Ileth giggled again nervously.
* * * * *
Saxon gave a short laugh. He had a feeling that he had been stuffed too
full of information. He couldn't digest it. In spite of the suspicions
he had entertained concerning his birth, he was unable to really
believe that he was an Alien!
He glanced suddenly at Ileth. The girl had shrunk away from him as if
he were a leper. Her hazel-green eyes were horrified. All at once, she
began to cry.
Saxon tried to pat her shoulder, but she wrenched away. The action
drove a needle of pain into his heart. He realized in a numbed fashion
how fond he had grown of the girl.
"Fond, hell!" he thought savagely, "I'm in love with her."
"My son," came the hated voice of the Moderator, "she is not for you."
"What do you mean?" Saxon shouted.
The Moderator regarded him a moment, his eyes veiled. Then, "The
psychologist is ready to give you his report. As a true human, you have
the right to hear it."
A shriveled, wrinkled man at the end of the table began to address
Saxon in a dry voice.
"I've been probing your reactions as the truth was revealed to you.
You can understand the importance of an accurate judgment, when you
know that the fate of our experiment rests on the manner in which you
conformed to a humanoid environment."
"Experiment be damned!" Saxon flung out "What about me?"
The psychologist permitted himself a vague smile. "Your reactions have
been typically humanoid.
"You have been bewildered, frightened, angry.
"You tried to think first of some way by which you could destroy us.
Failing that, you cast about in your mind for some compromise which
would cause us to hold our hand until we could be either conquered or
wiped out--preferably wiped out. These are typically humanoid reactions
to a dangerous foe.
"Under the circumstances we can preserve our experiment if we can
modify the humanoids' environment."
Saxon felt relief. Whatever the Aliens planned, they weren't going to
destroy mankind.
The psychologist having delivered his report, the Moderator resumed,
"It is unfortunate in a way for you, my son, that the test has been so
favorable to the humanoids.
"They live and die so fast that in a few generations we can correct
their savage dispositions.
"But you have solidified in the humanoid mould. You will have to
undergo a dangerous operation. Our psychologist must induce infantile
retrogression in you. When you have been reduced mentally, to the age
of eleven, then your re-education can begin.
"I'll be perfectly frank. You have about one chance in ten of retaining
your sanity. The danger lies in that retrogression once activated in
your brain cells. It cannot always be halted."