It's a beautiful world, Lyrane is. Like Earth must have been before it got cluttered1 up with people. No cities, no smoke, no industrial complexes—just green plains, snowy mountains, dark forests, blue seas, and white polar caps all wrapped in cotton clouds swimming in the clearest atmosphere you ever saw. It made my eyes ache to look at it. And it affected2 the crew the same way.
We were wild to land. We came straight in along the equatorial plane until we hit the Van Allen Belt and the automatics took over. We stopped dead, matched intrinsics and skirted the outer band, checking the radiation quality and the shape of the Belt. It was a pure band that dipped down at the poles to form entry zones. There was not a sign of bulges3 or industrial contaminants.
Naturally we had everything trained on the planet while we made our sweeps—organic detectors4, radar5, spectroanalytic probes—all the gadgets8 the BEE equips us with to make analysis easy and complete. The readings were so homelike that every man was landsick. I wasn't any different from the rest of them, but I was in command and I had to be cautious about setting the Two Two Four down until we'd really wrung9 the analytic6 data dry.
So, while the crew grumbled10 about hanging outside on a skyhook, we kept swinging around in a polar orbit until we knew that world below us like a baby knows its mother. It checked clean to five decimal places, which is the limit of our gadgetry11. Paradise, that's what it was—a paradise untrod by human foot. And every foot on the ship was itching12.
"When we gonna land, Skipper?" Alex Baranov asked me. It was a gross breach13 of discipline, but I forgave him. Alex was the second engineer, an eager kid on his first flight out from Earth. Like most youngsters, he thought there was romance in space, but right now he was landsick. Even worse than most of us. And, like most kids, he'd leap where angels'd dread14 to walk on tiptoe.
"We'll land," I assured him. "You'll be down there pretty soon."
He hurried off to tell the others.
We set the ship down in the middle of one of the continental15 land masses in an open plain surrounded by forest and ran a few more tests before we stepped out, planted the flag, and claimed the place for the Confederation. After that we had an impromptu16 celebration to thoroughly17 enjoy the solid feel of ground under our feet and open sky overhead. It lasted all of five minutes before we came to our senses and posted a guard.
It was five minutes too long. Alex Baranov had a chance to get out of sight and go exploring, and, like a kid, he took it. We didn't miss him for nearly ten minutes more, and in fifteen minutes a man can cover quite a bit of territory.
"Anyone see where he went?" I asked.
"He was wearing a menticom," one of the crew offered. "Said he wanted to look around."
"The idiot!" I snapped. "He had no business going off like that."
"Nobody told him not to," Dan Warren said. Dan was my executive officer, and a good hand in case of trouble, but he left the command decisions to me, and of course I figured that everybody knew the cardinal18 rule of first landings. The net result was that Alex had disappeared.
I went back into the ship and broke out another menticom.
"Alex!" I broadcasted. "Return to ship at once!"
"I can't, Skipper," Alex's projection19 came back to me. "I'm surrounded."
"By what? Where?"
"They look sorta human—bigger than us. I'm near the edge of the forest nearest the ship. I can't do anything. I didn't bring a blaster." There was panic in his thoughts. And then suddenly I saw two hairy bipeds flash across Alex's vision. Both of them were carrying spears. The nearest one jumped and lunged. The scene dissolved in a blaze of red panic and the projection cut off as though someone had turned a switch.
I had a fix now and turned to face a knob of forest jutting20 out into the plain. Near the forest's edge I saw a flurry of movement that vanished as I watched.
"Break out a 'copter," I ordered.
"Why?" Warren asked, and then I realized that I alone of all the crew had seen what had happened to Alex.
I told them.
The search, of course, was unproductive. I didn't expect that it would be anything else. I was pretty certain that Alex was a casualty. I'd felt people die while wearing menticoms, and the same blank sense of emptiness had blotted21 out Alex. It was a bad deal all around. I liked that kid.
But Alex's death had provided data. This world was inhabited and the inhabitants weren't friendly. So I had the crew stake out a perimeter22 which we could energize23 with the ship's engines, and activated24 a couple of autoguards for patrol duty. Alex wasn't a pleasant thought, but we weren't equipped to retrieve25 bodies. So I wrote him in the log as missing and let it go at that.
I had to correct the entry a week later when Alex came walking up to the perimeter as large as life and just as healthy, wearing a mild sunburn, a sheepish expression, and nothing else.
