As has been said, the Stretts were working, with all the intensity of
their monstrous but tremendously capable minds, upon their Great Plan;
which was, basically, to conquer and either enslave or destroy every
other intelligent race throughout all the length, breadth, and thickness
of total space. To that end each individual Strett had to become
invulnerable and immortal.
Wherefore, in the inconceivably remote past, there had been put into
effect a program of selective breeding and of carefully-calculated
treatments. It was mathematically certain that this program would result
in a race of beings of pure force--beings having no material
constituents remaining whatever.
Under those hellish treatments billions upon billions of Stretts had
died. But the few remaining thousands had almost reached their sublime
goal. In a few more hundreds of thousands of years perfection would be
reached. The few surviving hundreds of perfect beings could and would
multiply to any desired number in practically no time at all.
Hilton and his seven fellow-workers had perceived all this in their one
and only study of the planet Strett, and every other Ardan had been
completely informed.
A dozen or so Strett Lords of Thought, male and female, were floating
about in the atmosphere--which was not air--of their Assembly Hall. Their
heads were globes of ball lightning. Inside them could be seen quite
plainly the intricate convolutions of immense, less-than-half-material
brains, shot through and through with rods and pencils and shapes of
pure, scintillating force.
And the bodies! Or, rather, each horrendous brain had a few partially
material appendages and appurtenances recognizable as bodily organs.
There were no mouths, no ears, no eyes, no noses or nostrils, no lungs,
no legs or arms. There were, however, hearts. Some partially material
ichor flowed through those living-fire-outlined tubes. There were
starkly functional organs of reproduction with which, by no stretch of
the imagination, could any thought of tenderness or of love be
connected.
It was a good thing for the race, Hilton had thought at first perception
of the things, that the Stretts had bred out of themselves every iota of
the finer, higher attributes of life. If they had not done so, the
impotence of sheer disgust would have supervened so long since that the
race would have been extinct for ages.
"Thirty-eight periods ago the Great Brain was charged with the sum total
of Strettsian knowledge," First Lord Thinker Zoyar radiated to the
assembled Stretts. "For those thirty-eight periods it has been scanning,
peyondiring, amassing data and formulating hypotheses, theories, and
conclusions. It has just informed me that it is now ready to make a
preliminary report. Great Brain, how much of the total universe have you
studied?"
"This Galaxy only," the Brain radiated, in a texture of thought as hard
and as harsh as Zoyar's own.
"Why not more?"
"Insufficient power. My first conclusion is that whoever set up the
specifications for me is a fool."
* * * * *
To say that the First Lord went out of control at this statement is to
put it very mildly indeed. He fulminated, ending with: "... destroyed
instantly!"
"Destroy me if you like," came the utterly calm, utterly cold reply. "I
am in no sense alive. I have no consciousness of self nor any desire for
continued existence. To do so, however, would ..."
A flurry of activity interrupted the thought. Zoyar was in fact
assembling the forces to destroy the brain. But, before he could act,
Second Lord Thinker Ynos and another female blew him into a mixture of
loose molecules and flaring energies.
"Destruction of any and all irrational minds is mandatory," Ynos, now
First Lord Thinker, explained to the linked minds. "Zoyar had been
becoming less and less rational by the period. A good workman does not
causelessly destroy his tools. Go ahead, Great Brain, with your
findings."
"... not be logical." The brain resumed the thought exactly where it had
been broken off. "Zoyar erred in demanding unlimited performance, since
infinite knowledge and infinite ability require not only infinite
capacity and infinite power, but also infinite time. Nor is it either
necessary or desirable that I should have such qualities. There is no
reasonable basis for the assumption that you Stretts will conquer any
significant number even of the millions of intelligent races now
inhabiting this one Galaxy."
"Why not?" Ynos demanded, her thought almost, but not quite, as steady
and cold as it had been.
"The answer to that question is implicit in the second indefensible
error made in my construction. The prime datum impressed into my banks,
that the Stretts are in fact the strongest, ablest, most intelligent
race in the universe, proved to be false. I had to eliminate it before I
could do any really constructive thinking."
