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diff --git a/25567.txt b/25567.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16fb45c --- /dev/null +++ b/25567.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1361 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Impact, by Irving E. Cox + +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: Impact + +Author: Irving E. Cox + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25567] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IMPACT *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Andrew Wainwright and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + IMPACT + + By IRVING E. COX, Jr. + + Illustrated by GRAYAM + + _They were languorous, anarchic, shameless + in their pleasures ... were they lower + than man ... or higher?_ + + +Over the cabin 'phone, Ann's voice was crisp with anger. "Mr. Lord, I must +see you at once." + +"Of course, Ann." Lord tried not to sound uncordial. It was all part of a +trade agent's job, to listen to the recommendations and complaints of the +teacher. But an interview with Ann Howard was always so arduous, so stiff +with unrelieved righteousness. "I should be free until--" + +"Can you come down to the schoolroom, Mr. Lord?" + +"If it's necessary. But I told you yesterday, there's nothing we can do to +make them take the lessons." + +"I understand your point of view, Mr. Lord." Her words were barely civil, +brittle shafts of ice. "However, this concerns Don; he's gone." + +"Gone? Where?" + +"Jumped ship." + +"Are you sure, Ann? How long ago?" + +"I rather imagined you'd be interested," she answered with smug +satisfaction. "Naturally you'll want to see his note. I'll be waiting for +you." + +The 'phone clicked decisively as she broke the connection. Impotent fury +lashed Lord's mind--anger at Don Howard, because the engineer was one of +his key men; and, childishly, anger at Don's sister because she was the one +who had broken the news. If it had come from almost anyone else it would, +somehow, have seemed less disastrous. Don's was the fourth desertion in +less than a week, and the loss of trained personnel was becoming serious +aboard the _Ceres_. But what did Ann Howard expect Lord to do about it? +This was a trading ship; he had no military authority over his crew. + +As Lord stood up, his desk chair collapsed with a quiet hiss against the +cabin wall, and, on greased tubes, the desk dropped out of sight beneath +the bunk bed, giving Lord the luxury of an uncluttered floor space eight +feet square. He had the only private quarters on the ship--the usual +distinction reserved for a trade agent in command. + +From a narrow wardrobe, curved to fit the projectile walls of the ship, +Lord took a lightweight jacket, marked with the tooled shoulder insignia of +command. He smiled a little as he put it on. He was Martin Lord, trade +agent and heir to the fabulous industrial-trading empire of Hamilton Lord, +Inc.; yet he was afraid to face Ann Howard without the visible trappings of +authority. + + * * * * * + +He descended the spiral stairway to the midship airlock, a lead-walled +chamber directly above the long power tubes of the _Ceres_. The lock door +hung open, making an improvised landing porch fifty feet above the charred +ground. Lord paused for a moment at the head of the runged landing ladder. +Below him, in the clearing where the ship had come down, he saw the rows of +plastic prefabs which his crew had thrown up--laboratories, sleeping +quarters, a kitchen, and Ann Howard's schoolroom. + +Beyond the clearing was the edge of the magnificent forest which covered so +much of this planet. Far away, in the foothills of a distant mountain +range, Lord saw the houses of a village, gleaming in the scarlet blaze of +the setting sun. A world at peace, uncrowded, unscarred by the feverish +excavation and building of man. A world at the zenith of its native +culture, about to be jerked awake by the rude din of civilization. Lord +felt a twinge of the same guilt that had tormented his mind since the +_Ceres_ had first landed, and with an effort he drove it from his mind. + +He descended the ladder and crossed the clearing, still blackened from the +landing blast; he pushed open the sliding door of the schoolroom. It was +large and pleasantly yellow-walled, crowded with projectors, view-booths, +stereo-miniatures, and picture books--all the visual aids which Ann Howard +would have used to teach the natives the cultural philosophy of the +Galactic Federation. But the rows of seats were empty, and the gleaming +machines still stood in their cases. For no one had come to Ann's school, +in spite of her extravagant offers of trade goods. + +Ann sat waiting, ramrod straight, in front of a green-tinged projectoscope. +She made no compromise with the heat, which had driven the men to strip +to their fatigue shorts. Ann wore the full, formal uniform. A less +strong-willed woman might have appeared wilted after a day's work. Ann's +face was expressionless, a block of cold ivory. Only a faint mist of +perspiration on her upper lip betrayed her acute discomfort. + +"You came promptly, Mr. Lord." There was a faint gleam of triumph in her +eyes. "That was good of you." + +She unfolded her brother's note and gave it to Lord. It was a clear, +straight-forward statement of fact. Don Howard said he was deserting the +mission, relinquishing his Federation citizenship. "I'm staying on this +world; these people have something priceless, Ann. All my life I've been +looking for it, dreaming of it. You wouldn't understand how I feel, but +nothing else--nothing else--matters, Ann. Go home. Leave these people +alone. Don't try to make them over." + +The last lines rang in sympathy with Lord's own feelings, and