Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves

Lamont had to agree to that.

But then he thought of something else, another line of thought that he well remembered Hallam himself had dealt with in one of the articles he had written for popular consumption. With some distaste, he dug out the article. It was important to see what Hallam had said before he carried the matter further.

The article said, in part, “Because of the ever-present gravitational force, we have come to associate the phrase ‘downhill’ with the kind of inevitable change we can use to produce energy of the sort we can change into useful work. It is the water running downhill that, in past centuries, turned wheels which in turn powered machinery such as pumps and generators. But what happens when all the water has run downhill?

“There can then be no further work possible till the water has been returned uphill—and that takes work. In fact, it takes more work to force the water uphill than we can collect by then allowing it to flow downhill. We work at an energy-loss. Fortunately, the Sun does the work for us. It evaporates the oceans so that water vapor climbs high in the atmosphere, forms clouds, and eventually falls again as rain or snow. This soaks the ground at all levels, fills the springs and streams, and keeps the water forever running downhill.

“But not quite forever. The Sun can raise the water vapor, but only because, in a nuclear sense, it is running downhill, too. It is running downhill at a rate immensely greater than any Earthly river can manage, and when all of it has run downhill there will be nothing we know of to pull it uphill again.

“All sources of energy in our Universe run down. We can’t help that. Everything is downhill in just one direction, and we can force a temporary uphill, backward, only by taking advantage of some greater downhill in the vicinity. If we want useful energy forever, we need a road that is downhill both ways. That is a paradox in our Universe; it stands to reason that whatever is downhill one way is uphill going back.

“But need we confine ourselves to our Universe alone? Think of the para-Universe. It has roads, too, that are downhill in one direction and uphill in the other. Those roads, however, don’t fit in with our roads. It is possible to take a road from the para-Universe to our Universe that is downhill, but which, when we follow it back from the Universe to the para-Universe, is downhill again—because the Universes have different laws of behavior.

“The Electron Pump takes advantage of a road that is downhill both ways. The Electron Pump—”

Lament looked back at the title of the piece again. It was “The Road that is Downhill Both Ways.”

He began thinking. The concept was, of course, a familiar one to him, as was its thermodynamic consequences. But why not examine the assumptions? That had to be the weak point in any theory. What if the assumptions, assumed to be right by definition, were wrong? What would be the consequences if one started with other assumptions? Contradictory ones?

He started blindly but within a month he had that feeling that every scientist recognizes—the endless click-click as unexpected pieces fall into place, as annoying anomalies become anomalous no more— It was the feel of Truth.

It was from that moment on that he began to put additional pressure on Bronowski.

And one day he said, “I’m going to see Hallam again.”

Bronowski’s eyebrows lifted. “What for?”

“To have him turn me down.”

“Yes, that’s about your speed, Pete. You’re unhappy if your troubles die down a bit.”

“You don’t understand. It’s important to have him refuse to listen to me. I can’t have it said afterward that I by-passed him; that he was ignorant of it.”

“Of what? Of the translation of the para-symbols? There isn’t any yet. Don’t jump the gun, Pete.”

“No, no, not that,” and he would say no more. Hallam did not make it easy for Lament; it was some weeks before he could find time to see the younger man. Nor did Lament intend to make it easy for Hallam. He stalked in with every invisible bristle on edge and sharply pointed. Hallam waited for him frozen-faced, with sullen eyes.

Hallam said abruptly, “What’s this crisis you’re talking about?”

“Something’s turned up, sir,” said Lament, tonelessly, “inspired by one of your articles.”

“Oh?” Then, quickly, “Which one?”

“ ‘The Road that is Downhill Both Ways,’ The one you programmed for Teenage Life, sir.”

“And what about it?”

“I believe the Electron Pump is not downhill both ways, if I may use your metaphor, which is not, as it happens, a completely accurate way of describing the Second Law of Thermodynamics.”

Hallam frowned. “What have you got in mind?”

“I can explain it best, sir, by setting up the Field Equations for the two Universes, sir, and demonstrating an interaction that till now has not been considered—unfortunately so, in my opinion.”

With that, Lament moved directly to the thixo-board and quickly fingered the equations, talking rapidly as he did so.

Lamont knew that Hallam would be humiliated and irritated by such a procedure since he would not follow the mathematics. Lamont counted on that.

Hallam growled, “See here, young man, I have no time now to engage in a full discussion of any aspect of para-theory. You send me a complete report and, for now, if you have some brief statement as to what you’re getting at, you may make it.”

Lamont walked away from the thixo-board, with an unmistakable expression of contempt on his face. He said, “All right. The Second Law of Thermodynamics describes a process that inevitably chops off extremes. Water doesn’t run downhill; what really happens is that extremes of gravitational potential are equalized. Water will just as easily bubble uphill if trapped underground. You can get work out of the juxtaposition of two different temperature levels, but the end result is that the temperature is equalized at an intermediate level; the hot body cools down and the cold body warms up. Both cooling and warming are equal aspects of the Second Law and, under, the proper circumstances, equally spontaneous.”

“Don’t teach me elementary thermodynamics, young man. What is it you want? I have very little time.”

Lamont said, with no change of expression, no sense of being hurried. “Work is obtained out of the Electron Pump by an equalization of extremes. In this case, the extremes are the physical laws of the two Universes, The conditions that make those laws possible, whatever those conditions may be, are being bled from one Universe into the other and the end result of the entire process will be two Universes in which the laws of nature will be identical —and intermediate as compared with the situation now. Since this will produce uncertain but undoubtedly large changes in this Universe, it would seem that serious consideration must be given to stopping the Pumps and, shutting down the whole operation permanently.”

It was at this point that Lamont expected Hallam to explode, cutting off any chance of further explanation. Hallam did not fail that expectation. He sprang out of his chair, which fell over. He kicked the chair away and took the two steps that separated him from Lamont.

Warily, Lamont pushed his own chair hastily backward and stood up.

“You idiot,” shouted Hallam, almost stammering in his anger. “Don’t you suppose everyone at the station understands about the equalization of natural law. Are you wasting my time telling me something I knew when you were learning to read? Get out of here, and any time you want to offer me your resignation, consider it accepted.”

Lament left, having obtained exactly what he wanted, and yet he felt himself to be furious over Hallam’s treatment of him.