The Best of Bova: Volume III
To Toni and Tony and the radiant,
resplendent, romantic Rashida.
And to Lloyd McDaniel,
without whose unstinting help this book
would never have seen the light of day.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Introduction © 2017 by Ben Bova;
«Sepulcher» first published in Asimov’s Science Fiction © November 1992;
«The Man Who …» first published in Maxwell’s Demons © September 1978;
«Conspiracy Theory» first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact © April 1993;
«The Great Moon Hoax» first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction © September 1996;
«Build Me a Mountain» first published in 2020 Vision © February 1974;
«Crisis of the Month» first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction © March 1988;
«Free Enterprise» first published in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact © February 1984;
«Vision» first published in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact © January 1980;
«Moon Race» first published in Jim Baen’s Universe © December 2008;
«Scheherazade and the Storytellers» first published in Gateways © July 2010;
«Nuclear Autumn» first published in Far Frontiers © April 1985;
«Lower the River» first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact © June 1997;
«The Café Coup» first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction © September 1997;
«Remember, Caesar» first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction © March 1998;
«Life as We Know It» first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction © September 1995;
«Delta Vee» first published in Twice Seven © August 1998;
«We’ll Always Have Paris» first published in New Frontiers © July 2014;
«The Babe, the Iron Horse, and Mr. McGillicuddy» by Ben Bova and Rick Wilber, first published in Asimov’s Science Fiction © March 1997;
«Greenhouse Chill» first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact © January 2000;
«Brothers» first published in In the Field of Fire © February 1987;
«Interdepartmental Memorandum» first published in Challenges © July 1993;
«World War 4.5» first published in Challenges © July 1993;
«Sam Below Par» first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact © July 2012;
«High Jump» first published in Amazing Stories © Summer 2000;
«The Question» first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact © January 1998;
«Waterbot» first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact © June 2008;
«Duel in the Somme» first published in Apex Science Fiction & Horror Digest © June 2006;
«Bloodless Victory» first published in New Frontiers: A Collection of Tales About the Past, the Present, and the Future © July 2014;
«Mars Farts» first published in Free Stories © March 2013;
«A Pale Blue Dot» first published in New Frontiers: A Collection of Tales About the Past, the Present, and the Future © July 2014;
«Stars, Won’t You Hide Me?» first published in Worlds of Tomorrow © January 1966;
«Monster Slayer» first published in Absolute Magnitude & Aboriginal Science Fiction © June 2003.
INTRODUCTION
Here it is, a lifetime’s work in three volumes containing eighty stories published over fifty-four years, from 1960 to 2014. They range from the Baghdad of The Thousand Nights and a Night to the eventual end of the entire universe, from the green hills of Earth to the fiery surface of a dying star, from corporate board rooms to a baseball field in heaven. With plenty of stops in between.
Re-reading these stories—some of them for the first time in decades—I am struck with a bitter-sweet sadness, recalling friends who have died along the way, passions and problems that drove the invention of the various tales. It’s as if I’m a ghost visiting departed scenes, people whom I have loved, all gone now.
Yet they live on, in these stories, and perhaps that is the real reason why human beings create works of fiction: they are monuments to days gone by, memories of men and women who have been dear to us—or visions of what tomorrow may bring.
Every human society has had its storytellers. There is a fundamental need in the human psyche to produce tales that try to show who we truly are, and why we do the things we do.
Most of the stories in this collection are science fiction: that is, the stories involve some aspect of future science or technology that is so basic to the tale that if that element were removed, the story would collapse.
To me, science fiction is the literature of our modern society. Humankind depends on science and technology for its survival, and has been doing so since our earliest ancestors faced saber-toothed cats. We do not grow fangs or wings, we create tools. Tool-making—technology—is the way we deal with the often-hostile world in which we live.
Over the past few centuries, scientific studies of our world have led to vastly improved technologies, better tools with which to make ourselves healthier, richer and more free. Science fiction is the literature that speaks to this.
Every organism on Earth is struggling to stay alive, to have offspring, to enlarge its ecological niche as widely as possible. We humans have succeeded so well at that quest that there are more than seven billion of us on this planet, and we are driving many, many of our fellow creatures into extinction.
The stories in this collection examine various aspects of humankind’s current and future predicaments. Some of the tales are somewhat dated: written half a century ago, they deal with problems that we have already solved, or bypassed. Many of the stories tell of the human race’s drive to expand its habitat—its ecological niche—beyond the limits of planet Earth. Many deal with our interactions with our machines, which are becoming more intelligent with every generation.
The people in these stories include heroes and heels, lovers and loners, visionaries and the smugly blind.
I hope you enjoy their struggles.
—Ben Bova
Naples, Florida
November 2014
SEPULCHER
I believe it was Michelangelo (or maybe Rodin?) who said that the finished sculpture is waiting inside the raw stone; the sculptor’s task is to remove the overlying layers and reveal the sculpture to our waiting eyes.
It works that way for writing fiction, as well. The finished story is there, deep inside the writer’s mind. The physical labor of writing is the task of revealing the story in its finished form.
When I first wrote «Sepulcher» I had no idea it was part of the Grand Tour. The billionaire who brought Elverda Apacheta to the asteroid and its alien artifact was not named Martin Humphries. Only years afterward did I understand that it was indeed Humphries, and this short tale is not only a part of the Asteroid Wars, it is a pivotal moment in the ongoing saga of the Grand Tour itself.
«I was a soldier,» he said. «Now I am a priest. You may call me Dorn.»
Elverda Apacheta could not help staring at him. She had seen cyborgs before, but this … person seemed more machine than man. She felt a chill ripple of contempt along her veins. How could a human being allow his body to be disfigured so?
He was not tall; Elverda herself stood several centimeters taller than he. His shoulders were quite broad, though; his torso thick and solid. The left side of his face was engraved metal, as was the entire top of his head: Like a skullcap made of finest etched steel.