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diff --git a/20649-h/20649-h.htm b/20649-h/20649-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4796f41 --- /dev/null +++ b/20649-h/20649-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3877 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Oomphel in the Sky, by H. Beam Piper + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + ins.corr { text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray; } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .bbox { margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%; margin-top:2em; border: dotted 1px; padding: 1em; } + .center {text-align: center;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Oomphel in the Sky, by Henry Beam Piper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Oomphel in the Sky + +Author: Henry Beam Piper + +Release Date: February 23, 2007 [EBook #20649] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OOMPHEL IN THE SKY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> +<h1 style="text-align:left; margin-left:20%">OOMPHEL ...</h1> +<h1 style="text-align:right; margin-right:20%">... IN THE SKY</h1> + +<h2>By H. BEAM PIPER</h2> + +<div class="center"><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-001.png" width="500" height="650" alt="" title="" /> +</div></div> + +<div class="bbox"><h4 style="margin-top:0">Transcriber's Note</h4> + +<p>This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact—Science +Fiction, November 1960. Extensive research did not uncover +any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was +renewed.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Since Logic derives from postulates, it never has, and +never will, change a postulate. And a religious belief +is a system of postulates ... so how can a man fight a +native superstition with logic? Or anything else ...?</i></p> + +<p style="text-align:right"> +Illustrated by Bernklau +</p></div> + + +<p>Miles Gilbert watched +the landscape slide away +below him, its quilt of +rounded treetops mottled +red and orange in +the double sunlight and, in shaded +places, with the natural yellow of the +vegetation of Kwannon. The aircar +began a slow swing to the left, and +Gettler Alpha came into view, a monstrous +smear of red incandescence +with an optical diameter of two feet +at arm's length, slightly flattened on +the bottom by the western horizon. +In another couple of hours it would +be completely set, but by that time +Beta, the planet's G-class primary, +would be at its midafternoon hottest. +He glanced at his watch. It was 1005, +but that was Galactic Standard Time, +and had no relevance to anything that +was happening in the local sky. It did +mean, though, that it was five minutes +short of two hours to 'cast-time.</p> + +<p>He snapped on the communication +screen in front of him, and Harry +Walsh, the news editor, looked out +of it at him from the office in Bluelake, +halfway across the continent. He +wanted to know how things were going.</p> + +<p>"Just about finished. I'm going to +look in at a couple more native villages, +and then I'm going to Sanders' +plantation to see Gonzales. I hope +I'll have a personal statement from +him, and the final situation-progress +map, in time for the 'cast. I take it +Maith's still agreeable to releasing the +story at twelve-hundred?"</p> + +<p>"Sure; he was always agreeable. +The Army wants publicity; it was +Government House that wanted to +sit on it, and they've given that up +now. The story's all over the place +here, native city and all."</p> + +<p>"What's the situation in town, +now?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's still going on. Some disorders, +mostly just unrest. Lot of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +street meetings that could have +turned into frenzies if the police +hadn't broken them up in time. A +couple of shootings, some sleep-gassing, +and a lot of arrests. Nothing to +worry about—at least, not immediately."</p> + +<p>That was about what he thought. +"Maybe it's not bad to have a little +trouble in Bluelake," he considered. +"What happens out here in the plantation +country the Government House +crowd can't see, and it doesn't worry +them. Well, I'll call you from Sanders'."</p> + +<p>He blanked the screen. In the seat +in front, the native pilot said: "Some +contragravity up ahead, boss." It +sounded like two voices speaking in +unison, which was just what it was. +"I'll have a look."</p> + +<p>The pilot's hand, long and thin, +like a squirrel's, reached up and pulled +down the fifty-power binoculars on +their swinging arm. Miles looked at +the screen-map and saw a native village +just ahead of the dot of light that +marked the position of the aircar. He +spoke the native name of the village +aloud, and added:</p> + +<p>"Let down there, Heshto. I'll see +what's going on."</p> + +<p>The native, still looking through +the glasses, said, "Right, boss." Then +he turned.</p> + +<p>His skin was blue-gray and looked +like sponge rubber. He was humanoid, +to the extent of being an upright +biped, with two arms, a head on top +of shoulders, and a torso that housed, +among other oddities, four lungs. His +face wasn't even vaguely human. He +had two eyes in front, close enough +for stereoscopic vision, but that was +a common characteristic of sapient +life forms everywhere. His mouth +was strictly for eating; he breathed +through separate intakes and outlets, +one of each on either side of his neck; +he talked through the outlets and had +his scent and hearing organs in the +intakes. The car was air-conditioned, +which was a mercy; an overheated +Kwann exhaled through his skin, and +surrounded himself with stenches like +an organic chemistry lab. But then, +Kwanns didn't come any closer to +him than they could help when he +was hot and sweated, which, lately, +had been most of the time.</p> + +<p>"A V and a half of air cavalry, circling +around," Heshto said. "Making +sure nobody got away. And a combat +car at a couple of hundred feet and +another one just at treetop level."</p> + +<p>He rose and went to the seat next +to the pilot, pulling down the binoculars +that were focused for his own +eyes. With them, he could see the air +cavalry—egg-shaped things just big +enough for a seated man, with jets +and contragravity field generators below +and a bristle of machine gun muzzles +in front. A couple of them jetted +up for a look at him and then went +slanting down again, having recognized +the Kwannon Planetwide News +Service car.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The village was typical enough to +have been an illustration in a sociography +textbook—fields in a belt for +a couple of hundred yards around it, +dome-thatched mud-and-wattle huts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +inside a pole stockade with log storehouses +built against it, their flat roofs +high enough to provide platforms for +defending archers, the open oval +gathering-place in the middle. There +was a big hut at one end of this, the +khamdoo, the sanctum of the adult +males, off limits for women and children. +A small crowd was gathered in +front of it; fifteen or twenty Terran +air cavalrymen, a couple of enlisted +men from the Second Kwannon Native +Infantry, a Terran second lieutenant, +and half a dozen natives. The +rest of the village population, about +two hundred, of both sexes and all +ages, were lined up on the shadier +side of the gathering-place, most of +them looking up apprehensively at +the two combat cars which were covering +them with their guns.</p> + +<p>Miles got to his feet as the car +lurched off contragravity and the +springs of the landing-feet took up +the weight. A blast of furnacelike air +struck him when he opened the door; +he got out quickly and closed it behind +him. The second lieutenant had +come over to meet him; he extended +his hand.</p> + +<p>"Good day, Mr. Gilbert. We all owe +you our thanks for the warning. This +would have been a real baddie if we +hadn't caught it when we did."</p> + +<p>He didn't even try to make any +modest disclaimer; that was nothing +more than the exact truth.</p> + +<p>"Well, lieutenant, I see you have +things in hand here." He glanced at +the line-up along the side of the oval +plaza, and then at the selected group +in front of the khamdoo. The patriarchal +village chieftain in a loose +slashed shirt; the shoonoo, wearing +a multiplicity of amulets and nothing +else; four or five of the village elders. +"I take it the word of the swarming +didn't get this far?"</p> + +<p>"No, this crowd still don't know +what the flap's about, and I couldn't +think of anything to tell them that +wouldn't be worse than no explanation +at all."</p> + +<p>He had noticed hoes and spades +flying in the fields, and the cylindrical +plastic containers the natives +bought from traders, dropped when +the troops had surprised the women +at work. And the shoonoo didn't have +a fire-dance cloak or any other special +regalia on. If he'd heard about the +swarming, he'd have been dressed to +make magic for it.</p> + +<p>"What time did you get here, lieutenant?"</p> + +<p>"Oh-nine-forty. I just called in and +reported the village occupied, and +they told me I was the last one in, so +the operation's finished."</p> + +<p>That had been smart work. He got +the lieutenant's name and unit and +mentioned it into his memophone. +That had been a little under five hours +since he had convinced General +Maith, in Bluelake, that the mass labor-desertion +from the Sanders plantation +had been the beginning of a +swarming. Some division commanders +wouldn't have been able to get a +brigade off the ground in that time, +let alone landed on objective. He said +as much to the young officer.</p> + +<p>"The way the Army responded, today, +can make the people of the Colony<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +feel a lot more comfortable for +the future."</p> + +<p>"Why, thank you, Mr. Gilbert." The +Army, on Kwannon, was rather more +used to obloquy than praise. "How did +you spot what was going on so quickly?"</p> + +<p>This was the hundredth time, at +least, that he had been asked that today.</p> + +<p>"Well, Paul Sanders' labor all comes +from neighboring villages. If they'd +just wanted to go home and spend +the end of the world with their families, +they'd have been dribbling away +in small batches for the last couple of +hundred hours. Instead, they all +bugged out in a bunch, they took all +the food they could carry and nothing +else, and they didn't make any trouble +before they left. Then, Sanders +said they'd been building fires out in +the fallow ground and moaning and +chanting around them for a couple of +days, and idling on the job. Saving +their strength for the trek. And he +said they had a shoonoo among them. +He's probably the lad who started it. +Had a dream from the Gone Ones, +I suppose."</p> + +<p>"You mean, like this fellow here?" +the lieutenant asked. "What are they, +Mr. Gilbert; priests?"</p> + +<p>He looked quickly at the lieutenant's +collar-badges. Yellow trefoil for +Third Fleet-Army Force, Roman IV +for Fourth Army, 907 for his regiment, +with C under it for cavalry. +That outfit had only been on Kwannon +for the last two thousand hours, +but somebody should have briefed +him better than that.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "No, they're +magicians. Everything these Kwanns +do involves magic, and the shoonoon +are the professionals. When a native +runs into something serious, that +his own do-it-yourself magic can't +cope with, he goes to the shoonoo. +And, of course, the shoonoo works all +the magic for the community as a +whole—rain-magic, protective magic +for the village and the fields, that sort +of thing."</p> + +<p>The lieutenant mopped his face on +a bedraggled handkerchief. "They'll +have to struggle along somehow for a +while; we have orders to round up all +the shoonoon and send them in to +Bluelake."</p> + +<p>"Yes." That hadn't been General +Maith's idea; the governor had insisted +on that. "I hope it doesn't make +more trouble than it prevents."</p> + +<p>The lieutenant was still mopping +his face and looking across the gathering-place +toward Alpha, glaring +above the huts.</p> + +<p>"How much worse do you think this +is going to get?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The heat, or the native troubles?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking about the heat, but +both."</p> + +<p>"Well, it'll get hotter. Not much +hotter, but some. We can expect +storms, too, within twelve to fifteen +hundred hours. Nobody has any idea +how bad they'll be. The last periastron +was ninety years ago, and we've only +been here for sixty-odd; all we have +is verbal accounts from memory from +the natives, probably garbled and exaggerated. +We had pretty bad storms +right after transit a year ago; they'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +be much worse this time. Thermal +convections; air starts to cool when it +gets dark, and then heats up again in +double-sun daylight."</p> + +<p>It was beginning, even now; starting +to blow a little after Alpha-rise.</p> + +<p>"How about the natives?" the lieutenant +asked. "If they can get any +crazier than they are now—"</p> + +<p>"They can, and they probably will. +They think this is the end of the +world. The Last Hot Time." He used +the native expression, and then translated +it into Lingua Terra. "The Sky +Fire—that's Alpha—will burn up the +whole world."</p> + +<p>"But this happens every ninety +years. Mean they always acted this +way at periastron?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "Race would +have exterminated itself long ago if +they had. No, this is something special. +The coming of the Terrans was +a sign. The Terrans came and brought +oomphel to the world; this a sign +that the Last Hot Time is at hand."</p> + +<p>"What the devil <i>is</i> oomphel?" The +lieutenant was mopping the back of +his neck with one hand, now, and +trying to pull his sticky tunic loose +from his body with the other. "I hear +that word all the time."