'Isthereanywaywecancallhimback?'Floydwhisperedurgently. 'Noit'stoolate.EuropawillsoonbebehindJupiter.We'llhavetowaituntilitcomes outofeclipse.' '.climbinguptheship,buildingakindoficetunnelasitadvanced.Perhapsthiswas insulatingitfromthecoldthewaytermitesprotectthemselvesfromthesunlightwiththeir littlecorridorsofmud. '.tonsoficeontheship.Theradioantennasbrokeofffirst.ThenIcouldseethe landinglegsbeginningtobuckleallinslowmotion,likeadream. 'NotuntiltheshipstartedtotoppledidIrealizewhatthethingwastryingtodoand thenitwastoolate.Wecouldhavesavedourselvesifwe'donlyswitchedoffthoselights. 'Perhapsit'saphototrope,itsbiologicalcycletriggeredbythesunlightthatfilters throughtheicc,Oritcouldhavebeenattractedlikeamothtoacandle.Ourfloodlights musthavebeenmorebrilliantthananythingthatEuropahaseverknown. 'Thentheshipcrashed.Isawthehullsplit,acloudofsnowflakesformasmoisture condensed.Allthelightswentout,exceptforone,swingingbackandforthonacablea coupleofmetresabovetheground. 'Idon'tknowwhathappenedimmediatelyafterthat.ThenextthingIremember,Iwas standingunderthelight,besidethewreckoftheship,withafinepowderingoffreshsnow allaroundme.Icouldseemyfootstepsinitveryclearly.Imusthaverunthereperhaps onlyaminuteortwohadelapsed. 'TheplantIstillthoughtofitasaplantwasmotionless.Iwonderedifithadbeen damagedbytheimpactlargesectionsasthickasaman'sarm hadsplinteredoff,like brokentwigs. 'Thenthemaintrunkstartedtomoveagain.Itpulledawayfromthehull,andbeganto crawltowardme.ThatwaswhenIknewforcertainthatthethingwaslightsensitive:Iwas standingimmediatelyunderthethousandwattlamp,whichhadstoppedswingingnow. 'Imagineanoaktreebetterstill,abanyanwithitsmultipletrunksandrootsflattened outbygravityandtryingtocreepalongtheground.Itgottowithinfivemetresofthelight, thenstartedtospreadoutuntilithadmadeaperfectcirclearoundme.Presumablythat wasthelimitofitstolerancethepointatwhichphotoattractionturnedtorepulsion.After that,nothinghappenedforseveralminutes.Iwonderedifitwasdeadfrozensolidatlast. 'ThenIsawthatlargebudswereformingonmanyofthebranches.Itwaslikewatching atimelapsefilmofflowersopening.InfactIthoughttheywereflowerseachaboutasbig asaman'shead.
'Delicate,beautifullycolouredmembranesstartedtounfold.Eventhen,itoccurredto methatnoonenothingcouldeverhaveseenthesecoloursbeforetheyhadno existenceuntilwebroughtourlightsourfatallightstothisworld. 'Tendrils,stamens,wavingfeebly.Iwalkedovertothelivingwallthatsurroundedme, sothatIcouldseeexactlywhatwashappening.Neitherthen,noratanyothertime,hadI felttheslightestfearofthecreature.Iwascertainthatitwasnotmalevolentifindeedit wasconsciousatall. 'Therewerescoresofthebigflowers,invariousstagesofunfolding.Nowthey remindedmeofbutterflies,justemergingfromthechrysaliswingscrumpled,stillfeeble Iwasgettingcloserandclosertothetruth. 'Buttheywerefreezingdyingasquicklyastheyformed.Then,oneafteranother,they droppedofffromtheparentbuds.Forafewmomentstheyfloppedaroundlikefish strandedondrylandatlastIrealizedexactlywhattheywere.Thosemembranesweren't petalstheywerefins,ortheirequivalent.Thiswasthefreeswimming,larvalstageofthe creature.Probablyitspendsmuchofitsliferootedontheseabed,thensendsthese mobileoffspringinsearchofnewterritory.JustlikethecoralsofEarth'soceans. 'Ikneltdowntogetacloserlookatoneofthelittlecreatures.Thebeautifulcolourswere fadingnowtoadrabbrown.Someofthepetalfinshadsnappedoff,becomingbrittle shardsastheyfroze.Butitwasstillmovingfeebly,andasIapproachedittriedtoavoid me.Iwonderedhowitsensedmypresence. 'ThenInoticedthatthestamensasI'dcalledthem allcarriedbrightbluedotsattheir tips.Theylookedliketinystarsapphiresortheblueeyesalongthemantleofascallop awareoflight,butunabletoformtrueimages.AsIwatched,thevividbluefaded,the sapphiresbecamedull,ordinarystones. 'DrFloydoranyoneelse,whoislisteningIhaven'tmuchmoretimeJupiterwillsoon blockmysignal.ButI'vealmostfinished. 'IknewthenwhatIhadtodo.Thecabletothatthousandwattlampwashangingalmost totheground.Igaveitafewtugs,andthelightwentoutinashowerofsparks. 'Iwonderedifitwastoolate.Forafewminutes,nothinghappened.SoIwalkedoverto thewalloftangledbranchesaroundme,andkickedit. 'Slowly,thecreaturestartedtounweaveitself,andtoretreatbacktotheCanal.There wasplentyoflightIcouldseeeverythingperfectly.GanymedeandCallistowereinthe skyJupiterwasahuge,thincrescentandtherewasabigauroraldisplayonthe nightside,attheJovianendoftheIofluxtube.Therewasnoneedtousemyhelmetlight. 'Ifollowedthecreatureallthewaybacktothewater,encouragingitwithmorekicks whenitsloweddown,feelingthefragmentsoficecrunchingallthetimebeneathmy

boots.asitnearedtheCanal,itseemedtogainstrengthandenergy,asifitknewthatit wasapproachingitsnaturalhome.Iwonderedifitwouldsurvive,tobudagain. 'Itdisappearedthroughthesurface,leavingafewlastdeadlarvaeonthealienland. Theexposedfreewaterbubbledforafewminutesuntilascabofprotectiveicesealedit fromthevacuumabove.ThenIwalkedbacktotheshiptoseeiftherewasanythingto salvageIdon'twanttotalkaboutthat. 'I'veonlytworequeststomake,Doctor.Whenthetaxonomistsclassifythiscreature,I hopethey'llnameitafterme. 'AndwhenthenextshipcomeshomeaskthemtotakeourbonesbacktoChina. 'Jupiterwillbecuttingusoffinafewminutes.IwishIknewwhetheranyonewas receivingme.Anyway,I'llrepeatthismessagewhenwe'reinlineofsightagainifmy suit'slifesupportsystemlaststhatlong. 'ThisisProfessorChangonEuropa,reportingthedestructionofspaceshipTsien.We landedbesidetheGrandCanalandsetupourpumpsattheedgeoftheice, Thesignalfadedabruptly,camebackforamoment,thendisappearedcompletely be1owthenoiselevel.AlthoughLeonovlistenedagainonthesamefrequency,therewas nofurthermessagefromProfessorChang.

III DISCOVERY

12 DownhillRun
Theshipwasgainingspeedatlast,onthedownhillruntowardJupiter.Ithadlongsince passedthegravitationalnoman'slandwherethefourtinyoutermoonsSinope, Pasiphae,Ananke,andCarmewobbledalongtheirretrogradeandwildlyeccentric orbits.Undoubtedlycapturedasteroids,andcompletelyirregularinshape,thelargestwas onlythirtykilometresacross.Jagged,splinteredrocksofnointeresttoanyoneexcept planetarygeologists,theirallegiancewaveredcontinuallybetweentheSunandJupiter. Oneday,theSunwouldrecapturethemcompletely.
ButJupitermightretainthesecondgroupoffour,athalfthedistanceoftheothers. Elara,Lysithea,Himalia,andLedawerefairlyclosetogether,andlyinginalmostthesame plane.Therewasspeculationthattheyhadoncebeenpartofasinglebodyifso,the parentwouldhavebeenbarelyahundredkilometresacross. ThoughonlyCarmeandLedacamecloseenoughtoshowdisksvisibletothenaked eye,theyweregreetedlikeoldfriends.Herewasthefirstlandfallafterthelongestocean voyagetheoffshoreislandsofJupiter.Thelasthoursweretickingawaythemostcritical phaseoftheentiremissionwasapproachingtheentryintotheJovianatmosphere. JupiterwasalreadylargerthantheMoonintheskiesofEarth,andthegiantinner satellitescouldbeclearlyseenmovingaroundit.Theyallshowednoticeabledisksand distinctivecolouring,thoughtheywerestilltoofarawayforanymarkingstobevisible.The eternalballettheyperformeddisappearingbehindJupiter,reappearingtotransitthe daylightfacewiththeiraccompanyingshadowswasanendlesslyengagingspectacle.It wasonethatastronomershadwatchedeversinceGalileohadfirstglimpseditalmost exactlyfourcenturiesagobutthecrewofLeonovweretheonlylivingmenandwomento haveseenitwithunaidedeyes. Theinterminablechessgameshadceasedoffdutyhourswerespentatthe telescopes,orinearnestconversation,orlisteningtomusic,usuallywhilegazingatthe viewoutside.Andatleastoneshipboardromancehadreachedaculmination:the frequentdisappearancesofMaxBrailovskyandZeniaMarchenkowerethesubjectof muchgoodnaturedbanter. Theywere,thoughtFloyd,anoddlymatchedpair.Maxwasabig,handsomeblondwho hadbeenachampiongymnast,reachingthefinalsofthe2000Olympics.Thoughhewas inhisearlythirties,hehadanopenfaced,almostboyishexpression.Thiswasnot altogethermisleadingdespitehisbrilliantengineeringrecord,heoftenstruckFloydas naiveandunsophisticatedoneofthosepeoplewhoarepleasanttotalkto,butnotfortoo long.Outsidehisownfieldofundoubtedexpertisehewasengagingbutrathershallow. Zeniaattwentynine,theyoungestonboardwasstillsomethingofamystery.Since noonewishedtotalkaboutit,Floydhadneverraisedthesubjectofherinjuries,andhis Washingtonsourcescouldprovidenoinformation.Obviouslyshehadbeeninvolvedin someseriousaccident,butitmighthavebeennothingmoreunusualthanacarcrash.The theorythatshehadbeenonasecretspacemissionstillpartofpopularmythology outsidetheUSSRcouldberuledout.Thankstotheglobaltrackingnetworks,nosuch thinghadbeenpossibleforfiftyyears. Inadditiontoherphysicalanddoubtlesspsychologicalscars,Zenialabouredunderyet anotherhandicap.Shewasalastminutereplacement,andeveryoneknewit.Irma YakuninawastohavebeendieticianandmedicalassistantaboardLeonovbeforethat unfortunateargumentwithahanggliderbroketoomanybones.

