A Logic Named Joe.
Murray Leinster.
edited by Eric Flint & Guy Gordon
The Dean of Gloucester, Virginia
by Barry N. Malzberg
"Murray Leinster" was the pen-name William F. Jenkins (18961975) used for his science fiction; his was one of the longest and most honorable careers the genre offered. The breadth of that career is astonishing; his first science fiction story,The Runaway Skysc.r.a.perwas published inArgosymagazine in 1919, seven years before the science fiction genre inaugurated in the 4/26 issue ofAmazing Storieshad been established. And the short novel,The Pirates of Zan, included in this volume, was one of the last serials to appear inAstounding Science Fiction(February through April 1959) before, in February 1960, just after its 30th anniversary, it changed its name toa.n.a.log. The January 1960 issue was the last one under the Astounding name, and Leinster was there with the short storyAttention Saint Patrick, 30 years after his first appearance in the magazine.
This is a career and the career is only a part of Jenkins" contribution; he was also an inventor who obtained many patents. One of them, for the so-called "back-screen projector" used in movie theaters to this date, is that device which enables you or the annoying person in the row ahead of you at the Bijou to stand and leave the auditorium in mid-movie without casting a shadow on the screen. Jenkins who lived in Gloucester, Virginia, for most of his adult life, had four children, wrote much other than science fiction (appearing frequently inCollier"s,The Sat.u.r.day Evening Post, other ma.s.s circulation magazine of the 1940"s and 1950"s) but it is clearly the science fiction by which he will be remembered.
He wrote and wrote to great effect and is one of the very few writers to have contributed more than one short story to the canon regarded as famous and which reach far out of the genre of science fiction.
(Arthur C. Clarke, author ofThe StarandThe Nine Billion Names of G.o.d, is another; Ray Bradbury, author ofThe Million Year PicnicandThe Sound of Thunderwould also qualify.)First Contact, the first and still best story of humanity"s first intersection in deep s.p.a.ce with an intelligent, s.p.a.cefaring alien race, was publishing inAstoundingin 1945, reprinted hundreds of times and is regarded as not only an extraordinarily effective work of fiction and speculation but as a blueprint, a virtual manual, for how such contact might be accomplished safely and in a way which protects the parties who are alien to one another. The other story-which appears in this volume-isA Logic Named Joe, published inAstounding in early 1946, which brilliantly and with astonishing accuracy not only predicts but maps the contemporary Internet, Google searches, dial-up remedies and all. Like Arthur C. Clarke"s communications satellite (virtually blueprinted by the young Clarke in 1945) this was here before the subject was here and not only the accuracy but overlap are remarkable. It is also, as you will note, a bitterly funny story.
There is a third work,Sidewise in Time, not nearly as skillfully written, which may be equally influential: published in the 1930"s it is one of the earliest treatment of the alternate/parallel-universe theme in science fiction, the branching "real" worlds which would have existed had other choices been made and which adjoin our own. There is a science fiction award, the "Sidewise" for best annual treatment of the alternate-world concept, named in its honor.
Jenkins was always around; he was a major science fiction writer in the preJohn Campbell magazines of the 1930"s, then was one of the very few writers to effortlessly manage the transition (with Campbell"s installation as editor ofAstoundingin late 1937) to what we now call "modern science fiction." He was a constant presence inAstoundingin the 1940"s and 1950"s, won his Hugo finally at the age of 60 with the 1956AstoundingnovellaExploration Team(the Hugos were only inst.i.tuted in 1953; science fiction had to catch up to Jenkins), wrote one ofAstounding"s last serials, as I"ve noted, and continued publishing through most of the 1960"s, most of this latter fiction being the Med Service stories (published in another volume of this reclamation of his work by Baen Books) and certainly had by the mid-sixties earned the not at all ironic sobriquet "The Dean of Science Fiction," which phrase in fact appeared in his obituary in theNew York Times.