</p> + +<p>"Well, most Terrans, including the +old Kwannon hands, use it to mean +trade-goods. To the natives, it means +any product of Terran technology, +from paper-clips to spaceships. They +think it's ... well, not exactly supernatural; +extranatural would be +closer to expressing their idea. Terrans +are natural; they're just a different +kind of people. But oomphel +isn't; it isn't subject to any of the +laws of nature at all. They're all positive +that we don't make it. Some of +them even think it makes us."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When he got back in the car, the +native pilot, Heshto, was lolling in +his seat and staring at the crowd of +natives along the side of the gathering-place +with undisguised disdain. +Heshto had been educated at one of +the Native Welfare Commission +schools, and post-graded with Kwannon +Planetwide News. He could +speak, read and write Lingua Terra. +He was a mathematician as far as long +division and decimal fractions. He +knew that Kwannon was the second +planet of the Gettler Beta system, +23,000 miles in circumference, rotating +on its axis once in 22.8 Galactic +Standard hours and making an orbital +circuit around Gettler Beta once in +372.06 axial days, and that Alpha was +an M-class pulsating variable with an +average period of four hundred days, +and that Beta orbited around it in a +long elipse every ninety years. He +didn't believe there was going to be +a Last Hot Time. He was an intellectual, +he was.</p> + +<p>He started the contragravity-field +generator as soon as Miles was in his +seat. "Where now, boss?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Qualpha's Village. We won't let +down; just circle low over it. I want +some views of the ruins. Then to +Sanders' plantation."</p> + +<p>"O.K., boss; hold tight."</p> + +<p>He had the car up to ten thousand +feet. Aiming it in the map direction +of Qualpha's Village, he let go with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +everything he had—hot jets, rocket-booster +and all. The forest landscape +came hurtling out of the horizon toward +them.</p> + +<p>Qualpha's was where the trouble +had first broken out, after the bug-out +from Sanders; the troops hadn't been +able to get there in time, and it had +been burned. Another village, about +the same distance south of the plantation, +had also gone up in flames, +and at a dozen more they had found +the natives working themselves into +frenzies and had had to sleep-gas +them or stun them with concussion-bombs. +Those had been the villages to +which the deserters from Sanders' had +themselves gone; from every one, +runners had gone out to neighboring +villages—"The Gone Ones are returning; +all the People go to greet +them at the Deesha-Phoo. Burn your +villages; send on the word. Hasten; +the Gone Ones return!"</p> + +<p>Saving some of those villages had +been touch-and-go, too; the runners, +with hours lead-time, had gotten there +ahead of the troops, and there had +been shooting at a couple of them. +Then the Army contragravity began +landing at villages that couldn't have +been reached in hours by foot messengers. +It had been stopped—at least +for the time, and in this area. When +and where another would break out +was anybody's guess.</p> + +<p>The car was slowing and losing altitude, +and ahead he could see thin +smoke rising above the trees. He +moved forward beside the pilot and +pulled down his glasses; with them he +could distinguish the ruins of the village. +He called Bluelake, and then +put his face to the view-finder and +began transmitting in the view.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It had been a village like the one +he had just visited, mud-and-wattle +huts around an oval gathering-place, +stockade, and fields beyond. Heshto +brought the car down to a few hundred +feet and came coasting in on +momentum helped by an occasional +spurt of the cold-jets. A few sections +of the stockade still stood, and one +side of the khamdoo hadn't fallen, +but the rest of the structures were +flat. There wasn't a soul, human or +parahuman, in sight; the only living +thing was a small black-and-gray +quadruped investigating some bundles +that had been dropped in the +fields, in hope of finding something +tasty. He got a view of that—everybody +liked animal pictures on a +newscast—and then he was swinging +the pickup over the still-burning +ruins. In the ashes of every hut he +could see the remains of something +like a viewscreen or a nuclear-electric +stove or a refrigerator or a sewing +machine. He knew how dearly the +Kwanns cherished such possessions. +That they had destroyed them grieved +him. But the Last Hot Time was at +hand; the whole world would be destroyed +by fire, and then the Gone +Ones would return.</p> + +<p>So there were uprisings on the +plantations. Paul Sanders had been +lucky; his Kwanns had just picked up +and left. But he had always gotten +along well with the natives, and his +plantation house was literally a castle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +and he had plenty of armament. +There had been other planters who +had made the double mistake of incurring +the enmity of their native labor +and of living in unfortified houses. +A lot of them weren't around, any +more, and their plantations were gutted +ruins.</p> + +<p>And there were plantations on +which the natives had destroyed the +klooba plants and smashed the crystal +which lived symbiotically upon them. +They thought the Terrans were using +the living crystals to make magic. Not +too far off, at that; the properties of +Kwannon biocrystals had opened a +major breakthrough in subnucleonic +physics and initiated half a dozen +technologies. New kinds of oomphel. +And down in the south, where the +spongy and resinous trees were drying +in the heat, they were starting forest +fires and perishing in them in hecatombs. +And to the north, they were +swarming into the mountains; building +great fires there, too, and attacking +the Terran radar and radio beacons.</p> + +<p>Fire was a factor common to all +these frenzies. Nothing could happen +without magical assistance; the way +to bring on the Last Hot Time was +People.</p> + +<p>Maybe the ones who died in the +frenzies and the swarmings were the +lucky ones at that. They wouldn't live +to be crushed by disappointment +when the Sky Fire receded as Beta +went into the long swing toward apastron. +The surviving shoonoon wouldn't +be the lucky ones, that was for +sure. The magician-in-public-practice +needs only to make one really bad +mistake before he is done to some +unpleasantly ingenious death by his +clientry, and this was going to turn +out to be the biggest magico-prophetic +blooper in all the long unrecorded +history of Kwannon.</p> + +<p>A few minutes after the car turned +south from the ruined village, he +could see contragravity-vehicles in the +air ahead, and then the fields and +buildings of the Sanders plantation. +A lot more contragravity was grounded +in the fallow fields, and there were +rows of pneumatic balloon-tents, and +field-kitchens, and a whole park of +engineering equipment. Work was +going on in the klooba-fields, too; +about three hundred natives were cutting +open the six-foot leafy balls and +getting out the biocrystals. Three of +the plantation airjeeps, each with a +pair of machine guns, were guarding +them, but they didn't seem to be +having any trouble. He saw Sanders +in another jeep, and had Heshto put +the car alongside.</p> + +<p>"How's it going, Paul?" he asked +over his radio. "I see you have some +help, now."</p> + +<p>"Everybody's from Qualpha's, and +from Darshat's," Sanders replied. "The +Army had no place to put them, after +they burned themselves out." He +laughed happily. "Miles, I'm going to +save my whole crop! I thought I was +wiped out, this morning."</p> + +<p>He would have been, if Gonzales +hadn't brought those Kwanns in. The +klooba was beginning to wither; if left +unharvested, the biocrystals would die +along with their hosts and crack<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +into worthlessness. Like all the other +planters, Sanders had started no new +crystals since the hot weather, and +would start none until the worst of +the heat was over. He'd need every +crystal he could sell to tide him over.</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-009.png" width="500" height="477" alt="" title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p>"The Welfarers'll make a big +forced-labor scandal out of this," he +predicted.</p> + +<p>"Why, such an idea." Sanders was +scandalized. "I'm not forcing them to +eat."</p> + +<p>"The Welfarers don't think anybody +ought to have to work to eat. +They think everybody ought to be fed +whether they do anything to earn it or +not, and if you try to make people +earn their food, you're guilty of economic +coercion. And if you're in business +for yourself and want them to +work for you, you're an exploiter and +you ought to be eliminated as a class. +Haven't you been trying to run a +plantation on this planet, under this +Colonial Government, long enough +to have found that out, Paul?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Brigadier General Ramón Gonzales +had taken over the first—counting +down from the landing-stage—floor +of the plantation house for his headquarters. +His headquarters company +had pulled out removable partitions +and turned four rooms into one, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +moved in enough screens and teleprinters +and photoprint machines and +computers to have outfitted the main +newsroom of <i>Planetwide News</i>. The +place had the feel of a newsroom—a +newsroom after a big story has broken +and the 'cast has gone on the air +and everybody—in this case about +twenty Terran officers and non-coms, +half women—standing about watching +screens and smoking and thinking +about getting a follow-up ready.</p> + +<p>Gonzales himself was relaxing in +Sanders' business-room, with his belt +off and his tunic open. He had black +eyes and black hair and mustache, and +a slightly equine face that went well +with his Old Terran Spanish name. +There was another officer with him, +considerably younger—Captain Foxx +Travis, Major General Maith's aide.</p> + +<p>"Well, is there anything we can do +for you, Miles?" Gonzales asked, after +they had exchanged greetings and +sat down.</p> + +<p>"Why, could I have your final situation-progress +map? And would you +be willing to make a statement on +audio-visual." He looked at his watch. +"We have about twenty minutes before +the 'cast."</p> + +<p>"You have a map," Gonzales said, +as though he were walking tiptoe +from one word to another. "It accurately +represents the situation as of +the moment, but I'm afraid some minor +unavoidable inaccuracies may +have crept in while marking the positions +and times for the earlier phases +of the operation. I teleprinted a copy +to <i>Planetwide</i> along with the one I +sent to Division Headquarters."</p> + +<p>He understood about that and nodded. +Gonzales was zipping up his +tunic and putting on his belt and +sidearm. That told him, before the +brigadier general spoke again, that he +was agreeable to the audio-visual appearance +and statement. He called +the recording studio at <i>Planetwide</i> +while Gonzales was inspecting himself +in the mirror and told them to get +set for a recording. It only ran a few +minutes; Gonzales, speaking without +notes, gave a brief description of the +operation.</p> + +<p>"At present," he concluded, "we +have every native village and every +plantation and trading-post within +two hundred miles of the Sanders +plantation occupied. We feel that this +swarming has been definitely stopped, +but we will continue the occupation +for at least the next hundred to two +hundred hours. In the meantime, the +natives in the occupied villages are +being put to work building shelters +for themselves against the anticipated +storms."</p> + +<p>"I hadn't heard about that," Miles +said, as the general returned to his +chair and picked up his drink again.</p> + +<p>"Yes. They'll need something better +than these thatched huts when the +storms start, and working on them +will keep them out of mischief. +Standard megaton-kilometer field +shelters, earth and log construction. +I think they'll be adequate for anything +that happens at periastron."</p> + +<p>Anything designed to resist the +heat, blast and <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'radiaion'">radiation</ins> effects of a +megaton thermonuclear bomb at a +kilometer ought to stand up under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +what was coming. At least, the periastron +effects; there was another angle +to it.</p> + +<p>"The Native Welfare Commission +isn't going to take kindly to that. +That's supposed to be their job."</p> + +<p>"Then why the devil haven't they +done it?" Gonzales demanded angrily. +"I've viewed every native village +in this area by screen, and I haven't +seen one that's equipped with anything +better than those log storage-bins +against the stockades."</p> + +<p>"There was a project to provide +shelters for the periastron storms set +up ten years ago. They spent one year +arguing about how the natives survived +storms prior to the Terrans' arrival +here. According to the older natives, +they got into those log storage-houses +you were mentioning; only +about one out of three in any village +survived. I could have told them that. +Did tell them, repeatedly, on the air. +Then, after they decided that shelters +were needed, they spent another year +hassling over who would be responsible +for designing them. Your predecessor +here, General Nokami, offered +the services of his engineer officers. +He was frostily informed that +this was a humanitarian and not a +military project."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Ramón Gonzales began swearing, +then apologized for the interruption. +"Then what?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Apology unnecessary. Then they +did get a shelter designed, and started +teaching some of the students at +the native schools how to build them, +and then the meteorologists told them +it was no good. It was a dugout shelter; +the weathermen said there'd be +rainfall measured in meters instead of +inches and anybody who got caught +in one of those dugouts would be +drowned like a rat."