title: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
author:  Carl Sagan 
description: "FASCINATING . . . MEMORABLE . . . REVEALING . . . PERHAPS THE BEST OF CARL SAGAN'S BOOKS."<br />--The Washington Post Book World (front page review) <br />In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time. <br />Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier--space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race. <br />"TAKES READERS FAR BEYOND Cosmos . . . Sagan sees humanity's future in the stars."<br />--Chicago Tribune
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  THRESHOLD
  
  
  **Janet and Chris Morris**
  
  
  Copyright © Paradise Productions, 1990
  
  
  ISBN: 0-451-45084-1
  
  
  e-book ver. 1.0
  
  
  This novel is dedicated to Herbert L. Ort—mentor, business manager, spiritual
  guide—with love and respect: Without your wisdom, kindness, and unceasing
  care, Herb, life would not be half so sweet.
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 1
  
  
  ### Deja Vu
  
  
  
  
  
  Past a sprinkle of asteroids in the foreground of his synthetic-aperture lidar
  screen, beyond a red crescent that ought to be Mars, was the blue-green dot of
  Earth.
  
  
  Or so the pilot's astronics were indicating. Captain Joseph South, U.S. Space
  Command, had learned to distrust his artificially intelligent "expert"
  astrogation system on this bad-luck test flight. Nothing had gone as planned
  during the maiden interstellar spongejump of the X-99A testbed he was
  piloting, beyond the mission being—so far—survivable.
  
  
  But the X-99A had never outright lied to him. And lidar returns, any test
  pilot knew, were as trustworthy a