Contact - Carl Sagan [60]
"Compared to the Doomsday Chiliasts and the Earth-Firsters, Palmer Joss is the soul of moderation," der Heer replied. "Maybe we haven't explained the methods of science as well as we should have. I worry about that a lot these days. And Ellie, can you really be sure that it isn't a message from-"
"From God or the Devil? Ken, you can't be serious."
"Well, how advanced beings committed to what we might call good or evil, who somebody like Joss would consider indistinguishable from God or the Devil?"
"Ken, whoever those beings are in the Vega system, I guarantee they didn't create the universe. And they're nothing like the Old Testament God. Remember, Vega, the Sun, and all the other stars in the solar neighborhood are in some backwater of an absolutely humdrum galaxy. Why should I Am That I Am hang out around here? There must be more pressing things for him to do."
"Ellie, we're in a bind. You know Joss is very influential. He's been close to three presidents, including the president incumbent. The President is inclined to make some concession to Joss, although I don't think she wants to put him and a bunch of other preachers on the Preliminary Decryption Committee with you, Valerian, and Drumlin-to say nothing of Vaygay and his colleagues. It's hard to imagine the Russians going along with fundamentalist clergy on the Committee. The whole thing could unravel over this. So why don't we go and talk to him? The President says that Joss is really fascinated by science. Suppose we won him over?"
"We're going to convert Palmer Joss?"
"I'm not imagining making him change his religion-let's just make him understand what Argus is about, how we don't have to answer the Message if we don't like what it says, how interstellar distances quarantine us from Vega."
"Ken, he doesn't even believe that the velocity of light is a cosmic speed limit. We're going to be talking past each other. Also, I've got a long history of failure in accommodating to the conventional religions. I tend to blow my top at their inconsistencies and hypocrisies. I'm not sure a meeting between Joss and me is what you want. Or the President."
"Ellie," he said, "I know who I'd put my money on. I don't see how getting together with Joss could make things much worse."
She allowed herself to return his smile.
* * *
With the tracking ships now in place and a few small but adequate radio telescopes installed in such places as Reykjavik and Jakarta, there was now redundant coverage of the signal from Vega at every longitude swath. A major conference was scheduled to be held in Paris of the full World Message Consortium. In preparation, it was natural for the nations with the largest fraction of the data to hold a preparatory scientific discussion. They had been meeting for the better part of four days, and this summary session was intended mainly to bring those such as der Heer, who served as intermediaries between the scientists and the politicians, up to speed. The Soviet delegation, while nominally headed by Lunacharsky, included several scientists and technical people of equal distinction. Among them were Genrikh Arkhangelsky, recently named head of the Soviet-led international space consortium called Intercosmos, and Timofei Gotsridze, listed as Minister of Medium Heavy Industry, and a member of the Central Committee.
Vaygay clearly felt himself under unusual pressures: he had resumed chain smoking. He held the cigarette between his thumb and forefinger, palm up, as he talked.
"I agree that there is adequate overlap in longitude, but I'm still worried about redundancy. A failure in the helium liquifier on board the Marshal Nedelin or a power failure in Reykjavik, and the continuity of the Message is in jeopardy. Suppose the Message takes two years to cycle around to the beginning. If we miss a piece, we will have to wait two more years to fill in the gap. And remember, we don't know that the Message