last three more men lay in another triangle. Cal hoped someone on the
ship would be able to read the ancient message.
"Keep clear of me. I am maneuvering with difficulty."
The signal had no more than formed when there was a flash from the ship
so bright that it could be seen in the morning sky. They had read his
signal, and now they began a series of flashes, of questions. "What's
going on down there?" was the essence of their questioning.
It was well the ship had caught the first signal, for the colonists lost
all interest in the game which had no point. They simply stood up and
wandered away in search of their breakfasts from the trees and bushes.
Louie, who had stood to one side glowering, now took charge of them
again and shepherded them to a grove of trees where the fruit seemed
especially large and succulent.
But now that the ship had spotted him, Cal could signal alone. He lay
down on the ground, himself, to move his arms in semaphore positions.
But even as he lay back, he became conscious that he, too, could hardly
care less. With a detached interest that amounted to amusement at such
childish, primitive things, he watched his arms spell out one more
message.
"Keep off! No mechanical science allowed in this co-ordinate system."
He stood up then, and made a farewell gesture toward the ship.
At that instant he felt strangely that he had passed into another stage
of growth, completed a task, cut himself off from an environment that
had held him back. What the ship did, in response to his warnings, no
longer mattered. If it landed, its personnel too would join the
colonists. If it obeyed the request of an E, it might circle there
indefinitely.
Indefinitely watching the turkeys circle inside their low fence, unable
to aid them, release them.
He did not particularly care what they did.
They could go on, spluttering out their signals, trying to question him.
He didn't even try to read their messages. It didn't matter. Their
science had nothing to do with him, nothing to offer him. Through it he
could not reach a solution.
Somehow he knew that already.
19
"This time," the communications supervisor said with all the firmness he
could muster, "this time there must not be any interference with
communication. There just absolutely must not be!"
"Well, it wasn't my fault," the operator retorted with an exasperation
that blanketed prudent restraint. "You heard what E McGinnis said--that
they could identify E Gray, and the ship's crew, and many of the
colonists, but that there was no sign of the ship that took them there.
If there wasn't any ship there couldn't be any communication. It's not
my fault. I can't receive something that wasn't sent."
"I know, I know," the supervisor said, and then, worried that he may be
giving the appearance of backing down, commanded savagely, "just watch
it, that's all!" He chewed violently at his knuckle and glared at the
operator.
"Just watch it," the operator mumbled bitterly. "Just watch it, the man
says. And what will I watch if the message stops coming?"
"Now, now, now, now," the supervisor nagged, "we'll have no
insubordination, if you please."
And upstairs this time more than Bill Hayes, sector chief, were
monitoring the message. The top administrative brass of E.H.Q. were
assembled in their big plush conference room used for arriving at major
policy decisions that sometimes affected the whole course of man's
progress and direction in occupying the universe.
They sat in worried silence as E McGinnis reported the two messages he
had received from Junior E Gray.
First: Keep clear of me. I am maneuvering with difficulty.
Then: Keep off. No mechanical science allowed in this co-ordinate
system.
They looked at one another under beetled brows. They wondered, at first
privately and then openly if that Junior E had blown his stack. They had
looked at many a problem finally solved by the E's, but never before had
such a ridiculous situation come up.
And right at the time, too, when the civil government had decided to
place a curb on E.H.Q.'s freedom of movement, its control over the
experimental phases of planet development. The injunction to halt a
Junior E from taking over the Eden problem fooled none of them. They
knew that Gunderson wasn't concerned for those colonists out there, that
he was merely using the public furor to advance his own personal power.
They knew that the police worked unremittingly, unceasingly, always and
ever to bring every phase of human activity under their control. They
knew it was a centuries-old tactic to wait for the right situation to
arise, so that the lawmakers could be stampeded into passing some law
which seemed only to apply to this given condition but in actuality
broadened police powers over a wide area of man's actions.
