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diff --git a/32676.txt b/32676.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d112ed3 --- /dev/null +++ b/32676.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2012 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Test Colony, by Winston Marks + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Test Colony + +Author: Winston Marks + +Illustrator: Kelly Freas + +Release Date: June 3, 2010 [EBook #32676] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEST COLONY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE TEST COLONY + + BY WINSTON MARKS + + Illustrated by Kelly Freas + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science +Fiction September 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence +that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _Benson did his best to keep his colony from going native, +but what can you do when the Natives have a rare human intelligence and +know all about the facts of life?_] + + +It was the afternoon of our arrival. Our fellow members of the "test +colony" were back in the clearing at the edge of the lake, getting their +ground-legs and drinking in the sweet, clean air of Sirius XXII. I was +strolling along the strip of sandy beach with Phillip Benson, leader of +our group, sniffing the spicy perfume of the forest that crowded within +twenty feet of the water's edge. + +Half a billion miles overhead, Sirius shone with an artificially white +glow. Somewhere on the horizon, Earth lay, an invisible, remote speck of +dust we had forsaken 24 dreary, claustrophobic months ago. + +The trip had taken its toll from all of us, even tough-minded Phil +Benson. We both found it difficult to relax and enjoy the invigorating, +oxygen-rich air and the balmy climate. As official recorder, I was +trying to think of words suitable to capture the magnificence, the sheer +loveliness of the planet which would be our home for at least four +years, perhaps forever. + +Each absorbed in his own thoughts, Benson and I were some 500 yards from +the clearing when he stopped me with a hand on my arm. "Who is that?" he +demanded. + +Up the beach where he pointed, two naked forms emerged from the calm +waters. They skipped across the sand and began rolling together +playfully in the soft grasses at the forest's edge. Even at this +distance they were visibly male and female. + +"I can't make them out," I said. My only thought was that one of the +young couples had swum down ahead of us and was enjoying the first +privacy attainable in two years. + +Benson's eyes were sharper. "Sam, they--they look like--" + +Our voices must have reached them, for they sprang apart and rose to +their feet facing us. + +"Like youngsters," I supplied. + +"We have no kids with us," Benson reminded me. He began to move forward, +slowly, as though stalking a wild animal. + +"Wait, Phil," I said. "The planet is uninhabited. They can't be--" + +He continued shuffling ahead, and I followed. Within 20 paces I knew he +was right. Whoever they were they hadn't come with us! + +Benson stopped so quickly I bumped into him. "Look, Sam! Their hands and +feet! Four digits and--no thumbs!" + +I could now make out the details. The two forms were not quite human. +The toes were long and prehensile. The fingers, too, were exceptionally +long, appearing to have an extra joint, but as Benson mentioned, there +was no opposing thumb. + +They stood well apart now, the female seeking no protection from the +male. Curiosity was written in their faces, and when we stopped +advancing they began edging forward until they were only five yards +away. + +Their outlines, instead of becoming clearer, had fuzzed up more as they +approached. Now it was evident that their bodies were lightly covered +with a silky hair, some two or three inches long. It had already dried +out in the warm sun and was standing out away from their skins like +golden haloes. + +They stood well under five feet tall, and in every detail, except the +body hair and digits, appeared to be miniature adults, complete with +navels. + +Even in the midst of the shock of surprise, I was taken by their +remarkable beauty. "They're true mammals!" I exclaimed. + +"Without a doubt," Benson said, eyeing the full contours of the lithe +little female. Her pink flesh tones were a full shade lighter than those +of the male. Both had well-spaced eyes under broad foreheads. Their fine +features were drawn into fearless, half-quizzical, half-good-natured +expressions of deep interest. They stood relaxed as if waiting for a +parley to begin. + +"This," said Benson, "is one hell of a note!" + +They cocked their heads at the sound like robins. I said, "Why? They +don't appear very vicious to me." + +"Neither does man," Benson replied. "It's his brain that makes him +deadly. Look at those skulls, the ear placement, the eyes and forehead. +If I know my skull formations, I think man has met his intellectual +equal at last--maybe, even, his superior." + +"What makes you think they may have superior minds?" As a psychologist I +felt Benson was jumping to a pretty quick conclusion. + +"The atmosphere. Forty percent oxygen. Invariably, on other planets, +that has meant higher metabolisms in the fauna. In a humanoid animal +that strongly implies high mental as well as physical activity." + +As if to prove his point, the two little creatures tired of the +one-sided interview, bent slightly at the knees and leaped at a +forty-five degree angle high into the tree branches. The female caught +the first limb with her long fingers and swung out of sight into the +foliage. The male hung by his long toes for a moment, regarding us with +an inverted impish expression, then he, too, vanished. + +I grunted with disappointment. Benson said, "Don't worry, they'll be +back. Soon enough." + + * * * * * + +As we returned to the clearing Jane Benson and Susan, my wife, came to +meet us. Although both brunettes rated high in feminine charms among the +forty women of our group, somehow they appeared a little ungainly and +uncommonly tall against my mental image of the little people we had just +left. Their faces were pale from the long interment in the ship, and +bright spots of sunburn on cheekbones and forehead gave them a clownish, +made-up appearance. + +"We've sorted and identified the fruits," Sue called to us. "The +handbook is right. They're delicious! We've got a feast spread. Just +wait until you--" She caught our expressions. "What's wrong?" + +Benson shrugged. "You girls go on ahead and get the crowd together. I +have an important announcement to make." Jane pouted a little and +hesitated, but Benson insisted. "Run along now, please. I want to gather +my thoughts." + +We trailed after them slowly. I didn't like Benson's moody reaction to +our discovery of an intelligent life-form. To me it was exciting. What +fabulous news I would have to send back with the first liaison ship to +contact us four years hence! And it would be entirely unexpected, +because the original exploration party had failed to make the discovery. +That in itself was an intriguing mystery. How could twenty-two +scientists, bent on a minute examination of a planet's flora and fauna, +overlook the most fabulous creation of all--an animal virtually in men's +image? The only guess I could make was that they must belong to a +nomadic tribe small enough to escape discovery. + +Benson broke silence as the narrow beach strip began to widen into the +grassy plain where our ship squatted like a hemispherical cathedral. +"This poses so many problems," he said shaking his head. + +I said, "Phil, I think you're taking your job too seriously. You just +can't plan every detail of organizing our community down to the +rationing of tooth-powder." + +"Planning never hurt any project," Benson said. + +"I disagree," I told him. "You've had too long to dwell on your plans. +Now the first unpredictable incident throws you into an uproar. Relax, +Phil. Take your problems one at a time. We don't even know that we'll +ever see the little creatures again. Maybe they're shy." + +He scarcely heard me. He was a large, well-muscled man of 46 years, an +ex-college president and an able administrator. He and Jane, his wife, +were the only two of our party older than the 35-year age limit. His +background as a sociologist and anthropologist and his greater maturity +were important factors in stabilizing a new colony, but his point of +view had grown excessively conservative, it seemed to me. + +A crew of craftsmen with their busy little power saws had constructed a +sloping ship's ramp of rough planks sawed from the nearest trees. We +stepped through and over the assembled people who were lying around in +the grass at the base of the ramp, and Benson mounted twenty feet above +us at the entrance to the ship. + +Everyone was in high spirits, and a light cheer rippled through the +assembly. Benson, however, ignored it and bent a thoroughly serious gaze +out over his "flock". + +"Please give me your closest attention," he began and waited until +everyone was quiet. "Until further notice, we must proceed under a +yellow alert during daylight hours and a red alert at night. All work +parties leaving the ship will check with the scribe every hour on the +hour. We will resume sleeping in the ship. Women are restricted to +within 100 yards of the ship at all times. Men will go armed and will +please inform themselves of their position on the security watch list +which will be posted tonight." He