Sunday December 12, 2010
Book 12: Force Multiplication — Part I: Black and White


NARRATOR: The skies are inhospitable this close to the massive generator built from the Milky Way's galactic core.

It isn't a constant state.  Most nights the starlight is just pretty.

NARRATOR: Once every few millennia, however a dense gas filament sweeps across a neutron star, a blue supergiant dies, or a hungry white dwarf devours its giant companion.

The pretty starlight is washed out in sudden, explosive brilliance.

NARRATOR: The evolutionary program of organic life doesn't iterate effectively when the sky mashes the reset button every five to ten thousand years.

NARRATOR: But even lifeless planets are rich sources of building materials.  Cities soar in orbit about them.

NARRATOR: These barren worlds may not have evolved children of their own, but they're supporting billions of adoptees.

Do these blasted plains serve as an example for nurturing, non-biological parents, and the children who love them?

SCHLOCK: It is ugly down there.  Why did you put this window in?

NARRATOR: Almost certainly.