[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
thought fade into tasteless-ness.
Then, abruptly, a passage opened into a much larger chamber. All about the perimeter were point
flavors, in the same multi-sense technique as the tower globes. 'The stars!' Jessica said. 'This is a
planetarium! An astrotarium! The Ancients liked the stars; they had representations-' Her image
replaced the taste-pattern, as it had when they threaded the needle between Star and Hole. The stars
became bright constellations, scintillating on a black background.
They rolled to the center of the chamber, and it was as if the galaxy spread out about them. The stars
were not mere dabs of taste or light, but tangibilities in full dimension. Depth, intensity, color-all were
present, wonderfully.
'Why are some stars keyed wrong?'
Heem realized she was correct. He had considerable mental awareness of the configuration of local
space. This multi-dimensional map was far more detailed than what his mind could hold, and highly
accurate. It was, of course, Ancient-old; but most stars did not change very much in such a period.
There was a wrongness about their representation that the passage of time could not account for.
'Heem-you're familiar with this galactic locale. Is there-are the stars all there, in the picture?'
"There are more stars than any mind can track," he jetted. "But all the habitable systems are keyed in,
in a shade of color-taste, and all-" He paused, as the significance of the elementary keying opened to
him. "All inhabited systems are keyed in. Star HydrO, Star Erb, Star Squam, the other Stars of this
Segment-all my mind can verify are present. But not Holestar."
'Of course not. This is System Holestar, and it had no sapient life-forms three million years ago.
Except for the visiting Ancients, of course, and the barracks-builders, who were probably also of non-
System origin. The only native life would have been plants and maybe low-grade animals. Even the
rats of the tunnels are probably imports, vermin who sneaked in on spaceships and took over after the
premises were vacated. They could not have evolved on Eccentric, since there were no non-lava
passages before the sapients colonized it.'
"A variant keying indicates other inhabited systems, as many as the ones we know, but this is wrong. I
recognize a number of these. System Extirpate, where a nova seems to have wiped clear all life-"
'Seems to have?'
"HydrO technicians explored it long ago. There were a few artifacts suggestive of technological
sapience on the two planets there, but both planets had been so badly burned by an ancient nova-"
Three million years ancient?' she asked, catching on.
"Yes. Only Star Extirpate is not a nova star, so could not have been the source of obliteration. It does
not seem likely that another star could have been near enough to do this, and then vanish entirely. It is
one of the mysteries of space. And other lifeless systems-"
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
'Are listed on this Ancient map as supporting potentially sapient life?'
"Unless I misinterpret the key."
'Heem, this is horrible! Could there have been twice as many life-forms three million years ago as
now, and half of them were obliterated?'
"This is my understanding. This must have been a survey station too, accurately mapping all sapience
in this sector of our Galaxy. The other markers we conjectured may have mapped other sectors."
'And then half of that sapience was brutally destroyed. Could it have been war-war on a galactic
scale? And the present-day life-forms are the survivors?'
"But we lacked technology then! We HydrOs were pre-sapients, not yet evolved to our full powers,
lacking all knowledge of the extra-planetary universe. The same was true of our neighbors in
Thousandstar-and I believe it was true also of the rest of this galaxy generally. None of the
contemporary life-forms had entered space then. We could not have defended ourselves from
technological species such as the Ancients."
'Nor could we Solarians,' she agreed. 'We were barbarians, hardly mastering the use of fire, then.
Some among our kind might conjecture that we rose to heights long ago, then reverted to barbarism
after some colossal catastrophe, but archaeology does not support this. We were primitives. Yet we
survived, and you HydrOs survived, and all the others, while the civilized Ancients perished.'
"And this station knew precisely which survived and which perished-for the keying differs, and not
coincidentally."
'But this station is part of the culture that perished! It could not have recorded its own demise so
neatly!'
"Only if it saw it coming. The Ancients might have vacated, leaving only the tower and planetarium
operative, still surveying data for those who might follow."
'And no one followed, for all civilization in the galaxy had collapsed, leaving only vermin-species like
ourselves.'
They contemplated the grim galactic map, mystified and appalled. The mystery of the Ancients
became greater with each discovery relating to it!
There was a vibration, followed by the spreading taste of metal. "Something is happening!" Heem
sprayed, alarmed. "Perhaps the Competition Authority has arrived!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
thought fade into tasteless-ness.
