years would flash by while we were on the way there. It would take another S-year for us to return, so far as people here were concerned — our time dilation on the way back because of relativistic effects did not apply to them at all.
“We knew all this; knew, no matter what happened, that so far as anyone on Gulf City was concerned we might be gone for ten S-years, allowing a reasonable span for us to explore Urstar and try to discover what had happened there. “Our logic seemed impeccable when we left, but there was one huge flaw in it. We assumed that the way to measure time was as intervals in S-space, which is where we and the majority of people on Gulf City were and would be living. “We were wrong. Most of the new colonies are down on planetary surfaces. We have known since S-space was first discovered that even a modest surface gravity makes existence in S-space impossible, because no one would be able to walk or even stand up. They would be flat on the ground before they knew they were off balance.
“So people living on planets inhabit N-space, because they have no choice. From their point of view, the ship that left for Urstar would not be gone for just ten years or so. The Argo was gone for more than twenty thousand of their years. Long enough for many new planets to be colonized, long enough to establish an interstellar communications web, long enough to discover new branches of science totally unknown to the living fossils — us — aboard the Argo.”
Sy swept his arm around the control chamber, indicating the arrays of instruments and equipment. “How much of this do you recognize? If you are anything like me, damned little.”
Libby Trask objected, “Even if you are right about the equipment — and I must admit I don’t recognize most of it, even in my own field — it would make no sense to abandon Gulf City as the central organizing group.”
“Wrong. It would make no sense to keep Gulf City in the decision loop at all, so long as people here insisted on remaining in S-space. Interstellar communication times are long enough as it is. Can you imagine the frustration of waiting for some answer, knowing that for every day in S-space on Gulf City, two thousand days — more than five years — were flashing by on your planet? The center of action moved to the planets, coordinating their own development. This place became a backwater.”
Emil said, “A backwater, maybe. But that doesn’t account for Gulf City being totally deserted.”
“Correct. I suspect there is a different reason for that, and it’s something we’ll be able to confirm when we send messages to the planetary web and say we’re home from Urstar. When we left Gulf City, we had on board the most advanced knowledge that humans could offer. But by the standards of planetary civilizations we were travelling for a long, long time. Humans moved out of caves and into space in less time than it took us to go to and return from Urstar. I think that human scientific knowledge has moved on, far past anything with which we can claim familiarity. Someone — almost certainly, a group working on a planet and therefore working in N-space — discovered for themselves the unpleasant truths that we were warned about after our ship was halted and JN’s body was taken over. S-space, over long periods of time, is fatal to us. What was it we were told? Ultimately, time consumes flesh.”
Dan Korwin, sitting next to Sy, turned in his seat. “So everyone returned to live in normal space and time, leaving Gulf City to fade away? I don’t believe it.”
“Nor do I, and I didn’t say that. I think something much more complicated took place. I agree with the list that Delsy Gretz showed us, those are a hundred and seventy-eight different planetary colonies, all operating and communicating with each other in N-space. But there are other lists. Here’s one that I found when I was poking around.”
A group of about twenty names and coordinates appeared as glowing symbols, standing a few centimeters in front of the tall unit that still displayed Delsy Gretz’s list.
“Not nearly so many of these,” Sy said. “But there’s an important difference. Not one of them is associated with a planetary or a stellar system — not even a brown dwarf or a free-flying rogue planet. My guess is that every one is like Gulf City, as far removed as they can get from all other matter.” “Doing what?” Eva Packland was making her own rapid check, confirming that the coordinates did not correspond to any known celestial objects.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Free space facilities, far away from gravitational perturbations. Low density of interstellar matter, and with only the galactic fields as disturbance.”
“Perfect for delicate physical measurements,” said Rolf Sansome. “Minimal interference.”
“Or for long-range astronomy and astrophysics,” Eva Packland added. Sy nodded. “Both of those are logical. My own belief is a little different. Humans set up Gulf City to study parts of the universe that they didn’t understand, but this was also a fine place to explore the different states in which people can exist. S-space was used here, but this is also where the first T-state experiments were performed. I believe that those” — he pointed to the list — “represent the next generation of free-space experiment stations. Different groups had different ideas as to what should be done next. They took everything learned here on Gulf City as a starting point, and set up facilities dedicated to their own explorations.”
“Exploring what?” Charlene, not for the first time, was losing track of the direction of Sy’s thinking.
“All the open questions of space and time. When we left for Urstar, people here were groping their way toward understanding how humans could live in T-state. A time-rate difference of two million to one sounded like a lot to us — it is a lot, four Earth-years flashing by for every minute spent in T-state. But why think of that as an end point for progress? We can survive, unconscious and in cold sleep, and we have no idea how much time would elapse before physical deterioration. There could also be any number of other states between T-state and cold sleep, in which humans can remain conscious and with reduced rates of perception.”
Emil shook his head. “The beings who met us at Urstar said not. You yourself just quoted what they did say: Time consumes flesh.”
“True. But I’ll also quote something else they said: they don’t know everything, and the universe contains many unsolved mysteries. The aliens at Urstar know more than humans — at least, they know more than humans did at the time we left Gulf City. Suppose there are other states, and other forms of life extension, possible for our species but not for theirs? Also, exploration of human physical potentials is just one form of research. Some of the free-space colonies may be devoted to social experiments, or pure physics research, or fields of science totally new to us.”
Charlene had never seen Sy so talkative. She asked, “So some humans have returned to the planets, and are living in normal space. And others have established free-space colonies, to explore we don’t know what. Where does that leave us? We travelled all the way to Urstar and all the way back — but there’s no one here to know or care what we found out.”
“We’ll send messages to all the colonies, free-space or planetary, telling what we’ve learned. Whether they care or not — well, that’s another matter.” Sy looked all around the chamber. “I want to make one point clear to everyone. We went to Urstar as a united group, with one main purpose, and Judith Niles was our undisputed leader. When she left us, we had no leader. Many of you cast me in that role, and maybe for a while I served in it. But it’s not something I like doing, and it’s not something I’m well-suited to carry out. So far as I am concerned, we are thirty-seven individuals, each of us free to pursue his or her own goals. I’m not going to set anyone else’s agenda. At the moment I’m not even sure of my own. What I am sure is that I need some time to myself, to consider my options. I recommend that each of you do the same. I’ll be here at the same time tomorrow. If anyone is interested, I’ll tell you my intentions and listen to yours.”
A couple of people started to speak, either to make comments or to ask questions. Sy waved them away and hurried out of the chamber. Behind him he left a stunned and troubled group.
Or not a group at all. Charlene, gazing around her, saw confusion on every face. The voyage to Urstar had become history. The great expedition, designed by Judith Niles to include matched and complementary skills, was no more. All that was left was a motley assortment of individuals.
What would happen to them now — to her now? That, to Charlene, remained the unanswerable question.
Twenty-four hours did nothing to lessen Charlene’s misgivings. Unable to sleep or relax, she roamed the deserted corridors. Gulf City had become Ghost City, populated only by the arrays of silent and motionless robots, awaiting commands that never came. The space docks were the same, filled with ships ready and waiting to take nonexistent passengers and crews to the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
