Firstborn(Time Odyssey 3) - By Arthur C. Clarke Page 0,116

long term. Just too few of you, a gene pool too small, your fake ecologies too fragile, all of that.

So we have to beef you up. Make the species invulnerable even to the loss of Earth. He grinned at the young Spacers. I'm talking massive, aggressive migration. To the Moon, the outer planet moons, space habs if we can put them up fast enough. Even Venus, which was so fucked over by the sunstorm it might be possible to live there. Maybe we can even start flinging a few ships to the stars, go chase those Chinese.

But it wont work, Alexei said. Not even if you have a million people on Venus, say, under domes, and breathing machine air. Theyll be just as vulnerable as we are now.

Sure. So we go further. Paxtons grin widened. He seemed to be enjoying shocking them. Nice to know an old fart like me is still capable of thinking bigger than you kids. Whats the most robust hab we know? A planet.

Lyla stared at him. Youre talking of terraforming.

Making the Moon or Venus into worlds enough like Earth that you could walk around in the open, more or less unprotected. Where you could grow crops in the open air. Where humans could survive, even if civilization fell, even if they forgot who they were and how they got there in the first place.

Theyve been thinking about this on Mars, Lyla said. Of course now

Well lose Mars, but Mars wasnt the only option. In the very long term its the only robust survival solution, Paxton said.

Alexei looked skeptical. This is the kind of program space advocates have been pressing for since the days of Armstrong and Aldrin, and never got close to. Its going to mean a massive transfer of resources.

Oh, yes, Bella said. In fact Bobs view is already widely accepted. And its going to start soon. What is? Lyla asked, curious. Youll see. Leave me one last surprise...

Were serious about this, Bob Paxton said, challenging, authoritative. As serious as Ive been about anything in my entire life. To gain access to the future, we have to secure the present. Thats the bottom line.

They fell back to talking over details of Paxtons vision, arguing, fleshing out some aspects, rejecting others. Soon Paxton cleared the tabletop of its colorful sunstorm factoids and started to make notes.

Bella murmured to Athena, Looks like it worked. I would never have thought Id see the likes of Bob Paxton and Alexei Carel working together.

We live in strange times.

That we do, Athena. And they get stranger all the time. Anyhow its a start. She glanced at her watch. I hate to do it, but I ought to go check through my messages. Athena, will you bring them coffee? Anything they want.

Of course.

She pushed herself out of her chair and drifted off the bridge, heading for the shuttle and her secure softscreens. Behind her the conversation continued, animated. She heard Alexei say, half-seriously, I tell you what will unite us all. Sol Invictus. A new god for a new age...
PART 5 LAST CONTACTS 54: Q-DAY
December 15, 2070

The shuttle landed Bella at Cape Canaveral.

Thales spoke to her. Welcome home, Bella.

Bella, bent over her softscreen, was startled to find she was down. All the way from L1 she had been working her messages, and monitoring the progress of the two great events that were due to take place today: the switching-on of the Bimini, the new space elevator system in the Atlantic, and the closest approach of the Q-bomb to the Earth. Both were on schedule, as best anybody knew. But it was hard not to keep checking.

The wheels stopped rolling, and the shuttles systems sighed to silence.

She shut down her softscreen and folded it up. Thank you, Thales. Nice to be back. Athena sends her regards.

Ive spoken to her several times.

That made Bella oddly uneasy. She had often wondered what conversations went on between the great artificial intelligences, all above the heads of mankind. Even in her role as Council Chair, she had never fully found out.

Theres a car waiting for you outside, Bella. Ready to take you to the VAB, where your family is waiting. Be careful when you stand up.

It still hurt to be returned to a full gravity. It gets tougher every damn time. Thales, remind me to order an exoskeleton.

I will, Bella.

She clambered down to the runway. The day was bright, the sun low, the air fresh and full of salt. She checked her watch, which had corrected