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The Imaginary

99 statements
18 feature instances
7 referencing feature instances

The Imaginary	type	TVTItem
The Imaginary	label	The Imaginary
The Imaginary	page	TheImaginary
The Imaginary	comment	First published in Super Science Stories (November 1942 issue), by Isaac Asimov, it was also published in the Canadian April 1943 issue of the same magazine. This sequel to "Homo Sol", took so long to find a publishing editor willing to take this story that the next sequel, "The Hazing", was published a month ahead of it!Tan Porus, from "Homo Sol", has finally figured out the mathematics behind the bizarre squid from Beta Draconius IV's reaction to the lights and sounds. The mathematical psychology of the creature uses imaginary numbers to solve the problem.With the problem solved, Porus goes home to his wife. In his absence, a pair of underlings, Lor Haridin and Eblo Ranin, attempt a mercury-vaporlamp stimulus involving the unusual squid, to see what a predicted reaction which includes an imaginary quantity looks like. Dealing with the imaginary numbers, however, was unwise, because the squid reacts by dying, and creating a Swirly Energy Thingy that kills everything it comes into contact with it.Tan Porus is summoned, and leaves for Eron with his wife immediately. It doesn't take long before Porus is able to create a counter-stimulus that should end the deadly energy field, but applying it to the origin will be difficult."The Imaginary" has been reprinted five times; The Human Zero And Other Science Fiction Masterpieces (1967), Der Robotspion (1969), The Early Asimov (1972), Urania (issue #626, September 1973), and Galassia (issue #196, April 1974).Not to be confused with the 2023 animated film of the same name, or 2024 Blumhouse's horror film.
The Imaginary	fetched	2023-11-18T06:14:25Z
The Imaginary	parsed	2023-11-18T06:14:25Z
The Imaginary	processingComment	Dropped link to TheNamesake: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Imaginary	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Imaginary / int_1161fb48	type	Bizarre Alien Biology
The Imaginary / int_1161fb48	comment	Bizarre Alien Biology: The squid from Beta Draconis IV, when exposed to the light-spectrum of mercury, emits a glowing field of death that could expand to interstellar distances.
The Imaginary / int_1161fb48	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_1161fb48	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_1161fb48
The Imaginary / int_1d029135	type	Fictional Document
The Imaginary / int_1d029135	comment	Fictional Document: Helo's Tables of Time Integrals is a mathematics book similar to the real life CRC Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulae or Standard Four-Figure Mathematical Tables. Lor Haridin uses Helo's to look up complicated mathematics answers.
The Imaginary / int_1d029135	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_1d029135	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_1d029135
The Imaginary / int_3722d66c	type	Hold Your Hippogriffs
The Imaginary / int_3722d66c	comment	Hold Your Hippogriffs: The aliens use stellar terms for their cursing, saying "Great stars and little meteors" or "To space with him!"
The Imaginary / int_3722d66c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_3722d66c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_3722d66c
The Imaginary / int_3ceec7d7	type	No Focus on Humans
The Imaginary / int_3ceec7d7	comment	No Focus on Humans: This story inverts Absent Aliens, as humans from Earth are completely missing from the tale. Instead, the story continues from Tan Porus's experiments with the Beta Draconis IV squids.
The Imaginary / int_3ceec7d7	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_3ceec7d7	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_3ceec7d7
The Imaginary / int_40c686c1	type	Xenofiction
The Imaginary / int_40c686c1	comment	Xeno Fiction: This story inverts Absent Aliens, as humans from Earth are regulated to a passing mention that establishes this story as a sequel to "Homo Sol". Instead, the story continues from Tan Porus's experiments with the Beta Draconis IV squids.
The Imaginary / int_40c686c1	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_40c686c1	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_40c686c1
The Imaginary / int_49f6a9e4	type	Most Writers Are Writers
The Imaginary / int_49f6a9e4	comment	Most Writers Are Writers: Dr Asimov uses a futuristic equivalent to a newspaper reporter to shift the story's setting from Tan Porus's work to his home.
The Imaginary / int_49f6a9e4	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_49f6a9e4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_49f6a9e4
The Imaginary / int_56855fa3	type	Casual Interstellar Travel
The Imaginary / int_56855fa3	comment	Casual Interstellar Travel: In the time it takes the university to send for Tan Porus, and for him to return, the glowing field of death has only grown to one thousand square miles.
The Imaginary / int_56855fa3	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_56855fa3	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_56855fa3
The Imaginary / int_57a91010	type	Green Rocks
