“Yes, indeed,” said the Eagle.
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Tau Ceti seems so close to the Sun, Nicole thought, but in reality it is so very far away. That means the galaxy is larger than any of us could possibly comprehend.
“The distance from the Sun to Tau Ceti,” the Eagle said, as if he were reading her mind, “is one ten-thousandth of the distance across the galaxy.”
Nicole shook her head as the platform began to move away from the Sun and Tau Ceti. There is so much more than I had ever imagined, she thought. Even my journeys have taken place in an insignificantly small region of space. Off the moving platform to Nicole’s right, the Eagle projected a three-dimensional line drawing in the shape of a rectangular solid. By manipulating the black device that he was holding in his hand, he made the volume of the solid alternately larger and smaller.
“We have many different ways to control what is projected in this room,” the Eagle said. “With this device we can change the scale and zoom in on any particular region of the galaxy. Let me show you. Suppose I put the red light here, in the middle of the Orion Nebula. That marks the desired initial position of the platform. Then let me expand this geometrical shape to enclose about a thousand stars. . . . Now, presto.”
It was pitch-black in the room for about a second. Then suddenly Nicole was again dazzled, but this time by a different set of lights. The clusters and individual stars were much more clearly defined. The Eagle explained that the entire room was now contained inside the Orion Nebula and that the longest room dimension was now the equivalent of a few hundred light-years, instead of sixty thousand light-years as before.
‘This particular area is a stellar nursery,” the Eagle said, “where stars and planets are just being born.” He moved the platform toward the right. “Over here, for example, is an infant star system, in the early stages of formation, with many of the characteristics that your solar system had four and a half billion years ago.”
He inscribed a small solid figure around one of the stars, and a few seconds later the room was filled with the light of
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a young sun. Nicole watched a gigantic solar storm move across the moiling surface. A coronal burst arced high above her head, shooting a finger of orange and red into the blackness of space.
The Eagle steered the platform toward a much smaller, distant body, one of about a dozen accumulations of mass that could be identified in the region closely surrounding the young star. This particular planet had a slightly reddish molten surface. As they watched, a large projectile crashed into the hot fluid, ejecting material from the surface and setting up vigorous wave motion in all directions.”
“According to our statistical data,” the Eagle said, “this planet has a nontrivial probability of producing life after a few billion years of evolution, once this period of bombardment and formation is concluded. It will have .a solitary, stable host star, an atmosphere with sufficient climatic variation, plus all the chemical ingredients. Here, see for yourself. Keep your eyes on that planet. I am going to activate a special routine that scans quickly through the bottom half of the periodic chart and displays quantitative data about the comparative number of atoms of each kind that exist in that boiling stew.”
A magnificent visual display appeared in the blackness above the infant planet. Each separate atom contained in the planet’s mass was indicated both by a specific color and by its number of neutrons and protons. The size of the atom showed its comparative frequency in the mix. “Note that there are significant densities of carbon, nitrogen, the halogens, and iron,” the Eagle said. ‘These are the critical atoms. They were all created by nearby supernova in the not too distant past and have enriched the organizational possibilities of this forming body. Without complex chemistry, there cannot be efficient life. If iron were not available to be the central atom of hemoglobin, for example, on your planet, the oxygen distribution system of the many advanced life-forms would be much more inefficient.”
So the process continues, Nicole thought, eon after eon. Stars and planets form out of the cosmic dust. A few 6fthe planets contain the right chemical stuff that might eventu-
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ally lead to life and intelligence. But what organizes this process? What unseen hand causes these chemicals to become more and more complex and structured in time, until they reach even the state of self-awareness? Is there some yet-to-be-formulated natural law about matter organizing itself according to specified rules?
The Eagle was now explaining how unlikely it was that life would evolve in star systems that Contained only simple atoms like hydrogen and helium, and none of the more complex, higher-order atoms forged by dying stars in supernova explosions. Nicole began to feel an overpowering insignificance. She longed for something on a human scale.
“How small can you shrink this room?” Nicole said suddenly. She laughed at her own awkward phraseology. ‘To be more precise,” she continued, “what is the ultimate resolution of this system?”
“The finest level of detail possible,” the Eagle said, “is at a scale of four thousand ninety-six to one. At the other extreme, we can display an intergalactic scene with a greatest dimension of fifty million light-years. Remember, our interest in activities outside the galaxy is limited.”
Nicole was doing some mental calculations of her own. “Since the longest dimension of this room is half a kilometer, at the highest level of detail this room would be filled by a piece of real estate roughly two thousand kilometers long?”
“That’s right,” the Eagle said. “But why are you asking?”
Nicole was becoming more excited. “Could we zoom in on the Earth?” she asked. “And let me fly over France?”
“Yes, I guess so,” the Eagle answered after a short hesitation. “Although that is not what I had planned.”
“It would mean a lot to me.”
“All right,” the Eagle said..”It will take a couple of seconds to set up, but we can do it.”
The flight began over the English Channel. The Eagle and Nicole had been sitting on the platform at the top of the
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dark room for approximately three seconds when there was an explosion of light beneath them. After Nicole’s eyes finally adjusted, she recognized the blue water underneath them and the shape of the Normandy coastline. Off in the distance the Seine emptied into the Channel.
She asked the Eagle to station the platform over the mouth of the Seine and then to move slowly toward Paris. The sight of the familiar geography evoked a strong emotional response in Nicole. She remembered clearly the days of her youth, when she had wandered carefree throughout this region with her beloved father.
The model below them was superb. It was even three-dimensional when the sizes of the geographical features and buildings below them were above the limits of resolution of die alien system. In Rouen, the famous church where Joan of Arc had temporarily recanted was half a centimeter tall and two centimeters long. Off in the direction of Paris, Nicole could see the familiar shape of the Arc de Triomphe rising from the surface of the model.
When they reached Paris, the platform hovered for a few seconds over the sixteenth arrondissement. Nicole’s eyes fell briefly upon a particular-building below her. The sight of that building, a modern convention center, brought back an especially poignant moment from her adolescence. To my precious daughter, Nicole, and all the young people of the world, I offer one simple insight, she heard her father’s voice say again. He was near the end of his speech accepting the Mary Renault Prize. In my life I have found two things of priceless worth: learning and loving. Nothing else—not fame, not power, not achievement for its own sake—can possibly have the same lasting value.
An image of her father filled Nicole’s mind. Thank you, Papa, she thought. Thank you for taking such good care of me after Mother died. Thank you for everything you taught me. ‘
A powerful, painful yearning brought a rush of tears to Nicole’s eyes. For an instant she was again a child, and she wanted desperately to talk to her father about her ^coming death. Slowly, deliberately, Nicole fought against the emo-
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tions that were threatening to overwhelm her. This is not what I wanted to feel right now, she said to herself with difficulty. / wanted to leave all this behind.
She turned her face away from the model of France below her.
“What is it?” the Eagle asked.
Nicole forced a smile. “I want to see something else,” she said. “Something spectacular . . . and new. How about an octospider city?”