battleground.
âA large part of Westminster Abbey has been destroyed by a suicide-bomber, as you know. Almost unreported, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria are at war. There is civil war again in Ireland. Need I go on? Bitter tribal wars continue in Somalia, the Congo and elsewhere. This is yet another Dark Age among the many of the past. Stupidity seems to prevail.
âAnd yet we know how precious intelligence is, how men have fought for its continuance over the ages. To manage to quit this Earth is an act of courage and intelligence. Why is the operation so difficult? Why, we ask after two centuries of searching, is a minor little planet like our Earth the only home of intelligence? As far as we know, that is, despite all the guessing games weâre good at.â
Morgan Reece paused for a moment, chewing over how he might put across his next point most effectively.
âAnd if all this really is the case, then it impliesâno, it meansâthat all the stars in the universe, which number about ten billion trillion, exist for the sake of our intelligence and our limited way of life only. Come on, whoâre you kidding?
âIn my next lecture, I shall be more technicalâthis is just an introduction to that torture. But we can see that the size of the galaxy is related to the length of time of its existence. Thatâs time enough for there to be plenty of carbon around. Carbon provides the basis for all life forms. Is that by design, or did it just so happen?
âThere is less oxygen than carbon in circulation. Which is as well, Iâd say, or otherwise, catching fire from the sun, the whole scheme of things might go up in smoke.
âFrom our point of view, it is a misfortune that Mars has no oxygen, whatever was the case in the past. There is much we do not yet understand. By living on Mars you will discover much more. Understand more.
âNo oxygen, no water. Until this last century and the intolerable over-population of our world, water was plentiful here on Earth. And just thinkâwater is a contradiction of nature. Generally speaking, solid forms are heavier than liquid or gaseous forms of the same material. Not so with water. Ice is lighter than water. Isnât that weird? Isnât it something more than just lucky?
âWere it otherwise, in cold water the ice when it formed would sink. The coldest water, becoming heavier, would also sink. Thus ice would accumulate. Oceans would become solid ice. And so in a matter of years, we would have a frozen world, on which intelligence, life itself, would be impossible.
âDoes this mean that certain chemical reactions have been skewed so that we can live? Itâs a big, big question. Why used young lads to leave their homes to go a-wandering? To discover the big world, of course. As you all are about to do.
âSame old shit? No, like I say, âDifferent Shitâ â¦â
Tad wondered what a bank contributed to any higher form of knowledge. He thought longingly of Ida. Soon, she and her wretched bank would be millions of miles away.
Everyone was losing a lover or a family.
Finally this body of men and women was lifted from the city of Armstrong to the orbiting space vehicle Confu . The Confu weighed ninety hundred tons, almost twice the weight of the RMS Titanic , which had sunk centuries earlier.
The real significance of this operation still echoed the confidence and consternation caused by the departure of the first colonising ship for the Red Planetâsome years back nowâto carry a brave freight of the elite and adventurous who had signed away any chance of returning to their natal planet. Yes, they faced hardship but, no, not decline.
Many an onlooker was unable to decide whether this long farewell marked a loss or a gain in the terrestrial story. The future itself posed something of the same dilemma: those of a more pessimistic nature looked towards it with gloom, while the optimists anticipated
âA large part of Westminster Abbey has been destroyed by a suicide-bomber, as you know. Almost unreported, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria are at war. There is civil war again in Ireland. Need I go on? Bitter tribal wars continue in Somalia, the Congo and elsewhere. This is yet another Dark Age among the many of the past. Stupidity seems to prevail.
âAnd yet we know how precious intelligence is, how men have fought for its continuance over the ages. To manage to quit this Earth is an act of courage and intelligence. Why is the operation so difficult? Why, we ask after two centuries of searching, is a minor little planet like our Earth the only home of intelligence? As far as we know, that is, despite all the guessing games weâre good at.â
Morgan Reece paused for a moment, chewing over how he might put across his next point most effectively.
âAnd if all this really is the case, then it impliesâno, it meansâthat all the stars in the universe, which number about ten billion trillion, exist for the sake of our intelligence and our limited way of life only. Come on, whoâre you kidding?
âIn my next lecture, I shall be more technicalâthis is just an introduction to that torture. But we can see that the size of the galaxy is related to the length of time of its existence. Thatâs time enough for there to be plenty of carbon around. Carbon provides the basis for all life forms. Is that by design, or did it just so happen?
âThere is less oxygen than carbon in circulation. Which is as well, Iâd say, or otherwise, catching fire from the sun, the whole scheme of things might go up in smoke.
âFrom our point of view, it is a misfortune that Mars has no oxygen, whatever was the case in the past. There is much we do not yet understand. By living on Mars you will discover much more. Understand more.
âNo oxygen, no water. Until this last century and the intolerable over-population of our world, water was plentiful here on Earth. And just thinkâwater is a contradiction of nature. Generally speaking, solid forms are heavier than liquid or gaseous forms of the same material. Not so with water. Ice is lighter than water. Isnât that weird? Isnât it something more than just lucky?
âWere it otherwise, in cold water the ice when it formed would sink. The coldest water, becoming heavier, would also sink. Thus ice would accumulate. Oceans would become solid ice. And so in a matter of years, we would have a frozen world, on which intelligence, life itself, would be impossible.
âDoes this mean that certain chemical reactions have been skewed so that we can live? Itâs a big, big question. Why used young lads to leave their homes to go a-wandering? To discover the big world, of course. As you all are about to do.
âSame old shit? No, like I say, âDifferent Shitâ â¦â
Tad wondered what a bank contributed to any higher form of knowledge. He thought longingly of Ida. Soon, she and her wretched bank would be millions of miles away.
Everyone was losing a lover or a family.
Finally this body of men and women was lifted from the city of Armstrong to the orbiting space vehicle Confu . The Confu weighed ninety hundred tons, almost twice the weight of the RMS Titanic , which had sunk centuries earlier.
The real significance of this operation still echoed the confidence and consternation caused by the departure of the first colonising ship for the Red Planetâsome years back nowâto carry a brave freight of the elite and adventurous who had signed away any chance of returning to their natal planet. Yes, they faced hardship but, no, not decline.
Many an onlooker was unable to decide whether this long farewell marked a loss or a gain in the terrestrial story. The future itself posed something of the same dilemma: those of a more pessimistic nature looked towards it with gloom, while the optimists anticipated
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