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发信人: by (春天的小懒虫), 信区: SFworld
标  题: 2010 (43)
发信站: 哈工大紫丁香 (Wed Oct  6 15:19:39 1999), 转信

                                43
                     Thought Experiment

When  one  spends  months  with  a  small,  isolated group of
people,  one  becomes  very  sensitive  to the moods and emo-
tional  states  of  all its members. Floyd was now aware of a
subtle  change  in  attitude  toward  him;  its  most obvious
manifestation  was  the  reappearance  of  the  greeting  `Dr
Floyd',  which he had not heard for so long that he was often
slow to respond to it.
  No  one,  he  was  sure,  believed  that he had really gone
crazy;  but  the possibility was being considered. He did not
resent  that;  indeed,  he  was grimly amused by it as he set
about the task of proving his sanity.
  He  did  have  some  slight supporting evidence from Earth.
Jose Fernandez still maintained that his wife had reported an
encounter   with   David   Bowman,  while  she  continued  to
deny it and refused to speak to any of the news media. It was
hard  to  see  why  poor  Jose  should  have  invented such a
peculiar  story,  especially  as Betty seemed a very stubborn
and  quick-tempered  lady.  From  his  hospital bed, her hus-
band  declared  that he still loved her and theirs was only a
temporary disagreement.
  Floyd  hoped  that  Tanya's  present  coolness  toward  him
was  equally  temporary.  He  was  quite sure that she was as
unhappy  about  it  as  he  was,  and he was certain that her
attitude  was  not  a  matter of deliberate choice. Something
had  happened  that  simply would not fit into her pattern of
beliefs,  so she would try to avoid any reminders of it. Which
meant  having as little to do with Floyd as possible - a very
unfortunate situation now that the most critical stage of the
mission was fast approaching.
  It had not been easy to explain the logic of Tanya's
operational plan to the waiting billions back on Earth -
especially to the impatient television networks, which had
grown tired of showing the same never-changing views of
Big Brother. `You've gone all this way, at enormous cost,
and you just sit and watch the thing! Why don't you do
something?' To all these critics Tanya had given the same
answer: `I will-just as soon as the launch window opens, so
that we can leave immediately if there's any adverse reac-
tion.'
  Plans for the final assault on Big Brother had already been
worked out and agreed upon with Mission Control. Leonov
would move in slowly, probing at all frequencies, and with
steadily increasing power - constantly reporting back to
Earth at every moment. When final contact was made, they
would try to secure samples by drilling or laser spectros-
copy; no one really expected these endeavours to succeed, as
even after a decade of study TMA-l resisted all attempts to
analyse its material. The best efforts of human scientists in
this direction seemed comparable to those of Stone Age
men trying to break through the armour of a bank vault
with flint axes.
  Finally, echo sounders and other seismic devices would
be attached to the faces of Big Brother. A large collection of
adhesives had been brought along for the purpose, and if
they did not work - well, one could always fall back on a few
kilometres of good, old-fashioned string, even though there
seemed something faintly comic about the idea of wrapping
up the Solar System's greatest mystery, as if it were a parcel
about to be sent through the mad.
  Not until Leonov was well on the way home would small
explosive charges be detonated, in the hope that the waves
propagated through Big Brother would reveal something
about its interior structure. This last measure had been hotly
debated, both by those who argued that k would generate
no results at all - and those who feared it would produce
altogether too many.
  For a long time, Floyd had wavered between the two
viewpoints; now the matter seemed only of trivial impor-
tance.
  The time for final contact with Big Brother - the great
moment that should have been the climax of the expedition
- was on the wrong side of the mysterious deadline.
Heywood Floyd was convinced that it belonged to a future
that would never exist; but he could get no one to agree with
him.
  And that was the least of his problems. Even if they
did agree, there was nothing that they could do about
it.
  Walter Curnow was the last person he would have ex-
pected to resolve the dilemma. For Walter was almost the
epitome of the sound, practical engineer, suspicious of
flashes of brilliance and technological quick-fixes. No one
