Children of The Lens (novel) - Sequels

Sequels

In “Larger Than Life,” a tribute to E.E. Smith written by Robert A. Heinlein, and included in his Expanded Universe, Heinlein wrote:

The Lensman was left unfinished. There was to have been at least a seventh volume. As always, Doc had worked it out in great detail, but never (so far as I know) wrote it down because it was unpublishable then. But he told me the ending orally and in private.

I shan't repeat it, it is not my story. Possibly somewhere there is a manuscript, I hope so! All I will say is that the ending develops by inescapable logic from clues in Children of the Lens.

In Children of the Lens it is made clear that as a result of the Arisian breeding program that resulted in the Children of the Lens they can no longer be considered Homo Sapiens. Their lifespan is at least thousands of years, if not longer. Their minds are superior to even the Arisians and they have powers that even the Arisians could never fully understand. In these five, all bad traits, all defects, all possible genetic problems, have been removed by the Arisian breeding project. The five Children of the Lens are the only existing members of their species. In the story one of the Kinnison girls was thinking about marriage and children, and thinking that she could never have the slightest interest in any man not at least the equal of her father. She also dreamed of finding a mate that was her equal. An aside in the narrative brought up the facts that although she didn't realize it yet, there already existed a man that was her equal in every way, referring to her brother!

So now we have the clues to the unpublishable seventh book. The Children of the Lens are no longer Homo Sapiens so they probably can't have children with humans. The new species consists of only one male and four females. They are free of all bad physical and mental traits and defects, including genetic defects. And psychologically, they are not attracted to anyone not at least their equal. The answer the “inescapable logic” in Heinlein's statement above seems to lead us to is that they will have to interbreed with each other if this new species is to continue past their lifetimes. Since Children of the Lens was published in the fifties it is easy to see why this story line would be considered unpublishable!