CRIME BY NEW NOVEL COMPUTER FROM ANTHONY RICHARD LEAKEY'S UKAI1UE THE CHEMISTRY OF SOUL j^m- ARMADA s onnrui EDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EXECUTIVE EDITOR: DICK TERESI ART DIRECTOR :_:ZABE"P I WOODSON FIRST WORD hoijci; W Pfcl-:::::i:3 COMMUNICATIONS Phoebe Hoban LIFE Biomedicine Doug Garr 22 MIND Behavior Barbara Ford 24 THE BODY Health Patrice G. Adcroit 26 BOOKS The Arts John Gluts 30 PHOTOGRAPHY The Arts Esther Wanning 32 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Computers Owen Davie 38 BREAKTHROUGHS Technology Owen Davie 40 CONTINUUM Data Bank 43 CRIME BY COMPUTER Article Peter Ognibene 52 THE LAST CHILD INTO Michael Bishop and THE MOUNTAIN Fiction Lee Ellis 62 SOLAR SEEKERS Pictorial Marcia Bartusiak 68 THECHEVISTRYOFSOUL Article Judith Hooper 72 THE END OF THE WORLD NEWS Fiction Anthony Burgess 84 RICHARD LEAKEY'S TIME MACHINE Interview Helen E. Fisher 94 SPACESHIP ARMADA Pictorial Dava Sobel 106 ANTIMATTER UFOs, etc. 115 SUPERTHREADS Phoebe Hoban and Article Marjorie Costello 124 THE SHIRT'S TALE, THE SHORTS' STORY Fiction Thomas M. Disch 132 EXPLORATIONS Travel Anthony Wolff 140 BUTTERFLY WING Phenomena Dennis McFarland 156 STARS Aslronomy Andrew Chaikin 158 GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 160 LAST WORD Humor Ted Mann 162 Paul Lehr, a sculptor and science-fiction illustrator, originally created The Power of Blackness tor a book cover [ton. UB7 7QE, England. An aura ol evil pervades the atmosphere. One wonders what dreadful cargo is being removed trom the structure that watches over the workers. 4 OMNI . : company Bui few corporate executives Soace Bank would begin io show a T^\ : : fit, ., ;i ( ] today can justify the cost os' space cani i ouisia m oai ' 1 development >n a world economy ravaced coulc be amortized gradually. Funds' by.nliattonandhghintsiestraKs^ couio then be dive"ed to other pursuits ?•»• -- '''.certain Mmes -iHe rhe i9bGs. such as medical research. ' r--.^'* products and real estate Present plans call for NASA tc operat - 1 ve^res are viewed as more prudent our space shuitle fleet. Thee have been 4 investments. The monetary return on •ecommendaiicns that the sliuriies be organ-./ahon, space investment seems : ust ioo remote fumed over ;o a pr'vate ; ifesfc for «"!cst companies io console' which ccuic operate them and charge f With su'-ficient v>sion and leadership fee for each civilian and military payloa; i ..,.,p,^, our government n Washirgior A consortium perhaps composed of a . , : . i ,, y he ,e connate lea-sand leading airline , i ! n pa' e * -ne shuttle :i """' : shou'd be ab'e tc operate fl^^^^fc'^^flSI i *'BBEw^8lfa^ "'" "' : private space development' to this cay. f ee: more economically roan NASA car NASA budaei cuts notwithstanding. Ct it loan ''" : '..:. '"'' a comp-ehens^ve Space industnalizatioo issued by ihe Space Bank mighi ns Act, passec as early as "934. would aborted fcr toe purchase of NASA's .ensure the early orbita; entry of private shuttles bv such a group. FIRST industry into space Space Bank funds coma also be use> ; This act would provide a 40 percent o deveiop a now oererat ; on oi k.illy tax credit ori-all space-related investments. IAJDRD Also included would be a moratonum cm-aily reduce Ea; th-to-orbit transport could place payload'i . in through. launch svstems a By Robert W. Prehoda . resources produced soace— at least 2000 The tax credit and into low orbit ^r a s i; t-; e as $25 a pouno •Space lottery-tickets moratorium should cover techniques and (In -981 dollars) by the mid--- 990s. hardware designed to support activity Revolutionary ceas are indeed drfic could be sold .at the local in space Such incentives have beer used «o se-i a fact d;scoverec by Christopher in many :o Columbus 500 years poo when he travel post office : ]'.and- the pas^ by nations good effect fJ 3. patent, copy hern and irom one royal court tc toe next. Neither billions could be raised .-.- i to develop space : 1 1 .'.! arid industry 'V ':.!' !i I . : ,ui others language, pnvate without any new taxation3 and similar products. Vi'tuaiiy uravra.ro of me potentials of What is also neeoec neroaps evim space industnanzarion and what NASA more crucial..m, new koos: invention .'." a that would provide large sums of space- and assistance. As part of the Space ~ 'development capital without using tax industrialization Ac:, a ores-denii?.' panr : anc legislative task force would need Zeppelin development, for example. :c be established tc promote e^cnange between "1305 and I9t'-;. was made between NASA and private ndusi'y. possible through a naliona! lottery Naturally. po'itic-ans will want to sipho sponsored by Germany's Kaisei Wihe-m off ii.inds from any national io:;ery for II, resulting in 'he world's firs! passenger Ihiai owi"' pel pmiecls especially socls out. airnne of a so.". Such I and milrarv urograms new bernc to advanced technological develop Tl-.o only ;vay to ensure that a lottery :aw .