[unedited]
Prologue
The Polar Bear was a mighty ship, but her situation turned out to be a perfect deadlock. We needed energy to control the trajectory, but to get the energy we had to stir the ship. Now, despite all my effort, we had a slow uncontrollable rotation, instead of positioning.
Two powerful laser beams were running around the ship's thick armour. It wasn't an attack, hence there was no enemy. The lasers were our emergency power supply. They were supposed to deliver the energy, harvested from a rather cold star. The red dwarf. Too little light for our tiny solar panels. Too much radiation in unpredictable flashes. In other words, we couldn't fly as close to it as we needed, so we send these disposable power stations with the lasers.
The problem was that the beams couldn't focus on the ship's receiver due to our rotation. Meanwhile, the automated harvesters were falling towards their inevitable death. To the star. On the peak of their emission, they were going to be destroyed. Of course, we were to follow them.
It's a shame, we approached our destination in this manner. All three main reactors were out of order and some small astrogation error brought the Polar Bear too close to the star. Such a pity, to travel for hundreds of years only to be barbecued in this old enormous spaceship. Yes, she was very old, but tough built. Her main engine, for example, hasn't ever broken down. Although now this pulse-drive is useless without proper stirring.
1
There was still time. Maybe two standard days, maybe four, depending on invisible flashes on the star. Anyway, my shift was over and I had some time to relax. I left the Control Room trying to stop thinking about my work.
I never think about my work at my free time. You see, I'm not paid for this additional effort of my mind. But something was wrong, something had changed, forcing me to consider the situation. Is there any hope? If we are lucky, and this strange red star will show some mercy to us, we will be able to get out. Basically, there are some options...
I went to the parking lot. It was not an easy trip, because of microgravity, which was a new experience for all of us. The ship normally travels under acceleration, producing an extremely conspicuous byproduct: very comfortable gravitation on board.
Actually, Polar Bear had moved with negative acceleration for many generations, as she needed to reach this system and stay here, not to explore the end of Universe. By the way, I have no idea if it exists, we have never learnt such things at school. Anyway, the deceleration produced the same gravity, so only our great-grandparents had to deal with a relatively short period of weightlessness in the middle of the Polar Bear's long journey.
Here, on the Command Level, the problems were almost unnoticeable. There were strict rules in places like this, so we had all the necessary staff fixed in its place. Any temporary unneeded object was stored according to the Instructions. All guardrails were intact, and we can move around with relative comfort using special gloves and shoes.
Instead of gravity, a magnetic backup system helped vehicles to stay attached to the roads. Strapped in my car, I could barely feel the difference. Of course, there was a slight dizziness, but I was too happy to notice it. I was driving my car. Its reactions were absolutely normal, so I just enjoyed.
It took only a few minutes to reach the Central Elevator, but then I had to wait for a while before my car was connected to one of its endless belts. Too many cars were ahead of me. Everybody wanted to get in. Elevator's speed was reduced due to power shortages, making traffic jams bigger. Nevertheless, for the majority of people, it still was the fastest way home.
The level where I lived had no name, only a number. Just like all adjacent dwelling decks. There was almost no difference between them. I believe, all of them were absolutely identical once upon a time. I mean, by the moment of the Liftoff. I'm not sure. I'm not good at History, so I don't know when exactly Polar Bear have lifted off. But who cares?
New buildings and even additional roads have been constructed since, most of them illegally. Unlike on the Command Level, the Instructions were forgotten here. Therefore, when the gravity had vanished, some structures immediately started to travel freely, to the great inconvenience of many people. Others made great fun of these events at first, but quickly realized that the issue was very serious.
The Government confiscated the most of the "detached objects" and didn't pay compensation to the owners, save a few who hired really good lawyers.
I stopped the car, unmounted its engine and secreted it in my mailbox. Of course, this will prevent any parcel from reaching me, but only temporary. The mail delivery will resume automatically at the very moment when the box is free. This motor is extremely expensive, so I cannot leave it outside. But I never take it home with me, because it's quite heavy. Although there is no gravity now, such an object still has its momentum and may be unbelievably dangerous. Besides, this engine smells.
I folded the rest of the vehicle and took it inside to put under my bed.
