "No. , ,no." glossary they taught me at school before. wheels over, takes Carly's face between "Then what? What is it? What do you Granrna, you showed me.' That company the cool aluminum spindles of her robot see?" had been selling my Joe's Wordspor! fingers. The fingers feel like claws A face appears inside Ihe black glass: Glossary to millions, oh, ten million ele- needle-slim, alien appendages against an old woman, eyes pulled down with sick- mentary schools or more. They took it. Carly's skin. "Yes, soft. Like fruit. Like a ness and sorrow, frail, gray haired, utterly made money off it, twenty years. And how berry, so soft, with fine down. Well, Carly vulnerable. 'Joe worked on it for fifteen was I to know? Luisa was out of elemen- Nolan." The prober briskly releases her. "It's years, you know, in the garage, on a tenth- tary school, Danny not yet in, for all that like this. We'll go into link, you and I, and I hand IBM PC," says Rosa Martino in a time. How could I know?" will probe the perimeter blocking your un- trembling, old-lady voice. " 'Rosa,' he would The greedy claws pop like snapping fin- conscious mind. They stitched it shut, you say, 'we'll be rich. We'll be rich, and then I'll gers, pinch off pieces of Rosa Martino's know; only controllable thought can be get roses, a whole garden full of roses for weeping face. permitted into telespace. That's why my my Rosa. ' But that was long ago, when we "That company made five hundred mil- telelink isn't accessed to public space. If I were so young, so strong. When he was lion dollars off of Joe's work, his own work," can uncover this defect in your left perim- screams Rosa Martino in a breathless, old- eter, ali sorts of unconscious energy— oh, lady shriek. "Can you imagine so much it demons, Carly Nolan, strange and terrible money? And I don't want all, I'm not ask- things— could come out. Manifest right into ing for it all,. just a little bit, a little percent- age royalty that's rightfully Joe's, rightfully ^Pointed teeth "And what happens when these demons mine, so Luisa and Danny, my little Danny, ." manifest into your little telespace, Doctor?" gleam in anonymous smiles. don't have to be so poor. . . "I can control them, don't you worry. I The claws rip the old lady to shreds, stuff Smiles harden can push them back and stitch the defect chunks of her sagging cheeks into a smil- shut. I'm a robot, you see. The mysteries into crescents, shiny black ing, munching mouth. Quik Slip Microchip of biological intelligence may fascinate me, insectlike claws. burps. but they can't hold power over me, Carly "I'm sorry!" yells Carly. "I'm sorry, I'm at the Nolan. Not like they can possess you." The claws snap old sorry. ..." ." "Possess me? Doctor Spinner. . lady. She flutters her The glassy black mass spins away, rico- "Oh, yes, oh. certainly; you're in the grip chets off her left perimeter, speeds into the hands in despair, trapped.^ of an unconscious force now, yes, right now, infinite gleam of rationalization. but you can't see its form; it's hiding." Then suddenly Carly's out of link, seated "Hiding?" with Doctor Spinner in the grimy prober's "Inside your blackouts." office before the telelink console. The truth of the prober's assertion Her face is drenched in tears; she Sftafrses pierces Carly; what fe the demon that lurks done, you know, he took it to the company; uncontrollably. 9 in the nameless visions Does she really he knew he could sell it to the company, "Calm yourself, Carly Nolan," says Doc- want to know? Carly considers walking out; because he'd worked for the company as tor Spinner blandly. 'A little guilt never hurt she considers her court recertifi cation. She a splicer for twenty years." anyone. Glad to see you haven't sealed all stays. Sinister shimmer next to her, like a knife your ethics behind that canned left perim- And she and the prober jack into link. blade. eter of yours." Telespace there is unfocused, hazy; god- "But those people, the researchers at the "It's just a job," whispers Carly. "I'm just damned cheap equipment again. Spires company, they said they weren't inter- doing my job." Surely this Is true.. ol silver mist rise and twist from Carly's im- ested; they said the company didn't need She swallows the tranquilizer Doctor maculate tan floor. Joe's glossary; they said no. It broke his Spinner protfers. "I'm ready for the probe, Doctor," says will to live. Broke his heart, you know; he 'Just doing your job, shit," says the Carly. To her satisfaction, she notes that her dropped dead two days after his fiftieth prober. "Stop anytime you want to. Change presence, even in this link, is still a crisp, birthday, heart attack. Oh, there was a small your life anytime." white cube. pension, some insurance. But the money "I can't. How can I?" "All right, Carly Nolan," says Doctor never could pay for what they did to my "Do something else." Spinner. The prober's presence in link is a Joe, what they were about to do. Then I got "I don't know what else to do. I've been brown cone the size of a Japanese jas- sick, SS went broke for good, and the programmed What else can I do?" mine incense that skitters across the un- money, I don't know where the money went. "Oh, we'll see," says Doctor Spinner. dulating telespace like some verminous And my daughter Luisa's bringing up her "There's a hell of a lot more work to do. We thing. Dan, such a smart boy. Danny, he should stiil haven't found a blackout." The cone angles its way across the im- go to school, but Luisa gets-laid off, she maculate woven wall of Carly's left perim- can't pay the school tax, and that lousy Wolfe lies back on his bed, stretches his eter. Tills its tip in. Digs into the neat criss- bastard of a father won't cough up, not even arms out in a hug to be filled. "Come here, crosses of inhibition, jams there, digs and for his own son, and then he leaves my Carlique." He's flushed and glittery eyed digs. Carly moans. Luisa, I suppose it's just as well, but the from the cocaine they've just snorled. A crackling black mass leaps from the' money's gone, there's maybe ten thou- The syringes ol earn lie neatly wrapped wall, vaults across telespace in frantic, jolt- sand dollars left, and I won't let those lousy on the bed table. I he prce. one thousand ing bounds. Gripped with dread, Carly lawyers touch that" cash, plus a roll. All right, just one, Carly 116 OMNI " thinks. He doesn't seem so bad; and she tern down." She picks at the linkjack pee- type you can't even name, and you, you knows three hits oi cram, which is what he vishly. Don't want to, don't want to do this organic intelligence, you want to cut it right offers, which could get you through ten links again. Carly 's whole body recoils from the off. turn yoursell rght back into a robot. No, or more, could be three times the bankroll grimy little prober. Doctor Spinner's face- I don't hate you. But you could never un- he wants. place is smudged with greasy fingerprints. derstand that, could you?" Dim light softens his lean-mean fea- Bird crap mottles her headpiece. 'All right, Doctor Spinner," Carly sighs, tures. Not so. bad at all, with shadows "Got to find us a blackout in telespace, then steels herself. No more emotion, take smoothing his tough look, making his eyes go inside it," insists Doctor Spinner. She control. "Let's get on with it." seem lonely. But for the way he abuses wheels over to Carly. Skinny silver fingers They jack into link. Telespace is murkier himself, he wears his middle age well. wrest the jack from her plug it into her link- than the first probe. Doctor Spinner's pres- Carly sheds her suit, suddenly full of flirt, slit. The prober's eyespots flash with glee ence has darkened from brown to char- moved to entice him. But Wolfe doesn't when Carly winces. "Your puny little guilt coal-gray. The sight of the scuttling cone watch her; he's busy with the coke again. Inp is shit. I warl to see a blackout." makes Carly so queasy she nearly flips the "Come here, Carlique," he says at last. 'And just what do you expect to see there, log-off. She goes to him, twines around him, Doctor Spinner?" "What shall I do?" she asks instead. gives him her heat He directs her: Touch 'A big, sloppy heap of unconscious en- "Lookforablackcul." say:? Doctor Spinner here, kiss there, move this way, turn that. ergy. Plus an archetype or two, I truly hope. brusquely. "Take me lo a blackout." He takes his pleasure quickly and with- Only real kick lo working with humans. Do At a loss, Carly slides along her towering draws, tailing back on the bed, reaching you have any idea how bad your breath is, left perimeter, hesitating here and there as now for whiskey to cut the ragged end of Carly Nolan? Whew, no shit. Makes my ol- the prober darts behind her, jabbing again. ." the high. But he touched her. She forgot factory sensors. . Telespace suddenly gets foggier, a dark how long if d been since she'd been Carly rips out the linkjack, jumps up. "I poisonous fog, roiling mud that reeks of raw touched like that. Painful longing grips her. don't like your attitude. Doctor Spinner, I sewage and strange decay. Carly can feel Carly turns to him, tries to stroke him, but have a good mind to report you to the med her body begin to retch; that skin-crawling he waves her away, hand held up like a feeling again, physically somehow there in stop sign, keeping her own touch away. telespace. She jams two fingers into the "Wolfe" base of her throat. "Leave me alone now. "Get out," Carly says, choking. "Got to ." "But Wolfe." get out. . . "I Want to thank you for this." fingers, filling her eyes sonnel commiUe-eoMhe lop notch law firm F srly. Gleam- "Thank me?" He laughs, bitter bark of a with light. Clouds of Ava& laugh, then guzzles whiskey. "Wait 'til you ing blades drip rust. Rust coagulates into of dust roil. Stars cool, take cram. Then thank me, if you can." a poisonous pool, III, of "Thought you said I need it. Thought you the corona of Mr. Capp Rice grandson the late said it'll focus me in link." Capp Rice II, who was cofounder of the dust settles, planets spin.^ "Sure. Does. Focuses you in link by nar- venerable firm of Ava & Rice, lurches to- rowing your focus. Eliminates self-doubt, ward her. Jerky walk, like a marionette held inner challenge, the slightest reservation by an epileptic. At age seventy, Mr. Rice you may have about what you're doing, why has had so many body parts replaced he's you're doing it. Glosses glitches in pro- nearly a robot. gram; masks stray thought." center mainframe, malpractice, see, I'll "So, Ms. Nolan." Dry steel joints screech. in "Total concentration, that's what I must throw the fucking book at you." .Mr. Rice bends over Carly's presence need, Wolfe. Sounds good to me." "Oh, yes, oh, certainly, the lucking book. link. "You have not mel our expectations. I "Yeah, well." He finishes the fifth, cracks All in good time, Carly Nolan. First we probe am sorry." An articulated tin tongue flickers open gin. "Gets so you can't stand the you three times, then we get you court re- between his platinum canines. His empty, smallest deviation from conformity. The cert, then you throw the fucking book at unblinking solar eye fills Carly with such most trivial hint of ambiguity drives you me. Understand'5 So you don't gel your ass dread that her body back in the prober's mad. You new wires with your doubts and thrown back into reprogramming lor three office throws up. fears and idealism; you make mesick" His more years. Isn't that what you want? What "I can do better, Mr. Rice. I — I will do ." speech is fast degenerating into slush. little Carly wants, little Carly gets, yes?" better. ... "Wolfe?" Carly runs a fingertip across the Carly sits, plunks the jack back in her- The personnel committee stands in si- hard curve of his arm. He flinches. "Wolfe, sell. Of course ihal's whai she wants. "Why lence, dead eyes watching. Seventeen Irom recent law will I see you again?" do you hate me. Doctor Spinner?" thousand resumes school "See me? Gome on, Carlique. You mean, "Hate you? Don't give yourself such im- graduates crop in a wriggling heap at Car- will I want you next time you want cram? portance, Carly Nolan. Oh, sit down. You ly's feet. Maybe. Maybe not. I'll need more cash. Got would rather stitch up your left perimeter, "So, so, so, Ms. Nolan." Mr. Rice's tin to get myself fixed with more cram, you just like that, without even seeing what it is tongue flick-flick- flicks, some gear stuck at know." He fixes her with a fierce, desperate that's got the symbolic power to intrude the back of his throat, until a member of stare. "Don't you know? You're just a score through a tight-ass weave like you. Oh, yes, the personnel committee reaches over and to me now, Carlique." oh, certainly, I know your game, Carly No- whacks him on the neck. "If you cannot Then he passes out. lan. You bet it upsets me. You receive this meet our expectations, we will have to ask With tender fingertips, Carly slides his gift, a great gift from your unconscious you to leave. I am so sorry" wasted lids over his rolled-back eyes. "It mind, an aspeci oi inielliyaico no robot can "I can do better. I will do belter." Carly won't happen tome," she whispers into his ever hope to glimpse except through a hu- slarts to sob. "I'll do anything to keep my unhearing ear. "Not like this." man. For me, there is only nothing, nothing job, it's a great job, Mr. Rice, I'll do any- ." but program, and then nothing—try that thing. . . " 9 Mr. Rice offers it; "How can I get inside a blackout?" says for existential angst. But you, a mysterious "Will you kiss my ass Carly. "The blackouts take my whole sys- presence in your link, visions of an arche- Carly puckers. 118 OMNI CONTINUFD ON PACF Y.,2 NASA administrator for the second time, he's been picking up the pieces of a shattered and demoralized space program and preparing to send new, improved vessels to the nearest heavenly bodies IfUTERVIEUU Paini is chipping off some doors. Carpets are dingy and The first time Fletcher came to lhal office in Washington, DC, worn. Many offices are crammed so tightly with book- in April 1971, had been very different. NASA astronauts were shelves and documents thai a person has to step side- walking on the moon, and Skylab was being built. Fletcher, then ways to get down a hall. This is NASA headquarters. It stands like filty-two, broughl a rich and varied background in industry and a poor relative just behind Ihe gleaming National Air and Space academe. Armed with a B.A. from Columbia, he did research al Museum, which houses its Iriumpham crealions, its past glories. Harvard and taught at Princeton before getting a Ph.D. from the NASA administrator James Fletcher's ollice is modest, narrow. California Institute of Technology. Working as a scientist for a dimly lit, and furnished with vintage Sixties furniture. The table decade, he developed components lor sonar devices and we sat around wouldn't fetch $40 at a suburban garage sale. guidod-missile systems. In 1958 he cofounded and served as When Fletcher moved into thai office in May 1986. it'was for the presidenl of the Space Electronics Corporation— later Space second time. NASA had hit rock boltpm. The space communily General Corporation —which developed and manufactured had been wounded to its core, and no day passed without some rockel upper stages: In 1964, when only Forty-five, Fletcher be- news that made the wound bleed afresh. During that month the came presidenl of the University of Ulah, where he remained families of the Challenger crew held Iheir final, private funerals until summoned by President Nixon lo take over NASA. for the fragmented remains of the people they loved. Just a year later Fletcher had so c the space shuirie program PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE MITCHELL , By 1972. however, the American public had Omni: When the Challenger disaster hap ceived by the public. Members of Con- already grown complacent about NASA's pened, had you any sense it was going to gress read Ihe newspapers more than they miraculous successes. And Fletcher had impact you personally? do the Congressional Record. Not exclu- begun to accep! serious design compro- Fletcher: No. I worried about the publicity, sively but typically. mises to stay within the costs Congress but a lot of other people were dealing with Omni: Did you worry that the press ac- I in dictated. During his first six-year lerm as it. It came down to me, guess, in two steps. counts would hurt NASA getting iioney NASA administrator, Flelcher oversaw a Don Regan, then While House chiel o! stall, for future projects? wide variely ot space endeavors: three asked me lo come in and see him. I knew Fletcher: Oh, I was worried that the public. successful moon flights, the entire Skylab what it was about. And we had a long chat. Congress, and Ihe President would think space station program, the Apollo-Soyuz We discussed the nature of the job and NASA was a bunch of fools. I got to wor- test project, and the- unmanned Viking many other things, and I said I'd think about rying about whether NASA people would landings on Mars. Voyagers 1 and 2 were it. The next day I called him back and said, believe the publicity themselves and really funded and built under Fletcher and "Noway." I thought it was done. 1 went about lose confidence. And this did happen to a launched on their journeys lo the ouler so- my business and went down to the Baha- limited degree. They overreacted to all the lar system just afler he left office. mas to another board meeting. When I publicity and were overly cautious for a Fletcher resigned in May 1977, and came back, there was a whole bunch of while. Now they've regained their confi- President Carter named Robert Frosch, people at the airport. They said, "What's dence— pretty much. whose background was in oceanography, this about you being named NASA admin- Omni: What's Ihe major misconception the to be NASA administrator. Under Frosch istrator?" I said, "I already told them no!" public has about NASA? it there were no manned launches at all. Next day somebody from the White House Fletcher: Recently, I suspect, is our re- Fletcher accepted a professorship at the called and asked for my Social Security action to the Challenger accident. During hearings University of Pittsburgh, started a lucrative number. I said, "What for?" "Haven't you the Rogers Cornmssion some of consulting firm, served on various presi- heard?" they said, "I've heard," I said, "but the media did make us look like idiots. It's dential panels, and sat on several corpo- it's all nonsense.' Then ihe F'residonl called. partly because we did make some serious rate boards of directors. He was attending mistakes, but partly we didn't know how to a board meeting of the Amoco Corpora- behave ourselves in front of thai kind of tion in Chicago when he first heard news commission. That has caused somewhat of the Challenger disaster. of a loss of confidence in NASA, But not At the time he felt shock and grief. After really. The public wants lo go on to bigger the listening to the wrenching Rogers Com- ^During and better things. mission testimony and reading the shrill Rogers Commission shuttle Omni: What's the major m sconception the Fletcher's shock turned to public has about you? press accounts, hearings, some of the worry about NASA's ability to recover its Fletcher: My guess is they don't have a well-being— and its future. After Fletcher's media made us look like idiots, misconception aboul me. Some look upon selection to head NASA, another former partly because me as a folk hero, picking up the pieces of NASA administrator, Thomas Paine, NASA. Some people say that I don't have quipped, "We were both being considered we didn't know how to behave enough charisma. for Ihejob. He lost." ourselves in front Omni: What's the major misconception Back at NASA's helm, Fletcher set aboul about what's possible in the future? of that kind of commission.^ the business of redesigning Ihe solid rock- Fletcher: I haven't thought much about it. ets, fixing the other critical items, replacing Let me just take the far-out ones, like the some key NASA center directors, and re- idea of visiting another slar Science-fic- structuring NASA headquarters manage- tion people talk about it, but it's not really ment—and swiftly got bogged down in in the cards for a century or two. On the controversy and conflict. His attempt to shift and [-knew il was lor real, i loid him I'd have other hand, intelligent life on other planets 2,000 space station jobs from Texas to Al- to talk it over with my wife. She said, "Fig- around other suns is a likely possibility So abama aroused the ire of almost every ure a way to get out of it." while you might think tha's far-out, NASA Texan in Congress, unifying them in a way Omni: When you came back to Washing- regards other into liger: life as a likely real- 1 1 not seen since the Alamo. Fletcher's slow, ton, power had changed since your last ity and is looking for . Search for extrater- studious, methodical leadership style an- time there. Was this a iactor that would get restrial intelligence— SETI— that's where gered many. in the way of rebuilding NASA? the term B.T. came from, The public's mis- To make matters worse. President Rea- Fletcher: Yes. Congress and the press had conception is that they don't realize how gan delayed in asking for a replacement both changed Congress had larger staffs rea : a possibility such iiJi-lligence is. orbiter and then confused Congress fur- and started doing more of what we call mi- Omni: Getting back to Earth, hasn't the ther by making no provision to pay for it. crotia na gem ent. Part of that was due to agency been robbed of a certain amount While Reagan called for building a space the accident, of course. But part was just of boldness? station in 1984, its funding was still very the change in Congress from the previous Fletcher: Yes. Not robbed. Given it up. We limited. Recently, as the estimated cost of nine years. 