Chapter 3 Chapter two
Nairobi loomed below us, fading away; we stood in a fast elevator (the pod, of course, being such an elevator) and watched the earth recede.
"They look like ants from here!" cried Leon Dick, standing beside me. "Black ants!"
I had a strong urge to smash a pane of glass and throw Leon out.Too bad there's no windowpane to smash: the pod's windows, like its entire cabin, are made of a transparent diamond composite material to allow passengers to enjoy the view below.The car would be completely sealed within minutes, and by the time we had climbed to a certain height, smashing the glass would cause explosive decompression, tissue hypoxia, and death.
So Leon wouldn't be surprised to find himself flung back into Earth's arms.What a pity.From Chicago, Leon clung to me like a fat tick; a man whose blood was apparently half mixed with lard was astonishing to live to be seventy-five.For a while on the flight to Nairobi, I listened to him fart and bleakly expound his theories about the racial makeup of the colony.Those farts are the most enjoyable part of his monologue.I've never been more eager to buy a pair of headphones for in-flight entertainment.
I had hoped to get the option to fly in the first pod as a way to get him out of the way.From the look of him, he needs a break after a long day of exhausting gas.But I'm not so lucky.The thought of spending six hours with Leon and his farts was too much for me; if the pod car had windows and I couldn't throw Leon out, I might jump myself.But I dodged him by doing the only thing that would stop him: by telling him I was going to the bathroom.Leon murmured agreement.I walked lazily in a counterclockwise direction toward the general direction of the toilet, but more specifically to see if I could find a place that Leon might not find.
It's not easy.The pod car is like a doughnut, about a hundred feet in diameter.The “loop” of the donut—that is, where the car slides along the pod—is about twenty feet in diameter.The diameter of the rope was evidently a little smaller than the loop, about eighteen feet or so; which, when you think about it, was barely adequate for a rope many thousands of miles long.The rest of the space is full of comfortable booths and sofas for everyone to sit and chat; there are also small areas for passengers to watch entertainment programs, play games or eat.Of course, there are plenty of viewing areas to look out, down at Earth, at other pods and cars horizontally, or up at the Colonial Space Station.
Overall, the car feels like the lobby of a cozy budget hotel, only suddenly lifted into geostationary orbit.The only downside is its open design, which makes it hard to hide.Not too many people booked the flight, not enough passengers to be invisible.Finally, I decided to get a drink at the kiosk near the middle of the car, roughly opposite where Leon was standing, and farthest from him.To avoid him, there is the greatest chance.
Physically, the process of leaving Earth was uncomfortable, thanks to Leon; but I was emotionally at peace.A year before I left, I had already decided: I would join the colonial army.If you are determined, the rest will be simple. You just need to arrange everything and say goodbye.Ten years ago, when Cathy and I decided to enlist in the military, we put the house in the name of our son Charlie so he could inherit the property without probate.Except for the house, Cathy and I have nothing of value, just a few bric-a-brac that we have accumulated throughout our lives.Most of the really nice things have been given away to friends and family over the past year, and Charlie will take care of the rest.
Saying goodbye to people isn't that hard either.There were varying degrees of surprise and sadness upon hearing the news.Everyone knows that once you join the Colonial Defense Force, you never come back.But this is not the same as death.They know you're still out there somewhere; hey, maybe they'll meet you again after a while.I imagine that people must have felt the same way hundreds of years ago, when some acquaintance hitched up his carriage and headed west.They cry, miss people they left behind, and return to normal life.
In short, I told everyone I was leaving a full year ago.That's long enough time to get everything you need to say, get everything in order, and make up with someone.Over the course of the year, I got together with old friends and family several times to bring up past hurts and old memories one last time, and almost everything had a happy ending.A few times, I apologized for things I wasn't too sorry for; another time, I found myself sleeping with someone (which I wouldn't normally do).But some necessary things still have to be done, even if it is to give others an explanation, it will make others feel more comfortable, and you will not pay too much.I'd rather apologize for something I don't care about so that someone on Earth blesses me than go out of my way and have someone wish my brains were sucked out by aliens.You could call it insurance on the causal loop side.
