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inhabited axes were many square kilometers of solar panels composed of
amorphous metallic glass solar cells that drew enough energy from the distant
sun to power the floating city.
One particular arm caught the eye of every passenger the instant it hove into
view. It was familiar to everyone from numberous appearances on the opto: a
long, thin cylinder that ended in a modest, well-lit bulge tipped by a
parabolic dish two kilometers in diameter.
GATE Terminus.
At the base of the immense curving dish was Departure Lounge, and immediately
beyond that the GATE
itself, the GATE that led to Eden or Garden according to how the projector was
aligned. The GATE that led through an as yet undefined limbo to paradisiacal
worlds of milk and honey, a fifth-dimensional subway across the galaxy, a
journey still better understood in philosophical than physical terms.
No one understood quite how the GATE worked, or why it worked. Its development
arose out one of those wonderful accidents of science, those exquisite
serendipitous discoveries that occur every few millennia or so.
The men and women who'd discovered the principle that led to the building of
the GATE hadn't been looking for it. When they found it, it took several years
more to understand what they had.
Now the GATE had been operational for nearly 150 years. Mathematically it
still made no sense, but like the bumblebee too heavy to fly, it still worked.
It enabled mankind to extend two tenuous threads to the stars while sneering
at the tyranny of light-speed.
Barnard's Star, Alpha Centauri, all the nearby suns were easily bypassed. Eden
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and Garden lay further in on the galactic lens but were as near as a complexly
charged chamber. In terms of actual travel time they lay closer to GATE
Station than Earth. No GATE could be built on a planet, of course. Gravity and
magnetosphere made it impossible. So men were forced to resort to travel via
sturdy, slow ships to reach
GATE Station or the solar colonies.
From time to time there was talk of building a second GATE. The enormous
expense made it unlikely, and the physics made it impossible. To be able to
operate without cross-over interference, a second
GATE, according to the mathematicians, would have to be constructed several
trillion miles outside the orbit of Pluto. Until the actions of the GATE field
were better understood, mankind would have to get along with a single GATE. No
one worried about it much anymore, not after a century and a half of
successful operation.
No one greeted the shuttle passengers as they disembarked, [here were no
customs officials on GATE
Station. It was n to the citizens of every nationality.
A moving walkway carried them to a large, domed reception area. Children
bounced delightedly around their parents, laughing as they played in the
three-quarters normal gravity. Through a two-story-high port the Earth rotated
mechanically.
They settled into a moderately elegant restaurant, where Lisa blanched at the
prices. Eric didn't glance at them, assigning everything to his malleable
credit card. There was no reason to stint, since within a short time the card
would be useless no matter how deftly altered.
"I still don't understand how you plan to try this," she told him later that
night. Around them the dimmed lights of the walkways glowed softly yellow. A
few couples and groups strolled among the fountains and the soaring roses that
benefited from the light gravity, drinking in the sight of Earth and stars.
"We can't pass ourselves off as colonists. Everyone's screened prior to
Gating. For that matter, I don't
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%20-%20The%20I%20Inside.txt (120 of 165)19-2-2006 21:56:46
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r/Alan%20Dean%20Foster%20-%20The%20I%20Inside.txt see how you expect us to get
as far as the Departure Lounge."
"I'm sure you're right about passing ourselves off as colonists," he told her
as they turned a rounded corner.
"The quota is tight, and the final ID must be exacting.
Don't you remember the story of that murderer-what was is name?-Griss or
something like that. He tried to do it ten years ago. Figured once he was
through the GATE he was free to start a safe, new life. He was right about
that much. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]