The Instability

ISAAC ASIMOV
Gold, The Final Science Fiction Collection
Part One - The Final Stories

The Instability
Typed by Bateau


Professor Firebrenner had explained it carefully. "Time-perception depends
on the structure of the Universe. When the Universe is expanding, we
experience time as going forward; when it is contracting, we experience it
going backward. If we could somehow force the Universe to be in stasis,
neither expanding nor contracting, time would stand still."
"But you can't put the Universe in stasis," said Mr. Atkins, fascinated.
"I can put a little portion of the Universe in stasis, however." said the
professor. "Just enough to hold a ship. Time will stand still and we can move
forward or backward at will and the entire trip will last less than an instant.
But all the parts of the Universe will move while we stand still, while we are
nailed to the fabric of the Universe. The Earth moves about the Sun, the Sun
moves about the core of the Galaxy, the Galaxy moves about some center of
gravity, _all_ the galaxies move.
"I calculated those motions and I find that 27.5 million years in the future, a
red dwarf star will occupy the position our Sun does now. If we go 27.5
million years into the future, in less than an instant that red dwarf star will be
near our spaceship and we can come home after studying it a bit."
Atkins said, "Can that be done?"
"I've sent experimental animals through time, but I can't make them
automatically return. If you and I go, we can then manipulate the controls so
that we can return."
"And you want me along?"
"Of course. There should be two. Two people would be more easily believed
than one alone. Come, it will be an incredible adventure."
Atkins inspected the ship. It was a 2217 Glennfusion model and looked
beautiful.
"Suppose," he said, "that it lands _inside_ the red dwarf star."
"It won't," said the professor, "but if it does, that's the chance we take."
"But when we get back, the Sun and the Earth will have moved on. We'll be in
space."
"Of course, but how far can the Sun and Earth move in the few hours it will
take us to observe the star? With this ship we will catch up to our beloved
planet. Are you ready, Mr. Atkins?"
"Ready," sighed Atkins.
Professor Firebrenner made the necessary adjustments and nailed the ship to
the fabric of the Universe while 27.5 million years passed. And then, in less
than a flash, time began to move forard again in the usual way, and
everything in the Universe moved forward with it.
Through the viewing port of their ship, Professor Firebrenner and Mr. Atkins
could see the small orb of the red dwarf star.
The professor smiled. "You and I, Atkins," he said, "Are the first ever to see,
close at hand, any star other than our own Sun."
They remained two-and-a-half hours during which they photographed the
star and its spectrum and as many neighbouring stars as they could, made
spcial coronagraphic observations, tested the chemical composition of the
interstellar gas, and then Professor Firebrenner said, rather reluctantly, "I
think we had better go home now."
Again the controls were adjusted and the ship was nailed to the fabric of the
Universe. They went 27.5 million years into the past, and in less than a flash,
they were back where they started.
Space was black. There was nothing. Atkins said, "what happened? Where are
the Earth and Sun?"
The professor frowned. He said, "Going _back_ in time must be different. The
entire Universe must have moved."
"where could it move?"
"I don't know. Other objects shift position within the Universe, but the
Universe as a whole must move in an upper dimensional direction. We are
here in the absolute vacuum, in primeval Chaos."
"But _we're_ here. It's not primeval Chaos anymore."
"Exactly. That means we've introduced and instability at this place where we
exist, and _that_ means--"
Even as he said this, a Big Bang obliterated them. A new Universe came into
being and began to expand.

Eyes do more than see

Copyright © 1965 by Mercury Press, Inc.