Yes, there was far more at stake here than the fate of fifty colonists.
In a sense E.H.Q. itself was the stake. The whole science of E was at
stake.
And E McGinnis had played right into Gunderson's hands. It was he who
had been the E influence in deciding to allow a Junior to handle the
problem in the first place. It was he who was standing off from the
planet, not landing and taking over things as he should.
There was obviously no danger. By his own report, the people on Eden
were in good health, and from their apparent actions, not even
distressed.
This message about no mechanical science being allowed, for example. Did
the Junior mean the colonists wouldn't allow it? Must mean that. What
else could prevent it? But when an E, a real E, took charge in an
experimental colony, the colonists had nothing further to say about the
matter. True, when the five-year experimental period was over and the
three-generation colonists took over a planet, then it came more under
civil control, and E.H.Q. largely withdrew with the provision that it
could step back in at any time the problem seemed not to have been
solved after all.
But while under the five-year test ... The E was the final word, or
should be. The colonists knew it. The E knew it, or should know it.
Obviously then it was weakness on the part of the Junior if he allowed
the colonists to dictate that there could be no mechanical science.
Proof of his inability to handle the job.
A perfect setup for Gunderson!
They decided they were forced to take a strong hand with McGinnis.
Ordinarily the E was the final word, not only with the colonists, but
with the administration at E.H.Q. But maybe there were times when he
shouldn't be. Yes, definitely they should take a hand. After all, Gray
was still a Junior, hardly more than a boy. Was it right that a mere boy
could stop investigation by anyone except himself? Tell Earth with all
its power and might what to do?
Definitely there was a time when an exception to general E policy should
be made. Definitely this was that time. If nothing else, they must take
a strong hand to prevent Gunderson from moving in with his police
powers. Protect the E science from Gunderson, or at least salvage what
they might.
Their conference over, they asked for a connection with McGinnis.
"We assume you will land and take charge, E McGinnis?" the board
chairman asked.
"Certainly not," McGinnis snapped back. "An E has forbidden it."
"Well now," the chairman argued, and sweat began to come out on his
forehead. "He's only a Junior. We have decided his judgment isn't mature
enough for this problem."
"I have every confidence in Junior E Gray," McGinnis said acidly. "And
every E in the system will back me. It makes no difference what you have
decided. Either the science of E means something, or it doesn't. Either
we have complete freedom to handle a problem, or we don't. Let me remind
you, gentlemen, this isn't the first time that laymen have decided the E
is a fool and tried to take matters into their own hands. Do you want to
repeat past disasters?"
"If we don't land a ship, E McGinnis"--the chairman was all but pleading
now--"Gunderson's police will. We feel we must land a ship to take a
firmer control over the situation. Public sentiment demands it. Policy
demands it. Perhaps the whole future of E demands it."
A new voice cut into the communications hookup, a feminine voice.
"Gentlemen," she said, "this is Linda Gray. I requested that I be cut in
on any communication concerning my husband, and E McGinnis made it an
order before he left. If another ship does land, I must be on it. I want
to be with my husband."
"I will not be landing on Eden, Linda," E McGinnis said firmly. "An E
has forbidden it. That is enough for any other E in the universe. No
other E will land. Your husband is all right. He is in good health, and
apparently mentally sound. At least sound enough to warn us against
landing. He must have a reason. We don't know, yet, what it is.
"Now he has stopped communicating, we don't know why. He must have a
reason for that, too. It is probably a sound reason. E science has been
drilled into him until it is a part of his every mind cell, perhaps even
every body cell.
"I assume he is not communicating because we can't help him, because
communicating with us distracts him from solving the problem. If E.H.Q.
decides to send out a ship on its own, and risk landing in an unknown
co-ordinate system, against the orders of two E's, which will become the
combined orders of all E's in the universe, that is their decision. If
you wish to be on it, that is your decision.
