1 files changed, 504 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/59616-0.txt b/59616-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..781a933
--- /dev/null
+++ b/59616-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,504 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59616 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          a little knowledge
+
+                         BY RUSS WINTERBOTHAM
+
+                       _Earthmen were considered
+                    stupid. But they knew something
+                      that the alien didn't--and
+                        about his own planet!_
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+             Worlds of If Science Fiction, December 1956.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Even with modern conveniences, Caesar could never have staged such a
+triumph, and in the face of world history-making, he wouldn't have
+reason to. Olbu's visit to the earth was certainly a bigger deal for
+the archives than anything Caesar ever did.
+
+"No one can say you aren't a good sport," commended Ralph Rodkey of
+the Interstate Broadcasting Network. "You had plenty of reason to be
+annoyed, especially when the mob tried to tear your clothes off. But,
+the people meant no harm; they just adore you."
+
+Olbu had learned English overnight and mastered it. He hardly had an
+accent: "I was a little disturbed, you might say."
+
+"Well, our people are hero worshippers," Rodkey explained. "And
+you're certainly a hero, being the first man from off the Earth to
+land on the Earth, you might say. And then too, given an opportunity
+to celebrate, an Earthman will take full advantage of the slightest
+excuse."
+
+"Rather barbaric," said Olbu. "But then this is a barbaric planet."
+
+"Uh? Oh, yes. Just joking, of course. Now we're about ready for
+our telecast with Cecil Burroughs, the greatest commentator in the
+business. You'll appear with one of our leading scientists."
+
+"I hope he can understand the things I shall talk about."
+
+"We may not know much about space flight, but we know a lot of things,
+my boy," said Rodkey.
+
+"You say you don't travel in space as yet?"
+
+"No, and you're the first visitor from space we've had. You see, no
+planets of this solar system are inhabited by intelligent forms of
+life."
+
+"You can say that again," said Olbu.
+
+"With the exception of the Earth, of course." Rodkey laughed. "We were
+very thrilled to have someone drop in on us."
+
+"How strange!"
+
+"In fact, many of our people figured that Man was unique. They thought
+he couldn't exist anywhere but here."
+
+"It would be nice if such were the case," said Olbu. "But I'm afraid
+the galaxy is not so fortunate. Many planets have men. Some are more
+like men than others, if you understand what I mean. But they all have
+his chief faults and good points."
+
+Rodkey had arranged for the interview in the Presidential suite of the
+Claremont Hotel and in the next room electricians were busy setting up
+the equipment. Presently the door opened and a man of about 50, clean
+shaven and slightly bald, paused in the doorway. He looked at the
+confusion for a moment, hesitated as if he were checking an impulse to
+flee, then spotted Rodkey through the bedroom door.
+
+"Dr. Bruber!" exclaimed Rodkey.
+
+Dr. Alymir Bruber beamed, extended his hand and strode forward.
+
+He tripped over a cable, but caught himself on the doorframe with
+nothing worse than a bumped shoulder.
+
+Rodkey pumped his hand enthusiastically. "It's been a long time,
+Doctor!" he said, slapping him on the shoulder. "Remember, we met when
+I interviewed you on the nervous electron factor of your diatomic
+equivalent energy principle back in '96."
+
+"Oh," said Bruber. "Yes, I remember you well." He turned his head
+toward Olbu. One glance would have convinced anyone that Olbu was from
+space--or at least another planet. He had an unusually large head,
+small neck, skinny arms and legs and a pot belly. Everyone knows that
+people from other planets have all of these things. The only thing
+wrong with Olbu was that his eyes were just like anyone's eyes, a
+little slanted, perhaps, but not more so than the average oriental, and
+of course Olbu had no feelers extending from his forehead. But those
+things weren't absolutely necessary in a man who looked the part, as
+Olbu did.
+
+"This must be our visitor!" Once more Dr. Bruber extended his hand and
+this time he tripped over the rug, but Rodkey was handy to catch him.
