Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Page 17
to make sure that no more than one ship ap-
below the surface of Oler,” Bel said, “at eleven
proaches Oler at a time. Their defenses ought
hundred atmospheres of pressure. The
to work in reverse on any unauthorized ships
charges have to be set higher, at f ifteen kilo-
emerging from the mouth of the Axis.”
meters.”
Stills’ translated voice cursed in Trade Ara-
Everyone looked at the great steel box with
bic.
its tiny window, pressurized to eight hundred
“The payoff sounds great, until you start to
atmospheres.
wonder if there’s any payday at all,” Gates-15
“I’m no expert on the Homo eridanus,” Del
said.
Casal said, “but even their specially engi-
“A successful con distracts the mark with
neered proteins ought to undergo conforma-
one action while we do another,” Bel said.
tional changes at those pressures.”
“We’re going to distract the Puppets while we
“I ain’t takin’ a vacation down there, dumb-
get our cargo through.”
ass , ” Stills said.
He zoomed in on the Puppet Free City until
“Any machine we build to survive those
individual neighborhoods were visible like
depths would be detectable by the Puppets,
alveoli in the lungs. One cluster in the ice was
as would any nuclear materials. Stills’ body
haloed in red. “This is the Forbidden City. It’s
won’t ref lect sonar, and he can navigate by
been made famous as the place where the
Oler’s magnetic f ield using the same kind of
Puppets hold the Numen captive. It also hap-
electroplaques I’ve got. And conventional ex-
pens to be where they keep the controls to
plosives won’t set off Puppet radiological
the Free City’s fortifications.”
alarms.”
“I hope he says we have to detonate our
Marie leaned forward to read the tiny num-
way in,” Marie whispered loudly to Del Casal.
bers showing the pressure readings around
“Professor Manfred Gates-15, our inside
Blackmore Bay. “Pressure does funny things to
man, will get into the Forbidden City and
explosives,” she said, “like go boom when
place a computer virus into the Puppet con-
you’re not ready.”
trol systems. He’ll do the same thing at Port
“I got you a lab,” Bel said. She smiled.
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
57
ANALOG
“Marie has adapted explosives for a range of
Marie said.
environmental conditions, even if not yet for
“Professor Gates-15 is immune to the reli-
anything as extreme as Blackmore Bay.”
gious effects of the Numen. That makes him a
“Happy for help,” Marie said, looking at
very dangerous Puppet,” Bel said. “That’s why
them, wriggling her f ingers. “This’ll be a
they exiled him. It’s also why he’s so useful to
three- or four-finger job.”
this job.”
Gates-15 frowned at her. “What’s a three-fin-
“But if William is no Numen,” Marie said,
ger job?”
“that puts a hole in your plan, doesn’t it?
“It’s how many fingers get blown off before
Should I take over the planning?”
I get it right. It’s way easier if we spread that
“Doctor Del Casal is going to modify
around. Many hands make light the work,” she
William so that his body will fake the phere-
said cheerily. Cassandra resisted a shiver.
monal signals. The Puppets will think he’s a
“When Marie’s explosives detonate,” Bel
Numen, at least for a while,” Bel said.
said, “they’ll interrupt secondary systems
“But that’s worse!” Marie said as if pointing
and draw most of the Puppet military atten-
out the obvious to an idiot. “If the Puppets
tion under the city for search, pursuit, and re-
think he’s a Numen, they’ll treat him like
pair.”
one!”
“I’m still stuck on the virus,” Stills said. “A
“I would pay serious cash to watch that,”
computer virus won’t last long in any modern
Stills’ electronic voice said.
system.”
“What do you know?” Gates-15 demanded,
Bel lifted the service band from the table,
hopping to his feet before Marie. “How would
along with the projected head of Saint
you know what Puppets are like?”
Matthew. “Saint Matthew’s virus will bypass
Marie gave him the finger.
any of the hand-me-down systems the Puppets
“Marie,” Bel said warningly, “if everything
use.”
goes according to plan, the Puppets will think
“Maybe so, but maybe not so,” Stills contin-
that William is divine. That won’t be pleasant
ued. “How does half-size get in? He’s an exile
for William. He’s not under any illusions. And
’cause he’s a nut short, right?”
once the Expeditionary Force is through, and
Gates-15 pursed his lips but ignored Stills.
the Puppets realize that he’s fooled them, he
“Doctor Del Casal will bio-engineer Profes-
knows it will go worse. Only five lost Numen
sor Gates-15 so that his DNA matches the med-
have been returned to the Puppets in the last
ical records of a Puppet in Creston who makes
eighty years. The Puppets see spiritual mean-
frequent trips to Trujillo. Saint Matthew has al-
ing in many events, and this will be a major,
ready planted those records.”
major event.”
