Part 57 (1/2)

There was a deep and long silence.

Then there was a growing noise in the stadium. John realized part of it was coming from him. At first it was inarticulate, like the cries of animals, then it found words. ”He's gone,” someone screamed. ”There's no more Champion.” ”We've lost him.” The Champion didn't make it The Champion didn't make it.

A pounding grew in John's head and became a refrain with which he led the crowd. ”We need a Champion. We need a Champion.”

He did not know its origin, not even, really, its meaning. But it was there, throbbing in his head, overwhelming him completely. It had now been communicated to the others and the whole stadium shook with the sound. ”We need a Champion! We need a Champion! We need a Champion!”

Then suddenly it was, ”I will be the Champion! I will be the Champion! I will be the Champion!”

Then he was running, down the ramp, toward the track, waving his arms and shouting, ”I will, I will, I will!”

And behind him came others.

Afterword.

Sometimes it seems to me the modern world can only be viewed as conspiracy. The Right tends to credit communism with planning race riots and campus disorders. SDS believes the military-industrial complex conspires to keep the Viet Nam war alive and deadly. And how difficult it is to believe it was Oswald alone, or James Earl Ray alone, or even Sirhan alone. Having no faith that G.o.d is alive, let alone in control, we credit men with the most prodigious powers of conspiring to make us unhappy.

There's a nice paradox here. We need to have faith in the ability of our fellow men to conspire against us. Even those of us who reject most conspiratorial theories find them fascinating and somehow rea.s.suring. Because if we can't believe that a G.o.d planned our troubles, and if we don't believe men planned them, then we come face to face with the unplanned event, the random twitch, chaos and the void.

The writer must impose some sort of order on the chaos of experience, and writers have, it seems to me, relied more and more on the idea of conspiracy as a pattern of organization. Such different novels as Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light Lord of Light and Thomas Pynchon's and Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 The Crying of Lot 49 are built around conspiracies. In the case of the latter, as with many of the black humorists, an absurd universe requires an absurd conspiracy. We see, in Earth, Burroughs and others, a protagonist who creeps behind the proscenium arch of the puppet show for a look at those pulling the strings. He may find the controllers as mad as the puppets, or he may find that they too have strings, connected to others with strings, connected to...Despite the release of dark laughter at such knowledge, it is not a pleasant experience. are built around conspiracies. In the case of the latter, as with many of the black humorists, an absurd universe requires an absurd conspiracy. We see, in Earth, Burroughs and others, a protagonist who creeps behind the proscenium arch of the puppet show for a look at those pulling the strings. He may find the controllers as mad as the puppets, or he may find that they too have strings, connected to others with strings, connected to...Despite the release of dark laughter at such knowledge, it is not a pleasant experience.

This is another conspiracy story and it is not pleasant. It was most unpleasant to write, and I usually enjoy writing. It began with the image of a race rigged against any possibility of winning, of men going down to fling themselves like moths against steel gates because someone has learned to manipulate some of their best qualities to keep them enslaved. Usually I let an idea gestate, but I pushed this one, I think because I didn't want to understand it too well. I wanted to share the ignorance and terror of my protagonist as he groped for understanding.

He never sees behind the curtains, though he suspects-because he is something of a misfit in his beehive world-that all is not for the best. He wonders, in a rare use of metaphor, what is at the bottom of the iceberg, but he never finds out. Nor do you, except as you use what I've given you from his limited point of view to extrapolate.

So you build your own conspiracy. And you decide why the Champion went down and whether his act liberated or further enslaved the world he abandoned. And you make up your mind what Aristotle and Hugh Hefner have to do with the story. And you tell me whether it could ever happen or not.

Introduction to IN RE GLOVER.

