2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey #1)

by Arthur C. Clarke

Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.

Of all the creatures who had yet walked on Earth, the man-apes were the first to look steadfastly at the Moon.

Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy—of dissatisfaction with his life. He had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.

Unlike the animals, who knew only the present, Man had acquired a past; and he was beginning to grope toward a future.

The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be.

But with that knowledge there came again an aching awareness of the immensity of Time. Whatever had passed this way had missed mankind by a hundred thousand generations.

It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand; but perhaps men were barbarians, beside the creatures who had made this thing.

Within an hour, 7794 was a dwindling star, showing no trace of a disk. When Bowman next came on watch it had vanished completely. They were alone again;

(One day, somebody had predicted, Earth would have a ring like Saturn’s, composed entirely of lost bolts, fasteners, and even tools that had escaped from careless orbital construction workers.)

And yet, in one very real sense, he was not alone. Before he could be safe, he must be lonelier still.

But no one had ever given the slightest thought to the curious coincidence that the rings of Saturn had been born at the same time as the human race.