"I am cutting off now. It will be no accident that E.H.Q. cannot connect
with me. I'm cutting out because I don't want to be distracted any
further. I'm trying to think."
The acid rebuff of the old E left the administrative board hanging in a
vacuum of indecision, frustration. Angry determination to do something,
anything.
They were caught between the intransigence of the E fraternity it was
their duty to serve and from whom they should be able to expect help,
and the obvious determination of Gunderson to use this incident as his
means of regaining control over the E's and E.H.Q. for civil authority.
Didn't the stupid E see the danger? Wasn't it the same danger that men
of science had always faced, the same mistake they had always
made--leaving out the human element in a problem?
The eternal blind spot in men of science! The average man doesn't give a
tinker's damn for progress or knowledge, not really. He wants only that
he and his shall be ascendant at the center of things, the inevitable,
the only possible goal of the non-science mind. Surely the history of
science versus non-science should have made this evident long ago!
Surely there had been enough incidents in history....
Very well, it was up to them to help the E in spite of himself. If he
refused the see the clear danger to his whole structure--and their own
ascendant position at the center of it--it was their clear duty to
protect him nonetheless.
They would send out another ship, a large one, a floating laboratory, a
miniature E.H.Q., at least to be there on the scene; to help in any way
they could, perhaps to counter the moves Gunderson's police might make,
at least to stand by.
At least, in the face of all this public clamor about Eden, to show
their concern. The chairman of the board rationalized it masterfully,
without once mentioning that their real concern was to remain ascendant
at the center of things at all costs, and thereby maintained the
tradition of all non-science endeavors.
"Gentlemen," he said in summary, "we have a grave responsibility not
only to the E structure, but to all mankind as well. In every system, in
every rule, there must be provision for the exception. Gray is only a
Junior E. Herein lies the weakness of our position. Herein lies
Gunderson's strength, his weapon for swaying the sentiment of the
people. A Junior E is not mature enough to make the decisions affecting
the life or death of fifty people. More than that, perhaps the future
progress of mankind.
"May I point out, gentlemen, that in a showdown, if it should become
necessary for us to land a ship to rescue those colonists, in spite of
the Junior's demand that we stay clear of the planet, we will not be
overriding the decision of an E, but of a boy who has not yet proved his
capacity to merit an E.
"We have to draw the line somewhere. I am forced to agree with Gunderson
on that. If we must honor the command of the Junior E, then why not the
Associate E? Why not the student E? Why not the apprentice student E?
Why not any kid in the universe who thinks he is extra smart?
"The line of demarcation, the point at which civil control over the
individual gives way to immunity from civil control has never been
clearly drawn. We may regret that the issue has arisen at all, but it
has arisen. Gunderson's purpose is clear. He intends to bring the E
structure back under civil control. We must salvage what we can. Perhaps
if we concede his control over the Juniors on down, we can maintain the
immunity of the Senior E. We must work to save at least that much."
The floating laboratory, which might have to become a rescue ship, left
six hours later.
Linda was on it.
20
There was no frustration, no uncertainty in Gunderson's mind.
His course was now clear. His observer ship had also read the messages
spelled out by the placement of naked bodies on the grass, and in the
semaphore wavings of the Junior E's arms. The photographs taken were all
the evidence he needed to prove the morals charges he intended to bring.
It might not be wise to allow the total photographs to show in the
newspapers, on television, for there were ex-navy men here and there who
might interpret the code. But enlarged pictures of the individuals,
separated from the total, disporting themselves in lewd, naked positions
would do the job.
Clearly the police must put a stop to this. He would have every
organization in the universe dedicated to dictating the morals of others
on his side. No politician would have the guts to stand up in
opposition.
