Apart from hasty meals in the carousel--luckily the main food dispensers had not been damaged---Dhala virtually lived on the control deck. He catnapped in his seat, and could spot any trouble as soon as the first signs of it appeared on the display. Under instructions from Central Mission, he had jury-rigged several emergency systems, which were working tolerably well. It even seemed possible that he would survive until the Pesquisador reached Saturn--which, of course, she would do whether he was alive or not.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBloxB5wt0V
Though he had little enough time for sightseeing, and the sky of space was nothing new to him, the knowledge of what now lay out there beyond the observation ports sometimes made it hard for him to concentrate even on the problem of survival. Dead ahead, as the ship was now oriented, sprawled the Milky Way, with its clouds of stars packed so tightly that they boggled the mind. There were the fiery mists of Sagittarius, those seething swarms of suns that forever hid the heart of the galaxy from human vision. There was the ominous black shadow of the Coal Sack, a hole in space where stars didn't shine. And there was Alpha Centauri, the nearest of all extrasolar suns - the first stop beyond the Solar System.
Though it was outshone by Sirius and Canopus, Alpha Centauri was the star that drew Dhala's eyes and mind whenever he looked out into space. For that unwavering point of brightness, whose rays had taken four years to reach him, now symbolized those secret debates that now raged on Earth, and whose echoes came to him from time to time.
Nobody doubted that there must be some connection between ATM-1 and the Saturnian system, but no sensible scientist would admit that the beings who had built the pylon could possibly have come from there. As a life-bearer, Saturn was ten times more hostile than Jupiter, and its many moons were locked in a never-ending winter 300 degrees below zero. Only one of them -Titan - had an atmosphere, that was true, but it was a thin envelope of deadly methane gas.
So maybe the beings who'd visited Earth's Moon so long ago were not just extraterrestrial, but extrasolar - visitors from the very stars, who had constructed their starbases wherever they felt like it. And this at once raised another question: what kind of technology, no matter how sophisticated, bridge the awful gulf that lay between Earth's solar system and the nearest alien sun?
Scientists flatly denied the possibility, pointing out that Pesquisador, the fastest ship ever designed, would take 20,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri---and millions of years to travel any appreciable distance across the galaxy. Even if, during the coming centuries, propulsion systems improved out of all recognition, in the end they would meet the impenetrable barrier of the speed of light, which no material object can exceed. Therefore, the builders of AMT-1 must've shared the same sun as man; and since they had made no appearance in historic times, they were probably extinct.
A vocal minority refused to give in. Even if it took centuries to travel from star to star, they contended, this might be no obstacle to sufficiently determined explorers. The technique of hibernation, used on Pesquisador herself, was one possible answer. Another was the self-contained artificial world, embarking on voyages that might last for many generations.
In any event, why should anyone assume that all intelligent species were as short-lived as Man? There might be creatures in the universe to whom a 1000-year voyage would present nothing worse than slight boredom.
These arguments, theoretical though they were, concerned a matter of the utmost practical importance; they involved the concept of "reaction time." If AMT-1 had indeed sent a signal to the stars---maybe with the help of some further device near Saturn---then it would not reach its destination for years. Even if the response was instantaneous, therefore, humanity would have a breathing space which could certainly be measured in decades---more likely in centuries. To many people, that was a reassuring thought.
A reassuring thought, yes---but not to everyone! Some scientists, like beachcombers on the uncharted shores of theoretical physics, asked a disturbing question: "Is the speed of light truly an unbreakable barrier?" Yes, the Special Theory of Relativity had proven to be remarkably durable, but it had begun to show a few cracks. And even if Einstein could not be defied, he could surely be evaded.
Sponsors of this view talked hopefully about shortcuts through higher dimensions, lines that were straighter than straight, and hyperspecial connectivity. They were fond of using a phrase coined by a Princeton mathematician of the previous century: "Wormholes in space." Critics who suggested that these ideas were too fantastic to be believable were reminded if Niels Bohr's "Your theory is crazy--but not crazy enough to be true."
If there was any disputation among the physicists, it was peanuts compared with that among the biologists, when they discussed the age-old problem: "What would aliens from outer space look like?" They divided themselves into the following camps:
1.) Such creatures must be humanoid.
2.) "They" would look nothing like men.
Settling for the first answer were those that believed that the scheme of two legs, two arms, and main sense organs at the highest point, was so basic and sensible that it was hard to think of a better one. Of course, there would be minor differences like six fingers rather than five, oddly colored skin or hair, and odd facial arrangements; but most intelligent extraterrestrials---usually abbreviated to E.T.'s--would be so much like Man that they might not be looked at twice in poor lighting, or from a distance.
This anthropomorphic thinking was poo-pooed by another group of biologists, true products of the Space Age who considered themselves freed from the prejudices of the past. They pointed out that the human body was the result of millions of evolutionary choices, made by chance over eons of time.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjkmYiPd2H
At any one of these countless moments of decision, the genetic axe might have fallen differently, maybe with better results. For the human body was a bizarre piece of improvisation, full of organs that had been diverted from one function to another, not always very successfully--and even containing discarded items, like the appendix, that were now worse than useless.
There were other thinkers, Dhala also found, who held even more exotic views. They did not believe that truly advanced beings would possess organic bodies at all. Sooner or later, as their scientific knowledge progressed, they would discard the fragile, disease-and-accident-prone homes that Nature had given them, and which doomed them to inevitable death. They would replace their natural bodies as they wore out--or maybe even before that---by constructs of plastic and metal, and would thus achieve immortality. The brain might linger for a little while as the final remnant of the organic body, directing its mechanical limbs and observing the universe through its electronic senses--senses far finer and subtler than those that blind evolution could ever develop.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYOZPrbesV
Even on Earth, the first steps in this direction had been taken. There were millions of men, doomed in earlier ages, who now lived active and happy lives thanks to artificial limbs, kidneys, lungs, and hearts. To this process there could be only one conclusion---however far off it might be.
And eventually even the brain might go. As the seat of consciousness, it was not important; the development of electronic intelligence had proved that. The conflict between mind and machine might be finally resolved in the eternal truce of total symbiosis.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJoXGVOWxF
Was even this the end? A few mystically inclined biologists went still further. They speculated, taking their cues from the beliefs of many religions, that mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body, like the flesh-and-blood one, would be no more than a stepping stone 481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHur75DgLI8
If there was anything beyond that, its name could only be....God.481Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GGpUkQG36
