[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Galaxy Science Fiction February 1957.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Raveling Porcy's systematized enigma, Dan
found himself with a spy's worst break--he
was saddled with the guise of a famed man!
I
Dan Redman stooped to look in the mirror before going to see the
director of A Section. The face that looked back wasn't bad, if he had
expected strong cheekbones, copper skin and a high-arched nose. But Dan
wasn't used to it yet.
He straightened and his coat drew tight across chest and shoulders. The
sleeves pulled up above hands that felt average, but that the mirror
showed to be huge and broad. Dan turned to go out in the hall and had
to duck to avoid banging his head on the door frame. On the way down
the hall, he wondered just what sort of job he had drawn this time.
Dan stopped at a door lettered:
A SECTION
J. KIELGAARD
DIRECTOR
A pretty receptionist goggled at him and said to go in. Dan opened the
inner door.
Kielgaard--big, stocky, expensively dressed--looked up and studied Dan
as he came in. Apparently satisfied, he offered a chair, then took out
a small plastic cartridge and held it in one hand.
"Dan," he said, "what do you know about subspace and null-points?"
"Practically nothing," admitted Dan honestly.
* * * * *
Kielgaard laughed. "Then I'll fill you in with the layman's analogy,
which is all _I_ know. Suppose you have a newspaper with an ant on the
middle of the front page. To get to the middle of page two, the ant
has to walk to the edge of the paper, then walk back on the inside.
Now suppose the ant could go _through_ the page. The middle of page
two is just a short distance away from the middle of page one. That
going _through_, instead of around, is like travel in subspace. And
a null-point is a place just a short distance away, going through
subspace. The middle of page two, for instance, is a null-point for the
middle of page one."
"Yes," said Dan patiently, waiting for the point of the interview.
Kielgaard pushed the plastic cartridge he'd been holding through a slot
in his desk. A globe to one side lighted up a cottony white, with faint
streaks of blue. "This," he said, "is Porcys."
Dan studied the globe. "Under that cloud blanket, it looks as if it
might be a water world."
"It is. Except for a small continent, the planet is covered with water.
And the water is full of seafood--_edible_ seafood."
Dan frowned, still waiting.
"Galactic Enterprises," said Kielgaard, "has discovered a region in
subspace which has Porcys for one null-point and Earth for another."
"Oh," said Dan, beginning to get the point. "And Earth's hungry, of
course. Galactic can ship the seafood straight through subspace at a
big profit."
"That's the idea. But there's one trouble." Kielgaard touched a button,
and on the globe, the white layer vanished. The globe was a brilliant
blue, with a small area of mingled green and grayish-brown. "The land
area of the planet is inhabited. Galactic must have the permission of
the inhabitants to fish the ocean. And Galactic needs to close the
deal fast, or some other outfit, like Trans-Space, may get wind of
things and move in."
Kielgaard looked at the globe thoughtfully. "All we know about the
Porcyns could be put on one side of a postage stamp. They're physically
strong. They have a few large cities. They have an abundant supply
of seafood. They have spaceships and mataform transceivers. This
much we know from long-distance observation or from the one Porcyn
we anesthetized and brain-spied. We also know from observation
that the Porcyns have two other habitable planets in their solar
system--Fumidor, a hot inner planet, and an Earthlike outer planet
called Vacation Planet."
Kielgaard drummed his fingers softly. "Granting the usual course
of events, Dan, what can we expect to happen? The Porcyns have an
abundance of food, a small living area, space travel and two nearby
habitable planets. What will they do?"
"Colonize the nearby planets," said Dan.
* * * * *
"Right," said Kielgaard. "Only they aren't doing it. We've spied both
planets till we can't see straight. Fumidor has a mine entrance and a
mataform center. Vacation Planet has a mataform center and one or two
big buildings. And that's it. There's no emigration from Porcys to the
other two planets. Instead, there's a sort of cycling flow from Porcys
to Vacation Planet to Fumidor to Porcys. Why?
"The Porcyn we brain-spied," he went on, "associated Vacation Planet
with 'rejuvenation.' What does that mean we're up against? Galactic
wants to make a contract, but not till they know what they're
dealing with. There are some races it's best to leave alone. This
'rejuvenation' might be worth more than the seafood, sure, but it could
also be a sackful of trouble."
Dan waited, realizing that Kielgaard had come to the crux of the matter.
Kielgaard said, "Galactic wants us to find the answers to three
problems. One, how do the Porcyns keep the size of their population
down? Two, what is the connection between rejuvenation and 'Vacation
Planet'? And three, do the Porcyns have a proper mercantile attitude?
Are they likely to make an agreement? Will they keep one they do make?"
Kielgaard looked intently at Dan. "The only way we're likely to
find the answers in a reasonable time is to send someone in. You're
elected."
"Just me?" asked Dan in surprise. "All your eggs in one basket?"
"In a situation like this," said Kielgaard, "one good man is worth
several gross of dubs. We're relying on you to keep your eyes open and
your mind on what you're doing."
"And suppose I don't come back?"
"Galactic probably loses the jump it's got on Trans-Space and you miss
out on a big bonus."
"When do I leave?"
"Tomorrow morning. But today you'd better go down and pick up a set of
Porcyn clothes we've had made for you and some of their money. It'd
be a good idea to spend the evening getting used to things. We've
implanted in your brain the Porcyn language patterns we brain-spied
and we've installed in your body cavity a simple organo-transmitter
you can use during periods of calm. Because the Porcyns are physically
strong and possibly worship strength, we've had your body rebuilt to
one of the most powerful human physique patterns--that of an American
Indian--that we have on record."
They shook hands and Dan went to his room. He practiced the Porcyn
tongue till he had some conscious familiarity with it. Then he tried
his strength to make sure he wouldn't accidentally use more force than
he intended. Then, while the evening was still young, he went to bed
and fell asleep.
It was Dan's experience that everything possible went wrong the first
few days on a new planet and he wanted to be wide-awake enough to live
through it.