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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: Eight Keys to Eden + +Author: Mark Irvin Clifton + +Release Date: December 23, 2008 [EBook #27595] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EIGHT KEYS TO EDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Geoffrey Kidd, Stephen Blundell +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>EIGHT KEYS TO EDEN</h1> + +<hr /> + +<div class="bk1"> +<h2><small>BY MARK CLIFTON</small></h2> + +<p class="pa1">NOVELS<br /> +Eight Keys To Eden<br /> +They'd Rather Be Right*<br /> +The Forever Machine*</p> + +<p class="pa1">NON-FICTION BOOK<br /> +Opportunity Unlimited</p> + +<p class="pa1">NOVELETTES<br /> +Remembrance and Reflection<br /> +How Allied<br /> +What Thin Partitions**<br /> +Sense From Thought Divide<br /> +Star, Bright<br /> +Hide! Hide! Witch!<br /> +A Woman's Place<br /> +Clerical Error<br /> +What Now, Little Man?<br /> +Do Unto Others</p> + +<p class="pa1">SHORT STORIES<br /> +What Have I Done?<br /> +The Conqueror<br /> +Kenzie Report<br /> +Bow Down To Them<br /> +Reward For Valour<br /> +Progress Report**<br /> +Crazy Joey**<br /> +We're Civilized**<br /> +Solution Delayed**</p> + +<p class="pa1">ARTICLES<br /> +It Can't Be Done<br /> +The Dread Tomato Affliction</p> + +<p>* <i>In collaboration with Frank Riley</i><br /> +** <i>In collaboration with Alex Apostolides</i></p></div> + +<hr /> + +<h1>EIGHT KEYS<br /> +TO EDEN</h1> + +<h2><small>by</small><br /> +Mark Clifton</h2> + +<p class="hd2">Doubleday & Company, Inc.<br /> +Garden City, New York<br /> +1960</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="bk1" style="width: 22em;"><p><i>All of the characters in this book<br /> +are fictitious, and any resemblance<br /> +to actual persons, living or dead,<br /> +is purely coincidental.</i></p> + +<p class="pa2">Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 60-9470<br /> +Copyright © 1960 by Mark Clifton<br /> +All Rights Reserved<br /> +Printed in the United States of America<br /> +First Edition</p></div> + +<div class="trn"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Variant and dialect spellings remain as printed.</div> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center">To<br /> +<br /> +Charles Steinberg<br /> +<br /> +who made writing possible for me</p> + +<hr /> +<h1><small>EIGHT KEYS TO EDEN</small></h1> + +<hr /> +<h2>SEVEN DOORS TO SEVEN ROOMS OF THOUGHT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">1</span> Accept the statement of Eminent Authority without basis, +without question.</p> + +<p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">2</span> Disagree with the statement without basis, out of general contrariness.</p> + +<p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">3</span> Perhaps the statement is true, but what if it isn't? How then to +account for the phenomenon?</p> + +<p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">4</span> How much of the statement rationalizes to suit man's purpose +that he and his shall be ascendant at the center of things?</p> + +<p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">5</span> What if the minor should become major, the recessive dominant, +the obscure prevalent?</p> + +<p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">6</span> What if the statement were reversible, that which is considered +effect is really cause?</p> + +<p class="pa3"><span class="sp1">7</span> What if the natural law perceived in one field also operates +unperceived in all other phases of science? What if there +be only one natural law manifesting itself, as yet, to us in +many facets because we cannot apperceive the whole, of +which we have gained only the most elementary glimpses, +with which we can cope only at the crudest level?</p></div> + +<div class="pa2"><p class="center"><b><big>And are those still other doors, yet undefined,<br /> +on down the corridor?</big></b></p></div> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2>1</h2> + +<p>One minute after the regular report call from the planet Eden +was overdue, the communications operator summoned his supervisor. +His finger hesitated over the key reluctantly, then he gritted +his teeth and pressed it down. The supervisor came boiling out +of his cubicle, half-running down the long aisle between the forty +operators hunched over their panels.</p> + +<p>"What is it? What is it?" he quarreled, even before he came to +a stop.</p> + +<p>"Eden's due. Overdue." The operator tried to make it laconic, +but it came out sullen.</p> + +<p>The supervisor rubbed his forehead with his knuckles and +punched irritably at some buttons on an astrocalculator. An up-to-the-second +star map lit up the big screen at the end of the room. +He didn't expect there to be any occlusions to interfere with the +communications channel. The astrophysicists didn't set up reporting +schedules to include such blunders. But he had to check.</p> + +<p>There weren't.</p> + +<p>He heaved a sigh of exasperation. Trouble always had to come +on his shift, never anybody else's.</p> + +<p>"Lazy colonists probably neglecting to check in on time," he +rationalized cynically to the operator. He rubbed his long nose +and hoped the operator would agree that's all it was.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>The operator looked skeptical instead.</p> + +<p>Eden was still under the first five-year test. Five-year experimental +colonists were arrogant, they were zany, they were a lot +of things, some unprintable, which qualified them for being test +colonizers and nothing else apparently. They were almost as +much of a problem as the Extrapolators.</p> + +<p>But they weren't lazy. They didn't forget.</p> + +<p>"Some fool ship captain has probably messed up communications +by inserting a jump band of his own." The supervisor hopefully +tried out another idea. Even to him it sounded weak. A +jump band didn't last more than an instant, and no ship captain +would risk his license by using the E frequency, anyway.</p> + +<p>He looked hopefully down the long room at the bent heads of +the other operators at their panels. None was signaling an +emergency to draw him away from this; give him an excuse to +leave in the hope the problem would have solved itself by the time +he could get back to it. He chewed on a knuckle and stared +angrily at the operator who was sitting back, relaxed, looking +at him, waiting.</p> + +<p>"You sure you're tuned to the right frequency for Eden?" the +supervisor asked irritably. "You sure your equipment is working?"</p> + +<p>The operator pulled a wry mouth, shrugged, and didn't bother +to answer with more than a nod. He allowed a slight expression +of contempt for supervisors who asked silly questions to show. He +caught the surreptitious wink of the operator at the next panel, +behind the supervisor's back. The disturbance was beginning to +attract attention. In response to the wink he pulled the dogged +expression of the unjustly nagged employee over his features.</p> + +<p>"Well, why don't you give Eden an alert, then!" the supervisor +muttered savagely. "Blast them out of their seats. Make 'em get off +their—their pants out there!"</p> + +<p>The operator showed an expression which plainly said it was +about time, and reached over to press down the emergency key. +He held it down. Eleven light-years away, if one had to depend +upon impossibly slow three-dimensional space time, a siren which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +could be heard for ten miles in Eden's atmosphere should be +blaring.</p> + +<p>The supervisor stood and watched while he transferred the +gnawing at his knuckles to his fingernails.</p> + +<p>He waited, with apprehensive satisfaction, for some angry +colonist to come through and scream at them to turn off that +unprintable-phrases siren. He braced himself and worked up some +choice phrases of his own to scream back at the colonist for +neglecting his duty—getting Extrapolation Headquarters here on +Earth all worked up over nothing. He wondered if he dared +threaten to send an Extrapolator out there to check them over.</p> + +<p>He decided the threat would have no punch. An E would pay +no attention to his recommendation. He knew it, and the colonist +would know it too.</p> + +<p>He began to wonder what excuse the colonist would have.</p> + +<p>"Just wanted to see if you home-office boys were on your toes," +the insolent colonist would drawl. Probably something like that.</p> + +<p>He hoped the right words wouldn't fail him.</p> + +<p>But there was no response to the siren.</p> + +<p>"Lock the key down," he told the operator. "Keep it blasting +until they wake up."</p> + +<p>He looked down the room and saw that a couple of the near +operators were now frankly listening.</p> + +<p>"Get on with your work," he said loudly. "Pay attention to what +you're recording."</p> + +<p>It was enough to cause several more heads to raise.</p> + +<p>"Now, now, now!" he chattered to the room at large. "This is +nothing to concern the rest of you. Just a delayed report, that's +all. Haven't you ever heard of a delayed report before?"</p> + +<p>He shouldn't have asked that, because of course they had. It +was like asking a mountain climber if he had ever felt a taut rope +over the razor edge of a precipice suddenly go slack.</p> + +<p>"But there's nothing any of you can do," he said. He tried to +cover the plaintive note by adding, "And if you louse up your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +own messages ..." But he had threatened them so often that there +was no longer any menace.</p> + +<p>He spent the next ten minutes hauling out the logs of Eden to +see if they'd ever been tardy before. The logs covered two and a +fraction years, two years and four months. The midgit-idgit +scanner didn't pick up a single symbol to show that Eden had been +even two seconds off schedule. The first year daily, the second +year weekly, and now monthly. There wasn't a single hiccough +from the machine to kick out an Extrapolator's signal to watch +for anything unusual.</p> + +<p>Eden heretofore had presented about as much of an <i>outré</i> +problem as an Iowa cornfield.</p> + +<p>"You're really sure your equipment is working?" he asked again +as he came back to stand behind the operator's chair. "They +haven't answered yet."</p> + +<p>The operator shrugged again. It was pretty obvious the colonists +hadn't answered. And what should he do about it? Go out there +personally and shake his finger at them—naughty, naughty?</p> + +<p>"Well why don't you bounce a beam on the planet's surface, +to see?" the supervisor grumbled. "I want to see an echo. I want +to see for myself that you haven't let your equipment go sour. +Or maybe there's a space hurricane between here and there. Or +maybe a booster has blown. Or maybe some star has exploded +and warped things. Maybe ... Well, bounce it, man. Bounce +it! What are you waiting for?"</p> + +<p>"Okay, okay!" the operator grumbled back. "I was waiting for +you to give the order." He grimaced at the operator behind the +supervisor. "I can't just go bouncing beams on planets if I happen +to be in the mood."</p> + +<p>"Now, now. Now, now. No insubordination, if you please," the +supervisor cautioned.</p> + +<p>Together they waited, in growing dread, for the automatic +relays strung out through space to take hold, automatically +calculating the route, set up the required space-jump bands. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +was called instantaneous communication, but that was only +relative. It took time.</p> + +<p>The supervisor was frowning deeply now. He hated to report +to the sector chief that an emergency had come up which he +couldn't handle. He hated the thought of Extrapolators poking +around in his department, upsetting the routines, asking questions +he'd already asked. He hated the forethought of the admiration +he'd see in the eyes of his operators when an E walked into the +room, the eagerness with which they'd respond to questions, the +thrill of merely being in the same room.</p> + +<p>He hated the operators, in advance, for giving freely of admiration +to an E that they withheld from him. He allowed himself the +momentary secret luxury of hating all Extrapolators. Once upon a +time, when he was a kid, he had dreamed of becoming an E. +What kid hadn't? He'd gone farther than the wish. He'd tried. +And had been rebuffed.</p> + +<p>"Clinging to established scientific beliefs," the tester had told +him with the inherent, inescapable superiority of a man trying to +be kind to a lesser intelligence, "is like being afraid to jump off +a precipice in full confidence that you'll think of something to +save yourself before you hit bottom."</p> + +<p>It might or might not have been figurative, but he had allowed +himself the pleasure of wishing the tester would try it.</p> + +<p>"To accept what Eminent Authority says as true," the tester +had continued kindly, "wouldn't even qualify you for being a +scientist. Although," he added hopefully, "this would not bar +you from an excellent career in engineering."</p> + +<p>It was a bitter memory of failure. For if you disbelieved what +science said was true, where were you? And if it might not be true, +why was it said? Even now he shuddered at the chaos he would +have to face, live with. No certainties on which to stand.</p> + +<p>He washed the memory out of his thought, and concentrated +on the flashing pips that chased themselves over the operator's +screen. There was nothing wrong with the equipment. Nothing +wrong with the communication channels between Eden and Earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Blasted colonists," the supervisor muttered. "Instead of a beam +on their planet, I'd like to bounce a rock on their heads. I'll bet +they've let all the sets at their end get out of order."</p> + +<p>He knew it was a foolish statement, even if the operator's face +hadn't told him so. Any emergency colonist, man or woman—and +there were fifty of them on Eden—could build a communicator. +That was regulation.</p> + +<p>"You sure there haven't been any emergency calls from them?" +he asked the operator with sudden suspicion. "You're not covering +up some neglect in not notifying me? If you're covering up, you'd +better tell me now. I'll find out. It'll all come out in the investigation, +and ..."</p> + +<p>The operator turned around and looked at him levelly. He +looked him over, with open contempt, from bald head to splayed +feet. Then he coolly turned his back. There was a limit to just +how much a man could stand, even to hold a job at E Headquarters.</p> + +<p>It was about time the supervisor got somebody with brains onto +the job. The sector chief should be called immediately. Supervisors +were supposed to have enough brains to think of something +so obvious as that. That much brains at least.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> +<h2>2</h2> + +<p>The first reaction of the sector chief to the dreaded words "delayed +report" was a shocked negation, an illusory belief that it couldn't +happen to him.</p> + +<p>To the intense annoyance of the communications supervisor, +his first act was to rush down to communications and go through +all the routines for rousing the colonists the supervisor had tried. +His worry was mounting so rapidly that he hardly noticed the +resigned expression of the operator who knew he would have to +go through all these useless motions again and again before it was +all over, and somebody did something.</p> + +<p>"Well," the chief said to the supervisor. "It's my problem now." +He sighed, and unconsciously squared his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Chief Hayes," the supervisor agreed quickly. Perhaps too +quickly, with too much relief? "Well, that is, I mean ..." his voice +trailed off. After all, it was.</p> + +<p>"You understand my check of your routines was no reflection on +you or your department," Hayes said diplomatically. "It's a heavy +responsibility to alert E.H.Q., pull the scientists off who knows +what delicate, critical work—maybe even hope to get the attention +of an E—all that. I had to make sure, you know."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Chief Hayes," the supervisor said, and relaxed some +of his resentment. "Serious matter," he chattered. "Disgrace if an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +E, without half trying, put his finger on our oversight. We all +understand that." He tried to include the nearby operators, his +boys, in his eager agreement, but they were all busy showing how +intensely they had to concentrate on their work.</p> + +<p>"That's probably all it is—an oversight," Hayes said with +unconvincing reassurance; then, at the hurt look on the supervisor's +face, added, "Beyond our control here, of course. Something it +would take at least a scientist to spot, something we couldn't be +expected ... What I mean is, we shouldn't get alarmed until +we know, for sure. And—ah—keep it confidential."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Chief Hayes," the supervisor said in a near whisper. +He looked meaningfully around at the room of operators, but +did manage not to put his finger to his lips. Those who were +observing out of the corners of their eyes were grateful for at +least that.</p> + +<p>On his way back to his own office Chief William Hayes reflected +that the bit about keeping it confidential was on the corny side. +Within fifteen minutes he'd start spreading it all over E.H.Q., +himself. Every scientist, every lab assistant would know it. Every +clerk, every janitor would know it. E.H.Q. would have to work full +blast all night long, and some of the lesser personnel had homes +down in Yellow Sands at the foot of the mountain.</p> + +<p>These would be calling their husbands and wives, telling them +not to fix dinner, not to worry if they didn't come home all night. +No matter how guarded, the news would leak out, the word spread, +and the newscast reporters would pick it up for the delectation +of the public. Eden colony cut off from communication. Nobody +knows ... Wonder ... Fear ... Delicious ... Exciting....</p> + +<p>Or was this the kind of thinking that had kept him from +qualifying as an E? What was it the examiner had asked? "Mr. +Hayes, why do you feel it is all right for you to view, to read, to +know—but that others should be protected from seeing, reading, +knowing? What are these sterling qualities you have that make it +all right for you to censor what would not be right for others?"</p> + +<p>He abruptly brought his mind back to the present. Perhaps he'd<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +first better prepare a news statement before he did anything else, +something noncommittal, reassuring. No point in getting the +populace stirred up.</p> + +<p>As he sat down behind his desk, a big man in a brown suit, +natural iron-gray hair, a calm and administrative face, he began +to realize that for the next twenty-four hours, at least, he would +be in the spotlight. Well, he'd give a good account of himself. +Demonstrate that he had an executive capacity beyond the needs +of his present job. More than a mere requisition signer, interoffice +memo initialer.</p> + +<p>For one thing the scientists would give him trouble. If he had +been deeply hurt that they thought he couldn't open up his mind +enough to become an E, what about scientists whose limits were +reached still farther along? He must remember to keep his temper, +use persuasion, maybe kid them a little. The blasted experts were +almost as bad as E's—worse, in a way, because the E didn't have +to remind anybody of his dignity, or how important the work was +he was doing.</p> + +<p>But then, you never asked an E to drop what he was doing, and +listen. You never asked an E to do anything. He either noticed and +was interested, or he didn't notice, or wasn't interested.</p> + +<p>But nobody ever told an E that he must apply himself to a +problem. Once a man became a full-fledged Extrapolator he was +outside all law, all frameworks, all duty, all social mores. That was +the essence of E science, that any requirement outside of his +own making didn't exist. It had to be that way. That kind of mind +could not tolerate barriers, but spent itself constantly in destroying +them. Erect barriers of triviality, and it would waste its substance +upon trivial matters. The only answer was to remove all possible +barriers for the E, lest immersion in something trivial prevent that +mind from seeking out a barrier to knowledge, a problem of +significance.</p> + +<p>But the scientists! Hayes sighed. If only the scientists wouldn't +keep thinking they were cut from the same cloth as the E. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +had to have restrictions, organization imposed upon them. Yes +indeed!</p> + +<p>They'd grumble at being taken away from their work to assemble +a review of all the known facts about Eden—a dead issue as far as +their own work was concerned, for Eden had been assayed and +filed away as solved. They'd moan and groan about having to drag +up the facts that had been analyzed and settled long ago.</p> + +<p>He saw himself compared with the producer of a show, and +theatrical performers didn't come any more temperamental than +scientists. He'd be hearing about how much of their time he'd +wasted for months to come. Every time any administrator asked +why they hadn't produced whatever it was they were working on, +it would be because Chief Hayes had interrupted them at the +most crucial moment and they'd had to begin all over again.</p> + +<p>Oh, they'd drag their heels, all right, and he'd have to remind +them, tactfully, that their prime duty was to serve the Extrapolators; +that they were employed here only because someday, in +some co-ordinate system, somebody might be able to supply a +key fact that some E might want to know.</p> + +<p>They'd ask him, slyly, what guarantee he had that any E would +be listening if they did produce a review of the Eden complex, +knowing he could give no such guarantee.</p> + +<p>They'd drag their heels because, deep down, they carried a +basic resentment against the E—because, experts though they +were, each of them, somewhere along the line, had learned the +bitter limits in his mind that prevented him from going on to +become an E.</p> + +<p>They'd drag their heels because the E's, each blasted one of +them, would regard the absolutely true facts proved beyond +question by science with an attitude of skepticism, temporarily +accepting the uncontestably immutable as only provisionary, and +probably quite wrong.</p> + +<p>Oh, they'd grumble, and they'd drag their heels at first; but they +would get into it. They'd get into it, not because the sector chief +had babied them along, kidded them, coaxed them, but because,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +as surely as his name was Bill Hayes, some unprintable E would +ask a question for which they had no answer. Or even worse, some +question that made no sense, but left the scientist feeling that +perhaps it should have!</p> + +<p>That was the E brand of thinking which gave everybody trouble—and +without which man could never have gone on creeping +outward and outward among the stars. Every new planet, or +subplanet, or sun or blasted asteroid seemed to call for some +revision of known laws. Sometimes an entirely new co-ordinate +system had to be resolved. Oh, science was easy, a veritable snap, +while man crawled around on the muddy bottom of his ocean of +air and concluded that throughout all the universe things must +conform to his then notion of what they must be. As ignorant as a +damned halibut must be of the works and thoughts of man.</p> + +<p>And often the E was unable to resolve the co-ordinate system—which +was simply a euphemistic way of saying that he didn't +come back. And without him, man could go no farther. An E, +therefore, was the rarest and most valuable piece of property in +the universe. Whatever else man might be, he will go to any +lengths to protect the value of his property.</p> + +<p>All right, Bill, perhaps a part of that is true. But give the scientists +their full due. They'd work with a will once they grew +aware of the need of it, because they were just as concerned as +anybody else with what might have happened to those colonists.</p> + +<p>But first they would argue.</p> + +<p>His secretary interrupted his thought by coming in from her +own office. She had an inch-thick stack of midgit-idgit cards in +her hand.</p> + +<p>"Here's that batch of scientists who worked on the original +Eden survey," she said.</p> + +<p>"So many?" Hayes asked ruefully. "Maybe I'd better send an +all-points bulletin."</p> + +<p>"You're the boss," she said easily. "But if I know scientists, they +don't read bulletins."</p> + +<p>"Yeah, sure," he agreed. "You made sure this is everybody? Nobody<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +is slighted? They'll scream like stuck pigs when I ask them, +but they'll be even worse if I slight anybody by not asking."</p> + +<p>"Double checked with Personnel's own midgit-idgit," she replied. +"The machine says if anybody is left out, it's not its fault, +that it would only be because we stupid humans forgot to inform +it in the first place."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I think that machine complains more than people +do," he answered. "Certainly it is a lot more insolent."</p> + +<p>"Gets more work done, though," she said comfortably. "You +want anything more?"</p> + +<p>"Not right now."</p> + +<p>"Buzz if you do. The idgit is working out the supply list for +that new exploration ship, and it wants service, too," she reminded +him. "It's worse than you are," she added.</p> + +<p>He looked up at her familiarity with a twinkle.</p> + +<p>"It can't fire you," he said softly.</p> + +<p>"Oh?" she asked. "You think not? Just let me feed it a few wrong +data and watch what happens to your li'l ol' lovin' secretary." +She winked at him, laughed, and went back to her office.</p> + +<p>Sector Chief Hayes sighed, and pulled the stack of cards toward +him. First he must sort them out according to protocol because +his diplomacy wouldn't be worth the breath used in it if +he called the wrong man first. At a glance he saw that the idgit +had already sorted them correctly according to status.</p> + +<p>"If you're so smart," he muttered to the absent machine, "why +didn't you call them too?"</p> + +<p>He picked up the first card, and dialed the man's intercom +number. It would be like opening the lid of Pandora's box....</p> + +<p>At that instant the red light of the E intercom flashed on. Hayes +dropped the ordinary key back into its slot, and pushed the E +key to open. He did not recognize the voice that came through.</p> + +<p>"How soon," the voice asked, "will we be able to get into this +Eden matter?"</p> + +<p>"I'm setting it up now," he said quickly. "By tomorrow morning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +surely. That is, if we haven't solved it ourselves. Something minor +that wouldn't require an E."</p> + +<p>"Morning will be fine. Two, possibly three Seniors will be available."</p> + +<p>The red light flashed off, showing the connection had been +broken. He sat back in his chair, suddenly conscious that his +forehead was wet with sweat, that his shirt was sticking to his +body. Not conscious that he was grinning joyfully.</p> + +<p>Now let those pesty scientists challenge him with the question +of whether any E's would be listening to their review. Two of +'em. Maybe three. Besides, of course, all the Juniors, the apprentices, +the students.</p> + +<p>He dialed the first scientist again. But this time he didn't mind +it being Pandora's box. It was a terrible thing for a man to realize +he could never be an E. The scientists had to take it out on somebody. +He understood.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Dr. Mille," he said cordially in answer to a gruff grunt. +"This is Bill Hayes, of Sector Administration."</p> + +<p>"All right! All right!" the voice answered testily. "What is it +now?"</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> +<h2>3</h2> + +<p>In the early dawn, out at the hangar, away from the main E +buildings and the endless discussions going on inside them, Thomas +R. Lynwood moved methodically through his preflight inspection.</p> + +<p>Speculative thinking was none of his concern. His job was to +pilot an E wherever he might want to go, and bring him back +again—if possible. To Lynwood reality was a physical thing—the +feel of controls beneath his broad, square hands; the hum of +machinery responsive to his will. He liked mathematics not for +its own sake but because it best described the substance of +things, the weight, the size, the properties of things, how they +behaved. He was too intelligent not to realize mathematics could +also communicate speculative unrealities, but he was content to +wait until the theorists had turned such equations into machines, +controls, forces before he got excited.</p> + +<p>He was one who, even in childhood, had never wanted to be +an E. He didn't want to be one now. Somebody had once told +him in Personnel that was why he was a favorite pilot of the E's, +but he discounted that. They didn't try to tell him how to run +his ship—well, most of them didn't—and he didn't try to tell them +how to solve their problems.</p> + +<p>The men around the hangar had another version of why the +E's liked him to pilot them around—he was lucky. Somehow he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +always managed to come back, and bring the E with him. Well, +sure. He didn't want to get stuck somewhere, wind up in a gulio's +gullet, gassed by an atmosphere that turned from oxygen-nitrogen +into pure methane without warning or reason, and against all +known chemical laws, or whiffed out in the lash of a dead star +suddenly gone nova.</p> + +<p>But sometimes a pilot couldn't help himself. These E's would +fiddle around in places where human beings shouldn't have gone. +Most of the time they weren't allowed even one mistake. He +was lucky, sure, but part of it might be because he'd never +been sent out with the wrong E.</p> + +<p>There could be a first time. Luck ran out if you kept piling +your bets higher and higher. But until then ...</p> + +<p>He was square-jawed, a freckled man with red hair. Contrary +to superstition, he didn't have a fiery temper. He was forty and +had already built up a seniority of twenty years in deep space. +He was captain of his ship and wanted nothing more. Sure, it +was only a three-man crew—himself, a flight engineer, an astronavigator. +But it was an E ship, which meant that he outranked +even the captains of the great luxury liners.</p> + +<p>There was a time when the realization caused him to strut a +little, but he'd got over it. He was single, had no ties, wanted +none. He had a good job which he took seriously, was doing significant +work which he also took seriously, was paid premium +wages even for a space captain, which didn't matter except in +terms of recognition. He didn't mind going anywhere in the known +universe, or how long he would be away. He hoped he would +get back someday, but he wasn't fanatic about it.</p> + +<p>In a routine so well-practiced that it had become ritual, he +checked over the cruiser point by point. Of course the maintenance +men had checked each item when they had, after his last trip, +dismantled, cleaned, oiled, polished, tested, and reassembled one +part after another. Then maintenance supervisors had checked +over the ship with a gimlet-eyed attitude of hoping to find some +flaw, just one tiny flub, so they could turn some luckless mechanic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +inside out. The Inspection Department, traditionally an enemy +of Maintenance, took over from there and inspected every part as +if it had been slapped together by a bunch of army goof-offs +who knew that pilots were expendable in peace or war and, unconsciously +at least, aided in expending them.</p> + +<p>Both departments had certified, with formal preflight papers, +that the ship was in readiness for deep space. But Lynwood considered +such papers as so much garbage, and went over the entire +ship himself. This might have had something to do with his so-called +luck.</p> + +<p>He wondered if Frank and Louie had checked into the ship +this morning. Probably had; last night's outing wasn't much to +hang over about. A steak at the Eagle Cafe down in Yellow Sands, +a couple of drinks at Smitty's, a game of pool at Smiley's, a few +dances at the Stars and Moons. Big night out for his crew before +they left for deep space. Yellow Sands was strictly for young +families, where bright-boy hubby worked up on the hill at E.H.Q., +and wifey raised super-bright kids who already considered Dad +to be behind the times. Their idea of sin in that town was to +snub the wrong matron at a cocktail party; or not snub, as the +case might be. Not that it mattered much, neither Frank nor +Louie was dedicated to hell-raising.</p> + +<p>When he at last opened the door to the generator room, he +saw his flight engineer, Frank Norton, had a couple of student +E's on his hands.</p> + +<p>It was one of the nuisances of being stationed here at E.H.Q. +that you'd have swarms of these super-bright youngsters hanging +around, asking questions, disputing your answers, arguing with +each other, and, if you didn't watch them carefully, taking things +apart and putting them back together in different hookups to see +what would happen.</p> + +<p>The first thing these kids were taught was to disregard everything +everybody had ever said; to start out from scratch as if nobody +had ever had the sense to think about the problem before; +to doubt most of all the opinions of experts, for, obviously, if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +experts were right then there would be no problem. Most of them +didn't have to be taught it, they seemed to have been born with +it. Time was you batted a young smart aleck down, told him to go +get dry behind the ears before he shot off his mouth. But not +these days. These days you looked at him hopefully, and crossed +your fingers. He might grow up to be an E.</p> + +<p>Tom wondered what it would be like to doubt the realities, +the very machinery under his hands, to assume that although it +had always worked it might not work this time. He could not +conceive that state of mind, or how a man could live in it without +going insane. Every time he saw these tortured kids saying, "Well, +maybe, but what if ..." he was glad to be nothing more than +a ship captain who knew his machinery was exactly what it was +supposed to be and nothing else.</p> + +<p>But, in a way, it was nice for the lads too. After thousands of +years of man's almost rabid determination to destroy the brightest +and best of his young, the world had finally found a place for +the bright boy.</p> + +<p>This morning, probably because of the early dawn hour, there +were only two of them in the generator room. As expected, they +were arguing over the space-jump band. Frank was standing +over to one side, observing but not participating. His cap was +pushed back on his blond head, his big face expressionless. It +was common gossip throughout flight crews everywhere that +Frank, blindfolded, could take a cruiser apart and put it back +together without missing a motion.</p> + +<p>"The jump band is founded on the basic of the Moebius strip," +one student E was saying heatedly. "This little gadget sends out +a field in the shape of such a strip, a band with a half twist before +rejoined. Its width is as variable as we need it, up to a light-year."</p> + +<p>"Only it hasn't any width at all," the other student argued. +"That's the whole point. The Moebius strip has only one edge, +so it can't have width. We enter that edge, go through a line +that doesn't exist, and come out a light-year away, without taking +any longer than the time to pass a point."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But that's <i>what</i> happens, not <i>how</i>," the other shouted angrily. +"Everybody knows <i>what</i> happens. Tell me <i>how</i> and maybe I'll +listen."</p> + +<p>Tom caught his flight engineer's eye and signaled with his head +that it might be a good idea to get rid of the students. Any other +time it would be all right, a part of their stand-by job, but they'd +got word last night to have the ship in readiness from six o'clock +on. They might have to wait all day, but then again, some E might +get an idea and want to go shooting out to Eden right off.</p> + +<p>Frank caught the signal, grinned, and began to herd the two +students toward the door. They were in such heated argument +now, accusing one another of parrot repetition instead of thinking +for himself, that they didn't realize that they were being nudged +out of the ship, down its ramp, and out on the field.</p> + +<p>"Don't think it hasn't been educational, and all," Frank murmured +to them as he got them off the ramp. "You get the how of +it figured out, you let me know."</p> + +<p>The two looked at him as if he might be an interesting phenomenon, +decided he wasn't, and wandered away, back toward the +school dormitories, still arguing.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I think a quiet milk run out to Saturn would have +its brighter side," Frank muttered to Tom when he came back +inside the ship. Tom grinned at him in wordless understanding.</p> + +<p>There was no tension between them. They had worked together +so long that they had got over all the attraction-repulsion conflicts +which operate far beneath the surface mind to cause likes and +dislikes. Now they accepted one another in the way a man accepts +his own hands—proud of them when they do something with extra +skill, making allowances when they fumble; but never considering +doing without them.</p> + +<p>"Wonder who the E will be this time?" Frank asked, without +too much concern. It didn't really matter. An E was an E, for +better or for worse.</p> + +<p>"Haven't heard," Tom answered. "Probably not decided yet. +If the Senior E's think it isn't much of a problem, they might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +send a Junior. Or if they don't want to be bothered, they might +send a Junior who's up for his solo problem."</p> + +<p>"Whoever, or whatever, I'm sure it will be interesting," Frank +commented with a grin. Tom returned the grin. There wasn't any +malice in it, nor any of the basic enmity and destructiveness of +the stupid toward the bright, just a recognition that an E was +an E. They had a vast respect for an E, but you couldn't get +around it that some of them were—well, maybe eccentric was +the word.</p> + +<p>"I hear there's trouble on that planet we're going to—Eden, isn't +it?" Frank commented.</p> + +<p>"You think we'd be hauling an E out there if there weren't?" +Tom countered wryly.</p> + +<p>They continued to check over each item in the generator room, +their flying fingers making sharp contrast to their slow, idle conversation. +They gave the room extra care this time because there +had been some quick-fingered students around who just might +have got it into their heads to improve the machinery. Satisfied +at last that there had been no subtle meddling, they snapped the +cowl of the generator back into position. They took one more +sharp look around, then walked, single file, up the narrow passage +to the control room. Louie LeBeau was sitting in the astronavigator's +seat, checking over his star charts and instruments. +He glanced up at them as they came level with his cubicle. He +was the third man of the team, as used to them as they were to +him.</p> + +<p>"Fourteen hop adjustments to get us past Pluto and out of the +heavy traffic," he grumbled sourly. His round face and liquid +brown eyes were perpetually disgusted. "They keep saying over +at Traffic that they're going to provide a freeway out of the solar +system so we can take it in one hop, but they don't do it. Wonder +when we'll ever go modern, start doing things scientific?"</p> + +<p>They paid no attention to his grumbling. That was just Louie.</p> + +<p>"Then how many hops to Eden, after Pluto?" Tom asked.</p> + +<p>"I figure twenty," Louie answered. "Can't take full light-year<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +leaps every time. There's stuff in the way. There's always stuff +in the way to louse up a good flight plan. Universe is too crowded. +There'll be no trouble getting <i>to</i> Eden, no trouble <i>getting</i> there. +Make it in about fourteen hours. Fourteen hours to go eleven +lousy little light-years. Fourteen hours I got to work in one stretch. +Wait'll the union agent hears you're working me fourteen hours +without a relief. And are you letting me get my rest now, so I +can work fourteen hours? Or are you stopping me from resting +with a lot of questions?"