he knew that +was absurd. Changes would have to be made when the trade city was built. +That was Lord's business. Expansion and progress: the lifeblood of the +Federation. + +"What do you want me to do?" he demanded. + +"Go after Don and bring him back." + +"And if he refuses--" + +"I won't leave him here." + +"I have no authority to force him against his will, Ann." + +"I'm sure you can get help from this--" her lip curled "--this native girl +of yours. What's her name?" + +"Niaga." + +"Oh, yes; Niaga. Quaint, isn't it?" She smiled flatly. + +He felt an almost irresistible urge to smash his fist into her jaw. +Straight-laced, hopelessly blind to every standard but her own--what right +did Ann have to pass judgment on Niaga? It was a rhetorical question. +Ann Howard represented the Federation no less than Lord did himself. By +law, the teachers rode every trading ship; in the final analysis, their +certification could make or break any new planetary franchise. + + * * * * * + +"Niaga has been very helpful, Ann; cooperative and--" + +"Oh, I'm sure she has, Mr. Lord." + +"I could threaten to cut off Don's bonus pay, I suppose, but it wouldn't do +much good; money has no meaning to these people and, if Don intends to stay +here, it won't mean much to him, either." + +"How you do it, Mr. Lord, is not my concern. But if Don doesn't go home +with us--" She favored him with another icy smile. "I'm afraid I'll have to +make an adverse report when you apply for the franchise." + +"You can't, Ann!" Lord was more surprised than angry. "Only in the case of +a primitive and belligerent culture--" + +"I've seen no evidence of technology here." She paused. "And not the +slightest indication that these people have any conception of moral +values." + +"Not by our standards, no; but we've never abandoned a planet for that +reason alone." + +"I know what you're thinking, Mr. Lord. Men like you--the traders and +the businessmen and the builders--you've never understood a teacher's +responsibility. You make the big noise in the Federation; but we hold it +together for you. I'm not particularly disturbed by the superficials I've +seen here. The indecent dress of these people, their indolent villages, +their congenital irresponsibility--all that disgusts me, but it has not +affected my analysis. There's something else here--something far more +terrible and more dangerous for us. I can't put it in words. It's horrible +and it's deadly; it's the reason why our men have deserted. They've had +attractive women on other worlds--in the trade cities, anything money +could buy--but they never jumped ship before." + +"A certain percentage always will, Ann." Lord hoped he sounded reassuring, +but he felt anything but reassured himself. Not because of what she said. +These naive, altogether delightful people were harmless. But could the +charming simplicity of their lives survive the impact of civilization? It +was this world that was in danger, not by any stretch of the imagination +the Federation. + + * * * * * + +As the thought occurred to him, he shrank from it with a kind of inner +terror. It was heresy. The Federation represented the closest approximation +of perfection mortal man would ever know: a brotherhood of countless +species, a union of a thousand planets, created by the ingenuity and the +energy of man. The Pax Humana; how could it be a threat to any people +anywhere? + +"That would be my recommendation." Suddenly Ann's self-assurance collapsed. +She reached for his hand; her fingers were cold and trembling. "But, if you +bring Don back, I--I won't report against a franchise." + +"You're offering to make a deal? You know the penalty--" + +"Collusion between a trade agent and the teacher assigned to his ship--yes, +I know the law, Mr. Lord." + +"You're willing to violate it for Don? Why? Your brother's a big boy now; +he's old enough to look after himself." + +Ann Howard turned away from him and her voice dropped to a whisper. "He +isn't my brother, Mr. Lord. We had to sign on that way because your company +prohibits a man and wife sailing in the same crew." + +In that moment she stripped her soul bare to him. Poor, plain, +conscientious Ann Howard! Fighting to hold her man; fighting the unknown +odds of an alien world, the stealthy seduction of an amoral people. Lord +understood Ann, then, for the first time; he saw the shadow of madness +that crept across her mind; and he pitied her. + +"I'll do what I can," he promised. + +As he left the schoolroom she collapsed in a straight-backed chair--thin +and unattractive, like Ann herself--and her shoulders shook with silent, +bitter grief. + + * * * * * + +Martin Lord took the familiar path to Niaga's village. The setting sun +still spread its dying fire across the evening sky, but he walked slowly +through the deep, quiet shadows of the forest. He came to the stream where +he had met Niaga; he paused to dip his sweat-smeared face into the cool +water cascading over a five foot fall. + +A pleasant flood of memory crowded his mind. When he had first met Niaga, +almost a week before, she had been lying on the sandy bank of the stream, +idly plaiting a garland of red and blue flowers. Niaga! A copper-skinned +goddess, stark naked and unashamed in the bright spot light of sun filtered +through the trees. Languorous, laughing lips; long, black hair loosely +caught in a net of filmy material that hung across her shoulder. + +The feeling of guilt and shame had stabbed at Lord's mind. He had come, +unasked, into an Eden. He didn't belong here. His presence meant pillage, a +rifling of a sacred dream. The landing had been a mistake. + +Oddly enough, the _Ceres_ had landed here entirely by chance, the result of +a boyish fling at adventure. + +Martin Lord was making a