Starquake.pdf

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The call that Pierre had been dreading came. "Request asteroid O-l be reprogrammed to arrive at space- time point given by following coordinates," said the image of Cliff-Web. There followed anx,y,z,q,f,l,t listing of coordinates in the Dragon's Egg space-time system. The requested orbit went far down in the gravity well of Egg so that the ten percent time rate and frame drag difference between deep space and the surface of the neutron star was significant. Cliff-Web was not used to talking to humans. He forgot to always assume the same position each time he checked in at the screen for a reply, so his image flickered every fifth of a second. Pierre hesitated. The image flickered. The real decision had been made long ago. Pierre touched the screen in front of him, and the coordinates were transferred to the herder rockets that kept Otis on its desired path. Pierre then pushed theexecute square on his touch screen. The engines on the herder rockets flared. Within seconds Otis was on a new trajectory that would take it within a few meters of the surface of Dragon's Egg. 21:02:20 GMT TU6SDAY 21 JUNE2050 Push-Pull looked up from his testing apparatus to stare out at the herder rockets that swarmed around Otis. "There seems to be some activity in the large human spacecraft surrounding us." "I noticed," said Cliff-Web. "What is the status of the high flow-rate tubes?" "They passed flow tests at twice design pressures, and failed just above that," said Push-Pull. "Good, but too good. Reduce their thickness by a half-dozeth and test them again. I want this machine light enough to jump itself 40 meters off Egg." The construction of the four-centimeter-diameter self-levitating gravity lander took significantly less time than the larger machine. They were finished with nearly a great of turns left before Otis reached periapsis. Steel-Slicer came to see the completed lander. It was a torus sitting inside a larger torus. "What's its name?" Steel-Slicer asked. "It's just the lander," Cliff-Web replied with obvious annoy- ance. "It doesn't have a name except Egg Surface Descent Craft, if you want to be formal." "All ships have to have a name," said Steel-Slicer. "Since it flies above the surface of Egg it should have the name of some flying animal." "Thereare no flying animals on Egg." Cliff-Web was even more annoyed.
"There are flying animals on the human planet Earth," Push-Pull interjected. "One of them is the eagle." "Eagle it shall be." Steel-Slicer declared. "If you say so," said Cliff-Web. "Is there anything else we should do?" "I would do some thinking," said Cliff-Web. "Once we have landed on Egg, there is no way to get off again until we have rebuilt civilization. We are mass limited and must only take the things we will need. If we forget to take something, there is no going back. Tell me. What is the minimum list of skilled technologists and equipment you need to rebuild a civilization?" "I don't know," said Steel-Slicer. "Neither do I. But 122 turns from now we had better know." The turns passed as the members of the landing party were selected and their equipment was packed in the compounds constructed on the topside of Eagle. Egg grew larger in the sky, then disappeared behind the horizon of their miniature planet as the human herder rockets turned Otis until the gravity catapult was facing back along the orbital trajectory. With the light of Egg gone from the sky they had to make do with the dull glow from the surface of Otis. The cold reddish light put a pall over their last turnfeast together. The food preparers had done their best. Besides the large mounds of artificial foods from the food machines, there were a number of whole pet Slinks, especially fattened for the occasion and beautifully garnished with fresh nuts and fruits from the gardens that had been started on Otis from artificially fabricated seeds shortly after they had arrived. The center of attention, however, was a whole roast cheela. The body was badly flattened from a fall off the scaffolding around the gravity catapult, but that didn't hurt the taste. Steel-Slicer and Cliff-Web decided not to try to push through the crowd and settled for one of the Slinks. "Excellent Slink," Steel-Slicer said, sucking the eye off an eye-stub chunk. "Not as good as food Slinks back on Egg," said Cliff-Web. "I've been trying to forget they exist." "Back when I was on Egg, I never really paid much attention to my food," Cliff-Web said. "At turnfeast I would just stuff my pouches as if I were recharging a machine. Now that we are getting close to returning to Egg, my pouches are beginning to ache for a decent chunk of food Slink or a squirt of South Pole singleberry juice." "It has been so long...." The Steel-Slicer turned silent as he thought of the agony and hopeless despair the two separated groups of cheela had undergone over dozens and dozens of generations. Although he had just undergone rejuvenation again, he felt old and tired. The following turn passed rapidly. The elevator on the Space Fountain was in continuous operation as the base on Otis was abandoned and most of the cheela returned to their spacecraft. All that were left were the brave 144 that were to fly down to Egg on Eagle.