squinted in the bright sunlight. "For +the moment, you men with sidearms, post yourselves around the ship. +Sound off loud if you sight anything larger than a rabbit." + +The men named got slowly to their feet, fingering their light hunting +pistols self-consciously. Benson continued, "You may appreciate these +precautions when I tell you that Sam Rogers and I just encountered two +remarkably humanoid animals on the beach less than half a mile from +here." + +Tension replaced levity, as Benson described our meeting with the +natives. I thought he gave it a needlessly grim emphasis with such terms +as, "_quicker than cats_", and "_devilishly intelligent_", but I held my +peace. + +He summarized, "I do not want to alarm anyone unduly, but we must face +up to the fact that we are totally unprepared for such a contingency. +The exploration group failed us badly in overlooking these creatures. +They may not be inimical to our culture, but until this is established +we must consider them prime threats. That is all," he concluded. + +No one grumbled aloud, but their faces showed keen disappointment at the +resumption of quartering in the ship. Reluctantly, the women began +rolling up the still-deflated air-mattresses that were scattered about +the soft, deep grass. Sue complained, "Sam, if these people don't get a +little privacy pretty soon we'll turn into an ant colony. There'll be +lovin' in the streets." + +"It's not my idea," I said. "I'll be nailed to a table at the foot of +the ramp all day making check marks. Phil is taking this entirely too +big. The little people are really charming. He neglected to mention that +they are beautifully formed and quite gentle in their--their actions." + +"Actions?" she said. "What happened, really?" + +I described the conditions under which we first saw the natives, and she +laughed a little strainedly. "I can just imagine the look on Phil +Benson's face." + +I knew what she meant. In trying to enforce the shipboard rule of +segregation of the sexes, our leader had developed an oversensitive +attitude toward certain aspects of modesty. In the unutterable boredom +of space, the pledge we had all taken to complete continence for the +voyage was a severe test to all forty couples. + +Had propriety and space considerations been the only reasons for the +infamous "no-romance" regulation, it would never have held up. But all +concerned realized the problem of childbirth in space under the +jam-packed living conditions, tight water and food rationing and the +fetid, recirculated air. + +Now the second honeymoons were over before they started. It was back to +the ship and the night-life of monks and nuns. + +That night, Sue and I joined the four ship's officers, their wives, +Phillip Benson and Jane in the navigation cupola atop our doomed ship +that had become a "fortress". The small control room was the only +semi-private room in the ship, and even Benson was admitted by +invitation only. The meeting was a council of war, so to speak, and the +officers were pressed into service to organize and operate the security +guard. + +When the guard watch was worked out for a week in advance, I spoke up. +"I think we're getting off on the wrong foot, Phil. We can't stay penned +up like animals at night and expect to function as humans." + +Benson argued: "We are a carefully balanced group, Sam. We can't afford +casualties. Look at our medical corps, two doctors and four nurses. +Suppose we were attacked and lost them?" + +Captain Spooner, whose authority had lapsed when we touched down, backed +up Benson. "I see no great hardship in the precautions. Inconvenience, +yes, but nothing that the danger doesn't fully justify." + +He was a cocky, virile, bald-headed little terrier of 35 years. His very +young wife and the wives of the other three officers seemed only lightly +perturbed at the prospects of continuing celibacy, which confirmed my +suspicions. + +I said, "That's gritty of you, Captain, but remember, the rest of us +haven't had the relative privacy of the bridge. If this restriction +continues long I predict violations of the discipline, and probably some +serious behaviour problems." + +My position as colony psychologist had become somewhat obscured under +the snowstorm of paperwork that my secondary job as official scribe had +brought. Benson seemed now to recall that mental health _was_ my +concern. He said, "I thought you reported high morale upon arrival." + +"I did, but the tensions are there, and it's foolish to draw them too +tightly. We have a well-picked, highly adaptable group of people. Let's +keep them that way. The quicker we hit a more normal existence the less +risk we run of emotional disturbances." + +"They'll take it," Benson said positively, and Spooner nodded in +arrogant agreement. + + * * * * * + +My 20-hour wristwatch, geared to the shorter rotation of Sirius XXII, +said nine o'clock, one hour before noon, when the women began +undressing. + +There had been an air of conspiracy among them all morning, a studied +casualness as they wandered around near the ship, forming small +conversational eddies, dispersing and reforming elsewhere. I had just +finished checking in the 11-man fruit-gathering detail. I looked up from +my roster in time to see the first motions of the "great disrobing". +Zippers unzipped, snaps popped open, slacks, skirts, blouses and jumpers +fell to the grass, and a dazzling spectacle of space-bleached feminine +epidermis burst into view. + +The ladies were very calm about it, but a chorus of yips sounded and +swelled into a circus of cheers from the male working parties. + +Before I could fathom it Benson came charging down the ramp followed by +his fruit-stowing detail. He stopped at the foot of the ramp, mouth open +and eyes pinched with annoyance. + +[Illustration] + +He spotted Jane and Sue. "What is going on out here?" he demanded +loudly. + +Our two wives waved at us and strolled over, doing a splendid job of +acting unconcerned. "Just a little sun-bathing," Jane said, shooing a +small insect from a pale shoulder. + +Susan refused to meet my eye. She was watching two birds soar overhead. +"It's fantastic," she said. "If you don't look at things too closely, +you'd never know we weren't at a summer camp up in Wisconsin--except for +the fruits. They remind me more of Tahiti. It's marvelous! The +mosquitoes don't even bite." + +"They will," I said, "as soon as they get a good taste of human blood. +And baby, you're sure making it easy for them." + +Benson was distracted from the conversation by the converging male +colonists, who were whooping and yelling like a horde of school boys. He +backed up the ramp and ordered, "Let's get on with the work. You've seen +your wives in the altogether before." + +The men quieted a little, but one yelled, "Yeah, but not lately!" + +Another added, "And not _all together_." + +In spite of the fact that nude sun-bathing was a commonplace, +twenty-second-century custom on Earth, by tacit consent clothes had been +worn at all times aboard ship. The women had gone along with Benson for +two years on such matters, so this was clearly a feminine protest +against the spirit of the yellow alert. + +Young doctors Sorenson and Bailey came trotting up, grinning +appreciatively but wagging their fingers. Without consulting Benson, +Bailey mounted the ramp and shouted, "Blondes and redheads, ten minutes +exposure. Brunettes, fifteen." + +A great booing issued from the men, but Bailey held up his hand for +silence. "The medical staff will make no effort to enforce these +exposure maximums, but be advised that the radiation here is about the +same as Miami Beach in June, so don't let the air-conditioning fool +you." + +Benson was spared further decisions on the issue, because at that moment +one of the sentries remembered to take a quick look at the vector of +forest he was supposed to be guarding. Unable to make his voice heard +over the hub-hub, the guard fired his pistol in the air. + +We all jumped up and stared, and Benson muttered, "Dear God!" + + * * * * * + +Our people were scattered over an acre around the ramp, and encompassing +them was a semi-circle of at least a hundred "savages", frozen like +bronze statues at the sound of the gun-shot. They curved in an arc less +than a hundred yards from the ship. + +Their hands were empty of weapons, and their motionless attitudes were +in no way threatening. To the contrary, they seemed small and quite +inoffensive except for their numbers. + +Acting in my capacity as psychologist, I ran up the ramp and called out +as calmly as a shout would permit, "Everybody take it easy! Don't make +any quick moves. Above all, don't anyone fire off a weapon again unless +there is an obvious attack." + +Benson clutched my arm. "Are you mad? We've got to get the women +inside." + +"That's what I'm thinking," I said. "But if we invite attack by running +they won't all make it." + +"They aren't armed. The men can stand them off." + +"Then what are you worrying about?" I demanded. "Relax for a minute and +see what happens." + +Benson simmered and reluctantly accepted my logic. Meanwhile, the line +of natives became mobile again. They closed in at a casual saunter, +rolling off the balls of their long feet with a peculiar, slow, bouncing +motion. + +A ripple of subdued exclamations ran through our people, and in turn the +little natives moved their lips, turned their heads to one another and +seemed to be commenting among themselves. + +Benson began hissing futile commands for