The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards

and dirt and other materials they find in the ground into what they need to build the city. The entire set of instructions they need are programmed into each one of them.”
    The hologram of multiplying nano-robots now surrounded them. The tiny workers ate and multiplied at fantastic speeds. Every so often huge numbers of them would split off from the main swarm and perform a specific job like digging, or construction, or waste removal.
    “This is exactly what happens in our bodies, isn’t it?” said Ryan excitedly. “Mom explained it to me. Every cell in our body has the programming to make an entire person. A person starts from just one cell and as that one divides and makes more, at some point, following their instructions, the cells start doing different jobs. Some become heart cells, and some become eye cells, and so on.”
    “Exactly. So you see, the Qwervy just have to drop off one nano-robot and leave. The nano-robot does the rest. It doesn’t take any extra effort on their part, and they get to stay in a full-blown city when they come to visit. Just as it would take the same effort on your part to grow a single blade of grass or a mighty oak tree—just stick a seed into the ground and walk away. The programming in the seed takes care of the rest.”
    Both kids listened in fascination to the Teacher. It was able to explain things in a way that made them simple to understand.
    “After the nano-robots have finished building the city, a number of them remain to carry out maintenance, cleaning and repairs.”
    “Boy, I would sure love to have a few thousand of those things to clean my room,” said Regan. “Except that they do kind of give me the creeps.”
    “The Qwervy will be sorry to hear that,” thought the Teacher playfully. “They actually like the little things. You know, they could easily program them to look like tiny, pink teddy-bears if they wanted to.”
    Fascinating, thought Ryan. Was there anything the Qwervy couldn’t do?
    “So how can the city be so much bigger inside than it is outside?” asked Regan, turning to another subject. “And we were on an entirely different planet after going through a doorway in the zoo building. How is that possible?”
    “I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to understand the exact mechanism behind it. The Qwervy can tap into other dimensions and can link one world to another.”
    The Teacher scanned their minds carefully once again to find a better way to explain how the cities were arranged. “You are familiar with the Internet, correct? ” Not waiting for an answer the Teacher continued. “The Internet links computers, and the information inside of them, together in a huge and complex web. Ryan, can you tell me how you navigate on the web?”
    “Sure. It’s easy. The information on the web is laid out in web pages. Each one has its own address. And most web pages contain links inside of them to other web pages. By clicking on a link, you immediately travel to the other web page.”
    “Good. So think of this city as a web page in a massive Internet. Only this one connects planets, not computer information. The doorways you walked through in the zoo were links. Links to other worlds. And each of these worlds are also linked to other worlds. In this way millions of planets are linked together.”
    “So it’s not a World-Wide-Web, it’s a Universe-Wide-Web,” noted Ryan.
    “Exactly. Instead of surfing web-pages, the Qwervy surf planets.”
    “Incredible,” said Ryan.
    “Do they ever come here?” asked Regan.
    “I’m afraid not. Only the few Qwervy responsible for checking on Earth’s progress. This planet has restricted access. Surfers can only come to planets that don’t have intelligent life or are populated by mature species that are active members in the web. Hopefully someday you’ll be ready to become part of this galactic community, but you aren’t yet.”
    “But how do . . .” began Regan before her question was interrupted by