Clearly none of them particularly liked each other. There was tension. And that very tension helped make it all work. It united the entity that was the hunting swarm as it moved out of sight through the towering trees.
“Huh,” Sepak thought, marveling how much one could learn by just sitting still and observing. It wasn’t a skill one learned in the frenetic pace of modern society. Perhaps, he considered, there might be advantages to this adventure, after all.
Then his stomach growled. All right, he thought, rising and picking up his crude spears. I hear you. Be patient.
Soon he was loping quietly, scanning the branches, but not as a passive watcher anymore. Now he set out through the trees — listening with his ears, seeking with his eyes — hunting clues to where on this little plateau he might find that next meal.
□ It’s now official. Scientists at NASA confirm that their oldest operating spacecraft, Voyager 2, has become the first man-made object to pass completely beyond the solar system.
Actually, the boundaries of the sun’s family are debatable. Last century, Voyager’s distance exceeded that of Pluto, the ninth planet. Another milestone was celebrated when the venerable spacecraft reached the solar shock front, where it met atoms from interstellar space. Most astronomers, however, say Voyager was still within old Sol’s influence until it passed through the “heliopause” and left behind the solar wind, which happened in the year 2037, a decade later than predicted.
Data from Voyager’s little ten-watt transmitter help scientists refine their models of the Universe. But what most people find astonishing is that the primitive robot — launched sixty-five years ago — still functions at all. It defies every expectation, by its designers or modern engineers. Perhaps some preserving property of deep space is responsible. But a more colorful suggestion has been offered by the Friends of St. Francis Assembly [$ SIG.Rel.disc. 12-RsyPD 634399889.058], a Catholic special interest group that contends Voyager’s survival was “miraculous,” in the exact sense of the word.
“We now strongly believe the oldest heavenly commandment commissions humanity to go forth, observe God’s works, and glorify Him by giving names to all things.
“In that quest, no human venture has dared so much or succeeded as well as Voyager. It has given us moons and rings and distant planets, great valleys and craters and other marvels. It plumbed Jupiter’s storms and Saturn’s lightning and sent home pictures of the puzzle that is Miranda. No other modern enterprise has so glorified the Creator, showing us as much of
His grand design, as faithful Voyager, our first emissary to the stars.”
A colorful and not unpleasant thought to contemplate these days, as the airwaves fill once more with hints of looming crisis. It’s a touch of optimism we might all do well to think about.
This is Corrine Fletcher, reporting for Reuters III from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in New Pasadena, California.
[□ reporter-bio: C.FLETCHER-REUT.III. Credibility ratings: CaAd-2, Viewers’ Union (2038). BaAb-1, World Watchers Ltd., 2038.]
• MESOSPHERE
The paleogeologists wanted to know what was going on. “All these strange events, Stan… holes in China, pillars of smoke at sea. Do you have any idea what it’s about?” Even if there hadn’t been a cordon sanitaire of Danish and NATO soldiers around the Tangoparu dome, Dr. Nielsen and the others would certainly have suspected something was happening. The whole world suspected, and Stan had never been much good at poker.
“There are rumors, Stan,” Nielsen said shortly after the military arrived. “Have you seen today’s noon edition of the New Yorker* There’s a correlated survey linking many of these bizarre phenomena into a pattern.” Stan shrugged, avoiding the blond scientist’s eyes. But that only intensified suspicion, of course. “Do you know something about all this Stan? Your graviscan program, those troops, the strange quakes… it’s all connected, isn’t it?”
What could he say? Stan started avoiding his friends, spending his few free moments out on the moraine instead, walking and worrying.
He’d been in constant touch with George Hutton, of course, ever since Alex and Teresa made good their escape from New Zealand. And he had to admit the logic behind the uncomfortable alliance with Colonel Spivey. What else could they do? It was Trinity site all over again — Alamogordo in 1945. The genie was out of the bottle. All they could do now was try to manage it as well as possible.
That was the ScaniaPress headline after one more zine exposi. A whistle blower inside the EUROP mission to the U.N. told how private negotiations among the great powers had been going on for over a fortnight. Outrage roiled through the World Data Net. What were governments doing — actually keeping people in the dark about a crisis? How dare they?
In absence of solid information, a myriad of rumors flew.
… It’s the melting of the ice caps that’s making the Earth shake…
… It’s secret weapon testing. Treaty violations. We’ve got to call in the tribunals before it’s too late…
… These aren’t earthly phenomena at all. We’re being softened up by UFOs…
… It’s an alignment of the planets. The Babylonians were right predicting…
… Overpopulation — ten billion souls can’t stand the pressure. The psychic strain alone…
… Could we have awakened something ancient? Something terrible? I caught sight of a dragon, snooping a public memory file. Have others out there seen it too?…
… Gaia, it is our Mother, shivering in her sleep, at the pain we’ve caused her…
… I don’t have any idea what it is! But I’ll bet there are people in high places who do. They have a duty to tell us what’s going on!
More headlines on ABC, TASS, Associated Press—
Holos of departing diplomats are analyzed by professionals and amateur hackers, who enhance every face, every pore, and publish speculative analyses of flesh tones, blink rates, nervous ticks—
… the Russ ambassador was scared…
… the EUROP team knew more than they were telling…
… clearly there’s collusion between NATO and ASEAN…
Stan was impressed with the creative energy out there. Data traffic soared, straining even the capacious fiber cable channels. Reserve capacity was brought on-line to cope.
A holopop group, Space Colander, produced a new number called “Straining Reality” — an instant hit. Underground poets sent paeans to strangeness migrating from computer node to computer node, circuiting the globe faster than the sun.
Stan did not participate, of course. Except for his rare walks, he spent most of his time conversing over military lines with Alex and with Glenn Spivey’s physicists, piecing together the secrets of the gazer. Some were starting to fall into place, such as how the beams coupled with surface matter. It seemed they had discovered a whole new spectrum, completely at right angles to the colors of light. With these discoveries, science would never be the same.
His darkest premonitions were like the ones those physicists in New Mexico must have felt, nearly a century ago. But those men had been wrong in their worst fears, hadn’t they? Their bomb, which might have wrought searing Armageddon, instead proved to be a blessing. After scaring everyone away from major war for three generations, it finally convinced the nations to sign covenants of peace. Perhaps the same sort of result would come of this. Humanity didn’t always have to be foolish and destructive.