the women to start boarding the +ship. No one paid any attention. I could sense no great danger in the +situation. In fact I felt more attracted than repelled by the little +golden-haired creatures. + +Bailey, who was still on the ramp, took a different view. He called out, +"They don't look dangerous, but keep away from them. Lord knows what +kind of bugs they may have in them." + +It was a sobering thought. Their most insignificant disease germ might +easily wipe out our colony if it proved contagious. + +Yet, how could we stop these natives without inflicting bloodshed? On +they came in their shambling, loose-gaited walk. Benson was unsnapping +his holster flap, and even the highly curious women were beginning to +shrink back toward the gangplank, when a light breeze swept through us +from behind. It rustled the grass softly and moved into the natives, +only 20 yards away. + +The wavering line stopped again. Segments began to retreat, first +singly, then in pairs and groups. All but a handful of the most curious +suddenly bounded for the forest and disappeared. + +The others came forward again, but with increasing bewilderment. +Repeatedly, they raised their noses and sniffed the air. + +Bailey said from behind us, "They catch our scent and don't know what to +make of it. Thank heavens most of them took off. We can handle a dozen +of them easily enough." + +Our people opened ranks and let the little creatures infiltrate. Sue +squeezed my arm. "Why, they're beautiful little things! They make me +feel self-conscious with my bleached-out skin. They certainly look +intelligent, those eyes--no fear in them at all--look, they're even +smiling!" + +Indeed, several of the creatures were grinning broadly at the male +members of our party. They found our clothing amusing. + +Now we could hear their soft voices conversing in a language that was +liquid with a great many compound vowel sounds, not unlike Earth's +Finnish tongue. Their quick, dark eyes seemed to take in everything. +They seemed torn between a consuming curiosity and a strong aversion to +our scent. One by one they satisfied the former and yielded to the +latter, dropping back and racing for the forest in great, joyous bounds +punctuated with happy little whoops of undefinable emotion. + +At last only one, chesty little male was left. Benson exhaled heavily +beside me. "It's the little fellow we saw on the beach, Sam. Look, he's +coming through." + +A tawny stripe of brown, furry hair ran from his high forehead, over the +crown of his proud skull and down his neck to fade into the typical, +deep, golden fuzz of his body. As he approached the ramp I saw that his +face was smooth, entirely free of hair as though clean-shaven. + +By now Benson was as fascinated as the rest of us. I stepped down in +front of him to confront our visitor. I placed a hand on my chest and +said, "Sam Rogers!" + +The dark eyes swept from my feet to my head and fastened upon my face. +He pointed four long fingers at me and repeated distinctly, "Samrogers." + +My name is easy to pronounce, but it was a shock to hear it from the +lips of an extra-terrestrial being. + +Then he placed the same hand on his own chest and said, "Joe!" Actually, +it came out with a rapid widening and narrowing of his lips that sounded +like a quick version of, "Jo-ah-o-ah-oh," but the vowel echoes were so +rapid that for practical purposes it read, "Joe," to me. + +I pointed my hand at him and repeated, "Joe!" He looked vaguely +disappointed at my crude aspiratory control, but then a bright smile +creased his cocky little face. His hand flicked out and back. + +"Samrogers--Joe." + +Involuntarily I nodded my head. He nodded back and smiled again. Before +I could think of what comes after, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," he +wrinkled his nose, squinted his eyes, whirled and darted off for the +timber. + +We stood rooted for a minute, then Bailey said, "We must really stink. +Plucky little fellow took it as long as he could." + +Benson looked back at Bailey and me. "Well, what do you think?" + +I looked at Bailey, and he looked at Dr. Sorenson. "Lord, I don't know. +Except for the possibility of microbe infection, they appear perfectly +harmless to me," Sorenson said. + +I said, "Since they don't like our scent there doesn't seem to be much +danger of contact. Phil, why don't we call off the yellow alert with the +exception of a rule or two about fraternization in closed spaces?" + +Benson looked over his people. All were paired off now, husband with +wife. And to a man their arms were wrapped protectively around their +respective spouses, watching for the decision. Their faces read, "Is +this innocuous little race of people the cause of all the trouble?" + +Benson rubbed the gray of his temple with a knuckle. He mounted the ramp +and announced, "The emergency is reduced to a blue alert. Women will +have the freedom of the clearing and the visible beach, but only +authorized working parties will enter the forest. Men will continue to +wear sidearms. When outside shelters are complete we will sleep in them, +but until then, or until we are better informed about the natives, we +shall continue sleeping in the ship." + + * * * * * + +The new order of the day did nothing to mitigate the resentment and +tension, but it did accelerate assembly of the lumber mill and house +construction. The little Sirians seemed to have satisfied their +curiosity, for they left us to our labors for a whole week. + +The first building of our projected village was completed on the seventh +day. It was little more than a two-room shanty, but it represented the +most sought after prize of the moment, _privacy_! + +We drew lots for it, and, with the uncommon justice, one of the hardest +working amateur carpenters won. The women brought in armloads of grass +for a couch and decorated it with wild-flowers. When evening fell it +seemed like an occasion for a celebration, and Benson relented on the +evening curfew. + +We gathered scraps from the lumber mill, carefully cleared a sandy strip +on the beach of all inflammable matter and built a huge bonfire. In the +rich atmosphere even the green wood burned merrily, spitting green sap +and sending up clouds of pungent, aromatic smoke. + +Sue had just curled up in the crook of my arm, and we were working on a +case of Earth-nostalgia, when we noticed our visitors again. They came +bounding, up to the wide rim of the firelight. They jabbered in excited, +ecstatic voices but stopped short of our human assembly. Only one, I +recognized him as Joe, picked his way through us and came close to +inspect the crackling blaze. + +Fascinated, Sue and I watched his profile contort with an expression of +immense admiration. It was not the awe of a savage, but the heartfelt +appreciation of a human for a rare and beautiful spectacle. + +"Fire must be unknown to them," Sue whispered. + +"At least mighty rare," I said. "The handbook says no volcanoes and no +thunderstorms." + +Joe turned at the sound of our low voices. With eyes half-blinded by the +glare he searched for me. "Samrogers!" he called clearly. "Samrogers!" + +I rose to my feet and answered, "Joe! Right here, Joe." + +He picked his way over to me, smiling broadly and glancing back at the +fire every step or two. A pace away he stopped, pointed at me, said, +"Samrogers," pointed at himself, said, "Joe!" _then pointed at the fire +and waited_. + +It was a clearly indicated question. I answered it respectfully, "Fire!" + +He repeated, "Fire," and his eyes glowed like sparks. Then he made +gestures of picking up some of the fire and taking it away, turning to +me to pose the question. + +Sorenson, propped up on an elbow, said, "I'll be damned. He's asking you +to give him some of the fire." + +"No," Benson said. "He knows fire, knows you can't take the flames. He's +asking for _the means to build a fire_." + +I faced Joe, shook my head solemnly and said, "No!" To give meaning to +the word I sat down and turned my head away for a moment. When I looked +back Joe was looking very disappointed. It made Sue so sad that she held +out a wedge of sweet melon to him. Joe accepted the gift easily, +gracefully and with a small smile of "thank you". He turned back, +squatted as near the blaze as comfort would permit and chewed absently +at the melon. + +Thereafter he ignored the animated conversation that sprang up among us. +Jane wanted to know why we didn't give him one of our lighters. "He's +just as intelligent as we are," she insisted. She got no argument on +that score, but her husband pointed out that the golden people were +unaccustomed to handling fire, and that during the present dry season +even the green foliage might take off in a holocaust if ignited in this +rich, oxygen air. + +Even as he spoke, a long, slender pole, flaming at one end, toppled from +the settling fire and rolled near Joe. With scarcely a pause to debate, +he leaped to his feet, grabbed the pole by the cool end and waved it +aloft like a torch. + +With a triumphant yell he plunged through us and out across the field +bearing his prize aloft trailing sparks. + +I tried to shoot low, but my light caliber pellet caught him rather high +in the thigh. He dived to the ground senseless in a shower of sparks. +His fellow creatures immediately gathered around him. When we closed in +to retrieve the fire-wand and stamp out the sparks, the other natives +faded away, crinkling their noses. They made no effort to remove Joe, +but cast many admiring glances back at