Captain George Hanlon jumped from the big tricycle and ran into the
residence. None of the guards or servants tried to stop him, so
dumb-founded were they by all that had been happening. Knowing the way
from his controlling of the bird that had found Amir's rooms, Hanlon
was soon there. He did not stop to see what was happening to the
others, but ran across the bedroom to that far door, and rapped on it
to attract the attention of the Ruler, hiding behind it.
"Everything is safe now, k'nyer," he called through the badly charred
panels. "The assassin is dead. You can come out now."
"Is this some new trick?" a voice came thinly.
"No, sire, it is no trick, but the truth. You are safe now."
"Who are you?"
"I'm ..." Hanlon started to give his name, then remembered that the
Ruler did not know anything about him. He quickly changed it to,
"I'm Ergo Lona, the groom with whom you talked on the ride the other
morning."
"Lona? Where did you disappear to--and why?" suspiciously.
"Endar discharged me, but I have been watching over you, just the same.
On my honor, k'nyer, you may believe me."
After some further hesitation there was the sound of the padding being
removed from the keyhole, the insertion and turning of the key. As the
door opened a mere crack, Elus Amir peered cautiously out. But instead
of the clothing of a groom or a countryman, he saw the brilliant
space-blue and silver of an Inter-Stellar Corps uniform.
He started to pull shut the door, but Hanlon had stuck the toe of his
boot in it.
"It's all right, k'nyer. I am Lona, the groom. I am also George Hanlon,
a captain in the Terran Inter-Stellar Corps. We discovered that another
attempt was being made on your life, and were lucky enough to get here
in time to block it."
He took hold of the edge of the door and pulled it open, for the Ruler
was so surprised by this revelation that he made no real effort to hold
it shut. Amir came slowly, surprisedly into the bedroom, staring keenly
at Hanlon.
"You don't look like Lona ... but the voice does seem to be the same.
How does it happen the Federation has men here? Were you spying on me?"
"Not on you, sire, but on your enemies," Hanlon said earnestly. "Let me
introduce you to Admiral New...."
He had half-turned back as he spoke, and now for the first time saw his
father on the floor, a hand clutching his shoulder, from which a great
stain of blood was drenching the uniform sleeve.
"Ring for your physician," Hanlon turned and commanded the Ruler. Then,
realizing this was no way for him to be addressing a planetary head, he
quickly but entreatingly added, "please, k'nyer."
Elus Amir called in one of the servants clustered outside, and
commanded curtly, "Get the doctor here, immediately." Then he went over
to the two on the floor. "Let me look," he half-pushed Hanlon aside,
and stooped to peer closely at that wounded shoulder.
"Help me get him onto the bed," he said after a quick inspection. "I
don't think any of the bone is gone--it's just a bad flesh burn."
Tenderly the two men raised the admiral, who protested weakly that he
could get up by himself, and lifted him onto the bed. Amir himself
began pulling off the admiral's tunic, while Hanlon helped.
By the time the doctor came running in, and took over the dressing of
the wound, they had the arm and shoulder bared. But the elder Newton,
in spite of his protestations, had fainted from the loss of blood and
shock.
Amir sent the assembled servants away, retaining only his dresser, who
helped him on with his day clothes.
The doctor worked swiftly, as Hanlon watched anxiously, applying
ointments to the burn, and finally bandaging it.
"He's weak from all the blood he lost, and doesn't seem to have been in
too good condition anyway," the doctor said at last. "I hope the man is
strong enough to pull through."
"Then give him some plasma," Hanlon said frantically. "He needs it."
"I don't know what you mean," the doctor was bewildered by the word,
for Hanlon had had to use the Terran word "plasma", not knowing any
translation for it.
"A blood transfusion, then, or at least some glucose."
"I don't know anything about those, either ... say, you're not an
Estrellan, are you?"
"No, we're Terrans. You mean you folks don't know anything about giving
one person's blood to another?"