Everydayat1800GMTthecrewofsevenplusonepassengergatheredinthetiny commonroomthatseparatedtheflightdeckfromthegalleyandsleepingquarters.The circulartableatitscentrewasjustbigenoughforeightpeopletosqueezearoundwhen ChandraandCurnowwererevived,itwouldbeunabletoaccommodateeveryone,and twoextraseatswouldhavetobefittedinsomewhereelse. Thoughthe'SixO'ClockSoviet',asthedailyroundtableconferencewascalled,seldom lastedmorethantenminutes,itplayedavitalroleinmaintainingmorale.Complaints, suggestions,criticisms,progressreportsanythingcouldberaised,subjectonlytothe captain'soverridingveto,whichwasveryseldomexercised. Typicalitemsonthenonexistentagendawererequestsforchangesinthemenu, appealsformoreprivatecommunicationtimewithEarth,suggestedmovieprogrammes, exchangeofnewsandgossip,andgoodnaturedneedlingoftheheavilyoutnumbered Americancontingent.Thingswouldchange,Floydwarnedthem,whenhiscolleagues cameoutofhibernation,andtheoddsimprovedfromIin7to3in9.Hedidnotmention hisprivatebeliefthatCurnowcouldouttalkoroutshoutanythreeotherpeopleaboard. Whenhewasnotsleeping,muchofFloyd'sowntimewasspentinthecommonroom partlybecause,despiteitssmallness,itwasmuchlessclaustrophobicthanhisowntiny cubicle.Itwasalsocheerfullydecorated,allavailableflatsurfacesbeingcoveredwith photosofbeautifullandandseascapes,sportingevents,portraitsofpopularvideostars, andotherremindersofEarth.Prideofplace,however,wasgiventoanoriginalLeonov paintinghis1965study'BeyondtheMoon',madeinthesameyearwhen,asayoung lieutenantcolonel,heleftVoskhodIIandbecamethefirstmaninhistorytoperforman extravehicularexcursions Clearlytheworkofatalentedamateur,ratherthanaprofessional,itshowedthe craterededgeoftheMoonwiththebeautifulSinuslridum BayofRainbowsinthe foreground.LoomingmonstrouslyabovethelunarhorizonwasthethincrescentofEarth, embracingthedarkenednightsideoftheplanet.BeyondthatblazedtheSun,the streamersofthecoronareachingoutintospaceformillionsofkilometresaroundit. Itwasastrikingcompositionandaglimpseofthefuturethateventhenlayonlythree yearsahead.OntheflightofApollo8,Anders,BormanandLovellweretoseethis splendidsightwiththeirunaidedeyes,astheywatchedEarthriseabovethefarsideon ChristmasDay,1968. HeywoodFloydadmiredthepainting,buthealsoregardeditwithmixedfeelings.He couldnotforgetthatitwasolderthaneverybodyelseontheshipwithoneexception. HewasalreadynineyearsoldwhenAlexeiLeonovhadpaintedit.

TheWorldsofGalileo

Evennow,morethanthreedecadesaftertherevelationsofthefirstVoyagerflybys,no onereallyunderstoodwhythefourgiantsatellitesdifferedsowildlyfromoneanother. Theywereallaboutthesamesize,andinthesamepartoftheSolarSystem yetthey weretotallydissimilar,asifchildrenofadifferentbirth. OnlyCallisto,theoutermost,hadturnedouttobemuchasexpected.WhenLeonov racedpastatadistanceofjustover100,000kilometres,thelargerofitscountlesscraters wereclearlyvisibletothenakedeye.Throughthetelescope,thesatellitelookedlikea glassballthathadbeenusedasatargetbyhighpoweredriflesitwascompletely coveredwithcratersofeverysize,rightdowntothelowerlimitofvisibility.Callisto, someonehadonceremarked,lookedmorelikeEarth'sMoonthandidtheMoonitself. Norwasthisparticularlysurprising.Onewouldhaveexpectedaworldouthereatthe edgeoftheasteroidbelttohavebeenbombardedwiththedebrisleftoverfromthe creationoftheSolarSystem.YetGanymede,thesatellitenextdoor,hadatotallydifferent appearance.Thoughithadbeenwellpepperedwithimpactcratersintheremotepast, mostofthemhadbeenploughedoveraphrasethatseemedpeculiarlyappropriate. HugeareasofGanymedewerecoveredwithridgesandfurrows,asifsomecosmic gardenerhaddraggedagiantrakeacrossthem.Andtherewerelightcolouredstreaks, liketrailsthatmighthavebeenmadebyslugsfiftykilometresacross.Mostmysteriousof allwerelong,meanderingbands,containingdozensofparallellines.ItwasNikolai Ternovskywhodecidedwhattheymustbemultilanesuperhighways,laidoutbydrunken surveyors.Heevenclaimedtohavedetectedoverpassesandcloverleafintersections. LeonovhadaddedsometrillionsofbitsofinformationaboutGanymedetothestoreof humanknowledge,beforeitcrossedtheorbitofEuropa.Thaticeboundworld,withits derelictanditsdead,wasontheothersideofJupiter,butitwasneverfarfromanyone's thoughts. BackonEarth,DrChangwasalreadyaheroandhiscountrymenhad,withobvious embarrassment,acknowledgedcountlessmessagesofsympathy.Onehadbeensentin thenameofLeonov'screwafter,Floydgathered,considerableredraftinginMoscow. Thefeelingonboardtheshipwasambiguousamixtureofadmiration,regret,andrelief. Allastronauts,irrespectiveoftheirnationalorigins,regardedthemselvesascitizensof spaceandfeltacommonbond,sharingeachother'striumphsandtragedies.Nooneon LeonovwashappybecausetheChineseexpeditionhadmetwithdisasteryetatthesame time,therewasamutedsenseofreliefthattheracehadnotgonetotheswiftest. TheunexpecteddiscoveryoflifeonEuropahadaddedanewelementtothesituation onethatwasnowbeingarguedatgreatlengthbothonEarthandaboardLeonov.Some exobiologistscried'Itoldyouso!',pointingoutthatitshouldnothavebeensuchasurprise

Itwasthestuffoffuturenightmaresandasifthatwasnotsufficient,therewasone furthertouchworthyofamadsurrealistartist.Stabbingupintotheblacksky,apparently emergingdirectlyfromthefirepitsoftheburningmoon,wasanimmense,curvinghorn, suchasadoomedbullfightermighthaveglimpsedinthefinalmomentoftruth. ThecrescentofJupiterwasrisingtogreetDiscoveryandLeonovastheyswepttoward italongtheircommonorbit.

18 Salvage

Themomentthattheouterhatchhadclosedbehindthem,therehadbeenasubtle reversalofroles.Curnowwasathomenow,whileBrailovskywasoutofhiselement, feelingillateaseinthelabyrinthofpitchblackcorridorsandtunnelsthatwasDiscovery's interior.Intheory,Maxknewhiswayroundtheship,butthatknowledgewasbasedonly onastudyofitsdesigndrawings.Curnow,ontheotherhand,hadspentmonthsworking inDiscovery'sstilluncompletedidenticaltwinhecould,quiteliterally,findhiswayaround blindfolded. Progresswasmadedifficultbecausethatpartoftheshipwasdesignedforzerogee nowtheuncontrolledspinprovidedanartificialgravity,which,slightthoughitwas,always seemedtobeinthemostinconvenientdirection. 'Firstthingwe'vegottodo,'mutteredCurnow,afterslidingseveralmetresdowna corridorbeforehecouldgrabahandhold,'istostopthisdamnedspin.Andwecan'tdo thatuntilwehavepower.IonlyhopethatDaveBowmansafeguardedallsystemsbefore heabandonedship.' 'Areyousurehedidabandontheship?Hemayhaveintendedtocomeback.' 'YoumayberightIdon'tsupposewe'lleverknow.Ifheevenknewhimself.' TheyhadnowenteredthePodBayDiscovery's'spacegarage',whichnormally containedthreeofthesphericalonemanmodulesusedforactivitiesoutsidetheship. OnlyPodNumber3remainedNumber1hadbeenlostinthemysteriousaccidentthat hadkilledFrankPooleandNumber2waswithDaveBowman,whereverhemightbe. ThePodBayalsocontainedtwospacesuits,lookinguncomfortablylikedecapitated corpsesastheyhunghelmetlessintheirracks.Itneededverylittleeffortofthe imaginationandBrailovsky'swasnowworkingovertimetofillthemwithawhole menagerieofsinisteroccupants.
Itwasunfortunate,butnotaltogethersurprising,thatCurnow'ssometimesirresponsible senseofhumourgotthebetterofhimatthisverymoment. 'Max,'hesaid,inatoneofdeadlyseriousness,'whateverhappenspleasedon'tgo chasingoffaftertheship'scat.' Forafewmilliseconds,Brailovskywasthrownoffguardhealmostanswered:'Idowish youhadn'tsaidthat,Walter',butcheckedhimselfintime.Thatwouldhavebeentoo damninganadmissionofweaknessinsteadhereplied,'I'dliketomeettheidiotwhoput thatmovieinourlibrary.' 'Katerinaprobablydidit,totesteveryone'spsychologicalbalance.Anyway,you laughedyourheadoffwhenwescreeneditlastweek.' BrailovskywassilentCurnow'sremarkwasperfectlytrue.Butthathadbeenbackin thefamiliarwarmthandlightofLeonov,amonghisfriendsnotinapitchblack,freezing derelict,hauntedbyghosts.Nomatterhowrationalonewas,itwasalltooeasytoimagine someimplacablealienbeastprowlingthesecorridors,seekingwhomitmightdevour. It'sallyourfault,Grandma(maytheSiberiantundralielightlyonyourbelovedbones)I wishyouhadn'tfilledmymindwithsomanyofthosegruesomelegends.IfIclosemy eyes,IcanstillseethehutoftheBabaYaga,standinginthatforestclearingonits scrawnychickenlegs. Enoughofthisnonsense.I'mabrilliantyoungengineerfacedwiththebiggesttechnical challengeofhislife,andImustn'tletmyAmericanfriendknowthatI'msometimesa frightenedlittleboy. Thenoisesdidnothelp.Thereweretoomanyofthem,thoughtheyweresofaintthat onlyanexperiencedastronautwouldhavedetectedthemagainstthesoundsofhisown suit.ButtoMaxBrailovsky,accustomedtoworkinginanenvironmentofuttersilence,they weredistinctlyunnerving,eventhoughheknewthattheoccasionalcracklingsand creakingswerealmostcertainlycausedbythermalexpansionastheshipturnedlikea roastonaspit.Feeblethoughthesunwasouthere,therewasstillanappreciable temperaturechangebetweenlightandshade. Evenhisfamiliarspacesuitfeltwrong,nowthattherewaspressureoutsideaswellas in.Alltheforcesactingonitsjointsweresubtlyaltered,andhecouldnolongerjudgehis movementsaccurately.I'mabeginner,startingmytrainingalloveragain,hetoldhimself angrily.Timetobreakthemoodbysomedecisiveaction. 'WalterI'dliketotesttheatmosphere.' 'Pressure'sokaytemperaturephewit'sonehundredfivebelowzero.'

