[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
frame of that universe, you, the suit, the air in it, the power in the
accumulators, everything will surge outwards, creating space as it goes. Every
man his own monobloc. But if we don't have the suits on for the crossing, not
even that much will happen."
"I wish you wouldn't be so graphic," Dee complained, but her heart did not
really seem to be in it. She was, Amalfi noted, wearing that same peculiarly
strained expression she had worn when she had said that she wanted to bear
Amalfi a child. Some instinct made him turn to look at Estelle and Web. All
their hands were piled up together confidingly on the table. Estelle's face
was serene, and her eyes were luminous, almost like a child waiting for a
parity to begin. Web's expression was more difficult to interpret: he was
frowning slightly, more in puzzlement than in worry, as if he couldn't quite
understand why he was not more worried than he was.
Outside, there was a thin whining sound which rose suddenly to a howl and then
died away again. It was windy today on the mountain.
"What about the table, the glasses, the chairs?" Amalfi asked. "Do those go
with us too?"
"No," Dr. Schloss said. "We don't want to risk having any possible
condensation nuclei near us. We're using a modification of the technique we
used to build Object 4101-Alephnull in the future; the furniture will start to
make the crossing with us, but we'll use the last available energy to push it
a micro-second into the past. The result will be that it will stay in our
universe. What its fate will be thereafter, we can only guess."
Amalfi lifted his glass reflectively. It was silky in his fingers; the Hevians
made fine glass.
"This frame of reference I'll find myself in," Amalfi said. "It will really
have no structure at all?"
"Only what you impose on it," Retma said. "It will not be space, and will have
no metrical frame. In other words, your presence there will be intolerable-"
"Thank you," Amalfi said drily, to Retma's obvious bafflement. After a moment
the scientist went on without comment: "What I am trying to say is that your
mass will create a space to accommodate it, and it will take on the
metrical frame that already exists in you. What happens after that will depend
upon in what order you dismantle the suit. I would recommend discharging the
oxygen bottles first, since to start a.t universe like our present one will
require a considerably a'mount of plasma. The oxygen in the suit itself will
be sufficient for the time at your disposal. As the last act, discharge the
suit's energy; this will, in effect, touch a match to the explosion."
"How large a universe will be the outcome, eventually?" Mark said. "I seem to
remember that the original monobloc was large, as well as ultra-condensed."
"Yes, it will be a small universe," Retma said, "perhaps fifty light years
across at its greatest expansion. But that will be only at first. As
continuous creation comes into play, more atoms will be added to the whole,
until a mass is reached sufficient to form a monobloc on the next contraction.
Or so we see it; you must understand that this is all somewhat conjectural. We
did not have the time to learn everything that we wanted to know." "ZERO MINUS
THIRTY MINUTES." "That's it," Dr. Schloss said. "Suits, everybody. We can
continue to talk by radio."
Amalfi drained the wine. Another last act. He got into his suit, slowly
recapturing his old familiarity with the grotesque apparatus. He saw to it
that the radio switch was open, but he found that he could think of nothing
further to say. That he was about to die suddenly had very little reality to
him, in the face of the greater death of which his would be a part. No comment
that occurred to him seemed anything but the uttermost of trivia.
There was some technical conversation as they checked each other out in the
suits, with particular attention to Web and Estelle. Then the talk died out,
as if they, too, found words intolerable.
"ZERO MINUS FIFTEEN MINUTES." "Do you understand what is about to happen to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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frame of that universe, you, the suit, the air in it, the power in the
accumulators, everything will surge outwards, creating space as it goes. Every
man his own monobloc. But if we don't have the suits on for the crossing, not
even that much will happen."
"I wish you wouldn't be so graphic," Dee complained, but her heart did not
really seem to be in it. She was, Amalfi noted, wearing that same peculiarly
strained expression she had worn when she had said that she wanted to bear
Amalfi a child. Some instinct made him turn to look at Estelle and Web. All
their hands were piled up together confidingly on the table. Estelle's face
was serene, and her eyes were luminous, almost like a child waiting for a
parity to begin. Web's expression was more difficult to interpret: he was
frowning slightly, more in puzzlement than in worry, as if he couldn't quite
understand why he was not more worried than he was.
Outside, there was a thin whining sound which rose suddenly to a howl and then
died away again. It was windy today on the mountain.
"What about the table, the glasses, the chairs?" Amalfi asked. "Do those go
with us too?"
"No," Dr. Schloss said. "We don't want to risk having any possible
condensation nuclei near us. We're using a modification of the technique we
used to build Object 4101-Alephnull in the future; the furniture will start to
make the crossing with us, but we'll use the last available energy to push it
a micro-second into the past. The result will be that it will stay in our
universe. What its fate will be thereafter, we can only guess."
Amalfi lifted his glass reflectively. It was silky in his fingers; the Hevians
made fine glass.
"This frame of reference I'll find myself in," Amalfi said. "It will really
have no structure at all?"
"Only what you impose on it," Retma said. "It will not be space, and will have
no metrical frame. In other words, your presence there will be intolerable-"
"Thank you," Amalfi said drily, to Retma's obvious bafflement. After a moment
the scientist went on without comment: "What I am trying to say is that your
mass will create a space to accommodate it, and it will take on the
metrical frame that already exists in you. What happens after that will depend
upon in what order you dismantle the suit. I would recommend discharging the
oxygen bottles first, since to start a.t universe like our present one will
require a considerably a'mount of plasma. The oxygen in the suit itself will
be sufficient for the time at your disposal. As the last act, discharge the
suit's energy; this will, in effect, touch a match to the explosion."
"How large a universe will be the outcome, eventually?" Mark said. "I seem to
remember that the original monobloc was large, as well as ultra-condensed."
"Yes, it will be a small universe," Retma said, "perhaps fifty light years
across at its greatest expansion. But that will be only at first. As
continuous creation comes into play, more atoms will be added to the whole,
until a mass is reached sufficient to form a monobloc on the next contraction.
Or so we see it; you must understand that this is all somewhat conjectural. We
did not have the time to learn everything that we wanted to know." "ZERO MINUS
THIRTY MINUTES." "That's it," Dr. Schloss said. "Suits, everybody. We can
continue to talk by radio."
Amalfi drained the wine. Another last act. He got into his suit, slowly
recapturing his old familiarity with the grotesque apparatus. He saw to it
that the radio switch was open, but he found that he could think of nothing
further to say. That he was about to die suddenly had very little reality to
him, in the face of the greater death of which his would be a part. No comment
that occurred to him seemed anything but the uttermost of trivia.
There was some technical conversation as they checked each other out in the
suits, with particular attention to Web and Estelle. Then the talk died out,
as if they, too, found words intolerable.
"ZERO MINUS FIFTEEN MINUTES." "Do you understand what is about to happen to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]