A remarkable figure, then, one of the central figures (as so noted in the Clute-NichollsEncyclopedia of Science Fiction) of "magazine science fiction"-and it was magazine science fiction which drove the category, at least until the early seventies. Until then, virtually all important and influential science fiction appeared first in the magazines, only to reach book form later, and Jenkins was one of the ten or a dozen signal figures of the 1940"s CampbellAstoundingwho were integral to the genre, which had reached its real maturity under Campbell. There is a consensus that Jenkins" novels were not at the level of his short fiction; certainly he published none which had a fraction of the reach and force enacted byFirst Contactor A Logic Named Joe, and most of the novels have been out of print for many years. The best of the shorter work is, however, unimpeachable and the span of the career, almost fifty years at or near the very top of the genre, is close to unparalleled. It should be added, and not parenthetically, that Jenkins also wrote mysteries and was the editor of an important early science fiction anthology.
A writer of significant range, Jenkins published two stories in Horace Gold"s sardonic early-fifties Galaxy,If You Was a MoklinandThe Other Now, which managed to embrace Gold"s grim world-view in no less sprightly fashion thanFirst Contacthad embodied Campbell"s more positive mien, and there is little doubt that a Jenkins born fifty or seventy years later could have functioned very well on the cutting edge of contemporary science fiction. SurelyA Logic Named Joewas as savagely innovative in 1946 as anything published in our celebrated cyberpunk eighties.
A remarkable, irreplaceable figure. Take him out of the history and as with Campbell that history might collapse. Fortunately we do not have to so speculate; he is here and we are lucky to have him. This collection is both celebratory and as absolutely contemporary as this great writer.
A Logic Named Joe
It was on the third day of August that Joe come off the a.s.sembly line, and on the fifth Laurine come into town, an" that afternoon I saved civilization. That"s what I figure, anyhow. Laurine is a blonde that I was crazy about once-and crazy is the word-and Joe is a logic that I have stored away down in the cellar right now. I had to pay for him because I said I busted him, and sometimes I think about turning him on and sometimes I think about taking an ax to him. Sooner or later I"m gonna do one or the other. I kinda hope it"s the ax. I could use a coupla million dollars-sure!-an" Joe"d tell me how to get or make "em.
He can do plenty! But so far I"ve been scared to take a chance. After all, I figure I really saved civilization by turnin" him off.
The way Laurine fits in is that she makes cold shivers run up an" down my spine when I think about her.
You see, I"ve got a wife which I acquired after I had parted from Laurine with much romantic despair.
She is a reasonable good wife, and I have some kids which are h.e.l.l-cats but I value "em. If I have sense enough to leave well enough alone, sooner or later I will retire on a pension an" Social Security an" spend the rest of my life fishin" contented an" lyin" about what a great guy I used to be. But there"s Joe. I"m worried about Joe.
I"m a maintenance man for the Logics Company. My job is servicing logics, and I admit modestly that I am pretty good. I was servicing televisions before that guy Carson invented his trick circuit that will select any of "steenteen million other circuits-in theory there ain"t no limit-and before the Logics Company hooked it into the tank-and-integrator set-up they were usin" "em as business-machine service. They added a vision screen for speed-an" they found out they"d made logics. They were surprised an"
pleased. They"re still findin" out what logics will do, but everybody"s got "em.
I got Joe, after Laurine nearly got me. You know the logics setup. You got a logic in your house. It looks like a vision receiver used to, only it"s got keys instead of dials and you punch the keys for what you wanna get. It"s hooked in to the tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you punch "Station SNAFU" on your logic. Relays in the tank take over an" whatever vision-program SNAFU is telecastin" comes on your logic"s screen. Or you punch "Sally Hanc.o.c.k"s Phone" an" the screen blinks an" sputters an" you"re hooked up with the logic in her house an" if somebody answers you got a vision-phone connection. But besides that, if you punch for the weather forecast or who won today"s race at Hialeah or who was mistress of the White House durin" Garfield"s administration or what is PDQ and R sellin" for today, that comes on the screen too. The relays in the tank do it. The tank is a big buildin" full of all the facts in creation an" all the recorded telecasts that ever was made-an" it"s hooked in with all the other tanks all over the country-an" everything you wanna know or see or hear, you punch for it an" you get it. Very convenient. Also it does math for you, an" keeps books, an" acts as consultin" chemist, physicist, astronomer, an" tea-leaf reader, with a "Advice to the Lovelorn" thrown in.