“Any Puppet can walk into the Forbidden
Marie looked at William, aghast. Gates-15
City?” Marie said.
stared sourly at the f loor. Even Del Casal
“As the leading state within the federation,
looked darkly pensive. This was crazy. Why
the Free City has to allow the pilgrimages of all
didn’t anyone say this was crazy? Cassandra al-
Puppets to the Forbidden City. We can’t con-
most said something. No one should walk into
trol exactly when Gates-15 might get access,
the Free City pretending to be a Numen.
unless we give him a good reason. A good rea-
“It doesn’t matter,” William said. “I’ve got
son would be if a Puppet was bringing in a
Trenholm virus. I’ve got three to four months
newly captured Numen.”
left.” No one said anything. “That means let’s
Marie dropped her cigar. “Where did you
get this job done quick.”
find one?” she said. “And what Numen would
“William’s cover story is that he wants to
be crazy enough to come out of hiding, iden-
see Port Stubbs before he dies, where his an-
tify themselves, and go into the Free City?”
cestor
s had been colonists,” Bel said. “With
After a few moments, William put up his
luck, William will be brought there, with
hand wanly. He looked nauseous. Cassandra
Gates-15. If not, Gates-15 will go to Port
felt nauseous.
Stubbs alone.”
“You’re a Numen?” Marie said slowly.
“I still don’t get why a Homo quantus
“He’s no Numen,” Gates-15 said in distaste.
would be doing this,” Gates-15 said. “You
“How would you know? You’re broken,”
don’t care about money or politics.”
58
DEREK KÜNSKEN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
“You’ve been misinformed,” Bel said. “I love
said. “I’m doing it to go home.”
money.”
“Then we’re doing this for the same rea-
“So what’s in it for her?” Gates-15 asked,
sons,” Cassandra said.
jerking a thumb at Cassandra. Cassandra’s
The briefing broke up shortly, and Cassan-
cheeks heated as everyone suddenly looked
dra walked away without meeting Bel’s eyes.
at her. “Is she as interested in money as you?”
She didn’t know him. He was . . . worldly, dis-
“I’m . . . I’m not even taking a cut,” she said.
honest, money-chasing. Or he was lying. He
“You don’t want a piece of this new kind of
said he wanted the data as badly as she did.
ship?” Gates-15 asked Cassandra, his face red-
They were going to try something never be-
dening.
fore tried. They were going to touch the in-
“I want to get close to the Puppet Axis,” she
side of an Axis Mundi in ways that no Homo
said. “Researchers never have close access to
quantus ever had. Who was he telling the
the Axes Mundi.”
truth to? Maybe he didn’t tell the truth to any-
“Unlike me,” Bel said, “Cassandra is one of
one.
the most skilled Homo quantus ever born.
To be continued . . .
She’ll measure the inside of the Puppet worm-
hole so that the Expeditionary Force will be
Derek Künsken has built genetically engi-
able to navigate it. The Force will be running
neered viruses, worked with street children
fast, and the inner topology of the Axis Mundi
and refugees in Latin America, served as a
can be complex.”
Canadian diplomat, and taught his son
Gates-15 shook his head. “You’re putting
about super-heroes and science. Many of his
your life in danger for a research project?”
Asimov’s and Analog stories take place in
Cassandra looked f irst at Bel, then at the
the same world as The Quantum Magician.
Puppet, in surprise. “It’s better than doing it
He tweets from @derekkunsken, blogs at
for money,” she said.
Black Gate.com, and makes his internet
“I’m not doing it for the money,” Gates-15
home at DerekKunsken.com.
THE QUANTUM MAGICIAN, PART I
59
Science Fact
Hell Is Other
Planets
How our image of Venus went from paradise to hell—
and possibly back
Julie Novakova
enus today seems like an embodiment
teeming with life. Science f iction stories of
of Hell. Its surface temperatures and
that era ref lected this picture (and happily
pressures would quickly kill even the
added lustful amazons, dangerous dinosaurs,
Vmost resilient Earth microbes. It’s and other proven tropes). But the scientific scorched dry and inhospitable. The thick sul-consensus was slowly shifting toward a less
furous clouds never part to allow a glimpse of
hospitable place. In the 1930s, after detection
the Sun from the surface.