</p> + +<p>"But you think there may be trouble <i>after</i> we get to Eden?" +Tom asked.</p> + +<p>Louie looked at him. There was no fear in the soft, brown eyes; +just an enormous indignation that life should always treat him +so dirty.</p> + +<p>"Don't you?" he asked.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> +<h2>4</h2> + +<p>Calvin Gray, Junior Extrapolator, stood nude before his bathroom +mirror and played a no-beard light over his chin and thin cheeks. +That should take care of the beard problem for the next six +months or so. He leaned forward and examined the fine lines +beginning to appear at the corners of his eyes. Well, that was one +of the signs he'd reached the thirty mark. One couldn't stay forever +at the peak of youth—not yet, anyway. Perhaps he should +think about that sometime.</p> + +<p>Trouble was, there was always something more urgent....</p> + +<p>He became conscious that Linda was standing in the bathroom +door watching him. He hadn't heard her get out of bed.</p> + +<p>"You used the no-beard just last month, Cal," she said. There +was a questioning note in her voice.</p> + +<p>"Want to keep handsome," he said lightly. "Never know when +I might have to run out to some other world. Wouldn't want one +of my other wives to catch me with stubble on my face."</p> + +<p>It was a stale joke, a childish one, but it served to introduce +the topic foremost in his mind.</p> + +<p>"This Eden problem. I can't plan on it, but I hope it's my solo +to qualify me for my big E. I'm due, you know."</p> + +<p>Linda chose to avoid coming directly to grips with it.</p> + +<p>"Yehudi is already at the door," she said, and made a face of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +exasperation. "Someday I'm going to turn off the gadget that signals +the orderly room the minute you get out of bed, so I can +have you all to myself."</p> + +<p>"It's better if you get used to him," Cal cautioned. "Turn off +the signal and that turns on an alarm. Instead of one Yehudi, +you'd have twenty rushing in to see what was wrong."</p> + +<p>"Well, it seems to me a grown man ought to be able to take +his morning shower without an observer standing by to see that +he doesn't drown himself or swallow the soap," she commented +with a touch of acid.</p> + +<p>"Get used to it, woman," he commanded. "There's only one +observer now. When—if I get my Senior rating, there'll be three."</p> + +<p>She didn't say anything. Instead she stepped over to him, +pressed her nude body against his, and tenderly nuzzled his arm.</p> + +<p>"Maybe if we go back to bed, he'll go away," she said, and +glittered her eyes at him wickedly.</p> + +<p>"He won't, but it's a good idea," Cal grinned at her.</p> + +<p>"You could tell him to go away," she whispered with a little +pout.</p> + +<p>She was fighting. She was fighting with the only weapon she +had to hold him, to keep him from going away, to face an unknown. +He knew it, and the bitterness in her eyes, back of her +teasing, showed she knew he knew it.</p> + +<p>He took her tenderly in his arms, held her close to him, stroked +her hair, kissed her mouth. She pulled her face away, buried it +in his chest. He felt her sobbing.</p> + +<p>He picked her up, lightly, carried her back into the bedroom, +laid her gently on the bed, and, oblivious to the attendant who +stood expressionless inside the door, knelt down beside the bed +and held her head in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Don't fight it," he said softly. "It isn't the first time a man has +had to go."</p> + +<p>"It's the first time it ever happened to me," she sobbed.</p> + +<p>"You knew when you married me.... You agreed...."</p> + +<p>"It was easy to agree, then. There was the glamor of being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +known as the wife of an E. Now that doesn't matter. There's just +you, and the thought of losing you, never seeing you again."</p> + +<p>"I haven't gone yet," he reminded her. "I don't know that I'll +get the job. There are three Seniors at base right now. One of +them might want it. Even if I do get the problem, who says I +won't be back? You take old McGinnis. He's eighty if he's a day. +He's been an E for nigh on to fifty years. He's still around, you'll +notice."</p> + +<p>She was quieter now. She lay, looking at him, drinking in his +dark hair, blue eyes, handsome face, the shape of his intelligent +head, the slope of his neck and shoulders, the tapering waist, all +the masculine grace and beauty. She pressed her closed fist into +her mouth. All the beauty she might never see again, feel enfolded +around her, enfold with herself.</p> + +<p>"I'm a little fool," she said through clenched teeth. "Of course +you'll be back. And you'd better make it quick, or I'll come after +you."</p> + +<p>He kissed her, rumpled her short hair, straightened her crumpled +body on the bed, pulled the sheet over her.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you go back to sleep," he suggested. "Rest. I'll have +breakfast in the E club room. That's where we'll be watching the +Eden briefing. Sleep. Sleep all morning."</p> + +<p>Gently he closed her eyes with the tip of his forefinger. Gently +he kissed her once more. This time she didn't cling to him, try +to hold him.</p> + +<p>He tucked the sheet in around her throat. Dutifully, she kept +her eyes closed. He stood up then, and signaled the orderly.</p> + +<p>"I'll take my shower now," he said.</p> + +<p>The orderly didn't speak, just followed him into the bathroom +to stand in the doorway and watch him through the shower glass. +He was rigidly obeying the cardinal rule of E.H.Q.</p> + +<p>Unless his life is in danger, never interrupt the thinking of an +E. The whole course of man's destiny in the universe may depend +on it.</p> + +<p>How much of the future of the universe depended upon his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +not interrupting the scene he had just witnessed wasn't for him +to say. He sighed. He thought of his own wife—shrewish, fat, +coarse, always complaining. He wondered what she would do if +he picked her up, carried her to bed, closed her eyes with his +fingers. For once, he'd bet, she'd be speechless.</p> + +<p>He must try it sometime. But first, she'd have to lose about +fifty pounds.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>When Cal got to the E club room two Seniors were already +there—McGinnis and Wong. He thought their greeting was a shade +more cordial, a shade more interested than usual. They seemed, +this time, to be looking at him as if he were a person, not +merely a Junior E. When he turned away from them to greet +the three Juniors, who, along with himself, ranked the club-room +privileges, he became certain of his impressions. Their faces +were frankly envious.</p> + +<p>Eden was to be his problem!</p> + +<p>He'd hoped for it. Even half expected it. Yet all the way through +his shower, dressing, coming down the elevator from his apartment, +he'd been nagged with the fear he might not be considered; +that the grief of Linda and her rise above it would lead only to +anticlimax. By the time he'd got to the club-room door, followed +by his orderly, he had already conditioned himself to disappointment.</p> + +<p>Now he subdued his elation while he told his orderly what he +wanted for breakfast.</p> + +<p>"You fellows join me in something?" he asked both Juniors and +Seniors.</p> + +<p>"A second cup of coffee," Wong agreed.</p> + +<p>"A second bourbon," old McGinnis said drily.</p> + +<p>The Juniors shook their heads negatively. Yesterday they had +been his constant companions, only a few degrees below him in +accomplishment, pushing rapidly to become his equal competitors +for the next solo. Today, this morning, there was already a gap +between them and him, a chasm they would make no move to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +bridge until they had earned the right. They seated themselves +at another table, apart.</p> + +<p>"Of course we haven't asked you if you want this Eden problem," +McGinnis commented while orderlies placed food and +drink in front of them. "We ought to ask him, hadn't we, Wong?"</p> + +<p>"First I should ask if either of you want it?" Cal said quickly. +"Or perhaps Malinkoff, if he shows up."</p> + +<p>"Malinkoff is too deep in something to come to the briefing," +Wong said.</p> + +<p>"Wong and I came only to help on your first solo, if we can," +McGinnis said. "Always think a young fellow needs a little send-off. +I remember, about fifty years ago, more or less ..."</p> + +<p>"Worst thing to guard against," Wong interrupted, "is disappointment. +This whole thing might add up to nothing. Might not +turn out to be a genuine solo at all, just something any errand +boy could do. In that case it wouldn't qualify you. You know +that."</p> + +<p>"Sure," Cal said. Naturally the problem would have to give real +challenge. You didn't just go out and knock a home run to become +an E. You tackled something outside the normal frame of reference, +something that required original thinking, the E kind of thinking. +You brought it off successfully. A given number of Seniors reviewed +what you'd done. If they thought it was worth something, +you got your big E. If they didn't, you tried again. And you didn't +get it by default, just because somebody thought there should be +a given quota of Seniors on the list.</p> + +<p>"Little or big," he added, "I'd like the problem."</p> + +<p>They said no more. He knew the score. He'd had twelve years +of the most intensive training the E's themselves could devise. +He knew that sometimes a Junior spent another ten or twelve +years chasing down jobs which anybody on the spot could have +solved if they'd used their heads a little before they ran on to +something that challenged that training. He'd be lucky if this was +big enough—but not too big.</p> + +<p>That was in their minds, too.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> +<h2>5</h2> + +<p>On ordinary days there were only the usual few science reporters +in the press room of E.H.Q. These held their jobs by the difficult +compromise between the scientists' insistence upon accuracy and +their publishers' equal insistence upon sensationalism.</p> + +<p>Since the publisher paid the salary; since rewrite men, like +television writers, maintained their own feeling of superiority to +the mass by writing down to the level of a not very bright twelve-year-old; +since the facts had to be trimmed and altered to fit +the open space or time slot; even these reporters had a difficult +time of maintaining the usual odds—that there is only a twenty-to-one +chance that anything said in the newspapers or on the air +may be accurate.</p> + +<p>But on this morning the press room was crowded. In spite of all +efforts of journalism to stir up old animosities to make news, +or to force factional leaders into rashness which could not be +settled without violence; the various states of world government +insisted upon negotiating ethnical differences amicably, and +factional leaders persisted in keeping their heads. There had been +no world-shaking discoveries made in the last week or so; the +public no longer believed that changing a screw thread was +exactly a scientific "break-through"; no real or imagined scandals +seemed of such journalistic stature as to work the public into a +frenzy of intolerance for one another's aberrations.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>In such a dry spell, when advertisers were beginning to question +circulation figures, and editors were racking their brains for a +strong hate symbol to create interest, the delayed report from +Eden came as a summer shower, that might be magnified into a +flood.</p> + +<p>EDEN SILENT quickly became COLONY FEARED LOST +and progressed normally to COLONY WIPED OUT.</p> + +<p>That there was no proof of loss or destruction bothered no one +in journalism. If it did turn out this way, they'd have been on top +of the news; and if it didn't, well, who remembers yesterday's +headlines in the press of today's new hate and panic.</p> + +<p>The public, with an established addiction to ever increasing +daily doses of sensationalism, and deprived of its shots through +this dry spell, snapped out of its apathy to greet this new thrill +with vociferous calls to editors, wires to congressmen, telegrams +to the Administration.</p> + +<p>What are we doing about this colony that has been wiped +out? Where is our space battle fleet? Who is going to be punished?</p> + +<p>It was an overnight sensation, and on this morning following the +news leak there could even be seen some secretaries to the writers +for top commentators and columnists in the crowded press room.</p> + +<p>Naturally these stood in little groups apart and associated only +with each other to maintain the literary tradition of proper +insulation from the realities of what was going on in the rest of +the world. Obviously no first-rate writer could have afforded to +appear in person not only because of damage to his stature +lest it be noted he was doing his own spadework; but, more +important, first-hand observation might limit his capacity for +rationalizing the situation into the mold demanded by the bias +of his commentator or columnist. It was always difficult to maintain +author integrity when the facts did not support the sensationalism +required by the employers, and best not to put oneself +in such a position.</p> + +<p>Now two of these secretaries could be seen over in a corner of +the press room exchanging their views, probing one another for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +information. No one thought it curious they weren't trying to +get the information from source for everyone in journalism understands +the importance lies in what the competition is going to +say, not in what happened.</p> + +<p>"How long has it been since the first message came through, +or didn't?"</p> + +<p>"Fourteen hours, about."</p> + +<p>"We could have had a rescue fleet out there by now."</p> + +<p>"To rescue 'em from what?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever's wrong."</p> + +<p>"I understand an assistant attorney general is checking into it."</p> + +<p>"So Gunderson's still gunning for the E's, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Has he ever let up since he became attorney general? Gripes +his soul he can't arrest them for not doing what he wants, or for +doing what he doesn't want."</p> + +<p>"How'd they ever get immune, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"Skip class that day in history?"</p> + +<p>"Must've."</p> + +<p>"Vague, myself. Right after the insurrection. Seems there were +two powers, Russia and America. The people of the world got +fed up, gave a pox to both their houses, boiled over, formed a +world government. Somehow the scientists got in their licks in +the turmoil, pointed out that scientists who have to confine their +discoveries to what suits the ideology of the non-scientists can +only find limited solutions."</p> + +<p>"Quite a deal."</p> + +<p>"Could only happen in a world turmoil, when everything was +fluid. Anyhow, they got away with it, for a certain group, +Extrapolators, had to be free to extrapolate without fear of +reprisal."</p> + +<p>"Boy, something. Imagine. Take any dame you want. Nobody +can squawk. Take any money, riches you want. Nobody can stop +it."</p> + +<p>"Funny thing. Nothing like that happens. Idea seems to be that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +when you don't have to fight against restrictions, they aren't important +any more. At least not to an E."</p> + +<p>"Guess that's why one of 'em pointed out that police are the +major cause of crime."</p> + +<p>"Whether he was right or wrong, that's what sent Gunderson +into a tail spin. I wouldn't be surprised but what he's a little hipped +on that subject. He'll get 'em one of these days. Even an E can +make a mistake, and when one of 'em does, he'll be there."</p> + +<p>"I dunno, the public has a lot of hero-worship for the E. Pretty +tough for any politician to buck that."</p> + +<p>"The public! You know as well as I do—they think what we tell +'em to think, you and me."</p> + +<p>"You think that's why he's got a man out here on this Eden +thing? Looking for a mistake?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe. Maybe not. He just never passes up the chance that +maybe this time he can grab something."</p> + +<p>"Between Gunderson and the E's, I'll take the E's."</p> + +<p>"Your boss feel the same way?"</p> + +<p>"Far as I know."</p> + +<p>"But if your boss changed his mind, you would have an agonizing +reappraisal."</p> + +<p>"Well, sure. A guy's got to eat."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> +<h2>6</h2> + +<p>The west wall of the E club room began to glow, lose its appearance +of solidity. Cal signaled his orderly to lift away his table. +Now, where the west wall had been, another room seemed to +join this one, an office. A large man in a brown suit made an +entrance through the door of the office and sat down back of the +desk. His face was drawn with weariness.</p> + +<p>"I am Bill Hayes," he said. "Sector administration chief of the +Eden area. I am acting moderator of this review. We follow the +usual rules of procedure. I just want to say, as an aside, that the +scientists involved in this problem have been up all night reviewing +every known fact about Eden. We ask the indulgence of the +E's not only for the kind of knowledge that may prove too little, +but for any strain caused by trying to assemble such massive data +into order in so short a time.</p> + +<p>"For the press, let me say we are aware of some questions of +why we didn't immediately send out a fleet of ships as soon as +the call failed to come through. A military man does not rush +troops into battle until he has some idea of what he must oppose; +even a plumber needs to get some idea of the problem before +he knows what tools to take with him. It would serve no constructive +purpose to rush an unprepared fleet out to rescue, and +might prove the highest folly."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>All over E.H.Q., in the various buildings where anybody was +directly concerned, the same effect would be taking place as appeared +here in the club room. The tri-di screen wall would seem +to join the room of the person speaking. A pressed button signaled +the desire to speak, and like the chairman of a meeting, Bill +Hayes decided whom to recognize. It was a way to conduct a +meeting of two or three thousand people as intimately as a small +conference.</p> + +<p>"The E's have signaled they are ready for the Eden briefing," +Hayes continued formally. He faded out his own office, and was +immediately replaced by an astrophysics laboratory. The review +of Eden was under way.</p> + +<p>With sky charts, pointers, math formulae and many references +to documentation, the astrophysicist established the celestial +position of Ceti relative to Earth, and its second planet Ceti II—popularly +called, he had heard, Eden. For his part, bitterly, he +preferred a little less popularizing of scientific data, a little more +exactitude. He would, therefore, continue to call it Ceti II.</p> + +<p>He reminded Cal of certain teachers in schools he had been +asked to leave back in his ugly duckling days. How didactically, +positively, they clung to their exactitudes—like frightened little +children in a chaotic world too big for them to face, hanging on +to mother's skirts, something safe, sure, dependable.</p> + +<p>The astrophysicist continued, at considerable length, to establish +the position of Ceti II to his own complete satisfaction.</p> + +<p>In his own mind Cal willingly conceded that, at least in terms +of third-dimensional space-time continuum, Eden could be found +where the man said it was. Then he reminded himself, sternly, +that the essence might be that Eden was there no longer; that +he'd better pay closest attention to everything said, however +positive and didactic, lest he find his own mind closed to a solution. +He reminded himself that, after all, these people had worked +all night for his benefit, while he lay peacefully in Linda's arms.</p> + +<p>He reminded himself that one little bit of datum, one little +phrase, carelessly heard now, might mean his success or failure.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +Didactic pedantry has its place in science, and these were scientists, +not vaudeville performers. Silently, he apologized to the lot +of them.</p> + +<p>A geophysicist took over the review. He quickly got down out +of space to the surface of Eden. Personally he didn't mind calling +it Eden, just so all the purists knew he was referring to Ceti II. +This was supposed to be humorous, and he waited until all the +viewers had had a chance to chuckle with him.</p> + +<p>If the astrophysicist signaled his demand for a retraction and +apology for this public ridicule, Bill Hayes apparently didn't feel +it worth breaking up the review to oblige him.</p> + +<p>After he had enjoyed his own humor, the geophysicist did present +his capsule of knowledge with excellent brevity.</p> + +<p>There were no large continents. Instead, there were thousands +of islands, so many that the land mass roughly equaled the sea +surface. The islands had not been counted, he admitted, and +then needlessly explained that Eden had been discovered only +ten years ago. Since universe exploration was expanding much +faster than properly qualified scientists could follow to catalogue +conditions, details such as this had been left for future colonists +to complete.</p> + +<p>He took time out to complain that the younger generation was +too dazzled by glamor and wanted to become entertainment stars, +sports stars, jet jockeys exploring space, and there weren't enough +going into the solid sciences to keep up with the work to be +done.</p> + +<p>A biophysicist interposed here and stated that his research with +the injection of uric acid into rats caused a marked rise in +intelligence, and if the Administration would just pay attention +and let him have the grant he was asking, he felt confident that +research in how to change the human kidney structure would +take us a long mutant leap ahead toward humans with super-intelligence.</p> + +<p>Bill Hayes cut him off as tactfully as possible and suggested +that the Eden problem was here and now, and perhaps we should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +get that one out of the way first. Both scientists, by their expressions, +indicated that they did not appreciate being frustrated, +hampered, driven—but they did comply.</p> + +<p>Back to Eden they went.</p> + +<p>The climate was something like that of the Hawaiian area. +Partly this was due to the variable plane rotation that heated all +parts evenly, partly due to favorable flow of ocean currents. It +had been noted that there was such an interweaving of cool and +warm currents all over the globe that a relatively even temperature +was maintained throughout. Some differential in spots, of +course, enough to cause rainfall, but no real violence of storms, +not as we classified hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes here on +Earth.</p> + +<p>"Probably no sudden storm to wipe out the colony before they +could send news, then," Wong suggested in an aside to Cal.</p> + +<p>"Or a freak one did occur and they weren't prepared because +it wasn't supposed to happen," Cal said.</p> + +<p>Wong and McGinnis exchanged a quick glance, and Cal knew +Wong had laid a little trap to see how easily he might be lulled +into a premature conclusion.</p> + +<p>The gravity was slightly less, the geophysicist was saying, but +only to the extent that man, newly arrived from Earth, walked +with a springier step, didn't tire as quickly. Not enough to cause +nausea, even to the inexperienced. The oxygen content of the air, +in fact the whole make-up of the air, was so close to Earth +quality there were no breathing adaptations necessary.</p> + +<p>So much for generalities. He went on to document them with +exactitudes. He teamed up with a meteorologist to explain the +distribution of rainfall in spite of lack of frigid and torrid air +masses. Cal's doubt was not appeased. Weather prediction was +about on a par with race-horse handicapping, and easy to explain +after it happened.</p> + +<p>Eventually the geophysicist and the meteorologist completed +their duet to the accompaniment of oceanographers and geologists.</p> + +<p>A chorus of botanists replaced them on the tri-di screen, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +major theme of their epic being that an astonishing proportion +of the plant forms bore edible fruit, nuts, seeds, leaves, stems, +roots, flowers. A choir of zoologists joined their voices here to +point out the large number of small meat animals, fish, and +crustaceans—with the whole thing sounding like a pean of thanksgiving.</p> + +<p>After two hours, the condensed information added up to a most +interesting fact. In essence, due to quite <i>natural</i> conditions—odd +how much the scientists seemed to need stressing the word +"natural"—Eden was more favorable to easy human life than +Earth!</p> + +<p>Cal leaned forward. Here was the spot where some student +or apprentice might distinguish himself by asking an embarrassing +question or so. Say the range of easily possible conditions on +any given planet was a scale ten miles in length. Then that area +on the scale where man could exist without artificial aids would +still be less than a hair's breadth. And now to find a planet more +nearly perfect for man than the one on which he evolved....</p> + +<p>Or were the students considering this too obvious to mention? +He decided to nudge them a little. Sometimes a discussion of the +too obvious brought out things not obvious at all.</p> + +<p>"How frequently," he asked, when Hayes had cut him in, "do +we find a mass revolving in such a manner that its poles revolve +at right angles to its forward revolution, so there is no real pole?"</p> + +<p>"It requires near-perfect roundness, and an even distribution of +land and water masses, such as we have on Ceti II," the first +astrophysicist answered.</p> + +<p>"How frequently do we find that?" Cal repeated.</p> + +<p>"I know of no other," the astrophysicist replied shortly.</p> + +<p>"Any evidence of tampering with those ocean currents to get +them flowing so beneficially?" Cal asked.</p> + +<p>"None yet discovered," an oceanographer cut in.</p> + +<p>Well, at least he hadn't stated with positiveness that there hadn't +been and couldn't be. But an anthropaleontologist inserted himself +and spoiled the effect of open-mindedness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There is definitely no life form on Eden with sufficient intelligence +for that," the man said, "nor has there ever been. Such a +feat would require enormous engineering works. Such works under +the ocean would be matched by comparable works on land, +and would therefore show up in our aerial surveys, however +ancient and overgrown."</p> + +<p>Cal sighed softly to himself. The human kind of civilization, +yes, that would have left traces. But what of some other kind? +Perhaps a deep-sea kind that had never come out upon the land? +Never mind the arguments that such a civilization could not have +developed—that was looking at it from the human point of view +again. Had man grown so accustomed to not finding comparable +intelligence anywhere in the universe he had begun to discount, +or forget, there could be?</p> + +<p>The review went on and on. The zoologist sketched in the +prevalent animals and fish forms, showed there was nothing in +land animals higher than a large rodent, no sea mammals at all, +no fish larger than the tarpon. Nothing at all to hint at a line of +primates.</p> + +<p>A bacteriologist exclaimed at length over the similarity of +minute life forms to those on Earth, and used the occasion to again +expound the old theory of space-floating life spores to seed all +favorable matter, and thus develop similar forms through evolution, +wherever found. Quickly and tactfully Bill Hayes nudged +him back on the track before the expected storm of controversy +could break out.</p> + +<p>Then there was a short lunch time, but not a leisurely one. +Quite aside from the emergency of what might be happening to +the colonists, there was growing clamor from the people and +pressure from various governmental bodies to get off the dime +and get going—rescue those people, or, cynically, at least make a +show of action to quell the flood of telegrams. E.H.Q. resisted +the pressures in favor of doing a workmanlike job in preparation +for a genuine rescue instead of a haphazard show, but was mindful +of them nevertheless.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> +<h2>7</h2> + +<p>Anyone who has witnessed even so much as a traffic-court trial +cannot help but realize that "government by law instead of man" +is a mere political phrase without meaning in reality. The +ascendancy of me-and-mine over you-and-yours runs so deep in +the human psyche that abstract idealisms must always take second +place where such ascendancy is threatened. Thus we see that +the belly-crawler, meek and subservient to the judge, comes off +with a token sentence while the man who attempts to maintain +his pride, his rights, his self-respect gets the book thrown at him.</p> + +<p>No practical attorney is unaware that the judgment of his case +depends largely upon who presides, the whims, the prejudices, +the moods, the viewpoint of the judge; and that the law merely +provides justification for the imposition of those whims, moods, +prejudices, and viewpoints.</p> + +<p>And ambitions.</p> + +<p>The announcement at E.H.Q. that a Junior E would be given +this problem gave Gunderson's man the opening he had hoped +to find. A hurried call to the capitol and a brief conversation with +Gunderson himself confirmed his conclusions. Perhaps the E was +above all law, and it might not be expedient to challenge that +right now, but immunity did not necessarily extend to the +Junior E.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>In view of the known ambitions of certain judges, it should +not be difficult to make a test case of this—whether the E's had +a right to jeopardize a colony of human beings by assigning an +unqualified man to the problem.</p> + +<p>A question, too, of who had jurisdiction over the Juniors, the +apprentices, the students. How far down the line did the mantle +of the E extend to protect those not yet qualified? How far out +did the Administration of E.H.Q. extend to substitute for government? +How much of a state within a state had E.H.Q. become?</p> + +<p>Now, while the public was clamoring for action, and E.H.Q. +was, instead, droning on through a mass of inconsequential detail, +now while public sentiment was crystallizing, or could be +crystallized into placing human welfare over science procedures, +now was the time.</p> + +<p>It was not difficult to find a judge who was predisposed to favor +the request of the attorney general.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> +<h2>8</h2> + +<p>After lunch at E.H.Q., the colonizing administrator took over the +review.</p> + +<p>The precolonizing scientists had not been trapped by the obviously +favorable aspects of Eden into neglecting their full duties. +No indeed they had given the full routine of tests and had +come up with exactly nothing that might be unfavorable to man, +at least not more so than on Earth.</p> + +<p>Colonization had followed the usual plan. Fifty professional +colonists had been sent out to Eden. They knew their jobs. They +were temperamentally suited to the work.</p> + +<p>As usual, they were to live there for five years, leaning as +lightly as possible on Earth supplement. Their prime purpose was +to adapt primitive ecology to human needs, how it could be done. +It was not the job of this first colony to explore, to catalogue. +They were expected to do only what any pioneer does—endure, +exist, and prove it possible.</p> + +<p>In honesty the colonizing administrator had to point out there +had been more than the usual dissatisfaction from this colony. +The burden of their complaint was that they found living too +easy. They were professionals, accustomed to challenge.</p> + +<p>They had first recommended, then demanded, that they be +transferred and the planet given over to the second-phase colonists.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>They complained they were dying on the vine, that easy living +was making farmers and storekeepers out of them, that they were +getting soft, ruined by disuse of their talents for meeting and +coping with hostile conditions. There had even been threats that +one of these days they would all pile into their ship and come +back home. So far he had stopped them by threats of his own, +that he would personally see they never got another assignment.</p> + +<p>He had resisted their demands. Five years was a short enough +time. Some organisms took longer than that to develop in the +human body or mind, to make their inimical presence known. +Some did not show up until the second or third generation; which +was the reason for the second-phase colonists, to live there for +three generations, before the planet could be opened to young +John Smith and his wife Mary who dreamed of owning a little +chicken ranch out away from it all. He had argued that boredom +might be just the very inimical condition they were having to +test.</p> + +<p>Cal felt a twinge of disappointment here. Perhaps the dissatisfied +colonists had merely gone on strike! Unable to get satisfaction +from their administrator, they chose not to communicate as a +means of drawing attention, getting an investigation of their +plight. Drastic, perhaps, but man had been known to do drastic +things before when he felt treated unfairly.</p> + +<p>This seemed such a likely solution that for a moment he let +his disappointment override his interest. Such would be an +administrative hassle, nothing to challenge an E at all, not even +a Junior.</p> + +<p>Still, it might not be the solution. He had better listen to the +whole of the problem.</p> + +<p>The colonists had chosen a large island for their first settlement. +In the center was a small mountain. It had been given the +name of Crystal Palace Mountain because it was crested with an +outcropping of amethystine quartz-crystal structures in <i>natural</i> +pillars, domes, arches, spires.</p> + +<p>Like spokes of a wheel radiating out from the hub, ridges fell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +away from this mountain, and in between the ridges there lay +fertile valleys watered by perpetual streams.</p> + +<p>It was in one of these valleys, about halfway between the +mountain and the sea, that the colonists settled. Some bucolic wit +had named the first settlement Appletree, because there they +would gain knowledge, and everybody knows that the apple was +the Garden of Eden's fruit of knowledge. No one quite knew +when the name Eden was first applied to the planet. Suddenly, +during the first scientific expedition, everyone was referring to it +that way.</p> + +<p>"For exactitude," the administrator said diplomatically. "Of +course we still designate it as Ceti II."</p> + +<p>As was customary, the colony had communicated multitudes +of progress pictures over the space-jump band. Here was the +valley before they had started to fell trees. Here it was in progress +of clearing. Here they were converting the trees into lumber for +houses. Here were the first houses so that some could move out +of the living quarters in the ship. Here they were uprooting the +stumps, turning the sod, planting Earth seed. These were barns +for the cattle and horses sent with them from Earth.</p> + +<p>A collection of community buildings came next in the series of +photographs, and finally there was the whole village of Appletree, +with a collection of small farms surrounding it. The pictures +showed it all as ideal for man as a distant view of a rural valley +in Ohio. Productive, progressive, and peaceful—from a distance.</p> + +<p>But back of the post-card scene, human psychology progressed +normally also.</p> + +<p>The reporting psychologist was most emphatic on this issue. His +department would have been most alarmed had differences and +schisms <i>not</i> developed. <i>That</i> would have been an abnormality +calling for investigation.</p> + +<p>Differences in outlook became apparent in spite of the common +temperament and experience of the group. Little personal enmities +developed and grew. Sympathizers drew together in little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +groups, each group considering its stand to be the right one, and +therefore all who disagreed wrong.</p> + +<p>The psychologist said he was sure all viewing would remember +the classical picture of primitive Earth man at first awareness. +He stands upon a hill and looks about him. There comes the +astonishing realization that he can see about the same distance +in all directions.</p> + +<p>"Why," he exclaims to himself, "I must be at the very center +of creation!"</p> + +<p>His awe and wonder was to grow. Wherever he went, he found +he was still at the center of things. There could be only one conclusion.</p> + +<p>"Because I am always at the center of things, I must be the +most important event in all creation!"</p> + +<p>Still later comes another realization.</p> + +<p>"Those who are with me, and are therefore a part of me-and-mine, +are also at the center of things and share my importance. +Those who are not with me, and not a part of me-and-mine, +are not at the center of things, and are therefore of an inferior +nature!"</p> + +<p>It could readily be seen—the psychologist was allowing a note +of dryness to enter his comments—that the bulk of man's philosophy, +religion, politics, social values, and yes, too often even his +scientific conclusions, was based upon this egocentric notion; the +supreme importance and rightness of me-and-mine ascendant at +the center of things, opposed to those who are not a part of me-and-mine, +on the outside, and therefore inferior.</p> + +<p>There must have been a signal from Bill Hayes, for the +psychologist left the generalities behind and came back to the +issue.</p> + +<p>The very ease of living on Eden fostered the growth of schisms, +for there was no common enemy to band the group into one +solid me-and-mine organism—the audience would recall that when +Earth was divided into nations it had always been imperative to +find a common enemy in some other nation; that this was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +only cohesive force man had been able to find to keep the nation +from disintegrating.</p> + +<p>Another nudge.</p> + +<p>Factions took shape on Eden and clashed in town meetings. +At last, as expected, some dissident individuals and family groups +could no longer tolerate the irritation of living in the same +neighborhood with the rest. These broke off from the main +colony, and migrated across the near ridge to settle in an adjacent +valley.</p> + +<p>Psychologically, it was a most satisfactory development, playing +out in classical microcosm the massive behavior of total man. For, +as everyone knew, had men ever been able to settle their differences, +had man been able to get along peacefully with himself, +he might have developed no civilization at all.</p> + +<p>Man's inability to stand the stench of his own kind was the +most potent of all forces in driving him out to the stars.</p> + +<p>Bill Hayes, a weary and red-eyed moderator now, apparently +decided he could no longer stand the stench of the psychologist +and abruptly cut him off. He himself took over the summation. +It boiled down to a simple statement.</p> + +<p>The colonists had reported everything that happened, of significance +or not. These reports had all been thoroughly sifted in the +normal course of E.H.Q.'s daily work as they were received. They +had been collated and extended both by human and machine +minds to detect any subtle trends away from norm.</p> + +<p>There had been nothing, absolutely nothing. The reports might +as well have originated somewhere near Eugene, Oregon. They +were about as unusual as a Saturday night bath back on the farm.</p> + +<p>Then silence. Sudden, inexplicable silence.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> +<h2>9</h2> + +<p>"It bothers me, it bothers me a lot," Cal said to the two E's, +following the review, "that Eden should be more favorable to +effortless human existence than Earth."</p> + +<p>He snapped on the communicator and asked the ship be in +readiness for take-off.