The Gods Themselves Part 3

Even so-even allowing for the most rapid possible diffusion of the charge-the time would come when the local charge-difference between Universe and para-Universe at the points of Pumping would grow large enough to end the process, and that would be a small fraction of the time it would take really to use up all the electrons; roughly, a trillion-trillionth of the time.

But that still meant that Pumping would remain possible for a trillion years. Only a single single trillion years, but that was enough; it would suffice. A trillion years was far longer than man would last, or the Solar system either. And if man somehow did last that long (or some creature that was man's successor and supplanter) then no doubt something would be devised to correct the situation. A great deal could be done in a trillion years. trillion years, but that was enough; it would suffice. A trillion years was far longer than man would last, or the Solar system either. And if man somehow did last that long (or some creature that was man's successor and supplanter) then no doubt something would be devised to correct the situation. A great deal could be done in a trillion years.

Lamont had to agree to that.

But then he thought of something else, another line of thought that he well remembered Hallam himself had dealt with in one of the articles he had written for popular consumption. With some distaste, he dug out the article. It was important to see what Hallam had said before he carried the matter further.

The article said, in part, "Because of the ever-present gravitational force, we have come to a.s.sociate the phrase 'downhill' with the kind of inevitable change we can use to produce energy of the sort we can change into useful work. It is the water running downhill that, in past centuries, turned wheels which in turn powered machinery such as pumps and generators. But what happens when all the water has run downhill?

"There can then be no further work possible till the water has been returned uphill-and that takes work. In fact, it takes more work to force the water uphill than we can collect by then allowing it to flow downhill. We work at an energy-loss. Fortunately, the Sun does the work for us. It evaporates the oceans so that water vapor climbs high in the atmosphere, forms clouds, and eventually falls again as rain or snow. This soaks the ground at all levels, fills the springs and streams, and keeps the water forever running downhill.

"But not quite forever. The Sun can raise the water vapor, but only because, in a nuclear sense, it is running downhill, too. It is running downhill at a rate immensely greater than any Earthly river can manage, and when all of it has run downhill there wilt be nothing we know of to pull it uphill again, "All sources of energy in our Universe run down. We can't help that. Everything is downhill in just one direction, and we can force a temporary uphill, backward, only by taking advantage of some greater downhill in the vicinity. If we want useful energy forever, we need a road that is downhill both ways. That is a paradox in our Universe; it stands to reason that whatever is downhill one way is uphill going back.

"But need we confine ourselves to our Universe alone? Think of the para-Universe. It has roads, too, that are downhill in one direction and uphill in the other. Those roads, however, don't fit in with our roads. It is possible to take a road from the para-Universe to our Universe that is downhill, but which, when we follow it back from the Universe to the para-Universe, is downhill again-because the Universes have different laws of behavior.

"The Electron Pump takes advantage of a road that is downhill both ways. The Electron Pump-"

Lament looked back at the t.i.tle of the piece again. It was "The Road that is Downhill Both Ways."

He began thinking. The concept was, of course, a familiar one to him, as was its thermodynamic consequences. But why not examine the a.s.sumptions? That had to be the weak point in any theory. What if the a.s.sumptions, a.s.sumed to be right by definition, were wrong? What would be the consequences if one started with other a.s.sumptions? Contradictory ones?

He started blindly but within a month he had that feeling that every scientist recognizes-the endless click-click as unexpected pieces fall into place, as annoying anomalies become anomalous no more- It was the feel of Truth.

It was from that moment on that he began to put additional pressure on Bronowski.

And one day he said, "I'm going to see Hallam again."

Bronowski's eyebrows lifted. "What for?"

"To have him turn me down."

"Yes, that's about your speed, Pete. You're unhappy if your troubles die down a bit."

"You don't understand. It's important to have him refuse to listen to me. I can't have it said afterward that I by-pa.s.sed him; that he was ignorant of it."

"Of what? Of the translation of the para-symbols? There isn't any yet. Don't jump the gun, Pete."

"No, no, not that," and he would say no more. Hallam did not make it easy for Lament; it was some weeks before he could find time to see the younger man. Nor did Lament intend to make it easy for Hallam. He stalked in with every invisible bristle on edge and sharply pointed. Hallam waited for him frozen-faced, with sullen eyes.

Hallam said abruptly, "What's this crisis you're talking about?"