Charlie is the one that worries me the most.Like many fathers and sons, we had our own quarrels; I was not the most considerate father, nor was he the best at caring for his son, and he played around until he was in his thirties.When he first found out that Cathy and I wanted to enlist, he threw a tantrum at us.He reminded us that we had protested against the war on the subcontinent; that we had been teaching him that violence was not the solution; that we had locked him up for a month for going out with Bill Young on target shooting—a thirty-five-year-old man We were a little surprised that such a thing would be brought up.
Cathy's death ended almost all arguments, because Charlie and I both realized that most of the issues we were fighting about weren't really important.I'm a widower and he's a bachelor, and for a while we were all each other had.Not long after that, he met Lisa, married her; one rowdy night about a year later, he was fathered and re-elected mayor.Charlie was a late bloomer, but he was very accomplished.We also sat down and chatted, and I apologized (sincerely) for a few things and told him equally sincerely how proud of him he is today.Afterwards, we sat on the porch with beers, watched my grandson Adam play kiddie baseball in the front yard, and chatted happily for a long time.When we said goodbye, our hearts were filled with love, which is exactly the kind of father-son relationship everyone hopes for.
I stood at the kiosk sipping a Coke, thinking about Charlie and his wife and children.At this time, I heard Leon's nagging voice, and then a deep and piercing female voice answered.Although I didn't want to see him, I still glanced across the pavilion.Leon had apparently succeeded in blocking some poor lady, no doubt sharing the stupid theory his stupid brain was producing at the moment.My chivalry forced me to suppress the desire to hide, and I stepped forward.
"What I'm saying," Leon was saying, "is that you, me, and every American have to wait until they're too old to get a chance to go, and those little Indian cubs are shipped off to brand-new as soon as they come of age. world, and they're adults fucking fast. It's not fair. Do you think it's fair?"
"No, it doesn't look fair," the woman replied, "but we wiped New Delhi and Mumbai off the face of the earth, and I think they'll think that's unfair too."
"That's exactly what I mean!" Leon cheered. "We nuked those guys! We won that war! Victory should have been worth it, but look what happened. They lost, can go out and conquer the universe; and the only way we'll get there is to enlist in the military and protect them! Excuse me for saying this, but doesn't the bible say ''? Lose a goddamn war, I gotta say It makes you very humble."
"I don't think that's what you meant, Leon," I said, walking towards them.
"John! Here comes my confidant." Leon said, grinning at me.
The lady turned her head and faced me. "You know this gentleman?" she asked, with the subtext that if I knew him, there was something obviously wrong.
"We met on the way to Nairobi." I said, raising an eyebrow slightly, implying that this traveling companion was not my choice. "My name is John Perry," I said. "Jessie Gonzalez," she said.
"Nice to meet you," I said, turning to Leon. "Leon," I said, "you got that sentence wrong. It's from the original line, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall Inherit the land'. Domination of the Earth is a reward, not a punishment."
Leon blinked and hummed, "Even so, we beat them. We kicked their little brown asses hard. We should be the ones to colonize the universe, not them."
I was about to answer, but Jessie beat me to it. "'Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'." She said to Leon, but looked at me next to me.
Leon stared at us both dumbfounded for a moment. "You're not serious," he said after a moment, "that the Bible doesn't say we should be stranded on Earth and flood the galaxy with a bunch of brown people who don't even believe in Jesus. The Bible Definitely didn't say we were going to protect these little bastards when they conquered the universe. Gosh, I had a son in that war in India. Some guy shot one of his testicles! His testicles!
They literally deserved it, son of a bitch.And now, I'm going to the colony to save those bastards.Make me happy, how is it possible? "
Jessie winked at me, "Do you want to explain it to him?"
"If you don't mind," I said.
"Oh, I don't mind at all," she replied.
"'But I tell you, love your enemies,'" I recited, "'bless those who curse you, bless those who hate you, pray for those who insult you and persecute you; Sons of your heavenly Father: for he makes his sun rise on the good and the wicked, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unjust.'”
Leon's face flushed. "You're both fucking crazy," he said, striding away as quickly as his fat body would allow.
"Thank you, Jesus," I said, "really."
"You're really good at citing (the Bible," Jessie said. "Were you a pastor?"
"No," I said, "but I live in a town with two thousand people and fifteen churches, so I've learned to speak in the language of religion. Besides, you don't have to be religious to appreciate the Sermon on the Mount. What about you?"