Herealizedthatitwasnotone,butmultitudesandthatwhatevermeasuring instrumentsmightsay,itwasalwaysthesamesizeaslargeasnecessary. Howobvious,now,wasthatmathematicalratioofitssides,thequadraticsequence 1:4:9!Andhownaivetohaveimaginedthattheseriesendedthere,inonlythree dimensions! Evenashismindfocuseduponthesegeometricalsimplicities,theemptyrectanglefilled withstars.Thehotelsuiteifindeedithadeverreallyexisteddissolvedbackintothe mindofitscreatorandtherebeforehimwastheluminouswhirlpooloftheGalaxy. Itmighthavebeensomebeautiful,incrediblydetailedmodel,embeddedinablockof plastic.Butitwasthereality,nowgraspedbyhimasawholewithsensesmoresubtle thanvision.Ifhewished,hecouldfocushisattentionuponanyoneofitshundredbillion stars. Herehewas,adriftinthisgreatriverofsuns,halfwaybetweenthebankedfiresofthe galacticcoreandthelonely,scatteredsentinelstarsoftherim.Andtherewashisorigin, onthefarsideofthischasm inthesky,thisserpentinebandofdarkness,emptyofall stars.Heknewthatthisformlesschaos,visibleonlybytheglowthatlimneditsedgesfrom firemistsfarbeyond,wasthestillunusedstuffofcreation,therawmaterialofevolutions yettobe.Here,Timehadnotyetbegunnotuntilthesunsthatnowburnedwerelong sincedeadwouldlightandlifereshapethisvoid. Unwittingly,hehadcrosseditonce:now,farbetterprepared,thoughstillwholly ignorantoftheimpulsethatdrovehim,hemustcrossitagain. TheGalaxyburstforthfromthementalframeinwhichhehadenclosedit:starsand nebulaepouredpasthiminanillusionofinfinitespeed.Phantomsunsexplodedandfell behindasheslippedlikeashadowthroughtheircores. Thestarswerethinningout,theglareoftheMilkyWaydimmingintoapaleghostofthe gloryhehadknownandmightonedayknowagain.Hewasbackinthespacethatmen calledreal,attheverypointhehadleftit,secondsorcenturiesago. Hewasvividlyawareofhissurroundings,andfarmoreconsciousthaninthatearlier existenceofmyriadsensoryinputsfromtheexternalworld.Hecouldfocusuponanyone ofthem,andscrutinizeitinvirtuallylimitlessdetail,untilheconfrontedthefundamental, granularstructureoftimeandspace,belowwhichtherewasonlychaos. Andhecouldmove,thoughhedidnotknowhow.Buthadheeverreallyknownthat, evenwhenhepossessedabody?Thechainofcommandfrombraintolimbwasa mysterytowhichhehadnevergivenanythought. Aneffortofwill,andthespectrumofthatnearbystarshiftedtowardtheblue,by preciselytheamounthewished.Hewasfallingtowarditatalargefractionofthespeedof
light:thoughhecouldgofasterifhedesired,hewasinnohurry.Therewasstillmuch informationtobeprocessed,muchtobeconsidered.andmuchmoretobewon.That,he knew,washispresentgoalbuthealsoknewthatitwasonlypartofsomefarwiderplan, toberevealedinduecourse. Hegavenothoughttothegatewaybetweenuniversesdwindlingsoswiftlybehindhim, ortotheanxiousentitiesgatheredarounditintheirprimitivespacecraft.Theywerepartof hismemoriesbutstrongeroneswerecallinghimnow,callinghimhometotheworldhe hadneverthoughttoseeagain. Hecouldhearitsmyriadvoices,growinglouderandlouderasittoowasgrowing,from astaralmostlostagainsttheSun'soutstretchedcorona,toaslimcrescent,andfinallytoa gloriousbluewhitedisk. Theyknewthathewascoming.Downthereonthatcrowdedglobe,thealarmswould beflashingacrosstheradarscreens,thegreattrackingtelescopeswouldbesearching theskiesandhistoryasmenhadknownitwouldbedrawingtoaclose. Hebecameawarethatathousandkilometresbelowaslumberingcargoofdeathhad awakened,andwasstirringinitsorbit.Thefeebleenergiesitcontainedwerenopossible menacetohimindeed,hecouldprofitablyusethem. Heenteredthemazeofcircuitry,andswiftlytracedthewaytoitslethalcore.Mostof thebranchingscouldbeignoredtheywereblindalleys,devisedforprotection.Beneath hisscrutiny,theirpurposewaschildishlysimpleitwaseasytobypassthemall. Nowtherewasasinglelastbarrieracrudebuteffectivemechanicalrelay,holding aparttwocontacts.Untiltheywereclosed,therewouldbenopowertoactivatethefinal sequence. Heputforthhiswilland,forthefirsttime,knewfailureandfrustration.Thefewgrams ofthemicroswitchwouldnotbudge.Hewasstillacreatureofpureenergyasyet,the worldofinertmatterwasbeyondhisgrasp.Well,therewasasimpleanswertothat. Hestillhadmuchtolearn.Thecurrentpulseheinducedintherelaywassopowerful thatitalmostmeltedthecoil,beforeitcouldoperatethetriggermechanism. Themicrosecondstickedslowlyby.Itwasinterestingtoobservetheexplosivelenses focustheirenergies,likethefeeblematchthatignitesapowdertrain,whichinturn Themegatonsfloweredinasilentdetonationthatbroughtabrief,falsedawntohalfthe sleepingworld.Likeaphoenixrisingfromtheflames,heabsorbedwhatheneeded,and discardedtherest.Farbelow,theshieldoftheatmosphere,whichprotectedtheplanet fromsomanyhazards,absorbedthemostdangerousoftheradiation.Buttherewouldbe someunluckymenandanimalswhowouldneverseeagain.

Intheaftermathoftheexplosion,itseemedasiftheEarthwasstruckdumb.The babbleoftheshortandmediumwaveswascompletelysilenced,reflectedbackbythe suddenlyenhancedionosphere.Onlythemicrowavesstillslicedthroughtheinvisibleand slowlydissolvingmirrorthatnowsurroundedtheplanet,andmostoftheseweretootightly beamedforhimtoreceivethem.Afewhighpoweredradarswerestillfocuseduponhim, butthatwasamatterofnoimportance.Hedidnotevenbothertoneutralizethemashe couldeasilyhavedone.Andifanymorebombsweretocomehisway,hewouldtreat themwithequalindifference.Forthepresent,hehadalltheenergyheneeded. Andnowhewasdescending,ingreatsweepingspirals,towardthelostlandscapeofhis childhood.

31 Disneyville

Afindesieclephilosopherhadonceremarkedandbeenroundlydenouncedforhis painsthatWalterEliasDisneyhadcontributedmoretogenuinehumanhappinessthan allthereligiousteachersinhistory.Now,halfacenturyaftertheartist'sdeath,hisdreams werestillproliferatingacrosstheFloridalandscape. Whenithadopenedintheearly1980s,hisExperimentalPrototypeCommunityof Tomorrowhadbeenashowcasefornewtechnologiesandmodesofliving.Butasits founderhadrealized,EPCOTwouldonlyfulfilitspurposewhensomeofitsvastacreage wasagenuine,livingtown,occupiedbypeoplewhocalledithome.Thatprocesshad takentheremainderofthecenturynowtheresidentialareahadtwentythousand inhabitantsandhad,inevitably,becomepopularlyknownasDisneyville. BecausetheycouldmoveinonlyafterpenetratingapalaceguardofWEDlawyers,it wasnotsurprisingthattheaverageageoftheoccupantswasthehighestinanyUnited Statescommunity,orthatitsmedicalserviceswerethemostadvancedintheworld. Someofthem,indeed,couldhardlyhavebeenconceived,stilllesscreated,inanyother place.
Theapartmenthadbeencarefullydesignednottolooklikeahospitalsuite,andonlya fewunusualfittingswouldhavebetrayeditspurpose.Thebedwasscarcelykneehigh,so thatthedangeroffallswasminimized:itcould,however,beraisedandtiltedforthe convenienceofthenurses.Thebathroomtubwassunkintothefloor,andhadabuiltin seataswellashandrails,sothateventheelderlyorinfirmcouldgetinandoutofiteasily. Thefloorwasthicklycarpeted,buttherewerenorugsoverwhichonecouldtrip,orsharp

