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Space Visitor (1977)

af Mack Reynolds

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It is sometime in the near future. The nations of Earth have drawn closer together -- there is even hope that a new era of cooperation and progress will soon begin. These dreams of lasting peace are shattered by one momentous discovery. One of the members of an international team of scientists stationed on the moon has found an alien spacecraft -- with all its incredible technology and weaponry intact. The discovery shatters the illusion of peace on Earth, as each nation joins the mad scramble to learn the terrible secrets entombed by alien visitors eons before. Only one thing prevents total war: Werner Brecht, the discoverer of the vehicle, is the only one who knows its location ... and he has disappeared into thin air!… (mere)
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review of
Mack Reynolds's Space Visitor
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 27-28, 2018

Back in the early days of my writing bk reviews for Goodreads & deciding to review every bk I read, I had a rule for myself that I cd never let my backlog of bks-to-be-reviewed get to be more than 3. That expanded to 5. Now, there's no upper limit. Recently, the pile got to be 15. I'm working on that pile now. The implied point here is that this effects & affects what the reviews are like. Some of them are like cacti, some of them are like blow-fish having a bad air day.

One of the strange things about putting anything out to the public is that one doesn't usually know who receives it. I don't know who's going to read this review. You, the reader, may've read some of my other reviews. You may've witnessed some of my movies. You may've listened to my (m)usic. You might be someone who's enetering this review COLD wondering why-the-fuck this reviewer isn't telling me about the damned bk wch is what I'm reading this for & WTF is up w/ all these abbreviations?!

Today's approach is that YOU're a bit of a scholar, or at least a curious person, & that you might have the time & inclination to read more than just a few paragraphs. Hence, I direct you to all of my science-fiction bk reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/534016-tentatively-convenience?shelf=sf . After you've finished reading all of those, take a break, stretch, go for a walk, have sex, unwind, enjoy life; you've done a good job & NOW you know what my entry level is for SF in general & Mack Reynolds in particular.

Reynolds & John Brunner might be the 2 most politically astute SF writers, IMO, ever. Since I agree w/ them politically, I like them, I credit them w/ being thoughtful. Reynolds loves to imagine the future, he tends to be positive, not as dystopic as many writers. Some writers write tales of warning, sometimes Reynolds writes about situations that aren't necessarily so bad & then comes up w/ ways of making them even better.

This one's about astronauts living on the moon & the possibility of making contact w/ intelligent non-human life from somewhere other than Earth. The way the astronauts talk to each other is disconcerting:

""I'm a fool to trust a kike, but I accept."

"She peered under the cup rim, and snorted with self-disgust. Bringing forth two aces instead of the three Zimmerman had called, she put them to one side while he beamed lovingly at her.

"She shook the remaining three dice in the cup and banged it down on the table, peered beneath and turned to the Nigerian girl next to her. "Three aces and two jacks." She pushed the cup and the two exposed aces over. "Your turn, Nigger."

"Azikiwe Awolowo didn't even bother to take the cup. "I don't trust you Chinks any further than I could throw the Great Wall of China," she declared." - p 3

The reader learns later that the lunanauts were all implanted w/ a strong affection for each other so that they wd be able to get along under tough lunar conditions for a protracted time:

"He had few friends but among them were these five, for any one of whom he would have given his life; only partially because back on earth, before taking this most recent Luna tour of duty, the psychiatrists of the Ozma Department had implanted that affection hypnotically." - pp 20-21

"Then in 1973, articles by Duncan A. Lunan appeared in Spaceflight, the publication of the British Interplanetary Society, and Analog, a popular American magazine, that electrified the world. The author claimed to have translated a message that had possibly been relayed to earth by robot spacecraft from an advanced culture far beyond the solar system." - pp 13-14

Reynolds is amazing for providing this sort of info & I usually research it a little to verify that it's a non-fiction element dropped into the story:

"Duncan Alasdair Lunan, born October 1945, is a Scottish author with emphasis on astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction, undertaking a wide range of writing and speaking on those and other topics as a researcher, tutor, critic, editor, lecturer and broadcaster. He is known for his science writings as well as for his work on the Sighthill stone circle.

