> Well, let me try, though I should probably re-
>read the story before I post.
>
> OK, wouldn't the computer realize that there
>was no intelligent life and not wake the people
>up-- after all, it couldn't recognize the
>obvious abnormality that the statues
>represented... I think I read that.

DINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDINGDING!

We have a WINNAH!

The stated reason for the Envoys to be on the ship was so they could make First Contact. It's explicitly stated that they have no power to control where they go, what they do, or anything. In short, as Craig says at the end, they're nothing more than free samples.

Also, it's stated that the ship they are in is sealed tight, and that it is not built to survive entry into an atmosphere of any significance. Presumably the people who built it figured that whomever found it would be advanced enough to get the humans out without exposing them to vacuum or anything like that, if they were so inclined. And if they *weren't* inclined to do anything like that, or if they weren't advanced enough to get into the ship in the first place, then the people who sent the ship didn't want to have anything to do with these aliens. The implied reason (it may be stated outright, I don't remember) for sending the Envoys is to find aliens advanced enough to be able to return these "free samples" to Earth within their lifetime, i.e. faster than light. Earthlings want to be able to travel the stars, but apparently they've stagnated to the point where they're either not able to discover a convenient way to do it themselves, or they've degenerated to the point where they think sending people on one-way suicide missions is the most efficient way of achieving this goal.

So, if these humans are so unnecessary, why the heck does the computer keep waking them up at every single stop, even though it has presumably already determined that no intelligent life exists in the system or hasn't yet had enough time to make that determination? All the humans do is dirty some air that will have to be recycled for them, eat food that they presumably have only a finite supply of, and create waste that will have to be dispossed of in some way. There is *no point* in waking them up until you're absolutely *certain* that you'll need them to be awake. And besides that, taking everything the way I have spelled it out here, do you really *need* them to be awake? Or even alive? If we humans discovered a strange, dead creature orbiting our world in a sealed ship, we'd pretty much understand that it must have come from some sort of advanced civilization--and if that ship was broadcasting a signal we were somehow able to decipher (or at least figure out that it contains information, and isn't just white noise) we'd probably figure out that the being inside was a member of an intelligent race able to travel the stars, and not the terrestrial equivalent of a dog or squirrel.

When I had this flaw pointed otu to me, I almost had an epileptic fit. I thought that I might be able to get away with saying that the humans needed to be "unfrozen" periodically so they wouldn't die in cryosleep, but that would presumably be done on some regular basis, and statistically they'd be much more likely to be waking up in deep space than near a star. And since the trip to each new star takes a different amount of time than the last one, I can't even say that that's a good enough schedule, because obviously it wouldn't be.

No, the only reason for the computer to wake up the Envoys at each stop is so that I can have a story--otherwise the story would consist of three guys sleeping. And it'd take a major restructuring of the story in order to make it any different. But since it's not that great a story to begin with, that might not be such a bad thing.

>
> Well, that's m' best guess, for the moment.

And a good guess it was, too. If you send me your name and address (and whether you prefer the signed manuscript or the blank pages) I'll send your prize out ASAP.

>
> BTW, you do realize this is one of the best
>ways to destroy any self-esteem you had about
>the story, don't you? Offering a prize for
>people to find stuff wrong with it just lets all
>of point out flaws that aren't really flaws,
>just misinterperetations, leading you to
>[possibly] believe that you were way too subtle
>for the audience and/or didn't explain things
>clearly enough? At least, that's prob'ly what
>I'd think.
>

Eh, it's not a very good story anyway, and not one I'm especially proud of. *I'm* not even certain what I was tyring to accomplish with it. The whole thing grew out of me having a flash image in my mind of a human-shaped statue orbiting an Earth-like planet. It grew from that, and it never really came together so that I knew what I was trying to say with it. So go ahead and nit-pick away. This is one story that will probably stay on in the bottom drawer forever.