I had plenty of time before my next shift, so I decided to watch the news. I am a curious person, you know. I like all these news, documentaries and shows. It doesn't help to make money, but it's a great fun.
Frankly, the news was boring since we had failed to position the ship. Reporters had almost nothing to say, nor they really understood the little of information they had. Naturally, the broadcast became a collection of repeating episodes, each one duller than before. There was nothing new. At least for me. Thanks to my job I knew better what was going on.
To watch a documentary instead seemed to be a great idea. The best one from the recent. It was about the planet that we had been supposed to explore. Now, of course, the scientific interest and colonization are out of the question. We have missed the orbit.
But Polar Bear had made an excellent flyby before we go to the wrong place. Therefore, we managed to gather some data.
The planet had no name yet. We named it just "Number3", because of its place in the system. There were some other planets here.
Number3 might be habitable. The temperature was comfortable, liquid water was detected, along with nearly breathable air. There were oceans and rivers, mountains and plains, weather and seasons.
Well, the seasonal changes came up to be the result of a slow rotation of the planet. They had nothing to do with the inclination of the axis. In other words, there was no summer and winter, but day and night. But who cares about such small features, if the gravity is perfect for our bodies and background radiation level is almost bearable?
The most astonishing detail, however, was the highly developed civilization. Although it was very strange. We have found cities, roads and... no life. Apparently, organic life has never existed on Number3.
This place also has some resources, we can say it for sure. Polar Bear equipped with many telescopes and radars of a different kind. Thanks to the size of the ship, all these scientific devices are located far from each other. Hence simultaneous implementation of two or three of them allows us to get fantastic resolution.
Number3 was the best candidate for colonization, thus we studied it carefully. Other planets were interesting too. For example, they were rich in water, though, in form of vapour or ice. But this general knowledge had already been possessed by our ancestors long before Polar Bear was even constructed. As to details, well...
After the flyby, we ceased to learn about planets. Since the astrogators had found that terrible mistake in calculations, we could not afford any manoeuvre, except ones we needed to save our souls.
2
The next morning I was driving to the Elevator, when suddenly the car ahead of me slowed down. Obviously, the driver wanted to look at a young girl. The street was narrow, so the car blocked my way. But I had no intention to quarrel with the driver. He might be a dangerous man, who knows. I just whispered angrily:
"Move, stupid! She's not for sale!"
She wasn't, indeed. Far too young to sign a long-term contract as a housewife, labourer or prostitute. Too good-looking to be an immigrant. You see, tail-dwellers are usually not so pretty. Too many mutations. These folks also called "reactor-goers" for a good reason. No doubt, they do not really enter reactors, but they do live in the Tail.
Anyway, even these unlucky people usually send children of this age to the school, not to a servant-market. Besides, not all of them ever become permanent servants. All people are born free and equal, and it's up to them to remain in their original state.
Yet for me, compared to them, it might be much easier to do so. My parents were far from being rich, but they paid for my education. Moreover, they gave me this car as a birthday present. It was the simplest and cheapest two-seater, with no automaton nor luxury, but still, it was a car.
I also slowed down to take a good look at the girl. Yes, she was cute. Maybe one day I would marry her. Why not? I have a good job, a car and a place to live. I'm young and educated...
Anyway, this girl should graduate from school first, and I am not going to wait here until it happens. I have to get to my work now.
The traffic was awful. It has always been like this near the Elevator on the Command Level, but today's situation is just unacceptable. I wish I could fold the car and stroll all the way to the Control Room. Alas, there was no place to hide even such a small two-seater. To haul it by hand to the safety of our parking lot was the only option, but it would have taken too long.
When I had finally arrived, I found the Control Room overcrowded. At that moment I suddenly realized, that there was a special reason for the mess on the roads.
We have just received a signal. A message!
"Welcome! You might like to switch your best holographic projector on"
It took few minutes to tune it up. Then we saw an alien, tall and faceless. This ominous figure had frightened me a little, but soon it disappeared. Somebody noticed that the frequency was completely wrong. The medium range communication link was not connected at all. Instead of it, we were going to watch some horror movie broadcasted on a new commercial TV station.
We switched the channel, and everything was set. The alien appeared again looking absolutely friendly. In fact, it wasn't alien at all. It was a human. Nothing in his appearance was similar to that creature from the horror movie, except the height.