"Sorry, but I've never heard of such a thing. How is it done?" The
doctor was apparently more interested in this new idea than in the
admiral's desperate condition.
Hanlon felt faint. He staggered away from the bedside without
answering, and went into the anteroom, where Hooper stood talking to
Inver and some other officials, who had heard the commotion and had
come to see what it was all about.
Hooper saw Hanlon's haggard face, and knew something was wrong. "Were
we too late?" he gasped.
"Oh, no, we got Irad and saved Amir, but dad was blasted--shoulder. The
doctor has fixed him up as best he can, but dad's in shock, and these
backward fools never heard of plasma or blood transfusions."
Hooper jumped forward. "I can give a transfusion. What's your dad's
blood type?" he asked as they hurried to the bedside.
"Same as mine," Hanlon was peeling off his coat as he spoke, his eyes
lighting with relief.
Hooper rapped quick questions at the doctor, but the latter shook his
head. More questions, and more negative answers, then Hooper turned
disconsolately to Hanlon. "They don't even have anything I could use to
give a transfusion; no hollow needles; not even hypodermics."
The doctor pulled on Hooper's arm. "Please, tell me what you mean by
blood transfusions, and plasma. How do you give them? What for? And
what did the other man mean when he said he had the same blood type as
the wounded man?"
Hanlon went to sit beside his father's bedside, and sank into an
apparent mood of despair.
Meanwhile, the Ruler had finished dressing, and with his son, Inver,
went over to listen to what Major Hooper was telling the doctor.
"Will you please tell me what all is going on here?" Amir asked so
plaintively that the S S man had trouble concealing a grin. But Hooper
sobered instantly.
"The Federation's Inter-Stellar Corps, sire," he began his explanation,
"found out about the fact that opposition to your desire to accept
their invitation was becoming stronger--and dangerous to you and to the
peace of your planet. They sent four of us here to study the situation
and to protect you if possible. To do that it was necessary for us to
disguise ourselves as natives of your world, so we could move about
freely and unnoticed. That is why Captain Hanlon worked it so you
would notice him, hire him as a servant of some sort here, and he would
thus be able to watch over you and conditions in general from close
at hand. We had found out that Adwal Irad was at the head of this
opposition and crime wave, and that his plans included your death."
"But now you're all in uniform--and your disguises removed."
"Yes, k'nyer. We were planning to come as ourselves tomorrow--or
rather, this morning--and seek an audience with you. We knew about the
attempt to assassinate you that was made on your daily ride, and so
were watching you more carefully than ever. When we saw Irad trying to
get into your room, and his men he had planted in your guards keeping
back the servants who wished to come to your assistance, we hurried
here to help protect you. It was so apparent Irad was determined to
complete the killing he failed at the other time."
Elus Amir, Ruler of Estrella, took that startling news with barely a
tremor. He motioned them to a seat along the side of the bedroom, to
continue his questioning.
The doctor was dismissed, although it was plain he wanted to stay and
ask this Terran more about those strange and new methods of treating
wounds.
So until dawn the Ruler and his son--now Second-In-Line following the
death of Irad--sat talking to Major Hooper about the Federation of
Planets, and the benefits Estrella would obtain from joining the other
worlds.
"Such things as the advances in medicines in which your doctor is so
interested, are but minor matters among the many we can and gladly will
tell you if you wish," Hooper said.
The Corpsman was able to convince Amir of the falsity of the rumors
and arguments Irad had spread, about how Estrella would lose her
sovereignty if she joined, and that Terra would make slaves of her
people.
