In the illusory world of VISAR’s creations, Karen Heller was half a billion miles tall and floating in space. A loosely coupled binary system of Ping-Pong-ball-sized stars, one yellow and one white, was revolving slowly in front of her while a myriad more glowed as pinpoints of light in the infinite blackness stretching away on every side. The center of mass of the two stars was located at one of the foci of a highly elongated ellipse, superposed on the view by VISAR, tracing the orbit of the planet Surio.
Hanging in space beside Helter and looking like some cosmic god contemplating the material universe as if it were a plaything, Danchekker extended an arm to point at the planet sliding along its trajectory in VISAR’s speeded-up simulation. "The conditions that Surio encounters at opposite ends of the ellipse are completely different," he said. "At one end it’s in close proximity to both its suns and therefore very hot; at the other it’s remote from them and therefore quite cool. Its year alternates between a long oceanic phase during the cool period, and an equally long hot phase during which Surio possesses practically no hydrosphere at all. Eesyan tells me it’s unique among the worlds that the Thuriens have discovered so far."
"It’s fascinating," Heller said, enthralled. "And you’re saying that life has emerged there despite those conditions. It sounds impossible."
"I thought so too," Danchekker told her. "Eesyan had to show me this before I’d believe otherwise. That was what I wanted to show you. Let’s go down and take a closer look at the planet itself."
They seemed to be rushing toward Surio as VISAR responded to the verbal cue. The stars vanished away behind them, and the planet grew rapidly and swelled into a sphere that flattened out beneath them as they descended from the sky. It was in a cool, oceanic phase, and as they plunged downward they shrank in size so that the sea stretching from horizon to horizon looked normal.
Then they were underwater, with strange alien life forms swimming and twisting in the ocean around them.
A black, fishlike creature, vaguely reminiscent of some shark species, seemed to single itself out, their viewpoint moving progressively as they followed it. Then, as VISAR altered the content of the information being injected into their visual systems, the body and soft tissues of the creature became a translucent haze to reveal clearly the structure of its skeleton. The light filtering through the water from above went out suddenly, then came on again, then continued to flicker steadily like a slow-motion stroboscope. The image of the fish remained motionless in front of them. "Day and night cycles," Danchekker explained in answer to Heller’s questioning look. "VISAR is speeding them up and freezing this image artificially so that we can observe it. Have you noticed yet that the intensity of the daylight periods is increasing?"
Heller had. She also noticed that the creature’s skeleton was beginning to change subtly. Its spine was shortening and getting thicker, and the bones inside its fins were elongating and differentiating into clearly discernible jointed segments. Also, the fins were slowly migrating toward the creature’s underside. "What’s happening there?" she asked, pointing.
"It’s an adaptation that I thought you might be interested in seeing," Danchekker replied. "The year is growing warmer, and the oceans around us have begun evaporating rapidly." VISAR obligingly raised them high above the surface again to confirm the statement. The face of the planet had already changed beyond recognition since their arrival. The oceans had retreated to a series of steep-sided basins, uncovering broad shelves that now connected into vast land masses what had previously been scattered islands and minor continents. Carpets of vegetation were creeping outward behind the receding shorelines and upward into what had been barren mountainous regions. A dense cloud blanket had formed, from which continuous rains were drenching the highlands.
They watched the surface transformation continue for a while, and then descended once more to follow local events in a shallow estuary formed where a river draining water from the rainy areas inland had carved a trench across the exposed continental shelf to one of the diminishing ocean basins. The creature that they had studied previously was now an amphibian living on the mud flats, with rudimentary legs already functioning and a fully differentiated, mobile head. "It dissolves its bones by means of specially secreted fluids triggered by environmental cues, and grows a new skeleton more suited to an existence in its changed environment," Danchekker commented. "Quite remarkable."
To Heller this seemed an overly drastic solution. "Couldn’t it stay a fish and simply move out into the oceans?" she asked.
"Very soon there won’t be any oceans," Danchekker told her. "Wait and see."
