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617 lines
25 KiB
617 lines
25 KiB
The Last Question |
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Isaac Asimov |
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The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, |
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at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about |
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as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way: |
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Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of |
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Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the |
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cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant |
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computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and |
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circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single human could |
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possibly have a firm grasp of the whole. |
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Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing |
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human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough -- |
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so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and |
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superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted |
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questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly |
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they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share In the glory that |
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was Multivac's. |
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For decades, Multivac had helped design the ships and plot the trajectories |
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that enabled man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but past that, Earth's |
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poor resources could not support the ships. Too much energy was needed for the |
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long trips. Earth exploited its coal and uranium with increasing efficiency, |
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but there was only so much of both. |
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But slowly Multivac learned enough to answer deeper questions more |
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fundamentally, and on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became fact. |
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The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a |
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planet-wide scale. All Earth turned off its burning coal, its fissioning |
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uranium, and flipped the switch that connected all of it to a small station, |
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one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at half the distance of the Moon. All |
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Earth ran by invisible beams of sunpower. |
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Seven days had not sufficed to dim the glory of it and Adell and Lupov finally |
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managed to escape from the public function, and to meet in quiet where no one |
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would think of looking for them, in the deserted underground chambers, where |
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portions of the mighty buried body of Multivac showed. Unattended, idling, |
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sorting data with contented lazy clickings, Multivac, too, had earned its |
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vacation and the boys appreciated that. They had no intention, originally, of |
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disturbing it. |
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They had brought a bottle with them, and their only concern at the moment was |
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to relax in the company of each other and the bottle. |
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"It's amazing when you think of it," said Adell. His broad face had lines of |
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weariness in it, and he stirred his drink slowly with a glass rod, watching |
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the cubes of ice slur clumsily about. "All the energy we can possibly ever use |
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for free. Enough energy, if we wanted to draw on it, to melt all Earth into a |
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big drop of impure liquid iron, and still never miss the energy so used. All |
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the energy we could ever use, forever and forever and forever." |
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Lupov cocked his head sideways. He had a trick of doing that when he wanted to |
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be contrary, and he wanted to be contrary now, partly because he had had to |
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carry the ice and glassware. "Not forever," he said. |
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"Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert." |
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"That's not forever." |
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"All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Twenty billion, maybe. Are |
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you satisfied?" |
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Lupov put his fingers through his thinning hair as though to reassure himself |
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that some was still left and sipped gently at his own drink. "Twenty billion |
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years isn't forever." |
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"Will, it will last our time, won't it?" |
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"So would the coal and uranium." |
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"All right, but now we can hook up each individual spaceship to the Solar |
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Station, and it can go to Pluto and back a million times without ever worrying |
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about fuel. You can't do THAT on coal and uranium. Ask Multivac, if you don't |
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believe me." |
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"I don't have to ask Multivac. I know that." |
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"Then stop running down what Multivac's done for us," said Adell, blazing up. |
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"It did all right." |
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"Who says it didn't? What I say is that a sun won't last forever. That's all |
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I'm saying. We're safe for twenty billion years, but then what?" Lupov pointed |
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a slightly shaky finger at the other. "And don't say we'll switch to another |
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sun." |
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There was silence for a while. Adell put his glass to his lips only |
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occasionally, and Lupov's eyes slowly closed. They rested. |
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Then Lupov's eyes snapped open. "You're thinking we'll switch to another sun |
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when ours is done, aren't you?" |
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"I'm not thinking." |
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"Sure you are. You're weak on logic, that's the trouble with you. You're like |
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the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and Who ran to a grove |
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of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see, because he figured |
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when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one." |
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"I get it," said Adell. "Don't shout. When the sun is done, the other stars |
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will be gone, too." |
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"Darn right they will," muttered Lupov. "It all had a beginning in the |
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original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end when |
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all the stars run down. Some run down faster than others. Hell, the giants |
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won't last a hundred million years. The sun will last twenty billion years and |
