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Speaker 1: read for you by Perry Clayton. Egocentric Orbit by John Cory.
Speaker 1: It took a long time for human beings to accept
Speaker 1: that our little piece of meteoric rubble wasn't the exact
Speaker 1: and absolute center of the universe. It does appear that way,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. It may not take so long for a
Speaker 1: spaceman to learn. Near the end of his fifteenth orbit,
Speaker 1: as Greenland slipped by noiselessly below, he made the routine
Speaker 1: measurements that tested the operation of his space capsule and
Speaker 1: checked the automatic instruments which would transmit their stored data
Speaker 1: to Earth on his next pass over control everything All
Speaker 1: mechanical devices were operating perfectly. This information didn't surprise him.
Speaker 1: In fact, he really didn't even think about it. The
Speaker 1: previous orbits and the long simulated flights on Earth during
Speaker 1: training had made such checks routine and perfect results expected.
Speaker 1: The capsules were developed by exhaustive testing both on the
Speaker 1: ground and as empty satellites before entrusting them to carry
Speaker 1: animals and then the first human. He returned to contemplation
Speaker 1: of the panorama passing below and above, although, as he
Speaker 1: noted idly, above and below had lost some of their
Speaker 1: usual meaning, since his capsule, like all heavenly bodies, was
Speaker 1: stable in position with respect to the entire universe, and
Speaker 1: thanks to Sir Isaac Newton and his laws, never changed.
Speaker 1: The Earth and the stars altered over his head during
Speaker 1: each orbit up now meant whatever was in the direction
Speaker 1: of his head. He remembered that even during his initial orbit,
Speaker 1: when the Earth first appeared overhead, he accepted the fact
Speaker 1: as normal. He wondered if the other two had accepted
Speaker 1: it as easily, for there had been two men hurled
Speaker 1: into orbit before he had ventured into space, two others
Speaker 1: who had also passed the rigorous three year training period
Speaker 1: and were selected on the basis of overall performance to
Speaker 1: precede him. He had known them both well and wondered
Speaker 1: again what had happened on their flights. Of course, they
Speaker 1: had both returned, depending upon what your definition of return was,
Speaker 1: The capsules in which they had ventured beyond Earth had
Speaker 1: returned them living, but this was to be expected. For
Speaker 1: even the considerable hazards of the descent through the atmosphere
Speaker 1: and the terrible heating which occurred were successfully surmounted by
Speaker 1: the capsule. Naturally, it had not been expected that the
Speaker 1: satellites would have to be brought down by command from
Speaker 1: the ground, but this too was part of the careful planning.
Speaker 1: Radio control of the retro rockets that moved the satellite
Speaker 1: out of war orbit by reducing its velocity. Of course,
Speaker 1: ground control was to be used only if the astronaut
Speaker 1: failed to ignite the retro rockets himself. He remembered everyone's
Speaker 1: surprise and relief when the first capsule was recovered and
Speaker 1: its occupant found to be alive. They had assumed that,
Speaker 1: in spite of all precautions, he was dead because he
Speaker 1: had not fired the rockets on the fiftieth orbit, and
Speaker 1: it was necessary to bring him down on the sixty fifth.
Speaker 1: Recovery alive only partially solved the mystery for the rescuers,
Speaker 1: and all others were met by a haughty, stony silence
Speaker 1: from the occupant. Batteries of test confirmed an early diagnosis,
Speaker 1: complete and utter withdrawal, absolute refusal to communicate. Therapy was unsuccessful.
Speaker 1: The second attempt was similar in most respects, except that
Speaker 1: command return was made on the thirty first orbit after
Speaker 1: the astronaut's failure to deorbit at the end of the
Speaker 1: thirtieth His incoherent babble of moons, stars and whirlds was
Speaker 1: no more helpful than the first test. After test confirmed
Speaker 1: that no obvious organic damage had been incurred by exposure
Speaker 1: outside of the Earth's protective atmosphere. Biopsy of even selected
Speaker 1: brain tissue seemed to show that microscopic cellular changes due
Speaker 1: to prolonged weightlessness or primary cosmic ray bombardment, which had
Speaker 1: been suggested by some authorities, were unimportant. Somewhat reluctantly, it
Speaker 1: was decided to repeat the experiment a third time. The
Speaker 1: launching was uneventful. He was sent into space with the
Speaker 1: precision he expected. The experience was exhilarating, and although he
Speaker 1: had anticipated each event in advance, he could not possibly
Speaker 1: have foreseen the overpowering feeling that came over him. Weightlessness
Speaker 1: he had experienced for brief periods during training, but nothing
Speaker 1: could match the heatey impression of continuous freedom from gravity.
Speaker 1: Earth passing overhead was also to be expected from the
Speaker 1: simple laws celestial mechanics, but his feeling as he watched
Speaker 1: it now was inexpressible. It occurred to him that perhaps
Speaker 1: this was indeed why he was here, because he could
Speaker 1: appreciate the experience's best. He had been told the stars
Speaker 1: would be bright, unblinking, and an infinitude in extent, but
Speaker 1: could mere descriptions or photographs convey the true seeing. On
Speaker 1: his twenty first orbit, he completed his overseeing the entire
Speaker 1: service of the planet in daylight. He had seen more
Speaker 1: Earth than anyone able to tell about it, but only
Speaker 1: he had the true feeling of it. The continents were
Speaker 1: clearly visible, as were the oceans in both polar ice caps.
Speaker 1: The shapes were familiar, but in only a remote way.
Speaker 1: A vague indistinctness born of distance served to modify the outlines,
Speaker 1: and he alone was seeing and understanding. On the dark
Speaker 1: side of the planet, large cities were marked by indistinct
Speaker 1: light areas, which pale to insignificance compared to the star
Speaker 1: and his son. He speculated about the others who had
Speaker 1: only briefly experienced these sites. Undoubtedly they weren't as capable
Speaker 1: of fully grasping or appreciating any of these things as
Speaker 1: he was. It was quite clear that no one else
Speaker 1: but he could encompass the towering feeling of power and
Speaker 1: importance generated by being alone in the universe. At the
Speaker 1: end of his twenty fifth orbit, he disabled the radio
Speaker 1: control of the retro rockets and set back with satisfaction
Speaker 1: to await the next circuit of his Earth around him.
Speaker 1: The End of Egocentric Orbit by John Corey Read for
Speaker 1: You by Perry Clayton.