The German delegate, Thomas Gunther, came up to Anstruther, glass in hand. He nodded cordially to us both.
‘You have a fine style of rhetoric, Leo,’ he said. ‘I am on your side against the mad terraformers, although I don’t quite manage to think of Mars as in any way sacred, as you imply. After all, it is just a dead world – not a single old temple there. Not even an old grave, or a few bones.’
‘No worms either, Thomas, I’m led to believe.’
‘According to latest reports, there’s no life on it of any kind, and maybe never has been. “Martians” are just one of those myths we have lumbered ourselves with. We need no more silly nonsense of that kind.’
He smiled teasingly at Anstruther, as if challenging him to disagree. When Anstruther made no answer, Gunther developed his line of argument. The safe arrival of men on the Red Planet could be traced back to the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, who – in the midst of the madness of the Thirty Years War – formulated the laws of planetary motion. Kepler was one of those men who, rather like Anstruther, defied the assumptions of others.
To declare for the first time that the orbit of a planet was an ellipse, with the sun situated at one focus, was a brave statement with far-reaching consequences. Similarly, what was decided on this day, in the hall of the UN, would have far-reaching consequences, for good or ill. Brave statements were required once more.
Gunther said his strong prompting was not to vex the delegates with talk of the sanctity of Mars. Since much – everything, indeed – was owed to science, then the planet must be kept for science. Sow in the minds of delegates the doubt whether the long elaborate processes of terraforming could succeed. Terraforming so far existed only in laboratory experiments. It was originally an idea cooked up by a science fiction writer. It would be foolhardy to try it out on a whole planet – particularly the one planet easily accessible to mankind.
‘You could quote,’ Gunther said, ‘the words of a Frenchman, Henri de Chatelier, who in 1888 spoke of the principle of opposition in any natural system to further change. Mars itself would resist terraforming if any organisation was rash enough to try it.’
He advised Anstruther to stick with the slogan ‘White Mars’. The simple common mind, which he deplored as much as Anstruther, would wish something to be done with Mars. Very well. Then what should be done was to dedicate the planet to science and allow only scientists on its surface – its admittedly unprepossessing surface. People should not be allowed to do their worst there, building their hideous office blocks and car parks and fast-food stalls. They must be stopped, as they had been prevented from invading the Antarctic. He and Anstruther must fight together to preserve Mars for science. He believed there was a delegate from California who thought as they did.
After all, he concluded, there were experiments that could be conducted only on that world.
‘What experiments do you mean?’ Anstruther enquired.
At this, Gunther hesitated. ‘You will think me self-interested when I speak. That is not the case. I seize on my example because it comes readily to mind. Perhaps we might go out on a balcony, since there are those near us anxious to overhear what we say. Take a samosa with you. I assure you they are delicious.’
‘My secretary always accompanies me, Thomas.’
‘As you like.’ He threw me a suspicious glance.
The two men went out on the nearest balcony, and I followed them. The balcony overlooked beautiful Lake Louise, the pellucid waters of which seemed to lend colour to the sky.
‘No doubt you know what I mean by “the Omega Smudge”?’ Gunther said. ‘It’s the elusive final ghost of a particle. When it’s known – all’s known! As I presume you are aware, I am the president of a bank that, together with the Korean Investment Corporation, financed a search for the Gamma Smudge on Luna, following the postulate of the Chin Lim Chung-Dreiser Hawkwood formulation.’ He bit into his samosa and talked round a mouthful.