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第53部分(第2页)

〃I dont think we should;〃 Norman said。 He was surprised by the strength of his conviction; the firmness of his own voice。

〃I agree;〃 Beth said。 〃Im not sure the world is ready for that sphere。 I certainly wasnt。〃

''361'' She gave Norman a sheepish look。 He put his hand on her shoulder。

〃Thats fine;〃 Harry said。 〃But look at it from the standpoint of the Navy。 The Navy has mounted a large and expensive operation; six people have died; and two habitats have been destroyed。 Theyre going to want answers…and theyre going to keep asking until they get them。〃

〃We can refuse to talk;〃 Beth said。

〃That wont make any difference;〃 Harry said。 〃Remember; the Navy has all the tapes。〃

〃Thats right; the tapes;〃 Norman said。 He had forgotten about the videotapes they had brought up in the submarine。 Dozens of tapes; documenting everything that had happened in the habitat during their time underwater。 Documenting the squid; the deaths; the sphere。 Documenting everything。

〃We should have destroyed those tapes;〃 Beth said。

〃Perhaps we should have;〃 Harry said。 〃But its too late now。 We cant prevent the Navy from getting the answers they want。〃

Norman sighed。 Harry was right。 At this point there was no way to conceal what had happened; or to prevent the Navy from finding out about the sphere; and the power it conveyed。 That power would represent a kind of ultimate weapon: the ability to overe your enemies simply by imagining it had happened。 It was frightening in its implications; and there was nothing they could do about it。 Unless…

〃I think we can prevent them from knowing;〃 Norman said。

〃How?〃 Harry said。

〃We still have the power; dont we?〃

〃I guess so。〃

〃And that power;〃 Norman said; 〃consists of the ability to make anything happen; simply by thinking it。〃

〃Yes 。。。〃

〃Then we can prevent the Navy from knowing。 We can decide to forget the whole thing。〃

Harry frowned。 〃Thats an interesting question: whether we have the power to forget the power。〃

''362'' 〃I think we should forget it;〃 Beth said。 〃That sphere is too dangerous。〃

They fell silent; considering the implications of forgetting the sphere。 Because forgetting would not merely prevent the Navy from knowing about the sphere…it would erase all knowledge of it; including their own。 Make it vanish from human consciousness; as if it had never existed in the first place。 Remove it from the awareness of the human species; forever。

〃Big step;〃 Harry said。 〃After all weve been through; just to forget about it 。。。〃

〃Its because of all weve been through; Harry;〃 Beth said。 〃Lets face it…we didnt handle ourselves very well。〃 Norman noticed that she spoke without rancor now; her previous bative edge gone。

〃Im afraid thats true;〃 Norman said。〃The sphere was built to test whatever intelligent life might pick it up; and we simply failed that test。〃

〃Is that what you think the sphere was made for?〃 H said。 〃I dont。〃

〃Then what?〃 Norman said。

〃Well;〃 Harry said; 〃look at it this way: Suppose you were an intelligent bacterium floating in space; and you came upon one of our munication satellites; in orbit around the Earth。 You would think; What a strange; alien object this is; lets explore it。 Suppose you opened it up and crawled inside。 You would find it very interesting in there; with lots of huge things to puzzle over。 But eventually you might climb into one of the fuel cells; and the hydrogen would kill you。 And your last thought would be: This alien device was obviously made to test bacterial intelligence and to kill us if we make a false step。

〃Now; that would be correct from the standpoint of the dying bacterium。 But that wouldnt be correct at all from the standpoint of the beings who made the satellite。 From our point of view; the munications satellite has nothing to do with intelligent bacteria。 We dont even know that there are intelligent bacteria out there。 Were just trying to ''363'' municate; and weve made what we consider a quite ordinary device to do it。〃

〃You mean the sphere might not be a message or a trophy or a trap at all?〃

〃Thats right;〃 Harry said。 〃The sphere may have nothing to do with the search for other life forms; or testing life; as we might imagine those activities to occur。 It may be an accident that the sphere causes such profound changes in us。〃

〃But why would someone build such a machine?〃 Norman said。

〃Thats the same question an intelligent bacterium would ask about a munications satellite: Why would anyone build such a thing?〃

〃For that matter;〃 Beth said; 〃it may not be a machine。 The sphere may be a life form。 It may be alive。〃

〃Possible;〃 Harry said; nodding。

Beth said; 〃So; if the sphere is alive; do we have an obligation to keep it alive?〃

〃We dont know if it is alive。〃

Norman sat back in the chair。 〃All this speculation is interesting;〃 he said; 〃but when you get down to it; we dont really know anything about the sphere。 In fact; we shouldnt even be calling it the sphere。 We probably should just call it sphere。 Because we dont know what it is。 We dont know where it came from。 We dont know whether its living or dead。 We dont know how it came to be inside that spaceship。 We dont know anything about it except what we imagine…and what we imagine says more about us than it does about the sphere。〃

〃Right;〃 Harry said。

〃Because its literally a sort of mirror for us;〃 Norman said。

〃Speaking of which; theres anothe

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