After hundreds of billions of years, he suddenly thought of himself
as Ames. Not the wavelength combination which, through all the
universe was now the equivalent of Ames-but the sound itself. A faint
memory came back of the sound waves he no longer heard and no
longer could hear.
The new project was sharpening his memory for so many more of
the old, old, eons-old things. He flattened the energy vortex that made
up the total of his individuality and its lines of force stretched beyond
the stars.
Brock's answering signal came.
Surely, Ames thought, he could tell Brock. Surely he could tell
somebody.
Brock's shifting energy pattern communed, "Aren't you coming,
Ames?"
"Of course."
"Will you take part in the contest?"
"Yes!" Ames's lines of force pulsed erratically. "Most certainly. I
have thought of a whole new art-form. Something really unusual."
"What a waste of effort! How can you think a new variation can be
thought of after two hundred billion years. There can be nothing
new."
For a moment Brock shifted out of phase and out of communion, so
that Ames had to hurry to adjust his lines of force. He caught the drift
of other-thoughts as he did so, the view of the powdered galaxies
against the velvet of nothingness, and the lines of force pulsing in
endless multitudes of energy-life, lying between the galaxies.
Ames said, "Please absorb my thoughts, Brock. Don't close out. I've
thought of manipulating Matter. Imagine! A symphony of Matter.
Why bother with Energy. Of course, there's nothing new in Energy;
how can there be? Doesn't that show we must deal with Matter?"
"Matter!"
Ames interpreted Brock's energy-vibrations as those of disgust.
He said, "Why not? We were once Matter ourselves back-back- Oh, a
trillion years ago anyway! Why not build up objects in a Matter medium,
or abstract forms or-listen, Brock-why not build up an imitation of
ourselves in Matter, ourselves as we used to be?"
Brock said, "I don't remember how that was. No one does."
"I do," said Ames with energy, "I've been thinking of nothing else and
I am beginning to remember. Brock, let me show you. Tell me if I'm
right. Tell me."
"No. This is silly. It's-repulsive."
"Let me try, Brock. We've been friends; we've pulsed energy
together from the beginning-from the moment we became what we
are. Brock, please!"
"Then, quickly."
Ames had not felt such a tremor along his own lines of force in-well, in
how long? If he tried it now for Brock and it worked, he could dare
manipulate Matter before the assembled Energy-beings who had so
drearily waited over the eons for something new.
The Matter was thin out there between the galaxies, but Ames
gathered it, scraping it together over the cubic light-years, choosing
the atoms, achieving a clayey consistency and forcing matter into an
ovoid form that spread out below.
"Don't you remember, Brock?" he asked softly. "Wasn't it something
like this?"
Brock's vortex trembled in phase. "Don't make me remember. I
don't remember."
"That was the head. They called it the head. I remember it so clearly,
I want to say it. I mean with sound." He waited, then said, "Look, do
you remember that?"
On the upper front of the ovoid appeared HEAD.
"What is that?" asked Brock.
"That's the word for head. The symbols that meant the word in
sound. Tell me you remember, Brock!"
"There was something," said Brock hesitantly, "something in the
middle." A vertical bulge formed.
Ames said, "Yes! Nose, that's it!" And NOSE appeared upon it. "And
those are eyes on either side," LEFT EYE-RIGHT EYE.
Ames regarded what he had formed, his lines of force pulsing slowly.
Was he sure he liked this?
"Mouth," he said, in small quiverings, "and chin and Adam's apple,
and the collarbones. How the words come back to me." They appeared
on the form.
Brock said, "I haven't thought of them for hundreds of billions of
years. Why have you reminded me? Why?"
Ames was momentarily lost in his thoughts, "Something else.
Organs to hear with; something for the sound waves. Ears! Where do
they go? I don't remember where to put them!"
Brock cried out, "Leave it alone! Ears and all else! Don't
remember!"
Ames said, uncertainly, "What is wrong with remembering?"
"Because the outside wasn't rough and cold like that but smooth
and warm. Because the eyes were tender and alive and the lips of the
mouth trembled and were soft on mine." Brock's lines of force beat
and wavered, beat and wavered.
Ames said, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"You're reminding me that once I was a woman and knew love; that
eyes do more than see and I have none to do it for me."
With violence, she added matter to the rough-hewn head and said,
"Then let them do it" and turned and fled.
And Ames saw and remembered, too, that once he had been a man.
The force of his vortex split the head in two and he fled back across the
galaxies on the energy-track of Brock-back to the endless doom of life.
And the eyes of the shattered head of Matter still glistened with
the moisture that Brock had placed there to represent tears. The head
of Matter did that which the energy-beings could do no longer and it
wept for all humanity, and for the fragile beauty of the bodies they had
once given up, a trillion years ago.

in the future

edgar allan poe- Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me&
Yes!;that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

vara asta

Si uite ca aproape s-a dus si vacanta de vara, au trecut 3 luni in care pur si simplu am stat degeaba. Ei, nu chiar degeaba, am fost la mare, in Delta, in Fagaras, zilele trecute prin Bran :P, m-am plimbat putin vara asta, nu atat cat as fi vrut, dar in fine, a fost frumos :D. Mi-am indeplinit visul de a-mi face ziua de nastere la mare- avantajul de a fi nascuta in mijlocul verii.
Am mai si citit putin in vara asta, nu tot ce ar fi trebuit, dar e ok, ma apuca tocmai acum spre sfarsit sa fac tot. Asa sunt eu, fac totul pe ultima suta de metri, dar nu prea mi-a mers rau pana acum cu metoda asta, desi sunt constienta ca ar trebui sa fac lucrurile din timp, bla, bla, bla...
Inca o chestie ce am mai descoperit vara asta, deloc in avantajul meu este jocul Sorority Life, eu una il joc pe tagged desi am vazut ca e si pe hi5 si nu mai stiu ce al siter de genul. Spun ca nu e in avantajul meu pentru ca acum nu mai pot sa ma dezlipesc de calculator, nici macar sa mai citesc blogurile si siteurile de zi cu zi, cele cu bancuri, cu stiri, si asa mai departe. Ma trezesc, aprind calcu si in fata calcului pana seara tot pe tagged.
nu-mi place, mai ales ca lunea viitoare incep scoala, ar trebui s-o las mai usor. Ma si vad la o intalnire de genul AA : Buna, eu sunt Adina si sunt dependenta de calculator si nu de calculatorul in sine ci de un joc :)))). Nici NFS nu mi-a creat atata dependenta.
Dar las' ca scap eu de ea, mai ales daca o sa fiu pe drumuri de la 7 dimineata pana pe la 6-7 seara, mai intru pe calc in weekend si de sarbatori :)))

Bancuri :D

* I had a dream last night, I was eating a ten pound marshmallow. I woke up this morning and the pillow was gone.

