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Lessing, Doris May ''" '°^L"E Of CALIFORNIA
PR 6023 E833 ^^^
(SF,
Lessing, Doris May The Sirian Experiments #3686
UBRARY NEW COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA 7 - V r"n\ STREET 1
\
MIS'
>
CA 94110
I
ALSO BY DORIS LESSING
The
Grass
This
Was
The Habit
Is
Singing
the Old Chief's Country {stories) of Loving (stories)
In Pursuit of the Enghsh
Going
Home
Fourteen Poems
The Golden Notebook
A Man
and
Two Women
(stories)
Afriean Stories Particularly Cats
Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Tlie Temptation of Jack
Tlie
A
Summer
Orkney and Other
Stories
Before the Dark
Small Personal Voice
Memoirs
of a Survivor
Stories
CHILDREN OF VIOLENCE Martha Quest
A Proper Marriage A Ripple from the
Storm
Landlocked
The Four-Gated
CANOPUS
IN
City
ARGOS: ARCHIVES
Re: Colonised Planet Tlie Marriages
5,
Shikasta
Between Zones Three, Four, and Five
CANOPUS
IRE
IN
ARGOS: ARCHIVES
SIRMN EXPERIAIENrS
CANOPUS
IN
1HE
ARGOS: ARCHIVES
RI/1N
EXPERI/MENrS The Report by/^mbien of the Five
II
This
is
a
BORZOI BOOK
.^'^
Published by
ALFRED A. KNOPF,
©
1980 by Doris Lessing
Copyright
INC.
All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Distributed by
Random
House,
Inc.,
New
York.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lessing, Doris
The
[date]
Sirian experiments
(Canopus I.
May
in argos: archives)
Title.
PZ3.L56684S1
1980
[PR6023.E833]
823'.9i4
ISBN o-^g^-^12^1-6
jg-zyyio
Manufactured
America
First Edition
in the United States of
New York.
This
is
the third in the novel-sequence
CANOPVS IN ARGOS: ARCHIVES. The first was Re: Colonised Planet
5, Shikasta.
The second, The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five.
The
fourth will be
The Making
of the Representative for Planet 8.
Preface The
reception of Shikasta and, to a lesser extent, of
The Marriages
Between Zones Three, Four, and Five suggests that something
in the
mology', then
when
think
planet
is
now
it is
now
I
of clarification ...
believe less
and
less.
our view of
and
inaccurate,
New
Guinea seems
species
That
is
what
I
of, let's
who come
know
is
ver}' little
going on
is
—
as of course
all
this
after us
about what
is
going on.
not told to ordinary citizens, I
wonder and
do most of the inhabitants of be no trouble at
this globe. If
all!
They can
I
to use as
warps, sliding through
talk
non-
we
mechanisms
for achieving time-and-space
them by way
of mathematical legerdemain
to find ourselves in realms
They nonchalantly
where the laws of our universe do not
suggest parallel universes, universes that
intermeshed with ours but are in\isible to
lie
I
were a
chalantlv about black holes swallowing stars, black holes that
apph'.
.
kinds of ideas that our education deems absurd
phvsicist there \\ould
might learn
.
of ourselves as a
but remains the property of small castes and juntas. speculate about
.
say, the inhabitants of
That our current view
to us.
wTong. That we
a great deal of
a time,
wonder about more oursehes as a species on
But
will strike those
inadequate as the world view
as
Once upon
believed things easily, both religious and
I
likely that is
have created a cos-
I
if
only for literary purposes!
was young,
1
political; I
it
way
should say
I
us, universes
where
time rims backwards, or that mirror ours. I
do not think
words at
it
surprising that the
this time, seen ever\-where,
"Now, my
suspicion
is
most frequently quoted
seem to be
that the uni\erse
is
J.
B. S. Haldane's
not only queerer than we
we can suppose." The reason, as we all know, why readers yearn to "believe" cosmologies and tidy systems of thought is that we li\e in dreadful and marvellous times where the certainties of yesterday dissolve as we
suppose, but queerer than
live.
But
I
don't want to be judged as adding to a confusion of em-
battled certainties.
Vlll
Why
who by
that writers,
is it
by the use of We "make things
definition operate
their imaginations, are given so httle credit for it?
up." This I
our trade.
is
remember, before
I
myself attempted this genre of space
fiction,
reading an agreeable tale about a species of highly intelligent
who
giraffes
to ask
by spaceship from
travelled
our sun was behaving cruelly to
if
taken to doing to them.
asking what
its
it is
like to
be a
literatures, the sacred
—
human
race
struggle
tell
man
song or a play that does not
No, no, full of
— the
our
records of the
between good and
This
evil.
to the level of the detective stor}^ the It
would be hard
to find a tale or a
reflect this battle.
Where? When? Between what
do not "believe" that there
is
low-grade space pirates, and that
it
I
capable of imagining has
else, in a different level of reality. All
Western, the romantic novel. But, what battle?
is
books, myths, legends
down
letters
giraffe in a spaceship.
of great struggles
reflected
is
Well, at
to myself:
not likely to get industrious
is
has been said that everything
counterpart somewhere
had recently
us, as theirs
remember saying
I
least the writer of this tale
It
their solar system to ours,
Forces?
Shammat
a planet called
sucks substance from this
poor planet of ours; nor that we are the scene of conflicts between those great empires
But could
it
Canopus and
Canopus and
Sirius.
not be an indication of something or other that
Sirius
have played such
What do our ideas of "good" and I
would not be
a part in ancient cosmologies?
"bad"
reflect?
at all surprised to find out that this earth
had been
used for the purposes of experiment by more advanced creatures
.
.
.
that the dimensions of buildings affect us in ways
we
and that there might have been
which we have
we may be enslaved in ways we know nothing that our befriended in ways we know nothing about
forgotten
about,
a science in the past
don't guess
.
.
.
that
.
.
.
personal feelings about our situation in time, seldom in accordance
with
fact, so that
we
are always taken
by surprise by "ageing," may
be an indication of a different lifespan, in the past past, in biological terms,
to terms with
it
is
quite recent, and so
psychologically
.
.
.
—but that
this
we have not come
that artefacts of
all
kinds might
have had (perhaps do have) functions we do not suspect
.
.
.
that
.
.
The the
can
Experiments
Sirian
human race has now imagine .
.
a future
that
.
planned for
more
glorious than
we
.
.
do not "believe" that there are
I
it
aliens
on our moon
—but why not?
UFOs, we mav hardly disbelieve in what is so plentifully vouched for bv so many sound, responsible, sensible people, sciAs
for
entific
As
and
for
.
secular.
.
In this particular dr\-, just,
I
chief
one
are
all
I
dutiful, efficient,
administrator, she
than
book
do.
is;
Some
have created
a
female bureaucrat
a social scientist.
I
could
like
Ambien
part of, though
we
are
seldom prepared
to
billions
and
billions of us
prepared to believe that each of us
mere dots
are
thing,
It
How do we
seems to
Where do I
would
Canopus (I
own. Yen' odd
me
The minds we
so like
least I
this planet,
this
is,
am and
this.
.
.
we
if all
with
.
are
still
the others
this self-determined it
seems to
me
odder
must flow through humanity
like tides.
come from? it if
reviewers
in Argos: Archives, as a
hope) a beguiling
and to
better
get this notion of ourselves?
that ideas
thev
on
unique, or that
is
swarm, then at
in a
mv mind my
and odder.
II
our own, our
our ideas individual and unique
beliefs freely chosen,
and
skilled
acknowledge
We see ourselves as autonomous creatures, our minds billions
is
of her preoccupations are of course mine.
the nature of the group mind, the collective
is
A
deluded about her own nature.
who
and readers could
framework that enables
tale or two; to
others; to explore ideas
see this series,
and
me
to tell
put questions, both to myself
sociological possibilities.
WTiat of course I would like to be waiting is the story of the Red and WTiite Dwawes and their Remembering Mirror, their space rocket (powered by anti-gravity), their attendant entities Hadron, Gluon, Pion, Lepton, and Muon, and the Charmed Quarks and the Coloured Quarks.
But we can't
all
be
physicists.
CANOPUS
IRE
IN
ARGOS: ARCHIVES
SIRMN EXPERI/HENrS
.
BACKGROUND
SIRIUS-CANOPUS. This I
is
Ambien
of the Five.
have undertaken to write an account of our experiments on
Rohanda, known I
II,
shall
to
Canopus
employ the time
in this
divisions
epoch
as Shikasta.
commonly
used,
and agreed on
between ourselves and Canopus. (i) Tlie period up to the
That between the first and again from Andar. (3) From the
burst of radiation from Andar.
second bursts of radiation
—
first
(2)
second irradiation to the failure of the Canopus-Rohanda Lock,
known
as the Catastrophe.
This third period
is
sometimes referred
Colden Age. (4) The period of subsequent decline. Tliis account of mine will deal mainly with (4) I shall not do more than mention the experiments before the to as the
first
documented under Lower Zoology. Rohanda was damp, marshy, warm, with shallow seas
radiation,
During
(
)
1
which are
fully
hardlv to be distinguished from swamp, and deep oceans kept turbid by volcanic activity. There was a a
little
dry land.
few land animals, but there were numerous
lizards,
and many
Some
species
were
of water
of these were
successful transfers of several species.
Rohanda
varieties
this
unknown on other and on our Mother Planet, and we made
fishes.
Colonised Planets,
On
We
also introduced
on
to
from elsewhere, to see what would happen to
them. All our experiments during (1) were modest, and did not differ from similar experiments in other parts of our Empire.
Andar was not expected. Both Canopus and ourselves were taken by surprise. We had kept a watch on the planet ever since the war between us that ended (2) TTie
our
first
hostilities.
burst of radiation from
Because of the new situation we boosted our
veillance. Tlie irradiation
had the
effect of abolishing
sur-
some genera
overnight, and of speeding evolution.
The
swampv, steamy, cloudy,
the
slow
new
genera and species seemed
accompanv these
conditions. Yet
to explode into life
more than
with
and
planet remained wet, enervating
existing ones rapidly changed.
a million R-years there were not only
many
airs
that
Within no varieties of
4 fish
and
but there were species that
reptile,
flew,
and
insects
unknown. The place teemed with
of these formerly
—both It also
life.
soon became clear we were to expect a period of the gigantic.
showed
lizards in particular
this trend: there
were
manv
The
kinds of
them, and some were a hundred times, and even more, their former
The
became huge and rank. Land and water were both infested with enormous animals of all kinds. Throughout these times Canopus and ourselves conferred, when it seemed to either or both that this was necessary. Sometimes we, and sometimes Canopus, initiated discussions. size.
We
vegetation
always supplied Canopus with reports on our proceedings
on the planet, but they did not This very important point us with reports, but
Again,
we
this
time show
be gone into
did not put
emphasise that
I
will
at that
is
much
later.
much
interest.
Canopus supplied
effort into studying
an important point,
them.
as will later
become plain. Canopus maintained a monitoring station during (2). We did initiate some experiments in various places over Rohanda, but these were mostly to do with sudden, not to say violent, growth;
and since the planet
itself
observation materials,
we
was not
a similar
had considerable
swampy and miasmic
climate,
Our Planet 13 and we already
like
two hundred million R-vears
this state of
continued. Just as the previous, pre-irradiation characteristics
seemed
to
be
stable,
if
not permanent,
watery pestilential place
would remain tedly, the
The
scientists.
It
data.
For something
this
did not intrude ourselves very much.
popular place with any of our
a
once had
affairs
was so generouslv supplying us with
as
it
was.
full
so,
now, did
it
seem that
of gigantic and savage animals
There then occurred, and again unexpec-
second burst of radiation.
effects
were again dramatic.
There was every kind of cataclysm and uphea\'al. Land sank beneath the water and became ocean bed; new land appeared from the seas, and for the first time there was high terrain and c\'en mountains. Volcanic activity had never been absent, since the crust covering the
still
molten core was so
thin,
but
now
land and water
were continuouslv convulsed. The mantle of cloud that had some-
The
Sirian
Experiments
times kept the whole phinet in
warm gloom
for
weeks at
time
a
was rent tumultuously with storms and winds. All the large species were destroyed.
more
to be seen,
and the
and
\iolent winds
The
forests of giant ferns
were
by the
laid flat
rain.
Tliere was a sudden cooling.
When
the convulsions lessened, and
ceased, the planet was left transformed. In a very short time, of the water
was massed around the poles
Some swampy
snow.
separated,
no
great lizards were
form of
and
ice
remained but now earth and oceans were
areas
and there were
in the
much
areas of dr\- land.
That was of course long
before the planet's axis had been knocked out of the vertical: before the "seasons" that contributed so
much
to
its
instabilitv.
The
poles
were cold. Tlie area around the middle was hot. In between were zones of predictable and steadily temperate climate.
This was period (3), from which both Canopus and oursehes hoped so much, when conditions were as perfect as can be expected
on any planet
—and
which was
than twenty
to last rather less
thousand R-years. It
was
beginning of
at the very
this
new
period (3) that
Canopus
invited us to a joint Conference.
This Conference was held, not on our Mother Planet, nor on
but on their Colony
theirs,
The mood
of
10,
convenient for us both.
was one of confidence and
the Conference
optimism. This
the place,
is
I
think, to say
our eminent friend and I
and
sciences,
my
possible
relations with
rival.
begin with this statement: that Canopus pioneered certain
shall
In
more about our
.
in
the opinion at least of
view the duty of a historian .
.
no, this remark
is
some is
not meant
is still
far
ahead of
us.
to tell the truth as far as as provocation,
though in
the pre\'ailing climate of opinion everywhere through our Empire, there are
For
many who
far too
will see
it
as such.
long our historians refused to accept the simple truth,
Canopus was the first to explore and develop the ciated with what we all now call Forced Evolution. that
propose to enter here into discussion with those quite
numerous
—
am
skills (1
asso-
do not
afraid
still
— people who belic\e that nature ought to be
left
I
to itself.) It was
planets
Canopus who began
—from the point of view of how We
modified, or hastened.
We were pupils
truth.
—
pupils; willing
That
we
to look at species
came
be
their evolution could
Willing
in their school.
it
whole
or
learned this from them. That
and generous
why, when
is
—
the
is
— and not unworthy
teachers.
to sharing out
Rohanda between
us,
got the less attractive share. Tliis was what fitted our position in
relation to
The
Canopus. reader will already be asking:
critical
Canopus when put
it
as
—of
baldly
we
all
know
the story of
Why
this praise of
Rohanda was one
—to
disaster?
Canopus was at fault, then so were we, Sirius. At that Conference on their Planet lo, we all assumed that if Rohanda had to our certain knowledge experienced very long periods of If
—
—
two of them, both
stability,
we might
safely expect that this
millions of years.
agree to call
all
many millions of new period would
lasting
R-years, then similarly last
Why should
we not? There are factors, which we "cosmic," over which we have no control, and
which may not be foreseen. All evolutionary engineering to these chances.
development on suitable for
a
we
If
newly discovered planet, or one that has become use,
because of the threat of cosmic
alteration or disaster, then nothing at
—
in their career as colonisers.
failure.
I
it is
no
calling
secret that
all
would ever be achieved.
has experienced disappointment
like ourselves,
worse
am
Rohanda was not the only
I
a failure,
though
that
—
I
body of opinion that
sentimental. Sometimes to the point of attitudes
—and
know they do not but have been generally known throughout my
it
career as belonging to that
call
subject
did not permit ourselves to begin any
development and
Canopus,
is
are
often
folly.
uneconomic,
finds
What
Canopus
else
can we
counter-productive,
wasteful of administrative effort?
What
else?
Well,
I
have learned that there are different ways of
looking at things; though is,
I
hope, for the future
I
do not yet share these viewpoints. That
.
.
.
meanwhile,
I
am
saying that judged
from the immediate and practical view, Rohanda was not only a failure
but perhaps their worst; and yet
this
was not
at all or in
way their fault. And why should some of us be so ready to blame to Canopus, when we were, equally with her, ready
any
ascribe to use
The
Experiments
Sirian
Rohanda
long as was possible
for as
—
we
for millions of R-years, as
then thought was likely to be the case?
The
and
disposition of the land
the same as
it is
now. There
seas
a central
is
was roughly, very roughly,
mass of land fringed with
promontories, peninsulas, islands. Around
it
a vast ocean, with
is
some of them large. There are two continents, separated from the main landmass, and joined by an isthmus which
manv
islands,
now
has sometimes been submerged, and these are the
Between
Continent.
and the
Continent
Northern
Isolated
the
Northern Continent, looking west with have been ocean
and
many
one of them
islands,
sometimes there has been only an almost
Isolated
the
their north pole at
at various times, according to the rise
levels,
Southern
Isolated
landmass
central
referred to as
at least
and
fall
North, of the
enormous. But
islandless ocean.
Projecting southwards from the central landmass, of which
northern areas form a part, called Southern
Continent
Southern Continent
is
another southern continent,
(The
I.
now
Isolated Southern Continent
Southern Continent
II.)
its
I
is
has sometimes been
considered bv geographers as part of the main landmass, since
its
northern parts have been so influenced by the easy migrations and
movements
to
and from every part of the main landmass. But the
southern parts have on the whole had such a different
histor}- that
thev are more usuallv classed as a different and separate continent.
We,
were allotted
Sirius,
in
Rohanda the two
the share-out of
southern continents, including the northern areas of S.C. islands large
and small lying
make use of. More has to be It
in the oceans that
said about the
was considered
a success.
many
onlv one of verv
Conference
Remarkably
we
felt
I,
and any
inclined to
itself.
so.
Even though
it
was
conferences and discussions about the
number of Colonised Planets whose problems, another, we shared, everybody taking part felt that it
situations of a large in
one wav or
new level in co-operation. And the further it receded into the past, the more we were all able to see it had been extraordinary, and this not onlv because of the unexpectedly fortuitous new epoch
marked
a
on Rohanda. Committees, conferences, discussions, followed one after
another through the millennia:
on Colony
lo,
we were
it
was to that particular one,
always referring back, as
if
there had been
— 8
some particular and unrepeatable spring we had not been able to approach again. I
am now
and vigour there
of life
going to say, with equal emphasis and confidence, that
the Conference was a failure.
WTiat
Sirius
understood of the resolutions, the agreements, the
same
verbal formulations, was not the
Canopus. This was not evident then. evident for a very long time.
It is
as the
understandings of
did not even begin to be
It
not seen now, except by a small
number of us Sirians. By now it will have become clear, I think, that this mine is an attempt at a re-interpretation of history, from
report of a certain
point of view.
An
unpopular point of view, even now: until recently, impossible.
Until recently, it
impossible: this
that
am
I
tious!)
I
must say now, and
who would have made
clearly:
I
am
not claiming
one who has been preserving an individual (and
sedi-
view of history in secrecy, because of an oppressive con-
formity in the there
have been among those
I
is,
if
way
official
of looking at things. Far from
there has been, a minority of individuals
fact
maintained a view different from the
will
have considered
apology
I
When we
me
am
making.
do,
it is
official
all
see truths
who have
in
one, then these
as a bastion of orthodoxy.
We
If
it.
This
when we can
not an
is
see
always a temptation to consider those
them.
who have
not yet seen them as quite intrinsically and obdurately stupid. In throwing in
doing so
my
— am — —but not, hope, of
with this minority
lot
in the expectation of strong criticism
if
it
exists
I
I
worse. I
shall deal at
once with what
I
consider to be the root of the
problem: that long-ago war between Canopus and
It
ended
celebrate.
in a
Truce
The
.
.
.
Canopus won
the anniversary of which occasion
beastliness
of heroic exploits that this
Sirius.
and horror have been formalised
wc
The moment when
teach our young.
war, and, at the
fact
we
still
in tales is
that
they might
reasonably have been expected to humiliate us and to exact tribute
and
retribution,
they
summoned
leaders, returned to us our
our
— thoroughly
defeated
Colonised Planets, which they were in
The
Sirian
Experiments
informed us that we must stay
a position to retain for themselves,
own
behind our
boundaries, offered us co-operation and friendship,
and announced that
we would not
Truce, so that fellow states
time
friend Klorathy,
and quite
later,
head of
ignominy
credit for
recently,
it,
about
no empire has ever
where. His reply was that results
Without comment I
"it
—
I
asked
my Canopean what he
won
my
to
—apparently— from our that war
knowledge
and had then
—behaved
any-
was too early yet to say what the
would be and he preferred
to withhold judgement."
Canopean remark. Without comment.
record this typically
I
our
this
memories, any hint that Canopus had as
a
magnanimous and highview of the fact that we, Sirius, had ne\er given but on the contrary had done everything to felt
expunge from our history books, and even behaxed
in the eyes of
their Colonial Administration,
him now
like
flown behaviour, in
them
suffer
as
and empires.
A very long and others
agreement would be described
this
at this place.
Canopus had not shown much interest in the our experiments on Rohanda, or on any other planet, for
said earlier that
results of
that matter. Just as great
we
did not understand their attitude at the end of the
war between
so
us,
we
did not, do not, understand their
indifference to our work.
This us.
is
because they, in their
own
They have never had anything
consistently interpreted
beliexing
them
to learn
attitude
as
from
us.
far
beyond
But we have
one of dissimulation,
to be pretending indifference, out of pride, while
secretly ferreting out spies
their
work, have gone so
any information they could, even sending
and making use of our work without
into our territories
acknowledgement.
Our
set of
mind has been one
that has consistently led us into
wrong judgement. Let us take an example. That the Conference was on Colony lo
and that
it
was merely
was from here the colonisers a
"cleverness" of
coincidence.
Canopus
for
Yet we were
Rohanda were chosen all
talking about
the
making sure that we met these vigorous that we would not be tempted to overrun
in
and formidable people, so
our boundaries on Rohanda.
And
this belief of ours, crystallised at
lO
the Conference position
—
admit
to
to
the
harm done
—continued
sojourn on the planet, influencing us in
is
I
on into our
could give, but
We supplied to Canopus
we
proposed, but did not see then
what an extent these were
to
it
all into. I
with
will deal
the two main factors, or themes, of this Conference: that
were affected.
a
their Planet lo our-
the kind of error suspicion leads us
There are many more examples
in
kinds of ways. But
all
was quite simply nonsense: we had suggested selves. Tliis
am
was one of those responsible, and
I
we
as
is,
outlines of the experiments
—were not prepared
to see!
—to
be conditioned by what Canopus
proposed to do.
That was
at the beginning of the 20,000 years during
which we
by Rohanda's great time, under the influence of Canopus. It was not until later that Canopus decided to speed up her plan, because of her Planet 8, which was due to reach an untimely end because of unforeseen cosmic changes. Canopus was were to
profit
then thinking in terms of 50,000 and not 20,000 years, in which to
advance the Colony 10 individuals to
a certain level.
She informed
us that she planned two phases. First, a general heightening
and
consolidation of these Colony 10 volunteers up to a determined point.
though
(That they it
\vere volunteers struck
us
then
as
laughable,
was not long before we were employing the same
instead of conscripting.) This predetermined point offered full information
they called a "Lock"
and
—that
is,
details
—would
policy,
—and we were
be marked by what
a synchronisation
between Canopus
and Rohanda that would bring the planet into harmony with Empire as a whole. Harmony of a particular kind. This, then, was the
am
first
their
theme, one unfamiliar to us at that time.
when we use words like harmony, good fellowship, co-operation which we do plentifully and all the time in relation to our own Empire we do not mean by them what Canopus means. At the Conference, beUnfamiliar,
I
going to
risk saying,
even now: for
—
—
Canopus proposed to develop the Colony 10 volunteers, to stabilise them, to make use of their evolution to advance the Canopean Empire, what we understood from this was no more ing told that
than the sort of development, stabilisation, evolution, advance,
we associated with our own territories. The second theme was how Canopus proposed
that
to achieve these
The
admirable
make
Experiments
Sirian
For we were given
results.
use of this opportunit}-
We
—
all
did not accept because
resentful, even
—or
we
offered, for
the information
did not
we wanted.
we were handicapped by being
though the general euphoria of the Conference
The
succeeded in masking these unfortunate emotions.
northern
areas were plentifulh' stocked with a certain species of primate. In
were already upright, using tools and weapons, with
parts these
the beginnings of semipermanent settlement. This type of animal, at this le\el of evolution,
and
in
is
always of value, both for experiment
There were none
training for simple tasks.
Southern Continent
Continent
the\'
I,
II;
and while there were some apes
were
at a
experiment, but of no use at
We saw Canopus
low
all
Southern
level of evolution, suitable for
for work.
no reason we
ourselves that there was
should ever have been allowed on Rohanda at
who had
in
Isolated
"as usual" grabbing the best of everything, for
we remind
not once did
in
was not we
It
all.
discovered this planet.
Canopus told us that certain rapid and desirable developments of the Colonv lo colonists would be because of a "symbiosis" between them and the apes, and that the apes, too, would be benefitted.
We saw this "svmbiosis" in terms of a beneficial cultural
exchange and, more
specifically, as
set free for higher tasks
In short, the two
the
by using the apes
main
Canopean plan was
nothing not
said,
on which
predicted, were not understood by us at
To emphasize
Conference,
at the
not
as servants.
pieces of information, the bases
In spite of our being told everything.
now, looking back
the superior immigrants being
made
I
all.
even more:
this
can see that there was
plain, not explained.
But we misinter-
we were being told. And again, it is impossible not to ask, now, why Canopus set up the Conference in this way? To forestall reproaches of niggardliness? No! Knowing Canopus, this was not the reason. But thev must have realised that we were not preted what
taking in what was being said, were understanding everything in
own way. So why did
our
answer to
this question.
The end and
they do
it?
It is
The
only recently that
beginnings of an answer
of the Conference was
jollities.
We
were taken on
marked by
trips to
all
other
have had an
I
.
.
.
kinds of festivities
Canopean
colonies;
12
we were in that part of the Galaxy," to visit them for the usual courtesies. as long as we liked Back on our Home Planet we Sirians lost no time. Planets in the and are rare. We healthy, vigorous condition of Rohanda were invited, "if
—
—
of the Colonial Service were Incidentally,
it
name. Perhaps
when
was this
at that is
all
delighted and
its
—
jettisoned the
name Rohanda,
its fertility,
by us
felt
to
Spacecraft
areas,
We
Canopus
once
is
of
characteristic
a
irritating.
Our
scientists
Southern
had
visited It
was for
had recently acquired our Colonised Planet
23
settlement, provided
it
it
I
was well able to sustain
start of using
we had thought
one or other of the southern continents
an agricultural base. S.C.
and
large-scale
was supplied with food. This being part of
the same solar system as Rohanda, and quite close,
of view of soil
at
would be used mainly
(C.P. 23) and had found
from the
to be so
and recommendations had been made.
decided that Southern Continent agriculture.
remark that
had already thoroughly surveyed both
Continents, independently of Canopus. selected
to
be unnecessarilv negative.
have always found
I
—
its
substituting another, Shikasta, "the
This mixture of pedantry and poeticism
Canopus, and one that
of optimism.
and ceased
reversal,
did not lose any of
if it
too soon
it is
cosmic
pleasant, even
broken or damaged one,"
full
Conference that Rohanda acquired
not the place
the planet suffered
—
I
as
was admirably equipped from the point
climate. It was roughly divided into three zones,
the middle one, equatorial, being too hot, but the other two, the
southern part and the northern, useful for a vast variety of plants.
We introduced several grain plants from both our colonised planets and those of Canopus and developed some indigenous
grasses to
supply grains and also developed locally-originating tubers and leaf crops.
interested
1
was not directly
will
find
in
accounts
charge of this enterprise. Those
of
S.C.
I's
twenty-thousand-year
career as a food supplier for C.P. 23 in the appropriate documents.
During
this time, too, several laboratories
were maintained on that
continent, and a good deal of useful research accomplished. Tliis
was nearly
all
to
do with agriculture and the use of indigenous and
introduced animals.
Our C.P. 23
inhabitants originated on our carefully selected.
None
flourished during this period. Its
Home
Planet,
all
of first-class stock,
of their energies needed to be spent
on
The
Sirian
Experiments
feeding thcmsehes, or on anxieties about their nurture; the)- had their attention free for
mentation and intellectual
This
activity.
twenty-thousand-year period was C.P. 23's Golden Age,
when
it
achieved the position of Planning Centre for the whole of our
Empire.
The
fact that
it
was short li\ed does not detract from
this
achie\emcnt. I
do not propose
S.C.
I.
Nor
shall
be
I
much more about
to say
gi^'ing full or
experiments on Isolated S.C.
II.
the experiments on
even balanced accounts of our
Details can be found under the
appropriate headings. I
purpose of
shall again say that the
a certain
this record
to put forward
is
\icw of our relations with Canopus. There have been a
thousand
histories,
formal and informal, of our experiments on
Rohanda, but not one setting these
makes
fact alone
mv
point.
WTiat
in the I
Canopcan
say, therefore,
context. This
about our
searches will be chosen entirely from this point of view; and
it
re-
must
not be thought that the emphases gi\en here would be those adequate from the point of view,
Rohanda experiments from usefulness. This particular
let us say, of
someone looking
at the
a long-term view of their evolutionary
epoch on Rohanda, short though
was,
it
proved crucial in our relations with Canopus, both then and sub-
and not only on that planet but
sequentlv,
generally.
Which may
lead us to ponder profitablv on the implications of the fact that a short period of time, twenty thousand years,
may
turn out to be of
more importance than epochs lasting millions of years; and that the small planet of a small and peripheral sun may have more influence than large and impressive-seeming constellations. kind of speculation
may throw
light
I
feel that
this
on the Canopean superiority
to us in certain fields of endeavour.
In order to understand it is
how
our Colonial Service was thinking,
necessary to sketch the situation in the Sirian
Empire
at that
time.
Our
technological de\elopmcnt had reached a peak and had been
established long bring.
The
enough
for us to
die.
it
chief one was this: there was nothing for billions
billions of individuals to do.
then
understand the problems
That
this
shall at this point
They had no purpose but
would be
a
must upon
to exist,
and
problem had not been foreseen.
hazard the statement that
it is
I
usually the central,
—
the main, consequences of a development that are not foreseen.
What we had
seen was the ending of drudgery, of unnecessary
toil,
of anxiety over the provision of the basic needs. All our efforts, the
expenditures of energy of generations, had gone into
one aspect of
or two-branched advance:
it
of space; the other, with the devices that
to
this: a
double
do with the conquest
would
set us all free
from
toil.
We
Home
did not foresee that these billions, not only on our
Planet but also on our Colonised Planets, would
We
depression and despair.
fall
victim to
had not understood that there
in-
is
herent in every creature of this Galaxy a need, an imperative,
towards
To
a continual striving, or self-transcendence, or purpose.
be told that there
nothing to do but consume, no work needed,
is
nothing to achieve,
by
millions, offered
to receive a sentence of death.
is
their
The
hapless
triumphantly successful leaders plenty,
from effort, showed every symptom of mass psychosis, ranging from random and purposeless
leisure,
freedom from want, from
fear,
violence to apparently causeless epidemics and widespread neurosis.
This period, historians,
known
and
I
as
the Sirian Dark Age, does not lack
shall concentrate
One was
to our theme.
"invented usefulness."
on
aspects that are
its
phenomenon
a
Once
the cause of
its
germane
became known as the general malaise had that
been understood, there were various solutions suggested, of which this
was the
attempted: areas that had been relinquished to
first
machines and technical devices were deliberately reclaimed.
mention one example. Everything
demand
of food,
that the
means
in
vast depots, each
to
I
will
do with the supply and
and household goods, had been mechanised so most general use everywhere in the Empire were one of which might supply
needing no attendants at
all.
a million inhabitants,
These were dismantled
in favour of
small suppliers, sometimes specialist suppliers, and the billions
employed
in this artificial industry
were conspicuously happier than
the idle masses. For a time.
We had
we know now,
is
a law. This
to take account of
what
so
is,
that where the technology exists to
accomplish a senicc or task or to supply a need, then
if
this
used, because of humanitarian or other social reasons, there
is
is
not
no
real or lasting satisfaction for the
people involved in that sector.
They
if
all
know,
in the end,
even
this
realisation
is
delayed
The
Sirian
sometimes deception
And
—
Experiments
and by themselves,
deliberately,
— that
their labours, their lives, are
in the end,
constellation of
this
if
ills
delayed
is
—they
in
without
fall
is
shortlv describe
used.
As therapy,
an experiment on these
real purpose.
same
not to say that
"invented usefulness" was not plentifully used; that still
self-
victim to the
and general malaise. This
times, in controlled areas,
of
efforts
not some-
it is
for instance;
I
will
lines.
Another phenomenon of the Dark Age was named,
and with unconcealed resentment, "pastimes
derisively
Few
of the rich."
of
our better-off citizens did not acquire for themselves land, where they farmed in the old
st}'le:
Innumerable people everywhere on our
in the agricultural area.
Colonised Planets
"pastimes of the rich" were mostly
left their leisure, their controlled
and planned
entertainments, and regressed to a long distant past, with families
working sometimes quite small plots of land, aiming at suflBciencv,
full self-
but of course using the technical advances when
A
this
model was the ancient one of crops, animals, and workers as an interacting and mutually dependent unit. Such "farms" might not trade at all, but consumed what was
suited them.
favourite
grown. Others did set up trade, not only with each other but some-
made links with the cities where their products were in demand again with the rich. I do not have to say that the
times even great
—
resentment against these "drop-outs" was due to envy. There was a time when child
it
seemed
anywhere
idea: to get
as
if
there was not a male, female, neuter or
Empire who was not possessed with one some land, even by criminal means, and to
in our
hold of
This period produced
retreat into primitive production. ture, a rich one,
products. This
which
its
litera-
not the least curious of our literary side
is
phenomenon,
parts, or areas, of planets,
at
its
height, was not confined to
but whole planets were taken over, and
sometimes even conquered,
solely with
this
idea
in
Our
\iew.
Colonised Planets 19 and 22 were for several millennia agricultural paradises, with not a town to be seen and both consciously planned
and developed to avoid the growth of villages larger than marketplaces for the exchange of goods. There were mass mo\ements of mainlv voung people whose aim was only to reach either of these planets or to conquer a characteristics
of
the
new
one.
"religions"
These movements had that
afflicted
Rohanda
all
in
the its
period of decline and degeneration.
seemed
to nature/'
To
artificial
back
our
new
to nearly everyone the solution to
when
problems. But this phase, too, passed, these
"li\e simply/' to "get
it
all
became evident that
schemes, these expedients, did not succeed in
stilling
the inner drive towards transcendence, both social and personal.
There are
such farms, such ideas, in existence, but they have
still
long ago been understood by everyone as pathetic regressions. It
was bv then
clear to us all that
To
in population.
then ravaged us
all.
is
That the
enough
Were we
Empire were
existence in our factors?
state this
we needed
to
to raise the questions that
saying that the conditions of our
be governed entirely by economic
our peoples should be judged solely by
lives of
the levels of our technical achievements? saying that
when
a drastic decrease
Of
the question was put like
course
this,
it
goes without
the answer was that
the numbers of populations, and their ways of living, had always
been governed by economic
factors: all that
had happened was that
famines, floods, diseases, had been replaced by the consequences of technical de\elopment.
argument.
No
Nothing had changed: that was the
need to torment ourselves now about questions
about the purpose of
life,
the value of the indi\idual, and so forth.
Had we pondered and agonised over the results of natural disasters? Yes? Had this done any good? No? Then why were we now prepared to agonise and torment ourselves over equally uncontrollable factors?
But that was the nub of the
thing.
We
had seen
ourselves,
in
bringing our technical achievements to such a pitch, as being in
Our thinking had been governed by this one idea. That we had abandoned chaos, and random decimation; that we had advanced towards conscious and deliberate control, as exercising choice.
controls.
To
say that
we were
tions, that this
judiciously
deliberately choosing to reduce our popula-
was a choice, was simply not
and
carefully
into this position by our
we were doing
it.
true,
We
no matter how
had been forced
economic growth that had gone naturally
— upwards. As we had seen
from step to step
it.
This debate went on for a long time, throughout our Dark Age, in fact,
where.
and while we were
And
activeh- reducing populations e\ery-
has gone on ever since, in one form or another.
The
Siriaii
Experiments
Thus did our technological advances announce to ourselves, to other empires, to anybody interested, that what governed the coming into existence, or not, of an individual, was work. Or the lack of it. And where would that end? Were we to refuse life to more people than we had work for? Surely that was ludicrous, absurd.
We
needed
agriculturalists
We
be dispensed with.
— these could never, can never,
needed technicians of
kinds to do with
all
the production of synthetics and foodstuffs and household goods.
We
And
needed some craftsmen.
go\erning and administratixe
we could do
estimated that
it
had
On
Home
our
Planet,
it
was
very well with half a million people.
Home
At our population peak, our Again,
class.
there was necessarv a small
Planet had two billion people.
be recognised and acknowledged that we were
to
not in control of what we did, for we were forced into what we did.
And
that our social
programming was always
a
matter of com-
promises, of adjustments, of balancing one force against another.
We
had
a very small area of choice,
and accurately be used
at
if
that
word could honestly
all.
This realisation affected some of our administrative people badly, resulting in depressions
of
all
kinds.
The
populations everywhere, on every one of our planets, were
drastically,
but carefully reduced; while the philosophical aspects
of the matter were
There was
temporarily, to the intellectuals.
left,
for
what
was being done when
a very long period while this
there were blocs of vast
and
and psychological maladjustments
whom
numbers of people who had no occupation,
occupation was made. This
fact, too,
is
relevant to
follows.
Meanwhile, there were extraordinary and bizarre contradictions to be observed everywhere.
The
idea of ourselves, not only
where, as people impossible for I
who had
them
to
on the
Home
Planet but every-
evolved beyond certain levels
made
it
be asked to do some kinds of work.
did not mention in the
list
of classes of
work that had
still
to
be done by people and not machines, some kinds of heavy manual labour, for which
using force,
it
we had not found
technical substitutes.
Without
was not possible to get any of our peoples to under-
take these. In the early heady days of euphoria
when we were
so
— i8
and
effortlessly
successfully
—
seemed
it
—surmounting
every kind
of technical obstacle, abolishing one by one the different classes of
unpleasant and degrading work
—so we
called
it
—intensive propa-
ganda had gone into adjusting and setting the minds of populations
we
accordingly. \\'Tien
thinking, to
it
was too
reversed, or were prepared to adjust, our
late. It
easy for a skilled administrative class
is
change the ways of thinking of populations, but not easy to do
fast
—not without
all
we
ourselves
where, with hundreds of millions of
in the ludicrous situation
"surplus" people,
We found
kinds of social upheaval.
it
know where
did not
to find
enough ordinary
labourers.
We this
Canopus had shown mean the use of large numbers
had evolved beyond using
path long ago. (By this
I
us
force:
of
people, under duress, for tasks they found abhorrent or demeaning.
mean
This did not
that
we
agreed to find interesting
did not conscript for work that everyone
—such
as the
possible for us simply to round
Colonial Service.)
It
was not
up the numbers we needed
for
mining, quarrying, building and so on, and then turn them into a prison population to do society's dirty work.
In the preceding remarks to do with our condition during that time,
I
have not yet done more than mention the space
was the greater part of our development governed
Our
all
had
crisis
the motor that
its
own
built-in solution
from the beginning.
Though
Canopus was
it
certainly did have
a result of this
sudden
its
not
static one,
limits: the
war with
The
outwards.
restless drive
devastation caused, the vast numbers killed, certainly sohed,
postponed, some problems.
I
am
speaking
now
dispassionately,
without submission to sentimental considerations: our intention to use
but that was the so that
much
this
way
result;
It
our space personnel, our programme
fleets,
conquest of space. Our situation was not a
self-limited.
which
our technical development.
was to increase our space for the
—indeed,
drive,
it
or
and
had not been
of reducing our surplus populations
not our intention to ruin whole planets,
labour would be needed to repair them
—but that was
what happened. These were the facts. But the inherent productivity and resources of our Empire were such that all this damage was soon and
The
easily
—looking
real lesson of this
at
it
from
a long-term
view
— put
right.
war was that we were not to be allowed to
The
Sirian
Experiments
on Canopean territory. Certain parts of the Galaxy were out of bounds. This meant that the planets available to us, at our then level of technical achievement, were limited: we had already trespass
conquered, or at least surveyed, them
all.
W^iat was necessary was
an expansion of our space technology so that greater areas of the
Galaxv would become open to
us. Tliis is
what happened; but
storv does not concern us here: only the aspects of
make
it
this
that help to
which was, to sum up:
clear the general situation then,
deep and indeed permanent and incurable
due
crisis
a
to technical
masterv, which could be alleviated only by a continuous expansion in space. I
have
now
on Rohanda
said
enough
—which
to set the
background to our experiments
of course was only one of the planets being
used in this way.
There are very few biosociological experiments that are not the
first
up deliberately on Rohanda was
imposed on us by necessity throughout and came
definitely into the
result of natural
or merely
de\elopment; whether they are
monitored
as they unfold.
Our
set
category of those that are observed during changes imposed by
extraneous pressures. I
am
starting with the
ment but because
it
Lombis, not because
had long-term
effects
it
on the
was the
first
experi-
planet.
THE LOMBI EXPERIMENT. SOME OTHERS Colonised
Planet
needed
23
Thinkers ... the reader phrase: but
it is
not
my
may
to
be
made
ready
for
the
detect a note of derision in that
intention to detail social controversies of
that long-past time: the criticisms of the institution of a planet
devoted entirely to one function were certainly many, but these did not in any
way
affect
it.
It
was
a barren planet, waterless,
all
Our activities there cannot be regarded as experiments, because we had long since perfected techniques for existing on such planets. We had to make structures rock and sand and extinct volcanoes.
that were self-contained, with their
Once
created, such societies
own
needed very
climates and atmospheres. little
maintenance.
It
was
20 quite easy to grow food by hydroponic and other techniques, but these
had proved
grains. Tliere
to
have their Hmitations.
One was
were other foodstuffs, too, that did not do well in
And
these limited conditions.
while adequate for maintaining
an element that we only
had been long established that
it
life,
crops produced in water lacked
But
later isolated.
was close to
its
headings.
It
gained by planning C.P. 23 to feed
itself.
The
structures
were therefore not as comprehensive and vast
it,
subject can be
this
had been decided that since C.P. 23 Rohanda, which was so fertile, there was nothing to be
studied under
are
in the area of
on such
planets;
as
on C.P. 23
they sometimes
but they were large enough so that
flying over
the entire surface seemed to be covered by glistening silvery
blisters:
domes
the
They had
to
be
of the controlled environment. built.
This involved the use of large numbers of
ordinary labourers, not only for the putting together of the domesections, at that
which were of course manufactured elsewhere
time specialised for
this
type of manufacture
—on C.P.
—but
3,
for clear-
ing the ground, a formidable task on that uneven and rocky terrain,
which needed hundreds of different types of machine. that our
many and
sider themselves to
varied populations
have gone past
be induced to undertake
We had come up
that already
It
was
had on
have said
had been taught
to con-
type of work and would not
it.
against a problem, central to the development
of our Empire, which the
cerned with.
this
all
I
this: as it
Lombi Experiment was soon as we had colonised
directly cona
new
an indigenous population, and even
planet
if
these
were at the beginning not more advanced than apes, or other types of animal, almost at once they saw themselves as defrauded of benefits
and advances that they were entitled
again
we had seen
arrive
on such a planet, and
this
in
many
start,
force.
0\cr and over
development. Our administrators would it
could
degree savagery, and in no time at rapid social evolution
to.
still
all, it
be
in a condition of first-
was
clear that a process of
had been begun, which might express
itself
ways, one of which was rebellions and revolts that at the
and before we understood the causes, had to be put down by For
it
was then believed that
this
impulse towards
self-
betterment was due to crude envy and primitive emulation, and
was regarded unsympathetically.
It
was only
later that
we saw
that
The
Experiments
Sirian
we were
observing a force for growth that would constantly uplift
and progress
all
the peoples of our Empire.
was not
It
at
question of "thev have such and such good things, and
all
we want
them, too," but of an irrepressible evolvement. Very soon career as the makers of Empire,
ourselves
of using
we knew
on even the most barbarous of
that
if
we
just a
in
our
established
planets, with the intention
inhabitants in various necessarv ways for the good of
its
our Empire as a whole, then
must be expected that in a very short time these savages would demand at which point they would be freelv given all the ad\antagcs at our disposal. Our Empire it
—
—
could be regarded as a mechanism for the advancement of an
almost unlimited number of planets, in different stages of develop-
ment, towards a
civilised
norm. Towards uniformity?
and undesirable uniformity? That
—an unwanted
a different question; a crucial
is
one, certainly, but not our concern here.
What we
were considering,
why and how
began, was
the
appearance on a planet began that
we found
different levels.
mechanism worked this
embarrassing, unwanted.
We
it
we
needed peoples at
We did
we needed
not want to discover,
would become privileged
at once,
a reservoir or
bank of populations
citi-
whom
could use for ordinary, heavy, undifferentiated work.
We had
recentlv found, and explored, Planet 24. This was in a
solar system distant
from both ours and Rohanda's: too distant to
be conveniently incorporated in our Empire in bond. it
was one
after planet of savages or semisavages
seemed almost
zens. In short,
It
mere
already had billions of privileged peoples en-
and then colonise, planet then,
We
new phase
that our
remarkable process.
titled to every benefit of technology.
who
time Rohanda's
at the
was
\''isits
would have
a productive
and
to
be infrequent, and
fertile place,
indigenous population of animals of a
a closely interacting
strictly functional.
But
with an atmosphere, and an
common
—and useful —kind.
Tliey were of simian type, using four legs or two according to need,
were both vegetarian and carnivorous and extremely strong and vigorous.
Thev had long but not
shoulders, and backs, but very
little in front.
with powerful shoulders and arms.
than anv of the species the peoples of our
we had
overthick hair on their heads,
They were endowed
They were
squat,
discovered anwhcrc.
Mother Planet they were
and shorter
Compared
to
a third of our height.