-,':.. t f the past, as early as the sixth century | - om r by the kinguom of Lydia, in Asia Minor. astronautics would be for the P esidenf The most revoluhonaiy -eaiurc of to announce publicly tnat he wouid ve my oroooseo Space Indusmaiization Act any lottery act thai dlvemed funds to egosng-towager, jld'go toasemiprivate Space oh would be restricted to ger }ifal tc space indusl !"y. Low-in! -s and grants would be paid b >n as a company's space act : v e successful. As cpoosoo :o DRJirUIBU! ^^ ^^ any of Omni's readers have who is trying to decide whether to buy controlled. Bishop won the Nebula award ' I recently ; I I begun working— equipment now or wait until better stuff for his recent novelette The Quickening I *• I and playing—with PCs comes along. Computer experts provide and has just completed a novel, No Enemy (personal computers). In fact, almost a some idea of where the field is leading, but Time. Ellis is the creator of the third oi our readers, according to a what you might gain by waiting, and what Polygraph McKnight detective stories market-research study, now own you certainly lose by not buying now. and the developer of a variation on Rubik's computers, and about half are considering Another side of computing is revealed Cube that produces over 42 words when purchasing a PC within the next 12 in "The Keeper ot Secrets." Beginning solved. months. To meet their needs, Omni is on page 52, Washington, D.C.-based An extremely versatile man, Anthony inaugurating Artificial Intelligence, a new journalist Peter Ognibene tells how a Burgess has been a professor, composer, computer column will that cover this sophisticated and massive penetration, by and an active participant in the theater electronics revolution and highlight its computers on computers, could destroy world. He has received critical acclaim for impact on the future. the data our society needs to run its 16 novels and 8 works of nonaction, Each month Artificial Intelligence will banks, hospitals, universities, and including A Clockwork Orange and Earthly "report on new computer capabilities, businesses. Thanks to the spread of Powers. Starting on page 84 is an excerpt describe upcoming advances in hardware inexpensive computer power, the from his latest novel, The End of the and software, profile the and fascinating, technology to break codes and pilfer World News (McGraw-Hill), in which often eccentric, people behind the secrets —once the domain only of spy Burgess focuses on the classic science- complex and imaginative technology. agencies— is now in the hands of fiction theme of impending disaster and "We're using the term artificial individuals. Ognibene, currently at work how normal human beings cope with the intelligence to signal that we'll cover on a novel about computer terrorism, coming end of the world. machines software and that mimic, and reports on what is being done to Those of you who expect to survive the sometimes seem to surpass, human safeguard our privacy against these holocaust will want to read "Superthreads" intelligence. But there's nothing mysterious high-tech vandals. (page 124), a survey of new products, about this technology," senior says Omni For our fiction readers, there are three either just introduced or still in prototype editor Gumey Williams III, who will oversee narrative offerings in this month's issue. form, that will affect America's lite-style. the project. "Ultimately," Williams Thomas M. Disch, a highly respected Phoebe Hoban and Marjorie Costello continues, "the machines depend for science-fiction writer, presents "The Shirt's reveal what's really new in high-definition their existence and usefulness on people. Tale, The Shorts' Story," a delightful TV, digital recording, laser discs, and Real intelligence turns the machines on; romance starting on page 132, Bantam home isolation tanks. Costello, editor of and real intelligence writes the programs Books has just published a collection Videography, a professional video and harnesses their output in imaginative, of Disch's stories, entitled The Man Who publication, is completing a book on futuristic.ways," Had No Idea. home-video recording techniques. Hoban, In the first column, "Six-Month In "The Last Child into the Mountain" a frequent contributor to Omni, covers Syndrome," on page 38, contributing (page 62). Michael Bishop and Lee Ellis new technology at Newsweek magazine editor and multiple-computer owner Owen tell about a young video-game expert and has written two high-tech children's Davies addresses the potential c whose keyboard impulses cannot be books about robots. DO 10 OMNI , OMNI PUBLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL LTD. THE CORPORATION BobGuccione (chairman of the board) CDRnRnuaiicMTiarus Kaihy Keeton [president) David J.