The autoguard announced his coming and I headed the delegation26 that met him. I read him the riot act, and after I'd finished chewing on him he was pinker than ever.
"Okay, sir—so I was a fool," he said. "But they didn't hurt me. Scared me half to death, but once they realized I was intelligent there was no trouble. They were fascinated by my clothes." Alex grinned ruefully. "And they're pretty strong. They peeled me."
"Obviously," I said coldly.
"They have a village back in the woods." He pointed28 vaguely29 behind him. "It'd pay to take a look at it."
"Mister Baranov," I said. "If I don't throw you in the brig for what you've done, it's only because you may have brought back some information we can use. What are these natives like? What did they do to you besides making you a strip-tease artist? What cultural level are they? How many of them do you estimate there are? What do they look like? Get up to the ship and report to Lieutenant30 Warren for interrogation and draw new clothing." I had the same half exasperated31, half angry tone that a relieved mother has when one of her youngsters returns home late but unharmed.
Alex must have recognized it, because he grinned as he went off.
I contacted Warren on the intercom. "Dan," I said, "Baranov's back—apparently32 unharmed. I want him given the works. When you've gotten everything you can get, have a man detailed33 to watch him. If he so much as looks suspicious, heave him in the brig."
Warren's answering projection had a laugh in it. "Always cautious, hey, Skipper? Okay, I'll see that he gets the business."
It turned out that Alex didn't have much real information except for a description of the natives, their village, and their attitude toward him. It was about what you'd expect from a kid, interesting but far from helpful.
The delegation of natives showed up a half hour later. They came walking across the open space between the ship and the forest as though they hadn't a care in the world. Four of them—big hairy humanoids, carrying spears. They were naked as animals. Not that they needed clothes with all that hair, but just the same their appearance gave me a queasy34 feeling—like I was looking at man's early ancestors suddenly come to life.
If you can imagine a furry35 humanoid seven feet tall, with the face of an intelligent gorilla36 and the braincase of a man, you'll have a rough idea of what they looked like—except for their teeth. The canines37 would have fitted better in the face of a tiger, and showed at the corners of their wide, thin-lipped mouths, giving them an expression of ferocity.
They came trotting38 straight across the plain, moving with grace and power. All external signs pointed to them being a carnivorous, primitive39 race. Hunters, probably. The muscles of my scalp twitched40 as some deep-buried instinct inside me whispered, "Competition!"
I've met plenty of humanoids, but these were the first that roused any emotion other than curiosity. Perhaps it was their fierce appearance, or the bright, half-contemptuous intelligence in their eyes, or the confident arrogance41 in their approach, or merely that they looked more like us than the others I had met. Whatever it was, it was strong, and I had the impression that the feeling was mutual42.
"Why should we?" the foremost native replied in perfect Terran.
"That's a good reason," the native said, nodding.
Then the delayed reaction took over and the shock nearly floored me, until I saw that he was wearing Alex's menticom. Well, that explained the language and the feeling of mutual distrust—and it could explain why I thought Alex had died back there in the jungle. A mental communicator snatched from its wearer's head can give that impression.
But it raised an entirely45 new set of questions. Where did this savage46 learn to operate the circlet and how did he recognize its purpose? I guess I wasn't too smart, because the native was tuned47 to me and I wasn't shielding my thoughts at all.
He chuckled—it sounded like the purr of a cat. "We are not stupid, Earthman."
"So I see," I said uneasily.
"I am K'wan, chief of this segment. I wish to know why you are here."
"To survey your world. We are members of the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Exploration. It is our job to make surveys of planets."
"Why?"
"For trade, colonization49, and exploitation," I answered. There was no sense in giving him a dishonest explanation. With him wearing that communicator, it would have done no good to try.
"That's not our job. We just investigate and report. What happens next is not our affair. But if you're worrying—don't. There are plenty of worlds available without bothering inhabited places. Since you are intelligent, we would probably like to trade with you, if you have anything to trade—but that, of course, is up to you. We never intrude51 where we are not wanted, as long as we are treated with respect. If we are attacked, however, that is a different story." It was the old respect-and-threat routine that worked with primitive races. But I wasn't at all sure it was working now.