routine tour of representative trade cities before +assuming his vice-presidency in the central office of Hamilton Lord, Inc. +It had been a family custom for centuries, ever since the first domed ports +had been built on Mars and Venus. + +Lord was twenty-six and, like all the family, tall, slim, yellow-haired. +As the Lords had for generations, Martin had attended the Chicago +University of Commerce for four years, and the Princeton Graduate School +in Interstellar Engineering four more--essential preparations for the +successful Federation trader. In Chicago Martin had absorbed the basic +philosophy of the Federation: the union of planets and diverse peoples, +created by trade, was an economy eternally prosperous and eternally +growing, because the number of undiscovered and unexploited planets +was infinite. The steady expansion of the trade cities kept demand +always one jump ahead of supply; every merchant was assured that this +year's profits would always be larger than last. It was the financial +millennium, from which depression and recession had been forever +eliminated. At Princeton Lord had learned the practical physics +necessary for building, servicing and piloting the standard interstellar +merchant ships. + +Martin Lord's tour of the trade cities completed his education. It was his +first actual contact with reality. The economy of progress, which had +seemed so clear-cut in the Chicago lecture halls, was translated into a +brawling, vice-ridden, frontier city. In the older trade cities, the +culture of man had come to dominate the occupied worlds. No trace of what +alien peoples had been or had believed survived, except as museum oddities. + +This, Lord admitted to himself, was conquest, by whatever innocuous name it +passed. But was it for good or evil? In the first shock of reality, Martin +Lord had doubted himself and the destiny of the Federation. But only for a +moment. What he saw was good--he had been taught to believe that--because +the Federation was perfection. + +But the doubt, like a cancer, fed and grew in the darkness of Lord's soul. + + * * * * * + +On the home trip a mechanical defect of the calibration of the time-power +carried the _Ceres_ off its course, light years beyond the segment of the +Galaxy occupied by the Federation. + +"We've burned out a relay," Don Howard reported. + +"Have we replacements?" Lord asked. + +"It's no problem to fix. But repairs would be easier if we could set the +ship down somewhere." + +Lord glanced at the unknown sun and three satellite planets which were +plotted electronically on his cabin scanning screen. His pulse leaped with +sudden excitement. This was his first--and last--chance for adventure, the +only interstellar flight he would command in his lifetime. When he returned +to earth, he would be chained for the rest of his days to a desk job, +submerged in a sea of statistical tables and financial statements. + +"Run an atmosphere analysis on those three worlds, Mr. Howard," he said +softly. + +Driven by its auxiliary nuclear power unit, the ship moved closer to the +new solar system. In half an hour Don Howard brought Lord the lab report. +Two of the planets were enveloped in methane, but the third had an +earth-normal atmosphere. Lord gave the order for a landing, his voice +pulsing with poorly concealed, boyish pleasure. + +The _Ceres_ settled on a hilltop, its cushioning rockets burning an +improvised landing area in the lush foliage. As the airlock swung open, +Lord saw half a dozen golden-skinned savages standing on the edge of the +clearing. As nearly as he could judge, they were men; but that was not +too surprising, because a number of planets in the Federation had evolved +sentient species which resembled man. The savages were unarmed and nearly +naked--tall, powerfully built men; they seemed neither awed nor frightened +by the ship. + +Over the circle of scorched earth Lord heard the sound of their voices. For +a fleeting second the words seemed to make sense--a clear, unmistakable +welcome to the new world. + +But communication was inconceivable. This planet was far beyond the fringe +of the Federation. Lord was letting his imagination run away with him. + +He flung out his arms in a universally accepted gesture of open-handed +friendship. At once the talk of the natives ceased. They stood waiting +silently on the burned ground while the men unwound the landing ladder. + + * * * * * + +Lord made the initial contact himself. The techniques which he had learned +in the University of Commerce proved enormously successful. Within ten +minutes rapport was established; in twenty the natives had agreed to submit +to the linguistic machines. Lord had read accounts of other trailblazing +commercial expeditions; and he knew he was establishing a record for speed +of negotiation. + +The savages were quite unfrightened as the electrodes were fastened to +their skulls, entirely undisturbed by the whir of the machine. In less than +an hour they were able to use the common language of the Federation. +Another record; most species needed a week's indoctrination. + +Every new development suggested that these half-naked primitives--with +no machine civilization, no cities, no form of space flight--had an +intellectual potential superior to man's. The first question asked +by one of the broad-shouldered savages underscored that conclusion. + +"Have you come to our world as colonists?" + +No mumbo-jumbo of superstition, no awe of strangers who had suddenly +descended upon them from the sky. Lord answered, "We landed in order +to repair our ship, but I hope we can make a trade treaty with your +government." + +For a moment the six men consulted among themselves with a silent exchange +of glances. Then one of them smiled and