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maybe the dwarfs will last a hundred billion for all the good they are. But |
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just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to |
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increase to maximum, that's all." |
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"I know all about entropy," said Adell, standing on his dignity. |
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"The hell you do." |
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"I know as much as you do." |
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"Then you know everything's got to run down someday." |
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"All right. Who says they won't?" |
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"You did, you poor sap. You said we had all the energy we needed, forever. You |
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said 'forever.'" |
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"It was Adell's turn to be contrary. "Maybe we can build things up again |
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someday," he said. |
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"Never." |
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"Why not? Someday." |
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"Never." |
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"Ask Multivac." |
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"You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can't be done." |
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Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to phrase the |
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necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in words, might have |
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corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the net expenditure of |
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energy be able to restore the sun to its full youthfulness even after it had |
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died of old age? |
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Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount of |
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entropy of the universe be massively decreased? |
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Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the distant |
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sounds of clicking relays ended. |
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Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their breath no |
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longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype attached to that |
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portion of Multivac. Five words were printed: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL |
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ANSWER. |
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"No bet," whispered Lupov. They left hurriedly. |
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By next morning, the two, plagued with throbbing head and cottony mouth, had |
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forgotten about the incident. |
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============================================================================== |
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Jerrodd, Jerrodine, and Jerrodette I and II watched the starry picture in the |
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visiplate change as the passage through hyperspace was completed in its |
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non-time lapse. At once, the even powdering of stars gave way to the |
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predominance of a single bright marble-disk, centered. |
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"That's X-23," said Jerrodd confidently. His thin hands clamped tightly behind |
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his back and the knuckles whitened. |
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The little Jerrodettes, both girls, had experienced the hyperspace passage for |
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the first time in their lives and were self-conscious over the momentary |
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sensation of inside-outness. They buried their giggles and chased one another |
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wildly about their mother, screaming, "We've reached X-23 -- we've reached |
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X-23 -- we've ----" |
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"Quiet, children," said Jerrodine sharply. "Are you sure, Jerrodd?" |
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"What is there to be but sure?" asked Jerrodd, glancing up at the bulge of |
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featureless metal just under the ceiling. It ran the length of the room, |
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disappearing through the wall at either end. It was as long as the ship. |
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Jerrodd scarcely knew a thing about the thick rod of metal except that it was |
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called a Microvac, that one asked it questions if one wished; that if one did |
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not it still had its task of guiding the ship to a preordered destination; of |
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feeding on energies from the various Sub-galactic Power Stations; of computing |
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the equations for the hyperspacial jumps. |
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Jerrodd and his family had only to wait and live in the comfortable residence |
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quarters of the ship. |
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Someone had once told Jerrodd that the "ac" at the end of "Microvac" stood for |
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"analog computer" in ancient English, but he was on the edge of forgetting |
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even that. |
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Jerrodine's eyes were moist as she watched the visiplate. "I can't help it. I |
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feel funny about leaving Earth." |
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"Why for Pete's sake?" demanded Jerrodd. "We had nothing there. We'll have |
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everything on X-23. You won't be alone. You won't be a pioneer. There are over |
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a million people on the planet already. Good Lord, our great grandchildren |
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will be looking for new worlds because X-23 will be overcrowded." |
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Then, after a reflective pause, "I tell you, it's a lucky thing the computers |
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worked out interstellar travel the way the race is growing." |
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"I know, I know," said Jerrodine miserably. |
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Jerrodette I said promptly, "Our Microvac is the best Microvac in the world." |
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"I think so, too," said Jerrodd, tousling her hair. |
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It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was glad he |
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was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only |
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computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of |
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land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had |
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been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came |
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refinement. In place of transistors had come molecular valves so that even the |
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largest Planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a |
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spaceship. |
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Jerrodd felt uplifted, as he always did when he thought that his own personal |
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Microvac was many times more complicated than the ancient and primitive |
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Multivac that had first tamed the Sun, and almost as complicated as Earth's |
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Planetary AC (the largest) that had first solved the problem of hyperspatial |
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travel and had made trips to the stars possible. |
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"So many stars, so many planets," sighed Jerrodine, busy with her own |
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thoughts. "I suppose families will be going out to new planets forever, the |
