u 11 JOVEMBER 1979 $2:C "T~ EXCLUSIVE: DMNI TESTS "UFO FRAGMENTS" ANTIMATTER: THE ULTIMATE FUEL ALIENS AND THE LAW: OK TO SHOOT ON 3» BRAVE NEW TOYS: SANTA COMPUTERIZES INTERVIEW: CAMBRIDGE'S FIRST DOCTGR-GPPArtHf* 3G¥ iparr 980 V onnruiNOVEMBER 1979 EDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE EXECUTIVE EDITOR: FRANK KENDIG ART DIRECTOR FRANK DEViNO EUROPEAN EDITOR: DR. BERNARD DIXON FCTICN EjrO-i- BENBOVA IJREC"ORO r ADVERT SING BEVEH -V WAROALC EXECUTVE VCE-F^ESIDENI IPWIN L BILLMAN CONTENTS PAGE J. Anderson an 6 FIRST WORD . Opinion Dorm OMNIBUS Contibutors 8 COMMUNICATIONS Correspondence 10 FORUM Dialogue 12 EARTH Environment Kenneth B rower 14 SPACE Astronomy Mark R. Chartrand III 16 LIFE Bicmedicine Bernard Dixon 18 THE ARTS Film James Deison 20 STARS Comment Patrick Moore 26 30 UFO UPDATE Report Harry Lebelson , CONTINUUM Data Bank 35 ANTIMATTER REVEALED Article Robert L. Forward 44 DREAM HOUSE Article Ronald Dans 50 THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST Fiction Robert A. Heinlein 56 MANURED KAGE Pictorial Herbert W. Franke 66 MALTHUS'S DAY Fiction Jayge Carr 76 CARL SARGENT Interview Christopher Evans 80 ILLEGAL ALIENS Article Robert A. Freitas, Jr. 84 21ST-CENTURY FOSS Pictorial 88 CYBER FUNI Article 96 COMPETITION RESULTS Partly Baked Ideas Scot Morris 135 EXPLORATIONS Travel Cheryl Simon 137 ERUPTION Phenomena Pete Turner 140 GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 144 LAST WORD Opinion LA.P Moore 146 PHOTO CREDITS 142 G;:c.-gi ,:'; iI>:'S by Cr sm i-isl Liu. All rig ntsn Cover art for this month's Omni Ja -> O'.V: .:!, I.,-:- -i -.[.;. is a 1973 pairiling by the ; M-l':-1^":. German artist Ute Osterwalder, .ii.:.-.::.:T.^r v ; fnhilea Ears Arc Eyes. Painted di-iovvn : n-l^ni. E-,:.-j-::cr in acrylic, it retiects the .' - :i ... i_i;-. 'iM -j.ii: U Ai O »-1 00 ::-i-c;cg'aij:':i' approach that :;a'iaaa i,-.:\ il O Adams cJ '-- -'-" ..::. chaiactBrizns Osler.valder's =i-.rg-f i(i;l-s.-;=, >z :f'i: 4a> paintings. She lives in Hamburg, West Germany A OMNI . Aw a 'unbar deter rem. mdus'.nalisis would be compered to transfer i rne:r technology [u other counties, perhaps on a subsidized-bast-S- j : Moreover a sirong i' g:ii Inference- in paragraph 2 of Article VI and again in paragraph Sot Article Xi bars commercially oriented enterprises from engaging in experimental or pilot lunar operations. The treary does permit the use- of resources in 'scientific investigations.'' but then the issue oeccmes one of de-irung 'scientific in vesications 'You can Pel rhai excludes commercial space developments designed fo r future profit and Thif'd World spo; Tr" s is now inlerriar-ona monopolies are ' err iiod. ! :!: i in,, i i-g 5 < nip' and Third Wcid indue noes. Once me treaty is signedby the United States, it is doubtful that the Department or State would authorize Amerean companies to begin commercial lunar exqloilaiion for fear oi interfering w.tn internationai negotiations. 'IvcU in the treaty s ratification don.*: seem to reci seethatthe agreement is pecicusiy 4/Vo private enterprise will .antithetical to the free-market risk billions of develop meet of soar, e resources And yet, as vve -.'& revealed i.hroL;ql~ countless dollars on a moon-based articles in the pages of ihis magazine, free silicon factory enterprise is tne very boost needed toget ifmostofthe world disputes America inic s.usfaned orbit. Even if this : tu-rns put no I to ne true, it -seems incredibly.;. its legal right shortsighted oi our nation to sign a to profit from that factory. 9 binding- treaty ;n v/men lire poiitical wiil oi oiner countries win dictate the pace aire substance oi space exploitation Wo can still try to change this treaty o; ivyac! it off entirely. Wbar remains is io write io you; congressman immediately Tne Unired Stares has already approved the new treaty n committee oi. the United r-ialiom. where-: it will be virrualiy rubber-stamped by the General Assembly this (all. ;n iact the moon f/ealy may already have been passed a , you read lire, bui like ail r^aior inte:na;:onal ag Senate. Through auiek and effective political action, we may be able to encourage. our ;eu slaiors re take a second took. Beyond your own oori press man, key target sof -a letter- writing campaign should include Senator Fran'': Church (D-ldaho), chairman ol the Senate Foreign Relations CcmmiUee. arid Representative Con Fuqua (D-Fla.!. who chairs the House Committee on Science and Technology. If ' the United States iinaliy does ratify this agreement: the prospects for private ..enterprise on the moon and other celestial. bodies will disappear, OO ra nags ng :a onnruii you "murder" an alien being basic structure of matter, "is being made, ^eniagon? Not quite. They represent a Can so. captured, cooled, and stored tor