The Skipper-President himself was supposed to talk, but he was speechless. You know, I have never liked this guy for many reasons, but still, he definitely is a brave man. And now he is so shocked with this unbelievable event...
"Hello, can you hear me?" - asked the hologram, and the President was able to answer firmly and bravely:
"Yes, we can."
"My dear friends, the people of the Polar Bear! Welcome to the Snamrot system! My name is Retev Rrad. I'm here to help you."
The holographic figure stepped forward and held out the hand. The Skipper shook it symbolically, but to his surprise, it was not an ordinary "empty" handshake. It was not a hologram.
"You are real!" - he exclaimed.
"Yes. And as I said, I was here to help. I wish I had time to talk, but our star would kill you in two and a half days. My colleagues will continue the dialogue via this connection. And I need to go now. If you please, I would like this boy to help me."
He waved his hand and said my name.
I glanced at our guest, then at the Skipper-President. Even though the former was able to materialize holograms and to predict the crazy red dwarf's flashes, the latter was my boss. He looked at me and nodded.
"Come with me," - said Rrad and turned to the exit. In complete silence we left the Control Room.
3
"May I ask, how did you know my name, sir?"
"Please, don't say "sir". I'm not your commander. Besides, it's terribly wrong to address me this way. You can say "ma'am", if you insist."
All I murmured was "Sorry!" She was wearing a kind of light protective suit, yes. Nevertheless, I definitely should see...
"It's okay," - she continued, - "As to your name, it's printed on your badge."
Again I was shocked. Yet it really was there, but how could she read it standing in the middle of the Control Room while I was at my post? Probably, she had an extraordinary eyesight.
We reached the parking, and here Retev Rrad stopped.
"I've seen the blueprints of the ship," - she said, - "so I can easily find this parking. But I have no idea where you've parked your car."
Then she explained to me that we would go all the way down to the Tail. Her mission was to repair at least one of the reactors. Her people think this is the best way to save the Polar Bear.
I drove to the Elevator. From the moment the car had been attached to its belt it did not require any stirring until the next Change Station. From the boredom, I dared to ask another question: for what reason she needed me here?
"Firstly," - Rrad answered, - "at present you're absolutely useless in the Control Room. Even though they have already brought one of your properly trained colleagues as a temporary replacement, it is an empty formality. "At any circumstances, the ship shall have two helmsmen at their desks", as it written in the Instructions. All of which I had to learn, by the way, because I was going to repair this ship.
Returning to your question. As I said, there's no need for helmsman now, as long as the Polar Bear has no thrust. So it was my first reason to peak you up, when I needed somebody to take me to the Elevator."
She smiled. I nodded.
"Secondly, you're young. For this reason, I was sure, that you have a small agile vehicle with no automated navigation, which is boring and slow. I was perfectly right about you.
Now, I need to move fast from one segment of the Elevator to another, and there are many Changing Stations ahead. You might ask, why can't I appear on the Main Reactors Level, as I have just done in the Control Room. The answer is simple. There are no high-resolution holographic projectors down there.
We have some other technologies for your case, but all of them are less efficient and more dangerous. For instance, we can use our lasers to supply the energy, but this method require complicated adjustments.
The best way to help you is to deal with your reactors. So I am here. I need a car, because there are no other means of transportation on board. I need a driver too. I can, of course, drive myself or use autopilot, but I cannot expropriate a car. Private property is sacred here, isn't it?"
I nodded. We shifted to the next Elevator, and then to another one. Here the roads were far worse than on the Command Level. I had to drive carefully from station to station.
"I'm sorry, we have some issues here," - I said, - "Elevators are slowing down, and some roads aren't always capable to secure passing cars with the magnets. Still our auxiliary generators do their job pretty well."
She said nothing, sighed and pointed downwards. I struggled to see anything unusual there. Just endless levels. Dozens of them. The next Changing Station wasn't visible yet.
But as soon as I saw it, I understood that something was terribly wrong there. The level was dark. Rrad could learn this fact from the great distance, thanks to her fantastic eyesight.
"How can it be possible?" - my companion asked calmly.
"Well, they had not enough credits to pay for the energy," - I said.
