Free Death Wave by Ben Bova Page B

old.”
    â€œIncredible.”
    Jordan explained, “It was their Predecessors—the intelligent machines—that discovered the death wave that’s approaching us.”
    â€œDeath wave?” the captain asked.
    As Jordan described the deadly wave of gamma radiation expanding through the Milky Way galaxy at the speed of light, Castiglione said lightly, “It won’t reach our vicinity for another two thousand years. We have plenty of time to prepare for it.”
    â€œBut there are other intelligent species,” Aditi countered, “on other worlds much closer to the wave front. We must help them, or they will all die.”
    â€œI suppose we should, sooner or later,” said the captain.
    â€œSooner,” Aditi said. “Those creatures will die if we don’t reach them soon enough.”
    â€œAnd it will take years, centuries even, for us to reach them,” said Jordan.
    With a wave of his hand, Castiglione said, “That’s a matter for the World Council to consider. For the present, why don’t we order our dessert?”
    *   *   *
    After dinner, Castiglione walked them back to their quarters, chatting amiably about nothing of consequence.
    At their door, he smiled at Aditi and said, “I hope you have a pleasant sleep.”
    â€œAnd the same to you,” said Jordan. But he thought unhappily that Castiglione would dream of Aditi.
    Once they went to their bedroom Jordan sat on a corner of the bed and began to slowly take off his shoes.
    â€œYou look … pensive,” Aditi said.
    He looked up at her. “Ever since we returned from New Earth, something has been bothering me. Tonight I finally realized what it is.”
    She sat beside him, a questioning look in her eyes.
    â€œNothing’s changed,” Jordan said.
    Aditi blinked at him.
    â€œI’ve been away from Earth for nearly two hundred years, and this world is pretty much the same as I left it.”
    â€œBut the flooding has changed the shapes of the continents, hasn’t it?”
    â€œYes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. The people haven’t changed. They’re pretty much the same as they were when I left for New Earth, nearly two centuries ago.”
    â€œAre they?”
    â€œOh, the technology has advanced a bit,” Jordan conceded. “Even without Mitch’s energy screens, they’ve made progress in transport and energy. I understand they’ve learned how to use green plants to generate electrical energy. And I suppose there’ve been new breakthroughs in biomedicine and elsewhere, as well. But…”
    â€œBut?”
    â€œThe people haven’t changed,” he repeated. “Their attitudes haven’t changed. We’ve brought back irrefutable evidence that there are other intelligent species scattered among the stars and they shrug off the news as if it’s nothing important.”
    Aditi pondered that for a moment. “Perhaps it will simply take more time for the importance of the news to sink in.”
    With a shake of his head Jordan responded, “I don’t think so. I think the people of Earth are locked in outmoded ways of thinking, and they’re not going to change.”
    â€œWe’ve only been here three weeks, Jordan. Give them time to adjust their attitudes.”
    â€œNo. They’re not going to adjust. The World Council doesn’t want them to adjust. And the Council holds the keys to power, controls the news media, controls their lives. They’re burying their heads in the sand, just as they did with climate change.”
    â€œYou think so?”
    â€œTwenty billion human beings, living cheek by jowl on this planet. They’re locked into a mind-set that can’t accept change. And Halleck’s World Council is happy to keep things that way.
    â€œIt’s a side effect of longevity,” Jordan continued. “When people can live for