"His 1970s report of a possible space probe orbiting around the Moon sent by the inhabitants of a planet orbiting Epsilon Boötis brought him to international notice."

[..]

"In a 1973 article in Spaceflight, a magazine published by the British Interplanetary Society (BIS), he said he had identified and deciphered a hidden radio message sent by an alien space probe that had been caught but overlooked in the late 1920s by a collaboration of Norwegian and Dutch researchers who were studying the long delayed echo effect. Published along with an accompanying editorial disclaimer, Lunan maintained that the putative message came from an object at the L5 point in the same orbit as the Moon, sent by the inhabitants of a planet orbiting Epsilon Boötis.

"He came to the conclusion that the message was, "Start here. Our home is Upsilon Bootes, which is a double star. We live on the sixth planet of seven, coming from the sun, which is the larger of the two. Our sixth planet has one moon. Our fourth planet has three. Our first and third planets each have one. Our probe is in the position of Arcturus, known in our maps."

"The claim was reported in Time and the CBS Evening News. It was included in Rod Serling's 1975 TV documentary In Search of Ancient Mysteries and, many years later, on George Noory's Coast to Coast AM radio show. The alleged message has been refuted and in 1976 Lunan withdrew the theory, presenting proofs against it and clarifying what had led him to formulate it. However, in 1998 he re-interpreted part of it, claiming support from positional astronomy.

"The theory was part of the inspiration of Mark Brandis' 1974 novel Raumsonde Epsilon (in English Spaceprobe Epsilon)."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Lunan

& now we know that Mack Reynolds's Space Visitor (1977) was also inspired by it. Isn't that cool?! I mean, I research as a main part of my daily activities & it never ceases to astound me what there is out there to be interested in.

"At approximately the same time, the United States sent off the first message-bearing space-crafts, Pioneer Ten and Pioneer Eleven, aimed to pass near enough to Jupiter to send back pictures and data, make a half turn about the giant planet, and then soar out into space. Both were equipped with a message to an alien civilization which might some day intercept it. Each of the Pioneers carried plaques showing two nude human figures, with other information in symbols that NASA hoped were universal. Maps of the solar system and the planet Earth were also included." - pp 15-16

& for those of you who might be interested in graffiti that was inspired by this go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/Graffiti.html .

SF novels, esp ones post-WWII & the inexcusably horrible atomic bombings of Japan, are full of dire warnings about humanity's heading for its self-destruction. Those particular warnings seem to've died off somewhat after 40 yrs of living w/ the possibility of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) w/o its actually happening. Let's hope it never does.

""The world went into an unprecedented arms race. Hundreds of billions were spent to devlop even more powerful bombs and more efficient missiles with which to deliver or intercept them. And when man went into space it was with full competition between nations, not cooperation. Today, any of the great powers, Common Europe, United America, the Soviet Complex, the People's Republic of China, could destroy that whole planet of ours several times over. And they're all ready to do it, given any kind of a slip."

"He paused to look around at each of them, then shook his head.

""With this mentality, are we ready to contact alien life forms undoubtedly far, far more advanced than we are in science?"" - p 22

I do think I can honestly say that in the 41 yrs since this novel was written international space exploration cooperation has increased considerably.

"The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving in November 2000"

[..]

"The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology, and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars."

[..]

"The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US. The station has been continuously occupied for 18 years and 26 days since the arrival of Expedition 1 on 2 November 2000. This is the longest continuous human presence in low Earth orbit, having surpassed the previous record of 9 years and 357 days held by Mir. It has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts and space tourists from 17 different nations."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station

People interested in the ISS might want to look at the ISS website here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html .

Making things even more exciting:

"Richard Garriott de Cayeux (born Richard Allen Garriott; July 4, 1961) is an English-American video game developer and entrepreneur."

[..]