The oceans shrank into isolated pools surrounded by mud, and then dried up completely. As the climate grew hotter the rivers from the highlands became trickles as they flowed downhill, finally evaporating away before reaching the basins, and what had been the seabeds turned into deserts. The vegetation receded across the shelves until it had been reduced to scattered oases of life clinging doggedly to the highest plateaus and mountain peaks. The creature had migrated upward and was now a fully adapted land dweller with a scaly skin and prehensile forelimbs, not unlike some of the earliest terrestrial reptiles. "Now it’s in its fully transformed state," Danchekker said. "As Surio goes through a year, the animal cycles are repeated from one extreme of morphology to the other. An amazing example of how tenacious life can be under adverse conditions, wouldn’t you agree?"
The day lengthened as light periods from the two suns overlapped, and then shortened again as Surio came around the tip of its orbit and began its long swing outward into another cold phase. The vegetation began advancing down the mountainsides, the creature’s limbs commenced reducing, and the whole sequence went slowly into reverse. "Do you think intelligence could ever emerge in a place like this?" Heller asked curiously.
"Who can say?" Danchekker replied. "A few days ago I would have said that what we have just witnessed was unthinkable."
"It’s fantastic," Heller murmured in awe.
"No, it’s reality," Danchekker said. "Reality is far more fantastic than anything that unaided human imagination could ever devise. The mind could not, for example, visualize a new color, such as infrared or ultraviolet. It can only manipulate combinations of elements that it has already experienced. Everything that is truly new can only come from the Universe outside. And uncovering the truth that lies out there is, of course, the function of science."
Heller looked at him suspiciously. "If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were trying to start an argument," she teased. "Let’s get back before this conversation goes any further and see if Vic’s called in yet."
"I agree," Danchekker said at once. "VISAR, back to McClusky, please."
He got up from the recliner, moved out into the corridor of the perceptron, and waited for a moment until Heller emerged from one of the other cubicles. They exited through the antechamber, were conveyed down to ground level, and a few seconds later were walking along the side of the apron toward the mess hall.
"I’m not going to let you get away with that," Heller began after a short silence. "I started out in law, which has a lot to do with uncovering the truth too, you know. And its methods are just as scientific. Just because you scientists need computers to do your work for you, that doesn’t give you a monopoly on logic."
Danchekker thought for a moment. "Mmm . . . very well. If one is hampered by mathematical illiteracy, law does provide something of an alternative, I suppose," he conceded loftily.
"Oh really? I would say it demands far more ingenuity. What’s more, it taxes the intellect in ways that scientists never have to bother about."
"What an extraordinary statement! And how would that be, might I ask?"
"Nature is often complex, but never dishonest, Professor. How often have you had to contend with deliberate falsification of the evidence, or an opponent with as much vested interest in obscuring the truth as you have in revealing it?"
"Hmph! And when was the last time that you had to subject your hypotheses to the test of rigorous proof by experiment, eh? Answer me that," Danchekker challenged.
"We do not enjoy the luxury of repeatable experiments," Heller responded. "Not many criminals will oblige by recommitting their crimes under controlled laboratory conditions. So, you see, we have to keep our wits sharp enough to be right the first time."
"Hmm, hmm, hmm. . ."
They had timed their return to McClusky well. Hunt called just as they entered the control room. "How quickly can you get back here?" Danchekker asked him. "Karen has had some remarkable thoughts which after some reflection I find myself forced to agree with. We need to discuss them at the earliest opportunity."
"Gregg and I are leaving right away," Hunt told him. "We’ve just heard about John’s visit to the city. It puts a whole new light on everything. We need to talk to the board ASAP. Can you fix it?" It meant that Packard’s report of Pacey’s meeting with Sobroskin had arrived in Houston, and a meeting with Calazar and the Thuriens was urgently called for.
"I’ll see to it immediately," Danchekker promised.
An hour later, while Hunt and Caldwell were still on their way and after Danchekker had made arrangements with Calazar, Jerol Packard called from Washington. "Hold everything," he instructed. "Mary’s back. We’re putting her on a plane up to you right now. Whatever you think you already know, I guarantee it’s not half of it. She just blew our minds here. Don’t do anything until she’s talked to you."
"I’ll see to it immediately," Danchekker sighed.