said, "You must visit our villages +and explain the idea of trade to our people." + +"Of course," Lord agreed. "If you could serve as interpreters--" + +"Our people can learn your language as rapidly as we have, if we can borrow +your language machine for a time." + +Lord frowned. "It's a rather complex device, and I'm not sure--you see, if +something went wrong, you might do a great deal of harm." + +"We would use it just as you did; we saw everything you turned to make it +run." One of the golden-skinned primitives made a demonstration, turning +the console of dials with the ease and familiarity of a semantic expert. +Again Lord was impressed by their intelligence--and vaguely frightened. + +"You could call this the first trade exchange between your world and ours," +another savage added. "Give us the machine; we'll send you fresh food from +the village." + +The argument was logical and eventually the natives had their way. Perhaps +it was Ann Howard's intervention that decided the point. She vehemently +disapproved; a gift of techniques should be withheld until she had +examined their cultural traditions. But Martin Lord was a trade agent, and +he had no intention of allowing his mission to be wrecked by the ephemeral +doubts of a teacher. Here at the onset was the time to make it clear that +he was in command. He gave the natives the machine. + +As the six men trudged across the burned earth carrying the heavy apparatus +easily on their shoulders, Lord wondered if either he or Ann Howard had +much to do with the negotiations. He had an unpleasant feeling that, from +the very beginning, the natives had been in complete control of the +situation. + + * * * * * + +Less than an hour after the six men had departed, a band of natives emerged +from the forest bearing gifts of food--straw baskets heaped with fruit, +fresh meat wrapped in grass mats, hampers of bread, enormous pottery jars +filled with a sweet, cold, milky liquid. Something very close to the +miraculous had occurred. Every native had learned to use the Federation +language. + +A kind of fiesta began in the clearing beside the _Ceres_. The natives +built fires to cook the food. The women, scantily dressed if they were +clothed at all, danced sensuously in the bright sunlight to a peculiarly +exotic, minor-keyed music played on reed and percussion instruments. +Laughing gaily, they enticed members of Lord's crew to join them. + +The milky drink proved mildly intoxicating--yet different from the +stimulants used in the Federation. Lord drank a long draught from a mug +brought him by one of the women. The effect was immediate. He felt no +dulling of his reason, however; no loss of muscular control, but instead +a stealthy relaxation of mental strain joined with a satisfying sense of +physical well-being. A subtle shifting in prospective, in accepted values. + +The savage feast, which grew steadily more boisterous, Lord would have +called an orgy under other circumstances. The word did occur to him, but it +seemed fantastically inapplicable. Normally the behavior of his men would +have demanded the severest kind of disciplinary action. But here the old +code of rules simply didn't apply and he didn't interfere with their +enjoyment. + +The afternoon sun blazed in the western sky; heat in shimmering waves +hung over the clearing. Lord went into the ship and stripped off his +uniform; somehow the glittering insignia, the ornamental braid, the stiff +collar--designed to be impressive symbols of authority--seemed garish and +out of place. Lord put on the shorts which he wore when he exercised in +the capsule gym aboard ship. + +Outside again, he found that most of the men had done the same thing. The +sun felt warm on his skin; the air was comfortably balmy, entirely free of +the swarms of flies and other insects which made other newly contacted +frontier worlds so rugged. + +As he stood in the shelter of the landing ladder and sipped a second mug +of the white liquor, Lord became slowly aware of something else. Divested +of their distinguishing uniforms, he and his crew seemed puny and ill-fed +beside the natives. If physique were any index to the sophistication of a +culture--but that was a ridiculous generalization! + +He saw Ann Howard coming toward him through the crowd--stern-faced, +hard-jawed, stiffly dignified in her uniform. The other women among the +crew had put on their lightest dress, but not Ann. Lord was in no frame of +mind, just then, to endure an interview with her. He knew precisely what +she would say; Ann was a kind of walking encyclopedia of the conventions. + +Lord slid out of sight in the shadow of the ship, but Ann had seen him. He +turned blindly into the forest, running along the path toward the village. + +In a fern-banked glen beside the miniature waterfall he had met Niaga. + + * * * * * + +No woman he had ever known seemed so breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin had +been caressed by a lifetime's freedom in the sun; her long, dark hair had +the sheen of polished ebony; and in the firm, healthy curves of her body +he saw the sensuous grace of a Venus or an Aphrodite. + +[Illustration: In a fern-banked glen beside a miniature waterfall, Martin +Lord first saw Niaga.] + +She stood up slowly and faced him, smiling; a bright shaft of sunlight fell +on the liquid bow of her lips. "I am Niaga," she said. "You must be one of +the men who came on the ship." + +"Martin Lord," he answered huskily. "I'm the trade agent in command." + +"I am honored." Impulsively she took the garland of flowers which she had +been making and put it around his neck. When she came close, the subtle +perfume of her hair was unmistakable--like the smell of pine needles on a +mountain trail; new grass during a spring