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STARQUAKE Acknowledgments
Page 3 and 4:
Prelude Burrowing through the dark
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science instruments and consoles, w
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Please take a rest." "Doctor Wong,
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about half a day we will be in prop
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Amalita floated over to the table a
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One of her near eyes caught him loo
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"All you need to do is shrink the h
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Pierre spoke quickly to the robotic
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slid open. He entered the security
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Slinklings, and Cold, Chilly's mate
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page and didn't like what he saw. "
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He activated a conference link and
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egg-tending fever. Every time I see
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A glowing speck swung around the to
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"If only Dragon Slayer had some mea
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"That gives us four greats of turns
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"I see someone in the back." "Brigh
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with spots of different emittance t
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Web Construction is the biggest con
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activated. "There are 144 connector
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With the X-ray illuminators in plac
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up and wait. Then there would begin
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06:55:16 TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050 Quiet
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There was a loud clang from nearby.
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Hearing the decimal number for the
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walls made out of high quality supe
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It was turnfeast, and Time-Circle s
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"After the success with the three m
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"Renegotiate them," she replied. "J
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"Those machines produce both the an
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millimeters away it fades into the
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She started with the animals. Three
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idly to the surrounding crust. She
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06:58:07 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050 Qu
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kilohertz gravitational radiation t
Page 73 and 74: "We're losing it!" Heavy-Egg shoute
Page 75 and 76: y the errant streams. Treads grippi
Page 77 and 78: "Less than a turn," said the Comm O
Page 79 and 80: "Our total space force consists of
Page 81 and 82: "Bright has cursed us all!" Hohmann
Page 83 and 84: straight toward her, moving rapidly
Page 85 and 86: You should be able to find more cag
Page 87 and 88: close. She could have done a good i
Page 89 and 90: "My plan is to use the robots on Eg
Page 91 and 92: were mixed to produce an ultra-hot
Page 93 and 94: and gravitational waves. Status 82%
Page 95 and 96: "There is someone muttering nearby.
Page 97 and 98: farming class how to tell ripe nut-
Page 99 and 100: of engineers who can fix the damage
Page 101 and 102: Eighty turns later, Qui-Qui returne
Page 103 and 104: They worked their way through the m
Page 105 and 106: other two read zero. Must be breaks
Page 107 and 108: Qui-Qui would arrive at each clan c
Page 109 and 110: satiated, however, for he would nev
Page 111 and 112: They charged, the mounted warriors
Page 113 and 114: out that what was needed was a spec
Page 115 and 116: "You must be Qui-Qui," Ferocious-Ey
Page 117 and 118: stage' for our lander. We can store
Page 119 and 120: "We are aware of that," said Plasma
Page 121 and 122: "One," said Cliff-Web. "And an infi
Page 123: field. Cliff-Web had returned to no
Page 127 and 128: nothing, tor the forces were gravit
Page 129 and 130: "We will need to have a new power g
Page 131 and 132: "Good. Let's cut it up and haul it
Page 133 and 134: The trade was made, with the captai
Page 135 and 136: operation," said Power-Pack. "My se
Page 137 and 138: "We would rather wait to taste the
Page 139 and 140: "But she only has eight eyes now!"
Page 141 and 142: her whip-sword and urged her Swift
Page 143 and 144: for the Taker to come again." "The
Page 145 and 146: As if to punctuate his offer, there
Page 147 and 148: As he flowed up over the crumbled b
Page 149 and 150: "Focus the laser on the landing bas
Page 151 and 152: "It has been a long time since the
Page 153 and 154: their quirrls sparred with each oth
Page 155 and 156: "The humans take forever to do anyt
Page 157 and 158: "That's the last of the HoloMem sto
Page 159 and 160: to the Science Deck. Pierre looked
Page 161 and 162: "Hey! Look at the sightseers," Abdu
Page 163 and 164: choose will be a better name, anobl
Page 165 and 166: The screen on the communications co
Page 167 and 168: This was the first time there had b
Page 169 and 170: "Coupling experiments successful,"
Page 171 and 172: Manager-Director/5 set up a confere
Page 173 and 174: "The cheela are bringing them now."
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"Mine," replied Abdul. "She's right
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Amalita and Abdul in two segments o
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15 min 31 g cheela generation 29 se
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and behaves much like a young cheel
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Ngw* 5. CI»ft-Wort Plant Upon reve
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We wanted Dragon Slayer at a 406-ki
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Figure 10. Gravity Catapult The wor
Page 189:
6. F. J. Tipler, "Rotating Cylinder
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