byallwisedescendantsofthelegendarySigmundFreud!Essentiallythesamestorywas beingplayedoutintheshadowofJupiter. Theelectronicpsychoanalysishadproceededataspeedtotallybeyondhuman comprehensionasrepairanddiagnosticprogramsflashedthroughHal'scircuitsatbillions ofbitsasecond,pinpointingpossiblemalfunctionsandcorrectingthem.Thoughmostof theseprogramshadbeentestedinadvanceonHal'stwin,SAL9000,theimpossibilityofa realtimedialoguebetweenthetwocomputerswasaserioushandicap.Sometimeshours werewastedwhenitprovednecessarytocheckbackwithEarthatacriticalpointinthe therapy. FordespiteallChandra'swork,thecomputer'srehabilitationwasstillfarfromcomplete. Halexhibitednumerousidiosyncrasiesandnervoustics,sometimesevenignoringspoken wordsthoughhewouldalwaysacknowledgekeyboardinputsfromanyone.Inthe reversedirection,hisoutputswereevenmoreeccentric. Thereweretimeswhenhewouldgiveverbalreplies,butwouldnotdisplaythem visually.Atothertimeshewoulddobothbutrefusedtoprinthardcopy.Hewouldgive noexcusesorexplanationsnoteventhestubbornlyimpenetrable'Iprefernotto'of Melville'sautisticscrivener,Bartelby. However,hewasnotactivelydisobedientsomuchasreluctant,andonlywherecertain taskswereconcerned.Itwasalwayspossibletowinhiscooperationeventually'totalk himoutofhissulk',asCurnowputitneatly. ItwasnotsurprisingthatDrChandrawasbeginningtoshowthestrain.Onone celebratedoccasionwhenMaxBrailovskyinnocentlyrevivedanoldcanard,healmostlost histemper. 'Isittrue,DrChandra,thatyouchosethenameHaltobeonestepaheadofIBM?' 'Utternonsense!HalfofuscomefromIBMandwe'vebeentryingtostampoutthat storyforyears.IthoughtthatbynoweveryintelligentpersonknewthatHALisderived fromHeuristicALgorithmic.' Afterward,Maxsworethathecoulddistinctlyhearthecapitalletters. InFloyd'sprivateopinion,theoddswereatleastfiftytooneagainstflyingDiscovery safelybacktoEarth.AndthenChandracametohimwithanextraordinaryproposal. 'DrFloyd,canIhaveawordwithyou?' Afteralltheweeksandsharedexperiences,Chandrawasstillasformalasevernot onlytoFloyd,buttoallthecrew.Hewouldnotevenaddresstheship'sbaby,Zenia, withouttheprefix'ma'am'.
'Ofcourse,Chandra.Whatisit?' 'I'vevirtuallycompletedtheprogrammingforthesixmostprobablevariationsonthe Hohmannreturnorbit.Fivehavenowbeenrunonasimulation,withoutanyproblems.' 'Excellent.I'msurethatnooneelseonEarthintheSolarSystem couldhavedoneit.' 'Thankyou.However,youknowaswellasIdothatit'simpossibletoprogramforevery eventuality.Halmaywillfunctionperfectly,andwillbeabletohandleanyreasonable emergency.Butallsortsoftrivialaccidentsminorequipmentfailuresthatcouldbefixed withascrewdriver,brokenwires,stuckswitchescouldleavehimhelplessandabortthe wholemission.' 'You'reabsolutelyright,ofcourse,andit'sbeenworryingme.Butwhatcanwedoabout it?' 'It'sreallyquitesimple.I'dliketostaywithDiscovery.' Floyd'simmediatereactionwasthatChandrahadgonecrazy.Onsecondthoughts, perhapshewasonlyhalfcrazy.Itmightindeedmakeallthedifferencebetweensuccess andfailuretohaveahumanbeingthatsuperballpurposetroubleshootingandrepair deviceaboardDiscoveryforthelongvoyagebacktoEarth.Buttheobjectionswere completelyoverwhelming. 'It'saninterestingidea,'Floydansweredwithextremecaution,'andIcertainly appreciateyourenthusiasm.Buthaveyouthoughtofalltheproblems?'Thatwasasilly thingtosayChandrawouldhavealltheanswersalreadyfiledawayforimmediate retrieval. 'You'llbeonyourownforoverthreeyears!Supposeyouhadanaccidentoramedical emergency?' 'That'sariskI'mpreparedtotake.' 'Andwhataboutfood,water?Leonovdoesn'thaveenoughtospare.' 'I'vecheckedDiscovery'srecyclingsystemitcanbemadeoperationalagainwithout toomuchdifficulty.Besides,weIndianscanmanageonverylittle.' ItwasunusualforChandratorefertohisorigins,orindeedtomakeanypersonal statementshis'trueconfession'wastheonlyexampleFloydcouldremember.Buthedid notdoubttheclaimCurnowhadonceremarkedthatDrChandrahadthesortofphysique thatcouldonlybeachievedbycenturiesofstarvation.Althoughitsoundedlikeoneofthe engineer'sunkinderwisecracks,ithadbeenmadeentirelywithoutmaliceindeed,with sympathythoughnot,ofcourse,inChandra'shearing.

HalthisisDrFloyd.

GOODEVENING,DOCTOR.
I'mtakingoverwatchat2200.Iseverythingokay?

EVERYTHINGISFINE,DOCTOR

ThenwhyisthatredlightflashingonPanel5?
THEMONITORCAMERAINTHEPODBAYISFAULTY.WALTERTOLDMETO IGNOREIT.THEREISNOWAYINWHICHICANSWITCHITOFF.I'MSORRY.
That'squiteokay,Hal.Thankyou.

YOU'REWELCOME,DOCTOR.

Andsoon. SometimesHalwouldsuggestagameofchess,presumablyobeyingaprogramming instructionsetlongagoandnevercancelled.Floydwouldnotacceptthechallengehe hadalwaysregardedchessasafrightfulwasteoftime,andhadneverevenlearnedthe rulesofthegame.Halseemedunabletobelievethattherewerehumanswhocouldn'tor wouldn'tplaychess,andkeptontryinghopefully. Herewegoagain,thoughtFloyd,whenafaintchimesoundedfromthedisplaypanel.

DOCTORFLOYD?

Whatisit,Hal?

THEREISAMESSAGEFORYOU.

Soitisn'tanotherchallenge,thoughtFloydwithmildsurprise.Itwasunusualtoemploy Halasamessengerboy,thoughhewasfrequentlyusedasanalarmclockanda reminderofjobstobedone.Andsometimeshewasthemediumforlittlejokesalmost everyoneonnightdutyhadbeentauntedby

HACAUGHTYOUSLEEPING!

oralternatively

OGO!ZASTALTEBYAVKROVATI!

Nooneeverclaimedresponsibilityforthesepranks,thoughWalterCurnowwasaprime suspect.HeinturnhadblamedHal,poohpoohingChandra'sindignantproteststhatthe computerhadnosenseofhumour. ItcouldnotbeamessagefromEarththatwouldhavegonethroughLeonov's communicationcentreandbeenrelayedonbythedutyofficerthereatthatmoment,Max Brailovsky.Andanyoneelsecallingfromtheothershipwouldusetheintercom.Odd.

Okay,Hal.Whoiscalling?

NOIDENTIFICATION.
Soitprobablywasajoke.Well,twocouldplayatthatgame.
Verywell.Pleasegivemethemessage.
MESSAGEASFOLLOWS.ITISDANGEROUSTOREMAINHERE.YOUMUST LEAVEWITHINFIFTEENREPEATFIFTEENDAYS.
Floydlookedatthescreenwithannoyance.Hefeltsorry,andsurprised,thatanyoneof thecrewhadsuchachildishsenseofhumourthiswasnotevenagoodschoolboyjoke. Buthewouldplayalongwithitinthehopeofcatchingtheperpetrator.
Thatisabsolutelyimpossible.Ourlaunchwindowdoesnotopenuntiltwentysixdays fromnow.Wedonothavesufficientpropellantforanearlierdeparture.
Thatwillmakehimthink,Floydmutteredtohimselfwithsatisfaction,andleanedbackto awaittheresults.
IAMAWAREOFTHESEFACTS.NEVERTHELESSYOUMUSTLEAVEWITHIN FIFTEENDAYS.
Otherwise,Isuppose,we'llbeattackedbylittlegreenalienswiththreeeyes.ButI'd betterplayalongwithHal,inthehopeofcatchingtheprankster.
IcannottakethiswarningseriouslyunlessIknowitsorigin.Whorecordedit?
Hedidnotreallyexpectanyusefulinformation.Theperpetratorwouldhavecoveredhis (her?)trackstooskilfullyforthat.TheverylastthingFloydexpectedwastheanswerhe didget.

THISISNOTARECORDING.

Soitwasarealtimemessage.ThatmeantitwaseitherfromHalhimselforsomeone aboardLeonov.Therewasnoperceptibletimelagtheoriginhadtoberightthere.

Thenwhoisspeakingtome?

IWASDAVIDBOWMAN.
Floydstaredatthescreenforalongtimebeforemakinghisnextmove.Thejoke,which hadneverbeenfunnyinthefirstplace,hadnowgonetoofar.Itwasintheworstpossible taste.Well,thisshouldfixwhoeverwasattheotherendoftheline.
Icannotacceptthatidentificationwithoutsomeproof.
IUNDERSTAND.ITISIMPORTANTTHATYOUBELIEVEME.LOOKBEHINDYOU.
Evenbeforethatlastchillingsentenceappearedonthescreen,Floydhadbegunto doubthishypothesis.Thewholeexchangehadbecomeveryodd,thoughtherewas nothingdefiniteonwhichhecouldputhisfinger.Asajoke,ithadbecometotallypointless. Andnowhefeltapricklinginthesmallofhisback.Veryslowly indeed,reluctantly heswunghisswivelchairaround,awayfromthebankedpanelsandswitchesofthe computerdisplay,towardtheVelcrocoveredcatwalkbehind. ThezerogravityenvironmentofDiscovery'sobservationdeckwasalwaysdusty,forthe airfiltrationplanthadneverbeenbroughtbacktofullefficiency.Theparallelraysofthe heatlessyetstillbrilliantsun,streamingthroughthegreatwindows,alwayslitupmyriads ofdancingmotes,driftinginstraycurrentsandneversettlinganywhereapermanent displayofBrownianmovement.
Nowsomethingstrangewashappeningtothoseparticlesofdustsomeforceseemed tobemarshallingthem,herdingthemawayfromacentralpointyetbringingotherstoward it,untiltheyallmetonthesurfaceofahollowsphere.Thatsphere,aboutametreacross, hoveredintheairforamomentlikeagiantsoapbubblebutagranularone,lackinga bubble'scharacteristiciridescence.Thenitelongatedintoanellipsoid,itssurfacebeganto pucker,toformfoldsandindentations. Withoutsurpriseandalmostwithoutfear Floydrealizedthatitwasassumingthe shapeofaman. Hehadseensuchfigures,blownoutofglass,inmuseumsandscienceexhibitions.But thisdustyphantomdidnotevenapproximateanatomicalaccuracyitwaslikeacrudeclay figurine,oroneoftheprimitiveworksofartfoundintherecessesofaStoneAgecave. Onlytheheadwasfashionedwithanycareandtheface,undoubtedly,wasthatof CommanderDavidBowman. TherewasafaintmurmurofwhitenoisefromthecomputerpanelbehindFloyd'sback. Halwasswitchingfromvisualtoaudiooutput. 'Hello,DrFloyd.Nowdoyoubelieveme?' Thelipsofthefigurenevermovedthefaceremainedamask.ButFloydrecognizedthe voice,andallremainingdoubtsweresweptaway. 'Thisisverydifficultforme,andIhavelittletime.Ihavebeen.allowedtogivethis warning.Youhaveonlyfifteendays.' 'Butwhyandwhatareyou?Wherehaveyoubeen?' Therewereamillionquestionshewantedtoaskyettheghostlyfigurewasalready fading,itsgrainyenvelopebeginningtodissolvebackintotheconstituentparticlesofdust. Floydtriedtofreezetheimageinhismind,sothatlaterhecouldconvincehimselfthatit wasreallyhappeningandnotadreamasthatfirstencounterwithTMA1now sometimesseemedtobe. Howstrange,thathe,outofallthebillionsofhumanswhohadeverlivedonplanet Earth,hadbeenprivilegedtomakecontactnotoncebuttwicewithanotherformof intelligence!Forheknewthattheentityaddressinghimmustbesomethingfarmorethan DavidBowman. Itwasalsosomethingless.Onlytheeyeswhohadoncecalledthemthe'windowsof thesoul'?hadbeenaccuratelyreproduced.Therestofthebodywasafeaturelessblank, lackingalldetail.Therewasnohintofgenitalsorsexualcharacteristicsthatinitselfwasa chillingindicationofhowfarDavidBowmanhadlefthishumanheritagebehind.

