Challenge 572

Where the Cactus Doesn’t Grow

In Sherman Smith’s “A Blind Man and a Clown,” Stub Wilcox has an unnamed neurological disorder. Is any character in Two Blind Men and a Fool not handicapped in some way?
In Martin Westlake’s “Just Protein,” the characters are very carefully drawn. How might the story play out if Peter were not killed by his own creation?
In Bertil Falk’s “The Number of the Killer,” Gardar goes to claim his infant daughter. What has happened to her mother?
In C. E. Gee’s “The Crime of the Ancient Mariner”:
1. How easy would it be to keep secret the fact that a space probe bound for Venus had actually landed on Mars? Why on Mars rather than Venus?
2. Who is Margaret working for? Why might her organization go to such great lengths to verify her identity?
3. Will Margaret stop at murdering Professor Sears? What about his student informant? To whom else might the student and professor have divulged the “secret”? Why would they keep it a secret in the first place? How might the story play out?