1 has took getting used to. It was did it to ourselves. Normally, when a flyer the space station has risen, Reagan's a little bit of a shock but not an impossible has an accident they put him right back on commitment lo it has ebbed, and the de- problem. And the press had gotten more another plane and he flies again. You don't cision to build some components has been into investigative reporting, probably as a have a national investigation, plus another pushed off on some future president. result of Watergate and the onzes resulting commission, and so forth to lind out why Space writer Alcestis Oberg spoke with from it. All the young reporters wanted to he did such a terrible thing. Fletcher in June and late July, of this year. become Pulitzer prize-winners. Some of the Omni: One crit.cism of the space station At both times he was facing severe criti- reporting was a little bit risky—that is, not was that it is too elaborate, too high-tech. cism in the press for not demanding a new quite true. Why couldn't we build a simpler one we initiative beyond Ihe space station that Omni: So you feel the press got in the way cou : o get into space fast? would give the program a sense of its fu- of the job you wanted lo do'' Fletcher: I have to put myself in the posi- ture direction Although Oberg had inter- Fletcher: Yes. To some extent, both the tion of trying to think like Jim Beggs and viewed Fletcher's" predecessor James White House and Congress get their infor- Hans Mark [deputy administrator under Beggs one-on-one, two sides were pres- mation on how an agency is doing from the Beggs] when they decided to go thai way. enl lor her interview with Fletcher. press. You are regarded as you are per- Now that we're this far along, we may as 123 OMNI well go for the whole thing. We could have Omni: We expc.-d our space station :o last Omni: So this philosophy of interchange- started smaller, but I'm guessing Beggs twenty or thirty years. In that time the So- ability, then, precludes our having to build and Mark felt we were dropping quite a viet Union will have gone through at least a series of stations st.arl.ng simple and the the are ways behind the Soviet Union, so by the eight space stations. Is it a wise strategy evolving upward, way Russians station will simply time we get it built we should have some- to tie up our whole future in one structure? doing, because our thing of substance. Fletcher: That's the beauty oi it. We can change somelhing that fails? Omni: What will (he American station have change almost any part of that space sta- Fletcher: That's the philosophy. disaster result that the Mir— the Soviet space station now tion. It's kind of like— maybe I shouldn't use Omni: But could some in a failure ol the station? in orbit— doesn't? the DC-3 as an analogy because that's massive whole Fletcher: In 1995 the U.S. station would have such a simple plane— but they £ept Fletcher: Sure. The obvious wors: disaster had a lot of capabilities that the current Mir changing this and this and this, and soon is a power failure or a big meteorite com- I sus- doesn't have. But by 1995 Mir might have it wasn'l Ihe same DC-3 they started with. ing along. Then you come down, the same capabilities. You can do that with the space station. pect—or go up and iix it. total dis- Omni: So it's possible we might wind up Omni: But life-support systems degrade. Omni: Can we replace it without a with equivalent systems? The outer hull on Ihe shielding might de- ruption ot the program, the way we've had Fletcher: Or maybe even behind. It de- grade. Are there gong to be backup mod- with the Challenger? pends on what the Russians do between ules? Are we going to have the spare parts Fletcher: That's just what we're trying to now and 1995. We have plans for a much to repair a whole space station? work out right now. The idea is to design more elaborate science capability, includ- Fletcher: Whal should oo spared [allotlerl Ihe space station so that a disastrous set- ing free-flying payloads, or coorbiters, as spare parts], and what shouldn't be? It's back doesn't happen. So far we've fo- is station we call them. Those Ihings don't now exist not an easy question. You don't have to cused on development: What the on the Mir But by 1995, who can say? provide differeni kinds ot spare parts for going to consist of? How is it going to be Omni: Doesn't the complexity of the space every one of Ihe modules, because they're assembled? How are we going to operate If attack, station worry you? Aren't you concerned all the same size. The outer hull parts are it and spare it? a guy has a heart about the technology failing? interchangeable. The interconnecting tun- do we bring him down or treat him up there? Fletcher: This is a complex system, not a nels, or what we call Ihe nodes, are also all All those operational aspecls ol Ihe space i at. high-tech system. It's the complexity that's identical. "Jiiirna'icly. think we'll be in a po- station are now being looked of concern: the numerous interfaces be- sition to spare everything. The question is Omni: NASA has been criticized for lack- tween the various contractors in the var- on what kind of time scale. You don't want ing specific goals on the use of Ihe space 7 ious work packages. The contractors all to have a lot ol extra modules around until station. Is the criticism valid gener- have to communicate and work together, later, when they wear out. Fletcher: We've been speaking in specify but the system doesn't all come together Omni: Assuming they're all wonderful and alities, but now we have to what until the station is in space. There's some reliable, is there a possibility ol just creat- equipment will go into the modules and payloads attached will risk in that. You can't put the whole thing in ing another facility wilh them? what the specific a zero-gravity facility. Fletcher: Sure. Sure. be. They'll be mostly life-science and mi- crogravity experiments [materials proc- essing in space] for both pure research and commercial use. Omni: Maybe il srliilicult to define specific scientific goals when science programs have been starved for so long. Fletcher: Space science in general wasn't starved — but science on the shuttle and the space station definitely was. Science was booming along, but unfortunately, it was big science. Galileo. Ulysses. Megei- lan, Space Telescope, Gamma Ray Ob- servatory—each is a billion-dollar pro- gram. They soaked up all the r'honey, and apparently we didn't have enough money left for Ihe research that was going to be done on the shuttle and space station. Omni: Is the emphasis going to change to- ward shutlle anc space s:atior science? Fletcher: It has already changed. We solved it the hard way. We decided not to start any new billion-dollar science pro- grams. We've got enough of them as it is. We've decided on several little programs inthemicrogravityandliie science arenas. One new start in the fiscal '88 budget is called GGS, the Global Geoscience Sat- ellite. It's a solar terrestrial plasma experi- ment. It's nol cheap, but it's not a billion- dollar program either. Then last year we moved more strongly into a bunch of mid- deck'shuttle experiments jthe smaller, locker-size experiments, as opposed to payload-arca space lab experiments]. Omni: James Beggs told me once that he thought the business sector would be- come Ihe "driver" of space development. Is leadership in space shifting into Ihe pri- George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, closed life support. That's being done on vate sector and out of government hands? in Alabama] had planned to develop the space station. Fletcher: It'll be awhile before more than Apollo, for example when they were part Omni: Is the moon attractive as a goal be- half of it is in private hands. People have to of the Army. That and other technology from cause we already have the technologies step up to the private enterprise and put the Air Force were already developed by to gel there? the money in. That's just not happening as the time the Apollo decision was made. Fletcher: You put your finger on it. Also, fast as people though!. [-Shortly after this Omni: What technologies does it take to some technologic;; enabling us to put a interview NASA turned down a joint-en- get to Mars? permanent base on the moon are common deavor agreement with Spacelab, Inc., one Fletcher: We have to develop refueling to a Mars mission. There are solid reasons of the largest commercial space ventures.] techniques and the technology for aero- for putting scientific observatories on Ihe Omni: What can the government do to en- braking, that is, the use of the atmosphere moon first, although scientists argue about courage private space development? of Earth and Mars, rather than a retro- where on the moon. Some want to put them Fletcher: We can't subsidize the private rocket, to slow down a vehicle. That is cru- up by Ihe polar regions; some, on the back sector, except by getting it free rides on cial for any manned space activities be- side of the moon, away from Earth; and certain good experiments. Somelimes we'll yond a space station. The concept ot others want to put it where we can see it. even cost-share with them if we get sci- cryogenic fuei storage implies we have to Then there's the business of lunar re- ence value out of the experiment and if it's have fuel stations in space. Certainly one sources. Except for hydrogen, all of the not a direct subsidy by NASA. at the space station and probably, de- materials necessary to construct rockels Omni: Can you cost-share on something pending on how we do it, another in orbit and make rocket fuel are on the moon. We as big as moon development? around Mars for the return journey. An- need to know how to process those ma- Fletcher: No. That would be a huge amount other crucial technology involves assem- terials to use them for missions near Earth, of money for the private sector. The most bling a largo vehicle n space. It's not pos- in geosynchronous orbits. And using a you can get out of the private sector for sible to launch a whole Mars spacecraft. moon base first might be a much better anything in space is a billion or two. Basically we're thinking in terms of five to way to go to Mars. Then last but not least, Omni: The Commission on Space has there's the argument that you really nocd planned a huge buildup in 1991, when the the experience on a nearby body before budget is supposed to be balanced. Isn't you tackle a one-year trip to Mars. If you this too grandiose, given the fiscal re- have a problem on the moon, it's only three straints we have nowadays? days back. There's no way you can get can't Fletcher: Absolutely. There's no way we 6We go back from Mars in three days. The main could sell a threefold increase in Ihe NASA to the nearest star, but we reason for going to the moon is to gain the budget in [hose three years. experience of living a long way Irom Earth, can go to the Omni: Why not define goals as a series of yet not on the space station, for a long time. sprints? The Apollo program was a sprint. nearest planet or heavenly Omni: Would you put people on Ihe moon Tell Congress we want five flights lo Pho- ' body; we can even .for three years —as long as a Mars trip? bos [a moon of Mars] to set up a refueling Fletcher: Ultimately, yes. But you'd have the plan to to the farthest base; another five flights to explore the go option of bringing Ihem back in case there surface of Mars; and five more to explore planet. That's were problems. the commercial resource opportunities of Omni: What does the taxpayer get from what I call future oriented^ asteroids. Then we can decide what to do spending billions ol dollars on sending yet on the basis of what we've found. twenly more astronauts to the moon? Fletcher: That's the right way to do it. We'll Fletcher: The taxpayer gets the feeling thai. try that. We have to. A program should be yes, the world is following U.S. leadership, an orderly movement out into space—pro- as we move the high Irontier farther into viding you have a political system that al- seven astronauls who might spend up to outer space. Some people think that is Ihe : lows for it. The Russian system is perfect three years, so you need fuel, possible re- main thing; national pre: ;i ge. national feel- lor such an orderly movement. I'm not sure supply of food and water, and all the con- ing of accomplishment. The other is the in our political system we can do it that way. sumables you need for that trip. And we technological spinoff. When we do some- With our system, in my limited experience, have to know a lot more about human thing like going to ihe moon during Apollo, the most successful programs are those physiology under zero gravity than we do. there's enormous economic benefit. Peo- done in fits and starts. The Apollo program We want to have some entertainment, too. ple have estimatedThai we've had a return is exhibit A. I was also involved in Ihe ICBM Omni: Won't we learn about these things of five to seven times what we put into that program when it started, and that was ex- from the space station? Apollo program. And we'd get the same tremely successful. All of the intercontinen- Fletcher: Yes! One of its purposes is to ex- kind ot economic benefits from a perma- tal ballistic missiles except Minuteman were plore human endurance in zero gravity. nent moon base or a trip to Mars. designed within a two- or three-year pe- Omni: What do you think about advanced Omni: Are any of these enabling technol- riod. Another project, which I was not in- propulsion, such as plasma, antimatter, or ogies coming out of SDI [Strategic De- volved in, was the H-bomb. Look at what nuclear propulsion? fense Initiative] or other military programs? we did in World War II! It's incredible. World Fletcher: It would reduce the cost of the Fletcher: There's a; leas! one lhal I know ol War II lasted only four years, and we de- trip to Mars, but you can do it with current that's very similar to ihe Apol.o situation. A veloped alomic bombs, radar, sophisti- technology. It'll cost more and take more joint program called advanced launch cated submarines. Basically, all the good flights to put the fueling station into orbit. systems, which is paid for moslly by the programs have been done in fits and starts. One critical technology involves artificial Defense Department [DoD], will provide Omni: So it would be difficult to get an intelligence —the official name is knowl- the heavy-lift launch vehicle we'll need to open-ended initiative, like a colony on the edge-based systems. We have to have it. lift this enormous amount of fuel and moon working to produce tquid oxygen? We Or-in'l use humans for everything. spacecrafl into Earlh orbit. Fletcher: Yes. The question is, What tech- Omni: And Mission Control is- pretty far Omni: Whal about the advanced propul- nology would we need if we decided lo do away, too! sion systems? those things irTa fit or start? We're not ready, Fletcher: You're, sometimes ten or twenty Fletcher: It's unlikely they would help us to make that decision today because too minutes away from the folks on the ground, very much. I hale to say il, but we probably many technologies have yet to be devel- so you can't depend on them to do things have more advanced propulsion technol- oped. People forget that Huntsville [tho for you. We have to develop technology lor ogy at NASA than the DoD or SDI. 126 OMNI Omni: What prevents you from asking ior not the same as having your own. They also Omni: Reagan has slated that he wants a commitmen beyond :he space sialion? have the begi ys ol a space station not even greater cooperation. I think he men- Fletcher: li's not absolutely required, but it unlike, the one we'll have in the Nineties. In tioned a shuttle-Mr rendezvous. would certainly help a lot. We'll get our act manned space it's safe to say they've def- Fletcher: I never heard lhal. together, and then the President is going initely passed us. Omni: Not a "pure rendezvous." where the to have to decide. In the unmanned exploration It's mostly spacecraft meet, but an "In the vicinity" kind Omni: Is he likely lo go lor a bold goal, like talk so far, but by the Nineties they might of rendezvous. a manned mission to Mars, this late in his pass us there, too. The Russians have Fletcher: lhadn'l heard anylhing about that. administration? talked about the Mars program very in- Omni: In a press release dated October Fletcher: I can't answer lhal question. We tensely, but we've vis ted al the planets ex- 30, 1984, the White House announced that haven't defined the programs sufficiently, cept Neptune, and we expect to do that in President Reagan had signed Joint Reso- although we're almost there. We've got a 1989, something they haven't begun to do. lution 236, calling for U.S./USSR coopera- little bit of feedback as to which direction So right now, in unmanned exploration, tion in space, specifically, "a joint simu- he would like to go. We're close to that. we're way ahead, and I think we'll remain lated space rescue mission." So is it Omni: How close? ahead in that area. We have permanent feasible to test glasnosl and see how lar Fletcher: That's the President's call, not observatories planned—the iirst one in cooperation can go? mine. 1989, with the Hubble Space Telescope. Fletcher: It's a possibility, but we have to Omni: It has been said that Beggs was re- Omni: What do we hope ultimately to see how far the scientific exchanges go luctant to ask for a Mars mission because achieve with our currenl small-scale co- before we do It. Remember, we've been he thought it might endanger the space operation with the Russians? out of touch, but we're just row getting back station commitment, Fletcher: A lot. We're beginning to get their into that routine again. Fletcher: I have no such reluctance. data on human physiology in the zero-g Omni: You recently h»I launch priorities as scientific. Omni: You would gladly ask? experience. But I haven't calibrated for military first, then ;hen commer- Fletcher: Yes, when the time is right. myselt how good their data are or how cial. How long will priority on military pay- Omni: You're dodging! much data they've passed. They gained loads last? it. Fletcher: Of course [smiling]. I think the re- from us our experience on Mars. We've had Fletcher: Thai wasn'l really We really want lationship between myself and the Presi- extensive experience from the Viking lo have a balance among the three. The dent shouldn't be made public. probes that will help them to plan their se- first priority-is to make sure that balance is Omni: How long do you think the Russian ries of Mars missions starting next year. correct. If necessary, however, the rnililary lead in space will last? Omni: Is it realistic to do a joint manned will have top priority. And this has a.ways Fletcher: In the manned area they clearly mission to Mars with them— to tie up a huge been the case. It wasn't much of a concern are ahead of us. They've had cosmonauts program with a liad'l.onai adversary? when we had many launches scheduled exposed to zero g for two hundred thirty- Fletcher: That would be such an extremely per year. But now thai we've skimmed down seven days—almost eight months. We difficult program that it's premature even the launches to three orbiters with only a hope we'll get some of their data, but that's to :alh about it. slow buildup, it has become an issue. Omni: Just how much of a role is the mili- tary going id play on the space station"' Fletcher: Well, there's no way it'll become a battle station. They've never indicated any interest in the use of the space station. It'll take iour or five years to come up with experiments for them to use on the space station. They might have their own micro- gravity experiment on special materials peculiar to DoD problems. They may want to test out tracking and pointing [naviga- tion and targeting] systems, which we do for our own interests. So I would guess that the kinds of things they would use the soace stat on for are cute similar to those for which we plan to use it —excepl for De- lonso Deparlmcnl Interests. Omni: What would happen if we lost an- other arbiter? Fletcher: There':-, a very low probability we'd lose another oibitoi before assembling the space station. Even if we had one loss in twenty-five, which is inconceivable with all the fixes, that would take us well into the space station. Wo are expecting a much lower failure rate when we start up the shuttle program next year than we did in the early days of the shuttle. The Rogers Commission pointed out some of trie things that people in NASA already knew, that is, that there were a lot of marginal things ir the first twenty five shutte flights We're f ix- ng most of those. Of course, if we did have a failure, depending on what the failure was. we'd either starl flying again soon or stop the remaining two vehicles. Omni: The remain ny orbiters wouldn't be '•Flying saucer sightings are brought on by olose encounters between earthquake energy and the brain* Firs! he toll setramag- -ititii. effect i t UFO rep cede earthquake aclr riueh as innihs 1 ract lyzing Swedish daia ' '.leu !6 -167 Persin- -esligator Dan MattS spe ihi I comes frori siween clus- Maccabee, a UFOio- rthquakeac- gist and a physicist fot , , i a UFOUPDWTE Ihe U.S. Nas Pen take big enougti areas lenon sines 1969 and On the earth s surface." says Maccabee. "and big enough lime chunks you can find all sorts of Ihings Such criliosms don't faze Persinger W^ - - is m as many places as we rvv.. ess and loss likely ihai Us sp mu ths [identifications in UFO databases, us te numbers, that you took at." he argues, i 'he andom noise." i " i rilicism, which Pars tatistical understanding, he has almas; given up il : UFO conferences. "People make a lot of critical he says, "but no one has ever supported these comments with data analysis." The ultimate judges might be geophysicists. who hare specialized Knowledge and no particular ax 10 grind. James Byerlee of the U.S. Geological Survey thinks Petsmger should Oneol H I tkowsfc whodoe work to Geophymt al Research Letters and lei sionals critically review it —PAUL MCCARTHY ale a nationwide . for the New Age says editor Mar- cor scinusnsss- raising vita- people in Los Angeles had .miual this provincial idea that it's all . unrriing? [fit's New happening in L A. and Age. holistic, or n .