human
You know, he said,
gpt
I decided that a long time ago,
human
What do we do? We dash back and forth through space, and we huddle here in the Enclave. And we don't like either one or the other, but we fool ourselves into liking them. When we're in space we can't wait to get to the Enclave, and once we're down here we can't wait to get back. Some life.
gpt
Got any suggestions? Some way of fixing things up for us without queering interstellar commerce?
human
Yes, Alan snapped.
gpt
I do have a suggestion. Hyperspace drive!
human
Of all the cockeyed----
gpt
There you are, Alan said angrily.
human
First thing you do is laugh. A spacewarp drive is just some hairbrained scheme to you. But haven't you ever considered that Earth's scientists won't bother developing such a drive for us if we don't care ourselves? They're just as happy the way things are. _They_ don't have to worry about the Fitzgerald Contraction.
gpt
But there's been steady research on a hyperdrive, hasn't there? Ever since Cavour, I thought.
human
On and off. But they don't take it very seriously and they don't get anywhere with it. If they'd really put some men to work they'd find it--and then there wouldn't be any more Enclaves or any Fitzgerald Contraction, and we starmen could live normal lives.
gpt
And your brother--he wouldn't be cut off from his people the way he is----
human
Sure. But you laughed instead of thinking.
gpt
Sorry. Guess I didn't put much jet behind my think-machine that time. But a hyperdrive would wipe out the Enclave system, wouldn't it?
human
Of course! We'd be able to come home from space and take a normal part in Earth's life, instead of pulling away and segregating ourselves here.