22
They
lived in a variety of patterns, in tribes, smaller groups, in
families,
even as
solitaries.
at the very beginnings of
main It
They knew
an agriculture.
be seen that their
It will
was adaptability.
characteristic
was decided that our technicians should from
them adapt themselves no attempt
as
first
at our usual practice of
contact with
There was
to their level, their ways.
defined level of Sirian living
and
They hunted. They were
fire.
maintaining a clear-cut, well-
—which we did both
as self-discipline
We
an example. The problem was the physical difference.
chose Colonial Service
officials
be
to
from C.P. 22 who, because of
their
experience with backward self-sufficient agriculture, could be ex-
pected to find conditions on 24 at least recognisable, and fortuitously were a small, stockily built people.
to approach the
any
Lombis
in a
sort of superiorit}' in
searchers
who
instructed
no indication of was these
It
re-
established our knowledge of the Lombis.
our practice to space-lift
we needed. But not
humanity of
give
thought or practice.
Another controversy arose
as
way that would
They were
who
as
at this point. Previously
many
males, or females without young,
I
was involved
was no longer possible
it
had been
both. There had been disquiet at the in-
this practice recently.
self-questioning:
it
in the
widespread
for us to use
newly con-
quered peoples without considering their emotional and mental, well as their phvsical, welfare.
To accommodate
then on Rohanda, would add
difficulties to
also
won
We
the day.
tion of taking sterilised females,
on
23,
and
our attempts, but would
enhance and widen the experiment.
Colonial Service
families
as
Our
faction
in
the
defeated a compromise sugges-
and adopted
a further
compromise:
males to
numbers of males and females, but two-thirds one-third females. There were adxantages to this: not
least that
it
of taking not equal
was something not yet
tried
by us before.
Fifty thousand of these animals were space-lifted to 23,
where
way with what the}' had been used and both males and females were set to work to set up the space
conditions contrasted in every to,
domes.
Tliis involved their
working, to start
ment, of the standard type
when
for
\\ith, in
heavy equip-
such environments, which they
domes were operational. This was not without interest: taking animals who had learned to spit meat over a fire, but not yet to use cooking pots, and putting them into could discard onlv
the
The
Experiments
Sirian
space-age suits and machines.
They were
able, after instruction, to
manage both. Our technicians were always with them, on level,
eating as they did, deliberately refraining
same from any show of exactly the
difference or superiority.
These technicians continued
to
be recruited from C.P.
22.
This
caused a good deal of unrest throughout the Service, though
its
necessity was appreciated: only 22 produced the individuals of a
build approximating the Lombis'. Involvement in such experiments
was
alwa\'S
competed
clamouring and
for.
Tliere was not enough to occupy
idealistic youngsters.
One was
many young
to gi\e as
of service for
months (Rohandan time)
technicians was restricted to six reasons.
The term
for
our the
two
people as possible their
chance; the other was the contradictory one that none could have
endured
for longer.
it
To
live
gone bevond
During
their
on
had
time on C.P. 23, the Lombis were not pressured or
way whatsoever.
Previouslv, our practice
—
Lombis
forever.
indoctrinated in any
took
a day-to-day level with the
regress to a past that our planets liked to think they
was to
belief
on
a planet,
had been
to find out the structure of
and then use these "Gods"
in appropriate ways.
—whatever form they
For instance, we would have told the
"Gods" needed them to perform special duties in distant skies. But as far as we could see, they had not reached the stage of gods and deities. We told them nothing. Our technicians were among them on 24 Lombis that
for a time, gi\-en,
their
without explanation
—and none could
easily
have been
within their language structure, which was primiti\e. \\Tien
our spaceships descended on 24, they took the different areas so that social patterns
fifty
thousand from
would not be too badly
dis-
On
23 thev were simply told what they had to do, put into space suits already being used by our exemplars, shown where they rupted.
the use of them. All
domes were up, they were gi\en without any information beyond the utilitarian.
The atmosphere on
that planet inside the domes, strictly controlled,
were to eat and
rest.
Wlien the
first
approximated that of their own.
No
physical shock could have been
experienced on that score. Their food was also arranged with this in view.
— ^4 It
much
was
demand for "higher them were bound to be absorbed
too soon to watch for signs of a
things," for any such impulses in
by these new habits of hving they were learning.
An immediate and
expected development was fierce competition for the females, and
amount
a certain
of belligerence.
Their term on C.P. 23 lasted
five
Rohanda
during which
years,
they were supervised and instructed by the Planet 22 technicians,
who were always
changing, always lived exactly as they did, and
explained nothing at
all
of the reasons for
who
what was happening
to
them.
Then lifted to
these
Lombis were
again without explanation, space-
all,
Southern Continent
I.
Tlieir tast
was the same: to create
the physical conditions for others to use; but not controlled
and environments, since
was Rohanda. As they arrived
this
domes on the
planet and were released from the spacecraft, our observers were
—but concealed from them.
there
The Rohandan atmosphere but I
felt
it
has
5
is
not dissimilar from that of C.P. 24,
percent more oxygen.
have to record that the observers
—among whom
more than
poor creatures emerged on to
a little disquiet as the
the grassy, watered plains.
them
They had been
I
was one time
for all that
—to
—
must have seemed interminable on 23, either within the domes, or outside working in their cumbersome space suits. There were skies inside the domes but false skies, which they knew, since they had made them; there was vegetation, but none they it
—
had not put
there; there
was water that they had
Here they stood on earth that was not but was grassed and ing
and
down
fertile,
gratitude,
rolled there,
and then flung
moving.
sand and rock and gravel,
came pourthey let out hoarse cries of wonder themselves down on the grass and
under
the spacecraft steps
all
set
real skies ... as
and then clutched each other and
they
—so
it
sounded
laughed and, when we looked closely at their broad, hairy faces through our powerful lenses, wept:
we saw
the tears
roll.
Tears are
own functioning on our Mother Planet, but they are of some among our family of species. We had not known that these animals wept; no mention had been made of it. And then not part of our
they danced, slowly, solemnly, thousands upon thousands of them,
holding up their arms,
lifting
their
ape faces to the skies and
The
Sirian Experiments
— normality?
celebrating their joy at returning to
Was
what
that
we wondered? Tliat this was their own home again? turned out. They believed that they were home, since trees
they thought,
So
it
and blue
skies
and
and freedom from clumsy machinery and
grasses
space equipment were their home; and did not realise for that this was not a part of their
WTien they
own
some time
planet but another planet.
were not given time to develop negative
did. they
reactions.
After an interval while they were allowed to rush about and to
dance and to a
out strange
let
— and surely rhythmic—grunts and
cries,
time while they were permitted to enjoy their freedom, they were
again rounded up, divided into companies, and set to work. Forest
had to be cleared then
when
for, first
of
all,
settlements of our colonisers; and
was accomplished, wider
this
tracts cleared
planting of crops, and the siting of laboratories.
was ready with
buildings,
its
its
cleared fields,
WTien one
its
left,
the
station
laboratories, then
the entire work force was lifted off again to another south. As soon as they
for
site further
but not before, since these animals
were not to see creatures more evolved than themselves, the
first
contingent of agriculturalists came in from our Mother Planet.
Thev had been chosen bv
lotterv;
competition for
it
this
work,
such was the fierceness of the
was the only method that could be
guaranteed not to cause resentment.
Ten
different agricultural stations
Continent later there
I.
were established on Southern
These were enough not only to supply
all
of 23, but
were plentiful supplies of what were luxur\^ products, at
luxury prices, for our
Home
Planet.
The
setting
up of these took
R-years.
As always, when
over a hundred R-years.
The
a\'erage life of the
establishing a species a life-term
Lombis was 200
on another planet, the way
was a major consideration.
random and wild first
would
had come
fluctuation at the beginning,
foreseen \ariations in life-term.
During the
We
this
and
affect
to expect
thereafter un-
The Lombis were no
exception.
few R-vears, some died for no apparent reason
(some race-psvchologists classed these deaths under the heading of Mai-Adaptation
that were born
due
seemed
to Life likelv to
Disappointment), and the young be
was also a quite unforeseen increase
set for longer life-terms. in height
and
girth.
There
— 26
When
their
work was done on Southern Continent
not returned to their
own
I,
they were
planet.
This was because, during the period between their being taken
own
off their
and the end
planet,
planet had been discovered,
from It
much
of their term
on
23,
another
nearer to Sirius, not dissimilar
but with only very limited and lowly evolved life-forms.
24,
was our intention to
Colonised Planet 25
—
Lombis to this planet establish on it this species, which, the
space-lift
in order to
we hoped, would continue
to be useful for general hard unskilled
labour.
home
In other words, they were not to return
But
was not possible
it
for
them
at
all.
be taken to 25 at once,
to
because that was being used for certain limited and short-term experiments, and their presence there would be disruptive.
were therefore brought under
Continent
II, as
During
their
my
to Isolated Southern
an interim measure.
hundred
vears
on S.C.
onlv be described as a social vacuum. to glimpse any sign of Sirian general
continued to be instructed pupils
on
aegis,
—by the C.P. 22
—
less
and
technicians,
I,
they were in what can
They had not been allowed lexels of culture. Thev had less,
who
since they proved able
never allowed themselves
to be seen as superior in expectation to their pupils.
told
why
They were not
they were doing this work of establishing agricultural
Nor what happened on destiny was to be. Some of
23 after they left
stations.
their
They
it.
Nor what
their supervisors considered they
were not capable of either asking questions or understanding the answers. Others disagreed.
We
took note of these comments but
continued our policy, unmoved even by criticism that
this
whole
experiment was brutal.
We
were watching,
demand
for
closely, constantly, for signs of the familiar
more, for higher, for better. That was, after
all,
as
much
on 23 and then on Rohanda as the Meanwhile, they were set free on a particu-
a purpose of their being put
actual larly
work they
did.
favoured part of Isolated S.C.
II.
Of
course this was before the
"events," the changing of the angle of the axis, the slight distancing
on Rohanda was hotter then, proportionatelv. The southern part of the continent was ideal, a
of
Rohanda from the
paradise
—
for
sun. Everywhere
once to use emotional language of course inappro-
The
Experiments
Sirian
priate to this report
—and
have never seen anything to equal
I
it.
The conditions were similar but better than what the Lombis had known on 24: drier, more even, without extremes of any kind. Tliev were given a large well-wooded, fertile plain, that had a
and
central river strav
beyond
many
its
tributaries,
and
certain limits,
informed they were not to
Our
themselves.
left entirely to
monitors from 22 were withdrawn. I
and
my
accessible place
would have was
among mountains
They were not
approach.
I
were established well away from them
staff
term
a
at that
in-
had no reason
to
told that their stay in this beautiful place
—and probably
time
that they
an
in
a short one.
much occupied
with other enterprises.
This was one: observing the healthy, invigorating climate of
this
we thought it worthwhile to transfer on to it, though temporarih', some of those who were succumbing to the mental
continent,
disorders, chieflv depression
We
Dark Age. asvlum.
The
maintain
used
it,
and melancholy, that characterised our
in fact, as a
kind of mental hospital, or
conditions were so easy, so
life,
that
we
all
little effort
did was to space-lift those
try the experience to parts of Isolated S.C. II
Continent
I.
Food was brought
They were not permitted
but were allowed to
fish,
to
their
across
own
shelters
from Southern
hunt or harm the animals,
to
within limits.
who wished
—of course well away
from the Lombis, and lea\e them there to make of branches or grass.
was needed to
The
idea was a deliberate
return to a primeval innocence, of a kind that did not need even to its
be newly invented or rehearsed,
and
literature,
were doing,
its
in fact,
for this type of fantasy, too,
conventions, like old-time farming. WHiat
was
really a variety of tourism,
conditions, allowing highly civilised
all
we
but in ideal
and refined populations
—
experience instead of observing. Yet they could observe, too
one thing,
had
to for
kinds of animals and birds unfamiliar to them, as
well as the
most
immensely
popular.
attracti\e forests
From
and
everywhere
rivers.
in
This scheme was our
Empire
they
clamoured to be allowed a sojourn on Rohanda. Our medical profession were enthusiastic. At its height half a million were living I
have
original cause of the malaise that sent
them
over the southern plains, for shorter or longer periods. But to record a failure.
to
The
Rohanda was not touched. Doctors who worked among the
28
unfortunates had to conclude that
if
melancholy and
listlessness
were sometimes palliated, then
restlessness, feverishness, a hectic
dissatisfaction, took their place.
The scheme was
take,
and ended.
final
space-lift,
No
one was supposed to be
and
officially
many
such projects,
and
always
manage
solitaries
make
li\es for
behind
after the
was accomplished, but after
this
experience in
left
classed as a mis-
1
believe that a few eccentrics
to c\ade \igilance
themsehes. So in a small way
and creep away
this
experiment
to
may
have affected Rohanda.
There were manv other short-term experiments and they absorbed enough of our attention to prevent us from doing more with the Lombis than
make
When we were told
sure they did not stray off their terrain.
Planet 25 would shortly become \acant, this
was rather before we had expected.
We
at
once put on order a
complement of 2,000 Planet 22 technicians. Our immediate problem must be obvious: it was essential that the technicians should be able to mingle with the Lombis on their level, but we did not know what that level now was, after nearly a thousand R-years. Before the 22-ers came, we had done enough work with binoculars and judicious near approach out^^•ardlv at least
not
near our head station.
much
to
have ascertained that they were
changed. W^e put the techs in quarters
They had
nearly
all
been involved with the
Lombis from C.P. 24 to 23; from 23 to Rohanda; their sojourn on 23. There were no unexpected adjustments for them to make. But when the first investigative contingent of 500 went off,
moves
of the
stripped of their clothes, carr\-ing nothing, not even a or a
little
food,
weapon, they could not hide discomfort. The 22 people do not
have hair on their bodies, and have forgotten when they ran on four legs.
But
in
mv
observation
it is
on garments, even the most
the
vestigial,
moment when such
as
a species puts
aprons of foliage or
bark, that marks the transition upwards from beast; and this
more than standing on two self-consciousness.
To
put
legs. It
is
much
the birth of a certain kind of
off every bit of clothing
was hard
for
these Planet 22 people, and they did not like being looked at by us.
We
them go off down the side of our rockv plateau unaccompanied: normally some of us would have gone with them part of the way. We did watch them for a time, respected their feelings and let
though:
this
kind of observation being part of our
task.
Planet 22
The
Experiments
Sirian
people are more yellow than the dark Lombis, and they had been
under the siin-machincs; but they brown.
The company
among
the foothills, and
of wiry
still
were more dark yellow than
people were soon lost to view
little
we heard no more
Messengers sent back to report on
Lombis
other 1,500,
The and I
much more than
said not
who
duly set
off,
first
that
it
500 did not find
days.
encounters with the in the
was to dwell among the Lombis
them and what changes had taken now sum up their several reports.
first
some
was safe to send
to assess
The
for
naked and discomfited.
task of these 2,000 techs
shall
them
of
it
place.
easy to locate the Lombis. \\'lien
some out on the plain gathering plants, and were obser\ed, the Lombis ran to find cover and disappeared. It took davs for the first encounter. None of them remembered, as indithey did see
their
\iduals,
events.
home
capture from their
But they remembered
as a race: this
Not
change: their speech had evolved. day-to-day maintenance of songs,
and
life,
that instructed
tales,
The second change was
planet and subsequent
but in
them
that they
was the most important
over the business of the
this
one direction: they had
in all their history.
now had
festivals, or feasts, at
moon, so that these songs and tales could be exchanged. This had unified these animals. On their own planet the\- had lived in all types of association, sometimes in small groups with no contact with others. But now every individual without the time of the
full
exception was expected to travel in to a central feasting place once every R-month. This was not always the same, but changed, and
was situated
water supplies.
brance"
—which
singing
and
place
well-wooded place, with a
in a
Not only was
had become
rememand the
their
word
for
it
translated;
but the travelling to and from the central
ritualised
nation together: for this
hygiene and
the regular festival or "solemn
ho\\'
storytelling;
river for
is
and made the bonds that held
this
what they now were, according
new
to our
classifications.
They
were, in any case, constantly on the moxe, changing their
residences,
their
Restlessness
and
plant-gathering fitful
places,
energy was their
new
their
watering
characteristic.
places.
This was
because they were using more ox}'gen than they had done on Planet 24.
It
was their chief physical change.
.
30
And still,
always active, they nevertheless
This characteristic was reinforced by the subject of their
tive.
monthly their
While never able to be had become fearful and secre-
here was a paradox, a contradiction.
which was,
rituals,
from
in various forms, their abduction
home.
They had become a race of strong, indeed violent, contradictions. WTicn first seeing our exploratory contingent, they hid themselves
—because who
was of
their history
arrived
such "strangers from the skies"
just
among them, were
and then
friendly,
napped them. But "strangers from the expected to
come
again and rescue
were what they
skies"
them ...
home in the skies." own planet, sometimes
ruthlessl)' kid-
for they
expected to
be returned to their "real
They had, on as
their
coverings, either
warmth
for
or
for
used leaves or hides
now
ornament, but
all
clothing of any sort was forbidden, and inspired terror, because the
space suits of C.P. 23 were the worst of their memories. Even a
young female balancing
them behind her
a
few berries on her nose
some leaves around her middle, or would bring forth a storm of chattering
and scolding from any who saw her first
phobias of the
On
23,
tning
ears, or tying
sheltering an infant in a pelt
were the
in play, or
—
as
if
they
all
felt
that these
steps to the so-much-feared garments; the claustro"little prison."
and while building the
agricultural settlements
on S.C.
I,
they had been supplied with simple foodstuffs, mostlv cereals and vegetables.
But these had been supplied and
some had been cooked
or processed
set before
them and
—and they knew that prepared
food was a "sign" of captivity. In these two major ways, then, their advancement had been
checked, and they were as naked as any animal in our Empire, and their food
was
they gathered
as
now
roasted their meat:
this
it
or caught
it.
was done onh'
They had
at feasts, as
too dangerous a thing for indixiduals to tempt fate with.
"the skies" with
.
casually
li\'cd in
so
and openly, unafraid of
their different associations, selves, or leafy ones,
or
if it
were
To tempt
.
WHiereas previously they had
and quite
pre\iously
now
many
different ways,
attackers, protected
by
they built rocky shelters for them-
always with great care
—not
for their
comfort
warmth, but with one aim onlv: that they should not be
easily
The
Sirian Experiments
This was why our
visible.
first
attempts to locate them had been so
frustrated.
Constant mo\'ement and of animals
acti\it}'
—great
thousands
festivals of
dancing and singing; and, at the same time, a terror
all
of being obser\ed
and overseen.
had be-
Tlie pleasant, easygoing, unsuspicious race of Planet 24
come
ner\'Ous, paranoid.
One
of the changes
had been expected by
us.
Because of the disruption between males and females
at the
beginning, which took nearly five hundred years to disappear, the
become the
females had
of themseh'es.
lawgivers,
if
not in
fact,
then in their view
in
that they hunted,
The males were dominant
appointed sentinels and guards, saw themselves nation, but the
women
beginning had
at the
mating were "a
where
rituals
who
at last
even
when
it
gift
had
and
because of all
kinds of
to appear as
if
airs
and
and there were courtship
males were fighting for a female
The
females
all
had
regal, the gracious.
and
this
a rather bossy elder-
.
.
do not cease to be
results of
risible
because they are
pit}'
than amusement
.
our technicians.
a few
could
this
These inevitable
But these poor animals aroused more
among
as if
the balances had been redressed and there was no
certain statistical facts
felt
behaved
after long hesitation then "chose" one:
even approach the
them
graces,
manner, which was taught them by the mothers:
inevitable.
the
they had been competed for
of themsehes":
competition for females. sister
how
as protectors of
months
We were approached by a
after their acceptance
delegation from
by the Lombis. They
all
uncomfortable about what they were doing, which was to put
into operation a plan that involved lying
and deception.
We
had
expected this delegation; the 2,000 Planet 22 technicians were
being observed, in the same way as the Lombis were: necessary for us to find out
if
it
was
they were to be entrusted with taking
the Lombis to Planet 25 and supervising
them
there
when they
expected to be returned home. It is
our experience that
initial hostility
if
you put two species together,
they will begin to absorb each other's ways.
in a supervisory relation with the other,
then
it is
to
be expected that
who
If
after
one
is
are suffering hardship,
a percentage of the first will
sympa-
— 32
second and make attempts to alleviate conditions
thise with the
which
result
is
efforts to escape. is
welcomed and encouraged
often to be
Under
—or
to help
certain conditions even this second result
not always discouraged.
While we were making
plans for adding companies of supervisors
from another planet, which had not had contact with the Lombis, to the personnel
who would
transfer
and police the Lombis, we were
selecting 22-ers for further training in the arts of long-term judge-
ment and assessment, and were putting
the following points to
them.
That conditions on Rohanda were better than on Planet 24. Tliat conditions on 25, while not perfect, could not be described as bad.
That
it
was no hardship to be
was our plan for the Lombis
It
—unless
—which admittedly
this race felt
and resented
which case the laws of our Empire made
subjection, in
that they
a servant race
would be advanced
was true
this
it
their
inevitable
to a level they could sustain.
whole experiment was based on an attempt
to
keep, just for once, a race on a subservient level; but surely the fact
we had to make it at all proved our past good record. Did they, the Planet 22 technicians, not think they might be
that
sentimental instead of showing true benevolence involved an overall view.
To
all this
.
.
—which
always
.
they respectfully but self-respectingly replied that they
thought our arguments sophistry.
There was no need bring forward li\ing
for
them
more than one
to say
any more than one thing, to
basic fact: the
Lombis had been
where they had evolved, and had shown
of such races.
Now they had
all
all
free,
the characteristics
the attributes of slaves.
We enquired from them what they would like us to do. The reply was to return the Lombis to their own planet. :
Even though their return would most certainly disrupt the lives of the Lombis there, who were quietly evolving at their own speed, and who had forgotten them they had not preser\'ed any memory of the abduction of what had been a very small proportion of their number? Tliere was no doubt at all that if we suddenly set down
—
on Planet 24 this now well-cohered and would be sudden and savage war.
self-sufficing nation, there
.
The
Experiments
Sirian
Was
what they wanted us
this reallv
UTOng thinking on our
part,
then
to do? If there
was too
it
late.
had been
Surely they could
see this?
it
in
They did see it. Of course, we knew what might happen: was to be expected. That we did notliing
circumstances
to forestall
it
was rooted
our improper attitudes to Canopus, and at the time we did not
see anything
there If
for in the
wrong
one thing
is
I
—but
in these attitudes.
Now. looking back
have learned,
that
it
is
not useful to say:
it is
knew then what I know now I will come to the defection of the technicians in a moment. Tlie Lombi festival during which our spaceships descended I
the
.
lift-off
The
if
.
for
was a special one.
site
was
a favoured place
between
was
rivers. It
relati\ely
high, with thicklv growing trees surrounding a small plain.
The
animals came in during the preceding few days and settled them-
under the
selves
Our
trees in their groups.
technicians were with
them. Mating was encouraged at these times.
We
refrain.
had not expected them
to:
a
The
techs did not
mixture of these two
vigorous and promising stocks was part of our plan.
The
and the cookover them, were arranged and tended
hunters brought in the animals for the
ing trenches, with the spits
feast,
by both males and females.
The
moon
singing and dancing began as the sunlight
rose.
First in groups circles,
for
it;
went and the
around separate
fires,
and then
these animals sang of their distant
in great
home and
revoking
their longing
of their capture by the shining machines, of the place of
imprisonment, where they had been confined in the
"little
prisons"
or in the shining prisons where e\er\thing was false; of their second capture,
and
their return to "true breath
and breathing,
to the
green earth, to the green hills"; of their labours under a foreign sun building "prisons" for invisible races whose presence they sensed,
but
whom
they ne\er saw; of their third capture by the shining
machines, their being set
reminds us of our
dav that was
still
down
home but
to
come
and take them home
is
here "in this place where everything
not our home," and of
how
—on
— the shining machines would come
to "the place that
knew them."
a
again,
34 Throughout
this
night of festival, our techs were singing and
dancing and feasting, too. Well mingled with the others, so that
who had become
they were always individuals
and ne\er even
or a group,
seem
accepted by a family
a challenge, these little yellow people, hairless
were, did not seem so very different from that vast squat, brown, very strong apelike creatures
and wailing under the I
looked
skies,
it
of short,
moon.
full
would drop
me off
down on thousands
on thousands of
had observed on
so
foreseen
how
this innate
our
Home
for a spell of leave.
raised arms,
many
me back to
of faces lifted in supplication to the
palms held outwards
planets!
of the need for "higher things"
this
company
bounding and prancing
from our headquarters, and was taking
Planet where
I
though they
myself saw them from the "shining machine" that had picked
me up I
could
in pairs, let alone groups, that
I
was looking
—and
in a
manner
at a manifestation
thought that we had not
and unconquerable need would develop
in
way, with these creatures, safely channelled into nostalgia for
"home,"
for "visitors
They were
from the
skies,"
and so on.
singing about the shining machines as these descended.
Drugged and entranced by
a night of
mass dancing and singing,
they trooped willingly on to the spacecraft and were lifted off to C.P. 25. Their future development does not concern this history;
but
I
shall describe a later visit
Not
all
of
them were
I
paid them.
there at that feasting place that night.
About 10,000 had been
set
down on
Isolated S. C.
II.
And about
10,000 were taken off again. Yet their numbers had slightly increased, in spite of the inevitable deaths
unfamiliar,
known more
if
due to adaptation to the
so beautiful, terrain. Tlie technicians
that the spaceships were to arrive
disaffected
had enticed away
a
had of course
and when. Some
of the
few Lombis before the
feast,
them the shining ones were certainly coming, but they would be evil and would take them to a bad place. We lost 9 technicians, and about 500 Lombis. We did not mind this. What we had wished to forestall was that any of them should stay in that area, telling
which we wanted as such
to use for other controlled experiments
experiments can be controlled.
the technicians that certain diseases,
all
We had
as far
therefore informed
that terrain was to be used in a
so that they
—
trial
of
would mo\e well away, with the
The
Sirian
Experiments
We
Lombis.
had done something
more
sen'ed the
too.
else,
Having
carefully ob-
we had chosen two stay behind when the
rebellious of the technicians,
them we knew they intended to spaceships came, said we did not mind this, nor intended to stop them. But we would like them to undertake a task for us, for Sirius, who was after all and would remain their master, their friend, Sirius who had raised them from an animal status not in any way higher or better than the Lombis. W'c did not want promises from them; we were not promising them anything; we were not threatening them but if it became possible for them to accomplish a certain task, then we would be grateful, and they would be playing a of them, told
—
—
—
great part in our plans.
The names
of these technicians were
Navah and Hoppe.
THE SITUATION IN THE CANOPEAN AREAS. OTHER SIRIAN EXPERIMENTS \Mien
were implicit.
left unsaid,
of
what we
side,
many
the planet was shared out between us,
One was
that
we would inform each
had alwavs been done
did. Tliis
due to suspicion; and within
limits
on
not understand Canopus. Another was that
—within
theirs
my
position as one
who
limits
other
on our
because we could
we would not
with each other. Canopus has not interfered with
from
things were
interfere
This
us.
I
a\er,
can state this categorically. They
ha\e beha\ed throughout honourably.
I
use this
word adusedly,
in this place.
WTien Canopus which
is
history,
"gives her word," she keeps
foreign to us
which
is
—again
being written
I
must
insist
on
as factually as
I
something
is
said
"gives
word," then
this
its
venience
(and
by them, then is
is
part of this
can make
way
—
it
is
one
of looking at
the truth.
If
Canopus
kept, always, regardless of the incon-
sometimes worse)
"promises," then this
it is
Tliis concept,
this, as
of several similar concepts, part of a general things. If
it.
done.
If
to
themselves.
Canopus
offers aid,
If
Canopus
then
this
is
the very best that can be given at that time in those circumstances.
Canopus
is
always and absolutely to be relied on.
I
state this because
36 it
the truth, and knowing
is
full
well the sort of reaction
I
may
expect from certain of our historians.
We
do not, many of
had no idea In short,
of
it
we
we intended
understand
us,
then.
believed that
all
Canopus would
Not
to trick them.
who
still
find
it
try to trick us, as
any very important ways, or
in
ones that would be damaging to them. of youngsters
now; and we certainly
this
It
was
amusing and
all
more
in the spirit
clever to outwit each
other.
know what was going on in the Canopean part of Rohanda. That is what I had asked Hoppe and Navah to find out. It would be dangerous for them. They were very small people. The wanted
I
to
Canopus had introduced from their Colony lo were three times their size. Hoppe and Navah were yellow. Tlie Canopus
colonists
colonists were black or brown. Tliere
conceal themselves
among
was no way the two
these colonists.
And we knew
species of the northern areas were, again, large, hairy, in
would almost
tribes that
yellow men. But
it
was
my
spies could
the ape
and organised
certainh- be hostile to hairless little belief that
Navah and Hoppe
\\ould
enjoy the challenge; and in any case, they w^ere not compelled in
any way.
Now
to anticipate.
Navah had
settled
Twenty in
R-years later
Hoppe
part of Isolated Northern
the southern
Continent, with a few of the Lombis. But
Hoppe had
steadily north, a journey that took five years, while travelling
party,
in
returned, alone.
tra\elled
Lombis
left
the
and groups, and made settlements
pairs
in
favoured places.
They
did not find any
Canopean
settlements. Later
we found
out there weren't any then. Tliat continent was not the paradise S.C.
II
was at that time, but very hot, and
Hoppe went
to the north,
and on the
in parts still
east coast
swampy.
found that the
indigenous ape-people were travelling back and forth from the
main landmass, by various types
of boat, passing
to another: at that time that ocean
Hoppe allowed not
ill-treated,
On facts.
himself to be
but regarded
was
made
the western part of the
full of islands
a prisoner
as a curiosit}'
from one island
and even
of
all sizes.
by them.
He was
as a pet.
main landmass he found the following
The
Sirian
One was
Experiments
Colony lo
that the
colonists
started to increase in height. Tliis
and the natives had
found easy to believe because
I
Lombis' height had increased by an R-span during their
the
thousand
years.
Another was that both an
after
when
period
initial
life-span. Tliis
and natives were
colonists
the colonists had a dramatically reduced
Lombis had shown
believed, too, for the
I
living longer,
signs of
a longer life-span.
But the next on
fact
was not beliexcd by
us,
although
Hoppe
insisted
it.
was that the colonists were living
It
from the
and
natives.
casual,
These settlements were not makeshift, or
beyond the animal with leaves or pelts well
made and
colonists.
visited
them
and
The
how
just
sheltering in caves
which were
in proper settlements,
kinds of crafts
all
colonists did not stav near the natives, but
own
places,
their instruction
made by them
that
sometimes covering themselves
grass,
for short spells while they
interval to see
fire,
and they were being taught
then retreated to their
being
natives,
—
—were now
sited,
bv the
lo.
beginning to use
level,
structures of branch
The
who had been at and by Canopus on many planets
Colony
cities of
stage so often found by us
and
arbitrary
but were carefully constructed. Yet they were on a lower
than the
level
in settlements quite apart
imparted their information;
and only returned had taken.
No
to use the natives as servants.
after
an
attempt was
So said Hoppe.
So he swore.
Having found out
him
that he could, he begged the natives to let
all
travel back, island to island, to the Isolated
nent,
and they
harmed
were
did. Tliey
or threatened.
Once
a
Northern Conti-
good-natured species, and never
there,
he did not wait
to argue with
them, for he knew they would not want to lose him permanently,
and he slipped away one night and where he was able to
visit
was
up colonies of
I
was relieved that Canopus had not
own on
their
by himself southwards,
the colonies established by the Lombis,
and he was much welcomed. set
travelled
that northern continent, which
definiteh' part of their assigned territory;
had planned
to plead,
if
for
I
challenged by them, that the Lombis had
escaped from one of our experiments
As
though of course
what Hoppe had
— which was true
said of the relations
after
all.
between the colonists
38
and the
natives,
did not believe him, not being able to
I
with
my own
experience what
for
careful,
controlled,
Canopus had
and
told us of their plans
—
development
scientific
match the
for
"svmbiosis."
Hoppe
had
that he
felt
He went back
indeed he had.
his
fulfilled
undertaking to me; and
north where he found a place in one
The Colony 22 people and he could not be expected to come back within
of the settlements. are not long-lived
heard no more of him.
I
his lifetime.
But
was intrigued and curious about what went on up north.
I
During
all this
on various
time there were conferences between us and Canopus
and more than once on Colony 10
planets,
did not find the information
we were
believe
it.
We were in
cealing failures,
but
I
given adequate. For one thing,
Canopean plan
reported such rapid progress of the
it
itself,
did not
I
the habit of exaggerating successes and con-
and
we assumed
so
that this
is
what Canopus
also did.
But
couldn't leave
I
at that either.
it
The
next time one of our
supply craft came from Southern Continent operator to a consultation.
I
wanted
I,
I
asked
a smaller craft, of the
head
its
kind that
kept liaison between the different agricultural stations on S.C. to visit
enough of the
that the at a
Canopean
central landmass to
and the natives
colonists
certainly not reprisals
of our agreement.
ments on the
it
would be
reasoned, however, that
we knew
risky.
it
a definite
it
was Canopean policy to
and because
almost invisible in certain
The fly
investigation was
and
it:
was only a
modern
craft,
made
of,
lights.
made, and the
colonists were
was no doubt about
it
their
visit
of the materials they were
over settlements to survey them;
of both natives
settle-
landmass would ever have seen any type
practised or expectant eye that was likely to see our fast,
breach
was unlikely
settlements as seldom as possible. Besides,
they were so
Not because
more than reproaches from Canopus
—but because
fringes of the
of aircraft, for
Rohandan
I
sure of one fact:
lived in settlements
good distance from each other. This was
there was any need to expect
—
make
I,
it
craft did
landed, and
watched from
Hoppe's report was
not employing the natives.
I
more than
actually
se\'eral
groups
a distance. Tliere
true. Colonists
was ready to believe that
this
were
was
The
Sirian
Experiments
because the nati\es had pro\ ed too backward to be employable, but
had found. On the contrary, even since Hoppe's \isit, it seemed that the natives
was not what our spy
this
in the
hundred years
craft
had ad\anccd and were already using
had been
that they
skills
taught. I
I
gave the whole question a great deal of thought. Looking back,
have to credit myself with
But
this, at least.
concluded that the
I
reason for the rapid evolution of the nati\es was something in the
atmosphere of Rohanda.
And
we had been unfortunate
that
our
in
choice of both our Colonv 22 and the Lombis. In this respect, not in
any other: these two races ma\-
peculiar
and specialised Rohandan
came from continent,
on these
various
agricultural
been imper\ious
ha\'e
to these
influences. \Vlien supplv craft
on the other southern
stations
questioned the crew carefullv about the personnel
I
stations,
who came from
several of our Colonised Planets.
But none had shown any marked e\olutionary changes, whether
for
better or for worse. I
then concluded that
it
was the northern areas that must hold
the beneficial influences, and
I
was
Canopus we would
bitter, believing that
had withheld from us information about them
so that
not resent their claiming them. It
was
It will
this
anger that was responsible for
my
be remembered that Isolated Southern Continent
no indigenous apes
of any size;
and that those on S.C.
very small and far from even standing on two
Lombis and far as
it
ne.xt decision.
of the people from
Our
legs.
I
II
had
were
all
use of the
Colony 22 had been well enough
as
went: but these were both such small races they were
classified in
our svstem as dwar\es.
throughout our Empire, but at this trouble,
when what
I
last
wanted
I
made
a survey of all the races
wondered why
lay to
hand
instructed one of our fast liaison craft to
I
was taking
all
for the taking. ...
make
I
a reconnaissance of
the Northwest fringes of the main landmass and then to direct a large cargo craft to
kidnap an entire community of natives, without
alerting the colonists
After
all,
if
who would then be
sure to inform Canopus.
our aircraft were not seen at
report onl\- that the natives had gone
all,
—had
the colonists could
probably decided to
escape from a tutelar\- superxision un welcomed by them. All this
was done, and
I
was delivered an entire community of seventy
40 natives, males, females,
with kindness.
We
and young. They were treated
at all times
put them, not on the plain vacated by the
Lombis, which was too large and was needed by us for other but on high wooded terrain not
purposes,
why
headquarters. Tliere was no reason
far
from our own
they should not be aware
of us; this experiment did not resemble that of ours with the
Lombis. They at once made shelters
for themselves of a quite ad-
vanced kind, using bricks of sunbaked earth, and well-dressed
They showed no
thatch for roofing.
on the
disruption of their lives but,
and
friendly colonists
—
—because
to
signs of distress at this arbitrary
contrary, were ready to
of their relationship with the
be taught. But while
I
— —
way whatever thus copying what I had Canopean experiment I also forbade them to
understood of the
be allowed inside our houses or to be taught
pets, or to
any further
Canopean
forbade them to be used as
servants or labourers in any
be made
be
skills, for it
seemed
shown more than they could
me
to
They knew,
use.
instance, about planting seeds
that they had already been
and tubers
theoretically, for
for food,
and about
keeping animals for meat and milk, but were careless and forgetful
showing
in these,
altogether.
away from them
signs of letting aptitudes slide
Remembering
that the settlements of colonists in the
north were at a distance from their charges, and that contact was seldom,
I
believed
our tutelage. At our
own
I
was following
this stage the natives
example
were
in not pressing
slightly shorter
average height, at about seven or eight R-feet.
upright, never descended to
ate
this
all
meat and vegetables and
fours,
They were
kept their dwellings clean,
and milked
fruit,
than
a species of deer,
but not with any system. This
little
colony of northern animals was a most important
factor of our relations with
Canopus, and of subsequent develop-
ments on Rohanda. But this did not seem to us so at the time. Far from it. Yet we could hardly forget these creatures, who lived so close to us, always visible, visitors in their
much; and
and of much
interest to us
and our
comings and goings. They multiplied, but not very
their settlements spread,
the hills that were
first
allotted
to
monitor their development because pation with Canopus and
its
but never did more than cover them. Nor did we cease to this
was where our preoccu-
work focussed. But while
several
The
Sirian
Experiments
thousand years passed, we were in\olved ments,
many
in
other experi-
over this wonderful and rich continent, and these took
all
up our attention. I shall mention the one that did have an
indirect effect
on long-
term Rohandan development. Millions of females throughout our Empire, forbidden to produce
young because
programmes, craved
of our population-reduction
this
experience while subscribing to a prohibition whose necessih* they
We
understood.
had more volunteers than we could ever use
for
our various eugenic attempts. Prefabricated buildings of a high standard were space-lifted in
from our manufacturing Planet
and placed on the
3,
Lombis had occupied. These were
filled
with females, already
The
impregnated, from various of our planets.
terrain that the
fathers
had
also
been
comprehensively chosen. Our need was to produce a strain that
would adapt
easily to widely varied conditions
on
different planets.
WTiile we were restricted by the nature of the conditions on our
Mother Planet
to
limits, these limits
within
planets that
fell
proved to be
much
atmospheric
certain
broader than
we had
en-
visaged in the early days of our Empire. Species could learn to
adapt:
some much more
been that
if
easily
than others. But our experience had
representatives of one species
had adapted
to certain
conditions,
then these did not necessarily take well to further
adaptation.
We wished to breed technicians who would be a\ailable
for
work on
with
little
different planets, of differing atmospheres,
sometimes
or no time for adaptation or acclimatisation. These
all-
purpose, hardy, multifunctional technicians were in fact absolutely essential in certain outlying parts of our
The fiftv
females on what
we now
Empire.
Lombi plain numbered much as was necessary- to
called the
thousand. Tliev were super\ised
as
pre\ent them escaping, to supplv them \\ith
and
to
testing
first-class
medical care,
monitor the growth of their young, with the appropriate
and
analvsis.
These females regarded themselves
as
favoured and pri\ileged:
indeed they were. Tliey knew themsehes to be of superb physical fitness
and condition. They had been told by the highest among
our Colonial Ser\ice, w^hich
Empire,
how much
is
itself
their services
the highest function of our
were valued. But in spite of
all
42
we knew
this,
had
a degree of watchfulness
to
be maintained:
the reproductive instinct, being the strongest there
—had taken,
in the past
is,
this,
could take
it
—many surprising forms; and we did not
want any of them escaping with their young when the time came to gi\e them up. For thev all knew that this must be when the young had attained
five R-vears.
This was one reason the breeding station was on Rohanda, which
way from our Mother Planet and xisited by none except our craft and those of Canopus. (Or so we believed then but of that later.) It would not be possible for them to escape either was
a long
—
by spacecraft or out of the Lombi stationed
all
around
been trained
plain, for there ^^•ere guards
a vast periphery, well out of sight,
who had
of the maternal instinct in
in e\erv manifestation
desperation.
The
other reason this station was here, well out of the way, was
that such experiments always aroused opposition. This
phenom-
known that I will do no more than draw attention to it. Even when females have volunteered for this type of senice, even when the experiments are crowned with success, and the results are shown in new breeds and strains that fulfill everything expected of them and are heaped with honours, and whose functioning is enon
is
so \\ell
remarked and followed with approval and admiration from every-
where
in
our Empire
kind, which
I
—even
so there
is
criticism,
ha\e learned to recognise.
It
is
and of
alwa\s marked by a
sharp painful note, or tone, that signals a feeling of loss only a personal
not at
loss,
taken pains to notice
than personal.
not see
how we
is
wh\-
this en', or protest,
can onlv put
I
this
all:
it
I
for
which
like this: that it
can conclude an\thing
else
a certain
—and not
one have always is
so
much more
seems
as
—when such
if
—
I
do
deliberate,
controlled experiments take place, to produce definitely envisaged stocks or strains,
it is
most responsible and possibility
As
if
blessing fined.
after
—most decplv and profoundh", and by the evolved of our peoples — that some other
felt
may have been
lost.
randomness and chance
and even
...
much
I
am
a
means
stating
in
themsehes are
of acquiring
my own
a
good and
a
something not vet de-
personal opinion here, arrived at
reflection.
This was the largest experiment
in eugenics ever
undertaken by
The
Sirian
Expewnents
success was due not least to the
us. Its
Rohandan atmosphere,
the
Roliandan isolation from other influences, our distance from the
When
centre.
the
fifty
R-years of the experiment were over, and the
breeding station finally dismantled, we congratulated ourselves that
time not one of the successive inputs of females had
in that
we had not
caped, and that
es-
Rohandan
again contributed to the
species.
For
fi\e
thousand R-years we did not investigate conditions
Canopean
the northern
we had
liexed
We were
areas:
it
will
in
be remembered that we be-
before us millions of years of a stable en\'ironment.
informed that Canopus was sending
a special mission, as
they had reason to believe their plans were more successful than had
been en\isaged. The report of
mended
this
mission was sent to us:
recom-
it
the immediate implementation of something they called
a "Lock."
Again
it
has to be emphasised that
bases of the
Canopean work.
was: though this did not regular contact this
mean we were not aware
also talked
own
communica-
planets near enough for these methods.
now
generally.
Canopus was always ready
have asked ourselves questions, since
advanced
"Lock"
that there was
These two concepts were not understood by us
questions:
as
this
about "a degenerative disease," but without
recently: are not understood
was
know what
lines of the various types of electrical
tion used by us with our
fication.
did not
did not understand the
between Canopus and Rohanda. But we assumed
was on the
They
We
we
as that of
to
We
might
answer them.
\\e believed
at
speci-
all,
until
ha\'e asked
We
might
our technology
Canopus. But we did not. The reason was
the same: \arious forms of pride. WHiat was in the body of the report inflamed us with disbelief
The
natives
who
still
and
suspicion.
enjoyed their well-supervised and comfort-
able lives so close to us were nowhere near the level described in
the report on the northern hemisphere.
We
had chosen
disbelief
—but not
entirely, for again
I
decided
on some investigations of our own. It
happened that
at that
Ambien I was \isiting me. vouth we had been aligned
time
In our long distant earlv
purpose of producing our allotted four progeny the reduction of general population levels.
— that
Ambien
I
for the
was before
had decided
44 after our a
female
progeny were grown to enter into another alignment with
who
me on
subsequently worked with
when we had reached
various projects
general-service-agc. llie eight products of the
two alignments had formed bonds
of various kinds and, in short,
the personal aspects of our lives had been satisfactory.
Ambien
I
had been on the committee that
considered what
first
our work would be on Rohanda, and had been involved with ever since. His visit to investigative:
lennia:
this
enjoyed
my
I
me
was partly old friendship and partly
had not been back
was because
I
Members
to our
Home
Planet for mil-
was thoroughly happ\' on Rohanda,
work, and thought
for service leave.
it
it
abandon
too pleasant a place to
of the Colonial Service, even
of the Five, visiting us for any reason always
made
members
excuses to stay.
Rohanda had become my home. When we had had time to satisfy our accumulated curiosity about each other's doings, after what had been a good lapse of time, I asked him if he would undertake a spying mission to the northern areas. He agreed readily. More than once he had been in the teams that "opened up" new planets, and he had always enjoyed this type In short,
We
of rough dangerous work.
did not expect danger from this
particular enterprise, but at least
He
it
would be
a break
from routine.
took a liaison ship to the extreme south of the central landmass,
where he dismissed
He
it.
Altogether he was away ten R-years.
travelled extensively over the central landmass,
where there
were everywhere settlements of colonists and natives, always tioned at short distances from each other.
and sometimes by using
He went on
suitable animals.
Ambien
foot, I
posi-
by boat,
and
m^'self
same general species, but his particular subspecies are broadly built, brown of skin, with straight black hair. I, being fair of skin and hair and very slight in build, could not go anywhere near the northern areas without discovery. But he, while are of course of the
being
much
shorter than the colonists
ing in height, species
and were now twice the
—was rather
taller
—who were rapidly
size of the original
increas-
Colony lo
than the natives, and could not hope to
be taken for one of them.
He
at
first
avoided close contact with
them, but seeing that he could not get the information we needed this
no
way, approached them in settlement after settlement, and found
hostility at all
—
at the most, curiosity.
At
first
he put
this do^^•n
The
Experiments
Siriaii
an innate good nature due to the favourable conditions they
to
and lack of challenge. But then, though
Hved
in,
came
to believe they
had
visitors of
size.
not colonists, then who?
Was
Isolated Northern Continent
it
but
\isit
it
was
had grown
What
shall
I
do the same.)
large
and were making
We
were soon to learn
made him
this speculation that
the Northern Continent on his
who
possible the dwarf races of the
island-hopping journeys across that ocean? differentlv:
colonists,
he
(Tliey from this time
were referred to as Giants by Canopeans, and If
Not
other kinds.
were unmistakable because of their
reluctantly,
way back
to
decide to
me.
he found ever}'where on the central landmass corroborated
Canopean report. The natixe stock had improved so far beyond what thev had been seven or eight thousand years before, it was not easy to believe them the same species. They were practising agrithe
culture, understood the use of animals,
not only soundlv built
in
and
were
their dwellings
well-planned settlements but were even
being ornamented with attractive designs in sophisticated colours.
