Pathspace: The Space of Paths Read Online Free PDF Page B

there,
rusting away. But tractors were made in factories, and the
factories all ran on electricity. In the factories, people and
machines made all sort of things. Cars that didn't need horses
because they burned oil to make the wheels turn. Refrigerators to
keep food cold. Radios so people could talk to each other across
long distances.
    “ But once we didn't need to burn oil any more, once we didn't
need fridges to keep food cold, people got the idea that we could
make our planet 'greener' by changing over to more and more to
things based on the Gifts. They sort of figured somehow that the
Tourists would hang around forever, making coldboxes and everflames
and all the other magic things we were coming to rely on. We could
get rid of the machines and processes that took so much work to
build and tended to create pollution for the air and water. When
you burn oil or wood or coal, you see, it makes smoke – and that
smoke is poisonous, and has to go somewhere or you end up breathing
it in.”
    “ But wasn't that a good idea? Making the world
cleaner?”
    “ Of course it was! No one like to eat and drink poison. But
I'm coming to the second reason that really did us in. The Tourists
made the Gifts for us, but they never taught us how to make 'em
ourselves, or how to keep them working. They gave us the products
of a whole new technology, but not the technicians and
infrastructure needed to keep it working for the long term. And
when the Tourists finally left, off to visit their next port of
call, guess what happened? Some of those magic Gifts began to break
down. Even the magic of the Tourists doesn't last
forever.”
    “ Why not? Our coldbox and everflame still work just
fine.”
    “ Some of them lasted longer than others. But they all break
down eventually if they're not maintained. When it was first made,
that coldbox in your father's inn could freeze water into ice. Now
it just keeps beer cold. The thing the Tourists did to make the
gifts had very little to do with the matter they were anchored in.
you could make a coldbox out of paper if you wanted to – the
important thing is the change in the space around it. But that
change is a little like combing hair. The change in the space stays
straight for a while. Years, maybe even a century. But eventually
it gets un-straightened again, goes random, like your hair is in
the morning when you wake up. And we didn't know how to comb the
space straight again. If you want to call it magic instead of
psionics, fine. But they didn't train any magicians. So it all
started to fall apart. And since we'd changed over to depending on
it, our whole civilization fell apart.”
    “ Why didn't they teach us their magic?” Lester
asked.
    “ Simple economics. It takes a long time to collect the DNA
cookbooks of a whole planet, you see. If they'd taught us how to
make the Gifts for ourselves, well, we wouldn't need the Tourists
anymore. We might stop trading with them. They might miss out on a
plant or animal species that would turn out to be a lifesaver. They
couldn't risk that. So they kept their secrets. Made all the
coldboxes we asked for, all the everflames and swizzles and all the
little shortcuts we were greedy for. Then they left, taking their
secrets with them.”
    The mosquitoes were beginning to come
out.. Lester swatted one and grimaced as he wiped his hand on the
flat bed of the cart. “How do you know all this, anyway? Did you
see it happen?”
    “ Lord, no,” Xander laughed. “It was long before my time. But
records were kept. People always gossip and there were reporters of
news back then, just as now. People who saw what was happening
couldn't stop it but they could write it down so someone would
remember. So I remember things I never saw. And I'm trying to do
something about it.”
    “ What are you going to do?”
    “ We'll get to that,” the old man said. “And you'll be a part
of it.”
    “ Me? Why me? I'm nobody. I pump water and wait on
tables.”
    “ Well,