</p> + +<p>"Ha, I thought of that one." Gonzales +said. "My shelters are going to +be mounded up eight feet above the +ground."</p> + +<p>"What did they do then?" Foxx +Travis wanted to know.</p> + +<p>"There the matter rested. As far as +I know, nothing has been done on it +since."</p> + +<p>"And you think, with a disgraceful +record of non-accomplishment like +that, that they'll protest General Gonzales' +action on purely jurisdictional +grounds?" Travis demanded.</p> + +<p>"Not jurisdictional grounds, Foxx. +The general's going at this the wrong +way. He actually knows what has to +be done and how to do it, and he's going +right ahead and doing it, without +holding a dozen conferences and +round-table discussions and giving +everybody a fair and equal chance to +foul things up for him. You know as +well as I do that that's undemocratic. +And what's worse, he's making the +natives build them themselves, whether +they want to or not, and that's +forced labor. That reminds me; has +anybody started raising the devil +about those Kwanns from Qualpha's +and Darshat's you brought here and +Paul put to work?"</p> + +<p>Gonzales looked at Travis and then +said: "Not with me. Not yet, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"They've been at General Maith,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +Travis said shortly. After a moment, +he added: "General Maith supports +General Gonzales completely; that's +for publication. I'm authorized to say +so. What else was there to do? They'd +burned their villages and all their +food stores. They had to be placed +somewhere. And why in the name of +reason should they sit around in the +shade eating Government native-type +rations while Paul Sanders has fifty +to a hundred thousand sols' worth of +crystals dying on him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; that's another thing they'll +scream about. Paul's making a profit +out of it."</p> + +<p>"Of course he's making a profit," +Gonzales said. "Why else is he running +a plantation? If planters didn't +make profits, who'd grow biocrystals?"</p> + +<p>"The Colonial Government. The +same way they built those storm-shelters. +But that would be in the public +interest, and if the Kwanns weren't +public-spirited enough to do the work, +they'd be made to—at about half what +planters like Sanders are paying them +now. But don't you realize that profit +is sordid and dishonest and selfish? +Not at all like drawing a salary-cum-expense-account +from the Government."</p> + +<p>"You're right, it isn't," Gonzales +agreed. "People like Paul Sanders +have ability. If they don't, they don't +stay in business. You have ability and +people who don't never forgive you +for it. Your very existence is a constant +reproach to them."</p> + +<p>"That's right. And they can't admit +your ability without admitting +their own inferiority, so it isn't ability +at all. It's just dirty underhanded +trickery and selfish ruthlessness." He +thought for a moment. "How did +Government House find out about +these Kwanns here?"</p> + +<p>"The Welfare Commission had +people out while I was still setting +up headquarters," Gonzales said. +"That was about oh-seven-hundred."</p> + +<p>"This isn't for publication?" Travis +asked. "Well, they know, but they +can't prove, that our given reason for +moving in here in force is false. Of +course, we can't change our story now; +that's why the situation-progress map +that was prepared for publication is +incorrect as to the earlier phases. They +do not know that it was you who gave +us our first warning; they ascribe that +to Sanders. And they are claiming +that there never was any swarming; +according to them, Sanders' natives +are striking for better pay and conditions, +and Sanders got General Maith +to use troops to break the strike. I +wish we could give you credit for putting +us onto this, but it's too late +now."</p> + +<p>He nodded. The story was that a +battalion of infantry had been sent in +to rescue a small detail under attack +by natives, and that more troops had +been sent in to re-enforce them, until +the whole of Gonzales' brigade had +been committed.</p> + +<p>"That wasted an hour, at the start," +Gonzales said. "We lost two native +villages burned, and about two dozen +casualties, because we couldn't get our +full strength in soon enough."</p> + +<p>"You'd have lost more than that if +Maith had told the governor general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +the truth and requested orders to act. +There'd be a hundred villages and a +dozen plantations and trading posts +burning, now, and Lord knows how +many dead, and the governor general +would still be arguing about whether +he was justified in ordering troop-action." +He mentioned several other +occasions when something like that +had happened. "You can't tell that +kind of people the truth. They won't +believe it. It doesn't agree with their +preconceptions."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Foxx Travis nodded. "I take it we +are still talking for nonpublication?" +When Miles nodded, he continued: +"This whole situation is baffling, +Miles. It seems that the government +here knew all about the weather conditions +they could expect at periastron, +and had made plans for them. +Some of them excellent plans, too, +but all based on the presumption that +the natives would co-operate or at least +not obstruct. You see what the situation +actually is. It should be obvious +to everybody that the behavior of +these natives is nullifying everything +the civil government is trying to do +to ensure the survival of the Terran +colonists, the production of Terran-type +food without which we would all +starve, the biocrystal plantations without +which the Colony would perish, +and even the natives themselves. Yet +the Civil Government will not act to +stop these native frenzies and swarmings +which endanger everything and +everybody here, and when the Army +attempts to act, we must use every +sort of shabby subterfuge and deceit or +the Civil Government will prevent us. +What ails these people?"</p> + +<p>"You have the whole history of the +Colony against you, Foxx," he said. +"You know, there never was any +Chartered Kwannon Company set up +to exploit the resources of the planet. +At first, nobody realized that there +were any resources worth exploiting. +This <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'plan'">planet</ins> was just a scientific curiosity; +it was and is still the only planet +of a binary system with a native +population of sapient beings. The +first people who came here were +scientists, mostly sociographers and +para-anthropologists. And most of +them came from the University of +Adelaide."</p> + +<p>Travis nodded. Adelaide had a +Federation-wide reputation for left-wing +neo-Marxist "liberalism."</p> + +<p>"Well, that established the political +and social orientation of the Colonial +Government, right at the start, when +study of the natives was the only business +of the Colony. You know how +these ideological cliques form in a +government—or any other organization. +Subordinates are always chosen +for their agreement with the views of +their superiors, and the extremists always +get to the top and shove the +moderates under or out. Well, the +Native Affairs Administration became +the tail that wagged the Government +dog, and the Native Welfare Commission +is the big muscle in the tail."</p> + +<p>His parents hadn't been of the left-wing +Adelaide clique. His mother +had been a biochemist; his father a +roving news correspondent who had +drifted into trading with the natives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +and made a fortune in keffa-gum before +the chemists on Terra had found +out how to synthesize hopkinsine.</p> + +<p>"When the biocrystals were discovered +and the plantations started, the +Government attitude was set. <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Biocrysal'">Biocrystal</ins> +culture is just sordid money +grubbing. The real business of the +Colony is to promote the betterment +of the natives, as defined in University +of Adelaide terms. That's to say, +convert them into ersatz Terrans. You +know why General Maith ordered +these shoonoon rounded up?"</p> + +<p>Travis made a face. "Governor general +Kovac insisted on it; General +Maith thought that a few minor concessions +would help him on his main +objective, which was keeping a +swarming from starting out here."</p> + +<p>"Yes. The Commissioner of Native +Welfare wanted that done, mainly at +the urging of the Director of Economic, +Educational and Technical Assistance. +The EETA crowd don't like +shoonoon. They have been trying, ever +since their agency was set up, to undermine +and destroy their influence +with the natives. This looked like a +good chance to get rid of some of +them."</p> + +<p>Travis nodded. "Yes. And as soon +as the disturbances in Bluelake started, +the Constabulary started rounding +them up there, too, and at the evacuee +cantonments. They got about fifty of +them, mostly from the cantonments +east of the city—the natives brought +in from the flooded tidewater area. +They just dumped the lot of them +onto us. We have them penned up in +a lorry-hangar on the military reservation +now." He turned to Gonzales. +"How many do you think you'll gather +up out here, general?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I'd say about a hundred and fifty, +when we have them all."</p> + +<p>Travis groaned. "We can't keep all +of them in that hangar, and we don't +have anywhere else—"</p> + +<p>Sometimes a new idea sneaked up +on Miles, rubbing against him and +purring like a cat. Sometimes one hit +him like a sledgehammer. This one +just seemed to grow inside him.</p> + +<p>"Foxx, you know I have the top +three floors of the Suzikami Building; +about five hundred hours ago, I leased +the fourth and fifth floors, directly below. +I haven't done anything with +them, yet; they're just as they were +when <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'Trans-Sapce'">Trans-Space</ins> Imports moved +out. There are ample water, light, +power, air-conditioning and toilet +facilities, and they can be sealed off +completely from the rest of the building. +If General Maith's agreeable, I'll +take his shoonoon off his hands."</p> + +<p>"What in blazes will you do with +them?"</p> + +<p>"Try a little experiment in psychological +warfare. At minimum, we may +get a little better insight into why +these natives think the Last Hot Time +is coming. At best, we may be able to +stop the whole thing and get them +quieted down again."</p> + +<p>"Even the minimum's worth trying +for," Travis said. "What do you have +in mind, Miles? I mean, what procedure?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not quite sure, yet." +That was a lie; he was very sure. He +didn't think it was quite time to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +specific, though. "I'll have to size up +my material a little, before I decide +on what to do with it. Whatever happens, +it won't hurt the shoonoon, and +it won't make any more trouble than +arresting them has made already. I'm +sure we can learn something from +them, at least."</p> + +<p>Travis nodded. "General Maith is +very much impressed with your grasp +of native psychology," he said. "What +happened out here this morning was +exactly as you predicted. Whatever +my recommendation's worth, you +have it. Can you trust your native +driver to take your car back to Bluelake +alone?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course."</p> + +<p>"Then suppose you ride in with me +in my car. We'll talk about it on the +way in, and go see General Maith at +once."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Bluelake was peaceful as they flew +in over it, but it was an uneasy peace. +They began running into military +contragravity twenty miles beyond the +open farmlands—they were the chlorophyll +green of Terran vegetation—and +the natives at work in the fields +were being watched by more military +and police vehicles. The carniculture +plants, where Terran-type animal +tissue was grown in nutrient-vats, +were even more heavily guarded, and +the native city was being patroled +from above and the streets were empty, +even of the hordes of native children +who usually played in them.</p> + +<p>The Terran city had no streets. Its +dwellers moved about on contragravity, +and tall buildings rose, singly or +in clumps, among the landing-staged +residences and the green transplanted +trees. There was a triple wire fence +around it, the inner one masked by +vines and the middle one electrified, +with warning lights on. Even a government +dedicated to the betterment +of the natives and unwilling to order +military action against them was, it +appeared, unwilling to take too many +chances.</p> + +<p>Major General Denis Maith, the +Federation Army commander on +Kwannon, was considerably more +than willing to find a temporary +home for his witch doctors, now numbering +close to two hundred. He did +insist that they be kept under military +guard, and on assigning his aide, +Captain Travis, to co-operate on the +project. Beyond that, he gave Miles a +free hand.</p> + +<p>Miles and Travis got very little rest +in the next ten hours. A half-company +of engineer troops was also +kept busy, as were a number of +Kwannon Planetwide News technicians +and some Terran and native +mechanics borrowed from different +private business concerns in the city. +Even the most guarded hints of what +he had in mind were enough to get +this last co-operation; he had been +running a news-service in Bluelake +long enough to have the confidence +of the business people.</p> + +<p>He tried, as far as possible, to keep +any intimation of what was going on +from Government House. That, unfortunately, +hadn't been far enough. +He found that out when General +Maith was on his screen, in the middle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +of the work on the fourth and fifth +floors of the Suzikami Building.</p> + +<p>"The governor general just screened +me," Maith said. "He's in a tizzy about +our shoonoon. Claims that keeping +them in the Suzikami Building will +endanger the whole Terran city."