'Despite these superficial differences,' Primo continued, 'the most significant factor has been our deliberate development of mental abilities; what you would call extra-sensory perception and telepathy. This is more than just convenient; it has had immense consequences for our society. For thousands of years, every member of our species has been able to understand everyone else without difficulty. And I do not just mean comprehend their meaning, but fully appreciate their point of view and understand precisely how they feel. We have found that this has made serious conflict effectively impossible. We still hold different viewpoints and debate issues, of course; we remain distinct individuals with our own attitudes and priorities. But collective decision-making, when many of us gather together to share thoughts and feelings, results in conclusions which we all accept and adhere to. You will not be surprised to hear that crime virtually disappeared, because deceit is also impossible. We have found ways of transmitting our feelings electronically, so our television relays our emotions as well as sights and sounds. Not even our politicians can deceive us,' he added, as straight-faced as ever, and I relayed to him the flicker of amusement around the audience – as well as some sparks of concern, presumably from the politicians present. He paused before continuing, his expression more serious.
'We developed space travel thousands of years ago but have never been able to find a way to travel faster than light so, except for robotic probes, we are effectively limited to our own solar system despite our long lives. Our probes have revealed, as you are presently discovering, that most stars have planetary systems. I can also tell you that on most planets where water-based life is possible, it has developed. In many cases, large plants and animals have evolved. But on no other world, so far, have we discovered the type of intelligence likely to develop a technological civilisation. Of course, we have only been able to examine a very small fraction of this segment of our Galaxy over what is, by astronomical standards, a very brief period of time. It is statistically probable that civilisations have developed elsewhere, but perhaps they are too far away, or we are too early to find them – or too late.'
The audience's attentive silenced deepened; they sensed that he was coming to the critical part.
'So our exploratory urges have become focused on our discovery of the parallel worlds. We located the group of human worlds only with difficulty, and what we discovered caused us great concern. As you have heard, all of our saurian worlds only differ in detail; but that is not the case with the human worlds. Although we have only been aware of your particular world from the date when you first invented radio about a century ago, you were not the first human world to achieve this step.'
I gained the distinct impression that the audience was beginning to suffer from shock fatigue, but Primo did not spare them.
'We became aware of the first human world several centuries ago. Shortly afterwards, we suddenly lost contact; without continuous radio or television broadcasts, we cannot tune in our viewers, so we are not sure what happened. However, from what we learned beforehand we believe that their civilisation was wiped out in a global nuclear war. We have similarly lost contact with many other human worlds we discovered.' He looked grimly out at the Assembly. 'Others, more advanced than yourselves, we have maintained a link with, but their civilisations have declined from their peak.' The screen showed a desolate Manhattan, half-sunken ships by the decaying dockside, buildings dirty and forlorn, many windowless.
'The reasons for this are varied, but contain a similar mix of elements: exhaustion of an increasing range of fuels and other mineral reserves; overuse of agricultural land, reducing its fertility; escalating pollution of the environment; climate change triggered by gaseous emissions from industry and the destruction of forests, which has turned formerly productive areas into deserts; a rise in seal level due to ice melt, drowning many cities and fertile coastal areas and precipitating a breakdown of the world economic system; a world-wide shortage of fresh water, and, underlying all of these, a world population of humans far too great to be sustainable. The end result of all of this has been economic collapse and mass starvation.' The screen showed a series of appalling scenes, each focusing on the Manhattan area. In one, a rather different version of the Statue of Liberty was in water up to her knees. Primo paused before continuing with slow and deliberate emphasis; 'this has happened to every human civilisation more advanced than your own!'
I scanned the Assembly intently; all sat stunned, several of them showing signs of deep shock. Primo continued gravely. 'We have at last succeeded in developing a method of communicating with a parallel world, just in time to stop your world from suffering a similar fate. But time is short and you will need determination to succeed in avoiding this.' Behind him, packs of feral, starving children battled across a recognisable Times Square. 'This was the last image we received from one human world, just before we lost contact.' He paused for a few moments. 'You will need time to absorb this, I appreciate. I will leave you now and return in a few days, when we can discuss how we can help you.' The screen faded to dark.