the fire he had stolen. + +Sue came up storming at me. "You didn't have to _shoot_ him." She +started to kneel down beside him, but Dr. Bailey restrained her. + +"Easy, Susan. Remember the quarantine." + +"We can't let him lie there and bleed to death," I said, feeling +unaccountably ashamed for my deed, although there was scarcely an +alternative. + +Benson came up, "Nice shot, Sam." + +I said, "Phil, I want permission to enter quarantine with Joe, here. Let +me have the instruments, and I'll probe for the bullet and take care of +him." + +Benson shook his head. "We can't take that chance. We couldn't spare you +if you caught something." + +"Who could you spare better?" I demanded. "See here, we've got to find +out sooner or later whether these little fellows carry anything +contagious. If they do, well, then we have a decision to face, but we +can't decide anything until we know." + +Sue was at my side now. She said. "You have a dozen people who can punch +a micro-writer. Sam and I aren't indispensable. Besides, it was he who +crippled the poor little fellow." + +Without waiting for an answer she called out, "Larson, where are you?" +The lucky carpenter tried to draw back in the shadows, knowing full well +what she had in mind. + +Benson stared at me for a minute. He said gruffly, "Very well, if you +can talk Larson out of his cottage, go ahead, play hero!" + +I didn't feel very heroic right then. Two hours later, when we had the +bullet out of Joe and had him bedded down comfortably for the night, Sue +cosied up to me in our double sleeping silks and murmured, "What a guy +has to go through out here to get a little privacy!" + +Poor Larson! + + * * * * * + +Bailey and Sorenson set up their lab outside our cabin door. Joe's wound +was seriously infected, and none of our cautiously applied remedies +would control the raging fever with which he awoke the first morning. He +lay, apathetic, eyes half closed, murmuring, "Tala! Tala!" + +The doctors seized the opportunity to launch a study of Sirian microbes, +diseases and earth molds. Sue and I took cultures from Joe's wound, and +the medics experimented with the effects of local mold products similar +to the penicillin series. By force-feeding we managed to keep Joe alive +until Bailey, one morning, held up a hypo full of clear liquid and told +us how to administer it. + +Joe responded at once. The following day he began sitting up and +vociferously demanding, "Tala, Tala!" + +"Must be his wife or girl-friend," Sue deduced. She was wrong. Joe began +making motions of a person lifting a vessel and drinking. When we +offered him water he refused, repeating, "Tala!" and making more +drinking motions. He tried to rise, but the pain in his swollen thigh +stopped him. He sank back licking his lips like a man dying of thirst, +and in spite of his general improvement, he stayed in a sullen, subdued +attitude. + +As his wound closed and the swelling reduced, Joe's temperature, which +had reached a fabulous 142 degrees F., stabilized at 137 F., thereby +confirming Benson's prediction that the natives would display a much +higher metabolism. Sue, who had spent hours stroking the fevered brow, +had grown used to Joe's hot-bloodedness, and she teased me about my +relative "frigidity". + +Until Joe got his "tala" I made disappointing progress at teaching him +our language. He picked up our words for those few items that pertained +to his comfort, such as food, drink, bedpan and pillow--he revelled in +the luxury of our down-filled pillows. But at first he evinced little +interest in communication. + +Then one morning we arose to find him standing and clinging weakly to +the door jamb, searching the perimeter of the clearing with frantic +eyes. + +We scolded him, but he ignored us. He spotted a fellow native examining +one of the unfinished huts, which were going up at the rate of one a +day. He called out in a loud, clear voice, and the little golden +creature came running over to investigate. + +It was a lovely little female, and I told Sue, "We have a reunion on our +hands. Must be his mate." + +But Joe was quite indifferent to her charms. She seemed tolerably happy +to see him, touched his bandages with long, gentle fingers, then hurried +off to the forest as if in response to his commands. Joe made no effort +to follow. He seemed still to realize that he was in good hands and was +profiting by the care he was receiving. + +However, he chafed for the ten minutes or so before her return. We +waited with high curiosity. I bet Sue that we were about to learn what +"tala" was. When the female approached again we were mystified. "Why +it's just a mango," Sue said. Indeed, the yellow-skinned, kidney-shaped +fruit which the little native bore carefully in both hands appeared to +be one of the over-sized specimens we had named after its smaller Earth +counterpart. + +Joe reached greedily for the fruit, poked a hole in the rind with a +pointed forefinger and drank deeply. Watching from the door of our +bedroom, we could smell a delightful, tangy scent that was only vaguely +typical of the Sirian mangoes we had eaten. + +To our surprise, as Joe drank, the skin collapsed like a plastic bag. +"It must be a different species, or else it's much riper than any we've +gathered," Sue said. + +When Joe paused to breathe, the female took the fruit from him and +sucked at it enthusiastically. They sank down on Joe's bed and took +turns drinking the juice until the quart-sized skin was crumpled and +empty. + +I fear I interrupted an incipient romance in order to retrieve the +discarded skin. The female wrinkled her nose and made for the door. I +watched her roll unsteadily across the clearing with eccentric little +lurches. The bland smile on Joe's handsome face deepened my suspicion. I +pointed to the skin and asked, "Tala?" + +He nodded, patted his stomach and repeated, "Tala!" + +From that moment our relations improved immensely. Joe enlisted the help +of various females to keep him supplied with skins of tala, and with the +satiation of his craving he took a completely new interest in life. + + * * * * * + +We spent hours every day working out our language difficulties. He +learned so rapidly that I abandoned learning his language in favor of +teaching him ours. Even such abstract concepts as time and space proved +no obstacles. He grasped the purpose of my wristwatch after a single +day's demonstration of its relationship to the passage of Sirius across +the sky. + +Using a pencil I had managed to convey our symbols for large numbers. +Joe could count up to any number now, and he seemed actually to +understand the open-end nature of our system of enumeration. + +It made possible a mutual agreement on such matters as the number of +"days" in a year, which he was mildly interested to learn numbered 440 +on his planet. Then a startling piece of information came from him when +I asked how long his people lived. + +"Two years. Maybe three," he replied. Because of the shorter days, a +Sirian year about equalled an Earth year, and I found it difficult to +believe that these wonderful little animals lived only two or three +years. He persisted until I believed him. + +He was strangely vague when I tried to determine the common manner of +death. Indeed, personal death was a concept either so hazy or +distasteful to him that he refused to dwell on it. The most he would +convey was that there were always new faces in the tribe, and the old +faces rarely remained more than three years. At this time, he described +himself as being more than a year old. + +This was only one of several startling items that were revealed in our +conversations. The golden people matured in three months to fully grown +adults. A female could bear several babies a year and usually did. Yet +Joe insisted that his tribe was the only clan on the face of the planet, +so far as he knew, and that it numbered fewer than a thousand +individuals. + +There was no such thing as monogamy or even polygamy. True, at night +when the air was cooler, they paired off, male and female, and each male +chose from among several favorites. But there was no formal nor +permanent mating arrangement. + +Benson, who had set up a sheltered desk outside Joe's window in order to +listen in with an anthropologist's avid interest, posed the question +which grew into quite a mystery. Under such fruitful conditions and +ideal environment, why hadn't Joe's people overrun the planet? Even with +the brief life-span, each female should produce many babies. + +Joe had no answer. The problem didn't interest him, and he refused to +ponder it. He'd squat in the corner jealously guarding his limp-skinned +mango, nipping at it occasionally when our questions failed to make +sense. + +We were all, incidentally, quite curious to taste Joe's tala juice, but +it was his sole property. His lady-friends would hand it to no one but +him, and he guarded it selfishly. Bailey and Sorenson had enlisted the +help of our two organic chemists to examine the moist residue of the +empty skins, but with their limited lab facilities all they could do was +make guesses that the coveted juice was the product of fermentation or +enzymic action with which we were unfamiliar. + +As a psychologist I knew that Joe responded to the tala similarly to the +way a human dipsomaniac does to alcohol. When he was well-supplied he +was cheerful and happy. When he ran out, he became taciturn and +irritable. His frequent resort to the liquor, when we tried to force him +to answer troublesome