"Strange," K'wan said. "I would have sworn you were a predatory race. You are enough like us to be our little cousins." He scratched his head with a surprisingly human gesture. "In your position I would have attacked to show my power and inspire respect. Perhaps you are telling the truth."
"Aye, there is truth in that. But what is too easy and how much is too much? And does a man change his habits of eating just because he is fat?"
"You can find out."
"I do not think that would be wise," the native said. "Although you are physically53 weak, you sound confident. Therefore you are strong. And strength is to be respected. Let us be friends. We will make an agreement with you."
I shook my head. "It is not our place to make agreements. We only observe."
"You have not done much of that," he said pointedly54. "You sit here and send your machines over our seas and forests, but you do not see for yourselves. You cannot learn this way."
"We learn enough," I said shortly.
"We have talked of you at our council," K'wan continued, "and we think that you should know more before you depart. So we have come to make you an offer. Let four of your men come with me, and four of mine will stay with you. We will exchange—and you can see our ways while we see yours. That would help us understand each other."
It sounded reasonable. An exchange of hostages—or call it a cultural exchange, if you'd prefer. I told him that I'd think it over and to come back tomorrow. He nodded, turned, and together with his retinue55 disappeared into the jungle.
We hashed K'wan's proposal over at a board meeting that night and decided that we'd take it. The exact status of Lyranian culture worried us. It is a cardinal rule never to underestimate an alien culture or to judge it by surface appearances. So we organized a team that would form our part of the "cultural exchange."
I would go, of course. If K'wan could visit us, I could hardly stay back. Alex was selected partly because he was an engineer, mostly because he'd been over the ground before. Ed Barger, our ecologist, and Patrick Allardyce, our biologist, made up the remainder of the party. I'd have liked to take the padre and Doc, but Doc was more valuable at base, and if I could have only four men, I wanted fighting men.
"Now," I said, "we'll take along a tight-beam communicator. Coupled to our menticoms, it should be able to reach the ship and put what we see and what happens on permanent record." Then I turned to Dan Warren. "If anything goes wrong, don't try to rescue us. Finish your observations and get out. You understand? And get those exchange natives into Interrogation. Condition them to the eyeballs with cooperation dogma. We may need some friends here when the second echelon56 makes a landfall."
Warren nodded. I didn't have to elaborate.
The native village was about what I expected from our reconnaissance flights. It was beautifully camouflaged57. You couldn't tell it from the rest of the forest except that the trees were larger and were hollow—apparently hewn out with patient care to make a comfortable living space inside. Lyranians lived in one place, if what I could see of their dwellings58 was any criterion. I wanted to look inside, but K'wan hustled59 us down the irregular "street" that wound through the grove60 of giant trees until we finally came to the granddaddy of them all, a trunk nearly forty feet in diameter.
K'wan gestured at the tree. "Your house while you are here. We made it for you Earthmen." His voice came over my menticom and was duly recorded on the ship, since we were in constant contact, giving our impressions of the place. So far it was strictly61 SOP62.
"Thanks," I said. "We appreciate it." I was really touched at this tribute. K'wan had probably evacuated63 his own house to furnish us quarters where we could be together. The size of it indicated that it must be the chief's residence. But like all primitives64 he had to lie a little and the fiction of making this place for us was a way of salvaging65 pride in the face of our technological66 superiority.
He walked inside and we followed, expecting to find a gloomy hole—but instead the room glowed with a soft light that came from the walls themselves. The air was cool and comfortable, a pleasing contrast to the heat outside.
"What the—" I began, but Allardyce was already peering at the walls.
"A type of luminous67 fungus68," he said. "A saprophyte. Lives on the wood of this tree and gives off light. Clever."
I shut my mouth and looked around. There were other rooms opening off this one and along one wall a knobby imitation of a staircase led upward to a hole overhead.
"Hmmm, a regular skyscraper," Ed Barger commented, noting the direction of my gaze. "Well, we should not be crowded, at any rate."
I had been noticing something was wrong without realizing it. You know the feeling you get when you've lost something, but can't quite remember what it was. Then my neurons made connections and I realized that the communicator and the menticom were both as dead as if we were in a lead box.
Quietly I moved to the door—and Dan's voice hammered in my ears: "Skipper! Answer me! What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Dan," I said. "We just went into the quarters they assigned us. Something about them blocks transmission and reception. We're all fine."
"Oh." Dan sounded relieved. "For a minute I was worried."
