Science Fiction by Scientists Read online

  Science and Fiction

  Series Editors

  Mark Alpert, Philip Ball, Gregory Benford, Michael Brotherton, Victor Callaghan, Amnon H Eden, Nick Kanas, Geoffrey Landis, Rudi Rucker, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Rüdiger Vaas, Ulrich Walter and Stephen Webb

  For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/11657

  Science and Fiction – A Springer Series

  This collection of entertaining and thought-provoking books will appeal equally to science buffs, scientists and science-fiction fans. It was born out of the recognition that scientific discovery and the creation of plausible fictional scenarios are often two sides of the same coin. Each relies on an understanding of the way the world works, coupled with the imaginative ability to invent new or alternative explanations - and even other worlds. Authored by practicing scientists as well as writers of hard science fiction, these books explore and exploit the borderlands between accepted science and its fictional counterpart. Uncovering mutual influences, promoting fruitful interaction, narrating and analyzing fictional scenarios, together they serve as a reaction vessel for inspired new ideas in science, technology, and beyond.

  Whether fiction, fact, or forever undecidable: the Springer Series “Science and Fiction” intends to go where no one has gone before!

  Its largely non-technical books take several different approaches. Journey with their authors as they Indulge in science speculation – describing intriguing, plausible yet unproven ideas;

  Exploit science fiction for educational purposes and as a means of promoting critical thinking;

  Explore the interplay of science and science fiction – throughout the history of the genre and looking ahead;

  Delve into related topics including, but not limited to: science as a creative process, the limits of science, interplay of literature and knowledge;

  Tell fictional short stories built around well- defined scientific ideas, with a supplement summarizing the science underlying the plot.

  Readers can look forward to a broad range of topics, as intriguing as they are important. Here just a few by way of illustration: Time travel, superluminal travel, wormholes, teleportation

  Extraterrestrial intelligence and alien civilizations

  Artificial intelligence, planetary brains, the universe as a computer, simulated worlds

  Non-anthropocentric viewpoints

  Synthetic biology, genetic engineering, developing nanotechnologies

  Eco/infrastructure/meteorite-impact disaster scenarios

  Future scenarios, transhumanism, posthumanism, intelligence explosion

  Virtual worlds, cyberspace dramas

  Consciousness and mind manipulation

  EditorMichael Brotherton

  Science Fiction by Scientists

  An Anthology of Short Stories

  Editor

  Michael BrothertonDept. 3905, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA

  ISSN 2197-1188e-ISSN 2197-1196

  ISBN 978-3-319-41101-9e-ISBN 978-3-319-41102-6

  DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41102-6

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016955554

  © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017

  This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.

  The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

  The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.

  Cover illustrations: Front cover: Man standing on top of the hill watching the stars, illustration painting, © HYPERLINK “http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-2352014p1.html” Tithi Luadthong. Back cover: Photo by John Gilbey.

  Printed on acid-free paper

  This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

  The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG

  The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

  Preface

  I love science.

  I love science fiction.

  Since I was a kid, science and science fiction have been two sides of the same coin. At age six I was watching Star Trek and begging to go to the Natural History Museum and their awesome dinosaurs at every opportunity. Amazing creatures from the distant past and exotic worlds from the distant reaches of the galaxy, these were things that either science or science fiction could bring me, but nothing else could.

  Science and the technology it spawns changes the world, bringing us knowledge, space, and the future itself. Well done science fiction provides a glimpse into realistic and amazing futures – or terrible futures we as a society should avoid. With the appeal of the wonders of the universe, and the bonus of foreseeing avoidable disasters, I could not stay away. I pursued my twin loves throughout my life, eventually becoming an astronomy professor who also wrote science fiction novels steeped in astrophysics.

  To me, the distinguishing element of science fiction has always been and always shall be the “science” part, but there is plenty of “science fiction” on bookshelves and the movie screens that has precious little to do with science. Without the science, it’s just a western in space, or maybe a fantasy set in the future. There are audiences for those, and that’s fine. There are writers who aspire to deliver the science, but find it difficult, and that’s fine, too. Luckily I was not the first, nor the last, to become both a scientist and a science fiction writer.