"Religion class in Catholic schools," she said, "I got a ribbon for reciting the Bible in tenth grade. It's amazing how the human brain can store information for sixty years; but now, I go to the store and meet I forgot where I parked the car just now."
"Well, anyway, let me apologize for Leon," I said, "I don't know him very well, but I can tell he's an idiot."
"'You'll be judged as you judge people,'" Jessie said, shrugging. "And then again, he's just saying what a lot of people believe. I don't think that's true. Stupid again, but that doesn't mean I can't understand them. I also wish there was another way for me to see those colonized planets without having to wait my whole life and join the military. If I could be a colonist at a young age Or, I will definitely go.”
"So you didn't join the military for the adventures of being in the military," I said.
"Of course not," Jessie said contemptuously, "Did you join the army because you really wanted to fight?"
"No." I said.
She nodded, "Neither did I. Most people didn't. Your friend Leon apparently didn't join the military for the sake of it either - he did it because he couldn't stand the people we were going to protect. Some people enlist because they don't want to die and don't want to grow old; there are people who enlist because life on earth becomes boring after a certain age; there are people who want to see other places before they die - you know, that's what I do I came here. I didn’t join the military to fight, or to regain my youth. I just wanted to see what it was like to be in a foreign land.”
She turned her head and looked out the window. "It's funny that this word came out of my mouth. You know, I never left Texas in my life until yesterday."
"Don't feel bad," I said, "Texas is a big state."
She smiled slightly, "Thank you. I don't really feel sad. It's just funny. As a kid, I read all the 'colonial boy' novels, watched colonial TV shows, dreamed of herding cattle, and on Gamma Fighting vicious ground worms in the colonies. It wasn't until I was a little older that I realized that the colonists were from countries like India, Kazakhstan, and Norway that couldn't support the excess population. And I was born in the US, which means I don't have the right to go there. Yes, there are no Arcturus bulls and ground worms! I was very disappointed to know that, when I was twelve years old."
She shrugged again. "I grew up in San Antonio, then went 'away' from home to study at UT, then came back to work in San Antonio. Then I got married and took vacations to the Gulf of Mexico. My husband and I were going to Went to Italy for my 30th wedding anniversary, but it didn't work out."
"What happened?"
She laughed: "It was his secretary. In the end, it was the two of them who went to Italy for their honeymoon. I stayed at home. However, they both got poisoned eating shells in Venice, so it's a good thing I didn't go. But since then Well, I don't want to travel anymore. I know, as soon as I get old, I'm going to sign up for the military. And I did, and I'm here. Still, I wish I could get around more. I came to Nairobi from Dallas on a Delta flight, and it was fun to fly. I wish I had flown more than once in my life, let alone this—” She waved her hand to the cables of the pods outside the window—“I Never in my life would I want to ride something like this. I mean, what the hell is this cable holding on to?"
"Faith," I said, "you believe it won't fall, and it won't. Don't think too much about it, or we'll be in trouble."
"I believe I want something to eat," Jessie said. "Want to come with me?"
"Faith," laughed Harry Wilson. "Well, maybe it's faith that supports the cable. Because it's clearly not designed according to the principles of basic physics."
As Jess and I ate in the booth, Harry Wilson joined us. "You two seem to know each other better than anyone else," he said to us as he walked forward.We invited him to sit with him, which he gratefully accepted.He taught physics for twenty years at a middle school in Bloomington, Indiana.He said the thing has captivated him from the moment he stepped onto the pod.
"What do you mean it's not physics that holds the cables?" Jessie asked. "Trust me, I don't want to hear that at this point."
Harry laughed. "Excuse me, let me put it another way. Granted, there is physics in what holds the pods up, but the physics is not simple. A lot of what happens here would be impossible on the ground."
"I think there's a physics lecture about to start," I said.
"I've been teaching physics to teenage kids for years," Harry said, pulling out his little notebook and pen. "It's easy, trust me. Now, take a look." Harry wrote on the page Draw a circle at the bottom of the paper, "This is Earth, and this is—" He draws a slightly smaller circle in the middle of the paper—"The Colonial Space Station, in geostationary orbit, that is, it is relatively The Earth's rotation is stationary and always hangs over Nairobi. Do you understand?"
We nodded.