</p> + +<p>McGinnis and Wong looked at one another.</p> + +<p>"You think it might have been the original Garden of Eden?" +Wong asked. His face was impassive. "It fits, you know. Man was +banished from an ideal condition and forced to live by the sweat +of his brow."</p> + +<p>"Not that so much," Cal said. "Not unless the whole concept +of evolution is haywire, and we're reasonably sure it isn't that +far off. Probably the colonists have gone on strike, but I still keep +thinking that when we want to catch rats we set a trap with a +better food than they can get normally."</p> + +<p>There was a twinkle in McGinnis's eye.</p> + +<p>"You think Eden is an alluring trap, especially baited to catch +human beings?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't exactly think that. I just keep wondering," Cal answered.</p> + +<p>They were interrupted by a diffident yet insistent knock on +the door. This in itself was such a violation of E.H.Q. rules, never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +to interrupt the thinking of an E, that all three stopped talking. +The three Juniors, who had been sitting by, listening, arose +from their seats and stood facing the door. The orderlies looked +to the E's for instruction. At a nod from McGinnis, one of them +walked over to the door and opened it.</p> + +<p>Bill Hayes was standing there, flushed with embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Your pardon, E's," he said hurriedly. "I'm just an errand boy, +under instruction from General Administration. We have been +served with a court injunction to prevent assignment of a Junior +to the Eden matter."</p> + +<p>Cal froze in alarm and disappointment. At the last moment +to have his chance snatched away from him. He should have gone +immediately the review was over, without waiting for any advice +McGinnis and Wong might care to give. Now ...</p> + +<p>McGinnis caught his eye and gave a slight nod toward a door +that opened on another hallway. He flashed a command with +his eyes to get going, then turned back to Hayes.</p> + +<p>"I was unaware that the E's must heed court orders," he said +frostily.</p> + +<p>"It's a question of where civil jurisdiction stops and E jurisdiction +takes over," Hayes explained nervously. "While the +colonists are employed by E.H.Q., and under their direction, it +is held they are also Earth citizens, with citizen rights. Civil +authority feels it must answer for their welfare."</p> + +<p>"I thought restrictions upon the E were removed by act of +World Congress some seventy years ago," Wong said mildly.</p> + +<p>"The injunction makes it clear there is no restriction upon the +Senior E; just the Junior, who really isn't an E yet."</p> + +<p>"It is the decision of the E's that a Junior will handle this +problem," McGinnis said, and turned his back as if that settled +the matter.</p> + +<p>Hayes cleared his throat nervously.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," he said. "If it were up to me ... Well, the argument +before the court ran this way: That where there is no +restriction upon the E in arriving at a solution, there is also no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +compulsion upon civil authority to adopt that solution. They cited +instances ... Well, any number of instances. It seems ..."</p> + +<p>Cal heard no more. He had been pacing the room, and now, +while Hayes's perspiring attention was focused imploringly on +Wong and McGinnis, he slipped out the door.</p> + +<p>The orderly at that door raised a finger in salute, and at Cal's +request quickly wheeled a hall-car from a storage closet.</p> + +<p>"Take me out to the Eden ship," Cal said quietly. "You know +where it is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," the orderly answered. He took his place at the controls +and Cal slipped into the seat beside him.</p> + +<p>They sped through the halls at maximum speed, out the rear +exit of the E building, down the maze of ramps and out across +the landing field to the entrance of the ship.</p> + +<p>Cal expected to see guards posted there to enforce the injunction, +but none were in evidence. As they drew up to the open +door, he saw Lynwood and Norton, pilot and engineer, standing +just inside waiting for him. There was no strain in their faces to +show they had received orders not to take off with him.</p> + +<p>He climbed out of the car, and with another nod the orderly +drove it back to the E building. Henceforward the ship's crew +would be the E's orderlies.</p> + +<p>Cal climbed the short ramp and entered the ship.</p> + +<p>"You have clearance to take off at once?" he asked Lynwood.</p> + +<p>Lynwood nodded. "Since early morning," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Fine. Let's get going," Cal said. "I'm in a hurry, of course," he +added with a grin.</p> + +<p>"Of course," the two men answered, then seeing his grin, relaxed +and returned it. Apparently this E was human.</p> + +<p>It took only a minute for them to reach the control room, where +Louie sat in his navigator's cubby; and only ten more seconds for +the ship to lift clear. And still no command came over the radio to +halt them.</p> + +<p>Someone in civil authority had slipped. Had Gunderson really +felt that a simple injunction would stop everything, that the E's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +would not challenge this encroachment? Was he playing some +deeper game, allowing the Junior to slip through his fingers in the +hope he would louse up the Eden rescue, add strength to the +campaign to bring the E's back under civil control—his control?</p> + +<p>Or had someone genuinely slipped?</p> + +<p>The command to halt, turn around, and return to base did not +come until their second hop had brought them into the Mars orbit. +Then it came from space police in charge of shipping traffic at +that point.</p> + +<p>"I am under orders from E.H.Q. to proceed," Tom answered, +after a quick, questioning look at Cal.</p> + +<p>"The attorney general's office orders you to halt," the voice +commanded.</p> + +<p>Tom looked at Cal again, questioning. This was bucking the +federal government, his license wouldn't be worth the paper it +was written on if he ignored the order. To say nothing of any +other punishment they might choose to hand him.</p> + +<p>"Keep going," Cal answered shortly. "And make your next jump +as quickly as you can."</p> + +<p>"I am under orders to keep going," Tom answered the police. +If he refused the request of an E, a lifetime of work would go +down the drain.</p> + +<p>Over in his seat, Frank Norton's fingers were speeding through +the intricate pattern of setting up the next jump. He and Louie +were working as one man.</p> + +<p>"I am under orders to disable you if you refuse," the police +warned.</p> + +<p>"We have an E on board," Tom answered. "You'd be risking a +lot."</p> + +<p>"I am advised he is a Junior E," the voice said in clipped speech. +"Not such a risk."</p> + +<p>"Far as I'm concerned," Tom answered laconically, "he's an E. +I have to follow his orders."</p> + +<p>He nodded to Frank who touched the jump switch. There was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +an instant silence. They were at the approach to the asteroid +belt.</p> + +<p>"They can get us here," Louie spoke up. "We have to give over +controls so they can take us through. No chart can keep up to the +microsecond on these asteroid movements. They have to calculate +a path in short hops, and take us through a step at a time. I keep +saying there ought to be an expressway out of the solar system, +but ..."</p> + +<p>"What about a good long jump at right angles?" Cal asked. +"Get over it instead of through it?"</p> + +<p>"It's illegal," Louie complained.</p> + +<p>"Our necks are already out," Tom said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Okay, you're the boss. But I'll have to figure it. It takes time to +figure it."</p> + +<p>"Well, get going on it."</p> + +<p>"There's stuff all over," Louie explained. "Not just a band, like +most people think. The asteroids have moved at right angles, too. +Not so thick, but there's a globe of stuff, not just a belt. Maybe a +bunch of little jumps."</p> + +<p>"We can't start making them until you figure them, Louie," +Frank reminded him.</p> + +<p>The radio gave its hum of life, and a voice came through.</p> + +<p>"We have orders from space police not to escort you through, +to turn you back."</p> + +<p>"This is an E ship, with an E on board. His command is to +come through," Tom said.</p> + +<p>"I just work here," the voice answered as if it were bored and +tired. "I take my orders from Space Control."</p> + +<p>Tom looked over at Louie. Louie apparently caught the look +out of a corner of his eye, and impatiently waved a finger not to +bother him. His other hand was speeding through the movements +of manipulating the astrocalculator. Then he nodded his head, +still not looking up, and the co-ordinates flashed in front of Frank. +Now, as rapidly as Louie, Frank set up the pattern of the jump +band.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I take my orders from the E's," Tom answered in a voice +that matched the boredom, tiredness. Then with a nod from +Frank, "Now!" he said.</p> + +<p>There was silence again.</p> + +<p>"It's going to add at least an hour," Louie complained. "I've got +to pick my way through this muck."</p> + +<p>"We've got time now," Tom answered easily. "Not likely they +can find us out here, away from the regular lanes."</p> + +<p>"Not unless we run across a prowl ship," Louie said. "You know +there's some smuggling, and now and then a shipping company +thinks it can beat the rap, not pay the toll, by doing the same +thing we're doing. The prowl patrol is on to all the tricks. We're +not the first ones to try it."</p> + +<p>"Just keep figuring, Louie," Tom said.</p> + +<p>"All right, all right!" Louie quarreled back.</p> + +<p>Tom looked at Cal and grimaced.</p> + +<p>"Louie's all right," he said. "Just has to complain."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it," Cal answered with a grin.</p> + +<p>It took closer to two hours. They had no way of knowing how +many times the space police had made a fix on their position +only too late to catch them hovering there. There must have been +some fix made and a pretty careful calculation of where they could +go next, for as they neared the outer moons of Jupiter the radio +crackled into life again.</p> + +<p>"This is your last warning. We intend to board you and take +over. We will disintegrate your ship if you resist."</p> + +<p>Cal took the microphone in his own hand to answer.</p> + +<p>"We intend to keep going," he said. "This is a jurisdictional +dispute between the attorney general's office and E.H.Q. We will +not allow you to board us, and I suggest you get confirmation of +orders to disintegrate us directly from the attorney general in +person. Meanwhile you can pass the buck to your Saturn patrol +if those orders are confirmed."</p> + +<p>Tom nodded to Frank, and the next jump key was pressed.</p> + +<p>In the Saturn field, still another voice came through. "Orders<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +from the attorney general himself are to allow you to proceed. Say, +Lynwood, what is this all about?"</p> + +<p>"Some sort of petty squabble over who gives orders to who," +Lynwood answered. "I just work here," he added tiredly.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the voice. "So do I. Guess they'll fight it out in the +courts now. You understand, we had our orders."</p> + +<p>"You understand, so did I." Tom answered.</p> + +<p>"Sure," the voice answered, and cut out.</p> + +<p>Cal wondered whether the orders to disintegrate had been a +bluff. Would the attorney general have dared disintegrate a ship +with even a Junior E on board? Maybe it had been just a threat of +the local police, one they didn't expect to have called.</p> + +<p>Or maybe he had played directly into the attorney general's +hands by defying him, and getting that defiance on record was +what the man had wanted.</p> + +<p>Whatever it was, the Eden matter had become bigger than +merely finding out what had happened to some colonists. Whatever +it was, he'd better find a successful solution, because the attorney +general was counting on him to fail. And if he did fail, certainly +the position of the Junior E would be altered, and possibly a deep +thrust into the very heart of the Senior E position, as well.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> +<h2>10</h2> + +<p>Louie was right. After they cleared the solar system there was no +trouble getting <i>to</i> Eden. And there was no trouble circumnavigating +the globe while still in space.</p> + +<p>Closer, but still outside the atmosphere in their surveying +spiral, they had no trouble in locating the island with Crystal +Palace Mountain at its center. There was only one such spot on +Eden, and in their telescope viewer its crystalline spires and +minarets sparkled back at them like a diamond set in jade.</p> + +<p>The trouble began when they hovered over the location, when +they amplified their magnification to get a close look at the +Appletree village before dropping down to land.</p> + +<p>Louie found the right valley. He said it was the right valley, and +he stuck to his claim stubbornly.</p> + +<p>But there was no settlement there. No sign there had ever been.</p> + +<p>Louie could see that for himself, they told him. There was +nothing but virgin land. The trees were undisturbed, and old. +There were splashes of rolling meadows spotted here and there +by other trees, untilled meadows sloping downward from the +ridges to the river. And not a blemish nor scar to show that man +had ever landed there.</p> + +<p>"Fine thing," Norton chaffed him. "Fine navigation, Louie. Get +us clear across the universe in great shape, and then you can't +even find the landing field."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Louie was in no mood for banter. He wished Tom would +go back and hold the manual controls of the ship instead of +letting it hover on automatic. He wished Cal would go back to his +stateroom and think. He wished Frank Norton would shut up. He +wished they wouldn't all stand over him, reading his charts over +his shoulder.</p> + +<p>In irritated silence he reduced the viewscope dimensions to +scale, and snapped a picture of the whole island. He took the +fresh picture, still moist from its self-developing camera, and laid +it beside the chart. Wordlessly, for the benefit of them all, he traced +his pencil over the outlines of the chart and their duplicates in the +picture. As in comparing fingerprints, he flicked his pencil at the +points of identity. There were far too many to ignore. He poked +the point of his pencil at Appletree where it was located on the +chart. Then he picked out the same location in the picture.</p> + +<p>It was not the science of navigation that was wrong.</p> + +<p>"It's just one of those dirty tricks life plays on a fellow," Tom +said over Cal's shoulder. "You got us in the right place, Louie, but +probably in the wrong time slot. You've warped us right out of our +own time, and Eden hasn't been discovered yet. Maybe won't +be for another million years. Maybe, back on Earth, man is just +discovering fire."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Norton agreed. "Or maybe in the wrong dimension. +You and your fancy navigation. Now you take a midgit-idgit +navigating machine. It wouldn't know how to pull such fancy +short cuts. Take a little longer, maybe, but when we got there +we'd be there."</p> + +<p>They were both talking nonsense and knew it. Time and +dimensional travel were still purely theoretical. Louie ignored the +ribbing with elaborate patience.</p> + +<p>"You know what I think," he asked seriously. "I think the whole +thing's a hoax. I'll betcha there never was any settlement there. +I'll betcha the colonists have pulled a whingding all the way +through."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's a whole raft of pictures to show they were there," +Frank reminded him.</p> + +<p>"Pictures!" Louie answered scornfully. "You think they couldn't +fake pictures?" He thought for a moment. "And where's their +ship, their escape ship?" he asked as a clincher. "They didn't like +it here and have gone off somewhere else, and then covered up +by sending reports and pictures on how things would have +developed if they'd stayed."</p> + +<p>There was a sense of unreality in the whole conversation. Cal +let the talk flow on, knowing it was a reaction to shock. What if a +modern ocean liner pulled into the harbor of New York—to find +an untouched Manhattan Island in its virgin state?</p> + +<p>It couldn't happen, therefore it wasn't to be treated seriously.</p> + +<p>"Better set up communication with Earth," Cal said quietly.</p> + +<p>In E science the unpredictable, the incredible, the illogical +could happen at any time. With a mind more open to acceptance +of this, he had felt the run of shock sooner. For them, the shock +impact was delayed since their minds rejected the illogical as +unreal. For him the human shock came at once, and then, as E +thinking took over, passed off.</p> + +<p>"Sure, Cal," Lynwood agreed. It was a measure of their acceptance +that they had quite normally fallen into using his first name.</p> + +<p>On the emergency signal it took less than three minutes to clear +through eleven light-years to E.H.Q.—and then sixteen minutes +for the operator at base to find Bill Hayes.</p> + +<p>"Sector Chief Hayes here," the voice said at last through the +speaker.</p> + +<p>"Gray here, on the Eden matter," Cal answered. "Any other E's +available?"</p> + +<p>"Hm-m," Hayes answered. "Wong has picked up on a problem +in the Pleiades sector, and left this morning. Malinkoff has given +out word not to disturb him if the whole universe falls apart. +That leaves McGinnis, who, I believe, is spending his time working +on the defense against the injunction by Gunderson. An example<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +of the way petty restrictions can bring a fine mind down to +trivial problems. But he said call him if you need him."</p> + +<p>"Please," Cal said. "And you might stay on while I talk to him, +if you're not busy."</p> + +<p>"Sure, E Gray, sure," Hayes answered. "I'm flashing the operator +to locate McGinnis. Seen anything of the police ship, yet? I +understand one is following to observe what you do."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it will be a big help," Cal said drily. "Not that it +matters, so long as it doesn't get in the way."</p> + +<p>McGinnis came on at that point.</p> + +<p>"I'm not yelling for help, yet," Cal told him. "But here's what it +is like at this end." He sketched in the details, and heard a sharp +gasp at the other end from Hayes.</p> + +<p>"Now I'd like to stay on this problem," he concluded his brief +summary. "But somewhere there's fifty colonists in trouble because +this whole thing is out of focus. I'm not a full E, and maybe their +lives are more important than my ambition to do a solo job. +Certainly more important. Then, trivial as it is, we'd be playing +right into Gunderson's hands if we've sent out a boy to do a man's +job."</p> + +<p>"Dismiss the Gunderson side of it," McGinnis said drily. "It's +inconsequential to the main issue. As for that, I don't know any +more than you do. There's never been anything like this. Colonists +have been wiped out on other planets, sure; but what happened +left traces. This one is an oddball, and I'd say you're as well +equipped to handle it as anybody else."</p> + +<p>"I don't—I don't understand this at all," Hayes said in a worried +voice.</p> + +<p>"Who does?" Cal asked. "I'd say set up for continuous communication. +I'll leave it wide open here, so that everything we say +will come through. Then, if anything should happen to us, you'll +have the record up to that point."</p> + +<p>"It's the only thing we can do," Hayes agreed.</p> + +<p>"If you think I should come out there to stand by, I'll do it," +McGinnis said. But the tone of his voice said he hoped Cal would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +shoulder the full responsibility, not weaken out of a chance at a +real solo.</p> + +<p>"I'm not crying uncle, yet," Cal said. "But I may have to take +you up on the offer. I hope not."</p> + +<p>"But do you <i>know</i> anything is wrong?" Hayes asked incredulously. +He was having the same trouble facing the reality as the +ship's crew.</p> + +<p>"If you were flying to Los Angeles and found only desert where +the city is supposed to be, you might assume something was +wrong," Cal answered drily. "But I don't know what it is. Do you +have a recorder set up, so I can begin trying to find out?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, E Gray," Hayes said hurriedly. He was suddenly +conscious that he had been interrupting an E conversation, not +once but several times. "Pardon the intrusions. It was just +that ..."</p> + +<p>"I understand," Cal reassured him.</p> + +<p>When Cal stood up from the communicator, the eyes of the +crew were on him. Overhearing his conversation with Earth had +sobered them, made reality come closer.</p> + +<p>"You think it might be a mirage?" Tom asked. "Some freak air +current reflecting from another island and superimposing over this +one?" Then he answered himself. "No. I guess it isn't. There aren't +enough discrepancies."</p> + +<p>"Let's pan down to the ground with the scanner," Cal said. +"Take it slow over the area where the village is supposed to be."</p> + +<p>Glad to be doing something with his hands, Lynwood twisted +the controls to take them instantly, in magnification, to a distance +slightly above the tops of the trees. The automatic pilot caused +the ship to drift with the rotation of the planet, keeping them in +fixed relative position.</p> + +<p>They scanned the ground rod by rod. There were expanses of +heavy tree and bush growth that they could not penetrate. Some +of these trees grew where the pictures showed cleared fields, +buildings, truck gardens, cattle pastures.</p> + +<p>"Those big trees didn't grow up in a month, since the last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +colonist report," Louie said positively. He still clung to his belief +that it was all a hoax.</p> + +<p>Cal made no comment. He was intent on the scanner screen. +There were heavy foliage spots, but there were also bare areas +covered by a soft, springy turf and patches of wild flowers. But +there was no sign of man or his works. There was not so much +as a board, the glint of a nail, not a furrow, not even the scar of a +campfire. And no indication that there had ever been.</p> + +<p>In the sandy patches along the banks of the small meandering +river, there was not even a footprint.</p> + +<p>They swept the scanner down the valley.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," Cal said. "There are some cows and horses." +He held the scanner fixed while they studied the animals. In two +small herds, the animals grazed contentedly near a patch of woods.</p> + +<p>"We're in the right time slot, then," Tom said, with an attempt +to pick up the spirit of treating it lightly. "They've been here. Else +the cows and horses wouldn't be."</p> + +<p>"Funny thing about those horses," Frank commented in a +puzzled voice. "I grew up on a farm. Those are work horses, but +field horses always have harness marks on them where the hair +gets rubbed off or the skin gets calloused. If they used these +horses for work, there ought to be collar and hames rubs on their +necks. There ought to be worn streaks left by the traces on their +sides. There isn't. Far as the evidence shows, they might have +been wild all their lives."</p> + +<p>"Whatever happened didn't seem to hurt them any," Cal agreed.</p> + +<p>He swept the scanner on down the valley to the sandy shore +of the sea. They were close enough to pick up the brown streaks +of beached seaweed. A flock of shore birds were busy running up +the sand away from the gentle, beaching waves, then following +the water line back down to dig their beaks into the soft, wet +sand for food. The birds showed no alarm, no sign of lurking +presence near them.</p> + +<p>Cal brought the scanner back up the valley and over to one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +the ridges bordering it. High on the crest of the ridge, the undergrowth +was less luxuriant than down in the valley.</p> + +<p>And it was here they caught their first glimpse of a human +being.</p> + +<p>He was hunkered down behind some rocks at the crest, peering +over them at the valley below. From the shape of his shoulders and +back, the set of his head, they knew it to be a man. As far as they +could tell, he had no clothes on. Apparently they had caught him +at the moment of his arrival at the crest.</p> + +<p>They watched him turn his head as he looked quickly, then +searchingly, up and down the valley. They watched his hand +come up to shade his eyes against the light from Ceti as he +attempted to see into the dark patches of foliage where the +village ought to be.</p> + +<p>What he saw, or did not see, seemed to stun him. He squatted, +as frozen as a statue for long moments. Then, on hands and knees, +they saw him back away from the crest. Now they saw he did not +wear even so much as a breechclout. When the height of the +ridge concealed him from the other side, he sprang to his feet and +began to run, zigzagging in the manner of an obstacle racer to +avoid the bushes.</p> + +<p>"Looks like they've decided to make a nudist colony of it," +Lynwood commented.</p> + +<p>"And faked the pictures so nasty-minded old Earth people +wouldn't come out to break it up," Louie persisted.</p> + +<p>"Then why should he be so scared?" Frank asked.</p> + +<p>"Notice that patch of bare dirt he's crossing?" Cal asked. "See +the little spurts of dust when he puts his feet down? Now look +behind him."</p> + +<p>The three crewmen leaned closer to look over his shoulder at +the scanning screen. Cal adjusted it minutely, to get a sharp focus +on the ground.</p> + +<p>"No footprints!" Lynwood exclaimed. "He doesn't leave any +footprints!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> + +<p>The three of them looked at Cal, wide-eyed. Cal didn't like what +he saw in Louie's eyes. The habitual irritation and annoyance with +life's little petty tricks was gone.</p> + +<p>The look had been replaced with fear, and something more.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> +<h2>11</h2> + +<p>The naked man, running frantically down the side of the slope, +disappeared momentarily under some taller growth, came out the +other side of it still running. He leaped over a small ravine, +stumbled, recovered himself, and disappeared again beneath a +larger growth of trees. Below him, on his side of the ridge, there +lay another valley with its own stream.</p> + +<p>They caught one more fleeting glimpse, a mere flash of sunlight +on tan skin. He was still heading downward in the direction of the +stream. It was their last sight of him. They watched for a while +longer, but he did not reappear under the green canopy of forest.</p> + +<p>"Just a guess," Cal said. He spoke matter-of-factly in the hope +the casualness would wash the fear and awe from Louie's eyes. +"That's probably one of the dissident men who broke away from +the main colony and set up housekeeping in this adjacent valley. +Apparently the same things have happened to him as happened +to the main colony, whatever it was.</p> + +<p>"I'd guess it came as pretty much of a shock and he's just now +worked up courage to scout the main valley. From that I'd say +whatever happened wasn't very long ago, not more than a week. +Just a guess."</p> + +<p>None of the crew answered him. It was obviously not the case of +a voyeur spying on others—not with the kind of excitement the +running man had shown. Running away—that is.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let's drop down into the atmosphere," Cal suggested. "I'd +assume it is breathable from the fact we've seen earth animals +and a human being. Still we'd better make tests."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Louie said unexpectedly. "If the man isn't making any +footprints maybe he isn't breathing, either." He tried to make it a +joke, to fight his fear with self-derision. He didn't succeed. Nobody +laughed. He swallowed hard and studied the charts again for no +apparent reason.</p> + +<p>Cal glanced quickly from Tom to Frank. A look at Norton's +face showed him Frank wasn't very far behind Louie in the +progress of shock. Perhaps, as with himself, it was Lynwood's +sense of responsibility for his crew that was helping the pilot +to maintain a better control. But there was a white line around +Lynwood's mouth, running up the line of his jaw. Caused by +clenching his teeth too tightly? Clenched, to keep them from +chattering?</p> + +<p>However experienced a man became, however dependable the +reactions, one never knew how to predict reaction in the face of +the completely unknown. Yet Cal knew that even if he asked +any of the men if they feared to take him down it would be an +insult never forgotten. It was their job to take an E where he +wanted to go. It wouldn't be the first time they had gambled +their lives on the judgment of an E.</p> + +<p>"Oh-oh," Tom exclaimed. "We have company." He pointed to +an indicator on the panel.</p> + +<p>They swept the space around them with the scanner, and +hovering off to one side they picked up another ship. They watched +it for a while, as it hovered there. It made no move to come closer, +no move to communicate with them.</p> + +<p>"From its markings," Tom said at last, "I think that's a special +investigation ship from the attorney general's office. Wonder what +they're doing here?"</p> + +<p>"To make first-hand observation of my failure," Cal said shortly. +"Let's get on with our work."</p> + +<p>Perhaps it helped the crew to realize they were not alone, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +whatever might happen to them would not only be heard on the +E.H.Q. channel back to Earth, but would also be seen by these +special observers. Perhaps it bucked them up a little to know that +they were being watched, that faltering uncertainty would be +noted and scorned. Perhaps it was the mechanical routine of air +sampling and testing as they lowered the ship by degrees.</p> + +<p>Norton grew more relaxed, more sure of himself. Lynwood +handled the ship on manual control with ease, almost with flourish. +But Louie's hands, gripping the edges of the chart table, still +showed bloodless white at the knuckles. Perhaps because there +was nothing for him to do at the moment, he alone wasn't snapping +out of it.</p> + +<p>The tests showed normal atmosphere. It checked exactly with +the readings for this altitude established by the surveying scientists. +To complete the record, Cal repeated them aloud each time so the +open communicator would carry the information back to Earth +where, by now, not only McGinnis and Hayes would be listening, +but probably a group of scientists as well. Perhaps their hands, too, +gripped the edges of tables, showed bloodless at the knuckles?</p> + +<p>To wait, helplessly, eleven light-years away might create more +tenseness than being right on the scene. Yet no voice came through +the ship's speaker, either from Earth or from the observer's ship.</p> + +<p>Perhaps McGinnis, forgetting his eighty years, wished now he +were at Eden instead of Cal. Perhaps, mindful of his years, he +didn't. He made no comment.</p> + +<p>Tom dropped the ship lower and lower, each time pausing for +an air sample. Each time they scanned the valley where the village +of Appletree should be. There was no change. Now the unlikely +idea of a superimposed mirage was dispelled. The disappearance +of the colony was no trick of vision. The ship hovered, at the last, +not more than fifty feet from the ground.</p> + +<p>"Let's set her down, Tom," Cal said quietly.</p> + +<p>Tom shrugged, as if that were the only thing left to do.</p> + +<p>"You're the E," he said. His glance at Louie showed he was +placing the responsibility not so much to avoid consequences for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +himself, nor so much to assure they were willing to follow an E's +orders without question, as to remind Louie that there was, after +all, an E with them. And if he were willing to face this unknown, +they could hardly do less themselves.</p> + +<p>But Louie's eyes were fixed in unblinking stare upon the ground +below them. He was frozen and unheeding.</p> + +<p>The actual landing was so flawless that Cal, involuntarily, +glanced out of the port to confirm that they were no longer hovering.</p> + +<p>"Might as well open up," he said. "Nothing has happened to us, +so far."</p> + +<p>Norton pushed a button. The exit hatch slipped open and the +ramp unfolded and slid down to touch ground. Cal, flanked by +Tom and Frank, looked through the opening into the woods +beyond.</p> + +<p>And while they looked, a man came from behind the screening +protection of some shrubbery. He was followed by two other +men. All of them were completely naked.</p> + +<p>"You three stay inside the ship until I signal you to come out," +Cal instructed. "If anything unusual happens to me, stand off +from the planet until help can come from Earth. Don't be foolish +and try to help me."</p> + +<p>"You're the E," Tom repeated. When a man is outside his own +knowledge, heroics might do more harm than good.</p> + +<p>Cal stepped through the exit and walked slowly down the ramp.</p> + +<p>The three colonists seemed in no panic. They walked toward +him, also slowly, obviously in attempt at dignified control. Yet +their faces were breaking into broad grins of relief and welcome.</p> + +<p>Cal stepped off the ramp, took a step toward them, then it +happened.</p> + +<p>He heard breathless grunts of surprise and pain behind him. +He whirled around. The three crewmen were lying awkwardly on +the ground. There was no ship. The three crewmen were completely +naked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>Cal felt the stirring of a breeze, and looked down quickly at +his own body. He also was nude.</p> + +<p>He turned back to face the colonists. They had stopped in +front of him. Their joyous grins had been replaced by grimaces of +despair.</p> + +<p>Behind him the crewmen were in the act of getting to their feet. +A quick glance showed Cal none was hurt. Louie looked around, +dazed and uncomprehending. There was not so much as a bent +blade of grass to show where the ship's weight had pressed. Louie +sank down suddenly on the ground and buried his face in his +hands.</p> + +<p>Tom and Frank stood over him, in the way a man would try to +shield some wounded portion of his own body, instinctively.</p> + +<p>A fact obvious to all of them was that their own communication +with Earth had been shut off. In this daylight they could not see +the observer ship hovering out in space, but its occupants had no +doubt seen them, seen what had happened. It, no doubt, was +telling Earth what it had seen—the attorney general's office, at any +rate. Doubtful that it was including E.H.Q. in its report. Problematical +that the attorney general would tell E.H.Q. what had +happened.</p> + +<p>Cal hoped the observers would have enough sense not to try to +land.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> +<h2>12</h2> + +<p>A second shock, powerfully magnified, hit him then. Because he +was personally involved?</p> + +<p>For what seemed an interminable time, Cal's mind ceased to +function rationally, and like an animal suddenly faced with the +unknown he froze, shrank within himself, stood motionless. Yet +far down within his mind, there was still detached observation, +as if a part of him were removed from all this, still in the role +of disinterested observer.</p> + +<p>The crew behind him was likewise frozen in tableau. And the +colonists in front of him. A balance in number, with himself in +between, a still picture from a modernist ballet.</p> + +<p>Or a charade. Guess what this is!</p> + +<p>He felt laughter bubbling to his lips, recognized it for the +beginning of hysteria, and the impulse was washed away.</p> + +<p>With that portion of detached curiosity he watched his mind +functioning, darting frantically here and there for rational explanation, +and momentarily taking refuge in irrationality. It was all +being done with trick photography! Such a sudden transition could +take place in a motion picture, a transition from reality into a +dream sequence lying discarded on the cutting-room floor.</p> + +<p>Reversion to the primitive, accounting for the phenomena by +devising a mind more powerful than his own. The childhood view<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +of the omnipotent parent, reality's disillusionment, the parent +substitute, the creation of a god in his parent's image without the +weakness of his parent, so that he might go on in perpetual +irresponsibility since he could now place responsibility outside +himself.</p> + +<p>Or this was a fairy story in which he lived. This was the spell of +enchantment. This was magic. And at the first concept of magic, +the first lesson of E sharpened into focus once more.</p> + +<p>"Anything is magic if you don't understand how it happens, and +science if you do."</p> + +<p>In that odd, detached portion of his mind he deliberately used +the statement as a foundation. Upon it he reconstructed the +science of E. The universe and all in it is logical, logical at least +to man because he is part of that universe, of its essence. There +can be nothing in the universe that is wrong, or out of place, +except and only as the limited interpretation of man who sees +a force in terms of a threat to the ascendancy of himself-and-his +at the center of things. This is the sole basis of morality, and +prevents man's appreciation of total reality.</p> + +<p>He had been trapped in the first concept, and was accepting +these phenomena as a statement of Eminent Authority. But +what if this were not the whole of reality, what then?</p> + +<p>Once begun, his mind progressed rapidly through the seven +stages of E science, and in the seventh he found rationality. If +there is only one natural law, and we see it only in seemingly +unrelated facets because of our ignorance, because we cannot +apperceive the whole, then this, too, is no more than another +facet.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was this which broke the spell. Perhaps it was the +movement of the colonists. They were moving, withdrawing, +walking backward step by step. Their faces were masks of despair, +and in them Cal read the knowledge that what had just happened +to him, his men, his ship, had previously happened to them.</p> + +<p>Slowly they backed away, backed out of the open space, sought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +the shelter of a great and spreading tree at the edge of the clearing. +There they paused.</p> + +<p>It was a return to ballet, a gravely executed change in the +proportions of the tableau. They stood, a drooped and huddled +group, cowering beneath the tree, in nude dejection, in the +suggestion of a wary crouch, uncertain whether to flee precipitously, +or freeze to make themselves as small and inconspicuous as +possible.</p> + +<p>In the same grave choreography he turned to look at his crew. +And at the turning, as if on signal, on musical cue, Tom and Frank +began the pantomime of urging Louie to his feet. Louie looked +at the two standing men alternately. With bloodless lips he tried +to grin wryly, apologetically, for what his nervous system was +doing to his body against his will.</p> + +<p>The old flash of an expression which seemed to say, "This is just +the kind of dirty trick life always plays on me," came back into +his eyes for an instant, and he tried to grin. But the attempt was a +grimace of terror. He cowered back down at their feet, his courage +swamped in funk.</p> + +<p>"Let's get him under the tree," Cal said, and wondered why he +had spoken in such a low voice, almost a whisper. That, too, was +a part of the classical pattern of fear, to make no noise. As was +getting him under the tree, an animal's instinct to hide from the +eyes of the unknown.</p> + +<p>As the four of them approached the tree, with Tom and Frank +half-carrying, half-dragging Louie—and he still trying to make his +legs behave, support him—the colonists made a fluttering movement +of uncertainty, as if to bolt, to run in panic, farther and +farther back into sheltering protection of the deep forest.</p> + +<p>But they stood their ground, in acceptance. The seven men came +together under the protecting branches of the tree. Protection? +From what?