"That is such a damnable thing to say, k'nyer," Hooper was almost
angry, but very much in earnest. "You have only to send some trusted
advisors to the various planets of the Federation--we will gladly
furnish them transportation as we did before--and have them talk to the
common people of any or all of our worlds. They will find that while we
of Terra were the ones who developed space travel and sent people to
colonize the first discovered and habitable planets, that the citizens
of each world choose their own form of government, and that many of
them are now even stronger than is Terra, the mother world. And there
are peoples of several worlds who are natives and not Terrans or their
descendants, whom we have not only not enslaved, but are helping to
grow culturally so they may some day be advanced enough to join us as
full-fledged equal members of the Federation, just as you, with your
advanced civilization, were invited to do."
While all this conversation was going on in low tones across the room,
George Hanlon sat by the side of his father's bed, almost in a trance,
so deep was his concentration.
From what he had learned while breaking past the disintegrating
barriers in Adwal Irad's mind, and from the techniques he had learned
to apply in his previous excursions into other minds, he now found
that, because his father was unconscious rather than merely asleep, he
could, in a way, by-pass those barriers and get down into the depths of
cell and gland in his father's mind and body, even though he could not
fully penetrate the block into the memories, nor control the elder's
actions.
Carefully Hanlon studied those depths, aided also by what he had
learned in his healing of the caval, and from his intensive studies of
human physiology and neurones and allied sciences. Using the totality
of his admittedly meager knowledge, yet guided by things no human
physician had so far learned, he at last began to trace the pattern of
how human cells, tissues and nerves regenerated themselves, and how new
blood leucocytes are made in the glands of the lymph and the spleen. He
was able to trace the connectors between the minute organisms and the
brain that directed their activities.
Then he set himself to the delicate task of activating those functions
to begin and hasten the healing process.
Hour after hour he sat there, oblivious to all else taking place around
him, his own body lolling almost lifelessly in the big chair while
all his mental powers were engaged in the monumental and hitherto
unheard-of task to which he had set himself.
The other three men concluded their conference at last, and got up,
stretching hugely to pull themselves more awake after their half-night
vigil.
Amir called in his servants, and ordered them to prepare and serve
breakfast here for himself and his guests. Inver ran back to his own
apartment to dress more completely for the day.
Hooper walked over to where Hanlon was sitting. "Asleep?" he
half-whispered, doubtful because of the way the young man's body was
sprawled in the deep chair.
George Hanlon stirred and sat up, flashing a smile. "You didn't need to
whisper, Curt," he said. "I wasn't asleep. Just been helping dad get
well."
The major stared at him in amazement. "What d'you mean?"
"You're half a doctor, Curt. Take a look at dad's wound."
Doubtfully, not fully understanding even yet what his companion meant,
Hooper removed the bandage. He stared unbelievingly at the wounded
shoulder. The deeper portions of that terrible burn were completely
regenerated with healthy tissue. There was no sign of inflammation,
no scarred tissue or fused flesh as usually shows in a fresh flamegun
burn. The upper parts of the injury, too, were already beginning to
heal toward the center.
"Why ... why," he was astounded. "That should've taken weeks. I never
knew a wound to heal that fast."
"I found out how to speed up the cells and things," Hanlon said simply.
Admiral Newton roused as they talked, perhaps at the touch of Hooper's
gentle hands removing the bandage. Now he opened his eyes, and after
a moment to realize his surroundings and recall the events of his
injuries, smiled at his co-workers.
"Hi, fellows. Everything under control?"
"Yes, sir, all O K," Hooper answered. "I think the Ruler is about ready
to sign up."
"Good. Good work. Say, I feel fine. No pain--yet I seem to have a
memory of being blasted ... of fainting." He frowned, then shrugged.
"Couldn't have been much after all."
"It was very bad, sir," Hooper assured him gravely. "The burn was
almost to the bone in your shoulder, and you lost a lot of blood. But
now the wound is over half-healed."
"Great John. How long was I out?"
"Only a few hours, dad," Hanlon said.
"Oh, you found the kit, then?"
"What kit?"
"There's a complete emergency medi-surgical kit under the seat in my
tricycle."
"Now he tells us," Hooper spread his hands and spoke in mock despair.