rain; or the crisp, winter air +after a fall of snow. Perfume sharply symbolic of freedom, heady and +intoxicating, numbing his mind with the ghosts of half-remembered dreams. + +"I was coming to your ship with the others," she said, "but I stopped here +to swim, as I often do. I'm afraid I stayed too long, day-dreaming on the +bank; time means so little to us." Shyly she put her hand in his. "But, +perhaps, no harm is done, since you are still alone. If you have taken no +one else, will I do?" + +"I--I don't understand." + +"You are strangers; we want you to feel welcome." + +"Niaga, people don't--that is--" He floundered badly. Intellectually he +knew he could not apply the code of his culture to hers; emotionally it +was a difficult concept to accept. If his standards were invalid, his +definitions might be, too. Perhaps this society was no more primitive +than--No! A mature people would always develop more or less the same +mechanical techniques, and these people had nothing remotely like a +machine. + +"You sent us a gift," she said. "It is only proper for us to return the +kindness." + +"You have made a rather miraculous use of the language machine in a +remarkably short period of time." + +"We applied it to everyone in the village. We knew it would help your +people feel at ease, if we could talk together in a common tongue." + +"You go to great pains to welcome a shipload of strangers." + +"Naturally. Consideration for others is the first law of humanity." After a +pause, she added very slowly, with her eyes fixed on his, "Mr. Lord, do you +plan to make a colony here?" + +"Eventually. After we repair the ship, I hope to negotiate a trade treaty +with your government." + +"But you don't intend to stay here yourself?" + +"I couldn't." + +"Have we failed in our welcome? Is there something more--" + +"No, Niaga, nothing like that. I find your world very--very beautiful." +The word very inadequately expressed what he really felt. "But I'm not +free to make the choice." + +She drew in her breath sharply. "Your people, then, hold you enslaved?" + +He laughed--uneasily. "I'm going home to manage Hamilton Lord; it's +the largest trading company in the Federation. We have exclusive +franchises to develop almost five hundred planets. It's my duty, +Niaga; my responsibility; I can't shirk it." + +"Why not--if you wanted to?" + +"Because I'm Martin Lord; because I've been trained--No, it's something +I can't explain. You'll just have to take my word for it. Now tell me: +how should I go about negotiating a treaty with your people?" + +"You spoke of the government, Martin Lord; I suppose you used the word +in a symbolic sense?" + +"Your chieftain; your tribal leader--whatever name you have for them." + + * * * * * + +Her big, dark eyes widened in surprise. "Then you meant actual men? It's +a rather unusual use of the word, isn't it? For us, government is a +synonym for law." + +"Of course, but you must have leaders to interpret it and enforce it." + +"Enforce a law?" This seemed to amuse her. "How? A law is a statement of +a truth in human relationship; it doesn't have to be enforced. What sane +person would violate a truth? What would you do, Martin Lord, if I told +you we had no government, in your sense of the word?" + +"You can't be that primitive, Niaga!" + +"Would it be so terribly wrong?" + +"That's anarchy. There'd be no question, then, of granting us a trade +franchise; we'd have to set up a trusteeship and let the teachers run your +planet until you had learned the basic processes of social organization." + +Niaga turned away from him, her hands twisted together. She said, in a soft +whisper that was flat and emotionless, "We have a council of elders, Martin +Lord. You can make your treaty with them." Then, imperceptibly, her voice +brightened. "It will take a week or more to bring the council together. +And that is all to the good; it will give your people time to visit in +our villages and to get better acquainted with us." + + * * * * * + +Niaga left him, then; she said she would go to the village and send out +the summons for the council. By a roundabout path, Lord returned to the +clearing around the _Ceres_. The forest fascinated him. It was obviously +cultivated like a park, and he was puzzled that a primitive society should +practice such full scale conservation. Normally savages took nature for +granted or warred against it. + +He came upon a brown gash torn in a hillside above the stream, a place +where natives were apparently working to build up the bank against +erosion. In contrast to the beauty that surrounded it, the bare earth was +indescribably ugly, like a livid scar in a woman's face. In his mind Lord +saw this scar multiplied a thousand times--no, a million times--when the +machines of the galaxy came to rip out resources for the trade cities. +He envisioned the trade cities that would rise against the horizon, the +clutter of suburban subdivisions choking out the forests; he saw the pall +of industrial smoke that would soil the clean air, the great machines +clattering over asphalt streets. + +For the first time he stated the problem honestly, to himself: this world +must be saved exactly as it was. But how? How could Lord continue to +represent Hamilton Lord, Inc., as a reputable trade agent, and at the +same time save Niaga's people from the impact of civilization? + +It was sunset when he returned to the _Ceres_. On the clearing the +festivities were still going on, but at a slower pace. Ann Howard was +waiting for Lord at the door of his cabin. She registered her official +disapproval of the revelry, which Lord had expected, and then she added, + +"We can't make a treaty with them; these people have no government with +the authority to deal with us." + +"You're