"Apparently, It Could Somehow Be Made To Twist the Human Mind"

"The Key."

By Isaac Asimov (1920-92; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; the IMDb HERE; complete bibliography HERE; and Asimov Online HERE).

Wendell Urth No. 4 (ISFDb HERE).

First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1966.

Reprints (numerous) page (ISFDb HERE).

Reprints covers (ISFDb HERE).

Novelette (original: 27 pages; reprint: 30 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE) and (HERE). (The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction Special also includes a 4-page article by L. Sprague de Camp and a 5-page bibliography up to 1974).

   "This instrument is a key, as you see, but not just a key to a bit more knowledge. It is a key to the final solution of men’s problems."

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY (SFF) absolutely bulges with stories of encounters by ordinary folks with extraordinary artifacts left behind by some advanced civilization (e.g., Tolkien's Ring of Power, the TMA-1 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and so on almost ad infinitum).

Today's story centers on just such a device but also has the added attraction of one of Ellery Queen's (the author) favorite plot devices, the dying clue. Since its solution seems to lie in the vast expanses of outer space, it's obvious, isn't it, that the only person equipped to unravel it must be a reclusive agoraphobe with bad eyesight . . .

Principal characters:

~ Karl Jennings ("knew he was going to die"), James Strauss ("what Strauss wanted was something far more; something Jennings would fight to prevent"), H. Seton Davenport ("considering something as a wish-fulfillment idea is one thing, but planning it as a practical scheme of action to be Hitlerized through is something else"), M. T. Ashley ("Have you considered what’s been happening to the Earth in the last two centuries?"), Ferrant ("He's not the only one in the Bureau under suspicion"), Gorbansky ("swears the Device did not turn up anywhere"), and Wendell Urth ("That oddball, What’s-his-name — Wendell Urth").

Typos: "started [stared] for a moment"; "astonomers".

References:

- "The particles dropped with the slowness characteristic of the Moon":

  Are we the only one who noticed how fast the people below the Moon's surface moved in Kubrick's 2001?

- "The Earth was low on the eastern horizon almost full in phase, bright and blue-streaked":

Artwork by Chesley Bonestell.

- "Lately there had been the slow rise of a distant rumble which wanted not only a population drop but a selected drop — the survival of the fittest, with the self-declared fit choosing the criteria of fitness"; "I want the Earth to be inherited by the elite, which means by men like ourselves." See Wikipedia (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE), and TV Tropes (HERE) and (HERE).

- "an area glowing with the tiny phosphorescence of Lunar bacteria":

  It's almost certain that bacteria have been found on the Moon, but exactly how they got there is still an unsettled matter. (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "A telepathic amplifier":

  "It's worth noting that for the above reasons telepathy is one of the most potentially pervertable powers, since it's basically an invasion of privacy of the worst kind. The telepath is the sighted man in the kingdom of the blind, and, provided he's discreet, he can know everyone down to their most intimate detail and can use them accordingly." (See TV Tropes HERE.) The world's richest man (at the moment) is taking a different approach. (See Wikipedia HERE.)

- "the western rim of Mare Imbrium":

  "In 1971, the crewed Apollo 15 mission landed in the southeastern region of Mare Imbrium, between Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountains. Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin spent three days on the surface of the Moon, including 18½ hours outside the spacecraft on lunar extra-vehicular activity." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Euclid's fifth postulate?":

  "If a line segment intersects two straight lines forming two interior angles on the same side that are less than two right angles, then the two lines, if extended indefinitely, meet on that side on which the angles sum to less than two right angles." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- "Newton’s second law of motion":

  "The change of motion of an object is proportional to the force impressed; and is made in the direction of the straight line in which the force is impressed." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- "Herschel" (HERE) and "Uranus" (HERE).

- "a spot exactly between Ptolemaeus" (HERE) "and Copernicus" (HERE).