*- Nu mai astepta, aici autobuzele merg numai de sarbatori, - se adreseaza o doamna catre o blonda.
- Pai astazi e ziua mea de nastere!!

*O femeie casatorita se plange prietenei sale:
- De ce ma bate sotul? Spal, calc, fac mancare, totul e perfect, de copii am grija...
- Cu altul nu iesi?
- Poate din cauza asta...

*In cuseta vagonului de dormit se aude o bufnitura. Buimaca de somn, sotia intreaba:
- Ce-a cazut acolo, Nicule?
- Pijamaua, draga.
- Cu atata zgomot?
- Eram si eu in ea!

*Într-o zi, o soţie se plînge soţului:
- Dragă, sînt nemulţumită că am sînii mici.
Soţul îi răspunde:
- Ia o bucată de hîrtie igienică, freac-o între sîni şi în cîţiva ani ai să vezi că o să-ţi crească.
- De unde ştii? întreabă mirată soţia.
- Cu fundul a funcţionat, nu-i aşa?

*BARBATUL a descoperit sticla si a inventat PAHARUL.
FEMEIA a luat sticla si a inventat OGLINDA .
BARBATUL a descoperit ZARUL si a inventat jocul.
FEMEIA a luat ZARUL si a inventat VRAJITORIA.
BARBATUL a descoperit CUVANTUL si a inventat CONVERSATIA.
FEMEIA a descoperit CUVANTUL si a inventat BARFA.
BARBATUL a descoperit BANUL si a inventat COMERTUL.
FEMEIA a descoperit BANUL si a inventat CREDITUL.
BARBATUL a descoperit TRANZACTIILE si a inventat CARTEA DE CREDIT.
FEMEIA a luat CARTEA DE CREDIT si BARBATUL s - a dat dracului..
BARBATUL a descoperit MUNCA si a inventat SALARIUL.
FEMEIA a descoperit SALARIUL si iar s - au dat dracului BARBATII.
BARBATUL a descoperit FEMEIA si a inventat SEXUL.
FEMEIA a descoperit SEXUL si a inventat ..........................................CASATORIA

DUPA ASTA BARBATUL S - A SUPARAT SI NU A MAI INVENTAT NIMIC, CE NAIBA , PANA CAND SA TOT CADA DE PROST..

*Cele trei mari dorinte ale barbatului:
1.sa fie asa frumos cum crede maica-sa ca e!
2.sa fie asa bogat cum crede fiu-su ca e!
3.sa aiba atatea femei cat suspecteaza nevasta-sa ca are!

*Un orb sta la semafor insotit de un caine si astepta sa treaca. Un alt om sta si priveste scena de pe cealalta parte a drumului. Se face verde, dar cainele nu il trece strada pe orb. Se face iar verde, cainele nimic. Se repete scena de cateva ori, dupa care orbul scoate un os din buzunar si il da cainelui. Mirat, omul care observa, intreaba:
- De ce ii dati os, daca va tine pe loc si nu va trece strada cand se face verde?
- Pai am observat ca stau de 10 minute in acelasi loc, ii dau un os ca sa imi dau seama unde are capul si sa-i ard un sut in c*r ca ma tine in loc de atata vreme.

*Merge un tată cu copilul lui de 3 ani şi trece o tipă superbă pe lîngă ei, cu o rochie foarte mulată. Tipul nu poate să se abţină şi exclamă:
- Doamne, ce c*r fain!
Băiatul se întoarce către el şi întreabă:
- Ce ai spus, tati?
- Am spus cucu.
- Ce-i aia?
- O pasăre, fiule...
- Ahhh... Şi există cucă, tati?
- Mda.
- Şi un cuc şi o cucă fac cuchiţi?
- Da, fiule.
- Şi un cuchiţ şi o cuchiţă fac cuchicişori?
- Da, băiatule!
- Şi un cuchişor si o cuchişoară fac cuchişorei?
- Da, omule, ce atîta...
- Şi un cuchişorel şi o....
- Mă, băiete, am zis c*r. Ai înţeles? C*r!

vreau la mare 8->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvaf4GfX9CQ&feature=related

vacanta :D

Pot sa spun ca am inceput vacanta. Azi am dat penultimul examen, ultimul nu se pune, e ca si luat ;)) Si tot azi se pare ca a inceput bacul. Nu pot sa cred ca a trecut un an de cand am dat bacul. Parca ieri ma plimbam pe coridoarele liceului. Nu pot sa spun ca mi-e dor de liceu, ca nu-mi e. Mi-e dor de colegi...am avut 24 de baieti in clasa :)) nu cred ca a fost zi de liceu in care sa nu rad :))
Partea buna e ca ma duceam cu drag la scoala, pentru colegi si pentru buna dispozitie, nu conteaza ce probleme aveam acasa , daca ma simteam bine sau rau, dar cand ajungeam la scoala uitam de tot si radeam frate.....
Acum la facultate ma duc ca nu sunt obligata :)) , ca nu se mai scade media la purtare, si deoarece chiar aflu ceva nou in fiecare zi si-mi plac profesorii si cursurile si tot. Zic asta acum ca aproape am terminat sesiunea si vreo 3 luni nu mai calc pe acolo :)) Ar cam trebui totusi sa profit de vacanta asta sa recuperez la germana....hmm...mdap. Nu o sa se mai repete ce s-a intamplat in sesiunea asta.
acum...ideea de baza este ce fac eu in vacanta asta???? Pe langa germana :P
Sper sa miros marea si muntele vacanta asta....hmm si apoi?
trebuie sa gasesc ceva de facut vacanta asta neaparat. Poate o reuniune de liceu :)))

