“No, I guess not,” Hunt conceded with a sigh. He ifipped a switch to cut off the terminal, lit a cigarette and slumped back in a chair. “It wasn’t really that important, I suppose,” he commented absently after a while. “I was just curious to see if the differences
in biochemistry between our life forms and Minervan ones pointed to anything significant. Looks as if they don’t.”
“What were you hoping to find?” ZORAC asked. Hunt shrugged automatically.
“Oh, I don’t know. . . something that might shed light on the kinds of things we’ve been asking . . . what happened to all the Minervan land dwellers, what was it that they couldn’t survive that the animals from Earth could-we know it wasn’t the CO2 concentration now. . . . Things like that.”
“Anything unusual, in fact,” ZORAC suggested.
“Mmm. . . guess so.”
A few seconds passed before ZORAC spoke again. Hunt had the uncanny impression that the machine was turning the proposition over in its mind. Then it said in a matter-of-fact voice:
“Maybe you’ve been asking the wrong question.”
It took a moment for the implication to sink in. Then Hunt snatched the cigarette from his lips and sat forward in his chair with a start.
“What d’you mean?” he asked. “What’s wrong with the question?”
“You’re asking why Minervan life and terrestrial life were different and succeeding only in proving that the answer is, ‘because they were.’ It’s undeniably true, but singularly ineffective in telling you anything new. It’s like asking, ‘Why does salt dissolve in water when sand doesn’t?’ and coming up with the answer, ‘because salt’s soluble and sand isn’t.’ Very true, but it doesn’t tell you much. That’s what you’re doing.”
“You mean I’ve simply been working around a circular argument?” Hunt said, but even as he spoke he could see it was true.
“An elaborate one, but when you analyze the logic of it-yes,” ZORAC confirmed.
Hunt nodded to himself and flicked his cigarette to the ashtray.
“Okay. What question should I be asking?”
“Forget about Minervan life and terrestrial life for a moment, and just concentrate on the terrestrial,” ZORAC replied. “Now ask why Man is so different from any other species.”
“I thought we knew all that,” Hunt said. “Bigger brains, opposable thumbs, high-quality vision all in one species together-all the tools you need to stimulate curiosity and learning. What’s new?”
“I know what the differences are,” ZORAC stated. “My question was why are they?”
Hunt rubbed his chin with his knuckle for a while as he reflected on the question. “Do you think that’s significant?”
“Very.”
“Okay. I’ll buy it. Why is Man so different from any other species?”
“I don’t know.”
“Great!” Hunt exhaled a long stream of smoke with a sigh. “And how exactly is that supposed to tell us more than my answers did?”
“It doesn’t,” ZORAC conceded. “But it’s a question that needs answering. If you’re looking for something unusual, that’s a good place to start. There’s something very unusual about Man.”
“Oh, how come?”
“Because by rights Man shouldn’t exist. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to evolve. Man simply can’t happen, but he did. That seems very unusual to me.”
Hunt shook his head, puzzled. The machine was speaking in riddles.
“I don’t understand. Why shouldn’t Man have happened?”
“I have computed the interaction matrix functions that describe the responses of neuron trigger potentials in the nervous systems of higher terrestrial vertebrates. Some of the reaction coefficients are highly dependent on the concentrations and distributions of certain inicrochemical agencies. Coherent response patterns in key areas of the cerebral cortex could not stabilize with the levels that are usual in all species except Man.”
Pause.
“ZORAC, what are you talking about?”
“I’m not making sense?”
“To put it mildly-no.”
“Okay.” ZORAC paused for a second as if getting its thoughts organized. “Are you familiar with Kaufmann and Randall’s recent work at the University of Utrecht, Holland? It is fully recorded in Jupiter Five’s data bank.”
“Yes, I did come across some references to it,” Hunt replied. “Refresh my memory on it.”
“Kaufmann and Randall conducted extensive research on the way in which terrestrial vertebrates protect themselves against