There remained only one thing to do. Go out and get that Junior E, place
him under arrest, bring him back for trial. Perhaps it might be wise to
let the colonists off easy--he could easily show that it was the
influence of the Junior which had made a disgusting orgy develop there
on Eden. Never mind that they were naked before the Junior arrived. The
public could always be razzle-dazzled about the nature of the evidence,
its order and meaning. It was an old police, prosecution, and political
trick to separate a few items from the total context, but still a good
one; for the public never bothered to know the whole context of
anything. An old trick to fasten on phrases and slogans to fix an
attitude in the public mind, for a phrase or slogan was about all the
public was able to master. Anyone who had ever served on a jury,
observed its deliberations, knew that out of all the welter of evidence,
only certain isolated statements or facts, often minor and
insignificant, penetrated the juror's mind, and around these bits he
formed his conclusions. Any smart lawyer knew that, and tried to set up
his case accordingly.
His own course was clear.
His orders to the selected captain of his police ship were equally
clear:
_1. Proceed at once to Eden, the scene of the crime._
_2. Ignore any protests from the E ship already out there, or any
other ship E.H.Q. might have sent._
_3. Ignore any signals from the Junior E on the planet._
_4. Land on the planet at the site of Appletree, the main site of
the lewd and obscene crime._
_5. Place Junior E Calvin Gray under arrest._
_6. Place the crew of the Junior E's ship, Thomas Lynwood, Franklin
Norton, Louis LeBeau, under arrest._
_7. Place any colonist who opposed the police under arrest._
_8. Place the remainder of the colonists in detention under
protective custody._
_9. Place E McGinnis under arrest if he interfered in any way with
the police in carrying out the foregoing orders._
The police captain raised his eyebrows when he read the final order.
Place a Senior E under arrest?
Certainly, a Senior E. It was one thing to allow these birds to wander
around, free as air to do as they please. It was one thing to let them
get away with making such statements as "The police attitude toward the
people is the major cause of crime." It was something else, and time the
E's found it out, for them to make any overt move to interfere with the
police in their performance of duty.
Personally, he hoped the old E would be fool enough to resist. It would
strengthen his case.
The police captain obeyed the first of the orders without a hitch. He
proceeded to the scene of the crime.
He obeyed the second order. He ignored the command of E McGinnis,
received over the ship's communicator when they arrived at the scene of
the crime, to stand clear of the planet. What policeman moving in to
make an arrest for an illegal act--and certainly running around stark
naked, posing in lewd and indecent postures in full view of the public,
was an illegal act--would pay any attention to the request of an
onlooker which amounted to "Aw, let 'em alone, copper"?
There was no communication at all from the Junior E on the planet's
surface, so the third order did not apply.
It was in trying to execute the fourth order that he ran into trouble.
He passed inside the orbits of the three other ships now circling the
planet, the police observer ship, the E McGinnis ship, the E.H.Q.
floating laboratory. He gave orders to lower his ship into Eden's
atmosphere.
The proper buttons were pushed, the proper levers pulled.
And nothing happened.
It was as if some invisible shield held him back. He could not lower the
ship into the atmosphere gently, taking the normal precautions against
crashing. Very well then, not so gently. Full power. And nothing
happened. They lowered not another inch.
A thrust. A thrust at tangent to the surface. Once past whatever this
barrier was, they could skim the surface and come back to land on the
proper site. They backed the ship farther out into space. They made
their thrust with full speed and momentum.
There was no sensation when they hit the barrier, but they did not
penetrate it. It was as if a flat stone had been skipped across slick
ice, and they shot back out into space again. The tangent penetration
would not do.
Very well, then. A direct thrust, full power, straight down. Be prepared
to put braking forces into immediate power, lest they crash the ship at
full power against the surface.
And again, no sensation. Against all natural laws of inertia, they came
to a full stop at the given level outside the atmosphere without any
feeling of jar or opposing pressure at all.
What now, Mr. Gunderson, sir?
Reluctantly, Gunderson ordered the police captain to contact E McGinnis.
E science apparently had some kind of shield which they'd kept secret
from the people--and wouldn't there be a stink over that one, once he
released that information! Contact E McGinnis and find out!
