[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
She laughed aloud. How many people would pass up a chance at sex to get on with their language
lessons? All along the shingle beach, stretching to the horizon, the zand were pairing off. Except Ark.
"Y'know, sex took a couple billion years to evolve on Earth," she said.
"Huh?" Jordin's voice sounded surprised. "Oh yeah. Here ... well, how old is this ecology, anyway?"
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"Pluto must've formed early, from condensation. This could be lots older than us."
She muted the furious bips and dots of the Wiseguy-zand conversation. Occasionally Wiseguy sent them
a quick term for help- "Is this sensible?" the program asked. "Ontological?"
"Hey, is Wiseguy into philosophy already?" Jordin asked. "I dunno what that means."
"Ummm. The biology saying is ontogeny recapitulates phytogeny- meaning, in development of the
embryo you see the past stages of the species. Once we had gills, back in our fishy days."
"Hey, pretty heady stuff," Jordin said skeptically. "So soon?"
"Well, Wiseguy did train on the SETI messages."
"Seems like it's digging at how the zand see their place in this weird world."
"Maybe canned brains are natural philosophers."
"Yeah, they don't have sex to distract 'em." They both laughed at that, releasing tension.
Here we are, Shanna thought, the Columbuses of a new world, and we're waiting for a computer to do
the introductions.
"Y'know, I gotta move or I'm gonna freeze," she said.
Jordin grunted assent. "Feels great to move. Hey-the zand are moving inland."
"Uh-oh. Toward the lander."
Shanna walked back carefully, feeling the crunch of hard ice as she melted what would have been gases
on Earth-nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen itself. Low-g walking was an art. With so little weight, rocks
and ices that looked rough were still slick enough to make her slip. She caught herself more than once
from a full, facedown splat-but only because she had so much time to recover, in a slow fall. As the zand
worked their way across the stony field of lichen, they approached the lander. Jordin wormed his way
around them, careful not to get too close.
"Wiseguy! Interrupt." Shanna explained what she wanted. It quickly got the idea and spoke in short
bursts to Ark-who resent a chord-rich message to the zand.
They all stopped short. "I don't want them burned on the lander," Shanna said to Jordin, who replaced
her suit oxy bottles without a hitch.
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"Burned? I don't want them eating it," Jordin said.
Then the zand began asking her questions, and the first one surprised her: Do you come from
Lightgiver? As heralds?
In the next few minutes Shanna and Jordin realized-all from their questions alone-that in addition to a
society the zand had a rough-and-ready view of the world, an epic oral literature (though recited in
microwaves), and something that resembled a religion. Even Wiseguy was shaken; it paused in its
replies, something she had never heard it do before, not even in speed trials. It was learning not just an
alien language but an alien mind.
Agnostic though she was, the discovery moved her profoundly. Lightgiver. After all, she thought with a
rush of compassion and nostalgia, we started out as sunworshipers, too.
There were dark patches on the zand's upper sides, and as the sun rose, these pulled back to reveal thick
lenses. They looked like quartz-tough crystals for a rugged world. Their banquet of lichen done-she took
a few samples for analysis, provoking a snort from a nearby zand-they lolled lazily in their long day. She
and Jordin walked gingerly through them, peering into the quartz "eyes." Their retinas were a brilliant
blue with red wirelike filaments curling through and under. Convergent evolution seemed to have found
yet another solution to the eye problem.
Jordin said, "Y'know, I'll bet these guys can see the sun the way we do."
Shanna had been snapping her own digitals. "Meaning?"
"Our eyes are tiny in comparison. We're forty times farther away from the sun here, so these quartz eyes
are forty or so times bigger. They can resolve the point of the sun into a disk."
"Ah. So what's our answer? Are we from Lightgiver?"
"Well... you're the cap'n, remember." He grinned. "And the biologist."
She quickly said to Wiseguy, "Tell it: No. We are from a world like this. From nearer, uh, Lightgiver."
As soon and as tactfully as possible, Shanna got the interchange turned around, so that she was again
asking the questions and the zand answering them.