- "the crater Tycho is the most conspicuous feature on the Moon’s surface." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

- "named for an American astronomer, W. C. Bond." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "The crater Alphonsus." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "Tsiolkovsky, for instance." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "the Sinus Medii—the Middle Bay—over which the Earth is perpetually at Zenith":

  "Sinus Medii (Latin, sinus mediī, 'Middle Bay') is a small lunar mare. It takes its name from its location at the intersection of the Moon's equator and prime meridian; as seen from the Earth, this feature is located in the central part of the Moon's near side, and it is the point closest to the Earth. From this spot, the Earth would always appear directly overhead, although the planet's position would vary slightly due to libration." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- Other craters: "Lomonosov" (HERE), "Jules Verne" (HERE), "Joliot-Curie" (HERE), "Atlas" (HERE), "the Straight Wall" (HERE), "Fabricius" (HERE), "Archimedes" (HERE), and "Clavius" (HERE).

- "A rebus that couldn’t mean more clearly 'Go to Urth'":

  "A rebus is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases." (Wikipedia HERE.)

- "a Galactic lens in soft three-dimensionality." (Wikipedia HERE.)

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Resources:

- A few of ONTOS's previous encounters with science fictional treatments of telepathy include, but are not limited to, these: Daniel F. Galouye's "Kangaroo Court" (HERE), George Chailey's "Death of a Telepath" (HERE), Anne McCaffrey's "Apple" (HERE), and Charles D. Cunningham, Jr.'s "The Man Who Flew" (HERE).

- Our extraterrologist has characteristics very much like another ratiocinator that we've met with many times here, and that's no coincidence. See what we mean by consulting Jack D. Wages's "Isaac Asimov’s Debt to Edgar Allan Poe" (HERE and scroll down) at the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore:

  "It is, however, in a collection of short stories, Asimov’s Mysteries, that his debt to Poe is most obvious. In 'The Singing Bell' the mental gymnastics of Asimov’s version of C. Auguste Dupin, the ironically named extraterrologist Dr. Wendell Urth [Like Poe, Asimov is sensitive to names, often using them humorously — the agent from TBI (Terrestrial Bureau of Investigation) who repeatedly requests Urth’s aid is H. Seton Davenport.], are convincing testimony to the eccentric amateur detective’s origin. In addition to his ability to perform astounding feats of analysis, Urth’s love of music and books, his cloistered existence — invariably he is enclosed in his cocoon-like habitat — and his chiding of obtuse policemen are only a few traits that remind one of Poe’s chevalier."

- Isaac Asimov and Wendell Urth are no strangers to ONTOS; see (HERE) and (HERE). We don't think it's necessary to read the stories in any particular order, but you might want to start with "The Singing Bell," since it introduces the character.

The bottom line:

By Gary Larson.

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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"To Be a Crack Racing Flier with a Future and the Grandest Girl in Nine Planets, To Be, Out of a Clear Sky, Accused and Convicted of Murder, To Face an Unjust Death with That Girl Was Enough To Make Anyone Crazy"

"The Demons of Darkside."

By Leigh Brackett (1915-78; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDb HERE; the SFE HERE; the IMDb HERE; and TV Tropes HERE).

First appearance: Startling Stories, January 1941.

Illustrator uncredited.

Reprinted in Science Fiction Yearbook, No. 3 (1969) (today's text).

Reprints page (ISFDb HERE).

Short story (11 pages).

Online at Archive.org starting (HERE) and finishing (HERE).

(Note: Text very faded but legible.)

   "They were all going to die, here in the dark and the whispers."

ONCE again we have the age-old situation of an individual, usually a man, who's innocent of a crime but of necessity is on the run from the law (certainly Alfred Hitchcock liked the idea). Barry knows he's innocent, as is his lady love Alice, but proving it is just about impossible since the only person who could clear them is missing and presumed dead. To make matters worse, the solution to Barry's problem lies in a planet that seems to drive men insane. Theseus may have had the Minotaur to contend with, but, unlike Barry, he never had to struggle with "demons" that could leave him with a broken mind . . .

