‘Oh yes, scores at least.’
I pondered for a moment worlds in which communism or Naziism reigned, or which were subject to all-powerful religions or other empires. The potential diversity seemed almost endless.
‘Now it’s your turn,’ Tertia said. ‘There are many things that we still don’t understand about humanity. We recognise that learning only from broadcasts has limitations.’
‘Fire away; what do you want to know?’
Her emotions reflected an amused frustration. ‘So many things! Some of them no doubt seem very obvious to you, but have caused much debate here.’
‘Such as?’
‘Well, to give a trivial example, could you explain the significance in your society of sofas?’
‘Sofas?’
‘Yes, you know, the long padded seats.’
‘I know what a sofa is, but why do you think they are significant?’
‘They must be, they feature so often in those helpful short television programmes which advise you what to buy.’
Before I could respond to that, Tertia continued:
‘What really puzzles us about them is this: if they are so important to you, why are they always being sold at half price?’
It took some time before I had recovered enough to attempt an answer.
We had arranged our return visit to the UN three days after Primo’s first dramatic appearance. By then, there was battle royal over the airwaves between those who insisted that the warning was genuine and we had to act on it, and those who said that the whole exercise was a computer-generated con. It was difficult to be sure who was winning that argument, but the status I had acquired on my travels seemed to be helping to swing opinion our way. After all, no-one could argue that I was computer-generated.
The General Assembly was packed again and the interpreters’ glass boxes behind and above the representatives were remarkably full. The atmosphere was very tense, and I relayed to Primo that there could be outbursts of emotion at any time.
A drawback of my sensitivity to others’ emotions is that my own moods are affected by them, so I felt very tense myself as I stepped up to the podium. Primo’s image was already on the screen behind me, to no discernable reaction from the audience.
‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Since I last stood here, I have obviously become aware of accusations that Primo is a computer-generated fake. I need hardly say that I utterly reject these allegations. If any of you is inclined to believe them, then consider this; the saurians have provided a logical explanation for how I came to be like this,’ I opened my bare arms wide to emphasise my scaly skin, ‘which is more than anyone else has been able to do.’ I paused for a second to let that sink in, then continued. ‘Also consider this; why should you be surprised at the revelation that more advanced worlds in the human group, up to several centuries ahead of us, have suffered nuclear or environmental devastation? We are well aware how close we came to nuclear war on occasions, and the majority of our own environmental scientists are agreed that our burgeoning population and unrestricted use of resources are polluting our world, with potentially very serious consequences for climate, agriculture and ultimately the world economic system. We are only being told what we already fear is true. What we have to do is accept that truth, and act while we can.’ I left a long pause, but there was no response. ‘I will now hand over to Primo.’ I stepped down for the podium and Primo nodded politely.
‘Greetings once again. I said that I would tell you how we can help, and this is what we can do. We have solved the problem of harnessing the fusion reaction to generate pollution-free energy, and we will provide you with the blueprints and a detailed explanation of how to make such power stations. This will make a big difference in the long term, but even with our help such plants will be difficult and expensive to construct, so their impact will be slow and gradual. We can also offer alternative technologies for generating electricity, for example much more efficient solar cells, plus geothermal power which can be obtained anywhere, both of which use much simpler technology and can be more quickly installed. We have equipment which can convert the carbon dioxide produced by industrial activities back into hydrocarbons.’ He paused and looked around the Assembly. ‘This technology, if applied with all of your vigour in conjunction with the general application of other measures which you are already beginning to use to minimise your need for power, will make a dramatic difference to the air pollution generated by your society. However, they will not be enough by themselves. You have already developed ground transport which uses little energy; it is essential that this is more widely disseminated. To help with this, we also have far more powerful batteries and high-temperature superconductors so you can make better use of electricity. Air transport is a more difficult problem, but we can offer the technology to both produce and utilise hydrogen fuel much more cheaply and cleanly than at present, so aircraft fuelled by this will have a much reduced impact on the atmosphere.’ He paused again, his expression grave. ‘Finally, we come to the most intractable problem; the gross overpopulation of many parts of your planet and the stress this is placing on agricultural land and on supplies of fresh water, as well as the threat it poses to biodiversity. There is only one long-term solution to that, and that is to reduce your population significantly, before starvation and disease do it for you. Our advanced knowledge of medicine and genetics can be adapted to humanity, we are sure, and that will enable us to offer life-time contraceptives for both men and women, which can only temporarily be overcome by both parties taking special medicines to restore fertility when a couple wishes to conceive.’ Another long pause; the tension was so great that I thought my head would burst. ‘All of these measures, taken together, will help to avoid the disaster which we know lies in your future. But only if you embrace them and implement them with all of your energy and resources. I am now willing to answer questions.’
There was silence for a moment, before the Dutch representative spoke up. ‘How long have we got?’
‘Before the collapse comes? It is hard to say. Certainly several decades, possibly a few centuries, but the conclusion will be inevitable long before then. Once started, this is not a process which can be quickly reversed. Individual symptoms of the problems began to appear decades ago and others are accumulating. When enough of them become critical the tipping point will be reached and collapse will follow. In order to avoid this, it is important to begin making changes now.’
Next came an American. ‘Doesn’t research indicate that the Earth’s warming and cooling cycles are naturally caused by variations in the Sun’s level of activity, as shown by sunspots? Aren’t we heading into a quieter cycle when we can expect the planet to cool down naturally?’
‘That is true to some extent and may buy you a little more time, but the effects of human action have already become far more influential than this. So if you do not act now, the consequences will be that much more severe when the Sun becomes more active again.’
‘Why can’t we just adapt to the changing climate and sea levels and retain our civilisation?’ A Chinese delegate.
‘That has been attempted by all previous human civilisations and it can defer the worst effects for a while. In fact, you will need to adopt such measures to some degree because of the changes already taking place. But from observations of previous human worlds, such attempts fail when the global economic system falls apart under the pressure of cumulative disasters and loss of confidence. That brings most international trade to an end and, with it, the structure of global civilisation; just think about how much your advanced societies depend on imports and exports. We believe that humanity probably doesn’t die out, but reverts to a simple agrarian lifestyle in those areas far from major population concentrations. We have calculated that in those circumstances between ninety and ninety-five percent of humanity would perish, mostly through starvation but also through disease and in fighting for the resources which remain.’