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diff --git a/23767.txt b/23767.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..772241f --- /dev/null +++ b/23767.txt @@ -0,0 +1,841 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Talkative Tree, by Horace Brown Fyfe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Talkative Tree + +Author: Horace Brown Fyfe + +Release Date: December 8, 2007 [EBook #23767] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALKATIVE TREE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Jana Srna and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +By H. B. Fyfe + + +THE TALKATIVE TREE + + + Dang vines! Beats all how some plants + have no manners--but what do you expect, + when they used to be men! + + +All things considered--the obscure star, the undetermined damage to the +stellar drive and the way the small planet's murky atmosphere defied +precision scanners--the pilot made a reasonably good landing. Despite +sour feelings for the space service of Haurtoz, steward Peter Kolin had +to admit that casualties might have been far worse. + +Chief Steward Slichow led his little command, less two third-class +ration keepers thought to have been trapped in the lower hold, to a +point two hundred meters from the steaming hull of the _Peace State_. He +lined them up as if on parade. Kolin made himself inconspicuous. + +"Since the crew will be on emergency watches repairing the damage," +announced the Chief in clipped, aggressive tones, "I have volunteered my +section for preliminary scouting, as is suitable. It may be useful to +discover temporary sources in this area of natural foods." + +_Volunteered HIS section!_ thought Kolin rebelliously. + +_Like the Supreme Director of Haurtoz! Being conscripted into this +idiotic space fleet that never fights is bad enough without a tin god on +jets like Slichow!_ + +Prudently, he did not express this resentment overtly. + +His well-schooled features revealed no trace of the idea--or of any +other idea. The Planetary State of Haurtoz had been organized some +fifteen light-years from old Earth, but many of the home world's less +kindly techniques had been employed. Lack of complete loyalty to the +state was likely to result in a siege of treatment that left the subject +suitably "re-personalized." Kolin had heard of instances wherein mere +unenthusiastic posture had betrayed intentions to harbor treasonable +thoughts. + +"You will scout in five details of three persons each," Chief Slichow +said. "Every hour, each detail will send one person in to report, and he +will be replaced by one of the five I shall keep here to issue rations." + +Kolin permitted himself to wonder when anyone might get some rest, but +assumed a mildly willing look. (Too eager an attitude could arouse +suspicion of disguising an improper viewpoint.) The maintenance of a +proper viewpoint was a necessity if the Planetary State were to survive +the hostile plots of Earth and the latter's decadent colonies. That, at +least, was the official line. + +Kolin found himself in a group with Jak Ammet, a third cook, and Eva +Yrtok, powdered foods storekeeper. Since the crew would be eating +packaged rations during repairs, Yrtok could be spared to command a +scout detail. + +Each scout was issued a rocket pistol and a plastic water tube. Chief +Slichow emphasized that the keepers of rations could hardly, in an +emergency, give even the appearance of favoring themselves in regard to +food. They would go without. Kolin maintained a standard expression as +the Chief's sharp stare measured them. + +Yrtok, a dark, lean-faced girl, led the way with a quiet monosyllable. +She carried the small radio they would be permitted to use for messages +of utmost urgency. Ammet followed, and Kolin brought up the rear. + + * * * * * + +To reach their assigned sector, they had to climb a forbidding ridge of +rock within half a kilometer. Only a sparse creeper grew along their +way, its elongated leaves shimmering with bronze-green reflections +against a stony surface; but when they topped the ridge a thick forest +was in sight. + +Yrtok and Ammet paused momentarily before descending. + +Kolin shared their sense of isolation. They would be out of sight of +authority and responsible for their own actions. It was a strange +sensation. + +They marched down into the valley at a brisk pace, becoming more aware +of the clouds and atmospheric haze. Distant objects seemed blurred by +the mist, taking on a somber, brooding grayness. For all Kolin could +tell, he and the others were isolated in a world bounded by the rocky +ridge behind them and a semi-circle of damp trees and bushes several +hundred meters away. He suspected that the hills rising mistily ahead +were part of a continuous slope, but could not be sure. + +Yrtok led the way along the most nearly level ground. Low creepers +became more