</p> + +<p>Louie sank down gratefully, and clutched the trunk of the tree, +as if, on a high place, he feared falling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Sorry," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Just can't help +it."</p> + +<p>One of the colonists answered first, the tall, leather-faced, spare-framed +one. Stamped on his face was his origin, the imperishable +impression of the West Texan, grown up in a harsh land that +can be made responsive to man's needs only through strength, +his will to survive against all odds.</p> + +<p>"It figgers," the man said in his quiet drawl. "We've all been +like that for days, maybe a week or more. Lost count. You're doin' +all right. Better than some."</p> + +<p>Cal drew a deep breath, consciously squared his shoulders, +fought off the urge to like dejection.</p> + +<p>"Then everybody's still alive?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh yeah, sure. Nobody's kill't. Just hidin' out in the woods, +and mostly from each other. It's a turrible thing." He looked down +at himself with a wry grimace. "Not outta shame," he added. +"We've seen naked bodies before. Just plumb scared, I guess."</p> + +<p>To talk, to hear himself talking, and that to strangers, to tell +somebody about it, seemed to restore some confidence in himself. +Something of quiet dignity came back over him, a knowledge of +responsibility for leadership. He straightened, as if silently reminding +himself that he was a man.</p> + +<p>"I'm Jed Dawkins," he said. "Sort of the kingpin of the colony, +I reckon you might say. Mayor of Appletree, or what was Appletree. +I don't rightly know if I'm mayor of anything now. This here +is Ahmed Hussein, and this miserable hunk o' man is Dirk Van +Tassel. Manner of speakin'," he amended. "He ain't no more +miserable than the rest of us."</p> + +<p>"I'm Calvin Gray," Cal answered. He indicated his crew. "This +is Tom Lynwood, Frank Norton, Louie LeBeau. They're all good +men. Just under the weather right now."</p> + +<p>"You should'a seen us when it first happened," Jed said with +feeling. "I reckon you're the E? Come to find out why we didn't +communicate?" He spread his open hands and waved them to +indicate the area around him. "Now you see why we didn't.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +Hollerin' loud as we could wouldn't do the job, and that's all we +got left."</p> + +<p>Somehow the introductions relaxed them all a little, as if the +familiar formality provided some kind of normalcy in an incredible +situation.</p> + +<p>"Don't seem right hospitable, just standin' here," Jed added with +a shrug. "But there ain't no house, nor camp, nor fire to share +with you."</p> + +<p>"We're not suffering at the moment, except mentally," Cal +reassured him. Involuntarily he glanced up at the spreading +branches of the tree, as if to reassure himself also; then grinned +in self-consciousness at the pantomime of fear. "First thing is to +find out what happened."</p> + +<p>"Might as well hunker down right here on the ground," Jed +said. "One place is good as another right now."</p> + +<p>The men all crouched or sat on the dead leaves which carpeted +the ground. Cal suddenly realized he was glad to take the strain +from his legs, as if he had been maintaining stance through sheer +will.</p> + +<p>"It is a poor greeting to visitors from home," Ahmed spoke up, +then cleared his voice in surprise to hear himself speaking. "We +cannot even provide a cup of coffee."</p> + +<p>"Cain't have no fire," Dawkins explained. "See?"</p> + +<p>He picked up two dead twigs laying on the ground near him. +He began rubbing them together, in the ancient way of creating +fire. The two sticks flew apart and out of his hands.</p> + +<p>"Try it," he invited Cal.</p> + +<p>Curious, even unbelieving, Cal picked up two broken branches. +He started to rub them together. He felt them twisted, wrenched, +and pulled out of his hands. He saw them flying through the air +with a force he had not provided. He got up, picked them up +again, sat back down, and held the sticks very tightly in his hands. +He tried to bring them together. Suddenly, he simply lost interest.</p> + +<p>"Oh to hell with it," he said unexpectedly, and dropped the +sticks. His astonishment at himself was a shock.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a kind of chuckle from Van Tassel, one without +mirth. "Kind of gets you, doesn't it?" he said.</p> + +<p>Cal looked at his hands, and at the sticks laying beside him.</p> + +<p>"Now why would I do that?" he asked. "All at once it seemed +unimportant to start a fire, or even try. What's happened here? +What's been going on?"</p> + +<p>"Cain't explain it," Dawkins said. "Sort of hoped you bein' an +E, and all ..."</p> + +<p>"Maybe if you told me just what happened, started at the +beginning when everything was normal...."</p> + +<p>"Something else you should tell him, Jed," Ahmed spoke up. He +looked at Cal, and explained himself. "We don't think easily," he +added. "Can't keep our minds on anything for more than a minute +or so. In fact, I'm a little surprised that we've been able to carry on +the conversation this long. From the way we've been behaving, I +would have expected more that we'd have wandered away back +into the woods before now—simply left you to your own devices +without interest in you. Strange."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Jed confirmed, "I was thinkin' that, too. Funny thing. +Right now I feel like I could tell the whole yarn. I feel like ... +Well, while I'm in the mood I'd better git it said. Don't know how +long I can keep interested.</p> + +<p>"Well, there we were, one day, seems like it ought to be about +a week ago, give or take a couple of days. Anyway, I remember +it was around noon...."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> +<h2>13</h2> + +<p>It was one day around noon.</p> + +<p>Jed Dawkins had come in early from his experimental field to +get his dinner, well, city folks would call it lunch, and so he'd +be ready afterwards for a talk with the colony committee. He'd +eaten his lunch, all right, a good one. There was never any scarcity +of food on Eden. Always plenty, and wide variety. If anything, +a man ate too much and didn't have to work hard enough to get +it. That was the main thing that had been wrong with Eden, +right from the start. Man was ordained to earn his bread by the +sweat of his brow, and there's no reason to sweat for it on Eden.</p> + +<p>He was lying on the hammock that was stretched between two +big trees in the front yard of his house. The house was set a little +way off from the rest of the village, oh maybe five hundred yards +more or less, not so far he couldn't be handy when he was needed +by the colony, but still far enough to give a man some space.</p> + +<p>The domestic sound of rattled pots and pans came from the +kitchen window where his wife Martha was washing up after dinner. +It was a drowsy, peaceful time. Honeybees they'd brought +from Earth were buzzing the flowers Martha had planted all +around. A bird was singing up in the trees above him. A man +ought to be pretty contented with a life like that, he remembered +telling himself. Ought to be.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<p>He felt like taking a nap, but made himself keep awake because +the committee was coming right over, and he didn't want to +wake up all groggy, the way a man does when he sleeps in the +daytime. Couldn't afford to be groggy because the committee was +all set up to scrap out something that was splitting the colony +right down the middle.</p> + +<p>He remembered looking out at the fields where the grains and +vegetables were growing, thinking how easy it was to farm here—plenty +of rain, plenty of sun, no storms to flatten and ruin the +crops, not even enough insect pests to worry a man. He looked +out at the fenced pastures where the colony's community stock +grazed.</p> + +<p>The horses had eaten their fill and were ambling up from the +drinking pond, getting ready to take a siesta of their own in the +shade of some trees at the corner of their pasture. The cows were +already lying down in a grove of trees and were sleepily chewing +their cuds. The green grass around them was so tall he could +barely see their heads and backs.</p> + +<p>His house was on top of a little hill, knoll you might call it. +Martha, like himself, had been raised in West Texas where all +you could see, as the city feller said, was miles and miles of miles +and miles. She never could stand not being able to see a long ways +off, and she'd picked out this spot herself. They could see all +the valley and the sea, and some dim shapes of islands in the +distance. Right nice.</p> + +<p>Yes, it was all very peaceful—and tame.</p> + +<p>That was the main trouble in the colony. Too tame. Some of +them got restless. They argued the five-year test was all right +for most planets. You needed every bit of it to prove that man +could make it there, or couldn't, or how much help he would need +from Earth, maybe for a while, maybe always.</p> + +<p>On Eden you didn't have to prove anything. There wasn't +anything to make a man feel like a man, proud to be one. Maybe +that would be all right for ordinary folks, but for experimental +colonists it was a slow death—almost as bad as living on Earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sure, they'd made their complaints to Earth. Half a dozen times +or maybe more. They'd asked for an inspector to come out and +see for himself, and see what it was doing to the colonists. Jed +put it right up to E.H.Q. that they were plumb ruining a prime +batch of colonists with this easy living.</p> + +<p>A man had to stretch himself once in a while if he expected to +grow tall.</p> + +<p>Some of the colonists were getting so lazy they'd stopped bitching +and were even talking about maybe just staying on here +after the experimental was over—maybe getting a doctor to reverse +the operation so they could have kids—which, of course, +you couldn't have in an experimental colony.</p> + +<p>And that was bad. What with easy living and wanting kids as +was normal to most, experimental colonists weren't so plentiful +that Earth could afford to lose any.</p> + +<p>Some of the colonists wanted to leave this—well, they called it a +Lotus Land, whatever that was—right away, before everybody +went under, got plumb ruined. They were all for taking the escape +ship and hightailing it back to Earth. Sure, they knew there'd be +a stink, and they'd get a little black mark in somebody's book for +not obeying orders to stick it out. But that was better than losing +their trade, their desire to follow it. Maybe there'd be a penalty +and they'd be marooned to stay on Earth for a while. But they'd +bet there was a hundred planets laying idle right now because +there weren't enough experimentals to go around.</p> + +<p>They'd get a black mark, but after a while they'd get another +job too. Anyway, living on Earth couldn't be any worse for them +than living here.</p> + +<p>Half of them wanted to stay here permanently. The other half +wanted to leave right now. That was what the committee was +going to decide today. He'd done some checking around, and it +looked like they were going to vote to go. He'd also checked +with them who wanted to stay permanently, and it looked like, +in a showdown, they'd come along. They were proud to be men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +too, men and women. Everybody would join. He'd been pretty +sure of it.</p> + +<p>Even the dissenters who'd moved away across the ridge. That +was the trouble with them. There hadn't been enough hardship +to bind the community together. People forgot how to be kind to +one another and get along when there wasn't any hardship to +share among themselves.</p> + +<p>It would mean deserting the planet entirely. Even though his +sympathies were with the ones who wanted to go, Jed felt there +was something wrong, real bad, about deserting the planet. Still +and all, if they voted to go he couldn't stop them.</p> + +<p>Maybe Earth would let the three-generation colonists come on +out without the total test period. But maybe not. Maybe E.H.Q. +would decide that Eden was too hard to colonize because it was +too easy. Maybe they'd abandon the planet entirely. There'd be no +more humans here, and no more coming.</p> + +<p>That was when he hit the ground with a solid thump!</p> + +<p>He first thought the hammock had somehow twisted out from +under him, and he looked up at it resentfully, the way a man +blames something else for his own fault. There wasn't any +hammock.</p> + +<p>At the same time, he heard Martha cry out. He craned his neck +quickly in the direction of the house. There wasn't any house. +Martha was standing there on bare ground, and there wasn't a +dad-blamed thing else, not a stove, nor a chair, a dish, nothing.</p> + +<p>And Martha didn't have a stitch of clothes on her!</p> + +<p>His first thought was that she ought to have more sense than to +stand right out in the yard plumb naked. What was the matter +with her anyhow? He peered quickly down toward the village +to see if anybody was looking up in this direction.</p> + +<p>The whole thing hit him like a blow on top the head. There +wasn't any hammock. There wasn't any house.</p> + +<p>There wasn't any village.</p> + +<p>He saw a whole passel of people squirming around down there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +where the village ought to be. They were standing, or crouched, +or lying around as if they'd fallen down.</p> + +<p>And every one of the crazy galoots was plumb naked.</p> + +<p>And so was he! He'd just realized it.</p> + +<p>It had all happened so quietly that that fool bird up in the +tree was still singing. Hadn't missed a note. Funny how a thing +like that stood out above all the rest. Still singing.</p> + +<p>Jed got up on his knees, scrambled to his feet, and dodged +behind a tree. Fine lot of authority he'd have as village mayor +if anybody saw him standing out in his front yard naked as a +jay bird.</p> + +<p>The reminder of his responsibility caused him to sweep his eyes +beyond the sight of the village to where their spaceship should be +in its hangar, always ready for instant escape if anything should +go wrong, real wrong, that is. This ship wasn't there. The hangar +wasn't there. Nothing.</p> + +<p>For a little bit he thought he must be looking in the wrong +direction. He'd got turned around or something in the confusion, +because there was a grove of trees where the hangar ought to be. +And it was the same grove they'd cleared away over two years +ago. He recognized one of the trees because it had a peculiar +shape.</p> + +<p>And he remembered feeding the trunk of that very tree into +the power saw for lumber. It was twisted and gnarled, and Martha +had asked him to save the wood for furniture because it was real +pretty. That was the tree, there on the edge of the grove.</p> + +<p>He felt drunk, in a daze. He turned the other direction and +looked out where the experimental fields ought to be. They'd +cleared that whole area of timber and brush because it was a +good, flat land. Only they hadn't, because that was virgin forest, +too.</p> + +<p>Maybe he'd gone insane? He felt a flood of relief. Sure, that +was it. He'd just gone insane, that was all. Everything else was +all right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The calves have got loose to the cows and they're going to +take all the milk, Jed."</p> + +<p>He turned around and looked at Martha. If he was crazy, so +was she. Her eyes showed it. Her words showed it, at a time +like this to be worrying about them fool calves getting out. It took +all the comfort away from him. Her face was white, her eyes were +dazed.</p> + +<p>"You got some dirt on your cheek, Martha," he heard himself +saying. "And for Pete's sake, woman, put on some clothes. The +committee's coming over, and you running around like that!"</p> + +<p>He thought he had the solution then. He'd fallen asleep in the +hammock after all, while he was waiting for the committee, and +he was dreaming. Of course, he ought to have known all along. +This was just the way things happened in a dream—even him +and Martha running around naked. He even chuckled to himself. +He must be a pretty moral kind of fellow after all, because even in +a dream it was his own wife that was next to him there, naked—not +some other man's.</p> + +<p>The fool things a man can dream! Might as well make the most +of it. He took her into his arms, and she clung to him.</p> + +<p>Must have got the sheet tangled around his throat to choke him, +and he was dreaming it was her arms. But there hadn't been any +sheet in the hammock when he went to sleep.</p> + +<p>And he wasn't dreaming.</p> + +<p>"What's happened, Jed?" she whispered. Even her whisper was +shaking with fear, and her arms were wound around his neck so +tight now he could hardly breathe.</p> + +<p>"Now, now, Martha," he cautioned. "Don't you go getting +hysterical."</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" she asked again.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," he said. They were both talking in low tones.</p> + +<p>"It's some kind of a miracle," she whispered.</p> + +<p>"Now there's a woman's thinking for you," he chided her fondly, +joshing her a little. "Nothing of the sort. It's just plain ... Well +any scientist would tell you that ..." And then he stopped.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +He was pretty sure the frameworks of science, as he knew them, +wouldn't be able to tell you.</p> + +<p>He guessed that while they stood there clinging to one another, +they both went a little nuts. It was sort of like drowning, he +guessed. You'd have the feeling of sinking down and down, and +there'd be nothing but blinding, swirling chaos all around you. +Then you'd kind of come to for a minute, and there'd be the trees, +the sky, the farm animals, the sea in the distance.</p> + +<p>You'd look down toward the village, and make a mental note, +almost absently, that people were getting to their feet now, some +of them clinging together the way you and Martha were—and +then back down into mental chaos you'd go again.</p> + +<p>That went on several times, he remembered, before he'd begun +to snap out of it a little.</p> + +<p>"But the funniest thing of all," Jed said, and looked at Cal +quickly, penetratingly. "I had the feeling all the time that we +were being watched!"</p> + +<p>Cal said nothing.</p> + +<p>"You know," Jed explained. "Like catching an animal in a +trap? Then watching it, to see what it will do?"</p> + +<p>Cal nodded, without speaking.</p> + +<p>"It was just another crazy thought, I guess," Jed said deprecatingly. +"Plumb crazy."</p> + +<p>But, clearly, he didn't believe it was.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> +<h2>14</h2> + +<p>At E.H.Q. on Earth communication had been working fine. The +operator sat back and listened with trained ear alert for flaw or +fade. A glance at the adjacent recording instrument told him it +was taking down everything said—had been for hours.</p> + +<p>Nice deal about those naked colonists. Maybe the astronavigator +on the E cruiser had been right. Maybe they'd all just gone back to +nature, all the way back.</p> + +<p>He wondered if there were any pretty young female colonists. +And how far did that word experimental take you? Some +experiment! He realized his interest was running deeper than +that of a detached technician's concern for well-operated equipment—mechanical, +that is. Well, let it. Live a little once in a +while. At least dream.</p> + +<p>The department supervisor hovered near the back of the +operator's chair, breathing down his neck. He gnawed at the +knuckles of his hand, and hoped nothing would go wrong this +time. That astronavigator, Louie LeBeau, was probably right. +Those colonists had turned nudist, and were afraid to report what +they'd done back to Earth!</p> + +<p>Well!</p> + +<p>He looked around guiltily, wondering if he'd exclaimed it aloud. +He decided he hadn't.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>If <i>he</i> were out there, instead of that E, <i>he'd</i> make them put +their clothes back on, on the double. Getting everything all upset, +causing all this trouble, getting everybody excited, all of E.H.Q. +aroused, taking up the time of an E—just because they wanted +to frolic around without any clothes on!</p> + +<p>If they were going to act like irresponsible children, they should +be spanked like irresponsible children.</p> + +<p>He wondered if there were any young pretty female colonists +who ought to be spanked.</p> + +<p>"... E Gray has just stepped off the landing ramp," the pilot +out there was reporting. "He is walking toward the three +colonists. Now they have started walking toward him. They do +not seem hostile. They seem glad to see us. My crew and I are +still at our stations, ready for ..."</p> + +<p>Silence.</p> + +<p>The set simply didn't register anything more except that faint +sigh of uncompleted force fields in space.</p> + +<p>"What now? What now?" the supervisor pushed the operator +to one side, and barely restrained the impulse to cuff him on the +side of the head. "Now what did you do? Why did you meddle +with it when it was coming in so clear and strong? What's happened?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't do anything. I didn't meddle with it. I don't know +what's happened," the operator flared back. "The signal just +stopped. That's all."</p> + +<p>There was an imperative flashing of the signal light on the line +that had been rigged to give direct connection of the running +report to Hayes's office. The operator hesitated, then flipped +open the key, as if he were touching a rattlesnake.</p> + +<p>"What's happened down there?" Hayes complained abruptly, +without diplomatic softness. "This is a very crucial point!"</p> + +<p>"I don't know what happened. I don't know," the supervisor +quarreled back. "The signal just stopped coming. We weren't doing +anything to the equipment."</p> + +<p>He looked up at the continuously changing tri-di star map which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +made the far wall appear to be a view into a miniature universe. +"There's no reason for an occlusion," he said to Hayes. "And the +set here is alive. It must be at the other end."</p> + +<p>He turned to the operator, and said loudly, "Bounce a beam on +Eden's surface. Just see if any booster has gone out between here +and there." Most of it was making a show of efficiency for Hayes.</p> + +<p>"Here we go again," the operator mumbled to himself, and +pressed down a key. The returning pips showed the signal was +getting through to Eden.</p> + +<p>"Pilot Lynwood! Pilot Lynwood!" the supervisor nagged into +the mike. "Speak up! Do you hear me?"</p> + +<p>The operator sighed deeply. His panel partner grimaced something +halfway between a grin and a sneer of disgust.</p> + +<p>"They don't answer," the supervisor said at last to Hayes. "It's +the same as before."</p> + +<p>"Here we go again," Hayes groaned, but not only to himself. +"All right," he said wearily, after a moment's hesitation. "Keep the +channel open. Keep trying to contact them. Let me know if +signal resumes."</p> + +<p>But he already felt the conviction that it would do no good. It +was too much of the same pattern as before. What could have +happened?</p> + +<p>There'd have to be another review, he supposed. A longer +and more detailed one. There must be, had to be, something they'd +overlooked in the first one. Had he been right in freezing out so +many who wanted to speculate in that first one? But in the interests +of time!</p> + +<p>The scientists would grumble, even worse than before, because +now each one of them would be worried lest it was his own field +of knowledge that had failed. Hunting a needle in a haystack was +easy. At least you knew what a needle looked like, could recognize +it when you saw it.</p> + +<p>It would probably all end with nothing solved. E McGinnis +would go out in a rescue ship. He'd already told E Gray that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +would be available in an emergency, and this looked like an +emergency. And that would leave E.H.Q. without a single E in +residence.</p> + +<p>Why didn't General Administration get busy and qualify more +E's? It shouldn't be so difficult as all that to teach people to think! +There was something mighty wrong with the way kids were +brought up if only one in a million could still think by the time he +was grown. Less than one in a million could qualify as an E.</p> + +<p>A boy had to be a natural rebel to start with, because if he +believed what people said he wouldn't get anywhere, no farther +than the people who said it. And if he didn't believe what they +told him, they punished him, outcast him, whipped him, violenced +him into submission if they could. If they couldn't they shut him +up in a prison, labeled him dangerous to society.</p> + +<p>It was a wonder that any were able to walk the thin line between +rebelliousness and delinquency! And if a few were able, they were +still of no use unless they learned what science had to offer as a +base. Ah, there was the rub. How to keep alive the curiosity, the +inquisitiveness, the skepticism; and at the same time teach him +the basics he must have for constructive thought? For if he were +not beaten into submission by the punitive methods of society, +he was persuaded into it by his teachers, who were ever so sure +of their facts and proofs.</p> + +<p>Now you take this Eden problem. Probably wouldn't be tough +at all if a guy could just think. But what could have happened?</p> + +<p>He understood there was an observer ship out there, sent out +by the attorney general's office. Why wasn't it reporting? Probably +was—to the attorney general's office. Fine lot of good E.H.Q. +would get out of that. He was no fool. He knew the attorney +general would gladly sacrifice the whole lot of colonists, if it +would give him a weapon to fight E.H.Q.</p> + +<p>Why hadn't E.H.Q. sent along an observer ship also? These +cocky E's! Probably hadn't thought it necessary. Always ready to +assume they could handle the situation by themselves!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> + +<p>He wondered if he dared voice that criticism during the review, +get it on record. He thought about it, and decided in favor of +playing it safe. Maybe that was the trouble. Everybody was too +concerned with his own skin, too willing to play it safe. But an +employee of E.H.Q. to make a public criticism of an E! No, better +play it safe.</p> + +<p>He sighed heavily, and asked the operator to please see if E +McGinnis would talk to him.</p> + +<p>He suspected that E McGinnis would just stand off from the +planet and wait for E Gray to get in touch. Nothing seemed to +have happened while E Gray's cruiser was out in space. It must +be something connected with landing, being on the surface of the +planet.</p> + +<p>But E Gray could signal to E McGinnis. Those pesky colonists! +Why hadn't they signaled to E Gray? Why hadn't they come out +of their bushes and signaled the danger? Surely they must know +what it was. They were alive and healthy, three of them at least. +Why hadn't they used their stupid heads?</p> + +<p>But then, how could they have known E Gray was out in space, +or even in their stratosphere? Well, they had telescopes, didn't +they? Or did they? Sure they did. No matter what happened to +the buildings, they must have all sorts of equipment hidden under +the trees, or in caves.</p> + +<p>Why hadn't E Gray been more cautious about landing? Rushing +in there like a green school kid, without even rudimentary precautions. +That's what came from sending out a boy to do a man's +job. Maybe the attorney general's office had been right in its +attempt to prevent a Junior from going. What was the use of all +that E training, if the boy didn't have enough sense ...</p> + +<p>At least E McGinnis would have enough sense to stand off, +not go rushing in blindly. Grand old man, E McGinnis. Now there +was a <i>real</i> product of E science, the veritable dean of the E's.</p> + +<p>E Gray would probably have enough sense to know he'd be +followed by a rescue ship as soon as something went wrong. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +between an E out in space and another on the ground, they +shouldn't have any trouble in working it out. He wondered if he +should suggest that to E McGinnis as soon as the operator located +him. Even if the grand, lovable old man thought of it for himself, +he'd compliment Hayes for thinking it, reasoning it all out!</p> + +<p>The intercom operator came on his line.</p> + +<p>"Sir," she said, and cleared her throat. He could hear her gulp. +Her voice was very small, thin. "Sir," she began again. "I contacted +E McGinnis. He said some things. He told me to tell you exactly +what he said, word for word. I took it down in shorthand, so I +could."</p> + +<p>"Well! Well!" he exclaimed impatiently. His brusqueness seemed +to give her courage.</p> + +<p>"Sir," she said a little stronger. "E McGinnis won't talk to you. +He says the foggy, rambling way that review was conducted was +a disgrace. He says why don't you get on with what you have to +do instead of bothering people. He says not to waste any more of +his time unless you can come up with something he doesn't already +know. He says he doubts you'd know what that was even if it hit +you in the face. He said to tell you the exact words, so I took it +down in shorthand, so I could. Because—he said to."</p> + +<p>She was all but wailing, as she finished.</p> + +<p>"All right," Hayes sighed tiredly. Senile old devil! No wonder +things were going to pot, if this was a sample of E training. "Send +me your notes so I can follow them carefully," he told the operator.</p> + +<p>"So you can tear them up before they get spread all over the +joint," she mumbled, but she had already thrown the key so he +couldn't hear her.</p> + +<p>Resignedly, because he knew he was going to catch it from the +scientists just as bad, because he was feeling very sorry for himself +that he must always be in the middle of things, he began to arouse +the scientists.</p> + +<p>He felt so sorry for himself that he dropped his tentative plan +to have the midgit-idgit check the personal attributes of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +individual colonists out there—to see if some of them might be +young, pretty, female—34-24-34.</p> + +<p>As if the idea were now red hot, he dropped the plan of telling +General Administration that, since Eden was in his sector, perhaps +he should go out there, personally.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2>15</h2> + +<p>The observer ship, with an assistant attorney general aboard was, +indeed, reporting directly to the attorney general's office—to +Gunderson in person. On their own secret channel, of course. Had +to be secret. All right for them to know, because they were very +special persons, but the people should not be told.</p> + +<p>"Gray is coming out of the ship," the assistant was saying. "He +is starting down the ramp. He is alone. He has no apparent +weapons. Making a grandstand play of it. Far as we can tell, the +crew isn't covering him. Now he is at the foot of the ramp. The +three unclothed men are moving toward him, spread out a little, +crouching, obviously going to attack. The stupid fool doesn't seem +to realize it. He's ...</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. I don't believe it...."</p> + +<p>"Well, what?" Gunderson exploded from his end.</p> + +<p>"Sir," the assistant gulped, "the ship disappeared, just like that."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. It did. The three crewmen are sprawled on the ground. +Now two of them are getting up. There isn't a sign of the ship, the +ramp, or anything."</p> + +<p>"Can't be. Has to be around somewhere."</p> + +<p>"No, sir. Isn't. Sorry to contradict you, sir. It isn't anywhere."</p> + +<p>"They probably set controls to send the ship back into space,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +and jumped out before it took off. Search space. You'll find it. +Ships don't just disappear."</p> + +<p>"I'll search, of course. But this ship just disappeared."</p> + +<p>"All right, what's going on? What else?"</p> + +<p>"They're naked. Naked as the day they were born. All four of +them. Same as the colonists."</p> + +<p>"Keep track of where they put their clothes. Photograph it. Get +the evidence."</p> + +<p>"Sir, their clothes disappeared right off their bodies. First they +were fully dressed, Gray was, anyhow. Maybe the crew could +have undressed inside the ship, but Gray was fully dressed—and +then he wasn't. Just like that."</p> + +<p>"Hm-m."</p> + +<p>"Shall I land, sir? Place them under arrest?"</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. Let's think of a good charge. Something to +stand up in court. Have to make this airtight right from the +beginning in case some stupid judge decides to make a show of +independence."</p> + +<p>"Indecent exposure, sir? Lewd public behavior?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty weak, in view of what's involved."</p> + +<p>"A suggestion, sir. Maybe a morals charge is the most effective +weapon we could have. Attack the E structure on the grounds of +bad scientific judgment, and every egghead on Earth will feel +compelled to rise up in their defense—except, of course, those +employed by the government. But on a morals charge there +wouldn't be one voice raised—fear of being tarred with the same +brush. Except maybe a few radicals that are already discredited. +Any other charge might get public sentiment aroused against us, +but a morals charge—think of the backing we'd get from the +women's clubs, P.T.A., all the pressure groups determined to +dictate to the rest of the world how it should behave. It's worked +for hundreds of years, sir. Never fails."</p> + +<p>"Hm-m," Gunderson mused. "You may be right."</p> + +<p>"Shall I land, sir, make the arrest?"</p> + +<p>"You've got plenty of photographic evidence?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All we'd need, sir, at least for the lewd, public indecent exposure +charge."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. How about the colonists? Got pictures of +them?"</p> + +<p>"The three men, sir. No others."</p> + +<p>"Let's don't rush into this," Gunderson said slowly. "Without a +ship they're not going to get far. Hold off, and keep taking pictures. +Maybe we can get something stronger on Gray than just an +indecent exposure, or at least get some pictures that could be +interpreted as more than just that. Get pictures of as many +colonists as possible, too, in case they've gone nudist."</p> + +<p>"You'd want to prosecute the colonists, too?"</p> + +<p>"Might be a smart idea. That way, nobody could claim we'd +been gunning for the Junior E. Make it impartial, play no favorites. +Hm-m, even if we decided not to prosecute, we'd have the +pictures in their dossiers, so that anytime in the future, for the +rest of their lives, if any of them gave us any trouble, we could +quietly let them know what we've got, and they'll just fold up +and quit. That's worked for hundreds of years, too."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Smart thinking, sir." The assistant knew that already +Gunderson had adopted the idea as his own, and to hold his job +he'd better let Gunderson go on thinking so. Of course, if the +idea should backfire, then Gunderson would remember quickly +enough where it had originated.</p> + +<p>"Hm-m, you know," Gunderson was saying. "This could work +out all right. If their ship's gone they're not communicating with +E.H.Q. And if they're not communicating, E.H.Q. will send out +another ship to see why. Maybe there'll be an E on it. I hear the +only one available is McGinnis—that guy who's planning to fight +us on that injunction.</p> + +<p>"Now suppose he landed. Suppose he went nudist, or we could +make pictures look like he did. The guy would have to undress +sometime, take a bath. Slap a morals charge on him. Nobody +with a public reputation ever fights a charge like that, guilty or +innocent. They pay up or knuckle under to keep it quiet. Have,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +for hundreds of years; always will, as long as a bunch of fat, old, +ugly biddies, male and female, who nobody wants that way are +viciously resentful that they can't have what somebody else is +enjoying. Young ones, too, so twisted and warped with frustrations +they don't dare try what they daydream about. They're even +worse. Yeah, a morals charge is the way to get at him."</p> + +<p>"But I understood there was a law, that we couldn't charge an +E for any offense."</p> + +<p>"We can try him in the newspapers, can't we? On the +televiewers. That's the whole point. We can't charge an E now, +but wait until we get things stirred up on a morals basis. That +law'll be changed in a hurry, because any legislator that tried to +hold out against changing it would be drawn and quartered by +his constituents—and has enough sense to know it.</p> + +<p>"Hm-m," he breathed in satisfaction. "That's the way to go +about it. Don't know why I haven't thought of it before. If you +guys would read your history of how police enforcement officers +got things back under control each time some idealist started +squawking about human rights, you'd think of these things, too.</p> + +<p>"Now don't go off half-cocked. Just stand by. Keep me posted on +every move. If I've got to do the thinking on how to get those +E's back under police control, the way scientists were before, I've +got to have information.</p> + +<p>"And keep taking pictures!"</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> +<h2>16</h2> + +<p>"After everything disappeared, the buildings, the escape ship, +everything," Cal reviewed, "and you, with your wife, found yourself +crouching under the trees in what had been your front yard, +without any clothes on—what then?"</p> + +<p>"That was the beginning of it," Jed Dawkins answered. He +looked toward his two companions as if for confirmation. He looked +at the three crewmen, at Cal, all sprawled or crouched there +beneath the tree at the edge of the clearing. "We thought it was +the end of everything," he said in retrospect, "but we found out +quick that things had just begun."</p> + +<p>Cal nodded. Dawkins had told his tale simply, without fictitious +emotionalism, without straining to get the horror of it across—and +thereby succeeded. He glanced at his three crewmen, to see +how they were faring. Louie seemed to have gained some control +over his nerves, and yet the way he sat there staring at nothing +showed he was enduring some special horror of his own. Frank +Norton shifted his position, pulled a dry stick from beneath the +leaves, looked at it resentfully, and tossed it aside. He settled +back down and indicated by his expression that now he could be +more comfortable.</p> + +<p>One grateful fact, the day was warm, the breeze under the tree +was gentle, the ground on which they sat was not too wet for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +comfort. Except for custom, for modesty, clothes weren't really +needed; and perhaps the shock of being without them would pass. +Nudists, on Earth, claimed that one very quickly lost all self-consciousness +if no one were clothed; that such was part of the +value; that sex, for instance, became less of an issue instead of +more because, without concealment, one could see instead of +imagining, and the sight more often discouraged than enticed. +Cal wondered what the militant moralists would make of the +idea that clothes encouraged immorality.</p> + +<p>"It was a hard thing to believe," Jed was saying. "It wasn't like +a natural thing—like a cyclone, or earthquake, or fire, or flood. +Nothin' like that. Them things a man can understand. Even if he's +dyin', at least he knows, he understands, what's killin' him. I +never thought I'd hear myself say it would be a comfort to know +what you was dyin' of, but, believe me ..."</p> + +<p>He broke off and stared in front of himself. His voice took on +a note of perplexity.</p> + +<p>"Only nobody died. Nobody even got hurt. We was like little +kids screamin' at the top of their lungs when they ain't hurt at +all—only scared." He looked abashed. "I got to tell you, real +truthful," he said, "most of the yellin' came from the men. The +women, by and large, was real swell.</p> + +<p>"Fact is," he continued, "come to think of it, I don't recollect +ever seein' a woman in real hysterics. Plenty of fake, of course. +Say she's tryin' to hook some man into protectin' her; or lay +public blame on him for not doin' it. Other times, in real danger, +womenfolks, our kind of womenfolks, anyhow, they pitch right in +and help. It takes a man to make a jackass outta himself at the +wrong time."