"Why sure," E McGinnis cackled with derisive laughter, "sure there's a
shield. I didn't make it. I wouldn't know how. No, I don't know what's
causing it. But I'll tell you what I think. I think They've caught the
specimen They want. There's an E down there.
"So, naturally, the trap door is closed."
21
Cal didn't know, couldn't have known, that his efforts to signal
McGinnis not to land were unnecessary. Didn't know, couldn't have known,
that he himself was the specimen They had hoped to catch. That having
caught what They wanted They would naturally close the door to the trap
to prevent any possibility of escape, as yet, or any interference with
their experiment.
From the moment he walked away from the grassy slope where he had
signaled the outer ship, he moved and thought as someone detached from
ordinary existence. As he walked away from the slope, ignoring the
frantic signals from the ship out in space, he felt he was also walking
out of a shell of superficial cerebration and into a deeper sense of
reality. It was as if, in spite of E training, for the first time in his
life, he could commit himself wholly, in all areas of his being, to the
consideration of a problem.
His conviction was complete that the ship could give him nothing he
needed, that all Earth's mechanical science could give him nothing he
needed. That it could not provide the key to unlock the door which led
into this new area of reality. He must find, must define, some new
concept of man's relation to the universe. He must again travel that
road, that million-year-long road man had traveled in trying to
determine his position in reality.
He wandered down to the river, climbed to the top of a great boulder
that overhung a pool, and sat down with his feet hanging over the edge.
He watched some young colonists wade through the pool to drive fish into
the shallows where they could pin them, with their legs, catch them with
their hands. In their need for protein, the colonists were finding, as
many Earth peoples had found, raw fish were excellent in flavor and
texture as food.
At the beginning of the road man had traveled first there was awareness,
awareness of self as something separate from environment. There was
awareness of self-strength, ability to do certain things to and with
that environment. There was awareness of self always at the center of
things, and therefore awareness of his importance in the scheme of
things. But there was awareness of more.
There was awareness of things happening to his environment which he, in
all his strength and importance, could not do. Awareness gives rise to
reason, reason gives rise to rationalization. If things happened in his
environment which he himself could not do, then there must be something
stronger and more important than he.
To be ascendant at the center of things, to remain ascendant, meant that
all things of lesser importance, outside the center, must be made
subservient to him, else that ascendancy was lost. And if they would not
assume positions of subservience, they must be destroyed.
If there were unseen beings, stronger and more important than he, who
could do unexplained things to his environment; then it was plain that
he must assume positions of subservience to those beings, lest he
himself be destroyed.
So man created his gods in his own image, with his own attributes
magnified.
Was this a wrong turning of the road? No-o.... Awareness carries with it
its commands and penalties. A problem must have an answer. Conscious and
willful beings beyond his own strength and importance became the only
answer open to him at that stage of his mental evolution. And served the
important need of bringing order to chaos. Let all things he could not
do, and therefore could not understand, be attributed to those higher
beings. Without such an answer, awareness without resolution would have
driven him into madness. Without such an answer, man could not have
survived to remain aware.
But answers also carry in themselves their commands and their penalties.
The penalty being that when one thinks he has the answer he stops
looking for it. The command being that he must conduct himself in accord
with the answer.
The long, long road that led him nowhere. That today still leads untold
millions nowhere. For the penalty of a wrong answer is failure to solve
the problem. That non-science had failed to provide any answer beyond
the primitive one was self-evident.
To some, then, it became evident that the question must be reopened.
Through the long written history of man, here and there, by accident
often, sometimes by cerebration, the use of the brain with which he was
endowed, man found on occasion he could do things to his environment
that heretofore had been the province of the gods--and in the doing had
not become a god! To the courageous, the brave, the daring, the
foolhardy questions then that demanded new answers.
Perhaps the most daring and courageous question of all time was asked by
Copernicus: What if man is not at the center of the universe, the reason
for its creation?