</p> + +<p>"Is that the best he can do? Well, +that's rubbish, and he knows it. There +are less than two hundred of them, I +have them on the fifth floor, twenty +stories above the ground, and the +floor's completely sealed off from the +floor below. They can't get out, and +I have tanks of sleep-gas all over the +place which can be opened either individually +or all together from a +switch on the fourth floor, where your +sepoys are quartered."</p> + +<p>"I know, Mr. Gilbert; I screen-viewed +the whole installation. I've +seen regular maximum-security prisons +that would be easier to get out +of."</p> + +<p>"Governor general Kovac is not +objecting personally. He has been +pressured into it by this Native Welfare +government-within-the-Government. +They don't know what I'm doing +with those shoonoon, but whatever +it is, they're afraid of it."</p> + +<p>"Well, for the present," Maith said, +"I think I'm holding them off. The +Civil Government doesn't want the +responsibility of keeping them in +custody, I refused to assume responsibility +for them if they were kept +anywhere else, and Kovac simply +won't consider releasing them, so that +leaves things as they are. I did have +to make one compromise, though." +That didn't sound good. It sounded +less so when Maith continued: "They +insisted on having one of their people +at the Suzikami Building as an observer. +I had to grant that."</p> + +<p>"That's going to mean trouble."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I shouldn't think so. This observer +will observe, and nothing else. +She will take no part in anything +you're doing, will voice no objections, +and will not interrupt anything you +are saying to the shoonoon. I was +quite firm on that, and the governor +general agreed completely."</p> + +<p>"She?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. A Miss Edith Shaw; do you +know anything about her?"</p> + +<p>"I've met her a few times; cocktail +parties and so on." She was young +enough, and new enough to Kwannon, +not to have a completely indurated +mind. On the other hand, +she was EETA which was bad, and +had a master's in sociography from +Adelaide, which was worse. "When +can I look for her?"</p> + +<p>"Well, the governor general's going +to screen me and find out when +you'll have the shoonoon on hand."</p> + +<p>Doesn't want to talk to me at all, +Miles thought. Afraid he might say +something and get quoted.</p> + +<p>"For your information, they'll be +here inside an hour. They will have to +eat, and they're all tired and sleepy. +I should say 'bout oh-eight-hundred. +Oh, and will you tell the governor +general to tell Miss Shaw to bring an +overnight kit with her. She's going to +need it."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>He was up at 0400, just a little after +Beta-rise. He might be a civilian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +big-wheel in an Army psychological +warfare project, but he still had four +newscasts a day to produce. He spent +a couple of hours checking the 0600 +'cast and briefing Harry Walsh for the +indeterminate period in which he +would be acting chief editor and producer. +At 0700, Foxx Travis put in an +appearance. They went down to the +fourth floor, to the little room they +had fitted out as command-post, control +room and office for Operation +Shoonoo.</p> + +<p>There was a rectangular black traveling-case, +initialed E. S., beside the +open office door. Travis nodded at it, +and they grinned at one another; +she'd come early, possibly hoping to +catch them hiding something they +didn't want her to see. Entering the +office quietly, they found her seated +facing the big viewscreen, smoking +and watching a couple of enlisted +men of the First Kwannon Native Infantry +at work in another room where +the pickup was. There were close to +a dozen lipstick-tinted cigarette butts +in the ashtray beside her. Her private +face wasn't particularly happy. Maybe +she was being earnest and concerned +about the betterment of the +underpriviledged, or the satanic maneuvers +of the selfish planters.</p> + +<p>Then she realized that somebody +had entered; with a slight start, she +turned, then rose. She was about the +height of Foxx Travis, a few inches +shorter than Miles, and slender. Light +blond; green suit costume. She +ditched her private face and got on +her public one, a pleasant and deferential +smile, with a trace of uncertainty +behind it. Miles introduced +Travis, and they sat down again facing +the screen.</p> + +<p>It gave a view, from one of the +long sides and near the ceiling, of a +big room. In the center, a number of +seats—the drum-shaped cushions the +natives had adopted in place of the +seats carved from sections of tree +trunk that they had been using when +the Terrans had come to Kwannon—were +arranged in a semicircle, one in +the middle slightly in advance of the +others. Facing them were three armchairs, +a remote-control box beside +one and another Kwann cushion behind +and between the other two. +There was a large globe of Kwannon, +and on the wall behind the chairs an +array of viewscreens.</p> + +<p>"There'll be an interpreter, a native +Army sergeant, between you and +Captain Travis," he said. "I don't +know how good you are with native +languages, Miss Shaw; the captain is +not very fluent."</p> + +<p>"Cushions for them, I see, and +chairs for the lordly Terrans," she +commented. "Never miss a chance to +rub our superiority in, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I never deliberately force them to +adopt our ways," he replied. "Our +chairs are as uncomfortable for them +as their low seats are for us. Difference, +you know, doesn't mean inferiority +or superiority. It just means +difference."</p> + +<p>"Well, what are you trying to do, +here?"</p> + +<p>"I'm trying to find out a little more +about the psychology back of these +frenzies and swarmings."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It hasn't occurred to you to look +for them in the economic wrongs +these people are suffering at the hands +of the planters and traders, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"So they're committing suicide, and +that's all you can call these swarmings, +and the fire-frenzies in the +south, from economic motives," Travis +said. "How does one better oneself +economically by dying?"</p> + +<p>She ignored the question, which +was easier than trying to answer it.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"And why are you bothering to talk +to these witch doctors? They aren't +representative of the native people. +They're a lot of cynical charlatans, +with a vested interest in ignorance +and superstition—"</p> + +<p>"Miss Shaw, for the past eight centuries, +earnest souls have been bewailing +the fact that progress in the +social sciences has always lagged behind +progress in the physical sciences. +I would suggest that the explanation +might be in difference of approach. +The physical scientist works <i>with</i> +physical forces, even when he is trying, +as in the case of contragravity, to +nullify them. The social scientist +works <i>against</i> social forces."</p> + +<p>"And the result's usually a miserable +failure, even on the physical-accomplishment +level," Foxx Travis +added. "This storm shelter project +that was set up ten years ago and got +nowhere, for instance. Ramón Gonzales +set up a shelter project of his +own seventy-five hours ago, and he's +half through with it now."</p> + +<p>"Yes, by forced labor!"</p> + +<p>"Field surgery's brutal, too, especially +when the anaesthetics run out. +It's better than letting your wounded +die, though."</p> + +<p>"Well, we were talking about these +shoonoon. They are a force among the +natives; that can't be denied. So, since +we want to influence the natives, +why not use them?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Gilbert, these shoonoon are +blocking everything we are trying to +do for the natives. If you use them +for propaganda work in the villages, +you will only increase their prestige +and make it that much harder for us +to better the natives' condition, both +economically and culturally—"</p> + +<p>"That's it, Miles," Travis said. "She +isn't interested in facts about specific +humanoid people on Kwannon. +She has a lot of high-order abstractions +she got in a classroom at Adelaide +on Terra."</p> + +<p>"No. Her idea of bettering the natives' +condition is to rope in a lot of +young Kwanns, put them in Government +schools, overload them with information +they aren't prepared to digest, +teach them to despise their own +people, and then send them out to the +villages, where they behave with such +insufferable arrogance that the wonder +is that so few of them stop an +arrow or a charge of buckshot, instead +of so many. And when that +happens, as it does occasionally, Welfare +says they're murdered at the <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'institigation'">instigation</ins> +of the shoonoon."</p> + +<p>"You know, Miss Shaw, this isn't +just the roughneck's scorn for the +egghead," Travis said. "Miles went to +school on Terra, and majored in extraterrestrial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +sociography, and got a +master's, just like you did. At Montevideo," +he added. "And he spent two +more years traveling on a Paula von +Schlicten Fellowship."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Edith Shaw didn't say anything. +She even tried desperately not to look +impressed. It occurred to him that +he'd never mentioned that fellowship +to Travis. Army Intelligence must +have a pretty good <i>dossier</i> on him. +Before anybody could say anything +further, a Terran captain and a native +sergeant of the First K.N.I. came in. +In the screen, the four sepoys who +had been fussing around straightening +things picked up auto-carbines +and posted themselves two on either +side of a door across from the pickup, +taking positions that would permit +them to fire into whatever came +through without hitting each other.</p> + +<p>What came through was one hundred +and eighty-four shoonoon. Some +wore robes of loose gauze strips, and +some wore fire-dance cloaks of red +and yellow and orange ribbons. Many +were almost completely naked, but +they were all amulet-ed to the teeth. +There must have been a couple of +miles of brass and bright-alloy wire +among them, and half a ton of bright +scrap-metal, and the skulls, bones, +claws, teeth, tails and other components +of most of the native fauna. They +debouched into the big room, stopped, +and stood looking around them. A native +sergeant and a couple more sepoys +followed. They got the shoonoon +over to the semicircle of cushions, +having to chase a couple of them +away from the single seat at front and +center, and induced them to sit down.</p> + +<p>The native sergeant in the little +room said something under his +breath; the captain laughed. Edith +Shaw gaped for an instant and said, +"<i>Muggawsh</i>!" Travis simply remarked +that he'd be damned.</p> + +<p>"They do look kind of unusual, don't +they?" Miles said. "I wouldn't doubt +that this is the biggest assemblage of +shoonoon in history. They aren't exactly +a gregarious lot."</p> + +<p>"Maybe this is the beginning of a +new era. First meeting of the Kwannon +Thaumaturgical Society."</p> + +<p>A couple more K.N.I. privates +came in with serving-tables on contragravity +floats and began passing +bowls of a frozen native-food delicacy +of which all Kwanns had become +passionately fond since its introduction +by the Terrans. He let them finish, +and then, after they had been relieved +of the empty bowls, he nodded +to the K.N.I. sergeant, who opened a +door on the left. They all went +through into the room they had been +seeing in the screen. There was a stir +when the shoonoon saw him, and he +heard his name, in its usual native +mispronunciation, repeated back and +forth.</p> + +<p>"You all know me," he said, after +they were seated. "Have I ever been +an enemy to you or to the People?"</p> + +<p>"No," one of them said. "He speaks +for us to the other Terrans. When we +are wronged, he tries to get the +wrongs righted. In times of famine +he has spoken of our troubles, and +gifts of food have come while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +Government argued about what to +do."</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-020.png" width="500" height="298" alt="" title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p>He wished he could see Edith +Shaw's face.</p> + +<p>"There was a sickness in our village, +and my magic could not cure +it," another said. "Mailsh Heelbare +gave me oomphel to cure it, and told +me how to use it. He did this privately, +so that I would not be made to +look small to the people of the village."</p> + +<p>And that had infuriated EETA; it +was a question whether unofficial help +to the natives or support of the prestige +of a shoonoo had angered them +more.</p> + +<p>"His father was a trader; he gave +good oomphel, and did not cheat. +Mailsh Heelbare grew up among us; +he took the Manhood Test with the +boys of the village," another oldster +said. "He listened with respect to the +grandfather-stories. No, Mailsh Heelbare +is not our enemy. He is our +friend."</p> + +<p>"And so I will prove myself now," +he told them. "The Government is +angry with the People, but I will try +to take their anger away, and in the +meantime I am permitted to come +here and talk with you. Here is a chief +of soldiers, and one of the Government +people, and your words will be +heard by the oomphel machine that +remembers and repeats, for the Governor +and the Great Soldier Chief."</p> + +<p>They all brightened. To make a +voice recording was a wonderful honor. +Then one of them said:</p> + +<p>"But what good will that do now? +The Last Hot Time is here. Let us +be permitted to return to our villages, +where our people need us."</p> + +<p>"It is of that that I wish to speak. +But first of all, I must hear your +words, and know what is in your +minds. Who is the eldest among you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +Let him come forth and sit in the +front, where I may speak with him."