plentiful, interspersed with scrubby thickets of tangled, +spike-armored bushes. Occasionally, small flying things flickered among +the foliage. Once, a shrub puffed out an enormous cloud of tiny spores. + +"Be a job to find anything edible here," grunted Ammet, and Kolin +agreed. + +Finally, after a longer hike than he had anticipated, they approached +the edge of the deceptively distant forest. Yrtok paused to examine some +purple berries glistening dangerously on a low shrub. Kolin regarded the +trees with misgiving. + +"Looks as tough to get through as a tropical jungle," he remarked. + +"I think the stuff puts out shoots that grow back into the ground to +root as they spread," said the woman. "Maybe we can find a way through." + +In two or three minutes, they reached the abrupt border of the +odd-looking trees. + +Except for one thick trunked giant, all of them were about the same +height. They craned their necks to estimate the altitude of the monster, +but the top was hidden by the wide spread of branches. The depths behind +it looked dark and impenetrable. + +"We'd better explore along the edge," decided Yrtok. "Ammet, now is the +time to go back and tell the Chief which way we're--_Ammet!_" + +Kolin looked over his shoulder. Fifty meters away, Ammet sat beside the +bush with the purple berries, utterly relaxed. + +"He must have tasted some!" exclaimed Kolin. "I'll see how he is." + +He ran back to the cook and shook him by the shoulder. Ammet's head +lolled loosely to one side. His rather heavy features were vacant, +lending him a doped appearance. Kolin straightened up and beckoned to +Yrtok. + +For some reason, he had trouble attracting her attention. Then he +noticed that she was kneeling. + +"Hope she didn't eat some stupid thing too!" he grumbled, trotting back. + +As he reached her, whatever Yrtok was examining came to life and scooted +into the underbrush with a flash of greenish fur. All Kolin saw was that +it had several legs too many. + +He pulled Yrtok to her feet. She pawed at him weakly, eyes as vacant as +Ammet's. When he let go in sudden horror, she folded gently to the +ground. She lay comfortably on her side, twitching one hand as if to +brush something away. + +When she began to smile dreamily, Kolin backed away. + + * * * * * + +The corners of his mouth felt oddly stiff; they had involuntarily drawn +back to expose his clenched teeth. He glanced warily about, but nothing +appeared to threaten him. + +"It's time to end this scout," he told himself. "It's dangerous. One +good look and I'm jetting off! What I need is an easy tree to climb." + +He considered the massive giant. Soaring thirty or forty meters into the +thin fog and dwarfing other growth, it seemed the most promising choice. + +At first, Kolin saw no way, but then the network of vines clinging to +the rugged trunk suggested a route. He tried his weight gingerly, then +began to climb. + +"I should have brought Yrtok's radio," he muttered. "Oh, well, I can +take it when I come down, if she hasn't snapped out of her spell by +then. Funny ... I wonder if that green thing bit her." + +Footholds were plentiful among the interlaced lianas. Kolin progressed +rapidly. When he reached the first thick limbs, twice head height, he +felt safer. + +Later, at what he hoped was the halfway mark, he hooked one knee over a +branch and paused to wipe sweat from his eyes. Peering down, he +discovered the ground to be obscured by foliage. + +"I should have checked from down there to see how open the top is," he +mused. "I wonder how the view will be from up there?" + +"Depends on what you're looking for, Sonny!" something remarked in a +soughing wheeze. + +Kolin, slipping, grabbed desperately for the branch. His fingers +clutched a handful of twigs and leaves, which just barely supported him +until he regained a grip with the other hand. + +The branch quivered resentfully under him. + +"Careful, there!" whooshed the eerie voice. "It took me all summer to +grow those!" + +Kolin could feel the skin crawling along his backbone. + +"Who _are_ you?" he gasped. + +The answering sigh of laughter gave him a distinct chill despite its +suggestion of amiability. + +"Name's Johnny Ashlew. Kinda thought you'd start with _what_ I am. +Didn't figure you'd ever seen a man grown into a tree before." + +Kolin looked about, seeing little but leaves and fog. + +"I have to climb down," he told himself in a reasonable tone. "It's bad +enough that the other two passed out without me going space happy too." + +"What's your hurry?" demanded the voice. "I can talk to you just as easy +all the way down, you know. Airholes in my bark--I'm not like an Earth +tree." + +Kolin examined the bark of the crotch in which he sat. It did seem to +have assorted holes and hollows in its rough surface. + +"I never saw an Earth tree," he admitted. "We came from Haurtoz." + +"Where's that? Oh, never mind--some little