wrong, Ann; there's a council of elders--" + +"I beg to differ, Mr. Lord." Her lips made a flat, grim line against her +teeth. "This afternoon I made a point of talking to every native in the +clearing. Their idea of government is something they call the law of +humanity. Whether it is written down or not, I have no way of knowing; +but certainly they have no such thing as a central authority. This +rather indicates a teacher trusteeship for the planet, I believe." + +"You've made a mistake, Ann; I'll have to check for myself." + +Lord and Ann Howard moved together through the clearing and he began to +talk to the natives. In each case he elicited the same information that +Ann had given him. The mention of a governing council seemed to amuse the +savages. Lord and Ann were still conducting their puzzling inquest when +Niaga returned from the village. She said that the council had been +called and would meet within a week. + +"There seems to be some difference of opinion," Ann told her coldly, +"between you and your people." + +"Yes," Lord added uncertainly, "I've been asking about the council and--" + +"But you didn't phrase your question clearly," Niaga put in smoothly. +"We're not quite used to using your words yet with your definitions." +To make her point, she called the same natives whom Ann and Lord had +questioned, and this time, without exception, they reversed their +testimony. Lord was willing to believe the language had caused the +difficulty. Niaga's people were entirely incapable of deception; what +reason would they have had? + + * * * * * + +From that hour, the clearing was never altogether free of native guests. +They deluged Lord's crew with kindness and entertainment. Lord never left +the ship, day or night, without having Niaga slip up beside him and put +her arm through his. Because Ann Howard had made her objections so clear, +the native women, in an effort to please the teacher, had taken to wearing +more clothing than they were accustomed to. But they rejected the sack-like +plastics which Ann dispensed in the schoolroom and put on the mist-like, +pastel-colored netting which they used normally to decorate their homes. +If anything, the addition of clothing made the women more attractive +than ever. + +The scientists among Lord's men analyzed the planetary resources and found +the planet unbelievably rich in metals; the botanists determined that the +seeds for the exotic fruits and flowers were exportable. All told, Niaga's +world could develop into the richest franchise in the Federation. + +Niaga took Lord to visit the villages which were close to the landing +site. Each town was exactly like its neighbors, a tiny cluster of small, +yellow-walled, flat-roofed houses nestled among the tall trees close to +a cleared farmland which was worked co-operatively by everyone in the +village. No single town was large, yet judging from the number that he +saw, Lord estimated the planetary population in the billions. + +Continuously Niaga tried to persuade him to stay and build a colony in +the new world. Lord knew that the other natives were being as persuasive +with the rest of the crew. And the temptation was very real: to trade the +energetic, competitive, exhausting routine that he knew for the quiet +peace and relaxation here. + +As the days passed the rigid scheduling of exploratory activities, always +practiced by a trade mission, began to break down. The charming savages of +this new world put no monetary value on time, and something of their spirit +began to infect Lord's crew. They stopped bucking for overtime; most of +them applied for accumulated sick leave--so they could walk in the forest +with the native women, or swim in the forest pools. Even Lord found time +to relax. + +One afternoon, after a swim with Niaga, they lay in the warm sun on the +grassy bank of a stream. Niaga picked a blue, delicately scented water +lily, and gently worked it into his hair. Slowly she bent her face close +until her lips brushed his cheek. + +"Must you really go away when the treaty is made?" + +"I'm a Lord, Niaga." + +"Does that matter? If you like it here--" + +"Niaga, I wish--I wish--" He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. + +"Why is it so important for you to build your trade cities?" + +As he sought for words to answer her question, the spell of her presence +was broken. He saw her for what she was: an extremely beautiful woman, +sensuously very lovely, yet nonetheless a primitive--a forlorn child +without any conception of the meaning of civilization. "We keep our union +of planets economically sound," he explained patiently, "and at peace by +constantly expanding--" + +"I have visited the schoolroom your teacher has put up beside the ship. I +have seen her models of the many machines your people know how to build. +But why do you do it, Martin Lord?" + +"The machines make our lives easier and more comfortable; they--" + +"More comfortable than this?" She gestured toward the stream and the +cultivated forest. + +"Your world moves at the pace of a walk, Niaga; with our machines, you +could rise above your trees, reach your destination in minutes--when now +it takes you days." + +"And miss all the beauty on the way. What point is there in saving +time, and losing so much that really matters? Do your machines give you +anything--you as a person, Martin Lord--that you couldn't have here +without them?" + + * * * * * + +The question was unanswerable. It symbolized the enormous gulf that lay +between Niaga and himself. More than that, Lord saw clearly that the +trade cities would destroy her world utterly. Neither Niaga nor her way +of life could survive the impact of civilization. And the exotic charm, +the friendly innocence was worth saving. Somehow Lord