'Ican'tthankyoutoomuchforeverythingyou'vedone,andforreportingonthesituation athome.Ifeelslightlybetteraboutitnowhavingsomethingevenbiggertoworryabout isperhapsthebestcureforanyinsolubleproblem. 'Forthefirsttime,I'mbeginningtowonderifanyofuswilleverseeEarthagain.'

43 ThoughtExperiment

Whenonespendsmonthswithasmall,isolatedgroupofpeople,onebecomesvery sensitivetothemoodsandemotionalstatesofallitsmembers.Floydwasnowawareofa subtlechangeinattitudetowardhimitsmostobviousmanifestationwasthe reappearanceofthegreeting'DrFloyd',whichhehadnotheardforsolongthathewas oftenslowtorespondtoit. Noone,hewassure,believedthathehadreallygonecrazybutthepossibilitywas beingconsidered.Hedidnotresentthatindeed,hewasgrimlyamusedbyitasheset aboutthetaskofprovinghissanity. HedidhavesomeslightsupportingevidencefromEarth.JosFernandezstill maintainedthathiswifehadreportedanencounterwithDavidBowman,whileshe continuedtodenyitandrefusedtospeaktoanyofthenewsmedia.Itwashardtosee whypoorJosshouldhaveinventedsuchapeculiarstory,especiallyasBettyseemeda verystubbornandquicktemperedlady.Fromhishospitalbed,herhusbanddeclaredthat hestilllovedherandtheirswasonlyatemporarydisagreement. FloydhopedthatTanya'spresentcoolnesstowardhimwasequallytemporary.Hewas quitesurethatshewasasunhappyaboutitashewas,andhewascertainthather attitudewasnotamatterofdeliberatechoice.Somethinghadhappenedthatsimplywould notfitintoherpatternofbeliefs,soshewouldtrytoavoidanyremindersofit.Which meanthavingaslittletodowithFloydaspossibleaveryunfortunatesituationnowthat themostcriticalstageofthemissionwasfastapproaching. IthadnotbeeneasytoexplainthelogicofTanya'soperationalplantothewaiting billionsbackonEarthespeciallytotheimpatienttelevisionnetworks,whichhadgrown tiredofshowingthesameneverchangingviewsofBigBrother.'You'vegoneallthisway, atenormouscost,andyoujustsitandwatchthething!Whydon'tyoudosomething?'To allthesecriticsTanyahadgiventhesameanswer:'Iwilljustassoonasthelaunch windowopens,sothatwecanleaveimmediatelyifthere'sanyadversereaction.'
PlansforthefinalassaultonBigBrotherhadalreadybeenworkedoutandagreedupon withMissionControl.Leonovwouldmoveinslowly,probingatallfrequencies,andwith steadilyincreasingpowerconstantlyreportingbacktoEarthateverymoment.When finalcontactwasmade,theywouldtrytosecuresamplesbydrillingorlaserspectroscopy noonereallyexpectedtheseendeavourstosucceed,asevenafteradecadeofstudy TMA1resistedallattemptstoanalyseitsmaterial.Thebesteffortsofhumanscientistsin thisdirectionseemedcomparabletothoseofStoneAgementryingtobreakthroughthe armourofabankvaultwithflintaxes. Finally,echosoundersandotherseismicdeviceswouldbeattachedtothefacesofBig Brother.Alargecollectionofadhesiveshadbeenbroughtalongforthepurpose,andif theydidnotworkwell,onecouldalwaysfallbackonafewkilometresofgood,old fashionedstring,eventhoughthereseemedsomethingfaintlycomicabouttheideaof wrappinguptheSolarSystem'sgreatestmystery,asifitwereaparcelabouttobesent throughthemail. NotuntilLeonovwaswellonthewayhomewouldsmallexplosivechargesbe detonated,inthehopethatthewavespropagatedthroughBigBrotherwouldreveal somethingaboutitsinteriorstructure.Thislastmeasurehadbeenhotlydebated,bothby thosewhoarguedthatitwouldgeneratenoresultsatallandthosewhofeareditwould producealtogethertoomany. Foralongtime,Floydhadwaveredbetweenthetwoviewpointsnowthematter seemedonlyoftrivialimportance. ThetimeforfinalcontactwithBigBrotherthegreatmomentthatshouldhavebeenthe climaxoftheexpeditionwasonthewrongsideofthemysteriousdeadline.Heywood Floydwasconvincedthatitbelongedtoafuturethatwouldneverexistbuthecouldget noonetoagreewithhim. Andthatwastheleastofhisproblems.Eveniftheydidagree,therewasnothingthat theycoulddoaboutit. WalterCurnowwasthelastpersonhewouldhaveexpectedtoresolvethedilemma. ForWalterwasalmosttheepitomeofthesound,practicalengineer,suspiciousofflashes ofbrillianceandtechnologicalquickfixes.Noonewouldeveraccusehimofbeinga geniusandsometimesitrequiredgeniustoseetheblindinglyobvious. 'Considerthispurelyasanintellectualexercise,'hehadbegun,withmost uncharacteristichesitancy.'I'mquitepreparedtobeshotdown.' 'Goon,'answeredFloyd.'I'llhearyououtpolitely.That'stheleastIcandoeveryone's beenverypolitetome.Toopolite,I'mafraid.' Curnowgavealopsidedgrin.

Thenighthadnotyetfinishedwithitssurprises.SomewherearoundtheorbitofMars, Tanya'sbriefreportpassedamessagegoingintheoppositedirection. BettyFernandezhadtalkedatlast,BoththeCIAandtheNationalSecurityAgency werefurioustheircombinedblandishments,appealstopatriotism,andveiledthreatshad
failedcompletelyyettheproducerofasleazygossipnetworkhadsucceeded,thereby makinghimselfimmortalintheannalsofVideodom. Itwashalfluck,halfinspiration.Thenewsdirectorof'Hello,Earth!'hadsuddenly realizedthatoneofhisstaffboreastrikinglikenesstoDavidBowmanaclevermakeup artisthadmadeitperfect.JosFernandezcouldhavetoldtheyoungmanthathewas takingaterriblerisk,buthehadthegoodfortunethatoftenfavoursthebrave.Oncehe hadgothisfootinsidethedoor,Bettyhadcapitulated.Bythetimeshehadquitegently thrownhimout,hehadobtainedessentiallythewholestory.Andtodohimcredit,hehad presenteditwithalackofleeringcynicismquiteuncharacteristicofhisnetwork.Itgothim thatyear'sPulitzer. 'Iwish,'FloydsaidratherwearilytoSasha,'she'dtalkedearlier.Itwouldhavesavedme alotoftrouble.Anyway,thatsettlestheargument.Tanyacan'tpossiblyhaveanydoubts now.Butwe'llleaveituntilshewakesupdon'tyouagree?' 'Ofcourseit'snoturgent,eventhoughit'scertainlyimportant.Andshe'llneedthe sleep.Ihaveafeelingnoneofuswillgetmuchfromnowon.' I'msureyou'reright,thoughtFloyd.Hefeltverytired,butevenifhehadnotbeenon dutyhewouldhavefounditimpossibletosleep.Hismindwastooactive,analysingthe eventsofthisextraordinarynight,tryingtoanticipatethenextsurprise. Inoneway,hefeltanenormoussenseofrelief:Alluncertaintyabouttheirdeparture wassurelyendedTanyacouldhavenofurtherreservations. Butamuchgreateruncertaintyremained.Whatwashappening? TherewasonlyoneexperienceinFloyd'slifethatmatchedthesituation.Asavery youngman,hehadoncegonecanoeingwithsomefriendsdownatributaryofthe ColoradoRiverandtheyhadlosttheirway. Theyhadbeensweptfasterandfasterbetweenthecanyonwalls,notcompletely helpless,butwithonlyenoughcontroltoavoidbeingswamped.Aheadmightberapids perhapsevenawaterfalltheydidnotknow.Andinanycase,therewaslittletheycould doaboutit. Onceagain,Floydfelthimselfinthegripofirresistibleforces,sweepinghimandhis companionstowardanunknowndestiny.Andthistimethedangerswerenotonly invisibletheymightbebeyondhumancomprehension.

45 EscapeManoeuvre

'ThisisHeywoodFloyd,makingwhatIsuspectindeed,hopewillbemylastreport fromLagrange. 'Wearenowpreparingforthereturnhomeinafewdayswewillleavethisstrange place,hereonthelinebetweenIoandJupiterwherewemadeourrendezvouswiththe huge,mysteriouslyvanishedartifactwechristenedBigBrother.Thereisstillnotasingle clueastowhereithasgoneorwhy. 'Forvariousreasons,itseemsdesirableforusnottoremainherelongerthan necessary.Andwewillbeabletoleaveatleasttwoweeksearlierthanwehadoriginally plannedbyusingtheAmericanshipDiscoveryasaboosterfortheRussianLeonov. 'Thebasicideaissimplethetwoshipswillbejoinedtogether,onemountedpiggyback ontheother.Discoverywillburnallitspropellantfirst,acceleratingbothvesselsinthe desireddirection.Whenitsfuelisexhausted,itwillbecutlooselikeanemptyfirststage andLeonovwillstarttofireitsengines.Itwon'tusethemearlier,becauseifitdiditwould wasteenergydraggingalongthedeadweightofDiscovery. 'Andwe'regoingtouseanothertrick,whichlikesomanyoftheconceptsinvolvedin spacetravelatfirstsightseemstodefycommonsense.Althoughwe'retryingtoget awayfromJupiter,ourfirstmoveistogetasclosetoitaswepossiblycan. 'We'vebeenthereoncebefore,ofcourse,whenweusedJupiter'satmospheretoslow usdownandgetintoorbitaroundtheplanet.Thistimewewon'tgoquitesoclosebut verynearly. 'Ourfirstburn,uphereinthe350,000kilometreshighorbitofIo,willreduceour velocity,sothatwefalldowntoJupiterandjustgrazeitsatmosphere.Then,whenwe'reat theclosestpossiblepoint,we'llburnallourfuelasquicklyaswecan,toincreasespeed andinjectLeonovintotheorbitbacktoEarth. 'What'sthepointofsuchacrazymanoeuvre?Itcan'tbejustifiedexceptbyhighly complexmathematics,butIthinkthebasicprinciplecanbemadefairlyobvious. 'AsweallowourselvestofallintoJupiter'senormousgravityfield,we'llgainvelocity andhenceenergy.WhenIsay"we",Imeantheshipsandthefueltheycarry. 'Andwe'regoingtoburnthefuelrightthereatthebottomofJupiter's"gravitywell" we'renotgoingtoliftitupagain.Asweblastitoutfromourreactors,itwillsharesomeof itsacquiredkineticenergywithus.Indirectly,we'llhavetappedJupiter'sgravity,tospeed usonthewaybacktoEarth.Asweusedtheatmospheretogetridofourexcessvelocity whenwearrived,thisisoneoftherarecaseswhenMotherNatureusuallysofrugal allowsustohaveitbothways.