"Very well. Well, the idea behind the pod is to connect the colony space station to Earth through a 'pod' and some elevator cars that can move back and forth. The thing is the elevator car." Harry drew a line to represent the cable, and some little squares to represent our car, "Here's the thing: To enter Earth orbit, the car on the cable doesn't have to reach escape velocity, and the launch vehicle It has to do that. It's a great thing for us, so that we don't feel like we have an elephant on our hearts when we go to colonize the space station. The principle of this is very simple.
"The point is, this pod doesn't follow the basic physics that a classic ground-to-space pod does. Like"—Harry draws another line across the colony station to the edge of the paper—"the colony station It should not be at one end of the pod. According to the principles of balance and orbital dynamics, there should be a cable going through the colony space station and extending tens of thousands of miles outward. Without such a balance force, any pod should be unstable and dangerous. "
"And you mean the beanstalk is stable and safe," I said.
"Not only has it not been unstable, it's probably the safest way of navigation ever designed and manufactured," Harry said. "The pods have been in continuous operation for more than a century and are the only way for colonists to leave Earth. Never There have been no accidents due to instability or material failure. There was a famous pod explosion forty years ago, but that was sabotage and had nothing to do with the physical construction of the pod itself. The pod is extremely stable, and has since been built It has always been so. But according to basic principles of physics, it's impossible."
"Then what is it supported by?" Jessie asked.
Harry laughed again, "Well, that's the problem, isn't it?"
"You mean, you don't know either?" Jessie asked.
"I don't know," said Harry honestly, "but it's nothing to be surprised about, because I'm only—or was—a high school physics teacher. But as far as I know, no one else knows either. It works. I mean people on Earth. The Colonial Federation obviously knows."
"Well, how is that possible?" I asked. "Pods have been around for a century, and for goodness sake, doesn't anyone bother to figure out exactly how it works?"
"I'm not saying that," said Harry, "of course there are people who try and keep trying. It's no secret over the years. Governments and the media have been demanding to know about the pods since they were still being built. How it works. The Colonial Union's answer was, 'Go figure it out yourself', and that's it. Scientists in the physics community have been trying to crack this problem ever since. It's been named the 'pod problem.'"
"Not creative enough," I said.
"Well, physicists' imaginations are left to other things," Harry said with a smile. "The point is, this puzzle has never been solved. There are two main reasons. First, the construction of pods is unimaginably complicated." The point - I've pointed out the general problem, but there are others, such as the strength of the cable, pod wobble from storms and other atmospheric phenomena, and even issues with the cable wearing out and thinning. In the real world, Any one problem is very difficult; trying to solve them all at once is impossible."
"What about the second reason?" Jessie asked.
"The second reason is that it's pointless to study pods. Even if we could figure out how to build them, we couldn't afford to build them." Harry leaned back in his chair. "Before I became a teacher, I worked at General Electric. We were working on the Atlantic Metro, and one of my jobs was to go through old projects and project proposals to see if there were any technical and operational methods that could be applied to the Atlantic Metro project. It was like seeing if I could hit the big luck , save some cost."
"GE went bankrupt because of that project, right?" I asked.
"Now you know why they wanted to keep costs down, and why I became a teacher?" said Harry. "After that, GE couldn't afford me, or anyone else. Closer to home, I went through old proposals and reports, including some classified material, and one of the reports was on pods. General Electric was hired by the US government to do a third-party feasibility study on building pods in the Western Hemisphere. They wanted to drill in the Amazon River A hole the size of the state of Delaware stands the pods on the equator.
"GE recommends that the government abandon that idea. The proposal says that even if major technological breakthroughs are achieved - most of which have not been achieved until now, and those that can be clarified have nothing to do with the technology used in this pod - the construction of the pod The budget is also three times the annual gross national product of the United States. And that's assuming the project stays within budget -- which is very possible. That was twenty years ago, and the report I read Ten years old. But I don't think construction costs have dropped significantly since then. So, forget about any new pods, we already have cheaper ways to get people and materials into orbit. Save money many."
Harry leaned forward again, "This leads to two obvious questions: How did the Colonial Union invent this technological behemoth? Why did they go to such lengths to build the pods?"
"Well, isn't this obvious? The technology of the Colonial Alliance is much more advanced than that of Earth." Jessie said.
