Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke Page B
Authors: Arthur C. Clarke
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Fiction - Science Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Space Opera
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tell me?"
42
Duval snorted in disgust.
"What about lighting? Do you sit in total darkness? And how about ventilation, heating. . .
Stormgren smiled at the characteristic outburst.
"The whole ceiling is luminous, and as far as I can tell the air comes through the speaker grille. I don't know how it leaves; perhaps the stream reverses at intervals, but I haven't noticed it. There's no sign of any heater, but the room is always at normal temperature."
"Meaning, I suppose, that the water vapour has frozen out, but not the carbon dioxide."
Stormgren did his best to smile at the well-worn joke.
"I think I've told you everything," he concluded. "As for the machine that takes me up to Kardllen's ship, the room in which I travel is as featureless as an elevator cage. Apart from he couch and table, it might very well be one."
There was silence for several minutes while the physicist embroidered his writing-pad with meticulous and microscopic doodles. As he watched, Stormgren wondered why it was that a man like Duval-whose mind was incomparably more brilliant than his own-had never made a greater mark in the world of science. He remembered an unkind and probably inaccurate comment of a friend in the U.S. State Department. "The French produce the best second-raters in the world." Duval was the sort of man who supported that statement.
The physicist nodded to himself in satisfaction, leaned forward and pointed his pencil at Stormgren.
"What makes you think, Rikki," he asked, "that Karellen's vision-screen, as you call it, really is what it pretends to be?"
"I've always taken it for granted: it looks exactly like one. What else would it be, anyway?"
"When you say that it looks like a vision-screen, you mean, don't you, that it looks like one of ours?"
"Of course."
"I find that suspicious in itself. I'm sure the Overlord's own apparatus won't use anything so crude as an actual physical screen-they'll probably materialize images directly in space. But why should Karellen bother to use a TV system, anyway?
The simplest solution is always best. Doesn't it seem far more probable that your 'vision-screen' is really ?wtluizg mon cornplico4ed than a sheet of one-way glass?"
43
Stormgren was so annoyed with himself that for a moment
h~ sat in silence, retracing the past. From the beginning, he j~id never challenged Rardllen's story-yet now he came to
look back, when had th~ Supervisor ever told him that he was using a TV system? He had simply taken it for granted: the
whole thing had been a piece of psychological trickery, and he
had been completely deceived. Always assuming, of course, that Duval's theory was correct. But he was jumping to conclusions again: no one had proved anything yet.
"If you're right," he said, "all I have to do is to smash the glass-"
Duval sighed.
"These unscientific laymen! Do you think it'll be made of anything you could smash without explosives? And if you succeeded, do you im~agine that Karellen is likely to breathe the same air that we do? Won't it be nice for both of you if he flourishes in an atmosphere of chlorine?"
Storrogren felt a little foolish. He should have thought of that.
"Well, what do you suggest?" he asked with some exasperation.
"I want to think it over. First of all we've got to find if my theory is correct, and if so learn something about the material of that screen. I'll put a couple of my men on the job. By the way, I suppose you carry a brief-case when you visit the Supervisor? Is it the one you've got there?"
"Yes."
"It should be big enough. We don't want to attract attention by changing it for another, particularly if Karellen's grown used to it."
'What do you want me to do?" asked Stormgren. "Carry a concealed X-ray set?"
The physicist grinned.
"I don't know yet, but we'll think of something. I'll let you know what it is in a fortnight's time."
He gave a little laugh.
"Do you know what all this reminds me of?"
"Yes," said Stormgren promptly, "the time you were
42
Duval snorted in disgust.
"What about lighting? Do you sit in total darkness? And how about ventilation, heating. . .
Stormgren smiled at the characteristic outburst.
"The whole ceiling is luminous, and as far as I can tell the air comes through the speaker grille. I don't know how it leaves; perhaps the stream reverses at intervals, but I haven't noticed it. There's no sign of any heater, but the room is always at normal temperature."
"Meaning, I suppose, that the water vapour has frozen out, but not the carbon dioxide."
Stormgren did his best to smile at the well-worn joke.
"I think I've told you everything," he concluded. "As for the machine that takes me up to Kardllen's ship, the room in which I travel is as featureless as an elevator cage. Apart from he couch and table, it might very well be one."
There was silence for several minutes while the physicist embroidered his writing-pad with meticulous and microscopic doodles. As he watched, Stormgren wondered why it was that a man like Duval-whose mind was incomparably more brilliant than his own-had never made a greater mark in the world of science. He remembered an unkind and probably inaccurate comment of a friend in the U.S. State Department. "The French produce the best second-raters in the world." Duval was the sort of man who supported that statement.
The physicist nodded to himself in satisfaction, leaned forward and pointed his pencil at Stormgren.
"What makes you think, Rikki," he asked, "that Karellen's vision-screen, as you call it, really is what it pretends to be?"
"I've always taken it for granted: it looks exactly like one. What else would it be, anyway?"
"When you say that it looks like a vision-screen, you mean, don't you, that it looks like one of ours?"
"Of course."
"I find that suspicious in itself. I'm sure the Overlord's own apparatus won't use anything so crude as an actual physical screen-they'll probably materialize images directly in space. But why should Karellen bother to use a TV system, anyway?
The simplest solution is always best. Doesn't it seem far more probable that your 'vision-screen' is really ?wtluizg mon cornplico4ed than a sheet of one-way glass?"
43
Stormgren was so annoyed with himself that for a moment
h~ sat in silence, retracing the past. From the beginning, he j~id never challenged Rardllen's story-yet now he came to
look back, when had th~ Supervisor ever told him that he was using a TV system? He had simply taken it for granted: the
whole thing had been a piece of psychological trickery, and he
had been completely deceived. Always assuming, of course, that Duval's theory was correct. But he was jumping to conclusions again: no one had proved anything yet.
"If you're right," he said, "all I have to do is to smash the glass-"
Duval sighed.
"These unscientific laymen! Do you think it'll be made of anything you could smash without explosives? And if you succeeded, do you im~agine that Karellen is likely to breathe the same air that we do? Won't it be nice for both of you if he flourishes in an atmosphere of chlorine?"
Storrogren felt a little foolish. He should have thought of that.
"Well, what do you suggest?" he asked with some exasperation.
"I want to think it over. First of all we've got to find if my theory is correct, and if so learn something about the material of that screen. I'll put a couple of my men on the job. By the way, I suppose you carry a brief-case when you visit the Supervisor? Is it the one you've got there?"
"Yes."
"It should be big enough. We don't want to attract attention by changing it for another, particularly if Karellen's grown used to it."
'What do you want me to do?" asked Stormgren. "Carry a concealed X-ray set?"
The physicist grinned.
"I don't know yet, but we'll think of something. I'll let you know what it is in a fortnight's time."
He gave a little laugh.
"Do you know what all this reminds me of?"
"Yes," said Stormgren promptly, "the time you were
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