Tales of the Groundbound: A Perfect Answer?, Chapter 15

[steuben]

Chapter 15

Walt stood in the wings of the lecture theater. The flash bulbs twinkled from the crowd like crystal snow on a munlit night. This was the second media session for the kerbalnauts just returned from Minmus. The first one was in the hanger with them fresh from the recovery plane, still in their suits, two days ago.

Walt looked at the tables on the stage. The three kerbalnauts were at the opposite end to him, followed by Gus, Direc, and finally Wernher. Wernher was a problem. He interviewed terribly. He could not give a simple answer, could not see the point of them, and generally was an insufferable genius. He wondered who would have their feathers ruffled this time.

The cameras stopped flashing and the questions started. Walt made note of who asked what. It would be useful if information had to come from an unnamed source, or through leaked documents. To know who to talk to would give it the best angle.

The question came up he knew was going to come up, was Minmus really made of mint ice cream. Walt looked over at the sound technician. She had already muted Wernher’s microphone. One of the kerbalnauts was answering the question. Based on the sample she had in the cabin, it was probably just ice. But the folks in the lab will know for sure. Maybe, it’s apple sorbet came the suggestion out of the crowd, accompanied by laughter.

The questions continued. They were a mix of popular and technical. Wernher was allowed to answer a couple of questions, including the one that had been coming up recently about a space kraken.

The question came up of where the next destination would be. Duna was the most likely destination. But, it would mean changing how craft are designed and flown. So, it maybe a while before they would be traveling there.

Then, came an unexpected question. “The program was replacing the magic of the universe with mundane facts. First the Munites of Kells. Next the Minions of Kerne. Soon the Dunians of Kurroughs and the Even jungles Kuttner. Every teeming world replaced with a barren empty surface. Will the program leave any wonder in its wake?”

The room seemed to hold its breath. Then, Wernher began to laugh. The sound technician looked at Walt, her hand over the mute button. Walt shrugged his shoulders.

“And he stood on the ridge crest,” Wernher said. ”He looked down not on the edge of the world, but another valley, another river, another plain. In the distance another ridge rose to the sky. He realized the legends were not tools of control. They were artifacts of fearful ignorance.

“He looked back down the way he came, towards home and all he knew. He looked down into the other valley. Were there kerbals there? Did they know what was beyond the ridges? He looked at the ridge in the distance. Did another valley lie beyond it? Or was would there be something beyond imagination?

“He stood and considered his next step; then he took it.”

Wernher paused for a moment. “I’ve always wondered which direction he went,” he continued. “The author ended the story there. Did he go into the new valley and beyond? Did he go home to tell of what he saw? Or did he follow the ridge to see what else could be known?

“That is what science, and the Kerbal Space Program, is. For every fairy castle it knocks down, for every legend disproven, for every mystery solved science creates two more.

“If your authors are any good they will be able to take what we have learned and create stories that are just as, if not more so, fantastic.”

Walt looked at Wernher. He looked at the crowd. He could hear the soft whirs of the tape recorders. It had been a perfect answer. He hoped for them every time. They were talked about at the conventions. He despaired of it happening again, at least with Wernher. They could not be engineered, rehearsed, or forced. There in lied their elusive beauty.

Edited February 15, 2017 by steuben