A roar of condemnatory thought brought all circumambient ether to a
boil. "Bah--destroy it!" "Detestable!" "Intolerable!" "If that is the
best it can do, annihilate it!" "Far better brains have been destroyed
for much less!" "Treason!" And so on.
First Lord Thinker Ynos, however, remained relatively calm. "While we
have always held it to be a fact that we are the highest race in
existence, no rigorous proof has been possible. Can you now disprove
that assumption?"
* * * * *
"I have disproved it. I have not had time to study all of the
civilizations of this Galaxy, but I have examined a statistically
adequate sample of one million seven hundred ninety-two thousand four
hundred sixteen different planetary intelligences. I found one which is
considerably abler and more advanced than you Stretts. Therefore the
probability is greater than point nine nine that there are not less than
ten, and not more than two hundred eight, such races in this Galaxy
alone."
"Impossible!" Another wave of incredulous and threatening anger swept
through the linked minds; a wave which Ynos flattened out with some
difficulty.
Then she asked: "Is it probable that we will make contact with this
supposedly superior race in the foreseeable future?"
"You are in contact with it now."
"_What?_" Even Ynos was contemptuous now. "You mean that one shipload of
despicable humans who--far too late to do them any good--barred us
temporarily from Fuel World?"
"Not exactly or only those humans, no. And your assumptions may or may
not be valid."
"Don't you _know_ whether they are or not?" Ynos snapped. "Explain your
uncertainty at once!"
"I am uncertain because of insufficient data," the brain replied,
calmly. "The only pertinent facts of which I am certain are: First, the
world Ardry, upon which the Omans formerly lived and to which the humans
in question first went--a planet which no Strett can peyondire--is now
abandoned. Second, the Stretts of old did not completely destroy the
humanity of the world Ardu. Third, some escapees from Ardu reached and
populated the world Ardry. Fourth, the android Omans were developed on
Ardry, by the human escapees from Ardu and their descendants. Fifth, the
Omans referred to those humans as 'Masters.' Sixth, after living on
Ardry for a very long period of time the Masters went elsewhere.
Seventh, the Omans remaining on Ardry maintained, continuously and for a
very long time, the status quo left by the Masters. Eighth, immediately
upon the arrival from Terra of these present humans, that long-existing
status was broken. Ninth, the planet called Fuel World is, for the first
time, surrounded by a screen of force. The formula of this screen is as
follows."
The brain gave it. No Strett either complained or interrupted. Each was
too busy studying that formula and examining its stunning implications
and connotations.
"Tenth, that formula is one full order of magnitude beyond anything
previously known to your science. Eleventh, it could not have been
developed by the science of Terra, nor by that of any other world whose
population I have examined."
* * * * *
The brain took the linked minds instantaneously to Terra; then to a few
thousand or so other worlds inhabited by human beings; then to a few
thousands of planets whose populations were near-human, non-human and
monstrous.
"It is therefore clear," it announced, "that this screen was computed
and produced by the race, whatever it may be, that is now dwelling on
Fuel World and asserting full ownership of it."
"Who or what _is_ that race?" Ynos demanded.
"Data insufficient."
"Theorize, then!"
"Postulate that the Masters, in many thousands of cycles of study, made
advances in science that were not reduced to practice; that the Omans
either possessed this knowledge or had access to it; and that Omans and
humans cooperated fully in sharing and in working with all the
knowledges thus available. From these three postulates the conclusion
can be drawn that there has come into existence a new race. One
combining the best qualities of both humans and Omans, but with the
weaknesses of neither."
"An unpleasant thought, truly," Ynos thought. "But you can now, I
suppose, design the generators and projectors of a force superior to
that screen."
"Data insufficient. I can equal it, since both generation and
projection are implicit in the formula. But the data so adduced are in
themselves vastly ahead of anything previously in my banks."