"One of the boys'll call in every two hours," I assured him. "If you don't hear from us then, it'll be time to do something."
"Okay, Skipper, but what'll I do?"
"That'll be your decision," I said. "You'll be ranking officer."
"Don't worry—you will. These people look worse than they really are. At least they have been nice so far."
"They'd better stay that way," Dan replied grimly.
It was my turn to chuckle. "Keep calm and keep your blasters dry. I'm going inside now. You'll hear from us in two hours."
Ed Barger looked at me a trifle oddly as I came through the doorway69. "A while ago you were laughing at that story K'wan was telling us about making this house for us. I caught your undertone."
"Sure. What about it?"
"Well, I'm not so sure he was lying."
"Huh?"
"Take a look around you."
I did. It was a nice room, considering its origin—low benches around the walls, a table and four chairs in the center, a soft, thick floor covering that was a pleasure to the feet.
"See anything unusual?" Ed asked.
"No," I said.
"What about those benches?"
"They're part of the walls," I said, "cut out of the tree when it was hollowed out."
"Cut to our size?"
I did a double take. Barger was right. The Lyranians were seven feet tall and long-legged, but the benches were precisely70 right for human sitting, and the table in the center was only three feet above the gray floor. Suddenly I didn't feel so good.
"And those rooms—there are four of them—scaled to people our size?"
"You still don't get it. This place is living. It's growing. Nothing here except those chairs isn't part of this tree, and I'm not sure that they weren't. Besides, how did they know that there'd be four of us?"
"They could have been hopeful, or maybe four is their idea of a delegation. Remember there were four of them that visited us, and they suggested that four of us visit them."
"It's obvious," Allardyce added, "that this place has been made for us. K'wan wasn't lying."
Barger shook his head. "I still don't like it. I think we'd better get out of here. If they are as good biologists as this tree indicates, they're a Class VI civilization at least—and we're not set up to handle levels that high."
"I don't think that's necessary," Allardyce said. "They don't seem unfriendly, and until they do, we're better off sitting pat and playing the cards as they're dealt. We can always warn the ship in case anything goes wrong."
"Don't be jumpy," Alex broke in. "I told you they were all right. They grew the place for me. It's just grown a little since."
I made a noncommittal noise.
"It's true," Alex said. "While I was here I needed quarters and nobody wanted me in with them. They have some custom about not letting strangers in their houses after sunset. So they took a sapling and sprayed it with some sort of stuff and by the next afternoon I had a one-room house."
"Where did you stay that first night?" I demanded.
Alex shrugged. "In one of the trees down the street," he said, pointing through the door. "It was some sort of a storage warehouse73. No air conditioning and blacker than the inside of the Coal Sack. It rains pretty bad at night and they had to give me some shelter."
He was right on time with his last statement, because the skies opened up and started to pour. The four-hour evening rain had begun. It had fascinated us at first, the regularity74 with which the evening showers arrived and left, but our meteorologist assured us that it was a perfectly75 natural phenomenon in a planet with no axial tilt76.
"But growing a tree in a day is fantastic," I said. "What's more, it's unbelievable, a downright—"
"Not so fantastic," Allardyce interrupted. "This really isn't a tree. It's a cycad—related to the horsetail ferns back on Earth. They grow pretty fast anyway and they might grow faster here. Besides, the Lyranians could have some really potent77 growth stimulants78. In our hydroponics stations we use delta-gibberelin. That'll grow tomatoes from seed in a week, and forage79 crops in three days. It could be that they have something better that'll do the job in hours."
Allardyce nodded. "It's possible, but I hate to think of the science behind it—it makes me feel like a blind baby fumbling81 in the dark—and I'm supposed to be a good biologist." He shivered. "Their science'll be centuries ahead of ours if that is true."
"Not necessarily," Barger said. "They could be good biologists or botanists82 and nothing much else. We've run into that sort of uneven83 culture before."
"Ha!" Allardyce snorted. "That shows how little you know about experimental biology. Anybody able to do with plants what these people do would have to know genetics and growth principles, biochemistry, mathematics, engineering and physics."
"Maybe they had it once and lost most of it," I suggested. "They wouldn't be the first culture that's gone retrograde. We did it after the Atomic Wars and we were several thousand years recovering. But we hadn't lost the skills—they just degenerated84 into rituals administered by witch doctors who handed the formulas and techniques down from father to son. Maybe it's like that here. Certainly these people give no evidence of an advanced civilization other than these trees and their native intelligence. Civilized85 people don't hunt with spears or live in tribal86 groups."