They had begun
to
wear clothes, too, and these were well made
and often dyed. It
was the Giants' settlements that could not be explained. Tliey
were living on yet on
a level
not very
much
Colony lo they had evolved
When Ambien ship to
down
fly
had happened
I's
higher than the natives; and
to the stage of
over Isolated Northern Continent, to see what
to the
Lombis and the stock from C.P. 22. But he them. We had a rough idea of where they
ought to be, from Hoppe's information cluded that they must
We work
no
had
cities.
survey was complete, he instructed the liaison
could find no sign of
there was
advanced
all
—but
nothing.
We
con-
have succumbed to some epidemic, since
sign of settlement
by natives or Giants
either.
come to terms with the facts about the Canopean north. The captured native stock so happily living on
to
in the
where they were always under our inspection could to have regressed. Tliey had not de\'cloped. Tliey had
their hillsides
not be said
abandoned attempts skilfully
and
to care for
intelligently. Tliey
not grains. Tliey picked plant any.
and use other animals, but hunted
leaf}'
They wore animal
grew
a
few roots
for food,
but
plants from the wild, but did not pelts
but no
art
was used
in their
preparation. Tlie shacks and huts they lived in were adequate.
We
make
not understand what had happened to
did
the
difference.
Again
I
some way
was ready to conclude that the Canopean north was better
endowed, but Ambien
I
Giants actively instructed the natives on their
had pursued
me
reminded visits,
in
that the
whereas we
a policy of noninterference.
We decided to divide our stock of natives into two, and establish them at a distance from us, so that there could be no contact. This new colony would be energetically supervised and taught by us in the practical arts. Ambien I undertook this task: it
a colony of
was one he was particularly well
He
fitted for.
built himself a shelter in the
new
village,
and
settled
down
with them as an instructor.
This attempt was
He was
a failure.
thing they could retain. Tliat
is,
not able to teach them any-
he taught them
which they seemed to understand
—but
in a short
a period of intensi\'e work,
was forgotten. After
a variety of crafts,
time everything
he had to confess
new colonv was not much better off than the first one. He did make further attempts during the next ten thousand
that the
years,
goaded by the amazing
results of the
trips to find
out what
only he, but others, too,
whom we
We
as near to
Meanwhile he was making more
all failed.
was happening
in the north.
ordered from our
Home
Not
Planet.
Canopeans, but they
wanted individuals
the natives of the north as possible
—no
races
attained anything like the height of the Giants.
new
experts
in
our Empire
Ambien
I
and these
and again surveyed the north. Always, we
again
believed, without discovery. Certainly without resistance.
Because of the number of spies we sent northwards, we believed that the
Canopeans must be doing the same
careful to spread
rumours of the
fierce
to us;
and we were
and warlike nature
of the
southern hemisphere. All this activity of ours during that period
and incredulous of ourselves.
—
as
None
we
of
now makes me amazed
when remembering earlier cruder phases was necessary. All we needed was to read,
it
are
without suspicion and with an open mind, the material they continually supplied us
and then
to ask
them
questions.
But
it is
always
useless to bewail past mistakes.
During
this period of ten
thousand
years, the reports
by Ambien
I
The
Experiments
Sirian
and the others were increasingly amazing. There were
cities
being
knew nothing about. The beauty of the cities on Canopus was famous, and we had always emulated them: to state the fact, which even now we are reluctant to admit. built everywhere, of a kind Sirius
But these kind.
cities
were built in remarkable shapes, of a mathematical
They were
Tlie Giants
all different.
and the
natives lived to-
gether now. Tlie cities were different not only in shape and size but
Ambien
their qualities:
in
always said that
I
it
was not easy
what he could feel. On the islands, great and small, of the ocean between the Northern Continent and the main landto describe
mass were many
and the
cities,
life
on them was more advanced
And we were
than any in our Empire.
talking about not only the
highly —whom we were not surprised evolved —but the indigenous stock whose unregenerate
Giants
certainly
to find at this
level
we could
see
state
by going
to the
down: there they were, all,
that was
Why?
all
It is
windows
of our citadel
a lazy, amiable colony of
—
and looking
apes, for after
they were.
not too
much
to say that
Ambien
I
and myself and the
became obsessed with Canopus and their sucparticularly. I had not seen what they described. But
others of our staff cesses. I
I
was,
did once insist on being taken in one of our fastest craft on a
over the island-crammed ocean between the Northern Conti-
trip
nent and the main landmass, and saw a very large island, that had
on
it
many surrounding any we used anywhere
a magnificent white city, circular, with
channels and causeways, and ships as fine as
riding in the harbours. This after only 5,000 years of the
that
Canopus attached
so
much importance
Because of the primary intention of tions with
Canopus
is
to.
this
account
— Sirian
rela-
—and my emphasis on aspects of our researches
that affected these relations, there
what
"Lock"
described here
more
is
a
danger readers
may
believe
or less defines these researches.
I
can
only repeat that during the roughly 18,000 years of that ideal period
work had any long-term effect on Rohanda or on Canopus. During the 10,000 years we were so preoccupied with what went on in the north, wc were also making on Rohanda, only
full
a small part of our
use of opportunities.
I
will
mention one
project,
which lasted
more than 10,000 years, involved nearly the whole of Southern Continent II, employed millions of our technicians from ever}' part
48
and which had no contact
of our Empire,
at all with,
nor influence
upon, our spying missions into the north, or Ambien
attempts
I's
with the captured natives.
The
paradoxical Sirian situation already mentioned had not im-
proved: on
the older and long-established Colonised Planets
all
were millions who had no employment nor hope of any, that their deaths (which
whatsoever) would be a
we
relief
and
who had come
a lessening of a
to crave
they believed to be beneath them
not able to do
way
of course did not hasten in any
burden on us
and who were too softened and enfeebled by affluence the easiest work,
who knew
for
all,
any but
even the physical labour
—but who, when offered
were
it,
For there was a period when we of the Colonial
it.
Service did in fact do our best to use these noisy
and complaining
we could on large-scale development projects. It was a failure. While demanding "any kind of work, no matter how rough" most vociferously and tiresomely when they were in fact put to this type of work their ingrained belief in their own superiorit}-, their weakness of will, their self-indulgence, caused them very
hordes where
—
—
soon to slacken, or to manifest a large range of psychosomatic problems.
encampments all over Southern Continent II, where physical work graded to easy preliminary stages was created for these people, in order to fit them for the real work elsewhere on the newly acquired and still undeveloped planets that we were "opening up" to use our term for the early phases of our colonisation. Our problem was that we did not want to disturb the ecological balance of Rohanda more For
a period of
about 8,000
years,
we had
vast
—
than we had
Nor
We did not want
to.
to engage in plans that
to destroy vegetation or animals.
would
mar the earth. endowments were
scar or
plenty of other planets whose natural
but only one whose endowments were so
The food
for these
supplied bv S.C.
I
—whose
to
be
for.
But
remained successful
to supply
them work
a different matter.
It
with-
was,
—invented.
many hundreds in
suitable;
lavish, fertile, beautiful.
agricultural stations
out upsetting their environments was
had
had
millions of apprentice colonists was easily
beyond anything we had hoped
it
We
of
As each new contingent of, sometimes, thousands arrixed from this or that planet, flown
by our giant transport
craft,
they were set to
make
their
own
— The
Sirian Experiments
housing and amenity buildings by using premade building materials.
But
not take them long.
this task did
very
real labour,
little
And
while so easy, involving
they were already complaining that they
were "demeaned" and "degraded." Yet each one was a volunteer,
and had had explained
them
to
that their sojourn on
Rohanda was
temporary, and for training purposes only. I
make here an
will
which
observation that was formed in that time and
have seen no reason since to modifv.
I
stock or species has once belief that
may
dividuals this
it
owed
later
become enfeebled by
that
a race or
if
soft living
Once
be
and
a
easy living, then while physically such in-
adapt to a vigorous use of themselves, mentally
almost impossible except for a very few of the more
is
Self-pit)' will
real
is
It is
their disease
their settlements
—
a disease of the will,
and camps were
set
flexible.
not of the
flesh.
up and operating, the
problem began.
The
work we created
training
for
them was
of
two kinds.
we bred become used
One
involved the local animals. Using varieties of deer,
adapta-
tions of them, thus enabling our volunteers to
to ideas
relating to eugenics,
which we used so extensively everywhere
our Empire, and also taught them for food all
to choose
and use animals
and heavy labour. Of course the animals of Rohanda were
strange to these volunteers
and the novelty
planets, their
how
in
interest
who had come from
so
many different
assisted us in the task of keeping alive
and enthusiasm,
different verv quickly: they
all
for
they became bored and
We
needed constant stimulus.
in-
also
them to classifving and recording the species of plant life this meant that they had to keep on their feet out of doors. They were sent off on long investigative trips, under careful supervision so that they would do no damage to the environment. But while this could not be described as hard work, it was too hard for most set
of them.
So went our diagnoses I
work alreadv done they were told real
and these were of
wondered then, and wonder now, if part of their enthusiasm was due, quite simply, to knowing that this was
course true. But lack of
at the time,
—
for of course they
—again — that
this
had
to
know
this.
Although
was preparatory training
for their
endeavours to come on other planets, they did not have the
appetite for
it.
Continually demanding that they be put to work on
"the real thing" at once, complaining that they were being under-
50
valued by to
make
us,
because of these "easy and piffling"
use of the real opportunities they were being offered to
accustom themselves less,
they failed
tasks,
to harder.
Thev were
quite unreliable, shift-
and, in the end, unproductive.
own
Tliey were returned to their a fair
chance to show
planets after
all
had been given
they could match their actions with their
if
demands. But we did not want
to exacerbate their already poisonous
them in various ways, by saying that "real" work would be found for them later, and so on. On the whole it was felt that these attempts had discontent and therefore tried to soften this rejection of
when
not only been failures but worse: for themselves back on their
home
these millions found
planets, their complaints
contents fomented uprisings and uproar of every
Our
already quite enough of a threat.
when we
increased at a time
dis-
which were
militar}' strength
had
to
be
we could look forward welcome dismantling of our
belie\ed that
due
to rapidly rising prosperitv
sort,
and
to a
Some of the more discontented planets became, for a time, not much more than \ast prison camps. And vet I can say that evenpossible effort was made by us to alle\'iate the tragic situation of armies.
these unfortunates, the victims of our technical genius.
In the
meantime
an, alas, only too familiar situation continued:
while these useless millions degenerated,
and
intelligent stock for hard labour
we
still
needed vigorous
on the planets that the same
technical prowess was opening up.
What we had
to
settled species that
do was
—
these
them
how we
newcomers to
to our
dex'clop the
as
you can imagine, we were being
Empire
new
home ground
—and
to use.
after suitable training, use
We
would choose from these that seemed suitable, and train them ones.
but somewhere
for a while, the empt}' settlements
ment being put
ex-
introduced our luxuries and our ease to
planets stocks and species
not on their
from those planets recently
retained their native vigour, and were un-
still
corrupted by soft living tremely careful
to take
The work
was much harder than that
and
else.
\\as tried
stations of the failed experi-
gi\en these
gi\'en to
Rohanda
more vigorous
the enfeebled ones.
stocks It
was
necessarv to prcser\e a balance between retaining an ability for physical labour, while developing capacities for initiative prise.
What we
did was to
tell
them they were
and
enter-
to explore possi-
The
Sirian
Experiments
of developing fauna
bilities
and plant
without damaging their
life,
surroundings. Tlie results were most gratifying and useful. I
remember
of Southern
our liaison
a trip
I
made with some
Continent craft.
my staff
from end
during this period, using a small
II
to
end
fleet of
Flying north to south and up the coasts, and
and
crossing the continent back
wooded
of
forth,
terrain with vast peaceful rivers.
paradise, populated
it
was over magnificent
But ever^-where
this sylvan
by herds of peaceful animals, showed the
ments of the successful experiment.
We
settle-
landed day after day,
week after week, among these representatives of species from our numerous colonies, all so different, yet of course all basically of for it is only when a species has got the same level of evolution to its hind legs and started to use its hands that it can make the real adxances we look for and foster. Furred and unfurred, with long pelts and short, with fells and tufts of hair on their backs and shoulders leaving their fronts bare, black of skin and brown, their faces flat and snouted and hea\'y-browed and with no brow ridges, jutting-chinned and chinless, hairless and naked, naked but with leaves or bits of skin round their loins, slow of movement and quick, apt to learn and not capable of anything but beast work ... to
—
travel thus
up
from place
to place
was
really
an inventory or summing
of the recent developments of our Empire. This trip was pleasur-
able,
and gave
us relief
from the disappointment of our recent
failure with the northern captives.
All
these species
—some
them new ones
of
to
me;
all
these
them incapable of adaptation, were nevertheless, when matched in our minds with what we were being told of the Canopean experiments up north and the amazing, the incredible animals, and none of
evolution of the indigenous native species,Jell so short that the two
achievements could not be compared. it
and thought about
though
later our pride
it.
We
made
We knew this. We discussed
did not conceal the situation then; it
something to be glossed over and
then forgotten. "Phis entireh- successful
of so
many
experiment on Rohanda
different stocks to be
good and
— the
teaching
flexible colonisers,
which
and confimiing our confidence in our Colonial Ser\'ice was nevertheless and at the same time a defeat. We knew very well that none of these animals we were teaching was making us so
—
gratified
52
would evolve very much beyond what thev were now, or not quickly: their capacities would be stretched, their skills added to, they would
make use of their new opportunities. But it was out of the question that we could expect them to make the jump, and in a few thousand from
years,
their
animal state to one where they would
as fine as
anything we knew on
change
them
same
who
in
on
and maintain them, and
so that they could hardly be recognised as the
species as our engaging lived
Sirius,
live in cities
and
likable
companions, the simians
their hillside so close to our headquarters,
and who
were always such a pleasant source of entertainment and interest for us
and our
visitors.
The Canopean experiment had changed
the native stock.
Fundamentally. This was the point.
Our being at once,
able to survey
and coming
We
where.
We
had
used
these different kinds of animals
to terms with their possibilities
resulted in a stepping
the north.
all
up
spies,
less
and
the openness with which
and limitations,
of our already quite intensive spying in
both
as individuals
less disguise.
we were
and
between Southern Continents
in
groups every-
This was partly because of
received. Partly because
southern hemisphere was covered with our supply skies
all
I
and
II,
all
the
fleets filling
the
and we could always
excuse our presence by talk of forced landings. Partly because of a
new
factor.
SHAMMAT. THE END OF THE OLD ROHANDA
We were approached by emissaries from to believe
now, but Shammat
at that time
Shammat.
not easy
It is
was hardly even a name.
Puttiora, the shameful Empire, was, of course, not ignored for
by
no other reason than that we were continually having
off incursions
on
to our territory.
Shammat was spoken
us, if
to fight
of as
some
dreadful sun-baked rock used by Puttiora as a criminal settlement.
At any
rate,
they were pirates, adventurers, desperadoes.
certainly not thought of
nology, and
we were
them
as
We
had
having reached the stage of tech-
right, for the craft that set itself
down on
the
The
Sirian
Experiments
plain below our headquarters was a stolen
Canopean space
shuttle.
Four Shammatans came up the rocky road with the confidence of those invited, or at least expected, and this arrogance was typical of
Two. Head
ever)'thing they did. In type they were Modified localised
body
hair,
hair,
teeth at primary animal level, well-adapted
hands, feet used only for locomotion. Tliey were therefore above
most
of the species,
though not
currently being trained by us for
all,
colonial work; but far behind the
Rohandan
native species as
Though we were wondering, as we entertained these extremely vigorous and energetic visitors who had about them every mark of the barbarian and the savage, if this after all so common, not to say basic, type ever\'\\here throughout the three Empires we knew anything about Canopus, our own, and Puttiora would not, if put into contact with the Giants, become as advanced as the northern natives. For we had recently adopted the theor)' that it was the Colony lo Giants who had the secret of rapid evolved by Canopus.
—
—
evolution of inferior species. I
will
not waste time describing our encounters with these
Shammatans. There were many, because they would not take our "no"
as final.
intentions.
They lacked
What
inner discrimination as to other people's
they wanted was
this.
experiments with deliberately breeding
knew
e\'erything about these, so
knowing that on Canopean
some
their spying territory'.
on
of our
first-quality colonisers.
we had
us
They had heard to
had been
Shammat wanted
come as
They
to terms with
intensive as ours
to "take off our
of our surplus females. Tliere were very few
hands"
on that horrible
planet of theirs. Those they had were not "able to match demand." I
cannot exaggerate the crudity of their thought, and their
While we continued
to refuse, for of course there was
talk.
no question
of submitting any peoples under our care to such criminal savages,
and while they continued
to arrive
day after day at our door, as
if
we had not discussed everything already, a pretty clear and unwelcome picture of their activities was forming in our minds. Shammat had been on Rohanda for some time, both sending down spaceships, though not often, and fostering a small colony that continually kept spies at work among the Canopean settlements. This was the explanation of the easy reception of our emissaries: our \isits
had by no means been the
first
first
received by the
— S4 it
was Shammat had wanted, they
visitors
were cunning and evasive, but
Giants and the natives. Whatever
had not been given
it.
Our
not able to hide what they
felt
and thought. They were angry, no,
murderous, because of blocks and checks received from Canopus.
And it thing
wasn't
—from Canopus—females they had wanted, but some-
What
else.
this
was we did not know, nor did we find out
for millennia, millennia!
And we
we
did not find out because
did
know the nature of Canopus, any more than Shammat did. But Shammat had suspected, had wanted, had tried to get like Sirius. And Shammat succeeded where we failed. I am making this statenot
—
ment, here and now, without concealment without
trepidation,
Shammat
without
anticipating
certainly not
criticism
— that
the barbarous, the criminal, the horrible, that planet that
for so long
synonym
nor
—though
we cannot remember
the beginnings of
it
has been a
everything disgusting and to be despised:
for
Shammat who found out something at secrets. Enough to steal a little. And we,
least
of the
was
it
Canopean
Sirius, the civilised,
the
highly developed, have not found out.
To
return to smaller matters.
We of course wanted
to
know why
these pirates had not simply stolen females from Canopus, since a spacecraft
had been stolen
conclude that
—
Shammat was
too: believing that
if
not more than one.
afraid of
We could only
Canopus, and afraid of
punishment would more
likelv follow theft of
people than theft of things. Rightlv. But there was more to that.
These Shammatans, returning day
us,
after day, climbing
it
than
up the
we out what we
road to our fortress headquarters, did so for the same reason
were so ready to
listen to
them: they wanted to find
were doing.
We asked them at one point why they had not simply kidnapped some
of the indigenous natives
—
at this point
we had
conniving glances and grimaces, as fellow criminals
—but saw that
they wanted not the unevolved unregenerate stock but the
proved stock, and members of they were
all
in the
new
this
fine cities,
other species
Why had
—both
failed
new
im-
they were afraid of stealing, since
where the Giants
li\ed, too.
Tliey were quite remarkably shamefaced and shifty about itching with greed.
to suffer
thev not stolen
and successful
some members
—who
times, populated the Southern Continents?
this,
and
of our
had, at various
But again,
it
was the
— The same:
Experiments
Sirian all
these different types and kinds and stocks
and
strains
were not good enough. Not good enough for these nasty thieves of
Shammatans,
there
sitting
their
in
red
jackets
—Canopean
ex-
colonial uniform of centuries back; in their green pantaloons
Puttioran fashion, long outdated; their hide shoes
made from some
unfortunate animals somewhere. No, they wanted the best. Their eyes were fe\ered as they talked of the fine, handsome, healthy
up north. And they talked lip-lickingly they've got yellow hair and blue females on Canopus
females in the glorious of ''those eyes, so
cities
—
we
hear.
."
.
And
(This was untrue.)
.
me up with their eyes. I could see feel mv hair and poke at my pale skin.
all this
that their fingers itched to
ate
Shorth- after these nast\- visitors took themsehes
the
northern
females \isited
not to
areas,
who had
while they
Shammat
—we
ofiF
discovered
—back that
to
the
volunteered for breeding service had also been
To
bv Shammat.
the extent that
some
of the progeny were
Shammatan. Tliere had been plots to escape, \^'ith Shammatan help. These had failed. But it was now important to watch for
Shammat had been sions.
among
characteristics
so
proud
Some
of.
Later
still
the
new
we had
of the breeding females
race of colonisers that
we
again to modify our conclu-
had
in fact escaped.
Their
had been taken by Shammatan substitutes. Tlie escaped ones had gone to Shammat, taking a good supply of the very best Sirian genes with them. Some of these females had originated in places
our C.P. - of fair-haired, blue-cved stock place of
my
now come
to the
end of
About ten thousand
we were summoned announce "Lock"
.
disaster. .
birth-
mother. They had proved very popular on Shammat,
and new supplies were being demanded. I
— Planet 7 was the
.
total
this
.
.
.
phase on Rohanda.
Canopus-Rohanda 'Tock," an urgent conference. Canopus had to
years after the
to
Unexpected cosmic changes write-off
.
.
.
failure of the
of the poor planet for
whose sake
degeneration and Rohandan development had been speeded up dislocation of Rohanda ine\itable. We were told to expect random and wild mutations and changes of even' kind among our experimental species; advised to limit our .
.
.
attempts until these changes could be monitored and understood. I
have to admit that
at first
we
believed this was a feint, a ploy.
5«
we
Particularly as in the north
But then,
—
did not receive reports of any increased activity
no increase
for instance,
in visits
had always been few, and
their visits
by
their spacecraft.
this
had reinforced
our belief that the "contacts" they were always hinting at were to
do with communications.
We
heard that a single emissary had arrived and was stationed
where there were many inland
in a circular city in a region
was Johor, an
seas. Tliis
then of junior rank. Soon after that, our spies
official
reported that spacecraft had taken off nearly the entire comple-
ment
from the north, though
of Giants
few had escaped. Our
a
spies
then submitted reports that seemed contradictory, vague, even foolish
—we understood that Canopus had not exaggerated the
effects that
would be expected.
never returned at
subjects. After only a
barbarism
—but
mented under
Our most
few
and of
few
a
a de-
a tendency towards rapid reversal
phase of Rohanda
Social Pathology that all,
were showing signs of
years, these
this particular
has become, after
though
and shipped out the remaining experimental
all,
crease in life-span
We recalled our spies,
ill-
so well docu-
not linger over
shall
I
is
to
it:
it
the classic case of sudden evolutionary reversal.
urgent question was C.P. 23, which had been estab-
lished as our Think-Planet
such a serious point in
—
my
if I
may be
story. It
supplies from Southern Continent
forgiven the flippancy at
was completely dependent on I.
We
alterations in our agricultural stations. It
decided not to
make
was necessary to increase
our police establishment almost at once, for
it
was discovered that
workers previously quite reliable had taken to pilfering, and then, slowly, to various kinds of criminality. agriculture.
Still
we maintained our
Then something unexpected: waves
the area of the inland seas
of invaders
came sweeping down,
destroying
from first
more northerly agricultural stations, but then penetrating further and further south. Wlio were these rapacious ones? None
the
other than the natives brought to such a high pitch of civic and personal responsibility by Canopus.
we would have Continent Sirian
I.
to
mamtain armies
Full-scale
Mother Planet
What
We
had no
amounted
to
right across the top of
was that Southern
and urgent conferences were held on the itself.
Our
military resources were already
stretched to their limit by the unrest on Planets.
it
alternative but to
many
of our Colonised
withdraw from Rohanda.
The
Experiments
Sirian
Other arrangements were going to have to be made for C.P. 23: its brief but glorious career was conckided, and the Thinkers were transferred elsewhere.
went on
I
a last survey of S.C.
I,
Everywhere
just before the end.
over this noble continent, similar to S.C.
but even larger and
II,
Each little group of buildings was surrounded by vast fields over which our servicing and surveillant machines hovered, glittering in the sunlight: green and
more
various,
umber
yellow and rivers
.
.
were our agricultural
and brightly coloured
craft.
Tlie shining
the infinitely variegated greens of the plantations
.
irrigation canals
and
ponics,
fields,
areas.
.
.
.
enormous transparent
for general research ...
the
.
structures for hydro-
cannot pretend that
I
.
.
enjoyed
I
Even then they were dismantling the stations, while the enormous craft of our Inter-Colony Heavy Transport Fleet were landing and taking off, loaded with these structures, and with the last of our crops. I flew over some stations that had already been that final
trip.
Our
evacuated.
policv to disrupt the landscape as
had succeeded. Nothing was harvested
fields,
that
and some
forest,
to
left
possible
little as
be seen but some hastily
would shortly be reclaimed by jungle and
belts
of
introduced
trees
that were
already
Rohandan. The millennia of our occupation would soon have left
no
was not feeling myself, and Ambien
I
put all
traces.
down
this
I
was not well
either.
to disappointment at this check of our plans.
our team confessed to general malaise and low
spirits. It
We
Then
became
evident that our mental powers were being affected. Tliere was
nothing for
it:
I
gave the order for us
Shortly after that,
Colony
10.
the time It
it
all
to leave
Canopus convened
Rohanda.
a conference, again
on
Rohanda was only one of the items on the agenda. At did not seem more important than the others.
has always seemed to
me
that this question of "hindsight"
is
not to be solved!
WTiat
I
see
now, looking back,
is
not what
I
experienced then,
but are we to cancel out former, and more immature, ways of viewing things? As
if
they did not matter, had no effect?
—but of
course not.
Among
the
at that time
many
interests
Canopus and
Sirius
had
in
common
one stood out. Tlie Colony 10 Giants, returned
to their
58
own
new work
planet and waiting for
suffered.
be allotted to them, had
to
Now twice the size of their former compatriots and evolved
beyond them, they could not
settle
Planet lo able to accept them
their old ways, nor
in
Superiority
easily.
is
was
nexer easily
tolerated.
There was no planet among the Canopean colonies that could usefully welcome the Giants. Not immediately. Having learned of the Giants' capacities, and believing of
—almost overnight,
evolutionarily speaking
we wished Canopus
apes,
them
make
that they could
—
out of
ci\ilised races
to "lend" us the Giants in order that
they might teach our specialised colonists "their tricks." Yes, that is
how we
talked. Tliere
is
no point
in
blushing for
saw
in the refusal niggardliness;
advance beyond Canopus
Sirius to
now. Canopus
was not possible, they
steadily, kindly, gently, resisted us. It
We
it
saw
—saw
in
in
it
it
reluctance to help
ever} thing
but what
was there. Formal application had been made to Canopus "loan" and of
it
said.
for this
was the main item on the agenda, and the chief topic
the informal discussions during the conference. There was
all
ill-feeling
The
on our
side.
Resentment. As usual.
general atmosphere of the conference was low and dispirited.
Canopus had been shaken by the Rohanda
failure,
and was made
miserable, as they freely confessed, because of the fate of the
unfortunate Planet
8,
which they now could not save and which,
even as the conference took place, was being abandoned, with
and
of life
Rohanda.
I
there
I
comes from
and determination
lack purpose
me
first
a conference that
success;
had
though of course
it
so little
did not
for the future.
saw Klorathy, who led
He
was
what
—and — is
vitality
allc\ iate
attend even the best conferences. other so, in the
way
their team. It it
could aspire
encounters.
all
was
to. I
him being who liked
the torpors and languors that
We
were attracted, told each
of course appropriate to our life-stages: both of
Ambien I also liked many pleasant and useful
had our breeding-bond phases behind
him, and we
it
was he who sup-
a vigorous, abrasive, sardonic
can always be counted on to
us
were low, too, because of
personally the conference was important because
plied the occasion with at once.
Sirians
cannot in fact remember
of the energy that
For
And we
potentiality.
loss
three looked forward to
us.
The
Experiments
Sirian
was Klorathy who had
It
Giants, and
you I
see, it
is
recall his
I
to carr)- the
burden of refusing us the
patience as he over and over repeated: But,
not possible
.
.
.
wc
while
didn't see.
can do no better than to get down the main points of the
agenda
as
related to
it
Rohanda,
view
in order to illustrate points of
then and now. 1
The Canopean-Rohandan Lock had
2
That degeneration
we had 3
4 As
—the basic
fact.
must be expected
— which
already experienced. to
maintain their link with Rohanda,
sort of skeleton staff, in order to
steady
minimum
far as
maintain the flow at a
level.
could be seen, the cosmic alignments that had caused
would not
this Disaster
5
of \arious kinds
That Canopus intended
some
failed
reverse for several
hundred thousand
years, after
which there would be no reason Rohanda could not
revert to
flowering flourishing healthy condition.
its
That (and
this
factor in this
was to them
strength from
I
Canopus
to
summing up) Shammat
—the most important
of Puttiora
had discovered
Canopus-Rohandan bond, and was tapping
the nature of the
on
—
x\nd was already waxing fat and prosperous
it.
it.
can only sav that, reading these words now, and remembering
what
I
saw
them
in
then,
I
Again, resentment was partly the cause.
was much
about the
talk
Shammat
known nothing
they had
not pursue
for fear
it,
about.
own
our
"spies,"
see nothing positive in
he was
to stav
Sirius
ments.
also fear:
hope
except
it
When
my
and
for, at least
I
was
come
was
to ourselves.
joint
But could .
.
.
was an uncom-
was dissohed,
I
could
meeting with Klorathy, and
assist
the Giants in their pain-
we had nothing
immediately.
a question of finding
A
it
this.
to light.
this
to return to Sirius,
had not abandoned the idea
It
There
which Canopus claimed
spying uould
on Colony lo to
ful period of waiting,
to
And
We did not belie\e
fortable, unsatisfactory conference.
much
blindness.
be seen from these brief remarks that
It will
since
my
have to marvel at
of using
ways of doing
committee Canopus
conference for this purpose. Again
Rohanda
I
Sirius
this
was
for experi-
without harm set
up
at the
was assigned to Rohanda, at
6o
my
request,
and with instructions by Canopus
by them advice
—on how
atmosphere.
We
exactly this
way and
were told that
and ate
scriptions), then
if
new
we were
called
by us and
discordant
Rohandan
to build settlements in
—measurements and proportions of an R-unit— and wore such and such
that
scribed to the fraction artefacts,
to survive the
—
pre-
and that (there were long
this
we might work on
of such pre-
lists
that unfortunate planet, at least
for limited periods.
To
begin with, their advice was only partly, or halfheartedly,
obeyed: bad results followed.
We then
took to an exact obedience.
Success.
This obedience was more remarkable than perhaps
now. At that time
it
would have been
being said about Canopus
one of indifference at
anwhere
best,
difficult to find
in
our
anything good
territories.
but usually derision.
seem
will
Our tone was
We
were spying
on them everywhere and in every way. We did not hesitate to outdo them when we could, often quite childishly, and even illegalh Any .
who doubt
this
chronicle or
On
behavior.
may
memoir
I
say confirmed in any
common
we were not ashamed of our Yet we suspected Canopus of ill-feeling
of that time:
the contrary.
and delinquency towards time,
what
find
us,
and complained
and while apparently having
little
of
it.
At the same
respect for their prescrip-
we mocked them when we thought this would earn us admiration, we nevertheless followed them, and to the point where the practices became second nature, and we were in danger of forgetting where they originated. Then we did forget or most of us and "the Rohandan Adjustment Technique" was talked of as tions, for
—
—
if it
were
a discovery of our
own.
more than a hundred thousand years, we Sirians were more on Rohanda than Canopus was. So we believed then. It was because we told our spies to look for Canopean technicians by the same signs that we understood for our own necessities and behaviour. We did not know then that Canopus could come and go in any way than by spaceship by ordinary physical transport. Did not know that Canopean technicians could exist on Rohanda and on other planets taking the outward ph)sical shape of the For
a long time,
—
—
—
inhabitants of any particular time and place.
For long ages Canopean individuals were
at
work on Rohanda
The
Sirian
Experiments
and we did not know beheve
But
And
will
come
worked on Rohanda eame
to a fuller description of this, in
my
Meanwhile, I
refuse to
to understand.
place.
its
preoccupation with Canopus continued, and
And
was not by any means the only one.
and
who
there are those
it.
a feu- of us \\ho
I
Even now
it.
was
this
for a specific
definite reason.
THE SITUATION It
is
necessary for
de\elopment
Sirian
IN
THE SIRIAN EMPIRE
me now
—
to
make
a general
statement about
summar)' of history from the end of our
a
Dark Age until the present. It will be argued that it is not possible to sum up several hundred thousand years of an Empire's history in a few words. Yet we all of us do this when describing others. For instance, how do we and even our most lofty and respected historians
our
—
—
refer to Alikon, the long-lived culture that
own on and
rigid
and
we became an Empire? "Alikon was
militaristic society,
whose ruling religion,
before
Sirius,
power by the use
keeping nine-tenths of the population
ended because
.
.
."
That
is
thousand S-years of what we always refer
of a repressive
as labourers, slaves,
how we
describe ninety
to as "prehistory."
Colony lo of the Canopean
take another example.
a
based on limited natural resources,
caste maintained
servants. It
preceded
rule
To
was once
"Senjen, a natural paradise, a pacific, easygoing matriarchal society
made
and abundant vegetable and
possible by a pleasant climate
animal stocks." Senjen lasted for two hundred thousand years before
Canopus decided
No: the
needed improvement.
dispassionate, disinterested eye
other histories,
Yet most
it
we do not
societies
easily turn
we do
it
others
Sirian
is
—past or present!
be described by an
nearly always physical, geo-
possible that our reluctance to regard ourselves as is
because we do not like to categorise our
existence as physical
The
use for other peoples,
on ourselves
—cultures—empires —can
underlying fact or truth, and this graphical. Is
we
.
.
.
own
merely physical?
Empire has been preoccupied by one
basic physical
62
and the questions caused thereby since
fact
our technical achievements that no other empire has ever
nology':
even approached. ... of "hindsight." is
because of
The
inception: tech-
its
That
I
is
how we
write that statement without the benefit
how we
have seen
many
define (and
until very recently. It
it
of us
do) technology.
still
Canopus was
subtle, infinitelv varied, hard-to-see technology of
invisible to us,
and therefore
for
all
these millennia, these long
we have counted oursehes as supreme. We now mark the end of our Dark Age
ages,
got rid of our excess populations." As
what robustly worded
history.
At the
at the point
saw
I
it
where "we
expressed in a some-
point, then,
when "population
Ah yes, there are a hundred ways of putting our dilemma! And each one of these formulations, evasive or
balanced necessity." basic
mask something we have never come to terms with! To sum up our culture, then, as we so arbitrarily encapsulate others: "The Sirian Empire, with its fifty-three colonies, almost infinitely rich, well-endowed, fruitful, variegated, and with its exemplary frank, can only
technolog}-, has never
be allowed
to live in it."
There you have There
is
been able to decide how man\- people should
no wav of
it.
I
e\'en
touched on
this before:
mentioning
Sirius
our basic, our burning, problem.
The Dark Age
o\'er,
were reduced to the
we saw
we
to
minimum
our enthusiasm over our
new
.
.
it
not?
I
without bringing up
this
that our populations everywhere
level necessarv for
new
.
.
.
for what? In
capacities of control,
population on our fift\-three colonies.
Very low numbers were permitted
What happened
could
.
concept, our
set fairh- arbitrary limits to
how
to be.
upon millions upon millions? Well, thev were not exterminated. Thev were not ill to do more than lightly treated. On the contrary, as I have hinted to those teeming, millions
—
sketch
these
dc\clopments would come outside
my
scope
—
all
kinds of special schemes and projects were set up to soften their tragic fate.
much
They
died,
it
is
generally agreed no\\-
— now
that so
more calmly of broken hearts, broken will. Tliev died because thev had no purpose, of illnesses, of epidemics that seemed to have other causes, and during mass outbreaks of madness. But they died. It took fifty thousand years of our bad our very bad time, but at the end of it, time has passed and
we can look
at those days
—
—
—
The
Sirian Experiments
we were
—ready But,
look at
left
with nearly empty planets, and everything open for us
new
new plan. in fact, nothing had changed: we still did not know how to ourselves. Our technology was such that our entire Empire for a magnificent
purpose,
could be run with something like ten million people. Tliat was what
was needed. else I
.
.
.
shall
about
run our Empire was our purpose, and nothing
If to
not go on.
this;
Some
others that,
people will sav
W^ell, m\riads of to
it
I
its
should devote not
a
few paragraphs
it.
\olumes and whole ages have been devoted
—when our stage was,
ing for
enough
ha\'e already said
were to pay proper and due respect to
if I
our terrible basic dilemma,
but several \olumes to
I
as
it
were, swept bare and empty, wait-
appropriate dramas, what happened was that schools of
philosophy sprang up everywhere, and nothing was heard but their debates, their arguments.
.
.
What
.
was our purpose? they enquired
of themselves, of us, pursuing "the fundamental Sirian existential
problem."
So
violent, lowering, unpleasant,
was made
illegal to e\'en
mention
that epoch lasted for millennia.
became
these debates that
this "existential
Of
problem"
course, there were
underground movements and subversive
all
it
—and
kinds of
sects de\'oted to
"main-
taining knowledge of the truth."
Then,
became
as these
and
so powerful
influential they could
not be ignored, public expression of our inward preoccupation was
made
At one time
legal again.
as universities
and
several of our planets
colleges, for the sole
existential problems. Tliis
is
how
were
set aside
purpose of discussions of our
"the Tliinkers" of 23 originated. larger
and some-
times smaller, and these fluctuations did not relate to
how many
Meanwhile, sometimes our populations grew
indixiduals were needed in order to operate our technologies, but
how tides of have crammed our
we wanted
we
according to
opinion flowed ...
could
planets with billions of genera, species,
races
—
emptv.
as they
We
purposes, at
if
to,
once had been. Wlien we wanted, they could be
could \er)-
—and
did
left
— maintain
high levels of
some planets, for special population and leave others virtually
unpopulated.
While
all
these variations on our basic problem were attempted,
— 64 our space drive had been
matter
how
planets as
forcefully
We
stabilised.
we swept out
we found them,
had discovered that no
into space, gathering in suitable
them
incorporating
into our general
—
—
we took our problems or rather, our problem with us. Wliat did we need all these new colonies for? W'Tiat was their purpose? If they had special conditions of climate, then we could plan,
tell
ourselves they were useful
new
—
something or other;
for
known
minerals, or large deposits of those already
they were used. But suppose
we went on
We,
asked,
they had to us
acquiring colonies and
reached the number of a hundred ... a thousand
As our philosophers
if
.
.
.
what then?
and argued.
the administrators, had been watching Canopus: she was
not acquiring ever more colonies. She was stabilised on what she had. She had far fewer than ing them.
.
.
record that
.
we
we
.
.
.
she was developing and advanc-
But that was not how we saw
then:
it
I
have to
despised Canopus, that great neighbour of ours,
our competitor, our
rival, for
being
satisfied
with such a low level
of material development and acquisition. I
now
return to our preoccupation with Canopus.
CANOPUS-SIRIUS.
KLORATHY
At the time of the ending of our Dark Age, which was not long after the Rohandan Disaster, Canopus had as large a population as we proportional to the fact they had fewer planets. That was one fact: and they showed no disquiet at all about it. Yet their technology, though apparently inferior to ours, was certainly near enough
—
to ours to pose the questions that beset us?
questions, terested.
raised these
our "existential problem," they were simply not
But
at the time
their deviousness.
population
When we
levels,
When
we saw
this
—
as usual
they were asked
how
—
as
in-
an example of
they adjusted their
the reply always was: "according to need" or
"according to necessity," and
— that wc were able
it
was a very long time
to hear "according to the
—only recently
Need. According to
the Necessity." Sirius
knew
far less
about Canopus
—and
this
on
a purely material
The level
Experiments
Sirian
—than Canopus did about
us.
I
had noticed
long before:
this
mentioning any one of our planets, Canopus always seemed
formed about
and we accordingly admired
it:
in-
their espionage
system.
We
were always waiting
and
of their spies
say:
time uhen
for the
we could
catch one
now
"Look, you ha\'c broken your agreement,
we demand information
But we never did catch any
in return."
of
For the good reason that they did not have any.
their spies.
And when we
asked for information,
it
was given, and we did not
what we were told. Shortlv after the Conference on Colonv lo, the one to consider the results of the Catastrophe, I was called by my Head of Department and was asked to develop my relationship with Klorathy: our trust in
it
.
.
did not belie\e
.
had been noted.
liking for each other I
was of course not reluctant.
any feeling that way.
am
I
it is
This
a Sirian.
proud to be a public
moment Service,
wrong
my
I
be the
took
to
about
a visit: so
My
I
dutv to I
I
as
should never hesitate. But first
whole
—
what
Sirius.
—
to
about Ambien
I
if
I
conceive
And
of course
as well.
in
my
as spies
if
we
same
we wished.
preparations for this meet-
cannot separate the "personal" from the public
—not
easily.
There
are times in one's life
evervthing that happens streams together, each
a confluence
becoming an aspect
whose sources go back into the a
gap
because a boon-companion had recently died. Death
since
fact that
told us that Klorathv was allotted the
forward into the future. Personally, there was
thing
why
Rohanda, where Klorathy was shortly
event, or person, or even an overheard remark of a
our Colonial
Klorathy must have been approached by
me and
aspects of myself here
seems
am
I
were ever to come a
Sirius, to
have always put
whole nature was involved
it
and foremost.
first
had been: we could regard ourselves
ing with Klorathy.
when
am
we had been informed by them. The
had been informed role as
I
long-term interests, of
was asked to return
pay
I
for granted that
it
my
personal feelings,
real interests,
his superiors, I
what
is
ser\^ant of Sirius. If there
should there be conflict? to
did not have then, nor have now,
to use a personal relationship in this
of conflict between
and
I
we think much about, we of the superior Sirian we do not expect to die except from accident or
is
past, reach
in
my
life
not some-
mother-stock, a rare disease.
—
— 66
But
this old friend
had been struck by
the Inter-Planetary Service. Wliile his service
was on C.P.
3,
we were
we saw each other in a rare
Not
least
this
boon-
because he was from Canopus: there had been
between
cases of real friendship
were legendar}': heroic in
a support to both.
hoped that Klorathy might take the place of
frankly
friend.
rarely, since
balance of sympathies
and even knowing that the other was there was I
on
a meteorite travelHng
tales
and Canopeans, but they
Sirians
were made of them and used to support
new
our youngsters the comparati\'ely
idea that
Canopus was an
not to be seen only as an old enemy.
ally,
But there was something about Canopus
that ...
itself
is
the
word attracted? me. No. Obsessed? No, there was too much else in my life to allow a one-sided preoccupation. I felt about Canopus that inward, brooding questioning, wondering, that one
may some-
times feel about a person whose sources of action, of being, seem
and other
distant
they are there
.
.
.
.
.
.
as
understanding
if
this
.
.
.
one knows
it
.
doors
suspect.
may
one cannot
.
.
not?
Yet
—open
but other people have opened similar doors in themselves
they operate on altogether different
higher?
—
levels of
them-
one understood how, one could come close not onlv
selves ...
if
them but ness ...
to that area of oneself that
ages,
may open
being
whose existence one does not do more than
in oneself
them
—
matches
their higher other-
one broods, ponders, questions, sometimes
so
about some individual who
—one
is
to
convinced
—
is
for long
only part-
glimpsed, certainly only part-understood. It will
be seen that Klorathy for
me
was very much more than
just himself.
Ambien
I
was to
something of
travel
my feeling
Before going north,
what
with
for
might be
cover)' that concerns this
whom we had
I
was glad of
it,
for
he shared
Canopus.
we descended
possibilities there
natives
me and
at our old headquarters to see
for future experiments. Tlie dis-
account was a change in the colonv of
left
on
their hillside.
We
had expected
a
wc had not expected and could not at first interpret. The natives had become two distinct species. Some had remained phvsically the same, though more quarrelsome, degeneration, but found something
and
divisive,
no longer
living in a large
in small family groups, or as individuals,
and easygoing
tribe,
but
each defending patches
The
Sirian Experiments
of territoty, hunting grounds, caves, or rough shelters.
They
liad
sunk away from proper building, the cultivation of crops, the use
The
of animals.
other kind, living close, using the original stock
and continually preying on them their kills in the
hunt and
might eat or use Modified
had changed
whom
to a position
they
between
Modified Tliree. Tlicy were upright, but occa-
sionally rested their weight
were
way, snatching from them
their females or their children
as servants,
Two and
in every
on the knuckles of
their long arms; they
they had fur on their heads and shoulders but were
tailless;
otherwise quite hairless, which gave them a sickeningly lewd and
obscene look
—and they seemed motivated by an avid cunning that
was in everything they
Ambien
1
and
I
and
this
likely to see the
was
It
this characteristic that
was the
—
remnant of the poor
suspicious though they
made
moment: "Shammat!" what the Shammat spies had mated with the result. It seemed to us that we were un-
exclaim at the same
had happened was that nati\es
did.
natives again, belligerent
and
had become; the new stock was banded
together in a large obviously efficient tribe, superior in intelligence
and
in strength.
knew only
them
that
took note that
joins the Isolated
Continent,
this
new
stock could be used by us, possibly,
and flew north. Passing over the isthmus that
Northern Continent with the Isolated Southern
we saw
that the land-bridge had sunk, leaving a gap
50 or so R-miles. Sometimes this bridge was there, at
we were
epochs, and at others not, and
had been there
for a
met Klorathy
and sand, the plains side
infiltrated
as arranged
on
on the
stocks
southwards.
raw red rock
result of recent earthquakes, overlooking lower fertile
on the burning
desert:
flew off into the shelter of a us conducted our
was
new
a high plateau of
untouched by the quakes. Our
a meal. It
some
able to deduce that the gap
long time, because the
Northern Continent had not
We
we
would soon die out from discouragement.
in our experiments
of
old nati\'es had a look about
too well: the subdued, paranoid, almost furtive air of a
species that
We
The
a
first
aircraft
we conversed by radio, and high wooded mountain. The
conference under a large shade
most pleasant occasion.
examining each other to see
been accurate. As
came down
for myself,
if I
We
were
all
side
by
together
tree,
three of
sharing
quite frankly
our impressions on Colony 10 had
was more than happy. Klorathy
in
68 himself was as lively and attractive as the additional bonus always
felt in
of our Galaxy. After
much
so
all,
I
remembered, but there was
meeting with the superior ones of one's time
lower races, and as interesting as the work
meet
races often are, to
forward
one's equals
is
spent with the
as likable as these
is,
something to be looked
is
to.
