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The Ultimate Image
The Magnificent Defense Unit of Dampier.
20 pages, ebook
First published December 1, 1940
About the author
P. Schuyler Miller
164 books5 followersPeter Schuyler Miller (February 21, 1912 – October 13, 1974) was an American science fiction writer and critic.
Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.
He received his M.S. in chemistry from Union College in Schenectady. He subsequently worked as a technical writer for General Electric in the 1940s, and for the Fisher Scientific Company in Pittsburgh from 1952 until his death.
Miller died October 13, 1974 on Blennerhassett Island, West Virginia. He was on an archaeological tour to the "Fort Ancient culture" site west of Parkersburg at the time.
Miller wrote pulp science fiction beginning in the 1930s, and is considered one of the more popular authors of the period. His work appeared in such magazines as Amazing Stories, Astounding, Comet, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Marvel Tales, Science Fiction Digest, Super Science Stories, Unknown, Weird Tales, and Wonder Stories, among others.
An active fan of others' work as well as an author, he is also known as an early bibliographer of Robert E. Howard's "Conan" stories in the 1930s, together with his friend John D. Clark.
Miller gradually shifted into book reviewing beginning in 1945, initially for Astounding Science Fiction and later for its successor, Analog. He began a regularly monthly review column in the former in October, 1951. As a critic he was notable for his enthusiasm for a wide coverage of the science fiction field. He was awarded a special Hugo Award for book reviews in 1963.
His extensive collection of papers, maps, books and periodicals, accumulated largely as a result of his review work, was donated to the Carnegie Museum after his death by his sister Mary E. Drake. They now form the basis of the P. Schuyler Miller Memorial Library at the Edward O'Neill Research Center in Pittsburgh.
Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.
He received his M.S. in chemistry from Union College in Schenectady. He subsequently worked as a technical writer for General Electric in the 1940s, and for the Fisher Scientific Company in Pittsburgh from 1952 until his death.
Miller died October 13, 1974 on Blennerhassett Island, West Virginia. He was on an archaeological tour to the "Fort Ancient culture" site west of Parkersburg at the time.
Miller wrote pulp science fiction beginning in the 1930s, and is considered one of the more popular authors of the period. His work appeared in such magazines as Amazing Stories, Astounding, Comet, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Marvel Tales, Science Fiction Digest, Super Science Stories, Unknown, Weird Tales, and Wonder Stories, among others.
An active fan of others' work as well as an author, he is also known as an early bibliographer of Robert E. Howard's "Conan" stories in the 1930s, together with his friend John D. Clark.
Miller gradually shifted into book reviewing beginning in 1945, initially for Astounding Science Fiction and later for its successor, Analog. He began a regularly monthly review column in the former in October, 1951. As a critic he was notable for his enthusiasm for a wide coverage of the science fiction field. He was awarded a special Hugo Award for book reviews in 1963.
His extensive collection of papers, maps, books and periodicals, accumulated largely as a result of his review work, was donated to the Carnegie Museum after his death by his sister Mary E. Drake. They now form the basis of the P. Schuyler Miller Memorial Library at the Edward O'Neill Research Center in Pittsburgh.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 19, 2022
I am going to try and finish up the December 1940 issue of Comet Magazine over the next few days. I had five stories left; this is the first of them.
We meet up first with two reporters, one of whom has just caught a man in the garden of a house where many world leaders are meeting, including the President of the United States and the Ambassador from the 'newly stabilized Middle-European Countries'.
The man in the garden planned to kill the Ambassador with a strange gun he had. But our other reporter knows this man! He is the French scientist Dampier. There must be a story here, but what could it be?
In exchange for not immediately calling the police the two reporters demand that Dampier tell them what is going on, so they all drive up to his farmhouse, hidden away in the wilds of Maryland.
Have you ever wondered how all the fancy equipment for a mad scientist gets into these isolated farmhouses without anyone having the least idea it is there? Not even the electric company who must surely realize there is a great power drain in the vicinity of the mad scientist's house?
Well, you won't learn the answers to those questions here, I'm so sorry. But I had them pop into my head while reading and I need them to leave, so there you go. And thanks!
Anyway, our two reporters learn the secret, sort of. It is all very complicated, having to do with the perfect defense system. But it must be handled carefully! Never turn the dial beyond a certain limit or....well, it won't be pretty.
So what happens when that pesky Ambassador shows up while we are learning all about Dampier's system? Well, it wasn't pretty.
The most intriguing thing for me about this story was the way the author ended it: speculating about something that I ignorantly never thought people in 1940 thought about.
Oh, by the way, since this was written during World War II, the descriptions of the Ambassador were a bit on the tacky side. He was Teutonic, you see. But the mad scientist was French and was not exactly a hero either. Chalk it up to that foolish American ego, i guess. Only reporters from America have any sense at all, it seems. At least according to our author Miller.
We meet up first with two reporters, one of whom has just caught a man in the garden of a house where many world leaders are meeting, including the President of the United States and the Ambassador from the 'newly stabilized Middle-European Countries'.
The man in the garden planned to kill the Ambassador with a strange gun he had. But our other reporter knows this man! He is the French scientist Dampier. There must be a story here, but what could it be?
In exchange for not immediately calling the police the two reporters demand that Dampier tell them what is going on, so they all drive up to his farmhouse, hidden away in the wilds of Maryland.
Have you ever wondered how all the fancy equipment for a mad scientist gets into these isolated farmhouses without anyone having the least idea it is there? Not even the electric company who must surely realize there is a great power drain in the vicinity of the mad scientist's house?
Well, you won't learn the answers to those questions here, I'm so sorry. But I had them pop into my head while reading and I need them to leave, so there you go. And thanks!
Anyway, our two reporters learn the secret, sort of. It is all very complicated, having to do with the perfect defense system. But it must be handled carefully! Never turn the dial beyond a certain limit or....well, it won't be pretty.
So what happens when that pesky Ambassador shows up while we are learning all about Dampier's system? Well, it wasn't pretty.
The most intriguing thing for me about this story was the way the author ended it: speculating about something that I ignorantly never thought people in 1940 thought about.
Oh, by the way, since this was written during World War II, the descriptions of the Ambassador were a bit on the tacky side. He was Teutonic, you see. But the mad scientist was French and was not exactly a hero either. Chalk it up to that foolish American ego, i guess. Only reporters from America have any sense at all, it seems. At least according to our author Miller.
Displaying 1 of 1 review