"Of course, they hadn't. But it's not exactly what I meant. How is this situation possible on this level. Have you noticed, where we are? Here the Auxiliary Generators are located. People work here and some of them even live here. They produce the energy for others, but live with emergency lights only.
This is awfully unfair. But to understand how it happened we should look back to the history of this ship. Would you like to know more about the Polar Bear?"
I was to some extent insulted with this question. After all, she is a guest here! But in fact, her knowledge of the ship is superior to main, and I have always been interested in learning things for fun. Anyway now I am making money here because officially I am at work. So why not?
"Of course," - I answered, - "but a little bit later, okay? I'm driving now. It's dangerous here."
Everybody was moving very slowly in this reddish twilight. Some cars carried improvised spotlights, others had fluorescent marks only. These standard stripes, you know, red and white. They were just all right for local power shortages, but not for the black-out of such a scale. There were not so many cars here, but this darkness and poorly maintained roads caused numerous traffic accidents.
A man approached us murmuring "Lights, lights, lights..." Obviously, he was a travelling salesman. I asked him, how much it was, and the price was astronomical.
4
Finally, we had reached the Station. It was closed "until the end of the shift", so I had plenty of time to hear the story of my ship.
"I was right about you," - Retev Rrad said, - "You have an inquisitive mind. It's great to have a good companion, who can tell something interesting and listen to me alike. Because this place it utterly boring. Especially these "traffic jams". Just to see them drives me crazy. Cars and cars and cars...
By the way, this problem could be easily prevented. All the vehicles are foldable, right? Why don't you store them near the hoists? It would be much more efficient!"
"Well," - I gasped, - "it's too expensive. Any real estate around the Elevators costs a fortune."
"It's not exactly what I mean. Have you ever thought about completely different options? What if you can leave the car on the level "X" and then go to the level "Y" by the lift, which carries only people, not cars? On the level "Y" you can get in another car or just walk. The "weather" on board is always perfect. Naturally, there's no rain or heavy snow. Have you ever heard these words? Anyway, walking might be the perfect solution for this ship. But you have to rebuild the lifts."
"Sounds like an interesting business idea. But, you see, to make it real you will need to rebuild the whole ship!"
"Too late for your ship, I'm afraid. For this reason, I've said "prevented", not "solved" about the traffic problems. Your ancestors had more than two centuries to fix everything."
"Are you from the past, Rrad?"
"Not exactly. I would rather say, from the future. We departed half a century after the Polar Bear had lifted off. But let's start from the beginning.
Do you have any idea, why your ship has been named after the biggest carnivore on the Planet? For its size, you think? Yes, the "Polar Bear" still remains the biggest spaceship, that has ever lifted off from the surface. Afterwards, such giants were constructed in the low orbit. Our ship, for example.
But there was another reason. The Polar Bear started its journey from one of the magnetic poles. Of course, it takes more fuel to get to space, but your main drive has an incredible thrust. On the other hand, the fallout was its biggest drawback at the liftoff. Therefore they went to the Pole.
The Polar Bear has been the only ship with an atomic propulsion built on the populated planet. During the ascent to the orbit the stirring reactors were not in use, of course. But the Main Drive was. To people it was enough to be extremely worried. Small atomic bombs detonated under this stainless steel beast. One bomb per second. All the way up...
At the end of the day, the radiation level was relatively low. But why didn't they constructed this thing in space? Here is the problem. Surprisingly the problem is similar to the use of these Elevators in your car-obsessed society.
The waste of resources is the name of the game. Your people have tried for generations to produce more and more personal automobiles along with other goods on board. So now you are in a big trouble. As to the creators of the ship, they had done, basically, the same. Let's analyze how it was built.
As I said, they had wasted resources. For example, they used steel! Moreover, they took the metal from the Planet. There were many better materials, and they were available in space. But many governments and big corporations wanted to keep things moving on the Planet, they weren't interested in the exploration of some amazing asteroids.
Yet the final product proved to be a masterpiece! For instance, the propulsion system: slightly modified old nuclear bombs for thrust, and highly radioactive reactors for orientation. To send them to the stars was a really clever decision. It was much better than to burn or to blast fission materials near the overpopulated cities.