Barger nodded. "That's a good point, Skipper."
"Well, there's no sense speculating about it; maybe we'll know if we wait and see," Allardyce summed up.
I set sentries87, three hours on and nine off, to keep Dan informed of our situation, and since rank has its privileges, I took the first watch. We were all tired from our walk through the woods; the others turned in readily enough. I was sufficiently88 worried about the hints and implications in the native culture to keep alert—but nothing happened. I checked in with Dan back at the ship and went to awaken89 Alex, who had drawn90 the second watch, and turned in to the bedroom allotted91 to me. Normally I can sleep anywhere, but I kept thinking about houses grown from trees and upholstery grown from fungus, about spear-carrying savages92 who understood the working principle of a menticom.
It was all wrong and my facile explanation of a regressed culture didn't satisfy me. Superior technology and savagery93 simply didn't go together. Even in our Interregnum Period, islands of culture and technology had remained, and men hadn't reverted94 to complete savagery. But there were no such islands on this world—or none that were apparent.
Such enclaves couldn't have escaped our search mechanisms95, which are designed precisely to locate such things. And besides, an advanced biological technology would have no need for hunting or spears. They could grow all the food they needed. Any damn fool knew that. Then why the noble savage act? For if our analysis was right, it must be an act. Why were they trying to hoodwink us? The only answer was that there was a high civilization here that was being deliberately96 hidden from us. The only mistake they had made was in underestimating us—the old story of civilized men sneering97 at savages, but in reverse.
The trees, therefore, must be such old and primitive techniques that they thought nothing of them, deeming them so inconsequential that even savages like us would know of them and not be suspicious. At that, they probably didn't have too much time after they detected us orbiting and intending to land. And if that were true, there could be only one place where their civilization was hidden.
I tried to get to my feet, to warn the others—but I couldn't move and no sound came from my flaccid vocal98 cords. I was paralyzed, helpless, and K'wan's amused thought floated gently into my brain. "I told the others that you humans were an advanced race, but they couldn't believe an obviously warlike species that depended upon machinery99 could be anything but savages. And your man Alex confirmed their beliefs. So we tried to meet you on your own ground—savage to savage, as it were. It seems as though we weren't as good at being savages as we thought." And K'wan stepped through an apparently solid section of tree trunk that parted to let him pass!
This tree was nothing but a mousetrap, and we were the mice! Why hadn't one of us carried the discussion a bit further? Any idiot should know that biological agents were fully27 as deadly as physical ones. And these people were self-admittedly predatory. Contempt at my stupidity was the only emotion that filled my mind—that we would be trapped like a flock of brainless sheep and led bleating100 happily to slaughter101. Raw anger surged through me, smothering102 my fear in a red blanket of rage.
K'wan shook his head. "Your reaction works against you. It's primitive—and, I think, dangerous. We cannot risk associating with a race that cannot control themselves. You have developed too fast—too soon. We are an old race and a slow race, and our warlike days are far behind us. The council was right. Something must be done about you or there will be more of your kind on Lyrane—hard, driving, uncontrolled, violent." He sighed—a very human sigh—half regret, half resignation.
"And you promised no harm would come to us if we came with you," I thought bitterly.
"I said you would come to no harm, nor will you. You'll just be changed a little."
"Like Alex?"
"Yes."
"What did you do to him?"
He grinned, exposing his long tusks103. "You'll find out," he said. He sounded just like a villain104 in a cheap melodrama105.
He took the menticom circlet off my head and all communication stopped. Two other Lyranians stepped through the wall, lifted me and carried me out like a shanghaied drunk from a spaceport bar. I wasn't particularly surprised at the laboratory that lay behind the wall. After all, an observation cage had to have its laboratory facilities.
These were good—very good indeed. Even though I knew hardly anything about biological laboratories, there was no doubt that here were the products of an advanced technology. I hated to admit it, but it looked as though we had run into what we had always feared but had never found—a civilization superior to ours. From the windowless appearance of the place, it was probably underground, and K'wan's look and nod seemed to confirm my guess.
They laid me out on a table, took blood and tissue samples and proceeded to forget me while they ran tests and analyses. I kept trying to move, but it wasn't any use.
