Chapter 2

 For a moment it was silent in the room, except for the sound of the electricians outside the door. "Goddamit," said an electrician. "You can't use that hookup on the Y-circuit. You'll cut out the monitors."

Ralph Rodkey tiptoed to the bedroom door and closed it.

"Surely you're joking," said Dr. Bruber. "Quite a sense of humor. Ha-Ha."

"No, I'm not. We discovered there was at least one habitable planet here—and where there are habitable planets, there are likely to be human beings. Human beings are dangerous."

Rodkey cleared his throat. "Gentlemen. Far be it from me to interfere¹ in a scientific discussion like this, but if I were you I'd try another tack². A large number of our viewers might not understand it."

"You think it would be better, perhaps, if we killed them all without warning?" Olbu said, turning toward the director.

"Really, Mr. Olbu," said Rodkey. "You don't intend to blot³ us out, do you?"

"That decision is hardly mine to make," said Olbu. "I'll have to report to my superiors. If you're dangerous, you'll have to be erased⁴, and there's nothing that can be done about it."

"Excuse me a moment." Rodkey rose, went to the phone and ordered liquor sent up to the room. He hung up the receiver. "I think it's best that we make your stay here a pleasant one, Olbu."

"If you intend to bribe⁵ me, I'm afraid you'll have no success," said Olbu. "I was chosen because I am impeccable."

"I'm quite sure of it," said Dr. Bruber. "And perhaps there is something in your premise⁶ that not all human beings are desirable. I should like to know how Earth is making out."

Olbu shrugged⁷ his shoulders. "So far I've seen nothing worth saving," he said. "You're a vain lot. You're trivial. You have no respect for the dignity of Man. And your worst fault is ambition. I suppose you have wars?"

"Not for a long time. Two or three years anyhow," said Rodkey.

"How long is a year? Ah yes, I forgot. It is the period of the planet on its journey around the sun. And how long does that take? One year. The usual nonsensical way you have of defining things. You don't even know how to measure time."

"How very interesting!" exclaimed Dr. Bruber. "Actually it never occurred to me that there might be an absolute method of measuring time. What is it?"

"It's the Mpto. Forty-three and a third Mptos make an Anup, and twelve million Anups make a Zorex. It's a lot simpler than seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and so on."

"Yes, I see," said Dr. Bruber. "But getting back to our topic. Just what should we have that would make us worth saving?"

"Stability," said Olbu. "Earthmen lack stability."

"Don't you think you should talk more about your trip?" Rodkey asked. "How did Saturn⁸ look when you passed it?"

"Saturn wasn't in the right place to be seen at all," Dr. Bruber said. "But you did see Pluto⁹. How did it look?"

"There was nothing about it and it looked awful," said Olbu.

"I hate to be injecting my own personal ideas into this conversation," said Rodkey, "because after all, I know nothing about science. But don't you suppose it would please our viewers if we talked more about space flight than about the destruction of the human race?"

"You see," said Olbu to Dr. Bruber. "That's what I mean. No stability."

"After all, the poor man doesn't want to lose his job," Bruber explained. "I'd say that was a desire to be stable."

"If he's going to be dead, which he will be when I get word from my superiors, he'll lose his job whether he wants to or not," said Olbu.

"I'll go along with a joke as well as anyone," said Rodkey, "but gentlemen, we've only got twelve minutes till we go on the air. Now let's cut out this nonsense about destroying Earth and talk about something pleasant."

"Certainly," said Dr. Bruber. "What planet did you come from?"

"Xvik," said Olbu. "It's the fourth planet of a star you call GC1242."

"Good old GC1242!" said Dr. Bruber.

"Oh, you know that star?"

"Yes, it's a minor¹⁰ variable loosely attached to Lyra."

"There's nothing loose about my star," said Olbu.

"I'm sure Dr. Bruber didn't mean it that way," said Rodkey hastily. He looked nervously¹¹ at Dr. Bruber. "Did you, doctor?"

"That's one of the things I don't know," he said, wiping his glasses on his handkerchief. "Tell me, Olbu, if you should decide we aren't worth saving, how would you communicate with your superiors, considering they're 32 light years away. Wouldn't it take 64 years—thirty-two going and thirty-two coming—to get a message through?"

"Oh, no! I communicate by instantaneous telepathy," said Olbu. "It's much faster than energy forms of communication."

"I wish you'd talk about something else," said Rodkey. "Only ten minutes to go."

Dr. Bruber disregarded the request. "I don't know why people on a planet 32 light years away should consider Earth dangerous."

"Oh, Earth isn't. It's only the people on it," said Olbu.

"How do you know about the people?"

"We have a method of enlarging telescopic photos to bring out every detail. We know all about Man, we've watched you from the days when your ancestors lived in caves."

"Goodness! You know more about us than we know ourselves."

"Why don't you tell our viewers about that!" exclaimed Rodkey.

"Yes," went on Olbu, who also seemed to have forgotten the existence of Rodkey, "we saw your ancestors fight with sticks and stones. We saw them use spears, then gunpowder¹². Then we saw the atom bomb and the Council decided¹³ to send me to see if anything could be salvaged¹⁴."

"But the bomb was 200 years ago," said Dr. Bruber.

"Twelve Zorax," corrected Olbu. "I've been on the way here for twelve Zorax—or if you will—thirty-two light years, two hundred time years."

"Surely the atom bomb can't affect your existence when we don't even have space flight," said Dr. Bruber.

"My race has developed a type of logic¹⁵ that can look into the future," said Olbu. "We know that certain patterns develop from past events. In your case, you'll follow the Atom bomb with the Hydrogen bomb, and the Hydrogen bomb with the Cobalt bomb—"

"We have them both."

"Ah! You see. Our logical foresight¹⁶ is infallible," said Olbu. "Next you'll wipe out nations; when only one is left, you'll fight neighboring planets. Since you haven't any inhabited near neighbors, you'll have to invade Alpha Centauri. After that you'll battle with other stars, until you've conquered the cluster, then the galaxy¹⁷, finally the universe. It's a very unstable¹⁸ state of affairs."

Slowly Dr. Bruber nodded. "You're right. I never realized where science was taking us. You have something ready to wipe us out with?"

"Yes," said Olbu. "Just beyond the moon, circling the Earth and the moon as a satellite, is a missile which I can bring here by instantaneous telepathy, as soon as I have my orders from my superior."

"I trust you'll postpone¹⁹ the fateful message until after our telecast?"

Olbu smiled graciously. "A dying man is usually granted his last request."

"Gentlemen," said Rodkey, wiping his brow with a damp handkerchief, "they're waiting for us in the next room. We're on in a minute." He opened the door, allowed Olbu to pass through first, and then whispered to Dr. Bruber. "I guess my job doesn't matter now. At least we'll scoop²⁰ the other networks on the end of the world."

"Tish, tosh, old man," said Dr. Bruber. "Your job's safe and so is the world. But if I should resort to murder in the next fifteen minutes, I hope you'll testify in my behalf."

1 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

2 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

3 blot   

vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍

参考例句：

• That new factory is a blot on the landscape.那新建的工厂破坏了此地的景色。
• The crime he committed is a blot on his record.他犯的罪是他的履历中的一个污点。

4 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

6 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

7 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

9 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

10 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

11 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

12 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 salvaged   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• The investigators studied flight recorders salvaged from the wreckage. 调查者研究了从飞机残骸中找到的黑匣子。
• The team's first task was to decide what equipment could be salvaged. 该队的首要任务是决定可以抢救哪些设备。

15 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

16 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

17 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

18 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

19 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

20 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。