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Then he relaxed while they argued +in respectfully subdued voices. Finally +one decrepit oldster, wearing a +cloak of yellow ribbons and carrying +a highly obscene and ineffably sacred +wooden image, was brought forward +and installed on the front-and-center +cushion. He'd come from some village +to the west that hadn't gotten the +word of the swarming; Gonzales' men +had snagged him while he was making +crop-fertility magic.</p> + +<p>Miles showed him the respect due +his advanced age and obviously great +magical powers, displaying, as he did, +an understanding of the regalia.</p> + +<p>"I have indeed lived long," the old +shoonoo replied. "I saw the Hot Time +before; I was a child of so high." He +measured about two and a half feet +off the floor; that would make him +ninety-five or thereabouts. "I remember it."</p> + +<p>"Speak to us, then. Tell us of the +Gone Ones, and of the Sky Fire, and +of the Last Hot Time. Speak as though +you alone knew these things, and as +though you were teaching me."</p> + +<p>Delighted, the oldster whooshed a +couple of times to clear his outlets +and began:</p> + +<p>"In the long-ago time, there was +only the Great Spirit. The Great +Spirit made the World, and he made +the People. In that time, there were +no more People in the World <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'then'">than</ins> +would be in one village, now. The +Gone Ones dwelt among them, and +spoke to them as I speak to you. Then, +as more People were born, and died +and went to join the Gone Ones, the +Gone Ones became many, and they +went away and build a place for themselves, +and built the Sky Fire around +it, and in the Place of the Gone Ones, +at the middle of the Sky Fire, it is cool. +From their place in the Sky Fire, the +Gone Ones send wisdom to the people +in dreams.</p> + +<p>"The Sky Fire passes across the sky, +from east to west, as the Always-Same +does, but it is farther away than the +Always-Same, because sometimes the +Always Same passes in front of it, +but the Sky Fire never passes in front +of the Always-Same. None of the +grandfather-stories, not even the oldest, +tell of a time when this happened.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes the Sky Fire is big and +bright; that is when the Gone Ones +feast and dance. Sometimes it is smaller +and dimmer; then the Gone Ones +rest and sleep. Sometimes it is close, +and there is a Hot Time; sometimes it +goes far away, and then there is a +Cool Time.</p> + +<p>"Now, the Last Hot Time has come. +The Sky Fire will come closer and +closer, and it will pass the Always-Same, +and then it will burn up the +World. Then will be a new World, +and the Gone Ones will return, and +the People will be given new bodies. +When this happens, the Sky Fire will +go out, and the Gone Ones will live in +the World again with the People; the +Gone Ones will make great magic +and teach wisdom as I teach to you, +and will no longer have to send +dreams. In that time the crops will +grow without planting or tending or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +the work of women; in that time, the +game will come into the villages to +be killed in the gathering-places. +There will be no more hunger and no +more hard work, and no more of the +People will die or be slain. And that +time is now here," he finished. "All +the People know this."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Grandfather; how is this +known? There have been many Hot +Times before. Why should this one +be the Last Hot Time?"</p> + +<p>"The Terrans have come, and +brought oomphel into the World," +the old shoonoo said. "It is a sign."</p> + +<p>"It was not prophesied beforetime. +None of the People had prophesies of +the coming of the Terrans. I ask you, +who were the father of children and +the grandfather of children's children +when the Terrans came; was there +any such prophesy?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The old shoonoo was silent, turning +his pornographic ikon in his hands +and looked at it.</p> + +<p>"No," he admitted, at length. "Before +the Terrans came, there were no +prophesies among the People of their +coming. Afterward, of course, there +were many such prophesies, but there +were none before."</p> + +<p>"That is strange. When a happening +is a sign of something to come, +it is prophesied beforetime." He left +that seed of doubt alone to grow, and +continued: "Now, Grandfather, speak +to us about what the People believe +concerning the Terrans."</p> + +<p>"The Terrans came to the World +when my eldest daughter bore her +first child," the old shoonoo said. +"They came in great round ships, such +as come often now, but which had +never before been seen. They said +that they came from another world +like the World of People, but so far +away that even the Sky Fire could not +be seen from it. They still say this, +and many of the People believe it, +but it is not real.</p> + +<p>"At first, it was thought that the +Terrans were great shoonoon who +made powerful magic, but this is not +real either. The Terrans have no magic +and no wisdom of their own. All +they have is the oomphel, and the +oomphel works magic for them and +teaches them their wisdom. Even in +the schools which the Terrans have +made for the People, it is the oomphel +which teaches." He went on to describe, +not too incorrectly, the reading-screens +and viewscreens and audio-visual +equipment. "Nor do the +Terrans make the oomphel, as they +say. The oomphel makes more oomphel +for them."</p> + +<p>"Then where did the Terrans get +the first oomphel?"</p> + +<p>"They stole it from the Gone Ones," +the old shoonoo replied. "The Gone +Ones make it in their place in the +middle of the Sky Fire, for themselves +and to give to the People when they +return. The Terrans stole it from +them. For this reason, there is much +hatred of the Terrans among the +People. The Terrans live in the Dark +Place, under the World, where the +Sky Fire and the Always-Same go +when they are not in the sky. It is +there that the Terrans get the oomphel +from the Gone Ones, and now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +they have come to the World, and +they are using oomphel to hold back +the Sky-Fire and keep it beyond the +Always-Same so that the Last Hot +Time will not come and the Gone +Ones will not return. For this reason, +too, there is much hatred of the Terrans +among the People."</p> + +<p>"Grandfather, if this were real there +would be good reason for such hatred, +and I would be ashamed for what +my people had done and were doing. +But it is not real." He had to rise and +hold up his hands to quell the indignant +outcry "Have any of you known +me to tell not-real things and try to +make the People act as though they +were real? Then trust me in this. I +will show you real things, which you +will all see, and I will give you great +secrets, which it is now time for you +to have and use for the good of the +People. Even the greatest secret," he +added.</p> + +<p>There was a pause of a few seconds. +Then they burst out, in a hundred +and eighty-four—no, three hundred +and sixty eight—voices:</p> + +<p><i>"The Oomphel Secret, Mailsh Heelbare?"</i></p> + +<p>He nodded slowly. "Yes. The Oomphel +Secret will be given."</p> + +<p>He leaned back and relaxed again +while they were getting over the excitement. +Foxx Travis looked at him +apprehensively.</p> + +<p>"Rushing things, aren't you? What +are you going to tell them?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a big pack of lies, I suppose," +Edith Shaw said scornfully.</p> + +<p>Behind her and Travis, the native +noncom interpreter was muttering +something in his own language that +translated roughly as: "This better be +good!"</p> + +<p>The shoonoon had quieted, now, +and were waiting breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"But if the Oomphel Secret is given, +what will become of the shoonoon?" +he asked. "You, yourselves, +say that we Terrans have no need for +magic, because the oomphel works +magic for us. This is real. If the People +get the Oomphel Secret, how +much need will they have for you +shoonoon?"</p> + +<p>Evidently that hadn't occurred to +them before. There was a brief flurry +of whispered—whooshed, rather—conversation, +and then they were silent +again. The eldest shoonoo said:</p> + +<p>"We trust you, Mailsh Heelbare. +You will do what is best for the People, +and you will not let us be thrown +out like broken pots, either."</p> + +<p>"No, I will not," he promised. "The +Oomphel Secret will be given to you +shoonoon." He thought for a moment +of Foxx Travis' joking remark about +the Kwannon Thaumaturgical Society. +"You have been jealous of one +another, each keeping his own secrets," +he said. "This must be put +away. You will all receive the Oomphel +Secret equally, for the good of +all the People. You must all swear +brotherhood, one with another, and +later if any other shoonoo comes to +you for the secret, you must swear +brotherhood with him and teach it to +him. Do you agree to this?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The eldest shoonoo rose to his feet, +begged leave, and then led the others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +to the rear of the room, where they +went into a huddle. They didn't stay +huddled long; inside of ten minutes +they came back and took their seats.</p> + +<p>"We are agreed, Mailsh Heelbare," +the spokesman said.</p> + +<p>Edith Shaw was impressed, more +than by anything else she had seen. +"Well, that was a quick decision!" she +whispered.</p> + +<p>"You have done well, Grandfathers. +You will not be thrown out by the +People like broken pots; you will be +greater among them than ever. I will +show you how this will be.</p> + +<p>"But first, I must speak around the +Oomphel Secret." He groped briefly +for a comprehensible analogy, and +thought of a native vegetable, layered +like an onion, with a hard kernel in +the middle. "The Oomphel Secret is +like a fooshkoot. There are many lesser +secrets around it, each of which +must be peeled off like the skins of a +fooshkoot and eaten. Then you will +find the nut in the middle."</p> + +<p>"But the nut of the fooshkoot is +bitter," somebody said.</p> + +<p>He nodded, slowly and solemnly. +"The nut of the fooshkoot is bitter," +he agreed.</p> + +<p>They looked at one another, disquieted +by his words. Before anybody +could comment, he was continuing:</p> + +<p>"Before this secret is given, there +are things to be learned. You would +not understand it if I gave it to you +now. You believe many not-real +things which must be chased out of +your minds, otherwise they would +spoil your understanding."</p> + +<p>That was verbatim what they told +adolescents before giving them the +Manhood Secret. Some of them +huffed a little; most of them laughed. +Then one called out: "Speak on, +Grandfather of Grandfathers," and +they all laughed. That was fine, it had +been about time for teacher to crack +his little joke. Now he became serious +again.</p> + +<p>"The first of these not-real things +you must chase from your mind is this +which you believe about the home of +the Terrans. It is not real that they +come from the Dark Place under the +World. There is no Dark Place under +the World."</p> + +<p>Bedlam for a few seconds; that was +a pretty stiff jolt. No Dark Place; who +ever heard of such a thing? The eldest +shoonoo rose, cradling his graven +image in his arms, and the noise +quieted.</p> + +<p>"Mailsh Heelbare, if there is no +Dark Place where do the Sky Fire +and the Always-Same go when they +are not in the sky?"</p> + +<p>"They never leave the sky; the +World is round, and there is sky +everywhere around it."</p> + +<p>They knew that, or had at least +heard it, since the Terrans had come. +They just couldn't believe it. It was +against common sense. The oldest +shoonoo said as much, and more:</p> + +<p>"These young ones who have gone +to the Terran schools have come to +the villages with such tales, but who +listens to them? They show disrespect +for the chiefs and the elders, +and even for the shoonoon. They +mock at the Grandfather-stories. They +say men should do women's work and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +women do no work at all. They break +taboos, and cause trouble. They are +fools."</p> + +<p>"Am I a fool, Grandfather? Do I +mock at the old stories, or show disrespect +to elders and shoonoon? Yet I, +Mailsh Heelbare, tell you this. The +World is indeed round, and I will +show you."</p> + +<p>The shoonoo looked contemptuously +at the globe. "I have seen those +things," he said. "That is not the +World; that is only a make-like." He +held up his <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'phalic'">phallic</ins> wood-carving. "I +could say that this is a make-like of +the World, but that would not make +it so."</p> + +<p>"I will show you for real. We will +all go in a ship." He looked at his +watch. "The Sky Fire is about to set. +We will follow it all around the world +to the west, and come back here from +the east, and the Sky Fire will still be +setting when we return. If I show you +that, will you believe me?"</p> + +<p>"If you show us for real, and it is <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'no'">not</ins> +a trick, we will have to believe you."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When they emerged from the escalators, +Alpha was just touching the +western horizon, and Beta was a little +past zenith. The ship was moored on +contragravity beside the landing +stage, her gangplank run out. The +shoonoon, who had gone up ahead, +had all stopped short and were staring +at her; then they began gabbling +among themselves, overcome by the +wonder of being about to board such +a monster and ride on her. She was +the biggest ship any of them had ever +seen. Maybe a few of them had been +on small freighters; many of them +had never been off the ground. They +didn't look or act like cynical charlatans +or implacable enemies of progress +and enlightenment. They were +more like a lot of schoolboys whose +teacher is taking them on a surprise +outing.</p> + +<p>"Bet this'll be the biggest day in +their lives," Travis said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sure. This'll be a grandfather-story +ten generations from now."