I expected pandemonium to break out, but instead the representatives looked around them in silence. Reading their mood, I realised that they were mainly in shock, but also unwilling to show any reaction in case it should prove to be inappropriate. I relayed this to Primo, a little uncertain as to what to do. I soon concluded that they were in no state to listen to anything else I might say, so I slipped out and met a white-faced Freya outside.
'Is it true?' She whispered.
'Every word,' I said flatly. Linked to Primo as I had been, I shared his anguish and horror, the overpowering sense of desperate urgency. 'Now let's get out of here.'
The return to our Long Island base passed almost in silence. As we travelled up the East River, I asked the skipper, who had introduced himself as Matt, the name of the railway bridge we were passing under.
'Hell Gate,' he replied.
7
The news that evening was full of Primo's speech, interspersed with reactions from politicians, other notables, and commentators. Some reactions were predictable; the environmental movement was at full throttle, endlessly repeating variations on "we told you so!" The nuclear disarmament lobby also popped its head up briefly, before becoming snarled up in arguments over the pollution-free benefits of nuclear power. Many other reactions were cautious and confused, particularly from politicians and religious leaders. They seemed to be biding their time. On a more trivial level, several popular newspapers promptly dubbed the saurians "kangasaurs" – a name which was to stick.
Late the next day the first counter-reactions began. Some programmes featured experts from the computer graphics industry who pointed out that they could have created Primo – and his entire presentation – in their workshops, given a little time. Leaders of major industrial and petro-chemical companies also delivered cautionary speeches about the impact of curtailing their activities on their national economies in general, and employment in particular. Some of the more off-centre political leaders of developing countries directly accused me of master-minding a faked-up plot to try to deny their people the wealth enjoyed by richer nations.
In response to these developments, protest demonstrations of the young and idealistic sprang up around the world, waving placards and chanting slogans on the general theme of "save our planet now!" The best-selling T-shirt immediately become one showing Primo's face. It was, as I explained to the puzzled saurians, much as expected.
Tertia had taken over my contact that day and was having some difficulty in understanding why humanity did not act sensibly when presented with a clear warning, but was instead trying to ignore and discredit it.
'That's the nature of humanity,' I said. 'The response to immediate threats is usually strong, but long-term dangers are harder to get people excited about and, if addressing them means short-term pain, most people will try to put off even recognising there's a problem for as long as they possibly can.'
'But don't
the mothers realise that they are ruining the world they will be leaving to their children and grandchildren?'
'A lot do. You will note that most of the arguments against acting on your warnings come from men, and that isn't only because more men are in positions of power and authority. Essentially, we haven't just presented them with a problem; we have challenged their previous decisions and judgments and therefore their credibility. In their reactions to a long-term threat, politicians are no different from other people and typically try to avoid having to take hard and unpopular decisions, on the grounds that they are more likely to be voted out in the next election. Democracies are good at reflecting public opinion, much worse at leading it to where it really doesn't want to go. How do you saurians deal with difficult decisions?'
'This kind of situation hasn't arisen. First because we usually do things very slowly, so there is plenty of time to give them careful consideration. Secondly because our mental abilities mean that we can evaluate the truth of scientists' warnings for ourselves; other scientists can ask questions, pass judgement on the strength of the case being presented and relay their verdicts to everyone else. We still sometimes get scientists disagreeing about the interpretation of evidence collected, when this is not clear enough to reach firm conclusions, but in those cases our instinct as a race is to err on the side of caution. We don't like to take any risks, particularly not with our environment. We have never seen the attraction of gambling.'
'Is that just for practical reasons, or do you have a religious motivation? I've never asked you about your religions.'
