On fiction: Rendezvous with NECA pt. 7
Author note : I've changed the text slightly from that seen at WaD because I spotted a rather embarrassing inconsistency. Oops. Oh well. That's what revisions are for. “What is it like to be a bat?” She lifts her gaze from the microscope eyepiece. “Sorry?” “It’s a philosophical conundrum,” Ballard says. “Bit of a trick question. If you can express it, then it’s not what a bat is like, because bats don’t have the capacity for language. Or so that philosopher thought.” “Yes, well. What is it like to be a self-replicating space crystal,” she says, and resumes her examination of a tissue sample from the alien sea urchin shaped creature. “I’m working towards establishing that too, Ms Evans.” He pauses, marker in hand, in front of an improvised whiteboard on the wall covered in scribbles. “Theory guides practice.” Sea urchin cells frozen- or rather vitrified- stand before her eyes, illuminated in the microscope backlight. Practice can guide itself, thank you very...