The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington D.C.

The President's science advisor, Dr. Milson, told him, "Sir, we just received a repeating transmission from Discovery. It's a...very unusual transmission. But while it was repeating, we lost contact - and less than fifty minutes later, uh...Jupiter apparently went nova somehow."

"It did what?" was the President's incredulous reply.

Using what little they knew, Milson explained. The President was incredulous, but he couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes as he went outside the White House. It was a cloudy day, but the Sun was still showing.

And now...there was a second sun. Much smaller, but just as bright.

Stunned, he asked Milson, "What -? What is -? Milson, is that -?"

"- Jupiter, yes, sir," Milson breathed. "But it's not a planet any more. It's a star."

"But how?"

Milson shook his head. "Mr. President, I have absolutely no idea. But...there it is."

Indeed it was.

"This may seem an obvious question, Dr. Milson," the President said while gazing up at the new star, "but...what would happen if we did go to war with Russia?"

Milson shook his head seriously. "With respect, Mr. President, that is an obvious question. So is the answer. I recommend that we don't even think about war...except to end it."

A four-star general agreed. "You only fight a war if there's a chance of winning, Mr. President. Here...I would say there is no chance, no chance at all."

His secretary opined, "Mr. President, a common theme in science fiction is that the human race is forced to unite by a radically superior exterior power. I'd say we're looking at that fictional scenario becoming real."

The President nodded. "And I'm not so short-sighted as to ignore the obvious. Patty," he addressed the secretary, "there is a direct hot line to Moscow, is there not?"

"Yes, sir, there is," Patty Wainwright nodded.

"Then it's time I used it," he declared.

His staff cheered.


The Kremlin, Moscow

Same time

The Premier's own scientific advisor carried the same incredible news. The Russians had received the transmission as well.

So too had Jodrell Bank, Arecibo, the VLA, Woomera and every major radio installation in the world.

Every astronomer in the world on the hemisphere of Earth facing Jupiter had also seen Jupiter explode...or whatever it had done.

Both men fell to brooding. Clearly their unknown protagonist, whoever or whatever it or they might be, had the technology to destroy an entire planet, though there was some doubt as to exactly what it or they had done to Jupiter. But the implication was clear to both of them.

The largest planet in the Solar System, more massive than all the others and the Asteroid Belt combined, had been transformed into a star; the Jovian system was now a true system, with its own primary. The four major moons of Jupiter - Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa - would be affected the most. They would all become much warmer. Since Io was already a hellhole, doubtless it would now be even worse.

But Europa would be affected the most, albeit in a good way: its surface ice would be melted, its atmosphere would be thickened by increased gas emissions, and oceans would be created.

And the life detected by Leonov would now have its chance.

Premier Ulanov realised that that was why they, whoever they were, had done this, whatever they had done.

Mankind now had, in effect, an entirely new solar system to explore, and they definitely would.

But as per the message, Europa would remain untouched.

As for life on Earth…

They had been preparing for nuclear war. But what did nuclear weapons mean to an intellect capable of transforming Jupiter? One of the Premier's scientific advisors, a man who had often travelled to the United States, explained that this had been an extreme exercise in terraforming. "This shows clearly, sir, that we cannot even think of fighting them. If they have weapons, they are to our arms as our arms are to," he smiled as he recalled the phraseology from City On The Edge Of Forever, "stone knives and bearskins - if not further."

"And the message exhorted us not to fight each other," the Premier noted. USE THEM IN PEACE.

The message had not stated 'or else'. It had no need to.

"That is so, sir," the advisor nodded.

A fundamental principle of warfare was that it could be fought only when there was technological parity. But the Monolith entities were so far beyond them that even the concept of a fight was laughable. Thus they could not be ignored.

He and the U.S. President had two choices:

War...or peace.

They chose the latter.

The President ordered the immediate unconditional withdrawal of all American forces from Central America.

The Premier gave the same orders to his forces.

For the first time in too long they met in person, and talked.

The world breathed a sigh of relief as the spectre of nuclear annihilation was banished once again - permanently, it was to be hoped.


And a certain still-young woman looked forward joyously to the safe return of her beloved husband.

"He's coming home, Christopher," she told her son, hugging him. "It'll be another year, and he'll be asleep soon, so you won't be able to talk to him, but he's coming home."

"I hope he's okay," Chris mused.

Caroline hugged him again. "Of course he is. He's just fine."

Heywood, she thought with joy and lust, I am so gonna fuck you stupid when you get home.