questions, confirmed my suspicion that there were +certain matters his brilliant mind simply refused to embrace, and the +simplest way to avoid worrying about them was to take another drink of +tala. + +Benson and I discussed this one afternoon while Joe was taking a nap. We +sat in the shade of my hut spooning the lush pulp of a mango into our +mouths. He said, "Everything points to a race of super-intelligence held +down by sheer degeneracy." + +"You mean the tala-drinking?" I asked. + +He nodded. "For one thing. Our work parties report that they never stop +drinking the stuff. The older ones get quite plastered. I've seen it +myself. Disgusting. And they have no common sense of, of--well, I +shouldn't say decency, because obviously morality as we know it just +doesn't exist. But thank heavens they don't care for the scent of +humans." + +I said, "Don't depend on that too much. I asked Joe about it, and he +said that we don't necessarily smell bad to them. It's just so alien to +any scent they've known that they tend to shy off. Joe is quite used to +it now. He lets Sue rub his back and his head. She's made quite a pet of +him." + +Benson didn't like this news at all. He pondered thoughtfully for a +moment. "That means that they'll all gradually get used to being around +us. I don't like it, Phil. They're just human enough to have a bad +influence on the colony. They're dissolute and entirely without +ambition. In fact they seem to have damned little race survival instinct +at all." + +I had pondered this many times, but it hadn't struck me as especially +dangerous to the colony. Benson went on, "We have a glorious planet +here, rich in minerals and other natural resources. By comparison, Earth +is so worn-out and depleted and over-crowded that the contrast is almost +too great." + +"What are you driving at?" I demanded. + +"Just this. From the first the biggest problem here has been to prod +everyone to work. We have a civilization to build here, and that means +clearing more land, breaking the soil, mining, construction, +manufacturing." + +"Look," I said somewhat impatiently, "you don't expect 80 people to +accomplish all this in four years, surely?" + +"I expect progress," he said firmly. "Do you realize that when we +finished the last of the forty houses that virtually ended the building +program? Work on the two warehouses, the water system, sewage disposal +plant and the commissary we planned is almost at a standstill." + +"The people want time to finish up their homes and make them +comfortable," I objected. + +"That's what they say," he told me, "but they're fooling away their +time." + +"Phil, we've only been here a month, and--" + +"And if I hadn't pulled a blue alert," he interrupted, "we wouldn't even +have the residentials built yet. Now they've got their precious privacy, +and the pressure is off. They'd rather go chasing off into the woods to +hunt exotic fruit and peek at the natives than get on with the project." + +I hadn't realized things were this serious. "Don't they obey orders any +more? What about your work schedules?" + +"I've pushed them as hard as I can without forcing a test of my +authority," he said. "They claim they deserve time to get adjusted and +relax a little before buckling down." + +"I agree with them," I said. "They're all serious, industrious people, +and this is still an adventure with them. It will wear off pretty soon, +and they'll be yearning for comforts of Earth. They'll buckle down when +the rainy season hits," I predicted. + +"I wonder. Here's one good example. Look over there. Donnegan's food +detail is just now returning with its first load. They left three hours +ago." He yelled over to the foreman. + +Donnegan, a large, pleasant-faced biologist sauntered over to us. Benson +said, "Was the _expedition_ successful?" + +Donnegan brushed off the sarcasm. "Fooling aside, it is getting to be +something of an expedition to find fruit. The natives are cleaning it +out near at hand." + +Turning to me Benson said, "There's another thing. The little devils +have settled all around us, and everything is community property with +them. Not only do they strip the fruit but they pick up anything that +isn't nailed down and wander off with it." + +"That's odd," I said. "Joe indicates that they place no value on +possessions normally." + +"Oh, they don't keep things," Donnegan explained. "They pack them off, +fiddle with them and then we find them strewn all over the forest. +Sometimes I'd like to wring their little necks!" + +Benson looked up at him quickly. "Sounds funny coming from you, Paul. +You were one of their chief defenders at the meeting last week." + +Donnegan's face darkened. "That was last week, before I found out a few +things. As a matter of fact, I think it's time you knew about them, +too." He squatted down by us and unburdened himself. + + * * * * * + +As it so often will, a barrier had erected itself between the colony +members and their leader, Phillip Benson. Donnegan somewhat shamefacedly +confessed what had gone on behind this curtain of silence. + +It seemed that two weeks earlier Bromley, one of the chemists, had +contrived some rather crude, old-fashioned, sulphur-and-phosphorus, +friction matches. Trading on the native's delight with fire, he had +bribed them with matches to give him one of the tala-mangoes which he +tasted, then promptly proceeded to swill until he was quite drunk. + +In a generous mood he passed out matches to other male members of the +colony who, in turn, made the barter and joined the party. + +"The stuff is really delicious," Donnegan admitted. "And it doesn't even +give you a hang-over." + +"Go on," Benson invited coldly. + +Within a few days, Donnegan related, everybody was nipping on the tala. +Bromley was turning out a steady supply of matches from his lab, and +they were now the going currency for trading with the natives. In order +to keep their wives quiet the men brought the super-ripe mangoes home +and shared them. + +The precious fruit, it developed, came from regular mango trees but +reached the desired, fermented condition only at the leafy crowns of the +trees where even the nimble, light-weight natives found it hazardous and +difficult to reach them. Bromley said that he knew of several native +casualties from fatal falls that had occurred since the traffic in tala +increased. + +Benson asked the question that was in my mind. "What caused you to come +to me at this late date?" he demanded. "Something more serious must have +happened." + +"Well, I didn't mind the tala-drinking so much--but, well, Captain +Spooner and I came back to his hut one afternoon this week and found his +pretty little wife with one of the natives--a male. Spooner thought it +was a big joke--he was a little drunk at the time, and so was his wife. +But I don't think it's any joke at all." + +Benson was on his feet, his face livid. "What else?" + +Bromley said, "I checked around a little bit, and I found that quite a +few of our people are making pets out of the natives. The little devils +have got used to our scent, and they'll do anything just to watch a +match burn." + +"But the quarantine?" I said. + +"I guess they figure it's safe enough. Personally, I don't. But they +feel that since you and Sue have escaped any disease there's no reason +for the non-fraternizing rule, not even in closed spaces. Several +couples I know hold parties every night in their huts after dark. They +invite a couple of natives who supply the tala. They all sit around a +candle. The natives sleep there." + +He kicked at an empty tala skin that Joe had tossed out the door +earlier. "Things are out of hand, and I'm ashamed I haven't come to you +sooner, Benson." + +Phil was so outraged he couldn't speak. I said, "Thanks, Donnegan. You +did the right thing." + +He left us, and while Benson was struggling to control his anger I said, +"It's a wonder they haven't burned the place down. The forest must be +damp enough to sustain fire, or they certainly would have set one." + +"It might have been better," Benson said, "if they had burned the whole +damned planet up! And you thought I was exaggerating! There you have it, +a perfect set-up to make beachcombers out of the whole colony. Plenty of +free food, liquor, beautiful native girls and a mild climate." + +"And native boys," I added, remembering suddenly that I was harboring +one of the "pets" under my own roof. + +Benson clenched his fists. "From the first I knew what the answer must +come to. I just didn't have the guts to face it." + +I nodded. "I suppose we'll have to drive them off." + +"Drive them off, _nothing_! They're nomads, and they'd be back sooner or +later. There will always be people in the colony willing to deal with +them secretly, and the natives are clever enough to circumvent any +discipline I aim against them." + +"What else can you do, short of--genocide?" + +"Why rule out genocide? Sam, face it! Race extermination is the only +permanent and satisfactory solution." + +The thought was abhorrent to me, but he argued, "If we don't eliminate +them entirely they'll always be around to plague us. Just picture what +this or any future colony would look like after a year or two of +uninhibited mingling and loafing and swilling down that tala. Is that +the civilization that Earth sent us out here to establish?" + +In every part of the universe where living conditions have been too kind +and discipline too lax, men have been known to _go native_, and suddenly +I felt that Benson had been much more acute