Read Online Beyond the Blue Event Horizon by Frederik Pohl - Free Book Online Page B

unvisited Heechee-metal sources in or near the solar system, and one of them had been the Food Factory. As soon as they made contact we spun off a separate exploitation company to deal with it-and now it was looking really interesting.
    “Harriet? Let me have the direct from the Food Factory again,” I said. The holo sprang up, the boy still talking excitedly in his shrill, squeaky voice. I tried to catch the thread of what he was saying-something about a Dead Man (only it wasn’t a man, because its name was Henrietta) speaking to him (so it wasn’t dead?) about a Gateway mission she had been on (when? why hadn’t I heard of her?). It was all perplexing, so I had a better idea. “Albert Einstein, please,” I said, and the holo swirled to show the sweet old lined face peering at me.
    “Yes, Robin?” said my science program, reaching for his pipe and tobacco as he almost always does when we talk.
    “I’d like some best-guess estimates from you on the Food Factory and the boy that turned up there.”
    “Sure thing, Robin,” he said, tamping the tobacco with his thumb. “The boy’s name is Wan. He appears to be between fourteen and nineteen years of age, probably toward the young end of the spread, and I would guess that he is fully genetically human.”
    “Where does he come from?”
    “Ah, that is conjectural, Robin. He speaks of a ‘main station’, presumably another Heechee artifact in some ways resembling Gateway, Gateway Two and the Food Factory itself, but without any self-evident function. There do not appear to be any other living humans there. He speaks of ‘Dead Men’, who appear to be some sort of computer program like myself, although it is not clear whether they may not in fact be quite different in origin. He also mentions living creatures he calls ‘the Old Ones’ or ‘the frog-jaws’. He has little contact with them, in fact avoids it, and it is not clear where they come from.”
    I took a deep breath. “Heechee?”
    “I don’t know, Robin. I cannot even guess. By Occam’s Razor one would conjecture that living non-humans occupying a Heechee artifact might well be Heechee-but there is no direct evidence. We have no idea what Heechee look like, you know.”
    I did know. It was a sobering thought that we might soon find out.
    “Anything else? Can you tell me what’s happening with the tests to bring the factory back?”
    “Sure thing, Robin,” he said, striking a match to the pipe. “But I’m afraid there’s no good news. The object appears to be course-programmed and under full control. Whatever we do to it it counteracts.”
    It had been a close decision whether to leave the Food Factory out in the Oort cloud and somehow try to ship food back to Earth, or bring the thing itself in. Now it looked as though we had no choice. “Is there-do you think it’s under Heechee control?”
    “There is no way to be sure as yet. Narrowly, I would conjecture not. It appears to be an automatic response. However,” he said, puffing on his pipe, “there is something encouraging. May I show you some visuals from the factory?”
    “Please do,” I said, but actually he hadn’t waited; Albert is a courteous program, but also a smart one. He disappeared and I was looking at a scene of the boy, Wan, showing Peter Herter how to open what seemed to be a hatch in the wall of a passage. Out of it he was pulling floppy soft packages of something in bright red wrappings.
    “Our assumption as to the nature of the artifact seems to be validated, Robin. Those are edible and, according to Wan, they are continually replenished. He has been living on them for most of his life and, as you see, appears to be in excellent health, basically-I am afraid he is catching a cold just now.”
    I looked at the clock over his shoulder-he always keeps it at the right time for my sake. “That’s all for now, then. Keep me posted if anything that affects your conclusions turns up.”
    “Sure thing, Robin,” he said,