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way we are now." |
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"Not forever," said Jerrodd, with a smile. "It will all stop someday, but not |
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for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down, you know. |
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Entropy must increase." |
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"What's entropy, daddy?" shrilled Jerrodette II. |
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"Entropy, little sweet, is just a word which means the amount of running-down |
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of the universe. Everything runs down, you know, like your little |
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walkie-talkie robot, remember?" |
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"Can't you just put in a new power-unit, like with my robot?" |
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The stars are the power-units, dear. Once they're gone, there are no more |
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power-units." |
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Jerrodette I at once set up a howl. "Don't let them, daddy. Don't let the |
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stars run down." |
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"Now look what you've done, " whispered Jerrodine, exasperated. |
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"How was I to know it would frighten them?" Jerrodd whispered back. |
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"Ask the Microvac," wailed Jerrodette I. "Ask him how to turn the stars on |
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again." |
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"Go ahead," said Jerrodine. "It will quiet them down." (Jerrodette II was |
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beginning to cry, also.) |
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Jarrodd shrugged. "Now, now, honeys. I'll ask Microvac. Don't worry, he'll |
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tell us." |
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He asked the Microvac, adding quickly, "Print the answer." |
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Jerrodd cupped the strip of thin cellufilm and said cheerfully, "See now, the |
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Microvac says it will take care of everything when the time comes so don't |
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worry." |
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Jerrodine said, "and now children, it's time for bed. We'll be in our new home |
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soon." |
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Jerrodd read the words on the cellufilm again before destroying it: |
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INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER. |
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He shrugged and looked at the visiplate. X-23 was just ahead. |
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============================================================================== |
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VJ-23X of Lameth stared into the black depths of the three-dimensional, |
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small-scale map of the Galaxy and said, "Are we ridiculous, I wonder, in being |
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so concerned about the matter?" |
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MQ-17J of Nicron shook his head. "I think not. You know the Galaxy will be |
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filled in five years at the present rate of expansion." |
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Both seemed in their early twenties, both were tall and perfectly formed. |
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"Still," said VJ-23X, "I hesitate to submit a pessimistic report to the |
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Galactic Council." |
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"I wouldn't consider any other kind of report. Stir them up a bit. We've got |
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to stir them up." |
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VJ-23X sighed. "Space is infinite. A hundred billion Galaxies are there for |
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the taking. More." |
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"A hundred billion is not infinite and it's getting less infinite all the |
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time. Consider! Twenty thousand years ago, mankind first solved the problem of |
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utilizing stellar energy, and a few centuries later, interstellar travel |
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became possible. It took mankind a million years to fill one small world and |
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then only fifteen thousand years to fill the rest of the Galaxy. Now the |
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population doubles every ten years --" |
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VJ-23X interrupted. "We can thank immortality for that." |
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"Very well. Immortality exists and we have to take it into account. I admit it |
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has its seamy side, this immortality. The Galactic AC has solved many problems |
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for us, but in solving the problems of preventing old age and death, it has |
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undone all its other solutions." |
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"Yet you wouldn't want to abandon life, I suppose." |
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"Not at all," snapped MQ-17J, softening it at once to, "Not yet. I'm by no |
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means old enough. How old are you?" |
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"Two hundred twenty-three. And you?" |
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"I'm still under two hundred. --But to get back to my point. Population |
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doubles every ten years. Once this Galaxy is filled, we'll have another filled |
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in ten years. Another ten years and we'll have filled two more. Another |
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decade, four more. In a hundred years, we'll have filled a thousand Galaxies. |
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In a thousand years, a million Galaxies. In ten thousand years, the entire |
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known Universe. Then what?" |
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VJ-23X said, "As a side issue, there's a problem of transportation. I wonder |
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how many sunpower units it will take to move Galaxies of individuals from one |
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Galaxy to the next." |
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"A very good point. Already, mankind consumes two sunpower units per year." |
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"Most of it's wasted. After all, our own Galaxy alone pours out a thousand |
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sunpower units a year and we only use two of those." |
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"Granted, but even with a hundred per cent efficiency, we can only stave off |
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the end. Our energy requirements are going up in geometric progression even |
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faster than our population. We'll run out of energy even sooner than we run |
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out of Galaxies. A good point. A very good point." |
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"We'll just have to build new stars out of interstellar gas." |
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"Or out of dissipated heat?" asked MQ-17J, sarcastically. |
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"There may be some way to reverse entropy. We ought to ask the Galactic AC." |
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VJ-23X was not really serious, but MQ-17J pulled out his AC-contact from his |
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pocket and placed it on the table before him. |
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"I've half a mind to," he said. "It's something the human race will have to |
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face someday." |
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He stared somberly at his small AC-contact. It was only two inches cubed and |
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nothing in itself, but it was connected through hyperspace with the great |
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Galactic AC that served all mankind. Hyperspace considered, it was an integral |
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part of the Galactic AC. |