</p> + +<p>"I can't get over the way they made +up their minds, down there," Edith +Shaw was saying. "Why, they just +went and talked for a few minutes +and came back with a decision."</p> + +<p>They hadn't any organization, or +any place to maintain on an organizational +pecking-order. Nobody was +obliged to attack anybody else's proposition +in order to keep up his own +status. He thought of the Colonial +Government taking ten years not to +build those storm-shelters.</p> + +<p>Foxx Travis was commenting on +the ship, now:</p> + +<p>"I never saw that ship before; didn't +know there was anything like that on +the planet. Why, you could lift a +whole regiment, with supplies and +equipment—"</p> + +<p>"She's been laid up for the last five +years, since the heat and the native +troubles stopped the tourist business +here. She's the old <i>Hesperus</i>. Excursion +craft. This sun-chasing trip we're +going to make used to be a must for +tourists here."</p> + +<p>"I thought she was something like +that, with all the glassed observation +deck forward. Who's the owner?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Kwannon Air Transport, Ltd. I +told them what I needed her for, and +they made her available and furnished +officers and crew and provisions for +the trip. They were working to put +her in commission while we were +fitting up the fourth and fifth floors, +downstairs."</p> + +<p>"You just asked for that ship, and +they just let you have it?" Edith +Shaw was incredulous and shocked. +They wouldn't have done that for the +Government.</p> + +<p>"They want to see these native +troubles stopped, too. Bad for business. +You know; selfish profit-move. +That's another social force it's a good +idea to work with instead of against."</p> + +<p>The shoonoon were getting aboard, +now, shepherded by the K.N.I. officer +and a couple of his men and +some of the ship's crew. A couple of +sepoys were lugging the big globe +that had been brought up from below +after them. Everybody assembled on +the forward top observation deck, and +Miles called for attention and, finally, +got it. He pointed out the three viewscreens +mounted below the bridge, +amidships. One on the left, was tuned +to a pickup on the top of the Air +Terminal tower, where the Terran +city, the military reservation and the +spaceport met. It showed the view to +the west, with Alpha on the horizon. +The one on the right, from the same +point, gave a view in the opposite direction, +to the east. The middle screen +presented a magnified view of the +navigational globe on the bridge.</p> + +<p>Viewscreens were no novelty to +the shoonoon. They were a very familiar +type of oomphel. He didn't even +need to do more than tell them that +the little spot of light on the globe +would show the position of the ship. +When he was sure that they understood +that they could see what was +happening in Bluelake while they +were away, he called the bridge and +ordered Up Ship, telling the officer +on duty to hold her at five thousand +feet.</p> + +<p>The ship rose slowly, turning toward +the setting M-giant. Somebody +called attention that the views in the +screens weren't changing. Somebody +else said:</p> + +<p>"Of course not. What we see for +real changes because the ship is moving. +What we see in the screens is +what the oomphel on the big building +sees, and it does not move. That is for +real as the oomphel sees it."</p> + +<p>"Nice going," Edith said. "Your +class has just discovered relativity." +Travis was looking at the eastward +viewscreen. He stepped over beside +Miles and lowered his voice.</p> + +<p>"Trouble over there to the east of +town. Big swarm of combat contragravity +working on something on the +ground. And something's on fire, too."</p> + +<p>"I see it."</p> + +<p>"That's where those evacuees are +camped. Why in blazes they had to +bring them here to Bluelake—"</p> + +<p>That had been EETA, too. When +the solar tides had gotten high enough +to flood the coastal area, the natives +who had been evacuated from the district +had been brought here because +the Native Education people wanted +them exposed to urban influences.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +About half of the shoonoon who had +been rounded up locally had come +in from the tide-<ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'innundated'">inundated</ins> area.</p> + +<p>"Parked right in the middle of the +Terran-type food production area," +Travis was continuing.</p> + +<p>That was worrying him. Maybe he +wasn't used to planets where the biochemistry +wasn't Terra-type and a +Terran would be poisoned or, at best, +starve to death, on the local food; +maybe, as a soldier he knew how +fragile even the best logistics system +can be. It was something to worry +about. Travis excused himself and +went off in the direction of the bridge. +Going to call HQ and find out what +was happening.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Excitement among the shoonoon; +they had spotted the ship on which +they were riding in the westward +screen. They watched it until it had +vanished from "sight of the seeing-oomphel," +and by then were over the +upland forests from whence they had +been brought to Bluelake. Now and +then one of them would identify his +own village, and that would start +more excitement.</p> + +<p>Three infantry troop-carriers and a +squadron of air cavalry were rushing +past the eastward pickup in the right +hand screen; another fire had started +in the trouble area.</p> + +<p>The crowd that had gathered +around the globe that had been +brought aboard began calling for +Mailsh Heelbare to show them how +they would go around the world and +what countries they would pass over. +Edith accompanied him and listened +while he talked to them. She was +bubbling with happy excitement, +now. It had just dawned on her that +shoonoon were fun.</p> + +<p>None of them had ever seen the +mountains along the western side of +the continent except from a great distance. +Now they were passing over +them; the ship had to gain altitude +and even then make a detour around +one snow-capped peak. The whole +hundred and eighty-four rushed to +the starboard side to watch it as they +passed. The ocean, half an hour later, +started a rush forward. The score or so +of them from the Tidewater knew +what an ocean was, but none of them +had known that there was another one +to the west. Miles' view of the education +program of the EETA, never +bright at best, became even dimmer. +<i>The young men who have gone to the +Terran schools ... who listens to +them? They are fools.</i></p> + +<p>There were a few islands off the +coast; the shoonoon identified them +on the screen globe, and on the one +on deck. Some of them wanted to +know why there wasn't a spot of light +on this globe, too. It didn't have the +oomphel inside to do that; that was +a satisfactory explanation. Edith started +to explain about the orbital beacon-stations +<ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'ox-planet'">off-planet</ins> and the radio +beams, and then stopped.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry; I'm not supposed to say +anything to them," she apologized.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right. I wouldn't go +into all that, though. We don't want +to overload them."</p> + +<p>She asked permission, a little later, +to explain why the triangle tip of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +arctic continent, which had begun to +edge into sight on the screen globe, +couldn't be seen from the ship. When +he told her to go ahead, she got a +platinum half-sol piece from her +purse, held it on the globe from the +classroom and explained about the +curvature and told them they could +see nothing farther away than the circle +the coin covered. It was beginning +to look as though the psychological-warfare +experiment might show another, +unexpected, success.</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-028.png" width="500" height="355" alt="" title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p>There was nothing, after the islands +passed, but a lot of empty water. The +shoonoon were getting hungry, but +they refused to go below to eat. They +were afraid they might miss something. +So their dinner was brought up +on deck for them. Miles and Travis +and Edith went to the officers' dining +room back of the bridge. Edith, by +now, was even more excited than the +shoonoon.</p> + +<p>"They're so anxious to learn!" She +was having trouble adjusting to that; +that was dead against EETA doctrine. +"But why wouldn't they listen to the +teachers we sent to the villages?"</p> + +<p>"You heard old Shatresh—the fellow +with the pornographic sculpture +and the yellow robe. These young +twerps act like fools, and sensible +people don't pay any attention to +fools. What's more, they've been sent +out indoctrinated with the idea that +shoonoon are a lot of lying old fakes, +and the shoonoon resent that. You +know, they're not lying old fakes. +Within their limitations, they are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +honest and ethical professional people."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come, now! I know, I think +they're sort of wonderful, but let's +don't give them too much credit."</p> + +<p>"I'm not. You're doing that."</p> + +<p>"<i>Huh?</i>" She looked at him in +amazement. "Me?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Yes, you. You know better than +to believe in magic, so you expect +them to know better, too. Well, they +don't. You know that under the +macroscopic world-of-the senses there +exists a complex of biological, chemical +and physical phenomena down to +the subnucleonic level. They realize +that there must be something beyond +what they can see and handle, but +they think it's magic. Well, as a race, +so did we until only a few centuries +pre-atomic. These people are still +lower Neolithic, a hunting people +who have just learned agriculture. +Where we were twenty thousand +years ago.</p> + +<p>"You think any glib-talking Kwann +can hang a lot of rags, bones and old +iron onto himself, go through some +impromptu mummery, and set up as +shoonoo? Well, he can't. The shoonoon +are a hereditary caste. A shoonoo +father will begin teaching his +son as soon as he can walk and talk, +and he keeps on teaching him till he's +the age-equivalent of a graduate M.D. +or a science Ph. D."</p> + +<p>"Well, what all is there to learn—?"</p> + +<p>"The theoretical basis and practical +applications of sympathetic magic. +Action-at-a-distance by one object +upon another. Homeopathic magic: +the principle that things which resemble +one another will interact. For +instance, there's an animal the natives +call a shynph. It has an excrescence +of horn on its brow like an arrowhead, +and it arches its back like a +bow when it jumps. Therefore, a +shynph is equal to a bow and arrow, +and for that reason the Kwanns made +their bowstrings out of shynph-gut. +Now they use tensilon because it +won't break as easily or get wet and +stretch. So they have to turn the tensilon +into shynph-gut. They used to +do that by drawing a picture of a +shynph on the spool, and then the +traders began labeling the spools with +pictures of shynph. I think my father +was one of the first to do that.</p> + +<p>"Then, there's contagious magic. +Anything that's been part of anything +else or come in contact with it +will interact permanently with it. I +wish I had a sol for every time I've +seen a Kwann pull the wad out of a +shot-shell, pick up a pinch of dirt +from the footprint of some animal +he's tracking, put it in among the +buckshot, and then crimp the wad in +again.</p> + +<p>"Everything a Kwann does has +some sort of magical implications. It's +the shoonoo's business to know all +this; to be able to tell just what magical +influences have to be produced, +and what influences must be avoided. +And there are circumstances in +which magic simply will not work, +even in theory. The reason is that there +is some powerful counter-influence at +work. He has to know when he can't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +use magic, and he has to be able to +explain why. And when he's theoretically +able to do something by magic, +he has to have a plausible explanation +why it won't produce results—just as +any highly civilized and ethical Terran +M.D. has to be able to explain his +failures to the satisfaction of his late +patient's relatives. Only a shoonoo +doesn't get sued for malpractice; he +gets a spear stuck in him. Under those +circumstances, a caste of hereditary +magicians is literally bred for quick +thinking. These old gaffers we have +aboard are the intellectual top crust +among the natives. Any of them can +think rings around your Government +school products. As for preying on +the ignorance and credulity of the +other natives, they're only <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'infinitesmally'">infinitesimally</ins> +less ignorant and credulous +themselves. But they want to learn—from +anybody who can gain their +respect by respecting them."</p> + +<p>Edith Shaw didn't say anything in +reply. She was thoughtful during the +rest of the meal, and when they were +back on the observation deck he noticed +that she seemed to be looking at +the shoonoon with new eyes.</p> + +<p>In the screen-views of Bluelake, +Beta had already set, and the sky was +fading; stars had begun to twinkle. +There were more fires—one, close to +the city in the east, a regular conflagration—and +fighting had broken out +in the native city itself. He was wishing +now, that he hadn't thought it +necessary to use those screens. The +shoonoon were noticing what was going +on in them, and talking among +themselves. Travis, after one look at +the situation, hurried back to the +bridge to make a screen-call. After a +while, he returned, almost crackling +with suppressed excitement.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's finally happened! Maith's +forced Kovac to declare martial rule!" +he said in an exultant undertone.</p> + +<p>"Forced him?" Edith was puzzled. +"The Army can't force the Civil Government—"</p> + +<p>"He threatened to do it himself. Intervene +and suspend civil rule."