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"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet!" I said. "Just wait a few days!"
We slept until late into the afternoon.
"To be honest, I can't imagine now why I've been so hard-headed about coming here," she says. "It's a lovely place to be."
"You couldn't have acted any different than you had," I reply.
We went back to the Earth several times after that, to talk with our two sons. I offered them the same option, to join us on Bohr's planet. Initially they were excited about it, but then both turned the offer down. They told us that they had no option but to remain on the Earth and dedicate their life to the survival of humanity. I was disappointed of course, but I could understand their reason, as it had been the same reason for which I had lobbied for the space mission and had joined up for it.
On our next visit, I brought a crate of diamonds along, a war chest to see them through.
"People sell their souls for these rocks," I comment, as they examine them.
Peter, the younger one, smiles. His face radiates. He must have been captivated by their sparkle, or perhaps by the realization of the fantastic riches these rocks represent. But he bites his lips together, shakes his head, and declares that this is the very reason he can't accept them. He says it isn't right to induce others to sell their soul for a bunch of rocks!
I felt that Olaf would have been proud of them, had he heard them.
"To sell these diamonds is like selling our own soul," says Peter to the older son. "It is like cutting off the very hand that one needs to fight with, for the continued existence of the world."
He closes the lid of the crate and gives it back to me. "Take them home with you," he says and starts to cry, "they are too costly for us to have. They are too costly as jewels and too precious for industrial uses."
I take the elder son, Ian, aside. "Peter's problem is easily solved," I say to him. "Just take a hammer and smash the diamonds into dust, until they become industrial-grade diamonds, useful only for making tools."
He looks at me perplexed. "Smash these up?"
"How else can you make them useful to humanity, without causing any harm?" I ask.
His face lights up. He says that they can accept them now. "We also need more gold on the planet, iron, copper, magnesium, platinum, and..."
"No you don't!" I interrupt him. "The Earth has more of these than mankind could ever use. You only have to learn to separate the available minerals and metals from the silicates of the rocks of the Earth where they exist in great abundance. Take magnesium, for instance. The entire mantle of the Earth is made up magnesium and nickel orthosilicates, in a layer that is four thousand kilometers deep. Why would you want more? All that you need to do, is develop nuclear fusion power to separate the molecular bonds. I have seen it being done on planet 'O'. I can take you there to show you the process. They've created a vast civilization on this basis. And if they can do it, so can you."
"Some day, perhaps," says Peter.
"Just say the word, and I'll take you to planet 'O' for a technology visit," I reply. "The fact is, you have not seen anything yet. One day you will want to see these things, and learn, and discover, and use your discoveries to enrich the Earth and humanity with it. If you don't move in this direction, your generation has no future. If you are prepared to do this, just let me know the next time I come for a visit. However, if you do what I suggest, and consider what the 'O' people have already done, then be prepared for a whirlwind of superlatives that you cannot even imagine."
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