"Something's turned up, sir," said Lament, tonelessly, "inspired by one of your articles."

"Oh?" Then, quickly, "Which one?"

" 'The Road that is Downhill Both Ways,' The one you programmed for Teenage Life, Teenage Life, sir." sir."

"And what about it?"

"I believe the Electron Pump is not downhill both ways, if I may use your metaphor, which is not, as it happens, a completely accurate way of describing the Second Law of Thermodynamics."

Hallam frowned. "What have you got in mind?"

"I can explain it best, sir, by setting up the Field Equations for the two Universes, sir, and demonstrating an interaction that till now has not been considered-unfortunately so, in my opinion."

With that, Lament moved directly to the thixo-board and quickly fingered the equations, talking rapidly as he did so.

Lamont knew that Hallam would be humiliated and irritated by such a procedure since he would not follow the mathematics. Lamont counted on that.

Hallam growled, "See here, young man, I have no time now to engage in a full discussion of any aspect of para-theory. You send me a complete report and, for now, if you have some brief statement as to what you're getting at, you may make it."

Lamont walked away from the thixo-board, with an unmistakable expression of contempt on his face. He said, . "All right. The Second Law of Thermodynamics describes a process that inevitably chops off extremes. Water doesn't run downhill; what really happens is that extremes of gravitational potential are equalized. Water will just as easily bubble uphill if trapped underground. You can get work out of the juxtaposition of two different temperature levels, but the end result is that the temperature is equalized at an intermediate level; the hot body cools down and the cold body warms up. Both cooling and warming are equal aspects of the Second Law and, under, the proper circ.u.mstances, equally spontaneous." .

"Don't teach me elementary thermodynamics, young man. What is it you want? I have very little time."

Lamont said, with no change of expression, no sense of being hurried. "Work is obtained out of the Electron Pump by an equalization of extremes. In this case, the extremes are the physical laws of the two Universes, The conditions that make those laws possible, whatever those conditions may be, are being bled from one Universe into the other and the end result of the entire process will be two Universes in which the laws of nature will be identical -and intermediate as compared with the situation now. Since this will produce uncertain but undoubtedly large changes in this Universe, it would seem that serious consideration must be given to stopping the Pumps and, shutting down the whole operation permanently."

It was at this point that Lamont expected Hallam to explode, cutting off any chance of further explanation. Hallam did not fail that expectation. He sprang out of his chair, which fell over. He kicked the chair away and took the two steps that separated him from Lamont.

Warily, Lamont pushed his own chair hastily backward and stood up.

"You idiot," shouted Hallam, almost stammering in his anger. "Don't you suppose everyone at the station understands about the equalization of natural law. Are you wasting my time telling me something I knew when you were learning to read? Get out of here, and any time you want to offer me your resignation, consider it accepted."

Lament left, having obtained exactly what he wanted, and yet he felt himself to be furious over Hallam's treatment of him.

6 (concluded).

"Anyway," said Lamont, "it clears the ground. I've tried to tell him. He wouldn't listen. So I take the next step."

"And what is that?" said Bronowski.

"I'm going to see Senator Burt."

"You mean the head of the Committee on Technology and the Environment?"

"The same. You've heard of him, then."

"Who hasn't. But where's the point, Pete. What have you got that would interest him? It's not the translation. Pete, I'm asking you once again. What have you got on your mind?"

"I can't explain. You don't know para-theory."

"Does Senator Burt?"

"More than you, I think."

Bronowski pointed his finger. "Pete, let's not kid around. Maybe I know things you don't. We can't work together if we work against each other. Either I'm a member of this little two-man corporation or I'm not. You tell me what's on your mind, and I'll tell you something in exchange. Otherwise, let's stop this altogether."

Lamont shrugged. "All right. If you want it, I'll give it to you. Now that I've got it past Hallam, maybe it's just as well. The point is that the Electron Pump is transferring natural law. In the para-Universe, the strong interaction is a hundred times stronger than it is here, which means that nuclear fission is much more likely here than there, and nuclear fusion is much more likely there than here. If the Electron Pump keeps on long enough, there will be a final equilibrium in which the strong nuclear interaction will be equally strong in both Universes, and be at a figure about ten times what it is here now and one-tenth what it is there now."

"Didn't anyone know this?"

"Oh, sure, everyone knew it. It was obvious almost from the start. Even Hallam can see it. That's what got the b.a.s.t.a.r.d so excited. I started telling him this in detail as though I didn't think he had ever heard it before and he blew up."

