Content area
Full Text
Analog, Feb 2001 Stanely Schmidt Ed., PO Box 475, Park Ave South, New York NY 10016, 144 pages $3.50
The February issue of Analog is full of interesting stories. The novella "The Mycojuana Incident" by Fran Van Cleave is a story that plays on our inherent mistrust of government as well as our sense of wanting a mystery to be solved. The protagonist is a doctor who's putting his time in a rural hospital, hoping to pay off his loans and keep his name clean so he can get an assignment to the new moon base. This is one of two SF aspects mentioned in the story, which primarily revolves around a medical mystery. Frank Murphy is the doctor in question, putting in his time and serving under resident old timer 'Doc' Pete. In fairly short order the two find a corpse and a very sick old man. Both have some sort of fungal infestation. Murphy starts putting clues together with the help of an ex-girlfriend in Canada and comes to the conclusion that it's all due to the government spraying of an antimarijuana parasitic mold. Murphy's girlfriend also has the solution to the infestation as she can get, here's the second SF aspect, nanotech blots that would be designed to effect an immediate cure.
Of course things don't go that easy. There's a government agency that sends agents to deal with the case and take care of any cover-up that's needed. They are, of course, pretty inept and are easily thwarted by country bumpkins, snakehandling nurses and local sheriffs. The story concludes with a happy ending as Van Cleave ties up all the loose ends in a satisfactory way.
This is very typical sf of the bad government, libertarian freedom fighter type. It harkens back to the days when the loner/inventor/scientist could save the world if only the government...