Discussing the sun was useful, too. They had a calendar concept of short and long warm-cold cycles that
intrigued her. Obviously it corresponded with Pluto's rotational day and centuries-long orbital "year"-an
impressive feat of observation and deduction for people who lacked a technology. Shanna soon realized,
however, that this idea was new to the zand-that, in fact, it had learned the information that very
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planetary day from an untutored genius it referred to as Old One. She pressed it further and learned the
cold arithmetic. Ark said that this very day Old One had discoursed on such deep truths while floating
over the "amber sea."
The moment she realized those numbers' implication for the future of Pluto, she broke off. For the first
time since she had been a very small child, she blinked back tears.
Don't waste our damn time on tears, Shanna sternly told herself. And certainly don't weep in a space
suit. But she remained silent, truly at a loss for what to say.
Do not sad, the zand sent through Wiseguy. Lightgiver gives and Light' giver takes; but it gives more
than any; it is the Source of all life, here and in the Dark; exalt Lightgiver.
"Incredible!" Shanna said to Jordin. "Wiseguy must be sending Ark pretty sophisticated stuff."
Jordin said, "Hard to believe Ark or Wiseguy can intuit our moods."
"And is trying to console us? Or just repeating some, well, theology."
Jordin said, "Unless Wiseguy's imposing human categories on Ark's language. Which seems likely-but
how'll we know?"
Wiseguy told her that the zand did not use verb forms underlining existence itself-no words for are, is,
be-so "sad" became a verb. She wondered what deeper philosophical chasm that linguistic detail
revealed.
"Apparently," Wiseguy said, "we have settled an interesting philosophical question, one that arose with
the SETI codes, before I was invented."
Startled, Shanna asked, "Which is...?"
"Whether all intelligences would use intertranslatable symbol grammars."
"Uh, I see."
"The answer seems to be yes. That is why I can so readily translate the zand language."
"Um." Lightgiver gives and Lightgiver takes. The phrasing was startlingly familiar. The same damned,
comfortless consolation she had heard preached at her grandmother's rain-swept funeral.
Remembering that moment of loss with a deep inward hurt, she forced it away. What could she say?
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After an awkward silence Ark said something Wiseguy rendered as, I need leave you for now.
Another zand was peeling out Ark's personal identification signal, with a slight tag-end modification. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
She laughed aloud. How many people would pass up a chance at sex to get on with their language
lessons? All along the shingle beach, stretching to the horizon, the zand were pairing off. Except Ark.
"Y'know, sex took a couple billion years to evolve on Earth," she said.
"Huh?" Jordin's voice sounded surprised. "Oh yeah. Here ... well, how old is this ecology, anyway?"
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm (98 of 283)8-12-2006 23:50:21
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm
"Pluto must've formed early, from condensation. This could be lots older than us."
She muted the furious bips and dots of the Wiseguy-zand conversation. Occasionally Wiseguy sent them
a quick term for help- "Is this sensible?" the program asked. "Ontological?"
"Hey, is Wiseguy into philosophy already?" Jordin asked. "I dunno what that means."
"Ummm. The biology saying is ontogeny recapitulates phytogeny- meaning, in development of the
embryo you see the past stages of the species. Once we had gills, back in our fishy days."
"Hey, pretty heady stuff," Jordin said skeptically. "So soon?"
"Well, Wiseguy did train on the SETI messages."
"Seems like it's digging at how the zand see their place in this weird world."
"Maybe canned brains are natural philosophers."
"Yeah, they don't have sex to distract 'em." They both laughed at that, releasing tension.
Here we are, Shanna thought, the Columbuses of a new world, and we're waiting for a computer to do
the introductions.
"Y'know, I gotta move or I'm gonna freeze," she said.
Jordin grunted assent. "Feels great to move. Hey-the zand are moving inland."
"Uh-oh. Toward the lander."
Shanna walked back carefully, feeling the crunch of hard ice as she melted what would have been gases
on Earth-nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen itself. Low-g walking was an art. With so little weight, rocks
and ices that looked rough were still slick enough to make her slip. She caught herself more than once
from a full, facedown splat-but only because she had so much time to recover, in a slow fall. As the zand
worked their way across the stony field of lichen, they approached the lander. Jordin wormed his way
around them, careful not to get too close.
"Wiseguy! Interrupt." Shanna explained what she wanted. It quickly got the idea and spoke in short
bursts to Ark-who resent a chord-rich message to the zand.
They all stopped short. "I don't want them burned on the lander," Shanna said to Jordin, who replaced
her suit oxy bottles without a hitch.
