They were all very polite and pleasant, very professional and
efficient. First we were bathed; then blood tests were made, our hearts
examined, our blood pressure taken, our reflexes checked. After that we
were ushered into a large room where five men sat behind a long table.
Ero Shan accompanied us throughout the examination. Like the others,
he was always pleasant and friendly. He encouraged us to hope that we
would pass the examination successfully. Even yet I did not understand
what it was all about. I asked Ero Shan.
"Your companion remarked upon the beauty of Havatoo and its people," he
replied. "This examination is the explanation of that beauty--and of
many other things here which you do not yet know of."
The five men seated behind the long table were quite as pleasant as any
of the others we had met. They questioned us rapidly for fully an hour
and then dismissed us. From the questions propounded I judged that one
of them was a biologist, another a psychologist, one a chemist, the
fourth a physicist, and the fifth a soldier.
"Korgan Sentar Ero Shan," said he who appeared to be the head of the
examining board, "you will take custody of the man until the result of
the examination is announced. Hara Es will take charge of the girl."
He indicated a woman who had entered the room with us and had been
standing beside Nalte.
The latter pressed closer to me. "Oh, Carson! They are going to
separate us," she whispered.
I turned toward Ero Shan to expostulate, but he motioned me to be
silent. "You will have to obey," he said, "but I think you have no
reason to worry."
Then Nalte was led away by Hara Es, and Ero Shan took me with him. A
car was waiting for Ero Shan, and in it we were driven into a district
of beautiful homes. Presently the car drew up in front of one of these
and stopped.
"This is my home," said my companion. "You will be my guest here
until the result of the examination is announced. I wish you to enjoy
yourself while you are with me. Do not worry; it will do no good. Nalte
is safe. She will be well cared for."
"At least they have provided me with a beautiful prison and a pleasant
jailer," I remarked.
"Please do not think of yourself as a prisoner," begged Ero Shan. "It
will make us both unhappy, and unhappiness is not to be tolerated in
Havatoo."
"I am far from unhappy," I assured him. "On the contrary, I am greatly
enjoying the experience, but I still cannot understand what crime is
charged against Nalte and me that we should have been put on trial for
our lives."
"It was not you who were on trial; it was your heredity," he explained.
"An answer," I assured him, "that leaves me as much at sea as I was
before."
* * * * *
We had entered the house as we were conversing, and I found myself
amid as lovely surroundings as I have ever seen. Good taste and good
judgment had evidently dictated, not only the design of the house,
but its appointments as well. From the entrance there was a vista of
shrubbery and flowers and trees in a beautiful garden at the end of a
wide hall.
It was to this garden that Ero Shan led me and then to an apartment
that opened upon it.
"You will find everything here for your convenience and comfort," he
said. "I shall detail a man to wait upon you; he will be courteous and
efficient. But he will also be responsible for your presence when it is
again required at the Central Laboratories.
"And now," he said, seating himself in a chair near a window, "let me
try to answer your last question more explicitly."
"Havatoo and the race that inhabits it are the result of generations
of scientific culture. Originally we were a people ruled by hereditary
jongs that various factions sought to dominate for their own enrichment
and without consideration for the welfare of the remainder of the
people.
"If we had a good jong who was also a strong character we were well
ruled; otherwise the politicians misruled us. Half of our people lived
in direst poverty, in vice, in filth; and they bred like flies. The
better classes, refusing to bring children into such a world, dwindled
rapidly. Ignorance and mediocrity ruled.
"Then a great jong came to the throne. He abrogated all existing
laws and government and vested both in himself. Two titles have been
conferred upon him--one while he lived, the other after his death. The
first was Mankar the Bloody; the second, Mankar the Savior.
"He was a great warrior, and he had the warrior class behind him. With
what seemed utter ruthlessness he wiped out the politicians, and to the
positions many of them had filled he appointed the greatest minds of
Havatoo--physicists, biologists, chemists, and psychologists.
"He encouraged the raising of children by people whom these scientists
passed as fit to raise children, and he forbade all others to bear
children. He saw to it that the physically, morally, or mentally
defective were rendered incapable of bringing their like into the
world; and no defective infant was allowed to live.
"Then, before his death, he created a new form of government--a
government without laws and without a king. He abdicated his throne
and relinquished the destinies of Havatoo to a quintumvirate that but
guides and judges.
