[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1948.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Thomas Barden slept fitfully. The dream was not nightmare, but it
was annoying. It was like the important thought that does not quite
struggle up through into consciousness but which remains unformed
though the mind is aware of the hidden importance. It was like trying
to read small print through a silk screen or to see fine detail through
a sheet of florentine glass.
Furthermore it was recurring.
Strangely, Tom Barden seemed to know that there was something strange
about the dream, that it was more than just the ramblings of the
subconscious mind. He knew that there was something to be gained
by permitting the dream to run while he watched, so to speak. But
the trouble was that the dream could not run so long as he remained
cognizant enough in sleep to make mental notes. When he slept deep
enough to permit the strange dream, he was deep enough to lose track of
the delicate, and so very alien, train of thought.
The fitful sleep itself was a contributing factor to ultimate success.
Since he slept not, he became drowsily tired and found himself lying
wide awake time and again with strange semi-daydreams in which
conscious thought and dream intermingled in a bizarre fantasy of fact
and fiction.
He had been asleep or awake for hours. It was nearing four o'clock in
the morning when Tom Barden slipped into a prolonged half-sleep and the
dream, as it had before, came again.
He slipped into sleep and in dream, he saw himself luxuriously lounging
on a broad couch. Above his head was a draped canopy of silk, its
draped folds hanging low in a gorgeous pattern of silken folds. It was
gently tinted in delicate colors that blended in a complete lack of
regular pattern. It seemed more beautiful for lacking pattern than it
could have been with any regularity.
It was none-ending, that canopy. From the draped dome above his couch
the silken cyclorama fell in a colorful swirl to the floor where it
folded over and over somewhere miles below the couch.
He--was isolated. He was protected. No intrusion could come even though
Thomas Barden wanted the intrusion. Certainly if he denied entry,
nothing could enter.
And yet he knew that beyond the many layers of flowing silk there was
something demanding entry. He could not see nor hear the would-be
intruder. He could not even see motion of the silk to show that there
was such a being. Yet he seemed to sense it.
And when, finally, the intruder breached the outer layers of shrouding
silk, Tom Barden knew it and was glad. Course after course of silken
screen was opened by the intruder until finally the silk parted before
his eyes and there entered--
Sentience!
* * * * *
It was without form and void.
But it was sentience and it was there for a definite purpose. It came
and it hovered over Thomas Barden's broad couch and its thoughts were
apparent. It was in communication with another sentience outside--
"I am in."
"Good," was the mental reply, also clear to Thomas Barden. It was
not a direct communication from the other. It came relayed through
the sentience above his bed, and since he was in direct mental
communication with the other, thought and reply were clear also to
Barden. "Good," replied the other. "Be quick and be thorough. We may
never return!"
"You, sentience, listen for we have too little time. Those of your
system are numbered in the billions, and, of them all, you are the only
one we have been able to contact though we have tried constantly for
several years.
"As I communicate with you, your subconscious mind is being filled with
a specialized knowledge of a science new to you. This science is not
foreign to you, for it would normally follow the paths of discovery,
yet you are not quite ready to discover it for yourselves. We give it
to you, knowing that it will only speed up your advancement and it
will not cause a passed-over space in the normal trend of advancing
technology."
"Why are you giving this to us?" demanded Barden.
"A natural caution. You fear the complete altruist. I'll explain. This
science will enable you to develop your spacecraft drive into a means
of interstellar travel. This science is known to us. We are using
it now. However, there is a political difficulty on our world. We
have two factions. One faction wants conquest and subjugation of all
systems that are less fortunate in their sociological and technological
development. The other faction believes that any kind of subjugation of
another people will lead to war upon war in pyramiding terror. I and my
friends are members of this second belief. Since the first group has
control, they are preparing to sweep out from our system with their
ideal in force. The only way that subjugation of your race, complete
with the attending strife, may be stopped is for you to have the same
technological developments. Once you meet us as an equal, thoughts of
enslaving you can not exist."
"Logical," admitted Barden.
"This science is entering your subconscious mind. It will not be clear
to you for many days. I'd suggest rest and contemplation, but not heavy
concentration. Learning is a matter of accepting facts and filing them
logically in the subconscious mind. Unlike a course of study where fact
follows fact, this knowledge is being poured in at high speed. Your
subconscious mind is very much like a librarian who has just received a
complete file of facts on a new world. Unfortunately these facts must
be evaluated in terms of your own world and your own thought. After
evaluation, they must be filed in the proper order. The subconscious
never sleeps, but it will take time before the logical order is
complete. At that time you will be able to speak with authority on the
subject."
"I hope," replied Barden.
"You must! For we have had enough of war and talk of war. War is never
fought between peoples who respect one another's ability. Take this
knowledge and use it. And some day when you get the honest chance, pass
it along to another race so that all men can be equal throughout the
galaxy!"