“So far so good, then. This by itself, however, does not explain
all the facts. There are some additional pieces of evidence which
must be taken into account by any theory that claims to be
comprehensive. They can be summarized in the following questions:
“One: How could Charlie’s voyage from Minerva to our Moon have
taken only two days?
“Two: How do we explain a weapons system, consistent with the
Lunarian level of technology, that was capable of accurate
registration over a range extending from our Moon to Minerva?
“Three: How could the loop feedback delay in the fire-control
system have been substantially less than the minimum of twenty-six
minutes that could have applied over that distance?
“Four: How could Charlie distinguish surface features of Minerva
when he was standing on our Moon?”
Hunt looked out from the screen and allowed plenty of time for the
audience to reflect on these questions. He stubbed out his
cigarette and leaned forward toward the camera, his elbows corning
to rest on the desk.
“There is, in my submission, only one explanation which is capable
of satisfying these apparently nonsensical requirements. And I put
it to you now. The moon that orbited Minerv~a from time immemorial
up until the time of these events fifty thousand years ago
-and the Moon that shines in the sky above Earth today-are one and
the same!”
Nothing happened for about three seconds.
Then gasps of incredulity erupted from around the darkened room.
People gesticulated at their neighbors while some turned
imploringly for comment from the row behind. Suddenly the whole
theater was a turmoil of muttered exchanges.
“Can’t be!”
“By God-he’s right!”
“Of course. . . of course. . .
“Has to be. . .”
“Garbage!”
On the screen Hunt stared out impassively, as if he were watching
the scene. His allowance for the probable reaction was well timed.
He resumed speaking just as the confusion of voices was dying away.
“We know that the moon Charlie was on was our Moon- because we
found him there, because we can identify the areas of terrain he
described, because we have ample evidence of a large-scale Lunarian
presence there, and because we have proved that it was the scene of
a violent exchange of nucleonic and nuclear weapons. But that same
place must also have been the satellite of Minerva. It was only a
two-day flight from the planet-Charlie says so and we’re confident
we can interpret his time scale. Weapons were sited there which
could pick off targets on Minerva, and observations of hits were
almost instantaneous; and if all that is not enough, Charlie could
stand not ten yards from where we found him and distinguish details
of Minerva’s surface. These things could only be true if the place
in question was within, say, half a million miles of Minerva.
“Logically, the only explanation is that both moons were one and
the same. We’ve been asking for a long time whether the Lunarian
civilization developed on Earth or whether it developed on Minerva.
Well, from the account I’ve given, it’s obvious it was Minerva. We
thought we had two contradictory sets of information, one telling
us it was Earth and the other telling us it wasn’t.
But we had misinterpreted the data. It wasn’t telling us anything
to do with Earth or Minerva at all-it was telling us about Earth’s
or Minerva’s moon! Some facts told us we were dealing with Earth’s
moon while others told us we were dealing with Minerva’s moon. As
long as we insisted on introducing, quite unconsciously, the notion
that the two moons were different, the conflict between these sets
of facts couldn’t be resolved. But if, purely within the logical
constraints of the situation, we introduce the postulate that both
moons were the same, that conflict disappears before our eyes.”
Shock seemed to have overtaken the audience. At the front somebody
was muttering, “Of course. . . of course. . .” half to himself and
half aloud.
“All that remains is to reconcile these propositions with the
situation we observe around us today. Again, only one explanation
is possible. Minerva exploded and dispersed to become the Asteroid
Belt. The greater part of its mass, we’re fairly sure, was thrown