The only thing it won"t do is tell you exactly what your wife meant when she said, "Oh, you think so, do you?" in that peculiar kinda voice. Logics don"t work good on women. Only on things that make sense.
Logics are all right, though. They changed civilization, the highbrows tell us. All on accounta the Carson Circuit. And Joe shoulda been a perfectly normal logic, keeping some family or other from wearin" out its brains doin" the kids" homework for "em. But somethin" went wrong in the a.s.sembly line. It was somethin"
so small that precision gauges didn"t measure it, but it made Joe a individual. Maybe he didn"t know it at first. Or maybe, bein" logical, he figured out that if he was to show he was different from other logics they"d sc.r.a.p him. Which woulda been a brilliant idea. But anyhow, he come off the a.s.sembly-line, an" he went through the regular tests without anybody screamin" shrilly on findin" out what he was. And he went right on out an" was duly installed in the home of Mr. Thaddeus Korlanovitch at 119 East Seventh Street, second floor front. So far, everything was serene.
The installation happened late Sat.u.r.day night. Sunday morning the Korlanovitch kids turned him on an"
seen the Kiddie Shows. Around noon their parents peeled "em away from him an" piled "em in the car.
Then they come back in the house for the lunch they"d forgot an" one of the kids sneaked back an" they found him punchin" keys for the Kiddie Shows of the week before. They dragged him out an" went off.
But they left Joe turned on.
That was noon. Nothin" happened until two in the afternoon. It was the calm before the storm. Laurine wasn"t in town yet, but she was comin". I picture Joe sittin" there all by himself, buzzing meditative. Maybe he run Kiddie Shows in the empty apartment for awhile. But I think he went kinda remote-control exploring in the tank. There ain"t any fact that can be said to be a fact that ain"t on a data plate in some tank somewhere-unless it"s one the technicians are diggin" out an" puttin" on a data plate now. Joe had plenty of material to work on. An" he musta started workin" right off the bat.
Joe ain"t vicious, you understand. He ain"t like one of these ambitious robots you read about that make up their minds the human race is inefficient and has got to be wiped out an" replaced by thinkin" machines.
Joe"s just got ambition. If you were a machine, you"d wanna work right, wouldn"t you? That"s Joe. He wants to work right. An" he"s a logic. An" logics can do a Iotta things that ain"t been found out yet. So Joe, discoverin" the fact, begun to feel restless. He selects some things us dumb humans ain"t thought of yet, an" begins to arrange so logics will be called on to do "em.
That"s all. That"s everything. But, brother, it"s enough!
Things are kinda quiet in the Maintenance Department about two in the afternoon. We are playing pinochle. Then one of the guys remembers he has to call up his wife. He goes to one of the bank of logics in Maintenance and punches the keys for his house. The screen sputters. Then a flash comes on the screen.
"Announcing new and improved logics service! Your logic is now equipped to give you not only consultive but directive service. If you want to do something and don"t know how to do it-ask your logic!"
There"s a pause. A kinda expectant pause. Then, as if reluctantly, his connection comes through. His wife answers an" gives him h.e.l.l for somethin" or other. He takes it an" snaps off.
"Whadda you know?" he says when he comes back. He tells us about the flash. "We shoulda been warned about that. There"s gonna be a lotta complaints. Suppose a fella asks how to get ridda his wife an" the censor circuits block the question?"