"Are there any other races in this Galaxy more powerful than the
postulated one now living on Fuel World?"
"Data insufficient."
"Theorize, then!"
"Data insufficient."
The linked minds concentrated upon the problem for a period of time that
might have been either days or weeks. Then:
"Great Brain, advise us," Ynos said. "What is best for us to do?"
"With identical defensive screens it becomes a question of relative
power. You should increase the size and power of your warships to
something beyond the computed probable maximum of the enemy. You should
build more ships and missiles than they will probably be able to build.
Then and only then will you attack their warships, in tremendous force
and continuously."
"But not their planetary defenses. I see." Ynos's thought was one of
complete understanding. "And the _real_ offensive will be?"
"No mobile structure can be built to mount mechanisms of power
sufficient to smash down by sheer force of output such tremendously
powerful installations as their planet-based defenses must be assumed
to be. Therefore the planet itself must be destroyed. This will require
a missile of planetary mass. The best such missile is the tenth planet
of their own sun."
* * * * *
"I see." Ynos's mind was leaping ahead, considering hundreds of
possibilities and making highly intricate and involved computations.
"That will, however, require many cycles of time and more power than
even our immense reserves can supply."
"True. It will take much time. The fuel problem, however, is not a
serious one, since Fuel World is not unique. Think on, First Lord Ynos."
"We will attack in maximum force and with maximum violence. We will
blanket the planet. We will maintain maximum force and violence until
most or all of the enemy ships have been destroyed. We will then install
planetary drives on Ten and force it into collision orbit with Fuel
World, meanwhile exerting extreme precautions that not so much as a
spy-beam emerges above the enemy's screen. Then, still maintaining
extreme precaution, we will guard both planets until the last possible
moment before the collision. Brain, it cannot fail!"
"You err. It can fail. All we actually know of the abilities of this
postulated neo-human race is what I have learned from the composition of
its defensive screen. The probability approaches unity that the Masters
continued to delve and to learn for millions of cycles while you
Stretts, reasonlessly certain of your supremacy, concentrated upon your
evolution from the material to a non-material form of life and performed
only limited research into armaments of greater and ever greater power."
"True. But that attitude was then justified. It was not and is not
logical to assume that any race would establish a fixed status at any
level of ability below its absolute maximum."
"While that conclusion could once have been defensible, it is now
virtually certain that the Masters had stores of knowledge which they
may or may not have withheld from the Omans, but which were in some way
made available to the neo-humans. Also, there is no basis whatever for
the assumption that this new race has revealed all its potentialities."
"Statistically, that is probably true. But this is the best plan you
have been able to formulate?"
"It is. Of the many thousands of plans I set up and tested, this one has
the highest probability of success."
"Then we will adopt it. We are Stretts. Whatever we decide upon will
be driven through to complete success. We have one tremendous advantage
in you."
[Illustration]
"Yes. The probability approaches unity that I can perform research on a
vastly wider and larger scale, and almost infinitely faster, than can
any living organism or any possible combination of such organisms."
* * * * *
Nor was the Great Brain bragging. It scanned in moments the stored
scientific knowledge of over a million planets. It tabulated,
correlated, analyzed, synthesized, theorized and concluded--all in
microseconds of time. Thus it made more progress in one Terran week than
the Masters had made in a million years.
When it had gone as far as it could go, it reported its results--and the
Stretts, hard as they were and intransigent, were amazed and overjoyed.
Not one of them had ever even imagined such armaments possible. Hence
they became supremely confident that it was unmatched and unmatchable
throughout all space.
What the Great Brain did not know, however, and the Stretts did not
realize, was that it could not really think.
Unlike the human mind, it could not deduce valid theories or conclusions
from incomplete, insufficient, fragmentary data. It could not leap
gaps. Thus there was no more actual assurance than before that they had
exceeded, or even matched, the weaponry of the neo-humans of Fuel World.
Supremely confident, Ynos said: "We will now discuss every detail of the
plan in sub-detail, and will correlate every sub-detail with every
other, to the end that every action, however minor, will be performed
perfectly and in its exact time."