  Scientists can deliver on the science, and there is a history of delivery on the fiction as well. Isaac Asimov earned a PhD in chemistry before turning to writing full time and creating the three laws of robotics and the psychohistory of his Foundation trilogy. Arthur C. Clarke brought us 2001: A Space Odyssey , and also was the first to link geostationary orbits to electronic communications. Fred Hoyle coined the term “The Big Bang Theory” (derisively, to be fair), and his thrilling speculation gave us the sentient space gas of The Black Cloud . Physicist Robert Forward’s brilliant imagination brought us a vision of life on the surface of a neutron star in Dragon’s Egg , as well as serious proposals for laser-propelled sails to voyage to other stars. Carl Sagan’s best-selling novel Contact about a positive SETI result also spawned a successful Hollywood blockbuster. Gregory Benford, a physics professor, won the Nebula award for his 1988 novel Timescape that realistically depicted not only tachyons but the academic world of science. There are many dozens of other scientists who write science fiction, coming from increasingly diverse disciplines and backgrounds, such as David Brin, Catherine Asaro, Vernor Vinge, Alastair Reynolds, and Geoffrey Landis.

  This collection highlights a new generation of twenty-first century scientist science fiction writers. The majority are active research scientists, working at universities, medical schools, and space agencies, drawn to write stories on the side. Others are full-time writers who have retired from science, or, like Asimov, have set aside a career in science to write. In addi
tion to the more traditional astronomers and physicists, the contributors include biologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, and rocket scientists.

  Given the technical expertise of these contributors, we have taken advantage of the opportunity to get them to further discuss the science in their stories in afterwords following each contribution. As one Star Trek character might opine about the far-out science explored in these pages, “fascinating.”

  I still love science and science fiction as much as when I was a kid, and I hope you’ll find these tales as fascinating as I do.

  Michael Brotherton

  Laramie, WY

  Contents

  Down and Out

  Ken Wharton

  The Tree of Life

  Jennifer Rohn

  Supernova Rhythm

  Andrew Fraknoi

  Turing de Force

  Edward M. Lerner

  Neural Alchemist

  Tedd Roberts

  Hidden Variables

  Jed Brody

  Upside the Head

  Marissa Lingen

  Betelgeuse

  J. Craig Wheeler

  Sticks and Stones

  Stephanie Osborn

  One for the Conspiracy Theorists

  Jon Richards

  The Schrödinger Brat Paradox

  Carl(ton) Frederick

  Fixer Upper

  Eric Choi

  Spreading the Seed

  Les Johnson

  The Gatherer of Sorrows

  J. M. Sidorova

  Biographical Sketches of Authors

  Jed Brody teaches physics at Emory University. As a participant in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, he traveled to India five times to teach physics to Tibetan monks and nuns. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, West Africa. He is the author of two science-fiction novels, The Philodendrist Heresy and The Entropy Heresy . 100% of his royalties from sales of these novels are donated to charity.

  Eric Choi is an aerospace engineer and award-winning writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering science and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering, both from the University of Toronto, and he is an alumnus of the International Space University. Over the course of his engineering career, he has worked on a number of space projects including QEYSSat (Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite), the MET (Meteorology) payload on the Phoenix Mars Lander, the MSS (Mobile Servicing System) robotics on the International Space Station, the RADARSAT-1 Earth-observation satellite, and the MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) instrument on the Terra satellite. In 2009, he was one of the Top 40 finalists (out of 5351 applicants) in the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut recruitment campaign. He was the creator and co-editor of two speculative fiction anthologies, Carbide Tipped Pens (Tor) with Ben Bova and The Dragon and the Stars (DAW) with Derwin Mak. The first recipient of the Isaac Asimov Award (now the Dell Magazines Award) for his novelette “Dedication”, he is also a two-time winner of the Prix Aurora Award – the Canadian national prize for excellence in speculative fiction – for his short story “Crimson Sky” and for co-editing The Dragon and the Stars . Please visit his website www.aerospacewriter.ca or follow him on Twitter@AerospaceWriter.

  Andrew Fraknoi is the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College near San Francisco, and was the California Professor of the Year in 2007. With the late Byron Preiss, he co-edited The Universe and The Planets , two anthologies of science fact and fiction published in the 1980s. He is also the lead author on an introductory astronomy textbook, Voyages through the Universe , and wrote a book for children, Disney’s Wonderful World of Space . He keeps a reading list of science fiction featuring reasonable astronomy at: www.astrosociety.org/scifi . Fraknoi was the Executive Director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for 14 years, and serves on the Board of the SETI Institute and on the Lick Observatory Council. Asteroid 4859 was named Asteroid Fraknoi by the International Astronomical Union in recognition of his work in public education, but he is eager to reassure readers that it is a well-behaved main-belt asteroid, and poses no danger to Earth.

