Fantastic Worlds - Retro Review of "Child of All Ages" (1975)

[jordan179]

Phillip James Plauger is a physicist and nuclear physicist, who wrote only a dozen or so science fiction short stories, mostly in the 1970's, then in 1995 founded Dinkumware, Ltd., a company which supplies Standard C and Standard C++ libraries. The world of information technology has benefitted, but the world of science fiction sadly lost by this

Comments

[actonrf]

Yes I remember reading this story around 1976 or so. It one to throes stories that garbed me and not lent me forget all these years. Another one is Haldamn's Forever War.

[tara_li]

I remember - especially when I watch some of the TED talks on poverty and how people are moving from farms into urban slums - Melissa's comments on child labor and why the modern stance was so patronizing in its views.

[jordan179]

Melissa exaggerated or conflated two historical periods when she claimed that farm workers were "boiled in oil" for not working hard enough, but she was completely accurate regarding the working conditions. One of the things I liked about her character was that she fully-appreciated comfort and took pleasure in whatever good things were currently in her life. She had not let the episodes of intense suffering in her life destroy her capacity for enjoyment.

But then, children are resilient ...

[polaris93]

I remember reading this story somewhere in the 1970s and being intensely moved by it. Your description of it brought right back to mind, down to the details. Such a sad story.

[x_eleven]

Her father was what later ages would call an alchemist, and in his search for the secret of immortality he found a herbal potion that will indeed stave off aging indefinitely. The catch is that it only works on pre-pubescent children, and that entering puberty ends the effectiveness of the medicine.

A shameless rip-off of a Star Trek episode.

[jordan179]

"Miri," yes I thought of that too, because of the similarities between Melissa's drug and the plague on that planet. "Child Of All Ages" was, however, much better done. Also note that Melissa's condition was a drug, not a plague, so it's only vaguely the same concept.

[wombat_socho]

Also, it's not like Star Trek was terribly original in its story concepts, especially in the third season. I daresay there isn't a single episode whose major plot lines don't have thick roots in the SF of the 1940s and 50s.

That having been said, I always wondered what happened to Plauger. Thanks for filling that in.