Klorathy was a typical Canopean Mother Planet Type tall,
lightly built, strong, a light
bronze
bronze, he was not dissimilar from
my own
scious that
them
as
We
in colour, his eyes a darker
my Ambien
I.
And
was con-
I
them both was
physical difference from
felt
by
an agreeable contrast.
know why we had been both Ambiens (as we often humorously
—
very
I:
did not
still
been speculating. mathematical
wondering
Ambien
I
if
I
for
cities
invited to this meeting refer to ourselves)
one had been thinking most of
of the pre-Disaster phase.
we hadn't imagined
all
that
again and again to repeat to
—
I
all
about the
had even been
to the extent of asking
me what
he had seen of
them. But he reiterated that he had never seen anything cities ever,
had
like those
anywhere. Yet on the Canopean Mother Planet they had
nothing so advanced.
I
had asked Klorathy about
this at the last
conference, and he had replied that there was "no need" for this
Canopus itself. I had believed him. When with Klorathy, one had to know he did not lie. When awav from him, it was a different matter, and I had been wondering why he had lied. Together again, sitting with him there under the light fragrant shade of the tree, on soft spicy grasses, I had only to look at him to know that if he said that on Canopus (the Mother Planet) they had such and such a city, then it was true. He had described these to me, and they did not sound so dissimilar from type of city or building on
those on Sirius. Agreeable, genial attractive
and useful
cities,
planted with
and shrubs, they
trees
are places
all
kinds of
where one
experiences well-being. But they are not built as those round, or starlike or
hexagonal
—and
so forth
—
cities of
the old Rohanda.
"Why not? Why not, Klorathy?" "It's
like
this,
Ambien
II:
cities,
buildings
—
— the
situations of
and buildings on any planet are designed according Well, obviously was what I was thinking.
cities
—
I
was disappointed, and
felt
cheated.
I
felt
to need."
worse than that.
I
had
The not
Sirian
Experiments
before actually meeting Klorathy, stopped to consider
really,
would have on our being together, that I could not say anything about what was so strongly in my mind then the horrible the effect
it
—
new
beast-men on Isolated S.C.
race, or stock, of
II.
We
had not
Canopus that we had had visits from Shammat, or that we had stolen without telling them some of "their" Natives, or that C.P. 22 technicians had escaped with some Lombis and had settled not far from here, or that we had so often and so thoroughly conducted espionage in their territories, or that Shammat had done the same ... it seemed to me, sitting there in that delightful picnic spot, as if instead of being open and generouslv available to this told
new
keep
it:
one has
friend, as off,
keep
off
to .
be
.
my mind had bars
in friendship,
and there were moments when
.
around I
could
hardly bear to look into that open and unsuspicious countenance.
And You
yet
have to record that
I
also feeling
something
like:
think you are so clever, you Canopeans, but you have no idea
what's in
my mind,
for all that!
No, there was not going us,
was
I
not
Or not
really.
to
yet.
Soon we found out why sentatives
.
.
when we
.
be any easy companionship between
had been invited
Sirius
heard,
we could
hardlv beliex^e
we had expected was not easy to say. The remnant of the degenerating Giant spread everywhere half the size they
and were not great past
—over
this
as long-lived.
—not
race
had
continent as well.
had been, about our
They had
to send repre-
size
—eight
retained
much beyond knowledge
it,
vet
what
proliferated
They were now
to nine R-feet
little
and
memory
of the uses of
tall,
of their fire
for
cooking and warmth and some elementary craftwork. Tliey did not
grow plants
From
for food,
but gathered them wild; and they hunted.
north to south of the Isolated Northern Continent they
lived in large, closelv organised tribes
other, since there
was plenty of
stocks of animals.
The two
called
For
I
I
could not
and apparently
it
tell
him
infinite
were
was Klorathy's mission to
missed some of what he was saying, at
visit
this point.
the origin of these two names, and
I
was
Ambien I. When I was able to hear again, about some dwarves that lived in these mountains,
afraid even of looking at
he was talking
territory
did not war with each
tribes near here, near this spot,
Hoppe and Navahi, and
them and ...
who
JO
and
mountain
in other
chains, too, over the continent,
and he was
Canopus would hke to know more about them. And assumed that Sirius would as well. I can only say that I recognised in this a sort of shorthand for much more ... for how much more I will not say at this point: certainly it turned out very differently from what I then imagined. to visit these, for
Klorathy was wanting us to go with him into the mountain habi-
would invohe danger, since they had been hounded by the Hoppes and Navahis, and while he was known by them we would have to win their trust. He was taking it absotations of the dwarves. This
lutely for granted that
most
we would be ready
certainly was, for
he liked challenge. As
want any association with what were bound squalid
little
half-animals
—but
I
and Ambien
for this:
to
me,
for
I
I
did not
be no more than
assented.
THE DWARVES. THE HOPPES. THE NAVAHIS We concealed the two machines as well as we could in a canyon, and walked
These had not
forth boldly towards the mountains.
been devastated by the quake, though some rock place, giving the mountainsides a
against a precipitous surface
falls
had taken
raw disturbed look. Standing close
we could hear
all
kinds of murmurings
and knockings and runnings-about, and I was reminded of the termite dwellings on Isolated S.C. II putting one's ear to the walls of one of these, having knocked on its surface or e\'en broken a part
—
off,
one heard
just
such a scurrying, rustling murmur.
Coming round
the edge of this precipice, there was a low dark cave entrance, and
Klorathy walked at once towards calling out
words
I
it,
did not know.
lifting
We,
up both
too, lifted
his
hands and
our hands in
what was obviously a gesture of peace. There was a sudden total silence, from which we were able to gauge the degree of the background of noise to which we had adjusted ourselves approaching the mountain. Silence the
warm Rohanda
unhealed rocks
—heat
—the sun blazing down uncomfortably from —heat out from the raw and
skies
striking
dizzying up from the
soil.
Suddenly there
The
Experiments
Sirian
mo\ement from the cave, so swift it was impossible to distinguish details, and we three were enclosed in a swarm of squat little people who were hustling us inside the cave, which we tall ones thev came up to our knee level had to go on all fours was
a rush of
—
—
to enter.
We were in a
which we
vast cavern,
lit
everywhere by small flames,
found were outlets of natural
later
gas, controlled
and
kept perpetualh' burning. Yet thev were not enough to create more
than a soft twilight. Tlie cavern was floored with white sand that glimmered, and
mshed along I
crystals in the rock walls twinkled,
and
a river that
the cavern's edge flung up sparkling showers of spray.
had not expected
dark mountain, and pressure of the
little
to find this soft exuberance of light inside the
my spirits rose, and people
I
as
I
was rushed along by the
was able to examine them. They were
certainlv less animal than the horrid
new beast-men
of the Southern
Continent, but quite seemlv and decent creatures, wearing trousers
and
Verv broad thev were, almost
jackets of dressed skins.
and
as tall:
I
was
as
broad
powerful
easilv able to recognise in the stock the
arms and shoulders of the Lombis, and the yellow skins of the technicians. Their faces were bare of hair, under close
Colony 22
caps of tight rough dark curls, and were keen and sharp and intelligent.
We
were taken swiftlv through se\eral of such caverns, always
with the river rushing along beside
mountain fresh.
—
We
yet
it
were
us, until
we were deep
inside the
did not feel oppressive, for the air was sweet and
enormous the roof went up above and the illuminations around the rocky
in a cave so
us into impenetrable black,
verges were only pinpoints of innumerable light. Tliere was a cleared
space in the centre, quite large enough to take a horde of these little
people and ourselves, but small in proportion to the enormous-
ness of the place.
some food
We
—hardly
were
sat
down on
piles of skins,
to the palates of such as we,
without interest to be reminded of what was food of
all
cheese.
A
though
—what had
and given it
kind of beer. All
this
be
to
the lowly evolved planets of our Galaxy. Meat.
was not
— the
A sort of
time Klorathy was keeping up talk
know their language at least adequately. It was Ambien I and myself who puzzled them, though they were civil enough for we were both obviously of different kinds from
with them: he seemed to
—
— 72 Klorathy. Tliey eyed us, yet not unpleasantly, and one of the females, a quite attractive
begged
my
touch
to
thing in her robust heavy way,
little
and
hair,
in a
moment
had
several females
crowded up, smiling and apologetic, but unable to resist handling my blonde locks. Yet I, for my part, was looking around into the faces
packed and massed
—who
had never
Colony 22
all
around, and remembering the Lombis
me
on
set eyes
who had ...
techs,
me
or anything like
—and
the
a long, long time ago, far out of
personal memory, in their time reckoning, but such a short time ago
Did they have any
in ours.
examined each
my
often in
How when by
were we able to do
electricity. Yes.
this
—
they were that
was able
perhaps
to recognise
and
well,
in danger,
by
a
pressure, beset.
hundred
little signs
.
.
.
that
endangered
desperate. It
their eyes, fastening
showed
in the
on Klorathy, who
for
this task
.
we were
led off,
slept in small
I
went on, while
request, to see this
now briefly First of
men separately, and And next day the dis-
by the women, the
but airy rock chambers.
cussions with Klorathy
on our
race will retain.
was leaning forward, urgent, concentrated on
his part
Later
never possible to
mean; under
at once,
it
sombre consciousness of
.
I
wooden foresee what
lights,
wouldn't have been able to consciously describe. These
I
were a people
.
it is
f alien-off
—reduced,
And
all
see each other so close
Everywhere stood strong bright
part of a former technology a
we
of differing races meeting, not
the twinkling walls of the cave were so far distant? It was
—
of his
have been a part so very
I
in genial curiosity.
containers that housed batteries:
I
which
members
long service:
enmity but
in
other, in a scene of
We
gene memory?
sort of race or
I
and Ambien
I
were taken,
underground kingdom. Wliich
I
shall
describe.
all, it
was not the only one: Klorathy said that not only
over this continent but in most parts
these underearth races.
now
of
But thev had not taken
Rohanda spread to the caves
and
caverns by nature, only from need, as they found themselves hunted
and persecuted by not more
races so
much
larger than themselves.
Though
skilled.
These caverns were by no means the habitations of
brutes. Tliey
The
Sirian
Experiments
had been adapted from natural holes and caves, often the old tunnels of former underground rivers and lakes. Sometimes they had been exca\ated. Many were
carefully panelled with well-tailored
and smoothed planking. All were lit, either by natural gas or by electricits'. There were meeting places and eating places, sleeping and storage caves and workshops. Animals had been captured
places,
from the surface world and brought down
to breed
and increase
in
this
below-earth realm. There were birds, some flying freely about,
as
thev had been in the
if
And
earth realms.
air.
These were underground
thev were
cities,
under-
based on the oddest and saddest
all
contradictions or predicaments.
This race had become skilled miners and metallurgists. Beginning with iron, they had themselves hunted
made
all
kinds of utensils and then
—weapons. For
a time,
and
in
some
—finding
places, they
had made approaches out into the world to offer trade, and trade had often been effective. They exchanged iron products for roots and
fruits
Then rust
and
fresh supplies of animals for their chthonic herds.
they found gold.
and crumble
vessels
—yet
it
They had
as iron did,
was
it.
ing everywhere above ground
it
was beautiful and did not
but found
it
too soft for tools and
and everywhere they made orna-
so beautiful,
ments and decorations with
seen
Taking
—
it
out to the tribes
for these
their neighbours than the people of the
were more
advanced
now
form-
likely to
cities,
be
at first
gold was a curiosity, and then, suddenly, was something for which
—
murder could be committed, and slaves captured the dwarves were chased into the mountains and whole communities wiped out. They fled deeper into the mountains, or went into further ranges, always going further, retreating, becoming invisible except for rare careful excursions to see
if
trade was possible again.
Sometimes
it
was.
Often, coming out with their hea\y dark vessels and spears and
arrowheads, their glistening gleaming ornaments, they would be
ambushed and
all killed.
Yet they always mined, since of
it
in their
it
was now in
their blood, the skill
hands and minds.
Yet, and this was the sad paradox that they did not fully see until Klorathy pointed
mined
at
all,
it
out to them: suppose they had never
would they have missed
so
much: Did
their
food
— 74
depend on
Tlieir clothing?
it?
Even
were beautiful and strong and
vessels
their electricity? Tlieir clay
way
in every
as
good
as their
iron ones.
Suppose they had never learned gold from rocks
But
melt iron from rocks, and
to
— what then?
was too
it
how
late for thinking in this
way.
Finding themseh'es harried and hunted, these poor creatures had sent Klorathy a message.
Had
sent a message "all the
way
to the
stars."
How? Coming
together in a great conclave, from every part of this
continent, creeping along a thousand underground channels and roads, they
Two
of
had
cried out that
them had made
a
"Canopus would help them."
dangerous journey to the middle
There, so the news was, were great
many
R-years.
The
seas.
This journey had taken
cities.
two, a male and a female, having crept and
crawled and lurked and sneaked their way across a continent and
then from island to island across the great
and then
sea,
across land
had found that upheavals and earthquakes had vanished the great cities, which were now only a memor\' among half-savages. again,
The two had gone
women
and
rule."
northwards, hearing of "a place where kindness
There they were directed
to Adalantaland,
where
who had said that not in her memory or
there was kindness and a wise female ruler,
"Canopus had not in that of her
visited for a long time,
Mothers." Tlie two had
nately believing that
were
their
in
left their
messages, obsti-
what Canopus had promised
memories
—Canopus
—
for promises
would perform. And though
they had died as soon as they had delivered their reports of that epic
and
came
to
terrible journey,
soon Canopus did perform, for Klorathy
them.
Had come
first
on an investigational
continent to the other.
Had
—
or perhaps not oddly at
emissaries from the "little people,"
made
their brave
from one end of
this
heard, then, of the "little people" in
the other continents, for oddly
where, had
trip
and
all
hunted and persecuted every-
faithful journeys to places
where
they believed "Canopus" might have ears to hear their cries for help.
Klorathy had then
summed up
all
this
information he had
— The
Sirian Experiments
garnered, and pondered over
and concluded that there was
it
another factor here, there was an element of savagery, of beastliness,
more and above what could be of Shanimat, of course, far
still
away
everywhere
.
naturally expected. It was the
Shammat who Canopus had
half across the globe
.
.
—not
that
its
work
believed to be
influence wasn't
but on the subject of that "influence" Klorathy was
either not able or not willing to enlarge.
"What do you mean, nature?"
—and
as
I
Klorathy?
—when
asked the question
you talk of Shammatthought of those avid
I
greedy faces, those glittering avaricious eyes.
A
way that
savage
is
a savage.
behaves like one." At which he smiled, sadly, and
civilised race
in a
"A
did not encourage
\Vliat Klorathy
hoped
me
to press him.
by
to achieve
the realm of the dwarves was
first
of
all
this
present excursion into
to encourage
them, saying
Canopus was doing what it could. Secondly, he said he would now go out to meet with the Hoppes and the Navahis and put it to them that to harry these most excellent craftsmen of the mounbetter rather to become allies with them, to tains was folly trade, and to stand together with them against the vicious children that
—
Shammat who were
of
the enemies of both, the enemies of every-
one. Therefore, Klorathy asked
cavern under
them
canopv of twinkling
its
—
sitting again in
lights,
on the warm white sand
that the dwarves carried from the outside rivers to
ing floors for themsehes
mediate light of the the tribesmen
come
electric
treason.
For
air
its
clean shin-
and
When
trade, then see
if
if
—
ways
without laying themselves open to traps
left that
pledged himself to do what
deeply hidden and fantastic realm,
race of earthy craftsmen, being escorted into the outer
and the blue
and
handlamps: be patient.
his part, he, Klorathy,
he could. And so we with
this
make
forward into the low and im-
offering treaties
cannot be found to do
and
—leaning
the vast
skies
towards which the dwarves
exiled eyes before fleeing
away
lifted their
longing
Now we had to make contact with
into the earth again.
the tribesmen.
soon saw us as we walked across the rocky and raw landscape, with no aim except to be captured. WHiich we were, Tlieir lookouts
and taken
to their
Modified
Two
camp.
stage.
^Iliis
Tlieir
was the usual functional unit of the skills
dwarves, so soon to be extinct.
were
less
than those of the
They hunted, and
lived
on the
76
and had developed
results of their hunting,
bond with the being, as they
on which they
terrain
—
as their religion
harmonious
which they had
lived. In
—saw
a close
their
it.
Tliey did us no harm, because the}' recognised in us something of the stuff of certain legends
Empire, never of ours. Ser\'ice
when
I
—
owe some
about Canopus. Always of that
my
drew the attention of
I
home
returned
colleagues in the
to the fact that even in territories
Rohanda, which might be expected
close to our allotted portion of to
all
sort of allegiance to us, to Sirius,
it
was
that their higher allegiances were pledged, were gixen. this? Surely there
was
a fault here in
These Hoppes recognised us ing Canopus.
welcomed thirt)I
So
into the
all
become
But
did.
—
part of
was
three
—
as
"from there," mean-
honorary Canopeans that we were
as
camp, and then
I
Why
our presentation of ourselves?
as guests at a festival that lasted
R-days and nights, which Klorath}' obviously
cannot say that
to
was
it
—
Canopus
to
I
much
enjo\ed.
recognised even then that the abihty
was going to say "to sink oneself into," but
I
moral pressure of Canopus
refrained, because of the in\isible
—an
unfamiliar scene, a foreign race, even one considered (perhaps out of ignorance) inferior,
is
emulated,
I
Ambien
I
possible.
if
was doing,
did try to behave as Klorathy did and as
as far as
danced with them, told never to be
less
And when on these
one to be admired, commended, and even
he was
the feasting was over,
lines: that
which
But nothing of the allotted to him,
we
for
it
Long
sort
this
set
I
I
please
mav be
and we two Ambiens, life
my
I
have some news
the time for us to confer
make arrangements
done. in the tent they
our tents, simply went
in
of the tribe.
have to record something that
back
ages.
is
happened. Klorathv,
were, taking part in the
And now
was expecting something
I
Klorathy would say to them:
for a formal occasion at
as
—and yet was able
than Canopus.
some suggestions to make, now seriously and solemnly and at length,
on
tongue
stories, in their
for you,
had
Klorathy feasted and even
able.
I
most
bitterlv regret,
understanding for a \erv long time. Millennia.
missed an opportunity then.
I
shall
simply say
it,
and
leave the subject. I
was impatient and
teresting
enough and
I
restless.
I
found these Hoppe savages
would have stood
it all
—the lack
in-
of privacy,
The
Experiments
Sirian
the flesh food, the casualness and indifference to
and one taboos and prescriptions of
their religion
the ordeal would have a term. Tlie other
him but went
did not listen to
I
dirt,
Ambien
to Klorathy
—
the thousand
if I
had known
advised patience.
and demanded how
long he proposed to "waste his time on these semibrutes." His reply was: "As long as I
if
it is
consulted with
necessary."
Ambien
who
I,
said
he would stay with Klorathy,
"Klorathy would put up with him"
me
—and
took our surveillance
I
—
annoyed
a humility that
him dependent on
craft, leaving
Klorathy for transport, and flew up northwards by myself. Tliis
was the
Canopean
first
territory.
time a
had openly
Sirian
made no attempt
Klorathy
courage me. Yet he did say, quietly, just before
into
travelled
to stop
I left:
me, or
"Be
dis-
careful."
"Of what, Klorathy?" "All I know is that our instruments seem to in my view it would indicate some sort of magnetic disturbance
—
be wiser to stay at sea level."
I
in the centre of a
thanked him
continent rather than anywhere
for the warning.
ADALANTALAND Millennia had passed since
From
the height
I
was
flying,
I
the terrain
of change, but there were areas
time across
(I
was
way with Ambien I. mostly showed little signs
travelled this
sometimes several minutes
Space Conqueror Type
in a
III,
flying
long since
me
was nothing but savagely torn and tumbled rock, stumps of trees, overthrown or shaken mountains. I remembered that the cities of the middle seas, which I had flown obsolete)
where below
over with Ambien, had been shaken into ruin and wondered
was in
fact a particularly seismic
time on
planet. Flying over the areas of islands
this
if
this
always precarious
and broken waters that had
been, and would be again, the great empty ocean separating the
and the central landmass, were quite new, as if they had
Isolated Northern Continent I
saw that some
islands
I
thought
just
been
upthrust from the ocean bed. Tlie island that had been covered by that marvellous city surrounded by
the ocean and risen out of
it
its
again. It
great ships
had been under
had some rather poor
villages
7S
on
now. But
it
and
wanted
I
and around
flew over
I
to see that area of great inland seas again,
seeing everywhere near the rocky
it
sunHt shores, ruins and collapsed buildings, some gleaming up from
under the waters. But the region of these seas was rich and
and would soon again put forth It
how
was, however, discouraging to see
must always be on usual
for
had done
cities, as it
and
this planet,
me, of the generalised
so often before.
transient things were
and
mind undiscouragement known by us I
fell
into a state of
problem melancholia." For what
Sirians as "existential
fruitful
I
felt
was
nothing more than the emotional expression of our philosophic
dilemmas: what were the purposes of plannings, our manipulations, our mastery of nature?
my
in
little
bubble of
beautiful place (for
was
I
in the grip of a vision
a spacecraft, looking
Rohanda was always
seas like great irregular
—of impermanence,
gems
as
if
down
—
as
I
hung
there
at that magically
that), the brilliant blue
in their setting of
warm
reddish soil
glimpse of a small part of a
this little
small planet was an encapsulation of the whole Galaxy that always, despite
its
illusions of great stretches of
time where nothing
changed, nevertheless did change, always, and grasp a sense of
... I
I
as lasting or of
it
it
was not possible
and then directed myself northwards again
it
Adalantaland, for
women would
be
I
wanted
like
to see
on Rohanda
what
in its
a peaceful
shall confine
It
was
myself only to
a large island
as
to
realm run by
time of rapid degeneration.
Analyses of Adalantaland are plentifully available in our I
to
anything as permanently valuable
hovered above that lovely but desolating scene for as long
could bear
so
much
libraries,
my present purposes.
among
several
on the edge of the main
landmass. While the middle areas of Rohanda at that time could be described as too hot for comfort, the northern and southern parts
were equable and
warm and
rather indolent perhaps, line
of
women who
It
was a peaceful culture,
and hedonistic, but democratic, and the
were
Canopus," which were
very fruitful.
its
rulers
governed by "the grace of
a set of precepts
engraved on stones and
up everywhere over the island. Tliere were three main rules, the first saying that Canopus was the invisible but powerful lawgiver
set
of
Rohanda and would punish
that
transgressions of
no individual should consider
its
Rule; the second
herself better
than another,
— The
Sirian
Experiments
nor should any individual enslave or use another in a degrading way;
more from the general stock
the third that no person should take of food
and goods than was absolutely necessary. Tliere were many these
of
subdivisions
precepts.
moved
I
freely
over this
well-
governed and pacific land, and found these laws were known by e\er)one and on the whole kept, though the third was perhaps rather freely interpreted. secret, laws given
them
was told that the Mothers had other,
I
direct
by "those from the
considered as emanating from "the stars." phvsical t\-pe
I
was not
far off
It
stars."
I
was not
happened that
in
from the Adalantaland general type:
the\-
were mostly fair-haired people, pale-skinned, with eyes often
blue,
and on the whole tending towards
flesh.
My
health.
who
I
a large build,
much
height and thinness caused
and plenty of
concern for
my
general
spent time with the currently reigning Queen, or Mother,
no better than her
lived
over them.
The
my
focus of
not be shared with them.
I
was
subjects, nor
special curiosity
wanted
to
in
any way
set
up
was one that could
know how
it
was that
this
realm managed to be so well ordered, lacking crime and public
when
irresponsibility,
Rohanda
in this
these qualities were not to be expected of
time of a general
falling-off.
The
beautiful
and
generous and genial Queen, or Mother, of course did not realise that this paradise of hers
—
for she
and her subjects saw
their land
and knew they were much envied by more barbarous races was not an apex of a long growth from a low culture to a high one, but was nothing but a shadow of former greatness that lay on the as one,
other side of that Catastrophe, the failure of the Lock. Tliere were
some sort, and many to do with the "Gods" who were watching over them and "would come again." They had come in the time of this Queen's great-grcat-great-
hints in old legends of a disaster of
great-grandmother.
had given
fresh
pre\iously;
had
From
the description
I
recognised Klorathy.
He
somewhat at an angle to those used rebuked, and had strengthened in them
precepts,
— — also
their purpose towards the
maintenance of
their fair
and smiling
land.
And
the secret laws? Tlic
Queen was not
at all reluctant to
share these with me; the only reason, she said, that they were not
given out to everyone, and written up on the public stones, was that
8o
they were so precise and pernickety here!
—ordinary people, preoccupied
hfe, could not
—
yes,
recognised
I
had
as they
to
Canopus
be with ordinary
be expected to bother with them.
lliese precepts were the
same
Canopus, used by us and already considered the extent that
as Sirian, at least to
was hard to remember their Canopcan
it
by
as those given to us Sirians
origin.
I
even remember a feeling of affront and annoyance at hearing the
Queen
remember chiding
describe the things as from Canopus,
myself for
this absurdity.
The Queen took time and
trouble to explain these regulations,
do with what substances would protect and guard,
which were
all
how
them, the times to use them, the exact disposition of
to use
artefacts
to
and how and when,
others to seek out for they
told
how
.
.
and
.
certain types of place to avoid
so on.
There
is
no point
in listing
and
them,
were not always the same, but changed, and we had been to
change them and
in
accordance with what cosmic and
local factors.
But
I
noted that
what the Queen was
in
accuracies. Slight divergencies
experience for
me
from prescription.
was
It
to sit quietly listening while this
me
friendly lady explained to
the conduct that
me
telling
were
in-
a disturbing
competent and
must be followed on
Adalantaland to preserve health, sanity, and correct thinking, when I
was using these same laws of conduct myself
not exactly in the same manner. to
be
correct, since
I
had only
My
.
and
I
to
.
but using them
observances were more likely
who checked
just left Klorathy,
them with me. Yet he had told me not to alter tices; had not mentioned them. So I said nothing.
The Queen wanted
.
know what
this
Queen's prac-
Rohanda
part of
I
came from,
spoke to her of the Southern Continents, of which she had
heard. In fact her mariners had visited the coasts of both
—
this
seemed that these coasts had been explored by them. But recently she had forbidden voyages far afield: there was disquiet and alarm abroad, interested me, of course,
had
I
not
felt it?
People had not spoken to
forebodings? Well,
if
not, that
would be discourteous as for her, the
and from what she
was because
to spread such
I
said,
me was
unhappy
it
of their fears a foreigner
and
was reason
to fear.
Had
it
mind. But
states of
Queen, and the other Mothers who governed
land, they felt that indeed there
and
I
this
not heard
The
Experiments
Sirian
of the great earthquakes that
had swallowed whole
Of storms and tempests where normally
southwards?
was equable. ... So she talked, her great blue
me
of the seas
roaming
the climate
which reminded
eyes,
had been ho\'ering over only
I
down
cities
few R-days before,
a
restlessly about, worried, full of trouble
and
.
.
.
I
was
experiencing a lesson in the relative, for she was in fear for her culture, her beautiful land, while
the destruction of planets,
had recently been contemplating
I
cities, cultures,
realms
—and
frame of mind
large tracts of earthquake-devastated landscape in a
not
used for contemplating the overthrow of termite-
far off that
queendom,
flying over
some reason
or the extinction of a type of animal for
or other.
Adalantaland regretfully and travelled slowly to the coast
left
I
where
had
I
of such lush
left
my
and
space bubble, not wanting to leave this realm
—and not wanting
and well-kept towns
orderly
to these
handsome
people.
many
such orchards and gardens, so
full fields,
was thinking,
I
to say
as
goodbye either
went, about their
I
must not take more than they could for it seemed to me to go to the heart of the Sirian dilemma who should use what and how much and when and what Above all what for! third precept, that thev
use, .
.
.
for?
THE "EVENTS" The
scene that
and the thoughts
I
saw when
in
my mind
after the "e\ents," as
soon
was chaos and desolation, of
it all I
so that
it
I
as I
was clear
looked
I
knew
that everything
took pains to retrieve in
my
of ice
now
all visible
me
the
fair
because
had surveyed
my mental
picture
recall.
and smiling
islands
... on one hand the great ocean that
and
its
unstable family
alive ... to the north, the little
and snow whose very existence showed the
nature of Rohanda's relation with her sun coasts of the
I
it is
mind, ready for instant
spread to the Isolated Northern Continent, with of islands,
space bubble,
then are very clear to me:
could see a great deal: below
of those blessed latitudes
down from my
main landmass stretched
—
at
first
.
sensitive .
.
patch
and exact
southwards the
balmy and
delightful,
82
then rocky and parched latitudes
mainland
.
.
.
—
burning regions of the middle
to the
and inland from these
itself,
where
coasts, the vastnesses of the
had never been, though Ambien
I
longed to see them. Such forests and jungles were there! said:
he had darted back and forth across and about
craft
and even so advantaged had found
had.
I
—
I
so he
in his space-
impossible to easily
it
—
mark the bounds of these forests. The beasts in the forests! such a multitude of them and such a variety of species, some of them even now unknown to us. And beyond the forests, on great plateaux lying under blue and cr; stal skies, the cities that Ambien I spoke of. These were not the mathematical
cities
of the Great Time, but were
remarkable and amazing places, often with systems of government
unknown
to us,
some
them benign and comfortable
of
and some tyrannous and very wicked. There they journey in
my
and
little craft,
it
to live in,
lay, a day's
easy
seemed that Canopus did not mind
my travels in their dispensation, and so there was nothing to stop my going there at once nothing except my state of mind, which .
.
.
was most unpleasant, and every I
moment
know what was happening
did not
getting worse.
experienced those shadows from the future I
was not unfamiliar with them.
room
stuffy
breath,
where
or inxisible prison,
and from where
I
sea
and land that seemed
my
state of
mind.
I
seemed
It
looked
it
down on
to baffle
and
we as
I
had only
of us
was inside
a black
those brilliant scenes of
reject
my
because of
sight,
kept thinking of Klorathy's warning
just recognised as terror,
all
"premonitions."
call
if I
have
was hard even to draw
the thought formed that his warnings were
thing
We
me.
to
it
filling
me
happened.
.
.
.
.
just as
with some.
.
What happened? I
ha\e been asked often enough by our historians, delighted that
just for I
once they had an actual eyewitness
always find this
first
moment
1
air chilled
—
seemed
at once,
all
to freeze all of the
and instantaneously.
looked wildly around into the skies around me, with
Rohandan I
The
an event. And
hard.
Tliere was an absolute stillness that
scene below me.
to such
was
clouds and vast blue spaces
stilled,
checked, silenced in
—and could see nothing. Yet
my being.
—only that not the word the instantaneous nature swinging happening— was darkness, with the
Suddenly of this
all
their
for
is
I
in total
stars
— The
Sirian
Experiments
about around me.
was
I
And now the stillness had looked down to see if the scene
in starlight.
been succeeded by a hissing
roar.
I
me had also been xanished away, and saw that I was in movement — my craft was being spun about so that I could not under
see steadily.
Yet
I
was able to make out the coastlands of the main
landmass, and the islands, one of which was Adalantaland.
mind was
clear only in flashes
—
as
lightning
if
lit
a landscape
My and
why I had no coherent idea then of what was happening. Moments of intense clarity, when I was able to work out that Rohanda had turned over on itself, as a globe in a decelerating spin may wobble over an understanding that this then
left it dark.
This
is
—
need no more
know
microbes of a child's ball
movement
on
affect the tiny inhabitants
as the ball
is
surface than the
its
that they are in violent and agitated
hand
flung from
hand and bounced
to
here and there, but continue complacently with their
how
calculations of all this
when in
went on
that
in
mind
might
this reversal of the planet
my mind
in fact
in those
worked
moments
at a level
I
little lives
affect
it
.
.
.
of brilliant thought,
have not known
since,
between periods of black extinction. I
had no idea how long
that
it
was
this thing
some hours
for
—and again
Suddenly
—
went on, and can only say now
so our astronomers have calculated.
have to emphasise that
I
word cannot
this
any way convey the feeling that the event happened time not Rohandan did not change once,
and
flick!
less
— that
was back
I
darkened
aware that
in
below
And
then
all
Adalantaland vanished beneath the
formed where
it
had been.
My
eyes
in grief for the loss of those people, all
an order of
sunlight. Tlie scene
not for a long moment.
is,
just like that,
a whirlpool
place,
—
in
around the periphery of
my
\'anishing, leaving their spins of water, or land
in
drawn
at
sea,
to that
were neverthe-
vision islands were
was
rising
up
—and
sometimes islands would plunge under the waters and then almost at once rise up again, seeming to be settled there stable and permanent,
and then,
draw
my
1
flick!
immediate
they disappeared.
grief
was able to see that
is
from Adalantaland,
all
I
was able to with-
to gain a wider \'iew,
over the great ocean the islands that
and had gone. And have not come back again since when the Isolated Northern Continent became permanently
studded that
When
isolated.
it
Though
.
of course
I
am
.
.
using that word relatively: often
§4
enough
I
have flown from one end of that enormous expanse of
waters, with
few and clustered
its
how
other times, and thought rise
bare,
again,
and remembered those
islands,
at
any
water-scoured,
to
moment
may
begin their slow process of
Not
weathering into fruitfulness and plenty. vanishing or appearing
those old islands
only islands were
—e\er)-where the earth of the mainland was
bulging up and buckling, and the waters were rocking and spouting
and sloshing about
water pool. Tliere was as
I
watched
about and
—
as
mineral smell. Tlie scene grew wilder
a foul
intermittently \\atched, for
I
could see only in
I
was being spun
I
Spouts of water miles high
flashes.
and crashed thunderously, land spurted upwards
rose into the air
formed
like water, clouds
that
do when someone jumps heavily into a
as they
seemed impossible
in the skies in a swift
—and
then poured
down
massing process at
once
Suddenly everything below was whitened: the rain had snow, and winds.
warm
was
I
And rains
yet,
in a blizzard
in rain.
fallen as
being whirled about in shrieking
immediately afterwards, the white had
gone,
all
had washed the snow away from the heaving spurting
boiling surfaces of the globe,
had gone, and where
it
and
saw that the
I
had been was
ice of the pole
a spinning whirlpool
—and
then the spin of the water was slower, was hardly there, a crust
was forming over
it,
and the white
and spread, was rapidly growing. Again that
seemed
to
be weighing down
gleamed again,
of the ice coxer
my
I
was
bubble.
little
felt
I
sinking down, was being pressed down, and then again that
same unimaginable suddenness
me
where and carried
violentlv
off.
—
Of
a
of
Rohanda.
sucked or pulled, but
felt
1
that
did not it
course none of
thick swirl of or
snow that was
on any planet.
I
and readied myself
knew
I
like
know where
And
no snow
I
was
—and with
I
I
my
instru-
start of this \iolent
was not any longer
spin but was direct, in a straight line.
that
wind arose from some-
ments was working, nor had worked since the re-orientation
snowstorm
in a thick
I
was being
in a vortex or
was always inside the
had e\er seen anywhere
was being steadily pressed down by
for a crash.
Now
that
I
it
was able to be more
calm, because of this long stead}- drive onwards inside the storm,
without sudden twists or dizzyings,
I
was able to hear again: beyond
the dreadful hush of the snowfall and the
drove
me were
\\o\\\ of
the multitudinous sounds of the earth
the uind that itself,
groaning
— a
The
Experiments
Sirian
and
shrieking,
and
yet,
moaning and grinding
even as
did, there
it
.
.
.
were sudden spaces or
time when the opposite happened.
this
found myself
and not
in
some time, moments within
went on
this
mean
I
tliat
snow
to
be seen anywhere under me:
my
world, with spouts of water flung up to the height of it
suddenly
I
sun and wetness, clouds of steam arising ever\'where
a trace of
now than
for
water
a
lower
craft,
was, far too close to the earth, and in that space of
few minutes? seconds?
—
I
was able
to direct
—
my craft upwards, away
from the heave and churn of the muddy steamy land under me.
And
then the snow descended again and the cold was intense and
frightful.
I
lost consciousness,
think, or at least
I
awfulness of the strain has blocked out
my
little
to rest,
and the
space bubble was hot and
glitter}^
with sun.
that
is
I
and
rational thought, or decision,
from
risking death
different look to
off
.
.
.
wondered
if
senses
my
my
to
.
.
.
first
it.
Seemed smaller
.
me
wondered
was beyond
if I
certainly did
I
at
first.
ability to judge
.
.
even
.
impression, as one does to
I
it
mv
mind. Yet
some
planet.
I
— unclearly
Rohanda had been
.
.
was able even to
I
—towards
the
driven, or sucked, or pulled, further
Meanwhile,
I
my mind
was standing by
mountain that was on I
it,
working out the possible
still
my
"normal"
little crystal
in that
it
had
away from I
was
results of this.
bubble on
trees
that
truth,
her mother-sun by this cosmic accident she had suffered, and
with one part of
time
in a
the fact that the
to
was smaller.
and uncertainly
my
idea, quite stubbornly
was holding on obstinately .
I
held on fast
seems almost at random, to steady one
Rohandan sun had changed
a
had been tossed
on another
arrived
had
It
much. Seemed
vet not
.
I
the upheavals and tumultuousness had affected
of upheaval.
out
had
altogether and
and sometimes
reach
I
.
I
and stepped out
it
struck
For what
crystal shell of
change of atmosphere, though
a
but was that possible?
Rohanda
opened
I
The sun was what
not think of that.
cooler
mv memory.
had come
remember next
did not, the
if I
a high
and vegetation
though e\er\thing leaned about or lay crashed on the earth.
have no idea exactly where
this
mountain was.
I
was looking out
over a plain where the earth had been convulsed about, because there were cracks in
it,
some many miles
in length,
and sometimes
miles across, and there were volcanoes and rivers of mingled lava
and water opening new beds
for themselves.
I
could hardly breathe
86 for the sulphurous smell.
lasted only a
had never
And
had
I
a queer dreamlike vision that
few moments, of herds of animals
seen, so strange
and new
me
to
that
—some
of
which
I
could not believe
I
these were running across the plain between the cracks them and the spouting geysers and volcanoes, crying out and screaming and trumpeting and raging, and the multitudinous herds poured around the base of the mountain and vanished, and I was left in
.
.
.
wondering been .
.
.
if
in that
and even
had seen them,
I
was wondering
I
if
I
as
I
thought about the snow, again
me
it fell
was instantly covered
blue and green and yellow
ice,
which came
b}-
—
I
thick
saw that
wads of
to the foot of the
was on, and began pressing and squeezing up the
I
had
snow, had seen the whole globe blotted out by snow
everywhere in front of
mountain
just as
sides,
with a groaning and a shrieking that echoed the sounds of the
who had
unfortunate animals again
I
was blotted out
fled past a
in thicknesses of
swallowed up the space bubble so that into
it
and
few moments before.
And
snow, that almost at once
only just had time to climb
I
And
pull over the closure panel.
here
I
was, not in the
dark, for the lights were working, but inside the dark weight of a
snowstorm, and
silence.
Now
that
was
it
my ears had suffered. And Went mad enough that have
an assault out?
Inside
— not
terror
how
—
long
for that
again
I
I
understood what
—what? Slept? Blacked
no memory of
I
can give no idea of
silent,
it?
And
again
I
Within the blizzard. had gone, been driven away by imI
was
in there.
mensities of everything, but a suspension of any ordinary and
re-
liable understanding.
When
was myself again and believed that the snow had stopped falling, and burrowed my way out of the bubble, and leaned
on I
it,
was
I
holding as
it
fast as
one does to a
were floating
all-white landscape, lit
by the new, more
in
my
in loose airy
under
more yellow
mind, and functioning ...
bubble to
free
and took
off
it,
I
new
air,
looked out oxer an
I
a light clear fresh blue,
sun.
I
seemed
be clear
to
pushed enough snow
tried the instruments,
into this
found everything
off the
in order,
which was so sharp and clean
and flew interminably over dazzlingly correct and uniform white, where all
again, yet with a metallic tang to
white, white, a
snow,
was
a sky that
distant,
because
solid place in water,
it,
The
Experiments
Sirian
hollows and valleys had been obliterated, leaving only peaks that
were of bare, scraped rock. But one had a clotted or furred look, as
when
examined
saw
if
encrusted with insects of a vast
a
multitude of animals, e\ery imaginable \ariety of animal, large
and small,
in the attitudes of
all
size;
I
it,
I
immediate death. They had been
frozen in an instant where they had taken refuge from the floods,
But on other
or the surging ice packs, or the oceans of snow.
peaks that
I
flew
past at eye level, there were trees
their branches loaded with frozen birds.
plume
glittering
came near
to
it,
And
was
it
a geyser that
had been frozen
and beasts
was hanging there with
It
sent out a high twanging noise, and snapped
The it
as
a I
so fast
of the sea solid in
it.
and crumpled and
heap on to the white snowy billows below.
great ocean where the islands
then as
I
have seen
part,
and underneath
as
it
if
fishes
saw
I
me, and
rising into the air just in front of
found
upright,
one place
in
it
fell in a
still
it
ever since.
me
had never been.
anywhere
in those seas
had been was not was
I
frozen.
I
saw
flying across the northerly
was water, where Adalantaland had been, It
was not that there were no islands
now
but that
left
they were clustered or fringed
around the coasts of the Isolated Northern Continent on one side
and the main landmass on the other
— these
last
west fringes that later played such a part in late I
wondered that the ocean was not
frozen.
being the North-
Rohandan
And
across the last of the waters before reaching land,
me
that the snows were melting there
places, leaving floods
By
the time
snows had
mud and went
I
all
and
lakes
history.
even as I
saw ahead of
—had already melted
in
dissolved in water ... ri\ers.
I
I
was
not been that wav before.
another vast ocean,
I
I
was able
I
the
flying over a scene of
down
was not able to
When
it,
could not land anywhere, but
straight across the continent looking
watery scene whose changes
some
and muddy expanses everywhere.
did reach the mainland, and was flying into
water and new
flew
I
at a
assess
soaked and
because
I
had
reached the opposite coast, on
to see that pressures of
some awful
had squeezed higher the mountain ranges that run from extreme north to extreme south of the two isolated continents if intensity
—
one were
to
imagine these continents shaped
like clay or sand,
but on
a tiny scale, as
on
some
soft substance,
a child's
teaching tray.
in
88
and then pressure applied by some force
down one
right
side of
them, so that they buckle up and make high ridges and long
mountain chains separated by narrow gorges and highlands, those two great continents been affected, and all
had
I
to postulate
kinds of pressuring forces deep inside the substance of Rohanda,
under the ocean; and the
muddied and
full
visible signs of these
floated
I
how
tortured mountains seeing
were
in the vast waters
and crowding jagged
of weed,
metallic or sulphurous smell.
a
southwards along these
and rock and
forests
and
icebergs,
had
rivers
been heaved up and down and toppled and spread everywhere I
had
so
until
reached the south of the Northern Continent and turned sharply
inland to seek out Klorathy and the other Ambien. Again,
I
was not
had
familiar with the terrain, but could see that, while everything
been soaked, so that lakes and sprawling
and the landscape was
earth lay everywhere, water,
all
swamp and
forests that intact,
if
fen and marsh, yet there were expanses of
And
shaken.
and had not been
fact
in
off
much
my
better than the northern areas,
me, so that
I
sick as
felt as
I
travelled
and
scended to where
They were
still
I
it
had
there.
in clouds of
all
the blue
had done
I
Rohandan
and churning with cloud. This had been
aired landscape,
on
bubble and made turbulence that
tempests of the great disaster, and coiling
turned out that the southern
entirely devastated.
steam that whisked up past spuri
it
and patchily frozen and soaked and shaken
and squeezed, had come
and
all
had not been overturned and mountains that seemed
continents, partly
tossed
brown with mud, all earthy
rivers stained
skies
dancing: their
would shortly become so again left
the others through baths of
On
a
—yet
warm
pectedly
nights.
mud and
their provenance,
—and continued
When
him, seated
I
deity,
their
to
tribes,
who had unexAnd so they danced
protector, rage.
dance on, through the days and the
open doorway of
watching the dance of
steam.
the earth, their mother,
joined Klorathy, he was exactly where
in the
de-
shallow lakes, the savages were
become enraged and shown her
and danced
I
wet muddy plain surrounded by the
were propitiating their
source,
were
a high, dry, sharp-
mountains of the dwar\-es were the tents and huts of the
and splashing through
in the
his proteges.
I
had
left
his tent, apparently unoccupied,
And Ambien was
near him.
The
Sirian Experiments
We
told each other our experiences:
theirs:
the}'
had been
briefly visited
had been dissipated ahnost
at once
mine more dramatic than
by tempests of snow, which by floods of
had shaken and had growled and creaked, some had
sides
fallen
rain, the earth
of the mountain-
and there uould be new riverbeds running
off the
plateau to the oceans.
We
among
pieced together,
events.
The
hours,
and then righted
axis of the earth
itself
more
—but
not
to
was at an angle now, and
be evenness and regularity
old
its
of
some
position:
him that the would mean that
sensitive than ours, told
angled globe revolved about
as this
the following succession
planet had turned over, had been topsy-turvy for
Klorathy's instruments,
there
us,
its
this
sun, there
would no longer
heat and cold, but
in its dispositions of
would be changes and seasons that we could not yet do more
The planet was slightly further awav from its sun, too the Rohandan year would be minimally longer. Many kinds of animals were extinct. The level of the oceans had sharply dropped, because the ice masses of both poles were much enlarged than speculate about.
—
and could be expected
to increase. Cities that
had been swallowed
by the waters before in previous sudden changes would be again
be
.
.
.
visible,
had vanished under the waves might even
islands that
glimmering there
in shallower seas
.
.
.
and perhaps poor
Adalantaland, that vanished happy place, might ring close
enough under the surface
days and nights
by
—so we
mud and swamp rexersals of
for voyagers to hear
talked, even then,
and
Rohandan
past,
condition.
happening
trophe,
or,
Disaster, forces,
to
use
and the catastrophe
But when
—
I
incon-
all,
— Klorathy corrected me, saying that the Catasthe
absolutely
and correct word.
accurate
meaning an unfortunate alignment
of the stars
and
their
could onh- properly be applied to a real misfortune, a true
hinted at
my
I
impatience with Canopean pedantry. As
sometimes even now cannot help seeing I
of the
used the word
a not, after
evolutionary- setback, nameh-, the failure of the Lock.