Low tech:

  The spaceships in our story don't seem to have any kind of radar, which is understandable since, at the time, radar was still a highly classified military program. (Wikipedia HERE.)

Typos: "McDougal"; "MacDougall"; "MacDaugal's"; "a burtal desire".

Main characters:

~ Barry Garth ("As for himself, he was no diamond-studded hero. He wanted to live"), Alice Webster ("Not all the population of this rotten sinkhole put together added up to Alice Webster"), Wilsey Stevens ("He had woven an unbreakable chain of evidence around them"), Sandy MacDougal ("Ye've the kind of guts I like, lad. Sorry I can’t help ye"), Brent ("I'm going for what you were, before you lost your nerve"), and Akal ("He heard Akal’s thought rhythms, heavy with greed and hate, but most of all, greed").

References:

- "The slow Venusian dusk cloaked the single shoddy street. The fever-mists crawled up out of the swamp, and some faraway scaly beast sent up a hissing scream. Blue mud reeked and squelched under Garth’s boots":

  Leigh Brackett opts for the "Venus as a swamp" version. What a difference eight decades make. See Wikipedia (HERE) and (HERE).

(Click on image to enlarge.)

- According to the ISFDb's "Leigh Brackett's Solar System" list (HERE), our author romped through the then-known Solar System, setting stories in or on Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter, with Mars being her favorite venue.

- "Darkside" [on Mercury] "was one of the impenetrable mysteries of the System. No one knew what existed under the blanket of everlasting shadow and freakish magnetic currents—except that men who went there never came back!":

  Eighty-four years on, we know a lot more about Mercury than Brackett and contemporary scientists did (HERE), but for a while there the fictionalized Mercury offered a rich field to play in for SF authors (HERE):

  "Fictional depictions of Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System, have gone through three distinct phases. Before much was known about the planet, it received scant attention. Later, when it was incorrectly believed that it was tidally locked with the Sun creating a permanent dayside and nightside" [that's the situation in Brackett's tale], "stories mainly focused on the conditions of the two sides and the narrow region of permanent twilight between. Since that misconception was dispelled in the 1960s, the planet has again received less attention from fiction writers, and stories have largely concentrated on the harsh environmental conditions that come from the planet's proximity to the Sun."

- "I wasn’t cut out for a smuggler, nor a damned tramp salvage pirate!":

  "Space Pirates is a science fiction trope that just won't go away. The image of pirate freebooters on the high seas is just too romantic for words, science fiction writers can't resist. Alas, in a scientifically accurate world, they are more or less impossible, much like space fighters and for similar reasons. There ain't no stealth in space, so it is practically impossible for a fat space galleon to be surprised in mid trip by a sinister space corsair flying the Jolly Roger. Or a rude surprise for a space merchant ship whose trajectory passes too near the Somali Asteroids for that matter. It would be several orders of magnitude easier for the 'piracy' to take the form of grand theft from the merchant's warehouses on the ground." (Atomic Rockets HERE.)

Artwork by Kelly Freas.

- "Yttrium":

  This same element turned up in "The Sheriff of Thorium Gulch" (HERE).

- "You call us crystals. We're carbon, as you are, but static. We came into being with this planet and we'll go out of being with it. We neither die nor change. But we can’t build up vibration of the proper frequency to enter your conscious minds." (See Atomic Rockets HERE.)

- "the vibrations of your subconscious minds, which seem to be a storehouse for impulses not permitted in your conscious minds":

  "Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, and theologians. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied or even considered conscious-ness." (Wikipedia HERE and HERE.)

Resources:

- A much less serious treatment of space piracy is Jame McConnell's "Grandma Perkins and the Space Pirates" (HERE).

- Another Leigh Brackett story that we've examined in more detail is "Last Call from Sector 9G" (HERE).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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