"Of course," Harry said, "but why? Don't forget, the colonists are human beings. Also, the colonists come from poor countries with serious population problems, and their education levels are already very low. When they arrived at their new homeland, they were clearly more concerned with sustaining life than with coming up with creative ways to build pods. Let's talk about the jump thrusters, which made interstellar colonization possible. This technology was developed on Earth Developed on Earth, without any improvements in over a century. So, on the face of it, the colonists have no reason to be more technologically advanced than us."
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to my mind. "Unless they're lying," I said.
Harry grinned. "Exactly. I thought so too."
Jessie looked at me, then at Harry. "I don't understand what you two are talking about," she said.
"They're lying," I said. "Look, we're stuck on Earth and we're just learning by ourselves—inventing, improving technology; but doing it slowly because we've got to do it all ourselves. And in the sky -"
"In the sky, humans have met other intelligent races," said Harry, "and some of them are obviously more advanced than us. We can buy technology through trade, or use reverse engineering to find out how it works. Find out if there are physical objects." It's much easier to figure out how it works than to invent it all yourself."
"This is cheating," I said. "The Colonial Union is stealing from others."
"Well, then why doesn't the Colonial Union share its findings with us?" Jessie asked. "What's the good of keeping it a secret?"
"Maybe they think we can't do any harm because we don't know," I said.
"Or something else," Harry said, waving his hand toward the window, where the pod's cable was passing, "this pod doesn't exist because it's the easiest way to get people to the colony station, it's Exists because it's the hardest to build - in fact, the most expensive, technically complex, and politically most intimidating avenue. It exists as a reminder that the capabilities of the Colonial Federation are more advanced than all of humanity How many light years."
"I never thought it was a deterrent," Jessie said. "I didn't even think much about the pods."
"Its deterrence isn't aimed at you," said Harry, "but if you were the president of the United States, you'd think differently. After all, it was the Colonial Confederation that kept us on Earth. Except for the Colonial Confederation's colonial and Conscription, there is no other route to star travel. There is constant pressure on political leaders to rebel against the colonial alliance so that their people can go to other planets. But Douying reminds them all the time, as if to say: 'Unless you have the ability Make pods, or don't challenge, don't even think about it.' And pods are the only technology that the Colonial Union has shown us. Think of the technologies they haven't shown us yet. I promise you , The President of the United States must have seen it before. Because of this, he and other leaders on the earth will behave in order and dare not go overboard."
"These don't make me feel close to the colonial alliance." Jessie said.
"The Colonial Federation isn't necessarily evil," Harry said. "It could just as well be trying to protect the planet. The universe is so big, maybe our neighbors aren't that nice."
"Harry, have you always been so fanciful," I asked, "or have you grown old and frail and developed eccentricities?"
"How could I live to be seventy-five without fantasy?" Harry smiled. "Anyway, I don't mind that the Colonial Alliance is much more technologically advanced than us. Their advanced technology is about to serve me." He raised his head An arm, "Look at this thing," he said, "loose and old, it's not going to work. But the Colonial Defense Forces will take that arm, and all my parts, and make me fit for battle state. Do you know how to transform it?"
"I don't know." I said.Jessie shook her head.
"I don't know either," said Harry, slamming his arms on the table with a thud. "I have no idea what they're going to do. And, most likely, I can't even imagine what they're going to do. If we were really The colonial alliance is limited to the low stage of industrial development, so explaining the transformation method to me is like explaining the pod car to someone who has never seen transportation other than horses and carts. But they obviously have a way to turn decay into magic, Otherwise, why would they recruit seventy-five-year-olds? The universe will not be conquered by an army of old guys. I don't mean to offend you two." He quickly added.
"It's okay." Jessie smiled.
"Ma'am, sir," Harry said, looking at the two of us, "maybe we think we know what we're about to face, but I don't think we know at all. The existence of the pod is enough to show that. Bigger and weirder than imagined—and this is just the beginning of the journey. What comes next will be bigger and weirder. Prepare as much as you can.”
"It's really dramatic." Jessie said dryly, "After hearing such a speech, I don't even know how to prepare."
"I know." I said, standing up suddenly, and quickly ran out of the cubicle, "I'm going to the bathroom. If the universe is bigger and weirder than I thought, then I better empty my bladder and face it .”
"Spirited like a Boy Scout," Harry said.
"Scouts don't need to go to the bathroom as much as I do," I said.
"Of course," Harry said, "just let him live another sixty years."
Notes:
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