Leonov

Before the Americans enter hibernation

"My dear Christopher, this is the last time I'll be able to speak with you for a long while. I'm trying to put into words what has happened. Maybe that's for historians to do sometime later. But I'll do my best. They will record that the next day, the President of the United States looked out of the White House window, and the Premier of the Soviet Union looked out of the Kremlin window, and saw the new distant sun in the sky. They read the message, and perhaps they learned something, because they finally recalled their ships and their planes."

The two separate crews wished each other well. Floyd and Tanya met and conversed, a new level of understanding and friendship between them, and they hugged as the friends they now were.

"I'm going to sleep now. I will dream of you and your mother. I will sleep happily, knowing that you are both safe, that the fear is over. We have seen the process of life take place. Maybe this is the way it happened on Earth millions of years ago. Maybe it's something completely different.

"I still don't know really what the Monolith is. I think it's many things. An embassy for an intelligence beyond ours, or a shape of some kind for something that has no shape. My engineer friend Walter said it best by suggesting that the Monolith is the cosmic equivalent of the Swiss Army Knife. Maybe he's right.

"Your children will be born in a world of two suns. They will never know a sky without them. You can tell them that you remember when there was a pitch black sky, with no bright star, and people feared the night. You can tell them when we were alone, when we couldn't point to the light and say to ourselves, 'There is life out there'. Someday the children of the new sun will meet the children of the old. I think they will be our friends.

"You can tell your children of the day when everyone looked up and realised that we were only tenants of this world. We have been given a new lease, and a warning, from the landlord. I think the people of Earth will pay attention.

"My warmest love to you and to your mother. A year might seem like a long time to you, but you'll be kept busy in your new world, telling people of how it used to be. You'll find the time will fly past. Take care, Christopher. I love you and your Mom more than I can ever say.

"See you soon. Keep feeding fish to the dolphins. And eat your spaghetti."


The home of Heywood and Caroline Floyd

Two days after Leonov arrives home

That event wasn't long in coming. He could've driven home, but Milson insisted on the limo, him being a celebrity and all that. He shrugged and accepted it. Whilst en route he made a call to the university.

(The next day a certain grad student was astounded to discover her tuition was now covered to graduation - and beyond. When she asked her faculty advisor about it, the latter only smiled warmly and said, "We can hardly deny our Chancellor a favour, Simone...especially now. He sent us a note, saying: Thanks for your advice, and for pointing me to 6-A. It helped a lot. I hope I'm helping you."

"I - well, that is really helpful," Simone Reading flustered. That was putting it mildly; given the rising costs, she had seriously considered taking the route frequently followed by female students and posing nude or even prostituting herself; she'd had several offers. Now, though, it wouldn't be necessary.

I was right. Dr. Floyd really is a nice guy. His wife's a lucky woman.)

The nice guy in question was quivering in anticipation. Against his expectations, Caroline had stayed faithful to him, though she'd confessed there were one or two close shaves. A well-meaning friend had set her up, but at the last minute she had called him, apologised and cancelled.

Floyd could let that go. She was only human, after all. Had their positions been reversed he would've been unable to resist straying.

He remembered her. Every line. Every curve. Every stretch mark which only added to her beauty. Her delicious scent. So many other things.

The shape and the feel of her lovely baby-chewed breasts.

That ass that just wouldn't quit.

Her neatly trimmed pussy which got so wet whenever or wherever he touched it.

Floyd got out of the car, where she was leaning on a wall. "Hi," she said casually. He was stunned by how sensational she looked in her classic LBD - not the one she'd worn when he'd proposed, but an even slinkier little number which clung to her curves like a racing car at the Indy 500. She hadn't changed a bit. No, wait, she had; there were one or two more lines to her eyes.

But to his loving eyes, they only added character to her strongly-boned face. The rest of her was as deliciously curved as ever, her black hair still lustrous.

"That's a fine greeting for a man who's travelled over 1,480 million kilometres to get here," he griped.

She shrugged. "Well, some guys take the long way round."

He was about to continue the banter. Then he saw the tears in her dark, beautiful eyes, the trembling of her luscious lower lip. Without further ado he hugged her tight and French kissed her. She melted against him, returning the kiss almost frantically, and he could feel through the hand on her shapely ass that she had no panties on.

"No bra, either," she husked. "And - remember that second kid we were talking about?"

"Yeah?"

She smiled slowly. "I took out my coil a month ago. So get me pregnant, you crazy space-travelling stud. Let's have a baby."

"Let's," Floyd grinned, and kissed her again. He knew she was already soaking wet. He himself was happily rock-hard.

But the Universe is nothing if not consistent in terms of its sense of timing.

Its execrable sense.

Chris appeared at the door and cried, "Daddy!" He rushed to hug his beloved father. Caroline thought ruefully but briefly, Oh, bad timing, Christopher. Oh well, there's always tonight. And tomorrow. And many, many more days and nights to come.