"Of these five men one is a sentar (biologist), one an ambad
(psychologist), one a kalto (chemist), one a kantum (physicist),
and one a korgan (soldier). This quintumvirate is called Sanjong
(literally, five-king), and the fitness of its members to serve is
determined by examinations similar to that which was given you. These
examinations are held every two years. Any citizen may take them; any
citizen may become one of the Sanjong. It is the highest honor to which
a citizen of Havatoo may win, and he may only achieve it through actual
merit."
"And these men make the laws and administer justice," I remarked.
* * * * *
Ero Shan shook his head. "There are no laws in Havatoo," he replied.
"During the many generations since Mankar we have bred a race of
rational people who know the difference between right and wrong, and
for such no rules of behavior are necessary. The Sanjong merely guides."
"Do you have any difficulty in finding the proper men to form the
Sanjong?" I asked.
"None whatever. There are thousands of men in Havatoo capable of
serving with honor and distinction. There is a tendency to breed
Sanjongs among five of the six classes into which the people of Havatoo
are naturally divided.
"When you become more familiar with the city you will discover that
the semicircular area facing the Central Laboratories is divided into
five sections. The section next to the river and above the Central
Laboratories is called Kantum. Here reside the physicists. There are
no caste distinctions between the physicists and any of the other five
classes, but because they all live in the same district and because
their interests are alike there is a greater tendency for them to
associate with one another than with members of other classes. The
result is that they more often mate with their own kind--the laws
of heredity do the rest, and the breed of physicists in Havatoo is
constantly improving.
"The next district is Kalto; here live the chemists. The center
district is Korgan, the district in which I dwell. It is reserved
for the warrior class. Next comes Ambad, the section where the
psychologists live; and, last, Sentar, for the biologists, lies along
the water front and down the river from the Central Laboratories.
"Havatoo is laid out like the half of a wagon wheel, with the Central
Laboratories at the hub. The main sections of the city are bounded by
four concentric semicircles. Inside the first is the civic center,
where the Central Laboratories are situated; this I have called the
hub. Between this and the next semicircle lie the five sub districts
I have just described. Between this and the third semicircle lies the
largest district, called Yorgan; here dwell the common people. And in
the fourth section, a narrow strip just inside the outer wall, are the
shops, markets, and factories."
"It is all most interesting," I said, "and to me the most interesting
part of it is that the city is governed without laws."
"Without man-made laws," Ero Shan corrected me. "We are governed by
natural laws with which all intelligent people are conversant. Of
course occasionally a citizen commits an act that is harmful to another
or to the peace of the city, for the genes of vicious and nonconformist
characteristics have not all been eradicated from the germ cells of all
of the citizens of Havatoo.
"If one commits an act that is subversive of the rights of others or of
the general welfare of the community he is tried by a court that is
not hampered by technicalities nor precedent, and which, taking into
consideration all of the facts in the case, including the heredity of
the defendant, reaches a decision that is final and without appeal."
"It seems rather drastic to punish a man for the acts of his
ancestors," I remarked.
"But let me remind you that we do not punish," explained Ero Shan.
"We only seek to improve the race to the end that we shall attain the
greatest measure of happiness and contentment."
"Havatoo, with no bad people in it, must be an ideal city in which to
live," I said.
"Oh, there are some bad people," replied Ero Shan, "for there are
bad genes in all of us; but we are a very intelligent race, and the
more intelligent people are the better able are they to control their
bad impulses. Occasionally strangers enter Havatoo, bad men from the
city across the river. How they accomplish it is a mystery that has
never been solved, but we know that they come and steal a man or a
woman occasionally. Sometimes we catch them, and when we do we destroy
them. Rarely, our own people commit crimes, usually crimes of passion;
but occasionally one commits a premeditated crime. The latter are a
menace to the race and are not permitted to survive and transmit their
characteristics to future generations or influence the present by their
bad examples."
* * * * *
As he ceased speaking a very powerfully built man came to the door of
the room. "You sent for me, Korgan Sentar Ero Shan?" he asked.
"Come in, Herlak," said Ero Shan. Then he turned to me. "Herlak will
serve and guard you until the result of the examination is announced.
You will find him an efficient and pleasant companion.
"Herlak," he continued, addressing my guard, "this man is a stranger
in Havatoo. He has just been before the examining board. You will be
responsible for him until the board's decision has been announced. His
name is Carson Napier."
The man inclined his head. "I understand," he said.