in his apprehensions than I, +a graduate psychologist who was supposed to understand human nature. + +Somewhat subdued I said, "How do you plan to accomplish a complete +extermination? If we start hunting them down they'll just fade into the +woods. Besides, you'd have a devil of a time getting agreement among our +people to take on such a messy project." + +"It has to be done, that's all. I want you to keep completely quiet +about what we've learned until I can think about it. Bromley should have +some ideas. He's a biologist." + +When Benson said, "biologist", the obvious solution popped into my head. +"If we could sterilize them--all the males, anyway--they have such a +short life-span--" + +"Too slow. Besides, how are you going to coax all the males to lie down +and--" His eyes opened wider, "Radiation!" + +"Exactly. We take them for a tour of the ship, including the X-ray +booth, and pour on the power." + +"Might be done at that. But it would be so slow." + + * * * * * + +Slow or not, no better plan was conceived among six of us who met +secretly that night in Benson's new ship quarters. Donnegan brought his +fellow biologist, Terrence Frost, and I had contacted the two medics. We +reached swift agreement as to the necessity of taking steps, and decided +to work on my rough plan. It was also voted not to divulge our +intentions to the others, and then the meeting broke up. + +When I returned to my hut, Jane was sitting cross-legged just outside my +door visiting with Susan. I thought she would be curious about the +confidential nature of the meeting from which she was excluded, but she +had other things on her mind. She stood up and said, "I think your +patient is recovered, and you've got a problem, mister." She stalked off +into the night. + +I looked at Sue's pink face and half-guessed the answer before she told +me. It seemed that Joe had suddenly developed amorous inclinations. Sue +had the habit of stroking his head like a pet dog, and this evening, +without warning, Joe had begun returning the caresses in a manner so +casual and gentle that Sue hadn't noticed the trend. + +From a more objective viewpoint, however, Jane had observed the rather +unplatonic indications of Joe's attitude and mortified Sue by drawing +her attention to it with an acid remark. + +In my fury I fancied that Joe had tried to take advantage of my absence. +His cleverness in avoiding such advances in my presence was nullified by +his error of assuming that Jane would pose no obstacle. + +At present he sprawled in his corner beside an empty mango skin, +breathing rapidly, innocently asleep. The incident served to drive home +Donnegan's story and steel me against the many twinges of conscience I +was to suffer in our campaign to wipe out Joe's race. + +It also served as an adequate excuse, in Sue's eyes, when I told Joe the +next morning that he was quite well enough to return to the forest. This +was a fact we both had known for over a week, but Joe in his indolent +way, had been quite content to remain and talk with me endlessly. Until +now, I had welcomed his presence as an inexhaustible source of +information. + +He accepted the dismissal without rancor and promised to return and +visit us next spring. + +"Next spring?" I said. + +"We will leave soon," he said. "We go south in the autumn." + +"Wait," I said. And I told him that as a gesture of friendship we had +decided to take all males of his race for a tour through the ship. Would +he take this word to his people? + +He said he would, but his face became very thoughtful. + +That afternoon they formed a short line at the ramp, and the "tours" +began. The line was short because they refused to wait long for +anything, but as the line shortened, others came from the woods to take +their places. To produce a favorable "press" on our show and thus assure +perfect attendance by _all_ the males, Benson rigged several mechanical +displays of flashing lights and whirling devices. + +They were delighted, and when they got to the X-ray booth, to induce +them to stand still we set up a gas torch with a beautiful, vermilion, +strontium flame. The only problem at this point was to get them to move +on after they got their painless dose of sterilizing radiation. + +Every tenth "golden boy" was shunted into a small chamber filled with +_orgon_, the instant anaesthetizing gas, and Dr. Sorenson, wearing an +oxygen mask, would catch him as he fell, take his specimen, hand it +through a slot to Dr. Bailey and then drag the unsuspecting victim into +the fresh air where the nurses took over with more wonders to distract +his attention. + +This running spot-check on the collected semen samples assured us that +our radiation was effectively destroying the spermatozoa. + +I sat at my old place at the base of the ramp, weeding out the +occasional females who tried to sneak in and also checking to see that +we had no repeats. + +Our method was simplicity itself. As each native finished our tour an +attendant atomized a faint but very permanent stain of waterproof dye on +the hair of the right shoulder blade. It was hardly noticeable unless +you were looking for it, and that was one of my jobs. + +In two days we "toured" 481 males. + +A week later the night rains began, and our unwelcomed neighbors +vanished. + + * * * * * + +Benson had postponed his little lecture deliberately, and now he called +us all together for a fatherly talk which I helped him prepare. He began +abruptly. + +"Since nature has been so bountiful in providing us with tala, I don't +intend to proclaim any silly prohibition regarding its consumption. With +a little reflection, however, I hope that all of you can understand that +we must have some control. I am fully aware that many of you arranged +your own private channels for obtaining this liquor, but with the +departure of our tree-climbing friends the easy source has dried up. + +"Now, to prevent some of you from breaking your fool necks trying to +climb the trees yourselves, I propose that we place tala in the +commissary as a normal ration to be issued equitably to all--when it is +available. And working together, our clearing parties will, no doubt, +fell enough mango trees to give us all a fair taste." + +Benson's unexpected tolerance and remarkable proposal was received with +mixed embarrassment, relief and enthusiasm. He went on, "We have enjoyed +almost two months of rather unrestrained partying, and I'm not going to +rail at you for some of the illicit behaviour that came to my attention. +So far the intimacies which some of you took with the natives have +produced no epidemics nor bastard offspring on either side. However, +were I to accept your actions as typical of the future, I would consider +our colony doomed already and write off this planet as unfit for further +investment by Earth civilization. + +"Instead, I feel you will, during the winter months, regain your +perspective and apply yourself to the principles which brought us here +and must continue to bind us together if we are to survive as a +permanent culture." + +Benson's speech had the desired effect. Without the little people around +to distract us, the colonists plunged into their work, and things got +done. True, a rather disproportionate number of logs brought in by the +falling crews turned out to be mango-wood, but the tala-rationing +program added incentive precisely where it was needed. The perimeter of +our clearing advanced rapidly, the cultivating and planting parties +followed closely behind, and the sawmill added an industrious sound to +the whole operation. + +As Benson had hoped, when the people buckled down they once again began +yearning for the conveniences they had left on earth. The chemists +finally contrived suitable raw materials for the plasticizer and began +manufacturing screens for our gaping windows, much-needed pipe for our +water and sewage systems and even a few "frivolous" luxuries such as +cups, saucers and fruit bowls. The commissary and other public buildings +were planked out roughly, and the hospital-clinic was completed before +the first two babies arrived. + +The history-making blessed event was an honor and an onus to Captain +Spooner and his young wife. To father the first human offspring on +Sirius XXII was the fond hope of many of us, but Spooner and the Second +Officer had something over a light-year head-start on the rest of us. + +Infant Spooner arrived just 5-1/2 months after our landing. The Mate's +baby came two weeks later. Sue herself was satisfyingly pregnant. By +spring it was obvious that Earth's gynecologists had chosen the members +of our colony well, and there would be no dearth of young blood. Fully a +third of the women were expecting, and Sue's date indicated she would +have won the derby if it hadn't been for the ship's officers' perfidy. + +The colony as a whole was in good shape. As the most pressing work was +disposed of, the men took turns at the pleasant hunting details, and we +began enjoying fresh meat from the small game of the forest. + +On one such trip I brought back a live little animal that looked like a +cross between a three-toed sloth and a teddy bear, except that he had a +long, woofly snout like an ant-eater. He seemed to be hibernating in the +crotch of a small tree, and when I shook him down he cuddled up and +clung to my neck so lovingly that I decided he'd make a good pet for +Sue. + +The little cub kept nipping affectionately at my neck on the hike back, +and he clung so close he was a nuisance, but Sue was