has recorded Terrestrial archaeology and history;
has incorporated millions of human minds;
studies current biology and geology;
"emulates" real and alternative Terrestrial histories.
An emulated population comprises conscious individuals perceiving their environment and each other but not suspecting that they are encompassed by a superior intelligence at one remove from the material universe that they seem to inhabit.
No emulated environment can as yet have a one to one correspondence to the external environment. Stars are mere points of light. Only a limited locality is fully detailed. The antipodes are simplified. Thus, even the weather in the inhabited region does not correspond to the weather in the original environment from which the emulation was copied. (It would be interesting to enter an emulated Earth, then mount an expedition to its antipodes. The environment becomes less complete with increased distance from the center of activity.)
While Wayfarer examines external records, he differentiates Christian Brannock to enter and explore emulations. Thus, the Brannock who died long ago finds himself alive and young again in a garden...
This never happened to Nicholas van Rijn - but we are in a very different future history reflecting a later stage of speculation about mankind in the universe. Of course, van Rijn's religion envisaged some such apotheosis but somewhere outside this universe. Is it possible that an extracosmic intelligence has intervened and will immortalize some or all organic intelligences? Van Rijn believed it. His later coreligionist, Fr Axor, sought to prove it. Need I say again that Poul Anderson covers every option?
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