Part 18 (1/2)

”I did,” she said, smiling. ”Why does that embarra.s.s you?”

”This city is, despite its weirdities, essentially human. It was made to serve human beings, perhaps women like you -- ”

”A matriarchy?”

”Possibly. Now those people are gone, but the city remains, producing breathable air, growing edible fruit, supporting at least some omnivorous wildlife as though in antic.i.p.ation of the needs of the mantas, manufacturing things for human use. Surely the machines remember their erstwhile masters!”

”Then why did it attack you?”

”I was acting in an unfriendly manner, a.s.sociating with aliens who were interfering with the business of the city. I was giving the signals of an enemy or a vandal -- as indeed I regarded myself. The machine reacted accordingly.”

Aquilon nodded. ”So we know the builders, though not their language.”

”We are the builders -- on another variant. Perhaps this city is an artifact of a human alternate many thousands of years in our future. With the alternate framework, it stands to reason that many worlds are ahead of us as well as many behind.”

”Dinosaurs on one -- super science on another,” she agreed.

”But I do not think the sparkle-cloud is part of this human scheme -- as I was explaining.”

”You were?”

”The Life game.”

She grimaced. ”I haven't gotten through your R Pentomino yet.”

”I wouldn't worry about it,” he said. ”It only achieves a 'steady state' after eleven hundred moves.”

”Eleven hundred moves!” she exclaimed indignantly. ”And you set me innocently to work with a pencil -- ”

”The point is, the entire game is determined by the opening configuration. But that hardly means that all openings are similar, or that a five-point figure does not have impressive complexities in its resolution. Most simple patterns quickly fade or become stable. A few are open-ended, especially when they interact with other figures. So larger opening patterns might conceivably -- ”

”Cal!” she cried. ”Are you saying that this little dot-game -- the sparkle-pattern -- ”

He nodded. ” 'Life' is a simple two-dimensional process that nevertheless has certain resemblances to the molecular biology of our living life. Suppose this game were extended to three physical dimensions and given an indefinitely large grid?”

She shook her head so that her hair flew out enticingly. Had she picked up that gesture from Tamme? ”It would still be predetermined.”

”As we are predetermined, according to certain philosophies. But it becomes extremely difficult to chart that course before the fact. Suppose a number of forms were present on that grid, interacting?”

”If their patterns got too large, they'd mess each other up. There's no telling what would happen then.” She paused, his words sinking in. ”It would still be predetermined by the initial figures and their relation to each other on the grid -- but too complicated to predict without a computer. Maybe there's no computer that could handle the job if the grid were big enough and the figures too involved. Anything could happen.”

”And if it existed in four or five dimensions?”

She spread her hands. ”I'm no mathematician. But I should think the possibilities would approach those of organic processes. After all, as you pointed out, enzymes in one sense are like little keys on the molecular level, yet they are indispensable to the life processes. Why not dot-pattern enzymes, building into -- ” She paused again. ”Into animate sparkle-clouds!”

”So we could have what amounts to independent, free-willed ent.i.ties,” he finished. ”Their courses may be predetermined by their initial configurations and framework -- but so are ours. We had better think of them as potentially sentient and deal with them accordingly.”

”Which means establis.h.i.+ng communication with them,” she said. ”It was a giant mental step, but at last I am with you.” She looked down at the complex mess of her R Pentomino and blew out her cheeks.