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hair over his bald head and spoke. So there you have the Ishrail case, Dael, he said. He is a sick creature, haunted by the spectre of perse-cution. I trust you appreciate, though I fear you don t, the great pains we have been to in this matter, and the neat way in which we have tied up all the loose ends. Plausible though Ishrail is, Shansfor said, also stand-ing and buttoning his cloth to conclude the meeting, he is clearly revealed as hopelessly, even dangerously, un-balanced. Quite candidly, there s hardly a disorder in the book that isn t present in greater or lesser degree. And we ve not unravelled them all yet. This sort of thing takes time and patience. Give the police a little longer to trace him, the Arch-Brother said with relish, and we shall probably find he s a common murderer with amnesia actuated by guilt. Oh, Ishrail! You a common murderer! The hostile natives have indeed got you in their beastly, filthy nets! You should have come fifty million years ago the Neanderthals would have shown more understanding, more mercy! Davi screwed his eyes up and raised his fists slowly before his face. Blood swam and roared in his veins like a waterfall. For a moment, he thought of throwing himself at Inald Uatt. Then hopelessness dropped neatly over him. He lowered his hands. I must see Ishrail, he said dully. That will not be possible, Uatt said. We have had to remove him to a quieter place; he threatened to get violent. Do you wonder? Davi said. With stiff, formal fingers he buttoned his tunic. The Arch-Brother and Shansfor remained side by side by the fire, waiting politely for him to leave. Davi stood defeated before them, the only man to believe in Ishrail, rocking unintelligently from one foot to Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html another, his jaw slack. At last he sighed, turning to leave without a word of thanks. He caught sight of the tired buttercup pinned to his chest; how it must have amused these people! Yet Davi felt obscurely that it was his slender link with sanity and the galaxy. Suddenly he saw the planned cruelty of Ishrail s exile, the bitterness of being among a people without under-standing. I m going to call the New Union newsjells to see if they will help me! he said resolutely. An excellent idea! Emotionalism and sensationalism are just their meat, the Arch-Brother replied, but Davi had gone. Finding his way blindly down a gang plank, he headed for the city. A cold wind met him, and he recalled that he had left his fur cloak somewhere in the ship. Now it was too late to return for it. Overhead, through thinning cloud, galactic stars shone with terrible urgency. Ishrail was eventually found to be sane and his story to be true. So Earthmen entered the galaxy they would at last inherit. They found in operation that extraordinary social code called the Self-Perpetuating War, the stability and stimulation of which produced the fruits of peace. And one of the strangest fruits was a mighty para-language, Galingua Incentive The ocean seemed to be breathing shallowly, like a child asleep, when the first lemmings reached it. In all the wide sea, no hint of menace existed. Yet the first lemmings paused daintily on the very verge of the water, peering out to sea and looking about as though in indecision. Unavoidably, the pressure of the marching column behind pushed them into the tiny wavelets. When their paws became wet, it was as if they resigned themselves to what was to come. Swimming strongly, the leaders of the column set off from the shore. All the other lemmings followed, only their heads showing above water. A human observer would have said they swam bravely; and unavoidably he would have asked himself: to what goal did the lemmings imagine they were head-ing? For what grand illusion were they prepared to throw away their lives? All down the waterway, craft moved. Farro Westerby stood at the forward port of his aquataxi, staring ahead and ignoring the water traffic moving by him. His two fellow Isolationists stood slightly apart, not speaking. Farro s eye was on the rising structure on the left bank ahead. When the aquataxi moored as near to this struc-ture as possible, Farro stepped ashore; glancing back impatiently, he waited for one of his companions to pay the fare. Wonderful, isn t it? the taxi man said, nodding to-wards the strange building as he cast off. I can t ever see us putting up anything like it No, Farro said flatly, walking away ahead of his friends, They had disembarked in that sector of the capital called Horby Clive Island. Located in the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html governmental centre of New Union, most of it had been ceded to the Galactics a year ago. In that brief time, using Earth labour for the rough work, they had transformed the place. Six of their large, irregular buildings were already completed. The seventh was now going up, creating a new wonder for the world, We will wait here for you, Farro, one of the two men said, extending his hand formally. Good fortune with the Galactic Minister, As the only Isolationist with an extensive knowledge of the Galactic tongue, Galingua, you represent, as you know, our best chance of putting our case for Earth s remaining outside the Multi-Planet Federation. As Farro thanked him and accepted the proffered hand, the other man, a stooping septuagenarian with a pale voice, gripped Farro s arm. And the case is clear enough, he said. These aliens pretend they offer us Federation out of altruism. Most people swallow that, because they believe Earth ingenuity must be a valuable asset anywhere in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |