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diff --git a/29987.txt b/29987.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd4f55e --- /dev/null +++ b/29987.txt @@ -0,0 +1,836 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Join Our Gang?, by Sterling E. Lanier + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Join Our Gang? + +Author: Sterling E. Lanier + +Illustrator: Douglas + +Release Date: September 14, 2009 [EBook #29987] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOIN OUR GANG? *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from Analog Science Fact & +Fiction, May, 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence +that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + + + JOIN +OUR GANG? + + + +By STERLING E. LANIER + + + +_They didn't exactly hold a gun at anybody's +head; all they offered was help. Of course, +they did sort of encourage people to ask for +help...._ + + + +Illustrated by Douglas + + + + +Commander William Powers, subleader of Survey Group Sirian Combine--1027798 +and hence first officer of its ship, the _Benefactor_, stared coldly +out of his cabin port. The _Benefactor_ was resting on the bedrock of +Island Twenty-seven of the world called Mureess by its natives. Like +all the other such names, it meant "the world," just as the natives' +name for themselves, Falsethsa, meant "the people," or "us," or "the +only race." To Commander Powers, fifty years old, with eleven of them +in Survey work, the world was Planet Two of a star called something +unpronounceable in the nebula of something else equally pointless. He +had not bothered to learn the native name of Island Twenty-seven, +because his ship had mapped one thousand three hundred and eighty-six +islands, all small, and either rocky or swampy or both. Island +Twenty-seven, to him, had only one importance, and that was its being +the site of the largest city on the planet. + +Around the island's seven square miles, a maze of docks, buildings, +sheds, breakwaters, and artificial inlets made a maze stretching a mile +out to sea in every direction. The gray sea, now covered with fog +patches, rolled on the horizon under low-lying cloud. Numerous craft, +some small, some large, moved busily about on the water, which in its +components was identical with that of Terra, far distant in the Sirius +Sector. Crude but workable atomic motors powered most of them, and +there was a high proportion of submarines. Powers thought of Earth's +oceans for a moment, but then dismissed the thought. Biological +technical data were no specialty he needed. Terra might be suitable for +the action formulating in his mind, but a thousand suns of Sirian +Combine might prove more useful. The biologists of Grand Base would +determine, assisted by data his ship provided, in their monster +computers, what was called for. Powers had been trained for different +purposes. + +He was, as every survey commander was, a battle-hardened warrior. He +had fought in two major fleet actions in his day, and had once, as a +very junior ensign of the Sirian Grand Fleet, participated in the +ultimate horror, the destruction by obliteration of an inhabited +planet. For planetary destruction a unanimous vote of the Sirian Grand +Council, representing over four thousand worlds, was necessary. It had +been given only four times in the long history of the Confederacy. +Every intelligent being in the great Union shuddered at the thought of +its ever becoming necessary again. Powers stared moodily over the rocky +ground toward a group of figures in the distance which were moving in +his direction. The final delegation of the Mureess government, a world +government, was coming for its last meeting before the _Benefactor_ +departed into the far reaches of space. + +Powers braced himself mentally for a grand effort. He held equivalent +rank to that of a Galactic admiral, and it was held for one reason +only, because of his real work and its importance. He was a +super-psychologist, a trend-analyzer, a salesman, a promoter, a viewer, +an expert on alien symbology and the spearhead of the most ruthless +intelligence service in the known universe. Long ago, he had +transferred from the battle fleet to the inner school at Sirius Prime +for the most intensive training ever devised. Now it would be put to +the ultimate test. + +He heard the air lock open and turned away from the window. He had a +long way to walk to the neutral council chamber, for the _Benefactor_ +was a big ship, despite the fact that only twenty beings comprised the +total complement. Down the echoing corridors he paced, brow furrowed in +thought. Mazechazz would have his own ideas, he knew, but if they made +no impression, he would have to put his oar in. Each being on board, +whether he breathed halogen or oxygen, ate uranium or protein, had to +be independent in thought and action under certain circumstances. The +circumstances were here, here and now in his judgment. + +He arrived at the door of the Council chamber, and entered, an +impressive sight in flaming orange and blue uniform. + + +Four members of the Supreme Council of the Mureess rose solemnly and +inclined their heads in his direction. They were tall bipeds of vaguely +reptilian ancestry, most of their height being body. They stood on +short powerful legs, terminating in flippered feet, and their long arms +were flanged to the second elbow with a rubbery fin. Only four opposed +fingers flexed the hands, but the dome-shaped heads and golden eyes +screamed intelligence as loudly as the bodies shouted adaption to an +aquatic environment. Around the brown torsos, light but efficient +harness supported a variety of instruments in noncorrosive metal +sheaths. All of the instruments had been discreetly examined by +scanning beams and pronounced harmless before any contact had been +allowed. + +Across the central table, Sakh Mazechazz, of Lyra 8, leader and captain +of the Survey stared red-eyed at his executive officer. Mazechazz +resembled the delegation far more than he did his own officer, for he, +too, had remotely reptilian forbears. Indeed he still sported a +flexible tail and, save for his own orange and blue uniform, ablaze +with precious stones, resembled nothing so much as a giant Terrestrial +chameleon. The uniforms were no accident. Surveymen wore anything or +nothing as the case called for it, and the Falsethsa admired bright +colors, having few of their own and a good color sense. The gleaming +jewels on Mazechazz's uniform stressed his superiority in rank to +Powers, as they were meant to. + +Of the twenty Surveymen on board the _Benefactor_, Mazechazz and Powers +were the only two who most resembled, in that order, the oxygen-breathing +natives of Mureess. That automatically made them captain and executive +officer of the _Benefactor_. The native population saw only the captain +and executive officer of the ship, and only the council chamber. On a +world of ammonia breathers, Mazechazz and Powers would have been +invisible in their own part of the ship providing advice only to the +Skorak of Marga 10, Lambdem, and perhaps Nyur of Antares-bi-12. If a +suspicious native saw an entity with whom he could feel a remote +relationship giving orders to a weird-looking, far more, alien +creature, a feeling of confidence might appear. + +Since Mazechazz came from a planet of super-heated desert and scrub +resembling the Karoo of South Africa, the resemblance could have been +bettered, but it was well within the allowable limits set forth in the +Inner Mandate. And in Galactic Psychology, every trick counted. For +persuasion was the chief weapon of the Sirian Combine. Outright force +was absolutely forbidden, save by the aforesaid vote of the council. +Every weapon in the book of persuasion was used to bring intelligent +races into the Combine, and persuasion is a thing of infinite variety. + + +As these thoughts flashed through Powers' mind, he seated himself in a +plain chair and adjusted the Universal Speaker to his mouth. Beside +him, on a more elaborate chair, tailored to fit his tail, Mazechazz did +the same, while the four Falsethsa seated themselves on low stools and +took similar instruments from the oblong table which separated them +from the two Surveymen. Deep in the bowels of the ship, a giant +translator switched on, to simultaneously translate and record the +mutually alien tongues as they were spoken. Adjustable extensions on +the speakers brought the sound to the bone of the skull. For different +life forms, different instruments would have been necessary and were +provided for. + +Mazechazz, as "captain," opened the proceedings. + +"Since this is our last session with you, we hope some fresh proposals +have occurred to your honorable council during your absence," hummed +the speaker through Powers' skull. + +He who was designated First among the council of the Mureess answered. + +"We have no new proposals, nor indeed had we ever any. Trade would be +welcome, but we vitally need nothing you or your Combine have +described, captain. We have all the minerals we need and the Great +Mother--he meant the sea--provides food. We will soon go into space +ourselves and meet as equals with you. We cannot tolerate what you call +an 'observer,' who seems to us a spy, and not subject to our laws by +your own definition. That is all we have to say." + +That does it, thought Powers glumly. The cold--and entirely +accurate--description of a Planetary representative of the Sirian +Combine was the final clincher. The intensely proud and chauvinistic +Falsethsa would tolerate no interference. + +Mazechazz gave no indication that he had heard. He tried again. + +"In addition to trade and education, general advancement of the +populace," murmured the mike, "have you considered defense?" He paused. +"Not all races who travel in space are friendly. A few are starkly +inimical, hating all other forms of life. Could you defend yourselves, +Honorable Sirs, against such?" + +It was obvious from the speed of the answer that the Council of Mureess +had considered, if not anticipated this question. The second member +spoke, an obvious pre-assignment. + +"In all our long history, you are our first contact with star +travelers. Yet we are not defenseless. The Great Mother contains not +only food, fish and plants which we harvest, but many strong and +terrible beasts. Very few are left to disturb us. In addition, the +implications of your ship have not escaped us, and our scientists are +even now adapting some of our atomic devices used in mining to other +ends." The voice contained a faint hint of pride as it ended. We got +guns, too, buddy, it said, and we ain't pushovers. + +The First of the Council spoke again. "Let me be plain, Respected +Star-farers. It seems obvious to us that you have learned most of what +we represent as a council, if not all. We are the heads of the Great +Clans and we will not change. It hardly seems likely that you represent +a society based on heredity if you include the diverse and nameless +breeds of creature you have shown us on your screens. We do not want +such an amalgam on our world causing unrest and disturbances of public +order. Still less do we desire authoritarian interference with the +ordered life we have developed. Your requests are one and severally +refused. There will be no 'observer.' Trade, regulated by us, will be +welcome. Otherwise, should you choose