</p> + +<p>Cal nodded and smiled. There was an attempt at a hollow +laugh from Louie, as if the shoe had fit. Jed didn't seem to realize +it, and made no apology about present company being excepted.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't like the aftermath of a storm, either," Jed said, +"where you begin pickin' up the pieces to start over. We—we +couldn't pick up any pieces."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>They couldn't pick up any pieces. In a way, that was worse than +the disappearance of things. In a catastrophe, after taking care +of those that are hurt, first thing a man does is gather the materials +and tools to fix things up again. The women, after soothing them +that's hurt, taking care of them as much as possible, first thing +they think of is making hot coffee, maybe hot soup.</p> + +<p>That was when they began to realize this was more than the +desolation following a cyclone or other freak of nature.</p> + +<p>Cal wanted to know what happened? Well, there he was, still +sort of hiding behind his tree. It was Martha who snapped out of +it first, who insisted that clothes or no clothes it was their plain +duty to get down to the village where they could help somebody. +He'd need other men to help him get things back in shape; she +could help the other women take care of the needy.</p> + +<p>And still he hung back, ashamed of his nakedness. She scolded +him then, pointed out that if everybody was naked, their being +naked too wasn't likely to start up a passel of gossip.</p> + +<p>He gave in to her scolding, because she was right, and came +out from behind his tree. It seemed more than passing strange to +be walking down that slope naked, in plain sight of everybody. +Thing that helped was that nobody seemed of a mind to stop and +stare at them.</p> + +<p>Everybody had his mind on his own problems, and then a +funny thing happened. Maybe, Jed reasoned, it was seeing that +everybody else was naked too. Anyway, the self-consciousness +disappeared all of a sudden, and they didn't think any more +about it—not right then, anyhow.</p> + +<p>By the time they'd got to the foot of their hill and into the +crowd of people, he forgot all about it. There was plenty of other +things to think about. Martha pitched right in, the way he ought +to have done. She was the one who thought of giving the men +something to do, get them over their hysterics.</p> + +<p>"Why don't some of you men get a fire going!" she called out, +as soon as they got to the edge of the crowd. "Something hot to +drink is what we need most. Hot water, in case anybody is hurt."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>Of course she wasn't thinking straight, not entirely. They +didn't have a pot to heat water in. Or maybe she was, because +right away he heard her asking other women if any of them knew +where there might be some dried gourds. He remembered then +an old pioneer trick—cutting open a gourd, scooping out the seed, +filling it with water, dropping hot stones into it until it boiled, +Indian style.</p> + +<p>It might seem funny to city women, always protected against +everything, that Martha wasn't more excited, and helpless. First +place, she had her man already, and didn't need to put on such a +show. Second place, she was a colonist woman, an experimental +colonist woman, trained all her life to take care of the unexpected; +and for the experimentals something unexpected was always +happening.</p> + +<p>Under her influence, and maybe a little under his, Jed acknowledged, +now that he'd been set straight by Martha's example, +everybody began to settle down a little, like they would after the +first shock of a fire or flood. It was all over. Now it was time to +start picking up the pieces, rebuilding.</p> + +<p>Only it wasn't all over.</p> + +<p>That's when they found out they couldn't build a fire.</p> + +<p>Easiest way, without matches, is to string a bow and twirl a +stick in a hole punched into another stick. Next easiest way is to +find a piece of flint, strike two pieces together to make sparks and +hope one will set a wad of punk on fire. If no other way, rubbing +two dry sticks together will do it if you can rub them fast enough, +get them hot enough to make the powdered fibers burst into flame. +Or if they'd had some of those quartz crystals from the top of +the mountain to focus sun rays....</p> + +<p>But they couldn't make a bow, or strike two stones together, +or rub two sticks together. It couldn't be done. Well, Cal had seen +for himself what happened when it was tried. All the men were +trying it, and for a little bit everybody thought it was only happening +to him, that he must have lost the knack, or something. For +a little bit there the men were more worried about how their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +wife would bring it up for weeks or months, how he had let the +rest of the men show him up when it came to building a fire.</p> + +<p>One of the men tore it then.</p> + +<p>He yelled out that somebody he couldn't see was watching him +over his shoulder, that it wasn't meant they should have fire.</p> + +<p>Cal looked quickly at Louie at that point of the story. Louie was +staring, with mouth open, at Jed; and in his eyes was confirmation +of that same feeling. But Jed didn't notice the effect, and went on +with the telling.</p> + +<p>Everybody stopped and listened to the man, because they were +having the same feeling. Jed knew it. Him, too. The crowd might +have panicked right there if the man had let it rest, but he started +explaining it, the way a man does, and makes himself ridiculous.</p> + +<p>He kept on yelling how the men shouldn't listen to the women. +That it was in the first Garden of Eden that man had made the +mistake of listening to woman; that it was Eve who had egged +Adam into eating that apple because a woman was never satisfied +to leave well enough alone. And now, he said, in this new Eden, +man was being given another chance. If he was smart, if he's +learned anything at all, this time he wouldn't listen to no woman.</p> + +<p>Somebody bust out laughing when he said that, and it kind of +eased the tension a little.</p> + +<p>A woman said, real disgusted, that if the men was too helpless +to start a little fire, least they could do was scrape up some dry +leaves because in a few hours it would get dark. Magic or no +magic, watchers or no watchers, night would fall, and she for +one liked a soft bed. That caused them to look up at the sky, +and sure enough the sun, Ceti, was already half way down the +sky from where it had been at noon. At least the world was +turning and time was moving. That, at least. About three hours +had passed in what seemed like minutes.</p> + +<p>Somebody else, one of the men this time, said why didn't they +go a little farther than scraping up some leaves. Why didn't they +get busy and knock together some shelters in case it rained during +the night—the way it often did.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now any one of them, man or woman, ought to have been able +to put up a small shelter in less time than it takes to tell about it, +even without no tools. Break off a limb, or take a sharp stone, dig +holes in the ground with it. Take straight saplings, trim them, +stick them upright in the ground, tamp in the dirt good and hard, +lash them together with vines, lash other poles together to make +the frame of the roof, lift that onto the poles and lash them all +together with braces. Thatch it with grass, and there you were.</p> + +<p>But there they weren't. They couldn't do it.</p> + +<p>Things just wouldn't behave. They dug a hole, and it filled +right up again. They couldn't cut down a sapling, because the +sharp stone, the only tool they had, would fly out of their hands. +They even tried lashing some saplings together where they grew, +and the saplings were like things alive. They wouldn't be bound. +The vines slithered out of their hands and dropped to the ground, +and the saplings sprang up again straight.</p> + +<p>Not only that. They could scrape together some leaves into a +pile, all right, but when anybody tried to lie down in them the +leaves would scatter as if blown by a wind. Only there wasn't +any wind.</p> + +<p>Some of the women got pretty disgusted with their menfolks. +They tried it themselves, and the same things happened. After +that, they was a little more forgiving.</p> + +<p>A couple more hours had passed while they were trying that. +The sun got low. People began to realize they were getting hungry, +and they began to realize there wasn't any way to cook supper.</p> + +<p>Now there wasn't any real hardship, not physical. Nobody'd +been hurt. Shook up a little, scared for sure. But not hurt.</p> + +<p>The river was still flowing good, clean water. All they had to do +was go down to the river bank and cup the water in their hands, +lift it to their lips; or even better, lie down on the bank and lower +their faces into the water. They could do that. It helped a little +to know they could.</p> + +<p>The wild bushes and trees all around had plenty of fruit and +nuts to eat. One thing you could say for Eden, the fruit didn't seem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +to depend on seasons. There was always something ripe, and +plenty of it.</p> + +<p>The people wandered off from the village site then, to forage +their supper, for all the world like animals grazing in a pasture. +They sort of hung together, in herds, glad to be together—then.</p> + +<p>By dark they all came back and sat around in a circle, the way +people in the wilds sit around a campfire. It seemed funny without +a campfire. The darker it got, the funnier it felt. The more you +thought about it, the stranger it got. The excitement had begun +to wear off, and people were starting to think a little. It got +stranger and stranger. In the dusk you could see the same +thought in all the gleaming eyes.</p> + +<p>They couldn't have fire!</p> + +<p>Maybe the strangest thing of all, nobody was trying to explain +what had happened. Now you take mankind, he's always right +in there with an explanation for everything. Maybe it's not the +right one, maybe, looking back, it's a silly one—but at the time he +believes it, and that's a comfort.</p> + +<p>But this was like being in a dream, knowing it's a dream, knowing +it can't happen this way, and so it doesn't have to be explained. +And yet, isn't that the worst part of a bad dream? No explanation +for what's happening in it? Nothing you can do about it, either?</p> + +<p>Somebody said, it being dark and all, they should get some +sleep. Somebody mentioned being thankful there weren't any +children. That was one of the hardships of being an experimental +colonist, you couldn't have children. Wouldn't be right to expose +children to hardships they'd have to suffer helpless. Only here, +the way kids were, he wouldn't have been surprised if kids would +have taken to it a lot easier than the grown folks.</p> + +<p>The people sort of bedded down all together, the way a herd +of animals take shelter, each, even in its sleep, taking comfort +from the presence and protection of the others. They bedded +around on the ground, making themselves comfortable as possible. +One thing you could say, experimental colonists might not be long +on brains, the way scientists are, but they weren't picked for that.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +They were picked for endurance, and the brainy will often crack +up under a strain that the enduring kind hardly notices. Far as +endurance went, physical, this wasn't bad.</p> + +<p>Up through the leaves, and in between the trees, the stars +were as bright as ever—brighter because there wasn't no fire to dim +their glow. They couldn't see Earth, of course, but everybody knew +right where to look for Sol. There it was, a tiny little spot of light +in its constellation. It was still there.</p> + +<p>Somebody said into the darkness that it was only two more days +until the regular monthly communication with Earth was due. +That as soon as E.H.Q. didn't hear from them, there'd be a rescue +party out here in nothing flat. So, at worst, it meant living this way +only five or six more days.</p> + +<p>That made everybody feel better. It was a comforting thing +to look up through the leaves, to see Sol in the sky, to know they +weren't forgotten back home; that on Earth people would soon be +buzzing around like a disturbed hive of hornets, with stingers +cocked and ready as soon as the message didn't get through.</p> + +<p>Yep, somebody said, just like the museum collection of Western +movies where the U.S. cavalry always got there in time. At least +they weren't being attacked by no Indians, somebody said.</p> + +<p>Or were they? Maybe everybody asked that to themselves, but +nobody said it.</p> + +<p>Most everybody got some sleep. No one really suffered, any +discomfort just showed them how soft they were getting with +easy living. Considering everything, they were coming along just +fine. And in a few days everything would be all right again. They +went to sleep thinking that even if there was some equivalent to +the old-time Indians attacking them, rescue would soon be here +and they would be safe.</p> + +<p>Because man always wins.</p> + +<p>Most people were wide awake by dawn. Some had slept in +little bits, waking often enough to keep a sense of continuity. +Others, those who slept better, awoke with a start; looked around +themselves wildly, realized they were lying out in the open plumb<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +naked in front of other people; maybe wondered for an instant +what kind of party they'd been to the night before; and nearly +bolted in panic before they remembered.</p> + +<p>Most everyone felt sort of surprised that things weren't back to +normal, with yesterday being something soonest forgot soonest +mended. It takes time for folks to realize—things.</p> + +<p>Not having a hot drink for breakfast was another little hardship, +a reminder of how soft they'd got. But nobody complained. +Seemed like everybody had woke with a determination to make +the best of things and help one another do the same. Everybody +was pitching in together to make the best of things. Once they +bit into the cool fruit on the trees around them, even not having +a hot drink to start the day didn't seem to matter.</p> + +<p>Some of the women got together and decided it would help +things get back to normal if the people covered their nakedness, +or least parts of it. It might be all right just among themselves, +they said, because everybody was in the same fix and knew +what happened—but how would they feel when the rescue ship +landed and they had to walk out in front of strange men with +nothing on?</p> + +<p>They picked some big green leaves without any trouble. But +when they strove to pin them together with thorns, the thorns +just slipped out and fell to the ground. Then they tried sewing the +leaves together with bindweed. Same thing. The bindweed +slithered out and fell to the ground.</p> + +<p>One woman figured to stick some leaves together with thick +mud from the river and paste them with more mud on her body. +It wouldn't stick, peeled right off like she was oiled. One man +said he could do it without leaves, just cover himself with mud. +He lay down in a muddy pool and got himself covered with wet +clay.</p> + +<p>He was a sight. All at once he looked vulgar, obscene. And +nobody had, before. That did it. Somebody said they were +humans, not pigs, and if the men on the rescue ship had never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +seen a naked body before it was time they did. What was so +wrong about the human body, anyhow?</p> + +<p>They made the muddy man go bathe himself in the river, and +gave up trying to cover themselves. All at once the desire to +cover themselves was a nasty kind of thinking, something to be +ashamed of.</p> + +<p>Midmorning somebody got to wondering if the ten colonists +who'd broken off from the main colony and moved across the +ridge were all right.</p> + +<p>Soon as he reminded them, everybody began to laugh. What +fools they'd all been. Showed you how a bit of trouble could keep +a man from thinking straight. Here they'd been eating and sleeping +like animals when, all the while, just across the ridge there'd +be houses and beds, fires and clothes. Sure, those folks might +differ in some opinions, but humans always stood ready to help +one another in distress, differences forgotten.</p> + +<p>In a body, they started for the ridge. Everybody knew just +where the dissidents had built their homes. But when they got +to the top of the ridge there weren't no houses there. Nothing but +virgin woods, same as this side. That shook them up. They'd been +so sure.</p> + +<p>Maybe it was the jolt of that, maybe it was a measure that we +still weren't thinking straight, something—they didn't go on down +and join forces. Nobody thought of it, somehow. They went back +down and congregated around where the village had been. Maybe +it was the beginning of something that would come later, something +Cal would see for himself. That they were already not thinking +the way humans do. Thinking and behaving more the way dumb +animals do.</p> + +<p>Nothing else worth mentioning happened that day, nor the +next. In some ways it was still like a dream. The way people were +just accepting things, without question, maybe without curiosity. +Jed remembered one time an E had said there was a wider gap +between the thinking man and the average man than there +was between that average man and the ape. He'd resented it at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +the time, of course, but now he thought of it again and began to +realize what the E had meant.</p> + +<p>Two or three people commented on how easy it was to go back +to nature, wondered why they hadn't all done it before. How +stupid it was for man to knock himself out chasing all over the +universe, undergoing such hardships, when all a man could ever +want was right here.</p> + +<p>Jed tried to put down this kind of talk when it came up. He +reminded them it was Lotus Land thinking, and would be the +ruination of a prime bunch of colonists. He reminded them they'd +been through hardships worse than this, and had ought to keep +their wits about them.</p> + +<p>Funny thing, though. He couldn't get very excited about it. +Just did it because it was his duty. Maybe not even that strong, +maybe because once upon a time, long ago, hardly remembered, +it had been his duty.</p> + +<p>It was the next day that things got real rough.</p> + +<p>Somebody, in a clearer-thinking moment, said they couldn't be +sure when the rescue ship would get here; that when the rescuers +came and didn't see any village they wouldn't know what to +think—maybe they'd just go away. Shows we weren't thinking so +straight after all, to believe that you'd go away just because you +didn't find our village.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, hadn't we ought to work out some kind of a message? +Maybe scrape some kind of a message on the ground? They +decided the smooth sand above the tide line down on the sea +shore was the best place for it.</p> + +<p>Nobody had anything else to do, so the whole colony, all +forty of them, walked the couple of miles down to the seashore. +They picked out a nice stretch of white sand, and with a broken +piece of driftwood they started to scratch a message, just a big +SOS. The driftwood wriggled out of their hands like a snake. +Nobody could hold it. Several men tried together, made no +difference.</p> + +<p>Somebody started scooping out a furrow with his hands. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +furrow closed up and smoothed out right behind him. Somebody +tried piling up sand, first in letters, then in code signals. Made no +difference. Sand smoothed right out again.</p> + +<p>Then somebody got a bright idea. All right, he said. Didn't +need to use a stick, or scoop out a furrow, or pile up the sand. They +had their bare feet, didn't they? They could tromp out the letters +that way. Footprints, close together, would be as good as a +furrow.</p> + +<p>That's when it happened.</p> + +<p>Jed tried it himself. And his footprints disappeared. They just +weren't there. Everybody looked behind himself, where he'd been +walking. Nobody was leaving any footprints.</p> + +<p>That's when they bolted in panic.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> +<h2>17</h2> + +<p>Jed looked quickly at Cal when he told him how the colonists had +spooked, bolted in panic. As if he expected disbelief.</p> + +<p>"Maybe that seems funny to you," he commented. "After taking +so much we'd spook like crazy animals and hightail for the woods +over not making footprints."</p> + +<p>"Pretty fundamental thing," Cal said with a shrug. "Animals are +aware of spoor long before they are aware of tools. It hit deep +down into fundamental being, a thing like that."</p> + +<p>Jed looked relieved. Hussein and Van Tassel exchanged glances, +as if confirming their belief that an E would understand their +problems. Cal appreciated the confidence expressed in that +glance, but did not feel it was justified. It was now pretty obvious +that this was some alien co-ordinate system, never before encountered +by man. But how to get hold of it? How to reconcile with it? +Coexist with it?</p> + +<p>Never before encountered by man? What if the myths of early +man be true? And too authentic the legends of his being a pawn +to the will of the gods? Could there have been some factual basis +for the gods? And not, as was supposed, rationalizations dreamed +up by man to account for the control of phenomena at a level +beyond his own power to control?</p> + +<p>"It's been bad since then," Jed continued. "Seems like once they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +got the wind up, the whole thing hit them all over again. Like +cattle in a stampede, they didn't have a lick of sense. They +didn't even stay together. They scattered in all directions, hid out +in the bushes from each other.</p> + +<p>"You could hunt for 'em, call for 'em, yell your lungs out. You +could pass within ten feet of one of 'em, callin', pleadin', and they +wouldn't say a word. Just stand there and watch you like a +hunted animal, not even breathin' lest you discover them.</p> + +<p>"After a couple of days, some of us kind of pulled ourselves +together—me and Martha, Ahmed and Dirk here. Maybe a dozen +of us now have got together again. Funny thing though, even so, +all we want is to hide. Can't get over hidin', somehow. That's +why you didn't see us from the air. We was hidin' from you.</p> + +<p>"Martha, couple other womenfolks, they practically had to +push us out of the woods to come greet you, lead you to us. They +wouldn't come themselves, being naked and all. They told us, +first thing was to get some clothes for them from the ship.</p> + +<p>"We was countin' on the arrival of your ship to bring the rest +of the colonists back to their senses. Some ain't been found yet, +not since the footprint thing. If they were watchin' you from +hidin' places, if they also saw your ship disappear—well now, I +just don't know."</p> + +<p>"There'll be another ship from Earth," Cal said. "In a matter of +fifteen or twenty hours at most. We were communicating at the +time. They'll know we didn't cut out through choice."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Tom Lynwood confirmed. "As I remember, I got cut off +in the middle of a sentence. They'll know something was wrong."</p> + +<p>"There's another ship out there right now," Cal added. "Not +an E.H.Q. ship, but one that would have seen what happened. +We'll not count on anything from them, but an E.H.Q. ship will +be here soon, probably with an E on board—McGinnis."</p> + +<p>"Don't know what good it would do," Jed said despondently. +"That ship might disappear, too, soon as it landed. And the next, +and the next."</p> + +<p>"I don't plan to let it land," Cal told them. "You'll notice nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +happened to us until we touched ground. I'll find a way to talk +to the ship, keep it from landing until we've got a line on +whatever this is."</p> + +<p>"You figger to solve this one?" Jed asked curiously, unbelieving.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to try," Cal said with more confidence than he felt. +"It's what I'm here for. Maybe I can't solve it, but I can try."</p> + +<p>"I don't know how you're going to start," Dirk spoke up. "We're +just like animals here. We can't use tools."</p> + +<p>"But animals do use tools," Cal answered after a moment. +"Materials, anyway. Birds build nests using sticks, grass, clay. +Monkeys and apes throw sticks and stones. Even insects use +materials. Basic difference between man and the rest is that man +gives special shapes to tools, where mainly the rest use whatever +falls to hand. But all higher, organized protoplasmic life uses +tools in one form or another."</p> + +<p>"We ain't allowed to," Jed said emphatically. "Not even what's +at hand. Somebody, or somethin', is bound and determined we +ain't goin' to."</p> + +<p>At that moment Cal felt close to a solution, or at least an +understanding of the nature of the problem, which is the first +step toward solution. But like the specter seen in twilight from the +corner of the eye, as soon as he tried to focus on the problem, the +concept disappeared. Something about protoplasmic life using +materials. Non-protoplasmic life? Could there be, and still meet +the definitions of what constitute life? As compared with our +evolution, from its earliest beginning finding some other approach +to the manipulation of the physical universe? A totally alien kind +of science? Come to think of it, the use of material to affect other +material was a cumbersome, indirect, awkward way of going +about it, as compared with ...</p> + +<p>Compared with what?</p> + +<p>The concept would not yet allow him full focus upon it. He +filed it away for future contemplation.</p> + +<p>He saw Dawkins and the other colonists looking at him defiantly, +as if interpreting his silence to be doubt of their veracity about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +the taboo on tools. Their eyes challenged him to disbelieve them, +to find out for himself.</p> + +<p>"Other than the feeling of being watched," he said carefully, +"have you had any sign, any other evidence or indication of +somebody, or something? I know about the feeling, because I feel +it too. And very strongly, right now. But any specific evidence?"</p> + +<p>Jed Dawkins looked relieved at the confession.</p> + +<p>"Everything's the evidence. Everything that's happened. What +more evidence would you want?" he said.</p> + +<p>"One of the strongest arguments in favor of something, or some +kind of intelligence," Cal said slowly, "is that nobody's been hurt. +All natural law hasn't been canceled. We still have light radiation, +heat radiation, gravity, water still flows, the planet still turns. +Trees still grow and fruit still ripens. We can talk and be understood, +using our tongues and minds as tools. We can still eat and +drink. We can still know.</p> + +<p>"This is no chaotic co-ordinate system that defies all natural law. +This is a deliberate manipulation of some natural laws to get a +result. Man manipulates natural laws by the use of tools and +materials, but he doesn't suspend them. Here, apparently without +tools, at least tools we can perceive, natural law is manipulated, +but not suspended.</p> + +<p>"When the village disappeared, no one was hurt. A lot of +people were caught in awkward positions and fell, some of them +several feet. There should have been at least a few broken bones, +pulled ligaments. There weren't. Our ship landed safely. We were +a long time in the atmosphere of Eden, and for a few minutes +there on the ground we were still using tools of a high order. +It was only when danger of real harm to us was past that the ship +disappeared."</p> + +<p>"I reckon it's comfortin' to know we ain't meant to be hurt," Jed +said, and looked at his two companions. "I guess it is," he repeated +doubtfully. "Maybe it ain't something as nice and familiar as a +cyclone, or a den of rattlesnakes, something you could understand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +but you got to admit we ain't been hurt yet." It was as if he were +arguing the point with his companions.</p> + +<p>"Something I've been noting, Jed," Ahmed spoke up. "A +discrepancy of a sort that has me puzzled. Sun reckoning, we've +been able to keep our minds on this subject for over two hours +now. As if, whatever this is manipulating natural laws can also +manipulate the way our minds work."</p> + +<p>"Yeah," Jed admitted slowly, his face thoughtful. He turned to +Cal. "Like I said at the start. Our minds have sort of wandered of +late. Start to do something, and first thing y'know, we're doin' +something else. Can't keep our minds on one thing very long—like +animals."</p> + +<p>"That might be no more than the aftermath of deep shock," +Cal said.</p> + +<p>"It's for a purpose!"</p> + +<p>Startled at the outburst, they all turned and looked at Louie.</p> + +<p>"It's for a purpose," Louie repeated in a kind of rapture. "They +want us to understand we are being watched over, cared for. +That colonist you all laughed at was right. This is the first Garden +of Eden, where man lived in complete innocence. Now man has +been returned to it, to live again in complete innocence. You do +not think straight because there is no reason. You will be cared +for. Woe unto him who seeks to despoil it again by seeking vain +knowledge!"</p> + +<p>His eyes were wild, his face contorted with a mixture of +exaltation and condemnation.</p> + +<p>"Shut up, Louie," Tom said in a low, firm voice.</p> + +<p>"We understand," Jed said tolerantly. "Some of the colonists +are talkin' the same way. He's got plenty of company."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> +<h2>18</h2> + +<p>All the rest of that day, and throughout the following, Cal and Tom +worked with Jed in trying to round up the colonists, get them +living together again.</p> + +<p>By agreement, Ahmed and Dirk stayed with the small band of +colonists that had overcome their fears enough to mingle together +again. Louie frankly deserted his shipmates, and spent all his +time with the colonists. Frank, as if reverting to his childhood +farming days, occupied himself with trying to round up the stock. +He tried to keep the cows separated from their calves so the +colonists would have milk to drink, but without ropes or corrals +it was hopeless. He finally gave up his attempt to husband the +stock, and he too seemed content then to mingle with the colonists.</p> + +<p>The marked change in Louie could not be ignored, for he was +not idling away his time in lazy feeding and sleeping. He had +dropped his lifelong pose of superficial complaint that the fates +always gave him the dirty end of the stick, and now he spent +his time preaching to the little band of colonists. Or wandering +through the forests and undergrowth calling, praying, comforting.</p> + +<p>Cal felt no condemnation for him. He was not the first man, +seemingly dedicated to science, who, confronted with mysteries +beyond his power to comprehend, reverted to childlike superstitious +awe for an explanation. In the face of mystery or catastrophe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +it takes a faith beyond the capacity of most to continue believing +that the universe has a rational order to its laws that can be +comprehended if man persists. It is temptingly easy for man to +revert back to the irresponsibility of childhood, assuming that the +control of phenomena is in the hands of those stronger, wiser +than he. It takes a strength, in the face of this temptation, to go on +believing that man <i>can</i> know, that it is not morally wrong for +him to know.</p> + +<p>No blame then for Louie.</p> + +<p>Tom was torn in his loyalties. He frequently remembered that +away from E.H.Q. the crew become the E's attendants, and that +their first duty is always to the E. But separation from the other +two men of his crew was like the loss of a part of himself. To +these also he had a duty. He tried to solve his problem by +alternating his time, spending part of it with Cal, the remainder +with his crew.</p> + +<p>Cal and Jed made a trip the following morning across the ridge, +and found the dissident group huddled together in abject terror. +They had seen the ship coming down through the atmosphere +and, all together, they had climbed the ridge, where one of their +scouts had recently gone, to watch the ship's landing—and its +disappearance.</p> + +<p>Once they were found, it took little persuasion to convince +them they should return to the other colonists, that differences +of opinion meant nothing now as against the need of human +beings to cling together in the face of catastrophe.</p> + +<p>But they too were having trouble thinking in a straight line, +and even though they first appeared eager to join the other +colonists, it took some doing to keep them all together and moving +forward to cross the ridge, to come down the other side, to +assemble again at the site of the village with the others.</p> + +<p>And yet, within minutes, neither band seemed to remember +that they had ever been separated.</p> + +<p>By the time they had returned, it was apparent that Louie was +succeeding where Jed had failed in finding the colonists. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +few hours that had elapsed, the nucleus had tripled in size. +Louie's wandering through the brush, calling, pleading with them +to follow him, promising there was no danger if they would +allow him to watch over them, intercede for them with Those who +had caused all this, had indeed coaxed them from their hiding +places, calmed their fears.</p> + +<p>And still through the day he toiled, finding them, bringing +them back into the fold, one and two and three at a time, until, +at last, by Jed's count, all were there, no more missing.</p> + +<p>And yet, in spite of his success, there was a kind of hurt and +disappointment in Louie's eyes. For once back, they not only forgot +their fears, they seemed also to forget him. They coalesced +into a placid herd, without memory of their panic. Without +memory of the shepherd who had found the lost sheep and returned +them to the fold.</p> + +<p>They wandered among the trees and bushes, picking fruit and +nuts, eating leaves and stems and flowers of plants. They wandered +down to the river to lie prone on the sand, dip their faces +into the clear cold water to drink. During the heat of the day +they bathed in the river, and as they lay on white sand or grassy +slopes to dry, they slept contentedly.</p> + +<p>The phenomenon was not as startling to Cal as it might have +seemed to others.</p> + +<p>On Earth, gradually learned through trial and error, experimental +colonists were not picked for their jobs because of flexible, +incisive, or brilliant minds. Quite the contrary. The basic test of +a successful colonist was endurance—the endurance of hardship, +privation, the stoic indifference to conditions of discomfort, +monotony, pain, uncleanliness, immodesty—conditions which +would send a more imaginative or sensitive temperament into +a downward-spiraling syndrome of failure. They were the kind +of men and women who, on Earth in an earlier time, had been +able to endure the harshness of the sea, of arctic cold, jungle disease, +desert heat; to make those first steps in taming a hostile +environment, so that men with less endurance, but with more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +delicately poised and sensitive minds, following them might then +endure.</p> + +<p>It was characteristic of such men and women, even under +Earth conditions, that they seldom questioned their reasons for +these things. They simply went, and endured, and tamed. Even +on Earth, when the taming had been done, they moved on. This +was the stuff of the experimental colonist.</p> + +<p>Now, here, that temperament still persisted. They had fled in +panic, but now they had returned to their original purpose—to +endure. It was enough.</p> + +<p>Louie was to learn, in disappointment, that failure to be curious +about scientific reasoning was usually accompanied by an equal +failure to be curious about philosophical implications. They +listened idly to his exhortations, but their eyes did not light with +fire nor cloud with doubt. They simply wandered away after +a time and ate or slept.</p> + +<p>In the evening of that second day, Cal sat with Tom and Jed +down by the bank of the river where the sky was clear and the +stars beginning to shine. They were talking quietly of home, of +Eden, of the colonists who, more and more, seemed to take on +the character of a contented herd of animals. So far there had +been no attempt of the old males to drive the young ones out of +the herd, destroy them, but that might come in time; as surely +as the old males on Earth by tacit agreement on both sides, were +always able to work up a war for the purpose of weeding out +and destroying lusty young male competition.</p> + +<p>They were talking of the curious fact that all three of them +seemed able to continue thinking in a straight line, hold their +minds to a subject, while all the rest grew more vague, less +retentive, more content to live from moment to moment, without +concern for past or future.</p> + +<p>Except Louie. He too seemed able to hold his thinking in a +straight line, one tangential to theirs. He seemed, in these hours, +to have turned wholly mystical, to a stronger belief that they +were being watched and cared for by some higher power, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +that this was for a purpose. Yet not so tangential, for Cal had +come to the same conclusion, although his interpretation differed.</p> + +<p>"I can't doubt that there is an intelligent direction of this +peculiar co-ordinate system," he said to Tom and Jed. "But I +must doubt it is supernatural in the way Louie interprets. Anything +appears to be magic when we don't understand how it +happens, and becomes science when we do."</p> + +<p>He paused, and looked at his companions' faces in the starshine. +They were quiet, reposed, listening.</p> + +<p>"Ever since man got up off the bottom of his ocean of air," he +said, "and out into space, we've been prepared to run into some +form of intelligence which doesn't behave the way we do. Not +prepared to do anything about it, you understand," he said with +a shrug. "Just theoretically prepared that it might happen. It was +a possibility. Now it does seem to have happened. E McGinnis +asked me, before I left Earth, if I thought Eden was an alluring +trap, especially baited to catch some human beings. It begins to +appear that it is."</p> + +<p>"I've caught many a wild animal in my day," Jed said slowly, +thoughtfully. "I've pinned 'em up in cages, watched how they +behaved. I guess scientists do that all the time. Don't want to +hurt 'em, fact make 'em as comfortable as they can—just want to +know about 'em. Sometimes, after I watched them awhile I'd +turn 'em aloose and watch 'em scoot back to their natural world. +That could happen to us. Sometimes they'd die, and I wouldn't +know why. That could happen. Some animals won't bear young +in captivity. We can't because of an operation. Maybe whatever's +holdin' us don't know that, and might turn us aloose when, after +a time, we don't bear any young."</p> + +<p>He paused and looked even more thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes," he added slowly, "after I studied 'em, found out +how they would behave no matter what, I had to kill 'em, because +they was too dangerous to let run around among humans. That +could happen."</p> + +<p>"I haven't done much trapping," Tom said. "But in zoos I've<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +watched animals in cages. The thought always came to me that +if they could think the way we do, they could just open their +cages and walk away."</p> + +<p>"Now you take turkeys," Jed answered. "Pin 'em up with a high +fence, they'll back up, take off and fly over it. But pin 'em with +a low fence, and they won't. Seems like they know they have to +fly over a high obstruction, but don't figger on it for a low one. +Sometimes they flutter up against it, or try to push it over, but +most of the time they just walk around and around in the yard +lookin' for an opening."