[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
as if, when a race gained sufficient technology to manipulate life, it inevitably did so, regardless of the
dangers. Also, they found no evidence of space flight anywhere, as though the biological sciences always
caused disaster before life in space could be sustained off the home world, just as on earth and the
Altairian planet.
The farther the ship traveled toward the center of the galaxy, the more barren. desolate and ravaged
the planets became, until Hawkins finally called a halt.
***
"We're getting nowhere," He told Jamie, Masters and Byron Westly, all assembled in his quarters.
"We could make a few more hops, I suppose, but I don't see much point in it. Conditions on habitable
planets are only getting worse, not better. Or previously habitable planets, I should say. Westly, what are
your thoughts on the subject?"
The tall thin physicist brushed at his hair and looked pained. "I'd really like to go on, but that's just
my profession talking, not my heart. This voyage has certainly rearranged a lot of concepts."
"Such as?''
"Well, let's take the question of life in the universe first. Most knowledgeable scientists have always
assumed that there is nothing unique about earth. That is, we expected to find life on other planets, though
we never dared assume that we would find so many. What we didn t expect to find was so many signs of
intelligent life. And what we would have never thought, in our wildest dreams, was the pattern that we
have seen. Intelligence evolving from lower forms, just as it did on earth, a rising technology, then before
that technology is sufficient to permit a viable presence off the planet, either war or experimentations in
biology that cause the destruction of the technology that gave rise to them in the first place.
"Next, we have always theorized that toward the center of the galaxy we would find much older
civilizations, far in advance of ours, simply by the fact that the nearer the center we get, the older the
stars, and thus the more time they would have had to develop. That has proven true in one sense: some
of the ruins we've seen lately have been old, very old, but the advances never happened. If our samples
are accurate, and I believe they are, the root cause has almost always been runaway genetic manipulation
of lower species.
"The Altairians developed space travel," Jamie said. "So have we, for that matter."
"The Altairians just barely made it, and even they didn t develop a self-sustaining space technology.
What resources they had, they put into their generation ship. I feel like we were extremely fortunate that
on their long voyage they were able to concentrate on pure research into the theoretical physics that
enabled us to build the ship we re on. Now take these considerations a step farther: Altair and earth are
rather far out on the spiral arm, and comparatively close together. We both developed technological
civilizations at about the same time. Towards the center, this happened millions of years ago. Perhaps
we ve been going in the wrong direction. Perhaps back the other way, where the stars are a little
younger, we might find planets still in the development stage."
"Where we might be able to colonize," Masters said.
"Yes, possibly. But even where life for us might be possible, I think you ve found that strange
planets are incredibly dangerous. Do you think that even with the remaining resources of earth and the
space habitats, we could establish a foothold for a colony?" Masters didn't even have to consider
his answer; he had been thinking along the same lines. "It would be possible, but only if we threw so
many resources into it that it would mean abandoning earth and Moon City. I don't think the authorities
would go along with that under any circumstances; certainly not when we consider that only a small
percentage of our population would be able to emigrate. The rest would have to be left behind."
"My thoughts exactly," Hawkins said. "Which brings us back to my original question. Do we return
now, or try a few more stops?"
"I can't see where going on would be advantageous at all. I suppose there's a chance that we might
find a civilization somewhere which beat the odds, but it's a huge universe. We could spend lifetimes
looking and still never find them, even if they exist."
A wistful look appeared in Westly's eyes, as if he were abandoning a dream held since childhood.
"And our time is limited," Hawkins concluded. "Conditions back home have to be resolved, one
way or another."
Neither Masters nor Jamie was optimistic concerning such resolution, at least along conventional
lines, but each had been considering ideas that would have startled some of the authorities back home.
***
The return to earth would take only a few days, using the stress fields that slowed the passing of
time in the rest of the universe while the ship sped back in the direction from which it had come.
Sean spent that time in a mode that was still indecisive. The dearth of results from the trip inclined
him in some ways to opt for siding with Moon City, but the gentle treatment of Della after her mutiny
swayed him in the other direction. He talked with her on occasion, while his pets were playing with those
of Jamie's family, but she refused to discuss anything having to do with her mutiny with him. He did find
himself drawn more and more into a genuine liking for that family, but in direct contravention of Passing's
orders, he made no attempt to try subverting any of the women. He would wait, and see what happened.
The day before they were due to break out into space near earth, Captain Hawkins again had Della
confined to her quarters. He really didn't think she posed a threat now, but he was taking no chances.
When the Moon City authorities found that the voyage had been futile, Rob Passing might try something
else, and he wanted to leave as many of his options open as possible.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Back in Moon City! Rob Passing's plans were completed, should the ship ever return. He had
watched from space as flames rose from the Dallas Enclave where the population there was fighting over
their dwindling food supplies. Selene had watched with him, her sharp incisive mind writing off one more
population center and subtracting another small increment from trade with earth. She was convinced now
that the only hope for Moon City was in co-operation with earth, using the vacant ship, and the one other
still building for either immigration to another planet or for asteroid mining or movement of a portion of
their city to Mars, or some other place in the solar system where critical supplies would be easier to
come by.
