Pretty neat trick, short notice or not.'
'I hope I won't spoil your appetites,' Prime said, 'by telling you that everything on this table has been synthesized.'
'That's amazing,' Yuri said. 'The stuffed cabbage tastes quite authentic.'
'I'm glad you like it.'
Conversation lulled as the feeding got serious. I wolfed down steak, noodles Romanoff, broccoli with cheese sauce, chicken curry, artichokes in lemon sauce, two baked potatoes, a few spiced meatballs, a pile of mushrooms in onions and butter, and half a roast glazed chicken. That took care of the main hunger pangs. There were other dishes which didn't look familiar. I asked Prime about their origins.
'Other times and other places,' he said. 'For a little variety. Try them.'
I did. Most were excellent, some were so-so. All were fairly exotic.
By then I was stuffed, and had to turn down the boysenberry torte and the lemon-cheese souffle. Well, I had a smidge of the souffle: It was light and fluffy. Very good. Everything had been superb. Good. Too goddamn good, and I couldn't figure it out.
I couldn't figure out Prime either; which wasn't surprising. He had told us almost nothing yet, and I was impatient. I'd been watching him, and he had dug in as heartily as any of us. His gusto didn't look fake. Maybe he was human.
'Where'd your cooks get the recipes?' I asked.
'There is not much we don't know-even relatively trivial things like food preparation techniques of antiquity. My `cooks''-he chuckled--'all this was done by machines. We merely supplied the data.'
'Your technology must be fantastic.'
Prime leaned back, wiped his lips delicately with a pink napkin.
'We have no technology,' he said.
5
I regarded our host. If there were any revealing emotions to be read in his face, they were encoded in expressions I couldn't scan. I recalled what he'd said concerning his humanity. At times I could see that spark, that small part of him, glinting somewhere within those purple-flecked eyes. I thought I could, anyway, now and then. Most of the time the mask covered everything, presenting its blandly pleasant face to us. I couldn't conceive of what was really behind it, the essential part of what he was. Something alien, surely; an impenetrably mysterious presence. The shadow of something vaguely frightening lurked behind the one-way window of his personality.
'Huh?' I replied to his last statement.
'I said, we don't have any technology. That is to say, the Culmination possesses no original technology. All that which we have at our disposal has been bequeathed to us by the great scientific and technology-creating cultures of the past.' With a sweep of an arm he went on, 'This edifice, for example. It's a technological wonder in itself-a self-maintaining, selfdefending fortress. It is at least a half-billion years old-'
'Half-billion,' Yuri gasped, almost choking on his brandy. He cleared his throat and said, 'Surely you're joking.'
'Oh, I assure you I'm not. The dust of the race that built it lies compressed in geological strata, along with everything else they ever built or accomplished. They are but a memory a faint one at that. But this structure endures. This is not its original site, of course. It was relocated several times in its long history, until it was finally brought here to Microcosmos.'
'For what purpose?' Sean asked. 'What is Microcosmos?'
'An artificial world. Its original purpose was manyfold. I suppose a handy way to think of it would be-'
'Wait a minute,' I broke in. 'Are you saying that Microcosmos isn't yours either? The Culmination-whatever that is-didn't build it?'
'No. Microcosmos itself is a relic of a time long past.' Prime refilled his wineglass as he continued: 'As I was saying, it would be easy to think of it as, say, the site of a long defunct institution of higher learning-an amalgam of university, library, museum, research center, and so forth. This conveys at least part of its original function. The rest is not easy to grasp, since a distinct element of recreation went into the original conception behind it. Also, it served some sort of religious purpose, strangely enough. What that was would be hard to put into terms I could easily convey to you. You are free to research the history of this place, if you wish, though I must say I wouldn't place a high priority on it in terms of what you should be doing here-'
'Exactly what-excuse me for interrupting again,' I said, 'but…uh-'
'Quite all right,' Prime said. 'Please go on.'
I had availed myself of the same bottle of brandy that Yuri had found among the half-dozen containers of spirits on the table. It was a quality product, and although I couldn't identify it, it wasn't especially exotic. Just good booze. I took a slurp from my snifter and said, 'Exactly what are we supposed to be doing here? We've hauled from one end of the galaxy to the other, left Terran Maze far behind, and come to road's end. What next?'
Prime settled back in his chair, wineglass in hand, elbow balanced languidly on the armrest. He crossed his legs, and the act struck me as so humanly natural that it allayed my fears just a little.
'Doubtless this isn't the first time the question has occurred to you. In fact, you've probably been dying to ask it. And I will answer it, in time. This is but one of many opportunities we will have to sit together and talk. We have a great deal to talk about, believe me, and we won't cover it all in one session. What I want to do today is to sketch broad outlines for you. Provide a sweeping perspective. But I also want to
PARADOX ALLEY
39
give you some kind of preliminary answer to that overriding question. You are here because we want you to participate in an undertaking which very possibly may be the greatest, most momentous, most significant ever attempted… quite literally… in the history of the universe.'
I said, 'Yeah, but do you give green stamps?'
The overwhelming silence of the place hit me then. I cocked my ears. Nothing stirring. This place was dead, dead and old.
Prime laughed. ''Mat was a marvelously witty and very irreverent comment. I quite enjoyed it.'
'Jake, really, ' Susan admonished in a whisper.
'No, I did,' Prime said, apparently having overheard. 'And you might be surprised to know that I understood the reference.'
I said, 'You did? Explain it to me, then. Sam uses the expression all the time. I never understood it. In fact, Sam told me he didn't quite get it either. Picked it up from his dad.'
'Sam is… your father?'
'Was. The on-board computer that runs my truck is programmed with some of his personality elements. I call him Sam, too.'
'I see.' Prime brought two fingers up to caress his cheek, and mused, 'That might be a possible problem….'
'What might be?' I asked after a brief interval during which Prime had given the matter some thought.
'I beg your pardon? Oh, nothing. Artificial Intelligences are beings, you know. Depending, of course, on how advanced they are. There is a certain threshold of self awareness…… He trailed off again, then came back. 'Excuse me. We seem to have gotten sidetracked.'
'I suppose,' Liam said, 'the next obvious thing is to inquire as to the nature of this undertaking.'
'That's what will take time to explain,' Prime said. 'I can only say that the concept, once you understand it, will thrill you-perhaps frighten you-to an extent to which you have never been thrilled or frightened before.' He looked around. 'Yes. If and when you come to understand what it is, you very well may want no part of it.'
'Will we have a choice?' I asked.
'Yes. Most assuredly.'
'And if we choose not to participate, will we be free to leave?'
'Absolutely. You are free to go at this moment, if that is what you wish.'