Not a drop to drink

Two thousand years ago the Romans tried to turn this desert into an oasis, a place full of rivers and lakes and canals. The Romans wanted to build big white temples and big houses under the hot sun. They wanted to turn this desert into a new paradise, full of trees and flowers and fields. They planned to sail their ships across the desert. But they failed.

The Romans failed because they looked only at the surface of the land. They tried to make the desert into a paradise with water and trees by digging canals and building aqueducts. They dug canals to connect the sea and the rivers. They built their aqueducts, long pipes to carry water, for many miles across the desert, to carry water from one town to another.

Now, I can still see some of the old aqueducts. There are a few white stone arches under the hot sun in the dry desert. They are falling down. The water in the aqueducts dried up. There is nothing left of the Roman canals. The water in the canals disappeared and the canals filled up with sand again, but if you look carefully it is still possible to see where they were. There are lines across the desert that look like very old roads.

In 1777 a Portuguese explorer called Emanuel de Melo Pimento came to this desert with a plan to turn it into an oasis. At that time in history, everybody was very excited by new discoveries in science and technology and engineering. Emanuel de Melo Pimento was a man of his times, one of the new scientist-philosopher-engineers who believed that all the problem of people in the world could be solved by science and philosophy. He believed that he could turn the hot, dry desert where nobody had enough water to drink into an oasis, into a utopia. He wanted to build a completely new city here, he wanted to build a completely new country. He wanted to call it “Pimentia”, named after himself, of course.

Emanuel de Melo Pimento had a lot of money. He had a lot of money because a lot of rich people in Portugal and Spain gave him money to go around the world and explore. These rich people invested in Emanuel de Melo Pimento’s journeys of exploration and discovery. Now they had given him money to build a new city, a new country, a utopia, to create an oasis in the desert. These rich people hoped to become even richer. Emanuel de Melo Pimento took their money and used it not to try and change the surface of the land, like the Romans, but to change what is under the surface of the desert. Emanuel de Melo Pimento wanted to dig canals under the desert, to make big underground rivers where the water would not dry up under the heat of the sun.

He failed, of course.

Some of his plans still survive. I have some of them here in my office in the Institute of Hydrogeological Research where I write this. They are very beautiful works of art. But not one of his plans was ever completed – they needed too much money, more money than even the rich people in Portugal and Spain gave to Emanuel de Melo Pimento. Instead, Emanuel de Melo Pimento spent all the money on building beautiful buildings where he could live and dream of his new city.

From where I write in my office in the Institute I can still see one of the old buildings that Emanuel de Melo Pimento lived in before he went mad and died here. He failed because he tried to look only under the land. The Romans failed because they looked only at the surface of the land. Now, I will succeed, because I am not looking at the surface of the desert, or under it. I am looking up above the desert. I am looking up at the sky.

Now, at the beginning of the 21st century we have the ability to go up into space. We have the ability to build satellites. Some people have said that I am mad, just like Emanuel de Melo Pimento, but I know that I will succeed. I have spent many years making plans to build satellites that can not only forecast the weather, but change it.

The first of the satellites went up into space last week, and now, using a computer here in my office, I am telling it what to do. The programmes I spent many years planning and designing all work perfectly.

I look up at the sky, and it is starting to rain.

It has now been raining for three weeks. It has not stopped raining for 21 days. At first, the people were very happy to see so much rain. Now the desert has flooded. Where before there was only sand, now there is water. Where there was desert, now there is sea.

But the rain that has come down from the sky has destroyed many houses. Some people now have nowhere to live. The rain was stronger and heavier than I planned. I was right to look up above the desert, not at its surface or under the sand, but I did not expect the force of nature to be so strong.

Have I too failed? I do not know. Will people in the future think of me as I now think of the Romans and of the failed mad scientist Emanuel de Melo Pimento?

I have turned the desert into a sea. We can now sail ships across the desert, like the Romans dreamed. But the people do not thank me. They have water, but they have nothing to drink.