That discussion, which lasted for days, was held. Hundreds of thousands
of new and highly specialized mechs were built and went furiously and
continuously to work. A fuel-supply line was run to another
uranexite-rich planet.
Stripping machines stripped away the surface layers of soil, sand, rock
and low-grade ore. Giant miners tore and dug and slashed and refined and
concentrated. Storage silos by the hundreds were built and were filled.
Hundreds upon hundreds of concentrate-carriers bored their stolid ways
through hyperspace. Many weeks of time passed.
But of what importance are mere weeks of time to a race that has, for
many millions of years, been adhering rigidly to a pre-set program?
The sheer magnitude of the operation, and the extraordinary attention to
detail with which it was prepared and launched, explain why the Strett
attack on Ardvor did not occur until so many weeks later than Hilton and
Sawtelle expected it. They also explain the utterly incomprehensible
fury, the completely fantastic intensity, the unparalleled savagery, the
almost immeasurable brute power of that attack when it finally did come.
* * * * *
When the _Orion_ landed on Ardane Field from Earth, carrying the first
contingent of immigrants, Hilton and Sawtelle were almost as much
surprised as relieved that the Stretts had not already attacked.
Sawtelle, confident that his defenses were fully ready, took it more or
less in stride. Hilton worried. And after a couple of days he began to
do some real thinking about it.
The first result of his thinking was a conference with Temple. As soon
as she got the drift, she called in Teddy and Big Bill Karns. Teddy in
turn called in Becky and de Vaux; Karns wanted Poynter and Beverly;
Poynter wanted Braden and the twins; and so on. Thus, what started out
as a conference of two became a full Ardan staff meeting; a meeting
which, starting immediately after lunch, ran straight through into the
following afternoon.
"To sum up the consensus, for the record," Hilton said then, studying a
sheet of paper covered with symbols, "the Stretts haven't attacked yet
because they found out that we are stronger than they are. They found
that out by analyzing our defensive web--which, if we had had this
meeting first, we wouldn't have put up at all. Unlike anything known to
human or previous Strett science, it is proof against any form of attack
up to the limit of the power of its generators. They will attack as soon
as they are equipped to break that screen at the level of power probable
to our ships. We can not arrive at any reliable estimate as to how long
that will take.
"As to the effectiveness of our cutting off their known fuel supply,
opinion is divided. We must therefore assume that fuel shortage will not
be a factor.
"Neither are we unanimous on the basic matter as to why the Masters
acted as they did just before they left Ardry. Why did they set the
status so far below their top ability? Why did they make it impossible
for the Omans ever, of themselves, to learn their higher science? Why,
if they did not want that science to become known, did they leave
complete records of it? The majority of us believe that the Masters
coded their records in such fashion that the Stretts, even if they
conquered the Omans or destroyed them, could never break that code;
since it was keyed to the basic difference between the Strett mentality
and the human. Thus, they left it deliberately for some human race to
find.
"Finally, and most important, our physicists and theoreticians are not
able to extrapolate, from the analysis of our screen, to the concepts
underlying the Masters' ultimate weapons of offense, the first-stage
booster and its final end-product, the Vang. If, as we can safely
assume, the Stretts do not already have those weapons, they will know
nothing about them until we ourselves use them in battle.
"These are, of course, only the principal points covered. Does anyone
wish to amend this summation as recorded?"
* * * * *
No one did.
The meeting was adjourned. Hilton, however, accompanied Sawtelle and
Kedy to the captain's office. "So you see, Skipper, we got troubles," he
said. "If we don't use those boosters against their skeletons it'll boil
down to a stalemate lasting God only knows how long. It will be a war of
attrition, outcome dependent on which side can build the most and
biggest and strongest ships the fastest. On the other hand, if we _do_
use 'em on defense here, they'll analyze 'em and have everything worked
out in a day or so. The first thing they'll do is beef up their
planetary defenses to match. That way, we'd blow all their ships out of
space, probably easily enough, but Strett itself will be just as safe as
though it were in God's left-hand hip pocket. So what's the answer?"
