Astronauts -- Fiction; Human-alien encounters -- Fiction; Science fiction; Space flight -- Fiction; Space ships -- Fiction
"That there is no limit to smallness," Brett put in. "An atom--an
electron--they are mere words. Within them conceivably might be a
space with stars, planets, suns--worlds of their own so tiny that
compared to the Space in which they roam that Space would seem--and
would be--illimitable. Picture that, Frank. And picture upon one of
those worlds inhabitants of proportionate smallness. What would they
see, feel or think of the universe? Would they not conceive it about as
we do? Picture them with powerful microscopes, looking downward into
the matter composing their world. They would be aware of molecules,
atoms--they would gaze down into Space unending. Another realm within
their own. And within that one--others and yet others to infinity. The
conception confuses you, Frank? It need not. Each of those realms is
tiny--or large--according to the viewpoint. There can be no such thing
as absolute size."
"That is what I mean," Dr. Gryce interrupted eagerly. "Absolute
size--how can you conceive it? You can not. A thing is large or small
only in relation to something else smaller or larger."
He waved his hand to the rolling landscape with the morning light and
shadow upon it, visible through the arbor.
"There is our everyday world, Frank. How big is it? You can not say.
Millimeters, meters, kilometers, helans, light-years--those are only
words with which we designate a comparison. Compared to what our
microscopes show us, this world of ours is very large, but compared to
the spaces between the stars--the stars themselves--it is very small.
Try then to imagine its absolute size. You can not, because there is
no such thing. A universe within what we call an atom--another realm
within an atom of matter upon one of the worlds of _that_ universe--is
not an extraordinary state of smallness _until we compare it with
ourselves_.
"And this world of ours. It is normal to us; of no absolute size
whatever--neither large nor small--until we compare it to something
else. But suppose we visualize larger realms? Suppose we say these
planets, stars--all the starry universe within our ken and this visual
space which contains them--suppose we imagine all that to be contained
within the atom of a particle of matter of some comparatively still
larger realm? At once our world and ourselves shrink into smallness.
Where a moment ago we had seemed large, now we seem small. Yet that
other gigantic world within which we are contained--if we could live in
it our telescopes would show us still larger Space unending. We would
feel tiny--and of actuality _we would be tiny_--contemplating Space and
size so much larger."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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