Floyd returned the hug, crying tears of joy. "I am never leaving you again," he sobbed happily, "never, I swear."

"Was it bad, Daddy?" came the muffled plaintive voice.

"Not as bad as it could've been, son." He gently broke the hug and just drank in the sight of his son. God, he was a few inches taller now.

"Did you go to sleep for a long time?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," he nodded, "but I woke up, just like I promised. I'm home now, Chris. And hey," he added brightly, "your Mom and I have decided to have a baby, just now. What do you think of that, huh?"

Chris giggled with joy. "Sounds great, Daddy!"

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it? So after we've all been for a walk in the surf," he told his son, lifting him up onto his shoulders as he hadn't since Chris was three, "you are gonna go to bed, I'm gonna read to you till you go to sleep, and then your Mom and I are gonna get busy making that new baby happen."

"Will it be a boy or a girl?"

"Which would you like?" Caroline asked him, tousling his hair.

"I don't know," Chris answered honestly.

"Then does it matter? I don't know which it'll be, either. And," she craned upward and kissed her son, "I really don't care, either. It'll be a baby, Christopher. That'll be enough for us." She chuckled. "And something for you to talk about at school."

"Yay!"

The walk was the most fun the three had ever had. An albatross glided over the ocean, never once flapping its wings, just owning the sky in the way only an albatross can. In the crashing surf, dolphins played and called to each other.

And to them, wishing them well, as they would've been gratified to know if only they could have understood.

That very night Heywood and Caroline made wild wanton love all night with a sense of utter abandonment.

And that, as she later decided, was the night she did indeed fall pregnant. He had his doubts, but she just stretched under him languorously and purred, "That's the night I got pregnant. Don't you dare argue."

He didn't. Instead, as she requested/demanded, he entered her again.

"Making love?" he teased.

"No. Fucking," she quipped, making it three.

He laughed and fucked her.


The dolphins knew what had happened to the Big World via their far-reaching and as yet undetected senses. They had received the transmission as well, though of course it had not been directed towards them; the bipeds had no way of knowing that the dolphins even could receive such a transmission. Their distant relatives in the waters of Panama City had joyfully reported the peaceful departure of the bipeds' water-borne vessels. The satellites, too, had been stood down.

Then they themselves were contacted by the entity which styled itself as "Bowman". Greetings. May your waters run calmly and deep. As you know, the humans now have peace. They have taken one more small step towards contact with your kind. They are not ready, not yet. They have much to learn. But they will.

We know, Swift Hunter acknowledged. Until they are, we shall play, hunt and mate as we have always done. It is pleasing to meet a higher entity. We have sensed that something wonderful has happened, far away.

It has, Bowman confirmed. The humans are coming to understand what our servants have done. The rest is up to them.

He/it/they ceased contact. Swift Hunter and the Playful One met, played and mated. Then they played some more.

Only two humans had ever truly understood them. Each had told a tale in his fictional work, but they had had no idea that they had actually told the truth:

The Caretaker said, "Here you have to only imagine your fondest wishes, either old ones you wish to relive or new ones, anything at all. Battle, fear, love, triumph. Anything that pleases you can be made to happen."

"The term," Spock noted, "is 'amusement park'."

"Of course."

"An old Earth name for a place where people could go to see and do all sorts of fascinating things," Spock explained.

"This entire planet was constructed for our race of people to come...and play."

"Play?" Sulu wondered, baffled. "As advanced as you obviously are, and you still play?"

"Yes, play, Mister Sulu," Captain Kirk understood. "The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play."

"Exactly, Captain, how very perceptive of you," the Caretaker applauded.

Theodore Sturgeon, who had written the script for Shore Leave, would have been delighted as to how close he had come to a statement of the truth.

"It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than Man - for precisely the same reasons!"

Douglas Adams would, they knew, have appreciated the joke. When the humans were ready and contact had been made, the dolphins would explain it to them. It was uncertain exactly when this would come about, but since it would anyway, the timing did not matter. Few things did.

Until then, they would play.

THE END

There before him, a glittering toy no Star-Child could resist, floated the planet Earth with all its peoples. He had returned in time.

Down there on that crowded globe, the alarms would be flashing across the radar screens, the great tracking telescopes would be searching the skies - and history as men knew it would be drawing to a close. A thousand miles below, he became aware that a slumbering cargo of death had awoken, and was stirring sluggishly in its orbit. The feeble energies it contained were no possible menace to him; but he preferred a cleaner sky. He put forth his will, and the circling megatons flowered in a silent detonation that brought a brief, false dawn to half the sleeping globe.

Then he waited, marshalling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next.

But he would think of something.

- 2001: A Space Odyssey

By Arthur C. Clarke