A group of about a dozen oldsters came in, looked at me and went away. The council, I guessed.
In a surprisingly short time K'wan came back, distinguishable by the menticom circlet. He was holding something that looked like a jet hypo in his hand. The barrel was full of a cloudy red liquid that swirled106 sluggishly107 behind the confining glass.
He lifted my arm, examined it and nodded. There was a high-pitched, sibilant hiss109 as he touched the trigger of the syringe and I felt a brief sting near my elbow.
"There—that's that!" he said. "Now we'll take you back and get the others."
I swore at him coldly and viciously.
He smiled.
Alex helped lay me back on my bed in the tree house. He looked down at me and grinned. It wasn't a pleasant grin. It reminded me of a crocodile.
Naked, I was standing110 on an endless sandy plain. Off in the distance the Two Two Four stood on her landing jacks111, a tall, needle-pointed tower of burnished112 silver metal. The sun beat down from a cobalt sky burning my bare back as I trudged113 painfully across the hot shifting sand. My feet, scorched114 and blistered115, sent agony racing116 through me with every step I took toward the tall silver column that seemed to recede117 from me as fast as I approached. My throat was choked with dust and my mind filled with fear and pain.
I had to reach the ship. I had to. Yet I knew with dreadful certainty that I would not.
He came at me from a hollow in the sandy ground, a huge, furry Lyranian—bigger than any I had seen. His white tusks glittered in the sunlight as he leaped at me.
Twisting, I avoided him and turned to run. To fight that mountain of fanged118 flesh was futile119. He could rip me apart with one hand. But I moved with viscid slowness, stumbling through the shifting sands.
In a moment he was upon me, clutching with his huge hands, snapping at my throat with his tusked120 mouth. Fear pumped adrenalin into my system and I fought as I had never fought before, breaking his holds, throwing jarring punches into his fanged face as he clawed and bit at me.
With a violent effort I broke away and ran again toward the safety of the distant ship. For a moment I left him behind as he scrambled121 to regain122 his feet and came running after me. He was on me again, hands reaching for my throat. I couldn't get away. And again we fought, battering123 and clawing at each other, using fists, feet and teeth, biting and gouging124. His strength was terrible and his hot, fetid breath was rank in my nostrils125. With a grunt126 of triumph he tripped me and I fell on my back on the blazing sand. I screamed as my back struck the searing surface, but he held me helpless and immovable, pinned beneath his massive, crushing weight.
And then he began to eat me!
I felt his sharp fangs127 sink into my shoulder muscles and meet in my flesh. With a rush of frantic128 strength I threw him off again and again, ran stumbling across the plain. Once more he caught me and again we fought.
It went on endlessly—the fight, the temporary breakaway, the flight, the pursuit, and the recapture. I wondered dully why no one on the ship had seen us. Perhaps they were looking in the wrong direction, or perhaps they weren't even looking. If I survived this and found that they hadn't been on watch—I snarled129 and slammed my fist into the Lyranian's face.
Both of us were covered with blood, but he was visibly weaker. It was no longer a fight; we were too exhausted130 for that. We pawed at each other feebly, and I could detect something oddly like fear in him now. He couldn't hold me—but neither could I finish him.
I gathered my last remaining strength into one last blow. My torn fist smashed into his bloody131 face. He toppled to the ground and I fell beside him, too spent to move. I lay there panting, watching him.
He rose to his hands and knees and came crawling toward me, trembling with weakness. I felt his smothering weight pinning me as he fell across me. He twisted slowly, his fanged mouth gaping132 to bite again. His jaws133 closed on my arm. I was done—beaten—too weary and bruised134 to care. He had won. But his teeth couldn't break my skin. Like me, he was finished.
We lay there as the sun beat down, glaring at each other with fear and hate. And suddenly—over us—loomed the familiar faces of my crew and the tall tower of the Two Two Four.
Somehow I had reached the ship and safety!
I awoke. I was bathed with sweat. My muscles were aching and my head was a ball of fire. I looked around. Everything seemed normal. My menticom was on my head and I was lying on the bed in the tree house. Painfully I rose to my feet and staggered into the main room.
"My God! Skipper, you look awful!" Allardyce's voice was sharp with concern. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," I muttered. "My head's splitting."