"You will both dine with me in an hour," Ero Shan announced as he took
his departure.
"If you would like to rest before dinner," said Herlak, "there is a
couch in the next room."
I went in and lay down, and Herlak came and sat in a chair in the same
room. It was evident that he was not going to let me get out of his
sight. I was tired, but not sleepy; so I started a conversation with
Herlak.
"Are you employed in Ero Shan's house?" I asked.
"I am a soldier in the unit he commands," he explained.
"An officer?"
"No, a common soldier."
"But he asked you to dine with him. In my world officers do not mingle
socially with common soldiers."
Herlak laughed. "Similar social conditions prevailed in Havatoo ages
ago," he said, "but not now. There are no social distinctions. We are
all far too intelligent, too cultured, and too sure of ourselves to
need artificial conventions to determine our importance. Whether a man
cleans a street or is a member of the Sanjong is not so important as is
how he performs the duties of his position, his civic morality, and his
culture.
"In a city where all are intelligent and cultured all men must be more
or less companionable, and an officer suffers no loss of authority by
mingling with his men socially."
"But don't the soldiers take advantage of this familiarity to impose
upon their officers?" I asked.
Herlak looked his surprise. "Why should they?" he demanded. "They know
their duties as well as the officer knows his; and it is the aim in
life of every good citizen to do his duty, not to evade it."
I shook my head as I thought of the mess that Earthmen have made of
government and civilization by neglecting to apply to the human race
the simple rules which they observe to improve the breeds of dogs and
cows and swine.
"Do the various classes mingle to the extent of inter-marrying?" I
asked.
"Of course," replied Herlak. "It is thus that we maintain the high
moral and mental standards of the people. Were it otherwise, the
yorgans must deteriorate while the several other classes diverged so
greatly from one another that eventually they would have nothing in
common and no basis for mutual understanding and regard."
* * * * *
We talked of many things during that hour while we awaited dinner, and
this common soldier of Havatoo discussed the sciences and the arts with
far greater understanding and appreciation than I myself possessed. I
asked him if he was particularly well educated, and he said that he was
not--that all the men and women of Havatoo were schooled alike to a
certain point, when a series of elaborate examinations determined the
calling for which they were best fitted and in which they would find
the greatest happiness.
"But where do you find your street cleaners?" I asked.
"You speak as though some reproach might attach to that calling," he
remonstrated.
"But it is work that many might find distasteful," I argued.
"Necessary and useful work is never distasteful to the man best fitted
to do it. Of course, highly intelligent people prefer creative work,
and so these necessary but more or less mechanical duties, which,
by the way, are usually done by means of mechanical contrivances in
Havatoo, never become the permanent calling of any man. Any one can do
them; so every one takes his turn--that is, every one in the yorgan
class. It is his contribution to the public welfare--a tax paid in
useful labor."
And now a girl came to summon us to dinner. She was a very lovely girl;
her saronglike garment was of fine material, her ornaments of great
beauty.
"A member of Ero Shan's family?" I asked Herlak after she had left.
"She is employed in his house," replied Herlak. "Korgan Sentar Ero Shan
has no family."
I had heard this Korgan Sentar title attached to Ero Shan's name
previously, and had wondered relative to its significance. The two
words mean warrior biologist, but they made no sense to me as a title.
I questioned Herlak concerning them as we crossed the garden in
response to the summons to dinner.
"The title means that he is both a warrior and a biologist; he has
passed examinations admitting him to both classes. The fact that he is
a member of one of the other four classes as well as a Korgan makes
him an officer and eligible to the title. We common soldiers would not
care to serve under any but a brilliant man; and believe me it takes a
brilliant man to pass the entrance examination to any of the scientific
classes, for he has to pass creditably even in the three to which he is
not seeking elevation."
Herlak led me to a large apartment where I saw Ero Shan, three
other men, and six women laughing and talking together. There was a
suggestion of a lull in the conversation as we entered the room, and
interested glances were cast in my direction. Ero Shan came forward to
meet me and then introduced me to the others.
I should have enjoyed that dinner, with its marvelous food and
sparkling conversation, and the kindness showed me by the other guests,
but I could not rid my mind of a suspicion that their kindness might be
prompted by pity--that they might share my doubt as to my ability to
pass the hereditary test.
They knew, as well as I did, that the shadow of death was hovering over
me. I thought of Duare, and hoped she was safe.