because we used some bridge engineering principles in build-
ing it. Actually, it’s much more like a travelling cranean
extremely heavy-duty overhead rail line. It isn’t going any-
where because it hasn’t any place interesting to go, that’s all.
We’re extending it to cover as much territory as possible, and
to increase its stablility, not to span the distance between
places. There’s no point to reproaching it because it doesn’t
span a real gapbetween, say, Dover and Calais. It’s a
bridge to knowledge, and that’s far more important. Why
can’t you see that?”
“I can see that; that’s what I was talking about,” Hel-
muth said, trying to control his impatience. “I have as
much common sense as the average child. What I was try-
ing to point out is that meeting colossalness with colossal-
nessout hereis a mug’s game. It’s a game Jupiter will
always win, without the slightest effort. What if the engineers
who built the Dover-Calais bridge had been limited to broom-
straws for their structural members? They could have got the
bridge up somehow, sure, and made it strong enough to carry
light traffic on a fair day. But what would you have had left
of it after the first winter storm came down the Channel
from the North Sea? The whole approach is idiotic!”
“All right,” Dillon said reasonably. “You have a point.
Now you’re being reasonable. What better approach have you
to suggest? Should we abandon Jupiter entirely because it’s
too big for us?”
“No,” Helmuth said. “Or maybe, yes. I don’t know. I
don’t have any easy answer. I just know that this one is no