 What would have happened if Drs. Niemand and Hillyard had not visited Henry Middletown?
DISTURBING SUN By PHILIP LATHAM Illustrated by Freas [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction May 1959. This, be it understood, is fiction—nothing but fiction—and not, under any circumstances, to be considered as having any truth whatever to it. An interview with Dr. I. M. Niemand, Director of the Psychophysical Institute of Solar and Terrestrial Relations, Camarillo, California. In the closing days of December, 1957, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York, Dr. Niemand delivered a paper entitled simply, "On the Nature of the Solar S-Regions." Owing to its unassuming title the startling implications contained in the paper were completely overlooked by the press. These implications are discussed here in an exclusive interview with Dr. Niemand by Philip Latham. I suppose you might say my main job today is to find out all I can between activity on the Sun and various forms of activity on the Earth. What do you mean by activity on the Sun? NIEMAND. I'm afraid I can't say just what a sunspot is. Isn't it true that the number of spots on the Sun rises and falls in a cycle of eleven years? It means you can only approximately predict the future course of sunspot activity. Haven't there been a great many correlations announced between sunspots and various effects on the Earth? There is unquestionably a correlation between sunspots and disturbances of the Earth's magnetic field ... Now, Dr. Niemand, I understand that you have been investigating solar and terrestrial relationships along rather unorthodox lines. I think our biggest advance was the discovery that sunspots themselves are not the direct cause of the disturbances we have been studying on the Earth. Whereas the real cause is an invisible filterable virus. In the solar case it turned out to be these S-Regions. You say an S-Region is invisible? It is extremely doubtful, however, if the radiation we detect is the actual cause of the disturbing effects observed. Let's see ... remember that speech from "Julius Caesar" where Cassius is bewailing the evil times that beset ancient Rome? In the Sun? NIEMAND. I suppose the oldest problem in the world is the origin of human evil. Philosophers have wrestled with it ever since the days of Job. And like Job they have usually given up in despair, convinced that the origin of evil is too deep for the human mind to solve. Generally they have concluded that man is inherently wicked and sinful and that is the end of it.
 They would have been missing a key point of connection that allowed them to move their work forward
 They would have traveled to Australia to talk to a specialist  They would have totally given up on their research  They would have been missing a key point of connection that allowed them to move their work forward  They would have talked to a radio astronomer at a different observatory