not to be bound by our laws, we +must respectfully and finally bid you farewell. When at some future +date, we develop ships such as yours, we may reconsider." The speaker +paused, looked at his three confreres, who nodded silently. The First +stared arrogantly at Mazechazz, and continued. + +"Finally, we have decided to place a ban on further landings by aliens +unless you are now prepared to negotiate a trade agreement on our +terms!" + + +Powers thought frantically, his face motionless. This was defeat, stark +and unequivocal. The parable he had in mind seemed indicated now or +never. He turned to Sakh Mazechazz, and spoke. + +"May I have your permission to address the Honored Council, Noble +Captain?" he asked. + +"Speak, First Officer," said the Lyran, his gular pouches throbbing. +His ruby eyes, to his associate, looked pained, as well they might. + +"Let me pose a question, Honored Sirs," said Powers. "Suppose that in +your early history of creating your orderly realm you had discovered on +one of your islands a race of Falsethsa as advanced and regulated as +yourselves who wished nothing to do with you?" He could feel the +alerted tension of the four as the golden eyes glowed at him. + +"The implications of your question are obvious," the First of the +Council spoke, as coldly as ever. "Do you threaten us with force from +your Combine devoted to peace?" The flat voice of the translator hummed +with acquired and impossible violence which Powers knew to be +subjective. + +The First continued. "We would resist to the ultimate, down to the +least of our young and the most helpless female weed cultivator! Do +your worst!" + +Powers sat back. He had done his best. The hereditary dictatorship of a +united world had spoken. No democratic minority had ever raised its +head here. The society of Mureess was stratified in a way ancient India +never thought of being, down to refuse collectors of a thousand +generations of dishonorable standing. Ancient Japan had been as rigidly +exclusionist but there _had_ been a progressive element there. Here +there was nothing. Nothing that is, except a united world of coldly +calculating and very advanced entities about to erupt into space with +Heaven knew what weapons and a murderous arrogance and race pride to +bolster them. + +He thought of the dead orb called Sebelia, rolling around its worthless +sun, an object of nausea to all life. And he had helped. Well, the boys +in Biology had the ball now. He forced himself to listen to the First +of Council as he bade Mazechazz a courteous farewell. + +"Depart in harmony and peace, Honorable Star-farers. May your Great +Mother be benign, when you return to give your high council our message +on the far-distant worlds you have shown us in the sky." + +The Council departed, leaving Powers and Mazechazz staring at each +other in the council chamber, their gaudy uniforms looking a little +dull and drab. + +"Well, Sakh," said Powers, his ruddy face a little flushed, "we can't +be perfect. They don't know about spacewarps and instantaneous +communicators. Plan II has nothing to do with us." + +"Beyond our recommendation, you mean," said the Lyran flatly. "We have +failed, William. This means death for thousands of innocent beings, +perhaps more. Their world population is about eighty million, you +know." + +There was silence in the room until Powers broke it again. + +"Would you have Sebelia, Sakh," he asked gently, "or Ruller I, +Bellevan's world, or Labath?" There was no answer to this and he knew +it. There was only one alternative to a dead, burned-out, empty planet. +Mureess was in the wrong stage of development, and it would have to be +brought in line. The Sirian Combine had to, and would remove any +intelligent unknown menace from a position from which it could threaten +its Master plan of integrated peace. As they left the chamber, Powers +said a silent prayer and touched the tiny Crescent and Star embroidered +on his shirt pocket. At least, he thought, the planted ultra-wave +communicators would be there when the Falsethsa needed them. He looked +out of a corridor port at the gray and rolling sea. The Great Mother, +he thought bitterly, benevolent and overflowing! + + +Traleres-124, female gardener, aged thirty-two cycles, hummed in a +minor key as she harvested weed of the solstice crop, twelve miles off +the northern islands. A rest period was due in the next cycle day, and +she and her mate were ahead of quota which should make the supervisor +give them a good holiday. + +The tall weed swayed gently against her and several small fish darted +past in fright. As the first heavy beat of the water struck against her +slim body, she looked up. Frozen with horror, she released her +container, but in forty feet of water, the monster caught her before +she had moved a hundred yards. + +As it fed, horribly, other grim shapes, attracted by the blood moved in +from the distant murk of deeper water. + + +Savathake-er rode his one-man torpedo alertly as he probed the southern +bay of Ramasarett. He was a scientist-12 and also a hereditary hunter. +If the giant fish, long since eliminated from the rest of the seas, +were breeding in some secret area of the far and desolate southern +rocks, it was his business to know it. No fish could catch his +high-powered torpedo, while his electric spears packed a lethal jolt. +Probably, he thought, a rumor of the poor fisher folk who worked the +southern fringe areas. What else could you expect from such types, who +had never even learned to read in a thousand cycles. Nevertheless, as +he patrolled the sunken rocks, he was alert, scanning the water on all +sides constantly for the great shape he sought, his skin alert for the +first