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MQ-17J paused to wonder if someday in his immortal life he would get to see |
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the Galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider webbing of |
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force-beams holding the matter within which surges of sub-mesons took the |
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place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet despite it's sub-etheric |
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workings, the Galactic AC was known to be a full thousand feet across. |
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MQ-17J asked suddenly of his AC-contact, "Can entropy ever be reversed?" |
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VJ-23X looked startled and said at once, "Oh, say, I didn't really mean to |
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have you ask that." |
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"Why not?" |
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"We both know entropy can't be reversed. You can't turn smoke and ash back |
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into a tree." |
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"Do you have trees on your world?" asked MQ-17J. |
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The sound of the Galactic AC startled them into silence. Its voice came thin |
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and beautiful out of the small AC-contact on the desk. It said: THERE IS |
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INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER. |
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VJ-23X said, "See!" |
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The two men thereupon returned to the question of the report they were to make |
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to the Galactic Council. |
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============================================================================== |
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Zee Prime's mind spanned the new Galaxy with a faint interest in the countless |
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twists of stars that powdered it. He had never seen this one before. Would he |
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ever see them all? So many of them, each with its load of humanity - but a |
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load that was almost a dead weight. More and more, the real essence of men was |
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to be found out here, in space. |
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Minds, not bodies! The immortal bodies remained back on the planets, in |
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suspension over the eons. Sometimes they roused for material activity but that |
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was growing rarer. Few new individuals were coming into existence to join the |
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incredibly mighty throng, but what matter? There was little room in the |
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Universe for new individuals. |
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Zee Prime was roused out of his reverie upon coming across the wispy tendrils |
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of another mind. |
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"I am Zee Prime," said Zee Prime. "And you?" |
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"I am Dee Sub Wun. Your Galaxy?" |
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"We call it only the Galaxy. And you?" |
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"We call ours the same. All men call their Galaxy their Galaxy and nothing |
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more. Why not?" |
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"True. Since all Galaxies are the same." |
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"Not all Galaxies. On one particular Galaxy the race of man must have |
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originated. That makes it different." |
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Zee Prime said, "On which one?" |
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"I cannot say. The Universal AC would know." |
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"Shall we ask him? I am suddenly curious." |
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Zee Prime's perceptions broadened until the Galaxies themselves shrunk and |
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became a new, more diffuse powdering on a much larger background. So many |
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hundreds of billions of them, all with their immortal beings, all carrying |
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their load of intelligences with minds that drifted freely through space. And |
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yet one of them was unique among them all in being the originals Galaxy. One |
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of them had, in its vague and distant past, a period when it was the only |
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Galaxy populated by man. |
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Zee Prime was consumed with curiosity to see this Galaxy and called, out: |
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"Universal AC! On which Galaxy did mankind originate?" |
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The Universal AC heard, for on every world and throughout space, it had its |
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receptors ready, and each receptor lead through hyperspace to some unknown |
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point where the Universal AC kept itself aloof. |
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Zee Prime knew of only one man whose thoughts had penetrated within sensing |
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distance of Universal AC, and he reported only a shining globe, two feet |
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across, difficult to see. |
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"But how can that be all of Universal AC?" Zee Prime had asked. |
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"Most of it, " had been the answer, "is in hyperspace. In what form it is |
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there I cannot imagine." |
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Nor could anyone, for the day had long since passed, Zee Prime knew, when any |
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man had any part of the making of a universal AC. Each Universal AC designed |
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and constructed its successor. Each, during its existence of a million years |
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or more accumulated the necessary data to build a better and more intricate, |
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more capable successor in which its own store of data and individuality would |
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be submerged. |
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The Universal AC interrupted Zee Prime's wandering thoughts, not with words, |
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but with guidance. Zee Prime's mentality was guided into the dim sea of |
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Galaxies and one in particular enlarged into stars. |
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A thought came, infinitely distant, but infinitely clear. "THIS IS THE |
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ORIGINAL GALAXY OF MAN." |
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But it was the same after all, the same as any other, and Zee Prime stifled |
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his disappointment. |
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Dee Sub Wun, whose mind had accompanied the other, said suddenly, "And Is one |
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of these stars the original star of Man?" |
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The Universal AC said, "MAN'S ORIGINAL STAR HAS GONE NOVA. IT IS NOW A WHITE |
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DWARF." |
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"Did the men upon it die?" asked Zee Prime, startled and without thinking. |
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The Universal AC said, "A NEW WORLD, AS IN SUCH CASES, WAS CONSTRUCTED FOR |
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THEIR PHYSICAL BODIES IN TIME." |
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"Yes, of course," said Zee Prime, but a sense of loss overwhelmed him even so. |
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His mind released its hold on the original Galaxy of Man, let it spring back |
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and lose itself among the blurred pin points. He never wanted to see it again. |
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Dee Sub Wun said, "What is wrong?" |
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"The stars are dying. The original star is dead." |
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"They must all die. Why not?" |