Then, abruptly, a passage opened into a much larger chamber. All about the perimeter were point
flavors, in the same multi-sense technique as the tower globes. 'The stars!' Jessica said. 'This is a
planetarium! An astrotarium! The Ancients liked the stars; they had representations-' Her image
replaced the taste-pattern, as it had when they threaded the needle between Star and Hole. The stars
became bright constellations, scintillating on a black background.
They rolled to the center of the chamber, and it was as if the galaxy spread out about them. The stars
were not mere dabs of taste or light, but tangibilities in full dimension. Depth, intensity, color-all were
present, wonderfully.
'Why are some stars keyed wrong?'
Heem realized she was correct. He had considerable mental awareness of the configuration of local
space. This multi-dimensional map was far more detailed than what his mind could hold, and highly
accurate. It was, of course, Ancient-old; but most stars did not change very much in such a period.
There was a wrongness about their representation that the passage of time could not account for.
'Heem-you're familiar with this galactic locale. Is there-are the stars all there, in the picture?'
"There are more stars than any mind can track," he jetted. "But all the habitable systems are keyed in,
in a shade of color-taste, and all-" He paused, as the significance of the elementary keying opened to
him. "All inhabited systems are keyed in. Star HydrO, Star Erb, Star Squam, the other Stars of this
Segment-all my mind can verify are present. But not Holestar."
'Of course not. This is System Holestar, and it had no sapient life-forms three million years ago.
Except for the visiting Ancients, of course, and the barracks-builders, who were probably also of non-
System origin. The only native life would have been plants and maybe low-grade animals. Even the
rats of the tunnels are probably imports, vermin who sneaked in on spaceships and took over after the
premises were vacated. They could not have evolved on Eccentric, since there were no non-lava
passages before the sapients colonized it.'
"A variant keying indicates other inhabited systems, as many as the ones we know, but this is wrong. I
recognize a number of these. System Extirpate, where a nova seems to have wiped clear all life-"
'Seems to have?'
"HydrO technicians explored it long ago. There were a few artifacts suggestive of technological
sapience on the two planets there, but both planets had been so badly burned by an ancient nova-"
Three million years ancient?' she asked, catching on.
"Yes. Only Star Extirpate is not a nova star, so could not have been the source of obliteration. It does
not seem likely that another star could have been near enough to do this, and then vanish entirely. It is
one of the mysteries of space. And other lifeless systems-"
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
'Are listed on this Ancient map as supporting potentially sapient life?'
"Unless I misinterpret the key."
'Heem, this is horrible! Could there have been twice as many life-forms three million years ago as
now, and half of them were obliterated?'
"This is my understanding. This must have been a survey station too, accurately mapping all sapience
in this sector of our Galaxy. The other markers we conjectured may have mapped other sectors."
'And then half of that sapience was brutally destroyed. Could it have been war-war on a galactic
scale? And the present-day life-forms are the survivors?'
"But we lacked technology then! We HydrOs were pre-sapients, not yet evolved to our full powers,
lacking all knowledge of the extra-planetary universe. The same was true of our neighbors in
Thousandstar-and I believe it was true also of the rest of this galaxy generally. None of the
contemporary life-forms had entered space then. We could not have defended ourselves from
technological species such as the Ancients."
'Nor could we Solarians,' she agreed. 'We were barbarians, hardly mastering the use of fire, then.
Some among our kind might conjecture that we rose to heights long ago, then reverted to barbarism
after some colossal catastrophe, but archaeology does not support this. We were primitives. Yet we
survived, and you HydrOs survived, and all the others, while the civilized Ancients perished.'
"And this station knew precisely which survived and which perished-for the keying differs, and not
coincidentally."
'But this station is part of the culture that perished! It could not have recorded its own demise so
neatly!'
"Only if it saw it coming. The Ancients might have vacated, leaving only the tower and planetarium
operative, still surveying data for those who might follow."
'And no one followed, for all civilization in the galaxy had collapsed, leaving only vermin-species like
ourselves.'
They contemplated the grim galactic map, mystified and appalled. The mystery of the Ancients
became greater with each discovery relating to it!
There was a vibration, followed by the spreading taste of metal. "Something is happening!" Heem
sprayed, alarmed. "Perhaps the Competition Authority has arrived!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]