The Swarm by Frank Schätzing Read Free Book Online Page A

because they don’t emit enough light. We can only find out about them by using scientific tricks. Theoretically they’re everywhere. But you try listening for signals from a hundred billion stars!’
    â€˜I get the picture.’ Anawak grinned. ‘Tracking twenty thousand whales is easy by comparison.’
    â€˜Do you see now how a job like mine can make you old and grey? It’s like trying to prove the existence of a teeny-weeny fish by straining the ocean litre by litre. And, remember, fish don’t keep still. There’s a good chance that you’ll strain for ever and decide in the end that the fish was never there. Yet all the while it was swimming along with thousands ofothers - just always somewhere else. Phoenix can strain several litres at once, but it’s still limited to, say, the Georgia Strait. Do you see what I’m getting at? There are civilizations out there, but I can’t prove it. The universe is big, maybe infinite - the observatory’s drinks dispenser can brew coffee stronger than our chances.’
    Anawak thought for a moment. ‘Didn’t NASA send a message into space?’
    â€˜Oh, that.’ Her eyes flashed. ‘You mean, why don’t we get off our butts and start making some noise of our own? Well, you’re right. In 1974 NASA sent a binary message from Arecibo to M13, a globular star cluster a mere twenty-one thousand light years away. But the essential problem remains the same: whether a signal comes from us or from somebody else, all it can do is wander through interstellar space. It would take an amazing coincidence for someone to intercept it. Besides, it’s cheaper for us to listen than transmit.’
    â€˜Even so, it would improve your chances.’
    â€˜Maybe we don’t want that.’
    â€˜Why not?’ Anawak was bewildered.
    â€˜Well, at SETI we want to, but plenty of folk would rather we didn’t draw attention to ourselves. If other civilizations knew we were here, they might rob us of our planet. God help us, they might even eat us for breakfast.’
    â€˜But that’s ridiculous.’
    â€˜Is it? If they’re clever enough to manage interstellar travel, they’re probably not interested in fisticuffs. On the other hand, it’s not something we can rule out. In my view, we’d be better off thinking about how we could be drawing attention to ourselves unintentionally, otherwise we could make the wrong impression.’
    Anawak was silent. Eventually he said, ‘Don’t you ever feel like giving up?’
    â€˜Who doesn’t?’
    â€˜And what if you achieve your goal?’
    â€˜Good question.’ Briefly Crowe was lost in thought. ‘For years now I’ve been wondering what our goal really is. I think if I knew the answer I’d probably quit - an answer is always the end of a search. Maybe we’re tortured by the loneliness of our existence, by the idea that we’re just a freak of nature, the only ones of our kind. Or maybe we want to prove that there’s no one else out there so we have the right to occupy aprivileged position. I don’t know. Why do you study whales and dolphins?’
    â€˜I’m just…interested.’ But that’s not quite true, he thought. It’s more than an interest…So what am I looking for?
    Crowe was right. They were doing much the same thing, listening for signals and hoping for answers. They both had a deep-seated longing for the company of intelligent beings other than humans.
    She seemed to know what he was thinking. ‘Let’s not con ourselves,’ she said. ‘We’re not really interested in other forms of intelligent life. We want to know what their existence might mean for us.’ She leaned back and smiled. ‘I guess we’re just looking for meaning.’
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    It was nearly half past ten when they said goodbye after a drink in the lounge - bourbon for Crowe and