The end

http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-themes-deserts.htm

deci...o sa incep cu deci ca o conluzie din tot ce "am invatat" azi: germana e grea !
prima data cand am auzit ca o sa fac germana in facultate, am fost chiar incantata, a fost un fel de "dream come true", din copilarie vroiam sa invat germana. nush de ce, nu aveam un motiv deosebit, imi placea cum suna cred.
acum, dupa aproape un an de zile de germana la facultate, vreau sa spun ca ma ia durerea de cap cand deschid manualul . Mai rau decat franceza. Nu inteleg nimic. Si cel mai grav , nu vad asemanarea aia cu engleza !! toata lumea zice ca daca stii engleza, germana o sa fie usoara. da de unde?
totul e pe invers, toata fraza, toate cuvintele sunt INVERS. dar ai zice ca fiindca m-am prins ca e invers o sa pot sa invat. nu e chiar asa.
d-bia acum inteleg expresia : parca vorbesti in limbi straine :))
pai..engleza o invat din gradinita, si pot sa spun ca o stiu, franceza o inteleg cat de cat, are si ea gramatica grea si o mie si una de exceptii, dar merge, nu e imposibila; spaniola a venit cam firesc, nush de unde, poate din telenovelele alea din copilarie:)) (am fost mare fana Thalia :)))
si acum...germana...ca nimic din ce am invatat pana in prezent
si problema uriasa si de baza este verbul !
cum s-o fi inventat verbul?
si cum doamne iarta-ma s-a ajuns ca in germana verbul sa aibe particula separabila nu pot sa-mi dau seama, e o chestie extraterestra asta
particula separabila?? wtf?
si pe langa asta, frustratrea mea adevarata si sincera nu e neaparat faptul ca nu inteleg ci ca ceilalti...INTELEG!
adica marea majoritate din cei din grupa chiar au invatat germana! fara sa stie din liceu sau generala. au intrat la fel de bombe ca mine dar o sa iasa stiind germana. eu in schimb o sa ies asa cum am intrat + hai sa zicem cateva cuvinte noi in vocabular, si multe fire albe.
da, azi am observat fenomenul, au inceput sa-mi iasa fire albe, la nici 20 de ani.
vi se pare normal? ca mi-e nu.
macar de-ar fi din cauza invatatului, macar sa pot spune ca am invatat de mi-au iesit fire albe, dar sa stiu germana :))
poate o sa visez la noapte verbul si o sa pot sa fac ceva maine la examen.
sper !

Another Sad Song

Cam aşa m-am simţit eu în ultimul timp. De fiecare dată când sunt deprimată descopăr câte o melodie în care mă regăsesc. De data asta a fost Another Sad Song de Bandidos. Am descoperit-o din greşeala cum găsesc eu toate melodiile pe utube; căutam de fapt melodii din Sailor Moon.
Azi am vazut ultimul episod ... poate d-asta sunt mai trista ca de obicei. Cred că oamenii ar trebui să-şi revadă desenele preferate şi după ce au crescut. Învaţă mult mai multe după ce le privesc cu un ochi uşor critic şi sceptic mai ales ideea de magie şi puterea dragostei şi bla, bla...
Azi mi-am dat seama încă o data de ce Sailor Moon au fost desenele mele preferate, şi tot azi, am realizat că a fost un fel de model, chiar dacă nu am observat până acum, am ramas cu multe idei şi vise şi...
Şi acum ma oftic puţin când văd că nu au fost ale mele, ci împrumutate într-un fel.
toti ne-am dorit să ajungem ca eroul nostru preferat, şi eu mi-am dorit, dar pentru mine acum e puţin ciudat că înca mai vreau să semăn cu ea în anumite privinţe. Să am încrederea aia oarba în oameni şi în lumea asta şi în visele mele şi cel mai important să le şi realizez.
Mda... sentimental shit :))
o merit. Mâine o să fiu mai veselă puţin. Trebuie să mă pregătesc pentru sesiune. O să fie ciudat totuşi că nu o să mai am episoade noi de văzut...
Trebuie să-mi fac de lucru...ceva pentru suflet.

ZIZ

The ziz (Hebrew: זיז) is a giant griffin like bird in Jewish mythology, said to be large enough to be able to block out the sun with its wingspan. It is considered a giant animal/monster corresponding to archetypal creatures. Behemoth, Leviathan and Ziz were traditionally a favorite decoration motif for rabbis living in Germany.

Some say that the ziz was created to protect all of the birds and that if the ziz did not exist, then all the smaller birds on Earth would be helpless and killed. The Ziz is also an immortal creature that terrified the people that entered its territory and those who killed birds.^{[citation needed]} The Ziz is also believed to be a simple metaphor for air and space, along with the Behemoth as land and Leviathan as the seas and oceans.

The giant ziz lives on in children's literature. He figures prominently in a story from Gertrude Landa's (also known as Aunt Naomi) 1919 collection Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends. The ziz also appears in four recent books by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Katherine Janus KahnThe Hardest Wood, Noah and the Ziz, The Ziz And the Hanukkah Miracle and The Princess and the Ziz. The Ziz is an awesome, fiasco-prone, but kind-hearted creature who learns important lessons from God. Note that this mythological bird is in Midrash rather than standard Jewish eschatology. (all from Kar-Ben Publishing) -