</p> + +<p>"Natural survival pattern," Cal commented. "In the woods, in +their natural state, when they came up against a fallen log, it +took more effort to lift their heavy bodies in flight over it than it +took to walk around the log. It became a fixed pattern of behavior +to walk around it."</p> + +<p>"That's what they do with a low fence then," Jed said. "They +just keep tryin' to walk around the obstruction. Not enough sense +to treat it like a high fence, because it ain't high, see? No use +tryin' to tell 'em it's high, because they know it ain't. So they +can't solve it. Seems awful stupid, somehow, a little low fence, +all that blue sky above 'em, and they can't figger it out."</p> + +<p>"I suspect that's what's happening to us," Cal said. "We've always +argued that wherever there is matter and energy in the +universe, certain natural laws will prevail. We've learned ways +to take advantage of those natural laws, to do certain things that +will make them work for us instead of against us.</p> + +<p>"We've always argued that for any kind of intelligence to arise +in the universe it, too, would have to become aware of these +natural laws; that it, too, would have to do these same certain +things to take advantage of those laws; that because the laws +and what to do about them would always be similar man would +have a lot in common with that other intelligence, and a means +of communicating because of that similarity.</p> + +<p>"We'd argue that whatever its evolutionary physical shape, this +wasn't so important as its mental evolution—because that mental<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +evolution would follow the same course as ours. They wouldn't +be truly alien, because science would be a common denominator.</p> + +<p>"Now it appears we could be wrong. Maybe our concept of +science is too narrow. Maybe we're like the turkey. We've become +so fixed in our pattern of solving a problem we can't change, can't +back off and take another look, see the problem not as it appears +but as it really is."</p> + +<p>"But isn't that the science of E?" Tom asked curiously. "To be +able to extrapolate any co-ordinate system? I'm not criticizing," +he added hastily. "Just asking."</p> + +<p>"I suspect even our means of extrapolation are too limited, too +based on the relationship of things and forces to each other, too +set in the notion that only physical tools can affect physical things. +We may be looking at a low fence, calling it a log, and therefore +not able to understand why we can't walk around the +obstruction in the usual manner." He stopped, and added with +a shrug. "Stupid, maybe. Or like the turkey, the yard is so big +that he never gets a picture of it as a whole enclosure. By the +time he's wandered down this side of the fence he's forgot what +he found on the other side. Never can put the whole thing together +in his mind. That's my trouble, anyhow. So far, I'm not able to +put the whole thing together, see it all as one piece.</p> + +<p>"When I do, if I do, then maybe like a caged animal I'll see +how to unlock an opening, or maybe realize the only way out is +to fly."</p> + +<p>There beside the softly flowing river, where water was obeying +natural law without any trouble, the three men broke off their +discussion when they saw a bright flash high in the sky above +them. All three knew what it meant.</p> + +<p>Another E ship had arrived.</p> + +<p>No doubt the ship would expect light signals from the colonists +in acknowledgment of their space flare.</p> + +<p>If the ship had come while this portion of the planet was still +in daylight, they would have seen there was no village, no ship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +no equipment for direct communication. They may even have +reasoned there was no means of signaling with artificial light.</p> + +<p>But there was nothing to tell them that those on Eden could +not build a fire.</p> + +<p>As if they were present on the ship themselves, the three men +could anticipate what must be happening there. Right now they +would be anxiously waiting for signal flares to light up, to spring +up like signal fires on a lonely island where a marooned man has, +at last, sighted a ship on the horizon.</p> + +<p>The colonists were no longer hiding, but were freely wandering +in open spaces. If the ship had arrived before dusk they would +have seen the men and women in the viewscopes. If after dusk, +they still might have spotted them in the infrared viewers which +picked up the heat differentials and gave a fair approximation of +shapes.</p> + +<p>The men on the ship would be waiting and looking at their +watches. How long, they would be asking, does it take those +colonists, that E down there, to get a signal fire going?</p> + +<p>About five minutes passed, and another flare lighted the +heavens.</p> + +<p>"Get off the dime down there!" it seemed to say. "Acknowledge +us!"</p> + +<p>Cal took the chance that they might have an infrared viewscope +directly on him, and he waved his arms above his head. +But apparently they had not spotted him, for there was no +answering flare.</p> + +<p>At intervals of five minutes at first, then later cut to fifteen +minutes, throughout the long night the flares continued to light +the sky.</p> + +<p>"Talk to us," the flares begged. "Surely you were expecting us. +Surely you would not all be sleeping so soundly that our light +could not rouse you."</p> + +<p>Several times the three men stood up and waved their arms, +but it brought no answer from the ship. In the darkness perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +the equipment wasn't good enough. Perhaps in the night breeze +bushes and trees also swayed with movement.</p> + +<p>Once there was a rustle in the brush, and in the starlight they +recognized the figure of Louie approaching them.</p> + +<p>"This has got to stop," he said worriedly as he came up to +them. "That light is an unnatural thing. It will anger Them. It +is not meant for the peace of Eden to be disturbed by any +artificial thing. And if They should turn Their wrath upon us—woe, +woe!"</p> + +<p>His face was stricken in the light of a new flare, and as suddenly +as he had come to object, he left, plunged back under the trees +to seek his people, be beside them, comforting them when +disaster struck down.</p> + +<p>After a time the three men gave up trying to wave their +acknowledgment of the flares in darkness. They watched for an +hour or so, and then tried to sleep. The periodic flares continued +to come throughout the long night, as if now no longer pleading +for acknowledgment, but rather reassuring men in such deep distress +that they could not answer. Reassuring them that help was +at hand and morning would come.</p> + +<p>They tried to sleep, and although fitfully disturbed by the +continuing flares, they did sleep. But at the first hint of dawn, +Cal awoke and aroused his two companions, and by the time +there was enough light for the ship to see clear detail upon the +ground, the three men were ready for a better attempt at answering +the ship's signal.</p> + +<p>They went up to the village site, where the colonists were sleeping +in the way a herd is bedded down together. They awoke +Frank and Martha, Ahmed and Dirk, and told them of their +plan. Louie, too, awoke, heard the plan, and tried to warn them +against it. Any attempt, he said, to communicate with those not +on Eden would surely increase the wrath of Those who wanted +only the natural state here—a wrath still withheld because of +superhuman mercy, but which must not be tried too far.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>In spite of his warnings, Cal, and those co-operating with him, +got together enough colonists to carry out his plan.</p> + +<p>Good-naturedly, the colonists did as they were told, but with +the attitude that it was something amusing, that there was nothing +they'd rather be doing at the moment. Any sense of urgency +about communicating with home seemed to have been washed +from their minds.</p> + +<p>In a clear space, on the soft grass, Cal got the colonists to sit +or lie in certain positions. Checked against Tom's knowledge of +ancient signal patterns, those certain positions took the shape of +space-navy patterns.</p> + +<p>Three men lay in a triangle. Next to that, six men sat in a +circle, and last three more men lay in another triangle. Cal hoped +someone on the ship would be able to read the ancient message.</p> + +<p>"Keep clear of me. I am maneuvering with difficulty."</p> + +<p>The signal had no more than formed when there was a flash +from the ship so bright that it could be seen in the morning sky. +They had read his signal, and now they began a series of flashes, +of questions. "What's going on down there?" was the essence of +their questioning.</p> + +<p>It was well the ship had caught the first signal, for the colonists +lost all interest in the game which had no point. They simply +stood up and wandered away in search of their breakfasts from +the trees and bushes.</p> + +<p>Louie, who had stood to one side glowering, now took charge +of them again and shepherded them to a grove of trees where +the fruit seemed especially large and succulent.</p> + +<p>But now that the ship had spotted him, Cal could signal alone. +He lay down on the ground, himself, to move his arms in +semaphore positions. But even as he lay back, he became conscious +that he, too, could hardly care less. With a detached interest +that amounted to amusement at such childish, primitive +things, he watched his arms spell out one more message.</p> + +<p>"Keep off! No mechanical science allowed in this co-ordinate +system."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>He stood up then, and made a farewell gesture toward the +ship.</p> + +<p>At that instant he felt strangely that he had passed into another +stage of growth, completed a task, cut himself off from an environment +that had held him back. What the ship did, in response to +his warnings, no longer mattered. If it landed, its personnel too +would join the colonists. If it obeyed the request of an E, it might +circle there indefinitely.</p> + +<p>Indefinitely watching the turkeys circle inside their low fence, +unable to aid them, release them.</p> + +<p>He did not particularly care what they did.</p> + +<p>They could go on, spluttering out their signals, trying to +question him. He didn't even try to read their messages. It didn't +matter. Their science had nothing to do with him, nothing to +offer him. Through it he could not reach a solution.</p> + +<p>Somehow he knew that already.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> +<h2>19</h2> + +<p>"This time," the communications supervisor said with all the firmness +he could muster, "this time there must not be any interference +with communication. There just absolutely must not be!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it wasn't my fault," the operator retorted with an exasperation +that blanketed prudent restraint. "You heard what E +McGinnis said—that they could identify E Gray, and the ship's +crew, and many of the colonists, but that there was no sign of +the ship that took them there. If there wasn't any ship there +couldn't be any communication. It's not my fault. I can't receive +something that wasn't sent."</p> + +<p>"I know, I know," the supervisor said, and then, worried that +he may be giving the appearance of backing down, commanded +savagely, "just watch it, that's all!" He chewed violently at his +knuckle and glared at the operator.</p> + +<p>"Just watch it," the operator mumbled bitterly. "Just watch it, +the man says. And what will I watch if the message stops coming?"</p> + +<p>"Now, now, now, now," the supervisor nagged, "we'll have no +insubordination, if you please."</p> + +<p>And upstairs this time more than Bill Hayes, sector chief, +were monitoring the message. The top administrative brass +of E.H.Q. were assembled in their big plush conference room +used for arriving at major policy decisions that sometimes affected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +the whole course of man's progress and direction in occupying +the universe.</p> + +<p>They sat in worried silence as E McGinnis reported the two +messages he had received from Junior E Gray.</p> + +<p>First: Keep clear of me. I am maneuvering with difficulty.</p> + +<p>Then: Keep off. No mechanical science allowed in this co-ordinate +system.</p> + +<p>They looked at one another under beetled brows. They +wondered, at first privately and then openly if that Junior E had +blown his stack. They had looked at many a problem finally +solved by the E's, but never before had such a ridiculous situation +come up.</p> + +<p>And right at the time, too, when the civil government had decided +to place a curb on E.H.Q.'s freedom of movement, its control +over the experimental phases of planet development. The injunction +to halt a Junior E from taking over the Eden problem fooled +none of them. They knew that Gunderson wasn't concerned for +those colonists out there, that he was merely using the public +furor to advance his own personal power. They knew that the +police worked unremittingly, unceasingly, always and ever to +bring every phase of human activity under their control. They +knew it was a centuries-old tactic to wait for the right situation +to arise, so that the lawmakers could be stampeded into passing +some law which seemed only to apply to this given condition but +in actuality broadened police powers over a wide area of man's +actions.</p> + +<p>Yes, there was far more at stake here than the fate of fifty +colonists. In a sense E.H.Q. itself was the stake. The whole science +of E was at stake.</p> + +<p>And E McGinnis had played right into Gunderson's hands. It +was he who had been the E influence in deciding to allow a +Junior to handle the problem in the first place. It was he who +was standing off from the planet, not landing and taking over +things as he should.</p> + +<p>There was obviously no danger. By his own report, the people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +on Eden were in good health, and from their apparent actions, not +even distressed.</p> + +<p>This message about no mechanical science being allowed, for +example. Did the Junior mean the colonists wouldn't allow it? +Must mean that. What else could prevent it? But when an E, a +real E, took charge in an experimental colony, the colonists had +nothing further to say about the matter. True, when the five-year +experimental period was over and the three-generation colonists +took over a planet, then it came more under civil control, and +E.H.Q. largely withdrew with the provision that it could step +back in at any time the problem seemed not to have been solved +after all.</p> + +<p>But while under the five-year test ... The E was the final +word, or should be. The colonists knew it. The E knew it, or +should know it. Obviously then it was weakness on the part of +the Junior if he allowed the colonists to dictate that there could +be no mechanical science. Proof of his inability to handle the job.</p> + +<p>A perfect setup for Gunderson!</p> + +<p>They decided they were forced to take a strong hand with +McGinnis. Ordinarily the E was the final word, not only with the +colonists, but with the administration at E.H.Q. But maybe there +were times when he shouldn't be. Yes, definitely they should take +a hand. After all, Gray was still a Junior, hardly more than a +boy. Was it right that a mere boy could stop investigation by +anyone except himself? Tell Earth with all its power and might +what to do?</p> + +<p>Definitely there was a time when an exception to general E +policy should be made. Definitely this was that time. If nothing +else, they must take a strong hand to prevent Gunderson from +moving in with his police powers. Protect the E science from +Gunderson, or at least salvage what they might.</p> + +<p>Their conference over, they asked for a connection with +McGinnis.</p> + +<p>"We assume you will land and take charge, E McGinnis?" the +board chairman asked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Certainly not," McGinnis snapped back. "An E has forbidden +it."</p> + +<p>"Well now," the chairman argued, and sweat began to come +out on his forehead. "He's only a Junior. We have decided his +judgment isn't mature enough for this problem."</p> + +<p>"I have every confidence in Junior E Gray," McGinnis said +acidly. "And every E in the system will back me. It makes no +difference what you have decided. Either the science of E means +something, or it doesn't. Either we have complete freedom to +handle a problem, or we don't. Let me remind you, gentlemen, +this isn't the first time that laymen have decided the E is a fool +and tried to take matters into their own hands. Do you want to +repeat past disasters?"</p> + +<p>"If we don't land a ship, E McGinnis"—the chairman was all +but pleading now—"Gunderson's police will. We feel we must +land a ship to take a firmer control over the situation. Public +sentiment demands it. Policy demands it. Perhaps the whole future +of E demands it."</p> + +<p>A new voice cut into the communications hookup, a feminine +voice.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," she said, "this is Linda Gray. I requested that +I be cut in on any communication concerning my husband, and +E McGinnis made it an order before he left. If another ship does +land, I must be on it. I want to be with my husband."</p> + +<p>"I will not be landing on Eden, Linda," E McGinnis said +firmly. "An E has forbidden it. That is enough for any other E +in the universe. No other E will land. Your husband is all right. +He is in good health, and apparently mentally sound. At least +sound enough to warn us against landing. He must have a reason. +We don't know, yet, what it is.</p> + +<p>"Now he has stopped communicating, we don't know why. He +must have a reason for that, too. It is probably a sound reason. +E science has been drilled into him until it is a part of his every +mind cell, perhaps even every body cell.</p> + +<p>"I assume he is not communicating because we can't help him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +because communicating with us distracts him from solving the +problem. If E.H.Q. decides to send out a ship on its own, and +risk landing in an unknown co-ordinate system, against the orders +of two E's, which will become the combined orders of all E's in +the universe, that is their decision. If you wish to be on it, that +is your decision.</p> + +<p>"I am cutting off now. It will be no accident that E.H.Q. cannot +connect with me. I'm cutting out because I don't want to be distracted +any further. I'm trying to think."</p> + +<p>The acid rebuff of the old E left the administrative board +hanging in a vacuum of indecision, frustration. Angry determination +to do something, anything.</p> + +<p>They were caught between the intransigence of the E fraternity +it was their duty to serve and from whom they should be able +to expect help, and the obvious determination of Gunderson to +use this incident as his means of regaining control over the E's +and E.H.Q. for civil authority. Didn't the stupid E see the danger? +Wasn't it the same danger that men of science had always faced, +the same mistake they had always made—leaving out the human +element in a problem?</p> + +<p>The eternal blind spot in men of science! The average man +doesn't give a tinker's damn for progress or knowledge, not really. +He wants only that he and his shall be ascendant at the center +of things, the inevitable, the only possible goal of the non-science +mind. Surely the history of science versus non-science should have +made this evident long ago! Surely there had been enough +incidents in history....</p> + +<p>Very well, it was up to them to help the E in spite of himself. +If he refused the see the clear danger to his whole structure—and +their own ascendant position at the center of it—it was their +clear duty to protect him nonetheless.</p> + +<p>They would send out another ship, a large one, a floating +laboratory, a miniature E.H.Q., at least to be there on the scene; +to help in any way they could, perhaps to counter the moves +Gunderson's police might make, at least to stand by.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>At least, in the face of all this public clamor about Eden, to +show their concern. The chairman of the board rationalized it +masterfully, without once mentioning that their real concern was +to remain ascendant at the center of things at all costs, and thereby +maintained the tradition of all non-science endeavors.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," he said in summary, "we have a grave responsibility +not only to the E structure, but to all mankind as well. In +every system, in every rule, there must be provision for the exception. +Gray is only a Junior E. Herein lies the weakness of our +position. Herein lies Gunderson's strength, his weapon for swaying +the sentiment of the people. A Junior E is not mature enough +to make the decisions affecting the life or death of fifty people. +More than that, perhaps the future progress of mankind.</p> + +<p>"May I point out, gentlemen, that in a showdown, if it should +become necessary for us to land a ship to rescue those colonists, in +spite of the Junior's demand that we stay clear of the planet, we +will not be overriding the decision of an E, but of a boy who +has not yet proved his capacity to merit an E.</p> + +<p>"We have to draw the line somewhere. I am forced to agree +with Gunderson on that. If we must honor the command of the +Junior E, then why not the Associate E? Why not the student E? +Why not the apprentice student E? Why not any kid in the +universe who thinks he is extra smart?</p> + +<p>"The line of demarcation, the point at which civil control over +the individual gives way to immunity from civil control has never +been clearly drawn. We may regret that the issue has arisen at +all, but it has arisen. Gunderson's purpose is clear. He intends to +bring the E structure back under civil control. We must salvage +what we can. Perhaps if we concede his control over the Juniors +on down, we can maintain the immunity of the Senior E. We must +work to save at least that much."</p> + +<p>The floating laboratory, which might have to become a rescue +ship, left six hours later.</p> + +<p>Linda was on it.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> +<h2>20</h2> + +<p>There was no frustration, no uncertainty in Gunderson's mind.</p> + +<p>His course was now clear. His observer ship had also read the +messages spelled out by the placement of naked bodies on +the grass, and in the semaphore wavings of the Junior E's arms. +The photographs taken were all the evidence he needed to prove +the morals charges he intended to bring.</p> + +<p>It might not be wise to allow the total photographs to show +in the newspapers, on television, for there were ex-navy men here +and there who might interpret the code. But enlarged pictures +of the individuals, separated from the total, disporting themselves +in lewd, naked positions would do the job.</p> + +<p>Clearly the police must put a stop to this. He would have every +organization in the universe dedicated to dictating the morals of +others on his side. No politician would have the guts to stand up +in opposition.</p> + +<p>There remained only one thing to do. Go out and get that +Junior E, place him under arrest, bring him back for trial. Perhaps +it might be wise to let the colonists off easy—he could easily show +that it was the influence of the Junior which had made a disgusting +orgy develop there on Eden. Never mind that they were +naked before the Junior arrived. The public could always be +razzle-dazzled about the nature of the evidence, its order and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +meaning. It was an old police, prosecution, and political trick to +separate a few items from the total context, but still a good one; +for the public never bothered to know the whole context of anything. +An old trick to fasten on phrases and slogans to fix an +attitude in the public mind, for a phrase or slogan was about all +the public was able to master. Anyone who had ever served on +a jury, observed its deliberations, knew that out of all the welter +of evidence, only certain isolated statements or facts, often minor +and insignificant, penetrated the juror's mind, and around these +bits he formed his conclusions. Any smart lawyer knew that, and +tried to set up his case accordingly.</p> + +<p>His own course was clear.</p> + +<p>His orders to the selected captain of his police ship were equally +clear:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="pa3"><i>1. Proceed at once to Eden, the scene of the crime.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>2. Ignore any protests from the E ship already out there, +or any other ship E.H.Q. might have sent.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>3. Ignore any signals from the Junior E on the planet.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>4. Land on the planet at the site of Appletree, the main +site of the lewd and obscene crime.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>5. Place Junior E Calvin Gray under arrest.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>6. Place the crew of the Junior E's ship, Thomas Lynwood, +Franklin Norton, Louis LeBeau, under arrest.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>7. Place any colonist who opposed the police under arrest.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>8. Place the remainder of the colonists in detention under +protective custody.</i></p> + +<p class="pa3"><i>9. Place E McGinnis under arrest if he interfered in any +way with the police in carrying out the foregoing +orders.</i></p></div> + +<p>The police captain raised his eyebrows when he read the final +order.</p> + +<p>Place a Senior E under arrest?</p> + +<p>Certainly, a Senior E. It was one thing to allow these birds to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +wander around, free as air to do as they please. It was one thing +to let them get away with making such statements as "The police +attitude toward the people is the major cause of crime." It was +something else, and time the E's found it out, for them to make +any overt move to interfere with the police in their performance +of duty.</p> + +<p>Personally, he hoped the old E would be fool enough to resist. +It would strengthen his case.</p> + +<p>The police captain obeyed the first of the orders without a +hitch. He proceeded to the scene of the crime.</p> + +<p>He obeyed the second order. He ignored the command of E +McGinnis, received over the ship's communicator when they +arrived at the scene of the crime, to stand clear of the planet. +What policeman moving in to make an arrest for an illegal act—and +certainly running around stark naked, posing in lewd and +indecent postures in full view of the public, was an illegal act—would +pay any attention to the request of an onlooker which +amounted to "Aw, let 'em alone, copper"?</p> + +<p>There was no communication at all from the Junior E on the +planet's surface, so the third order did not apply.</p> + +<p>It was in trying to execute the fourth order that he ran into +trouble.</p> + +<p>He passed inside the orbits of the three other ships now +circling the planet, the police observer ship, the E McGinnis ship, +the E.H.Q. floating laboratory. He gave orders to lower his ship +into Eden's atmosphere.</p> + +<p>The proper buttons were pushed, the proper levers pulled.</p> + +<p>And nothing happened.</p> + +<p>It was as if some invisible shield held him back. He could not +lower the ship into the atmosphere gently, taking the normal +precautions against crashing. Very well then, not so gently. Full +power. And nothing happened. They lowered not another inch.</p> + +<p>A thrust. A thrust at tangent to the surface. Once past whatever +this barrier was, they could skim the surface and come back to +land on the proper site. They backed the ship farther out into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +space. They made their thrust with full speed and momentum.</p> + +<p>There was no sensation when they hit the barrier, but they +did not penetrate it. It was as if a flat stone had been skipped +across slick ice, and they shot back out into space again. The tangent +penetration would not do.</p> + +<p>Very well, then. A direct thrust, full power, straight down. Be +prepared to put braking forces into immediate power, lest they +crash the ship at full power against the surface.</p> + +<p>And again, no sensation. Against all natural laws of inertia, they +came to a full stop at the given level outside the atmosphere without +any feeling of jar or opposing pressure at all.</p> + +<p>What now, Mr. Gunderson, sir?</p> + +<p>Reluctantly, Gunderson ordered the police captain to contact +E McGinnis. E science apparently had some kind of shield which +they'd kept secret from the people—and wouldn't there be a stink +over that one, once he released that information! Contact E +McGinnis and find out!</p> + +<p>"Why sure," E McGinnis cackled with derisive laughter, "sure +there's a shield. I didn't make it. I wouldn't know how. No, I +don't know what's causing it. But I'll tell you what I think. I think +They've caught the specimen They want. There's an E down +there.</p> + +<p>"So, naturally, the trap door is closed."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> +<h2>21</h2> + +<p>Cal didn't know, couldn't have known, that his efforts to signal +McGinnis not to land were unnecessary. Didn't know, couldn't +have known, that he himself was the specimen They had hoped +to catch. That having caught what They wanted They would +naturally close the door to the trap to prevent any possibility of +escape, as yet, or any interference with their experiment.</p> + +<p>From the moment he walked away from the grassy slope where +he had signaled the outer ship, he moved and thought as someone +detached from ordinary existence. As he walked away from the +slope, ignoring the frantic signals from the ship out in space, he +felt he was also walking out of a shell of superficial cerebration +and into a deeper sense of reality. It was as if, in spite of E +training, for the first time in his life, he could commit himself +wholly, in all areas of his being, to the consideration of a problem.</p> + +<p>His conviction was complete that the ship could give him nothing +he needed, that all Earth's mechanical science could give him +nothing he needed. That it could not provide the key to unlock +the door which led into this new area of reality. He must find, +must define, some new concept of man's relation to the universe. +He must again travel that road, that million-year-long road man +had traveled in trying to determine his position in reality.</p> + +<p>He wandered down to the river, climbed to the top of a great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +boulder that overhung a pool, and sat down with his feet hanging +over the edge. He watched some young colonists wade through +the pool to drive fish into the shallows where they could pin them, +with their legs, catch them with their hands. In their need for +protein, the colonists were finding, as many Earth peoples had +found, raw fish were excellent in flavor and texture as food.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the road man had traveled first there was +awareness, awareness of self as something separate from environment. +There was awareness of self-strength, ability to do certain +things to and with that environment. There was awareness of self +always at the center of things, and therefore awareness of his +importance in the scheme of things. But there was awareness of +more.</p> + +<p>There was awareness of things happening to his environment +which he, in all his strength and importance, could not do. Awareness +gives rise to reason, reason gives rise to rationalization. If +things happened in his environment which he himself could not +do, then there must be something stronger and more important +than he.</p> + +<p>To be ascendant at the center of things, to remain ascendant, +meant that all things of lesser importance, outside the center, +must be made subservient to him, else that ascendancy was lost. +And if they would not assume positions of subservience, they +must be destroyed.</p> + +<p>If there were unseen beings, stronger and more important than +he, who could do unexplained things to his environment; then it +was plain that he must assume positions of subservience to those +beings, lest he himself be destroyed.</p> + +<p>So man created his gods in his own image, with his own +attributes magnified.</p> + +<p>Was this a wrong turning of the road? No-o.... Awareness +carries with it its commands and penalties. A problem must have +an answer. Conscious and willful beings beyond his own strength +and importance became the only answer open to him at that +stage of his mental evolution. And served the important need of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +bringing order to chaos. Let all things he could not do, and therefore +could not understand, be attributed to those higher beings. +Without such an answer, awareness without resolution would +have driven him into madness. Without such an answer, man +could not have survived to remain aware.</p> + +<p>But answers also carry in themselves their commands and their +penalties. The penalty being that when one thinks he has the +answer he stops looking for it. The command being that he must +conduct himself in accord with the answer.</p> + +<p>The long, long road that led him nowhere. That today still leads +untold millions nowhere. For the penalty of a wrong answer is +failure to solve the problem. That non-science had failed to provide +any answer beyond the primitive one was self-evident.</p> + +<p>To some, then, it became evident that the question must be +reopened. Through the long written history of man, here and +there, by accident often, sometimes by cerebration, the use of +the brain with which he was endowed, man found on occasion +he could do things to his environment that heretofore had been +the province of the gods—and in the doing had not become a +god! To the courageous, the brave, the daring, the foolhardy +questions then that demanded new answers.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most daring and courageous question of all time +was asked by Copernicus: What if man is not at the center of +the universe, the reason for its creation?</p> + +<p>He personally escaped the penalties for asking it. The question +was too new, too revolutionary for the men of his day to grasp, +for the non-science leaders, secure in their ascendancy at the +center of things, to see in it the threat to their ascendancy. It was +on his followers, those who saw sense in the question, that the +wrath of non-science descended. Non-science used the only +method it had ever devised to achieve the only result it had +ever been able to countenance—torture and force to make dissidents +kneel in subservience.</p> + +<p>But the question had been asked! And once asked, it could +not be erased!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>Still, it was almost an accidental question. For the method of +science, as something understood and communicable, as a calculated +point of view, had not yet been discovered. The key that +would unlock its door had not yet been found.</p> + +<p>Cal lay back on the rock to bathe in the warm rays of Ceti, +almost to doze, yet with thought running clear and unimpeded. +The splashing and the laughter of the colonists below the rock +were no more than accompanying music.</p> + +<p>The key which opened the door to physical science was not +discovered until 1646 by a bunch of loafers, ne'er-do-wells, +beatniks, who hung around the coffee shops of London. Later, +because non-science always persecutes those who dare ask questions +and thereby demonstrate some subversion to subservience, +many had to flee to Oxford which, at that time, was sanctuary +for those who differed from popular thought.</p> + +<p>As he lay there drinking in the sun, the peacefulness, he sent +his vision back through the card index of his mind to find the +reference, the key that opened the door to physical science, the +pregnant point of view that would give birth to a whole new +concept of man's relationship to the universe. He found the +passages in Thomas Sprat's <i>History of the Royal Society of +London (1667)</i>.</p> + +<p>"... to make faithful records of all the works of nature, or art +which can come within their reach ... They have stud'd to make +it, not only an enterprise of one season, or of some lucky opportunity; +but a business of time; a steddy, a lasting, a popular, an +uninterrupted work."</p> + +<p>He stirred restlessly and changed his position to lay his head +on one arm. Not quite, not yet the key. Ah, here it was, perhaps +the most significant sentence ever written by man.</p> + +<p>"They have attempted to free it from the artifice, and humors, +and passions of sects; to render it an instrument whereby mankind +may obtain a dominion over <i>Things</i>, and not only over one +another's judgements."</p> + +<p>That was it. That was the essence of its difference from non-science,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +for the only method ever discovered until then was the +non-science method of making its judgments prevail over all +others.</p> + +<p>Once this answer was discovered, it too could not be erased +in spite of all the efforts of non-science. With that answer, man +had come this far.</p> + +<p>And now?</p> + +<p>Could it be that science, as with non-science, was only a partial +answer? Only another stage? Only a section of the road man +must travel? Something as limited in its way as non-science was +limited? Something too narrow to contain the whole of reality? +Something also to be left behind? A milestone passed, instead +of the goal?</p> + +<p>What comes after science? What new door must be opened +into a still newer point of view? What pregnant new concept of +his relationship to reality must man now discover before he could +continue his journey down the long road toward total comprehension?</p> + +<p>He could ask the question, but it was not the right question; +for it contained no hint of an answer. He felt an irritation in himself, +almost as if some teacher in the past had shaken his head +in disapproval.</p> + +<p>For a moment he welcomed the distracting shout from one of +the colonists, and sat up. In the shallows of the river one of the +men had caught a foot long fish and was holding it up in his hands. +Delightedly, the others acknowledged his victory, and renewed +their efforts. He lay back down again, and stretched his cramped +muscles.</p> + +<p>Too fast! He had come down the long, long road too fast. He +had missed something, something early. Something man had +known in pre-science, and had forgotten in science.</p> + +<p>These colonists. Would they grow in awareness? Now they +seemed only to be a part of their environment, without curiosity, +their fears of even the day before forgotten. Wiped away, as +though it had never been, was their memory of a previous existence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +to this. They were wholly at one with their environment—unaware.</p> + +<p>Were they to begin the long road? To telescope its distance? +Would they be able to continue living without peopling the trees, +the streams, the clouds, the winds, with spirits benign and +vengeful—created in their own image? Could they continue to live +alone in the universe?</p> + +<p>Yes, that was the thing he had missed. Loneliness.</p> + +<p>In separating himself from the animals, man had cut off his +kinship with them. And so he found companionship with the gods. +And cutting himself off from the gods ...</p> + +<p>Loneliness.</p> + +<p>Was man the only thing aware throughout the universe? What +purpose then his exploration of it? What might he find that he +had not already found?</p> + +<p>Already, like a minor thread almost unheard in the symphony +of exploding exploration, the questions of the artists were already +finding themselves woven into music, painting, literature.</p> + +<p>"Are we alone? In all this glittering, sterile universe, are there +none other than we who are aware?"</p> + +<p>The theme would expand as the purposelessness of colonizing +still more and more worlds became wider known. The minor +would become major, the recessive dominant. The endless aim +of non-science to make all others subservient had lost its purpose +for those who could still think. The dominion over things instead +of people, the goal of science—was that also to lose its purpose +for those who could still think? Until man, defeated by purposelessness, +sank back in apathy, lost the very willingness to live—and +so died?