'We used to have a range of them, like yours but pursued rather less aggressively – nobody was ever killed because of them. They long ago evolved into a universal philosophy which we all agree on. It has some similarities with earlier human beliefs, such as were held by various native North American tribes, about the interconnectedness of all things; people, animals, plants and the natural environment in general. Unfortunately you lost that in the development of your major religions, and you are paying the price for it now. I should add that the alternate saurian worlds, whose people rejected the mental abilities we have, still have religions, but they have managed to avoid the worst of the problems the human worlds have.'
'Do you believe in a creator, one all-powerful god?'
'Oh no, that has no place in our beliefs. We have quite a clear understanding of the history of the Universe since the Big Bang, but no-one pretends to know what happened before that. Most scientists are inclined to favour the hypothesis of the cyclical Universe, constantly repeating, but the evidence is not clear enough to reach a firm conclusion.'
'You have no concepts of sin or redemption?'
'Wrong-doing, certainly. Inflicting harm on other people, or the wilful destruction of animals or plants, is regarded as unacceptable. In the distant past we used to be omnivores like humans, but for millennia we have eaten only fruit and nuts and drunk only water – I'm afraid you caught that from us. In fact, it is only the mentally unstable who would cause wilful harm, and we are able to detect such symptoms at a very early stage due to the emotions being projected. People may still sometimes cause accidental harm through carelessness, of course. They then have to do their best to make this good; we have a strong belief in individual responsibility for one's actions.'
'This doesn't involve anything supernatural?'
'Not in your terms, no. We believe that the aim of every individual should be to contribute more to society – in whatever way they can – than they take out, and the more they contribute the more highly they are regarded by everyone else. I think that the closest our beliefs come to your concept of the supernatural is our respect for our ancestors. No-one believes in ancestor worship, or that they are watching over us, but four times a year – at the equinoxes and solstices – we spend a day at home with our families, remembering our ancestors and pledging to honour their memories by the way we behave.'
I thought about the bizarre fixations of our religious fundamentalists and their sometimes appalling consequences, and sighed.
'Tell me more about your alternate worlds. How many are there?'
'Very few. Our scientists concerned with alternate worlds theory believe that although there is one force which causes the different worlds to branch off, there is an opposing force which acts to draw them together again. It is a bit like a shallow river with many small obstacles sticking up; the water parts to flow around them, then joins up again at the other side. They call this the "braided worlds" hypothesis. So the many minor changes which happen every day only create temporary "Stage 4" alternate worlds; they merge back again after a while. Only if the event which caused the worlds to diverge is significant enough – in other words, at Stage 3 – is the separation permanent.'
'Doesn't that cause all sorts of paradoxes? I mean, suppose a woman chose one husband in one Stage 4 world, and a different one in another? She would have different children, and a different family tree would be created which could run on indefinitely. How could they be merged together?'
'That's the main counter-argument, to which our scientists have not so far come up with a simple answer. All they will point to is the clear evidence that there are very few saurian worlds, whereas there otherwise ought to be an infinite number. For example, that there is no alternate saurian world like ours because once everyone is in mental communication, variations become very small. The Stage 3 variations are all concerned with those societies which rejected mental enhancement. Because they lack our global understanding, they have more variety in religious, social and political patterns. Even so, we have only been able to identify five other Stage 3 saurian worlds so far.'
I mulled that over for a while. 'So there are likely to be many more human Stage 3 alternate worlds, given our diversity?'
'Oh yes, scores at least.'
I pondered for a moment worlds in which communism or Naziism reigned, or which were subject to all-powerful religions or other empires. The potential diversity seemed almost endless.
'Now it's your turn,' Tertia said. 'There are many things that we still don't understand about humanity. We recognise that learning only from broadcasts has limitations.'
'Fire away; what do you want to know?'
Her emotions reflected an amused frustration. 'So many things! Some of them no doubt seem very obvious to you, but have caused much debate here.'
'Such as?'
'Well, to give a trivial example, could you explain the significance in your society of sofas?'
'Sofas?'
'Yes, you know, the long padded seats.'
'I know what a sofa is, but why do you think they are significant?'