There is also the cliff of Ziz, the pass by which the horde of Moabites, Ammonites and Mehunim made their way up from the shores of the Dead Sea to the wilderness of Judah near Tekoa.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziz)

okok, stiu ca n-am mai postat nimic de o groaza de timp, dar d-abia am avut timp sa mai respir si nici acum n-am terminat treaba. Sincera sa fiu n-am mai citit nimic decat ce mi-a trebuit pt scoala, deci....sa mai dau inainte de vacanta de Paste(pe care ,apropo o sa fiu nevoita sa mi-o iau singura :)) ) pe la biblioteca pt ceva haios. Nu de alta, dar urmeaza partialele si apoi imediat sesiunea si iar n-o sa mai am timp de nimic ... Oricum saptamana trecuta la un curs a iesit ditamai taraboiul cand le-am povestit al 2-lea rasarit de arthur c. clarke, parerile au fost impartite dar toti au refuzat sa se puna in situatia lor, cred ca ideea de baza la ei a fost ceva de genul: asa ceva nu ni s-ar intampla noua, nu e nici o legatura. Am fost singura impotriva tuturor :)) , se pare ca nu sunt multi cei care mai citesc sf...
in fine
o sa revin

Homo sapiens declared extinct

AD 2380: After a painstaking ten-year search, from the Tibetan highlands to the Brazilian rainforests, it’s official — there are no more human beings. “I suppose I have to consider this a personal setback,” said anthropologist Dr Marcia Raymo, of the Institute for Retrograde Study in Berlin. “Of course we still have human tissue in the lab, and we could clone as many specimens of Homo sapiens as we like. But that species was always known primarily for its unique cultural activity.” “I can’t understand what the fuss is about,” declared Rita “Cuddles” Srinivasan, actress, sex symbol and computer peripheral. “Artificial Intelligences love to embody themselves in human forms like mine, to wallow in sex and eating. I’m good for oodles of human stuff, scratching, sleeping, sneezing, you can name it. As long as AIs honour their origins, you’ll see plenty of disembodied intelligences slumming around in human forms. That’s where all the fun is, I promise — trust me.” The actress’s current AI sponsor further remarked via wireless telepathy that Miss Srinivasan’s occasional extra arms or heads should be seen as a sign of “creative brio”, and not as a violation of “some obsolete, supposedly standard human form”.
A worldwide survey of skull contents in April 2379 revealed no living citizen with less than 35 per cent cultured gelbrain. “That pretty well kicks it in the head for me,” declared statistician Piers Euler, the front identity for a collaborative group-mind of mathematicians at the Bourbaki Academy in Paris. “I don’t see how you can declare any entity ‘human’ when their brain is a gelatin lattice, and every cell of their body contains extensive extra strands of industrial strength
DNA. Not only is humanity extinct but, strictly speaking, pretty much everyone alive today should be classified as a unique, post-natural, one-of-a-kind species.” “I was born human,” admitted 380-yearold classical musician Soon Yi, speaking from his support vat in Shanghai. “I grew up as a human being. It seemed quite natural at the time. For hundreds of years on the state supported concert circuit, I promoted myself as a ‘humanist’, supporting and promoting
human high culture. But at this point, I should be honest: that was always my stage pretence. Let’s face it: gelbrain is vastly better stuff than those grey, greasy, catch-ascatch- can human neurons. You can’t become a serious professional artiste while using nothing but all-natural animal tissue in your head. It’s just absurd!” Gently fanning his wizened tissues with warm currents of support fluid, the grand old man of music continued: “Wolfgang Mozart was a very dull creature by our modern standards but, thanks to gelbrain, I can still find ways to pump life into his primitive compositions. I also persist in finding Bach worthwhile, even in today’s ultracivilized milieu, where individual consciousness and creative subjectivity tend to be rather rare, or absent entirely.”
Posthumanity’s most scientifically advanced group, the pioneer Blood Bathers in their vast crystalline castles in the Oort Cloud, could not be reached for comment. “Why trouble the highly prestigious Blood Bathers with some trifling development here on distant Earth?” demanded
President Arno Hopmeier of the World Antisubjectivist Council. “The Blood Bathers are busily researching novel realms of complex organization far beyond mere ‘intelligence’. We should feel extremely honoured that they still bother to share their lab results with creatures like us. It would only annoy Their Skinless Eminences if we ask them to fret over some defunct race of featherless bipeds.” A Circumsolar Day of Mourning has been declared to commemorate the official extinction of humanity, but it is widely believed that bursts of wild public enthusiasm
will mar the funereal proceedings. “When you sum them up,” mused Orbital Entity Ankh/Ghih/9819, “it’s hard to perceive any tragedy in this long-awaited event. Beasts, birds, butterflies, even the very rocks and rivers must be rejoicing to see humans finally gone. We should try to be adult about this: we should take a deep breath, turn our face to the light of the future, and get on with the business of living. “Since I’ve been asked to offer an epitaph,” the highly distributed poetware continued, “I believe that we should rearrange the Great Wall of China to spell out (in Chinese of course, since most of them were always Chinese) — ‘THEY WERE VERY, VERY CURIOUS, BUT NOT AT ALL FARSIGHTED.’ “This historical moment is a serious occasion that requires a sense of public dignity. My dog, for instance, says he’ll truly
miss humanity. But then again, my dog says a lot of things.”