beaconsofairports.Butradarandballoonprobeshadlongagoprovedthatnothingsolid wasdownthereforthousandsuponthousandsofkilometres,allthewaytothe unattainablecoreoftheplanet. MidnightonJupiter!Thelastcloseupglimpsewasamagicalinterludehewould rememberallhislife.Hecouldenjoyitallthemorebecause,surely,nothingcouldnowgo wrongandevenifitdid,hewouldhavenoreasontoreproachhimselfHehaddone everythingpossibletoensuresuccess. Itwasveryquietintheloungenoonewishedtospeakasthecarpetofcloudsunrolled swiftlybeneaththem.EveryfewminutesTanyaorVasiliannouncedthestatusoftheburn towardtheendofDiscovery'sfiringtime,tensionbegantoincreaseagain.Thiswasthe criticalmomentandnooneknewexactlywhenitwouldbe.Therewassomedoubtasto theaccuracyofthefuelgauges,andtheburnwouldcontinueuntiltheywerecompletely dry. 'Estimatedcutoffintenseconds,'saidTanya.'Walter,Chandragetreadytocome back.Max,Vasilistandbyincaseyou'reneeded.Five.four.three.two.one.zero!' TherewasnochangethefaintscreamofDiscovery'senginesstillreachedthem throughthethicknessofthetwohulls,andthethrustinducedweightstillcontinuedtogrip theirlimbs.We'reinluck,thoughtFloydthegaugesmusthavebeenreadinglow,afterall. Everysecondofextrafiringwasabonusitmightevenmeanthedifferencebetweenlife anddeath.Andhowstrangetohearacountupinsteadofacountdown! fiveseconds.tenseconds.thirteenseconds.That'sitluckythirteen!' Weightlessness,andsilence,returned.Onbothships,therewasabriefburstof cheering.Itwasquicklytruncated,formuchwasstilltobedoneandithadtobedone swiftly. Floydwastemptedtogototheairlocksothathecouldgivehiscongratulationsto ChandraandCurnowassoonastheycameaboard.Buthewouldonlybeinthewaythe airlockwouldbeaverybusyplaceasMaxandSashapreparedfortheirpossibleEVAand thetubewayjoiningthetwoshipswasdisconnected.Hewouldwaitinthelounge,togreet thereturningheroes. Andhecouldnowrelaxevenfurtherperhapsfromeighttoseven,onascaleoften. Forthefirsttimeinweeks,hecouldforgetabouttheradiocutoff.Itwouldneverbe neededHalhadperformedimpeccably.Evenifhewished,hecoulddonothingtoaffect themissionsinceDiscovery'slastdropofpropellanthadbeenexhausted. 'Allaboard,'announcedSasha.'Hatchessealed.I'mgoingtofirethecharges.' Therewasnotthefaintestsoundastheexplosivesweredetonated,whichsurprised Floydhehadexpectedsomenoisetobetransmittedthroughthestraps,tautassteel
bands,thatlinkedtheshipstogether.Buttherewasnodoubtthattheyhadgoneoffas planned,forLeonovgaveaseriesoftinyshudders,asifsomeonewastappingonthehull. Aminutelater,Vasilitriggeredtheattitudejetsforasinglebriefburst. 'We'refree!'heshouted.'Sasha,Maxyouwon'tbeneeded!Everyonegettoyour hammocksignitioninonehundredseconds!' AndnowJupiterwasrollingaway,andastrangenewshapeappearedoutsidethe windowthelong,skeletalframeofDiscovery,navigationlightsstillshiningasitdrifted awayfromthemandintohistory.Notimeremainedforsentimentalfarewellsinlessthan aminuteLeonov'sdrivewouldstarttooperate. Floydhadneverhearditunderfullpowerandwantedtoprotecthisearsfromthe roaringscreamthatnowfilledtheuniverse.Leonov'sdesignershadnotwastedpayload onsoundinsulationthatwouldbeneededforonlyafewhoursofavoyagethatwouldlast foryears.Andhisweightseemedenormousyetitwasbarelyaquarterofthatwhichhe hadknownallhislife. Withinminutes,Discoveryhadvanishedastern,thoughtheflashofitswarningbeacon couldbeseenuntilithaddroppedbelowthehorizon.Onceagain,Floydtoldhimself,I'm roundingJupiterthistimegainingspeed,notlosingit.HeglancedacrossatZenia,just visibleinthedarknesswithhernosepressedtotheobservationwindow.Wasshealso recallingthatlastoccasion,whentheysharedthehammocktogether?Therewasno dangerofincinerationnowatleastshewouldnotbeterrifiedofthatparticularfate. Anyway,sheseemedamuchmoreconfidentandcheerfulperson,undoubtedlythanksto MaxandperhapsWalteraswell. Shemusthavebecomeawareofhisscrutiny,forsheturnedandsmiled,thengestured towardtheunwindingcloudscapebelow. 'Look!'sheshoutedinhisear,'Jupiterhasanewmoon!' Whatisshetryingtosay?Floydaskedhimself.HerEnglishstillisn'tverygood,butshe couldn'tpossiblyhavemadeamistakeinasimplesentencelikethat.I'msureIheardher correctlyyetshe'spointingdownward,notupward. Andthenherealizedthatthesceneimmediatelybelowthemhadbecomemuch brighterhecouldevenseeyellowsandgreensthathadbeenquiteinvisiblebefore. SomethingfarmorebrilliantthanEuropawasshiningontheJovianclouds. Leonovitself,manytimesbrighterthanJupiter'snoondaysun,hadbroughtafalse dawntotheworlditwasleavingforever.Ahundredkilometrelongplumeofincandescent plasmawastrailingbehindtheship,astheexhaustfromtheSakharovDrivedissipatedits remainingenergiesinthevacuumofspace.

'IthinkthisiswhatWalter'sdrivingat,'saidFloyd.'It'sallverywelltofeelgratefulto Bowmanorwhatevergavethatwarning.Butthat'salltheydid.Wecouldstillhavebeen killed.' 'Butweweren't,'answeredTanya.'Wesavedourselvesbyourownefforts.And perhapsthatwasthewholeidea.Ifwehadn'twewouldn'thavebeenworthsaving.You know,survivalofthefittest.Darwinianselection.Eliminatingthegenesforstupidity.' 'I'veanunpleasantfeelingyou'reright,'saidCurnow.'Andifwe'dstucktoourlaunch date,andnotusedDiscoveryasabooster,wouldit,orthey,havedoneanythingtosave us?Thatwouldn'thaverequiredmuchextraeffortforanintelligencethatcouldblowup Jupiter.' Therewasanuneasysilence,brokenatlastbyHeywoodFloyd. 'Onthewhole,'hesaid,'I'mverygladthat'sonequestionwe'llnevergetanswered.'

54 BetweenSuns

TheRussians,thoughtFloyd,aregoingtomissWalter'ssongsandwisecracksonthe wayhome.Aftertheexcitementofthelastfewdays,thelongfallSunwardand Earthwardwillseemamonotonousanticlimax.Butamonotonous,uneventfultripwas whateveryonedevoutlyhopedfor. Hewasalreadyfeelingsleepy,butwasstillawareofhissurroundingsandcapableof reactingtothem.WillIlookasdeadwhenI'minhibernation?heaskedhimself.Itwas alwaysdisconcertingtolookatanotherpersonespeciallysomeoneveryfamiliarwhen hehadenteredthelongsleep. Perhapsitwastoopoignantareminderofone'sownmortality. Curnowwascompletelyout,butChandrawasstillawake,thoughalreadygroggyfrom thefinalinjection.Hewasobviouslynolongerhimself,forheseemedquiteunperturbed byhisownnakednessorKaterina'swatchfulpresence.Thegoldlingamthatwashisonly articleofclothingkepttryingtofloatawayfromhim,untilitschainrecapturedit. 'Everythinggoingokay,Katerina?'askedFloyd. 'Perfectly.ButhowIenvyyou.Intwentyminutes,you'llbehome.'
'Ifthat'sanyconsolationhowcanyoubesurewewon'thavesomehorribledreams?' 'Noone'severreportedany.' 'Ahtheymayforgetthemwhentheywakeup.' Katerina,asusual,tookhimquiteseriously.'Impossible.Ifthereweredreamsin hibernation,theEEGrecordswouldhaverevealedthem.Okay,Chandracloseyour eyes.Ahtherehegoes.Nowit'syourturn,Heywood.Theshipwillseemverystrange withoutyou.' 'Thanks,Katerina.hopeyouhaveanicetrip.' Drowsythoughhewas,FloydbecameawarethatSurgeonCommanderRudenko seemedalittleuncertain,evencoulditbe?shy.Itlookedasifshewantedtotellhim something,butcouldn'tmakeuphermind. 'Whatisit,Katerina?'hesaidsleepily. 'Ihaven'ttoldanyoneelseyetbutyoucertainlywon'tbetalking.Here'salittle surprise.' 'You'd.better.hurry.' 'MaxandZeniaaregoingtogetmarried.' 'That.is.supposed.to.be.a.surprise?.' 'No.It'sjusttoprepareyou.WhenwegetbacktoEarth,soareWalterandI.Whatdo youthinkofthat?' NowIunderstandwhyyouwerespendingsomuchtimetogether.Yes,itisindeeda surprise.whowouldhavethoughtit! 'I'm.very.happy.to.hear.' Floyd'svoicefadedoutbeforehecouldcompletethesentence.Buthewasnotyet unconscious,andwasstillabletofocussomeofhisdissolvingintellectonthisnew situation. Ireallydon'tbelieveit,hesaidtohimself.Walterwillprobablychangehismindbefore hewakesup. Andthenhehadonefinalthought,justbeforehewenttosleephimself.IfWalterdoes changehismind,he'dbetternotwakeup.