+
+"My glasses," explained Dr. Bruber. "They're only bifocals, and I have
+trouble adjusting to middle distances."
+
+"Olbu," said Rodkey, "allow me to present Dr. Bruber, the world's
+greatest living scientist."
+
+Dr. Bruber laughed nervously and shook hands with Olbu. "I'm afraid Mr.
+Rodkey is being extravagant. Actually I'm not the greatest. Only the
+greatest in my field. I'm second greatest in three others though."
+
+"Dr. Bruber is too modest," said Rodkey. "There's practically nothing
+that he doesn't know."
+
+"No one knows nothing," said Olbu.
+
+Dr. Bruber blinked as he tried to figure that one out. It doubtless
+hinged on a lingual difference to start with and so he gave up.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," said Rodkey, "our broadcast will start in thirty
+minutes. Perhaps we can go over briefly what topics we should talk
+upon. You know we don't want to get into anything too deep for our
+viewers to understand, yet we don't want to be _too_ trivial, you know.
+Give them something interesting, I always say. Then if we have any time
+left, we might touch on some topics that go a little beyond that."
+
+"Did you have a nice trip?" asked Dr. Bruber.
+
+"It was beastly," said Olbu. "Thirty-two light years of space and not
+even an interesting meteor."
+
+"We're on the verge of making an interplanetary flight here on Earth,"
+Dr. Bruber said. "The trouble is, no one that wants a flight has any
+money and those that have the money don't care about space flight."
+
+"You're probably better off all around," said Olbu.
+
+"Come now, gentlemen," said Rodkey. "We can do better than that. You
+can cut loose with a few scientific terms now and then. It gives the
+interview an authentic flavor. Ask Olbu his opinion of the quantum
+jump, Dr. Bruber."
+
+Dr. Bruber turned toward the director and blinked through his heavy
+glasses. "I'd rather ask our distinguished visitor why he came."
+
+"Yes, Dr. Bruber. Please do," said Olbu.
+
+"All right. Why did you come here?"
+
+"We wanted to decide whether to wipe out the solar system or not."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a moment it was silent in the room, except for the sound of the
+electricians outside the door. "Goddamit," said an electrician. "You
+can't use that hookup on the Y-circuit. You'll cut out the monitors."
+
+Ralph Rodkey tiptoed to the bedroom door and closed it.
+
+"Surely you're joking," said Dr. Bruber. "Quite a sense of humor.
+Ha-Ha."
+
+"No, I'm not. We discovered there was at least one habitable planet
+here--and where there are habitable planets, there are likely to be
+human beings. Human beings are dangerous."
+
+Rodkey cleared his throat. "Gentlemen. Far be it from me to interfere
+in a scientific discussion like this, but if I were you I'd try another
+tack. A large number of our viewers might not understand it."
+
+"You think it would be better, perhaps, if we killed them all without
+warning?" Olbu said, turning toward the director.
+
+"Really, Mr. Olbu," said Rodkey. "You don't intend to blot us out, do
+you?"
+
+"That decision is hardly mine to make," said Olbu. "I'll have to report
+to my superiors. If you're dangerous, you'll have to be erased, and
+there's nothing that can be done about it."
+
+"Excuse me a moment." Rodkey rose, went to the phone and ordered liquor
+sent up to the room. He hung up the receiver. "I think it's best that
+we make your stay here a pleasant one, Olbu."
+
+"If you intend to bribe me, I'm afraid you'll have no success," said
+Olbu. "I was chosen because I am impeccable."
+
+"I'm quite sure of it," said Dr. Bruber. "And perhaps there is
+something in your premise that not all human beings are desirable. I
+should like to know how Earth is making out."
+
+Olbu shrugged his shoulders. "So far I've seen nothing worth saving,"
+he said. "You're a vain lot. You're trivial. You have no respect for
+the dignity of Man. And your worst fault is ambition. I suppose you
+have wars?"