I
bells
them on quiet
becoming yet another
"catastrophe" of what had just happened siderable
many
its
when we were surrounded
flying clouds of steam,
was already receding into the
sudden
visible
remember
my meek
have already I
saw
it.
As
it.
enquiry, which was
I
am
afraid
all
im-
.
go
some might consider recent events merit that word, and remember Klorathy's
pertinence, to the effect that
catastrophe enough to
"if
one did not use the exact and
correct words then one's thinking
would soon become unclear and
smihng, but firm, reply that:
confused. Tlie recent events at this little word, "events" alter the nature of
continue to affect
did.
I
.
remember
I
smiled sarcastically
did not in any fundamental
.
way
Lock, and
failure of the
a catastrophe, a disaster. Tliis was
That was
it.
gaze on me, making
Which
".
I
Rohanda. Wlicrcas the
kept the pressure of his bronze or amber
And he
unfortunate."
—
—
delinquency, had affected the planet and would
Shammat
the
." .
.
me accept it.
But
was raging with emotion.
I
cold and dispassionate.
was thinking that
I
I
thought him view the
a being able to
devastation of a whole planet with such accurate detachment was
not likely to be warmly responsive to a close personal relationship:
my own personal concerns were being intruded have strike me as shameful, though it does now.
at the time, that
me
by
did not
I
already said that "hindsight"
is
not the most comfortable of possible
views of oneself or of events. Tlie mention of
me
—
in
knew my mind I
of course that
it
was
all guilt.
that our Sirian delinquencies
But while
emotions expressed
Klorathy, even a dislike. left
I
him and went
damp but looking down on rock,
on and on,
this in .
I
affected
was
clear
and deceptions that
could not confess to had caused barriers between
my
Shammat
me and
I
Klorathy,
anger and a growing irritation with
.
to
at least
my own
tent,
which was
set
on
a high
not saturated, and sat there by myself,
the weird scene
in the splashing
—the savages dancing and
singing,
brown water and the mud, illuminated
among the tumultuous clouds, and vanished amid the mists and fogs. Ambien I came to talk to me. He was conciliatory and gentle, for he knew how I raged and
by
a
moon
that appeared fitfully
suffered.
He had wanted were not to
call a
very
much
to lca\'C, before the events that
catastrophe.
He had become
we
bored with the
went on, hunting, and curing hides, and eating their stews and their dried meat, and making clothes and ornamenting them. And Klorathy stayed where inactivity of
it
all.
The
life
of the savages
The
Sirian
he was.
He
Experiments
did not lecture or admonish thcni. Wliat had happened
was that the head
and
man came
asked Klorathy
finally
one evening and
to Klorathy
he had
if
and
visited the dwarves,
— the
down
sat
if
savages.
And
Klorathy answered saying that he had indeed visited the
little
there was anything that he could
people and that in his view
then the head
man went
.
.
.
them
tell
how he saw
explaining
and conferred, and days went
off
and then he returned and asked
courtesies,
Klorathy
if
believed the dwarves could be trusted to keep agreements
were made
—
past,
on the
again, formally, sitting
ground near Klorathy, having exchanged
And
things.
if
they
the past, so he said, the dwarves had been
for in
treacherous and had spilled out of their underground fastnesses and
both
slain the tribes,
men and
animals
.
.
.
and Klorathy answered
this, too, patiently.
What
was happening, Ambien
make any attempt
said,
was that Klorathy did not
communicate what he thought
to
asked a direct question fact a question
I
though
—or
it
until
something was
was masked
as a
then went to Klorathy and enquired
if
this
was indeed
Canopus: and whether Klorathy expected
on
as
.
.
.
and
did, with these savages, until they if
said that
was
was
in
comment. And Ambien
of
he
until he
I
a practice
to stay there, living
asked the right questions
was Klorathy 's expectation, then why did he expect
this
the savages to ask the right questions?
To which
Klorathy replied that they would come and ask the
own good
necessary questions in their
time.
And why? "Because
Ambien
I.
I
am
here
.
.
."
Understandably.
even listening to
was Klorathy's I
felt
irritated
reply,
which
to the point of fury
this report.
Anyway, Ambien
I
had wanted
the Sirian transport with me.
to go,
He had
but could not, since
in fact
gone
which had nearly cost him
the intervention of Klorathy,
his life.
who had
—
said,
had the
a foolhardy
He had been only
I
off to visit
dwarves again, by himself, another colony of them thing,
irritated
rescued by
however, that
"Sirians as yet lacked a sense of the appropriate."
Tlien had begun the "events" that were not to be described as
more than
that.
— 92
had arrived back, and he, Ambien I, could not express how he had felt when he saw the glistening bubble descend through all that grey steam, because he had believed me to be dead. And of to use a term from course it was "a miracle" that I had survived
At
last, I
—
our earlier epochs.
We
stayed together that night, in emotional and intellectual
intimacy, unwilling to separate, after such a threat that
never have been together again at
we might
all.
We decided to leave Klorathy. First,
having pondered over what Ambien
how
tions,
they had to be asked,
went
I
I
had
said about ques-
to Klorathy
and asked
bluntly and directly about the Colony lo colonists, and Sirius,
why
we,
could not have them.
He was
sitting at his tent door.
damp
heaps of
skins
.
.
I
sat near
him.
We were both
but the clouds of steam were
.
the
less,
and running
on
of the
earth was drying, the thundering
and
waters already had quietened.
was possible to believe that soon
these regions
It
trickling
would again be dry and high and healthy.
have already told vou," said Klorathv, "that these colonists
"I
Do
would not be appropriate.
you understand? Not appropriate
for Sirians, for the Sirian circumstances."
"Why not?" He "You
was
silent for a while, as
ask me, over
and over
if
reflecting inwardly.
again, the
Then he
said:
same kind of question."
"Why don't you answer me?" Then he
did something that
made me
impatient.
his tent
and came out with some objects
Ambien
I
and
I
had been supplied
to
He went
— the same
into
things that
maintain our balance on
this
difficult planet. I
at first believed that
because of the recent "events," certain
changes in our practice were necessary, and take in instruction, since
and that detail. (I
I
knew
about Adalantaland
—
readied myself to
that exactness was necessary here,
would not do for me had told him and heard it
I
to o\erlook even the smallest his
dismayed yet patient sigh
falling off in this respect,
how
they had not
maintained the care needed to make these practices work.) I
watched what he
did. Certain kinds of stone, of natural sub-
The
Experiments
Sirian
some
stance,
him and handled
colours, shapes, were laid before
and ordered. But
made no changes
was watching very carefully and saw that he
I
in the ritual
had been
1
using.
"So nothing has had to be changed?"
I
knowing
asked,
my
voice
was rough and antagonistic. "Not even the recent events, and the distancing of the earth from
sun,
its
are going to necessitate changes in
"No," he
said.
"Not
monitored the exact
yet.
and
what we have
Though perhaps
course,"
He
continued to
watched
I
to do?"
later,
when we have
differences. In climate, for instance.
course the magnetic forces will be affected.
"Of
the other differences,
all
And
of
." .
.
said, sarcastically, as before.
handle
the
objects,
amber, or bronze
his face, the
precisely,
face, long,
carefully.
I
deeply moulded,
with the strong eyes that were so closely obser\'ing the movements of his hands.
And
I
continued to
sit
watching, maintaining a dry tight smile that was
he continued patiently and humbly I
me
did not understand him. off,
As
I
formulated
this
to
this
knees,
all criticism,
manipulate
thought
and
his artefacts.
was a way of putting
he would not answer me.
of saying wordlessly that
you want
if
I
my
arms locked around
there,
thought, he said: "No, that
to understand, then
I
not
is
it.
But
suggest you stay on here for a
time."
"For how long?" necessary,
And
answered myself with, "For
as
long as
suppose!"
I
"Yes, that's
it."
"And what
sort of progress
have you made? Are the savages and
dwarves in an alliance? Are
they ready
to
stand
against
the
Shammats?" "I think
it is
likelv the
and that we may never
The way he
—
a race
— the
said this
end of
dwarves have been sealed into their caves,
see
them
again."
made my emotions riot. Tlie end of a the Lombi strain on Rohanda and
species
the 22
technicians.
He
said:
"Well, we have to accept these reverses."
"Then why is
gone
are
you staying on? Tlie reason
—swallowed by the events."
for
your being here
94
"The
tribes are
still
here!"
"So you are not with them
because of the old hostility
just
between them and the dwarves?" "I
am
here as
often
I
am
with
species, at certain stages in their
all
kinds of peoples
.
.
.
races
persisted,
I
would
.
.
development."
did understand that here was a point of importance: that
I
.
if I
learn.
"You want me
to stay?" This
was a challenge:
awk-
deliberate,
ward, hostile. "Yes,
think you should stay."
I
He had I
said: "Yes,
I
want you
got up and left him.
I
told
And in
not
in the
to stay."
Ambien
I
that
I
intended to leave.
morning, having said goodbye to Klorathy, we took
our space bubble.
We
off
surveyed, rapidly, the ravages of the
"events" on both southern continents, and then went
home
to
our Mother Planet.
THE LOMBIS. MY THIRD ENCOUNTER WITH KLORATHY do with Rohanda, which was judged too much of a bad risk, and I was allotted work
For some time
by our experts
had
I
as
little
to
elsewhere. This was, too, the period of the worst
crisis in
self-confidence: our experiments everywhere, sociological logical,
The
Sirian
and
bio-
were minimal. populations on our Colonised Planets were at their lowest,
too.
As
for
out of
me,
I
was pursuing thoughts of
my mind
the old successes of
and while whole
they would give
room
kind so often
are fed by emotions
able to watch, as
transformed into
I
What
to such emotions
ideas, as heart-cries of this
more they
Canopus
are,
for
I
could not get
in forced evolution,
strata of our Colonial Service
governing class were publicly asking: if
my own,
and nearly
for?
I
all
our
was wondering
(but they were called
and the more
and sentiments)
if
so,
the
they had been
had done, creatures not much better than apes
fully civic
and responsible beings within such a
— The
Experiments
Sirian
short time.
Ambien
shared these tlioughts with
I
was once again working, but our Empire was it
now
is
—or
so
I
optimism that inspired
me
was classed
and "sociological
irresponsibility"
right place to
and hope
believe
remark that
I
some
whom
with
less tolerant
— and
in
I,
I
then than
the kind
of social
quarters as "shallow
This
selfishness."
may be
had long since learned that
the
one
if
is
entertaining unpopular ideas, one has only to keep quiet and wait
back
for the invisible wheels to turn that will bring those ideas
as
the last word in intelligent and forward-looking thinking.
Meanwhile,
I
got on with
my
work.
It
happened that
to this; but
I
25.
made
I
was in
Lombis were on
that part of the Galaxy where the transplanted
Colonised Planet
I
had not thought of them from the old time
a detour
from
curiosity. It
whole Lombi experiment had been
inutile.
could be said that the
They had been
carefully
more evolved races, except for \ cry by Colony 22 personnel to see if it were
preserved from any contact with rare reconnaissance trips
possible to keep a certain pristine social innocence that might be of use in "opening to colonise
new
up" new
planets.
planets in the total
Yet we had nevertheless ceased
—may
I
say reckless?
—way that
we acquired a new possession only after long and careful assessment. Our interest in the Lombis continued to the extent that we wished to monitor
had distinguished our
policies
up
then:
till
the possible development of evidence of a craving for "higher things."
mission
From the spacecraft I made contact home to ask perto make a small experiment of my own: it would not have
me
been given
if
the
Lombis had not
virtually
been written
off as
useful material.
We
had sent no technicians there
Tlieir life-spans
meant that visitations I
had remained
"from the
S-\ears.
two hundred R-years. This
could have no
memory
at all of
skies."
ordered a rapid survey of Planet 25 sunside and nightside, at
maximum meteorite
we would not be observed as more than we were not visible at all on sunside when mo\ing
speed so that
—
and then, having chosen
some I
at roughly
as individuals thev
thousand
for over a
a
populous
area,
hovered in
full
a
view for
hours, while crowds collected.
made
as impressive a descent
dc\ised. Unfortunately
I
from the
aircraft as
had no formal wear with
me
on
could be this
work-
96 ing
but
trip,
— I
not that
it is
my
and made the most of
material,
some white
devised a long cloak of
I
insulation
not exaetly profuse yellow hair
have ever wanted to be more hairy or furred than
I
am, but the yellow or gold-haired species always e\oke awe,
because of our
saw
rarity.
multitude of the poor beasts
a
from the spacecraft, and
floated to earth
I
with a deep and sorrowful groan, which did touch me,
accustomed I
as
I
am
had prepared
to the
awe
and was
confess,
I
so easily evoked in uncixilised races.
kinds of suitably vague replies to possible
all
questions, but found that once skies"
me
to their faces before
fall
their friend, that
I
had
said
I
had "come from the
was enough: awe
is
a great inhibitor
of intelligent questioning.
— ceremonies and — did "the shining ones," and what dread they They remembered
or
their
songs and tales
still
old time on the other planets, that
\\ould not take any of
I
And what was The than
them away with me when
is
ironical ...
situations
But
.
first
.
in
the
is
sad ...
Lombis
just the situation of the
long career
by the most solemn promises
Service
.
is
a
comment on more
my so long, my me with se\eral
.
The
furnishes
a general
comment on
their
customs and mores. the parent stock
24.
prohibitions against covering themselves, and eating cooked
had
for their ceremonies that they
roots
shelter,
and
fruit.
They
to be
was now
lived as before in various types of crude
hut or cave; they hunted; they wore
be retarding them. At
it
naked and eat raw meat
Their basic unit was the family and not the
was
similar
.
and prepared food had not vanished, but had reversed;
and
so very
.
They had not evolved much; any more than had on Planet
I left.
they were so afraid of being taken away from?
it
reply to that
stilled
I
kept from the
least, as
adequately endowed
travelled
I
with
plant
meagre compared to other planets
skins;
they used
tribe: this
fire.
seemed
to
about that planet, which
and animal
—Rohanda,
though
life,
for instance
—
I
was
comparing these animals with the savages of the high plateaux
whom
Klorathy had thought
was the contrast that
I
it
was wondering
superiority of those others was ority of a different
worthwhile to instruct: and such for the first
time
due to something innate, a
kind and classification to those
we
if
the
superi-
Sirians could
— The use,
Sirian
Experiments
and \\hich Klorathy and
The
measure?
officials
on
his level
would be able
to
point was that the Lombis had no capacity for
development, or seemed not to have. I
was examining these short, squat, half-furred creatures, with
their
immensely powerful shoulders and arms,
of three, or four
— up to seven or
jealously suspicious of
its
trees, its sources of roots
living in their groups
but no more
eight,
patch of hunting ground,
and
— each its
group
wild fruit
vegetables, able to mingle with other
when
groups only on ritual occasions
they
all
and remembered with admiration things that
I
crowded together
had scorned. \Vhere
were the customs that can make even hundreds of indixiduals a mutually supporting and culturally expanding unit? W^liere the
fringes,
their
The
worked garments with
their
ornamentation, the delicately used feathers?
The
intricate ceremonial dances?
finely
The instruction of the young and and apprenticeship? The specialisation of indi-
necklaces of car\ed bones and stones?
through
tales
viduals, according
to
innate talent, into storytellers, craftsmen,
hunters, singers? WTiere was
anything like the
skills
.
.
but
.
I
could see nothing here
and knowledge of the Navahis and Hoppes.
Now come to what was painful and pitiful in their situation. How often as travel from one of our Colonised Planets to another I
I
am
I
remember the natural advantages and shining moon, her nightside that
forced to
her close
of
Rohanda, with
is
crammed with
brilliant star clusters?
This planet was a dark one, by nature and position. here.
The Lombis must have had somewhere
the knowledge that nights could be a star
hanging so close
and changing from cracks one
had
away
w'hen a
moon
a full
it
Not only was
—and
gene-memory
with infinite variation from
like a creature, a living
and bright
was to wait
into dark is
seemed
to peer towards
had known what to slide
it
lit
in their
No moon
being
disc to the tiniest of yellow
The Lombis moment when a sun seems
and watch
for that
then up
for.
.
.
.
flash the stars, giving light
temporarily absent.
no moon, but the nightside looked out into an almost empty sky black upon black. In one or two places there was a faint sprinkling of light, stars far beyond our Galaxy, more like a slight greying of the night. And their sun was small and there
—
distant
compared with the rumbustious Rohandan sun from which
— 98
one may have
to shelter,
now when
even
it is
away than
further
it
was.
The Lombis'
now
"shining ones" were
these infinitely faint and
moon
nearly invisible stars. Their old festivals of the full
took
groups of these
when a vast windy plain became filled with animals who travelled long distances to be there
and they stood
in their family groups, lifting their flat sorrowful
place once a year,
faces
up
And
to their black night,
their
and sang of "shining ones."
sun was a "shining one," too, but their worship of
was ambiguous and double,
as if
was an impostor, or
it
it
tried to
claim more than was due.
When
our spaceship descended, a crystal and sparkling globe
them memories
that evoked from
by their environment,
was
it
or half-memories buried in
as
an original primal
if
them
light
suddenly appeared to them. Oh, those black stuffy nights
.
.
.
had
those
interminable unaltering nights, that seemed to settle on the nightside with the sun's disappearance like a physical
complete black,
heavy black, where
a
or inside a leafy shelter
pressure of darkness.
on Planet
25.
I
a fire
burning outside a cave
seemed to hold back
and tangible
a felt
have never experienced anything
Never been on
a planet
like night
where nothing could be done
daytime the Lombis ran about, and attended
after sunset. In the
to their sustenance, but at night they gathered with the
of the sun's going into their groups
rock, or a leaf,
them I
soon
as
could,
I
which they took on
their
appearance to them and
high sliining thing"! oppressive place,
I
my
ambition revived
Canopus now
— and,
thanking
me
love for them. Yet
of the light.
my
for I
gracious
had promised
so easy
it is
to be "a
speeding thankfully away from that
in
and again me, and
to part with
all,
tell
was remembering the apes on Rohanda under
tutelage,
Giants: after
faces,
a
dramatic exit from the planet,
a
them nothing, given nothing:
nothing, told
Canopean
had survived the extinction
making
sign
moment when
would emerge greyly from the thick black and
that once again they
left as
first
and pressed together around
cowering and waiting for that
their little fires,
A
oppression.
I
my
wondered
some
a considerable
old
dream, or if
I
if
you
like,
could not persuade
of those skilled colonists,
time had passed.
the
The
nothing could be impro\ed
If
of keeping I
Experiments
Sirian
them
as
Lombis, what was the point
in the
thev were?
my
sent in a report on
return
home, reminding
my
superiors of
the Lombis' remarkable physical strength: this was on the lines of
what they would have expected from me. Meanwhile, I decided on guile, but nothing beyond what I l>elic\ed then, and bclie\e now, to be legitimate: only a question of interpreting mv standing orders
more
rather
Our
than would ha\e been expected of me.
liberally
relations with
Canopus had been limited
for
some
time,
because of our cutback in colonial de\elopment.
summoned
I
them
that
it
had been
in
Klorathy.
The
seem
my
be benefits for
originallv,
mind, that
fact that
it
I
though of course the idea
should maintain
had not led
us. I felt
contact with
to anything then, or did not
no enthusiasm
among
used to being the odd one out
angle to current norms of thought. it
with Canopus,
ha\e led to anything, did not mean there could never
to
this:
full liaison
to applv for a rendezvous with Klorathy: after
had come from them,
it
peer group, the Fi\e, reminded
was our policy to maintain
and asked permission all.
my
meeting of
a
was recognised
my
be
to
Thev
had become
could not solve her
own problems,
me
did not criticise
for
Nor
did they
saying that since
Canopus
role, or function.
me now, beyond was
I
the Five, always slightly at an
actively discourage
to the solution of ours. This
them, but
in
she was unlikely to contribute
in line
with our attitude at that
time; the thriving planets of Canopus, her busy trade routes, her
and industriousness, was being classed by us
enterprise ficiality
from
and lack of experiential and
as "super-
existential awareness."
I
quote
a learned journal of that time.
The Planet
invitation 1 1
.
I
was
I
got from Klorathy was to meet
first gratified,
since
I
him on
had long wanted
their
to see this
we had heard was "important" to Canopus and unlike found anv other known to either their Empire or ours. And then myself succumbing to suspicion: why Planet ii and not Planet lo? planet that
I
For Klorathy must believe Their Planets lo and sun.
I
power
I
ii
was
still
after his Giants!
were neighbours: planets of the same
even thought of making a landing on trouble, but decided to go on,
and the
lo,
with the excuse of
first
thing
I
saw on
ii
100
was
a
group of Giants walking from the terminal to
told myself that
wondered
if
my
should put aside
I
Klorathy's plans for
me
a hovercar.
readiness for suspicion: but
to see the Giants here, at
and occupied, was another way of refusing me. By now
mv own hovercar. What I could see from
I
work
had got
I
into
the windows was a
scape, greyish in colour, under a greyish sky.
As
large.
I
lurid sky, giving
It said
me
A moment
reddish disc
later, close to
Looking out
I
read the information sheet on the wall.
nightside well starred. It
two fast-moving
had no
seasons, but
mild with extremes of cold only
at the poles,
which were
inhabited. Visitors should not be surprised to find that
term inhabitants wore
little
or
needed more sleep than usual,
no
this
to the fast alternations of light
clothes.
woke up
it
at interpreting these
And
grey-green surface, under a grey sky. lines of the
planet
I
mathematical
common
I
cities
was always on the watch
.
.
reaction
I
resigned
in fact fell asleep, for still
for
when
skimming over
was looking of old
a
.
benign messages,
was day again, and we were
on the
find they
might be slow, but
longer acquaintanceship with the planet would
I
un-
and dark. They would probably
lose their appetites for a while. Adaptation
myself to an uncomfortable time.
left
most long-
They might
being the most
had
warm and
zones of differing climatic conditions, being generally
As an old hand
it,
a sensation of whirling rotation.
that this planet was a well-lit one, with its
pale and
fast across a
feel queasy, so
moons, and
A
land-
These two mo\ed
a smaller bilious green disc.
made me
The sun was
looked, the sun plunged out of sight.
appeared over the opposite horizon.
came
flat featureless
for
a
something
Rohanda: on
a
new
them: they had perhaps
become something of a fixation with me. Mv mental picture of the Canopean Empire included planets covered with these fabulous, these extraordinary' cities. I knew there were none on the Canopean Mother Planet. But n7iv not? I had asked Klorathv, one .
evening
among
.
.
the tents of the savages, where
I
might see these
"At the present time, nowhere." WTiat I saw now was nothing but a drearv sameness, with at more or less
cities
and he
said:
regular intervals rough dwellings like sheds,
some
sort of storage shed.
And
then
I
which
I
supposed to be
saw that outside some were
The
Sirian
Experiments
Giants, and had glimpses of a type of creature that did not attract
me
at
all.
had understood that these dwellings were what I could see on this planet, and that there were probably no cities,
Just as
I
expect to
the ho\crcar stopped suddenly, near one of the structures, and
Klorathy came out of
was
It
it.
a single-storey building, flat roofed,
surrounded by a type of low rough gre\ish the characteristic vegetation. As
I
grass,
which was
clearly
entered the place, dark descended
again. I
and Klorathy were alone
which was scape,
a relief after the
by
lit
and went
off as the daylight
of understandings that
My
was not to be.
and
and
dim
my
I
and dark alternated at
I
for the
mind forbade
set of
it,
it:
it
was defensiye, and
too, for
was feeling sick
I
some low seats and a table. The and the doorway had screens that could be pulled it
if
used to
it."
submitted.
would
now and
Klorathy said at once:
you do not shut out the outside: otherwise you won't get
"Better
I
sat
On
down.
feel better if
I
the table was a meal. Klorathy said
ate at once,
and
I
tried
do
to
could not get a mouthful down. Meanwhile, he ate and
The food was
standard galactic
We were sitting He was
I
but
so,
watched.
fare.
opposite each other, the low table between
smiling and easy,
I
on
my
us.
best official behaviour, because
way of holding myself together. remember thinking that connoisseurs
was I
it
a little giddy.
over them, but they were open
it
exchange
associate with real companionship, but
physical state forbade
w indow apertures
I
came on
outside.
once began to hope
This shack, or shed, had in
I
colours of the sky and the land-
lines of soft wall lights that automatically
Because we were alone
critical;
room, painted white,
in a rectangular
a
of the contrasts so plenti-
by the Imperial experience would have found the of us two piquant: Klorathy, the bronze man, so strong, well
fully offered
sight built,
solid,
with me,
and otherwise
and
my
—
who am
as "a little
usually described
wisp of a thing," with
—affectionately
my
yellow locks
"luminously pale" or "unhealthily pallid" skin
case might be.
A good
deal of our art, the
—
as
more popular forms
the
of
it,
— 102
dealt with such contrasts, which are found endlessly entertaining, particularly
ing
when
But
so myself!
it
in fact, did
drop
suggestive or openly sexual. at the time
not
I
woke
not above find-
to lie
down, and
to see through the
light, contrasts rather stronger
than
and Klorathy could provide. There was another shed
away, and outside
far
1 1
am
wanted only
suddenly, and
off to sleep
apertures, in the full Planet
anything
I
I
my
nearly three times
it
two Giants, twice Klorathy's
one a
size,
totally black
size
man, shining
and
in the
lemon glare, the other a rich chocolate brown, both virtually naked. I had always seen them clothed, because during conferences
pale
everyone
made
sure of being well clothed, regardless of the local
climate, for the sake of giving least offence during occasions that
were always quite rich enough opportunities for annoyance or criticism. like
They were magnificent men:
I
have never seen anything
them. But they were in a group of creatures half their
seemed
and pale
like frail
insects
— that
size,
who
was the impression they
made on me. As
looked, the dark swallowed everything, and almost at once
I
the two
moons appeared,
and small, lighting evervthing with
Their colours seemed different from when
a strong yellow glare.
had seen them
large
in the hovercar,
with the strain of
it all,
and again
and when
I
woke
it
I
dropped
was
light,
I
off to sleep,
and Klorathy
was outside, talking to a group of the "insects." They were not
much
different
plan
in
from the physical
structure
common
throughout our Galaxy.
They were seemed and of
when
so,
not very short, being
in fact
taller
than mvself, but
because they were so extremely thin and light in build,
a silvery-grey colour that
they were not.
made one
They had no
hair
believe
on
them transparent
their tall
domed
heads.
—
Each hand and it was their hands one had to take note of first had ten very long fingers, nailless, giving the impression of bunches movement. They had three eyes, quite round, with vertical black pupils. There was a pattern of
of tentacles always in
bright green, nostrils
—simple holes —
four or even more. I
was glad that
I
No
in the centre of their flat faces, three, or
nose.
And no mouth
at
all.
was able to examine them from
a little distance,
and even more glad that Klorathy was not there, because I have never been able to overcome an instinctive abhorrence for creatures
The
Experiments
Sirian
my own
dissimilar to
handicap
my
This has been
species.
greatest single
Colonial Servant. Attempts to overcome the weak-
as a
me more
ness have cost
than any other
effort,
such as learning
languages and dialects, and having to acclimatise myself to places
Colony
like this
ii,
with
rapid rotation that one could feel and
its
\iolent alternations of light.
its
my
Despite
repugnance,
mo\cment and
I
was able
animated
his
watch Klorathy's
to
but could not see
face,
lips in
how
they
no mouth. After a time the same two Giants rejoined the group and Klorathy came in to rejoin me. talked, with
I
him
could see no sign in
of repugnance.
we
W^ithout speaking, he pulled the low seats to a window, and
by
sat side
and observed the two Giants and the "insect
side
people."
As
I
was thinking
this
unflattering description
of them,
looking at the tentacles that seemed to flow around the air around their heads, Klorathv said: are
more highly exohed than anv but one
"More than
the Giants?"
I
"You
and
them and in wrong. They
are
of our peoples."
could not help sounding sarcastic,
the contrast between the noble and
handsome black men and the
"insects" was so great.
"They complement each
And he
amber
tiredness.
This
balance of
it,
atmosphere was
though
it
had
—
it
was impatience, and also
exhausting
slightly less
—not
oxygen than
but suddenly again the sun had gone, and
now
the I
a sort of greenish colour, grass, the
of the others, was to
be
made
absorbed, and
abruptly left I
said, "I
lit
all
I
was used
little
two enormous black Giants, and the by
to,
moon moon,
and the scene we had been watching, of a horrible reddish light,
of blood,
and the shapes
cluster
and the Giants
of the "insects" were
could see was a mass of waving tentacles.
my seat and
turned
my
don't think Colonv ii suits me."
nothing and
T
asked:
I
face inwards.
humorous.
He said
chemical
there was one
shining blood orange this time, and then appeared the
low greyish
the
gaze.
could not prevent myself sighing
seemed
me
looked at me, leaning forward to impress on
force of his I
other," was the reply.
"And vou?"
And
tried to
make
it
"I
spend
"At
a
good deal of time here." our present needs, this planet
this time, for
is
important to
us."
understood that
I
tion that
I
wanted
still
I
is
specific,
and contained informa-
But
for.
strongest thought was that
if
I
felt
ill
after so
and
many
could not control an instinctive response to creatures
physically different, then "It
was
—had been reaching out
my
was discouraged; ages
this reply
it
was time
gave
I
it all
up and
retired!
not the physical difference as such," said Klorathy.
"Well then?
suppose they talk with their tentacles?"
I
"No. Their tentacles are
They
sensors.
sense the variations in the
atmosphere with them."
"And
suppose they use telepathy?"
I
We had no races in all our Empire who were telepathic, but had heard there were such races, and believed that Canopus had several. I
was being
again, but Klorathy said,
sarcastic
The Giants talk like you and me. The The two species get on well enough."
telepathic.
own way. "And they have no mouths."
I
They
"Yes.
are
others in their
could not help a shudder.
"Have you not noticed something quite unique about
this
planet?"
"No. All
am I
too.
I
know
going to leave
that
is
and each sent
"Wait
me
feel very sick
The moons were
sunlit,
off a
in the sky,
indeed, and
I
but the sun was,
were faintly green and yellow
glow of illuminated
in a grey sky,
gases.
just a little."
"There are no towns.
"And
makes
it."
looked out again.
The moons,
it
there are
No cities."
no crops growing. Haven't you noticed?"
"Ah! The Giants have given up eating!"
"No.
We import enough
food for them. But the people here do
not eat."
"They live on "Exactly
so.
they breathe
air,"
I
expostulated.
Their tentacles assess the ingredients of the it
in according
to
what
is
available at
air
and
any given
moment." I
absorbed
this.
It
gave
me
a
dismayed, cold feeling.
It is
not
The that
Sirian
am,
I
Experiments
as
mv
our saying goes, eaten by
food, but
it
come easily to imagine life without anv at all. "And the Giants are teaching them, as they did the
does not
apes on
Rohanda?" "No.
told you,"
I
he said
Together thev make
other.
"They
gently.
are a balance for each
a whole."
"In relation to what?"
As
I
said this
that he
I
realised
had come out with
I
had been waiting
me
for
a real question:
At once he
to ask.
one
replied: "In
relation to need."
And my disappointment made me You always say need. WTiat need?" He did not reply. While I was formulate the right question,
up the moons of Colony
many and
bright, though,
feeling soothed
the larger
1 1
I
fell
snap out: "Need, need, need.
wrestling with
unpleasant, and
I
light
when I woke The stars were
stood looking out into the night,
I
and comforted, but not
moon, and the
need to
asleep again, and
were absent altogether.
and
my
for long, for
soon up sprang
was green and metallic and
decided at that
moment
to leave.
I
ver)-
could not see
Klorathy.
On
the table was a large white tablet, and on
"The exact disposition of usefulness Need will change in twenty Canopean
it
Klorathy had
written:
of this planet accord-
ing to
days. If
to stay until then,
care to
meet
me
I
think you should.
feel able
not, then perhaps
you may
If
you
on Shikasta (Rohanda,
if
you
insist) in
Koshi on the eastern side of the central landmass. the hovercar to take you to the space-port It
was waiting.
more of
this
I
got into
it,
shut
my
if
I
its
have ordered
you want."
eyes so as not to see any
nauseating planet and had thankfully
there could be another descent of
the city of
lurid
left
and ahvays
it
before
different
night.
Twenty Canopean davs make
a Sirian year.
other tasks and then went to Rohanda.
I
attended to some
— io6
KOSHI
—
Canopus "may we be permitted to suggest" before I left, and there was plenty in them to make me
Instructions from arrived well
think. First, there rituals.
A sharp
was a change in the protective
one, greater than any previous change.
practices, or
had begun
I
to take for granted certain basic usages that did not alter
could,
had thought
I
—but now everything was
different.
— nor not
will
I
trouble to detail these practices, which were to change again and
again thereafter. But
it
was emphasised that these were of im-
portance, that their exact and accurate practice was I
vital,
and that
should not be tempted to alter them, not for any reason at
all,
nor at the behest of any person whatsoe\er, no matter his or her
apparent credentials.
I
am
underlining here what was underlined.
my
Certain artefacts were provided for
remember
that the planet was
now under
apparent purposes, of Shammat, and
was particularly true of the
cities
I
Secondlv,
use.
I
must
the domination, for
my
must be on
all
guard: this
on the eastern part of the central
landmass, and Koshi was as bad as any of them. Thirdly,
I
must
remember that the planet, since its axis had been set on a slant, had seasons Canopus believed that one of our own planets had
—
seasons?
—and
this
had much affected the general temperament,
already, of course, thoroughly perverted since the Catastrophe of
the failure of the Lock. Fourthly, the predominant stock was a
mix of the old
giants
and the old
natives, with admixtures un-
planned and planned from other genes (was that deceptions and errors,
I
had
now
to wonder),
and
a
my
reminder of
this hybrid,
though
physically vigorous, was nevertheless psychologicalh- affected be-
cause of a sharp reduction in general life-span, and resulting location of expectations for a certain life-span, I
should remember that a
symptom
and the
dis-
fact. Fifthly,
of the general worsening
and
corruption was that females had been depri\ed of equalitv and dignity,
and while
I
would be able
without attracting too choose
my role
much
to enter Koshi as a tra\eller
attention, once there
with the greatest possible care.
There was a good deal more,
too.
Planet 13 that had climatic seasons.
I
made
How
.
.
I
would ha\e to
.
a detour to visit
did
our
Canopus know
so
— The
Sirian
Experiments
nuich about us? Again
was prompted to brood about
imagine. Planet
1 3's
in
counsels of
around
1 3,
a rich
and
then in orbit with several
away from
others around a vast gaseous planet, orbit
The
our Colonial Service had been unable to prevent
a decision to propel a certain planet,
and into
wonderful
were a result of a hotheaded, and to
disabilities
irresponsible, phase of our early Empire.
maturer minds
a
equipment beyond anything we could
system with
espionage
my mind
I
station there,
its
fruitful planet,
where
it
could
make use of 13's natural resources of water and food to balance its own barrenness. The point was that this thoroughly dreary little world was loaded with every kind of desirable mineral. that
I
—and my faction —did
not want,
much
just as
It
as the hot-
heads, to get our hands on these mineral riches but that
not prepared to go to such lengths, take such
we were
that
was a
right: they that they
success. It arrived to take its
on
balance, and
disturbing
its
were various species of but
I
little
its
.
The
maintain
I
propulsion of 14
around
orbit
still
13, again
a
making it slant on its axis. There animal on 13, none particularly attractive,
have always believed
damage
up
.
.
we were
"pull" caused cataclysms and catastrophes
planet's planet, but 1 3,
were
risks.
was not
in
and supported
policies that cause as
The
to indigenous races as possible.
upsets on 13
wiped out millions and completely changed the patterns of fertility I see that I am talking like Klorathy, when he referred to the
—
horrific cataclysms
on Rohanda
as the "events."
As
far as
we were
concerned, these unfortunate effects on 13 were enough to prove
no arguing that 14 has been producing minerals enough to supply all our Empire ever since. All I wished, during my stop on 13, was to check briefly on the
our policy correct: but there
is
effects of continual, often violent, climatic
extreme heat to extreme cold.
My
change, sometimes from this stopover,
account of
—and more dramatically
turned out differently will
be found
It is
in the records, entitled
enough to say here that
I
"Under
learned
all
a I
than
I
which
expected
Punishing Moon."
needed about these
continual variations.
When down,
it
I
Rohanda and looked somewhere here I had been
arrived over the designated area of
was with the thought that
buffeted and swept about in the blizzards and torrents during the
"events"
— and
that below
me must
be the mountain peak where
— io8 I
had rested
my
in
space bubble and seen the fleeing herds of
animals and heard their sad, lamenting
dozen great grasses,
on
cities
grassv areas were
showing
As
I
could see a
brown and
tints of
ochre,
—and was able
and
its
But the
forests spread themselves.
glance that deserts were threatening
once that these
I
was coloured green from
a vast plain that
and deeper green where
Now
cry.
saw
I
at a
to diagnose at
were doomed to be swallowed by the sands.
cities
have seen often enough on some of our own planets, before
we became the
skilled administrators
my
hovered there in
them
rejoice that these cities,
would
live
are.
I
yearned, as
and
carried out
—and
then be able to
which looked healthy enough from
me
gave
flourish. It
this
the oddest feeling
of
check and frustration to know that
I
could not do any such thing!
must keep quiet about what
I
knew, and must allow
that
I
experience to remain un\oiced. well ensconced in a career, a
It
way
of living, as
ence always ready to be pulled into use
may be
Of
uselessness
attack
was
.
.
—
as
.
which
feelings
I
However,
I
I
—with patterns
and so much varied
—
experi-
verv seldom, in fact,
it is
must then
at
futility.
once and ine\itably
individual sense of usefulness. Again
one
—with
armoured against such
existential doubts. It
I
mode
over Koshi
is
not
feelings.
pushed them away and instructed the crew
in the fast-invisible
long
had been before, hovering over the Rohandan
scene, but such a different
possible to be
am
I
attacked suddenly with such a feeling of
much more than an
afflicted
my
not often that an indi\idual as
is
of work, friends, companions, offspring,
that one
I
Space Traveller, to simply descend, give the
appropriate orders, see
height,
we now
to hoxer
itself.
always like to examine a city in this way before actually
entering
it:
one may often see
at a glance
its
condition and probable
future.
The
thing to be seen here was that
first
recent growth, that
it
citv,
villas
and gardens. These covered more
which was earth coloured, and composed
of densely cranmicd buildings
from which rose
towers. In other words, there was a disparit\
the poor
—
a
had experienced
bulged and spread out to the west in large
suburbs of shining white
ground than the old
it
punishable disparity, to
ornamental kind spread around
the
my
tall
cone-shaped
between the
rich
and
mind. Gardens of an
western
suburbs.
Market
The
Sirian Experiments
To
gardens lay to the south.
the east, the poor inud-coloured
dvvelhngs ended in the shabby-looking semidesert. This great city
on
eminence
its
The
had
in the plain
lost its vegetation
almost entirely.
expanses of browns and yellows that surrounded
had
it
smears of green in some places, but dust clouds hung over the roads and paths that ran into the city from
all
need to know more, and gave the order to
many
I
did not
me down
on the
directions.
set
little
edge of one of the roads, which we could see were not frequented.
When
was done
this
experienced the usual exhilaration as
I
saw the spacecraft disappear
like a
dependent on myself. Also,
this
I
could not help but
fields
And
wind blew hard on
a planet with
my back
from the north,
the cold would intensify shortly, for
when
away from
off ice
and snow
sun.
its
I
new
road
this
I
all
disposed.
But the poor part of the town
shapes
had not seen anywhere. Very
certain ant heaps
Continent
I,
I
had seen
touched
—
their bases
if
crumbling ant heap
cones.
I
in
judged these
and wondered
yet already filled
tall
knew
the houses were
rose high, in a pattern of tall
and narrow conical
dun coloured and rather like my time on Isolated Southern
all
were crammed together,
if
was a minor road,
could see of the rich
I
I
It
though straight and
a dirt track,
suburbs were a mass of trees in which
buildings, twenty-one of them,
me.
for
had chosen.
well ditched. Looking ahead at Koshi
I
I
looking as
in a small space,
could see low habitations, as
what space there was between the
buildings to be ten or eleven storeys high,
at the reasons for building so tall
when
there was
the space any system of government could possibly need
was the reason:
tall
policed and supervised. So ing
my
eyes
basic Sirian,
open
and
had been advised
tightly I
speculated as
carried over
— unless
populated buildings are easily I
for other travellers, for
I
its
was looking forward to experiencing the
much more than
unpaved, not
would be the time of
it
the northern hemisphere would be revolving on
There was no one on
this
which
And I was already able to examine were now part of Rohanda's nature:
approaches to a "winter," something
all
was alone and
around the pole, so much more extensive than they had been.
the R-year tilt
was Rohanda,
I
bonded.
feel
evidences of the "seasons" that a cold
soap bubble and
I
my arm
walked firmly I
wore
my
in,
keep-
usual garb,
a large piece of cloth that
must envelop myself
in as a female.
I
I
did see a
no group of individuals approaching, and wrapped myself completely
my
in the black cloak, allowing only
men
—that was
the
obvious
first
very varied genetic mix.
fancied
I
moulded cheekbones and
eyes freedom.
They were
Probably traders.
fact.
And
all
of a
was able to see in them the high
I
wide-set eyes of the old giants, as well as
the sturdy set of the natives, but this group of twenty or so were quite extraordinarily mixed, of several skin tones, and with grey and
They wore
green eyes as well as the more familiar brown. trousers,
theme
and baggy but belted
so often,
and
tunics.
manv
in so
had seen
I
places,
on
this
was able to guess that
I
who with
these were not of the upper class
variations
loose
quite remarkable
uniformity everywhere in the Galaxy choose garments that are unsuitable for physical labour and for easy and unconfined move-
ment: galactic nature was thinking
this,
There
the same everywhere. But as
I
of the Canopeans,
this rule.
no gardens on
v/ere
much
remembered the garments
I
which contradicted
very
is
this side of
the
city.
The
road or track
began to be bordered with many shacks and hovels, mostly of
whom
timber, and there were swarms of people, none of
take any notice of
me
any. Yet they
like the travelling
closely
and
all,
at
all,
seemed
to
neither offering greetings nor expecting
group of males, examined
me
acutely, their eyes obviously skilled at getting a great
deal of information in a curtailed glance: tants of this city were afraid, certain arrivals
become too
I
knew
and compared what
I
that the inhabi-
was seeing with
on our own Colonised Planets where our
harsh,
and
local officials
rule
had
needed to be checked.
This low huddling of rough buildings, crowds of poorly dressed people, children
ment
who
could see were ill-nourished, and an assort-
I
of canines (which
inspect, since
I
had
to resist the temptation to stop
on none of our planets had we tamed
soon terminated abruptly
as
I
cones, which soared
up above
tall
with
floating white clouds that
again.
But
I
did not feel familiar
difference, of the alien, that
me
emotions that
I
me.
And
I
felt, as I
me
into the blue sky
had so often longed to see here. There was a sharp tang of I
was affecting
was expecting:
concomitant of seasons
a similar species)
reached the circular base of one of
the very its
and
mc
sharply, causing in
instability of feeling
—so Klorathy's
looked behind
me
brief
was a
summary had warned
into a sun that was sinking
The
Sirian
Experiments
and heard the cold winds creeping about among the hovels, pang of melancholy that 1 did not like at all. Shaking it off, I
fast,
a
plunged into the crowds. They were nearly
shrouded
all
The
males.
figures
mvself were presumably females. Even the female
like
children were, after quite an early age, shrouded in this ugly black. I
was conscious
bad
and
sign,
was
I
a
I
was feeling indignation
most unwelcome
now among
crooked
—
this
seemed
to
noise
dizzy from
felt
I
had been immersed, had
streets
The
it.
prepared
ill
and
lanes, all
crammed with
silences of space, in
me
times screaming and quarrelling mob.
On
females not shrouded up.
much
and
degeneration was worse than a
of
result
legislation. ...
pressure I
realised
I
And
like a stranger.
me
who
there.
mv
I
had expected, though unless
severely
This
of course
it is
controlled
by
as their
at ever}i:hing, stopping to stare
when
place in the press, and in e\ery
way behaving
my way
blocked by a
in a
moment
I
found
stood firmly in front of me, obviously intending to keep
He
black sheet.
something
I
in
was staring close into
my
him
I
couple of spans
my
is,
specifically, there
was
He
I
alien,
was of middle Rohandan height, a
than myself, broad and
solid,
and
his skin, of
almost green, had the smooth cool appearance of
stone. His eves were opaque, oblong, without brows. hair, as far as
slit
was able to sense that was more than the
taller
a gre\ish colour,
in
eyes through the
found him unpleasant. That
or the not-understood.
could
see, for
he was wearing
His clothing was a voluminous fur cloak.
akimbo, in a way that
made me
experience
He had no
a square pull-on cap,
ornamented with lumps of coloured stone, of a material. His mouth was straight, almost to the slit.
some-
freely.
was straying through the crowds,
moved me, looking
was able to hold
male,
I
I
was seeing
I
offering themselves
everxAvhere
povert\-
which
for this shouting,
And now
so
the contrar\-, they were almost naked,
and
painted, bejewelled,
a
sign of possible imbalance.
people. There were open shops and booths, eating places,
much
me
them
soft rich-looking ears,
He
and only a
put his arms
as a fence or con-
finement, and stared closer and closer, the greenish eyes not blinking,
and very
intense.
guarded mvself.
I
1
he was trying to hypnotise me, and noting something else: he wore hea\y
realised
was also
gold earrings of a certain pattern.
Among
the artefacts
I
had been instructed by Klorathy
to use as
112 a protection were these precise earrings
—but
to
be worn at certain
times and in combination with other practices. Earrings had been
used in
as a rare thing;
had originated I
would be again
To ornament
manner.
this
—and
but
the ears can hardly be described
—and therefore must contain hazards.
way
had exactly similar
how
knew he was
me
I
that
could conceal these
said:
Canopean, not
lot to think about.
how
I
in Sirian
.
.