Volume 1 No. 6

Meetings are held twice a month, January through November. We meet at the Opportunity House on the third Monday of the month with an educational meeting at 6:30 pm followed by a featured speaker presentation at 7:30 pm. Our SIG group normally meets the second Thursday of each month from 1-3 PM at the Henderson County Library.
SIG Meeting the THIRD Thursday in June!!!!!! June 21st SIG Meeting at the Library will continue on Basic Computer Maintenance
(Starting with the July meeting we will have a sequence of SIG meeting on genealogy orchestrated by Maurice Sarles and Bill Muller)
7:30 PM Windows Vista and Office 2007 Highlights from Mindshare Presentation-in-a-box Program presented by Jerry Liedl (come prepared as Microsoft sent us some neat gifts!!)
Other Programming for 2007
July - Security Issues by John Monroe Aug - Main ISP by Wally Brown Sept - Digital Camera by Lamar Miller and MORE!!!

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1 100110010111001100101011110000110
Hendersonville Area Computer Society Newsletter http://hacs.org

June 2007

June 18th Programs 6:30 PM Education Program Come See Brian Fifield at his best
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Web sites of the Month

Web site development http://www.stormdance.net/ Malicious Software Removal Tool http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx Featured Google gadgets http://desktop.google.com/
Thoughts on Upgrading PC Hardware and Software
By Dick Maybach, Columnist, Brookdale Computer User Group (BCUG) Brookdale, NJ www.bcug.org n2nd@att.net I can think of three valid reasons for upgrading a PC: (1) to try something new, (2) to improve performance, and (3) to solve a problem. Trying something new means you are treating your PC as a hobby. In this case you dont really need to upgrade, but you want to. Just bear in mind that there are risks, which means that you may get more adventure than you planned on. Improving performance is difficult to justify, unless your system is very old. Almost any system will do just fine surfing the net, word processing, balancing your checkbook, etc. Upgrading your hardware will often provide no discernable speed-up, because the speed is really limited by your typing speed or Internet connection. Upgrading your software may actually slow things down, because newer software has more features and requires more computer resources. This leaves problem solving. Your hard disk may be full; your motherboard may have only old, slow version 1 USB ports; or your bank may require a recent version of Quicken for on-line banking. You shouldnt upgrade to Windows Vista unless you replace the PC, and even then you may have problems. A friend of mine bought a new Dell PC with Vista and found his old printer wouldnt work and he could no longer access the Internet. Operating system designers cant possibly test every combination of hardware and software. As a result, they concentrate on new components, since most operating system sales are for new computers, and there may be problems with older peripherals and software. You should back up all your files before you make any system change, no matter how trivial. And any time you open your system case, you should use a grounding strap to avoid damaging components with static electricity. This is especially important during the approaching winter months, when the humidity in your house is low. Lets look at the easy upgrades first. Adding RAM is usually not difficult; just plug it in and look at your CMOS screen to be sure the PC has recognized it. (Of course you must use the correct chips. Check your PC manual.) You can usually add new peripherals, such a CD-ROM, DVD, or a second hard disk drive without problems, although if you have already filled all of the available ATA slots, you will have to add a second disk controller. Take your system to a reliable shop if you have doubts about your abilities. Replacing a hard disk is somewhat more difficult, because you must transfer all your software to the new unit, which requires disk copying software. You cant just copy your files with Windows Explorer. More adventuresome is installing a new motherboard. Be aware that upgrading your motherboard may not result in a noticeable performance improvement unless you also upgrade your hard disk and/or your video controller. If your current motherboard is very old, you must also upgrade its case and power supply. Changing the video controller or monitor is also not too hard. Most monitors are plug-and-play so Windows should automatically recognize your new monitor. When you buy new peripherals, be sure you get any drivers they need. Many PC manufacturers dont include a complete Windows, but strip off all the drivers except for the 2 of 10 HACS.exe Vol. 1 No. 6

equipment they sell you. If necessary, download any missing drivers from the Internet before you change your hardware. An alternative to an upgrade is a complete new system, and the vendor will insure that all the software and hardware plays well together. This leaves your old system intact so you can transfer your files without risk of losing anything. Regardless of your approach, you must also choose where and what to buy. Where is a choice between mail order and a local dealer. What is a choice between name brand and commodity hardware. The choice between mail order and local dealer depends on how much experience and time you have. The low profit margins in PC hardware mean that both component manufacturers and system assemblers spend little time on testing. Dead-on-arrival hardware and infant mortalities are common. When this happens you are entirely dependent on the company that sold it to you. If you purchase from a mail-order firm, you must either trouble-shoot any problems yourself or ship the entire system back to the seller, while a good local dealer can often make repairs in a few hours. You are trading off convenience for cost, because using mail order can often save you a few dollars. Name brand hardware costs more than its commodity equivalent. The difference is between Sound Blaster and Sound Blaster equivalent. I favor name brands. You can be sure that every vendor of software that uses sound has tested its products with Sound Blaster cards, but it is impossible for a small manufacturer to test its sound card with every program. The less you pay for a system, the more likely it is to contain commodity parts. System manufacturers and assemblers usually purchase components on an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) basis, and most parts sold at computer shows are OEM. The cost of these is less because the dealer relieves the manufacturer from all customer support. This means that the component manufacturer often wont even talk to the end purchaser. Your only warranty is from the seller, and you must select him or her with care. Finally, schedule any upgrade when you have some time. Plan on taking a weekend for simple jobs and more for complex ones. Ive found that I need a couple of weeks (not full time of course) to get my PC fully functional after reinstalling an operating system for example.

Tip of the Month!

How to use Windows Update Properly
If you want to save your files to your hard drive, so after a format you dont have to download them all again, here's How: - Logon to Windows Update - Choose Windows Update Catalogue (left hand pane) - Choose Find updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems (right hand pane) - Choose your version and language then Search - Choose one the following: - Critical Updates and Service Packs - Service Packs and Recommended Downloads - Multi-Language Features (0) - Once chosen simply click on what you want to download and then back at the top click Review Download Basket - You are taken to the next page where at the top you can specify where the downloads are to be saved. 3 of 10 HACS.exe Vol. 1 No. 6

- Click Download now. Each patch will make a directory under the root of the folder you saved them to. Once finished you need to go to where you saved the file (s) to and then simply install all your patches.
The New, the Best, and the Worst
Collected by Pim Borman, Webmaster, SW Indiana PC Users Group, Inc. http://swipcug.apcug.org/ swipcug@sigecom.net Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups. Online Mania. Millions of people of all ages, worldwide, spend a large part of their lives in the make-believe online world of the Internet. MySpace.com is representative of several virtual social gathering places were participants, young and old, meet to chat and make virtual friends. So far,so good. But for many it has become a measure of someone's popularity how many friends they have and how cool they are. According to ZDNet (3/20/07), Barack Obama is en route to a landslide victory over Hillary Clinton in the MySpace friends contest: Obama 55,674 friends versus Clinton 26,702 friends.John Edwards calls his MySpace friends Pals. He has 12,319 of them. Republican candidates are trailing the Democrats overall at MySpace, big time: Rudy Giuliani 928 friends, John McCain 340 friends, Mitt Romney, 308 friends. Lesser mortals are also competing for friends in the popularity contest. It's not only the number of friends that counts, but they have to be cool and glamorous. Enter Brant Walker who noticed, while browsing MySpace pages, that some people would have a lot of good-looking friends, and others didnt. He came up with the idea to turn cyberlosers into social-networking magnets by providing fictitious postings from attractive people. So he set up a business, FakeYourSpace.com, to provide MySpace inhabitants with photographs and comments from hired friends mainly attractive models for 99 cents a month each. He used photographs of models from iStockPhoto.com until they found out about it and put a stop to it. According to The New York Times (2/26/07) Walker is regrouping and may soon be back in business again, together with others anxious to get in on a social reputation enhancement scam. Meanwhile, online gaming continues to be an addiction for many. Although many of these games are violent and crude, others offer many examples of complex play that involve social interaction, collaboration and long-term goals. The major games, often referred to as MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), involve tools, weapons, and other artifacts that the players collect while playing the game over a period of time. Since some games started to allow transferring those artifacts to others, a lively market has sprung up on E-bay and similar sites where they are sold for real money. As a consequence, game farms have sprung up, mostly in third-world countries in the far East, where thousands of players are being paid to play MMORPGs all day to generate in-game goodies for sale at a good profit. The amount of money involved is mind-boggling. In November 2006 Business Week reported that Second Life player Ailin Graef had become the first millionaire (in US dollars) based on the value in game dollars of land holdings by her avatar, Anshe Chung, in the online virtual world. A runaway success, Second Life is the creation of Linden Labs and its currency, Linden dollars (L$), is pegged at about L$270 to the US dollar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_life). There are currency exchanges where game dollars can be traded for real currency, and Linden Labs 4 of 10 HACS.exe Vol. 1 No. 6

intervenes in the background to keep the exchange rate fairly stable by adding or withdrawing game dollars from the virtual world. Maybe this is a good retirement hobby for Alan Greenspan! Not surprisingly, the IRS is taking a good deal of interest and is considering taxing the proceeds from gaming. According to PC World (March 2007), the Joint Economic Committee of Congress (JEC) is working on a report regarding the economies of World of Warcraft, Second Life, and other MMORPGs. With an estimated world-wide real-money trade of $ 1 billion the tax man's hands are itching. But wait, there is more! It is estimated that the total wealth created within these games (in the form of artifacts not sold for real money, yet) amounts to some $10 billion. Exchanges of these artifacts between players in Second Life (instead of outright sales in real money) might be considered bartering, and bartering transactions are taxable according to IRS regulations. With $10 billion of assets being exchanged between players, the potential tax liabilities would be significant. The tax gurus are having a fine time pondering this. Fortunately there are other voices that don't want to spoil the fun of online gaming. We'll have to wait and see what the JEC comes up with. But just to be proactive, H&R Block has already established a virtual tax preparation office in Second Life (http://slurl.com/secondlife/HR%20Block/) Not all online gaming is frivolous. Search engines such as Google have great difficulty labeling images so that they can be retrieved through keywords. It takes direct human involvement to describe an image in meaningful words, an impossible task with the untold billions of images on the Internet that have no captions or descriptions. Unless you make it into a game, that is. Luis von Ahn, an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, developed a game called ESP in which two participants who can't communicate with each other are shown a picture and asked to come up with descriptive labels within a short time period, such as 90 seconds. Matching labels are awarded with points. The resulting matching labels proved to be highly descriptive of the images. The game turned out to be highly addictive. Google has licensed it and created its own version, Google Image Labeler (images.google.com/imagelabeler). It is surprisingly difficult at first to generate descriptive labels for an image that is flashed on the screen for 90 seconds, but it probably gets easier with more practice. Obvious labels, such as church for a picture of a church that may have been generated previously, are declared off-limits. With an unending supply of images on the Web, the game can continue indefinitely. Give it a try! Von Ahn was earlier credited with developing Captchas, those words written in a way that computers can't read them but humans can. They are used frequently to make sure that a human is at the end of a transaction, rather than another computer. You have probably encountered them, for instance when you signed up for a Yahoo email account. Von Ahn is currently working on other games to help with recognition problems, such as locating objects inside an image, summarizing text passages, and developing common sense. (Science News, 3/17/07, thanks to Mike Borman) 2007 Willem F.H Borman. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only, including this statement, by non-profit organizations in their member publications, with mention of the author's name and the South Western Indiana PC Users Group, Inc.

