the continent turned into a desert. No attempt was made to reform the desert—perhaps it was too late for that—nor to save the living in its homeland.
“Oceans turned into floating barges of people searching for food and shelter. Millions died in ordinary squalls because their rickety platforms could not withstand the sudden high seas.
“Yet in all lands there were some few who were seers, who realized that in their time, or within a few generations of their time, life might end.”
“Seers,” Justice whispered in the faintest voice. Celester’s story had struck deeply.
“You. Your kind,” he toned, gazing at her with his allseeing eyes. “You four are seers born in your time. Across earth, unknown to you, there are others like you.”
“You mean it?” Thomas said.
“There are some few others,” toned Celester. “From you and them descended Starters.”
“Starters will descend from us?” Justice asked.
“The greatest of all seers, Starters, some few of them descended from your line,” toned Celester. He turned off before she could ask him more about Starters. He became lifeless, a machine at rest, until the moment he turned back on and was again animated, telling his tale. Not more than a minute had elapsed.
“So much danger in the use of thermonuclear power,” he began. “With abundant use there came horrible accidents. There came catastrophic devastation from radioactivity. Genetic destruction in human cells caused generations of physical changes.
“Deserts advanced. Humans, animals—life— was caught in a continuous exodus to nowhere. All this occurred in advance of the First Origin.”
“What is that? How long is an Origin?” Thomas wanted to know.
“Shhh. Just let him tell it,” said Levi.
“But I want to figure how much time we’re talking about from our time,” Thomas said.
Toned Celester, “Origin means a deviation from the known time frame. It is a first time, a time beginning. There was pre-computation time, which I have been telling you about, and it was the time before machines. Then came the First Origin.”
“So the pre-computation time has to include our time,” Justice said, “the time of the twentieth century.”
“Just so,” toned Celester, “and many more of centuries.”
“But the twentieth century had all kinds of machines,” said Thomas. “There was IBM and all kinds of complicated computers. People were even getting them for their homes. But mostly only scientists knew how to use the big computers to give one another information.”
“Many of the professional class knew how to gather and transmit information by your computers,” Celester toned, “not only scientists. But your computers were merely stored-program-concept machines. Better than high-speed calculators. Their function was to follow instructions exactly as stored. They had to be programmed; they could not think for themselves.
“Those be mechanics,” he toned softly. “They served their purpose in the pre-computation time. But they are not the machines I refer to. I speak of machines built by machines, which caused the First Origin. I speak of Colossus machine. These are facts: By the end of First Origin, all Starters had disappeared. The Colossus machine was silent. No human knew that Starters ever existed or that they were gone; or that Colossus ever was or had been built by machines built by Starters.”
“What? Wait a minute, I’m not getting this at all,” Thomas said.
“It is not easy,” Celester toned. “But think of an expanse of time. At the beginning of the expanse is the Starter activity, the creation of astounding machines, useless to the ordinary humans who are now reduced to living in tribal ways. They are mutated, most with the simplest mentalities. Starters realize the possible end to life, and they have begun their preparations so that some may survive. Then, at the end of the same expanse of time, there are no Starters and no machines, as far as
“Oceans turned into floating barges of people searching for food and shelter. Millions died in ordinary squalls because their rickety platforms could not withstand the sudden high seas.
“Yet in all lands there were some few who were seers, who realized that in their time, or within a few generations of their time, life might end.”
“Seers,” Justice whispered in the faintest voice. Celester’s story had struck deeply.
“You. Your kind,” he toned, gazing at her with his allseeing eyes. “You four are seers born in your time. Across earth, unknown to you, there are others like you.”
“You mean it?” Thomas said.
“There are some few others,” toned Celester. “From you and them descended Starters.”
“Starters will descend from us?” Justice asked.
“The greatest of all seers, Starters, some few of them descended from your line,” toned Celester. He turned off before she could ask him more about Starters. He became lifeless, a machine at rest, until the moment he turned back on and was again animated, telling his tale. Not more than a minute had elapsed.
“So much danger in the use of thermonuclear power,” he began. “With abundant use there came horrible accidents. There came catastrophic devastation from radioactivity. Genetic destruction in human cells caused generations of physical changes.
“Deserts advanced. Humans, animals—life— was caught in a continuous exodus to nowhere. All this occurred in advance of the First Origin.”
“What is that? How long is an Origin?” Thomas wanted to know.
“Shhh. Just let him tell it,” said Levi.
“But I want to figure how much time we’re talking about from our time,” Thomas said.
Toned Celester, “Origin means a deviation from the known time frame. It is a first time, a time beginning. There was pre-computation time, which I have been telling you about, and it was the time before machines. Then came the First Origin.”
“So the pre-computation time has to include our time,” Justice said, “the time of the twentieth century.”
“Just so,” toned Celester, “and many more of centuries.”
“But the twentieth century had all kinds of machines,” said Thomas. “There was IBM and all kinds of complicated computers. People were even getting them for their homes. But mostly only scientists knew how to use the big computers to give one another information.”
“Many of the professional class knew how to gather and transmit information by your computers,” Celester toned, “not only scientists. But your computers were merely stored-program-concept machines. Better than high-speed calculators. Their function was to follow instructions exactly as stored. They had to be programmed; they could not think for themselves.
“Those be mechanics,” he toned softly. “They served their purpose in the pre-computation time. But they are not the machines I refer to. I speak of machines built by machines, which caused the First Origin. I speak of Colossus machine. These are facts: By the end of First Origin, all Starters had disappeared. The Colossus machine was silent. No human knew that Starters ever existed or that they were gone; or that Colossus ever was or had been built by machines built by Starters.”
“What? Wait a minute, I’m not getting this at all,” Thomas said.
“It is not easy,” Celester toned. “But think of an expanse of time. At the beginning of the expanse is the Starter activity, the creation of astounding machines, useless to the ordinary humans who are now reduced to living in tribal ways. They are mutated, most with the simplest mentalities. Starters realize the possible end to life, and they have begun their preparations so that some may survive. Then, at the end of the same expanse of time, there are no Starters and no machines, as far as
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