"Maybe we'll find out from Eakins," Drake said.
* * * * *
They had to wait half an hour. Then Eakins' voice came, sharp and
shrill over the walkie-talkie.
"Sorensen? Drake?"
"We're here," Drake said. "What did that damned bug do to you?"
"Nothing," Eakins said. "You are talking to that bug now. My name is
the Quedak."
"My God," Drake said to Sorensen, "that bug must have hypnotized him!"
"No. You are not speaking to a hypnotized Eakins. Nor are you speaking
to a creature who is simply using Eakins as a mouthpiece. Nor are you
speaking to the Eakins who was. You are speaking to many individuals
who are one."
"I don't get that," Drake said.
"It's very simple," Eakins' voice replied. "I am the Quedak, the
totality. But my totality is made up of separate parts, which
are Eakins, several rats, a dog named Oro, a pig, an anteater, a
cassowary--"
"Hold on," Sorensen said. "Let me get this straight. This is _not_
Eakins I'm speaking to. This is the--the Quedak?"
"That is correct."
"And you control Eakins and the others? You speak through Eakins'
mouth?"
"Also correct. But that doesn't mean that the personalities of
the others are obliterated. Quite the contrary, the Quedak state
is a federation in which the various member parts retain their
idiosyncrasies, their individual needs and desires. They give their
knowledge, their power, their special outlook to the Quedak whole. The
Quedak is the coordinating and command center; but the individual parts
supply the knowledge, the insights, the special skills. And together we
form the Great Cooperation."
"Cooperation?" Drake said. "But you did all this by force!"
"It was necessary in the beginning. Otherwise, how would other
creatures have known about the Great Cooperation?"
"Would they stay if you released your control over them?" Drake asked.
"That is a meaningless question. We form a single indivisible entity
now. Would your arm return to you if you cut it off?"
"It isn't the same thing."
"It is," Eakins' voice said. "We are a single organism. We are still
growing. And we welcome you wholeheartedly into the Great Cooperation."
"To hell with that," Drake said.
"But you must join," the Quedak told them. "It is the Quedak Mission to
coordinate all sentient creatures into a single collective organism.
Believe me, there is only the most trifling loss of the individuality
you prize so highly. And you gain so much more! You learn the
viewpoints and special knowledge of all other creatures. Within the
Quedak framework you can fully realize your potentialities--"
"No!"
"I am sorry," the Quedak said. "The Quedak Mission must be fulfilled.
You will not join us willingly?"
"Never," Drake said.
"Then _we_ will join _you_," the Quedak said.
There was a click as he turned off the walkie-talkie.
* * * * *
From the fringe of the jungle, several rats appeared. They hesitated,
just out of rifle range. A bird of paradise flew overhead, hovering
over the cleared area like an observation plane. As the men watched,
the rats began to run forward in long zigzags.
"Start firing," Drake called out. "But go easy with the ammo."
The men began to fire. But it was difficult to sight on the
quick-moving rats against the grayish-brown clearing. And almost
immediately, the rats were joined by a dozen hermit crabs. They had
an uncanny knack for moving when no one was watching them, darting
forward, then freezing against the neutral background.
They saw Eakins appear on the fringe of the jungle.
"Lousy traitor," Cable said, raising his rifle.