planet. I don't bother with +them all, since I came here and found out I could be anything I wanted." + +"What do you mean, anything you wanted?" asked Kolin, testing the +firmness of a vertical vine. + + * * * * * + +"Just what I said," continued the voice, sounding closer in his ear as +his cheek brushed the ridged bark of the tree trunk. "And, if I do have +to remind you, it would be nicer if you said 'Mr. Ashlew,' considering +my age." + +"Your age? How old--?" + +"Can't really count it in Earth years any more. Lost track. I always +figured bein' a tree was a nice, peaceful life; and when I remembered +how long some of them live, that settled it. Sonny, this world ain't +all it looks like." + +"It isn't, Mr. Ashlew?" asked Kolin, twisting about in an effort to see +what the higher branches might hide. + +"Nope. Most everything here is run by the Life--that is, by the thing +that first grew big enough to do some thinking, and set its roots down +all over until it had control. That's the outskirts of it down below." + +"The other trees? That jungle?" + +"It's more'n a jungle, Sonny. When I landed here, along with the others +from the _Arcturan Spark_, the planet looked pretty empty to me, just +like it must have to--Watch it, there, Boy! If I didn't twist that +branch over in time, you'd be bouncing off my roots right now!" + +"Th-thanks!" grunted Kolin, hanging on grimly. + +"Doggone vine!" commented the windy whisper. "_He_ ain't one of my +crowd. Landed years later in a ship from some star towards the center of +the galaxy. You should have seen his looks before the Life got in touch +with his mind and set up a mental field to help him change form. He +looks twice as good as a vine!" + +"He's very handy," agreed Kolin politely. He groped for a foothold. + +"Well ... matter of fact, I can't get through to him much, even with the +Life's mental field helping. Guess he started living with a different +way of thinking. It burns me. I thought of being a tree, and then he +came along to take advantage of it!" + +Kolin braced himself securely to stretch tiring muscles. + +"Maybe I'd better stay a while," he muttered. "I don't know where I am." + +"You're about fifty feet up," the sighing voice informed him. "You ought +to let me tell you how the Life helps you change form. You don't _have_ +to be a tree." + +"No?" + +"_Uh_-uh! Some of the boys that landed with me wanted to get around and +see things. Lots changed to animals or birds. One even stayed a man--on +the outside anyway. Most of them have to change as the bodies wear out, +which I don't, and some made bad mistakes tryin' to be things they saw +on other planets." + +"I wouldn't want to do that, Mr. Ashlew." + +"There's just one thing. The Life don't like taking chances on word +about this place gettin' around. It sorta believes in peace and quiet. +You might not get back to your ship in any form that could tell tales." + +"Listen!" Kolin blurted out. "I wasn't so much enjoying being what I was +that getting back matters to me!" + +"Don't like your home planet, whatever the name was?" + +"Haurtoz. It's a rotten place. A Planetary State! You have to think and +even look the way that's standard thirty hours a day, asleep or awake. +You get scared to sleep for fear you might _dream_ treason and they'd +find out somehow." + +"Whooeee! Heard about them places. Must be tough just to live." + +Suddenly, Kolin found himself telling the tree about life on Haurtoz, +and of the officially announced threats to the Planetary State's planned +expansion. He dwelt upon the desperation of having no place to hide in +case of trouble with the authorities. A multiple system of such worlds +was agonizing to imagine. + + * * * * * + +Somehow, the oddity of talking to a tree wore off. Kolin heard opinions +spouting out which he had prudently kept bottled up for years. + +The more he talked and stormed and complained, the more relaxed he felt. + +"If there was ever a fellow ready for this planet," decided the tree +named Ashlew, "you're it, Sonny! Hang on there while I signal the Life +by root!" + +Kolin sensed a lack of direct attention. The rustle about him was +natural, caused by an ordinary breeze. He noticed his hands shaking. + +"Don't know what got into me, talking that way to a tree," he muttered. +"If Yrtok snapped out of it and heard, I'm as good as re-personalized +right now." + +As he brooded upon the sorry choice of arousing a search by hiding where +he was or going back to bluff things out, the tree spoke. + +"Maybe you're all set, Sonny. The Life has been thinkin' of learning +about other worlds. If you can think of a safe form to jet off in, you +might make yourself a deal. How'd you like to stay here?" + +"I don't know," said Kolin. "The penalty for desertion--" + +"Whoosh! Who'd find you? You could be a bird, a tree, even a cloud." + +Silenced but doubting, Kolin permitted himself to try the dream on for +size. + +He considered what form might most easily escape the notice of search +parties and still be tough enough to live a long time without renewal. +Another factor slipped into his musings: mere hope of escape was +unsatisfying after the outburst that had defined his fuming hatred for +Haurtoz. + +_I'd better watch myself!