+
+"Not for a long time. Two or three years anyhow," said Rodkey.
+
+"How long is a year? Ah yes, I forgot. It is the period of the planet
+on its journey around the sun. And how long does that take? One year.
+The usual nonsensical way you have of defining things. You don't even
+know how to measure time."
+
+"How very interesting!" exclaimed Dr. Bruber. "Actually it never
+occurred to me that there might be an absolute method of measuring
+time. What is it?"
+
+"It's the Mpto. Forty-three and a third Mptos make an Anup, and twelve
+million Anups make a Zorex. It's a lot simpler than seconds, minutes,
+hours, days, weeks and so on."
+
+"Yes, I see," said Dr. Bruber. "But getting back to our topic. Just
+what should we have that would make us worth saving?"
+
+"Stability," said Olbu. "Earthmen lack stability."
+
+"Don't you think you should talk more about your trip?" Rodkey asked.
+"How did Saturn look when you passed it?"
+
+"Saturn wasn't in the right place to be seen at all," Dr. Bruber said.
+"But you did see Pluto. How did it look?"
+
+"There was nothing about it and it looked awful," said Olbu.
+
+"I hate to be injecting my own personal ideas into this conversation,"
+said Rodkey, "because after all, I know nothing about science. But
+don't you suppose it would please our viewers if we talked more about
+space flight than about the destruction of the human race?"
+
+"You see," said Olbu to Dr. Bruber. "That's what I mean. No stability."
+
+"After all, the poor man doesn't want to lose his job," Bruber
+explained. "I'd say that was a desire to be stable."
+
+"If he's going to be dead, which he will be when I get word from my
+superiors, he'll lose his job whether he wants to or not," said Olbu.
+
+"I'll go along with a joke as well as anyone," said Rodkey, "but
+gentlemen, we've only got twelve minutes till we go on the air. Now
+let's cut out this nonsense about destroying Earth and talk about
+something pleasant."
+
+"Certainly," said Dr. Bruber. "What planet did you come from?"
+
+"Xvik," said Olbu. "It's the fourth planet of a star you call GC1242."
+
+"Good old GC1242!" said Dr. Bruber.
+
+"Oh, you know that star?"
+
+"Yes, it's a minor variable loosely attached to Lyra."
+
+"There's nothing loose about my star," said Olbu.
+
+"I'm sure Dr. Bruber didn't mean it that way," said Rodkey hastily. He
+looked nervously at Dr. Bruber. "Did you, doctor?"
+
+"That's one of the things I don't know," he said, wiping his glasses on
+his handkerchief. "Tell me, Olbu, if you should decide we aren't worth
+saving, how would you communicate with your superiors, considering
+they're 32 light years away. Wouldn't it take 64 years--thirty-two
+going and thirty-two coming--to get a message through?"
+
+"Oh, no! I communicate by instantaneous telepathy," said Olbu. "It's
+much faster than energy forms of communication."
+
+"I wish you'd talk about something else," said Rodkey. "Only ten
+minutes to go."
+
+Dr. Bruber disregarded the request. "I don't know why people on a
+planet 32 light years away should consider Earth dangerous."
+
+"Oh, Earth isn't. It's only the people on it," said Olbu.
+
+"How do you know about the people?"
+
+"We have a method of enlarging telescopic photos to bring out every
+detail. We know all about Man, we've watched you from the days when
+your ancestors lived in caves."
+
+"Goodness! You know more about us than we know ourselves."
+
+"Why don't you tell our viewers about _that_!" exclaimed Rodkey.
+
+"Yes," went on Olbu, who also seemed to have forgotten the existence
+of Rodkey, "we saw your ancestors fight with sticks and stones. We
+saw them use spears, then gunpowder. Then we saw the atom bomb and the
+Council decided to send me to see if anything could be salvaged."
+
+"But the bomb was 200 years ago," said Dr. Bruber.