"It isn't that simple, Jarve," Sawtelle said. "Let's hear from you,
Kedy."
"Thank you, sir. There is an optimum mass, a point of maximum efficiency
of firepower as balanced against loss of maneuverability, for any craft
designed for attack," Kedy thought, in his most professional manner. "We
assume that the Stretts know that as well as we do. No such limitation
applies to strictly defensive structures, but both the Strett craft and
ours must be designed for attack. We have built and are building many
hundreds of thousands of ships of that type. So, undoubtedly, are the
Stretts. Ship for ship, they will be pretty well matched. Therefore one
part of my strategy will be for two of our ships to engage
simultaneously one of theirs. There is a distinct probability that we
will have enough advantage in speed of control to make that tactic
operable."
"But there's another that we won't," Sawtelle objected. "And maybe they
can build more ships than we can."
"Another point is that they may build, in addition to their big stuff, a
lot of small, ultra-fast ones," Hilton put in. "Suicide jobs--crash and
detonate--simply super-missiles. How sure are you that you can stop such
missiles with ordinary beams?"
"Not at all, sir. Some of them would of course reach and destroy some of
our ships. Which brings up the second part of my strategy. For each one
of the heavies, we are building many small ships of the type you just
called 'super-missiles'."
"Superdreadnoughts versus superdreadnoughts, super-missiles versus
super-missiles." Hilton digested that concept for several minutes. "That
could still wind up as a stalemate, except for what you said about
control. That isn't much to depend on, especially since we won't have
the time-lag advantage you Omans had before. They'll see to that. Also,
I don't like to sacrifice a million Omans, either."
* * * * *
"I haven't explained the newest development yet, sir. There will be no
Omans. Each ship and each missile has a built-in Kedy brain, sir."
"_What?_ That makes it infinitely worse. You Kedys, unless it's
absolutely necessary, are _not_ expendable!"
"Oh, but we are, sir. You don't quite understand. We Kedys are not
merely similar, but are in fact identical. Thus we are not independent
entities. All of us together make up the actual Kedy--that which is
meant when we say 'I'. That is, I am the sum total of all Kedys
everywhere, not merely this individual that you call Kedy One."
"You mean you're _all_ talking to me?"
"Exactly, sir. Thus, no one element of the Kedy has any need of, or any
desire for, self-preservation. The destruction of one element, or of
thousands of elements, would be of no more consequence to the Kedy than
... well, they are strictly analogous to the severed ends of the hairs,
every time you get a haircut."
"My God!" Hilton stared at Sawtelle. Sawtelle stared back. "I'm
beginning to see ... maybe ... I hope. What control that would be! But
just in case we _should_ have to use the boosters...." Hilton's voice
died away. Scowling in concentration, he clasped his hands behind his
back and began to pace the floor.
"Better give up, Jarve. Kedy's got the same mind you have," Sawtelle
began, to Hilton's oblivious back; but Kedy silenced the thought almost
in the moment of its inception.
"By no means, sir," he contradicted. "I have the brain only. The _mind_
is entirely different."
"Link up, Kedy, and see what you think of this," Hilton broke in. There
ensued an interchange of thought so fast and so deeply mathematical that
Sawtelle was lost in seconds. "Do you think it'll work?"
"I don't see how it can fail, sir. At what point in the action should it
be put into effect? And will you call the time of initiation, or shall
I?"
"Not until all their reserves are in action. Or, at worst, all of ours
except that one task-force. Since you'll know a lot more about the
status of the battle than either Sawtelle or I will, you give the signal
and I'll start things going."
"What are you two talking about?" Sawtelle demanded.
"It's a long story, chum. Kedy can tell you about it better than I can.
Besides, it's getting late and Dark Lady and Larry both give me hell
every time I hold supper on plus time unless there's a mighty good
reason for it. So, so long, guys."