"But what's the point then? Is there danger in the interaction becoming intermediate?"

"Of course. What do you think?"

"I don't think anything. When will it become intermediate?"

"At the present rate, 1030years or so."

"How long is that?"

"Long enough for a trillion trillion Universes like this one to be born, live, grow old, and die, one after the other."

"Oh blazes, Pete. What odds does it make then?"

"Because to reach that figure," said Lamont, slowly and carefully, "which is the official one, certain a.s.sumptions were made which I think were wrong. And if certain other a.s.sumptions are made, which I think are right, right, we're in trouble we're in trouble now" now"

"What kind of trouble?"

"Suppose the Earth turned into a whiff of gas in a period of about five minutes. Would you consider that trouble?"

"Because of the Pumping?"

"Because of the Pumping!"

"And how about the world of the para-men? Would they be in danger, too?"

"I'm sure of it. A different danger, but danger."

Bronowski stood up and began pacing. He wore his brown hair thick and long in what had once been called a Buster Brown. Now he was clutching at it He said, "If the para-men are more intelligent than we are, would they be running the Pump? Surely they would know it was dangerous, before we did."

"I've thought of that," said Lamont "What I guess is that they've started Pumping for the first time and they, like us, got the process started for the apparent good it would bring and worried about consequences later."

"But you say you know the consequences now. Would they be slower than you were?"

"It depends on if and when they look for those consequences. The Pump is too attractive to try to spoil, I Wouldn't have looked myself if I hadn't- But what's on your your mind, Mike?" mind, Mike?"

Bronowski stopped his pacing, looked full at Lamont, and said, "I think we've got something."

Lamont looked at him wildly, then leaped forward to seize the other's sleeve. "With the para-symbols? Tell me, Mike!"

"It was while you were with Hallam. While you were actually with Hallam. I haven't known exactly what to do about it, because I wasn't sure what was going on. And now-"

"And now?"

"I'm still not sure. One of their foils came through, with four symbols . . ."

"Oh?"

"... in the Latin alphabet And it can be p.r.o.nounced."

"What?"

"Here it is."

Bronowski produced the foil with the air of a conjurer. Incised on it, quite different from the delicate and intricate spirals and differential glistenings of the para-symbols, were four broad, childlike letters: F-E-E-R.

"What do you suppose that means?" asked Lament, blankly.

"So far all I've been able to think of is that it's F-E-A-R misspelled."

"Is that why you were cross-examining me? You thought someone on the other side was experiencing fear?"

"And I thought it might have some connection with your own obviously increasing excitement over the last month. Frankly, Pete, I didn't like being kept in the dark,"

"Okay. Now let's not jump to conclusions. You're the one with experience with fragmentary messages. Wouldn't you say that the para-men were beginning to experience fear concerning the Electron Pump?"

"Not necessarily at all," said Bronowski. "I don't know how much they can sense of this Universe. If they can sense the tungsten we lay out for them; if they can sense our presence; perhaps they are sensing our state of mind. Perhaps they are trying to rea.s.sure us; telling us there is no reason to fear."

"Then why don't they say N-O F-E-E-R."

"Because they don't know our language that well yet"

"Hmm. Then I can't take it to Burt."

"I wouldn't. It's ambiguous. In fact, I wouldn't go to Burt till we get something more from the other side. Who knows what they're trying to say."

"No, I can't wait, Mike. I know know I'm right, and we have no time." I'm right, and we have no time."

"All right, but if you see Burt you'll be burning your bridges. Your colleagues will never forgive you. Have you thought of talking to the physicists here? You can't put pressure on Hallam on your own, but a whole group of you-"

Lamont shook his head vigorously, "Not at all. The men at this station survive by virtue of their jellyfish quality. There isn't one who would stand against him. Trying to rally the others to put pressure on Hallam would be like asking strands of cooked spaghetti to come to attention."

Bronowski's soft face looked unwontedly grim. "You may be right."

"I know I'm right," said Lamont, just as grimly.

7.

It had taken time to pin the senator down; time that Lamont had resented losing; the more so since nothing further in Latin letters had come from the para-men. No message of any kind, though Bronowski had sent across half a dozen, each with a carefully selected combinations of para-symbols and each incorporating both F-E-E-R and F-E-A-R.