peculiar to your kind, in whatever condition contemporary humanity was. And the ripples cannot have died out… I have been reading histories, Joelle, but they are gorged with references to events and personalities that mean nothing to me.”
“I see,” she answered slowly.
(“Comprendo”
= “I grasp.” English and Spanish idioms are not equivalent. As for his, at sea he would have said, “My teeth close on it,” ashore he would have said, “I sense it in my vibrissae.”)
“Well,” she went on, “I hardly think I can give you a complete answer, when I myself am rather lost. But let’s make an attempt.” She stroked her chin, pondering. “Yes, I remember a documentary on the whole subject, intended for schools, which contains much original material. I’ll try to retrieve it.”
Like every apartment in the Wheel, hers had a computer terminal, with display and printout. The piece she had in mind was such a classic, and went back such a number of years—back to when folk expected a permanent population here, including children—that she supposed it was in the data bank. She activated the keyboard and tapped out her request.
It was.
VIII
(V IEW OF THE MACHINE seen from afar, a thousand-kilometer length like a needle afloat in space, dwarfed by the Milky Way.)
NARRATOR
—unmanned probes reported indications of something curious, orbiting the sun on the same track as Earth but a hundred and eighty degrees off, so that it was always on the opposite side. A flyby confirmed that it was strange indeed. No asteroid could have a perfectly cylindrical shape. Most certainly, none could be so massive, nor spin so fast….
(An astrophysicist, famous at the time, speaks from his desk, occasionally screening an animated diagram for illustration.)
IONESCU
—should not be possible. That thing is as dense as a collapser, barely short of the black hole condition. Its atoms must have been compressed down to where they are no longer true atoms but nearly continuous nuclear matter, the stuff we call neutronium. Only the gravitational field of a larger star than Sol, falling in on itself after its fires are extinct, can bring them to that condition. The cylinder cannot. Gigantic though it is, its mass is far too small—in fact, not enough to perturb the planets identifiably. Besides, a natural body would form a spheroid.
Yet there the thing is. Forces of a kind we know nothing about shaped it, gave it its unbelievable rotational energy, and hold it together. I have no doubt whatsoever that here is the product of a technology farther advanced from ours than ours is from the Stone Age….
(Scenes of excitement, speeches, crowds, demonstrations,sermons, prayer meetings everywhere on Earth and in the satellites. Excerpt from a press conference held by Manuel Fernández-Dávila, Donald Napier, and Saburo Tonari, the three men who are to go, the most nearly international team that chaos throughout much of the world has left it possible to assemble. Liftoff of the shuttle, blast vivid against an austere cordillera. Rendezvous with
Discoverer,
the ship, and transfer to her.
(Scenes during the flight., which at that time took weeks, mostly in free fall. Shots through the ports: the cylinder waxing in view until its enormousness begins to be apparent and the glowing attendants are visible. Spacesuited men go outside, at the ends of tethers, to take pictures and instrumental readings. They speak at Earth via a relay which has been orbited especially for them. The words are usually dry, but shaken by awe.)
FERNÁNDEZ-DÁVILA
—they are not satellites. They don’t go around the cylinder, they stay in place relative to the sun and each other. God knows how that is done, but we guess they’re held by some of the power that keeps the main body in one piece. We’ve counted ten. They appear featureless except for the different wavelengths they emit. They’re spaced around the spin axis of the cylinder—which is exactly normal
“I see,” she answered slowly.
(“Comprendo”
= “I grasp.” English and Spanish idioms are not equivalent. As for his, at sea he would have said, “My teeth close on it,” ashore he would have said, “I sense it in my vibrissae.”)
“Well,” she went on, “I hardly think I can give you a complete answer, when I myself am rather lost. But let’s make an attempt.” She stroked her chin, pondering. “Yes, I remember a documentary on the whole subject, intended for schools, which contains much original material. I’ll try to retrieve it.”
Like every apartment in the Wheel, hers had a computer terminal, with display and printout. The piece she had in mind was such a classic, and went back such a number of years—back to when folk expected a permanent population here, including children—that she supposed it was in the data bank. She activated the keyboard and tapped out her request.
It was.
VIII
(V IEW OF THE MACHINE seen from afar, a thousand-kilometer length like a needle afloat in space, dwarfed by the Milky Way.)
NARRATOR
—unmanned probes reported indications of something curious, orbiting the sun on the same track as Earth but a hundred and eighty degrees off, so that it was always on the opposite side. A flyby confirmed that it was strange indeed. No asteroid could have a perfectly cylindrical shape. Most certainly, none could be so massive, nor spin so fast….
(An astrophysicist, famous at the time, speaks from his desk, occasionally screening an animated diagram for illustration.)
IONESCU
—should not be possible. That thing is as dense as a collapser, barely short of the black hole condition. Its atoms must have been compressed down to where they are no longer true atoms but nearly continuous nuclear matter, the stuff we call neutronium. Only the gravitational field of a larger star than Sol, falling in on itself after its fires are extinct, can bring them to that condition. The cylinder cannot. Gigantic though it is, its mass is far too small—in fact, not enough to perturb the planets identifiably. Besides, a natural body would form a spheroid.
Yet there the thing is. Forces of a kind we know nothing about shaped it, gave it its unbelievable rotational energy, and hold it together. I have no doubt whatsoever that here is the product of a technology farther advanced from ours than ours is from the Stone Age….
(Scenes of excitement, speeches, crowds, demonstrations,sermons, prayer meetings everywhere on Earth and in the satellites. Excerpt from a press conference held by Manuel Fernández-Dávila, Donald Napier, and Saburo Tonari, the three men who are to go, the most nearly international team that chaos throughout much of the world has left it possible to assemble. Liftoff of the shuttle, blast vivid against an austere cordillera. Rendezvous with
Discoverer,
the ship, and transfer to her.
(Scenes during the flight., which at that time took weeks, mostly in free fall. Shots through the ports: the cylinder waxing in view until its enormousness begins to be apparent and the glowing attendants are visible. Spacesuited men go outside, at the ends of tethers, to take pictures and instrumental readings. They speak at Earth via a relay which has been orbited especially for them. The words are usually dry, but shaken by awe.)
FERNÁNDEZ-DÁVILA
—they are not satellites. They don’t go around the cylinder, they stay in place relative to the sun and each other. God knows how that is done, but we guess they’re held by some of the power that keeps the main body in one piece. We’ve counted ten. They appear featureless except for the different wavelengths they emit. They’re spaced around the spin axis of the cylinder—which is exactly normal
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