Somebody melds a hundred aces an" says: "Why not punch for it an" see what happens?"
It"s a gag, o" course. But the guy goes over. He punches keys. In theory, a censor block is gonna come on an" the screen will say severely, "Public Policy Forbids This Service." You hafta have censor blocks or the kiddies will be askin" detailed questions about things they"re too young to know. And there are other reasons. As you will see.
This fella punches, "How can I get rid of my wife?" Just for the fun of it. The screen is blank for half a second. Then comes a flash. "Service question: Is she blonde or brunette?" He hollers to us an" we come look. He punches, "Blonde." There"s another brief pause. Then the screen says, "Hexymetacryloaminoacetine is a const.i.tuent of green shoe polish. Take home a frozen meal including dried-pea soup. Color the soup with green shoe polish. It will appear to be green-pea soup.
Hexymetacryloaminoacetine is a selective poison which is fatal to blond females but not to brunettes or males of any coloring. This fact has not been brought out by human experiment, but is a product of logics service. You cannot be convicted of murder. It is improbable that you will be suspected."
The screen goes blank, and we stare at each other. It"s bound to be right. A logic workin" the Carson Circuit can no more make a mistake than any other kinda computin" machine. I call the tank in a hurry.
"Hey, you guys!" I yell. "Somethin"s happened! Logics are givin" detailed instructions for wife-murder!
Check your censor-circuits-but quick!"
That was close, I think. But little do I know. At that precise instant, over on Monroe Avenue, a drunk starts to punch for somethin" on a logic. The screen says "Announcing new and improved logics service!
If you want to do something and don"t know how to do it-ask your logic!" And the drunk says, owlish, "I"ll do it!" So he cancels his first punching and fumbles around and says: "How can I keep my wife from finding out I"ve been drinking?" And the screen says, prompt: "Buy a bottle of Franine hair shampoo. It is harmless but contains a detergent which will neutralize ethyl alcohol immediately. Take one teaspoonful for each jigger of hundred-proof you have consumed."
This guy was plenty plastered-just plastered enough to stagger next door and obey instructions. An"
five minutes later he was cold sober and writing down the information so he couldn"t forget it. It was new, and it was big! He got rich offa that memo! He patented"SOBUH, The Drink that Makes Happy Homes!"Youcan top off any souse with a slug or two of it an" go home sober as a judge. The guy"s cussin" income taxes right now!
You can"t kick on stuff like that. But a ambitious young fourteen-year-old wanted to buy some kid stuff and his pop wouldn"t fork over. He called up a friend to tell his troubles. And his logic says: "If you want to do something and don"t know how to do it-ask your logic!" So this kid punches: "How can I make a lotta money, fast?"
His logic comes through with the simplest, neatest, and the most efficient counterfeitin" device yet known to science. You see, all the data was in the tank. The logic-since Joe had closed some relays here an"
there in the tank-simply integrated the facts. That"s all. The kid got caught up with three days later, havin" already spent two thousand credits an" havin" plenty more on hand. They hadda time tellin" his counterfeits from the real stuff, an" the only way they done it was that he changed his printer, kid fashion, not bein" able to let somethin" that was workin" right alone.
Those are what you might call samples. n.o.body knows all that Joe done. But there was the bank president who got humorous when his logic flashed that "Ask your logic" spiel on him, and jestingly asked how to rob his own bank. An" the logic told him, brief and explicit but good! The bank president hit the ceiling, hollering for cops. There musta been plenty of that sorta thing. There was fifty-four more robberies than usual in the next twenty-four hours, all of them planned astute an" perfect. Some of "em they never did figure out how they"d been done. Joe, he"d gone exploring in the tank and closed some relays like a logic is supposed to do-but only when required-and blocked all censor-circuits an" fixed up this logics service which planned perfect crimes, nourishing an" attractive meals, counterfeitin"
machines, an" new industries with a fine impartiality. He musta been plenty happy, Joe must. He was functionin" swell, buzzin" along to himself while the Korlanovitch kids were off ridin" with their ma an" pa.