Bruce Sterling(http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/) is the author of Schismatrix and many other novels and stories; the non-fiction work The Hacker Crackdown; co-author (with William Gibson) of The Difference Engine; and editor of Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology.
Homo sapiens declared extinct
Yes, human beings have finally gone, but the 24-hour global party continues.
futures

The Time Machine

H.G. Wells

Epilogue

One cannot choose but wonder. Will he ever return? It may be that he swept back into the past, and fell among the blood-drinking, hairy savages of the Age of Unpolished Stone; into the abysses of the Cretaceous Sea; or among the grotesque saurians, the huge reptilian brutes of the Jurassic times. He may even now - if I may use the phrase - be wandering on some plesiosaurus-haunted Oolitic coral reef, or beside the lonely saline lakes of the Triassic Age. Or did he go forward, into one of the nearer ages, in which men are still men, but with the riddles of our own time answered and its wearisome problems solved? Into the manhood of the race: for I, for my own part cannot think that these latter days of weak experiment, fragmentary theory, and mutual discord are indeed man's culminating time! I say, for my own part. He, I know - for the question had been discussed among us long before the Time Machine was made - thought but cheerlessly of the Advancement of Mankind, and saw in the growing pile of civilization only a foolish heaping that must inevitably fall back upon and destroy its makers in the end. If that is so, it remains for us to live as though it were not so. But to me the future is still black and blank - is a vast ignorance, lit at a few casual places by the memory of his story. And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers - shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle - to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.

SUCCUSSION

a radical solution

Steve Longworth


We have just finished our retraining and now it’s time to redeploy. Whoever would have thought it would come to this? We all started out with such high ideals. Well, except me of course. If I’m really honest, I only went into medicine because I thought it would be a great way for a rather ordinary looking bloke like me to meet lots of unattached, sexy young nurses who would then be sufficiently impressed by the title ‘doctor’ to form an orderly queue outside my bedroom door (and so it proved, I’m delighted to report). I guess that’s why I’ve taken to this so easily. Ethics was never my strong suit. I’m really a rather cynical opportunist behind the carefully cultivated,
charming, professional veneer. Still, I’m apprehensive about our new role. I’ve never killed anyone before. Well, not intentionally (there was that rather unfortunate series of prescribing errors that the Trust swept under the carpet before hastily moving me on, but that’s another story). Up to now, whenever I have stuck a knife into someone it was with their consent and under anaesthesia. This new role is going to take some getting used to, but I’ve always been open-minded. That’s also why, despite the fierce scepticism and at times downright hostility of
many of my colleagues, I was willing to use homeopathy. Let’s face it, few other people were doing it and the general public are so gullible it meant that I could open up a nice little private practice and charge silly money for silly remedies with little competition. You know the theory behind homeopathy? ‘Like fights like’. So if you are treating a fever you give the patient something that causes a fever, but (and this is the important bit) you dilute it over and over
again, and each time you dilute it the treatment gets stronger. With each dilution the solution is vigorously shaken, a process known as ‘succussion’. There are those who speculate that succussion causes the water molecules to ‘remember’ the active ingredient even when Avogadro says there is not a trace of it left. Dilution makes it stronger. That’s the part conventional science
has the most trouble with, but there are studies that show that homeopathic remedies do work, even in animals, so it can’t all be the placebo effect despite the shaky theory. On the other hand I think that my bedside manner contributed just as much to the cures enjoyed by my pliant clientele as the elaborately prepared bottles of expensive water that I used to succuss. Success, suckers! Perhaps we should have noticed sooner that something remarkable was happening.
As life expectancy gradually rose throughout the early twentieth century we gave the credit to public-health reforms: clean water, efficient sewerage systems, the ending of unsanitary overcrowding and so on. When life expectancy continued to climb we pointed to our
increasingly powerful pharmacopoeia so that by the start of the third millennium just about everyone over 60 was taking a statin to lower their cholesterol and often a bagful of other prescribed drugs as well. But when we all became, to all intents and purposes, immortal, there had to be a radical new explanation. Think about this. Homeopathy has been around for 200 years, and over that period every homeopathic remedy that has ever been formulated has been taken on countless occasions by millions of people. The potency increases with each dilution. So
when you drink a homeopathic medicine it gets diluted in your total body water, then you pee it out and flush the toilet, so it gets diluted in the sewerage system. The sewage is treated in a sewage farm and pumped offshore where it is diluted in the sea. The sea water evaporates to form clouds, with the water returning to earth as rain and collecting in reservoirs. We drink the water and the cycle starts all over again. Each step in the process involves a form of natural succussion. You see where this is going. With each dilution the original medicine gets stronger. Over 200 years every homeopathic remedy ever formulated has been diluted and blended over and over and over again, millions, maybe billions of times. At the end of the first decade of the twentyfirst century a critical dilution threshold was reached. Now any glass of water from any tap anywhere in the world is the most powerful all-purpose drug ever created. No more cancer, infection, inflammation, degeneration; everyone will now live for ever in perfect health, unless they are unlucky enough to suffer a sudden overwhelming physical injury. Immortality! What a disaster. The world is rapidly overpopulating. There are simply not enough resources to go
around. We may be immune to all known diseases and resistant to ageing but we still have to eat. House prices are stratospheric as every available space fills up. Water is the universal panacea and now universal panic’s here. The world has been thoroughly shaken. In India and the Far East, where population growth is the fastest, vast suicidal religious cults have emerged and are massively popular among the young and naive. Euthanasia for the Youth in Asia!
Here we have a solution based on our own massively popular mystical belief system — the National Lottery. Everyone has been allocated a unique set of numbers and the draw takes place twice weekly. It means we have been able to find important new work for all us unemployed doctors. We used to bring succour. Now no one wants a house call, but it’s vital we force our way in, scalpel at the ready as we point the finger and proclaim the new Hypocritical Oath.
It’s you! Trust me, I’m a doctor.