+
+"Twelve Zorax," corrected Olbu. "I've been on the way here for twelve
+Zorax--or if you will--thirty-two light years, two hundred time years."
+
+"Surely the atom bomb can't affect your existence when we don't even
+have space flight," said Dr. Bruber.
+
+"My race has developed a type of logic that can look into the future,"
+said Olbu. "We know that certain patterns develop from past events. In
+your case, you'll follow the Atom bomb with the Hydrogen bomb, and the
+Hydrogen bomb with the Cobalt bomb--"
+
+"We have them both."
+
+"Ah! You see. Our logical foresight is infallible," said Olbu.
+"Next you'll wipe out nations; when only one is left, you'll fight
+neighboring planets. Since you haven't any inhabited near neighbors,
+you'll have to invade Alpha Centauri. After that you'll battle with
+other stars, until you've conquered the cluster, then the galaxy,
+finally the universe. It's a very unstable state of affairs."
+
+Slowly Dr. Bruber nodded. "You're right. I never realized where science
+was taking us. You have something ready to wipe us out with?"
+
+"Yes," said Olbu. "Just beyond the moon, circling the Earth and
+the moon as a satellite, is a missile which I can bring here by
+instantaneous telepathy, as soon as I have my orders from my superior."
+
+"I trust you'll postpone the fateful message until after our telecast?"
+
+Olbu smiled graciously. "A dying man is usually granted his last
+request."
+
+"Gentlemen," said Rodkey, wiping his brow with a damp handkerchief,
+"they're waiting for us in the next room. We're on in a minute." He
+opened the door, allowed Olbu to pass through first, and then whispered
+to Dr. Bruber. "I guess my job doesn't matter now. At least we'll scoop
+the other networks on the end of the world."
+
+"Tish, tosh, old man," said Dr. Bruber. "Your job's safe and so is the
+world. But if I should resort to murder in the next fifteen minutes, I
+hope you'll testify in my behalf."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Bruber walked through the door, tripped over a cable and sprawled
+in front of the television cameras. Rodkey helped him to his feet
+and steered him to a seat to the left of the distinguished news
+commentator, Cecil Burroughs. On the right of the commentator sat Olbu,
+bobbing his huge head and smiling.
+
+Rodkey barely got out of camera range in time to give the signal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Burroughs gave the commercial, which had nothing to do with
+interplanetary flight, or anything else of interest. "NOW, ladies
+and gentlemen," said Burroughs, "our two distinguished scientists
+have a great deal to tell us about two widely separated points in the
+universe."
+
+Dr. Bruber smiled into the camera. "Just before we went on the air,
+Mr. Burroughs," he said, "Ambassador Olbu and I had an interesting
+discussion about the merits of Earth. He contends that it is unstable--"
+
+"You are twisting my words around, doctor," interpolated Olbu. "I made
+it clear that it was not the planet itself, but the people who are
+objectionable."
+
+"The people spoil the planet?"
+
+"In a sense. The people are dangerous, the planet is not."
+
+"Would it be possible for a planet to spoil the people?"
+
+Olbu seemed to digest the words in his mind before he spoke: "That is
+a rather weak effort to shift the blame from the shoulders of those
+responsible for a sad state of affairs, doctor. You are trying to say
+there is something in the air, or the water, that makes Earthmen what
+they are."
+
+"No, I was hinting that there might be something wrong with _your_
+planet, Mr. Olbu."
+
+"Nonsense! Nothing is wrong with my planet. My people would not be
+affected even if the air and water were bad. We, the children of Xvik,
+are the highest expression of the human race."
+
+"It's easy to see that," said Dr. Bruber. "You were pointing out to
+me that Earth's pattern of existence doesn't offer much hope for the
+future."
+
+"That is right," said Olbu. "Earth's future is not much to look
+forward to."
+
+"But the planet is worth saving?"
+
+"Definitely."
+
+"Yet the people are a part of the planet."