delighted. We had +to improvise a cage at night to keep him from mauling us and keeping us +awake. + +Sue named him, "Toots", and we were the envy of all the camp. When Joe +and his people returned three weeks later, and we discovered the truth +about Toots, the others were happy they hadn't acquired a similar pet. + + * * * * * + +It was late spring, and the mango trees were rapidly refilling their +high branches with the tala-fruit. We now had a roofed central kitchen +where the women prepared our meals. We ate at long tables in the open. + +Shortly after the noon meal one day, Joe and his people returned. He +caught up to Sue and me as we were strolling to our hut for our daily +fifteen-minute siesta. He appeared tired from the journey but quite glad +to see us. I felt the pangs of conscience as I added my hypocritical +welcome to Sue's warm greeting. + +In his old room we sat on the rough furniture I had fashioned, and Joe +eyed Sue's fruitful contours. "A baby soon, eh? We have many babies +among us." + +"You--have?" I said. + +"Many were born on the return trip. They slowed up the females with +their sucking. For eight days they are a burden on the mother." + +Sue exclaimed, "Eight days? Then what happens?" + +The subject did not greatly interest Joe. "Then they find their own +food--if the _koodi_ does not find them first." + +"What in the world is a _koodi_?" Sue asked with a shiver. + +Joe was silent for a minute. He wrinkled his broad brow and looked at +me. "Samrogers, you asked me many questions about how we die. I did not +understand this death for a long time. Now I know. It is when the +_koodi_ comes. He comes to the very young and to the old. The babies are +too small to hold him off. The old drink much tala, then the _koodi_ +comes to them. This is my third year, and my thirst for tala is great. +The _koodi_ will come." + +His words painted a clear picture of a superstitious concept of death, +personifying it even as humans refer to the "grim reaper". But Sue took +a different view. "What does the _koodi_ look like?" she persisted. + +Joe looked puzzled. He raised a long, four-segmented finger and pointed +to a corner of the room where Toots was curled up like a fur neck-piece. +"He looks like that. There is a _koodi_." + +My first impulse was to reject the statement as ridiculous. Toots was as +harmless as an over-sized kitten. Besides, the manual made no mention +of-- + +Sue made a small sound in her throat. Her face was colorless. "Sam! Get +him out of here!" + +"But the manual--" + +"The manual didn't mention Joe's people, either," she said +half-hysterically. "_Get Toots out of here._" + +Still unbelieving I walked over and hauled the little fuzzy animal up +into my arms. Instantly, he cuddled close and rammed his pointed snout +under my open collar and began nibbling at my neck. I took him outside, +and out of perverse curiosity I let him have his way with my neck. At +first it tickled, as always, but instead of batting his head away I let +him nibble with his soft, pointed lips. + +Sue called out, "Sam what are you doing? Kill him, Sam!" + +His lips spread into a little circle on my flesh and began sucking +gently. There was no pain, just the throb of my jugular under his mouth. +Now his long, soft, hairy arms became firmer around my neck. I jerked +back and they gripped hard. A chill of panic stabbed me, and I could +feel the taut flesh of my neck drawn more deeply into his puckered lips. + +I tugged at him silently, not wishing to frighten Sue. He wouldn't come +loose. In broad, noon-daylight I had a Sirian vampire in my arms, +threatening to rupture my jugular vein and kill me within speaking +distance of half a hundred people. I tried to level my voice. "Joe, +would you come out here, please?" + +He came at once, stared with a blank expression and said, "You have been +drinking much tala?" + +"Help me, dammit!" I said, holding my voice down. "I can't shake him +loose. He's trying to--" The long, tight arm squeezed off my breath. In +turn I tried to strangle him, but under the thick fur was a bony +protection where there should have been soft neck. + +"It does no good to kill the _koodi_," Joe said. "There is always +another. Once they hold you tightly it is too late." + +Sue thought differently. She came through the door like a hell-cat. +Catching up her garden hoe she swung a blow that, had it missed Toots, +would have crushed my skull. But Sue didn't miss. I fell on my back, and +Toots let go, dead of a broken spine. + + * * * * * + +The "liquor control board" was Benson's best idea. Not only did it put +tala on a legitimate basis, but it controlled our dealings with the +natives. Bromley, the chemist, who was the original offender, was +charged with manufacturing the wooden matches, and the medium of +exchange was concentrated in the hands of the commissary "purchasing +agent". + +The reason that Benson sanctioned the controlled tala trade with the +natives stemmed from our apparent failure to sterilize the males. There +was, indeed, a huge crop of native babies, tiny little dolls that looked +like spider monkeys and dropped from their mothers' breasts after little +more than a week. + +The brisk tala trade was part of our program to keep the natives in +close association while we devised ways and means to discover the cause +of our failure. All quarantine rules had long since been dropped, and +Sorenson and Bailey began inventing ruses to lure the males into the gas +chamber again. + +Weeks passed while we worked our way through the whole male population +again, testing for fertility and X-raying it wherever we found it. +Through Joe we advertised new wonders to be seen in the ship, and as the +sight-seers left we tagged each with an atomized spot on the other +shoulder, indicating that he was still sterile or had just become so. + +This time we tallied 496 males which, according to Joe, was certainly +the whole masculine population. The mystery of our failure at genocide +forced an unpleasant decision on Benson. The biologists and medics +insisted that we must win the natives' confidence even further to gain +their cooperation. As the heat of summer bore down and the mercury rose, +we eased off on the work schedule and deliberately planned social +functions to which we had Joe invite a group of natives. There were +picnics and beach parties where our guests brought their own tala, and +ours was carefully rationed. Group singing entranced the little golden +people, and they took remarkable delight in the discovery of their own, +sweetly pitched voices. Enterprising Joe, with his remarkable memory, +soon became unofficial song leader, and all day long we would hear the +natives practicing. + +Sue's baby came, a sturdy little boy whom we named Richard Joseph--Sue +insisted on the second name, and I couldn't argue her out of it without +revealing my reasons. Within two weeks the clinic's nursery was full of +babies, and it was at this point that the natives' interest became +deeply stirred. + +The language barriers were breaking down rapidly. Many of our regular +visitors were females, and with Joe's help as an interpreter they were +soon able to ask questions. Their greatest curiosity hinged on the +fabulous care we gave our infants. + +Although I wouldn't permit Sue to do it, several of our women began +using female natives for baby-sitters. This led to the first basic +behaviour change we had noticed. The females began to pay more attention +to their own offspring. It was as if they had just discovered the +pleasure of fondling their babies and watching them crawl and kick and +gurgle. Even after the first week they were still carrying them around, +finding choice morsels of fruit for them, fanning off the insects and +singing them to sleep with their new-found abilities to make music. + +Benson noticed it and called a meeting of the secret six. He said, "Our +little program had better work this time or we are in for it. Apparently +this _koodi_ animal that Sam had the tussle with is the principal +population control, and now the mothers are packing their kids around +until they're old enough to fight off the _koodi_." + +Donnegan shook his head. "Damned if I can find out where we slipped up. +Frost and I just finished a series of tests with native ova and human +sperm. They don't mix. Of course, we didn't expect them to, but what in +hell is the answer?" + +I hadn't known of this project. I said, "You didn't think that our male +colonists--" + +Benson scowled with exasperation. "We don't know what to think, Sam! We +sterilized 481 native males last fall, and the babies are just as thick +as ever." + +I said, "Well, we got to 496 of them this time. That should do it for +sure. Joe says he'll keep a lookout for any males without the two stains +on his shoulder." + +Benson narrowed his eyes. "You know, it strikes me that Joe is being +awfully helpful. What reason did you give him for wanting this +information?" + +"He didn't ask," I said. + + * * * * * + +Our 12-month year was composed of 37-day months, except February which +we shorted six days to make it come out even. + +According to this calendar the "May-flies" came in July, just a month +before our first anniversary. The little winged insects were a seasonal +life-form, one more item that escaped the exploratory party, and for +which we were unprepared. + +They came out of the north, and they struck us before we could take +shelter in the ship or our plastic-screened huts. They were a little +smaller than flying ants, and