  Carl(ton) Frederick is a theoretical physicist, at least theoretically. After a post-doc at NASA he did a stint at Cornell University. There, he wrote a paper on Stochastic Space-time that some considered groundbreaking. Nonetheless, he became disillusioned with academia and left his first love, research on the fundamentals of quantum theory (a strange first love, perhaps) and succumbed to the enticements of hi-tech industry. He invented the, now totally obsolete, 1200 baud digital modem, and Venture Capital moved him and his company, Wolfdata, to Boston. Soon though, tired of being a lance-corporal of industry, he left his company and moved back home to become Chief Scientist of a small group doing AI software. While keeping his hand lightly in theoretical physics, he decided he’d like to write a more overt form of science fiction and, to that end, enrolled in the Odyssey Writers Workshop. He subsequently earned a first place in Writers of the Future. He now has a respectable corpus of published short-stories including 45 sales to Analog . He has put an interactive novel on the Web. It is interactive in that you can click to change the point of view and to expose sub-plots ( www.darkzoo.net should you care to visit). He’s written a half dozen or so novels and, after shopping them around faster than a speeding glacier, has turned them into Kindle e-books where they are now, along with numerous collections of his short stories, moldering in obscurity on Amazon. (You can find them by searching on Amazon for ‘Frithrik’, his college nickname.) He has two grown children and shares his house with a cat and a pet robot. For recreation, he fences épée, learns languages, and plays the bagpipes. He lives in rural, Ithaca, New York. And rural is good if you play the bagpipes. He has since returned to his aforementioned first love.

  Les Johnson is a physicist and the Technical Advisor for NASA’s Advanced Concepts Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center where he serves as the Principal Investigator for the NASA Near-Earth Asteroid Scout solar sail mission. Les is an author of several popular science books including Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel [featured in Nature , April 2008] and Harvesting Space for a Greener Earth . He is also a science fiction writer; his books include Going Interstellar , Rescue Mode , and 2016’s, On to the Asteroid . Les was the featured ‘interstellar explorer’ in the January 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine. He thrice received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal and has three patents. To learn more about Les, please visit his website at www.lesjohnsonauthor.com .

  Edward M. Lerner has degrees in physics, computer science, and business administration. He worked in high tech and aerospace for thirty years, as everything from engineer to senior vice president, for much of that time writing science fiction as his hobby. Since 2004 he has written full-time. His novels range from near-future technothrillers, like Small Miracles and Energized , to traditional SF, like his InterstellarNet series, to (collaborating with Larry Niven) the space-opera epic Fleet of Worlds series of Ringworld companion novels. Lerner’s most recent novel, InterstellarNet: Enigma , won the inaugural Canopus Award “honoring excellence in interstellar writing.” His fiction has also been nominated for Locus, Prometheus, and Hugo awards. Lerner’s short fiction has appeared in anthologies, collections, and many of the usual SF magazines. He also writes about science and technology, most notably in his long-running “The Science Behind the Fiction” series of essays for Analog .

  Marissa Lingen is a science fiction writer living in the Minneapolis suburbs. She has published over one hundred short stories in venues such as Nature , Analog , Tor.com , Twenty-First Century Science Fiction , and several Year’s Best anthologies. Before becoming a full-time writer, she studied physics at Gustavus Adolphus College, University of California-Davis, and Lawrence Livermore National Labs. She did research projects in interstellar spectroscopy and ceramics before settling on a nuclear physics focus to her graduate work but decided that writing was a better fit. She
hikes when she can, bakes when she can’t, and makes paper art inspired by neurons.

  Stephanie Osborn the Interstellar Woman of Mystery, is a 20+-year space program veteran, with graduate/undergraduate degrees in astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics, is “fluent” in several more, including geology and anatomy. She has authored, co-authored, or contributed to over 25 books, including the celebrated novel, Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281 . Co-author of the Cresperian Saga , she currently writes the critically-acclaimed Displaced Detective Series , described as “Sherlock Holmes meets The X-Files,” and the new Gentleman Aegis Series . She “pays it forward,” teaching STEM through numerous media including radio, podcasting and public speaking, and working with SIGMA, the science-fiction think tank.

  Jon Richards is a Senior Software Engineer at the SETI Institute concentrating on detecting SETI signals using the Allen Telescope Array. He is a computer engineer comfortable developing in many programming languages and many different types of computer systems. His past work has involved a lot of hardware design and development, tying hardware and software to networks and the internet. Since 2008 he has been trying to continually build his skills and knowledge of digital signal processing and trying to master the Allen Telescope Array hardware and software. For more information Jon and his work, see http://www.seti.org/users/jrichards