</p> + +<p>What if some other awareness did inhabit the universe, sentient—and +lonely? What if, farther along in its explorations, it was +feeling that apathy? Facing that dissolution?</p> + +<p>When one is lonely, the sensible thing is to seek companionship! +To discover in companionship purpose not apparent to the +alone—or at least hope to discover it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>For companionship there must be communication. And yet the +exasperation, the futility of trying to communicate with a friend +who always interpreted everything one said and did as meaning +something entirely different from the intent.</p> + +<p>Some other friend was the normal answer. But what if there +were no other? Wouldn't one extra effort, a final attempt to break +through that closed mind be made?</p> + +<p>All right.</p> + +<p>Communication, then. That was wanted. He would try. But if +Their frameworks were so different from his that They misinterpreted +all his efforts?</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by the soft pad of footsteps, bare feet on +grass that sprang up to leave no sign it had been trod upon. A +young colonist and his wife, hand in hand, laughing gaily, were +coming toward him. The man was carrying a fresh-caught fish. +They came to a stop at the base of his rock and looked up at +him, the Ceti light glinting on their smiling faces.</p> + +<p>"We gave Louie a fish because he said it was our duty," the +young man said. "I don't remember why it is our duty. Perhaps +it is our duty to give you one too."</p> + +<p>At least they were being impartial.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> +<h2>22</h2> + +<p>When he had pulled the scaled skin of the fish away from the +flesh, the flesh away from the bones, and eaten his fill, Cal lay +back on the rock again, to doze, to continue his search for a means +of communicating.</p> + +<p>He was now sharply aware of Their presence, of Their urgency, +of Their long patience. Awareness! Once man had got over his +greedy delight in occupying more and more of the universe simply +because he could, to protect himself against the cosmic loneliness +that must follow, he too would be searching for awareness.</p> + +<p>But he would define it in his own terms, and pass it by if it +did not meet those terms.</p> + +<p>That there was some other intelligence which had found man +instead, Cal did not doubt. The experiment of Eden, the +manipulation of natural laws, the denial of physical tools—for what +purpose? To clear away the debris which prevented communication +of awareness as They defined it?</p> + +<p>There was a trace, a minor trace of awareness in man not +dependent upon the tools and artifacts of physical science—extra-sensory +perception, psi. Underdeveloped, because with physical +tools its development had been made unnecessary? Because having +found the answers with physical tools, man stopped looking +for answers other than these?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<p>Was there, then, a science of controlling things, forces, without +the use of physical tools? Was there a road of transition from the +crude manipulation of things and forces through tools to a +manipulation without them? There was precedent in man's science. +The elaborate wirings of the first bulky and crude electronic sets, +that gave way to a printed diagram of such wirings on a card +to obtain the same result?</p> + +<p>A step farther? The visual picture, the mental image of the +diagram to obtain the same result? But how?</p> + +<p>To one whose total orientation is through the use of physical +tools (for the material printed on the card diagram was the +physical carrier of the current) how to cause the current to follow +the mental image of that diagram? With voice and music bathing +one's senses simply because one thought of the diagram of a receiver? +How?</p> + +<p>He felt like the turkey come up against the obstruction of a +fence too low to justify the effort of flying over it. Instead of flying, +he was walking around and around, looking for an opening, walking +in an endless circle.</p> + +<p>Circle?</p> + +<p>Excitedly, he climbed down from the rock and headed for a +patch of bare sand at the river's edge.</p> + +<p>In every framework of thought which man had ever devised, +the circle was prominent, vital. It played its part in every creed +of every race, of every time. It was as essential to the ancient arts +of magic as to the current methods of science. It played its part +in the movement of planets, the shape of stars, perhaps the essence +of the total universe.</p> + +<p>Man might be too didactic in requiring that awareness develop +a physical science comparable to his own, but surely awareness, +whatever form it took, would know the circle.</p> + +<p>He sank down on his haunches beside the smooth sand, and +with the tip of his finger he quickly drew a circle.</p> + +<p>The furrow, scratched in the sand, did not close or smooth out!</p> + +<p>He sat back and waited. Nothing happened. It was almost as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +if the invisible intelligence were saying, "All right. You are aware +of a circle. That was obvious to us from your artifacts. What else +do you know?"</p> + +<p>He leaned forward, and as nearly as he could estimate, he +dotted the center of the circle with a finger, then scratched a +radius to the perimeter. It stayed. To one side he drew another +line, approximating the radius and in parenthesis he drew a small +2. Beside this he wrote R². He drew an equals sign. He scratched +the pi sign.</p> + +<p>Then he drew another circle and with the palm of his hand +he smoothed all its interior. That should be plain enough. The +symbols stayed. They understood his mathematics, then. The +equation seemed undisturbed, yet there was something wrong +with it. He had to look closely at the sand before he saw what +it was.</p> + +<p>The = had changed to : !</p> + +<p>Why had they changed the meaning by substituting "proportionate +to" for "equals"? He felt a flash of exasperation. Well sure, +without tools he could not draw a perfect circle, nor two of them +entirely equal. It was pedantic of them to split hairs over that? +He must practice, without tools, to draw a perfect circle?</p> + +<p>Or was that running around inside his low fence?</p> + +<p>He looked down at the sand, and saw the entire scratching was +now smoothed out. Apparently he was on the wrong track. Hadn't +got what they meant.</p> + +<p>He wrote again in the sand: "pi = 3.14159265...."</p> + +<p>Again = changed to : .</p> + +<p>Again he felt his flash of exasperation. It must be obvious by +his string of dots that he knew pi had never been exactly resolved. +They were being too pedantic. He must exactly resolve it? Yet +the numbers could be continued to infinity and never exactly resolved. +He looked down again, and the equation was gone.</p> + +<p>Wrong track again.</p> + +<p>He sat forward, hugged his knees, and stared into the water.</p> + +<p>The equation had never been exactly resolved, yet man used<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +it as a constant, an absolute. An obvious fallacy. Was the difference +between physical science and psi science based in this +insignificant difference in exactness? Try something else. See +what happens. There was an equation which had proved its effectiveness, +upon which the whole science of atomics was based.</p> + +<p>"E = MC²," he wrote.</p> + +<p>Again = changed to : .</p> + +<p>What were they saying? That the fallacy lay in using the equals +sign? That the science of psi was one of proportion. But equals +was one of the possible proportions. Had we become walled in +our low fence because we were too dependent upon the exact +balance? Been satisfied to find that answer, and therefore stopped +looking for the possibilities inherent in unbalanced equations?</p> + +<p>He looked down at the symbols again half expecting to see +them erased. But they were still there. So he was starting on the +right track. But wait.</p> + +<p>Before his eyes he saw the C² smooth out, disappear. Only +"E : M" remained. Were they saying that dependence upon +constants was the low fence? That man must learn to do without +his firm absolutes? That was the ultimate in relativity: Energy is +proportionate to matter. But so all-inclusive as to be too vague +for use.</p> + +<p>For more than three centuries now, controversy had raged over +Einstein's use of C² in his expression. Some held that it was a +product of his time, that he was able to make only one step beyond +classical physics where all things must be related to a fixed value. +Others held that its inclusion was a deliberate fallacy; that +Einstein, by his other work, had shown he knew it was a fallacy; +that, tongue in cheek, he inserted it into his equation in full +knowledge that his fellow scientists of his day could not even bear +to think of the awesome concept of things without orientation +to an absolute; that he knew they would reject him entirely, refuse +even to consider his thought unless he catered that much to +their superstitions.</p> + +<p>The need of the absolute was not mathematical or scientific,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +but emotional. Man was still tortured by his determination to be +the center of things, himself the fixed absolute! The need of a +familiar, fixed cave where he might run and hide, close himself +in securely when the chaos of storm outside became too frightening +to bear. The need of a fixed absolute, whether in philosophy +or science, a fixed spot that would not shift.</p> + +<p>The science of psi, then, was based in a willingness to shift?</p> + +<p>He looked down at the equation, to see if he were still on the +track.</p> + +<p>It had changed again. Now it read "EδM": The form of the +function of energy to matter is variable.</p> + +<p>Quickly, another change. "Df(em)": The form of the function +and the independent variable of the function vary together.</p> + +<p>Still another: "E = f(M)": There is a general relationship of +energy to matter.</p> + +<p>And then: "F(e,m) = 0": There is a general unspecified relationship +between energy and matter.</p> + +<p>He slapped his hand down on the sand in frustration.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said. "You've made your point. And it means +about as much as if I said to the turkey, 'All you have to do is +fly'."</p> + +<p>There was a stir behind him. He turned his head and saw +Louie. A deep sigh, almost a sob came from Louie as he stared +down at the symbols in the sand.</p> + +<p>"They talked to <i>you</i>," Louie said brokenly. "I wanted only to +serve Them, but it was to <i>you</i> They talked."</p> + +<p>And all the tragedy of his life was contained therein.</p> + +<p>Cal sprang to his feet, and put his arms around the other man's +shoulders. The two of them, the bitter and the sympathetic, looked +down at the sand. The symbols were still changing, and now read +"There is an infinity of relationships between matter and energy, +an infinity of forms to be taken by matter as you control the energy."</p> + +<p>The signs were wiped out, and the sense of Their presence was +gone. Cal felt the withdrawal, the sense of a lesson being over.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +He did not regret it, he had enough to think about. But first, +there was Louie, racked with broken sobbing.</p> + +<p>Here was a man whose life had been a search for certainties, +absolutes that would not shift under the weight of his questioning. +No doubt in his youth he had turned to the religions of the day—and +found them a tissue of rationalizations without contact in +reality. Then to science—and found it, too, constantly shifting in +its interpretations, making new evaluations as evidence discounted +the old. The shock of landing on Eden to drive him back into +childhood interpretations again—at last, the clear evidence that +had been denied his belief in youth.</p> + +<p>Wholehearted in his belief of Them, yet it was not to him They +had talked.</p> + +<p>"Louie," Cal said slowly. "If you were lonely, very lonely, if +you had searched through the years for companionship, and +thought you might have found it, would it please you to have +that companion drop to his knees, grovel before you? Would this +be your idea of companionship?</p> + +<p>"What manner of monstrous egotism would require that? What +but the incredible vanity of primitive man, to whom life meant +nothing more than conquering or being conquered, could imagine +such conduct would be pleasing to another intelligence?</p> + +<p>"We are men, Louie. If, in our loneliness, we found another +intelligence, wouldn't we want an equal exchange instead of +abasement? The use of that intelligence to know, to understand, +instead of a denial of it?"</p> + +<p>Louie twisted out of Cal's embracing arm, and ran stumbling +toward the depths of the forest.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> +<h2>23</h2> + +<p>For another week, perhaps ten days or more, since time measurement +had lost its meaning, Cal lived among the colonists, watched +their complete retrogression into a state of unawareness. Even the +speech which they had retained seemed now to thin and falter as +the simplifying of their idea-content no longer required its use.</p> + +<p>Only Tom and Jed seemed to retain their orientation to the +past, the clarity of awareness. These two spent much time together, +seemed always available when Cal needed them, yet did not intrude +upon his thought. Frank now seemed one with the colonists. +Louie lived on the outskirts of the herd, near the colonists but +not of them. He had ceased to exhort, warn, command, argue. +His face was closed, told nothing of what he was thinking.</p> + +<p>And he had ceased to demand his tithe as intercessor. He was +gathering his own food, catching his own fish.</p> + +<p>And he seldom let Cal out of his sight.</p> + +<p>Tom and Jed helped as best they could by maintaining contact +with the old reality. They spent much of the daytime with the +colonists. At night they turned their faces to the dark sky to watch +the ships, now grown to four, bathed in the light of Ceti like a +constellation of bright stars above them. They read the intermittent +flashes of light from McGinnis, and from the E.H.Q. laboratory. +McGinnis told of the police ship's attempts to break through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +the barrier surrounding Eden, and its failure. The laboratory told +of Linda's presence on board, and now and then flashed out a +message to Cal from Linda of her love, her nearness, her faith +in him, her desire to be with him, her patience in waiting.</p> + +<p>McGinnis told of the arrival of a fifth ship, carrying Gunderson +in person. He had been unable to believe his police captain. Unable +to believe that the ship could not land at will. He had come +in person to take charge, and apparently fumed his frustration in +idleness, unable to do anything with the situation, unwilling to +go back to Earth and leave it alone.</p> + +<p>Tom and Jed told Cal the content of these messages, but to +Cal the reports of the police activity seemed noises heard from +far away and unrelated to himself. The messages from Linda +seemed the haunting strains of a song remembered from long ago.</p> + +<p>For his mind was wholly enrapt with the problem. He had +been given the key—reality is a matter of proportion, change the +concept of proportion and you change the material form—but he +had not found the lock and the door it would open. He knew it, +but he couldn't do it.</p> + +<p>Perhaps Tom might help? Tom was well-grounded in math, had +to be for his job as pilot.</p> + +<p>"Look, Tom," Cal said one morning after they had given him +the night's messages from the ships. He squatted on the ground +and brushed away some leaves from an area of dirt. "Watch the +equals sign." He scratched a formula in the dirt:</p> + +<p class="center">"2 + 2 = 4"</p> + +<p>The = changed to : . Then to δ. Then through the series of +variable relationships.</p> + +<p>Tom leaped to his feet from the log where he had been sitting.</p> + +<p>"That's crazy," he exclaimed. "It isn't just proportionate, it isn't +variable. It equals."</p> + +<p>Jed was looking from one to the other, obviously at a loss.</p> + +<p>"Well," Cal said drily, "I'm much more interested in what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +They have to say than in trying to convince Them that They're +wrong."</p> + +<p>"But if everything were only proportionate and variable," Tom +argued, "then you'd have nothing fixed, constant. Why the proportionate +relationship might be dependent solely upon choice. +Nothing would be solid, dependable."</p> + +<p>"Not even the footprints under your feet," Cal answered softly. +"Not a house, nor a field of grain, nor a spaceship. Simply alter +the choice of proportion—and they aren't there anymore."</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> +<h2>24</h2> + +<p>Throw a key at the feet of a turkey and it is useless to him. Show +him the lock it fits, and it is still useless without the knowledge +of how to insert the key and turn it. Unlock it for him, and still +it is useless without the knowledge of how to push or pull the +door.</p> + +<p>This was the essence of why so few mastered the simple steps +of physical science, the essence of why so few were able to get +beyond step two of E science. Anyone could disagree with a +statement, but in answer to "What if it not be true, how then to +account for the phenomena?" most bogged down at that point, +unable to demonstrate with evidence the validity of some other +answer.</p> + +<p>Everyone knew the equation E = MC², but few could implement +it to build an atomic power plant.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the reactions of Tom, that taking away the concept of +a balanced equation destroyed all certainty, and therefore was +not to be countenanced, was a reflection of his own reaction, willing +though he might be to consider something else.</p> + +<p>In his wanderings about the island, picking fruits and nuts, +stems and leaves, catching fish when he hungered, drinking the +clear water of the stream when he thirsted, yet so enrapt that +he was unaware he was taking care of his body's needs, Cal built<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +up whole structures of alien philosophies on the nature of the +universe, and saw them topple of their own weight.</p> + +<p>Until, at last, he realized the basic flaw in all his reasoning. +He was too well-grounded in the essence of physical science, and +all physical science was built on the balanced equation. Even in +trying to consider the unbalanced equation, he had been attempting +to determine the exact nature of the unbalance, and to supply +it as an X factor on the other side of the equation to restore +balance.</p> + +<p>To restore balance was to maintain the status quo of physical +reality. To turn the key in the lock, to open the door, he must +change the physical reality to balance the equation, rather than +supply the X factor to keep reality unchanged.</p> + +<p>But how to do it still eluded him.</p> + +<p>At times, as if seeing partial diagrams, he seemed very close +to a solution. At times it seemed the printed card of an electronic +wiring was necessary only because the human mind could not +visualize the whole without that aid, that music did not come +through because in incomplete visualization some little part was +left dangling, unconnected. And the long history of non-science +belief in the magic properties of cabalistic signs and designs rose +up to taunt him, to goad him with the possibility that perhaps +man had once come close to the answer of how to control +physical properties without the use of tools; that the development +of a physical science had taken man down a sidetrack instead +of farther along the direct route toward his goal.</p> + +<p>Or that man had once been shown, and never understood, or +forgot. Yet kept alive the memory that physical shifts could be +changed if he could only draw the right design.</p> + +<p>Through his wanderings, one fact gradually intruded upon his +mind. It seemed the farther inland he roamed, the closer he +came to grasping the problem; the nearer the seashore, the more +it eluded him.</p> + +<p>One morning he looked up at the glittering heights of Crystal +Palace Mountain, and suddenly he resolved to climb it. Perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +the winds of the mountain being stronger, the fuzziness of his +thought would be blown away? Perhaps the arrangement of the +crystalline structures, the arches and spires, might catch his brain +waves, modulate them, transform them, strengthen them, feed +them back, himself a part of the design instead of outside it?</p> + +<p>In the framework of physical science a nonsense notion. But +what harm to try?</p> + +<p>He sought out Tom and Jed, the two who would miss him, the +two who would care.</p> + +<p>"There ain't no water up there, far as I know," Jed said. "And +you can't carry none, now. Me and a party scouted the mountain +once. It's mighty purty, but useless. The quartz ain't valuable +enough to cover its shipping costs back to Earth. The ground +is too rocky to farm. Not much in the way of food growing there. +So we never went back."</p> + +<p>"The scientists surveyed it when the planet was first discovered," +Cal said. "One of the first places they went because it was so +outstanding. But they found nothing interesting and useful either. +Still, I think I'll go."</p> + +<p>"Well," Jed said with a shrug. "You can't get lost. If you should +lose your bearings, just walk downhill and you'll come to food +and water. Follow the shore line until you get back, either +direction. And, I reckon, the way things go now, you ain't goin' +to hurt yourself. We won't worry about you none. We're all gettin' +along all right, so you needn't worry about us either."</p> + +<p>"You want me to come with you, Cal?" Tom asked.</p> + +<p>"No," Cal answered, "I think better if I'm alone."</p> + +<p>He left them then, went past some colonists who were picking +berries and eating them, and on up the valley that ran between +two ridges.</p> + +<p>It was only a few miles to the foothills, a gradual rise of the +valley floor, a gradual shallowing and narrowing of the stream, +a gradual drawing in of the spokelike ridges until the valley at +last became a ravine. The morning air was clear and still, the +scent of flowers and ripening fruit was sweet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before he left the ravine to begin his climb he ate some of the +fruit, and washed the lingering sweet taste from his mouth with +a long, cool drink of water from one of the many springs that fed +the stream.</p> + +<p>He looked up at the mountain above him, and his eye picked +out the most likely approach to its summit. It was not a high +mountain, not in terms of those tremendous, tortured skin folds +of other planets. Hardly more than a high hill in terms of those. +Nor, as far as he could see, would the climb be difficult or +hazardous.</p> + +<p>The fanciful thought of Mount Olympus on Earth came into +his mind, although this one was not so inaccessible, so parched +and barren. The gods of Greece would have found this a pleasanter +place, although they might not have lived so long in the minds of +man, since the mountain was more easily climbed, and therefore +man would have been the more easily convinced after repeated +explorations that no gods lived there after all.</p> + +<p>Would the Greeks, as with the later religions, have placed the +site of heaven farther and farther away, retreating reluctantly, +as man explored the earlier site and found no heaven there? +Retreat after retreat until at last the whole idea was patently +ridiculous?</p> + +<p>Dead are the gods, forever dead, and yet—to what may man +now turn in rapture? In ecstasy? In communion? What, in all +physical science, filled the deep human need of these expressions?</p> + +<p>The climb of the first slope, up to the crest of the ridge he +intended to follow, was quickly done. He turned there and looked +behind him, at the valley of the colonists below, and far down +where the valley merged into the sea, and far on out at the +hazy purple line of another island. As he started to turn back +again, to resume his climb, his eye caught a flash of something +moving in the ravine below him, sunlight on brown, bare skin.</p> + +<p>He waited until he caught another glimpse through the trees. +As he had suspected it was Louie, still trying to keep him always +in sight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>His first impulse was to call out, to wait for Louie, ask him to +join in the climb. He discarded the impulse. His need was to get +away from all others. And sympathetic and compassionate though +he might be, the confusion in Louie's mind seemed to intrude upon +his own. Nor had his earlier attempts to comfort Louie met success.</p> + +<p>Let Louie follow if he willed. Perhaps the clean air would +clear his mind as well. He feared no physical harm, even if Louie's +tortured mind intended it. There were no tools to strike at him +from a distance. Even a boulder pushed from a height above him +would not strike, for that would be the physical use of a tool +to gain an end. He feared no bodily attack from ambush, for +his own strength and knowledge were dependable.</p> + +<p>He began his climb again, followed the crest of the ridge where +it swept upward to buttress the side of the mountain. The going +was not difficult. The trees and shrubs grew thinner here, and +provided clear spaces for him to wind among them. The stones, +at first a problem to his bare feet, bothered him less and less +until he forgot them. He felt no physical discomfort, neither from +tiredness nor thirst, nor from the branches scraping his bare skin, +nor anything to drag his mind into trivialities.</p> + +<p>Nor tortured theories such as had plagued him in trying to +reason out the new concepts of a proportionate, variable reality.</p> + +<p>Instead, there was a sense of well being, anticipated completeness, +a merging of the often quite separated areas of thought, +intuition, and appreciation.</p> + +<p>Although at no great height, now the trees no longer grew so +tall that they obscured his vision of the heights above. As he +climbed they were replaced by shrubs shoulder high, then waist +high, then merely low, creeping growths which his feet avoided +without mental direction.</p> + +<p>A curve of the ridge brought him to the first outcroppings of +crystallized quartz. On them he saw no signs of scar left by the +geologist's hammer, no imperfections where nodes may have been +broken away. They were complete, singularly unweathered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was no path, nor hint of one, nor sign that either scientist +or colonist had ever passed this way.</p> + +<p>The ridge swung back into line, and still he climbed, effortlessly +and without consciousness of passing time. Time and space and +matter seemed to have receded far into the background of +consciousness. Man's star-strewn civilization was no more than a +dream. It was as if he, alone and complete, occupied the whole of +the universe, encompassed it as he was encompassed by it.</p> + +<p>Yet not alone! Their presence, which seemed so evanescent on +the valley floor, was closer now, more clearly sensed. Almost as +if, at any instant, the veil of blindness would disperse and They +would stand revealed.</p> + +<p>Now up the final slope of the mountain he threaded his way +through higher outcroppings of a more perfectly formed quartz, +with deeper amethystine hue scintillating in the Ceti sun's light, +diffracted not only in the purples but into greens and reds and +blues.</p> + +<p>As he came around the base of one of these, there towering +above he caught his first full view of the greater spires, pinnacles, +buttresses, and arches of the mountain's crest.</p> + +<p>It was the crystal palace.</p> + +<p>The climb had been steep, steeper than it had appeared from +below, yet his breathing was not labored, his mouth was not dry +from thirst, nor were his muscles protesting the effort. He did +not need to stop and rest, to gather his energy for the last steep +assault upon the peak.</p> + +<p>Far below him he saw Louie toiling up a slope, then dropping +with every appearance of exhaustion when he came to each +level place. Still he would rest no more than a minute, and +always his head was turned to keep sight of Cal above him. He +would push himself to his knees, then to his feet; and slowly, +step by step, begin his climb again.</p> + +<p>As if from far away, Cal felt a pity at the uselessness of the +self-torture, the senseless need of man to punish himself for the +guilt of imagined wrongs; and felt a wonder if the strangely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +developed moral sense of man had not, after all, done more harm +than good. For in the ordered universe, where everything fitted +into the whole, what could be either good or bad, right or wrong, +except as a reflection of man's inadequacies in his imaginings? +Rightness and good, wrongness and evil, these could not possibly +be other than assessments of furtherance or threat to the ascendancy +of me-and-mine at the center of things, and had no meaning +beyond that context.</p> + +<p>He turned from watching Louie, pitying him, and made the +last sharp climb with no more effort than the whole had been. +Now he drew near to the towering structures of the crest, now +he was beside them. Now he walked beneath and through an +arch which seemed almost a gothic entrance.</p> + +<p>And stood transfixed in ecstasy.</p> + +<p>Magnificent the dreams of man that took form in steel and +stone and glass, yet none matched the lightness, the grace, the +intricacy, the sublime simplicity of these interwoven crystalline +structures where light from the noonday sun separated prismatically +until it filled the air with myriads of living, darting, +colored sparks of fire above him. Where the breeze that blew +through the vibrating spires made blended sounds the ear could +barely endure in rapture.</p> + +<p>As once, in childhood, he had stood in a grove of giant trees +that laced their limbs in gothic splendor above him, now again +he stood, lost in time and space and being, lost in vision and in +music which neither had nor needed form nor beginning nor end.</p> + +<p>And knew it was a simple tool; Their concession to the mind of +man, to bridge the gap between Their minds and his.</p> + +<p>Without wondering more, he sank down upon the mossy turf +of the floor and lay supine to gaze upward, to follow line to +blended line until they seemed mirrored into infinity.</p> + +<p>The darting lights above him whirled, spiraled up, then down, +clockwise, then counterclockwise, reminding him ... reminding +him ...</p> + +<p>... the internal structure of crystals....</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> +<h2>25</h2> + +<p>Across the universe, two billion years ago, there too a planet +coalesced from the mutually attracted vortices of twisted space; +gases compelled by gravitational forces solidifying to hardened +matter, forming a crust over a molten core. In the soupy atmosphere +of metallic salts and gases, tortured and rent by electrical +storms of incalculable fury, among the vibrating crystals one +formed that was aware.</p> + +<p>Not in the sharp awareness of later times, but at the first only +ill-defined, perhaps no more than the awareness of acid chains of +molecules that formed into non-crystalline viscid protoplasm on +another planet across the universe. No distinct line of cleavage +where affinity to other chemicals left off and sentient selectivity +began marked the distinction here as in that protoplasm.</p> + +<p>As with its cousin across the universe, the one-celled amoeba, +these crystals too were sensitive to light, to heat, to cold—to food. +Ill-defined, but distinct already from the non-sentient crystals +about them, these life forms grew through absorbing from the +rich and soupy atmosphere those elements necessary to growth, +to branching, to cleavage into new individuals.</p> + +<p>What is awareness? At what point even in protoplasmic life +does it appear? The amoeba avoids pain, seeks food, reproduces +itself, and blunders blindly through its environment in search +for condition more favorable to its continuance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the monotony of a purposeless existence, most humans do +no more than that.</p> + +<p>Must awareness, too, be defined in terms of the consciousness +of me-and-mine? Defined only by what me-and-mine can feel, +know? A protoplasmic growth feeling awareness, excluding all +possibility of awareness in other kinds of growth because they +are not a part of me-and-mine, therefore too inferior to know +awareness?</p> + +<p>Each crystal structure has its own vibration characteristic, and +on that planet, in time, one special vibratory rate knew awareness +of self. Mutation here too gave added complexity to the structure, +and self-awareness took on that added growth of awareness of +surroundings.</p> + +<p>Through eons of time, and the mutations brought by time, +awareness of self and surroundings grew into awareness of wider +peripheries, to sensing their world, its structure, its nature.</p> + +<p>Another mutant leap and there was comprehension of other +worlds, of other stars. Theirs was a vibratory awareness, directly +akin to the vibrating fields of force which compose the material +universe, and the vibrations of fields of force can be altered. To +change their surroundings to a more suitable environment +through vibration rates of things led surely to negation of distance. +To change from crystal form to fields of energy and back again +combined with negation of distance—they too spread out and out +among the stars.</p> + +<p>At first it was enough. But awareness is never still. Questions +form.</p> + +<p>In all the universe were they the only sentient thing? Did any +cry but theirs rise to the stars, seeking to know? Because of the +nature of their being their search was unconcerned with the +outer shape of things which could be changed by them at will, +but rather with the inner vibratory rate which would signal +sentience, awareness.</p> + +<p>They found no more than unconscious interaction of forces. +Water runs down hill without knowing that it does, without the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +internal structure to provide the vibratory rate which would permit +knowing.</p> + +<p>For long eras they too were imprisoned within the confines of a +me-and-mine envisioning, and it took a major leap for them to +conceive that other structures than the crystalline might have a +form of awareness. Alien to their kind, perhaps, yet a kind which +must be acknowledged.</p> + +<p>For they found something, at last, in a viscid non-crystalline +substance, protoplasm.</p> + +<p>On one distant planet this substance was already differentiated +and specialized to a high degree. From the simplest to the most +complex of its organization there were degrees of awareness, and +in the most complex of these there was undeniable evidence of +sentience outside of self.</p> + +<p>Joy! Unparalleled ecstasy!</p> + +<p>Recognition is not wisdom. With the unwisdom of inexperience +in communicating with an unlike thing, not realizing that the +values of their kind of awareness might not be the values of this +differing kind, they rushed in with all their powers and forces, a +joyful rapturous pyrotechnical display of material manipulation +to show this new life form that they too were aware—to communicate +that the loneliness of one might now be softened by the +presence of the other.</p> + +<p>And man fell down to the ground and groveled his face in the +dust.</p> + +<p>His awareness was of the outer shapes of things, his security lay +in adapting himself to those shapes, his certainties lay in the +dependability of those shapes. A rock was a rock.</p> + +<p>But no! The crystals were delighted that they had brought +something which they could share with this new life form. The +rock could be a tree! See!</p> + +<p>And lo, the rock was a tree.</p> + +<p>And the people were sore afraid.</p> + +<p>For that which had been certain and sure was no longer so.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +This mountain wall which had formed an impassable barrier to +migration into a new and richer valley was rent asunder, so! +And beyond, the new valley beckoned. But the people huddled in +their caves and dared not venture forth.</p> + +<p>The vibrating entities, no longer dependent upon their +crystalline forms, withdrew to confer among themselves. To one +life form, awareness composed of the outer shape of things, the +relationship of those shapes, security in the unchanging shape. +To the other life form, awareness composed of the inner vibration, +the relationships of those vibrations, with outer shapes changed +at will, and therefore meaningless.</p> + +<p>Yet even this protoplasmic life must see the changing shapes +of things. The clouds that formed and disappeared; the seed +that became root and stem and leaf and flower; the infant that +became man, and man that decomposed as corpse. Surely this life +form must see an inner cause! Surely they must see that even +the permanent rock changed slowly into dust, that the eternal +sea was restless, never still; that stars moved in the vault of +heavens, warmth changed to cold and night to day. How did they +account for changes in these outer forms if not by inner cause?</p> + +<p>They changed the shapes of things themselves, these men; the +seed ground into meal, the moving animal shot down with stick +or stone and stilled and changed to food, the moving of the smaller +rocks, erection of a dwelling made of poles and thatch to change +environment for the man inside. Change, then, man knew; why +fear the greater change, the easier one? Why tug and lift and +strain to move the boulder from the path, when all was needed +was to shift proportion in one tiny way, rebalance the equation of +relationship with one slight thought, and lo, the stone no longer +barred the way?</p> + +<p>Too long ago, lost in the distant past, the crystals had forgot +their own once-orientation of all other things to me-and-mine, +forgot to credit it to man. To lift the boulder with one's strength +to serve a purpose was within the ken of man, a thing that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +could do. To see it lifted, moved, without his strength, bespoke a +greater strength than his, and purpose that he could not understand. +And man fell to his knees in fear and awe.</p> + +<p>For man knew only one relation to all things—to conquer if he +could, and force acknowledgment of superior strength and purpose. +To kill if that acknowledgment was not given. To survive +by giving that acknowledgment to a stronger one than he.</p> + +<p>Man groveled in the dust, the only pattern of survival that he +knew when strength beyond his own was shown. But even while +he knelt, to scheme a way that he-and-his might find ascendancy +in future days. The one invariable pattern persisting from the +cave man dressed in furs to diplomat in striped pants, the only +pattern possible while me-and-mine ascendant is the aim and +goal.</p> + +<p>To show another pattern then, the crystals aim. Ascendancy +of me-and-mine was meaningless, belonged to orders of awareness +lower than intelligence that they could meet in partnership. +Instruct them, then. No joy or purpose in conquering them. No +companionship in these disgusting grovelings. Show them the +inner forces that controlled the outer shapes of things.</p> + +<p>Once crystals, now divorced from hardened form, the outer +shape of things was no longer a consideration in their life; but +for this form of life, still dependent for that life upon the +maintenance of material form, no doubt the shapes and forms of +things were paramount to them. Well then, show them the true +relationship, sketch out upon the sands the diagram of how the +forces that control the shapes of things are interwoven, interact.</p> + +<p>Before the kneeling men, the cabalistic diagrams took shape, +and lo, a spring of water flowed from dry and barren stone.</p> + +<p>But man saw only shape of diagram, its cabalistic lines and +form. A sacred thing, a magic thing, a sign that he might draw +with finger in the air or in the sand, protection from the evil +forces that surrounded him.