Flames to dust… Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

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And God said: ‘Lines Aleph Zero to Aleph One – Delete’.
And the Universe ceased to exist.
Then She pondered for several aeons, and sighed.
‘Cancel Programme GENESIS’, She ordered.
It never had existed.

Este pequeno conto acima bem podia ser o epitáfio de Arthur C. Clarke, que deixou de existir ontem, aos 90 anos. Claro que ele nunca deixará de existir – o seu nome sobreviverá sempre, como autor de ficção científica, como nome de asteróide, como nome de órbita geoestacionária.
Acima de tudo, a sua influência sobre tantos que leram os seus livros e contos, tantos que viram os filmes inspirados no que escreveu, ficará.
Incluo-me nesse grupo. Posso mesmo dizer que foi Arthur C. Clarke que me mostrou o que era, ou o que podia ser, a ficção científica, que me ensinou a amá-la. Ele é, para mim, a própria definição de ficção científica: não o mero desenrolar de fantasias futurísticas, mas uma chave para, através do entrever de possíveis futuros do Homem, nos fazer pensar em questões políticas, metafísicas, religiosas – da guerra fria ao racismo, da consciência do lugar do Homem no Universo à própria noção de deus.
Em honra desse talvez meu primeiro grande ícone da literatura (porque enquanto a maior parte da ficção científica talvez não seja por muitos considerada literatura, a obra de Arthur C. Clarke é uma das honrosas excepções), que tanto me ensinou, tanto me fez pensar, que moldou tanto da forma como penso, das coisas em que penso, tanto daquilo que sou hoje, em honra de Arthur C. Clarke hoje o Altermundo veste-se de negro, não só como sinal de pesar mas também em honra dos mundos que nos deu a descobrir.
Também Assurancetourix na sua cabana decidiu honrá-lo, mudando por hoje a banda sonora de fundo desta aldeia. Para além disso, fica a imagem da capa da colectânea de todas as suas curtas histórias, perto de 1000 páginas que comprei há anos e nunca acabei de ler – o que me comprometo agora a fazer, junto com alguns dos seus livros que ainda não li.
Para quem esteja curioso sobre a sua obra, aconselho a começarem não pelo óbvio 2001 e sequelas, mas pela trilogia Rama – Rendezvous with Rama, The Garden of Rama e Rama Revealed. Passem depois por Childhood’s End, The Songs of Distant Earth e The Fountains of Paradise, e a vossa percepção do Universo, do mundo, do Homem, de vocês próprios, terá mudado para sempre.

Flames to dust… (encore altermundístico)

Reunion

People of Earth, be not afraid. We come in peace—and why not? For we are your cousins; we have been here before.
You will recognize us when we meet, a few hours from now. We are approaching the solar system almost as swiftly as this radio message. Already, your sun dominates the sky ahead of us. It is the sun our ancestors and yours shared ten million years ago. We are men, as you are; but you have forgotten your history, while we have remembered ours.
We colonized Earth, in the reign of the great reptiles, who were dying when we came and whom we could not save. Your world was a tropical planet then, and we felt that it would make a fair home for our people. We were wrong. Though we were masters of space, we knew so little about climate, about evolution, about genetics….
For millions of summers—there were no winters in those ancient days—the colony flourished. Isolated though it had to be, in a universe where the journey from one star to the next takes years, it kept in touch with its parent civilization. Three or four times in every century, starships would call and bring news of the galaxy.
But two million years ago, Earth began to change. For ages it had been a tropical paradise; then the temperature fell, and the ice began to creep down from the poles. As the climate altered, so did the colonists. We realize now that it was a natural adaptation to the end of the long summer, but those who had made Earth their home for so many generations believed they had been attacked by a strange and repulsive disease. A disease that did not kill, that did no physical harm – but merely disfigured.
Yet some were immune; the change spared them and their children. And so, within a few thousand years, the colony had split into two separate groups – almost two separate species – suspicious and jealous of each other.
The division brought envy, discord, and, ultimately, conflict. As the colony disintegrated and the climate steadily worsened, those who could do so withdrew from Earth. The rest sank into barbarism.
We could have kept in touch, but there is so much to do in a universe of a hundred trillion stars. Until a few years ago, we did not know that any of you had survived. Then we picked up your first radio signals, learned your simple languages, and discovered that you had made the long climb back from savagery. We come to greet you, our long-lost relatives—and to help you.
We have discovered much in the eons since we abandoned Earth. If you wish us to bring back the eternal summer that ruled before the Ice Ages, we can do so. Above all, we have a simple remedy for the offensive yet harmless genetic plague that afflicted so many of the colonists.
Perhaps it has run its course—but, if not, we have good news for you. People of Earth, you can rejoin the society of the universe without shame, without embarrassment.
If any of you are still white, we can cure you.