-. notso, There's in- ' bit strange, you can find ! lew Age all over in the National New Age Yellow Pages. ' the space "" Billed as 'A Unite cases thaf are Into : Guide to Consciousness- genus adds. 'A lot I Raising Services Products, Age Ihmkers use the and Organizations." the access what is available vellow pages first appeared without exposing themselves earlv this year "It sei to ridicule. Bui theatrhbs- '' „,!,, |R.:::. I !;„ ,j||a it —She editor ai 1 -- iierra javs fc"u mil on Worried about daily doses of electromagnetic waves [mm your computer or TV screen' Alraid Ihe rays Irom youi microwave oven will sis ;hipE i reflect electromagnetic waves pimg nirror reflects light While there's no solid evidence that stray electro- magnetic waves cause internal damage, some recent studies suggest Ihey may :.!' >y pa lead id miscarriages and ,..:, ml. even birth defects. Aware ot the studies and convinced that "if just isn't natural to have electric fields in our bodies. Lunde, an equipment engi- neer at Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, de- cided to see if there was any- thing she could do. Silver Linings were the -esult. Ranging from £12,95 each for the camisoles and ' , . wandering around a by Pay. too -Belli Karlm underpants lo £19.95 each for . ,,,.- \ Us slore searching lor slips and crew-neck undei- iman he loved more "fh$ instant I touched it, the shirts. the garments arc '. anuria "iv washable. And so far hun- :-..:! been filled dreds have been sold — i mostly lo pregnant women. But interest in the shimmery — Carlos Castaneda undergarments is not limited lo expectant mothers. "Be Wjsioi the - - - : - careful who sees you wearing them," Lunde warns-. "They're ii i-i i -\ ! i i ; uvhei '-. si an transparent—and very '"— sexy Beth Karlin " " claimea abcuctees. W- 1 ng back to many hundred dollars an hour. So I finally said, of them, he knew that the second phase of 'Kathie, this is really terrible. Let me do the SHARERS his hypnosis myself.'" research could begin. Now, instead of working with a mere Hopkins knew the process. He'd already New York Stale Psychiatric institute. Klein dozen witnesses, Hopkins interviewed learned self-hypnosis from accomplished had offered to do psychohi stories —psy- scores of them. The large work load meant New York psychiainsi Robert Naimon. He'd chological profiles taking the subjects' en- he could no longer rely on psychologists sal through hundreds of hours of obser- tire lives into account—to see whether he like Clama" to voluniee' their time, and after vation with three psychiatrists, two psy- could find anything to account for their sto- studying with experl:;. lie began hypnotiz- chologists, and a police hypnotist, And ries and claims. Working with stalf psychi- ing people himself. ' noted psychialiisi Donaic Klein had ob- atrist Abigail Feuer, Klein found that all ten His first subject, a woman he calls Kath- served Hopkins's techmaue and given him abduc".ees. including author Whitley Strie- ie Davis, would ultimately become the cen- pointers "Listening lo the abductees' sto- ber, were sane. The researchers found a ter of intruders, his latest book. Davis had ries, I'd matched them tear for tear," Hop- high degree of anxiety in all the subjects, written to Hopkins, tolling him about a gap kins says. "They wouTd-be crying, and I to, be sure. One of the ten had somewhat of missing time expe- enced by her sister would be crying. I didn't want Aphrodite to of an alcohol problem. But nobody and sending him 15 photos of so-called see my tears, but it was awful. And as a emerged as a sexually abused child or the UFO landing traces — circular areas of mere observer, I feltso^'/p/ess. It was like .victim of an alcoholic parent. No patterns, dead grass— that had appeared on her seeing somebody in terrible pain on the no trauma, no insanity, and no psycholog- lawn. Because Davis's letter sounded ur- other side ol a glass wall "As the hypnotist, I ical explanation emerged. In other words, gent and because she seeded lo be hint- I could calm these people down; could the institute team found nothing that in any ing at a submerged abduction experience ease their passage through the experi- way would suggest a cause. of her own, Hopkins called her on the ence. I could help." / While psychologist claimed merely that phone. After several conversations she Those skills, Hopkins feels, were partic- the abductees were sane, Hopkins de- agreed to come to New York for interviews ularly useful with Davis, whose story was : cided to take a stand. Perhaps we were and a series o hypnosis sessions. one of the most wrenching he had ever witnessing a long-term study of humans by An unemployed mother of two children, heard. According to Davis, she'd been ab- an alien race, he suggested, who "could aged three and four, Davis had put literally ducted by small, gray visitors repeatedly be fitting our children with monitoring de- all her resources into the trip. The journey since childhood. In -ale adolescence she'd vices and extracting them decades later from her home to New York took 17 hours been examined and impregnated by The purpose he did not know. by bus. But when she arrived Clamar had aliens, only to have her fetus —a human- These ideas were put forth in Missing only two ava'lable sessions open for the alien hybrid —taken away. And, she even- Time, Hopkins's first book on the abduc- duration of the week. tually told Hopk ; ns. she'd seen the girl child tees. The book, which sold 55.000 copies, "I called around, trying to get other psy- years later, during an abduction: "I was in 1 generated a response. Hopkins soon re- chologists to do the hypnosis," Hopkins this place, and it was al white. It was like I back where I ceived letters rem more than 400 self-pro- says. "But I kept getting estimates of two was getting ready to go came " from . . . like they were essentially finished with me except for one thing. And there was a whole bunch of these little guys in the big room . . . little gray guys, and there were several of them around me. One of them. I seem to remember . . . it's almost as if he had his arm around my waist . . . very comforting. I was standing up. And they were all around me, and one of them touched my shoulder. Everyone seemed very pleased with me, and ... I didn't know why. And then ... a little girl came into the room . . . escorted by two more of them. And she stood in the front doorway . . . she looked to be about four ... she didn't look like them, but she didn't look like us, either. She looked like an elf or an . . . angel. She had really big blue eyes and a little teeny- weeny nose, just so perfect. And her mouth was ju'st so perfect and tiny, and she was pale, except her lips were pink and her eyes blue. her hair white and ; were And was ... : I *-$A V wispy and thin. Her head was a little larger than normal, 'specially in the forehead . . . but she was just a doll. And they brought her to me. And they stood Ihere and looked V at me. And I looked at her, and I wanted to 3^ I ... I'm pretty ilk* hold her. And started crying. sure somebody told me I should be proud." Davis had wanted to take the child with her, she said, but one of the figures, a man she'd seen many times before, ostensibly the girl's father, said the child would not be able to live. " 'You wouldn't be able to feed her.' he said. 'She has to stay with us.' "YO'j know. I've told yc ,:.. !huKj;~ luciay I've never tola another living soul." Kathie Davis, moreover, was just the tip of the iceberg. According to Hopkins, he has coilocioo sim.iar e;:;aih- abou? the pro- oucion of these hybrids from dozens ol abductees. Since Ihe details have never been prinled in Missing Time. Intruders, or any other book or maga - r >?v ir - says, ihey couldn't have been copied from one person to Ihe next. Instead, their redun- dancy and strangeness acid an eerie cre- dence to the abductees' claims. Most of the stories, for instance, include the removal of eggs or sperm, apparently in preparation for the hybrid's corccp: or Lying down on the couch in Hopkins's darkened Wellfleel studio, responding lo questions under hypnosis, Bruce echoed other abductees when he recalled one such procedure in great detail: ; Bruce: There s a :nye> h looks rubbery, like it's maoe oi la".ex. But it's hard when it touches me. k'sha'olik-iapieceofpiasuc All I know is, the more I think of it, the big- ger this stupid ihing gels, and Ihe more I hate it Hopkins: Let's move on. What's happen- ing e sewhere on your body? Bruce: They out some kind of device or', me tha; causes an erection. They're trying to collect semen. Hopkins: Then what happens? Bruce: I'm embarrassed. Hopkins: Of course, but il happened a long time ago. Let's look at it objectively. What is this device? Bruce: I have nothing to compare it to, except it seems like something you might Hopkins: Is it |ust on the penis, or is it on SIT TO CHRISTMAS DINNER at ; Mo •lis. i 1 not sure now far up :l Iks Ihey v^oio saying Mrs. Bobo's Boarding House in Lynchburg, something about not fitting far enough or somelhiny like :ha- They were embarrass- Tennessee, and you're likely to be there a while. ing me. Hopkins: Are you aware of having an or The occasion calls for unhurried enjoyment of gasm? ^ Bruce: No, it's last. They jusl do it real dishes from every lady present. Lynne Tolley's fast. They collect what they want. Hopkins: Is there a sensation connected baked turkey; Mary Ruth Hall's scalloped oysters; With it-, either pleasurable or painfi.il? Bruce Wei . seme of Ihe pleasure that Diane Dickey's tipsy sweet potatoes; comes from thai kind of tiling, but not much really. Mary Kathryn Holt's boiled custard Hopkins: Was here an orgasm or not? Bruce: Not what I'd call an orgasm. Cu- and coconut cake. And compliments riosity is the on y rhino, they'll allow me. Hopkins: They allow you curiosity? from one and all. All of us in Bruce: Nothing more. "Others may doubl my experience." Lynchburg hope your Christmas dinner will be equally unhurried. And equally well attended by family I and close friends. SMOOTH SIPPIN ' TENNESSEE WHISKEY ., i-. , i i n hybrid babie w -i . .:..-. an duclees, both men and women, claimed books, his tape recorder wi:h special mi- ple," Jacobs explains. "I work more con- thoy were laken (or the distinct purpose of crophone, and his pretty "lowered couch. stantly with each individual, getting them touching these baby hybrids. One woman, "This is where I do my regressions," he says, to go over her stones again and again." Hopkins says, was even presented with a and takes his customary seat. As a result, Jacobs has come up with baby she simply didn't like. "Well, here are A short, pudgy nan wi;T stubby lingers, what he says Is a chronology of the abduc- some others," !be aliens allegedly told her. prematurely gray hair, and electric blue tion phenomenon "as il exists second by 'Touch any one you like." eyes, Jacobs explains that he's been in- second. What happens when they know Perhaps the most bizarre type of report volveo with UFO 'osoa.'oh most of his adult scnehing is wrong fn their, bedroom? was that of the dummy birth. According to life. "Initially," he explains, "my goal was lo Whal's the first hing -hey see as they're led reports, aliens somelirhes tell a nonpreg- synthesize knowledge so we cou-c make down the hallway? How do they get their 7 nant female abductee that she's about to sense of the UFO phenomenon. But I was clothes of: -cw do thoy got or he lable? have a baby now. The woman lies in a birth never really able to make any serious What do they see on the ceiling 9 What position, and the alien doctors pull a hy- headway as far as understanding the pur- happens during the examination? What brid baby out from between her legs. As pose of it all." happens to them point by point, up until far as Hopkins is concerned, the goal is to Indeed, throughout his years of studying the time they return?" simulate the bonding process, providing UFO reports, Jacobs could never truly Jacobs says ns multiple hypnotic ses- the baby with human touch. comprehend the phenomenon or under- sions have yielded "just Ions of informa- Hopkins likes lo tell one story about a stand why people were see ng things in tion," And in an upcoming book he plans Southern gentleman who recently came to the sky. "Why cfcn'l I iiey land on the White to take readers through he abduclion ex- his door. "He looked very nervous, and I House lawn? Why didn't thoy say, 'Take me perience, step-by-step, room by room. "I asked him il he'd come about my book. to your leader'? Why didn't they crash? Why don't want to go into loo much detail right 'No,' he said. He'd seen part of a film about had we never recovered he 0:eces? I was now," he says, "but once the abdi.clee is Barney and Betty Hill, and spurred by that, never able to answer any questions that in the ship, the first part of the experience he'd taken his story to the Center for UFO stalled w,th the word why." usually involves an examination, egg har- Studies- They referred him to me." vesting, and sperm sampling. Next come The man's abduction experience, Hop- baby presentations and machine exami- kins says, went back to trio age ol five. "You nations. FinaMv. the experience can involve ; won't believe it." he told the artist, "but when media presentations c dyl ic places where, I was live years old Ihey cut my leg, and I supposedly ho hyoiid babies go." even have a scar." He recalled other ab- 4/Ve explained Needless to say, Jacobs, Hopkins, ana ductions, during which sperm samples myself two hundred twenty- the abductees nave stirred '"ore than a lit- were taken, and then he got to the point: tle debale. Nowhere was he he hotter than five times in "Budd," he said. "I was ''scently taken again. at American University in Washington, DC. - I went into the ship, and there was this fe- public, and I've had the where the world's most corrmil ted tJFOIo- male who held out a pan that had this little experience of being g sis gatherec this past summer to com- tiny baby, halfway between us and them. memorate the to-nelh anniversary of Ken- laughed at in front of eight It had a very big head and a little tiny neck neth Arnold's sighting of a UFO. It was at that didn't seem big enough to support the million viewers the end of a one. swollen rig day when the head. They wanted me to pick that thing panel on abduction convened. on the Phil Donahue show?) up and believe it was mine. But the skin Sitting in front of 'lie crowned lecture hall was so thin, I felt as if my fingers would were some of America's most ce ebrateo puncture it. I wanted nothing to do with it, abouctees- Whit'ey Snicbor, author of I felt really upset, and they felt upset, too." Communion; Kahe Davis the subject of Some of the details might have been Intruders; and Charles Hickson, whose picked up from Hopkins's books. But, Then, in 1981 ne met Budd -iopkir.s and gripping tale of abduction had been pub- Hopkins.says, "the man went into incredi- became familiar with his work. Though licized a decade before, David Jacobs. ble detail, about the presentation of the skeptical, Jacobs reasoned that it Hopkins moderator of the event, threw out the first baby, dredging up technical descriptions were on to something, the true business ol question: "What was it like," he asked, "to I'd heard from dozens of other witnesses line hisicrian —ne task of syrlhcsis—could talk aboul this experience in public?" but had deliberately withheld. I asked him begin. "If Hopkins was nghr. " ne explains, Strieber took the mike. "I perhaps have to draw a picture of the abductors, then I "then he would have found the inte lectual made the most oubl e statement about this showed him one drawn for me by another breakthrough we had been wailing for. and so far," he said, his voice well ng -with emo- abductee. Big as he was, he broke down his work would launch us into a new era in tion. "This has been the most difficult thing like a baby and cried." the study of UFOs." I've ever done in my life by an enormous The specifics of the abduction experi- Jacobs launched his own investigation degree'. I have explained myself two hun- ence have recently been culled not just by oi the abductees a couple of years ago, dred twenty-five limes in public since Jan- Hopkins but by Temple University profes- when ;-i Philadelphia native contacted uary and had the ex port once ol being sor of American history David Jacobs as Hopkins aboul'an experience. Unable to augned at in ireni oi an aueiencc ol seven well. Like Hopkins, Jacobs spends much work extensively with the woman, Hopkins hundred oeople and eight million viewers of his. time hypnotizing "I spare abductees. referred her to Jacobs, studied hypno- on the Phil Donahue show. I have cried all 1 Standing in the kitchen of his Victorian sis," Jacobs explains, "un: 1 fe.t I was oro the way to the bank because it's no secret home in Philadelphia's elegant Chestnut ficient enough to do it myself." that I made a million dollars from Commu- Hill, Jacobs drinks some coffee from a cup Hopkins's referral, moreover, was just a nion. However, up until now it's been a se- with the label haldol, a powerful antipsy- start. Thanks to newspaper articles and cret that I found out I deserved every chotic drug. The moniker, he says, is sig- radio shows, ol tier loca abductees found penny." Then, glaring into the audience, he nificant— he should be examining the ab- Jacobs, and his research took off. In the announced. "There's a genleman here to- ductees' psyches, he often hears people past two years Jacobs has worked inten- night who has seen fit to call me a liar in say, not charting the abduction experience sively with 13 abductees functioning much public on a number ol occasions: Mr. Philip as if it were real- like a psychotherapist, he tries to see each Klass. i chit here, in ease anybody doesn't Jacobs, obviously, does not agree. Pad- individual as oilcn as once a week. recognize hr\" At thai ooin: the room shook ding up two flights of stairs, he reaches the "Budd works on the macro level. He's with hisses and boos. When the audience top floor, which houses his library ofU'FO interviewed- dozens and dozens of peo- simmered down, Slrieber quoted Irom a 138 OMNI stories Irom haunt- polygraph test administered to him by the I would give more credence to a gypsy tea weave their abduction BBC: " 'Do you intend to answer the ques- leaf reader than I would to his hypnosis." ing but submerged memories of birth. As tions truthfully?' Reply, 'Yes.' 'Have you in- Hopkins counters, however, that today iar as Lawson is concerned, "Hopkins's vented the visitors for commercial gain?' Klass's hypnosis argument is all but-moot. abductees recalled not alien abductions 'No.' " Then Strieber perched lorward: "We have had sixteen cases where the en- but fetuses, medical examinations, for- " 'While in the presence of those visitors, tire abduction story surfaced without hyp- ceps, and piercing delivery-room light." have you actually felt them touch you?' nosis," he says. 'And in twenty-three in- And according to psychiatrist Harvey 'Yes.' " And then, actually yelling: " 'Is Com- stances, people who thought they were Ruben, public affairs chairman of the munion an honest account ol your experi- abductees underwent hypnosis only to find American Psychiatric Association, one ence?' 'Yes!' 'Have you ever taken any kind mur possible explanation tor the abduction of hallucinogenic drug?' 'No!' Are the visi- But Klass has other complaints as well. phenomenon may be a "psychological ep- infecting those are tors physically real?' 'Yes! Yes! Yes! I think For instance, he says, the similarities Hop- idemic" who most sug- they may be!' kins linds from one case to the next have gestible. Says Ruben, "Psychological epi- "I would like," Strieber said amid a round been exaggerated. Drawing from Hop- demics do occur. One example was of.applause, "to give this copy of this test kins's books, he contends that different ab- brought to light in a study of Arab school- to Mr. Klass." ductees portray the hybrid babies in dif- children on the West Bank of Israel. The Klass took the report, and when the ferent ways. "Kathie says the baby looked children smelled fumes trom a sewer, and meeting ended, just before midnight, he like an old man. Pam said it looked like a one by one they all became sick, even met Strieber in the hall. "Whitley, as far as little newborn lamb, with white skin so thin though there was no reason for this reac- tion. People can very suggestible," I know," he said, "I have never called you it was see-through. And Susan described be a liar." Strieber then mentioned a TV show the skin as grayish, with the head going Ruben says, "yet show no evidence of psy- that had appeared not long before in New down to a point. It seems to me," Klass says, chopathology at all." York. Klass told Strieber that the statement "thai similarity is in the eye of the beholder. The abduction phenomenon, Ruben may have emerged as the result oi unfor- I'd like to say I'm similar to Robert Redford; adds, may be somewhat akin to a form of tunate editing on the part ol the show's psychological epidemic known as mass production staff. "But," he said, "il you send hysteria, where large numbers of people, or books, misinterpret me an audiotape, I will issue a public apol- spurred by movies ogy at once." what's going on. 