"Here, sit down. Let me take a look at you." Allardyce produced a thermometer and stuck it in my mouth. "Mmmm," he said worriedly. "You've got fever."
"I feel like I've been through the mill," I said.
"We'd better get back to the ship. Doc should have a look at you."
I wanted nothing more than the familiar safety of the ship, away from these odd natives and exotic diseases that struck despite omnivaccination. And we should get back before the others fell sick.
"All right, Pat," I said. "Contact Dan. Have him send the big 'copter. We'll leave at once." I discounted the experience of last night as delirium135, but just to make sure, I checked with Allardyce and Barger when they came in.
"Obviously fever," Barger said. "Nothing happened to me like you describe."
"Nor to me," Allardyce said.
I nodded. They were right, of course, unless the Lyranian in their dreams had eaten and absorbed them. Then—but that was sheer nonsense. I was being a suspicious fool. But that dream—all of it—had been damnably real.
We made our excuses to K'wan as the 'copter fluttered down into a nearby clearing.
"I'm sorry about this," K'wan said apologetically, "but I never thought of the possibility of diseases. We are all immune. We do have some biological skill, as you've surely guessed, but our engineering technology is far inferior to yours. We thought it would be better not to let you know about us until we had a chance to observe you. But you undoubtedly136 have seen enough to deduce our culture." He grinned—a ferocious137 grimace138 that exposed his long tusks. "I suppose we are rather bad liars139. But then we're not accustomed to deception140."
"I understand," I said. "You had no way of knowing what we were really like. We could have been the advance guard of a conquering space armada. You showed great courage to open relations with us."
"Not as great as yours. We had the opportunity of examining your man Alex. You had only his untried opinions to go by."
The 'copter came down with a flutter of rotor blades, and I shook hands with K'wan. For a moment I was tempted141 to call Dan and tell him to turn our hostages loose, but on second thought decided that could wait. I slipped my menticom off. There was no point in broadcasting my thoughts, and without the gadget7 K'wan couldn't intercept142 them unless they were directed. After all, we were a minority on this world and Earth didn't even know where we were yet. A ship can cross hyper-space far more easily and quickly than the most powerful transmitter can broadcast across normal space. It would be a thousand years before Earth could hear from us by radio, even if they could distinguish our messages from stellar interference. While I felt oddly friendly, there was no reason to take chances, especially if there was any truth in that dream.
"You will be leaving soon?" K'wan asked. "You and the ship?"
"Yes," I said. "We have done all we can do here."
I looked up at him. He was standing there—holding the menticom in his hand—yet I understood him!
I didn't let the astonishment143 show on my face, nor the shock that coursed through my mind when the Lyranian in my brain tried vainly to scream a warning! Instead I took the circlet and turned to go.
"Remember what you are to do; the others will help," K'wan said.
"I will remember," I replied. You're damn well right I'll remember, I thought grimly.
He waved farewell as I turned to enter the 'copter. "Our thoughts go with you for your success," he said.
The Lyranian in my brain screamed and struggled, but I held him easily. I was his master, not he mine. There would be no sabotage145 on the Two Two Four. He wouldn't wreck my ship.
"Dan," I said as we went into orbit, "did Alex come aboard?"
"Of course."
"Where is he?"
"Maybe you'd better check. But before you do—"
He waited for me to continue, and finally I was able to.
"Put Allardyce, Barger, and myself in the brig," I said. "Set a guard over us with instructions to shoot if we try to make a break. Then get Alex, if he's aboard. Frankly147, I don't think you'll find him. They didn't need a ship's commander, a sociologist148 or a biologist, but they did need an engineer. Now get going. This is an order!"
Inside my skull150, the Lyranian came to life—struggled briefly—and then quit. Barger, Allardyce and I spent the rest of the trip home in the air-conditioned, radiation-resistant, germproof, dustproof, escape-resistant brig. Alex, of course, wasn't aboard. There aren't many places on a starship where a man can hide, and the crew searched them all.
Even so, I kept worrying about the ship's safety all the way back. It was a miserable151 trip. I suppose it was just as miserable for the Lyranians in my two companions who kept worrying about how to destroy us. It didn't do them any good either. They never got a chance, and ultimately we reached Decontamination.
Barger and Allardyce are up there now. The medics think they can erase152 the Lyranians with insulin shock, but it'll take time. Mine, being a nice, tame one, was considered to be more valuable in me than out. We're going to have to know a lot about Lyrane in a hurry if we're going to do anything about those people, and my Lyranian can tell us plenty.
