Various versions explaining the events occurring in Ubik by Philip K. Dick, including unexplainable elements.
Versions of events explanation:
1. Runciter died along with the entire group on the Moon. The fact that he was not with the main group the whole time and had distinctive abilities (including one can of Ubik) is explained by the fact that he was placed in a separate chamber, maximally isolated from the other half-lifers. Runciter had given a similar order regarding Ella when he first encountered Jory. This also explains why Jory could not reach Runciter, unlike the rest of the group members.
2. A variation of the first. Runciter died along with the entire group on the Moon, but he plays a completely different role than the one described in the book. Possibly even without knowing it himself. The entire world is in fact created by Runciter, including Ella and Jory. Ella had always been his ideal and thereby subconsciously plays the role of the Savior. At the same time, Jory since in his memories he had suppressed Ella plays the prototype of Satan in Runciter’s world: the ultimate evil. The most interesting thing here is that the role assigned to Jory in his imagination actually belongs to Runciter himself. That is, it is Runciter who is devouring one participant after another in order to have the strength to continue sustaining this world. This theory also explains the final twist. Having survived with the help of Ubik, Joe Chip became the “head” of this world and now controls it, while Runciter has been reduced to a background character. Possibly in the future Joe will devour Runciter, or thanks to Ubik he will not need to.
3. All members of the group are in a world created by Hollis’s psychics. Runciter’s group falls into an ambush and either dies and, while in half-life, is gradually destroyed by Hollis’s mediums, or even remains alive and is in a state of trance. In this case Runciter is either the only one who died while the others are in a trance, or they all died and he, as the most important member for Hollis, is kept separately from the others. The dying group members, starting with Wendy, were killed not by Jory or Pat, but by Hollis’s mediums. In the end Joe was able to overcome the psychics’ influence and breaks through to Runciter. In support of this is the fact that Hollis’s mediums tried to take control of individual members of Runciter’s group. The first described was Tippy with the appearance of Bill and Matt and the quote from Richard III. Then, on the Moon, right before the appearance of Stanton Mick, the group members discover that Hollis’s initials belonged to all or almost all participants. At the same time Francesca Spanish, the only one who remembered the “other universe” created by Pat, correctly noted that this psychic phenomenon was not a dream. Later she was again the only one who had a vision of the hand of God from heaven bestowing Ubik.
4. The world in which the members of Runciter’s group find themselves was created by Pat Conley. Either during the attack on the Moon, or even earlier at the first meeting in Runciter’s office. I found the episode incomprehensible when, during the first meeting, she transports Runciter into a world where he collects coins, then into a world where he is already the head of his company but Joe is married to Pat, and finally back again to the normal world. However, this theory explains both the very presence of the episode and the incompatible moment with the explanations of Pat’s talent in all other parts of the book. It is mentioned several times that Pat cannot move through time and the future is not subject to her. She is only able to change moments of the past, thereby changing the present and preventing precogs from making forecasts. Here we see that Runciter literally falls into another world (the world of Runciter the numismatist). At the first moment he does not remember his own, but immediately intuitively understands that something is clearly wrong with this world. Then he finds himself in another world, no longer alone, but with Joe and Pat, who have been married here for several years; at the same time Stanton Mick gives the contract to another company; and finally they move into the present, where the most perceptive Francesca Spanish literally says: “We were all in another world.” This all looks much more like not a change of the past, but the creation of some world from another dimension of the multiverse, or powerful psychic hypnosis, where those affected find themselves in a world created by her, similar to the worlds of half-lifers.
If we assume that she created all the situations by completely changing the past and thereby changing the present so drastically, then she possesses the abilities of the most powerful deity. With such abilities she would have changed the past so much that the group would not have needed to fly to the Moon. She could have made Runciter the richest man in the world without this, or what is even more likely through manipulation become the ruler of all humanity, and Joe would initially have been her husband (in the case that she sincerely loved him). In this version she influenced the group by creating a new world in their imagination or by placing them in another reality either because of the explosion on the Moon, or by actually being Hollis’s spy, luring the entire group into a trap and hypnotizing them with the help of Hollis’s other psychics.