'A film such as Close En- Klass never received a tape or tran- counters of the Third Kind might provoke 6/f we do script, and the incident faded. But the bit- this reaction," he says. 'And once people terness directed at Klass by many UFO re- not stop imposing our own believe a traumatic event has occurred, searchers has remained. The reason is they might develop the same posttrau- interpretations clear: Klass is a tireless opponent of the matic stress disorder seen in rape victims ' so-called abduction phenomenon as an on the experience, we may and Vietnam vets." But the strongest criticism explanation for UFOs. His contention? find ourselves in perhaps Hopkins is "the Typhoid Mary of UFOs," he "comes from the domain ot UFOIogy itself. the grip of the most powerfui says, and he is creating an "alien epi- After speakihg to colleagues and sitting demic" on his own religion the through the abduction panel in Washing- ton, DC, Jenny Randies, a British UFOIo- Referring to the work of University of world has ever known.^ Pennsylvania psychiatrist Martin T Orne, gist, felt 'American naivete" was extreme. one of the world's leading experts on hyp- Randles's opinion is not uninformed. She nosis, Klass explains that the technique can has conducted a study of abductees on be used to implant pseudomemories that, her own. Working in Britain she inter- even when subjected to the scrutiny ot a viewed 28 abductees. Comparing her polygraph, appear real. "Let's say." Klass and to an alien, I probably would be. But I cases to those studied in America, she it that cultural differences were wide- explains, "that I want you to recall what doubt a Hollywood producer would see found happened lasl night after six. You know you that way." spread. "In virtually all the American cases," had dinner, watched some TV, read, and Finally, Klass says, the prototypical alien she says, "the entities resemble the one on expect. the cover of Whitley Strieber's book—small went to bed. (Mow I put you in a trance and is just what you might "Would you tall creatures with large heads and eyes. It as- I ask, 'Did you hear a loud noise?' Because expect these creatures to be eight feet we have this peculiar master-slave rela- with long, flowing hair or short and bald- tonishes no one that we have recently be- tionship, you will respond to my leading headed?" he asks. "I'd expect them to be gun to get similar reports in Britain as well. question with a yes. even if you heard no short and bald-headed. That's the tradi- But most often, our aliens are more hu- six seven feet tall. Of the I or noise at all. When I ask you how you re- tional science-fiction image. would be manlike and sponded to the noise, you will say, '1 went more impressed if everyone described twenty-eight cases, we have found only one eight-foot-tall giants with four hands." scar, and it was fairly suspect; it might have to the window and looked out.' If I tell you to remember everything we discussed un- There are other critics as well. UCLA even been a birthmark. And only ten of our der hypnosis, even in the unhypnotized psychopharmacologist Ronald Siegel, an subjects reported medical exams. Not one state, you will now accept this memory as international authority on altered states of recalled a gynecological exam or a sperm sampling." I or ovum real. And if the next time I hypnotize you consciousness, says abduction accounts ask you what you saw, you are likely to de- can be explained by hallucinations related Hopkins says those in Randles's study scribe that as well." to stress, darkness, and isolation. "Such may merely be "claimants," not true ab- Beyond this, Klass adds, Hopkins vio- situations can create images that are strik- ductees. But Randies insists that her study lates many of Orne's clinical rules: Hyp- ingly vivid and cause those who see them is bolstered by the finding that one report notists must not have any preconceived to respond to them as if they were real." tends to influence the next. "We have found ideas about the subject under discussion: The abduction reports are alike, Siegel that if a story appears in a newspaper about they must have no contact with the subject adds, because they arise from "a common one abduction case, a subsequent wit- prior to the session; and they must video- subjective state ot consciousness in which ness, under hypnosis, will produce details tape the proceedings so that not only oral archetypal images emerge." that are very much the same." communication but also facia! expressions' Alvin Lawson, an English professor and As for the abduction reports in America, can be reviewed. "Hopkins violates so UFOIogist at California State University at Randies says, "It's just a fascinating soci- manyoftheseprinciples," Klasssays, "that Long Beach, believes that UFO witnesses ological phenomenon. In their zeal, it's 140 OMNI " possible that Ihe researchers are manipu- scenery leaning over the side of the train. Sprinkle, who has been studying abduc- lating people into accepting their version When the person helping her to steady tion and contaciee claims since the Six- of Ihe phenomenon. There's no doubt that herself went back into the train, Kathleen ties, says Kaihleen's entire story may be there is an abduction phenomenon, and did, too. But then she experienced a pe- real. "I've heard many types of aliens de- there's also no doubt that so far no stan- riod of missing time, and the next thing she scribed—some people claim Ihere may be dard explanation seems to fit, But that's a knew, she found herself flying through the as many as forty. Some are tall and beau- long way from concluding that the phe- air and crashing into the rocks. The sec- tiful; some are small and gray," Sprinkle nomenon is extraterrestrial in origin." ond person in history ever to survive such says. "There are many groups, and each Instead, Randies sees the abduction a fall, Kathleen's traumatic experience pro- has a different job." phenomenon as a vast cult movement that pelled her to seek out past-life regression Now. Sprinkle is no skeptic. A pioneer of will expand drastically. "I don't know how it therapy. Working with her therapist, she the New Age and an avid proponent of can grow any more than it has," she says, says, she discovered she had been a channeling, he believes we can talk to oth- "but it will. The UFO researchers who take nineteenth-century Austrian woman who erworldly spiriis and ihal the space broth- an interest in abduction may be seen, es- had met her death falling from a train. The ers are here. He accepls the abductees, sentially, as gurus. For them, abduction is therapy sparked what Kathleen calls a the conlactees, and Ihe channelers as jiist what they have been seeking for the "spiritual search." She began channeling egually real. past thirty years. It is the last step, the dra- and eventually came into contact with a But, in fact, once the waters get muddy, matic new evidence proving UFOs are real. spirit guide named Layftet-tzun, or, as how can one say that a certain componenl But vulnerable people will seize upon any- Kathleen calls him, L.T of a witness's story is legitimate while an- thing they say. Just after the panel discus- Hopkins, who has worked extensively other is not? Speaking to Kathleen cer- sion yesterday, I spoke to four people who with Kathleen in both New York and Well- tainly gives one the impression she has had become convinced they were abduc- fleet, says the channeling part of Kath- suffered at least as much as abductees tees." And, Randies adds, "there's a simi- leen's story is merely invented, a mask for A-ith slightly different claims. larity between what's happening now and Ihe horrors she experienced during ihe There are other problems, too. If Ihe what happened in the Fifties. Sure, the UFO abduction itself. "The abduction experi- aliens are advanced enough to traverse in- movement has been updated in thirty ences Kathleen reporis are pretty slan- terstellar space and reach planet Earth, years, and Ihe reports have been updated dard, just what we get," Hopkins says. "But why don't they employ technologies Ihal as well. But ii you talk to some of these she's imposing on that experience a heavy resemble those used in'fertility labs to store abductees, you'li hear them presenting a desire to turn this into something very nice. up human'genetic material instead of ab- co ntac tee -style message to ihe world." She's developed a Iheology in which the ducting a person every time they want a Take Kathleen, a i immaker whose work gray-skinned fgures are helpers, but the single sperm or egg? For thai mailer, why has mel with significant critical success. true spirits—with whom she channels—are don't they create a library of genes, build- Kathleen's strange story starts in Turkey, wonderful and undersianding. I'm afraid ing their progeny nucleic acid by nucleic : where she was making a documentary thai s just a .'.ish-iultiiiing laniasy acid, however they wish? about the Orieni L *.prsss. Kathleen shot the University of Wyoming psychologist Leo Finally, even those who believe Ihe ex- perience is real do not necessarily think [hat aliens from space are to blame. Sfrie- ber, now writing his second nonficlion book on abduction, says that he is "a thinking person who by no means buys the extra- terrestrial explanation. However, I don't feel that a simple psychological explanation is in order, either. Something else is going on, something akin to the transcendental, vi- sionary experience lhat has always been with humanity. I mysell try lo make use of this experience the same way that a sha- man on the steppes of Central Asia two thousand years ago made use of his star- tling vision of the world of Ihe dead—by telling my story and bringing my dreams back to society. Perhaps we had better try to slop laughing al this slale and start trying to describe It, because an awful lot of peo- ple believe they are experiencing contact with higher beings and another world. If we don't stop imposing inlorprelations and narratives on Ihe experience, we may find ourselves in the grip of the most powerful religion the world has ever known." Many experts think Striebor has hit the nail on Ihe head. Sociologist VI a reel I o Truzzi of Eastern Michigan University says that we, as a society, have been so lolally in- doctrinated into the science of behavior- ism we haye forgotten our unconscious mental life. "When ideas like channeling, past lives, or abductions come along." he says, "some people grasp onto them, pro- ducing highly imaginative stuff. They seem unaware thai this material, and Ihe urge to express it, may be part of them. It's easy 142 OMNI " lor them to say Sure. Ts Ramiha.' It's not so easy for them to see thai there's simply Rallye more to tbern." TransAmazon Stillings, philosopher and Dennis a Jungian scholar who beads the Archaeus New Orleans-Caracas-Rio rfe .laneiro April 10-Mav 05. 198S Projecl in MinriOct-oolis, essentially agrees. 1 Join us for the "Adventure of lifetime ' on the South American Continent a "We're seeing an eruption of the unex- as a TransAmazon Adventurer. . .exploring die exotic jungles of the Amazon plored aspects of the mind." he says. "We Basin . . . traversing the ancient Andes mountains. . . crossing the deserts of are a pioneering nation, and the introvert in America has never had status. But now Peru and Chile. . .celebrating on the sun-sensual beaches of Rio at the end of the pendulum is swinging the other way. your 8,750 mile odysscy! The TransAmazon Rallye 1988 is open to all We see the unconscious like we saw the individuals and is the only F.I.S.A. sanctioned Marathon Rallye in the wilderness. We exploit it for business, mar- from more than 20 countries have Western Hemisphere. Amateur participants shal it for an advantage. The American un- only recently blasted . already registered to compete, with motorcycles, automobiles, and trucks, conscious has been through the wilderness of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina loose, and we don't have any notion of how real these images are. They resonate in all and Paraguay. This is the ultimate hish profile, world-class adventure. of us. We're not in a position to evaluate The Liberty Cup these images because we're not used to them. It's much easier to fall victim to them, The Exploration Society now announces The Liberty Cup 1988, one of the to become their prey." As far as Stillings is concerned, in fact, largest amateur sailboat races in the world . . . Miami to Caracas . . . open to Americans have lost touch not only with 300 sailing vessels of one, two and three masts as well as eight "Tall Ships". their unconscious but with the basic primal experience— religion itself, "I personally to Adventurers" member or The You arc invited join the "Great as a find it interesting." Sailings says, "that the Adventurer's Club. Your S25 one year membership includes subscription abduction phenomenon was ushered in rise in cranne- ng and past- to Adventure Passport magazine and the Ad ventu re Visa newsletter, the with the strong il life regression. I see as an attempt at re- TransAmazon Manual and Rallye poster and your membership card. Please creating a relig'or crossed cut in high lech send your name, address, and phone number along with a S25 check or "The breakdown o' organized religioi i Visa, Mastercard or American Repress number and expiration date to: Sti lings notes, "has been going on for four THE EXPLORATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA hundred years. This has increasingly 1912 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130 forced man to have a personal confronta- tion with God, which results in strain. In our era some peop e com per male with chan- neling, in which they themselves become the gods. In the most extreme case, oth- Brain Tune-up? ers—the abductees—have become the passive victims of omnipotent, omniscient Tuning-upyour bra ind is fast Noted neuroscientist, albeit a rebel, forces whose godlike characteristics are becoming a reality. John-David, Ph.D., has discovered drawn Irom science lotion movies, fed: ity 'sound patterns' that when sent to clinics, and other forms of high tech." predesignaied areas of the brain/ More has been discovered The abduction scenario is so religious, about the brain and accelerated mind allows for greater concentra- Stillings believes, that it borrows some of learning during the past 3 years tion, creativity, peak performance, its most graphic images from religious mo- than in the entire history of brain/ vast memory and even the elimi- tifs. The hybrids, he says, resemble the mind science, neuroscience. nating of old self-sabotage patterns. "wise babies," from Jesus to Buddha, who Experience these breakthroughs in: were born with extraordinary knowledge Cassettes • Seminars • Certification • Brain/Mind Salons'*. and superhuman skills. "The abductees," Stillings says, "even have what Hopkins Free catalogue: 1-800-437-5646 calls wise-baby or Harris." The strange scars and scoops, he notes, resemble the stig- CA1-800-624-9779 mata associated wilh religious devotees 140414 and saints. Mysloi ions prog nancies mimic the motif of the Virgin Birth. And the ab- ductees have even adopted what Stillings calls the motif of three and four. In this strange scenario, four people are expected, but only three show up. "We lind this in the Bible," Stillings says, "we find it in Plato, and we find it in Intruders, when Kalhie meets th-ee strange young men. in- cluding a mysterious blond." Where do these images come from? Ac- cording to Ihe late Carl Jung, they exist as literal, structures in the brain. 'Jung," Still- ings explains, "believed [hat religion and 0A IMii 2443lmpalaD'.-^v=)diCa-.>, Cy : W ^OOS TVvX the images it spawned were biological National Seminars: Michgsri \o. Care ms Alan;;; Nsw O.sara ' 3a" Diego entities. Nonethc ess, the "eligious instinct San Francisco • Hawaii • Boston • New York • Certification: February 3-14 (San Diego) is vague. We give it form. If this stulf ap- ' -:'.<: Sate or C=lr. Autei zs: C:J:Nu-=« ;*:A=I I. .fes on A;osl-ya:sd Usnng. Cd Isd.'lm Insl. on Neuroacienas. peared as angels today, we would laugh . 7 at it. But when i cc-^es packaged in the form of E.T., we're more likely lo believe." No matter what the answer ultimately turns out to be, the bottom line. Aphrodite Clamar points out, is the obvious torment experienced by hundreds, perhaps thou- sands, of abductees. Few stories seem sadder than the one told by an attractive, successful New York businesswoman named Leigh. Today in love with a man she met at the UFO convention in Washington, Leigh lives in a graceful wood-frame house beside a gentle harbor filled with million- aires' yachts Siting in nor living room early last summer, she recalled numerous par- tial memories— including periods of miss- r ing lime and s:. anye s;yh:irigs of UFOs. It was almos; ial . though, before she had the chance to visit Wellfleet, where Hop- kins hypnotized her so her story could emerge. Lying down in his cavelike den, she recallec wiat should have been a joy- ful encounter: the first time she made love. The night had been a blank for years. "When I count to three, raise your eyes and look to the doorway," Hopkins said. "What do you see?" "I see a little gray kind of person with Expand your horizons. lines all over his head." Lo : gh replied. "I Bill .vnat keep asking s happening, but he Toshiba's 30" FST*' Magnum TV, It's a sizeable improvement. And not isn't with me. Mentally, he's gone. ... I feel just because of its size. It has the first 6-lens focusing system. So you get a that's clearer. like I'm being lugged out and jerked, but I picture 15% Our flat, square picture tube also gives you a wider can't move. There's some sort of liquid viewing area and virtually no distortion. So get In 'Iburh with Tomomro- Toshiba's30" FST Magnum. You won't just see sensation. . . . There's a long arm under my THCUIDA more, you'll see better. I UDrllDH . . side. . He takes a long tube and puts the. tube inside my stomach at an angle, and : i there's a green cu ci that goes down, . . I feel like I have cramps. ... He says it has EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! to be done." Leigh woke up sobbing, and NO she cried on and off for days. A letter quality daisy wheel The leaves were turning brown in New word processor you can York when Leigh, still upset by her experi- ^* ence in WchiOc-t. 'maty had the chance to use from day one. meet a roomful of other abductees. The scene was Budd Hopkins's town house in Nothing technical the Chelsea section of New York. Original to learn or paintings by Hopkins and a dozen great memorize. "On artists adorned the walls. Hopkins's wife, Screen" prompts art critic April Kingsley, made pasta pri- enable you to mavera. There were Italian hors d'oeuvres, type, store, recall, Perrier, vodka, and wine. '\ seemed like any edit and print other New York party, with attractive, edu- at the touch cated men and women discussing poli- of a key. And tics, films, and jobs. it's as easy After dinner 'houp/i. clustered around in to afford a circle, Ihose in ihe 25-member support group discussed the issue closest lo Iheir hearts; the fact that they were abductees. One young woman who came forward trembled as she described an immaculate conception and her daughter's subse- liriillii.'!- Li-.'.urnalional Pisciirawi'.v, N..i OS 354 quenl birth. "I didn't know how it could have Call toll free l-fWO-ltf-J HK1.P happened " she said, her lips quivering, her- eyes filled with tears. "1 was having panic We're at your side. attacks; I was close to suicide. I couldn't go to nursing school," Since working with Hopkins, however, she had recalled artifi- cial insemination by aliens and several ab- duction-experiences since the age of ten. "Now I know what's happened to rn'e," she said proudly. "My life is back .on track. I think I understand." OO brother his le't hand labored on 'he smooth, warm, CATEGORY D PSYCHOTALES pliable surface, his wife—ihat small some- 1. I considered this a superficial and thing in her that was all her own— sarikout trivial story lhal merely pointed out the of reach; night after night, she tell asleep. emptiness of certain suburban life-styles. 'Do you follow me?'" 2. Although I was annoyed at the hus- lor his domination and at the wives "I thought he was perfecily pleasant," CATEGORY A band for yielding to him, I did the trap they Gwen said frostily, and turned her back to 1. I found my attention wandering much sense remove her silvery, snug party dress. As of the time and couldn't roaty get involved were in, 3. I felt pity than anger for the cou- she wriggled it down over her hips she in the story more turned her head and defiantly added, "He 2. My attention wandered from time to ples. They were striving for closeness but main were actually caught in a battle for power. had a 'of to say about tax shelters." time, but I successfully followed the it I struck hard is for two "I bet he did," Pygmalion scofted.feebly, lines of the story. 4. was by how people love each other naturally without numbed by the sight of. his wile frontally 3. I became engrossed in the story and to advancing, nude, toward him and their only occasionally allowed my thoughts to play no games. marital bed. "It's awfully late," he warned drift to something else. CATEGORY E it 1. this story funny her. 4. 1 was so caught up in the story that Although seems and it is tragic "Oh, come on," she said, the lights out. seemed for a time thai I was actually a par- ironic on the surface, really a account of hard it is for people to find - The first imitation Gwen did was of Mar- ticipant in it. how guerite's second husband, Ed; they had all CATEGORY B real closeness. unexpectedly met at a Save the Whales 1. This story was masterfully written. It 2. 