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"But when all energy is gone, our bodies will finally die, and you and I with |
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them." |
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"It will take billions of years." |
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"I do not wish it to happen even after billions of years. Universal AC! How |
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may stars be kept from dying?" |
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Dee sub Wun said in amusement, "You're asking how entropy might be reversed in |
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direction." |
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And the Universal AC answered. "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A |
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MEANINGFUL ANSWER." |
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Zee Prime's thoughts fled back to his own Galaxy. He gave no further thought |
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to Dee Sub Wun, whose body might be waiting on a galaxy a trillion light-years |
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away, or on the star next to Zee Prime's own. It didn't matter. |
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Unhappily, Zee Prime began collecting interstellar hydrogen out of which to |
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build a small star of his own. If the stars must someday die, at least some |
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could yet be built. |
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============================================================================== |
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Man considered with himself, for in a way, Man, mentally, was one. He |
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consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its place, |
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each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect automatons, |
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equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies freely melted one |
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into the other, indistinguishable. |
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Man said, "The Universe is dying." |
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Man looked about at the dimming Galaxies. The giant stars, spendthrifts, were |
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gone long ago, back in the dimmest of the dim far past. Almost all stars were |
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white dwarfs, fading to the end. |
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New stars had been built of the dust between the stars, some by natural |
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processes, some by Man himself, and those were going, too. White dwarfs might |
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yet be crashed together and of the mighty forces so released, new stars built, |
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but only one star for every thousand white dwarfs destroyed, and those would |
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come to an end, too. |
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Man said, "Carefully husbanded, as directed by the Cosmic AC, the energy that |
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is even yet left in all the Universe will last for billions of years." |
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"But even so," said Man, "eventually it will all come to an end. However it |
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may be husbanded, however stretched out, the energy once expended is gone and |
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cannot be restored. Entropy must increase to the maximum." |
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Man said, "Can entropy not be reversed? Let us ask the Cosmic AC." |
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The Cosmic AC surrounded them but not in space. Not a fragment of it was in |
|
space. It was in hyperspace and made of something that was neither matter nor |
|
energy. The question of its size and Nature no longer had meaning to any terms |
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that Man could comprehend. |
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"Cosmic AC," said Man, "How may entropy be reversed?" |
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The Cosmic AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL |
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ANSWER." |
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Man said, "Collect additional data." |
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The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL DO SO. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR A HUNDRED BILLION |
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YEARS. MY PREDECESSORS AND I HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TIMES. ALL THE |
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DATA I HAVE REMAINS INSUFFICIENT." |
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"Will there come a time," said Man, "when data will be sufficient or is the |
|
problem insoluble in all conceivable circumstances?" |
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The Cosmic AC said, "NO PROBLEM IS INSOLUBLE IN ALL CONCEIVABLE |
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CIRCUMSTANCES." |
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Man said, "When will you have enough data to answer the question?" |
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"THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER." |
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"Will you keep working on it?" asked Man. |
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The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL." |
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Man said, "We shall wait." |
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|
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============================================================================== |
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|
"The stars and Galaxies died and snuffed out, and space grew black after ten |
|
trillion years of running down. |
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|
|
One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in |
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a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain. |
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|
|
Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included |
|
nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly |
|
thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, |
|
asymptotically, to the absolute zero. |
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Man said, "AC, is this the end? Can this chaos not be reversed into the |
|
Universe once more? Can that not be done?" |
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AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER." |
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Man's last mind fused and only AC existed -- and that in hyperspace. |
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|
|
============================================================================== |
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|
|
Matter and energy had ended and with it, space and time. Even AC existed only |
|
for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time |
|
a half-drunken computer ten trillion years before had asked the question of a |
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computer that was to AC far less than was a man to Man. |
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All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was |
|
answered also, AC might not release his consciousness. |
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All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected. |
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|
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But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in |
|
all possible relationships. |
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|
A timeless interval was spent in doing that. |
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|
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And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of entropy. |
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But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last |
|
question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of |
|
that, too. |
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|
For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AC |
|
organized the program. |
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|
|
The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and |
|
brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done. |
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|
And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" |
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|
And there was light----
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