"On October 12, 2008, Garriott became the second second-generation space traveler (after Sergei Volkov) and the first offspring of an American astronaut to go into space, and the second person to wear the British Union flag in space. The Soyuz docked with the station on October 14. His father, Owen K. Garriott, was at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch of his son and was in attendance when a Soyuz capsule returned with his son twelve days later."

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Garriott

In other words, Garriott pd $30,000,000 to be a civilian going to the ISS. People interested in this might want to witness the documentary called "Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott's Road to the Stars". The era of space travel for paying customers is upon us. I anticipate it being cheaper than busfare in my lifetime. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that the Soyuz fare will go down to $2, it means that busfare will go up to $35,000,000.

I'm sure there are many sensible people who think that space travel research & devlopment is a collosal waste of money considering how much misery there is on the planet to be eradicated. Alas, I think that if all money spent on space research were available for food & education programs it wd go to MAD instead so I think it's an excellent idea to keep scientists & technicians busy w/ less destructive ends in mind. Other than that, I'm all for space travel BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) — even if my way of expressing it is a bit comically exaggerated. Wch brings us to Bird-Brainism:

""Because," he told her, "you need three things in order to develop a culture of science and advanced technology. To begin with, you've got to have an animal, or other being, that has a fairly good brain. It has to have a hand with an opposed thumb . . . or the equivalent" - p 33

""Then you have various Earthside life forms with a pretty good hand: the parrot, for example, which also has a voice box, but it has a birdbrain.["]" - p 34

Bird-Brainism being an important subject in my vocabulary, I direct the reader here: https://youtu.be/OL1Mppt2ck4?t=558 .

One of the lunanauts, having announced that he'd discovered an extra-terrestrial craft on the Moon, refuses to reveal its whereabouts & the entire crew is brought back to Earth & isolated in luxurious conditions:

"Zimmerman said, "All this treatment is fine, but you know what I feel like?"

"They all eyed him.

""Those conspirators who were charged with planning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. When they were in prison, and then when they went on trial, they had sacks over their heads so that they couldn't talk. And when they were executed, it was the same. The doctor who treated Booth's broken leg was placed in solitary confinement until he died. He was never allowed to be in a position of talking to someone about what Booth might have said to him."" - p 52

Now, personally, I'm glad the US didn't split into 2 countries & I'm veeeeerrrrrryyyyyyy glad that slavery was abolished — but, given the conditions described above, it's not too hard to understand why Booth shouted Sic semper tyrannis when he assassinated Lincoln. The stories about Dr. Mudd, the dr who treated Booth, interest me. As a child, I'm sure I was told that he was executed. According to Reynolds, he died in solitary confinement. HOWEVER, I found the following online:

"the president" [Andrew Johnson] "signed and delivered to her" [Mudd's wife] "the papers for the release of her husband. The date of the pardon was February 8, 1869.

"Dr. Mudd was released from Ft. Jefferson on March 8 and arrived home on March 20. He had served somewhat less than four years in prison. He partially regained his medical practice and lived a quiet life on the farm." - https://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln29.html

Whose version is accurate? I didn't find anything online confirming Reynolds's story that the defendants wore sacks over their heads. I don't necessarily believe it one way or t'other.

""I've got some kind of Fundamentalist bishop on. He's hit the ceiling, don't you know? Says that it's all a hoax. Life was created, so and so many thousand years ago—he has it down to the day—by God along with all the stars in the universe and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. All this stuff about a spaceship that's been on the moon since before life started up in the oceans, is blasphemy."" - p 69

Yes, even to this day, there are people who believe that something known as "God" or "Clod" or "Claude" or some such created EVERYTHING a few thousand yrs ago. "Four in 10 Americans believe God created the Earth and anatomically modern humans, less than 10,000 years ago, according to a new Gallup poll." (June 5, 2014 - https://www.livescience.com/46123-many-americans-creationists.html ). That's why Noah's Ark was launched during the Claude Rains.