of carbon dioxide as the primary component
This is the image Mariner 2 and other
of the Venusian atmosphere, many expected
probes brought us since 1962. Before, though,
much hotter surface conditions than thought
our image of Venus could not have been more
before. But hope was not lost: Even if present-
different.
day Venus was uninhabitable, perhaps we
Back in 1918, the Swedish physicist,
could make it habitable. In his 1961 article in
chemist, and Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius
Science, Carl Sagan not only summarized the
wrote about Venus: “A great part of the sur-
current state of knowledge and some conjec-
face of Venus is no doubt covered with
tures about the planet (which included “oil
swamps . . . The constantly uniform climatic
seas” hidden beneath a smog layer, or a “soda
conditions which exist everywhere result in
ocean,” besides the more likely possibility of a
an entire absence of adaptation to changing
desert), but also hinted at terraformation pos-
exterior conditions. Only low forms of life are
sibilities.
therefore represented . . .”
“. . . if, indeed, Venus proves to be without
He was by no means alone in thinking so.
life, there will exist the prospect of microbio-
Many scientists of that time considered Venus
logical planetary engineering,” Sagan wrote.
a potentially habitable place. It was similar to
“To prepare Venus for comfortable human
Earth in size, its surface could not be seen,
habitation, it is necessary to lower the surface
and the ever-present clouds could have easily
temperature and to increase the partial pres-
been water vapor.
sure of molecular oxygen. . . . Before such a
The popular image of Venus consisted of
scheme can be seriously considered, much
hot humid rainforests, swamps, and oceans
more information must be acquired about the
60
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
Mariner 2, artistic depiction.
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mariner_2#/media/File%3AMariner_2.jpg composition and meteorology of the Cythere-a breathable atmosphere, and terrestrial mi-
an [Venusian] atmosphere, and extensive lab-
crof lora awaiting the next ecological succes-
oratory biological investigations must be
sion, Venus will have become a much less
performed. Nevertheless, some tentative spec-
forbidding environment than it appears to be
if ications can be entertained at the present
at present. Hopefully, by that time we will
time. In order to have appreciable photosyn-
know with more certainty whether to send a
thesis before thermal dissociation, the life
paleobotanist, a mineralogist, a petroleum ge-
form deposited must be a microorganism.
ologist, or a deep-sea diver.”
Since there is no liquid water anywhere on
A beautiful vision, isn’t it?
Venus, the organism must be able to utilize
In December 1962, Mariner 2 made the
water vapor (from the atmospher
e) or ice
first flyby of Venus—and put the last nail into
crystals (from the cloud layer). . . . The only
the coff in of lush, teeming-with-life Venus.
photosynthetic, nitrogen-fixing, oxygen-evolv-
Surface temperature measurements above
ing, temperature-resistant aerial microorgan-
400°C hardly f it that picture. Although the
isms are the blue-green algae, primarily of the
probe did not feature any cameras and only
Nostocaceae family. . . . But it is conceivable
made a brief flyby, it delivered a mortal blow
that these problems can be solved, and that
to the fantasies of a pleasant tropical world.
the microbiological re-engineering of Venus
But even then, we did not know the full ex-
will become possible. With a few centimeters
tent of Venus’ hellishness. Later observations
of precipitable water in the air, surface tem-
by the Venera, Pioneer Venus, and Vega
peratures somewhere near room temperature,
spacecraft specif ied the conditions, and also
HELL IS OTHER PLANETS
61
ANALOG
delivered a mortal blow to Sagan’s terraforma-
Climate models can help out. The f irst
tion vision, which depended upon a thinner
came in late 1980s, courtesy of professor
atmosphere. No algae could possibly convert
James Kasting of Penn State—the same Kast-
that much carbon dioxide, even if they man-
ing who later developed the concept of habit-
aged to survive the acidic, low-water condi-
able zones, the inner edge of which is defined
tions of Venus’ cloud deck; and even
by the runaway greenhouse effect.
supposing the scheme worked, the result
Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas.
would be nothing like habitable: a thick layer
Imagine you have water oceans, but your
of fine graphite on the surface, and thick pure-
planet receives a lot of sunlight, enough to
oxygen atmosphere. One of the f irst, and in
lead to substantial evaporation of the oceans.
its simplicity quite ingenious, terraforming
More water vapor in the atmosphere gets you
proposals was therefore off the table.
even hotter, even though clouds can increase
In 1968, Brian Aldiss edited a science f ic-
the planet’s albedo and ref lect a lot of sun-
tion anthology Farewell, Fantastic Venus. It
light. The evaporation continues, and you en-
honored the old view of Venus, while the
ter a positive feedback loop, until all of your
world was coming to terms with the new one.