The
third cone."
going to here:
I
—
in a position to I
.
little
exhilaration that
porch and tried
comes from having I
knew
clumsy Canopean, and certainly not
among
the porch and wandered
and outside the eating
had come, and they were taking
see,
lit
places.
even more
their ease.
was not
I
my
Sirian,
the odorous noisy
throng, while the light left the sky, and flares were
could
had to
I
to go "to the top of the
my
I
have
shall
they were built together in a bunch!
sad and to-be-pitied people,
I
remember the crowds. But he had spoken altogether, I had been given a
had been instructed
at angles of the streets
by now
for
And
risk left
I
my
this e\il
if
to pit one's wits against strangeness persisted, but find shelter quickly.
had under
to the point of
concealed myself in a
to proceed.
I
had got
"Very well then!
you!" and turned and vanished in
to decide
I
—person captured me or was
examined, when he
in basic
bag
earrings concealed in a
wrap, with the other specified objects.
wondering
the artefacts
had long since concluded that the practice
I
in this
—among
everywhere
This was a
now
the night
They were drunken,
often fighting, tense with deprivation, and the degraded females
dominated everything, openly their customers
had never seen anything
I
did not
like this scene,
cones
and had been able
—
it
to notice,
the end of one of the arcs.
walls.
A
if
a table.
And
still
to put myself
the spacecraft
there was one, a pattern
could perhaps be said thev were built in two very
deep arcs that intersected: in which case interior: they
retiring with
not anvwhere.
know how to find the third cone. I tried that moment when I looked down from
at the town, in the
and
no further than into a doorway, or under
I
back into
selling themselves,
I
went
I
was near the third from
inside,
finding a cool pale
used a very fine plaster, like a ceramic, to line their
steep stairway spiralled inside the building:
I
went up and
up, stopping continually to look out of narrow slitlikc openings as
The
Sirian
Experiments
the citv opened below me, and the noisome hovels of the low town
with lights shining in the
trees,
would not
easily
thought that day
now shadowy and
away, and the gardened suburbs,
fell
I
—but \\hcn
I
came into make such
reached the Ncry top,
I
a
I
found a doorway that was
I
pushed the curtain aside and entered
a flake of writing
it
Welcome.
the one word, in Sirian:
it
and up ...
climb again, not that
a
curtained in thick dark red material, and on
ceramic that had on
Up
\'iew.
attractive
room, the half of
a large
make two This room was
round: the circular top of the tower was bisected to
rooms bv
same
a wall of the
gleaming
finely
plaster.
furnished pleasantly enough with low couches and tables and piles of cushions, but glance, was
what
was looking
I
— Klorathy. But
it
That moment impressed
me
now.
often
I
learned from It
it
re\'ive
— and
me
had been annoyed
know
ceased to
that
would understand this
.
.
if .
how he
his person,
and remains with
sharply,
to say again closely said
because of what
I
I
intrigued
I
was,
and
attended to everything about
And
it.
how so on.
.
.
.
No
or checked, or disappointed,
matter I
how
had never
could understand him and his ways
I
well,
preoccupation with
me
on
do.
still
—
I
assessing
first
wasn't Klorathy.
itself
had been, by Klorathy, how him what he said, how he often
my
after
for a re-examination,
it,
not necessary for
is
at,
but that was after
him had been bound
all
I
And
the point!
up, inevitably, with
looked, spoke, certain tricks of manner.
I
had
unconsciouslv deemed these Canopus, associated a superior, and at the present time out of
my
phvsical presence. His personalitv
Yet
in front of
me was
a
way
reach,
man
him, and whose smile and nod
.
.
of being with Klorathy's
.
not Klorathy,
as
he greeted
who looked
me
am Nasar," he said. "Klorathy told me you asked me to see vou have evervthin£ vou want." "I
I
very like
were familiar. were coming, and
was quite stunned. Believing he could have no idea why,
I
disposed myself comfortably on a low pile of cushions and accepted
some wine.
What that
I
I
felt
have to sav here, so
more than the
as to
make
dislocation that
and thwarted expectations.
I
was feeling
it
unmistakably
clear,
is
comes from misdirected
a different
kind of letdown.
11^
was a warning, and
It
a strong one. Tliis
how he behaved
Nasar looked or
was not because of
—
how
was complete. But
his courtesy
warnings were flashing through me.
And
I
suppressed them!
my awe of
This was because of stood
for.
And
yet
my
the time
all
kinds of discrepancies
all
setting
As
Canopus. Of everything Canopus
after-all
highly trained eyes were noting
—seeing what
I
should be seeing, and then
aside.
it all
play back that scene, so as to examine
I
thing there that
it,
me
needed to prevent and save
I
there was every-
much
from so
puzzlement and confusion.
There was
—only
very briefly a
way
a flicker
was being said or done
manner
to deal with
—yet
So much
it
for
We were wanted
one, which
made his was
it,
a short laugh, as to stand
I
a
he were astonished at
if
by what he found.
chose not to put a
floor
He had
carelessness.
.
.
that was familiar to me, for
from the
name
to
it
He had
a
had had often
I
then.
my readiness to use it. He showed me how to get food, rather, for
below, which was a foodshop for the
low door into the room next door,
just like this
and private place
—and having
was to use
as a sleeping
apologies, was ready to leave. tired,
but stimulated, and had hoped for more
this
I
is
I
must decide what
to be a whore.
least a trader or
of
went out
charming place," said he,
woman. One
talk, or in
go out again into the teeming streets below. But he
said that before
woman
I
.
face,
—and often inappropriately to what
not together for long.
lieu of that, to
"In
of recklessness
my perspicacity — or
opened
building,
I
—
and yet proposed
general air or
if I
—
of suddenly letting out
himself,
on the man's
a particular smile that appeared
some
You would
I
was to
play.
''there are three roles for a
One, the wife of
merchant. Or you kind.
role
may be
not choose,
a high official, or at
a servant or I
am
working
sure, the first."
The way he said this had a laugh behind it that I simply did not know how to take. "The second is out of your reach for you are
—
not here with a permit or passport and must conceal yourself. Therefore,
would be
I
can only suggest that you pose
entirely within the
as
my
servant. This
customs and mores of Koshi.
you wear indoors does not matter, though
if
someone
What
arrives un-
The
Siriari
Experiments
expectedly you must cover yourself up absolutely, but wear appropriate clothes underneath in case
and
a chest a
left.
long tunic.
W^iat had Tliat
I
found
1
And I
I
felt
a plain blue skirt, I
saw of Nasar
trousers,
for several days.
should spend time with Klorathy, that he would instruct ... all that
I
could not work out for myself,
continually on the edge of discovering.
and from windows
same
I
many
at
my
clothes as
women
did, short skirt over trousers,
I
was from the
far
high vantage
levels in the building. In the
excited notice. It was staffed by
tunic; their hair tied in cloth. I
at
expected?
foodshop below,
them:
He nodded
baggy blue
did not go out, but observed the town from
point,
the
it
that was the last
me, and would explain but
in
you are searched."
My
unbound
Northwest, they
said,
wearing
and the loose interested
fair hair
and assumed
I
was
descendant of the survivors of the "events," which they referred
a
"The Great Punishment." Some Adalantalanders had escaped somehow, had made their way east, and had helped to settle these great cities of the far eastern plains. They had a reputation for they were priestesses and shamanesses; and no beautv, for wisdom to as
—
fair
be born anywhere without being
or blue-eyed child could
called "child of the lost islands of the great oceans of the west."
But
I
was no true daughter of Adalantaland
locks were too sparse, rings,
my
which
I
wore
and
my
—
I
was too
my
my
ear-
But
eyes were not sea blue.
at certain
thin,
hours of certain days, announced
true lineage, so these serving
women knew: and
evervbody that the merchant on the top floor had
they told
as his serving
maid a slave from the Northwest fringes. This I did not want, and wrapped my head thereafter so my "magic" earrings did not show, and tried to be inconspicuous, and took at one time as much food as
was practical up the
wanted very much
stairs so as to
keep
my
visits
few, though
to talk with these cheerful slaves.
what they were. The females
For that
I is
of this culture were truly enslaved, in
They had never questioned that males should run everything, make laws, decide who should marry and how, and dispose of the futures of children. The dispossession that thev did not
know
they were.
of the true role of females
know
it
had taken place so long ago they did not
had ever happened. Their reverence
land was
all
that remained to
them
for the old Adalanta-
of a real inkling of
what females
lU
And
could do and be.
had become "magic," and "witchcraft."
that
man
ambition and possibihty was to marry a
Tlicir highest
in a
good position: or to give birth to sons who would prove themselves. I longed to study the warps and distortions in the female psyche
had caused:
that this displacement of their true function
them
to study
depth and in such a way that
in
I
wanted
could return
I
home
with a contribution to our Studies in Perverted Psychology. But first I
things
first.
kept myself private and retired to the windows where
look north and see
was getting colder
the questions
seemed
me
to
them, that
And
specific
—the
white beginnings of the
and
wrapped myself
many
sat .
.
a
questions,
my
into
to
know.
It
wanting to know
need that now could not any
how
they would be answered, in
how
how
would frame
I
kinds of ways.
all
they would not be answered, for
And
was already
I
expect checks and delays.
One
evening,
when
I
had
sat a
long time in a window opening
gazing over the rich suburbs and wondering
powerful ones of this culture, and able
—
them because
to picture
had seen the
black cloth
off.
imagined, too,
either
wanted
I
imagined what would happen,
I
my
Klorathy? Well, then, Nasar.
.
had gone
wanting had fed
in
hours quietly, thinking of
definite things
that long ages
this
longer be put
I
was going to ask
I
There were
and
daily,
warmth, and
for the sake of
set to
fancied
I
could
and south to great mountains where the snows lay again.
icecaps, It
—so
I
in the streets,
women
who were
—not
that inaccurately
all
of their victims
from the windows, and
when
downstairs in the foodshops;
the rich and
and subjects
I
in the persons of I
had watched
in
myself the melancholies and sadness that went with this "season" of the rapidly darkening days, so that there was less light in any
day than there was night; when over again what well
—
low
seat,
I
wanted
to
I
had repeated
know, so that
came Nasar, unexpectedly, and
in
opening
a
I
in myself over
and
could ask sensibly and
flung himself
down on
a
package of food he had brought from the shop
below, and eating rapidly and in a
way
that
I
had never seen
in
He unceremoniously thrust a lump of some sweet stuff me and said: "Have some," and wiped his mouth roughly
Klorathy.
towards
and
lolled back, his
hands locked behind
his head, staring
up and
The
Experiments
Sirian
out at the sky that showed through the windows high in the
was
ings. It
and clouds
a eool sky,
fled past.
eeil-
was utterly over-
I
thrown again, because he was so similar to Klorathy. I sat myself down carefully, and said to him, beginning m\'
cross-
examination: "Are you a relative of Klorathy?"
He
This he took as a shock, or a check.
and gave
me his
attention:
"Well, lovely lady," said he, and stopped.
but too patient, there was
said, in a different voice, patient,
much
effort in
it
and he was speaking
"We come
or a trance:
are
remember how he
I
He much
shut his eyes, sighed, and seemed to fight with himself.
brieflv
too
on me,
set his eyes direct
flicker of a restless
from out of a dream
from the same planet, Klorathy and
And
very similar in appearance."
all
as
laugh
—and then
"Am
We
there was, again, that
a turning aside of the eyes, a
sort of painful grimace, a quick shaking of the head, as
were being shaken away.
I.
Then he looked
at
me
if
thoughts
again.
going to see Klorathy this time?"
I
"One Canopean
is
the same as another," he said, and
it
was
like
the ghost of a derisive quote.
"You said
And knew I had
it.
He
are not like Klorathy,"
—and
this time,
I
I
it
want
know what
to ask questions of
age-long high
It
and
official
effectiveness
seemed
sadly, right.
I
could have sworn
At
this
moment,
at
to say.
somebody
at myself
to
—
of Sirius, I
.
.
."
and
— the tone
this
was desperate.
of this interview or
had ever known. I, Ambien with all that meant of responsi-
exchange was different from anything
bilit}'
—
indeed not remotely like Klorathy."
was becoming amazed
II,
I
kindly.
"No, you are
said gently:
am
did not
"I
not meant
looked surprised, then laughed
to that
I
said doggedly, surprised that
I
I
did not recognise myself.
me, however, that incompetent
as
I
was being, he
was arrested by me, and returned to something different from ... could not yet say to myself, simply, that he was in a bad, recognisably least
I
state.
I
said that at this
moment
a
at
could see something in him of Klorathy.
"Ask, it
wrong and bad
I
fair Sirian."
—because
manner
of
it.
This
I
did not like but was able to swallow
of the element of caricature in
what he
said,
the
— ii8 "First of
all. I
met
man on
a
disliked everything about
the very
him ..."
first
evening
I
was here.
I
described him, physically,
I
and waited.
"You must
surely be able to
work that out
We
for yourself.
are
That was one of them. They know everything that happens. \Vlio comes into the city and who goes out. But you passed their test." under the aegis of Puttiora here. As
"What
believe you were told.
I
test?"
"Obviously, you were of Canopus, and therefore you were not
molested." "I
am
"They
not, however."
are an ignorant lot."
"Why
do you
tolerate
T
"A good
Why?
question, fair Sirian.
loathsome, horrible
ask
I
to the
."
.
.
and he got up,
window and leaned
women, the
said things
I
From
out.
a
a very long silence.
man
still
his head,
and then flung himself down
for
even a moment,
disgusted by
below
heard
I
the poor
could have, then,
I
Canopus and
so
.
.
.
hunted haunted face towards me, and sighed,
and then laughed, and then shook in his hands,
far
and choking,
flare-lit streets,
did not until later. But this was
and when he turned
nasty, stinking,
sale of flesh, the fighting, the drinking.
At that point there was
a
in-
myself. Every hour
it
literally sick
the clamour of evening, and imagined the
to stay
hot,
fierce,
WTiy? \Vhy do we put up with the
of every day.
posturing
asked,
"Why?"
credulous.
and went
rule?"
their
I
and then put
again,
his face
and yet was unable
said to myself only that this
was
Shammat.
"Very long term, the perspectives of Canopus, you must learn to understand that,"
"And dignity.
he
said at last.
very long term are the perspectives of Sirius,"
For
if
there was one thing
empires and the running of them
he laughed
until
.
understood,
I .
.
it
I
said,
was that
with .
.
.
but he stared and laughed
he flung himself back and lay exhausted, staring
at the ceiling.
The thought was
in
my mind
very deep situational trouble.
"Very well,"
I
And
that this was a I
suppressed
said, "for reasons of
man who was
in
it.
long-term dc\clopment, you
The
Sirian Experiments
Shammat, you tolerate Piittiora and allow them to believe they are in control. Very well. But what are you doing here?" tolerate
good question, again,
*'A I
fair Sirian."
"You do not have
said,
What
doesn't matter.
want
I
me
to call
know
to
Canopus? ^^^^at are you?" And and
sustain breaks easily.
I
break bones.
He
me
what
is,
is
—
my
all
it
the function of
my
limbs are thin and
was using enough strength to
I
With
thoughtfully.
respect.
are right to ask that question."
"But you are not going
At
have a name. But
sat back, carefully relaxing myself.
I
was watching
"You
I
was leaning forward, twisting
I
hands together, so that they cracked frail,
that.
this
to
answer
it?"
he started up, leaning forward, gazing at
incredulous. "Can't you see
.
.
he began
."
—and
me
as
if
then lay back
again, silent.
"See it
M'hat?''
But he
said nothing.
that \ou will never answer?
Wliy
"Wliy do you
stop?
Why
is
always get so far and then
is it I
you won't answer?"
He
was gazing at me, from where he reclined.
sworn that
absolute,
and
going
Klorathy. But he was not.
definite, to the extent that
to:
could have
copper man, or bronze man, that bronze-eyed,
man was
smiling
I ^^'as
this
I
"\\^at
He laughed. And even then
I
The
contrast was so
said to him, not
I
alert
knowing
the matter with you?"
is
didn't pursue
it,
for
if I
had done he would have
answered.
He
stood up.
He
He
collected himself.
smiled
— oh,
not at
all
like Klorathy.
"First of
sighed. "I
I
all
...
I
have
to tell
saw he was not going
have to go," he
you
to say
.
.
."
and he stopped, and he
it!
said.
To work? They say you are a merchant?" "I am a merchant. In Shammat land do as Shammat does. I am a merchant as you arc my servant." He came close to me then and bent and put out both hands and touched my earrings. "Take care "WTiy?
of them," said he, and sprang back, as
"WTiere are yours?"
I
asked.
if
the touch burned him.
120
"A good
But they
question.
are
on the earlobes of Shammat.
They were stolen, you see. Or, more accurately, I got drunk and very bad," he said. "Not gave them to the earlobes of Shammat .
.
.
good."
And he smiled in a way that frightened me, and left. And now I knew at last that there was something very wrong \\'ith this Canopean. I was enabled to search my memory and come up with: the
was a suborned, or disaffected, or
fact that this
lious official.
had seen
I
it!
had had
I
to deal with
it
rebel-
hundred
a
Canopus gone wrong. And I wrapped myself rapidly in my black cloth and I ran down those stairs after him, catching him halfway, and making him stop.
times! This was
"Where are you going?" "To visit my woman. I have
went
after
both, and
and
made him him.
lost,
we
.
."
only those
it is
him, the alabaster walls of the
we reached
He
He
gleaming around us
stairs
the dark street that was luridly illuminated
"Don't be
turn.
are unobserved?"
be
.
of sweating shouting
full
after
like that
"Oh,
said he.
who understand and he bounded down the stairs. I
don't look like that! Believe me,
nothing that look
woman,"
a beautiful
demented people.
a fool,"
he
said.
tore himself awav.
I
I
grabbed him and
"Do you imagine we went
did not listen, and
turned again and said in a low urgent voice: "I
but do you have to lose yourself, too? Be careful.
came two
.
."
.
may And
same greenish-grey cold-eved officials I had seen before, and one reached forward and wrenched down my headcloth to show my earrings, and a hand was already coming out to wrench them off, while another was pulling Nasar as
stood there, up
around by the arm, when Nasar
and the one who had touched
of the
said,
my
"Punishment from Canopus!"
earrings
fell,
other ran off into the crowds. Nasar looked eyes pained
and
more than you know should vou be?"
"Very
well,
I
and
sick,
please.
I
demand
came back up the
it.
it
full at
cost us a
upstairs.
I
me,
good
may be
and the
his
amber
deal, Sirian,
lost,
but why
took hold of both his arms, and asked him:
I
understood
just
have gone wrong ... long enough to see
"That
—get back
And
have
said:
like a stone,
I
.
You
stairs
.
.
.
you have gone bad, you
—
symptoms yes, it has taken me but come back, come back, Nasar
know
.
.
the
must. In the
.
name
.
.
of Canopus." Well, he
with me, the long climb of them, and
when
The he was
Experiments
Sirian
at the top
power that with me.
for
He
he was
good or bad had sustained him
asked,
I
and
I
and
pressed,
ha\e been on
peoples around
it.
I
it
was very
was
It
who
I
It
you know nothing
Klorathy
my
brother has
was
who
I
of.
taught
—other
come and gone
.
—and
they go again
if
suppose?
A
the
and
in this hellhole for
.
.
.
make
my
who
the lines,
case thev have
gone very bad,
You come and
the III or the 97th.
II or
sojourn on this planet and a
have been
cities
they are recalled to
in
I, I
made a say, Ambien
and
there are those
.
.
am a permanent official. And mistake. Do vou understand? I have
home, but
axis
have been here, here, here.
I
they come, they warn, they set the stones, they
thev order, they align
years.
taught that island and the
was here before the change of earth's
cultures
I
thousand
this planet for twenty-five
the birth of the seasons.
and the
late in the night,
the windows, and at last he said this:
filled
Since before Adalantaland.
visit,
in his encounters
kept asking.
I
snow, a pale presence,
"Lady,
lost the inner
trembled, and was pale under his dark copper skin.
"What happened?" I
He had
and frightened.
ill
little
you
as
go, too,
I
holidav on that? But
ages, ages, long ages.
.
.
."
He
muttered, and he swung his head, and he puckered up his face and sighed,
and then leaped up and ran out of the door so
fast
I
could
not catch him. It
was a day and an hour when
observances.
I
set
I
had
my
perform the regulatory
out the objects on the rugs of the
colours as they should go, put garments
adjusted
to
on myself
and observed the hour
earrings,
arranged
floor,
in a certain
way,
standing
exactly,
quietly there alone at the top of the great tower, enclosed in the
snow's white hush ... of the time
was very
difficult.
and the substance about
a great deal:
many
failure of the Lock,
and
it
times had
I
me
that
resistance experienced as
felt
—
was contending with
what
evil.
I
rituals, since
the
in this or that continent, I
felt as if
I,
or the
Felt as a heavy, dead weight. But
my purpose, thinking of Klorathy, me here. Why? For what purpose? just finished
the resistance
through me, was pushing against a
stuck to
had
I
manners, but never had
substance of something
I
knew by
performed these
had performed them
in se\eral different
I
and that he had asked
had been instructed
curtains of the door were yanked back,
and the
to do,
man
I
when
the
had seen on
122
mv
evening stood there. "Canopus," said he. "You are on
first
sufferance here and that does not allow you to
What
was feeling
I
as
I
stood up to face
was exactly the same tone or taste
as
what
There was no mistaking that sensation, myself that Nasar had gone bad: but stand what
I
kill
our
officials."
him surprised me: it felt when with Nasar.
a resonance.
had not gone on
I
had
I
told
to under-
might mean that he had been captured by Shammat,
it
was Shammat. I
said nothing, but stood before
the luminous metal circlets on
my
head of the same
Sirius,
which
what
in
in
my
slight
my
was wearing,
I
and he involuntarily took
white robes,
upper arms, the metal band on
softly shining silvery gold, a
did not know, and
I
As he took
my
him
metal foreign to
heavy golden earrings. his dull stonelike eyes stared,
several steps forward.
He was
still
wearing
the golden earrings. I
was preserving a distancing and detached manner, while
I
attended to a large variety of thoughts and sensations. Speculations
about Nasar continued.
me
never to have seen
my
I
was also thinking that
this official
ought
thus accoutred and that he was at this
moment
fixing
could;
noted, too, that he had not observed the patterns of
I
image on
his
mind
so as later to copy
had thinking that he
colours, nor the scents, nor the stringed instrument
been making the necessary sounds.
would be bound
to believe these
I
was right
some
in
sort of
what he
on which
I
"female entertain-
ment" and
of
the
punished by Nasar was in fact dead: more probably he
official
was stunned.
no use
No
to him.
was thinking that
I
did not belie\e
authority of even ordinary sense uses greater
methods of punishment concluding that
I
my
or deterrent than are necessary.
I
was also
having to pretend to be Nasar's servant could
Shammat surveillance, but was populace. More than all this, I was
not be for the benefit of the necessary not to disturb the
how to behave in a way that would control him. could move he had again advanced, and now stood
trying to decide
Before
I
immediately
in front of
had every opportunity on
my
me: arms akimbo,
Seen thus,
for a full scan of this species, enabling
return to furnish the biologists with
most remarkable feature was the wide I
legs apart.
slit
ample
details.
I
me
The
of a mouth, connected,
judged, not with alimentation, but with voice production:
when
The
Experiments
Sirian
he spoke
next,
I
was able to
street, that this sht
his mid-torso.
see, as
seemed
had not when crushed
I
and the sounds came from
to vibrate,
The way he spoke was
in the
resonant, giving a fuzzy sound
to the words.
"Ornaments of
And I
as his stone eyes
was en\cloped
some it:
seemed
in a glitter of cupidity,
he was testing me, trving
—was that At any
find in Xasar?
felt
I
it?
rate,
failed in
Mv awa\-,
some
mind was
mv
test
As
I
I
down on
this
present situation
triumph
kind of show
—and then, in
him.
I
to
in myself,
knew
that
I
—verv
moved
turned from him casually, and
a
a
few moments glancing out of the
low
There are few places
chair. sit,
in the
while supplicants or inferiors
an idea flashed into
sat,
me some
triumph
felt his
I
Galax^• where superiors do not stand.
But there was more to
he had applied.
racing.
sat
he was again trying
Something he had been accustomed
back to him, stood
window, then
from
to elicit
weakness of fear because of
had
to swallow the artefacts, so that
rather crude technique of hvpnotism.
of authorit}'
a
kind are not permitted in this city!"
this
my mind
unrelated to the
were, because of the
clear m\- thoughts
aligning practices just concluded, and because of this situation of
danger.
"How
long has
allowed to spoil this citv, as
it
it
been,"
I
enquired, "since this
original design?"
its
For
I
—probably
was
had understood that
had been designed, had consisted
towers, in a certain alignment
cit\^
solely of the conical
interlocking arcs
— and
that the huddle of poor buildings around their bases, and the
spreading
new
suburbs, were a dereliction of an original purpose.
had been told of the ancient mathematical cities, speculations that were never far from my mind as to what these were in my mind, and my distance from their function was
Memories
of
what
I
—
this situation
and
this stone slab of a
man
was genuine.
His response was immediate: sullen, and
annoyance; cunning
— which alerted me
this
to say:
meant
"There
a
genuine
will
one day
be an end to your cupidities and your despoilings."
He I
had
stood said,
still. \^er\- still.
not
idlv,
The hea\y
seemed
to glow.
WTiat
but certainly not with any crushing intention,
had made him remember past I
eyes
remained where
models of behaviour
I
sat,
—one
— warnings? Threats?
watching him. In
my mind
were two
was Nasar, and eventhing that
I
felt
was needed by
who
Klorathv,
understood
I
—
most
at the
—
other was
thought of him would not regard
I
even the most horrible power with anything
this httle servant of
but
as
The
him.
dismissed
situation
this
detached
a
So
dislike.
I
said mildly, even with
humour: "As for your colleague, he is of course not dead. He will ." and I rose again, as if dismissing recover, if he has not alreadv .
.
him, and returned to the window, for
my new
these spiring towers with
I
and
ideas in mind,
heard a humming, or vibration
ing, there
around
to look
at
to imagine
had been. For what purpose?
this city as it
But
wanted
I
he was, that
mouth
slit
just
of his
behind me, and turn-
thrumming:
that that wordless sound
had meaning, but knew,
not allow him to think
I
did not understand
I
knew now
too, that
leaned on the
I
it.
could
I
ledge there, and saw the towers dark against the pale falling sky.
"You
are to
come with me.
have authority. In
I
the authority," he insisted, and
I
believed him:
it
this city
I
have
was part of some
agreement that Canopus had allowed. "I shall
change
"No," he
said,
the armlets,
my
my clothes," slamming
it
I
said.
out,
and he again
earrings, with his eyes.
I
ate
my
headband,
remarked: "But
very
it is
cold tonight."
"You have take
"I
indeed,"
I
a cloak."
we must be expected
it
said, smiling.
And
at
some verv
his lips' rapid quiver
function
fine
me
conveyed to
that this was the case. "I can only
tonight,"
hope that you have
remarked,
I
enveloped myself in
it,
as
me
good reason to take
there
took up the great black cloth and
I
"for
a
I
had other
plans.
Canopus has work
to do." "I understand perfectly, perfectly," said he, hurried
and
I
knew
that while he
get his way,
he was
afraid that
might
I
had not expected that he would
at least relieved that
find
and placating,
some reason
he had got
to give
him
the
it:
slip.
to
fail
and was
And
all
the time everything about this creature emanated greed, so that
thought back to the
visit,
long ago, by the hairv
a\'id
I
Shammat-
same breed, different though they were. And ask what he must be expecting me to know: Are
brutes: they were the I
was not going to
there
many
different kinds
on that Shammat of yours? Or
are
you
The
Sirian
Experiments
from Puttiora
itself? \\'cll,
I
learned later he was from Puttiora:
the cities of this plain were policed by Puttiora, and not by subject planet
Shammat
—but that
its
part of another story.
is
W^e descended the long twining stairs, he coming close behind me, and I could feel the pressure of his itching want, want, want, all
over me, his eyes like the touch of hands.
we stood
In the street
in a
white storm, with dull lamps half
obliterated at the entrances to streets
the two of
us.
was being chilled to
I
whine of the northern wind struck winter was
fear, in this planet,
and
and
lanes.
stiffness as
There were only I
m\ bones:
a painful fear into
fear
and the
stood,
was the memory of sudden
tempests of snow and ice that could wipe out a continent in a breath, of screaming winds that could tear water-masses and yast sea beasts into the air
shape appeared
my
urged by
in the white,
jailer,
cushions and a
and whirl them around
an opening shovyed
and found myself
little oil
lamp.
I
first
time
state, of a
I
had been
know
did not
being conveyed, but soon thought the
in a
it
itself,
and
at
how
once for
in,
wherever
was
it
was not
it
— the sign of
class,
got
I
way
carried in this
square
box furnished with
was by runner,
proud and ruthless governing
A
like dust.
it
a is
slave
to
be
found.
The
Puttioran smelled bad:
checked
this
it
was
a cold greasy smell.
of course
I
thought, knowing that mine was not likely to be
pleasant to him: smell has always been the hardest obstacle to
overcome
in the
has changed! As
good I
relations
\\T0te the
entry into the city of
tall
between
species: in that
nothing
words beginning the account of
—which, box — was
dun-coloured cones
see nothing of from inside the jogging
I
alas,
I
called
my
could to a
delegation from one of quite the most pleasant of our Colonised Planets,
and with the best
will in
the world,
I
had
to lea\e the
audience chambers on an excuse, for the smell that emanated from the otherwise quite ordinary and normal individuals, equipped as usual with "two legs, as
we
that
I
two arms,
say (but in this case
could not stand
it
a head, a nose, eyes
was
a tail as well),
and mouth,"
was so appalling
it.
Tlie distance was not great.
We stepped
down on
to thick
snow
outside a building that streamed light through pillars and from
windows.
We were outside one of the villas of the western
suburbs.
126
and
was
this
a festivity of
some
kind, for
could hear music, of a
I
was ready to suppose an entertainment, though to my ears it was a high wail not unlike the whine of the gale. The box we had been brought in seemed to lift itself, and jerked away into the kind
I
white:
could just see projecting handles, and dimly, four
I
ill-clad
hoped were being kept warm by the thick head hair that fell to the shoulders, which they freed from deposits of snow by continually shaking their heads. They vanished with the box
who
beasts,
I
into the snowfall.
ascended wide steps beside the Puttioran, to a deep verandah
I
had many ornamented
that
braziers standing here
was familiar with the affectation of governing
there.
I
where
for
sum
and
pillars,
modes
of their past,
and knew that
at the top of the
from ducts. Few cold,
but
saw they were
I
tower were heated by
indi\'iduals
classes any-
braziers were not the
of their current technolog}' for keeping themselves
rooms
and
air
warm: the
that flowed in
were on the verandahs because of the
by the
in full festive dress
fact that they
were half naked. I
know whether
did not
that
I
I
forearm in a way that
from our
early
garment had
by
Sirius or of
Canopus
I
had seen this
it
over
ni}'
in a certain history of
manner
right
custom
arranging an outer
of
signified rank.
by another
me had
was muffled, and draped
Dark Age:
was being aided
pillars
was on account of
should strive for a good impression, but removed the poor
black cloth in which
I
it
as I ad\'anced
historical
through the graceful springing
comparison: a planet recently visited
preserved as a record of former times an area of
similar to these, also set
among
vegetation
could see nothing of the gardens that
I
—though
\illas
of course
knew enclosed
I
these
suburbs.
The verandah was
separated from the very wide and large inner
room, or rooms, by curtains of thick many-coloured materials. stood quite
What
still
in the entrance, in order that
I
I
might be obser\ed.
was observing was not unexpected: there were about twenty indixiduals there, all scantily clad, and with the unmistakable air of a ruling or privileged class taking its case. They sat about J
on cushions, or on kind of food and
light chairs. fruit.
Low
tables
Around the
were heaped with every
walls stood about a
dozen
The
Sirian
Experiments
almost naked young females and males, holding jugs and
servers,
The
ewers of intoxicant.
were not braziers, but some kind of
lights
and
gas burning in transparent globules from pillars
stone floors had
handsome
The
walls.
rugs.
my
Their immobility was not because they were surprised at arrival
but because they had expected
it
and did not want to show
—yet—whatever emotions or needs had led For
could see that
I
by the Puttioran
at
unattracti\'e species
"Klorathy" like
was the
my
side.
—was
I
was
moment
his head,
I
the others, but not
dim
on
a
pearly light was so
could not believe
and
knew
I
was ashamed.
arrived but because he sat
once
at
low square seat with
In everv scene there
is
a focus ... a centre
that centre here.
Nor were
from Nasar, on
a
wide
that she looked
down on
a studied
seat,
.
.
.
had
I
and casual
a pillar.
He
at
and Nasar was not
the Puttiorans. At an arm's distance
which was not
her guests, sat a
low
as
as the others, so
woman who dominated more than
everything. She was exceedingly beautiful. She was
am
which
that.
certainly not talking of the aesthetic here, but of a sexual
which was immediatelv and instantly evident, and
fascination, I
had seen nothing
to
compare with
Every breeding female has
But
his lateness in
back to
his
was not he.
understood
just
He had
it
was not half naked.
least
I
most
this
once able to see that they were
at
was not because he had only
this
he
among
there: Nasar, in this
But then he turned
air, as
There were two others of
no more.
Klorathy that for a
doing
—
was no surprise shown
case. Tliere
present, seated
about
lolling or sprawled
tolerated here,
this
my being summoned.
to
this
many
for
quality,
often briefly enough.
in certain conditions this sexual attraction
and maintained bv an
eflPort
cumstances permit. Of myself but of her
I
can be concentrated
of individual will, I
can say that
ages.
I
am
if
the social
cir-
pale and blonde;
can say only that she gleamed and shimmered. Her
hair was of fine gold, elaborately dressed, with a mass of little waves
and
curls,
and very
fine plaits, like twisted gold wires,
on either side
Her eyes were grey blue and under shining blonde brows. Her long white hands were
of her broad, pearly, smiling face.
widely set
displayed, unadorned, sandals.
in
her lap. WHiite feet were in jewelled
128
On
made
her bare arms were hea\y gold bracelets
of repeated
and interlocked V's, which \ery slightly compressed her flesh, in a calculated manner. Now these bracelets were of the exact pattern
had
prescribed for previous practices set by Canopus, those that
been superceded by the "suggestions" sent to this visit.
one
before
began
I
looked quickly around again and saw that nearly every-
I
there,
me
male and female, wore
bracelets, earrings, anklets, or
an
association of colours that were almost accurate, for in each place I
observed them, a pattern on a hem, or a design on a
had, as
it
easih'
rather sullenly gazing
—and
now I understood why meet my eves. Though he was in fact now across at me, not so much defiantly as in
were, slipped out of true
Nasar could not
they
skirt,
reckless sombreness.
understood a good deal
I
one thing, what
it
as
I
stood there, smiling calmly. For
was they wanted of
me now:
the three Puttiorans
wore the earrings of the current prescription
all
them, not one of the others, and not Nasar.
—thev and
Who,
wore
I
of course,
if
he
were being ruled by what had been prescribed, would not be wearing
them
at this occasion. Just as
commanded and brought here I
should not, had
I
in the
way
I
had.
saw that the eyes of every individual there
armbands, the headband, the earrings
why
the Puttioran
who had
realised that of course
fetched
he must be
I
not been
I
glittered at the
wore, and as
me had
I
wondered
not simply taken them,
afraid, or that
is
exactly
what he
would ha\e done. Still
no one has moved, or made
a great chance, for a
moment:
me
which made I
a sign of greeting.
I
took then
quite cold, and inwardly confused
stepped forward, with "Canopus greets you!" and
glanced at Nasar to see
how he
took
this, as
I
gestured to a
girl
servant to bring forward a chair that stood by the wall. This was a chair similar to the
hostess there:
I
one used by the beauty, who was,
this
visit
of
was being obeyed
mine
—and
crystalline material, lips,
while
I
had decided,
seated myself on her level, at a short distance from
her and from Nasar, and clapped if
I
when
—
a
my
hands without looking to see
custom taken from another recent
a goblet
was presented to
was careful not to
pretended to
"I understood that
let a
drop of
me it
of
some
touch
my
sip.
vou were from Sirius?" remarked the
fair
one,
— The
Experiments
Sirian
clapping her hands as this
had done, and accepting
I
me at my ease? To
was to put
This was the most dangerous decadents.
I
moment
am, then wh\ not?" And
mv
has
it
and
smiled, merely,
amused Nasar
And
laughed.
I
I
these
glance at Nasar, as to a fellow con-
little
spirator in a harmless joke: "If
to say that
I
did not look at him, but
skirt.
He had now probably
of
me to drink? my meeting with
could not afford to hesitate, and
with a rather amused
smoothed
encourage
a fresh goblet
me.
to challenge
mean
the loss of
coveted so much.
I
knew
I
my life,
let
that
if
he
did,
it
would
alone the ornaments they
all
pretending to sip the intoxicant
sat at ease,
pretty rough stuff, too, nothing tempting in
it
—and examining the
scene quite frankly and with apparent enjoyment. I
cannot begin to convey
The
dismayed and disgusted me.
it
same everywhere and But I have seen them too
signs of a degenerate class are the
always: often,
how
I
not waste time in
will
and
many
in too
and
places,
The
can only weary and dismay. nature that
details.
smiling ease, the cynical good
so easily overturned
is
their perennial reappearance
when
mark of easy the dependence on ease; the
a snarling threat; the carelessness that success; the softness of the flesh;
challenged and becomes
is
the invariable
assumption of superiority over inevitable slaves or
who, of course
—everywhere and always—
evident masters
.
.
.
here
it
serfs or servants
are their real
and often
was again, again, again.
had wondered often enough if on Canopus, or in her Empire, this rule applied, but as I was actually thinking that Nasar's presence here, subjugated and used, was an answer, he lifted his I
bronze eyes direct at mine and shook his head. "No," he fair
said.
"No,
Canopean."
And he turned away, with an air did not know what to do. But knew, \ery dangerous least,
to
moment.
my
end
life
It
so defeated, so angry, that at least, that
I
had survived a
would have been piquant,
here,
on
this
I
to say the
degraded planet, with these
demoralised creatures.
"Am
I
not to
"Your host expected:
it
know is
the
name
of
my hostess?"
I
asked.
Nasar," she said, in a voice that
was
appearance, could
lazy,
rich,
make you
suggestive:
I
absolutely
her voice, just like her
think of one thing, one thing only,
—
and even of
it all,
you had never experienced
if
certainly
—
had made
I
happened that
my
that while our
Empire has
it.
had
I
not!
had read had so
it
had begun very young, and
suffered periods
at risk myself,
I
But
a study of pathology.
career in the Service
have actually been
For
when
might very well
I
was always occupied well away
I
from the Mother Planet.
But
sitting there in that gilded, amiable, pleasure-loving scene,
which had over
it
dew
a sort of silky
as if
were drenched in
it
woman,
ethereal honey, looking at the smiling glistening
necessary to have experienced well
—because
a correct,
if
it!
understood
I
was being affected
I
not an
official, air.
as
I
was not
and only too
it all,
sat there, trying to preserve
For one thing,
ought not to be
I
wearing these artefacts, which were too powerful, even
been put out of exact use by the
it
if
they had
were not in alignment
fact they
with the other dispositions of the practice that had been disturbed
by the interruption by the Puttioran. For another, not the case that to turn your back on an area of as to abolish
it!
is
of course
life is
the same
it
Often enough, and even with Ambien
I,
I
had
understood very well what a seductive realm lay there, available, just for the effort of saying:
aware of
—watched is
understanding. that word,
I
in itself a
Oh
yes,
course
—guarded—that
way of something. This was what
watchfulness into
for
Of
Yes!
the
had known
I
—been
door, or entrance, which
signifying a disposition to enter
And what I was And as I thought
was seeing.
I
woman
was magic!
understood that she was a daughter of old Adalanta-
remembered this full smiling ease of the flesh, the glisten but there and in that time it had a very different function. The wonderful females of that island had been in a correct alignment or almost; of course I remembered how they had begun to slide land;
I
away: yet one could sense their oneness with their surroundings.
But
this
descendant of
theirs
had
all
the magnificence of the
physical, but in addition a witchery that place,
had become
and miserable there to
sufficient to itself.
in his
be told anything:
I
low
felt
it.
seat,
And
very easy door to open, just one
suddenly yet:
I
I
As
had slipped out of
looked at Nasar, tense
I
and then I
at her,
began to be
little step,
one
found myself thinking of Klorathy
was amazed and appalled:
it
its
seemed
as
if
I
did not have
afraid:
little
as
I
it
decision
was a
— and
had never done there,
beckoning
— The
Siridn
Experiments
mc, was a smiling playful amorousness, which was certainly not what I was in search for in wait for when thinking of com-
—
panionship with Klorathy
amorousness was in
.
.
—
.
with Canopus.
And
this lighthcarted
an antechamber where
itself
quicklv indeed descend to something very different. there, in front of
me now
"It
is
was a look of such pain that
Nasar who
is
"I think not,"
What
— nothing lighthcarted about
was gazing sombrely at the woman's indolent his face
could very
I
.
.
Nasar
that!
lolling arm,
saw
I
and on
but she was saying again:
.
your host." said smiling, as pleasantly as
I
I
could
.
.
.
and
heard rather than saw the Puttiorans mutter to each other rather \ibrate together, a twanging
I
—or
sound added to the whining
repetition of the music that was working
on
my
nerves as
much
as
the general atmosphere.
"Her name
And we tives?"
are
Elyle," said Nasar abruptly. "This
is
all
her guests
and he laughed,
—
aren't
flinging
we?
back
—your
his
is
her house.
guests or your cap-
head and pouring down
the fiery intoxicant.
"Her very
willing captives," said a dark smiling lisping youth,
who had about him
every sign of the spoiled rich.
He
from
rose
heaps of cushions and sat by Elyle's chair, and, grasping her hand with a rough painful movement, began planting kisses up and the forearm. She hardly moved, did not look at
who had gone
him
—but
down
at Nasar,
pale.
"Nasar," said she, in her soft beguiling voice, a captive as you,"
and she looked
"is
not as willing
at Nasar, with a laugh, challeng-
him.
ing
him
He
was being drawn forward by her seductiveness, her frank and
open
willing him.
invitation,
to resist her.
happened
and
saw there
a truly dreadful struggle in
same time he was the room watched the
at the
Everyone
at last
I
in
was that he gave
his seat, lifted her white arm,
fighting in himself struggle.
And what
a great gasp, leaned forward
and having gazed
at
it
from
with a shudder
that shook every part of him, kissed the hand, but negligently, and
even clumsily
back
—so did the
conflict in
in his seat, staring in front of
him manifest
itself.
He
sank
him, then took another great
gulp from his goblet.
He
said harshly:
shocked bv us."
"Tliis
desiccated
bureaucrat of a Sirian
is
There was an indrawn breath and from the Puttiorans thrumming. said, "It
I
could not laugh
I
this off.
very clear that Nasar
is
a louder
not himself."
is
This was certainly obvious to everyone and saved me.
The youth now lifted his your dress
is
cringing at Elylc's knees, his
"We all want to
face to lisp: is
made
of
—
He felt his daring, for he how she would take it— she
fair Sirian!"
woman
glanced up at the
mouth on her forearm, know what that material
to see
frowned and withdrew her arm.
"My dress
is
"That
certainly true," confirmed Nasar:
harshly,
is
and
made
his eyes
Canopean
of
seemed
youth who, snubbed, was
head on her nearly bare
crepe,"
I
said.
woman and
on the beautiful
fixed
literally grovelling
And
feet.
he was breathing
on the
could see
I
was
it
the
floor, his curly
he could do
all
to stop himself doing the same.
"Can
I
asked a
feel it?"
glittering skirt,
near me. She wore a blue
girl sitting
but her breasts were bare, except for a pattern of
jewels over the nipples.
Her black
hung down
hair
was dark skinned, dark eyed, very
She got up, and bent to sleeveless
on
it,
—not so
finger
myself, rather like a fluent possible to crease, fold or settle
it,
from
dissimilar
but the fabric was one
it
and
it
—
in
and
its
this
was
and that
was cut
their style as to
full,
be
a
but was
comment
and supple metal. Glistening white, im-
if it
had not been
as
how
it
I
so
ample
did touch the
Nasar had
I
would have been
flesh,
showed
it
said, certainly "desiccated";
the atmosphere of this rich perverse
emotive music affected so,
dress. It
flowed through the fingers as you attempted to
my case,
was a measure of
mix was very wide.
had not previously been familiar with
I
embarrassed, because where
contours
my
There were no two
slight.
individuals alike in this room: the genetic
to her waist, she
was not
me
that
I
like Elyle,
was
full
its
and villa
of wild regret that
whose very presence
fasci-
nated and drew and stung.
As
this girl fingered
my
skirt, in a
had crowded forward, handling their
hands straying over
my
first
moment
half a dozen others
the stuff of the gown, and then
armlets and touching
my
head where
the circlet gleamed. "What's this material?" they were murmuring,
and asking each other, of a
dummy
as
if 7
were not there! As
if I
on which these things were displayed.
were some kind .
.
.
And then
The I felt
Sirian
Experiments
the weight of the circlet
my hand up to down in my seat
time to put pressed
my
from
lift
hair
stop the thief slipping
and
was
I
it off.
1
just in
was being
by the weight of thic\ing hands and
fingers.
Past a cluster of heads bent sitting in her chair,
the
and was
was alarmed I
And
could see Elyle
Nasar had turned
it.
staring too at the scene,
me.
for
I
come forward and handle me with
but her pride forbade
rest,
sharplv,
longing to
me
around
all
and
I
could see that he
certainh- was in great danger.
I
stood up, and dislodged the greedy ones, so that they
lav about
on the
floor
"and
and
fell,
laughing foolishly, drunk and helpless.
"Perhaps vou could take said El vie,
head
his
off
your bracelets and your headband,"
them.
let us see
one would love to see them
for
I
closelv." .\s she said this the tones of that indolent voice struck
into me, so that
"No,"
I
felt
I
them
said. "I shall
She looked
Nasar
at
in
my senses as
a pang, a song.
not do that."
— and
command
this look's
was able to
I
feel in myself.
He
sighed at the strength of the pressure on him: sweat started
out on his face take I
them
off.
—and he ."
.