would ever accuse him of being a genius; and sometimes it
required genius to see the blindingly obvious.
  `Consider this purely as an intellectual exercise,' he had
begun, with most uncharacteristic  hesitancy. `I'm quite pre-
pared to be shot down.'
  `Go on,' answered Floyd. `I'll hear you out politely.
That's the least I can do - everyone's been very polite to me.
Too polite, I'm afraid.'
  Curnow gave a lopsided grin.
  `Can you blame them? But if it's any consolation, at least
three people now take you quite seriously, and are wonder-
ing what we should do.'
  `Does that three include you?'
  `No; I'm sitting on the fence, which is never terribly
comfortable. But in case you're right - I don't want to wait
here  and  take whatever's coming. I believe there's an answer
to every problem, if you look in the right place.'
  `I'll be delighted to hear it. I've been looking hard enough.
Presumably not in the right place.'
  `Perhaps.  If  we  want  to  make  a  quick  getaway - say in
fifteen  days,  to  beat  that  deadline - we'll need an extra
delta-vee of about thirty kilometres a second.'
  `So  Vasili  calculates. I haven't bothered to check, but I'm
sure he's right. After all, he got us here.'
  `And  he  could  get  us  away  -  if  we  had the additional
propellant.'
  `And  if  we  had  a Star Trek beam transporter, we could get
back to Earth in an hour.'
  `I'll  try  and  rig  one  up  the  next  time 1 have a spare
moment.   But   meanwhile,  may  I  point  out  that  we  have
several  hundred  tons of the best possible propellant, only a
few metres away in Discovery's fuel tanks.'
  `We've  been  through  that  dozens  of times.  There's  abso-
lutely  no  way  of  transferring it to Leonov. We've no pipe-
lines  -  no  suitable  pumps.  And  you  can't  carry  liquid
ammonia  around  in  buckets,  even  in this part of the Solar
System.'
  `Exactly. But there's no need to do so.'
  `Eh?'
  `Bum it right where it is. Use Discovery as a first stage, to
boost us home.'
  If   anyone   except   Walter  Curnow  had  made  the  sugges-
tion,  Floyd  would  have  laughed  at  him.  As  it  was, his
mouth  dropped  open  and  it  was  several  seconds before he
could  think  of  a  suitable  comment.  What  finally emerged
was: `Damn. I should have thought of that.'
  Sasha  was  the  first  they approached. He listened patient-
ly, pursed his lips, then played a rallentando on his computer
keyboard.   When   the   answers   flashed   up,   he   nodded
thoughtfully.
  'You're right. It would give us the extra velocity we need
to leave early. But there are practical problems '
  `We know. Fastening the ships together. The off-axis
thrust when only Discovery's drive is operating. Cutting
loose again at the critical moment. But there are answers to
all of these.'
  `I see you've been doing your homework. But it's a waste
of time. You'll never convince Tanya.'
  `I don't expect to - at this stage,' Floyd answered. `But I'd
like her to know that the possibility exists. Will you give us
moral support?'
  `I'm not sure. But I'll come along to watch; it should be
interesting.'
  Tanya listened more patiently than Floyd had expected,
but with distinct lack of enthusiasm. However, by the time
he had finished, she showed what could only be called
reluctant admiration.
  `Very ingenious, Heywood '
  `Don't congratulate me. All the credit should go to
Walter. Or the blame.'
  `I don't imagine there will be much of either; it can never
be more than a - what did Einstein call that sort of thing? -
"thought experiment". Oh, I suspect it would work - in
theory, at least. But the risks! So many things could go
wrong. I'd only be prepared to consider it if we had absolute
and positive proof that we were in danger. And with all
respect, Heywood, I see not the slightest evidence of that.'
  `Fair enough; but at least you now know that we have
another option. Do you mind if we work out the practical
details -just in case?'
  `Of course not - as long as it doesn't interfere with the
preflight checkout. I don't mind admitting that the idea does
intrigue me. But it's really a waste of time; there's no way
I'd ever approve it. Unless David Bowman appeared to me
personally.'
  `Would you even then, Tanya?'
  Captain    Orlova   smiled,   but   without   much   humour.   `You
know,  Heywood  -  I'm  really  not  sure.  He'd  have  to  be very
persuasive.'

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:-( Helix@KALI.COM.CN                                                208CE12C
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