'They must be, they feature so often in those helpful short television programmes which advise you what to buy.'
Before I could respond to that, Tertia continued:
'What really puzzles us about them is this: if they are so important to you, why are they always being sold at half price?'
It took some time before I had recovered enough to attempt an answer.
We had arranged our return visit to the UN three days after Primo's first dramatic appearance. By then, there was battle royal over the airwaves between those who insisted that the warning was genuine and we had to act on it, and those who said that the whole exercise was a computer-generated con. It was difficult to be sure who was winning that argument, but the status I had acquired on my travels seemed to be helping to swing opinion our way. After all, no-one could argue that I was computer-generated.
The General Assembly was packed again and the interpreters' glass boxes behind and above the representatives were remarkably full. The atmosphere was very tense, and I relayed to Primo that there could be outbursts of emotion at any time.
A drawback of my sensitivity to others' emotions is that my own moods are affected by them, so I felt very tense myself as I stepped up to the podium. Primo's image was already on the screen behind me, to no discernable reaction from the audience.
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'Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Since I last stood here, I have obviously become aware of accusations that Primo is a computer-generated fake. I need hardly say that I utterly reject these allegations. If any of you is inclined to believe them, then consider this; the saurians have provided a logical explanation for how I came to be like this,' I opened my bare arms wide to emphasise my scaly skin, 'which is more than anyone else has been able to do.' I paused for a second to let that sink in, then continued. 'Also consider this; why should you be surprised at the revelation that more advanced worlds in the human group, up to several centuries ahead of us, have suffered nuclear or environmental devastation? We are well aware how close we came to nuclear war on occasions, and the majority of our own environmental scientists are agreed that our burgeoning population and unrestricted use of resources are polluting our world, with potentially very serious consequences for climate, agriculture and ultimately the world economic system. We are only being told what we already fear is true. What we have to do is accept that truth, and act while we can.' I left a long pause, but there was no response. 'I will now hand over to Primo.' I stepped down for the podium and Primo nodded politely.
'Greetings once again. I said that I would tell you how we can help, and this is what we can do. We have solved the problem of harnessing the fusion reaction to generate pollution-free energy, and we will provide you with the blueprints and a detailed explanation of how to make such power stations. This will make a big difference in the long term, but even with our help such plants will be difficult and expensive to construct, so their impact will be slow and gradual. We can also offer alternative technologies for generating electricity, for example much more efficient solar cells, plus geothermal power which can be obtained anywhere, both of which use much simpler technology and can be more quickly installed. We have equipment which can convert the carbon dioxide produced by industrial activities back into hydrocarbons.' He paused and looked around the Assembly. 'This technology, if applied with all of your vigour in conjunction with the general application of other measures which you are already beginning to use to minimise your need for power, will make a dramatic difference to the air pollution generated by your society. However, they will not be enough by themselves. You have already developed ground transport which uses little energy; it is essential that this is more widely disseminated. To help with this, we also have far more powerful batteries and high-temperature superconductors so you can make better use of electricity. Air transport is a more difficult problem, but we can offer the technology to both produce and utilise hydrogen fuel much more cheaply and cleanly than at present, so aircraft fuelled by this will have a much reduced impact on the atmosphere.' He paused again, his expression grave. 'Finally, we come to the most intractable problem; the gross overpopulation of many parts of your planet and the stress this is placing on agricultural land and on supplies of fresh water, as well as the threat it poses to biodiversity. There is only one long-term solution to that, and that is to reduce your population significantly, before starvation and disease do it for you. Our advanced knowledge of medicine and genetics can be adapted to humanity, we are sure, and that will enable us to offer life-time contraceptives for both men and women, which can only temporarily be overcome by both parties taking special medicines to restore fertility when a couple wishes to conceive.' Another long pause; the tension was so great that I thought my head would burst. 'All of these measures, taken together, will help to avoid the disaster which we know lies in your future. But only if you embrace them and implement them with all of your energy and resources. I am now willing to answer questions.'
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