""The Racial Purists demand to know whether or not you peeked inside, and, if so, was there any indication of the color or other racial characteristics of the occupants."" - p 72

As it turned out, the ETs were WHITE, I mean really WHITE, no pigmentation — even their blood was white.. & their hair.. & their eyes.. & their tongues.. all their internal organs.. you name it, it was WHITE. & when they saw what a motley crew the Earthlings were they 'purified' all of them — starting w/ the white supremacists who had the audactity to claim 'whiteness' wch they obviously had no right to lay claim to. The ETs saw them as sprace traitors. SO, when the ETs started taking away people that were expecting their space brothers to reward them they were suuuuurrrrrrpppriiiiiisssed:

""But this isn't the way to the airport!"

""No, Ms. Pickett," the guard on her left replied. "We're going to the Octagon. So far as we know, there is nothing wrong with your mother's health."

""What?"

"The other guard now spoke. "We wished to remove you from the Reunited Naions Building without your companions suspecting your real destination. It must be obvious to all of you that Commander Bett-James and Doctor Li Cheng were taken to their embassies to be presuured into revealing whatever they can about the location of the spaceship. We don't want your companions, particularly Brecht, to know that your government is also soliciting help."" - p 78

OK, I was fuckin' w/ you about the ETs being 'WHITE' n'at. Maybe this is some sort of Brechtian calling-yr-attn-to-this-being-fiction-or-something. What Brecht is doing in here I don't know.

"According to Shklovski and Sagan in their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, the number of civilizations substantially ahead of our own in this galaxy is perhaps between fifty thousand and one million. The Rand Corporation, in a detailed analysis done by Stephen Dole, determined the mathematical probability of fourteen stars within twenty-two light years of our sun that could have intelligent life. The nearest is Alpha Centauri A and B which are but four-point-three light years from Earth." - p 82

Yes, there is a bk by Shklovski and Sagan called Intelligent Life in the Universe that can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/SaganIL/page/n5 . There's also a relevant Rand page listing & linking to Cole's work here: https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/d/dole_stephen_h.html . Reynolds really missed out on the internet. Think of how fortunate we are to have such info at out fingertips.

As for the 4.3 light yrs from Earth? My car is the closest thing to a spaceship I have. Let's say it goes 100mph & gets 33.3 miles to the gallon & has a 12 gallon tank. That means, under 'ideal circumstances', I can go 400 miles in 4 hrs before I have to fill up the tank again. Now if a light yr is about 5.88 trillion (5,880,000,000,000) miles & I divide that by 400 that means I'd have to gas up 14,700,000,000 (14.7 billion) times before I'd get to my destination. This trip, at a steady 100mph, wd take 58,800,000,000 (58.8 billion) hrs. That's 2,450,000,000 days, roughly 6,712,329 Earth yrs. Unfortunately, that's not including the pit stops wch wd probably add on at least 10 minutes every 4 hrs — or leap days, etc. Ignore those problems. Assuming that Rand provides the gas pumps every 400 miles, how many energy drinks &/or coffees wd I have to drink to stay awake the whole time?

"Zimmerman chuckled. "All of us have been approached in attempts to get the location of the extraterrestrial ship from the Boche, one way or another. Evidently, he's smarter than he looks; none of us was able to do it. And now that he's on his guard, we've given up.["]" - p 102

Stop avoiding the question.

""You never have to pay income tax on a hundred million pseudo-dollars," Mary Lou explained. "Not here in America. When you have that sort of money, you can hire a flock of tax experts and not pay anything at all. It's an American institution."" - p 104

Stop evading the question. ( )
  tENTATIVELY | Apr 3, 2022 |
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It is sometime in the near future. The nations of Earth have drawn closer together -- there is even hope that a new era of cooperation and progress will soon begin. These dreams of lasting peace are shattered by one momentous discovery. One of the members of an international team of scientists stationed on the moon has found an alien spacecraft -- with all its incredible technology and weaponry intact. The discovery shatters the illusion of peace on Earth, as each nation joins the mad scramble to learn the terrible secrets entombed by alien visitors eons before. Only one thing prevents total war: Werner Brecht, the discoverer of the vehicle, is the only one who knows its location ... and he has disappeared into thin air!

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