Charlton Heston, R.I.P.

Charlton Heston, who starred in three of the best remembered science-fiction films of the 1960s and 1970s -- Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and The Omega Man -- died yesterday at the age of 84. Rest in peace, Chuck.

Charlton Heston as Col. George Taylor in Planet of the Apes:

And that completes my final report until we reach touchdown. We're now on full automatic, in the hands of the computers. I have tucked my crew in for the long sleep and I'll be joining them soon. In less than an hour, we'll finish our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy. Six months in deep space -- by our time, that is.

According to Dr. Hasslein's theory of time, in a vehicle traveling nearly the speed of light, the Earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it, while we've aged hardly at all.

Maybe so. This much is probably true -- the men who sent us on this journey are long since dead and gone. You who are reading me now are a different breed -- I hope a better one.

I leave the 20th century with no regrets. But one more thing -- if anybody's listening, that is. Nothing scientific. It's purely personal. But seen from out here everything seems different. Time bends. Space is boundless. It squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely.

That's about it. Tell me, though. Does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother? Keep his neighbor's children starving?

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site