These are not versions explaining the global events, but rather some guesses regarding individual parts of the narrative:
I. The main theory explaining all events - 1) Runciter died together with everyone, as well as variant 2) where he died together with the others and is the creator of their world - is impossible due to one important detail. If they all died, how could they have been placed in cryochambers? Moreover, as explained in the book, special procedures are required immediately after death. If the body remained for some time without this treatment, entering half-life is impossible. Runciter tells Joe that one member of the expedition survived it is Sam Mundo. But, firstly, at the first meeting he is described as being so feeble-minded (“brain abilities like a raccoon”); secondly, according to Runciter, he lost even those at the explosion and now has no brain activity at all, being a complete vegetable. The only explanation here may be that after the explosion their bodies were instantly picked up by Hollis’s employees and placed in half-life.
II. There is a variant that Pat did not lose her abilities after the explosion on the Moon. Even in this unreal world she could change the past. Moreover, out of love for Joe she changed it every time so that he remained alive, while other group members died instead. Out of jealousy toward Wendy she decided to change the past so that she would die first. Then, when the choice was between Al or Joe, the manipulations led to Al’s death. Next was Edie Dorn. And finally (variant 1), when Jory had finally reached Joe, she sacrificed herself so that he could reach Runciter. This theory is compatible with variants 1, 2 and 3, but not with 4. In addition, it is independent of whether Pat was Hollis’s agent or not.
III. Runciter’s note does not lend itself to explanation in the main theory. He wrote that Pat did not try to use her talent to prevent the explosion or to save Wendy, Al and Edie Dorn. In addition, she lies to Joe. But if they all died, then she could not have used her talent, since she is also in half-life. In the second theory it works quite well. If Runciter created this world while in half-life, he will develop his motif of distrust toward Pat (it is described a couple of times before the explosion on the Moon) in his own world as well. As a result, forcing her to bear fair punishment - she is killed by absolute evil (created by Runciter in contrast to the absolute good of Ella) - Jory. This episode also works in the third scenario: Hollis’s psychics are manipulating the entire group. Especially if Pat is participating in the conspiracy with them, while Runciter is the only one able to expose her. And of course, in the fourth theory. They are under Pat’s influence, Runciter is the only one who understands this, and Pat only creates the illusion of Jory’s appearance (for example, to further develop the manipulation and obtain some information from Runciter or Joe).
The moment I cannot understand is mentioned at the very end of the note. There Runciter writes that Ubik powder has a universal healing property. But, as we know, the real Ubik is an aerosol. The powder, ointment, etc. were created by Jory through degradation to deprive them of healing properties.
And finally, some things for which I have found no explanation at all.
a) The already mentioned Sam Mundo. At the meeting with Runciter’s group he is described as not just feeble-minded, but completely without any mental abilities. He can sleep, eat, understand the simplest commands, “brain abilities of a raccoon.” At the same time, it is said that he seems to be the most powerful psychic of humanity, who even coped with Melipone. He appears again in Des Moines. There he is the first to put forward the theory that Pat killed Dorn. Later, when they are driving to save Dorn and a policeman stops them, he is the first to understand why it happened: “You didn’t signal the turn.” And then, when Joe doesn’t understand how to do it in such an old car, he is the only one who explains that at that time signals were given by hand. That is, from a person deprived of mental abilities he becomes perhaps the most perceptive member of the group. Moreover, what is most interesting, no one notices such a cardinal change, including Joe himself. And finally, Runciter later explains to Joe that Mundo was the only one who remained alive, yet at the same time he lost all brain functions, they are dead and he is now a vegetable. So Sam plays some important role. What it is and what all these changes and inconsistencies are connected with, I still have not understood.
b) I absolutely cannot understand who Myra Laney is. This character simply defies explanation. What she tells Joe (“she was sent from the future by Zondervan Junior, she is from the factory itself, Ubik was invented mostly by Ella, and Joe can receive it in unlimited quantities”) is some kind of irrational nonsense. This character and everything connected with it can either be genuinely explained as Joe’s deathbed delirium, or (in theories 3 and 4) Hollis’s/Pat’s psychics are performing a typical deus ex machina to keep Joe “alive” further for purposes known only to them.
c) If we leave aside the fundamental question of what Ubik actually is (God, a product really created by Ella, a drug, etc.), I do not understand why Dick puts such emphasis every time Ubik is mentioned that one must strictly follow the instructions and then it will be safe. That is, if one neglects the instructions, Ubik will be dangerous? In what way and for what reason? Why is this important at all and why was the instruction created?