They come back at seven o"clock, the kids all happily wore out with their afternoon of fightin" each other in the car. Their folks put "em to bed and sat down to rest. They saw Joe"s screen flickerin" meditative from one subject to another an" old man Korlanovitch had had enough excitement for one day. He turned Joe off.
An" at that instant the pattern of relays that Joe had turned on snapped off, all the offers of directive service stopped flashin" on logic screens everywhere, an" peace descended on the earth.
For everybody else. But for me-Laurine come to town. I have often thanked Gawd fervent that she didn"t marry me when I thought I wanted her to. In the intervenin" years she had progressed. She was blonde an" fatal to begin with. She had got blonder and fataler an" had had four husbands and one acquittal for homicide an" had acquired a air of enthusiasm and self-confidence. That"s just a sketch of the background. Laurine was not the kinda former girlfriend you like to have turning up in the same town with your wife. But she came to town, an" Monday morning she tuned right into the middle of Joe"s second spasm of activity.
The Korlanovitch kids had turned him on again. I got these details later and kinda pieced "em together.
An" every logic in town was dutifully flashin" a notice, "If you want to do something and don"t know how to do it-ask your logic!" every time they was turned on for use. More"n that, when people punched for the morning news, they got a full account of the previous afternoon"s doin"s. Which put "em in a frame of mind to share in the party. One bright fella demands, "How can I make a perpetual motion machine?"
And his logic sputters a while an" then comes up with a set-up usin" the Brownian movement to turn little wheels. If the wheels ain"t bigger"n a eighth of an inch they"ll turn, all right, an" practically it"s perpetual motion. Another one asks for the secret of trans.m.u.ting metals. The logic rakes back in the data plates an"
integrates a strictly practical answer. It does take so much power that you can"t make no profit except on radium, but that pays off good. An" from the fact that for a coupla years to come the police were turnin"
up new and improved jimmies, k.n.o.b-claws for gettin" at safe-innards, and all-purpose keys that"d open any known lock-why-there must have been other inquirers with a strictly practical viewpoint. Joe done a lot for technical progress!
But he done more in other lines. Educational, say. None of my kids are old enough to be int"rested, but Joe bypa.s.sed all censor-circuits because they hampered the service he figured logics should give humanity. So the kids an" teen-agers who wanted to know what comes after the bees an" flowers found out. And there is certain facts which men hope their wives won"t do more"n suspect, an" those facts are just what their wives are really curious about. So when a woman dials: "How can I tell if Oswald is true to me?" and her logic tells her-you can figure out how many rows got started that night when the men come home!
All this while Joe goes on buzzin" happy to himself, showin" the Korlanovitch kids the animated funnies with one circuit while with the others he remote-controls the tank so that all the other logics can give people what they ask for and thereby raise merry h.e.l.l.
An" then Laurine gets onto the new service. She turns on the logic in her hotel room, prob"ly to see the week"s style-forecast. But the logic says, dutiful: "If you want to do something and don"t know how to do it-ask your logic!" So Laurine prob"ly looks enthusiastic-she would!-and tries to figure out something to ask. She already knows all about everything she cares about-ain"t she had four husbands and shot one?-so I occur to her. She knows this is the town I live in. So she punches, "How can I find Ducky?"
O.K., guy! But that is what she used to call me. She gets a service question. "Is Ducky known by any other name?" So she gives my regular name. And the logic can"t find me. Because my logic ain"t listed under my name on account of I am in Maintenance and don"t want to be pestered when I"m home, and there ain"t any data plates on code-listed logics, because the codes get changed so often-like a guy gets plastered an" tells a redhead to call him up, an" on gettin" sober hurriedly has the code changed before she reaches his wife on the screen.