The Imaginary / int_57a91010	comment	Green Rocks: After being exposed to the mercury vapourlamp, the strange squid starts to glow. The ferns sharing the aquarium are first to die, and the field grows at an accelerating rate, making it potentially able to reach interstellar distances.
The Imaginary / int_57a91010	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_57a91010	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_57a91010
The Imaginary / int_5db59a03	type	Brown Note
The Imaginary / int_5db59a03	comment	Brown Note: A new stimulus is tested on the Beta Draconis IV squid, creating a Swirly Energy Thingy of exotic radiation which kills all organic life.
The Imaginary / int_5db59a03	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_5db59a03	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_5db59a03
The Imaginary / int_627264e0	type	Death Glare
The Imaginary / int_627264e0	comment	Death Glare: Lor Haridin hates Helo's Tables of Time Integrals so much that his friend Eblo Ranin expected it to be destroyed at a glance.
The Imaginary / int_627264e0	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_627264e0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_627264e0
The Imaginary / int_7877f14d	type	Fictional Field of Science
The Imaginary / int_7877f14d	comment	Fictional Field of Science: This story adds more details to the alien psychology, which combines elements of neurology and physiology. The story mentions new mathematical notations and rules, such as Demane's Integral, Wilbon's Theorem, and Helo's Tables of Time Integrals.
The Imaginary / int_7877f14d	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_7877f14d	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_7877f14d
The Imaginary / int_9dab0a6e	type	Continuity Nod
The Imaginary / int_9dab0a6e	comment	Continuity Nod: Because this story was printed in a different magazine compared to "Homo Sol", it was important to reference Tan Porus's work to convince the humans of Earth to join the galactic council.
The Imaginary / int_9dab0a6e	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_9dab0a6e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_9dab0a6e
The Imaginary / int_a1d753b6	type	Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue
The Imaginary / int_a1d753b6	comment	Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue: Humanoid Aliens from the same planet are given consistent descriptors and aliens from different planets can almost be told apart without their names, but buildings and rooms get less than minimal description. Notably, the strange glow from the squid is never given a colour, perhaps to support the assertion that it isn't electromagnetic in nature (light and colour are part of the electromagnetic spectrum).
The Imaginary / int_a1d753b6	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_a1d753b6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_a1d753b6
The Imaginary / int_b434558	type	Video Phone
The Imaginary / int_b434558	comment	Video Phone: The telecasters on the desks of the Humanoid Aliens allow for planetary communication at least.
The Imaginary / int_b434558	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_b434558	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_b434558
The Imaginary / int_d30cc292	type	Swirly Energy Thingy
The Imaginary / int_d30cc292	comment	Swirly Energy Thingy: After being exposed to light from a mercury vapourlamp, the squid was supposed to demonstrate an imaginary number reaction. This reaction consisted of a spherical glow that killed anything it came into contact with.
The Imaginary / int_d30cc292	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_d30cc292	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_d30cc292
The Imaginary / int_db9940c4	type	Famed In-Story
The Imaginary / int_db9940c4	comment	Famed In-Story: Tan Porus has become famous for what he did with the humans from Earth, and his squid problem has become infamous in its own right.
The Imaginary / int_db9940c4	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_db9940c4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_db9940c4
The Imaginary / int_f314f8c4	type	Traveling at the Speed of Plot
The Imaginary / int_f314f8c4	comment	Traveling at the Speed of Plot: It's implied that it took Tan Porus several days to go from the Arcturus system to the Rigel system, but during the emergency on Eron of Arcturus, he makes the trip back in what seems to be a few hours.
The Imaginary / int_f314f8c4	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_f314f8c4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_f314f8c4
The Imaginary / int_name	type	ItemName
The Imaginary / int_name	comment
The Imaginary / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
The Imaginary / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
The Imaginary	hasFeature	The Imaginary / int_name
The Imaginary / int_name	itemName	The Imaginary

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Imaginary	hasFeature	American Literature (E to I) / int_9a9d635
The Imaginary	hasFeature	Bizarre Alien Biology / int_9a9d635
The Imaginary	hasFeature	Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue / int_9a9d635
The Imaginary	hasFeature	Fictional Field of Science / int_9a9d635
The Imaginary	hasFeature	No Focus on Humans / int_9a9d635
The Imaginary	hasFeature	Video Phone / int_9a9d635
The Imaginary	hasFeature	Xenofiction / int_9a9d635

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