days a; a new generation of computer ioys that may and gel off scot-free? Probably tne children play This month* In the eyes of the law, visitors from time in Switzerland right now." :t Urns out change way wl antimatter provides a data. led ook at some of space would fall somewhere between that the question is not teWw Omni all of which horses and stagecoaches. In this issue of can be produced for fuel in interspace these- revolutionary devices, Omni space-law specialist Robert A. travel but, simply, whether "we' want to do you'll find appearing on department-store this Freitas.Jr, tells why "illegal aliens just it." Look for the answers on page 44. shelves holiday season. Break out the aren't safe on planet Earth." Freitas, an Germany's leading photon icrographer, shopping lists and turn to "Cyber Fun!" attorney with degrees in physics and Manfred Kage has spent most of his life Special-effects photographer Peter Turner psychology, has been working for the past exploring the visual world of science and provides the graphics (page 96). five years on a comprehensive review of maximizing its graphic appeal. A castle James Deiscn ore-views I he upcoming - ' for exobiology (the study of life on other deep within the'foothiiis o Germany's science-fiction and fantasy films 1980 planets). Author of several articles Schwabische Alb is Kage's laboratory, in The Arts (page 20). Despite numerous published \nAnalog magazine, last year where continuing projects mc'i.Jde the delays caused by the mad rush to beat he published a handbook dealing with transiormation of sound waves into brilliant one another to the screen, Delson reports political space activism entitled Lobbying colors and forms. This month Omni tbat motion-picture companies are now long-awaited Star tor Space. His insightful interpretation of provides a spectacular disp ay of Kage's prepared to release the the artist Trek: The Motion Picture , The Black Hole , the law. as it pertains to the visiting aliens magic with a profile of by Herbert begins on page 84. W. Franke, one of Germany's leading SF and The Empire Strikes Back! Seven thousand feet above Lake Tahoe novelists beginning on page 66. Headlining this month's fiction is the sits the Smith home, considered "the most As any ufologist wii: tell you. ohyscal exciting conclusion of Robert A. Heinlein's innovative solar home in the world." Ronald evidence has always been the stumbling "The Number of the Beast" {page 56). Dans profiles the perfect habitat for the block for skeptcs and oe fevers alike. Jayge Carr marks her Omni debut with an tale childbirth (or lack 1980s in "Dream House" {page 50), an When Omni acquired two metal fragments extraordinary about in-depth report on the joys of "passive" purported to be of extraterrestrial of it) in the not-too-distant future solar heating. Dans, a graduate in provenance, we arranged to have them ("Malthus's Day," page 76). November issue is an electrical engineering, has been working analyzed by MIT. Harry Lebelson , a New Rounding out our Dr. in the computer field since 1966. Formerly York investigator for the Aerial Phenomena exclusive interview with Carl Sargent, a consultant with the Fusion Energy Research Organization, details a the first man ever to be g ranted a by Corporation, he is currently working on a fascinating experiment that raises more doctorate in parapsychology grand documentary for Omni. questions than it answers. Read for Cambridge University, England's Sargent's Back again is Dr. Robert L Forward. yourself in UFO Update {page 30). old academic institution. Dr. senior scientist at the Hughes Research Phaser guns, laser-firing vehicles, controversial techniques to determine the Laboratories in Malibu, California. Dr. robots that talk and analyze voice reality of ESP have created quite a stir in Forward describes what he calls the patterns, computerized hovercraft that British scientific circles. Find out why in "ultimate fuel," antimatter. This incredible shoot photon. torpedoes— are these new this intriguing probe by contributing editor 80. substance, a phenomenon essential to the secret weapons commissioned by the Christopher Evans , on page DO a OMNI OTTERS THE CORPORATION __ caanrifiURjicMTiDru5 Roach Step A Toast Long accustomed to the occasional For several years now, along with many : nsens;tivity of scientif c types io Ihe other SF readers. I have been following the niceties of great poetry, I must nonetheless exploitsof Doc Webster Ca lahan, Fast take exception to Joyce McWilliams's Eddie, and, of course. Jake. If Ben Bova's admonition in "The Restless Roach" |Last personal medd ng was invoked in the Word, August 1979] that we avoid appearance of another "Callahan's stepping on a cockroach because it might Crosstime Saloon" story [July 1979].