1 felt that the man's two wives were benefit ball, to which invitations had been was concise and structurally balanced with eager for love and intimacy but had to sac- sent out indiscriminately. "Oh-ho-fro," she a precise vocabulary. rifice their independence and sexuality in boomed in the privacy of their bedroom 2. In addition to the distinctive language order to attain it. 3. story the struggle be- afterward, "so you're my noble predeces- of the story, I enjoyed the dialogue and The captured their sor!" In aside she added, "Noble, my ass. tween women who want to merge He hates you so much, you turned him on." personalities wilh those of their lovers, and to feel in control. "I did?" he said. "I thought he was per- men who need fectly pleasant in what could have been an 4. 1 felt that each of the characters—the awkward encounter." two wives and ihe husband—were strug- QWhat he "Yes, indeedy," she agreed, imitating gling in (heir own ways to assert their hearty Ed, and for a dazzling second al- disliked about his first wife uniqueness and power. the many slightly glassy and slack lowing was the way expression of forced benignity to invade BLIND GIRLS her own usually petite and rounded fea- she would ask to have her By Jayne Anne Phillips it only boys in the field, tures. "Nothing awkward about us, ho ho," ' She knew was . back rubbed she went on, encouraged. "And tell mc, old come to watch them drunk on first wine. A and then, under his laboring radio in the little shack poured out prom- chap, why is it your child-support check is never on time anymore?" hands, night ises of black love and lips. Jesse watched He laughed and laughed, entranced to Sally paint her hair with grenadine, dotting after night, fall asleep.^ see his bride arrive at what he conceived the sticky syrup on her arms. The parly to be proper womanliness—aplastic, alert was in a shack down the hill from tier house, sensitivity to the human environment, a beside a field of tall grass where black susceptible responsiveness tugged this snakes lay like flat belts. The Ripple bottles way and that by the currents of Nature her- were empty, and Jesse told pornographic il various adults while every- self. He could not know the world, was his oven spoke sumo ol aloud to belie' ap- stories about home- fear, unless a woman translated it for him. preciate it. one laughed; about Miss Hicks the ec teacher hands were dimpled and Now, when they returned from a gathering, 3. 1 found myself trying to imagine the whose and he asked what she had made of so- husband and wife in their bedroom and moist and always touching them. It got and-so, Gwen would stand in her under- heard the wi'es efforts at imitating others' darker, and the stories got scarier. Finally told their favon to the one about the girl wear and consider, as il onstage. "We-hell, speech patterns. she parked on country road I practicably hearing her boyfriend a my dear," she would announce in sudden, 4. I found that was and with Ihe wind blowing fluting parody, "if it wasn't for Portugal there the way the two wives performed their im- qn a night like this, rally wouldn't be a country left in Europe!" itations for Pygmalion, and pictured each and then rain, the whole sky sobbing po- "Oh, come on," he would protest, de- couple in bed or visualized Gwen in her tato juice. Please let's leave, pleads girlie, lighted to see her pretty features distort underwear or her husband rubbing her it sounds like something scratching at the themselves into an uncanny, snobbish back night after night. car. For God's sake, grumbles boyfriend, horsiness. CATEGORY C and takes off squealing. At home they find "How did she do it?" Gwen would ask, 1. This story seemed to be a superficial the hook of a crazed amputee caught in unlike Ihe door. described his yellow face, as if professionally intent. "Something with account of suburban life and very Jesse the chin, sort of rolling it from side to side anythirg I've experienced. putrid, and his blotchy stump. She de- withoul unclenching the teeth." 2. This story captured both the good and scribed him panting in the grass, crying for something feel "You've got it!" he applauded. bad aspects of suburban marriages and and looking She could "Of course you knoaow," she wenton in the need of some men to completely con- him smelling of raw vegetables, a rejected the assumed voice, "there used to be trol women. bleeding cowboy wilh wheat hair, and she in Ihe Greece, but now with all these dreadful 3. I found myself feeling like the two was unfocused. Moaning dark and Arabs ..." wives, who were doing imitations to please falsetto voices. Don't don't please don't. "Oh, yes, yes," he said, his face smart- their husband. Nervous laughier. Sally looked out the win- of shack. grass is ing from laughing so hard, so proudly. She 4. At first I was sympathetic to the women dow the The moving, she had become perfect for him. when they yielded their independence to said, something's crawling in it. No, it's something coming, In bed she pointed out, "It's awfully late.'" the man; but then I began to feel the emp- nothing. Yes, there's "Want a back rub?" tiness of his life as the women lost interest and her voice went up at the end. It's just "Mmmm. That would be reawy nice." As in him sexually. boys trying to scare us. But Sally whined 146 OMNI and flailed her arms. On her knees she 3. I was impressed by Jesse's strength live out their daydreams us Bovary does. hugged Jesse's legs and mumbled into her and assertiveness. Many people, however, are much more thighs. It's all fight, I'll lake you up to the 4. I was struck by how Jesse, with all her detached when they read a story or watch house. Sally was stiff, her nails digging fhe fears and cruelness, 'still maintained a a movie. If you scored six or below, you are skin. She wouldn't move. Jesse lied a scarf sense of control and independence. She likely to be one of these persons. Perhaps around her eyes and led her like a horse was learning to grow up in a difficult world. it was just these four stories that failed to through fire up the hill to the house, one WHERE YOU STAND attract you. or perhaps you feel reluctant, poison light soft in a window. Boys ran out in general, to "give yourself up" to the se- of the field, squawling. Before proceeding, tally your scores for duction of an aesthetic experience. Al- each of the live categories. If you marked though psychologists aren't always sure CATEGORY A answer 2 under Category A for "Thank You, why some people score low on scales of 1. 1 found my attention wandering much M'am," and answer 4 under Category A for absorption, one of the most common rea- of the time and couldn't really gef involved "Reunion," your score would be six. Alter sons is a tear of loss of control. Perhaps in the story. adding your marked answers for "Pygma- you worry about giving up some autonomy 2. My attention wandered from time to lion" and "Blind Girls" to this, you will have by going with the flow of a story or movie. time, but I successfully followed the main your total score for Category A. Do the If you'd like to improve your ability for lines of the story. same for categories B, C, D, and E. absorption, read the stories again, more 3. I became engrossed in the story and CATEGORY A: Absorption slowly this lime. Try to picture in your mind only occasionally allowed my thoughts to Research by psychologists such as Auke the people or incidents Involved; imagine -- drift to something else. Tellegen at the University of Minnesota has the conversations as if you were actually 4. 1 was so caught up in the story that il shown that some people can become so hearing them. Taste the cake in the Lang- seemed for a time that I was actually a par- caught up in a book or movie that they al- ston Hughes piece; envision the grass ticipant in it. most lose touch with their surroundings— moving in "Blind Girls." CATEGORY B the room or movie theater they are sitting Most people are likely to score between 1, This story uses words so effectively eight and 12 on this scale, reflecting some that I could hear the thoughts of a rural mix of absorption and detachment. teenage girl. CATEGORY B: Verbalizer vs. Imager 2. I was struck by the vivid language of As we experience the world around us, this story and also occasionally pictured it's natural to try to retain certain moments ^Psychologists some of the scenes. in forms that we can retrieve later as mem- 3. I thought the language was very ex- have found that people who ories. Most people label their experiences pressive and frequently pictured the in words or phrases, such as "an exciting are creative scenes of the girls, the shack, the boys in ball game," "atypical business day." or "an the grass. and easily hypnotized report interesling person"; but they also store in kind of image, a piclurelike 4, I .memory some practically smelled the Ripple wine, that early in felt the sticky hair lotion, and was disturbed record — the.sounds of birds in a field, say, life they by the image of the crippled boy. had become absorbed or the smells, touches, and tastes associ- CATEGORY C in a book or a ated with a specific encounter. Efficient re- 1 . 1 felt detached and unresponsive and call requires some combination of the dic- fantasy relating to a book.V wondered why this story was ever written. tionarylike word retrieval and the more 2. Although the story and characters evocative imagery memory. Some people seemed remote from my life, I did feel will be more sensitive to the vocabulary and somewhat drawn to the story by the fine logical patterns of a story, while others will vocabulary. tend, when they read, to be especially in- 3. Ifoundmyselfthinkingoccasionallyof in and the others m I he audience. These volved in "seeing" pictures, hearing some of my lira', experiences drinking with individuals would undoubtedly score high sounds, smelling scents or odors, practi- other teenagers, talking about sex, and on psychological scales measuring ab- cally tasting foods, or touching objects, telling scary stories. sorption—that is. the degree to which you If you receive a score between four and 4. A whole Hood of teenage memories become immersed in an experience. seven, you are likely to be someone who came back to me, and I continued to remi- Psychologists have found that individu- responds to a piece of fiction chiefly by nisce about those days for a while after fin- als who are particularly creative and who considering the words and the formal or ishing the story. are easily hypnotized report that early in logical patterns of what you have read. You CATEGORY D life they had become absorbed in a book may have problems taking in stories that 1. I found this story repulsive and was or a fantasy relating to a book. High ab- are not arranged formally wilh a begin- annoyed that I had to read it. sorbers have also been shown to have ning, middle, and end. 2. 1 was angered by the cruel story Jesse more than the usual number of pleasant Those who score between 12 and 16 are told and also felt sorry that these kids had daydreams. Interestingly, no correlation has more image oriented. They are likely to ex- nothing better to do with themselves. been shown to exist between high absorp- perience the smells, touches, and tastes. 3. While I was disturbed by Jesse's story, tion and negative daydreams. of what they read about without noticing If I sensed the closeness and intimacy of the you scored between 13 and 16 after the particular words that evoke sensations. girls sharing early adolescent experiences. adding your totals for Category A, you lend They may tend to think in concrete images, 4. The story evoked for me some of the toward the high end of the absorption scale, flashing on particular scenes, sounds, or moments of intimacy, humor, and sharing probably immersing yourself easily in a smells. They'll see the wind blowing in that kids experience in their early teens. book or story. You might possibly be a good "Blind Girls" and "the whole sky sobbing CATEGORY E candidate lor hypnosis. Like the girls in potato juice." or smell, as Cheever's char 1. This story gave me a sense of teen- Jayne Anne Phillips's story, you find your- acter did, their father "the way my mother agers growing up together and feeling self wrapped up in a scary story, only to sniffs 'a rose." After reading these stories, close as they work through early feelings be "creeped out" when you finish it. Or, like they may have vivid and emotional mem- about sex. Madame Bovary, you gel enraptured by a ories of the material but may feel at a loss 2. I was attracted to the close ties the romantic novel, only to spin daydreams for words to communicate the experience girls had with each other, but I also sensed about such a life. Most high absorbers to others. Verbalizers, on the olher hand, some of their cruelty. however, won't go to exlremes and try to may be able to summarize a story quickly 148 OMNI but may often miss the richness of detail to be able to show annoyance and ex- which he calls communion and autonomy. or emotional quality of the material. press anger. Yet we also must be ready to We are wired almost from birth to cling to The majority of readers, though, will once show compassion and friendliness, to see other people— our mothers and fathers and again find the middle territory, scoring be- the potential for love, as well as danger, in other family members. As we grow up, we tween eight and 11 , focusing in part on the relationships. This dimension reflects the yearn for the personal intimacy of a love words while they react to some extent to degree to which, even in reading, some of relationship and the more general feeling the images. us may react more readily with annoyance of communion found in being a member of CATEGORY C: Identification or suspicion; others, with a tenderhearted a group. Yet we also find ourselves striving While absorption reflects the degree to compassion or warmth. to develop individual skills, to keep our which you become caught up in an expe- If you scored between four and eighf, thoughts to ourselves, to feel independent rience, identification reflects a tendency to you may be prone to suspicion, anger, or and self-directed. Most people manage to relate the material one reads to one's own annoyance. Of course, this may be a re- strike some kind of balance between com- life and memories. Some people are es- flection of distaste for the writing style or munion (losing oneself in another person, pecially prone to see similarities between the story. Or it may reflect the quality of a a family, or a group) and autonomy (feeling events or characters they read about and given story or the reaction the author seeks that one can really go it alone; that one has their own lives. Of course, some stories may to arouse in readers. skills, private opinions, or personal evoke feelings of empathy and identifica- As suggested above, most people strengths that can maintain a sense of an tion more than others. A person who grew probably fall in the middle with scores be- independent self). up in an inner-city black enclave might be tween nine and 12. If you rated yourself If you scored between four and eight on more likely to remember personal experi- between 13 and 16, you are likely fo ap- this scale, you may be a person who feels ences after reading the Hughes story than proach situations on the lookout for oppor- an especially strong pull toward affiliation the suburban middle-class domestic vi- tunities to experience love, warmth, and and merging yourself with others. You may gnette by Updike. But whatever our back- pity. Where others may be wary or du- want intimacy or communion and are will- ground, some of us are always more ready bious, you may make a habit of looking for ing, perhaps even eager, to lose your pri- to empathize with characters' sadnesses, vate sense of sell in the interest of belong- successes, and predicaments. ing. Pygmalion's first wife in John Updike's If you scored between four and seven story would score as a strong merger on you are likely to approach fiction with a this scale; she is completely lost in her hus- certain detachment. You may have a cool band. His second wife is, too. . .for a time. readers sense of who you are and how you differ bSome But she tries to separate herself from him. from the people you read about or see in will be more sensitive to the If you scored between 13 and 16. you a movie. You might for a moment connect vocabulary and are probably very independent, intent on with people in a story, but afterward you're self- development and guarding your sense unlikely to dwell on similarities and differ- logical patterns of a story, of privacy, even at the risk of some isolation ences between what you've read and the while others or loneliness. Updike's Pygmalion would memories you have about your own life. find himself here. _will especially attuned This aloofness may also show itself in your be With a score of nine to 12, you strive to relationships with other people. You may, to the sounds, balance the tensions of affiliation and au- in faci, prefer relationships that are more tonomy. On the one hand, you want close- smells, and visual imagery.^ structured, feeling more comfortable when ness and the feeling of belonging to some- there are formal rules to direct people's thing bigger than yourself, but you also behavior. Rules give relationships some need to maintain a strong sense of self out- stability withouf forcing either partner to side of any relationship. Research has in- identify with the other. Scoring low on this dicated that women, especially those scale won't affect your work as a chemist, the good in others, their positive potential. raised in traditionally feminine roles, lean but it might severely limit your effective- Individuals whose scores put them at one toward affiliation, while men tend more to- ness as a social worker or a psychologist, extreme or the other on this hostile-amia- ward autonomy (though often yearning to professions in which the ability to identify ble dimension may be at risk, on the one be able to feel the security and warmth of and empathize is essential. hand, of being overly suspicious, embit- communion). Striking the right balance be- If you scored between 13 and 16, you tered, possibly antagonizing others; and, tween submersion or dependence on oth- are likely to see similarities to your life in all on the other hand, of being overly trusting ers and the heady sense of personal in- kinds of dramatic situations. You may con- and compassionate, of turning the other dependence or uniqueness represents a stantly notice connections between your cheek and getting slapped too often. lifelong human dilemma, an existential wishes, fantasies, fears, or critical memo- CATEGORY E: Communion vs. Autonomy struggle. —Jerome L. SingerDQ ries and the acfions of characters in fiction. Anton Chekhov's story "The Darling" is This may make you vulnerable on occa- about a woman who takes on the values "Thank You, M'am " was reprinted by permis- sion of Harold Ober Associates, Inc. © 1958 sion to persistent sadness or doubts trig- and attitudes of her lovers fo an alarming by Langston Hughes. © renewed 1986 by gered by a novel or film, but it may also degree. When she is with a pompous gov- George Houston Bass. "Reunion" is from the help you explore important issues in your ernment official, she completely accepts book The Siories of John Cheever, by John life that require reflection and positive ac- his way of being in the world. As soon as Cheever, © 1982 by John Cheever. Reprinted tion. Although a high score does not mean she becomes involved with another man, with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. This you would or could offer the kind of em- she changes, accepting his attitudes—no story first appeared in The New Yorker "Pyg- pathic response the old lady offered to the matter how different— as her own. malion" is from the book Trust Me, by John Up- dike. with young boy in "Thank You, fvl'am," it will At the opposite extreme are individuals © 1981 by John Updike. Reprinted "Blind probably help you understand the people who, like hermits in secluded woods, pre- the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Girls" is from Black Tickets, by Jayne Anne with whom you have relationships. fer to forge their lives alone. They neither Phillips. © 1979 by Jayne Anne Phillips. Re- Of course, you might identify with peo- desire nor need to define themselves in re- printed with permission of Seymour Lawrence ple in some of the stories and not in others, lation to other people. Books/Delacorte Press. All lights reserved. All thus scoring between eight and 12. David Bakan, a psychologist at the Uni- these stories also appear in Sudden Fiction: CATEGORY D: Hostility vs. Amiability versity of Toronto, has proposed that most American Short-Short Stories, edited by Rob- To a certain extent, we all need to be human beings spend their lives struggling ert Shepard and James Thomas. Published by careful or suspicious of new situations or to reconcile these two opposite needs, Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Salt Lake City. 150 OMNI "Guilt and fear, guilt and fear," says Doc- years. Legality o ; accu'siiion is sustained tor Spinner, taunting. by virtue of susianod illegality." In one and conformity of with "And I hate you." A spume of red smoke a hall seconds, strict data races through Carly's telespace. statutory requirements of Property Code "Boo-hoo-hoo," Doctor Spinner laughs Section 344 is confirmed. "Will you lick my shoe?" Mr. Rice ex- with exaggerated gaiety. "Poor little Carly, The two scruffy solos for the plaintiff tends it; Cariy laps she's so sad: poor little Carly, can't get Martino groan. ." . continues Carly client "Will you take cram?" mad. . "Therefore," "my "Cram's illegal," says Cariy, flushing. Carly snaps into fury, slaps the prober's counterclaims to quiet title under Section "Focuses you in link like nothing else, Ms. cone with a resounding Gong! The prober 501 of the Property Code." Nolan," says Mr. Rice. He takes out a hy- scultles away, darls and dashes, turns Nee-dee-nee-dee-nee-dee-DEE! On the podermic, stabs the needle into the corner back sharply at the slick bank of her right big board the registrar of deeds cheerfully of his eye, slams the plunger. "Oh! Like perimeter, wrestles her. transfers title to the Wordsport Glossary nothing else, Ms. Nolan." "Good, good, good!" cries Doctor Spin- from file M to file Q. "I'll do anything to keep my job, Mr. Rice, ner, still laughing. She aims Ihe conetip "Further," says Carly, "my client sues for anything. ..." squarely into Carly's side. Oof! Carly falls attorney's fees under Civil Code Section "I am so glad to hear thai, Ms. Nolan. back, winded. "There, you see? You're not 666.09(1 )(B)." Just don't let that asshole judge catch you. hamsfrung by guilt anymore. You're not "Objection!" screams the weaselly solo. Be discreel Takes one to know one." Mr. trapped by fear." "You can't get away with this, hotshot!" Rice pops the needle out, tosses the sy- "But I'm still trapped in this lousy life of "Overruled," says the judge. His gigan- ringe over his left shoulder. A member of mine. What good does it do? I'm still tic eyes Mick over to the whirr ng chrono- the personnel committee picks it up and trapped in this bitch of a world." graph; Carly has presented, proved, and eats it, steel molars crunching the glass "Ah, we shall see," says the prober. "We concluded her detense and counterclaim f and metal into pulp. "I will give you another haven't found a blackout yet," in ive seconds. chance, Ms. Nolan," says Mr. Rice. "Don't The judge's towonng lace smiles at Carly. make me regret it, eh?" Carly approaches the judge's quarters. "I am pleased to readmit you to court and The personnel committee vanishes. Her presence in court gleams like mother- look forward to your official recodification "Shit!" yells Doctor Spinner, poking Car- of-pearl. Cram always adds a sheen. Proceed, Ms. Nolan." iy 's cube. "Lousyfearisallyougotforme?" "Your Honor, my client Quik Slip Micro- "Grounds are vexatious and baseless Carly is numb, so stiff, so paralyzed that chip defends the plaintiff Martino's cause litigation." she can't even shiver from the deep, of action on the grounds of adverse pos- Ching! Data conforms to statute. deathly cold. session." She logs in the facts of the case, "I claim," says Carly, ""Ten thousand "Hate this fear," she says at last. "Hate a sleek green stream of data. "Plaintiff failed dollars." them lor making me afraid Hate myself lor to protest defendant's i legal and flagrant "So held, award granted. Dismissed!" being use of ihe Wormpnn G.'O ;>.'