Contact

by Carl Sagan

“Why do I get the feeling that sex is high on the list of imports from Earth?” she asked a little reluctantly. “Oh, it is, it is. There’s lots of reasons. The clientele, the location. But the main reason is zero g. In zero g you can do things at eighty you never thought possible at twenty. You ought to take a vacation up here—with your boyfriend. Consider it a definite invitation.” “Ninety,” said Yamagishi. “I beg your pardon?” “You can do things at ninety you didn’t dream of at twenty. That’s what Yamagishi-san is saying. That’s why everyone wants to come up here.”

Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars. —GUSTAVE FLAUBERT Madame Bovary (1857)

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.