strange vibration. By neglecting the broken bottom, brown with +laminaria and kelp, he missed the great, mottled tentacle which plucked +him off his torpedo in a flash of movement, leaving the riderless craft +to cruise aimlessly away into the distance. + + +"Your highness," said the Supervisor Supreme, "we are helpless. We have +never used metal nets, because we have never had to. Our fiber nets +they slash to ribbons. They attack every species of food-fish from the +Ursaa to the Krad. The breeding rate is fantastic, and now my equal who +controls the mines says they are attacking the miners despite all the +protection he can give them. They are not large, but in millions----" + +"Cease your outcries," said the First in Council, wearily, "and remove +that animal from my writing desk. I have seen many pictures of it since +they first appeared five cycles ago. It still looks alien and +repulsive." + +They stared in silence at the shape that any high-school biology +student of distant Terra could have identified in his sleep. + +At length, the First in Council dismissed the Supervisor of Fisheries +and headed thoughtfully for an inner room of his palace. He knew at +last the meaning of the strange metal communicating devices, discovered +and confiscated, after the star ship had departed, six cycles before. +It was a simple machine to operate, and he guessed food could be sent +incredibly quickly to his starving planet. Just as quickly as other +things, he thought grimly. And we have to beg. Hah. Admission to the +great peace-loving Combine, may the crabs devour them. + +But he knew that he would send and that they would come. + + +"I was comparing the two reports, my friend," said Mazechazz, "but I am +not so familiar with your planetary ecology as I should be. When +Mureess applied for admission to the Combine, I requested a copy of +their secret directive from Biology, but I had never seen the older +report until you gave it to me just now. Can you explain the names to +me, if I read them off?" + +"Go ahead," said Powers, sipping his sherbet noisily. He seldom +wondered what alcohol would feel like any longer. Most Old Believers +had tried it when young and disliked it. + +"I've already looked up the names I didn't know," he said, "so start +the Mureessan list first." + +"Great White Shark, or Man-eater," read Mazechazz. "He sounds obvious +and nasty." + +"He is," said Powers. He put down his glass. "Remember, as usual, the +birth rate has been at least tripled. An increased metabolism means +increased food consumption, and no shark on Terra was ever full. This +brute runs forty feet when allowed, in size, that is. A giant +carnivorous fish, very tough." + +"Number two is Architeuthis, or Giant Squid," continued the Lyran. "Is +that a fish? Sorry, but on my world, well, fish are curiosities." + +"It's an eyed, carnivorous mollusk with enormous arms, ten of them and +it reaches eighty feet long at least. Swims well, too." + +There was a moment of silence, then Mazechazz continued. "Smooth +dogfish." + +"A tiny shark," said Powers, "about three and a half feet in size. They +school in thousands on Terra and eat anything that swims. Just blind +agile appetite. They have a high _normal_ breeding rate." + +"Finally we have a Baleran Salamander, so you're free of one curse, +anyway. Balera, I believe, is hellishly wet, although I don't know much +about it." + +Powers rose and stretched. "He's a little fellow with six legs and a +leathery hide. A nuisance on Balera, which is the equivalent of a +Terran swamp. He eats every vegetable known, dry or fresh, and, being +only two inches long is hard to see. He doesn't bite, just eats things +and breeds. There must be millions by now, on each island of Mureess. +Then the eggs get carried about. They're tough and adhesive. You can +guess what their warehouses looked like." + +"At least two million starved before the Council gave in," resumed the +Lyran sadly. "But they gave in all the way and abolished caste +privilege before the first relief ship even arrived. They'll be full +members shortly. And this older report?" + +"Read the names," said Powers. He was staring out of the Club window at +the stars. "They fed us our own dirt, because we hadn't eliminated all +our competitors. Disease means microorganisms, so you choose the +largest animal possible with efficiency, that is. Just read the list. +My grandparents died, you know, but it had to be done, or we'd have +destroyed ourselves. The Combine was a far greater blessing to us than +it ever was to Mureess, I can assure you of that!" + +He listened in silence as the Lyran read. + + "Desmodus, the vampire bat, + Rattus Norvegicus, the common rat, + Mus Domesticus, the common mouse, + The Common Locust, + Sylvilagus, the Cottontail Rabbit, + Passer Domesticus, the House Sparrow, + Sturnus Vulgarus, the European Starling." + +Powers sat down and stared at his friend. "Terran life by comparison +with many other worlds is terribly tough because we have so many +different environments, I suppose. Hence its use on Mureess. Of course, +the Combine increased breeding rates again, but adapting that bat to +stand cold was the last straw," he said. "The rest of them were all +ready and waiting, but the bat was tropical. We'll start with him. +Desmodus is a small flying mammal about...." + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Join Our Gang?, by Sterling E. Lanier + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOIN OUR GANG? *** + +***** This file should be named 29987.txt or 29987.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/9/8/29987/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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