We had surprisingly little trouble with the two natives once they
realized we could control them if we wished. Of the two, Edith was the
worst. She refused to cooperate and had to be forced into the simplest
actions.
"We're going to have trouble with that one," I observed as Ven looked
at me with faint exasperation in her yellow eyes.
"Oh, I don't think so," she said. "Not really. This is a normal female
reaction. It's a phase. Like the way I felt when the Eugenics Council
selected me to be your mate."
"Did you feel like that?" I asked with surprise.
"Of course. I wanted to make my own choice."
"But you never told me."
"There was no need. I came around to the Council's view before I met
you. And Edith will come around to mine. Don't worry. I know how to
handle this."
And she did.
I helped a little by altering a few reflex arcs and basic attitudes,
but Ven wouldn't allow me to modify the higher centers.
"There's no need to make her a mindless idiot," Ven said. "You didn't
do that to Donald."
"Yes, but Donald controls his emotions. He doesn't like me any better
than Edith likes you, but he doesn't work himself into an emotional
homogenate every time I make a suggestion. We argue it out like
rational intelligences. Often I can use his experience and viewpoint.
And when I can't agree, he will cooperate rather than operate under
control. He's not like that bundle of glands and emotions you are
trying to make into a useful proxy."
"She _is_ a problem," Ven admitted, "but if I had her here--"
"That can be arranged," I said. "I'll give you two weeks. And if that
doesn't work you let me perform a prefrontal block."
"That isn't very long."
"That's all we can afford, I told her.
"All right, I can try. In a month I know I could do it."
Donald protested violently when I told him what we planned for Edith,
but when I gave him the alternative, he reluctantly agreed.
He passed a story that Edith would be visiting friends, and brought her
to the ship.
At once Ven went systematically to work to reduce the mammal to an
acquiescent state that would permit control. Since sleep is unknown
to our race but necessary for mammals, the task of breaking down the
female's resistance was simplified by physical exhaustion. Ven also
found that the mammal's sleeping time could be used to strengthen the
new reflex channels built during her waking periods. The results were
amazing, even to me, and I'm fairly well trained in neuromanipulation.
Halfway through the second week the mammal's surrender was complete.
* * * * *
"Another day and she can go back," Ven said. "I can finish her training
at long range. Now that I have the channels established, I don't think
she'll be any further trouble."
I took the helmet and scanned Edith. "Hmm," I said. "Do you know what
you've done? You've built yourself into an Authority image."
"I know," Ven said smugly. "She is essentially a dependent type. Her
mate was her decision maker. That's why I had to get her alone. It
wasn't too hard once I knew where to look. As a girl, her mother made
the decisions for her. As a woman, Donald has done it. And when I faced
her with situations where she had to decide and where the decisions
were invariably wrong, she transferred the decision-making power to me."
I looked at her sharply. "I had no idea that you intended to make a pet
out of her," I said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have permitted this."
"Well, it's too late now. And besides, it was the only way I could do
it in the time you allotted. But don't worry. She'll be as good a tool
as your precious Donald--maybe even a better one--because she'll do
things to please me and not merely because they're expedient."
Ven had a point there. But it isn't a good policy to get emotionally
involved with alien races. However, the deed was done, and as long as
Ven was happy I didn't care. I only hoped that she wouldn't become too
attached to the creature.
Donald was much more cooperative and much tougher. He had realized from
the start that there was no profit in objecting to my demands. But,
unlike Edith, he gave me no handle for leverage. He arranged his life
to include the unpleasant fact of my existence, and that was that.
Where Ven achieved a form of mastery, I never received anything more
than acquiescence. There were levels in Donald I could not touch. At
first it irked me, but then I realized that I was the greater gainer.
For Donald was a constant challenge, a delight to the mind, an outward
collaborator and an inward enemy. Our relationship had all the elements
of an armed truce. And I often thought that if I did not have the
crushing advantage of control, our contest might have been more even.
Although in time Donald's hatred became modified to a grim sort of
tolerance, and his repulsion into something that closely resembled
admiration, he never lost the basic species antipathy which separated
us. And in that regard our feelings were mutual. The ancient Thalassan
proverb that familiarity breeds friendship simply didn't apply. We held
a mutual respect for each other, and in a fashion we cooperated, but I
never could pierce the armor of resentment that shielded him. I tried,
but finally I gave up. There would never be friendship between us. We,
were too different--
And too alike.
* * * * *
In the days that followed the first contact, I proceeded according
to approved methods of investigating alien civilizations. At my
request, Donald went to the local book repository and we went through
a number of works on law, government, social structure, and finance.
I felt that I should have some knowledge of this mammalian culture
before attempting to refuel the ship. There was no sense in calling
attention to myself any more than necessary. If I could obtain what I
wanted and leave quietly, I would be perfectly happy. This world was
of interest--but it was too disturbing to contemplate for an extended
period of time.
"You were right, Eu Kor," Ven said to me as we scanned the pattern of
the mammals' culture. "If you had picked any place less isolated than
this, we might have been engulfed in that maelstrom."
I nodded. "It was more luck than design," I said, "but I am happy that
we are no closer. This world is not for us. It is too strange, too
alien with its uncontrolled emotionalism and frightening energy."
"It reminds me of a malignant neoplasm," Ven said, "growing
uncontrolled, destroying the body from which it draws sustenance.
Have you ever seen such a seething flux of people--such growth--such
appalling waste and carelessness?"