Well! Joe is stumped. That"s prob"ly the first question logics service hasn"t been able to answer. "How can I find Ducky?" Quite a problem! So Joe broods over it while showin" the Korlanovitch kids the animated comic about the cute little boy who carries sticks of dynamite in his hip pocket an" plays practical jokes on everybody. Then he gets the trick. Laurine"s screen suddenly flashes: "Logics special service will work upon your question. Please punch your logic designation and leave it turned on. You will be called back."
Laurine is merely mildly interested, but she punches her hotel-room number and has a drink and takes a nap. Joe sets to work. He has been given a idea.
My wife calls me at Maintenance and hollers. She is fit to be tied. She says I got to do something. She was gonna make a call to the butcher shop. Instead of the butcher or even the "If you want to do something" flash, she got a new one. The screen says, "Service question: What is your name?" She is kinda puzzled, but she punches it. The screen sputters an" then says: "Secretarial Service Demonstration!
You-" It reels off her name, address, age, s.e.x, coloring, the amounts of all her charge accounts in all the stores, my name as her husband, how much I get a week, the fact that I"ve been pinched three times-twice was traffic stuff, and once for a argument I got in with a guy-and the interestin" item that once when she was mad with me she left me for three weeks an" had her address changed to her folks"
home. Then it says, brisk: "Logics Service will hereafter keep your personal accounts, take messages, and locate persons you may wish to get in touch with. This demonstration is to introduce the service."
Then it connects her with the butcher.
But she don"t want meat, then. She wants blood. She calls me.
"If it"ll tell me all about myself," she says, fairly boilin", "it"ll tell anybody else who punches my name!
You"ve got to stop it!"
"Now, now, honey!" I says. "I didn"t know about all this! It"s new! But they musta fixed the tank so it won"t give out information except to the logic where a person lives!"
"Nothing of the kind!" she tells me, furious. "I tried! And you know that Blossom woman who lives next door! She"s been married three times and she"s forty-two years old and she says she"s only thirty! And Mrs. Hudson"s had her husband arrested four times for nonsupport and once for beating her up. And-"
"Hey!" I says. "You mean the logic told you this?"
"Yes!" she wails. "It will tell anybody anything! You"ve got to stop it! How long will it take?"
"I"ll call up the tank," I says. "It can"t take long."
"Hurry!" she says, desperate, "before somebody punches my name! I"m going to see what it says about that hussy across the street."
She snaps off to gather what she can before it"s stopped. So I punch for the tank and I get this new "What is your name?" flash. I got a morbid curiosity and I punch my name, and the screen says: "Were you ever called Ducky?" I blink. I ain"t got no suspicions. I say, "Sure!" And the screen says, "There is a call for you."
Bingo! There"s the inside of a hotel room and Laurine is reclinin" asleep on the bed. She"d been told to leave her logic turned on an" she done it. It is a hot day and she is trying to be cool. I would say that she oughta not suffer from the heat. Me, being human, I do not stay as cool as she looks. But there ain"t no need to go into that. After I get my breath I say, "For Heaven"s sake!" and she opens her eyes.
At first she looks puzzled, like she was thinking is she getting absent-minded and is this guy somebody she married lately. Then she grabs a sheet and drapes it around herself and beams at me.
"Ducky!" she says. "How marvelous!"
I say something like "Ugmph!" I am sweating.
She says: "I put in a call for you, Ducky, and here you are! Isn"t it romantic? Where are you really, Ducky? And when can you come up? You"ve no idea how often I"ve thought of you!"
I am probably the only guy she ever knew real well that she has not been married to at some time or another.
I say "Ugmph!" again, and swallow.
"Can you come up instantly?" asks Laurine brightly.
"I"m . . . workin"," I say. "I"ll . . . uh . . . call you back."
"I"m terribly lonesome," says Laurine. "Please make it quick, Ducky! I"ll have a drink waiting for you.
Have you ever thought of me?"