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continuous spectroscopic analysis and trips a signal when there’s anything we might want. And that’s only the beginning.”
    “A spectroscopic analysis? You said the macroscope didn’t use light.”
    “
It
doesn’t, exactly, but
we
do. We keyed it in on samples: every element on the periodic table. Thus we are able to translate the incoming impulse into a visual representation, much as any television receiver does. The truth is, the macrons are far more specific than light, because they don’t diffuse readily or suffer such embarrassments as red shift. Spectroscopy is really a superfluous step, but we do it because we’re geared to record and analyze light, here. Once we retool to orient on the original impulse, our accuracy will multiply a hundredfold.”
    “It grinds that fine?”
    “That fine, Ivo. We’re just beginning to glimpse the potential of this technique. The macroscope is a larger step toward universal knowledge than ever atomics were toward universal power.”
    “So I have heard. But I’m sort of stupid, as you know. You were about to tell me what makes superior definition so difficult to adapt to, even with the computer guidance.”
    “So I were. Here is the surface of Earth, fifty feet above sea-level, looking down. Another keyed-in location.”
    The screen became a shifting band of color.
    “Let me guess again. Your snoop is stationary, right? And the globe is turning at the equivalent of a thousand miles an hour. It’s like flying a jet at low altitude near the equator and peering out through the bombsight.”
    “For a pacifist, you have violent imagery. But yes, just about. Sometimes over ocean, sometimes land, sometimes
under
mountains that rise above the pickup level. And if we move higher—” He adjusted the controls, and the scene jumped into focus.
    “About a mile up,” Ivo said. “Makes the scene clear, but too far for intimate inspection. Yes.” He watched the land sliding by. “Why don’t we just see a panel of air? What we have now is a
light
image, perspective and everything.”
    “What we see is the retranslation of the macronic image sponsored by visible radiation passing through that point in space. Maybe I’d better give you the technical data after all.”
    “Uh-
uh
. Just answer me this: if it’s that sharp on planet Earth from five light-seconds, can it also handle other planets? Can it look at Jupiter from one mile up, or even Pluto? If it can—”
    The headgear tilted as Brad nodded somberly. “You begin to comprehend what a magnificent tool we have here. Yes, we can explore the other planets of our solar system, from one mile above ground level — those that have ground — or one inch or anywhere inside. We can also explore similarly the planets of other systems, with so little loss of definition that distance can be ignored.”
    “Other systems…” This was distinctly more than he had anticipated. “How far — ?”
    “Almost anywhere in the galaxy. There is interference from overlapping images near the galactic center that complicates things tremendously, I admit, but the evidence is that there is more than enough of interest elsewhere to hold us for a few centuries of research.”
    Ivo shook his head. “I must be misunderstanding you. As I make it, our Milky Way galaxy is over a hundred and ten thousand light-years across, and we’re about thirty-five thousand light-years from the center. Are you claiming that you can get a life-sized image from ground level of a planet orbiting a star, oh, fifty thousand light-years away?”
    “Yes, theoretically.”
    “Then that’s the key to interstellar exploration — without the need for physical travel. Why drive to the show when you can see it on TV?”
    “Precisely. But we are hampered by those mundane practicalities just discussed. We can compensate to a considerable extent for rotary and orbital and stellar motions — but not every planet is the sitting duck Earth is.” He twitched a finger and