Insufficient Data for Meaningful Answer

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov (st 1956
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when
humanity first stepped into the light- The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet
over highballs, and it happened this way:
Alexander Adel! and Bertram were two of the faithful attendants of . As well
as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, sticking, flashing face -
mites and miles of face - of that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the
general plan of relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any
single human could possibly have a firm grasp ofthe whole.
Multivax was and . It had to he, for nothing human could adjust
and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough -- so Adell and attended
the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it
data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued
Certainty they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share In the glory that was
For decades, had helped design the ships and plot the trajectories that enabled
man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, out past that, Earth' s poor resources could not
support the ships. Too much energy was needed for the long trips. Earth exploited its coal
and uranium with increasing efficiency, but there was only so much of both.
But slowly learned enough to answer deeper questions more fundamentally, and
on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became tact.
The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a scale.
All Earth turned on its burning coal, its uranium, and flipped the switch that
connected all orioto a small station, one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at
distance ofthe Moon. All Earth ran by invisible beams of gunpower.
Seven days had not sufficed to dim the glory of it and Adel! and finally managed to
escape from the public function, and to meet in quiet where no one would think of looking
farther, in the deserted underground chambers, where portions ofthe mighty buried body
of showed. Unattended, idling, sorting data with contented lazy blockings, ,
too, had earned its vacation and the boys appreciated that. They had no intention,
originally, of disturbing it.
They had brought a bottle with them, and their only concern at the moment was to relax in
the company of each other and the bottle.
It' s amazing when you think of it," said Adell- His broad face had lines of weariness in it,
and he stirred his drink slowly with a glass rod, watching the cubes of ice slur clumsily
about. "All the energy we can possibly ever use for free. Enough energy, hm wanted to
draw on it, to melt all Earth into a big drop of impure liquid iron, and still never miss the
energy so used- All the energy we could ever use, forever and forever and forever-"
cocked his head sideways- He had a trick of doing that when he wanted to be
contrary, and he wanted to be contrary now, partly because he had had to carry the ice and
glassware. "Not forever," he said-
Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert."
That' s not "