+
+"You should study logic, Dr. Bruber. You're trying to make me say
+things that are not logical."
+
+"Okay, let's forget logic and look at what Earth is likely to do if it
+follows its 'natural' trend. You say it will destroy itself."
+
+"If someone else doesn't do it first," said Olbu. "It will continue to
+have wars till it exhausts all opportunities for it on the planet. Then
+it will war in the skies, with other planets, with other stars, finally
+with other galaxies. Man has a thirst for power, and that thirst is
+never satisfied. On the other hand, knowledge leads to contentment. If
+the Earth should seek knowledge, it would forget war."
+
+"Perhaps war is necessary for survival," suggested Dr. Bruber.
+
+"War is seldom fought for survival. It is a result of a struggle for
+supremacy. And, might I ask, supremacy of what? After you've conquered
+all the galaxies, what do you have?"
+
+"Olbu seems to have a point there," said Burroughs. "It is now time for
+a brief message from our sponsor."
+
+The message had nothing to do with war, or knowledge.
+
+"Now, Olbu," began Burroughs, "we were talking about wars, knowledge,
+power and survival. Do you have anything else to add?"
+
+"Only that Earth has brought this on itself," said Olbu.
+
+"I don't quite understand--" Cecil Burroughs wrinkled his massive brow.
+
+"What our distinguished visitor is trying to say," said Dr. Bruber, "is
+that a planet is only as stable as its people. And a star system is
+only as stable as its planets. Isn't that it, Ambassador?"
+
+"You have a round-about method of stating nothing at all," said Olbu.
+"What I'm trying to tell you is that sometimes worlds must come to an
+end."
+
+"Exactly," said Dr. Bruber. "I've made a study of GC1242 for many years
+and I'm quite familiar with it. This star, as many scientists know,
+became a super nova about fifteen years ago."
+
+"What?" Olbu's eyes grew less slanting and more round.
+
+"It was an unstable star," said Dr. Bruber. "The Earth, with all its
+faults, is stable. It may be young, impulsive, inclined to play with
+fire--atomic fire no less--but it will grow up some day."
+
+"My star, my planet--gone?"
+
+"You haven't been in contact with your home base since you arrived?"
+Dr. Bruber asked.
+
+"I was not supposed to contact my base," said Olbu, "until--" He
+stopped abruptly, and those with him were aware of the fact that he was
+using his mental powers to call his superiors.--The lengthening silence
+seemed to give proof to Bruber's words.
+
+"Since you have no world to go to," interrupted the Dr. gently, "I hope
+you'll be our guest. Perhaps you can teach us something about space
+flight and your mental powers."
+
+"Oh yes!" said Olbu eagerly. "And if I have by any chance cast
+reflections on your planet...."
+
+"My dear Mr. Olbu, science has never suffered when scientists have
+dealt frankly with problems at hand."
+
+"I'm afraid our time is up," put in Cecil Burroughs. "Thank you
+gentlemen, and I hope our viewers will tune in again next week when
+we will have two interesting personalities, Sam Katchum, who tames
+rattlesnakes, and Joe Wattles, who stuffs cobras. Glad we could be
+together."
+
+Ralph Rodkey shook Dr. Bruber's hand as he emerged from the broadcast
+room. "You saved my life; you saved my job!"
+
+"Think nothing of it, Ralph. It was nothing I wouldn't have done for
+myself."
+
+"But if you hadn't known about GC1242 becoming a super nova--"
+
+"You don't think the loss of GC1242 was accidental, do you?"
+
+"Good Lord, Bruber. I don't know anything about those things."
+
+"As our friend Olbu said, Man develops along certain patterns ... first
+his own planet, then neighboring planets, then star systems."
+
+"You don't think--?"
+
+"I do, Rodkey. I do. Somebody else was just a little more advanced than
+GC1242 and did to them what they wanted to do to us."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Knowledge, by Russ Winterbotham
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59616 ***