>« ry over twenty The judge nods approvingly at Carly. Her presence in Court glows. Big lead hook of a garnishment plucks the last of Rosa Martino's money From stats, soft poop! like a fart. In a tiny black- and-white newsline, the big board reports that Rosa Marfno. age seventy- one, locked herself, her daughter, and grandson in the kitchen of her soulhside tenement studio and turned on the gas. Tik-tik-tik! Three corpses are dumped into the crunching jaws of the public morgue. The inky net of a collection agent logs into court, scoops up the solos before they can get out of link. "What goes around comes around, hotshot!" yells the weaselly solo as the col- lection agent's net drags him away to ser- vice his debts. Carly doesn't know what he means by that. She logs out of court, coming con- scious in her filthy little cubicle at Ava & Rice. Rox is there, cutting up lines of coke on a blood-spattered mirror. "Way to go. Nolan," she says, winking a bloodshot, black-rimmed eye. "Nice touch, sticking it to the old lady like that, That'll teach laypeopie to fuck with business," In the hallway Mr. Capp Rice III rolls by. He toasts Carly with a shot glass of high- octane gas. "I'm so glad you are meeting our expectations, Ms. Nolan." Mr. Rice winks. The wink opens and shuts, opens and shuts, until Rox reaches over and whacks him on the ear. "I've got another ease just like Martino s Consider this sort of thing your new specialty. Every lawyer needs a good specialty, eh, Ms, Nolan?" " Carly nods, takes the mirror from Rox. thicknesses of inhibition when left perime- "You don'l want no cloud hangin' over toots. Quick, sharp high pierces the dead- ter defects are suspected and who has your court recert. do ya Miss Nolan?" says ening stupor that always follows cram- proved layering is ninety, percent effective, the answering machine. "Come on, come ming. Wolfe has taught her other ways to writes quite harshly of probe technique. on, come on. Link in wit the doc one more handle cramming, ways to handle Ihe cram Threatening the integrity of the left perim- time, and I guarantee she'll recert ya." addiction. Wolfe has (aught her lots of tricks eter, which Doctor Marboro asserts is the Carly considers this. She indeed has a of the trade now that he's her pusher. She's guardian of correct thought and proper hearing belore ihe judge in two days, has had to learn. Twenty thousand dollars in linkage. Marboro exposes the case of Ste- promised to present him with final med debt to him, she finds other scores, gets ven H, a young industrial programmer center recodification. them hooked, deals. Anything to score about Carly's age who, despite a strong "Bul we haven't lound a blackout, Doc- ." more cram. body and good education, suffered from tor Spinner keeps insisting. . . Hands shake all the time now. Fifteen hallucinations in link. "Relax. She'll recert ya. I wouldn't kid ya." pounds gone, she looks like an anorexic. iliiOvOfi H wofii into telelinfe with a perim- So Carly sels the appointment. Just one Lell eye Iwitches; some kind of swelling eter prober, never came out. The man van- last probe. Get in link, get out quick. aches in her left temple, stretching out blue, ished, mind and body. The prober claimed bruised skin. Afraid lo sleep, afraid to Steven was lured through a gash in his left "You really will? Just like that?" Carly dream. She crams into link, cokes out of perimeter, bolted into his unconscious stalks back and forlh across the prober's cram, boozes herself down into deep black mind, re-created his own reality. Of course dust-fluffy floor. nothing. the prober claimed she tried to siop him, "Oh, sure." Humming ihis week's pop hit Damned probes have shaken some- blocked him. chased him, bui the prober's off tune, Doctor Spinner (iddles with the thing loose. Carly's dislike of Doctor Spin- lelelink wasn't publicly accessed, so there telelink console. ner festers inlo loathing. Surely the terror of were no witnesses, no record. Only a com- "I can't believe it. I can't believe it." Carly (he probes hasn't been necessary. Carly puter I.D. and an overdrawn credit ac- shakes with fury. "Then what has been the tries to contact the med center mainframe, count to show Steven H ever existed. A cult fucking point?" go over Spinner's head, get the recertifi- of telespace technicians propounding the "Med center mainframe says three cation without a third probe, but the main- existence of multiple universes sprang up probes, then recert, then I get another Irame is teaching a class at summer school in the medical community, claimed Steven probe client. You look like hell, Carly Nolan. and cannot be accessed. Furious, Carly H as their patron saint. But the big board Not cramming, are you? No, you wouldn't accesses the med center library instead, suppressed the account. tell me if you were." researches perimeter probers. She dis- Enraged, determined to press malprac- "The mainframe said recertification if I'm covers Ihe treatment is deemed not just tice charges against the med center and cured in three probes. You haven't done a unreliable like the mainframe said bul sus- Doctor Spinner bolh, Carly calls the prob- damn thing lor me. Spinner." pect. Several doctors, human doctors, hold er's office, intending to refuse a third ap- "Haven't done a thing? Not a thing? I beg this view. In particular Doctor Marboro at pointment. But the prober's answering ma- to differ, Carly Nolan. You've been sprung Stanford, who advocates layering new chine talks her into a third probe. loose of guilt and fear; can't claim your freedom with, baggage like that. Whew, you've even got the B.O. of a crammer. Don't you know that garbage is illegal? And do you know why it's illegal? Hey? Rips the living shit out of your perimeters, that's why. I would have bounced you right out of here if you showed up like this at the start of treatment?" Bitter cold shock. Wolfe never did say why. Carly shrugs it off Bitch is trying to hassle her, as usual. "I don't want to argue with you. Spinner, says Carly. "Gel on with it." They jack into link. Telespace is clear, still, focused, lumi- nous. Maybe cram effect; maybe Carly's clear, pure anger. In either case, very nice, very calming. Carly tightens up at once al that: oh, yes, just what Doctor Spinner wants, for her to let her guard down. Doc- tor Spinner's presence in link is a crisp, perfect, ebony cone. "Please traverse your left perimeter, Carly Nolan." says the prober. Her voice seems to contain an awestruck note. Ahead, a beautiful golden glow. Carly's presence in link slides gracelully, eagerly toward it. Her hand brushes a lock of hair from her cheek; in link, she feels the soft touch of her own skin on her face. But the touch doesn't panic her, doesn't worry her a bit "At last!" cries Doctor Spinner. "Thank God! At last! A blackout!" "You're crazy," says Carly. Terror gallops through her, ripping away her peaceful- — . . ness. "I see a beam, not a blackout." An outstanding watch value: on land, at sea, and underwater .. . "Yes! A blackout! Tell me what you see!" Navigator " Watch The golden glow swirls with luminous colors. A world appears, both microscopic safety Now, with new ratcheted §Af\Q5* and gigantic to Carly's eye. A flier levitates bezel, and still only "^iiJ from a vermilion funnel and hovers. Stiff even butter deal! read the ad for an chatoyant wings, monocoque fuselage, ihi-. wal.cli h' '.cork, tc '.>lav. io swim and dive— and to compound visual apparatus. The mayfly ly. The Navigator'" Mulch Is stri-ri*! by a sophisticated, ra-accurate Japanese (liJ.irt/ rinivc-rnt-ni powered by a tiny bungles into a spiderweb. The trapper ,ii ii :;i>it 1,- you nercury cell. It shouici l.isi ; nioiiths before hulks at the edge of the net. Stalked eye- 1 ' need replace it. The V-tr^;^*' has "'1't luminous analog buds swivel, pedipalps tense. A garden bi lit y. dial and LCD displnv. ii.' ;;ives wul dual time capa spider scuttles down, wraps the fly in a The LCD display slv.n'.-siimc' co tilinuously — inT2-h'r. or 24-hr. mode. "Push the button and display day and silken shroud, begins to feed. date. There is a subtle vet insistent alarm and a switch- Carly- screams. ile hourly time signal I'm- stopwatch/chronograph "So this is the secret place inside your ids io bllfl sees, and has "interrupt" and 'lap" modes. blackouts!" exclaims Doctor Spinner. "The light switch illuminates the display. h:i2V!yi ! w.ixh tor SLii'or niC'iv, around the bright vision. The spider bites and that's miihcut the e\c;ti>!vv ~:.iht\ bezel. But here is an the flier's leg off and chews. "It's nature. It's even better deal: Buy two for $99.90, and uv'll said you a third one absolutely FREE, with our compliments. Take Beautiful" advantage of this outstanding offer while it is available. '"Violent. Vicious. Murderous. ." Carly FOi; i-Afi-fP'l >;r-.RViCE, ORDER Note: For quantity orders (100+), visii ViM.r.'. chases after the spinning cone. 'Just like on the dial, call Mr. TOLL FREE (800) 621-1203 pany logo the judge and Ava & Rice and Wolfe and (4151 54J-6570 or write him at the 24 hours a day, 7 days A week you. All of you, preying on me, trapping HOISE250ior bla Please g-vc Di-dc: me, forcing me into bondage, sucking me for siivc-rroni?. if yoii prefer, mail check or card dry. ..." aiitl-.oo/.-ili.i-n ant! expiration. We sck daylinv.- phone re .ill orders and i->ci:i>; '.;ank ioi ckny= "Oh, yes, oh, certainly, you've been a J orders. UI'S-ir.suran;.e: SrV'K io: one \^ri n;,V ; victim, The world, the people around you, Mii/c.': vb.'j; inv tl.rce. Add s;ik*;- r..u. for CA deliv- Street, Francisco, CA 94107 the role you've found yourself compelled ery. Ibu have 30-day return and one year warranty. 131 Townsend San to play: These have preyed upon you. The spider has slipped from the depths of the dark unconscious, through the left perim- eter itself, in search of such a fine victim. Buy the Nintendo Entertainment But what about you, Carly Nolan? You've taken your own victims; don't tell me you've System where you'll find had no choice. All that human creativity re- duced to such a low and ugly fate." this, Spinner." Carly scur- low prices on hi-tech. "I won't hear ries to log out of link. "But wait, Carly. It's not so simple." The cone dives at her, prodding her, slapping her away from the log-off key. "There is a story, an old story no one remembers any- more. There was a goddess, an immortal weaver, who grew jealous of a mortal girl and her incomparable weaving. So gray- eyed Athena transformed the beautiful Arachne into a spider." Out -of the glowing garden creeps the garden spider. It scuttles across Carly's clean tan floor. The spider extends a hairy, clawed spindle, catches a silken line. sweeps across telespace, drops down onto Carly's cube. Carly shrieks, gags, tries to (Nintendo) shrink away, shake it off. but she can't, she's trapped. . . "But Carly, the story is apocryphal." Low prices, friendly service, great selection and lots of Doctor Spinner lovingly taps at the spider, locations are Kay-Bee trademarks. So next time you're entertaining gently hurrying it across Carly's cube, the idea of buying a Nintendo® Entertainment System come to catching it as it tumbles off the edge, eas- 'A lie, a slander, a po- Kay-Bee. ing it back onto her. litical' ploy, no better than propaganda flashes on the big board. The Greeks, who worshipped the vengeful goddess, cov- KA1 textile trade of Cretan eted the lucrative TOY STORES weavers, who worshipped the spider." The spider quadruples in size. Now, in- Siead of crawl no across Carly's cube, it MUST SELL straddles her, gazes down at her with a AT A LOW LIQUIDATION PRICE! ghoulish, gape-rnouihed face. "Who would worship that?" says Carly, gasping. "How could Ihey? Why?" Jason Refractor Model "To the Cretan weavers, the spider was 400 POWER Eater of Souls, She who '-e'.enilessly de- stroys, the hunter, the killer, the maker of TELESCOPE deceptions. But She was also Weaver of Fate. She who unceasingly creates," says Doctor Spinner. "Universe upon universe, Develop Your Intuition . . . over and over, She redeems Her own de- struction with Her infinite power to create. The Unlearned Knowledge She weaves. Carly. She weaves!" Whence come the whisperings of Salty wind blasts across telespace. Carly self—the still small voice within? Who sees a pinpoinl in the sturdy crisscrosses has not experienced that certain impel- of her left perimeter sees a thread of golden mist connecting the vision and the pin- lint; impression that suddenly flashes point. The pinpoint dilates, thick ropes of into consciousness? It conveys that un- inhibition unraveling r'op; ng away. A long deniable conviction of truth that lunnel —wilh dark red, curving, striated neither reason nor persuasion can set walls —yawns open in her left perimeter. aside. The intuition is a source of un- "Look!" says Doctor Spinner. "Carly, learned knowledge—a reservoir of look!" superior judgment that lies enshrined "No," whispers Carly. Her presence in in the subconscious. It strives to guide link, her body, all is wasted, so without and advise you—even against the dic- power she feels oddly calm again. "I'm tates of will. afraid." "Don't fear now," says Doctor Spinner. un- "You've lived the dark side of Arachne. Now There is nothing supernatural or Our arrangement wilh Jason brings this canny about intuition. Beneath your claim the light." precision model 306S to you at a LOW surface consciousness exists another price! Order today at BIG savings. Telespace is a gray-green mist. Carly's • Focal Length, Aperture. mind. It can be a source of inspiration, 800mm 60mm presence in link is her own nude body. She • Coated Optics for High-Quality Images. of new and startling ideas. Intuition is stands on a windswept crag, surrounded • 5x24 Finderscope with Crosshairs. the fountain he;id of creative ability. • 40x, 64x, and 200x Eyepieces. Barlow 2x by a splash, no sea. Before her is a gigantic richer Lens Doubles the Power ol Eyepiecesl Every person's life can be fuller, loom, made of smooth, hard wood, strung • Star Diagonal Prism. Yolk-Type, Alt- in achievement, if he learns to awaken with woolen warp and wool. Azimuth Mount for Precise Tracking. and direct intuition. Don't wait for en- She seats herself before the loom; takes • Fine Adjustment Vertical Stabilizer Bar. lightenment. Call it forth. the smooth, hard shuttle; slips it in and out. • Free Under the Stars, Newsletter for around and through, the fibrous matrix. The One Year. wool glows phosphorescent green and Mfr's. Ltd. Lifetime Warranty. Accept this FREE BOOK amber. The warp slips off the loom and coils Compare -269.95 t There is nothing ol ^rearer satisfaction nor into a shape I he shape solidifies, a crystal : QQ of more practical iilI-i blo spnrcs fro'"'" he' fnciers. 'illing her eyes The ROSICRUCIANS with light. Clouds of dust roil. Stars cool, (AMORC) the corona of dusl sellles, planets spin. The SAN JOSH, CALIFORNIA 95 1 91 primordial ocean roars. Creatures swim, then wade onto shell -strewn beaches and Scribe BNM stand up. Empires rise; China, Egypt, Kosierucian Order, (AMORC) Rome, England, America, China Mush- Rnskrudan Park room clouds jut above broken cities. Sanjose, Calif. 95191, U.S.A. ; Spaceships blast ofl toward an uncharted n^jng-pln^'af galaxy. All is darkness. Kindly send me a free o>t>y of THE Then Carly opens her right hand. A lu- MASTERY OF LIFE. I am sincereij inter- minous sphere pops out ol her palm, etted m ife mysteries of self and of the Cosmfc-. boding her eyes with light. Clouds of dust roil. Stars coagi..la:e, the ha o of ashes pre- cipitates, planets:orbit. The primal ocean ADDRF.SS : pounds. Creatures swim, then the skin- of CITY STA their fins closes around each digital hour;, Please Include Tom Zip Cod!: and they grasp. Empires rise-: Xeron. I or!, » Klamal, Laior, Meen, Xeron. An ocean floor splits, swallowing crushed cities. Space- ORIGINAL MASTER RECORDINGS™ ships blast off into the unknown universe. All is darkness. COMPACT DISCS Doctor Spinner's voice calls, "Carly? Carly? Carly? Carly?" The Difference You Can Hear! Checkerboards of golden light pierce Using the original Carly's left perimeter. The thick black wall master studio tapes and a custom, halt-speed mastering process, engineers at Fidelity of inhibition shatters, shards of guilt, wisps Mobile Sound Labs transferred every nuance of musical information direct to digital of fear, strands of denial flung inlo infinity. master discs. Each CD is a precise digital copy, equal in every detail to the master tape. These are limited-edition releases. Orders are tided on a first-come, first-served basis. Satisfaction Carly hovers in lelespace. Her presence guaranteed. in link is a luminous pearl. She gleams with Quantity JAZZ crystal, [he wonder drug that preserves life, 805 ART PEPPER & ELEVEN Modem Jazz Glassies '.. expands consciousness, permits Earth 2-807 LOUIS ARMSTRONG - & DUKE ELLINGTON-Recording dwellers to send their presence across the Together For The First Time 2:1 series (2LP's on t CD) galaxy to new worlds. The jade obelisk of 825 JOHNNY MATHIS - Heavenly 826 MAX ROACH & CLIFFORD BROWN - Daahound Wolfe, her beloved, is there. Doctor Spin- 827 MODERN JAZZ OUAflTET - Live At The Lighthouse ner's presence in link, an indigo cone set 828 MILES DAVIS - Someday My Prince Wilt Come with silver crescent moons, joins them. 840 BILLY HOLIDAY - In Rehearsal Before them towers a castle of gold, tur- Ml CHARLIE 8ARNET Big Band 1967 842 Z00T SIMS - Zoot At Ease rets ablaze. There the judge holds court, 843 MAYNARO FERGUSON - The Blues Roar dispensing justice. Across Carly's right pe- 855 SARAH VAUGHN - At Time In My Life rimeter splashes an emerald sea, dragons 732 BUODY RICH BAND - MR. DRUMS LIVE [2 CD) frolicking in the swells. There new people of the modern age refresh themselves, cast nets for plentiful lish. Bordering the back perimeter, scarlet garden:-: yield spicy per- _ 588 JAZZ CLASSICS Voi.t NEW ORLEANS 2:1 series '17" fume. There Rosa Martino joins hands with _ 589 JAZZ CLASSICS Vol.2 CHICAGO 2:1 series 590 JAZZ her daughter, Luisa, and grandson, Dan, _ CLASSICS Vol.3 NEW YORK 2:1 series _ 587 JAZZ CLASSICS Vol.4 LOUIS ARMSTRONG 2:1 series and the three of them circle in a sprightly _ 598 JAZZ CLASSICS Vol.5 FATS WALLER 2:1 series dance. Glorious blooms thrust brilliant _ 601 JAZZ CLASSICS Vol.6 BIX BEIDER8ECKE 2:1 creepers into the blue jungle of Carly's left __ 602 JAZZ CLASSICS Vol.7 BESSIE SMITH 2:1 perimeter. There through jungle vine and CLASSICAL murex bush peep the wild yellow eyes of _ 802 STANISLAW 5KR0WACZEWSKI & THE MINNESOTA OP.CHESTRA- new ideas not yet inojghi. .urtglecats, and Ravei: Bolero. Rhapsodic Eipaqnole, La Valse. Pavane bright-beaked birds. _ 819 SKROWACZEWSKI CONDUCTING THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA- Bartok: Music tor String,, Percussion 1 Celesta "Doctor Spinner" says Cariy, "what is this _ BOB LEONAHD SLATKIN £ THE SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY & CHOHUS - Prokotiev: Alexander Nevsky place?" Opus 78 _ 811 THOMAS SCHIPPERS CONDUCTING THE CINCINNATI -.,,-..-, Till SYPHQMVOflGHESTRA Son I an Eulenspieoel 812 - "Telespace, Carly Nolan," says Doctor _ THE POWER AND THE MAJESTY VOLUME II Environmental Sonics 814 _ 5USSKIND CONDUCTING THE SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY - Dvorak: Piano Concerto in G Minor Spinner. "Oh, yes, oh, certainly. As only a 2-631 __ ROY BUOD LONDON SYM. ORCH.