（外文电子版资料）Robert J. Sawyer - Forever.pdf

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Robert%20J%20Sawyer%20-%20Forever.txt Forever by Robert J. Sawyer First published in the anthology Return of the Dinosaurs, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW, July 1997). Honorable Mention, Gardner Dozoiss Years Best Science Fiction, Fifteenth Annual Edition Everything we know about dinosaurs comes from a skewed sample: the only specimens we have are of animals who happened to die at locations in which fossilization could occur; for instance, we have no fossils at all from areas that were mountainous during the Mesozoic. Also, for us to find dinosaur fossils, the Mesozoic rocks have to be re-exposed in the present day -- assuming, of course, that the rocks still exist; some have been completely destroyed through subduction beneath the Earths crust. From any specific point in time -- such as what we believe to be the final million years of the age of dinosaurs -- we have at most only a few hundred square miles of exposed rock to work with. Its entirely possible that forms of dinosaurs wildly different from those were familiar with did exist, and its also quite reasonable to suppose that some of these forms persisted for many millions of years after the end of the Cretaceous. But, of course, well never know for sure. -- Jacob Coin, Ph.D. Keynote Address, A.D. 2018 Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Five planets could be seen with the naked eye: Sunhugger, Silver, Red, High, and Slow; all five had been known since ancient times. In the two hundred years since the invention of the telescope, much had been discovered about them. Tiny Sunhugger and bright Silver went through phases, just like the moon did; Red had visible surface features, although exactly what they were was still open to considerable debate. High was banded, and h