Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 229: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

was not the time of dying, that theirs was not the ultimate defeat—for they were but part-way expended; fulfilment and death for us of Mars was yet a long, long way Off... .” SOMEHOW | knew | was not understanding, not grasping something, but there would be time for my questions later. “AS you know, we developed space flight, and we used it to the utmost of what advantage it could give us. There were —are—twelve solar systems within the reach of our best Ships, Mr. Latham. They are capable of one-third the speed of light—faster, as you Know, and the artificial entropy created within them as ae result of their immense’ energy- consumption would make their use impracticable. A crew for one year even at half-light soeed would return to find two of its own centuries passed... She paused, then said, “In a way, we are like our ships ... there is a limit, beyond which all there is must be used up. “At any rate, all those things we have. Our Enclosures, which were built to house and sustain us until the planet itself had reverted to dust. Our science, which has indeed helped us to perhaps more than our share of physical security. Our ships of space, which could take us to almost countless places of our choosing, but are, as we have always been aware, no escape... There was a wan smile playing on her lips. Words jumped to my own. “What—what is this thing that afflicts you, Lya? A—a plague, a—” “No. No, not as a plague can be generally conceived, although there is a certain—a certain biological effect, a corrosion, a—a breakdown, if you will, for which no remedy is possible. It cannot be halted, any more than entropy—the gradual’ running-down of the Universe—can be halted. CORniclooo SS CO