.
me
said to
And he
in a hurried angry voice: "Yes,
added, "This
cannot describe, even now,
how
is
a
command."
this
affected me.
was a
It
command from Canopus: this, despite ever\1:hing, was what it was. And from a man who was in appearance, e\en in manner or some Klorathy, who I had been thinking of as one who of the time
—
—
might open doors
when he
said,
for
"This
me, sav to is
a
me what
command,"
I
I
longed to hear
was struck
silent.
.
.
.
and
Wliat
I
had been warned by Klorathy of this or of something like it that moment! That he had known of it must present itself. And I was thinking, as I remembered Klorathy,
was thinking was that
I
.
his
.
.
what he was. that no matter how I was suffering in every particle of myself I must
presence, his manner,
suffered
—and
I
—
resist.
"I have already said that
you are not yourself,"
I
said coldly.
Sirians," said Elyle
and laughed
"Canopeans do not command Canopeans." "But perhaps they do command her fat low laugh.
"Perhaps thev do,"
I
said,
"but
I
don't
know anything about
134 that.
W^at
And
ornaments.
Again
do know
I
heard, or
I
who
those
them wrongly
use
I
wear are not
will suffer."
Nasar struggle with himself. Tlie sombre,
felt,
went on, and
sullen struggle
these things that
this:
is
sounded against the low
his breathing
fluttering \'ibration of the three Puttiorans,
who had erowded up
me and stood dared. And they
what
close
to
as fast as
to snatch off
wore
I
—
they
if
me
did not dare, and that was what ga\e
still
courage to go on. For
working
enough
I
was reasoning
as
my mind
stood there,
I
had ever done, that Nasar himself must have
it
given warnings, even as he had weakly parted with these things as
ornaments. "Is that
and look goblet Elyle,
.
.
not
He
me.
at
Nasar,"
so,
it is
freeze, as
it
so,"
I
my
to
And
make I
dull
their
and
eyes,
their
turned to look at Nasar, and they were
a sign ...
it
was
entered this place.
had been
a sign that
understood a great deal
I
moment. again the
moment
stretched itself
from one face to the next
.
.
.
.
.
and
.
I
looked, at
returned to slaver over her hand, and the others on the
and sprawling, and the almost naked
sen-ants,
who had
was seeing struck
me
into a inner
something. These faces for that
floor, silly
who were
with the mask-faces of servants everywhere and at I
my
the beautiful Elyle,
first
Adalantaland's fallen daughter, and the besotted youth
what
to
on Nasar. The three Puttiorans,
will
men, with
humming lips, had
agreed upon before in that
seemed
entered.
the grey-green stonelike
him
looked at
at length.
there was a long pause, the scene again
had when
waiting for
He
his
fear in her smile.
he muttered
stood quiet, empty,
fluttering
will to turn
hands looselv held around
sat upright, his
at
And now
ease,
him with my
said, forcing
I
—which was trembling, because he trembled. who was smiling him — and yet there was
"Yes,
I
.
all
watching,
times
—and
acknowledgement of
moment were
all
\acant, }et this
was because within themselves they had been attacked by an inner questioning:
they
were
lost,
vague,
dissatisfied,
gripped their fingers against their palms, or bit their
roamed everywhere, they
restless
— they
lips; their
sighed, they twisted themsehes,
eyes
and they
sat staring emptily.
Oh,
I
knew
very well
what
I
saw:
it
was
a
\ariation of the
— The
Experiments
Sirian
existential question, or affliction
thing
knew
I
—how could and
so well, so very well,
in all its manifestations?
and sneaking and wanting
Tlicir clutching
not recognise some-
I
after
what
wore now
I
—
what Nasar had \\orn at other times were nothing symptoms of that deep and basic yearning. WTiat
I
was thinking disarmed me.
I
felt as if
I
else
was on
but
a level
with them and no better, and had no right to withhold anything
from them.
mands
..."
If
moment Nasar had
at that
would ha\e handed over e\erything
I
"Canopus com-
said:
had on.
I
But Nasar saved me, saved himself.
He
was slowlv struggling to
heaw
in the tenseness of
the floor and put his
was weighting him
limbs, as
—the
struggle was
his longing
if
simply to
on the smiling warmth
lips
—he
feet
his
shown fall on
of Elyle's flesh
did slowly straighten, and then, gasping,
turned towards me. "It
is
time Canopus
left,"
voice.
I
could see that
if
he remarked,
in a
she spoke then he would simply fling
himself at her feet and that would be the end of "Yes,
And Canopus
it is.
will
at Nasar's elbow, afraid at this
shake
me off
softly,
him
shiver.
I
could feel
"Come,"
mv
I
said softlv.
now leave," last moment
because
"Nasar," she said
and
in
in repulsion
heavy dreamlike
this
said.
I
I
that he
it
struck through
I
Just behind us
I
"Be
see
a
long low bench one
— the
sight of
to strengthen Nasar.
careful,"
he muttered, and we turned together
three evil ones, their hands outstretched for
was the
we could
could sense the three Puttiorans.
of the re\ellers lay sprawled, his cheek in his \omit
seemed
himself
exquisite pillars, the glowing braziers.
We went to the edge of the verandah. On it
left
me
went with him through the
parting in the gailv coloured curtains beyond which its
my hand
would simply
gave a sort of groan and
hands. Gentlv directing him,
the verandah with
put
touch was not hers.
and the sound of
He
it.
my
to face the
headband, which
easiest to take.
and with contempt. And daring to do it, I turned my back on them and at Nasar's urging ran down the steps into the snow, which was still smother"It
would
kill
ing everything.
vou,"
I
said coldly,
'36
could hear the feet of the Puttiorans scraping and sHpping on
I
the steps.
do not think you have understood,"
"I
whiteness. "This lady
You know what saw
I
the agreement
their stone faces
Command
from the High
is
Nasar, into the
said
of
Canopus.
is."
looming vaguely
in the
white
—and
then
vanish.
"Call a chair," said Nasar to them.
Again
saw the bearers shaking themselves
snow as they laboured running under the box-conveyance, but when we were in the box, Nasar and I, I had no time to think of them or of the Puttiorans, for now Nasar slumped back in the box, his I
eyes shut, breathing as
Then
his e^es
liquid.
The I
remained
happen
—and
he were \ery
and shaking
ill,
all
over.
were open and they stared, and from them poured
Canopeans do
fact that
if
free of the
not, normally,
weep
—that
is
far
behind them.
Nasar wept now said evervthing. quiet. it
I
did.
was bracing myself
for
what
\Vhen we were deposited
I
thought would
at the foot of the
great cone that soared above us into the whirling storm, the winds
whining around "Nasar,"
I
it,
said,
Again he seemed
there were the three stone
"one more to
effort;
shudder
as
men
waiting for
us.
they are here."
he took
command
of himself.
We descended from the box, and walked straight up to the three. "You are fools," said Nasar, using contempt like a weapon. "You gave us these," we heard, and saw the hands stroking the golden earrings on those narrow rims around their ears. "You gave us these
." .
.
"Give them back," were running
off into
I
said.
"Canopus commands
how
they saw
buttons and bracelets
it.
—
for
now
I
saw Nasar staring
."
But they
— they believed them after
understand that
All the bits of gold to
changing substance of Canopus and authority I
.
the white, for they weren't going to gi\e up
this fancied authority of theirs
indeed was
.
be
this
and metal and
intrinsic
and un-
for themselves.
them, with the sombre anger that
I
was
ready to believe was not only the characteristic of his subjection to this place
but his characteristic and even, possibly, a Canopean
characteristic.
And
again,
my
thought was answered:
"Oh
no," said he, "that
is
— The not
Experiments
Sirian
Bclie\e me,
so.
you must not think
fair Sirian,
my
my
earrings,
appurtenances, and in such a way that for a
moment
own
sake
.
and
."
.
I
saw him gazing
at
your
that, for
other
fancied
I
myself back in the hands of the hungry ones in Ehlc's house. I
walked
away from him and started up the stairs. So we I first, he behind, up and around, and around,
s\\iftly
went up together, and around,
knew more was I
that to
we reached the had by no means
until I
come.
snow
finished with the battle:
was prepared to face him then,
I
\\hirled.
him and
window opening
to
we entered a grey
But Nasar staggered forward and had
fallen across piles of cushions before
coverings over
as
and that
whose windows were showing
that half-circle of a room, da\]ight where
top.
I
was
retired next door
watch the day come,
fairlv inside.
where
I
I
put some
sat quietly in a
a grey-gold light
behind
the white whirl.
And what have to
in their soft-lit
that
not,
am
I
wh\-
sure,
come
as a surprise to
which seems
a privileged class, everN-vvhere. I
was going to
and luxurious rooms.
was thinking of the problem
I
I
out with him but of those pri\ileged citizens of Koshi
fight
It will
was thinking then was not of what
I
I
am
any of
my
Sirius has perennially
readers
had with
to re-create itself constantly
sure there are those
and
who have been wondering
ha\e not made the comparison more strongly before
particularly as
am known
I
tive party that has
to
have always been of the administra-
sought to check these privileged
has not been possible to prevent their emergence.
once put forward the \iew that the importance of
this
to form, alwavs
phenomenon.
and
possibility
If a
is
I
classes,
\
we
exaggerate the
corrupt class can be expected
in\ariably, then this
igorous and active, class
it
have more than
is
as a result of,
comitant with, the strengthening and enlarging of a generally
when
on which the
larger,
effete
con-
and
ones float
scum on a wave. Has there ever been a society without its spoiled and rotten minority? \\'ould it not be better simply to expect this, and to legislate limits to what cannot be prevented,
like
rather than allowing fear of
be made for a
—
to prevent
any reforming
efforts to
was what tended to happen. There was students of this particular sociological problem will be
at all
time
—
it
familiar with
it
for that
—
a very \ocal faction putting forward the point of
138
view that there
is
no point whatever in making revolutions
was particularly strong
after
the
rebellions
no matter
revolution,
how
it
same
and
in morale,
this.
and
criticised
we
was held
society, for the
effect of causing a
and had
to
be proscribed
we (that is, the administrative class) humour of the situation: that we were
strictest penalties
that the rulers (for
it
Yes,
were indeed aware of the imposing the
had the
a general pessimism,
time because of
for a
Worse;
was useless even to reform and reconstruct a
reason. This point of view certainly
slump
because any
pure and inspired, can be guaranteed
to produce a privileged class within a generation.
that
on our Colonised
during the last phase of our Dark Age)
Planets
(this
on the proponents of the viewpoint
must not be attacked
are certainly that)
because our continual tendency towards corruption
must not only be expected but cannot be averted: we were vigorously encouraging opposition and criticism, even to the extent, at one point, of actually setting up a party ourselves secretly, of course I
—
—so alarmed were we
myself was too well
but three of
known
my progeny
at the pervasive cynicism
a figure to
disgust.
be one of these individuals,
Ambien
(not by
and
took part, and so
I)
I
had
the benefit of their reports. It
is
my
view now, after what
to prevent an effete class;
the best. But the
way
tional
it
it
judgement of such
has
But mind,
I
I
must be conceded
—
as a
nothing to be
is
can be postponed for a time, at
is
and
a difficulty in
always a too-violent, an emo-
—weak
after all
and pointless people.
a self-indulgent privileged class that has
not
or allowed itself to be destroved, almost as soon
itself,
come
as
sure
certainly can be circumscribed,
There has never been as
it
of such circumscription
destroved
am
and thorough experience, that there
pretty long
done
I
into being
and grown, and flourished
watched the snow
fall
.
.
.
temporarily.
there, with these thoughts in
was again wondering about Canopus:
how
my
did that great
—
Empire deal with these problems? If thev had them at all? for we had never heard of them! And if they did not arise with them, -why not? I
did not
sit
alone there for long.
other side of the dividing wall, for
Nasar was
in too
I
I
listened for sounds
had
a pretty
poor an emotional state to
on the
good idea that
rest, let
alone sleep.
I
heard him moving about, clumsily and roughly. Tliere was a silence
— The
Experiments
Sirian
but then
for a while,
been
heard him enter from the
I
He
to the foodshop.
stairs
muttered, then he groaned.
—he
had
beheved
I
I
heard him weep.
ehanged
I
my
my
garments, putting on
Colonial Serviee from some impulse, of whieh
might
enter,
come
then,
in!"
and having repeated
—
went
I
in.
head propped on
his side,
were
He
He
his elbow.
then asked
I
"Very well
his
length,
full
And
who were
him
was certainly quite repulsive,
much
heard myself mutter: "Oh! But he's so ugly!" So
bering the "insect people"
on
was dishevelled. His eyes could have believed
I
He
the outward form of an attraction!
whom
and heard
it
So dejected was he that
red.
I
fully conscious,
was stretched out
surrounded bv a thick black cloud.
and
was
I
on an exact and accurate footing with Nasar.
to stand if I
garb of the
Sirian
for
could not help remem-
I
superior, so Klorathy said,
and
found repulsive.
I
And he knew what he smiled hungry."
and
briefly
He had
I
was thinking,
bitterly.
He
"Help yourself
said,
brought some sort of
for
myself and
for
he stared unblinking, seeing very
he did not look up,
for while
tea,
refilled his, a service that
and bread.
you are
if
filled a
I
cup
he did not acknowledge,
little.
wondered
I
briefly
if I
should seat myself low, like him; or put myself in a magisterial chair
—
for that there
was going to be
doubt. But in the end
I
took
looked out, which was what the northeast, where the southeast, where
it
was
I
my
a confrontation
cup to
wanted
a
window opening and
to do.
The
tall
masses seemed to pile themselves halfway up illusion.
falling.
And
to the
brown cones were and the cold fluffy
thin
reappearing from white obliterating clouds,
was an
was able to see to
I
snow had stopped
retreating.
had no
I
—but
of course this
Already around the bases of the towers
now
the
snow had stopped falling, armies of small dark figures were at work making tunnels and runnels for themselves, and the huddle of the lower town, which had been blotted out by the storm, was reappearing under the Tliere was an idea in
my
mind:
this
efforts of this energetic
— no,
a
was that
emanated from Nasar. Not
—
memory I
swarm.
persistently presenting itself
recognised the black emotions that
so very long ago,
one of our
officials
on Planet 9 had become demoralised after having been left there for too long. He so I thought, and so I put forward on his behalf
—
1/p
had allowed himself
to
become
an anti-Sirian party.
a tool of
had
I
been sent to adjudicate the situation. There was no doubt he was
and
guilty,
was \ibrating on
I
same
radiated this
allowed to express
I
Home
took him back to our
he was executed.
tunately,
He had
I
itself
believed
Planet where, unfor-
him capable
sullen explosive anger that, not being
outwardly, was as
if
the whole organism
a strong discordant note.
could see that Nasar was not able to keep
shifted position,
of rehabilitation.
how he
jerked and twitched,
but continually
still,
how
his eyes
roved
and glanced everywhere, how he sighed and then flung back
his
head, gasped, and again stared sombrely in front of him. But he was
watching mc, too,
Was
preparing himself. Elyle?
stand
having
If so, it
could see that he was calculating
I
felt
— understand
it
he planning to return to subjection to the strength of
even as
at last.
it
it
myself,
I
could under-
shuddered.
I
"Quite so," said he suddenly. "But no,
been able to break
—on guard,
And
I
shall
not go back. I've
suppose for that
I
I
have to
thank vou."
was reflecting how, and when, he was able to know what
I
thought, as he went on: "But there
And I am At
this
a price to pav,
is
sure you will not be surprised to it
came
into
my
prescribed artefacts from
know what
I
dear Sirius.
it is."
head that he was going to demand the
me: that
I
had by no means
finished with
that pressure.
"Exactly so," he things
I
said.
need to protect
"You have
given
"As you can
me here
them away,"
see,
I
no longer ha\e the
." .
.
I
said
—dry enough.
At which he leaped up, and began striding around and about the room, sometimes stopping and standing quite still, eyes staring,
mouth
fallen slightly open;
ordinated, driven so
turned
I
my
—
it
then going on again,
was making
me
feel quite
ill
back and looked out past the brown
restless,
disco-
watching him, spires into the
back of the retreating storm, and heard the winds whine and whisper around the grey sky. "I
have to have them," he
"And
And not
I
so have
I.
I
said. "I
have
was invited here.
was given the things.
feel entitled to gi\c
And
told
them away."
I
to."
am
how
here because of that.
to use them.
And
I
do
The
Sirian Experiments
"To
give
was told most
"I I
them back
—
to
me
—
specifically
to
not to give them to anybody/'
on me, and turned and he stood
felt his e\es
how he felt. And now I knew what he was
That
Nasar of Canopus."
—trapped.
is
But then, Canopus has always been saw him shudder
as
if
and
thinking,
nothing to stop you from taking them.
I
staring
said.
I
You had
could stand up straight, and breathe more
"There
are stronger than
him
let
is
me.
simply to take."
in a position
a black force
said,
I
he
go, so that
easily.
Oh, not without heard that note with enough relief! But he had
"Tliank you for reminding me," said he.
humour
—and
I
spoken also with a renewal of responsibility. For he looked
thank you. Thank you,
differenth'. "Yes,
He
Sirius."
at
me
stood, as
if
waiting for more. I
now and
turned
of irony,
faced
and sorrow
administration, but
him
fully.
I
in this situation:
was conscious of every sort I,
my
in
garb of the top
of Sirius, and Canopus, our
still
superior, but in the shape of this criminal official.
taken up by
him
at once.
"Yoii have criminals," said he smiling. fall
And he
by the wayside."
changed, as
—we
merely
stride
around and across and
forth.
to
me,
"1 think
if I
with your criminals, Sirius?
What would
were one of yours?"
you would be executed."
That
"Yes.
us
were, midway, and the haunted dri\en one was back,
it
"What do you do happen
"With
laughed out, genuinely; and the laugh
once again he was being impelled to back and
magnanimous Tlie word was
and not with
is
what
my own
I
thought.
And
suppose
dear Empire? Suppose
1
1
agree with you
think
I
ought to be
executed?"
"You want manage. lift.
He
when
I
And
to be punished?"
again
said, just as
I
"Do you
for
made
stationed here."
I
could
—not
a mistake,
I
mean
it.
I
ha\e not
my work."
never get leave?"
here indefinitely
enquired, as dry as
saw him straighten, the black weight on him dry: "Yes, and perhaps that is it. But Sirius,
say that they have
been strong enough
I
for the
I
asked.
"They
long ages you
surely tell
me
do not put you you have been
— 1^ And now he came
by me,
to stand
in
my window
embrasure,
leaning against the inner wall, looking at me. ''I
take
"Yes,
my face.
Sirius."
"Poor, poor Sirius."
quite unexpected, and
We
with him.
was thrown
I
was not now thinking of Klorathy, or of
Nasar had
off
my
balance
stood there, very close, looking into each other's
real friendship, or
said, to
waited until
I
on
liberal party
those dark-bronze, or copper, or
softly,
and strong on
full
Now this was I
he said
Sirius,"
amber eyes
faces.
you are of the
am."
I
"Poor
said he, "that
it,"
I
anything of the
some
sort of
sort:
my
felt near,
I
search for his
because of what
mystery or understanding.
could speak moderately, and said: "Wliy do you
home and
not simply go back
tell
them what you
are saying to
me. "Because
I
have done so already."
"So you have been on leave?" "Yes. But
was
it
long time ago
a
Punishment.' But
wretches
call 'the
and then
to return here
feels?
How
again,
and began
to
come
back.
is
Sirius, to
what these poor
spend time there
—
.
.
and he struck
."
and away
off
his despairing pacing. said, "it
And
they say. Tliis
just after
—do you know what that means? How one
utterly intolerable
"In short," he
—
my
in
my
is
not worthwhile to go
case
home
if
have to come back. That
I
one has is
what
place. Tliis hellhole. Shikasta the disgraced
and the shameful one. This."
"Rohanda
is
very beautiful,"
I
said,
with a sigh for
as
..."
I
is
southeast where the storm had this
"No
anything near as beautiful and as rich and
was looking at the golden
cone nearest to
long stay
failure of the Lock.
on the Southern Continent, before the planet in our system
my
now
light in the grey sky to the
quite gone away.
The brown
one showed the most elegant pattern of black
way up, each touched with white: the snow underlined each window opening, and the symmetry and balance of the patterns gave me the deepest satisfaction; and that is what markings
Rohanda word
for
all
the
— was simply not prepared to A —so plentifully did I
it
always and generously.
offer.
use their niggardly
little
rich food for the senses
— The
Siriaii
"Yes,
Experiments
and he stood
beautiful/' said he in a stifled voice,
is
it
hand
upright, eyes closed, his
He
tight, quivering.
"I understand,"
at his throat,
and
his eyes closed
was thinking of Elyle. said quietly. His eyes flew open:
I
he gazed at
me, sombre, but himself, and he strode across and bent over me, looking into my eyes. "Desiccated bureaucrat though I am, I understand very well.
wish
I
And
did not."
I
could not prevent
I
myself shuddering.
"Thank you," he would
"I
He
said
and went
know about
like to
off again.
this city
—before "And
laughed, and with such bitterness.
before they were spoiled
was spoiled."
it
the other cities
—because they are always
spoiled, always,
always."
"Always?" "Yes."'
"So then vou ha\e
to
make allowances
for that?"
"Yes," he said with a sigh, the driven black one gone again, and
We
he simple and there with me. "Yes.
know
that
we
if
thought, then I
have done,
it
build a city, or
once
will at
Sirius
say: the city of the
cit\'
just there
had gone.
I
—
twenty-one
that's
That was the
it
city of the
We
away
—
just as
over. This city,
And what
to
of the
where the storm
gardens
is
the
." .
.
now?"
a city of gardens," said he, grim
vibrating.
it, it's
cones?
tall
fall
could just see a blur on the white horizon. "That
"And what is is
away,
—can you see?" —and he pointed
city of the gardens.
"It
pfft!
allowances.
a jewel, or a song, or a
start to slide
—and then—
you
make
make
"A gardened
fountains and delights
city. .
.
Elylc adores .
it.
Elylc, Elyle,"
and
savage, black
She has her place
and
there,
he moaned suddenly,
rocking, his hands up over his face.
"Nasar,"
"You
said sharply
and he sighed and came
are going to have to give
coming up face.
I
The
to
me, taking
me
grip of those large
me
to himself.
your earrings," said he,
by the shoulders and peering into hands bore heavily, and he
felt
my me
brace myself and he loosened them. "There's nothing to you," he
"A
said, incredulously. little
face
and your
." .
.
dry bone of a
woman, with your
judicious
— 1^ "No,
am
I
not Elyle,"
"Do you want me
said steadily.
I
to
be
sorn" for that?"
"No," he "Nasar,
coming
said simply,
want the
that you
it
is
here instead of going back
home and
to himself.
home
earrings because
you can stay
—and you have been ordered back
don't want to go?"
"Exactly so."
—come
"But wouldn't they "No," he
after
you and punish you?"
with his short laugh, that
said,
now knew
I
to associate
with his inner comparisons between Canopus and what
Canopus
What
"No.
a Sirian.
as
made
I
of
need of punishments? W^iat
punishments could conceivably be worse than
this
and he
."
.
.
shut his eyes, and flung back his head with something like a howl
was
yes, it
like the
howl of
or howled, "to be this, to have
be Shammat
"You
become
part of
to be Shikasta, to
it,
." .
.
are not
Shammat,"
said,
I
marched and
strode,
had been gi\en
"Shammat
is
"Surely that
and stopped, on
—
I
felt
And afraid. ladv?" And he
sharp and cold.
"\\^at do you suppose Shammat
I
"Ohhh," he groaned,
a desperate animal.
is,
again
his desperate course.
—another piece
of
my
puzzle.
not merely an external tvrannv?"
is
evident?"
"I see."
He
enquired, really surprised.
"I ask
seem
.
.
.
and
to ask over
I
and
ask
.
.
.
"How
and
o\'er again.
I
is it
ask
Yet
I
.
you have to ask?" .
.
there are questions
I
do not ever get an answer."
"But wasn't that an answer?" I
weighted with a half-knowledge, something too much, too
felt
painful, too dark
see the
—
a long dark wail that
same on Nasar's
"This
is
And
I
could
face.
a terrible place,"
seeing something for the for so long!
was inward.
he said
first
time
in a bleak voice, as
—he
Yet he was contemplating
it
who had
if
suddenly
lived with this
again, anew.
"A
terrible
place."
"Will you
I
me why?"
I
said.
"Please will you try and say.
Shammat? That is what I want to know." And knew that, then could I understand Canopus?"
WTiat "If
tell
is
I
added,
— The At is
this
this
—
if
he laughed
start to
—
you build
and thought
feeling
until
Experiments
Sirian
sound
false
a city in
—
"What
a real laugh.
at
it
—
and
perfectly,
of
is
Canopus
.
.
.
me
like
.
.
.
and
if
you
Shammat? Shammat
exactly, so that every
— then
slowly, the chords
then more and more
first just slightly,
soon the Canopus-nature has gone,
away
is
has slipped,
it
start again,
and
it
has fallen
collect together,
—
them Canopus if you can, if you can then that is all you can do because Shammat rises up and strikes back and for the ten of Canopus nature there will be ten times ten of Shammat. The ten you cherish, if they stand, if they stand, if thev do not fall away like me and if you say Love, ." and he was then Love is the word, it is Love, yes, but then muttering now, in a crazy, restless, wild desperation and misery, ". but then it is Love still but cracked, the sound false, then falser, and it is not love but wanting, oh Elyle, Elyle, Elyle the let us say,
ten people and teach
—
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
beautiful one,
"Nasar!"
I
mv beautiful
one
." .
.
stopped him and he sighed and came to himself.
"Yes," he said, "Love the golden word does not sing her song for
long here, before her voice cracks.
down its
if
the spiral and then there
opposite, that
is
is
.
.
.
Love slowly turns down,
Hate. Each perfection becomes
Shammat. You ask what
you say Love, then before long,
harmony, then soon
it
is
it is
quarrelling,
War— that
is
Shammat
Hate, and
and
if
if
—
it is
that
vou build
for
you say Peace, then
Shammat, that is Shammat, Sirius." "And yet Canopus persists here. Canopus keeps this planet. Canopus does not jettison it. Rohanda is under your protection." "That is our policy."
before long
it is
"And do you not "No,
I
agree with it?"
do not agree with
at least for a
is
it
—but then,
I
am now Shammat,
good part of the time, so what does
it
matter what
or I
agree with or not?" "Tell me, }0u ha\e been ordered back and you do not
want to
go?" "Yes."
"Because }ou cannot face what you
back again?" "Yes."
feel
when you have
to
come
— 1^6
"And
gave you the earrings and the other things
if I
." .
.
"Oh, the earrings would do, they would be enough," he muttered, desperate and evasive and savage. "How could they be enough? You ha\e certain exact and accurate practices, always changing as circumstances change. Is
.
.
.
that not so?"
He was
staring at
me,
"Very
true."
"So
vou are asking
if
sullen,
admiring
in a
for the earrings, they
way, but disliking.
cannot be to enable
you to maintain vourself healthily here, but to give
Or is
it?
to Elyle. Is that
there something else?"
"There might be."
"Can
be that the Puttiorans,
it
who
and who
ha\'e the earrings
making wrong use of them, are putting pressure on you to join them?" I heard my own \'oice, prim and scandalised and in-
are
—
credulous.
"Something
like that."
"You cannot conceivably be tempted by
"Why tempted oh,
I
not?
If
—do you
I
can be tempted by Elyle
realise
I
how
long?"
have been
how long
don't want to think
"Well,
Puttiora?"
as
good
as
more than her husband for
." .
.
asked, as the thought
I
—and
came
into
me
that
these creatures li\ed ver)- short lives.
"Exactlv
so,
Sirius.
There
is
absolute and incredible beauty
your palm.
It is like
the additional torment that this is
—
stuff for a
moment, snow on
being allowed to become besotted, drunk, gone
Do
into the perfection of a butterfly.
you have
butterflies
on
— Elyle
for
Sirius?"
"No. But
I
have seen them elsewhere."
have loved
—
a long time. In our terms,
our time,
am
something that dissolves
as
"In Shikastan terms,
snowflake.
I
Can you imagine
I
I
look at
forgi\e the
it,
word
drinking, drunk, gone into like
wanting to possess a
the fascinations of that, Sirius?"
"Nasar, you should go home.
And you
should say
all this
—
in the
right quarters."
—
"And then?" he said amused, I could the same wav as I would be bv a verv voung "Very
well,"
I
said, "Sirian
see that;
and
in exactly
child.
ways are not yours. But surely the
— The
Sirian
Experiments
You
problems of discipline are the same everywhere?
and take your punishment
orders, freely confess your derelictions,
but you say there
any."
isn't
He sighed, and began his
pacing.
"And you should put forward your
point of view
say that in your opinion the policy for this planet
He
down
put
his
—you
should
incorrect."
is
again,
on
a pile of cushions, stretched
arms behind
his
head and watched me, with a
flung himself
his legs out,
should obey
smile.
"Canopus should argue with Canopus," said he. "Well, why not? ." and he laughed. It has never been done. But "I do not understand why that is so amusing," I said. "But I have had a very great deal of experience with the administration of .
planets,
.
and the personnel who administer them.
have always
I
been an ad\ocate of the policy that does not only allow, but on, the views of personnel being heard at for
to
times. It
all
remain always au
fait
with local problems. That
administrative policies get top-heavy and inflexible.
not possible
is
Home
an administration that has to be centered on the
Planet
how
exactly
is
there
If
insists
is
not a
continual and active liaison between headquarters and the local officials
—then
in
my
experience, one can expect things
to
go
wrong." I
have to record here that he laughed until
but on behalf of being
Sirius,
not of mvself. For
—
right to put forward
for
certainly
I
need
laughing again, but he saw said, "I really
"No,
I
and
my
fail,
said:
would
and the
I
.
."
like all of
shall
policy.
like
"I
am
this planet for
sorry,"
he
." .
you
.
to
go on.
..."
If
your
I
hesi-
attempt to conceal from you that
Rohanda. say,
shall say
I
and he nearly began
and stopped.
would
demand demand the
shall
I
existing policy stands, then
"I shall not
from yours. Let us
good use of
face
.
am. But you simply do not know
don't know. But
persuasions
I
it.
an opposition to existing
that this was on the advice of Sirius
ideas
was
Sirius that
said he, "I shall go back, as ordered.
active rehabilitation
Sirius
was
it
\erv angry,
criticised.
"Very well,"
tated,
became
I
We obviously
have very different
they are not so lofty!
our experiments.
good use of the southern hemisphere
.
.
."
We
We could
make have made very
and here
I
had
to stop.
1^8 I
forgotten, because of the superior
had
position
I
had had
to talce in relation with this
on
tionary, that our part
played! Again
I
I
made myself
Canopean
func-
planet had not always been honestly
this
found myself
was not able to read
and even commanding
in the position of
my thoughts,
hoping
a
Canopean
knew he did. you know that some of our experiments
say: ''Did
yet
were not always entirely within the terms of our agree-
in the south
ments?" "Yes, of course
He
we know
that."
did not seem inclined to say any more. Because
it
was of no
importance?
"That you would not always keep
And
was angry now.
Canopus both
this:
defensive.
than we ever do
—but
narily perfunctory I
recei\'ed
going to say
.
.
"What
I
can't understand
allots this defective little planet a
important role than we do
and
the
our agreements, was foreseen and allowed for."
letter, of I
to the spirit, let alone
."
—certainly you go to
at the
and
as
spoke, words flashed into
them with a sense that what you do
extraordi-
my
in
mind,
you are
of weariness. "I suppose is
more
far greater lengths
same time you seem quite I
far
is
accordance with what
is
needed?"
"But what
else
could
I
possibly
say?"
he asked, genuinely
surprised.
For some reason the insectlike people of their Planet into
my
mind:
I
remembered an infant that was
ii
a frail pink
came
squirm
held in milky semitransparent arms, surrounded by waving tentacles.
And
scale than
these loathsome things were higher in the evolutionary I
was, or at least very well regarded by Klorathy, and
therefore, also,
to
demand
by Nasar. For
me
to approach "the
resources of tolerance in
me
that
I
Need" seemed
could not believe
would ever have. And yet again we had reached, Canopus and
I,
I
a
moment when an understanding had been on the verge of trembling into light. And then had gone again. Had been engulfed in anger, guilt, and in disbelief in my own capacities. I did not know what it was I had jwt understood. I
heard myself muttering: "I don't understand,
stand."
I
don't under-
— The
Experiments
Sirian
"Poor
Sirius," said Nasar, in the
way he had done
before.
"What will happen if you fail to persuade them?" asked. He stood up. He looked drained, and ashy and lustreless, I
all
the
gone out of him.
energ)'
home now.
go
"I shall
shall take
I
my application to question my view we should jettison
your advice.
the Colonial policy, Shikasta.
I
—and do not expect too much — seeing you here again
this I
shall,
I
put
shall say that Sirius has
what
is
succeed in
I
shall say that in
I
forward a serious request to take over Shikasta. existing policy stands
If
If
happen,
will
and the
fail,
I
Sirius, please
suppose, have the pleasure of
some time."
"Are you not permitted to request transfer to another planet?"
do not think that
"I
and back
there,
want
in
demand
to
my
.
.
.
but
let us
here,
am
probably
will
not
a transfer."
hope you
I
I
I
Once
way.
this
it
normal frame of mind,
do not understand why not,"
"I
put
will suggest that
I
"And
insisted.
if
you are not to be
you do return
down
left
here
so long without regular periods of leave."
He again
he
smiled again.
—with
was gentle, and even appreciative and even
It
a certain admiration. "I shall
views known,"
said.
"And what work do you come back? If you do." "What? Why, as always, course
"No,
it
which
I
.
.
.
and
flowing,
and guard the
will all
that, all that
I
shall
make another .
be sent to a new place
.
until
"How do
shall either find
cities of
—
for of
the eastern
firsty
as hell
do
flow,
—
as
I
myself in some dreadful
and torment, and then case,
I
and make checks always do!
.
.
.
shall set the current
to
Shammat
Or perhaps they
city, or a cluster of cities, like
these
...
will tell
—
all
all
me
perfect,
." .
.
you go about creating your
again the word
but how?"
I
happen again? In any
it
.
shall
be under sand?"
shall regard, at
perhaps
perfect
I
did not escape me!"
"Exactly so city,
when you
think you will be assigned
not have escaped you that these
will
it
central landmass will soon
to
make your
came
to
cities?"
I
me. "Oh, according to need,"
I
asked
—and
said.
"Yes,
I
ISO "I think
mav happen!
I
wouldn't put
it
''How "I
will
shall
you
call
And thank
—
said. "If
I
don't,
who knows what
even perhaps find myself back with El vie
past myself,
return
shall
go now," he
shall
I
I
assure you."
your spacecraft?"
in
—
I
asked.
another way," said he. "Goodbye,
Sirius.
—
Look after your equipment your earrings and the rest thev will be coming after it and after you, and when they find I have disappeared they may make that an excuse to take you phvsicallv. Call your spaceship in and leave. That is my advice." He ran out of the room, and after some time I saw him, a small dark figure, emerge from the base of the tower. He had taken no you.
—
.
.
.
covering \\ith him. into the great
I
snow wastes and
thought indeed
—
He
slowly understood.
me
die there. This gave
was the beginning of
it
was going to walk
a
off
food for
new understanding
about the wavs of Canopus, their different means of going and
... I did not have time to then, anv more than I had time to reflect on this
coming, of "travelling," think of
all this
if
you
like.
many
long con^•ersation with Canopus, in which there were so
openings for a greater comprehension. struggle forward.
I
dead verv soon,
was watching Nasar
could see from the low crowding white in the
northeast that soon
Nasar would be
I
it
would snow
again.
But long before
knew.
He would
not be found,
I
did,
He would
lost in the billowing piling masses. I
it
be
could be pretty
snow melted. That was when I could be afraid of the Puttiorans coming to take me in; probablv on a charge of not who knew what reporting a disappearance, and even of murder one could expect in a place like this! But the melting of the snows was a long wav off. I had hoped to wait till the spring. I stood sure, until the
—
looking out at the scene that seemed stance,
and thinking that
and flood
all
brown
floods
vegetation. I
I
I
that
it
would
swirl
at all to to. I
I
and look down
belie\ed, there \\ould be a burst of
had never seen anvthing
had no reason even
How
in the little tip of this tower,
— and then, so
should be listened or
that was water.
sub-
around these towers when the season changed!
would stand up here at
all
crammed with white
like that.
doubt that when Canopus warned, they
did not want to have to face the Puttiorans,
degenerate
smiling
cruel
lot
—these
gone-to-self-
— The
.
Sirian
Experiments
indulgence classes are always cruel in their lazy insolent way.
.
.
.
Then why was I waiting here? Why, of course, to meet Klorathy. I had come here to meet Klorathy. I understood that I had met Klorathy. Tlicre was a mystery here I did not expect to unravel then, but I knew there was one. .
decided that
I
leave.
I
I
would
sent out the
want
did not
hovering Space Traveller and
mv
and collected
call,
white hooded garment folded in I
my
call in
.
belongings.
I
found
and huddled mvself
a chest
in
to be seen, a dark escapee against the snows,
a it.
and
arrested.
was preparing to leave these high rooms at the cone's tip, and descend to the street, I saw some writing sheets lying where Nasar had been stretched before I came into the room. Just as
I
His despair, his misery, his self-loathing, his
conflicts,
were written
there in broken, sometimes abusive or obscene words.
eye swiftly over them, leafing through the
months
of
comment
o\er, ob\iously, just
many
I
ran
my
sheets: there were
But on the sheet he had been scribbling before I had come into the room, was written: there.
come again and again to the same thought. I may not be able to face Canopus and my own nature now and the shame that will overwhelm me when I contemplate what I have been here, but I have only to conI
template Sirius to be strengthened in the better side of myself: thinking of Sirius
How
I feel
is it
that perhaps
possible that an
I
may
at last force myself
Empire can be
back to
how
can
it
—
many ways and yet never have any inkling at They continue; they thrive; they fall into periods
fact?
make
decisions; they advance again
.
.
.
duty.
so large, so strong, so long-
lasting; so energetic, so inventive, so skilled;
in so
my
they
let their
be so admirable all
of the basic
of decline; they
populations rage
out of control, and then suddenly limit them to practically nothing.
And
all this
opinion
of
a
temporary balance of social forces and
never according to Need. This worthy and correct and com-
who have shown I am
petent I
done according to
official,
is
no more capable of the shameful
only too capable
what the function of Canopus
be.
Is
again?
that not a thought with
is.
falling
away than
of, is
not able to take in anything
What
the function of Sirius could
enough power
in
it
to
make me whole
152
Tliat
what
is
saw written
I
there.
put
I
this sheet of brittle yet
—
—
same time flexible substance it was new to me in my clothes, and in my turn walked rapidly down the stairs and out into the cold ^^'hiteness. It had begun to snow again, though lightly. I at the
was not afraid
would not
I
might be stopped
It
Space Traveller, only that
I
ran fast along the road
Nasar was
if
expect to die!
It
Not we
was strange
garments I
.
.
stumbled on, wonderif
he had
way: we did not
Mother Planet who can renew Death was hardly a realit\' to us. like
an equipment of
.
had not run forward
for long
Space Traveller, and was in in a
into
either side were
to think in this
Canopus should use bodies
that
had come
of the Sirian
our bodies almost indefinitely.
And
I
I
upright and walking onwards, or
still
and was dying.
fallen
On
was hard to keep on the road.
only faint depressions to mark the ditches. ing
I
did see a couple of Puttioran guards at the
first. I
base of the far tower, and the city on.
find the
moment
it
when
I
saw the
and up and
soft glitter of the
off the
white thicknesses
—soon below us the brown cones stood up out of the
white coverlet, and above us was the Rohandan night sky crammed with blazing a
stars.
I
happy glow on our
We
hemisphere.
looked for our
own
Home Planet, but I
dear
star,
which shed such
was bound for the southern
swept on, with the white expanse below
us,
and
then over the great mountains that were white, too, and suddenly
below us was the blue ocean. The experiments to organise
And
so
I
do not concern conclude
my
my
purpose in
report of
my
this
I
was proposing
account.
encounter with Canopus
in
Koshi, of the cities of the eastern central landmass.
PLANET
3
For
time
a long
(i), I
THE PLANET
9
ANIMALS
was nowhere near Rohanda, but at the other
end of our Empire, dealing with problems, mostly psychological, arising
from the reductions of population.
work, and
if
it
I
did not enjoy this
were not that the problems were so taxing, and,
often, dangerous to the Empire, a personal inspection of the
I
would have
visited
Rohanda
for
experiments that were being pursued
The
Sirian
Experiments
But these were none
there.
them
of
of the class described as socio-
work on genetic engineering. the question arose of Planet 3(1) and its future
biological, only small-scale laboratory It
that
on
was not
until
could with good conscience return
I
policy,
and then look forward
home
for the discussions
to a tour of duty
on Rohanda.
Tlie policy discussions were long and even stormy.
Our
decision
not to acquire and develop further planets had been maintained. Planet 3(1) was Planet 3's moon or satellite. Planet 3 was in active use. Its moon had never been de\'eloped, was almost entirely
without oxygen: but
it fell
within the class of planets that are con-
sidered potentially the
most
sphere can be adjusted.
At the height
plans had been
made
and
useful
to force 3
(
1 )
,
desirable,
if
their
atmo-
of our Empire's expansion,
for
it
was plentifully equipped
we pursued our deliberate policy of retraction and reduction, the search for new supplies of minerals became unnecessary. I think it is not far off the truth to sav that we with
kinds of minerals. But as
all
3(1), even forgot it. Planet 3 itself, an adequately functioning place, was not concerned with it, except as to how it
came
to overlook
her gravitational situation.
aflFected
The
question of developing
a latent
hunger
"Old
that \ery this
say this
I
Imperialist!"
many
new
expand,
I
always
is
planet,
its
maintain,
I
shall attract criticism,
But why avoid the
truth! It
is
and
my belief
and problems of our Service stem from something in Sirian nature that demands, that
of the
hunger. There
knowing
ills
provided best by the takeover
flourishes, in situations of challenge,
of a
is
in our Colonial Service for the old days of expansion
and development. cries of
arose because there
3(1)
problems, if
it
regulations,
its
development.
not normal for us (in the sense that
is
To
right)
most agreeable condition. To monitor and police planets kept deliberately stable, and on a low level of energy generally, is not exhilarating, does not inspire and develop the members is
at least the
of the Service. If this were not true,
operation so
many schemes
why should we
always have in
deliberately contrived to provide chal-
lenge to our Service?
No, the truth
is
that Planet
3(1) came
to our attention again
because a large number of our personnel, particularly the younger ones, wanted to experience the sharp edge of difficulties, problems, hazards.
Even dangers
—
for there
is
something quite different
in
^S4
between the dangers that have
quality
to
be surmounted
Hshing something new, and those faced
on
policing job
because of a
in,
a planet that erupts in dissatisfaction or discontent
that
life level
seen too clearly to be stagnant.
is
not wish here to re-introduce metaphysical questions!
my
a regular
say,
let's
in estab-
It is far
I
do
from
intention to stray into regions that are only too thoroughly
explored by our social philosophers.
If
I
mention that on many of
our thoroughly stable and economically balanced planets we have deliberately lieve
— during some epochs —allowed
the inhabitants to be-
dangers that are nonexistent, that
in
We
relevant here.
is
only because
it
is
have inxented threats from Puttiora, or from
Shammat; caused rumours
possible cosmic hazards,
of
such as
approaching comets or unfortunate starry alignments; even pro-
voked minor uprisings
—
from becoming
to prevent planets
all this
dolefully sunk into \Vhat-is-the-purpose-of-it-all states of
mind
that,
unchecked, can even lead to mass suicide.
At any
rate,
this
Planet 3(1), and released finally
that this
it
was the main reason for our reconsidering did not appear on the
by our deliberating Conference.
kinds of situations: the
real,
decision or change of policy
(It
my
is
experience
be observed e\'er\where and
a general rule, to
is
reasons as
official list of
in all
the propelling cause of a situation or is
never mentioned at
all,
and must be
sought for behind and buried under the peripheral ones.)
The 1
reasons were listed as follows:
Planet
3
(
1
is
)
the only one of our Colonised Planets, or Planet's
Planets, left undeveloped, or not
made
use of in
some way
or
another. 2
To
choose an analogy from the remote past,
farm of the old kind allowed a single
field to
it is
as
if
a well-run
remain uncultixated.
(Our younger members are particularly fond of these archaic and romantic comparisons one may almost say that it is a cult
—
with them.) 3
would be more economical
Tliis planet,
being so near to
to use for
minerals than other mineral-rich planets.
4 Planet
3
its
has
will benefit
shown
Sirius,
signs of the familiar
moral stagnation and
from the debates and disagreements resulting from
the decision to bring
its
moon
to
life.
The
Sirian Experiments
presents
53(1)
new problems, and
their solution will
add
to
our
stock of scientific knowledge.
Rohanda that parts of them are
6 There have been reminders from our personnel on
our
underused, and that
territories there are
already overrun by peoples and races resulting from our previous
The
experiments.
provision of an atmosphere for 3
be dovetailed into certain
local conditions
might
( 1 )
on Rohanda,
as dis-
cussed at the Conference. (Details attached.)
had
I
a
message sent
venience them to definite time.
was not to
know
I
call
exactly
Canopus asking
to
if
it
would incon-
use part of their territory for a limited and
let us
was not unaware of a certain duplicity here, it,
simply, diplomacy; the point was that
how long we would need
the territory.
we
if
one
did not
We wanted the
highest possible mountains. Extremely high mountains covered a large area of the southern part of the central landmass.
become higher ings
We
still,
and more
These had
extensive, during the internal squeez-
and pushings of the planet during the unfortunate "events." believed, through our espionage, that Canopus was not making
much
we discovered this message came back that they
use of these mountainous areas. (Later
was mistaken.) But
in
any
case, the
were not able to lend us these mountains or any part of them, and they "wished to draw our attention to" the very high mountain chains along the western edge of the Isolated Southern Continent II.
Tliank you very much!
I
thought; but of course
we
did have
One Great Moun-
these mountains, and they were adequate for our purpose.
motive tain
for at least
attempting an occupation of their
was that our reports indicated that Klorathy was or had been
stationed in those parts.
I
had not heard anything further from him.
Nor from Nasar.