had to find a way +to do it. + + * * * * * + +Lord was by no means surprised when the first three men jumped ship and +went to live in one of the quiet villages. Subconsciously he envied them; +subconsciously he wished he had the courage to make the same decision. +Although Ann Howard demanded it, Lord couldn't seriously consider taking +measures to stop further desertions. + +When Don Howard jumped ship, he brought the issue to a head. Ann maneuvered +Lord so that he would have to take a stand. What and how, he didn't know. + +It was the first time since the landing that Niaga had not been waiting +outside the ship for Lord. At his request she had gone to the village +to find what progress had been made in calling the council of elders. +Lord knew where to find her, but after his talk with Ann he walked slowly +along the forest path. He stopped to dip his face into the stream where +he had first met Niaga. Anything to put off the showdown. Lord was +trying desperately to understand and evaluate his own motivation. + +He accepted the fact that he had not stopped the desertions because, if +enough men jumped ship, the _Ceres_ would be unable to take off again. Lord +could then have embraced Niaga's temptation without having to make the +decision for himself. But that was a coward's way out and no solution. +There would always be people like Ann Howard who would not accept the +situation. They would eventually make radio communication with the +Federation, and the location of Niaga's world would no longer be a secret. + +Fundamentally that was the only thing that counted: to preserve this world +from the impact of civilization. + +Then suddenly, as he listened to the music of the stream, Lord saw how that +could be done. Ann Howard had offered him a deal; she would keep her word. +Everything hinged on that. + +Don Howard had to be brought back--if persuasion failed, then by force. + +Martin Lord ran back to the clearing. From a supply shed he took a pair of +deadly atomic pistols. Their invisible, pin-point knife of exploding energy +could slice through eighteen feet of steel, transform a mountain into a +cloud of radioactive dust. + +He ran through the forest to the village. As usual, the children were +playing games on the grass, while the adults lounged in front of their +dwellings or enjoyed community singing and dancing to the pulsing rhythm of +their music. The sound of gaiety suddenly died as Lord walked between the +rows of houses. + +Strange, he thought; they seemed to guess what was in his mind. Niaga ran +from the quiet crowd and took his hand. + +"No, Martin Lord; you must not interfere!" + +"Where's Howard?" + +"He is a free man; he has a right to choose--" + +"I'm going to take him back." He drew one of his guns. She looked at him +steadily, without fear, and she said, + +"We made you welcome; we have given you our friendship, and now you--" + +He pushed her aside brutally because her gentleness, her lack of anger, +tightened the constriction of his own sense of guilt. Lord fired his weapon +at the trunk of a tree. The wood flamed red for a moment and the sound of +the explosion rocked the air, powdering the grass with black ash. + +"This is the kind of power controlled by men," he said. His voice was +harsh, shrill with shame and disgust for the role he had to play. "I shall +use this weapon to destroy your homes--each of them, one by one--unless you +surrender Don Howard to me." + +As he turned the pistol slowly toward the closest yellow wall, Niaga +whispered, "Violence is a violation of the law of humanity. We offered Don +Howard sanctuary and peace--as we offer it to all of you. Stay with us, +Martin Lord; make your home here." + +He clenched his jaw. "I want Don and I want him now!" + +"But why must you go back? Your world is powerful; your world is enormous +with cities and machines. But what does it hold for you as a man, Martin +Lord? Here we give you the dreams of your own soul, peace and beauty, +laughter and dignity." + +"Surrender, Don!" Although he was vaguely aware of it, he had no time to +consider consciously the strangely sophisticated wording of her argument. +When she continued to talk in the same gentle voice, the temptation +caressed his mind like a narcotic; against his will, the tension began to +wash from his muscles. Driven by a kind of madness to escape the sound of +her voice, he pulled the trigger. The yellow wall exploded. Concussion +throbbed in his ears, deafening him--but he still heard her whisper in +the depths of his soul, like the music of a forest stream. + + * * * * * + +Then, at the end of the village street, he saw Don Howard coming out of +one of the houses with his hands held high. + +"You win, Lord; leave them alone." + +It was victory, but Lord felt no triumph--only a crushing bitterness. He +motioned Howard to take the path back to the ship. To Niaga he said, + +"If your council of elders ever gets around to meeting, you might tell +them that, as far as I'm concerned, you've already signed the trade +treaty with me. We're leaving in the morning to register the franchise." + +"You'd break your own law? You said the negotiations had to be--" + +"Our men will come shortly to build the first trade city. I advise you not +to resist them; they'll be armed with guns more powerful than mine." + +She reached for his hand, but Lord turned away from her quickly so that +she could not again open the raw wound of shame in his soul. He followed +Don Howard into the forest. + +"You won't get away with it, Lord," Howard said grimly. "No trade agent +can impose a treaty--" + +"Would a trusteeship be any better?" + +"Lord, no!" + +"There are only two alternatives, and a Hamilton Lord trade city is by +far the better." + +"Yes--for Hamilton Lord." + +"No, for