Going 100% Digital with Genealogy or Any Records
By Tom J. Thiel, President, Lake-Sumter Computer Society, Florida www.lscs.us tthiel5@comcast.net In April 2007, I offered a presentation with the same title as above for the Lake-Sumter Computer Societys Genealogy Special Interest Group. For a handout see: 5 of 10 HACS.exe Vol. 1 No. 6
http://www.lscs.us/presentations/070412%20Thiel%20Going%20100%25%20Digital%20Handout.pdf In my presentation -- which was based on an excellent article with a similar title by Dick Eastman in his outstanding Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Plus Edition -- I extensively described the Xerox DocuMate 152 scanner that costs about $500 with bundled software. This, of course, was the one Mr. Eastman had obtained and on which he based his fine article. Well, for me at least and for many the roughly $500 for the DocuMate 152 was a little bit on the pricey side and also it is more of a work group scanner with office document scanning as its primary design criteria. One of the alternative scanners I found in my research for the presentation and also mentioned in my presentation was the Xerox DocuMate 510, flatbed scanner with an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) rated at 10 pages per minute. About a month ago I decided to obtain the DocuMate 510! PC World has a very nice review of the Xerox 510 at the following web site; http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,114941-page,1/article.html -- two paragraphs were extracted in the text below. If you need to turn a stack of paper documents into editable electronic text, using a scanner with optical character recognition software and an automatic document feeder attachment--like Xerox's new $350 DocuMate 510--is a speedy alternative to typing. While the DocuMate 510 is a flatbed model--and therefore takes up more desk space than slimmer sheet-fed scanners--its removable lid allows you to scan pages from books or other bound volumes, including oversize originals. For any business or workgroup that needs an affordable document scanner, the DocuMate 510 is a solid choice. End Quote I was able to find the 510 on the internet from a low of $298 to a high of $359. I paid $312 from Buy.com; however, I found that the local Office Depot (Mount Dora, FL) has the DocuMate 510 for $299, complete with bundled software. And of special note, through June 30, 2007, Xerox is offering a $50 mail in rebate.So far I am totally pleased with my DocuMate 510! Scanner assembly went effortlessly with the aid of a very well illustrated assembly schematic manual. Installation requires that the software be installed before connecting the 510 to your computer via the USB port. The 510 came with ScanSoft PaperPort 9.0 which controls the scanner, TextBridge Pro 9.0 for Optical Character Recognition, and ArcSoft Photo Impressions editing software all on one CD-ROM. It also came with a 58-page installation and scanning manual done quite nicely in slick paper, and a12-month warranty. After the software was installed, the scanner components were connected to power and then I connected it to the computer with the USB cable. When I attempted to scan a document, however, I received an error message. By entering the error code into Google I was quickly able to determine that I had failed to adequately unlock the shipping lock slider switch. After sliding the switch, the scanner worked perfectly. The sheet feeder works very well and even handles quite thin papers although hearing those go through the feeder may give one cause to worry a bit. The ADF handles variable length paper from about 6 inches to up to 14-inch legal length papers -- all in the same stack in the ADF. And the fact that the scanners cover may be easily removed to copy from books is also a plus for genealogists and for general home applications. Mr. Eastman, and others, speaks at length on what these scanners and their software, collectively known as a Document Management System, will mean -- reducing the number of filing cabinets, safer storage and more rapid and complete retrieval. All of these are, of course, quite true, but you should be aware that to convert all of your existing file cabinets contents to digital information is not something you will be able to achieve quickly! Scanning all of your existing documents, whether your genealogy documentation or your credit card, banking or utility records, will take an appreciable amount of time and effort regardless of the scanner you employ. 6 of 10 HACS.exe Vol. 1 No. 6

At present I am scanning my bank statements, utility bills, medical Medicare and supplemental insurance statements, medical reports and lab analyses, credit cards and the like. I have not yet begun to scan my Genealogy documents, but intend to -- this will be a daunting task; not the scanning but the organizing and assembling of the documents that I have to get them ready for scanning. When you convert records to a document management system as I am doing with the 510, you need to decide what conversion scenario you will follow: scan all the documents that exist in your files or scan from the day you begin scanning forward.I have decided to convert most of my documents starting from today forward (except of course for genealogy records). This is simply because it is easier to do this than to empty the file cabinet first. Unlike the DocuMate 152, which is a duplex scanner meaning that both the front and rear of a page are scanned simultaneously with the same pass of the paper through the scanner, the 510 is a simplex meaning that only one side is scanned at a time. However, the PaperPort Deluxe 9 scanning software packaged with the scanner handles this situation very well. Simply load the stack of papers and scan the front side of all pages. PaperPort will then ask scan the other side? and if you wish to you simply turn the stack over and scan the reverse side. The software handles the pagination automatically. The 510 is very simple to use; one of the more difficult aspects of using it is to remember to load the paper with the face up! The PaperPort 9.0 software, originally offered by ScanSoft and now by Nuance, works very effectively. One item I would like improved is the default file name, which is Day of week, Month, Day and Year.pdf. Other options are available but it appears that all use the current date in one form or another. So far I have not extensively used the OCR capability as that is a slower scanning process. Another very useful feature of the PaperPort software is that it is a printer and may be used to print any document directly to a pdf, including documents from the web. Managing the scanned documents effectively can also be challenging. I created a file folder structure similar to my physical filing cabinet and that seems to work very well so far. I scan a document or set of documents and then merely drag these and drop them in the appropriate folder. I then rename the file to usually YYMMDD Plus a Few Descriptive Words in front of the default file name. PDF. A medical record, for example, would contain the year, month and day of the medical service, the physicians name and procedure, followed by the default scan date. I find that using YYMMDD format for my records allows me to sort or otherwise keep a logical file and folder order sequence by date; to use the standard MMDDYY format will not sort logically. If you are going to scan older records then you should spend some time in document preparation before beginning scanning. Ensuring that documents are in proper order, staples removed, corners straightened, etc., will speed up the scanning process. And you must verify your copy before discarding the paper document! I am discarding most of the documents I have scanned so far. All of my scanning to date has been black and white and at 300 dots per inch resolution, which in most cases has been adequate. This will result in a pdf file of perhaps 35KB per page. If you decide to convert your paper files to 100% digital records, then you simply must practice excellent and very frequent backup procedures. Otherwise you will lose everything! I make a copy on an external drive after every session. The choice is yours of course, but my advice is: Go 100% Digital, and do it now! ###

Computer Humor

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MURPHY'S LAWS OF COMPUTING
For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction. To err is human. to blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human; in fact it is downright natural. He who laughs last probably made a back-up. If at first you don't succeed, blame your computer. A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine. The number one cause of computer problems is computer solutions. A computer program will always do what you tell it to do, but rarely what you want it to do. When computing, whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen. When you get to the point where you really understand your computer, it's probably obsolete. The first place to look for information is in the section of the manual where you least expect to find it. When the going gets tough, upgrade. When you need to send an email quick, that's when the modem won't connect!
Program WORD Excel PowerPoint
Version Ver. 2002 SP-Ver. 2002 SP-1 2000
Name Maurice Sarles Carl Christiansen Maurice Sarles Carl Christiansen
E-mail maurices1931@bigfoot.com carlchristiansen@bellsouth.net maurices1931@bigfoot.com carlchristiansen@bellsouth.net
Phone 685-7263 692-7273 685-7263 692-7273
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Access Publisher Internet Explorer Firefox Outlook Outlook Express Eudora Front Page Dreamweaver Microsoft Money Quicken Acrobat Photoshop Paint Shop Pro Irfanview Imaging in general Family Tree Maker Roots III Personal Ancestry File Installing/setup Windows XP Installing/setup Windows 2000 Installing/setup LINUX Building Computers
Ray Pierce Jerry Liedl Jim Bailes Chris Ring

repierce@brinet.com

jerry@liedl.org jimbailes@highstream.net eykonic@yahoo.com
697-7732 692-4855 693-6990 685-9031

v-10 2005

Chris Ring Maurice Sarles Bill Muller Maurice Sarles Maurice Sarles
maurices1931@bigfoot.com muller1938@yahoo.com maurices1931@bigfoot.com maurices1931@bigfoot.com eykonic@yahoo.com
685-7263 684-6899 685-7263 685-7263 685-9031 685-9031 685-9031 685-9031
Chris Ring eykonic@yahoo.com Chris Ring eykonic@yahoo.com Chris Ring Chris Ring eykonic@yahoo.com

HACS News

Bill Muller and Maurice Sarles are preparing a sequence of killer SIG sessions on genealogy. We are still looking for volunteers to offer help on specific software applications (when we published the A:Prompt there were people listed for a variety of programs and one could contact them via phone and/or e-mail) We would like to have such a list on the members only part of the web site and published it in the newsletter. This is a way to share our collective knowledge. Send the information of what software you would be willing to be a resource person. Send it to jerry@liedl.org

Member Profiles (NEXT?)

HACS Officers/Executive Committee
President - Jerry Liedl - jerry@liedl.org Vice-president Jack Sokol docsok225@bigfoot.com 9 of 10 HACS.exe Vol. 1 No. 6
Past-president Brian Fifield - brian@cyberclix.com Secretary Joy Capps - joycapps@tds.net Treasurer Jim Bailes - jimbailes@highstream.net Public Relations Fred Haddad - f.haddad@mchsi.com Program Committee Interim chair is the Vice President Membership Interim chair is the Treasurer Door Prizes Bill Muller - muller1938@yahoo.com
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