even their long wings were jet-black. +Their bites were infinitesimal, but each one smarted like a prick with a +hot needle. + +In the midst of the confusion of rescuing babies and herding everyone in +doors, I noticed that all the natives had disappeared into the forest. +Everyone had suffered a hundred bites or more, and we were sorry, +swollen sights. Sue insisted that I cover myself and make a run for the +clinic to see if Dr. Bailey had any remedies for the bites. Richard +Joseph was crying loudly from the irritation, so I agreed. + +It was only 75 yards to the clinic, and I made it without collecting +many more stings. But the doctors had nothing to offer. They were +dabbing various salves, astringents and pastes on test patches of their +own skin, but nothing seemed to have any effect at all. + +"All we hope," said Sorenson, "is that the flies aren't +microbe-carriers." + +I started out the door to return then stepped back and peered through +the screen. The forest was erupting with natives. They staggered into +the clearing, headed for the center of it and sank down as if with great +weariness. On and on they came until the ground among our buildings was +literally paved with their prone bodies. + +"Poor devils." Bailey murmured as the clouds of flies continued to sweep +through our village. "Nothing we can do, though. I wonder why they come +out in the open? You'd think they had better protection in the trees." + +I had no answers, so I covered my head again and made a dash for my own +hut. Inside I brushed off the clinging flies and stamped on them. "The +medics don't have any help for us," I said. Then I saw him. + +Sue was struggling to hold Joe on his feet. His arms were draped loosely +over her shoulders, and for a second I couldn't decided whether he was +ill or making a pass at Sue. + +I pulled him off her by one shoulder. He swung around and toppled into +my arms. Remarkably few insect bites showed under the transparent haze +of golden hair, but he reeked of tala. + +"You're drunk," I yelled at him. "A lot of help you are at a time like +this!" + +"Tala," he said from loose lips. "Much tala." + +"You've had much tala, all right!" I said disgusted. + +Sue said, "We've got to let him stay in here, Sam. The flies will eat +him alive out there." She went to the window and knocked the flies from +the outside of the screen. Then she screamed. I thought she had just +discovered the massed natives, but she kept on screaming until I went to +her and looked out. + +In the late afternoon sun, fuzzy little brown animals were waddling out +of the forest, closing in on the 900 or more natives lying senseless in +the clearing. _Koodi!_ Dozens of them. + +I forgot my screaming wife, my crying infant, the drunken wife-stealer +slumped on the floor. I forgot the torture of my own stings. All I +remember is snatching my pistol from its holster that hung by the door +and plunging out and pulling the trigger until fire ceased to come out +of it. Then I was kicking and smashing with a tree limb, and every blow +smashed one of the vile little ghouls into the grass. I thought I saw +Benson firing and kicking, but I blacked out before I could be sure. + +I regained consciousness with the flies still keening in my ears. Sue +was calling my name and slapping me sharply in the face. Joe was trying +to pull me to my feet, but the last thing I remember is the both of us +collapsing to the ground. + + * * * * * + +I awoke days later with a burning fever and gloriously drunken sensation +of floating. Joe brought a fruit to me when he saw I was stirring. I +drank the thin, tangy juice in one breath and sank back into a deep +sleep again. + +My next drink came from the long, slender fingers of a pretty little +female native. This time it was water, and I stayed awake. Joe came in, +saw I was awake and came back in a few minutes with Benson and Dr. +Bailey. + +They both looked terrible, Benson especially. Bailey said, "Take it +easy. Sue's at the clinic. She and the baby are all right, but you +damned near didn't make it." + +Benson said, "Can you talk?" + +I cleared my throat and decided I could. He waved Joe and the female +out. Then he and Bailey sat down beside me. I asked, "Any casualties?" + +"Two of our babies and thirty-six native babies. Some of the _koodi_ +came in after dark." + +It sounded strange, Benson's listing native casualties with our own. + +The memory of the _koodi_ attack brought a wave of nausea over me. I +said, "Benson, I'm sorry, but I'm all done trying to murder Joe's race. +I want no further part of it." + +Benson's face was thin and drawn, and he stared at the floor. "If we +haven't murdered it already," he said, "there will be no more attempts +while I am in charge." He covered his face with his hands. "Bailey. Tell +him, Bailey." + +The doctor's voice was gravelly and weak. "If it hadn't been for the +natives we'd all have died. The venom from the flies paralyzed everyone +the second day after the swarm hit us. The flies were gone the next +morning, but every soul in the colony passed out. Joe and his friends +took care of us, poured tala down our throats and fed us." + +"But they were soused," I said. + +"Their only defense against the flies. The little black devils left the +natives pretty well alone, and it appears that the tala was responsible. +Could be that the stuff is what neutralized the toxin, too. They must +have poured a gallon of it down me, judging from the empty skins by my +bed. At any rate, they kept us alive until we could get up and feed +ourselves." + +"Why did they come into the clearing when they drank the tala?" I asked. + +Bailey said, "Joe told us that the day he saw Sue kill the _koodi_ that +was attacking you, he got the idea that he should do something about +them himself. Through his efforts the natives no longer take the little +devils as an inevitable evil. They kill them wherever they find them +now. And when they had to get drunk to save themselves from the flies, +Joe passed the word for them to head for the clearing. The _koodi_ +usually avoid the sunlight, but it was late in the afternoon. They came +anyway." + +"Phil," I said, "did I see you out there with me, killing the little +bastards?" + +He nodded silently. + +"You had changed your mind about the natives at that time?" + +"I--I suppose so. Don't rub it in, Sam. It's hard enough to live with +the thought of how wrong I was. All I can do now is pray that whatever +failed in our first try failed again. Joe's people have made the human +race look pretty dismal. They have every right to their planet, and if +we are foolish enough to go native, well--at least we have a stronger +survival instinct." + +At that point Susan came in carrying Richard. He had the hiccoughs. Sue +kissed me. "Richard just drew his ration of sterile tala from the +clinic. He still has a slight fever. But thanks to Joe and Harmony--" + +"Harmony? Who's that?" + +"The native girl who helped Joe nurse us. Her name is really +Hah-ah-arm-ig-hin-ih-hee, or something like that. She answers to +Harmony, though." + +And she did. Hearing her name the little golden girl came through the +door towing Joe by one hand. + +I said, "One of your favorites, Joe?" + +He ran a caressing, four-fingered hand over her shoulder. "I like her," +he admitted. "She wants to call me husband like Sue calls you." + +Bailey smiled. "It seems there is a new fad among the natives. Something +like monogamy, I understand." + +I said, "What do you think of the idea, Joe?" + +He thought it over. "I have not made up my mind." + +Sue pressed him, "Why not marry Harmony, Joe?" + +In the blunt manner in which he so often made his curious revelations, +Joe blurted out, "Because I am in much demand among all the females. It +is--very pleasant." + +Bailey's eyes widened. He ordered, "Bend over, Joe." + +Joe obliged so we could all examine his back. There were two brown +stains on his shoulder blades as there should be, but Bailey was not +satisfied. He poked a finger into them and examined the skin under the +hair. "Mango pitch!" he announced. "Stained clean down to the skin. Did +you do that, Joe?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"I knew you would force me to go into the ship with the others if I +didn't have the stain." + +Benson looked up, shocked. "Then you--you knew what we were trying to +do?" + +"Yes. You and Samrogers spoke of it outside the hut one day. You thought +I was asleep. Some of your words puzzled me, so I stayed away from the +ship. Then I found out what they meant." + +"But you helped us get the others to go into the ship!" + +"It was what you wanted," Joe said simply. "Later, when we went south, +the females saw that only Joe's favorites continued to have babies. So +Joe became very--popular." + +I said, "You mean they figured it out?" + +Joe smiled. "Did you think we do not know about--" he paused to dredge +among his amazing store of human idioms, "--the facts of life?" + +Bailey shook his head. "What a man! What a race! Think what they would +be if they had a human's survival instinct!" + +"And thumbs," I added. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Test Colony, by Winston Marks + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEST COLONY *** + +***** This file should be named 32676.txt or 32676.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/7/32676/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan 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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