</p> + +<p>The sentient fields of force withdrew. Too soon, too soon. Man +was not ready for communication. Too soon, too soon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>But man did not forget, the memory lived on. And fathers +spoke to sons, and made the outer forms of gestures, drew the +cabalistic signs, and told of magic things and powers that these +signs could do. To some, one diagram was shown, a way to build +a house of stone that better weathered the storms of Earth. The +house of stone became a holy place, a thing existing in its own +right, and not, as was intended, an example of one use to which +this arrangement of forces might be put.</p> + +<p>And to some other man another diagram was shown, this time +to slay an animal for food. And men fought wars over these +differing symbols, each side determined to make its symbol +ascendant over the other.</p> + +<p>Deep within the Asian land where contact had been made, the +memories lived on, and some of the meaning of the diagrams +beyond their outer shape had gained sway. The racial memory +persisted, and in the latter Pleistocene epoch the knowledge of +altering shapes through force of mind became a racial memory, +coalesced into cults of belief, degenerated into forms and phrases; +but from generation to generation the memory was kept alive +that once, when the world was new, the form of things was indeed +changed by thought. This holy man, far away and long ago, had +pointed his finger at a tree, and lo! a beautiful nymph had stepped +forth clad in jewels and coins to make him rich. This hero climbed +a mountain and a voice spoke unto him, and proof of this were +letters cut in stone. Well-witnessed, this divine one changed some +water into wine, and fed a multitude from five small loaves and +fishes.</p> + +<p>A kind of radiation of its own, always the cults who sought the +inner meanings formed within that Asian land and spread outward +through the world.</p> + +<p>But out on the periphery, and not exposed to thought of inner +meanings, another cult took shape. Here concern was solely with +the outer shape and size and weight and measurement of things, +and how the size and shape and weight of one interacted with +another. The Dravidian culture, which grasped only the idea but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +not the method of how the inner vibration could change the +outer shape receded and became submerged in the Western cult +that found a method in the measurement of shape and weight of +things to make them change.</p> + +<p>It was Rabindranath, centuries later, who described the +essential difference between the Indian and the Grecian civilization +as that between a forest culture which had known no walls, +and a city culture where everything has limit and every inch must +be mapped.</p> + +<p>But perhaps, also, the Greeks had never seen this tree changed +into bird, this cloud changed into flower. Not trapped by memories +grown into tradition that must not die, they hit upon an approach +that man could master. For it was the Greek beginnings which led +to the Oxford definition of how to make scientific inquiry into +the properties of things.</p> + +<p>Inquiry into the properties, at first the outer shapes and weights, +led inevitably straight back to vibrations. All matter is merely a +specific vibration of energy, a range of vibrations feeling solid +to the senses, as a range of light vibrations translate into color +through the eyes.</p> + +<p>E = MC²!</p> + +<p>It took man far. He too began an exploration of the stars!</p> + +<p>Failure in their first attempt had brought a wisdom to the +sentient fields of force. This time they did not rush in with +pyrotechnic displays to show the wondrous power they knew. +Observing patiently through the centuries, by now they knew +man well. They knew his weakness, yet by making thing react +with thing, he'd proved his strength. For here he was among the +stars.</p> + +<p>Perhaps by now he might communicate? Perhaps, by now, he +would not prostrate himself and grovel in the dust, if someone +said, "Hello!"</p> + +<p>But careful, perhaps he would.</p> + +<p>There had been a man by name of Galileo, with the first crude +telescope he'd made, who first saw the rings of Saturn. But not as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +rings, but rather in the planet's tilting, he had seen a spot of light +on either side. And sometime later, when he looked again, the +tilting of the planet back had made the rings edge on, and so +they disappeared. He never looked again, nor told of what he'd +seen; for legend had it that the god Saturn periodically devoured +his own children, and this phenomenon he'd seen, if it became +widely known, would be interpreted as the proof the legend was +correct—and do incalculable damage to scientific inquiry. He'd +known the temper of his fellow man well enough to take no +chances of this kind, to note the experience in his works, perhaps +discuss it with a cautious friend or two, but to add no further fuel +to the raging fires of superstition that consumed men's minds and +seared out possibility of rational thought.</p> + +<p>So walk with care. For superstition still is paramount, despite +the fact that some men know how to reach the stars.</p> + +<p>To communicate this time, the fields of force took a sere planet, +of barren, blistered rock, and with a concept made it into the +garden of man's dreams. On one island, they set up a crystalline +structure, a thing, this much concession to the mind of man; a tool, +to amplify and clarify their thought to reach the still rudimentary +but nevertheless present centers of man's mind—some certain +man who might be ready to receive that thought.</p> + +<p>Placed in man's exploratory path, the waiting was not long +until man found it. They had not led him to it through any +intuitive change of course that he might find suspect. The explorers +landed, claimed it for Earth, and went away. None among them +felt any pull from the crystal tool upon the mountaintop.</p> + +<p>The scientists came to make their measurements. Their busy +minds were full of weight and size and the relationship of thing +to thing. Perhaps by now they too were so committed to the +use of a thing to act upon another thing that they could not +countenance the thought that thought could act upon a thing direct. +They measured the crystal tool, and recorded all their measurements, +but found no meaning in its arches and its spires. If any +felt the impact of the thinking of the fields of force, he made no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +sign nor gave response. Indeed, to preserve his status and +reputation with his fellow scientists he'd not have dared admit a +meaning that could not be measured with his instruments. +Forevermore he'd be outcast, if he but hinted that he thought +their science was insufficient to capture everything of meaning +there. And to scientist most of all, his status with his fellow man +means more than truth. At least to most. But are there some to +whom the truth is paramount?</p> + +<p>Yes, for had not scientist after scientist through the years risked +and lost his status through his questioning? And then perhaps +today there are such men.</p> + +<p>So walk with care, and wait.</p> + +<p>The colonists came, and as the scientists' minds had been filled +with measurements and weights and analyses; the colonists' minds +were filled with cabins, fields, food.</p> + +<p>Surely, among men somewhere, there must be those not wholly +captured on the one hand by formless superstition; and on the +other hand not bound within the tightly narrowed circle of weight +and measurement! Surely man must know by now he could not +capture the inner meaning of a thing through a description of its +outer surface.</p> + +<p>But as long as man got by, and did great things by using +physical things to act upon other physical things, even in +considering the universal energy as a thing, he would look no +farther.</p> + +<p>All right then, a little nudge in another direction. Change the +concept of the planet slightly, so that one thing cannot act upon +another, no tool be used except this crystal set to act as intermediary. +Let that happen, and out from Earth a man would come, +perhaps a dozen men, perhaps a hundred ships, a thousand men, +and all to find their ships, their tools, were gone. But someday +there would come a man with mind trained in the ability to +conceive that there might be a road to truth outside the useless +superstitions that sent man to groveling in the dust at each small<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +breath that blew, and also one who would not quit because he +had no weather vane to test the direction of that breath.</p> + +<p>And they would know when that mind came.</p> + +<p>The first man came. Take away his tools and wait. He did not +fall to earth in awe nor freeze in fear. His mind searched curiously. +Enough. The man was here. Shield off the planet from the rest +that he be undisturbed in his thought.</p> + +<p>Could he go farther? Conceive the purpose of this lack of tools, +that it was by design? And still not grovel in the dust? They'd +made their move. Could he respond?</p> + +<p>He drew a circle in the sand!</p> + +<p>Joy! Ecstasy!</p> + +<p>This time there might be surcease to the loneliness, and two +intelligences so unlike commune. The very unlikeness of each +bringing to the other thought not yet considered, and together +going on to find ... to find ...</p> + +<p>Now let him see the fallacy of such strict measurement. Now +let him think, to realize that measuring the balance of the status +quo of things in only one relationship of an infinity of possibilities, +to realize that he can change his measurements to balance an +equation designed to express the status quo, or with equal +truth, at his desire, he can change the status quo, the shape of +things, to fit the equation he desires.</p> + +<p>Let him wander, puzzled, worrying on this. Let him work it out +himself, for experience from long ago had taught them that if +man was not ready to accept an alien thought he could not, +would not, accept but in his own interpreting.</p> + +<p>Now, at last, at his readiness to make things fit the equation he +conceives, instead of making the equation fit the things as they +are, bring him closer in the range of the amplifier, the crystal tool, +that communication might be direct.</p> + +<p>He holds the key.</p> + +<p>He knows the lock.</p> + +<p>He finds the door.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>Show him the one small step remaining—the diagram, the +design, the movement of the forces of his mind.</p> + +<p>To turn the key.</p> + +<p>Unlock the lock.</p> + +<p>Throw wide the door.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> +<h2>26</h2> + +<p>As one awakened from a deep sleep, a hypnotic trance, Cal +opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>Man's ancient thought filled his being, the subject of man's +dreams, of yearnings, of philosophies. In ancient eidetic memory, +the unbroken thread persisted: If I could only grasp this elusive +thing, always just barely beyond my reach, I would not need the +ox, the wagon, the train, the plane, the spaceship to transport me +from here to there.</p> + +<p>And now, at last, the thought was in Cal's grasp. Express the +things and forces balanced in equation to describe them as they +are; or, equally, to alter the things and forces instead to fit the +equation balance one had in mind; purely a matter of choice. +Each was the use of natural law. No chaos here, no magic, one +as much true science as the other.</p> + +<p>How long had he slept, and dreamed? A few minutes? An +hour? Or by chance was he another Rip Van Winkle, doomed to +find the colonists aged or dead?</p> + +<p>But why wonder?</p> + +<p>A short distance first, just outside the amphitheater, just a small +test. He first rearranged the relative position of himself to the +amphitheater, to be outside instead of in it. He diagrammed the +forces in his mind that would alter the relationship, connected +them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<p>He was standing outside the entrance arch.</p> + +<p>With a hoarse cry, Louie, who had been watching all the while +through the open arch, shrank back away from Cal, wavered in +uncertainty, then fell to his knees, then groveled in the dust.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me!" he cried. "In my blind, senseless vanity, I did not +know you were a Holy One. I was going to kill you, I confess. +Woe! Woe! I saw you lying there in Their temple, defaming it in +blasphemy by your sleep. But when I tried to enter, I could not. +Their will prevented me. Some shielding force protected you. +And then I knew you were a Holy One. Forgive me. Let me +live to expiate my sin."</p> + +<p>"Louie, Louie," Cal said sadly.</p> + +<p>As if in tangled ball, the thought stream of Louie, twisted and +warped by the false reasonings and interpretations fed to him in +childhood, seemed clearly revealed to Cal. Again a change in +concept of relationship to reality, the schematic of forces visualized, +the untangling, straightening of thought.</p> + +<p>Louie scrambled to his feet, a rueful grin on his face.</p> + +<p>"Sorry, Cal," he said. "I must have gone nuts there for a while, +shock and all. I'm all right now. Don't worry anymore about me. +I'll get on back to the rest."</p> + +<p>"Sure, Louie. See you there," Cal agreed.</p> + +<p>A rearrangement of relationships, and Cal walked out from +behind a bush to approach Jed and Tom.</p> + +<p>"You must not have gone all the way to the top," Jed said when +he looked up and caught sight of Cal. "It's just barely past noon, +I reckon. Didn't expect to see you back until nightfall."</p> + +<p>"I took a short cut," Cal said with a grin. "Little past noon," he +continued, as if musing with a thought. "About the same time of +day that everything happened a couple of weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"Yeah, about the same time of day," Jed said, and looked at +him curiously.</p> + +<p>Tom had arisen to his feet and was staring at Cal curiously, +sensing a difference in the E. Now Jed felt it too, and looked at +Cal with puzzlement on his face.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There's something important about it being around this time +of day, Cal?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not really," Cal said, "but I thought it might be helpful. I +could restore the village, the fields, the escape ship, everything +just as it was; make it feel like a continuation of the same day to +the people. It being the same time of day would help the illusion +that no time had passed, nothing had happened."</p> + +<p>Tom's eyes narrowed in speculation.</p> + +<p>"You can do that, Cal?" he asked. "You've solved the problem?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Cal said simply. "I'll tell you about it sometime. There's +quite a few loose ends to catch up right now." He turned to Jed. +"How about it, Jed?" he asked. "Think it'll be too much of a shock +to put things back as they were?"</p> + +<p>In spite of himself, Jed was trembling. He drew a deep breath, +firmed his jaw. Seemed to set himself as one does in the dentist's +chair at the approach of the drill.</p> + +<p>It was a bigger equation, a more complex one, but not different +in kind.</p> + +<p>The village of Appletree sprang suddenly into being, the hangar +with the metallic gleam of the ship inside, the fields, the pasture +fences with the calves separated from the cows. A few people, +clothed, were walking on the dirt street between the houses. They +looked at one another. They looked up at the sky, at the fields +around them, the forests beyond. They looked back at one another. +They shook their heads, and blinked their eyes, as if suddenly +wakened from a sleep, a dream, the craziest dream.</p> + +<p>Later they would compare the dream, and with Jed's help +piece together, and feel the shock, and wonder.</p> + +<p>Upon the hill, away from the village, where Jed lay, clothed, +in the hammock swung between two trees, Martha came out of +the house, clothed.</p> + +<p>"I must have sat down in a chair for a minute and fallen asleep +or something, Jed," she said as she came to stand beside him. +"And I had the funniest dream. You can't imagine. You know how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +sometimes we'll dream about being out in front of folks, all +naked ..."</p> + +<p>"That wasn't any dream, Martha," he answered with a grin. +"All the people in the village are going to start realizing it pretty +soon. They'll need some help. We'd better walk down there. Them +people across the ridge, too. Bet they'll be hightailing it back over +here first thing you know. And something else, there's an E ship +here, come to find out why we didn't communicate."</p> + +<p>"Well whatever on Earth are you talkin' about, Jed?" she asked +curiously. "It won't be time to communicate for a couple of days +yet. You ought to know that. Have you been dreaming, too? Or +you and the boys fermenting something? Here, let me smell your +breath!"</p> + +<p>"Aw, now Martha," he said with a huge grin. He clambered out +of the hammock and stood up, took her in his arms, hugged her +tightly.</p> + +<p>"Jed!" she scolded. "Right out here in the front yard in front +of everybody." But she didn't struggle away from him.</p> + +<p>"Won't matter a bit," he said. "Not after what's been goin' on +in front of everybody right along."</p> + +<p>"Whatever has been goin' on can't be half as bad as what I've +been dreamin'," she said.</p> + +<p>"Better start gettin' used to the idea that it wasn't a dream, +Martha," he cautioned.</p> + +<p>"Jed!" she scolded again, her face aflame with embarrassment.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> +<h2>27</h2> + +<p>The communications operator looked up as the supervisor came +down the aisle toward him.</p> + +<p>"Communication from the E.H.Q. ship at Eden coming in just +fine," he said enthusiastically. He'd thought it over and decided +he'd better repair some fences. Good job here, no use letting his +irritation with the supervisor's old-maid fussiness make him cut +off his nose to spite his face.</p> + +<p>"See that it does," the supervisor answered sharply. He +recognized the overture for what it was, felt relieved that he +wouldn't have any more insubordination, was willing to let bygones +be bygones—after a suitable period of punishment. "What's been +happening?" he asked with a curiosity that got the better of his +desire to discipline.</p> + +<p>"E Gray has come back out of that quartz outcropping where +we lost him. He's standing there talking to the astronavigator who +followed him up the mountain."</p> + +<p>"More of the same, I guess," the supervisor said. "Nothing's +happened for ten days. Nothing likely to happen," he said. He +turned and started back down the aisle toward his own office.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," the operator called. "Here's something."</p> + +<p>Other operator heads raised up all down the aisle.</p> + +<p>"Now, now; now, now!" the supervisor quarreled at them. "Get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +on with your work, nothing to concern you here, none of your +business."</p> + +<p>But of course it was everybody's business. Anything different +was everybody's business. All over the world everybody was +wondering about the enigma of Eden, everybody speculating, +everybody with a different answer. Some were gleeful that science +had finally got its comeuppance, and felt no more than a pleasure +that the bigdomes had proved they weren't any smarter than +anybody else. Others took an equal pleasure in crying woe, woe, +at this proof there were mysteries beyond man's knowing, woe, +woe, now that man would be punished for trying to know what +he was not meant to know.</p> + +<p>The operator took time out, in spite of the supervisor's +admonishments, to listen frankly.</p> + +<p>"They've lost sight of the E," the operator exclaimed. "No, +wait a minute. There he is, down in the valley, coming out from +behind a bush to talk to the pilot and the head man of the colony."</p> + +<p>"Can't have happened like that," the supervisor grumbled. "Ten +or twelve miles from that mountain top to the valley. The ship +has garbled their reporting. Probably got behind in reporting +and then just decided to skip the journey back, and pick up to +make it current. There's going to be complaints about this."</p> + +<p>"Well, you were right here," the operator said. "You were +listening. I didn't skip anything. It wasn't my fault."</p> + +<p>"All right, all right."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," the operator said. "Here, listen in."</p> + +<p>The supervisor's eyes grew round.</p> + +<p>"Can't be," he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"All the buildings, everything's just like it was before," the +operator said loudly to the room at large. "All of a sudden, the way +they report it."</p> + +<p>"They're faking the reports," the supervisor grumbled irritably. +"Have to be."</p> + +<p>"Now, no matter how much they fake, you can't rebuild all +those buildings in a couple hours," the operator argued.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<p>"None of our business," the supervisor cautioned. "We just +take the reports. Can't criticize us for whatever the E.H.Q. ship +out there's doing."</p> + +<p>"And everybody's got their clothes back on," the operator said +loudly.</p> + +<p>There was a sigh of regret up and down the aisle.</p> + +<p>"Now the E's disappeared again," the operator said, "They're +scanning all over, trying to find him."</p> + +<p>The supervisor put down his headset with resolution.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to my office to make a report on the sloppy way +this reporting has been done. There's going to be fur flying over +these skips and jumps, and I don't want it to be our fur. Best +thing is to make the complaint first," he said to the room at +large. "Now you call me if there's any more of this bollix," he +said to the operator as he left.</p> + +<p>An hour passed while the supervisor sat in his office. He wrote +furiously, scratched out, wrote some more, tore up papers and +threw them in the vague direction of the wastebasket, started +afresh to write some more. How to report without stepping on +anybody's toes?</p> + +<p>His buzzer sounded softly to give him respite, and he looked +up from a virtually blank piece of paper to the board. The Eden +operator again.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," he groaned. But he left his desk at once and half +trotted up the aisle.</p> + +<p>"Now the captain of the ship says he wants Sector Chief Hayes +at once," the operator called out. "Something very important."</p> + +<p>"Very well," the supervisor said. "Ring him."</p> + +<p>But Hayes didn't wait for the ring. He had been listening, red-eyed, +tired, gaunt for lack of sleep.</p> + +<p>"Give me connection," he said to the operator as soon as the +line opened.</p> + +<p>"Bill Hayes here, Captain," he said, as soon as he received the +signal. "What now?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mrs. Gray, the Junior E's wife, has disappeared from aboard +ship," the Captain said without any preliminaries.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean 'disappeared'?" Hayes asked. "How could +she disappear in deep space? Have you looked everywhere? +Checked the lifeboats? Maybe she took one and tried to get down +to her husband by herself."</p> + +<p>"We've looked everywhere. No lifeboats missing. No port has +opened. You ought to know we wouldn't bother you until we'd +checked everything out first."</p> + +<p>"She can't have disappeared into thin air, thin space," Hayes +quarreled back. "She must be on your ship somewhere. When was +she last seen?"</p> + +<p>"That's—ah—that's mainly why I'm calling you, Bill," the captain +said. "A wild tale, obviously a mistake. One of the crewmen passed +her stateroom about an hour ago. Door was open and he looked +in, the way anybody does. Says he saw her standing inside her +cabin embracing a man. Says he didn't stop to look close, but he +was pretty sure it was E Gray. Says he knows because he's had +access to the viewscope and has watched E Gray on the surface +of Eden."</p> + +<p>"There's been no report of any ship leaving Eden, joining you, +Captain," Hayes said accusingly.</p> + +<p>"Because there hasn't been any," the captain snapped back. +"So it can't have been E Gray she was embracing. That's why +I called you. Looks like we're going to have some petty scandal +mixed up with everything else."</p> + +<p>"Looks like it, then," Hayes said with a vast weariness. "Some +member of your crew, or one of the scientists," he said. "Keep +looking. Somebody's hiding her, probably to keep the scandal +from breaking. But it seems odd to me that she was so anxious +to get out there near her husband and then in ten days she'd ..."</p> + +<p>"Maybe her real anxiety was to be near somebody already +assigned to the ship," the captain said. "I mean, we've got to +consider all the possibilities. Somebody she knew there at E.H.Q."</p> + +<p>"Keep checking, Captain. I'll see if the Board wants to contact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +E McGinnis. Maybe he knows what's been going on around here +that could lead us to the guy who's hiding her."</p> + +<p>"I'll keep checking, but she's not on board <i>my</i> ship," the captain +said. He sighed. Bill Hayes sighed. They broke connection.</p> + +<p>Hayes made contact with the Board chairman. It took only a +few minutes to spin the latest tale of woe. Another minute for the +Board to decide direct intervention.</p> + +<p>"Now they want me to make contact with the other ship," +the operator said to the supervisor. "The Wheel himself wants to +know if E McGinnis will talk to him."</p> + +<p>"Well, contact it, contact it," the supervisor commanded +urgently.</p> + +<p>"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" the operator quarreled back.</p> + +<p>The both of them listened in on the conversation, on the grounds +that testing the quality of reception was a necessity. E McGinnis's +pilot was quite explicit.</p> + +<p>"E McGinnis left orders that under no circumstances was he +to be disturbed," the pilot said. "He, E Gray and Mrs. Gray are +in his cabin, in conference."</p> + +<p>"E Gray! Mrs. Gray!" the chairman exploded. "Impossible. How +the devil did they get into your ship?"</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me," the pilot said in a tired voice. "I just work here. +I'm sitting here minding my own business. I see E McGinnis's +door open. He leans out the door and gives me my orders. I look +past him and I see E Gray and Mrs. Gray sitting in the room. +Don't ask me how they got in there. I don't know. But I do know +this, I'm going to get myself a nice quiet milk run to Saturn or +someplace, soon as I get back to E.H.Q. If I ever do get back."</p> + +<p>"Now, now," the Board chairman soothed. "I'm sure there's a +simple explanation." Crewmen willing to pilot an E around the +universe were hard to find.</p> + +<p>"Yeah? After what I've seen out here, I don't think I'd even +want to hear it," the pilot said, and without apology cut off the +communication.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> +<h2>28</h2> + +<p>Had the pilot been able, a moment later, to look into the E's +stateroom he would have seen still another visitor, another who +had not entered his ship by any normal means.</p> + +<p>Attorney General Gunderson sat in a chair facing the two E's +and Linda. He seemed stunned, frozen into immobility. Only his +eyes were alive, darting here and there, unbelieving. There is +limit to the number of shocks the mind can withstand, and the +series had come too fast for him to adjust to them.</p> + +<p>He too had picked up Junior E Gray as soon as he came through +the arch of the quartz outcropping on top of the mountain, the +structure that somehow interfered with their visoscope's ability to +penetrate and see what went on inside. He had been watching +when Gray suddenly disappeared from where he had been talking +with the astronavigator. That had been a shock, immediately +followed by a greater one, when the ship's operator had scanned +the valley and found Gray talking with the E's pilot and the chief +of the colonists. There was no way in which the journey could +have been made that rapidly.</p> + +<p>He was still watching when the village, the fields, the escape +ship, the E ship all had suddenly materialized before his eyes. +And the people were all clothed. It couldn't be done, but he +had seen it. But he kept his head. E science must be farther along<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +than he'd realized, to produce a miracle such as this—but it was +science. He must hold to that, otherwise ...</p> + +<p>He saw his case begin to melt out from under him, and he +made one more effort to regain some measure of control. He gave +his own pilot orders to land on the surface of Eden. He transmitted +orders to the other two police ships to follow in close formation; +the three of them to land and take custody.</p> + +<p>But the barrier still remained, and the ships could not penetrate +it.</p> + +<p>He told himself that all wasn't lost. Maybe the E was back in +control of Eden, but he, Gunderson, still had a morals case. All +those photographs! Some of the press and commentators might +desert him, now that the Junior had proved adequate to the job. +Unless he chose carefully, some stupid judge might decide the +means were justified by the end result. But there were those +photographs, and the world was full of Mrs. Grundy. He might +have to back up a little bit on the incompetence of the Junior +E, but Mrs. Grundy would be behind him a hundred per cent on +the morals issue—when he released some of the photographs, and +titillated her nasty imagination by reference to others too indecent +to release.</p> + +<p>It was then that the observer ship got a call through to him, +and told him that the photographs, every one of them, had +disappeared from the ship's vault where they had been locked, +and the only thing remaining in the vault was one little slip of +paper which read, "Shame on you for taking feelthy pictures. +Naughty, naughty! Calvin Gray."</p> + +<p>The case was crumbling, but all was not lost. He still had +witnesses. He thought for a minute and began to wonder about +those witnesses. Any judge, anybody around the courts, anybody +connected with the press, and maybe even some of the public +knew that any police officer will swear to any lie to back up +another police officer because he might need the favor returned +tomorrow.</p> + +<p>Without concrete evidence ...<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> + +<p>He suddenly found himself standing in the cabin of the E ship, +confronted by E McGinnis, Junior E Gray, and Mrs. Gray. He +sank down in a chair and sat frozen, immobile. Only his eyes +were alive, darting frantically here and there as if expecting +some hole to open up and swallow him—perhaps wishing one +would.</p> + +<p>"I don't know just what to do with you," Cal said a little sadly, +ruefully. "Far as the E's are concerned, you've only been a minor +nuisance, hardly worth noticing, but your intentions were +dangerous. As far back as man's history goes the growth of police +powers immediately preceded and caused the fall and destruction +of each culture.</p> + +<p>"It is a law of the nature of man that he will resist the +ascendancy of any special me-and-mine group over him; that this +resistance will grow until man will even destroy himself in the +attempt to destroy that ascendancy. In more recent history it +was the growth, extension, and severity of the police in controlling +every activity of man that destroyed both the United States and +Russia.</p> + +<p>"Now you are attempting to rebuild that same police control in +world government. The result will be the same. Man will destroy +himself in trying to destroy you.</p> + +<p>"We in E don't want that to happen. We see no need of it. +We have already warned that the attitude of the police toward +the public is the major cause of crime, that crime will increase +with each increase of police power and severity until the whole +structure rots and crumbles.</p> + +<p>"Yet man has not yet progressed far enough to know how to +maintain an organized society without some special body to +enforce that organization. It's a problem which the E's haven't +solved, probably because we know too little about the natural +laws affecting the behavior of man. Perhaps it is still a field +belonging to non-science, because science doesn't know enough +yet to take hold of it.</p> + +<p>"I would suggest, Gunderson, that you turn your talents and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +your organization to solving this problem of how to build an +organized society instead of destroying it."</p> + +<p>The chair where Gunderson had sat was empty.</p> + +<p>E McGinnis looked at Cal; he too was sitting silent and +immobile. But E science had inured him to shock. He waited +because it was E Gray's show, and he was letting Cal handle it.</p> + +<p>"Where is he now?" McGinnis asked when he saw the empty +chair.</p> + +<p>"Sitting at his desk in his office back on Earth," Cal said with a +grin. "Our boy has a few things to think about."</p> + +<p>"You've explained the theory back of all this"—McGinnis changed +the subject—"but I still find it incredible. It's still just theory."</p> + +<p>"Well," Cal said, "theory comes first. Even to add two and two, +you first have to get the idea that it can be done, a theory of how +it is done, but that still won't get you four. You've got to learn +how to apply the theory.</p> + +<p>"When I first found I knew how, I was pretty concerned. The +whole basis of science is that anybody can do it, anybody who +follows the step-by-step method. It doesn't take any special gifts +that can't be trained. I had visions of a world, a universe of people, +in possession of this theory and method before they were wise +enough to use it, and chaos.</p> + +<p>"But when I thought it over, I stopped worrying. The methods +of science are also open to all. But few bother to learn them. Most +prefer their frustrations and their miseries to making the effort +which will solve them. For centuries the libraries containing all the +accumulated knowledge and wisdom of mankind have been free +and open to anybody who wants to read, but few have bothered +to absorb that knowledge and that wisdom.</p> + +<p>"This new key we have that unlocks the door to another vista +of knowledge, another point of view whereby we can change +material things to suit our desire, is merely another advance of +science. For science, after all, is no more than organized knowledge +of reality. You can't multiply six times six until you've learned how +to add two and two. Most people won't bother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It will be a long, long time before any significant number will +graduate through all the normal seven steps of E science to become +ready for the eighth. Some of the E's will master it, but you know +how few E's there are. And the E's have enough restraint, wisdom, +and selflessness to use this new knowledge for the benefit of man +instead of his detriment.</p> + +<p>"I suspect that one has to be graduated beyond the desire to +make me-and-mine ascendant over others before he can absorb +this knowledge."</p> + +<p>"Maybe that's my trouble," McGinnis said slowly. "I've been +thinking, all along, of how much power this gives the E's. Wondering +if even the E's should have that much power over others."</p> + +<p>Linda spoke up.</p> + +<p>"E McGinnis," she said, "Cal has solved the problem of what +happened to the colonists, why they didn't communicate. Do you +think this will qualify him for his big E?"</p> + +<p>Both men burst into laughter.</p> + +<p>"No question of it, Linda," E McGinnis said with a chuckle. +"But I doubt it really matters to E Gray, now. He can do things +none of the rest of us can do, and the real question now is +whether we have the right to call ourselves Seniors until we can +match his ability."</p> + +<p>"I think," Cal said slowly, "we'd better recommend to E.H.Q. +that the colonists be withdrawn from Eden, assigned somewhere +else. I've left the shield around the planet so none can enter or +leave without the eighth key. I can unlock the door and close it +again. Perhaps Eden should become the next step for the E, the +next hurdle he must cross.</p> + +<p>"When I've sent my ship and crew back to Earth, and we've +removed all the colonists, it might be a good idea to restore Eden +to what it was when I arrived—a place where no tools will work, +no physical tools. To qualify for E, a man will be put on the +island, where he can live as we lived, to work out the step-by-step +method. When he's ready, he can go into the thought-amplifier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +on top of the mountain, and if his mind is open enough to the +potentials he'll receive the final step of instruction—as I did.</p> + +<p>"One by one, as the E's shake free of their present projects, they +can take this next step."</p> + +<p>"I'm not working on any project right now," E McGinnis said +hopefully.</p> + +<p>"I'll be right back," Cal said with a grin, "and we'll get started +on it."</p> + +<p>The chair where he had been sitting was empty.</p> + +<hr /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> +<h2>29</h2> + +<p>Cal stood within the crystal amphitheater atop the mountain and +watched the interplay of lights until he felt communion come.</p> + +<p>Rapture! Joy!</p> + +<p>Question?</p> + +<p>"Be patient," he said. "There will be more, and more, and more.</p> + +<p>"You had an advantage," he reminded Them. "You started with +a crystalline vibration nearer to the force field than that possible +in protoplasm. We've had to come up the hard way.</p> + +<p>"But we have come up.</p> + +<p>"You had no competition. We've had to fight for our very lives +every inch of the way, endure the setbacks lasting for centuries, +millennia. It is no wonder that the me-and-mine-ascendant concept +has dominated all our thought, and does still. Without it, +we'd not have survived at all.</p> + +<p>"It takes time to outgrow it, to learn we can survive without +it. Five hundred years after Copernicus, a survey of the high +school students in the United States revealed that a third of +them still rejected his knowledge, still believed the Earth to be +at the center of the universe and man was the reason why the +universe had been created at all. But two thirds had adjusted.</p> + +<p>"More important, there <i>was</i> a Copernicus.</p> + +<p>"Don't sell man short because he's slow to learn, and you are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +impatient for fuller, deeper exploration of the truths in reality. +He has much to offer you, as you to him. Competition for survival +has given him ingenuity.</p> + +<p>"Once all learned men believed the Earth to be the center of +the universe, but there <i>was</i> a Copernicus who asked the question, +'What if it isn't so?'</p> + +<p>"Millions of men watched apples fall to the ground, but one +<i>did</i> ask if this might not be the key to the structure of the universe, +the balance of the stars.</p> + +<p>"Billions watched the stars, but finally one <i>did</i> ask, 'What if the +light be curved instead of straight?'</p> + +<p>"There is capacity in man, this protoplasmic life, that had to +learn an ingenuity which might surpass even yours.</p> + +<p>"This is not the final door in the corridor of thought. Still other +doors, on down the corridor, are yet to be explored. And you may +need these special gifts of man to open them, as he has needed +this new room of thought.</p> + +<p>"Be patient. A million or a billion may come here to seek the +method that can change things to fit the equation of desire, before +one comes who asks a question even you have not conceived.</p> + +<p>"But someday he <i>will</i> come—and ask."</p> + +<p>The lights danced faster now in patterns of delight.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Eight Keys to Eden, by Mark Irvin Clifton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EIGHT KEYS TO EDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 27595-h.htm or 27595-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/5/9/27595/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Geoffrey Kidd, Stephen Blundell +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://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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