"You talk as though it was the simplest thing in the world," she
flashed.
"Isn't it? If your Sakae are intelligent and the humans of Sako aren't,
then the Sakae have the rights on that world, don't they?"
She looked at him, not saying anything, and again she had that stricken
look of one who has tried and failed. Then from up forward, without
turning, Webber spoke.
"What do you think now of Vaillant's fine idea, Paula?"
"It can still work," she said, but there was no conviction in her voice.
"If you don't mind," said Kieran, with an edge to his voice, "I'd still
like to know what this Sako business has to do with reviving me."
* * * * *
"The Sakae rule the humans on that world," Paula answered. "There are
some of us who don't believe they should. In the Council, we're known as
the Humanity Party, because we believe that humans should not be ruled
by non-humans."
Again, Kieran was distracted from his immediate question--this time by
the phrase "Non-human".
"These Sakae--what are they like?"
"They're not monsters, if that's what you're thinking of," Paula said.
"They're bipeds--lizardoid rather than humanoid--and are a fairly
intelligent and law-abiding lot."
"If they're all that, and higher in development than the humans, why
shouldn't they rule their own world?" demanded Kieran.
Webber uttered a sardonic laugh. Without turning he asked, "Shall I
change course and go to Altair?"
"No!" she said. Her eyes flashed at Kieran and she spoke almost
breathlessly. "You're very sure about things you just heard about,
aren't you? You know what's right and you know what's wrong, even though
you've only been in this time, this universe, for a few hours!"
Kieran looked at her closely. He thought he was beginning to get a
glimmer of the shape of things now.
"You--all you who woke me up illegally--you belong to this Humanity
Party, don't you? You did it for some reason connected with that?"
"Yes," she answered defiantly. "We need a symbol in this political
struggle. We thought that one of the oldtime space pioneers, one of the
humans who began the conquest of the stars, would be it. We--"
Kieran interrupted. "I think I get it. It was really considerate of you.
You drag a man back from what amounts to death, for a party rally.
'Oldtime space hero condemns non-humans'--it would go something like
that, wouldn't it?"
"Listen--," she began.
"Listen, hell," he said. He was hot with rage, shaking with it. "I am
glad to say that you could not possibly have picked a worse symbol than
me. I have no more use for the idea of the innate sacred superiority of
one species over another than I had for that of one kind of man over
another."
Her face changed. From an angry woman, she suddenly became a
professional psychologist, coolly observing reactions.
"It's not the political question you really resent," she said. "You've
wakened to a strange world and you're afraid of it, in spite of all the
pre-awakening preparation we gave your subconscious. You're afraid, and
so you're angry."
Kieran got a grip on himself. He shrugged. "What you say may be true.
But it doesn't change the way I feel. I will not help you one damned
bit."
Webber got up from his seat and came back toward them, his tall form
stooping. He looked at Kieran and then at the woman.
"We have to settle this right now," he said. "We're getting near enough
to Sako to go out of drive. Are we going to land or aren't we?"
"Yes," said Paula steadily. "We're landing."
Webber glanced again at Kieran's face. "But if that's the way he
feels--"
"Go ahead and land," she said.
5.
It was nothing like landing in a rocket. First there was the business
referred to as "going out of drive". Paula made Kieran strap in and she
said, "You may find this unpleasant, but just sit tight. It doesn't last
long." Kieran sat stiff and glowering, prepared for anything and
determined not to show it no matter how he felt. Then Webber did
something to the control board and the universe fell apart. Kieran's
stomach came up and stuck in his throat. He was falling--up? Down?
Sideways? He didn't know, but whichever it was not all the parts of him
were falling at the same rate, or perhaps it was not all in the same
direction, he didn't know that either, but it was an exceptionally
hideous feeling. He opened his mouth to protest, and all of a sudden he
was sitting normally in the chair in the normal cabin and screaming at
the top of his lungs.
He shut up.