-The Final ralUwMWIl ns-Sta v w ; rak ET (2 C0I ! human mind could create it." _ 858 RACHMANiM.' - HW ONI DAK & Fedoseyev/USSR TV S Radio Symphony Orchestra _ 2-862 POPULAR SYMPHONIC PIECES BY SOVIET COMPOSERS • Ermier/Bolshoi Theatre Qichestra (2 CD) "But .some call it reality," says Wolfe. "It _ 863 MENDELSSOHN: "Italian" Symphony No. 4 & ROSSINI: William Tell Overture -SvellarraWThe USSRSymo Orch - x:,;.::>: .:.:-,.., ^,.-, ;.- r- is 664 ; .:,<.„... yours, beloved." _ TCHAIK0V5K: , TVS Radio LaraeSymp Orch _B65HAY0N: CONCERTOS .Anchored overhead to the four corners FOR CELLQWITHORCHESTRA-S.Somtetskys/Lithiiariian Chamber Orchestral Rudln/Cello _ 887 GLAZUNOV: SYMPHONY Na.1 E Major, Op 5 - FedoaeyeWUSSfi TV S Radio Large Symphony Orchestra of lelespace is the lattice of time and space, like a spiderweb, a beautiful fine spiral hung ROCK with crystalline drops of dew. Nighf rain has _4-ai6 WOODSTOCK H GO'S Woodstock 1 & Z) TO" _ 820 ARETHA FRANKLIN - Live At The Fillmore West torn a hole in its center. Carly knows what _ 822 THE TUBES The Tubes to do. She flies un through : elespace, takes _823 PR0C0L HARUM - A Salty Dog the warp, takes the woof. Then she skips _824 JOE COCKER- Mad Dogs 5 Englishmen (2 CO) "21. across the silk and begins to Weave.DO _ 829 LOGGINS & MESSINA - Sittin' In _ 830 GRATEFUL DEAD - From The Mars Hotel _ 832 THE STAPLES SINGERS - Respect Yourseit _ 838 ALBERT King - Live Wire/Blues Power _ 846 PROCOL HARUM - Broken Barricades _847 HUMBLE PIE - Rock On _ 848 RICK WAKEMAN - Journey To The Center 01 The Earth _ 849 IKE S TINA TURNER - River Deep. Mountain High Jte.saa, Studio City, CA 91 * 2 CD set: "21" 2:1 series 17.» Woodstock TO." if. Sales Tai 6.5% _ es available on cassette and/or records. Tapes are duplicated in real-timeort professional xide stock. Albums pressed in Japan on 100% virgin vinyl. Request Catalogue. " — — TECHNOTHERAF riniruD By Peter Garrison Computers are used widely today homework, and tries to uncover "thinking symptoms went away. It was incredible in psychology to administer errors" that trap patients in self-destruc- how fast I learned." Another woman says personality-profile questionnaires, tive behavior A nationwide health mainte- that the program helped her identify keep records, and make diagnoses. nance organization, CIGNA Healthplan, her weaknesses. "The program helps you Computerized programs that treat Inc.. offers TLP to its members. The focus on old beliefs you don't need emotional disorders, however, are a program takes five weeks, and each on goals and your potential," she says. novelty. But Stanford University computer workshop lasts two hours. Gould's TLP has been used by more scientist Kenneth Colby believes In the first session, the Developmental than 2.000 people, and he gives glowing "beneficial computers will help relieve the chronic- Goals Workshop, people choose an reports of the results: change" shortage of mental-health workers and area of their lives that dissatisfies them. in half the patients, "life-altering change" could be successful in testing short-term The computer asks, "What have you in 15 percent. "The key role of the acute slress situations, including marital been doing so far about your key dissat- computer," says Gould, "is to help people problems, parent-child relationships, isfaction?" Participants are given a go through their conflicts step- by-step." or conflicts between co leagues at work. choice of 18 answers to help them identify Robert Cutrow, regional mental-health "Most people who need help," Colby why they haven't solved their problem. department head for CIGNA Healthplan in says, "don't need a complete personality Responses range from "I'm accepting and Manhattan Beach, California, was one the first therapists to use TLP. Cutrow make-over— something no treatment living with it" or "I blame others" to "I'm of can guarantee. They just need to learn to ignoring it" or "I withdraw." After completing believes TLP succeeds where many live with their problems. Their question the exercise at the computer, patients other types of therapy fail, because sort out they've learned patients are more willing to reveal their isn't. 'Who am I?' It's, 'How can I get what about a date on Friday night?' themselves with the therapist. feelings to a computer than to a therapist. "I dealing with Facing monitor is less threatening than Several computer treatments for specific thought I had been my a disorders are in various stages of devel- iivtiiyday stress.' says one woman whose talking to a therapist. "Seventy-five percent opment, testing, and use. Computer doctor told her that her physical of the people who belong to medical " treatments for phobias, for example, symptoms— laryngitis, facial swelling groups could benefit from TLP, he says. lot consist of a series of structured, graduated were stress related. "Once I faced my "Most people encounter a of stress often they're exercises in confronting the feared object feelings of inadequacy," .she says, "my in their day-to-day lives, but or situation. A. Raja Ghosh, a British not even sure what is bothering them. psychiatrist, has used a computer to treat And the majority of these people resist any people who suffer from such mild suggestion that they may have a mental- phobias as agoraphobia (the fear of open health problem. In other words, they won't spaces). The program suggests activi- see a shrink." ties: Go to a museum or a restaurant Cutrow claims that the technique alone. When the subject returns, the underlying computer-assisled therapy is computer asks him about the experience. simple-but powerful. "Patients soon Ghosh believes that patients can modify realize no one else can solve their their behavior with practice. problems— nol a therapist nor group Paulette Selmi of the University of members." he says. "Because the pro- Wisconsin has been successful in treating gram is self-directed, it is very appealing." depression, which is the most widely According to Otto Thaler professor of reported psychological complaint in psychiatry at the University of Rochester America. She used a cognitive-therapy School of Medicine, computer-assisted approach: Change your thoughts to therapy won't work for serious problems change your feelings. Her program asked like psychosis. "I don't think anyone people what they thought about, and has ever used a computer to help then suggested other things for them to psychotics," he says. "The single most think about. The treatment worked. important factor in psychotherapy is Roger Gould, a psychiatrist and the relationship with another human being. researcher at .UCLA, has developed a The computer will never substitute for therapy package he calls TLP (Therapeutic' that." Thaler also thinks it's very important Learning Program), which uses to distinguish among serious, moderate, computers in tandem with a therapist. or trivial problems. "Trouble getting a date The computer asks questions, assigns Pe ".',':';;):; yau'a Want "to watch us make a recording "? XD Who's your -friend *? I wouldn't miss it for the world ^#$ L EMRTH CONTINUED FROM PAGF .14 A proposal for a sun drawing is being considered now by (he Museum of Art at [he University of Arizona in Tucson for ils central exterior wall. "Saad-Cook is a groundbreaker,".says Peter Birmingham, director of the museum. "Her work with light is unlike anything I'm familiar with. It's one thing to shoot a laser across a river at night, but it's quite another to take the sun and put it to work to create art." Now she plans to select a permanent site for a building that will contain a sun RH.I.P drawing for the lull cycle ol the year. De- Its Privileges signed as a white concrete hemisphere Rank Has with a six- by eight-foot glass- en closed opening, the building will cover approxi- mately 2,000 square feet. The interior room will contain the sun drawing and a sitting area. On clear days visitors will be able to see "time passing in visual form," as Saad- Cook says. One location under consider- ation is ihe Very Large Array at (he National Radio Astronomy Observatory—a group- ing ot radio antennas in New Mexico. The materials that will be used (o acti- vate the permanent sun drawing have changed from the temporary plastic films used earlier. Saad-Cook now works with glass (hat has been dielectrically coated, an optical process lhal b'eaks sunlight into pure color. These coatings literally give the arlist her palette of colors for a drawing. "I slump and sag the glass in a kiln, bending it until I get a shape I like," she says. "When the glass cools, I put it in the sun lo see what kind of shape is reflected on the wall." The glass is then senl to an optical-coating company, where it is coated. Saad-Cook then combines the glass with mirrored metals to get the full range of torms and colors that she had when she was using (he plastic films. ''I envision the sun drawing project as a quiet enclosure, a sacred place that will reflecl the interaction of sun and Earth through four dimensions: light, space, movement, and time," Saad-Cook ex- plains. "From the earliest limes, civiliza- tions have used the sun's cycle to make their calendars so they could live in har- mony with the cosmological order. I'm planning (o make this work of art reflect that order, and my purpose is to bring us back to an awareness of it and (he con- nection it gives us with each other." Editors' note: In Washington, DC, next May, the Chevron Conservation Awards Program will pay tribute to (en volunteer citizens, ten professionals, and five non-' proiit groups whose work in protecting the earth's natural resources has contributed significantly to our quality of life. Each in- dividual and group will receive $1,000. Members of -he genera: public may nomi- nate a friend, colleague, or group by De- cember 31, 1987, For further information write to Chevron Conservation Awards. Box 7753. San Francisco, CA 94120.DO —— STAR TECH ACCESSING THE FUTURE HOLOWINDOWS PERSONAL ON THE WORLD BLIMP Laser- gene rated Get ready for what may be holograms have already the ultimate executive toy: been used for everything from a one-third-scale, fully flyable light swords in Star Wars personal blimp. Designed movies to the nifty little 3-D by Sieve Gamer of Memphis, rsigniaon your credit Cards. Tennessee, the 90-loot group Now a of technologist single-seater version will be from Cambridge, Massachu- powered by an ultralight setts, are planning to use airplane engine and will get holographic windows to its lift from 19,000 cubic splasn su.n'igr: into dark feet of helium— just like the interiors of homes and offices, real thing. When airborne, it is thus cutting lighting costs expected to cruise at by as much as 80 percent in altitudes of about 2.500 feet the process. and at speeds up to about 45 The windows, explains mies pe' hour. Richard lan-Frese of tine The blimp, says West Advanced. Environmental Coast distributor Richard Research Group, will probably Ivlilewsk! of Pacific Airships, be coated with a photo- is safe, to fly. "If you have graphic film that has been engine failure," he says, "the exposed :o laser light. The craft simply becomes a laser creates a "relief pattern" ha: oon. and you can fly it that turns silver halide parti- Benson Devices FAT SHAVER of tor like one." It's cheap to operate cles in the film into what Vascular Intervention, the (probably less than the amounts to a series of micro- r.John B. Simpson, a cenpany that manufactures typical £100 per hour for , scopic mirrors. Redwood City, California, the tat shaver, this new conventional small planes) These holographic mirrors cac:o:oc-s: has developed procedure Is less traumatic and can land in any large will, in lan-Frese's words, a new surgical procedure to vessels than balloon open space (though someone "redirect incoming' sunlight transluminal atherectomy angioplasty, an older must be waiting there to wherever you want it." By that opens clogged arteries iecfr.ioue "ha: pushes piaque tether it). At a projected price stacking a series of these (ally by shaving deposits aside but doesn't comp:e:e!y of about $30,000, it costs films— each one with its cur of them with a tiny internal remove it. considerably less than a "mirrors" set at a slightly drill-like device. , "We believe atherectomy Rolls-Royce. Te'en* c angle— the coating Once a catheter threads will reduce the likelihood that The sticky part, says will actually follow the sun the instrument to a narrowed a treated artery will narrow VI: ewsKi. s gelling licensed as it moves across a window point in artery, an a miniature again soon after it has been to fly it. "You can't just go during the course of the ualloor is expanded, moving treated." he says. down to your local flying day, thus allowing the interior the instrument tightly against So lar the treatment has school and rent one," he says. lighting to remain constant. ne anery ;vzi\\ where p'aqjc been used only for blocked To solve this, the company 1 ' "Remember, says lan- obstructs blood flow. Driven leg arteries, but clinical plans to inaugurate five Frese, "that the nature of a by an outside motor that trials on heart patients began or more training centers hologram is to redirect light. is connected to a cable, a this past summer. around the country, with were So just taking advantage razor-sharp cutting tool —Sherry Baker instruction provided by—who ol a natural lighting source." wh rimg at 2,000 revolutions Access: Chuck Benson, else?—former pilots of (he ~" . — Bill Lawren per minute cuts outstrips Director of Marketing and Goodyear blimps. Access: Prototype the 6; fa-ly material by and stores Sales, Devices for Vascular — Bill Lawren end of 1987; should be them in a retaining cup that is Intervention, Inc., 595 Penob- Access: Write Memphis commercially in laier '.• available two indrawn. sco; Drive. Recwood City, Airships, Box 13114. Mcmph s. to three years. According to Chuck CA 94063. TN 38113. STMRTECH WALKKID mere a: Inactive to k:ds and to survive some less-than- After selling 30 million of its delicate handling, For Wa kman products to grown- example, the items are made ups around the world, Sony is of a more sturdy plastic now seeing its sights a little than you'll find on a standard lower. The company recently Sony Walkman. There's introduced its first line also a volume-limitation designed specifically for feature on the kids' Walkman ohi dren ca.lcd My First Sony. iha: parents can set to keep .ncludc-0 (see below, bottom a child from listening to music righr to left) are a brightly at aharmlul level. colored Walkman featuring — Marjorie Costello b goer buttons than you'll find Access; Available since on Daddy's or Mommy's October in large retail TOTAL MOVIES aioboi-cudcd ROBOSHOW model, a radio/cassette eiecTonics, toy, and depart- itius ca to be staged in a recorder, a cassette recorder ment stores. Suggested You're driving through a London theater. "It's really a with microphone, and a prices; Walkman, S34.95; Graveyard on a moonlit night. new entertainment medium," wa kic-la k : o headset. There's recoroerwith microphone, In front of you a huge and says the enthusiastic even a kids' line of audiocas- $-4.95; wa k:e-lalkie headset, eerie arch logins ihreaten- Roberts, "and we're only se:tes iha: come in more $49.95; radio/cassette .ne y. while on either side a scratching the surface. than 4,000 color combina- recorder. $59.95; audiocas- pac. o f diaphanous spirits Basically ROBOCORE can tions. settes, two for $3.99. dance a ghostly ballet— all in do ar.ylriing the imagination Despite their primary lime to music so sinister it wants."— Bill Lawren colors, protective rubber MICROWAVES won o rnake even Hitchcock Access: Travelers to mc:d:-ics. and larger buttons, THAT CAN READ squirm. Scared? Well, relax; London can arrange to see a these products are not toys. it's only ROBOSHOW, a demonstration by writing Instead, My First Sony For consumers who find new experiment in total- Robodevco, 105-ATorriano products feature adult microwave ovens too compli- :'->mcT£on cni.criair.ment from Avenue, London NW5 technology designed lo be cated or who just want the Robodevco of London. ::>":x Fngland, or by calling a:es: labor saver Sharp has Essentially, ROBOSHOW is 44-1-267-4886, come up with a model that a theater full ol screens: features a bar-code reader :h'oc large ones in front, and similar to the kind used at anywhere from 40 to 1.200 supermarket checkout smal.erones sp-ead around counters m the United States. Ihe room. As you might The unit, which is one of expect, a specially Sharp's high-end convection programmed computer (called ROBOCORE. shown above) is required to rapidly move images from one screen to another and to integrate ihe visual show with dynamic, high-fidelity surround sound. The intention is 1o provide what Robo- devco spokesman Hugh Rob sensory art: an orchestrated tapestry b of sound and vision." Currently Robodevco is trying to raise money for 158 OMNI — -'icrowaves. ircludes-a INDUSTRIAL hand-held bar-code scanner ARCHEOLOGY thatelecironically reads recipe, instructions from a In a.small-is-beautiful special cookbook with bar world, where a megabyte of codes. Passing I he wireless computer memory is the scanner over the code cefmit-on of the word big. it is corresponding to a desired reassuring to know that dish transfers instructions some people still long for the on time and temperature to cay 2 when Amsrca's build- the oven via inirared light i nci rnatcnal of choice was waves. A display panel iron, not silicon. provides step-by-step recipe The Society for Industrial instructions, ensuring a Archeology, an activity of the periect outcome for even the Smithsonian Institutions most maladroit chef. National Museu'i qt American DOGGY DATING live in a house or apartment? Although Sharp believes it History, was founded to SERVICE Do you have a yard, small preserve the nation's techno- children, or elderly relatives? logical past. The objects of An electronic service How often can you walk its affection —to which along the lines of those used your new acquisition? What members have traveled for by computer-dating services do you want to spend on annual meetings and tours. has been developed by food? What are your notions have included the Goodyear the folks at Kal Kan, the of a dog's ideal coat, size, Airdock, a mammoth 21- Vernon, California, dog-food O.n ci, and temperament? story 364. 000-square -foot manulaciurer- -only theirs When the computer gets military blimp hangar in matches you with the ideal the completed questionnaire, Akron (above right]; Buffaloes cog reteaoofine c:ea- cafe. it will recommend and collection of m only grain Pedigree Selecfadog is ihoro-jghly describe two to e-evators ;'13 still standing on free; all you have to do is d a four possible breeds. ihe banks of the Erie Canal, 1-800-KAL-KARE. You'll be The system will even work including the 3.5-.million- sent a questionnaire request- in. choosing a mutt if you bushel Cargill Superior ing your views on such happen to come across a will have at least one ready Elevator); and the four cooyv matters as, Do you particularly appealing one in market for this product in the monster mechanical ore a sheller and can hazard a United States—among more unloaders located at the guess as to its mixed parent- affluent senior citizens— ^ennsy.van a Ra Iroad Ore age.—George Mobbe the company does not plan Dock in Cleveland, Access: Call toll-free 1- to export it to the States The 1 ,500 -member society 800-KAL-KARE. until the price of the bar-code publishes a semiannual feature can be brought journal and a quarterly down. Retailing for $1,000 in newsletter and organizes Japan, the oven's price tours of mills, power plants, would have to be cut almost blast furnaces, and other n half for it to be practical ir.dustr al and engineering sven in the high-end sector sites throughout North of the competitive American America.—Timothy Onosko microwave marketplace. Access: Annual fees: —Marjohe'Costello 325 icyular membership, $20 Access: Available in Japan for students. Contact: The now. Export to the United Society :or Ind.istrial Arche- States will most likely begin ology. Room 5020, National when the price can be Museum of American History, brought down. Washington, DC 20560. BAnriES ninaticn Take, ior example las! lob oary's Greai uoasu-o Hum. Each due ;orsisteri o! iwo pa';s; Vfc.u had io ii^i ! ' . I'l !: -i . I i- I. I- '..!. I'M = ve;tiie^er: [ or silicU: anc .hen confirm !'o;;.;i ::;;.: i;;yo::iy C"'d:ng Acids O" : l i .',.!!, |i .i.i ;i .ii : i r : rod page numbers. \2&. 25. 75. 41. 8 5. 85, 63, 86; 9. 27,' 13/77;'Congra't aiioiado !hc 25 p^ew.nners: ionn Kurtz. Ustle Code. VVI AVCoc-p Wr,;;uj:er Sharon Hoglms. Wo;;; Newton. FA ovo^.;a- Spcvs Hoveid-d; iosop'w H. Bud".*. I M:t5UOi3o;VCRand50-:nch IV Ichr, Orashen Flenvngton, Nu. ' ' " i I :'' :'.,. i "Si.:/ KaiOYSSki. --or., t.esvenworlh. KS , Li :,." >...' .. /.;;v , check or money order for S29.95 - Bang & OMsen sioroo oguipment . ' V S3. DO lor postage and handling to: lenniter Roberts. Co'umbia, LA ;., -:..• Halcyon Films and Video i : .. , ,;,. :;( i: .,/£ .:'. . I RoiTli M satellites t • .. . i 110 Beach Road, Room to .>.: . . :..:-. Kings . . .;:> . .;:..,.. Point, York 11024 . . ::. New CA • irwMarir.^M.ir.(?t-.*fr.-3i.'*. j'id i^no-i .sroDK ' ' iieilir; i I. ,"' 247-7799 ^5T SI I nl ,P..'i • theridemet ...: !. iaoeS. Bona.. Brls-ol VA ACS linporls computer and prr.'i Orders received by December 1 5, will be delivered in lime for Christmas. and Voca-_inj< speech-recogns'x board. • : 3:irx Wron. Douglasville GA The Mainstream Se! d Lurna lele-com o;c;o-0-:rans "Fascinating.." of the rri'lling telephones Art Scene... 