It was one step forward. Our ancestors had been burning everything before. From wood to Uranium. Just burning. For energy. Or to murder other human beings. However, they could have used the petroleum oil as raw material for many things, and radioactive isotopes for a space travel. Finally, they started to use resources in a better manner.
However, the technology used to move this enormous object was obsolete. Bombs and reactors for propulsion had been tested well before humankind established first space stations.
You can say, that obsolete technology was the most reliable. It was. But many better solutions were never used on the Polar Bear because of patient pendings, corruption and other unpleasant phenomena.
Your ship was actually capable to travel faster than it did. But it doesn't matter. We were to overcome you anyway.
I will tell you more next time. Now it's time to go. The end of the shift."
5
Yes, it was. I looked at the Elevator. But it was dead. Maybe they will switch it on "on the end of the shift" next Monday, who knows.
"What should we do?" - I cried.
"Drive to the nearest Spiral Ramp. Do they still exist?"
"Yes, but... I don't know where..."
Retev Rrad, however, knew the location of the Ramp, and we find it soon. She remembered the blueprints very well. I have never used the Ramps in darkness, but Rrad helped me with this issue too. She appeared to see everything even in these terrible conditions!
But there was another problem. The microgravity. I was frightened with the possible damage to my car. Terrible accidents happen in places like this.
"Slow down. Stop the car. Stop!" - she said mind to mind, and then continued speaking in an ordinary way: - "Sorry, I should use words, because for you it's an easier way to communicate. Easier to understand me. But for me telepathy is natural. Sorry. Anyway, the Ramp is destroyed down there. We should find another way."
We returned half a level up only to find a dark deserted place. Even Retev Rrad could not say, where exactly we were. But all the levels are similar, so she was able to find the way.
However, instead of another Ramp, we ran into a wall. My companion said she could hear some people behind it. I could not even see the wall, hence there was no light at all. Frankly, I wanted to go back and to wait until the Elevator would be fixed, but with this woman by my side, it was not an option.
She got out of the car, knocked the wall and said using telepathy: "There's a hatch" There was, yeah! Yet we had to drive in this blessed darkness for... Who knows for how long...
You see, I cannot even read my instruments in the darkness. Our vehicles, along with all our gadgets are not designed to work in an environment like this. At any circumstances, lights shall be always on!
"Calm down," - Rrad said aloud, - "We have arrived. There is a door. Don't worry, you may park your car here. Nobody will take it. There are no people on this side," - She noticed my hesitations and added: - "Don't worry, I'm sure the parking here is absolutely free of charge."
The door was locked, but Rrad did not make any effort to brake in. Nor she tried to use the bell or the intercom. She did not even check these simple devices, which surely were there.
Instead, she suggested waiting. It would not take long, she assured me, and it was safe here. So why not to tell more of her story?
6
"As I said, we started our journey decades after the Polar Bear had taken off. However, we travelled faster. You can imagine, of course, how have we done it. Fusion engines and curving drive, yes. But let's put the technology aside for now.
What really matters is what we have found. The Snamrot system. Three of its planets were habitable. Here I would like to add a word about the names we use. All of them are short and simple. The star is called just "the Sun", despite the fact it's not like our Sun at all.
As to the planets in the habitable zone, they are called New Venus, Snamrot 3 or just Snamrot, and New Mars. Easy to remember, aren't they?"
"Quite easy," - I agreed, opening my eyes and trying to see something. There was the same impenetrable blackness. But with Rrad and her story it was far less frightening.
"Number3 is the name you use for Snamrot, as I have learnt here. So I understand that you know almost nothing about this planet save its location in the system, right?"
"Well, the scientists gathered some data. They learned a lot, actually."
"Of course. But not about its past. We chose the name "Snamrot" for a good reason. In science-fiction, it has been used for ages to name bad places.
In the beginning, everything was alright here. All these planets shared the same form of life. We aren't sure about the endonyms of the natives, so we call all of them just "big people". In fact, they were big. They were not exactly like us, but we can call them people.
In short, one day some leaders on Snamrot decided to go to war. Their own planet was poisoned after generations of thoughtless decisions. They conquered other two planets relatively fast thanks to their superior technologies.
The colonies had plenty of resources, territories and energy. The indigenous population was mostly perished, but for the newcomers, this matter was of no importance.