Along with such great unsolved mysteries of the universe as a) Who was Kaspar Hauser? b) What significance did the Easter Island statues originally have? c) Did Pancho Villa really shoot Ambrose Bierce d) What was Jack the Ripper's real ident.i.ty? and e) How did Erich Segal ever become a popular writer? two things have long puzzled me: 1. Why, though there are numerous sf writers who are Jewish, has there been so little Hebraically-based sf or fantasy? The background is certainly rich enough.

2. Why, though it is certainly ripe for being poked fun at, has there been so little memorable humorous sf and fantasy? G.o.d knows much of what's written is laughable without intentionally being meant to evoke laughter.

With the exceptions of a few Avram Davidson stories, an extraordinary new novel from Ballantine by Isidore Haiblum t.i.tled The Tsaddik of the Seven Wonders The Tsaddik of the Seven Wonders, an occasional dybbuk dybbuk or or golem golem, a marvelous Carol Carr short in Orbit Orbit 5 t.i.tled ”Look, You Think You've Got Troubles,” some of the early Fredric Brown cavorts, Harry Harrison's 5 t.i.tled ”Look, You Think You've Got Troubles,” some of the early Fredric Brown cavorts, Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero Bill, the Galactic Hero, some Sheckley, some Goulart and most of Larry Eisenberg's stuff (remember ”What Happened to Auguste Clarot?” in DV?), there's neither very much yiddishe yiddishe sf or very much funny sf. If it weren't for Isaac Bashevis Singer, where would we be? sf or very much funny sf. If it weren't for Isaac Bashevis Singer, where would we be?

Though these two conundrums will never be satisfactorily solved, every once in a while we get some lunatic in our midst-like Lafferty-who does that dandy little rigadoon and we naively believe the balance will at last be corrected. But it's only one story, by one writer, and when it has faded into the past, we wonder again.

Wonder no more.

Both questions are answered, at least temporarily, with Leonard Tushnet.

The mad M.D. from Maplewood, New Jersey-who piously refuses to impart any personal information on himself-here whips off an hilarious vision that includes among its many dangers, the possibility of having one's heart attack oneself, from laughter. With the Vonnegut and the Wilson and the McCullough and the Blish stories, it helps bring things more into balance, proving that we of the sf world are not such humorless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds as we may seem to the outside world.

(On the other hand, any genre that can contain Asimov, without blus.h.i.+ng, can hardly he said to be humorless.) (Dr. A. indeed!) And while we have no further specs for the private life of Dr. Tushnet, here are publication vitae vitae that may tell you almost more than you wanted to know about where more Tushnet can be located. that may tell you almost more than you wanted to know about where more Tushnet can be located.

Nonetheless, there is no questioning that the Tushnet terpsich.o.r.e is a mitzvah mitzvah.

Short Stories (* indicates science fiction)

Balll State Forum, A Goodly Apple, Bobby b.o.o.by A Goodly Apple, Bobby b.o.o.by The Christian, Cards Cimarron Review, Dangerous Books De Kalb Literary Arts Quarterly, Poire Helene Diagnostics, The Dance of Justice. The Barred Hut Discourse, Thanks Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, In the Calendar of Saints*, The Chelmlins*, Gifts from the Universe**, The Worm Shamir*, Lord of Sensation*, Matchmaker, Matchmaker*, Aunt Jennie's Tonic*

Forum, A Little Fatherly Advice, The Rod of Aesculapius Four Quarters, The Nearest Field, Obituary, Bandiera Rossa Jewish Currents, The Ban, The Gastric Jews,The Yellow Pa.s.sport Jewish Frontier, The Sewing Machine***, The Culture Vulture, The View Depends on Where You Sit, Benefit of Clergy, A Jewish Heart Journal of the A.M.A., The Weight of Evidence Maelstrom, Lotte Medical Opinion & Review, A Cynical Fable Midwestern University Quarterly, Summer Job Modern Age, New York Is Full of Lonely People New York Is Full of Lonely People Mosaic, Adoshem* Adoshem*

