from Quarnon Four to Eron and from Eron to Callisto. Both times he had been unconscious. Gas , he had thought the first time. The second time he had held his breath, lying strapped in the guard-quarters bunk, but it hadnât delayed the blackness. They could have other means.
He had suspected then that it was a precaution against revealing a clue to the nature of the Tube. Now he was not so sure. It was obviouslyâif not entirelyâa precaution against insanity. He knew himself to be tough-minded, and he had come dangerously close to irreversible madness.
He returned to the problem. He was in the Tube, falling from Earth to Eron. The effects were these: no light, no sound.⦠Better: no movement. Still better: no energy. Or the effect was this: no sensation.
Was there a way to tell which was the actual state of affairs? The effect on his consciousness would be identical, whether there was no stimulus or no reaction. Or, perhaps, if there is no reaction, the stimulus does not exist. Is there a sound where there are no ears to hear it?
Horn cut the thought off. That was a metaphysical blind alley. He had to assume the reality of things outside himself; this existence was self-centered enough, and he had no desire to return to the universe-creator illusion.
There should be tests to determine which of the alternatives was true. But how can a mind test anything? The mind has three functions: memory, analysis, and synthesis. Memory.â¦
A man, dressed in a gray uniform, looking at his watch: âI thought these trips took three hours; not even a minute has passed.â
Analysis.â¦
1) Eron lied; the trip is instantaneous.
2) The man was mistaken; his watch had stopped.
Synthesis.â¦
If 1) is true, then these thoughts I am thinking are instantaneous. Can this trip which seems infinitely long be infinitely short? Time is manâs invention, true, and it may not exist in a way we can understand it inside the Tube, but I am conscious of duration, however long. Moreover, instantaneous transmission implies the existence of a thing in two places at the same time. Judgment: implausible.
If 2) is true, then motion ceases inside the Tube. This would include: light, sound, all manifestations of energy, breathing, heartbeats, all internal activity including neural.⦠Then how do I think? Is intelligence incorporeal? Judgment: more likely.
The hypothesis was self-consistent and fitted the observable phenomena. If it were correct, then both alternatives could be true: there was no stimulus and the senses could not receive impressions and transmit them to the brain. If he could test itâ
Horn recognized the familiar wall. At least he had a hypothesis, and that was better than nothing.
The wallsâhe remembered them suddenly, and he remembered that they were dangerous. He must not touch them. That was the function of the gold bands around the ships, to keep them from touching the walls. But he had no gold bands, and he had no way of keeping away from the walls and no way of knowing when he was close to them. Even now he might be edging close, imperceptiblyâ
He caught himself and drew back from the edge of panic. It was pointless to worry about the walls. If he touched them, it was all over, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He remembered how the Tube had seemed to taper. He had seen a sketch of a Tube once. He tried to visualize it. It had tapered. Like a tube of glass heated in the middle and pulled at both ends, the Tube had been drawn out to a slender filament. Was it wide enough to let him through?
The ships were much bigger. They got through. But the gold bands could be responsible for that. When he got to the narrowed sectionâ
It was necessary to do something. Fatalism and inactivity might be natural under the circumstances, but they could be disastrous psychologically.
He decided to concentrate on just one sense. He tried to see. And failed, after an eternity of
He had suspected then that it was a precaution against revealing a clue to the nature of the Tube. Now he was not so sure. It was obviouslyâif not entirelyâa precaution against insanity. He knew himself to be tough-minded, and he had come dangerously close to irreversible madness.
He returned to the problem. He was in the Tube, falling from Earth to Eron. The effects were these: no light, no sound.⦠Better: no movement. Still better: no energy. Or the effect was this: no sensation.
Was there a way to tell which was the actual state of affairs? The effect on his consciousness would be identical, whether there was no stimulus or no reaction. Or, perhaps, if there is no reaction, the stimulus does not exist. Is there a sound where there are no ears to hear it?
Horn cut the thought off. That was a metaphysical blind alley. He had to assume the reality of things outside himself; this existence was self-centered enough, and he had no desire to return to the universe-creator illusion.
There should be tests to determine which of the alternatives was true. But how can a mind test anything? The mind has three functions: memory, analysis, and synthesis. Memory.â¦
A man, dressed in a gray uniform, looking at his watch: âI thought these trips took three hours; not even a minute has passed.â
Analysis.â¦
1) Eron lied; the trip is instantaneous.
2) The man was mistaken; his watch had stopped.
Synthesis.â¦
If 1) is true, then these thoughts I am thinking are instantaneous. Can this trip which seems infinitely long be infinitely short? Time is manâs invention, true, and it may not exist in a way we can understand it inside the Tube, but I am conscious of duration, however long. Moreover, instantaneous transmission implies the existence of a thing in two places at the same time. Judgment: implausible.
If 2) is true, then motion ceases inside the Tube. This would include: light, sound, all manifestations of energy, breathing, heartbeats, all internal activity including neural.⦠Then how do I think? Is intelligence incorporeal? Judgment: more likely.
The hypothesis was self-consistent and fitted the observable phenomena. If it were correct, then both alternatives could be true: there was no stimulus and the senses could not receive impressions and transmit them to the brain. If he could test itâ
Horn recognized the familiar wall. At least he had a hypothesis, and that was better than nothing.
The wallsâhe remembered them suddenly, and he remembered that they were dangerous. He must not touch them. That was the function of the gold bands around the ships, to keep them from touching the walls. But he had no gold bands, and he had no way of keeping away from the walls and no way of knowing when he was close to them. Even now he might be edging close, imperceptiblyâ
He caught himself and drew back from the edge of panic. It was pointless to worry about the walls. If he touched them, it was all over, and there was nothing he could do about it.
He remembered how the Tube had seemed to taper. He had seen a sketch of a Tube once. He tried to visualize it. It had tapered. Like a tube of glass heated in the middle and pulled at both ends, the Tube had been drawn out to a slender filament. Was it wide enough to let him through?
The ships were much bigger. They got through. But the gold bands could be responsible for that. When he got to the narrowed sectionâ
It was necessary to do something. Fatalism and inactivity might be natural under the circumstances, but they could be disastrous psychologically.
He decided to concentrate on just one sense. He tried to see. And failed, after an eternity of
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