"Probably just as well," Hanlon said. "If we'd known about that I might
never have felt the necessity of discovering how to heal wounds as I
did."
"What're you talking about?" the admiral looked from one to the other
in perplexity.
"The kid's too modest to tell you, sir," Hooper broke in, ignoring
Hanlon's signal to keep quiet. "I don't pretend to know how he did it,
but somehow or other he managed, with his mind, to stimulate and speed
up the healing, so that at the rate it's been going, your wound should
be all well in another twenty-four hours. I'll bandage it up again, and
then, unless you're too weak, you can get up and help us eat breakfast
the Ruler is having sent up for us all."
Young Inver, who had returned to the bedroom, was standing there,
listening to all this. Now his expressive eyes lighted up, and he
touched Hanlon's arm. When the young S S man turned to face him, Inver
breathlessly asked, "Was that the way my caval got well so fast?"
Hanlon grinned at him. "I knew it was your favorite mount, and I didn't
want to see it destroyed."
He turned quickly back to help his father get up. The admiral found
that, while he was still a little shaky, he could stand up without
dizziness. The Ruler had sent his uniform jacket out to be cleaned
and mended, and this Newton donned. Soon the men were seated about
the table the servants had set up, eating the splendid breakfast they
brought and served.
Meantime, the five talked about the problem that so much interested
them all, and that meant so much to all the peoples of their worlds.
"Our Colonial and Survey Bureaus are constantly seeking throughout
space for other planets having intelligent races, and we feel sure
yours will not be the last we'll find," Admiral Newton told the Ruler
and his son. "It is egotistical and silly to think we Terrans are the
only civilized peoples in the universe."
"Chances are we'll find others who are as far ahead of us in
intelligence, science and technologies as you Estrellans are ahead of
us in ethics," Hanlon added honestly.
Amir and Inver looked up in astonishment at that simple statement.
"You ... you actually mean ... honestly ... that you Terrans do not
believe you are the highest form of life in the universe?" Inver put
their questioning into words.
"Great John, no!" Admiral Newton exploded. "Oh, I suppose," he added
more slowly, "that there are some earth people who may still feel that
way, but the majority of us do not, especially those who have travelled
at all extensively. We used to think that; used to believe, hundreds
of years ago, that we were the _only_ intelligent life in the cosmos.
But we know better now that we're spreading out. I, personally, have
been on at least six planets that contain intelligent life that did not
stem from Terra, although yours is the highest of the six, and none of
the rest are yet at the point where they can be asked to affiliate with
the Federation as equal members. But those others are being taught and
coached as best we can--and as much as they want to be. In a few more
generations they'll probably have reached the point where they will be
ready to be seriously considered for equality status with us, as far as
Federation membership is concerned."
"Just how do you determine the fitness of a race for membership in your
Federation?" Inver leaned forward, his expressive eyes questioning.
His father started to rebuke him for his forwardness, but the admiral
interrupted.
"No, that's a good question, and we're glad to answer it--just as
we're glad to answer _any_ questions to which we know the answers. As
to this one, we look first for signs of intelligence great enough to
enable the people to govern themselves without continual warfare," he
said earnestly. "Their knowledge of science and technology is not so
important, we feel, although their ability to learn is. Some races will
probably never have real need for machines of any sort--races like the
plant-men of Algon, where Captain Hanlon was recently instrumental in
freeing them from slavery."
He paused a moment to marshal his thoughts. "Then we look to see
if they are making a conscious effort to advance in education and
learning--no matter along what lines that may be," he continued.
"We study their knowledge of and interest in ethical matters--their
religion, and their belief in the general concept of right and wrong,
of decency and observance of the rights of others. If they have these
things, and have, above all, the desire and determination to continue
their cultural growth, then we consider them worthy of equal Federation
membership."
"And your wonderful people certainly measure up to all of those
concepts," Hanlon added sincerely.