to the ecliptic—at various distances and orientations, the farthest about a million kilometers out, the closest about a thousand. When we watch the whole system through our main telescope, it’s a pretty sight. Well, anything astronomical is….
(At a later date, when the goal is looming.)
TONARI
—glowing attendants are definitely spheres, diameter estimated at ten kilometers. They don’t seem to be material. More like balls of energy, nexuses in a force-field. We have confirmed that they are not absolutely stationary. The configuration changes, extremely slowly but continuously, according to a plan we cannot decipher….
(Outside view taken by Tonari in EVA: a glimpse of the ship, a straight look at the cylinder, whose length now fills the screen, and a pair of its moons which are not moons, and behind and around everything, the stars.)
NAPIER (meanwhile, aboard)
—satisfactory approach curve. We’ll swing around it at a distance of ninety-five hundred kilometers, recede to one hundred thousand, establish ourselves in a circular orbit, and—
Name of God! What’s that?
VOICE
(melodious, androgynous, speaking Spanish like an educated denizen of Lima)
Your attention, please. Your attention, please. This is a message to you from the builders of the device you are seeking. You are welcome here. But you must change your course. Your present path is dangerous to you. Prepare for acceleration and stand by for instructions. Please record. You will need the information you are about to receive. Please record. In five minutes, these words will repeat for that purpose, followed by the necessary data. They are words of welcome, of joy that you have finally reached this far. Thank you.
(Interior scene. Fernández-Dávila has started the movie cameras for the sake of the history books.)
NAPIER
How in Christ’s name—?
FERNÁNDEZ-DÁVILA
Probably sonic vibrations set up in the hull. No trick at all for
them
—Saburo! Saburo, get your ass back in the airlock!
(No repeat of the greeting; this documentary has used the replay that was promised, since the original was captured only at the end of a radio beam two hundred and ten million kilometers long, after which it was passed an equal distance to Earth, losing quality along the whole way.)
VOICE
—understand that the truth will not be easy to make clear. Now, while you calm yourselves, you should retreat to approximately five hundred thousand kilometers and take orbit. Otherwise you will not likely see your homes again. Here are the timing and the vectors for you—
(Miscellaneous shots, exterior and interior, taken during the days that follow: the titanic artifact, star, Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, the sister galaxy in Andromeda, the men, who somehow continue their routines, actually joking or playing games, in between grave discussions of what they have learned each time a message comes.)
VOICE (excerpts)
You hear a kind of computer-effector system, a robot, if you will. No living being could or should abide out here, awaiting your arrival….
The universe is a cornucopia of life….
The builders have existed through age after age. They wish the cosmos well, but for that very reason do not seek to be overlords, let alone gods. Best that each race make its own destiny, tragic though that may prove. Only thus can it grow, in strength, mind, and spirit. Too, the builders have lives of their own to live, dreams of their own to pursue. Thus you will hear little more than this about them, ever. To you, to countless beings more among the suns, they must remain the unknown Others….
Yet they are interested in you. They love you. Plain to see, they have observed you at length and in depth. Having made your way here, you are free to use their engine for interstellar travel. You will be guided to a system wherein is a planet akin to your mother world, save that it has borne no sentience to claim it—yours for the taking, if you
(At a later date, when the goal is looming.)
TONARI
—glowing attendants are definitely spheres, diameter estimated at ten kilometers. They don’t seem to be material. More like balls of energy, nexuses in a force-field. We have confirmed that they are not absolutely stationary. The configuration changes, extremely slowly but continuously, according to a plan we cannot decipher….
(Outside view taken by Tonari in EVA: a glimpse of the ship, a straight look at the cylinder, whose length now fills the screen, and a pair of its moons which are not moons, and behind and around everything, the stars.)
NAPIER (meanwhile, aboard)
—satisfactory approach curve. We’ll swing around it at a distance of ninety-five hundred kilometers, recede to one hundred thousand, establish ourselves in a circular orbit, and—
Name of God! What’s that?
VOICE
(melodious, androgynous, speaking Spanish like an educated denizen of Lima)
Your attention, please. Your attention, please. This is a message to you from the builders of the device you are seeking. You are welcome here. But you must change your course. Your present path is dangerous to you. Prepare for acceleration and stand by for instructions. Please record. You will need the information you are about to receive. Please record. In five minutes, these words will repeat for that purpose, followed by the necessary data. They are words of welcome, of joy that you have finally reached this far. Thank you.
(Interior scene. Fernández-Dávila has started the movie cameras for the sake of the history books.)
NAPIER
How in Christ’s name—?
FERNÁNDEZ-DÁVILA
Probably sonic vibrations set up in the hull. No trick at all for
them
—Saburo! Saburo, get your ass back in the airlock!
(No repeat of the greeting; this documentary has used the replay that was promised, since the original was captured only at the end of a radio beam two hundred and ten million kilometers long, after which it was passed an equal distance to Earth, losing quality along the whole way.)
VOICE
—understand that the truth will not be easy to make clear. Now, while you calm yourselves, you should retreat to approximately five hundred thousand kilometers and take orbit. Otherwise you will not likely see your homes again. Here are the timing and the vectors for you—
(Miscellaneous shots, exterior and interior, taken during the days that follow: the titanic artifact, star, Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, the sister galaxy in Andromeda, the men, who somehow continue their routines, actually joking or playing games, in between grave discussions of what they have learned each time a message comes.)
VOICE (excerpts)
You hear a kind of computer-effector system, a robot, if you will. No living being could or should abide out here, awaiting your arrival….
The universe is a cornucopia of life….
The builders have existed through age after age. They wish the cosmos well, but for that very reason do not seek to be overlords, let alone gods. Best that each race make its own destiny, tragic though that may prove. Only thus can it grow, in strength, mind, and spirit. Too, the builders have lives of their own to live, dreams of their own to pursue. Thus you will hear little more than this about them, ever. To you, to countless beings more among the suns, they must remain the unknown Others….
Yet they are interested in you. They love you. Plain to see, they have observed you at length and in depth. Having made your way here, you are free to use their engine for interstellar travel. You will be guided to a system wherein is a planet akin to your mother world, save that it has borne no sentience to claim it—yours for the taking, if you
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