Antares said modestly.
That reminded Brother Paul. “You say your, er, Sphere traded with ours? Mattermission for hydrofusion?”
“The expense in energy of physical transport over interstellar distances makes material commerce unfeasible,” Antares said. “Therefore trade is largely confined to information. Since you possess technology we lacked—”
“But if you are so advanced, why couldn’t you develop controlled hydrogen fusion yourselves?”
“For much the same reason you could not develop instantaneous transmission of matter. Our mode of thinking was incapable of formulating the necessary concepts. In our framework, artificial hydrofusion is—or was—inconceivable. We are a protean, flexible species. We do not think in terms of either magnetics or lasers. We are adept at flexible circuitry, at the sciences of flowing impedences. Thus, for us, matter-mission technology is a natural, if complex, mode. You Solarians are a thrust culture; you poke with’ sticks, thrust with swords, and burn with fierce, tight lasers. For you, laser-controlled atomic fusion is natural.”
That seemed to make sense, although it seemed to Brother Paul that the Antarean’s ready assimilation of the calculator operation indicated a certain competence with magnetic circuitry. Probably the term “magnetic” had a different meaning for the alien, though. Man had been incapable of conceptualizing any physical velocity faster than that of the speed of light in a vacuum. Man’s mode of thought simply could not admit the alien possibility of instantaneous travel; therefore that science had been out of the question. Thought, not physics, had been the limiting factor.
And what of God? Was man incapable of conceptualizing His true nature? If so, Brother Paul’s present mission was doomed.
“So you traded with us,” Brother Paul said, returning to a simpler level of thought. “You needed fusion for power, and we needed matter transmission for transport. Our own hydrofusion generators are now monopolized for the tremendous power needed for the MT program.”
“So it would seem. This is a very foolish course you are pursuing, but it seems as though all emerging cultures must pass through it. If rationality does not abate it, the exhaustion of resources does. Only through Transfer is inter-Spherical empire possible. Spherical regression otherwise presents a virtually absolute limit to the extent of any culture—as you will discover.”
Again, Brother Paul clung to what he could. “Transfer?”
“With your aura, you do not know of Transfer?”
“I know neither aura nor Transfer. In fact I know nothing of your society.”
“Your administrators did not inform the populace?”
“Apparently not. I’d like to know about you personally, too.”
“Then I shall gladly explain. It has been long since any creature expressed personal interest in me.” Antares paused, and for an instant Brother Paul saw the outline of the alien protoplasm, shimmering like a hovering soul. “Every living thing we know of has an aura, a field of life-force permeating it. Solarians term it the Kirlian aura—”
“Ah, that I have heard of!” Brother Paul said. “I believe it is the same as the aura described by Dr. Kilner, and later photographed by the Russian scientist Kirlian. But I understood it was merely an effect of water vapor in the vicinity of living bodies.”
“Perhaps the water vapor is associated with the photographic or visual effects,” Antares said. “But the aura itself is more than this. It cannot be detected by ordinary means, although certain machines can measure its imprint, and entities of intense auras can perceive other intense auras. I was a high-aura creature, and you are the highest-aura creature imaginable. Therefore our auras interact, and we perceive each other. You have no doubt perceived auras of others similarly, and supposed these to be flukes of your imagination.”
“Maybe I have,” Brother Paul
That reminded Brother Paul. “You say your, er, Sphere traded with ours? Mattermission for hydrofusion?”
“The expense in energy of physical transport over interstellar distances makes material commerce unfeasible,” Antares said. “Therefore trade is largely confined to information. Since you possess technology we lacked—”
“But if you are so advanced, why couldn’t you develop controlled hydrogen fusion yourselves?”
“For much the same reason you could not develop instantaneous transmission of matter. Our mode of thinking was incapable of formulating the necessary concepts. In our framework, artificial hydrofusion is—or was—inconceivable. We are a protean, flexible species. We do not think in terms of either magnetics or lasers. We are adept at flexible circuitry, at the sciences of flowing impedences. Thus, for us, matter-mission technology is a natural, if complex, mode. You Solarians are a thrust culture; you poke with’ sticks, thrust with swords, and burn with fierce, tight lasers. For you, laser-controlled atomic fusion is natural.”
That seemed to make sense, although it seemed to Brother Paul that the Antarean’s ready assimilation of the calculator operation indicated a certain competence with magnetic circuitry. Probably the term “magnetic” had a different meaning for the alien, though. Man had been incapable of conceptualizing any physical velocity faster than that of the speed of light in a vacuum. Man’s mode of thought simply could not admit the alien possibility of instantaneous travel; therefore that science had been out of the question. Thought, not physics, had been the limiting factor.
And what of God? Was man incapable of conceptualizing His true nature? If so, Brother Paul’s present mission was doomed.
“So you traded with us,” Brother Paul said, returning to a simpler level of thought. “You needed fusion for power, and we needed matter transmission for transport. Our own hydrofusion generators are now monopolized for the tremendous power needed for the MT program.”
“So it would seem. This is a very foolish course you are pursuing, but it seems as though all emerging cultures must pass through it. If rationality does not abate it, the exhaustion of resources does. Only through Transfer is inter-Spherical empire possible. Spherical regression otherwise presents a virtually absolute limit to the extent of any culture—as you will discover.”
Again, Brother Paul clung to what he could. “Transfer?”
“With your aura, you do not know of Transfer?”
“I know neither aura nor Transfer. In fact I know nothing of your society.”
“Your administrators did not inform the populace?”
“Apparently not. I’d like to know about you personally, too.”
“Then I shall gladly explain. It has been long since any creature expressed personal interest in me.” Antares paused, and for an instant Brother Paul saw the outline of the alien protoplasm, shimmering like a hovering soul. “Every living thing we know of has an aura, a field of life-force permeating it. Solarians term it the Kirlian aura—”
“Ah, that I have heard of!” Brother Paul said. “I believe it is the same as the aura described by Dr. Kilner, and later photographed by the Russian scientist Kirlian. But I understood it was merely an effect of water vapor in the vicinity of living bodies.”
“Perhaps the water vapor is associated with the photographic or visual effects,” Antares said. “But the aura itself is more than this. It cannot be detected by ordinary means, although certain machines can measure its imprint, and entities of intense auras can perceive other intense auras. I was a high-aura creature, and you are the highest-aura creature imaginable. Therefore our auras interact, and we perceive each other. You have no doubt perceived auras of others similarly, and supposed these to be flukes of your imagination.”
“Maybe I have,” Brother Paul
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