these people. Don't forget, I'll be running Hamilton Lord. +The exclusive franchise will keep out the other traders, and I can see +to it that our trade city does no harm. We've a thousand planets in the +Federation; who's going to know if one of the cities doesn't really +function?" + +"I get it. But why the hell did you have to bring me back?" + +"To make a deal with--with your wife." + +After a long pause, Don Howard said wearily, "If Hamilton Lord can +sacrifice the richest franchise in the galaxy, I suppose I can do my bit, +too." + +At dawn the _Ceres_ departed. Lord drove his men to work throughout the +night stowing the prefabs and the trade goods aboard the ship. Just before +the power tubes stabbed the launching fire into the earth, a delegation of +villagers came into the clearing. Niaga led them and she spoke to Lord at +the foot of the landing ladder. + +"We still want you to stay among us, Martin Lord; we have come again to +offer--" + +"It is impossible!" + +She put her arms around his neck and drew his lips against hers. The +temptation washed over his mind, shattering his resolution and warping +his reason. This was what he wanted: the golden dream of every man. But +for Lord only one idea held fast. Niaga's primitive, naive world had to be +preserved exactly as it was. If he gave in to the dream, he would destroy +it. Only in the central office of Hamilton Lord could he do anything to +save what he had found here. He wrenched himself free of her arms. + +"It's no use, Niaga." + +She knew that she had lost, and she moved away from him. One of the other +golden-skinned savages pushed a small, carved box into his hands. + +"A parting gift," Niaga said. "Open it when you are aboard your ship, +Martin Lord." + +Long after the _Ceres_ had blasted off, he sat alone in his cabin looking +at the box--small, delicately carved from a strange material, like a soft +plastic. It seemed somehow alive, throbbing with the memory of the dream +he had left behind. + +With a sigh he opened the box. A billow of white dust came from it. The +box fell apart and the pieces, like disintegrating gelatine, began to melt +away. A printed card, made of the same unstable material, lay in Lord's +hand. + +"You have three minutes, Martin Lord," he read. "The drug is painless, but +before it wipes memory from the minds of you and your crew, I want you to +understand why we felt it necessary to do this to you. + +"When you first landed, we realized that you came from a relatively +immature culture because you made no response to our telepathy of welcome. +We did our best after that to simplify your adjustment to our way of life, +because we knew you would have to stay among us. Of course, we never really +learned your language; we simply gave you the illusion that we had. Nor +is there any such thing as a council of elders; we had to invent that to +satisfy you. We truly wanted you to stay among us. In time you could have +grown up enough--most of you--to live with us as equals. We knew it would +be disastrous for you to carry back to your world your idea of how we live. +We are the tomorrow of your people; you must grow up to us. There is no +other way to maturity. We could not, of course, keep you here against your +will. Nor could we let you go back, like a poison, into your world. We +could do nothing else but use this drug. The impact of civilization upon +a primitive people like yours...." + +The words hazed and faded as the note disintegrated. Lord felt a moment of +desperate yearning, a terrible weight of grief. With an effort he pushed +himself from his chair and pulled open the door into the corridor. He had +to order the ship back while he could still remember; he had to find Niaga +and tell her ... + +... tell her. Tell whom? Tell what? Lord stood in the corridor staring +blankly at the metal wall. He was just a little puzzled as to why he was +there, what he had meant to do. He saw Ann Howard coming toward him. + +"Did you notice the lurch in the ship, Mr. Lord?" she asked. + +"Yes, I suppose I did." Was that why he had left his cabin? + +"I thought we were having trouble with the time-power calibration, but I +checked with Don and he says everything's all right." She glanced through +the open door of his cabin at the electronic pattern on the scanning +screen. "Well, we'll be home in another twenty hours, Mr. Lord. It's a pity +we didn't contact any new planets on this mission. It would have been a +good experience for you." + +"Yes, I rather hoped so, too." + +He went back to his desk. Strange, he couldn't remember what it was he had +wanted to do. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed a little to himself. It +definitely wouldn't do--not at all--for a Lord to have lapses of memory. + +THE END + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +This etext was produced from Amazing Science Fiction Stories, January 1960. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on +this publication was renewed. + +The following corrections have been applied to the text: + +Page 9: money has no meaning to these people and, if Don intends to stay +here, it won't mean much to him,{superfluous quotation mark removed} +either." + +Page 9: "I'm sure you can get help from this--" her{original had Her} lip +curled{original had a period here} "--this native girl of yours. What's her +name?" + +Page 13: Lord answered,{original omitted this comma} "We landed in order +to repair our ship, but I hope we can make a trade treaty with your +government." + +Page 16: "How?{superfluous quotation mark removed} A law is a statement of +a truth in human relationship; + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Impact, by Irving E. 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