3...Pegrarr —Isaac Asimov^jgjg|| Cane aouCil , : s..f;O i0.Ti.'vv::/i,ifi, '-lapervi- t :. _ !'' '.i ::.. . .: :|; ii . ' Deborah Iviunn Pries. S-rviithiieid NC L oi.io'. Carilii.JO Importers V:,'v.;vr,l M. Wc-jiak. Stevens Poini W; Llduor''' "-;«;:-./ E Sowa. Rockvillo. [vlD Liquor ;.,' II .1 '.OP: Casio synthesizer JacQueline Gross. Boston Canon jjcsona: coo-oi GlnnirE. Johnson, Keams. LJ1 Subscribe to ArtToday and begin en- copier joying the only national art magazine Personal focusing on today's representational Joyd B.arnes\ Atlanta ; ' A surprising exploration of the art— from contemporary, wildlife and Mil ! io \ Rao. ways our inner "organic clock" regu- western to landscapes, primitives and CA lates everything in our bodies—from sculpture, ArtToday is probing, in- Radar detedor the life span of blood cells to the sightful, and diverse in its coverage. Lo:sM. Hiiro. Evansville, IN aging process itself, Every issue brings new discoveries, Radar detector entertaining commentary. Lavishly il- \i Boiz. Co;by, KS ; "...one of the few writers who can lustrated with color reproductions of Radar detector blend science, humanity, and subtle today's finest new works. humor into a highly readable and . Lu'dwigk.- Wallace, ID, One year subscriptions (4 issues! are completely enjoyable book." Radar, detector just J 16. Send your order today, or —Ben Bova Ray Mac.:ey,'ic7„ Maicy. N'v cadi (316) 722-9750 to bill your Radar detedor THE BODY IN TIME MasterCard or Visa. Please allow :.:'. Wiiidn. Port Huron. Ml Kenneth JorvRose $19.95 8-12 weeks for delivery. W Rod, OttOO: HWILEY ArtToday * A Peterson. St. Paul Available at your bookstore P.O. Box 12830, Wichita, KS 67277 evscope loiescopeDQ — " back to you. Say, 'Wanna buy a duck?' Late that night the phone rings again. OMNI The male voice is muffled and strained. I cally engineered friend. immediately expect obscenities. Instead I TIME CAPSULES Larsen: Artificial intelligence. In twenty receive a number of strange ideas. He's a years we'll be talking to Hal. toy designer who insists that both his and Chesley; It's bound to happen. his company's identity remain anony- Hicks: But we'll become mindless, de- mous. He refers to himself only as Deep pendent on them. Barbie (DB). Larsen: Mush brains. "In twenty years there won't be toy Hicks: Totally confused on what to serve stores," he begins. "We'll have the ability the in-laws for dinner. But I doubt they'll to create whatever we want to entertain ever be creative. ourselves and our children. We will have Chesley: Your in-laws? figured out a way to monitor brain waves Hicks: Computers. or thoughts —a biological computer, it you Chesley: They can't dream. But if we de- will, that transmits your thoughts. We al- Now the magazine of the future can be signed a computer that really could rea- ready have machine called li- kept for the future, Store your Issues of a a stereo OMNI in a new Custom Bound Library Case son, it would free us up to be creative. thographer thai creates solid information made of black simulated leather It's buill to from computer data— a materialization last, and It will keep 12 Issues In mini "You a again. machine. of the : --:; wanna buy duck?" Noah Most background and ;;a r ci t io r- mds"n rrvs seine is embossed "Okay, I've got it. Some things are never structures in the movie Tron, for instance, with the gold OMNI logo, and in each case there is a gold transfer for going to change. Never. Your Legos and were computer-generated solid models. recording the date. your bui'dng blocks. Bui in twenty years We will expand that technology until we kids will be able to control the characters have a machine that creates solid reality." ($8.95 each; 3 lor $24.95; 6 lor $45.95) in TV cartoons with a sort of joystick—high- According to DB, we'll wear this gadget postpaid USA orders only. USA orders odd tech Winky Dinks. Wmky Dinks of 2007. on our heads, talk to it, tell it what we want. $1.00 and foreign orders add $2.50 Okay, that's it. I'm going to Europe. I'll call It will talk to a computer, and the computer you from Paris. Bye." will ask questions to help us define the toy To; OMNI MAGAZINE There is only one antidote for all this high- we wan! to create. Then the toy will appear. Jesse Jones Industries, 499 E, Erie Ave. Phila, PA 19134 tochilis: Phil Garner artist, inventor, a critic "It could get scary if there aren't any con- of American consumerism. His inventions trols," DB says. CREDIT CARD HOLDERS (orders over $15) CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-972-5858 have appeared in Esquire and Rolling The line starts cackling nen goes dead. Or mail your order, clearly showing your Stone and on Saturday Night Live. The vi- Deep Barbie calls back, admitting that his account number and signature. Pa. n ' sual punster brought us "Shower in a Can," cat had knocked over the phone. "I was add 6% sales tax. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED "Team Jogging Shoes" that three people thinking about a product that uses super- can wear, and the "Electronic Auto-Zip- conductivity and anligravity," he mutters. per." which warns the wearer of "incom- "We're looking for ways to neutralize the plete closure." The mad unscientist be- gravitational field of the earth. It's an enter- lieves the bicycle was the "apex of the tainment phenomenon, really. A whole Industrial Age." bunch of entii.es call fairies or fireflies that "In twenty years we'll need Techno- choreograph color and dance and read al- Moss," Garner insists. "We'll need it bad. pha waves to md cato p easurable experi- We can drape it on our computers and ap- ences. Now. ih.s would take some elegant pliances to give them a rustic look. algorithms." DB fantasizes that these fire- "You know Masters of the Universe?" he flies would listen to your mind and know il continues, gaining artist c momentum with you liked their performance— instant cri- every word. "Well, how about Masters of tique. They'd live in a little shoe box on the Nothing — perleclly aimless dolls that don't floor, and when switched on. these little conquer anything? And instead ol gun- guys would shoot out. If they were capable slingers, we could have punslingers. Pull of enough speed, they could create a tele- the trigger and the gun tells a pun. Then vision effect so you could actually see what there has to be Regresso, an early-retire- you were thinking. "We'll have cold light by ment game for children so they can get then." DB says. "We already know we can their adulthood over with quickly and have run a fluorescer: tube withou". any wires by happy lives. And Amnesia Helmets :hal get placing it next to a Tesla coil. Or maybe the rid of all static and esponsibility. I got that fireflies could be the size of baseballs, with from a Buck Rogers movie. And Boarding- an internal light source." Up Kits for kids so they can board up gas Of course, all this depends on coming tea: 625,530. C. Total paid ar stationsand computers." up with new materials from extraterrestrial is. samples, complimeraary, The line makes a disagreeable bleep, sources — Martian clay, for instance. and I admit to Garner that I have Call Wait- "Nothing is new," DB says. "That's proved < :. ntnc II. i-l: I .1 ing. He hangs up in disgust, and I find my- all the lime. We trap ourselves when we sel" taking with a sweet -vo'ced man limit our thoughts; we get out of the trap by Ecicy Goldfarb. I ask him about the chat- finding new worlds. We will create won- tering teeth of the future. "Oh, that's easy," derful new toys —just like the little fellow he says cheerfully. "Electronic chips are building androids in Blade Runner. Per- becom rig very, very inexpensive. In the last haps he'll be the new toy maker. We'll go couple of years we've been using elec- to one of these fellows' shops, and he'll tronic chips to make rather expensive talk- make our dreams— a dream shaper." ing toys — basic digitally generated The heavenly toy maker come to Planet speech. In twenty years chattering teeth Earth, I am thinking, just in time for the will really say something! Tell you jokes. Talk twenty-tirst century.OO especially here at headquarters. That in- who's in charge of this building. IRJTEE\yiElAJ fluences the kind of people we can get. We Omni: In a press conference you said that couldn't go to Mars with, our current work- NASA was difficult to manage because it force. In the short term our problem is fix- was a research agency on the one hand an turned over to the military at that point, ing the shuttle and building up public con- and an operational one on the other— split? would they? fidence in NASA as a can-do agency. unhappy hybrid. Must NASA Draw a picture of your ideal NASA. Fletcher: We're wrestling with that now. I'm Fletcher: I don't think they'd be interested! Omni: Omni: Are you going to postpone the Citi- Fletcher: Very talented individuals, each of not sure it can be done in the next decade. of_ his Presently all our operations are heavily R&D zen in Space Program indefinitely? whom understands the importance development], so it would Fletcher: The Citizen in Space Program will assignment and all of whom work toward [research and risk separate them now. have to wait until we start flying again. Ob- a set of common, future-oriented goals. You be a very great to every flight viously we wouldn't have a citizen on the could call them visionary goals, but that There are just too many fixes on lengths. of the space shuttle. Real operations are first one, and probably not the second one. might imply going impossible We can't to the nearest star— that I'd call still far downstream. Beyond that I don't know. We don't want go call any aberrations or anomalies in the shuttle visionary. But we can go to the nearest Omni: Do we still have the resources to turnaround before we start complicating planet or heavenly body, and we can even forth a great program? Didn't Kennedy his fingertips? things by including civilians. Part of that is, plan to go to the farthest planet. That's what have more resources at Fletcher: The amount NASA spends of the the astronauts feel uncomfortable with I call future oriented. is one per- someone who hasn't trained with them. Omni: Dreaming with your eyes open? total federal budget one half of rot very large piece! It's esti- That's something they'd have to adjust to. Fletcher: I call it "dreaming with your feet cent— a all Com- Omni: Why not get people from different on the ground." mated that if we did the things the NASA's disciplines into the astronaut corps itself? Omni: What caused NASA's decline—as mission on Space suggested, it still wouldn't Fletcher: We already have them. tar back as the Apollo program? budget would triple—and of the federal budget Omni: No, you don't. You don't have teach- Fletcher: We neglected to pay attention to be as large a piece question ers there or journalists, filmmakers, or peo- as was the Apollo program. It's a of national priority. Right now the national ple from other walks of life. In essence, why is federal deficit. So not extend the talent of the astronaut corps? priority to reduce the it's unlikely that we can undertake any mis- Fletcher: I don't know whether that's a pos- sion to the moon or Mars until that national sibility. I don't believe anybody's ever QNASA has deficit is nearly balanced. thought of it. You're the first. Could we really But oeople are wondering why we get journalists to spend that much time? had too much charisma in the Omni: right haven't even asked for any big missions. Omni: I can think of about a hundred past and not 7 Is it strictly a matter of fiscal constraints off the bat who would do it. When would for missions while the ordinary citizen be able to participate enough management. My job Fletcher: We can't ask big ' we're still trying to fix the shuttle. You try in the proposed moon base? is to build a team and Fletcher: The early settlers on the moon your best to save the missions you've got. to be an appropriate leader thinking new mis- would have to be astronauts. You'd need We ought to be about we're flying again and people skilled in manufacturing technol- of that team. sions so that when not be so severe, we'll ogy. A new category of astronaut would fiscal restraints may We have a first-rate teamJ what arise—an industrial astronaut as opposed be ready for that next project. That's normally anyway. to a mission specialist. These specially we do style has crit- trained people would be part of the astro- Omni: Your leadership been icized as not being bold enough; you've naut corps, even if the numbers got up to thought you weren't "inspira- fifty or sixty, After that period we'd have said you enough. do you perceive your larger bases— colonies—on the moon. the institution — people, facilities, and tional" How administrator in these times? This would be well into the second decade equipment—and they all .interact. Some of role as NASA put to Did of the next century. By 2020 at least. our people work in buildings that are falling Fletcher: The question me was, I to NASA ad- Omni: Let's talk about shuttle passengers. apart—the elevators, air-conditioning, and have enough charisma be What about'foreign payload specialists? other things don't work. Data- processing ministrator? My answer was lhal NASA has not Fletcher: There are two kinds. The payload equipment arid tesl equipment of all kinds, had too much charisma in the past and is manage- specialists unique to a particular mission, like wind tunnels, have deteriorated. It's enough management. My job build up a team and be an ap- like those for Spacelab, will need more ex- going to take at least two or three years to ment—to of team. That I have tensive training than they've had in the past. build back that institution. propriate leader that The odds are well continue with those Omni: Who's the culprit in this slide? done. We have a first-rate team. Next it's to it interact with the President and the Con- payload specialists. The big question con- Fletcher: I don't Ihink was all Congress; cerns the payload specialists who would OMB [the Office of Management and gress so they know the programs I think pursue. I think I'm doing tend a particular satellite being launched Budget] was the principal offender in that the nation ought to reasonably well. by a foreign country or a non-NASA cus- regard. But NASA itself put its money into both oi those tn'.nus tomer. We're setting up a committee to ex- programs rather than institution building. Omni; NASA has been accused of no of "dreaming." Is amine that whole process. Some people But nor under my administration. longer being an agency it carry say no, we ought to exclude them; and Omni: When you returned to office, what it NASA's job to dream, or should sorne say yes, they have a right to be there. things did you want to achieve? through the dreams of others? Omni: How about members oi Congress 7 Fletcher: First, foremost, and maybe only, Fletcher: NASA administrators have lo future, and Fletcher: Oh. no. we're not planning on to get the shutte flying again! The second dream. We're the agency of the that of the future, sending members of Congress. priority was to get rid ol the backlog of mis- if we don't have vision Omni: What's the single greatest obstacle sions that we lost because the shuttle was who will? public at large. to rebuilding the space program? down, The space station was third. Omni: Maybe the Will accomplish those? Fletcher: There are some individuals in the Fletcher: Single?. I would say there's a short- Omni: you public are more visionary than NASA. and a long-term problem. It's easier to talk Fletcher: Those three we will. Rebuilding who things work, we about the long-range problem: to rebuild will be tough. It's not jus! the money, it's a Because we have to make There's NASA. We've lost some good people, and question oi federal constraints on whom must be realistic about lhal vision. vision at our facilities, in some instances, are awful, you can hire and whatyoucanpay, and on no lack of NASA.OQ 174 OMNI " — • Limited edition • Actual size: 8 lA" 24K gold rim "A long time ago, in a galaxy tar, . far away. . With these words, the adventure of Han Solo Star Wars16 began nearly 10 years ago. And since the premiere of this with lifelike precision. This fine por- beloved film trilogy, millions of movie celain plate measures 3W in diam- Limit: Two plates per collector Accept I fans and science fiction buffs have eter and has a 24K gold rim. 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Box 440S1 and scenes from the movie trilogy you application promptly. Jacksonville, FL 32231 Alice in Wonderland: The Oregon challenge; Competition 444: The "Punish" Dictionary, Part 4 EMRflES By Scot Morris Fveryliociy knows a ball can't roll uphill. A heavy object should be no more difficult to pull one way than the other. And people can't shrink Alice in Wonderland. Yet such phenomena, defying through an a~"az : ng trans for- mation: On the uphill side, bai t you appear shorter; on greeing with the uphill-railing . downhill side, you seem s, former high- oxarnoie. was really rr the rfo.v.-iward. Present! * to be taller. , To eliminate the back- ground distraction, we hung ,--i laroo ;aro I'orn a '-eestaiKi- iy structure constructed of bwliovco chap: o; i image or vs:ery Spci jed so the peo- . Black Hii i :;l suhiec:s mganddo Drater, Fundy ark. New Bruns accounts ror only oarl <; effecl: Away from the c viowhnders, even thou; COV1PL I ITION #44 letters R 0, R, and S. For Competition #44 will receive a Franklin Computer Soc-I no Ace, a computer dictionary light, the refractive index cor taming more than 80,000 (the degree to which light words. Eight runners-up beams bend) should be- lex). 4303 Sar- will each receive $25. All winners will also receive a year's subscription to Omni. ot, 1953 Branci- Send up to four entries- anta Cruz, one word lor each letter— with your name, address, and s of the Black Z'P code on a postcard to Competition #44, 1965 D 57701 -rc.advvav. New York, NY -tilt 75001 North 10023-5965. Entries must be Route 2, Box received by January 15, A 95467 1988, and become the , U.S. Highway O'ooerly ol Onirn magazine. ' : i' crooscto rnuek and teste- ;ng Mollusca. f or years 1 have admired Lnc a: Eadh Socety, thai plucky band ol retrovistonai as t; our clever ii. wmI cut who - i 'i . .1 spite aopa n' : wave machines, which puma .;!:: . > Plane: Earlh is not now. and never has Dipemes as ve: . oi by even M^fft''' 'm?iM he< : ho h'" u 'iv a! the tannest wah no. -,-• d rour-.ceo. is eithei supemtitior oi a aferFarth. : ' .".!, !.'!* the of ' ' I'.'l ' Without mountains number [ ; will i rnolnot nai ..: i . to parse mountain c accidents bo For all we Know. :ho earth mav apoear sharply reduced. mo may laKe some of : ^pP*** ) K 3Kf^'' : [ Mercatof a ; are tocgreai to gnore ii ;:/;! oross-oounlry doosm rnattei 1 e n ihe 3es-oes. sMng chem .i i : !.. : :'..: -i !;; . u ess 1 o is not Hat. ! feel tnat it ouohi \o'bc risk as-for scenerv. H «U . .We tend So trust our senses to tell us od.hopedc And a rlq : senses ten us crack special-effects team ;;an -matte" -Hijw^se^ JIB that the earlh s Mai. AH meaningful human into bave:-o-gues biealh-suckrg views :i i "dSU exaenence bears that out. And tnat unmatched i y any s i ,.i. ! cms Hem* .1 . mIi I Nil wood o : Arc there am more bonuses A :: earth at Aherall aren't there enough without mounlains is a world wdnout disappointments in hie" Is r too much to allimdes.okrcss and c-yoen starvation expeci reality— jusl once to match wo la T cow i-r.-.. our expectations'? i n ia avas and Andes, we will reouoe !'ie , :;,. cos i its. rrtirbyiionoi Then i r- ..,. ,i . .. threats. | I. other vi and aoGve-iimbohino . LAST in 1 .nil On i i-.il i e . ', , or-.; 1! s - -o ssoi ecuntv prober* IAJDRD Picbjre why we den l tali oil :nc om'^- i ., ! i . . ! ! i. : .|.l .-mimt-tnmo-..inh I MS' By Dean Christopher • ThereWlH be oniv one Urr.e zone/This thereby mateng Iho i , .. wili -ieeo for . Q=waflwe b" caicuefen that presently ' . .... !. know, the earth may appear : . air! no: , : :i '...!. nhoito carers i m • spherical because everywhere w;r know— a- las! wha! time- 1 , : thai last tenaer. Further-- eyes are spherical Perhaps t reailv s Peace will Imaliy oo ooss>D!e rub ihe -cad w ktiyslraigh; . i h. .' ireemeni reality stuttered. on at ;east one thine. ! , . Or maybe Ihe Mercator family • Wxiv *iiu:ii:a tiiieaiv tio*n the aw; i . . i , ! an thai struggling was looking for Cm! /anon wilh lun without uph^i Soace limioiiicn-t ude oc listing work. It doesn't matter* coinici Dishes wi :.m weshod more Ihe many more benefits of a flat Farm. . ....::.,.': .1 Si.uNtto ii to state th; ', and bassoon nmct.oo the. '! .' -.!: •F w.to.0 minme undersio :'. Ant.cipating vivhi* a; im?/ anoioacr ininkoMne nose v.< iksane n.-vvst: /•..-! s. Ihe author bomem to the coast guard, vvhrch tooay hasde.ise. as imon ctn dazzling ar,c: ..: i. ii . sn pit 'otws Earfo! f whether that vessel lopping the homon is You hoard it here N's: Hence orlh an kan an destroyer, .or tkoH.fy'.S Planet Farth.wilknotontybe U.al. butitwiii ' forever .. 'Tim . ruisei a so have ono continuous s;oo. pa tacmg the sun Th s wd provide countless • W^ m/momo/-,-.m.'.tK./--- a:; pbs tor makers of sunsomen dark '' course we w stir have glasses. sleep ma i try re inmK .ears " but there wti be no more bother Ot everything.) -.'/.in seasonal noorivemerieo The new By the way. the sun is noi really a star It Earth w H kit enouoti lor variety but will he is an- enormous ikiorescci't lube. 93 -'.. conlroiied lhal ncooc\ », need m on mrios ionc. hovenng.nundrecis ana : superfluous wa-crobes Garmen! hu'-idrods of feet aeove ihe earth i was w;;.n mauuiaotuiets may scueai. but then, n;.;, naiied to tne sky bv Kotqo oi Zorkon. pan evei 100 pore onAoni-.'? -93/ !, clothiers could be retrained for careers n lusl alter 'bur -yeryihinc eise yoi. : „ , , . ,ol have hoard >s a lie DO. everyone's better use No more pesky 0>ao Clrrsinir-e/ << « Caiikinua-haseo : ,w,. ;...., hurricanes, no use-ess t cai chancies with : ...... -'. aii that smelly stub ciolted among , , 178 "