</p> + +<p>"But I thought only the Navy could +do that."</p> + +<p>"Any planetary commander of +Armed Forces can, in a state of extreme +emergency. I think you'll both +agree that this emergency is about as +extreme as they come. Kovac knew +that Maith was unwilling to do it—he'd +have to stand court-martial to justify +his action—but he also knew that +a governor general who has his Colony +taken away from him by the +Armed Forces never gets it back; he's +finished. So it was just a case of the +weaker man in the weaker position +yielding."</p> + +<p>"Where does this put us?"</p> + +<p>"We are a civilian scientific project. +You are under orders of General +Maith. I am under your orders. I don't +know about Edith."</p> + +<p>"Can I draft her, or do I have to +get you to get General Maith to do +it?"</p> + +<p>"Listen, don't do that," Edith protested. +"I still have to work for Government +House, and this martial rule +won't last forever. They'll all be prejudiced +against me—"</p> + +<p>"You can shove your Government<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +job on the air lock," Miles told her. +"You'll have a better one with Planetwide +News, at half again as much +pay. And after the shakeup at Government +House, about a year from +now, you may be going back as director +of EETA. When they find out on +Terra just how badly this Government +has been mismanaging things there'll +be a lot of vacancies."</p> + +<p>The shoonoon had been watching +the fighting in the viewscreens. Then +somebody noticed that the spot of +light on the navigational globe was +approaching a coastline, and they all +rushed forward for a look.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Travis and Edith slept for a while; +when they returned to relieve him, +Alpha was rising to the east of Bluelake, +and the fighting in the city was +still going on. The shoonoon were +still wakeful and interested; Kwanns +could go without sleep for much +longer periods than Terrans. The lack +of any fixed cycle of daylight and +darkness on their planet had left +them unconditioned to any regular +sleeping-and-waking rhythm.</p> + +<p>"I just called in," Travis said. +"Things aren't good, at all. Most of +the natives in the evacuee cantonments +have gotten into the native +city, now, and they've gotten hold of +a lot of firearms somehow. And +they're getting nasty in the west, beyond +where Gonzales is occupying, +and in the northeast, and we only +have about half enough troops to cope +with everything. The general wants to +know how you're making out with the +shoonoon."</p> + +<p>"I'll call him before I get in the +sack."</p> + +<p>He went up on the bridge and +made the call. General Maith looked +as sleepy as he felt; they both yawned +as they greeted each other. There +wasn't much he could tell the general, +and it sounded like the glib reassurances +one gets from a hospital about +a friend's condition.</p> + +<p>"We'll check in with you as soon as +we get back and get our shoonoon +put away. We understand what's motivating +these frenzies, now, and in +about twenty-five to thirty hours we'll +be able to start doing something +about it."</p> + +<p>The general, in the screen, grimaced.</p> + +<p>"That's a long time, Mr. Gilbert. +Longer than we can afford to take, +I'm afraid. You're not cruising at full +speed now, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, general. We're just trying +to keep Alpha level on the horizon." +He thought for a moment. "We don't +need to keep down to that. It may +make an even bigger impression if +we speed up."</p> + +<p>He went back to the observation +deck, picked up the PA-phone, and +called for attention.</p> + +<p>"You have seen, now, that we can +travel around the world, so fast that +we keep up with the Sky Fire and it is +not seen to set. Now we will travel +even faster, and I will show you a new +wonder. I will show you the Sky Fire +rising in the west; it and the Always-Same +will seem to go backward in the +sky. This will not be for real; it will +only be seen so because we will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +traveling faster. Watch, now, and see." +He called the bridge for full speed, +and then told them to look at the +Sky-Fire and then see in the screens +where it stood over Bluelake.</p> + +<p>That was even better; now they +were racing with the Sky-Fire and +catching up to it. After half an hour +he left them still excited and whooping +gleefully over the steady gain. +Five hours later, when he came back +after a nap and a hasty breakfast, they +were still whooping. Edith Shaw was +excited, too; the shoonoon were trying +to estimate how soon they would +be back to Bluelake by comparing the +position of the Sky Fire with its position +in the screen.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>General Maith received them in his +private office at Army HQ; Foxx +Travis mixed drinks for the four of +them while the general checked the +microphones to make sure they had +privacy.</p> + +<p>"I blame myself for not having +forced martial rule on them hundreds +of hours ago," he said. "I have +three brigades; the one General Gonzales +had here originally, and the two +I brought with me when I took over +here. We have to keep at least half +a brigade in the south, to keep the +tribes there from starting any more +forest fires. I can't hold Bluelake with +anything less than half a brigade. +Gonzales has his hands full in his +area. He had a nasty business while +you were off on that world cruise—natives +in one village caught the men +stationed there off guard and wiped +them out, and then started another +frenzy. It spread to two other villages +before he got it stopped. And we +need the Third Brigade in the northeast; +there are three quarters of a +million natives up there, inhabiting +close to a million square miles. And +if anything really breaks loose here, +and what's been going on in the last +few days is nothing even approaching +what a real outbreak could be like, +we'll have to pull in troops from everywhere. +We must save the Terran-type +crops and the carniculture +plants. If we don't, we all starve."</p> + +<p>Miles nodded. There wasn't anything +he could think of saying to that.</p> + +<p>"How soon can you begin to show +results with those shoonoon, Mr. Gilbert?" +the general asked. "You said +from twenty-five to thirty hours. Can +you cut that any? In twenty-five hours, +all hell could be loose all over the +continent."</p> + +<p>Miles shook his head. "So far, I +haven't accomplished anything positive," +he said. "All I did with this trip +around the world was convince them +that I was telling the truth when I +told them there was no Dark Place +under the World, where Alpha and +Beta go at night." He hastened, as the +general began swearing, to add: "I +know, that doesn't sound like much. +But it was necessary. I have to convince +them that there will be no Last +Hot Time, and then—"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The shoonoon, on their drum-shaped +cushions, stared at him in silence, +aghast. All the happiness over +the wonderful trip in the ship, when +they had chased the Sky Fire around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +the World and caught it over Bluelake, +and even their pleasure in the +frozen delicacies they had just eaten, +was gone.</p> + +<p><i>"No—Last—Hot—Time?"</i></p> + +<p>"Mailsh Heelbare, this is not real! +It cannot be!"</p> + +<p>"The Gone Ones—"</p> + +<p>"The Always-Cool Time, when +there will be no more hunger or hard +work or death; it cannot be real that +this will never come!"</p> + +<p>He rose, holding up his hands; his +action stopped the clamor.</p> + +<p>"Why should the Gone Ones want +to return to this poor world that they +have gladly left?" he asked. "Have +they not a better place in the middle +of the Sky Fire, where it is always +cool? And why should you want them +to come back to this world? Will not +each one of you pass, sooner or later, +to the middle of the Sky Fire; will +you not there be given new bodies +and join the Gone Ones? There is the +Always-Cool; there the crops grow +without planting and without the +work of women; there the game come +into the villages to be killed in the +gathering-places, without hunting. +There you will talk with the other +Gone Ones, your fathers and your +fathers' fathers, as I talk with you. +Why do you think this must come to +the World of People? Can you not +wait to join the Gone Ones in the Sky +Fire?"</p> + +<p>Then he sat down and folded his +arms. They were looking at him in +amazement; evidently they all saw the +logic, but none of them had ever +thought of it before. Now they would +have to turn it over in their minds +and accustom themselves to the new +viewpoint. They began whooshing +among themselves. At length, old +Shatresh, who had seen the Hot Time +before, spoke:</p> + +<p>"Mailsh Heelbare, we trust you," he +said. "You have told us of wonders, +and you have shown us that they were +real. But do you know this for real?"</p> + +<p>"Do you tell me that you do not?" +he demanded in surprise. "You have +had fathers, and fathers' fathers. +They have gone to join the Gone +Ones. Why should you not, also? And +why should the Gone Ones come +back and destroy the World of People? +Then your children will have no +more children, and your children's +children will never be. It is in the +World of People that the People are +born; it is in the World that they +grow and gain wisdom to fit themselves +to live in the Place of the Gone +Ones when they are through with the +bodies they use in the World. You +should be happy that there will be no +Last Hot Time, and that the line of +your begettings will go on and not +be cut short."</p> + +<p>There were murmurs of agreement +with this. Most of them were beginning +to be relieved that there wouldn't +be a Last Hot Time, after all. +Then one of the class asked:</p> + +<p>"Do the Terrans also go to the +Place of the Gone Ones, or have they +a place of their own?"</p> + +<p>He was silent for a long time, looking +down at the floor. Then he raised +his head.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped that I would not have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +to speak of this," he said. "But, since +you have asked, it is right that I +should tell you." He hesitated again, +until the Kwanns in front of him had +begun to fidget. Then he asked old +Shatresh: "Speak of the beliefs of the +People about how the World was +made."</p> + +<p>"The great Spirit made the world." +He held up his carven obscenity. "He +made the World out of himself. This +is a <ins class="corr" title="Transcriber's note: original reads 'makelike'. Hyphenated to correspond to majority usage.">make-like</ins> to show it."</p> + +<p>"The Great Spirit made many +worlds. The stars which you see in +dark-time are all worlds, each with +many smaller worlds around it. The +Great Spirit made them all at one +time, and made people on many of +them. The Great Spirit made the +World of People, and made the Always-Same +and the Sky Fire, and inside +the Sky Fire he made the Place of the +Gone Ones. And when he made the +Place of the Gone Ones, he put an +Oomphel-Mother inside it, to bring +forth oomphel."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>This created a brief sensation. An +Oomphel-Mother was something they +had never thought of before, but now +they were wondering why they hadn't. +Of course there'd be an Oomphel-Mother; +how else would there be +oomphel?</p> + +<p>"The World of the Terrans is far +away from the World of People, as +we have always told you. When the +Great Spirit made it He gave it only +an Always-Same, and no Sky Fire. +Since there was no Sky Fire, there was +no place to put a Place of the Gone +Ones, so the Great Spirit made the +Terrans so that they would not die, +but live forever in their own bodies. +The Oomphel-Mother for the World +of the Terrans the Great Spirit hid +in a cave under a great mountain.</p> + +<p>"The Terrans whom the Great +Spirit made lived for a long time, +and then, one day, a man and a +woman found a crack in a rock, and +went inside, and they found the cave +of the Oomphel-Mother, and the +Oomphel-Mother in it. So they called +all the other Terrans, and they brought +the Oomphel-Mother out, and the +Oomphel-Mother began to bring +forth Oomphel. The Oomphel-Mother +brought forth metal, and cloth, and +glass, and plastic; knives, and axes and +guns and clothing—" He went on, +cataloguing the products of human +technology, the shoonoon staring more +and more wide-eyed at him. "And +oomphel to make oomphel, and oomphel +to teach wisdom," he finished. +"They became very wise and very rich.</p> + +<p>"Then the Great Spirit saw what +the Terrans had done, and became angry, +for it was not meant for the Terrans +to do this, and the Great Spirit +cursed the Terrans with a curse of +death. It was not death as you know +it. Because the Terrans had sinned by +laying hands on the Oomphel-Mother, +not only their bodies must die, but +their spirits also. A Terran has a short +life in the body, after that no life."</p> + +<p>"This, then, is the Oomphel Secret. +The last skin of the fooshkoot has +been peeled away; behold the bitter +nut, upon which we Terrans have +chewed for more time than anybody +can count. Happy people! When you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +die or are slain, you go to the Place +of the Gone Ones, to join your fathers +and your fathers' fathers and to +await your children and children's +children. When we die or are slain, +that is the end of us."</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-035.png" width="500" height="330" alt="" title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p>"But you have brought your oomphel +into this world; have you not +brought the curse with it?" somebody +asked, frightened.</p> + +<p>"No. The People did not sin +against the Great Spirit; they have +not laid hands on an Oomphel-Mother +as we did. The oomphel we bring you +will do no harm; do you think we +would be so wicked as to bring the +curse upon you? It will be good for +you to learn about oomphel here; in +your Place of the Gone Ones there is +much oomphel."