National Jewish Monthly, The Non-Resister New Dimensions, A Plague of Cars New Frontiers, Supper on the Table New Mexico Quarterly, The Logic of Magic Nimrod, Balaam Penman, The Integration of DeWitt Manor Per Se, The Discount Store Prairie Schooner, A Pious Old Man with a Beard, A Week with Lilith, Raisins in the Cabbage The Klausners****, The Village Priest Reconstructionist, Experiment in Paradise*, A Joyful Noise Reign of the Sacred Heart, A Minor Miracle Roanoke Review, Some Pounds of Flesh Today Magazine, For Which the First For Which the First Twigs, The Red Dress The Red Dress University Review, Mother of the Gracchi, I'm Not a Sn.o.b, A Short Flight into the Invisible Wind, When Fond Recollection When Fond Recollection

Books (non-fiction)

To Die With Honor (Citadel Press, 1965), (Citadel Press, 1965), The Medicine Men (St. Martin's Press, 1971), (St. Martin's Press, 1971), The Uses of Adversity (Thomas Yoseloff, 1966), (Thomas Yoseloff, 1966),

Articles

Chicago Jewish Forum, King Chaim Rumkowski Eucharist, A Priest at the Bedside A Priest at the Bedside Jewish Currents, The Little Doctor*

Journal of History of Medicine, The Ghetto of Lodz, Murder by Disease

IN RE GLOVER.

Leonard Tushnet In re Glover finally reached the Supreme Court. The nine Justices, in their Friday conference, were unanimous that a writ of certiorari be granted and that the case be heard. Unanimous on those points, they had already made up their separate minds about various phases of the case and each of them was already preparing a memorandum for his opinion. finally reached the Supreme Court. The nine Justices, in their Friday conference, were unanimous that a writ of certiorari be granted and that the case be heard. Unanimous on those points, they had already made up their separate minds about various phases of the case and each of them was already preparing a memorandum for his opinion. In re Glover In re Glover would set landmarks in law, in a new field of law as well as in the laws of wills, mortmain, trusts, and homicide, with overtones to be subtly discussed in would set landmarks in law, in a new field of law as well as in the laws of wills, mortmain, trusts, and homicide, with overtones to be subtly discussed in obiter dicta obiter dicta bearing on euthanasia and medical and legal malpractice. bearing on euthanasia and medical and legal malpractice.

It looked, on the surface, like a simple case of merely determining the facts, ordinarily not in the purview of such an august body as the Supreme Court of the United States. Ralph Glover, the brilliant and dynamic founder of the many-sided business empire bearing his name had died-or had he? If he were dead, his four sons by his first wife and his two daughters by his second (both wives having predeceased him, if that term could be used without prejudice) were due to inherit the entire estate, share and share alike, after a number of relatively minor bequests had been paid; the great Glover Foundation, the internationally known medical research inst.i.tution, was to get nothing, having been the recipient of munificent gifts during its founder's lifetime; the Federal government and the states of residence of the heirs were eargerly antic.i.p.ating the considerable inheritance taxes. If he were not dead, the trustees of the tax-free Glover Foundation would continue to receive, as they had for five years now, all revenues from the many corporations const.i.tuting the Glover enterprises; the children were to fend for themselves, meaning that the sons and sons-in-law would have to find jobs; and the Federal and State governments would have to wait until Glover's actual demise to collect.

