Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [37]
"Not just the TV," Sharps was saying. "Your desk. Formica top. What is Formica? Anyone know how it's made? Or how to make a pencil? Much less penicillin. Our lives depend on these things, and none of us knows much about them. Not even me."
"I always wondered what makes bra straps snappy," Mary Jane said.
Johnny jumped in to give the show back to Sharps. "But tell me, Charlie, what good will it do to study that comet? How will that change our lives?"
Sharps shrugged. "It may not. You're asking what good new research does. And all I can answer is that it always has paid off. Not the way you thought it would, maybe. Who'd have thought we'd get a whole new medical technology out of the space program? But we did. Thousands are alive right now because the human-factors boys had to develop new instruments for the astronauts. Johnny, did you ever hear of the Club of Rome?"
Johnny had, but the audience would need reminding. "They were the people who did computer simulations to find out how long we could get along on our natural resources. Even with zero population growth—"
"They tell us we're finished," Sharps broke in. "And that's stupid. We're only finished because they won't let us really use technology. They say we're running out of metals. There's more metal in one little asteroid than was mined all over the world in the last five years! And there are hundreds of thousands of asteroids. All we have to do is go get 'em."
"Can we?"
"You bet! Even with the technology we already have, we could do it. Johnny, out there in space it's raining soup, and we don't even know about soup bowls."
The studio audience applauded. They hadn't been cued by the production assistants, but they applauded. Johnny gave Sharps an approving smile and decided how the program would go for the rest of the night. But first there was a frantic signal: time for a Kalva Soap commercial.
There was more after the commercial. When Sharps got going he was really dynamic. His thin, bony hands waved around like windmills. He talked about windmills, too, and about how much power the Sun put out every day. About the solar flare Skylab's crew had observed. "Johnny, there was enough power in that one little flare to run our whole civilization for hundreds of years! And those idiots talk about doom!"
But they were neglecting Tim Hamner, and Johnny had to bring him into the conversation. Hamner was sitting there nodding, obviously enjoying Sharps. Johnny carefully maneuvered the scientist back onto the comet, then saw his chance. "Charlie, you said the Russians would get a close look at Hamner-Brown. How close?"
"Pretty close. We'll definitely pass through the tail of the comet. I showed you why we can't tell how close the head will come—but it's going to be very close. If we're lucky, maybe as close as the Moon."
"I wouldn't call that luck," Mary Jane said.
"Tim, it's your comet," Johnny said. "Could Hammer-Brown actually hit us?"
"That's Hamner-Brown," Tim said.
"Oh." Johnny laughed. "What did I say? Hammer? It would be a hammer if it hit, wouldn't it?"
"You know it," Charlie Sharps said.
"Just what would it do?" Johnny asked.
"Well, we've got some pretty big holes left from meteor strikes," Tim said. "Meteor Crater in Arizona is nearly a mile wide. Vreedevort in South Africa is so big you can't see it except from the air."
"And those were the little ones," Sharps said. They all turned to look at him. Sharps grinned. "Ever notice how circular Hudson's Bay looks? Or the Sea of Japan?"
"Were those meteors?" Johnny asked. The thought was horrifying.
"A lot of us think so. And something pretty big cracked the Moon wide open—a quarter of its surface is covered by that so-called ocean, which was once a sea of lava welling up from where a big asteroid hit."
"Of course, we don't know what Hamner-Brown is made of," Tim said.
"Maybe it's time we found these things out," Mary Jane said. "Before one of them does hit us. Like this one."