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm (99 of 283)8-12-2006 23:50:21
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm
"Burned? I don't want them eating it," Jordin said.
Then the zand began asking her questions, and the first one surprised her: Do you come from
Lightgiver? As heralds?
In the next few minutes Shanna and Jordin realized-all from their questions alone-that in addition to a
society the zand had a rough-and-ready view of the world, an epic oral literature (though recited in
microwaves), and something that resembled a religion. Even Wiseguy was shaken; it paused in its
replies, something she had never heard it do before, not even in speed trials. It was learning not just an
alien language but an alien mind.
Agnostic though she was, the discovery moved her profoundly. Lightgiver. After all, she thought with a
rush of compassion and nostalgia, we started out as sunworshipers, too.
There were dark patches on the zand's upper sides, and as the sun rose, these pulled back to reveal thick
lenses. They looked like quartz-tough crystals for a rugged world. Their banquet of lichen done-she took
a few samples for analysis, provoking a snort from a nearby zand-they lolled lazily in their long day. She
and Jordin walked gingerly through them, peering into the quartz "eyes." Their retinas were a brilliant
blue with red wirelike filaments curling through and under. Convergent evolution seemed to have found
yet another solution to the eye problem.
Jordin said, "Y'know, I'll bet these guys can see the sun the way we do."
Shanna had been snapping her own digitals. "Meaning?"
"Our eyes are tiny in comparison. We're forty times farther away from the sun here, so these quartz eyes
are forty or so times bigger. They can resolve the point of the sun into a disk."
"Ah. So what's our answer? Are we from Lightgiver?"
"Well... you're the cap'n, remember." He grinned. "And the biologist."
She quickly said to Wiseguy, "Tell it: No. We are from a world like this. From nearer, uh, Lightgiver."
As soon and as tactfully as possible, Shanna got the interchange turned around, so that she was again
asking the questions and the zand answering them.
Discussing the sun was useful, too. They had a calendar concept of short and long warm-cold cycles that
intrigued her. Obviously it corresponded with Pluto's rotational day and centuries-long orbital "year"-an
impressive feat of observation and deduction for people who lacked a technology. Shanna soon realized,
however, that this idea was new to the zand-that, in fact, it had learned the information that very
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm (100 of 283)8-12-2006 23:50:21
file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm
planetary day from an untutored genius it referred to as Old One. She pressed it further and learned the
cold arithmetic. Ark said that this very day Old One had discoursed on such deep truths while floating
over the "amber sea."
The moment she realized those numbers' implication for the future of Pluto, she broke off. For the first
time since she had been a very small child, she blinked back tears.
Don't waste our damn time on tears, Shanna sternly told herself. And certainly don't weep in a space
suit. But she remained silent, truly at a loss for what to say.
Do not sad, the zand sent through Wiseguy. Lightgiver gives and Light' giver takes; but it gives more
than any; it is the Source of all life, here and in the Dark; exalt Lightgiver.
"Incredible!" Shanna said to Jordin. "Wiseguy must be sending Ark pretty sophisticated stuff."
Jordin said, "Hard to believe Ark or Wiseguy can intuit our moods."
"And is trying to console us? Or just repeating some, well, theology."
Jordin said, "Unless Wiseguy's imposing human categories on Ark's language. Which seems likely-but
how'll we know?"
Wiseguy told her that the zand did not use verb forms underlining existence itself-no words for are, is,
be-so "sad" became a verb. She wondered what deeper philosophical chasm that linguistic detail
revealed.
"Apparently," Wiseguy said, "we have settled an interesting philosophical question, one that arose with
the SETI codes, before I was invented."
Startled, Shanna asked, "Which is...?"
"Whether all intelligences would use intertranslatable symbol grammars."
"Uh, I see."
"The answer seems to be yes. That is why I can so readily translate the zand language."
"Um." Lightgiver gives and Lightgiver takes. The phrasing was startlingly familiar. The same damned,
comfortless consolation she had heard preached at her grandmother's rain-swept funeral.
Remembering that moment of loss with a deep inward hurt, she forced it away. What could she say?
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file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20The%20Sunborn.htm
After an awkward silence Ark said something Wiseguy rendered as, I need leave you for now.
Another zand was peeling out Ark's personal identification signal, with a slight tag-end modification. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]