Mr. Allen Freundlich, J., in the succinct manner for which he was noted, summarized the scientific background thus: (i) When living tissues are frozen, the ice crystals formed by the frozen intracellular water occupy a larger s.p.a.ce than liquid water; hence the cell walls are ruptured and tissue death ensues. (2) The chemical, dimethylsulfoxide, commonly know as DMSO, had the remarkable property of being able to bind to itself intracellular water, so that below o Centigrade no ice crystals are formed and cell structure, except for its physical state, remains unchanged. (3) When DMSO is injected intravenously into the body of a small mammal, that mammal by a quick-freezing process could withstand the lowering of its body temperature to well below the freezing point of water and could then remain in that frozen state, like packaged meat in a supermarket, without tissue damage and with suspension of all vital functions. (4) It could then be slowly returned to its normal temperature and those functions would return, including resumption of activity in the higher cerebral centers. Rats, so frozen and later thawed out, ate and drank and copulated and ran easily through the paths of mazes they had previously learned, just as they had before the artificially induced hibernation or state of suspended animation. Experiments had demonstrated that such hibernation was without harm for at least ten years and probably longer, but it was only ten years ago that the first batch of animals had been frozen. (5) What was true of rats was true of larger mammals, including primates. Rhesus monkeys, a gibbon, and two chimpanzees had successfully survived the process; the chimpanzees had thereafter been mated and been shown to be fertile. (6) The procedure had no ill effects on the animals other than that they developed cataracts, opacification of the lenses of the eyes, a condition easily correctible by surgery. (7) Once thawed out, however, re-freezing could not take place without damage to vital organs; why this should occur was not known.

Mr. Henry Gibson, J., gave the stipulated facts: Mr. Ralph Glover, aged sixty-two, in full possession of his faculties, suffering from an inoperable cancer of the pancreas which had spread to his liver, had had DMSO injected and had been artificially frozen. He (or his body) was now lying in the freezer vaults of the Abby C. Glover Memorial Hospital in New York City; the vaults ordinarily were used to preserve cadavers for dissection. The injection and the subsequent freezing had been done by a medical team headed by Doctors Green and Hankey, who a.s.sumed full responsibility for their actions. They had acted under instructions of Mr. Ralph Glover himself. The letter of instructions was in the exhibits; it had been carefully drawn up by the highly reputable firm of s.h.i.+res, Band, and Jarvis, and Mr. Glover's signature had been witnessed by the senior partners. The letter, in the form of a contract between Doctors Green and Hankey and Ralph Glover, gave full and free permission to carry out the procedure, its purpose being the maintenance of Glover's life; he (or his body) was to remain in suspended animation until such time as a cure for cancer was discovered; he was then to be thawed out and restored to activity (or life?). During the period of hibernation Doctors Green and Hankey or successors appointed by them were to be joint agents with full powers of attorney to act for Ralph Glover in any and all capacities and were to use the net profits of all the Glover enterprises for intensive cancer research.

The case had first been brought up in Surrogate's Court in New York, where Adolf Brun, Glover's chauffeur, had sued for a declaration that his employer was dead and had demanded that his will be admitted to probate so that he could receive the $1000 bequest his (ex-?) employer had informed him he was to have. Then the complications started. The Glover Foundation said that Ralph Glover was still alive and that to probate the will was premature, to say the least. Three of the heirs (?) sued in a lower Federal court (because of the diversity of citizens.h.i.+p) for distribution of the a.s.sets of the estate of their deceased (?) father. Doctors Green and Hankey were indicted and found guilty of wilful homicide in that they knowingly caused death by the injection of a noxious drug. They appealed their convictions on the ground that error had been committed by the trial judge when he admitted evidence (?) that Ralph Glover was indeed dead when he was not, that evidence having consisted of the inspection by the medical examiner of the body (?) in the freezer vault. The five man Court of Appeals, sitting en banc en banc, upheld the conviction, but Judge Minglin dissented strongly, saying that the supposed decedent was in posse in posse alive and that no alive and that no corpus delicti corpus delicti was produced. was produced.

The ordinance requiring an autopsy to be performed on all persons suspected of having died by violence was invoked by Archibald Smythe, a son-in-law, but a temporary injunction against such an autopsy was granted on pet.i.tion of Luke Glover, a son. He challenged the city's right to order the mutilation of a corpse (?) without permission of the near relatives, especially since such a corpse (?) was not available, as Judge Minglin had pointed out.