Passing had already dismissed her as a factor in his plans, as well as the other members of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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as if, when a race gained sufficient technology to manipulate life, it inevitably did so, regardless of the
dangers. Also, they found no evidence of space flight anywhere, as though the biological sciences always
caused disaster before life in space could be sustained off the home world, just as on earth and the
Altairian planet.
The farther the ship traveled toward the center of the galaxy, the more barren. desolate and ravaged
the planets became, until Hawkins finally called a halt.
***
"We're getting nowhere," He told Jamie, Masters and Byron Westly, all assembled in his quarters.
"We could make a few more hops, I suppose, but I don't see much point in it. Conditions on habitable
planets are only getting worse, not better. Or previously habitable planets, I should say. Westly, what are
your thoughts on the subject?"
The tall thin physicist brushed at his hair and looked pained. "I'd really like to go on, but that's just
my profession talking, not my heart. This voyage has certainly rearranged a lot of concepts."
"Such as?''
"Well, let's take the question of life in the universe first. Most knowledgeable scientists have always
assumed that there is nothing unique about earth. That is, we expected to find life on other planets, though
we never dared assume that we would find so many. What we didn t expect to find was so many signs of
intelligent life. And what we would have never thought, in our wildest dreams, was the pattern that we
have seen. Intelligence evolving from lower forms, just as it did on earth, a rising technology, then before
that technology is sufficient to permit a viable presence off the planet, either war or experimentations in
biology that cause the destruction of the technology that gave rise to them in the first place.
"Next, we have always theorized that toward the center of the galaxy we would find much older
civilizations, far in advance of ours, simply by the fact that the nearer the center we get, the older the
stars, and thus the more time they would have had to develop. That has proven true in one sense: some
of the ruins we've seen lately have been old, very old, but the advances never happened. If our samples
are accurate, and I believe they are, the root cause has almost always been runaway genetic manipulation
of lower species.
"The Altairians developed space travel," Jamie said. "So have we, for that matter."
"The Altairians just barely made it, and even they didn t develop a self-sustaining space technology.
What resources they had, they put into their generation ship. I feel like we were extremely fortunate that
on their long voyage they were able to concentrate on pure research into the theoretical physics that
enabled us to build the ship we re on. Now take these considerations a step farther: Altair and earth are
rather far out on the spiral arm, and comparatively close together. We both developed technological
civilizations at about the same time. Towards the center, this happened millions of years ago. Perhaps
we ve been going in the wrong direction. Perhaps back the other way, where the stars are a little
younger, we might find planets still in the development stage."
"Where we might be able to colonize," Masters said.
"Yes, possibly. But even where life for us might be possible, I think you ve found that strange
planets are incredibly dangerous. Do you think that even with the remaining resources of earth and the
space habitats, we could establish a foothold for a colony?" Masters didn't even have to consider
his answer; he had been thinking along the same lines. "It would be possible, but only if we threw so
many resources into it that it would mean abandoning earth and Moon City. I don't think the authorities
would go along with that under any circumstances; certainly not when we consider that only a small
percentage of our population would be able to emigrate. The rest would have to be left behind."
"My thoughts exactly," Hawkins said. "Which brings us back to my original question. Do we return
now, or try a few more stops?"
"I can't see where going on would be advantageous at all. I suppose there's a chance that we might
find a civilization somewhere which beat the odds, but it's a huge universe. We could spend lifetimes
looking and still never find them, even if they exist."
A wistful look appeared in Westly's eyes, as if he were abandoning a dream held since childhood.
"And our time is limited," Hawkins concluded. "Conditions back home have to be resolved, one
way or another."
Neither Masters nor Jamie was optimistic concerning such resolution, at least along conventional
lines, but each had been considering ideas that would have startled some of the authorities back home.
***
The return to earth would take only a few days, using the stress fields that slowed the passing of
time in the rest of the universe while the ship sped back in the direction from which it had come.
Sean spent that time in a mode that was still indecisive. The dearth of results from the trip inclined
him in some ways to opt for siding with Moon City, but the gentle treatment of Della after her mutiny
swayed him in the other direction. He talked with her on occasion, while his pets were playing with those
of Jamie's family, but she refused to discuss anything having to do with her mutiny with him. He did find
himself drawn more and more into a genuine liking for that family, but in direct contravention of Passing's
orders, he made no attempt to try subverting any of the women. He would wait, and see what happened.
The day before they were due to break out into space near earth, Captain Hawkins again had Della
confined to her quarters. He really didn't think she posed a threat now, but he was taking no chances.
When the Moon City authorities found that the voyage had been futile, Rob Passing might try something
else, and he wanted to leave as many of his options open as possible.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Back in Moon City! Rob Passing's plans were completed, should the ship ever return. He had
watched from space as flames rose from the Dallas Enclave where the population there was fighting over
their dwindling food supplies. Selene had watched with him, her sharp incisive mind writing off one more
population center and subtracting another small increment from trade with earth. She was convinced now
that the only hope for Moon City was in co-operation with earth, using the vacant ship, and the one other
still building for either immigration to another planet or for asteroid mining or movement of a portion of
their city to Mars, or some other place in the solar system where critical supplies would be easier to
come by.
Passing had already dismissed her as a factor in his plans, as well as the other members of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]