Later on, the worn out metropole degraded even more. At some stage, the colonists started to fight for it. Because of remaining resources, little, but precious. Because of its historical value. Because these people just needed some reason to fight.
When casualties proved to be too heavy, and machines became cheaper, the big people decided to replace their soldiers by robots. Have you seen them? Of course, you have. They remained there, hence their masters had had no fuel to pick them out.
At the final stage, they banned wars. They turned to games. Robotic championships. Droids were racing, boxing, jumping, doing everything.
Meanwhile, the two exhausted colonies died slowly and quietly. New Venus was boiled, New Mars was frozen to death. The metropole with all the competing robots was sterilized in its slow rotation by the radiation of our violent red Sun.
I wanted you to hear this story for two reasons. Firstly, your ship is flying Snamrot. Believe me, it is. As to the second reason, I will tell you about it next time."
"Flying Snamrot!?" - I cried, - "But it has never experienced any wars!"
"It's not exactly what I mean. Of course, you have no armed conflicts. The Polar Bear is vulnerable, despite its size. Nevertheless, overconsumption and overproduction are your best friends. Your society needs destruction to encourage production. Instead of war, you have some minor riots. They are the perfect war substitute for the ship's scale. It works well for some time. But one day the system crashes.
But as I said, there were two reasons for telling the story. I'm sure you will like the second one. But now it's time to enter this building."
7
At the very moment, the door opened. The light I saw behind it, was like a crushing blow for my eyes, despite it was very dim. When I accustomed to the light, I could see two black silhouettes. Their squared heads were slightly bigger than normal.
Retev Rrad said "Hello", and one of them answered the greeting, while the other exclaimed:
"Oh, sister, this voice is exactly what I have heard in my head!"
At this moment I grasped that they were nuns. The wall encircled their dwellings, and this door was one of the emergency exits. Rrad had contacted these women using her supernatural skills, so they came to let us in.
I don't know much about nunneries. Or how do they call it? Convents? But I have heard, that men cannot be there. To my surprise, I was allowed to enter, and they were allowed to communicate with me. I should watch some documentary about this later if I survive.
"Is there any link to the Command Level," - I asked immediately, - "You see, I'm working overtime now and I need to make it sure they will pay."
There was a link. A brand new communication device was stored in the shop near the main entrance. I contacted my boss, while Retev Rrad listened to the prioress. When I joined them, she was speaking about the current issues of the Convent. There were only four nuns here, and very few young girls wanted to join. Rrad looked astonished for a moment:
"Excuse me, mother," - she inquired, - "may I ask how do you manage to keep this enormous household with almost no robots and only four human workers?"
"Oh, we are renting all of our wooltrees and meetbushes. The leaseholders give us a certain percentage of the product. We sell it here, in the shop."
Frankly, I do not know much about wooltrees. All I remember is this old odd children song:
White tree, white tree,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full
Rrad nodded, smiled and changed the topic. She asked about Elevators, Ramps and other possible ways to travel down. The prioress told her the nearest Ramp was half a radius from here. You know, all these levels in the middle of the ship are enormous. So "half a radius" translates to a great distance.
"It might be a good idea to rest in our guest house," - said our hostess, - "Naturally, it will be free for you. The government pays for special guests like you. Besides, all of our accommodations are vacant anyway. There are no tourists nowadays, and even pilgrims are very few because of this zero-gravity issue."
There was an issue indeed. Even though the hotel was completely adapted to these extreme conditions, nobody wanted to travel to this godforsaken place now.
Rrad recommended me to have a good sleep. But I wanted to hear the rest of her story. She said nothing, but I felt something. A kind of message, you know. I tried to understand it, and suddenly everything changed.
8
A terrific painful blow had flattened me out. Like an explosion inside my head. Also something had changed in my brain. There was a large patch of emptiness, and it made me think that a part of my memory had been taken out. It was wrong perception. This message, this blow had made completely the opposite: something new had been added to my mind.
It was empty indeed, but I knew how to use it. Now I was able to learn things in a different way.
I have realized that I see the Polar Bear from outside. Its gigantic main structure and its thin tail with all these marvelous propulsion systems. Such a magnificent view! But there was something else, glorious not less. I started to think about it. It was a kind of narrative. Like these speechless messages, but at the even higher level of telepathy.
