The End of Childhood

Author: (English) Arthur C. Clarke / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Chapter: Earth and Its Rulers
Section: The launch site is about to begin. Helena Liakoff left the administrative building, walked through the pine forest, and came to the statue of Yuri Gagarin. Many astronauts have the habit of coming here before departure, though they rarely mention it. Night fell, the sky was crystal clear, and a bright moon was rising. Helena couldn’t help but gaze at the dark area on the moon, recalling the past few weeks of training at the Armstrong base, known as "Little Mars." "Yuri, I was born long after you passed away. If you had not lived during the Cold War under Stalin’s rule but today, when you hear different languages in the space station, how would you feel? You would surely be very happy." "Everything today, I think, would satisfy you. If you were still alive—this is not entirely impossible, though you would certainly be very old. It would be too regrettable for you, the first person to enter space, not to have seen humans walking on the moon! You must have also dreamed of going to Mars." "Now, we are ready to set off for there, and another new era is about to begin. When I come back, I can tell you everything about Mars." She was walking back to her office. Suddenly, a car full of tourists braked hard and stopped beside her. As the door opened, excited tourists swarmed out with cameras in hand. Helena, the deputy director of the Mars exploration plan, had no choice but to show them the special smile she used for the public. Before the photo could be taken, people pointed at the moon and exclaimed. Helena looked up and saw the moon being swallowed by a vast expanse of darkness in the night sky. For the first time in her life, she felt a sense of awe for God!
Director Moan Calyer stood at the edge of the crater, gazing into the distance. The solidified lava stretched like the vast ocean all the way to the other side of the crater. Back then, these waves of boiling lava continuously erupted, forming the terraced landscape before her. It’s hard to imagine the grandeur of such natural power! However, compared to the Martian volcanoes she would have to face in the coming year, the grandeur before her was nothing. Kīlauea Volcano could at most be considered a miniature model of Olympus Mons. The specialized training people received might still be far from enough to handle the situation on Mars. In 2001, when the U.S. President took the oath of office, he said this century would be the "century of the solar system." Just as President Kennedy’s promise to "put a man on the moon" was fulfilled forty years ago, by the time 2100 arrives, this new promise could also be realized, with humans reaching the planets of the solar system and settling on one of them for a long time.
A few rays of early sunlight revealed steam rising from the cracks in the rocks, as morning fog began to rise. This scene made Dr. Calyer feel as if he and his companions were already on Mars! These companions came from six different countries. So far, no single country has been able to complete a Mars landing alone. Moan was about to turn and walk toward his helicopter when his peripheral vision suddenly caught something flickering past. He couldn’t help but stop in his tracks, looked back at the crater, and then looked up at the sky. Like Helena, he immediately realized that human history had come to an end. Above the high clouds, a group of brilliant, strange things were flying. How many were there? Moan couldn’t even imagine it. In comparison, the spaceship at the Lagrange launch site was nothing more than a primitive raft. This moment seemed especially long—Moan was watching, and everyone was watching—the vast, domineering spaceship descending slowly! All his life’s work instantly turned into vapor, yet Moan felt no regret at all. He had always pursued the goal of sending humans to other planets. And now, those planets, those distant and unfamiliar planets, with their own life, had come. This was a moment when history held its breath! From this point on, reality was disconnected from the past, as an ice cube splits, with one piece detaching from the main body and beginning its lonely journey into the ocean. Everything accomplished in the past was no longer worth mentioning. Only one thought echoed endlessly in Moan’s mind: humanity was no longer alone. P1-3