Steve Longworth lives in Leicester, which was recently voted curry capital of Great Britain.

ringing up baby

Order a little sister, then order her about.

Ellen Klages

Nanny says that I am spoiled. It comes from being an only child, and not having to share holidays or cakes and always getting to sit by the window. If I had a little brother or sister, I would learn responsibility. More work for her, she sighs, but she is only thinking of my character. Thinking about me is Nanny’s job.Of course, Mother is far too busy to have a baby right now, what with the Henderson case and all. (When I have supper with her, on Wednesdays, she talks about nothing but the Henderson case.) So Nanny has arranged for a nice lady to plant Mother’s egg and do all the messy parts, then give the baby to us when it’s done."What would you like," Nanny asks me over cocoa. "A brother or a sister?"I have to think for a moment, but only a little, because a brother would be a pest and get into my best things, like Courtney Taylor’s brother Robby, who programmed her mobilephone to ring with a nasty farting sound. A sister is someone I can be the boss of."A sister, please," I say in my sweet voice. Nanny loves my sweet voice.Nanny touches a box on the wallscreen, and it glows bright pink."Birthday?" she asks, her finger not quite touching the screen, but ready.My birthday is in June. "October," I say after a minute, because I’ve had to count in my head, so her party won’t get in the way of Christmas, either."Excellent," says Nanny. "We can place our order today." She taps her finger on the screen. That box glows red."What else can we pick?" There are a lot of boxes. I finish my cocoa and stand right next to Nanny, who smells like Vermont.A nice cool green smell.She begins to read to me, scrolling slowly down. "Hair colour?" "Brown." Mine is honey blond."Eyes?" Mine are blue, so brown again. "Intelligence?" I have to think about that. I don’t want a sister who’s stupid, but if she’s smarter than me, she will be difficult to boss."Above average," Nanny decides. "Good at maths?" Hmm. I’m in second grade, and we’re doing the times tables. That could be useful. But it probably isn’t something she’ll be able to do right away. So I shrug, which is a mistake, because Nanny is very strict about manners and posture and I have to listen to a lecture before she will tap the bottom of the screen and scroll to the next page of baby parts.This page is less interesting because the words are very long and I don’t know what theymean. Bioimmunity. Cholesterol. Neuromuscular. I stare at the screen with my eyes very wide so that I don’t yawn out loud. On the side of the screen is a list, like the menu on the Emirate of Toys site, which I used by myself last year for my Christmas wants. The baby list is not very long. Babies only come in about six colours —we’re getting one that matches Mother and me. Humans are a lot less interesting than Legos or iBots. Nanny reads me all the diseases you can ask your baby not to have. Most of them are options, she says, which means we have to pay more. But I think we should pick them all, because a sick sister is not a good thing. Angela Xhobi’s sister has asthma,because she was made the old-fashioned way, without a menu, and she gets all the attention. I wouldn’t like that at all. Nanny takes a breath for another lecture, but I am saved when the iVid sings the Phone Call Song. Nanny sighs again and when she says, "Connect," I see that it’s her mother, who calls every afternoon. Mrs Nanny is quite deaf, even with her implants, so Nanny taps SAVE on the babyscreen and goes downstairs where she can shout without me hearing all the words."Little pitchers," she says to her mother as she greys the upstairs iVid. I don’t know what that means. I slump back into my chair, because Nanny isn’t here to tell me not to, and because she will be gone a long time. Her mother always has a lot to say. I stare at all the diseases, and then I see a betterword at the bottom of thescreen. PETS. We don’t harbour animals, because Nanny is allergic.(She was made the old-fashioned way, too.) But I’d like to see what we could have. I touch the screen to scrolldown for more pets, and a Bubble Man appears, to tell me about a special offer. His picture seems to come out of the wall and stand right in front of me. "Jellyfish DNA on sale," the Bubble Man says. He takes off his top hat, pulls a rabbit out of it, and holds it out towards me. The rabbit’s fur glows a soft, bright green."Wow," I say. "Bioluminescence, 50% off. Today only. Touch Box 306a to order!" He steps back into the screen and disappears with a little picture of smoke.It only takes me a minute to find Box306a and tap it to red. Then I SAVE and scroll back up to the disease boxes. It is good to leave things just the way you found them.I sit very straight in my chair, humming,because I know a secret. Once I have mybaby sister, I will never need my nightlight again. Nanny will be so proud.

Ellen Klages won a Nebula Award in 2005 for her story Basement Magic.