But I'll bet we'll find things different on Lyrane when we go back. They'll have at least ten years, and with the brains they've got—and Alex's brain to pick—they'll do just fine from an engineering point of view. I'll bet they'll even have spaceships.
From what I can gather from my alter ego153, they checked Alex's brain and didn't like what they saw. That's the trouble with romantics. They always remember the wars and the fighting, never the stodgy154, peaceful interims. But you simply don't spring that sort of stuff on a culture like Lyrane's. And I suppose my anger didn't help things any, but if not for that anger and my primitive bull-headedness, we might not be here.
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1
cluttered
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| v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满… | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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bulges
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| 膨胀( bulge的名词复数 )； 鼓起； （身体的）肥胖部位； 暂时的激增 | |
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detectors
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| 探测器( detector的名词复数 ) | |
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radar
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| n.雷达，无线电探测器 | |
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analytic
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| adj.分析的，用分析方法的 | |
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gadget
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| n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿 | |
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gadgets
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| n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ） | |
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wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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gadgetry
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| n.小机械，小器具 | |
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itching
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| adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 ) | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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14
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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impromptu
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| adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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20
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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21
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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22
perimeter
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| n.周边，周长，周界 | |
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23
energize
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| vt.给予(某人或某物)精力、能量 | |
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activated
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| adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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25
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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26
delegation
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| n.代表团；派遣 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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31
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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34
queasy
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| adj.易呕的 | |
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furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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36
gorilla
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| n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手 | |
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37
canines
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| n.犬齿( canine的名词复数 )；犬牙；犬科动物 | |
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38
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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39
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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40
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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41
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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42
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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43
periphery
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| n.(圆体的)外面；周围 | |
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44
cinder
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| n.余烬，矿渣 | |
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45
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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46
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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47
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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48
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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49
colonization
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| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
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50
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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51
intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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52
predator
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| n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者 | |
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53
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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54
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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55
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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56
echelon
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| n.梯队；组织系统中的等级；v.排成梯队 | |
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57
camouflaged
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| v.隐蔽( camouflage的过去式和过去分词 )；掩盖；伪装，掩饰 | |
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58
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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59
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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60
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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61
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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62
sop
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| n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿 | |
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63
evacuated
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| 撤退者的 | |
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64
primitives
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| 原始人（primitive的复数形式） | |
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65
salvaging
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| （从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的现在分词 )； 回收利用（某物） | |
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66
technological
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| adj.技术的；工艺的 | |
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67
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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68
fungus
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| n.真菌，真菌类植物 | |
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69
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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70
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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71
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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72
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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73
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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74
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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75
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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76
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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77
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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78
stimulants
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| n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 )；含兴奋剂的饮料；刺激物；激励物 | |
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79
forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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80
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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82
botanists
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| n.植物学家，研究植物的人( botanist的名词复数 ) | |
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83
uneven
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| adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的 | |
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84
degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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86
tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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87
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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88
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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89
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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90
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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91
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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92
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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93
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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94
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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95
mechanisms
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| n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用 | |
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96
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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97
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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98
vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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99
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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100
bleating
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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101
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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102
smothering
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的现在分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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103
tusks
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| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
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104
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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105
melodrama
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| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
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106
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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107
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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108
amplified
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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109
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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110
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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111
jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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112
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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113
trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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114
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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115
blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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116
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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117
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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118
fanged
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| adj.有尖牙的，有牙根的，有毒牙的 | |
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119
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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120
tusked
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| adj.有獠牙的，有长牙的 | |
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121
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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122
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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123
battering
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| n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 ) | |
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124
gouging
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| n.刨削[槽]v.凿( gouge的现在分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
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125
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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126
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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127
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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128
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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129
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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130
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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131
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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132
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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133
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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134
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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135
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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136
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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137
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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138
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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139
liars
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| 说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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140
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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141
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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142
intercept
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| vt.拦截，截住，截击 | |
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143
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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144
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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145
sabotage
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| n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏 | |
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146
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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147
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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148
sociologist
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| n.研究社会学的人，社会学家 | |
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149
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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150
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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151
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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152
erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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153
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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154
stodgy
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| adj.易饱的；笨重的；滞涩的；古板的 | |
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