_ he thought. _Don't drop diamonds to grab at +stars!_ + +"What I wish I could do is not just get away but get even for the way +they make us live ... the whole damn set-up. They could just as easy +make peace with the Earth colonies. You know why they don't?" + +"Why?" wheezed Ashlew. + +"They're scared that without talk of war, and scouting for Earth fleets +that never come, people would have time to think about the way they have +to live and who's running things in the Planetary State. Then the gravy +train would get blown up--and I mean blown up!" + +The tree was silent for a moment. Kolin felt the branches stir +meditatively. Then Ashlew offered a suggestion. + +"I could tell the Life your side of it," he hissed. "Once in with us, +you can always make thinking connections, no matter how far away. Maybe +you could make a deal to kill two birds with one stone, as they used to +say on Earth...." + + * * * * * + +Chief Steward Slichow paced up and down beside the ration crate turned +up to serve him as a field desk. He scowled in turn, impartially, at his +watch and at the weary stewards of his headquarters detail. The latter +stumbled about, stacking and distributing small packets of emergency +rations. + +The line of crewmen released temporarily from repair work was transient +as to individuals but immutable as to length. Slichow muttered something +profane about disregard of orders as he glared at the rocky ridges +surrounding the landing place. + +He was so intent upon planning greetings with which to favor the tardy +scouting parties that he failed to notice the loose cloud drifting over +the ridge. + +It was tenuous, almost a haze. Close examination would have revealed it +to be made up of myriads of tiny spores. They resembled those cast forth +by one of the bushes Kolin's party had passed. Along the edges, the haze +faded raggedly into thin air, but the units evidently formed a cohesive +body. They drifted together, approaching the men as if taking +intelligent advantage of the breeze. + +One of Chief Slichow's staggering flunkies, stealing a few seconds of +relaxation on the pretext of dumping an armful of light plastic packing, +wandered into the haze. + +He froze. + +After a few heartbeats, he dropped the trash and stared at ship and men +as if he had never seen either. A hail from his master moved him. + +"Coming, Chief!" he called but, returning at a moderate pace, he +murmured, "My name is Frazer. I'm a second assistant steward. I'll think +as Unit One." + +Throughout the cloud of spores, the mind formerly known as Peter Kolin +congratulated itself upon its choice of form. + +_Nearer to the original shape of the Life than Ashlew got_, he thought. + +He paused to consider the state of the tree named Ashlew, half immortal +but rooted to one spot, unable to float on a breeze or through space +itself on the pressure of light. Especially, it was unable to insinuate +any part of itself into the control center of another form of life, as a +second spore was taking charge of the body of Chief Slichow at that very +instant. + +_There are not enough men_, thought Kolin. _Some of me must drift +through the airlock. In space, I can spread through the air system to +the command group._ + +Repairs to the _Peace State_ and the return to Haurtoz passed like weeks +to some of the crew but like brief moments in infinity to other units. +At last, the ship parted the air above Headquarters City and landed. + +The unit known as Captain Theodor Kessel hesitated before descending the +ramp. He surveyed the field, the city and the waiting team of inspecting +officers. + +"Could hardly be better, could it?" he chuckled to the companion unit +called Security Officer Tarth. + +"Hardly, sir. All ready for the liberation of Haurtoz." + +"Reformation of the Planetary State," mused the captain, smiling +dreamily as he grasped the handrail. "And then--formation of the +Planetary Mind!" + + +END + + + [ Transcriber's Note: + This e-text was produced from Worlds of If January 1962. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on + this publication was renewed. + ] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Talkative Tree, by Horace Brown Fyfe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALKATIVE TREE *** + +***** This file should be named 23767.txt or 23767.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/6/23767/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Jana Srna and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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