</p> + +<p>"Why did your people come to this +world, Mailsh Heelbare?" old Shatresh +asked. "Was it to try to hide +from the curse?"</p> + +<p>"There is no hiding from the curse +of the Great Spirit, but we Terrans +are not a people who submit without +strife to any fate. From the time of the +Curse of Death on, we have been +trying to make spirits for ourselves."</p> + +<p>"But how can you do that?"</p> + +<p>"We do not know. The oomphel +will not teach us that, though it +teaches everything else. We have +only learned many ways in which it +cannot be done. It cannot be done +with oomphel, or with anything that +is in our own world. But the Oomphel-Mother +made us ships to go to +other worlds, and we have gone to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +many of them, this one among them, +seeking things from which we try to +make spirits. We are trying to make +spirits for ourselves from the crystals +that grow in the klooba plants; we +may fail with them, too. But I say +this; I may die, and all the other Terrans +now living may die, and be as +though they had never been, but +someday we will not fail. Someday +our children, or our children's children, +will make spirits for themselves +and live forever, as you do."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/illus-036.png" width="300" height="382" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"Why were we not told this before, +Mailsh Heelbare?"</p> + +<p>"We were ashamed to have you +know it. We are ashamed to be people +without spirits."</p> + +<p>"Can we help you and your people? +Maybe our magic might help."</p> + +<p>"It well might. It would be worth +trying. But first, you must help yourselves. +You and your people are sinning +against the Great Spirit as grievously +as did the Terrans of old. Be +warned in time, lest you answer it as +grievously."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Mailsh Heelbare?" +Old Shatresh was frightened.</p> + +<p>"You are making magic to bring +the Sky Fire to the World. Do you +know what will happen? The World +of People will pass whole into the +place of the Gone Ones, and both +will be destroyed. The World of People +is a world of death; everything +that lives on it must die. The Place +of the Gone Ones is a world of life; +everything in it lives forever. The +two will strive against each other, +and will destroy one another, and +there will be nothing in the Sky Fire +or the World but fire. This is wisdom +which our oomphel teaches us. We +know this secret, and with it we make +weapons of great destruction." He +looked over the seated shoonoon, +picking out those who wore the flame-colored +cloaks of the fire-dance. "You—and +you—and you," he said. "You +have been making this dreadful magic, +and leading your people in it. +And which among the rest of you +have not been guilty?"</p> + +<p>"We did not know," one of them +said. "Mailsh Heelbare, have we yet +time to keep this from happening?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. There is only a little time, +but there is time. You have until the +Always-Same passes across the face of +the Sky-Fire." That would be seven +hundred and fifty hours. "If this happens,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +all is safe. If the Sky Fire blots +Out the Always Same, we are all lost +together. You must go among your +people and tell them what madness +they are doing, and command them +to stop. You must command them to +lay down their arms and cease fighting. +And you must tell them of the +awful curse that was put upon the +Terrans in the long-ago time, for a +lesser sin than they are now committing."</p> + +<p>"If we say that Mailsh Heelbare +told us this, the people may not believe +us. He is not known to all, and +some would take no Terran's word, +not even his."</p> + +<p>"Would anybody tell a secret of +this sort, about his own people, if it +were not real?"</p> + +<p>"We had better say nothing about +Mailsh Heelbare. We will say that the +Gone Ones told us in dreams."</p> + +<p>"Let us say that the Great Spirit +sent a dream of warning to each of +us," another shoonoo said. "There has +been too much talk about dreams +from the Gone Ones already."</p> + +<p>"But the Great Spirit has never +sent a dream—"</p> + +<p>"Nothing like this has ever happened +before, either."</p> + +<p>He rose, and they were silent. "Go +to your living-place, now," he told +them. "Talk of how best you may +warn your people." He pointed to the +clock. "You have an oomphel like +that in your living-place; when the +shorter spear has moved three places, +I will speak with you again, and then +you will be sent in air cars to your +people to speak to them."</p> + +<p>They went up the escalator and +down the hall to Miles' office on the +third floor without talking. Foxx Travis +was singing softly, almost inaudibly:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"You will eeeeat ... in the sweeeet ... bye-and-bye,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>You'll get oooom ... phel in the sky ... when you die!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Inside, Edith Shaw slumped dispiritedly +in a chair. Foxx Travis went to +the coffee-maker and started it. Miles +snapped on the communication screen +and punched the combination of +General Maith's headquarters. As soon +as the uniformed girl who appeared +in it saw him, her hands moved +quickly; the screen flickered, and the +general appeared in it.</p> + +<p>"We have it made, general. They're +sold; we're ready to start them out in +three hours."</p> + +<p>Maith's thin, weary face suddenly +lighted. "You mean they are going to +co-operate?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "They think +they're saving the world; they think +we're co-operating with them."</p> + +<p>The general laughed. "That's even +better! How do you want them sent +out?"</p> + +<p>"The ones in the Bluelake area +first. Better have some picked K.N.I. +in native costume, with pistols, to go +with them. They'll need protection, +till they're able to get a hearing for +themselves. After they're all out, the +ones from Gonzales' area can be +started." He thought for a moment. +"I'll want four or five of them left +here to help me when you start bringing +more shoonoon in from other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +areas. How soon do you think you'll +have another class for me?"</p> + +<p>"Two or three days, if everything +goes all right. We have the villages +and plantations in the south under +pretty tight control now; we can +start gathering them up right away. +As soon as we get things stabilized +here, we can send reinforcements to +the north. We'll have transport for +you in three hours."</p> + +<p>The general blanked out. He turned +from the screen. Travis was laughing +happily.</p> + +<p>"Miles, did anybody ever tell you +you were a genius?" he asked. "That +last jolt you gave them was perfect. +Why didn't you tell us about it in advance?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't know about it in advance; +I didn't think of it till I'd started talking +to them. No cream or sugar for +me."</p> + +<p>"Cream," Edith said, lifelessly. +"Why did you do it? Why didn't you +just tell them the truth?"</p> + +<p>Travis asked her to define the term. +She started to say something bitter +about Jesting Pilate. Miles interrupted.</p> + +<p>"In spite of Lord Beacon, Pilate +wasn't jesting," he said. "And he +didn't stay for an answer because he +knew he'd die of old age waiting for +one. What kind of truth should I +have told them?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what you started to tell +them. That Beta moves in a fixed +orbit and can't get any closer to +Alpha—"</p> + +<p>"There's been some work done on +the question since Pilate's time," Travis +said. "My semantics prof at Command +College had the start of an answer. +He defined truth as a statement +having a practical correspondence +with reality on the physical levels of +structure and observation and the +verbal order of abstraction under consideration."</p> + +<p>"He defined truth as a statement. +A statement exists only in the mind +of the person making it, and the +mind of the person to whom it is +made. If the person to whom it is +made can't understand or accept it, it +isn't the truth."</p> + +<p>"They understood when you +showed them that the planet is round, +and they understood that tri-dimensional +model of the system. Why +didn't you let it go at that?"</p> + +<p>"They accepted it intellectually. +But when I told them that there +wasn't any chance of Kwannon getting +any closer to Alpha, they rebelled +emotionally. It doesn't matter how +conclusively you prove anything, if +the person to whom you prove it can't +accept your proof emotionally, it's +still false. Not-real."</p> + +<p>"They had all their emotional capital +invested in this Always-Cool +Time," Travis told her. "They couldn't +let Miles wipe that out for them. +So he shifted it from this world to the +next, and convinced them that they +were getting a better deal that way. +You saw how quickly they picked it +up. And he didn't have the sin of telling +children there is no Easter Bunny +on his conscience, either."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"But why did you tell them that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +story about the Oomphel Mother?" +she insisted. "Now they'll go out and +tell all the other natives, and they'll +believe it."</p> + +<p>"Would they have believed it if I'd +told them about Terran scientific +technology? Your people have been +doing that for close to half a century. +You see what impression it's made."</p> + +<p>"But you told them—You told +them that Terrans have no souls!"</p> + +<p>"Can you prove that was a lie?" +Travis asked. "Let's see yours. Draw—<i>soul</i>! +Inspection—<i>soul</i>!"</p> + +<p>Naturally. Foxx Travis would expect +a soul to be carried in a holster.</p> + +<p>"But they'll look down on us, now. +They'll say we're just like animals," +Edith almost wailed.</p> + +<p>"Now it comes out," Travis said. +"We won't be the lordly Terrans, any +more, helping the poor benighted +Kwanns out of the goodness of our +hearts, scattering largess, bearing the +Terran's Burden—new model, a give-away +instead of a gun. Now <i>they'll</i> +pity <i>us</i>; they'll think <i>we're</i> inferior +beings."</p> + +<p>"I don't think the natives are inferior +beings!" She was almost in +tears.</p> + +<p>"If you don't, why did you come all +the way to Kwannon to try to make +them more like Terrans?"</p> + +<p>"Knock it off, Foxx; stop heckling +her." Travis looked faintly surprised. +Maybe he hadn't realized, before, +that a boss newsman learns to talk +like a commanding officer. "You remember +what Ramón Gonzales was +saying, out at Sanders', about the inferior's +hatred for the superior as superior? +It's no wonder these Kwanns +resent us. They have a right to; we've +done them all an unforgivable injury. +We've let them see us doing things +they can't do. Of course they resent +us. But now I've given them something +to feel superior about. When +they die, they'll go to the Place of the +Gone Ones, and have oomphel in the +sky, and they will live forever in new +bodies, but when we die, we just die, +period. So they'll pity us and politely +try to hide their condescension toward +us.</p> + +<p>"And because they feel superior to +us, they'll want to help us. They'll +work hard on the plantations, so that +we can have plenty of biocrystals, +and their shoonoon will work magic +for us, to help us poor benighted Terrans +to grow souls for ourselves, so +that we can almost be like them. Of +course, they'll have a chance to exploit +us, and get oomphel from us, too, but +the important thing will be to help +the poor Terrans. Maybe they'll even +organize a Spiritual and Magical Assistance +Agency."</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<div class="bbox"><h4 style="margin-top:0">Transcriber's Note & Errata</h4> + +<p>The original page numbers from Analog Science Fact—Science +Fiction have been retained.</p> + +<p>The following typographical errors have been corrected</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr style="font-weight:bold"><td align='left'>Page</td><td align='left'>Error</td><td align='left'>Correction</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>129</td><td align='left'>radiaion</td><td align='left'>radiation</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>132</td><td align='left'>plan</td><td align='left'>planet</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>133</td><td align='left'>Biocrysal</td><td align='left'>Biocrystal</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>133</td><td align='left'>Trans-Sapce</td><td align='left'>Trans-Space</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>137</td><td align='left'>institigation</td><td align='left'>instigation</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>140</td><td align='left'>then</td><td align='left'>than</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>144</td><td align='left'>phalic</td><td align='left'>phallic</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>144</td><td align='left'>no</td><td align='left'>not</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>146</td><td align='left'>tide-innundated</td><td align='left'>tide-inundated</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>146</td><td align='left'>ox-planet</td><td align='left'>off-planet</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>149</td><td align='left'>infinitesmally</td><td align='left'>infinitesimally</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>153</td><td align='left'>makelike</td><td align='left'>make-like</td></tr> +</table></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Oomphel in the Sky, by Henry Beam Piper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OOMPHEL IN THE SKY *** + +***** This file should be named 20649-h.htm or 20649-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/6/4/20649/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, LN Yaddanapudi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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