"Look at your ship. She is overwhelmingly big. As I had told you before, it was too late to rebuild her systems. It is just impractical.
But your people have a chance to change themselves and their lives. Therefore, the second reason to learn all these stories is the hope. Even though your society has degraded to slavery, there is still an opportunity to go the other way. If you do it now, you will survive.
As to the history of Snamrot, it is an excellent example of the worst case scenario. Today that planet is merely a museum. But we certainly will colonize it. See for yourself."
I saw. I could see the entire planet and all on its surface in the tiniest details simultaneously. Zoom in and zoom out at the same time! Wonderful capability, but the planet itself was even more exciting.
Number3, also known as Snamrot, was not a dead planet. Studying it from the Polar Bear, we had not detected many large structures that I could clearly see now. They were mobile human outposts. These settlements spent most of the time in the twilight zone, sometimes hiding on the night side and on rare occasions exposing themselves to the dim daylight.
One day Snamrot would be habitable again. Nevertheless, for the so-called big people, it was too late. The entire race had been wiped out by its own ignorance a long time before the colonists arrived.
For now, the planet was far from being terraformed, but many people lived there. Working, learning, having a rest. There were schools, labs and, of course, museums.
The two other planets have been changed more dramatically. New Venus was surrounded by artificial shields. This colossal network was supported by the vast number of airships, similar to early colonies on "Old" Venus. The system harvested the energy, protecting the tidally locked planet from its dangerous sun. Its radiation was under control, and the global warming was reversed.
The beginning of this terraforming was rather cruel. The colonists used to live in the skyships with no option to go down the surface. The lower atmosphere had been too hot then, but a century later it cooled down.
Few things on New Venus remain unchanged. The most important of them is the access to unlimited energy. However, the most of this abundant power is not used on the planet, but transferred to other locations. Spaceships, bases, other planets.
New Mars differed from most of its neighbours. Neither it was a tidally locked world, nor a planet rotating insignificantly slow, like Snamrot. New Mars was a "normal" planet, it had days and nights. But there was a very little difference between them due to the distance from the star.
In general, it was a good place, though, rather cold for unprotected human beings. On the other hand, its thick ices could be easily tunnelled and provided the sufficient radiation shielding. These ices were nothing like the tiny white caps of "Old" Mars. Entire regions were covered by deep freshwater frozen oceans here.
The colonists transformed this cold planet into a garden. Or into a greenhouse to be precise. But its most important resources have always been the same. A water and a low temperature...
9
"Is there any use for the latter?" - I asked.
"See for yourself," - Retev Rrad repeated.
Again I saw everything. But this time we were standing on the ground. I was on the planet! For the first time in my life, I could see the horizon. Then I looked at the sky: large circles of different colours were there. All the planets of the system! They were perfectly visible on the dark background. The Sun was not in sight, so I concluded that it was a night.
In front of us laid the entrance to the tunnels. Somehow I knew what was inside. The kingdom of the eternal cold. One of the most vital things for the colonies. The biggest facility of its kind in the whole system. One of a few places, you could not enter without a special preparation.
"Before we go in, I would like to explain you few important things. You have just seen what we are capable of. Probably, you think all of our achievements are possible thanks to our advanced technologies. But it is not true.
Progress on its own could lead to prosperity as well as to disaster. For instance, data networks are necessary for the peer-production, but they are also extremely good for the Random Access Memory Hole. Have you ever heard about RAMH? Of course, you know what RAM is: the temporary data storage. However, you know nothing about memory holes, because this information just cannot exist in your "free" society.
Memory holes are the way to wipe inconvenient records. This term is related not to a technically wrong data, but to any information that might cause trouble for ship's rulers. Whether this word refers to a formal leader or to somebody behind the throne.
The mentioned process had been introduced a long time before computers were invented. But with the RAMH, this censorship is far more efficient. It is completely automated. The system reviews so-called public data storages periodically and erases all information. All of it. Documentaries, news archives, textbooks, everything. This gigantic hole swallows them all, and then the system reboots. As if it lacked a permanent data storage altogether.
Actually, the permanent storage exists. But it is controlled by the censors. They can edit everything now and then, and only with their permission information from there is copied back to the publicly available sources. It happens every time the RAMH system restarts.
