There flashed into his mind an old Terran phrase, whose origin he had long ago forgotten; the
Moment of Truth. Well, here it was—
They had all crowded eagerly around him as he drew back the shawl. For an instant only he felt
regret; perhaps he should have given some warning. No, it was better this way. Now they would learn
that he was his own man at last, no longer a pawn of others — however much he might owe to them,
however much he might be part of them.
The child was still sleeping, but normally now, not in the electronic trance that he protected it in the long voyage from Earth. Suddenly it threw out a chubby arm, and tiny fingers gripped Duncan's hand
with surprising strength. They looked like the pale white tentacles of a sea anemone against the dark
brown of Duncan's skin.
The little head was still empty even of dreams, and the face was as void and formless as that of any
month-old baby. But already the smooth, pink scalp bore an unmistakable trace of hair — the golden hair that would soon bring back to Titan the lost glories of the distant Sun.
Acknowledgements And Notes
My first thanks should go to Truman Talley, who in the early ‘50’s made what was then (and for that
matter still is) a most generous offer for this book, on the strength of the title and one conversation. I have often wished that I could remember what I said then; it might have saved me much trouble, twenty
years later. I now have no idea if this book bears the slightest resemblance to that early concept, but
"Mac's" initial encouragement kept me from abandoning it.
Like many other addicts, I was introduced to polyominoes by Martin Gardner's Scientific American
Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions, which, however, fiendishly refrains from giving the
solution to the 20 x 3 rectangle. In his definitive book Polyominoes, Solomon W. Golomb takes mercy on his readers. In the hope of preventing a few nervous breakdowns, I reproduce his answer herewith:
U X P I L N F T W Y Z V
Anyone who wishes to construct this rectangle from the twelve pentominoes should have no difficulty
in matching them with the letters they (sometimes approximately) resemble. It is easy to see that the
second of the (only) two solutions is obtained by rotating a seven-element central portion.
Dr. Golomb, who is now professor of Electrical Engineering and Mathematics at the University of
Southern California, has also invented an ingenious game called Pentominoes® (distributed in North
America by Hallmark Cards and in Europe by Zimpfer Puzzles). It has more openings than chess. In an
earlier version of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick shot Hal playing this game against the
astronauts.
I am indebted to Dr. Robert Forward of the Hughes Research Laboratory, Malibu, for introducing me
to the fascinating concept of mini black holes, and for making such encouraging noises about the
somewhat outrageous propulsion system of S.S. Sirius that I am almost inclined to patent it...
Dr. Grote Reber, the father of radio astronomy and builder of the world's first radio telescope, started me thinking about the extent of the heliosphere and its possible consequences. I am grateful for his
comments on cutoff frequencies, but he is in no way responsible for my wilder extrapolations on his
ideas. Dr. Adrian Webster, of Cavendish Laboratory's Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, also gave
much vital information, and he too is not to be blamed for my use of it.
I am especially indebted to Dr. Bernard Oliver, vice-president and director of research of Hewlett-
Packard, not only for hospitality at Palo Alto but also for an advance copy of the Project CYCLOPS Design Study (NASA. Ames CR 114445), which he directed. And I hope Barney will forgive me for the
assumption — which in fact I regard as highly improbable — that CYCLOPS would not have detected
intelligent signals, even after two hundred years of operation.
Indignant antenna designers who feel that Argus would not work as specified are invited to
contemplate ABM search radars, and to Think Big. All I will say in self-defense is that the Argus
elements would be superconducting, active, and divided into many switchable subsections, perhaps with
cross-connections between the "spines." I leave minor practical details (as in the case of the Asymptotic Drive) as an exercise for the student.
The "exasperated" remark in Chapter 21 was made to me at a NASA conference by Professor Neil Armstrong in July 1970. I hope it is the last word on some famous first words.
I am deeply grateful to my old friend William MacQuitty, producer of A Night To Remember, for
much material concerning the Titanic — including the menu in Chapter 27. Collectors of unlikely
coincidences may be interested to know that just three hours after I had decided to incorporate it into the text, I read in the May 1974 Skin Diver that the Titanic Enthusiasts of America had served this menu at their Annual Dinner...