“I’ll try. What’s the problem?”
Danchekker sighed. “Well. . . I don’t know. . . after twenty-
five million years, it should be even more advanced than it is, I
would have thought. It is far ahead of Earth, to be sure, but I
can’t see Earth requiring anywhere near that amount of time to
reach a level comparable to Thurien’s today. It seems .
strange.”
“The same thought occurred to me,” Shilohin said. “I talked to Eesyan about it.”
“Did he offer a reason?”
“Yes.” Shilohin paused for a long time while Danchekker looked at her curiously. Then she said, “The civilization of Thurien came to a halt for a very long time. Paradoxically it was as a result of its advanced sciences.”
Danchekker blinked uncertainly through his spectacles. “How could that be?”
“You have studied Ganymean genetic-engineering techniques extensively,” Shilohin replied. “After the migration to Thurien, they were taken even further.”
“I’m not sure I see the connection.”
“The Thuriens perfected a capability that they had been dreaming of for generations-the ability to program their own genes to offset the effects of bodily aging and wasting. . . indefinitely.”
A moment or two went by before Danchekker grasped what she was saying. Then he gasped. “Do you mean immortality?”
“Exactly. For a long time it seemed that Utopia had been achieved.”
“Seemed?”
“Not all the consequences were foreseen. After a while all their progress, their innovation, and their creativity ceased. The
Thuriens became too wise and knew too much. In particular they knew all the reasons why things were impossible and why nothing more could be achieved.”
“You mean they ceased to dream.” Danchekker shook his head sadly. “How unfortunate. Everything that we take for granted began with somebody dreaming of something that couldn’t be done.”
Shilohin nodded. “And in the past it had always been the younger generations, too naive and inexperienced to recognize the impossible when they saw it, who had been foolish enough to make the attempt. It was surprising how often they succeeded. But now, of course, there were no more younger generations.”
Danchekker was nodding slowly as he listened. “They turned into a society of mental geriatrics.”
“Exactly. And when they realized what was happening, they went back to the old ways. But their civilization had stagnated for a very long time, and as a result most of their spectacular breakthroughs have occurred only comparatively recently. The instant-transfer technology was developed barely in time for them to be able to intervene at the end of the Lunarian war. And things like the h-space power-distribution grid, direct neural coupling into machines, and, eventually, vis~ came much later.”
“I can imagine the problem,” Danchekker murmured absently. “People complain that life is too short for the things they want to do, but without that restriction perhaps they would never do anything. The pressure of finite time is surely the greatest motivator. I’ve often suspected that if the dream of immortality were ever realized, the outcome would be something like that.”
“Well, if the Thuriens’ experience was anything to go by, you were right,” Shilohin told him.
They talked about the Thuriens for a while longer, and then Shilohin had to return to the Shapieron for a meeting with Garuth and Monchar. Danchekker remained in the laboratory to observe some more examples of Thurien biological science presented by vis~. After spending some time at this he decided he would like to discuss some of what he had seen with Hunt while the details were fresh in his mind, and asked vista if Hunt was currently coupled into the system.
“No, he’s not,” vis~a informed him. “He boarded a plane that
took off from McClusky about fifteen minutes ago. If you want, I could put you through to the control room there.”
“Oh, er. . . yes, if you would,” Danchekker said.
An image of a communications screen appeared in midair a couple of feet in front of Danchekker’s face, framing the features of the duty controller at McClusky. “Hello, Professor,” the controller acknowledged. “What can I do for you?”
“vIsAR just told me that Vic has left for somewhere,” Danchekker replied. “I wondered what was happening.”
“He left a message for you saying he’s gone to Houston for the morning. It doesn’t go into any details, though.”