The City & the Stars by Arthur C Clarke

Author:Arthur C Clarke [Clarke, Arthur C]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781857987638
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2010-06-04T18:30:00+00:00

Hilvar and alvin walked in reflective silence back to the waiting ship, and presently the fortress was once more a dark shadow among the hills. It dwindled swiftly until it became a black and lidless eye, staring up forever into space, and soon they lost it in the great panorama of lys. Alvin did nothing to check the machine; still they rose until the whole of lys lay spread beneath them, a green island in an ocher sea. Never before had alvin been so high; when finally they came to rest the whole crescent of the earth was visible below. Lys was very small now, only an emerald stain against the rusty desert-but far around the curve of the globe something was glittering like a man-colored jewel. And so for the first time, hilvar saw the city of diaspar. They sat for a long while watching the earth turn beneath them. Of all man's ancient powers, this surely was the one he could least afford to lose. Alvin wished he could show the world as he saw it now to the rulers of lys and diaspar. "Hilvar," he said at last, "do you think that what i'm doing is right?" the question surprised hilvar, who did not suspect the sudden doubts that sometimes overwhelmed his friend, and still knew nothing of alvin's meeting with the central computer and the impact which that had had upon his mind. It was not an easy question to answer dispassionately; like khedron, though with less cause, hilvar felt that his own character was becoming submerged. He was being sucked helplessly into the vortex which alvin left behind him on his way through life. "I believe you are right," hilvar answered slowly. "Our two peoples have been separated for long enough." that, he thought, was true, though he knew that his own feelings must bias his reply. But alvin was still worried. "There's one problem that bothers me," he said in a troubled voice, "and that's the difference in our life spans." he said no more, but each knew what the other was thinking. I've been worried about that as well," hilvar admitted, "but i think the problem will solve itself in time when our people get to know each other again. We can't both be right -our lives may be too short, and yours are certainly far too long. Eventually there will be a compromise." alvin wondered. That way, it was true, lay the only hope, but the ages of transition would be hard indeed. He remembered again those bitter words of seranis: "both he and 1 will have been dead for centuries while you are still a young man." very well he would accept the conditions. Even in diaspar all friendships lay under the same shadow; whether it was a hundred or a million years away made little difference at the end. Alvin knew, with a certainty that passed all logic, that the welfare of the race demanded the mingling of these two cultures; in such a cause individual happiness was unimportant.

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