Aboriginal Science Fiction, Issues 57–58 — page 55: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ter of the ball. If you’ve got other ions racing into the center of the ball, they may collide and fuse. Professor George Miley at the University of Illinois has built such a device by placing a charge of 60,000 volts on the sphere in order to accelerate the deuterium ions. When they pass into the cen- ter of the sphere, they collide with other rapidly moving deuterium ions and fuse. No muss and no fuss. He has built these fusion reactors. Some sit on top of his desk. About the size of a basketball, and costing less than $60,000, these little reactors produce a boatload of neutrons by way of the fusion reaction taking place. The only problem with this approach right now is that the boatload they produce is only equivalent to what might be held in a rowboat. For a fusion reactor to be economically viable, you need a boat the size of the Titanic. But he is working on ways to increase his neutron yield. So there you go. Who knows what the future for fusion research holds. Perhaps ITER will be built, work wonderfully, and reactors based on its design will generate more power’ than mankind will know what to do with. But if that approach fails, it certainly does not mean that the goal of a fusion-based reactor is dead. There are plenty of other approaches waiting in the wings, just hoping for the leader of the fusion pack to falter, to slow down, or to take a single misstep, allow- ing a new and novel approach to take the lead. This is a race. It is difficult to tell which approach will win this race, but like all races, there eventually is a winner. And in the final analysis, when it comes to the production of new energy sources, that is all that really matters. Ld What If? Get Back Issues While They Last © OUR PREMIERE ISSUES: The supply is limited, which is why we have to charge $4.50 each for copies of our first issues — they are already collectors’ items. Aboriginal No. 1 Orson Scott Card, Hal Clement, John A. Taylor Aboriginal No. 2 George Zebrowski, Elizabeth Anne Hull Aboriginal No. 3 Connie Willis, Charles L. Grant, Dean Whitlock Aboriginal No. 6 Ian Watson, Robert A. Metzger, Emily Devenport Aboriginal No. 7 Steven R. Boyett, Patricia Anthony, Rebecca Lee Aboriginal No. 8 Kristine K. Rusch, Ray Aldridge, John E. Stith Aboriginal No. 9 Ben Bova, Paul A. Gilster, Elaine Radford Aboriginal No. 10 Robert A. Metzger, Jamil Nasir Aboriginal No. 11 Robert A. Metzger, Phillip C. Jennings Aboriginal No. 12 Harlan Ellison, Elissa Malcohn, Robert Reed Aboriginal No. 14 David Brin, B. W. Clough, Robert A. Metzger Aboriginal No. 15 Larry Niven, David Brin, Patricia Anthony Aboriginal No. 16 Patricia Anthony, Robert A. Metzger Aboriginal No. 17 Larry Niven, Walter Jon Williams, Pat Anthony Aboriginal No. 18 James Morrow, Phillip C. Jennings Aboriginal No. 19 Frederik Pohl, Frank Kelly Freas, Bruce Bethke Aboriginal No. 20 David Brin, Frederik Pohl, Frank Kelly Freas Aboriginal No. 21 Frederik Pohl, Richard Bowker, Pat Anthony Aboriginal No. 22 Mike Resnick, Esther M. Friesner, Sarah Smith Aboriginal No. 24 Daniel Keys Moran, Lois Tilton Aboriginal No. 26 David Brin, Robert A. Metzger, Joyce Jensen Aboriginal No. 27 Harlan Ellison, Lawrence Watt-Evans Aboriginal No. 28 The Interzone issue. Paul J. McAuley, Greg Egan Aboriginal No. 31-32 Gregory Benford, Patricia Anthony, Doug Franklin, Dean Whitlock — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 33-34 Patricia Anthony, James C. Glass, John W. Randal, Jamil Nasir — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 35-36 Richard K. Lyon, John W. Randal, Mark Canter, Anthony Lewis — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 37-38 Patricia Anthony, Chuck Rothman, Howard V. Hendrix — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No 39-40 Patricia Anthony, Alexander Jablokov, Greg Costikyan — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 41-42 Joe Haldeman, Patricia Anthony, John Betancourt — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 47-48 David Brin, Chuck Rothman, Robert Reed — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 49-50 K.D. Wentworth, Karl G. Schlosser, William Barton — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 51-52 Robert A. Metzger, D. G. Grace, Spencer Luster — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 53-54 Patricia Anthony, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Sean Williams — Special double issue for $5.95 Aboriginal No. 55-56 Barry B. Longyear, Jack McDevitt, Eric Brown, Michael Sherrod — Special double issue for $5.95 Act quickly. Send your payment, plus $1.75 postage and han- dling for each copy you want, to: Aboriginal Science Fiction Back Issues P.O. Box 2449 Woburn, MA 01888 Or order all 31 available copies for $140.00 and save $22, and we'll pay the postage. Elon@OLK Aboriginal Science Fiction — Summer 1998)