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the water.’ Three-quarters of earth’s surface is covered
with water.”
    “I’m aware of that, but most of that water is
salty; therefore, unfit for plants and animals. Do you convert salt
water to fresh water, or do you use fresh water from the rivers and
lakes?”
    “Three hundred years ago, people used water
from rivers, but they stopped using it because it was contaminated.
Since it had to be purified anyway, they found it easier to purify
ocean water, because ocean water was more abundant, and more
available.”
    “Where did you get enough energy to purify
ocean water? We were running out of energy.”
    “How could you run out of energy?” Roc-2
asked. “The entire universe is composed of energy.”
    “Of course it is,” I replied, “but how do you
convert the energy of the universe into a form that you can use to
purify water?”
    “We use the power of the universe itself,”
Roc-2 explained. “The sun has always provided power for the earth.
We collect solar energy from locations unfit for other uses, and
convert it to electricity.”
    “But the sun shines only in the daytime,” I
commented. “What power do you use at night? Do you store
electricity in batteries?”
    Roc-2 smiled and explained, “Until they
learned a better way, people stored energy in one form or another,
but then they found it was easier to transfer energy from areas
where the sun was shining, to areas where it was not. That way,
there was no storage problem. We transfer power all over the world.
. . . In the time you left, most people overlooked the fact that
the sun is shining on half of the earth all the time. It’s high
noon somewhere on earth, at every moment of every day.”
    I was overlooking that simple fact and
feeling a bit foolish. I said, “I see what you mean.”
    “Knowledge is accumulative. The more we
learn, the more we are capable of learning,” he graciously replied.
“People with inquisitive minds accumulate knowledge by being
exposed to knowledge.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Chapter 7
     
    Our keri was moving only a few feet above the
surface of the earth. Jan-3 held my hand and pointed to things she
thought might interest me. People were doing all the things
necessary to create and maintain this magnificent landscape. Some
were planting, some were maintaining, and others were harvesting
crops. Still others were tending animals. They were all working
diligently, but no one seemed to find the work unpleasant.
    “What form of government do you have?” I
asked.
    “We have a democracy,” Jan-3 answered, “but
it’s different from the democracies of your time.”
    “How is your democracy different?”
    “We have a true democracy,” she replied. “It
seems to me that one of the founding fathers of your democracy
stated it clearly. Democracy is a government of the people, by the
people, and for the people. History tells us that the democracies
of your time were dominated by special interests. Most of those
interests were capitalistic. Men of wealth used their money to
obtain power, and then used their power to pass laws beneficial
only to themselves. Speaking metaphorically, they didn’t produce
the crop, but they reaped the harvest. That type of democracy
doesn’t represent the working people. It benefits only the wealthy
who pass the laws. Our historians tell us that some of the workers
in the past knew what was happening, but they couldn’t correct the
problem because the ones in control used their influence to appease
the religious masses, and the religious masses kept the wealthy in
power. You didn’t have a democracy—you had an autocratic theocracy,
and that’s the most oppressive form of government. Our history
books also tell us that, by the time you realized your government
was collapsing, it was too late.”
    “Your history books are right,” I admitted,
“but how is your democracy better?”
    “In our system, everyone benefits relative to
what he or she contributes. Everybody contributes