"And we're no wiser, sitting here now. We couldn't have guessed that men would send a ship through a black hole - we didn't even suspect the existence of black holes until a few years ago - and we certainly can't guess what men might accomplish thousands of years in the future." "Assuming the sphere was made by men."
"Yes. Assuming that."
"And if it wasn't? If it's really a sphere from an alien civilization? Are we justified in erasing all human knowledge of this alien life?"
"I don't know," Harry said, shaking his head. "If we decide to forget the sphere ..."
"Then it'll be gone," Norman said.
Beth stared at the table. "I wish we could ask someone," she said finally.
"There isn't anybody to ask," Norman said.
"But can we really forget it?" Beth said. "Will it work?"
There was a long silence.
"Yes," Harry said, finally. "There's no question about it. And I think we already have evidence that we will forget about it. That solves a logical problem that bothered me from the beginning, when we first explored the ship. Because something very important was missing from that ship."
"Yes? What?"
"Any sign that the builders of the ship already knew travel through a black hole was possible."
"I don't follow you," Norman said.
"Well," Harry said, "the three of us have already seen a spaceship that has been through a black hole. We've walked through it. So we know that such travel is possible."
"Yes ..."
"Yet, fifty years from now, men are going to build that ship in a very tentative, experimental way, with apparently no knowledge that the ship has already been found, fifty years in their past. There is no sign on the ship that the builders already know of its existence in the past."
"Maybe it's one of those time paradoxes," Beth said. "You know, how you can't go back and meet yourself in the past. ..."
Harry shook his head. "I don't think it's a paradox," he said. "I think that all knowledge of that ship is going to be lost."
"You mean, we are going to forget it."
"Yes," Harry said. "And, frankly, I think it's a much better solution. For a long time while we were down there, I assumed none of us would ever get back alive. That was the only explanation I could think of. That's why I wanted to make out my will."
"But if we decide to forget ..."
"Exactly," Harry said. "If we decide to forget, that will produce the same result."
"The knowledge will be gone forever," Norman said quietly. He found himself hesitating. Now that they had arrived at this moment, he was strangely reluctant to proceed. He ran his fingertips over the scarred table, touching the surface, as if it might provide an answer.
In a sense, he thought, all we consist of is memories. Our personalities are constructed from memories, our lives are organized around memories, our cultures are built upon the foundation of shared memories that we call history and science. But now, to give up a memory, to give up knowledge, to give up the past ...
"It's not easy," Harry said, shaking his head.
"No," Norman said. "It's not." In fact he found it so difficult he wondered if he was experiencing a human characteristic as fundamental as sexual desire. He simply could not give up this knowledge. The information seemed so important to him, the implications so fascinating. ... His entire being rebelled against the idea of forgetting.
"Well," Harry said, "I think we have to do it, anyway."
"I was thinking of Ted," Beth said. "And Barnes, and the others. We're the only ones who know how they really died. What they gave their lives for. And if we forget ..."
"When we forget," Norman said firmly.
"She has a point," Harry said. "If we forget, how do we handle all the details? All the loose ends?"
"I don't think that's a problem," Norman said. "The unconscious has tremendous creative powers, as we've seen. The details will be taken care of unconsciously. It's like the way we get dressed in the morning. When we dress, we don't necessarily think of every detail, the belt and the socks and so on. We just make a basic overall decision about how we want to look, and then we get dressed."
"Even so," Harry said. "We still better make the overall decision, because we all have the power, and if we imagine different stories, we'll get confusion."
"All right," Norman said. "Let's agree on what happened. Why did we come here?"
"I thought it was going to be an airplane crash."
"Me, too."
"Okay, suppose it was an airplane crash."
"Fine. And what happened?"
"The Navy sent some people down to investigate the crash, and a problem developed - "
" - Wait a minute, what problem?"
"The squid?"
"No. Better a technical problem."
"Something to do with the storm?"
"Life-support systems failed during the storm?"
"Yes, good. Life-support systems failed during the storm."
"And several people died as a result?"
"Wait a minute. Let's not go so fast. What made the lifesupport systems fail?"
Beth said, "The habitat developed a leak, and sea water corrupted the scrubber canisters in B Cyl, releasing a toxic gas."
"Could that have happened?" Norman said.
"Yes, easily."
"And several people died as a result of that accident."