[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.And, despite everything the Terrestrial Bureau of Ecology could do (or said it could do), that fraction very slowly increased from year to year.Lou thought of that, as he always did, with a towering sense of loss.The human presence was unobtrusive, to be sure.There was no sign of it from where the shuttle made its final orbits about the planet; and, Lou knew, there would be no sign of it even when they sank much lower.The sprawling cities of the chaotic pre-Planetary days were gone.The old highways could be traced from the air by the imprint they still left on the vegetation, but they were invisible from close quarters.Individual men themselves rarely troubled the surface, but they were there, underground.All mankind was, in all its billions, with the factories, the food-processing plants, the energies, the vacu-tunnels.The tame world lived on solar energy and was free of strife, and to Lou it was hateful in consequence.Yet at the moment he could almost forget, for, after months of failure, he was going to see Adrastus, himself.It had meant the pulling of every available string.Ino Adrastus was the Secretary General of Ecology.It was not an elective office; it was little-known.It was simply the most important post on Earth, for it controlled everything.Jan Marley said exactly that, as he sat there, with a sleepy look of absent-minded dishevelment that made one I think he would have been fat if the human diet were so I uncontrolled as to allow of fatness.He said, “For my-money this is the most important post on Earth, and no one seems to know it.I want to write it up.”Adrastus shrugged.His stocky figure, with its shock of hair, once a light brown and now a brown-flecked gray, his faded blue eyes nested in darkened surrounding tissues, finely wrinkled, had been an unobtrusive part of the administrative scene for a generation.He had been Secretary-General of Ecology ever since the regional ecological councils had been combined into the Terrestrial Bureau.Those who knew of him at all found it impossible to think of ecology without him.He said, “The truth is I hardly ever make a decision truly my own.The directives I sign aren't mine, really.I sign them because it would be psychologically uncomfortable to have computers sign them.But, you know, it's only the computers that can do the work.“The Bureau ingests an incredible quantity of data each day; data forwarded to it from every part of the globe and dealing not only with human births, deaths, population shifts, production, and consumption, but with all the tangible changes in the plant and animal population as well, to say nothing of the measured state of the major segments of the environment--air, sea, and soil.The information is taken apart, absorbed, and assimilated into crossfiled memory indices of staggering complexity, and from that memory comes answers to the questions we ask.”Marley said, with a shrewd, sidelong glance, “Answers to all questions?”Adrastus smiled.“We learn not to bother to ask questions that have no answer.”“And the result,” said Marley, “is ecological balance.”“Right, but a special ecological balance.All through the planet's history, the balance has been maintained, but always at the cost of catastrophe.After temporary imbalance, the balance is restored by famine, epidemic, drastic climatic change.We maintain it now without catastrophe by daily shifts and changes, by never allowing imbalance to accumulate dangerously.”Marley said, “There's what you once said--'Man's greatest asset is a balanced ecology.'““So they tell me I said.”“It's there on the wall behind you.”“Only the first three words,” said Adrastus dryly.There it was on a long Shimmer-plast, the words winking and alive: MAN'S GREATEST ASSET.“You don't have to complete the statement.”“What else can I tell you?”“Can I spend some time with you and watch you at your work?”“You'll watch a glorified clerk.”“I don't think so.Do you have appointments at which I may be present?”“One appointment today; a young fellow named Tansonia; one of our Moon-men.You can sit in.”“Moon-men? You mean--”“Yes, from the lunar laboratories.Thank heaven for the moon.Otherwise all their experimentation would take place on Earth, and we have enough trouble containing the ecology as it is.”“You mean like nuclear experiments and radiational pollution?”“I mean many things.”Lou Tansonia's expression was a mixture of barely suppressed excitement and barely suppressed apprehension.“I'm glad to have this chance to see you, Mr.Secretary,” he said breathlessly, puffing against Earth's gravity.“I'm sorry we couldn't make it sooner,” said Adrastus smoothly.“I have excellent reports concerning your work
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]