At the first sight, you can easily refute this information. You can say, "well, I had saved and even shared some materials, but nobody deleted it". Don't worry, the Big Nobody just don't care. For now. But your data have already been marked. Along with yourself.
Moreover, if you just try to find out about RAMH, you also will be marked. All you will find, by the way, will be about errors in the RAM. If you will look for "censors", most of the results of your search will be related to "sensors", and so on.
One more example of the negative consequences of progress: your ship's pulse-drive. It is an excellent way to "recycle" nuclear bombs, but you can still use them as a weapon. It is wonderfully simple to do: the bomb is a shaped charge, so just reverse it before it enters the catapult. You can do it with your bare hands and return one step backwards to barbarity.
Coming back to the topic, progress is not enough. We need an unlimited access to knowledge as well. We need free education. But information and education in their turn might also lead to devastating consequences. I have just taught you how to turn the ship's main drive into a weapon. But my next step is to ensure you will never do it.
We train our children very carefully. We learn from the cradle to the grave. We have done it for generations. We have changed.
We share resources, not own them. We do not need an army, a police, along with jails and guns. There are no politicians among us. No lotus eaters of any kind. We work for our living. Half-time.
Sometimes these jobs might be not so easy. Like my current mission. But I came to the Polar Bear despite the danger, because it was the best way to solve the problem. No human-amplifier can be adjusted fast enough to repair a two hundred years old reactor.
Think about that. It is time to enter the Incubator."
10
We went down to the tunnel. It was not especially big. Just an ordinary tube carved in the thick ice. But inside I saw an astonishing thing. The biggest incubator in the colonies. The upper level was warm. Here ice provided only an insulation. On the contrary, all the compartments below were used for the cold storage. For millions of eggs.
I opened my mouth, but did not dare to speak. Retev Rrad smiled:
"As I said, we had changed. We lay eggs. For this reason, our ship has been named the Platypus, by the way. This innovation made us really free people, though it has some... disadvantages. Anyway, I just wanted you to understand, how seriously we had changed."
"Well," - I said, - "This kind of reproduction saves time and simplifies birth control. But do you have... families?"
"Yes, we do. We are people. We need families. We love our children. But there were some changes too. For instance, anyone may live together with a partner, but most of us do not do it permanently. As to the children, they depend on their parents in a certain sense, but not in the old way. Even though you could have hardly see any communication between two or three generations of our people, we are connected. Now, what about your family?"
"You see, I have some brothers and sisters... and I also have the parents, of course... but... we haven't been in contact for a while."
"So, that is the difference. We're always in contact," - she touched one of the eggs, - "But now it's time to the most important question you have. Ask it. Despite the fact, you know the answer."
"Is there any chance to join you?"
"Stay here and lay an egg!" - she ordered, but then added with a laughter, - "It was a joke! But don't worry, we will train you how to do it. Joking again. Anyway, you have asked a wrong question."
"What can I do to..." - I stopped trying to find out what was my ultimate goal. To join them? To marry her? To become like them? To save the Universe? I thought I didn't know even what the question was, to say nothing about the answer. In fact, I have always known both of them. Everybody knows.
The question was: how had they managed to transform everything so radically? Will we be able to do the same? Should we?
"We have put one old principle into action," - she said, - "To become a better person you must treat others as you wish them to treat you..."
Epilogue
I found myself in an unfamiliar bed. It was narrow and rather uncomfortable. The hotel? The nunnery? Yes, I was still there. Rrad has gone. But all this wonderful dream was not just a dream. I knew it for sure.
When I tried to get up, I found one dramatic change. Gravitation was back. It was a little bit hard to handle after a relatively long period of weightlessness. But it indicated that the Polar Bear was controllable and had an acceleration.
Obviously, Retev Rrad accomplished her mission here. At that moment I knew nothing about her fate. How had she managed to reach and fix the reactors? If she survived? Will I see her again?
Before long I found out that we were going to orbit Snamrot. This name, the real one, was on the news. Many new documentaries were available. About all the planets. About the colonists, the people of the Platypus.
I have found, however, that the most popular broadcast has nothing to do with astronomy or history. It was dedicated to the most important commandment: treat your neighbours as yourself.