My
experience with Nasar had gone into the background of
thoughts shortly after
it
my
ended. This in spite of an intriguing report
on Canopus that had caused "great and unprecedented interest." It was a question of whether Rohanda should be entirely given up. "Top and Authoritative Policy" had been of a conference
challenged, "llie debate, which lasted longer than any previous debate, and which argued the very bases of policy,
ended
Canopean
in a majority vote in favour of the
colonial
maintenance of
I
1S6
Rohanda." Colonial policy had been changed in a way that was unprecedented. "Tlie disgruntled minority had put forward a suggestion which was adopted: that with the exception of those officials
always been involved with Rohanda, service on the
who had
re-
and burdensome planet would be voluntary: no one
calcitrant
should be forced to sign up for a tour of duty." concepts,
Canopean
what
very Sirian, into
all
I
translated these
imagined would be nearer to
I
accordance with the conversations
ideas, in
had had
I
had learned of the nature of Canopus. remained: there had been a conference on Canopus, as
with Nasar, and with what
But a fact I had suggested
I
to Nasar, to debate conditions of colonial service
He had
on Rohanda. (Their Shikasta.) it,
but
had happened, nevertheless. But
it
tion. All this
for a routine
had heard
this
historic nature.
officials, visiting
exchange of information with their
but without any sense of
it, .
.
And
.
was not
it
all
had
I
its
officials,
importance, or
to confess, thinking
that important.
Canopus must place on
emphases
informa-
little
conference mentioned in a casual conversation and
had enquired about that perhaps
had too
I
was not even secondhand: one of our
Colony 10
its
laughed at the mere idea of
How was
events,
I
over,
it all
know
to
according
the that
to
"Necessity" of theirs! Because a disgruntled and disaffected
hoped and believed only temporarily top-level policy, this did not seriously! Officials
the time, and
all
had been
there
I
on
my
took
mean
level
it
as
had
—
official
that one
disagreed with a to take
that
it all
to consider this kind of thing
no more than
a conference,
had
routine. All the same,
and yet Nasar had laughed, and
laughed, at the very idea of such a conference being possible. I
had
to
end up with
this
—
small fact, and abandon
.
.
.
other
all
speculation.
The that
reason
it
was
I
all
did not dwell overmuch on too
much
for
me. That
learned was a challenge to e\erything
could lines
my
it
not be?
— that
I,
And
Ambien
role as Sirius (I
me, simply,
yes, II,
I
I
is
visit to
the truth.
was as a Sirian
Koshi was
What
I
official.
had
How
was only too aware that to think on these
might have ideas and intimations beyond
thought often enough of
Sirius!)
my
how Nasar had
and was even beginning
called
to separate off in
myself these two entities, or ways of experiencing living probably, treason. Treason of a kind. Treason to the Sirian
—was,
way
of
The
Experiments
Sirian
looking at things. Yet who, and when, had ever shown any tendencies of this sort before?
had
could not remember
I
When we
it!
on our colonies or disagreements about
to face revolts
these were always within Sirian terms, ideas, concepts.
famous
"existential situation,"
Sirian boundaries. But,
thinking,
was
it
(Sirius)
when
I
As
policy,
for our
did not go beyond
this certainly
was with Canopus, inside Canopcan was challenged,
Sirius itself that
its
very bases,
its
foundations.
No,
I
was not able to see myself
certainlv
For that was what
amounted
it
W^as
to.
I
as
an alien
to Sirius.
to put myself forward at
one of our regular Conferences on Overall Policy and say
—but
Canopus to be altogether finer and higher than we were, and that we should go humbly to Canopus begging for instruction? Wrap it up as I might, that is what it amounted to. I have already made it clear in this memoir, or account, of mine what? Tliat
I
believed
Canopus made
that our attitudes towards
W^as
I
then
—knowing
Ambien
I,
—
and personal
close colleagues
or
this
or
my
to start
allies,
that quite inconceivable.
propaganda work among
such
as
the others af the Five,
offspring, with the idea of
changing
would (but how?) slowly change
and
cultivation of such "cells" of course was perennial
to be expected
bv
of us
all
when
of Sirius?
a nucleus
The formation
that
all
my
and only
facing dissident planets
and
insurrectionarv movements.
might consider
I
playing with the idea sometimes, but
this,
could not imagine myself actually doing
and working with
as the art of the possible,
possible that
my
\\ith
I,
my
There
it.
it.
start
what amounted
such a thing
W^ell,
position in the Empire,
temperament, should
is
my
it
was not
experience,
revolutionary
to
cell-building!
What that
I
bilities itself
alternatives were there?
I
now ha\e
could not envisage any alternatixes. Tliese were the possi... as
I
saw
it.
I
dimly and distantly, see that Canopus
did,
might have ideas of
its
own.
...
I
would
these rather visionarv notions, and always
my
to state, categorically,
various encounters with
Canopus
entertain, sometimes,
when brooding about
—where
I
had
failed,
where
I
had, in spite of these failures, learned. Tlie practised and practising
person that was
Ambien
II
had
to recognise facts,
when
I
saw
them. Facts, the more experienced one became, were always to be
— 1S8
understood, garnered, taken involved with processes,
were not best this
as
mv relations
I
To
had ever learned
could not dismiss
me.
way
its
postponed
I
work, which
I
out. Facts
understood formulas or summings up, but through
was unmistakable.
thing I
worked
life as it
vvitli
inward groping and recognition. Well, what
contemplating It
with that part of oneself most deeply
in,
it.
I
deny
it,
my long
But
And
it.
with Canopus was some sort of purpose.
dismiss
in
recognised in
I
it,
meant denying
every-
career as participator in events.
could sav that
it
was
for a ven' long time
all
too
much
was busy with
was not enjoying, and which inwardh-
I
for
my
was question-
ing and feeling sapped and diminished by, because of an everincreasing sense of
know!
)
,
because
futility
its
of, in fact,
that person or indixidual
This was whv
borrow or lease
to
mv
the steady, unstoppable growth in
who was not
their
me
I
of
"Sirius."
we might
Great Mountains.
my disappointment at
was not to see BClorathv task,
treachery and treason,
caused the request to be sent that
I
This was the cause of I
yes,
who? Or what? Canopus?
\\^o was
So!
(oh
vet.
.
.
.
their refusal.
then.
\''en' well
and again pushed these thoughts
to the
I
set mvself
back of
my
mind.
A map of than
Isolated Southern Continent II shows that rather
a third of the
among
wav down
the mountain chain
is
more
a lake high
the peaks.
What we
wanted was
to
accustom a
sufficient
number
able individuals to living on sparse supplies of oxygen. It
of suit-
happened
we had, on our Colonised Planet 2, some high mountains, and on them were living a species able to function on comparati\ely little oxvgen. But they had been established for generations. We needed flexibilitv, adaptability. After some thought, we chose a species from C.P. 9, a chilly, damp, dismal sort of place, whose that
nature was to match, phlegmatic and dour.
We
space-lifted 30,000
them not to the highest peaks but to a plateau halfway up a mountain range that had sparse but adequate food, and a wet changeable climate. There we left them, under supervision, to adapt. Meanwhile 3(1) was being surveved and prepared. of
I
visited there,
there was not
I
suppose
much on
it
could be said, from curiosity, though
the place to feed interest.
— The
Sirian
was
It
arid, chillv, dusty.
were semifrozen
Tliere
and
h'zards
The
Experiments
sluggish
frogs.
weed
vegetation was hchens, and a curious form of marsh
that
seemed half-animal. At any
end
in
about
maintaining some
marshes,
mud all
while being anchored at one
rate,
or slushy ice, the fronds, branches, feelers, crawled
over the surface of the
sometimes even
soil,
overturning stones and rocks, or burrowing
and
into
mud,
for the
a single plant could cover a square mile.
These animal-plants were
One was
danger to our technicians,
a
walking through what she believed to be quite ordinary, familiar vegetation,
and
Sometimes these branches were
primiti\e insects and crustaceans. half an R-mile long,
down
lifting
when
the creature reached up with
when
or feelers, and tugged her over, and
its
un-
if
"hands"
she was rescued,
it
was
only just in time, for the "plant" had already begun to dismantle her spacesuit, undoing screws and fastenings in search of the obviously
—
excitement for it
me,
I
food
delectable
among our
had
a
more
would indeed be
experts claimed.
naturalists,
it
goes without saying; but as
localised interest in the place, namely,
moon
spins
on
It
had one great advantage from our point of soil.
re\ol\es about Planet 3 four times in
its axis
whether
possible to change the planet's climate, as our
view: there was oxygen locked up in the
This
much
This "plant" caused
within.
once. Planet 3
is
far
from
its
sun,
its
and
year,
is
and
itself
on
the cold and lethargic side. I
left instructions to
follow our experts' recommendations that
thermonuclear explosions should be
tried,
with the aim of warm-
ing the planet, and returned to the settlement of our expcrimentees
on the mountainside
of Isolated S.C.
Enough time had passed and
it
was now
possible failure.
for the first generation to
a question of
None was
II.
examining
their
have died out,
progeny for signs of
found. Although they were existing on
an oxygen supply of two-thirds of their familiar conditions on C.P.
9,
they seemed to be thriving.
instead of giving I
them
I
therefore took a decision:
a further intermediate acclimatisation period,
ordered them to be transferred at once to as high as
possible for animals to subsist. Tliis
was at o\er
1
it
5,000 R-feet,
was
more
than twice the height of their previous station, and the drop in
— i6o
oxygen
level
was severe, not only
in
comparison with that station
halfway up the range but particularly in comparison with their
Home
Planet. Tlie experts reported their lungs were already en-
larging.
saw them established.
I
was now such an
them ordered an abandonment of
It
what was needed that I policy and had housing installed
to accomplish
our usual it
was possible
Northern Continent
Isolated
terested, in
how
housing
this
my
—
happened,
it
a
I
was pondering about
I
we had
for while
mountain range
side of the
from
happened.
this
easily,
—
them. As
Canopean settlement on the was interested, more than in-
from
to get this
for
effort for
to get
settlements over the other
was not
this
how
far, relatively
speaking,
settlement of the old days, in the time of the Lombis
happened that we were short of suitable aircraft. It was at this moment that I had a message from Klorathy offering the materials it
I
needed.
record that
I
that he was at
that he
work
merely noted that
I
was Klorathy,
this
so close, in the continent north of this one,
had known where
was.
I
I
noted
and went on with
it,
and
my
task. I
meet the
did not
fleet of their cargocraft as
sea parallel with the
mountains we were on,
that Klorathy would not be there personally. lifted to the
high plateaux by our
wooden
in existence, double-storey a plan that
was found attached
dwellings.
merely ordered
The
I
this
craft.
The
they arrived on the I
was convinced
The
materials were
for
settlement was soon
buildings, set out according to
to the
consignments of dismantled
plan to be put into
effect.
Planet 9 animals were not the most attractive
I
have known!
Again, they were of small build, not more than three to four R-feet.
They were
stocky,
and
their original hairiness
was already enhanced,
because of these cold heights they were adapting
from under shelves of reddish
glassy blue eyes peered
bred three or four or even birth to only
two or
at the
—
but more importantly
That
is,
they
were
to.
five to a litter,
most
as
we
three. Tliey
believed
not subject
to
Very bright
fur.
Tliey had
but already were giving were strong, physically,
—strong
by moral nature.
emotional
collapse
under
difficulties. I
watched these animals
among
in
their
snowy
valley lifted high
up
those dreadful peaks, moving slowly in packs and groups,
turning as one to face a
new
challenge
—
as. for instance,
my appear-
a
.
The ance
Sirian
Experiments
among them,
or that of their supervisors.
They
stabiHsed their
balance on long thick staves, and set their furry legs wide apart the
.
.
the baffled glassy stare ...
.
all this
was
or to fancv that one did, animals drugged, or tranced.
on
this species
was sorrv for them,
rounded up
I
to see,
had seen
their Planet g, \\here they are hardly a \olatile or
quick-moving kind, but at I
.
turn of their heads, and the careful swivel of the
slo\\- difficult
cold blue eyes
.
.
Thev had been
admit.
I
have some native
least did
for this experiment, that they
told,
liveliness.
on being
were to accomplish'
and that they would be they succeeded: and what now remained
task of the greatest importance to Sirius,
honoured by the Empire in their
progenv of
been chosen, or
if
set apart.
struction to their
importance was a feeling of haxing
this sense of
The
super\isors reported that their
voung was centred on
their "superior qualities." All this
Their high of
vallev,
with
its
was
their "special destiny"
to
and
satisfactory.
beautiful lake, enjoyed three
summer, when thev were able
in-
grow
months
brief crops of a cereal
we
introduced from our Central Cereal Stocks that was able to flourish in high dr\' places,
This was their
and
staple,
to
come
to fruition within the three
months.
but thev grew, too, various kinds of marrow
and pumpkin. Thev kept some
sort of
sheep for milk and meat. But
thev were not able wholly to maintain themselves, so slow and cult were their li\es,
we supplied them
so prolonged their periods of snow;
and
\earlv with additional foodstuffs, telling
diffi-
and
them
so it
was an expression of the gratitude of the Empire. After all, it was not our intention to breed a species self-sufficient under any difficult circumstances, but to breed one able to stay alive in the early stages of the I
new
existence of 3 ( did not stav long on that
)
i
trip.
I
had heard that the
mediarv settlement, on the mountainside, had been
inter-
visited
by
"kingdom" further north along the mountain chain, and that attempts had been made to kidnap some of the obser\ers from a
animals. Presumablv as slaves. It was a slave state, of a particularly
unpleasant
sort.
mv
So went
Further attempts would probably be made.
reports.
I
then
made
a mistake. Believing that the
extreme height of the new settlement would be enough of a deterrent, I
I
did not order an increase in the super\'isorv' force.
ordered, however, a
visit
by
spies into this
"kingdom," and
162
me
asked that their report should be sent to
where
I
would be on
the other side of the mountain chain on the foothills above the great
now covered so much of the continent. wished to visit Ambien I, whom I had not seen
jungles that I
for a long time.
Ever since the unfortunate "events" on Rohanda, which had
knocked the
askew and caused seasons, involving changes of
axis
vegetation and weather of a sometimes spectacular nature,
been fashionable to
more advantaged
for certain of the
it
had
of our citizens
spend holidays on both southern continents to obser\e these
Not onlv the well off; of the more lowly kind,
"seasons." officials
there were also excursions for or even of ordinarv citizens,
particularly the elderly. In other words, there were
Rohanda,
sorts of visitor to
dation were prepared. of arranging the
and
colonists.
My
whom
for
accommodation
This did not
different
two standards of accommo-
Ambien
old friend
two
second
for the
mean more than
was put
I
class of
in
charge
our citizens
a supervisory eye
on
the work of underlings. But he had indicated he would appreciate a
chance to spend time
join
where
in the better class of place,
I
would
him.
As
this
of mine,
I
most agreeable shall
has nothing to do with this account
visit
merely say that
from which one was able
flew
I
down
to see the high
to a holiday settlement,
mountains on one
over the top of the jungles on the other, and where
snows of the winter dwindle
off the
mountain
side,
we watched
ranges,
and the
and rush
everywhere in fountains and torrents of sparkling water. Meanwhile
Ambien and I caught up with news and gossip of what turned out to be when we added it all up fifty thousand R-years! We had in fact last met on this planet, on a joint mission connected with
—
—
the inspection of our laboratories.
That meeting had seemed was even
new one
to us short enough; but this
shorter, for the reports of our spies in the threatening
kingdom reached me, and it was clear that something had to be done at once. An expeditionary force had been sent up into the mountains, and
had succeeded in capturing over 2,000 of the poor animals, whose future, judging from what I was finding out it
about Grakconkranpatl, was dark indeed.
Ambien
and
I
talked
him, reluctantly,
I
flew
I
it all
over,
away from
and
this
I
made my
holiday place,
plans. full
Leaving
of species
— The
Sirian Experiments
from every part of our Empire,
revelling in
all
new
the sharp
sensations to do with changing weather, the delightful emotions associated with the "seasons"
—which
pleasures are to be found
only on Rohanda, or only to such a prodigal and always unex-
pected extent.
was
It
as a result of this
meeting of
ours,
together of the reactions around us, that
and what we observed
we recommended
a
team
of medical experts to visit the Southern Continents, to see whether
sojourns in places where the changes of the "seasons" were particu-
marked could
larlv
melancholia, irreverent
or
benefit certain psychological conditions, such as
an exaggerated dose of "the existentials"
name among
—an
the young for this emotional affliction.
recommendations were followed;
a
Our
team of medical technicians did
explore possibilities on both continents; they agreed with our
it
—conclusions;
up on appropriate sites; and was not long before Rohanda became the most favoured place
tentative
clinics
were
set
for the treatment of these afflictions.
A
side benefit
resulted. It I
is
was that a new branch or department of
literature
categorised in our libraries as Effluvia of the Seasons.
wonder how manv now
realise that this
honoured, not to say
hoary, branch of our great literature originated in
—now long-past—
that
era of
Rohanda with
use bv us as a holiday station and
its
emotional-adjustment area?
GRAKCONKRANPATL As
usual,
to decide
I
began
whether
I
my
investigation with an aerial survey.
wanted
this to
Sirian ad\antage. After deliberation bility,
I
had
be noticed, and interpreted to I
decided on
choosing a sur\'eillance aircraft that,
if
minimum
visi-
seen, could easily
be
dismissed as the result of freak atmospheric effects. W^iirling at
extreme speed, at the worst glisten.
I
it
would be seen
as a
kind of crystalline
chose a day of high winds, fast-mo\'ing white cloud, and
bright sun, and hovered over Grakconkranpatl long enough for a
good survey. I
certainlv did not like
what
I
saw: for one thing,
I
observed our
i6^
poor Colony 9 animals being sadly misused. I had to retire with my observations to my old headquarters in the foothills that once
had monitored the Lombi and other experiments,
for
an oppor-
my
eyes filled
tunity for solitary thought.
What had seen I
was
this.
Descending through gaps
in the
mountain
with the blue sweep of the ocean, below
me
ranges,
was what at
glance
first
could seem to be an assemblage of vast stone cubes assembled on a high place between peaks.
The
vegetation was heavy, a dense green,
kept back from the piled stone by brief clearings showing the reddish
soil.
The massive cubes were
colour as certain ticks
crammed and
blocks analysis
I
of a dull greyish blue, the
have seen infesting animals. Tliese great together were
piled
showed they were
ment, gave an impression of
No
Yet
it
central
was not
other.
hostility
a large city.
open space, only
rectangle, that lay
the
and
city,
closer
built of uniformly cut stones, fitted to-
gether. Their lowering colour, their massing
size.
same
and
and crowding arrange-
threat,
and even
There were no gardens
a not overlong avenue,
between two very
of great
or green.
narrow
or
large buildings, facing each
These two opposing facades had no openings or windows.
There were few windows anywhere, and once observed,
The
explained the sombreness and the threat of the place.
however, did offer some
relief,
for they
were
this fact
roofs,
and each was
flat,
crowded. I
had never before seen
for our spies' reports,
sign here of rich
poor quarters of the a
microcosm of the
The
rich, as it
was
it
city.
Each
society,
had not been it.
Tlie
knew
this
race,
and
or rich
and
to interpret it.
a large ruling class of
and m-enials of other captured
There was no
if
not easily be inferred from
be a wealthy culture with
slaves
and
would not have been able
social structure could
to
a city like this,
I
one
races.
and poor buildings,
of these vast blocklike buildings was
housing the rich and their attendants.
clear, lived
on the top
layers,
where there were
more windows, and on the roofs, which were equipped with awnings and shades and wind screens of all kinds. The sla\es were do\\'n in the dungeonlike bottom layers where there was very little light. Life was never communal or public; there were no festivals or
common amusements; no
eating places, no baths, no shops.
Sirian Experiments
The
Around slopes,
this central city, the heart of
were the farms and the mines. Tliese stretched
in every
The farms were worked with
gangs of
direction for long distances.
Thev
slaves.
From
Grakconkranpatl, on lower
li\ed in heav^• stone buildings, built in regular blocks.
the air they looked depressingly unifomi. Tliey were prisons.
Even from the height where there was
of
my
working
a cluster of
supervisors, uith weapons.
1
observation craft
I
could see that
sla\es, there
were
lines of
thought of our encampment
in the
heights where our Colony g animals were being acclimatised, and
wooden huts
the regular patterns of
could not help a pang, wondering
in if
which they were kept, and they perhaps
not very
felt
could see sla\ing below me. But
different
from the poor wretches
after
our super\ision was only for their benefit, to keep them
all,
in health
and of course
I
to pre\ent
them from running away, which
would do them no good. And our punishments were hardly kind
knew were used
I
All the same, I
I
of the
here.
must record that
was being forced to make; and
I
I
did not enjoy the comparisons
suffered
more than
a
few moments
of attack from the existential problem.
At
various distances from the central city,
areas,
beyond the farming
were mines; the culture made extensive use of minerals. The
Down
mines were.
where the
of barracks show^ed
same dark and forbidding patterns
the mountainside from Grakconkranpatl ran
an absolutely straight paved road,
a dark grey streak
through the
lush forests. This road can only be described as insane. It
no concession
and
precipices.
to the terrain, to ups
Where
there was a
but drove straight through.
it,
R-miles had been
WTiat
it
filled
mountain
it
I
mountains
or even
did not
wind about
long precipitous decline of several
with rubble and the road taken o\er
looked like was that some tyrant in a
commanded: Make me In fact
A
and downs
made
fit
of hauteur
it.
had
a road straight to the ocean!
learned later that this was what had happened: hundreds
of thousands of slaves
From mv
craft,
with their loads of
I
had died
in its
making.
could watch long trains of transport animals
fish
from the sea making
their
was joined
way up along
to the
cit\'
length
on
its
by
smaller, equally straight roads, for the transport of farm produce
high place.
and minerals.
I
could see that
it
all
its
— i66
how best
I
had
I
was handicapped by not ha\'ing experienced
to decide
to present myself. this particular type
of society before. "Religions," of course, are to be found in one form
Only on Rohanda, due
or another everywhere.
Shammat common:
—
so
came
I
that
societies
is,
understand
to
where the
later
to the influence of
—were
social structure
theocracies
was identical
with the hierarchies of the religion. Tlie ruling class was the priest-
The
hood, was hereditary, was all-powerful.
slaves
were kept in
order by the priesthood.
The
my
root of
problem, so
it
seemed
to
me, was the degree of
cynicism of the priesthood. In other words, could they be frightened through "religion" or
could they not?
monies and
I
studied the reports for accounts of their cere-
practices,
and concluded that since
—
for
Rohanda
they were well established, not to say ancient, having lasted for over a
thousand
years,
and since
many
petuated for so
same
this
ruling class
had been
per-
generations, there was a likelihood that they
in fact believed their repulsive inventions.
The ritual
ised to if
this "religion"
murder. This has always struck
apart from
or
on which
practice
renew
One
barbarity.
its
itself in
based
me
itself
as
was murder
uneconomic, quite
has to postulate a population organ-
excess of the needs of labour
and breeding;
not, then accessible to weaker cultures for the capture of slaves.
Not
only were large numbers of unfortunate creatures "sacrificed"
method was most
continually, the
out while the victim was
still
alive.
for centuries. Tliis fact raises
disgusting.
The
heart was cut
This had been going on,
as I say,
problems and questions that
as
an
administrator cannot help but fascinate me, to do with the nature of
what subject
submit
classes
and races can be made
or
to.
The thought was, of course,
that occurred to
how had
it
me when
originated?
to
and everywhere on Rohanda attempts
to
of
appetites,
Shammat by this
read of this practice
my
of meetings with
aid.
Canopus always
modify and soften the
enjoining a moderation of the natural
sometimes referred to
cluded that
I
Memories
Canopus, reports from our agents, came effects
to believe,
as "sacrificing the heart."
I
con-
emotive and rhetorical phrase had, due to the con-
tinuous degeneration on
Rohanda about which Nasar had been
The
Sirian Experiments
so eloquent,
seemed since
I
come
me
be taken
to
literally.
If
this
Rohanda had, had been invohed there last, made a to
to indicate that
was the
case,
it
long interval
in the
and
a
that in a culture so addicted to murder,
I
further step,
large one, into brutishness.
did occur to
It
might find myself agents' reports
I
me
a \ictim,
but dismissed the thought: from our
had concluded that
other cultures were sacrificed. In other words, eligible. Tliis
lives that
come not
I,
from
erring slaves or captives I
did not feel myself
was because situations of danger are so
rare in our
like all of us long-lived administratixe-class Sirians,
had
to think of myself almost as immortal! Certainly death did
—does not—often approach my mind. And
and unafraid into the
greatest danger
was not courage, but a
I
result of the
so
I
walked calmly
have ever experienced.
Tliis
atrophy of the instinct of
self-preservation.
considered, and dismissed, plans for taking a large entourage.
I
For instance, the inhabitants of Grakconkranpatl were skinned; both rulers and slaves. to the recreation settlements
who were
races
effect of a
unexpectedly
among
from C.P.
and asking
company
2:
a craft
for volunteers,
entr)' of
from those I
those coppery or reddish people. Or, the impressi\^e effect of individuals
enormous black specimens,
totally
and
glossily black,
with cone-shaped narrow heads and long fine features.
an
down
of silvery ambassadors, arriving
had often observed the
I
was for sending
pale skinned and, preferably, with pale hair.
imagined the
opposite:
A plan
dark
all
myself companioned in
this
I
imagined
way, but decided against
this, too. I
toyed with a display of our crystal obser\'ation spheres, ho\'ering
low
o\'er
invasion,
the
city,
for long
enough
to
be thought
a
permanent
and then broadcasting loud and portentous messages,
threatening
them
with
destruction
if
they
again
raided
our
settlements.
But
I
have always been reluctant to use complicated or even un-
means when something simpler would do. What was the simplest of the means within my scope?
truthful
It
was to go myself, alone.
Priest, alone. theirs,
It
was to demand to see the High
him the truth: that this territory of the mountain ranges, was not at all, as they
was to
on the slopes of
It
tell
i68
seemed
and under
to imagine, theirs,
overall sovereignt}' of "the
but under the
their rule,
Gods." Their astronomy was
they
fair;
movements of the stars to match these with effects on crops and weather. They could be persuaded to make the step onwards to knowing that their superiors dwelled on the far
knew enough about
stars:
Gods.
I
the
would present myself
God.
as a
This was not untruthful, from the perspective of Rohanda. caused one of our agents to
I
with a written message.
Rohanda, and
to
I
then
solemn phrases
to choose
good
left a
a secret visit into the city,
took care to use writing material foreign
Emissary from the Gods would I
make
visit
interval, so
them
to the effect that
"from the
shortly,
absorbed, and took the opportunity to pay another quick
my dear Ambien I
well
visit to
I.
was conveyed
Grakconkranpatl by a war machine specially
to
summoned by me from experts
skies."
become
that this should
an
Home
the
had been instructed
Planet.
to design
an
Our
population-control
aircraft that
could intimi-
date by appearance. It was extremely swift, could hover, and shoot off in
any direction, or land and take
silent. It
was black, with a
was absolutely
off very fast. It
on
single dull-red eye
body, which
its
emitted greenish rays that in fact did have a temporarily stupefying
on any
effect
living thing beneath.
But
shape was the
its
triumph of the experts. This managed to suggest strength and brutality. tional reaction:
and
Nobody underneath
it
heaxy implacable
could avoid an emo-
one was being monitored by
jealous eye. This
a
a crudely punitive
machine was very seldom used. The more
sophisticated of our Colonised Planets were not likely to be
than
irritated
by
Those of our planets kept backward,
it.
instance 24, where the transplanted violently affected by entirely overthrown.
So
I
thought.
I
it:
But
was
real
more as for
Lombis were, would be too
the balances of their culture might be for
an occasion
right.
But
I
like this,
it
was admirable.
should have ordered a
fleet of
them, accompanied them with threats, and not appeared myself at
all
The machine
set
tunity to take in
me down
at such a speed that
I
had no oppor-
that the long oblong or central avenue was
crammed, but in an organised and purposeful way. end of this avenue, my back to one blank frowning
I
was at one
facade, facing
The
down than
Experiments
Sirian its
it
length to
opposing building.
its
seemed from the
air. It
The avenue was
was narrower because
it
longer
was banked
with what seemed to be statues, or even machinelike beings. They
wore straight dark grey
tunics, to the ankles.
Over
wore hoods of the same colour, with only narrow
their heads they
slits for eyes.
Their
gloved hands held upright before them very long iron lances,
"^riicir
feet
were
It will
in
heavy leather. They were
five
deep on either
side.
alreadv have been seen by the reader that these figures
underlined and reinforced the theme of the buildings, with their
Behind these guards stood
featureless uniformity.
groups the contents of each individual building tents, in the
shape of the members of
ordered
in rigidly
—the
living con-
a family group, or tribe, all
wearing identical black robes, which covered them completely, leaving their faces bare.
caused
my
My
sight of the visage of this culture
first
physical self unmistakably to falter. It was a harsh,
authoritarian
face,
difference, too,
remarkably
between the
diversified,
tribes or families.
each wore a certain stvle of
stiff
easily able to recognise this as
and superceded
little
their
conical hat, in black
little
heads they felt.
I
was
having derived from one of the old
special articles prescribed
These privileged ones, the
On
and with
rulers of
by Canopus
to
its
agents.
Grakconkranpatl, carried no
arms.
Far ahead of me, at the end of the narrow grey corridor between these dark grey guards,
group of scarlet
priests,
and
and
theirs
their black-robed rulers,
was a massed
was the only colour on the scene. In
and yellow, bright green and
brilliant blue, these stood wait-
ing under the blank dark wall of their temple. For these two buildings that stared eyelessly at each other were temples. I
understood, rather
that the exact time of
me
food for thought
late,
me: and
that this was a reception for
my arrival here had become known. This gave indeed, since my decision when to come had
been made two days before. I I
was already aware that
I
had made
a
bad mistake. For one thing,
should not be wearing a slight white robe, that paid
to
ceremonial.
(I
of course
me
homage
the artefacts currently
some concealed, and Canopean silver, and heavy
prescribed by Canopus, a necklace of
had on
little
others in the shape of bracelets.)
To
these
people, able to be impressed only by the grandiose, the emphatic,
the threatening, grass.
must be seeming
I
Able, at any rate, to be crushed at a touch.
walked slowly forward
I
dead
like a leaf or piece of
in a dead,
an ominous
see the glint of eyes inside the oblong narrow
slits
silence. I
in the
could
dark hoods
hemmed me in; I could see behind them the heavy savage faces of the men and women of this horrid land. I understood that my mouth was dry. That my knees were weak. That my breathing was shallow. Recognising these classic symptoms that
of Fear, which fascinated.
But
bad indeed,
me
I
if
they did.
could not remember having
felt, I
was of course
same time I was analysing my situation. Very they meant ill by me, as the atmosphere convinced at the
had
I
told the aircraft to vanish itself well
and
it
my signal. This would depend on my my Canopean artefacts exactly as they
would not return without being able to preserve should be.
Wlien
had got halfway along
I
this living
avenue, four figures
detached themselves from the group of priests ahead. They were in black, the
same robes
swiftly towards
ahead. I
I
as those of the patricians. Tliese
me, and two came behind
was impressed by
knew now
When
I
was
vivid clothes,
all
their odour, a thick cold
group of
in front of the
just
dead smell.
priests, in their
heavy with gold and jewels, the four escorts went back
to join their family groups
that in
two went
a prisoner.
was standing
I
me and
advanced
—each
to
an exact
place.
I
was
reflecting
that large multitude there was not one out of his or her
who was watchwere well down in their
ordered place, not one there by casual impulse, or ing,
even, from the roofs. Tlie slaves
seemed, for none was to be seen here. Yet at other
dungeons,
it
times, so
learned
slaves
I
were
all
later,
when
the sacrificial murders took place, the
herded out, and crammed into the narrow place
between the five-deep bank of guards. TTiere was not a single individual in that cit}% on that day,
whereabouts could not be accounted dreadful cruel
for,
men and women whose
stood below them, looking up.
I
whose
was not known by these
faces
I
was studying
said nothing. Silence
is
a
as
I
potent
weapon. Can be.
And
so they
had decided,
too.
Nothing was
said
by them. They
The
Sirian
Experiments
down
stared contemptuously
sometimes, turned
my
me.
at
head, as
outstarcd them, and e\'en,
I
unimpressed, and allowed myself
if
to glance about.
On
bank
either side of the
of brilliant priests sat a large animal
of a kind unfamiliar to me, a feline, with a yellow hide
and
black,
statues, so
still
At
first
I
were they; then saw the
lift
and
fall
moved on
sunlight
glossy fur. Tliese
any way. Beside each stood a
in
of breath as
were not chained or restrained
tall
strong female, skirted to the
naked abo\e, but marked with many
waist,
thought them
eyes.
unwinking green
large
marked with
intricate patterns all
over the flesh, using the breasts and nipples and navel as eyes.
animals kept their gaze on me.
realised
I
torn apart by those trained beasts.
techniques that to use.
I
I
I
was in danger of being
therefore
summoned up
certain
had learned, and had hardly ever had the occasion
caused them one after the other to
I
The
lie
down,
their
paws
stretched in front of them: their eyes, no longer on mine, were directed out over the heads of the silent crowd.
heard the slightest commenting breath
I
momentarily "I
am
in the ascendant,
from the
me.
I
heard a
would now^ ha\e
smiled at them and said:
Your Lord and Governor." I had could be heard at least by the guards nearer
I
movement among them.
to act
I
knew
that the priests
one way or the other.
on me, and
Tlie four black-robed ones closed in
by them into the midst of the
from outside that group.
I
priests.
saw the harsh
with dense black eyes, bending ofT
the priests, and
star Sirius.
spoken loudly, so that to
I
among
down
I
was hustled
I
could not then be seen
angr\- faces, reddish-bronze,
around me.
all
I
was moved
bv them into the low entrance of the temple. Tliere was a smell
of stale blood.
and
its
The blood
smell speaks of
of this planet its
is
a thick unstable substance,
animalit}-. It
was dark
except for flames high up near the unseen roof.
in the temple, I
was hustled
along passages, and then more and longer dark passages that were cold and musty
—
I
was
in
the lower part of one of these great
blocklike buildings, perhaps even being pushed along from one to
another, and then another.
who
stared in terror at
passage.
my
We passed slaves,
poor pallid creatures,
guards and shrank away into some side
These corridors were
lit
at ver)- long intervals with feeble
1/2
on the
lights
at last thrust into a cold
Alone.
I
was the underworld of the
walls. Tliis
and dimly
lit
place and
I
was
left.
was surrounded by cold blue-grey stone.
small room, but was oppressive, because of
slaves.
its
was not a
It
dimensions.
I
will
say here that while Sirius even then was familiar with ideas to do
with the relations between the dimensions of buildings and the
we had
psychological state of their inhabitants,
—dare
I
not approached the understanding of Canopus in the
say have? field. It
—
was
a place designed to crush, belittle, depress. (Tliese dimensions were
common
in
in use
use through
by the ruling
the levels of the buildings, even those
all
When
class.
I
found
this out,
concluded
I
had been Canopus-inspired and had then
that this culture
de-
generated under the influence of Shammat.)
The walls were of large slabs of squared stone. So was the floor. The ceiling was made to look the same, as it was faced with stone. The door was a single slab of stone, moving in a groove on invisible weights.
on
a
Two small oil lamps stood table. A stone bench or ledge
There was no window.
cube of stone that was the only
ran along one wall. Tliis bluish-grey stone did not reflect the light.
was not
It
There was nothing I
was
stuffy: there
sat
I
and that
I
room, or tomb, to soften or reassure.
my
captors intended to threaten or even
had been put here
on the bench, on
reflection
First of
this
some
comfortably as
as
and most important
my
the exact timing of
on
to lower I
my
meant
a
for the overall situation of Sirius,
we had known. One had
sur\'eyed
internal
my
my
reception
No
matter
companions, our air forces,
this.
local I
staff,
the
Was
I
to
of
how
I
mentally
members
of
our
could not find anyone to suspect.
Tliere was another thought that kept presenting
were? Canopus!
to supply
manner
had always seemed
ex-
enough
of information, but the
and external
had been
always to expect
sort of espionage or at least a local curiosity
amount
I
closer acquaintance with our activities
showed something well beyond
that
and entered into
could,
had been known:
arrival
much
continent that
a certain
resistance.
my situation.
all,
pected. This
coming from somewhere.
in this
decided therefore that
torture,
air
know what
to believe that
itself:
who was
it
our movements and plans
Canopus had supplied
this
The nasty
Sirian
little
Experiments
No, that was out area of possibility, was something
kingdom with information about
of the question. Yet, here, in this
that could not be dismissed. ...
own
it
my
and considered
aside
present situation.
had been planned simply to kill me, to remove me as a then this could have been done as I landed, or soon after,
If it
threat,
without that
set
I
us?
I
this
obedient populace knowing anything about
had been recei\ed by the
of this culture
—and
entire priesthood
meant
their guards
that
and even
publiclv, probably as the central
I
The
it.
—the upper
was to be
fact class
sacrificed
an imposing
sole figure of
ceremony. I
was beginning
not a sensation
noted ing as this If
mv
to feel very cold inside
could remember feeling
I
my
thoughts were slowing;
stiff as
my
my
limbs.
was
prison. This, too,
— not
to this degree.
I
mental reactions were becom-
There was an absolute
silence here
under
weight of stone. they were so well informed about our movements and inten-
tions,
point
why was I
me? my thinking was becoming
noted that
continue and so
I
switched
slab slid sideways in slave.
The
... It was at this
there any need to interrogate
its
too inefficient to
Soon afterwards the
it off.
great stone
grooves and a female entered. She was a
reddish skin colour of this face was paler in her because
and
of her long sojourn within these stone prisons. She was shorter
lighter in build than those great strong specimens, the ruling caste
and
But her
their guards.
face
had the same
see in her dulled brutish eyes that she
had brought
some
in
adequate meal.
I
told her that
did not seem to hear. She
mv face but
all
hands were
all
and
dishes
came
over me, as
over
if
me and
protective necklace
and
this exploration of
my
jugs
swiftly to
and
my
eyes:
me
I
cold.
She
She
and
stared,
And
then her
thought she was going to take I
oflf
my
could see that she was afraid of
terror,
Her
it.
and her eyes kept
felt
my
face
flickering
hair, ran thick fingers
arm, and then bent to peer right into
this
could
me, her black eyes not on
person, but could not resist far
I
at a word.
they were curious hands.
towards the open doorway. Yet she
my
kill
and
that contained quite an
was very
I
bracelets.
showed an uneasiness not up and down
would
brutality
was the oddest sensation, because
it
my
face,
was the
V4 my
colour of I
eyes that fascinated her, the shape of
might have been inanimate anything
intrinsic self, in
Then
my
for all the interest she
I
Although
I
to her. I
said
Or even dumb.
believed there might be drugs in the food,
hesitate to eat
and
drink,
and without any
This was partly because of the
processes,
my
in
was cold and again she did not respond.
Perhaps she was deaf.
but partly because of what
unconquerable belief that
inbuilt
had
might have been saying
eyes
and
face,
she abruptly stood straight and turned to go out.
again that
sults.
my
real
frigid
did not
concern for the
slowness of
my
re-
mental
My
have already mentioned.
I
was immune. Not
I
I
eligible for
death!
Yet
I
was certainly able to consider, and even with an apprecia-
tion, that
I
was
likely to
inferior little planet. It as
be murdered
was
a fact that
something that had to be taken
my
Between
Ambien
II,
in this ugly little city
in.
I
But
functioning being,
the
this
kept supplying to myself, could not.
I
familiar
member
senior official of Sirius,
on
mechanisms
of
of a race that did not
expect to die, except by some quite fortuitous event, such as a
meteorite striking a Space Traveller sciousness,
and the
real
I
literally
moment,
could not "take
feel like to "take
in" so that
it
stood, was prepared.
that state of con-
urgent apprehension of the fact:
very well be murdered at any tion.
—between
it
in."
my
What would
You may
there was really no connecI
wondered what
it
would
whole organism knew, underit
be
like to live, as these un-
more than four hundred to eight hundred years, depending on their local conditions no sooner born than ready to die? Did they feel it? Really feel their impermanence? Or was there something in the nature of the conditions of living on this planet that imposed a barrier between fact and its perception? I pursued these thoughts, or rather, allowed them to float through my mind, or perhaps even more accurately obser\ed them to take shape and pass, while I ingested foodstuffs that I hoped would fortunates did, not
—
—
—
soon
warm me.
Soon there came
Once
again
I
in
am
I
faced with that problem of hindsight.
The
To try and put myself back into my state of knew who she was, without distortion, is not easy.
female was Rhodia.
mind before
another female.
— The But
Experiments
Sirian
can say accurately that at once
I
she did not resemble the slave dressed in the
and
same
was saying to myself that
I
who had brought
the food. She was
clothes, long loose dark blue cloth trousers,
same, which was belted with leather, and hung
a tunic of the
with various keys. She was a wardress or
She was
jailor.
larger in
build than the other, and her red or red-brown skin was lightened
by lack of sunlight,
presence, to the extent that
might be race.
a trap.
Or not
I
She was not,
same
of the
But
like the other.
once
at
I
an ease in her
felt
was warning myself: Be as
I
was already
Same
sub-race.
careful,
seeing, of the
it
same
in general style or pattern
—she nevertheless had
skin colour, build, with the long black hair
an aliveness that at once front of me, this
were
ing an exchange. that
it
handsome,
I
unfolded
a length of
if
knowing that
I
world
warm
expecting or request-
was
I
telling
—the amiable
which
cloak, in
me by
had become
the
stiffened
in
large black eyes
I
myself
jailor.
dark blue woollen cloth, and
muffle myself. TThen she grasped rise,
there, as
trick in the
display a
to
and her
did smile at her, even while
was the oldest
had over her arm
alert female,
And remained
on mine.
full
She stood immediately
set her aside.
She
this she
was thankful to
arm and assisted me to and lumpish. This firm
confident touch was quite unlike the avid, brushing touch, like a snake's tongue, of the other inferior wardress. She walked me,
gently enough, to the door, and then assisted
now my
me
by me. She
to like this creature
felt this, for
was being chided and
her hand
fell
away from
stumbled on by myself along the low dark lit
my
it.
me
same regular blocks
was the heavy sunlight of
capped with snow. But that fact, as a knife into
it
it
was
as
hard to take this
me
set aside
elbow and
I
light at long
of dark stone.
this region,
was to believe that
By
corridors, all straight,
by the same regular minor gleams of yellow
intervals, all of the
above
through
responses were blocked and confused. Everything in
that told
all
me
Somewhere
were the great peaks in, to really
woman might
believe
easily slide
me.
After a long walk, turning with monotonous regularity at sharp angles from one corridor to another, the lights on the walls suddenly increased, there was softness under
rugs
we
and
carpets,
my
feet
—and
I
saw coloured
and the walls had hangings on them. Abrupth',
stopped. Apparently facing a blank wall. She pressed
down
a
ij6
from the
lever that projected
back.
slid silently
had windows
was
I
in
and another great
wall,
in the
entrance to a brightly
ordinary daylight again. Seven
men,
tall
already seen, were seated behind a long
window
stood by a
disentangle what then.
Then,
later learned of the eighth
I
An
table.
He reminded me
my
I
taller
I
felt
who was standing just behind Shammat pirates who had visited me
He
He was more
finely built.
was,
His skin was
had been. His eyes were quick and brown. His
pale brown, as theirs hair
have to
wardress,
of those
than they.
eighth
as that of
such a very long time ago, the shameless thieving ones. however,
in
had
I
man and what
once he was not of the same race
at
Grakconkranpatl, nor of
me.
in the black cloaks
wooden
that
—being
half turned away, looking out. Again,
saw
I
room
lit
me
This alone nearly overthrew
it.
slab of stone
was profuse, curly and reddish, worn long on the head, with
He was
a neat strong beard.
Compared
Shammat
the old
much
type
refined.
to the seven, in their
heavy black, with their brutish
features, their long black eyes that
conveyed coldness and deadness
as
much
better,
as
they did avidity and lust for power, he seemed infinitely
even reassuring.
And
it
was
as
I
stood there,
my
eyes turning
man, that I heard a breath from behind me: "Sirius, be careful." This sound floated into my mind, as if it came from not now and here but from Koshi, or from the spaces between the stars. I could not believe I was hearing it, and even thought I for relief to this eighth
had imagined was
a
.
.
was
I
when
I
slightly
turned
my
head, the
all
One
eight of them,
of
And as the men
cloak, and,
two, three, four,
I
lifted
the other
on the
that the one by the
window had turned
yet nothing had been said. rose,
came over
to
me,
his cold gaze assessing
it
my
so alike, copies of each other, so little
between them. And the seventh stood behind hair in his large hands, so that
to the others,
—both
floor.
stood close against the table they sat along, one,
five, six, all
variation there was
and show
now
skin,
the seven so that
me, and
indifferent.
my light brittle build, and whipped off the dark gripping my upper arm, pushed me forward closer to
my
hair,
woman
waiting there, in front of these coldly observant
still
to stare, too.
my
.
few paces behind, and her face was immobile, even
And men,
it
bare,
Tlien he
and then
now slid
lifted
one of
my
he could
feel it
arms, and then
that the enveloping cloak lay discarded
the bracelets
up and down
my
arms
in a
— The
Sirian Experiments
way that showed he wanted to take them from me, but, leaving them for the moment, he began to unhook the necklace of Canopean siher. I was surrounded by his cold unpleasant smell and but
I felt faint,
"If
said calmly:
I
you take these things from me,
saw the eyes of
I
will
of these rulers
all six
who lounged
turn towards the one
it
still
be the worse for you."
—
at the
priests
and
tyrants
window, showing
his
them and the scene by his affectation of halfindifTerence, sometimes watching what went on in the room, sometimes obser\'ing some events out of my sight on the central avenue
superiority
to
now
presumably, was not
that,
glanced at them, and nodded
was it
this that
not that
it
lined with the guards.
—such
very' slightly
could easilv have believed
I
had
it
the hands of the
its effect:
a
minimal gesture
had not occurred, was
man who
stood behind
me no longer fumbled at the catch of the necklace. Was this eighth man, then, the tyrant who called High
Priest?
How otherwise was
Under my
robe,
I
could
me
the third object given
my
around
me.
my
I
waist,
supereminence?
in a position of
the girdle of starstones, which was
for protection
by Canopus, lying
tightly
not a few inches from the covetous one behind
which was the fourth of the talismans.
the priests had not
to interrogate
me
himself the
was conscious of the smooth clasp of the gold band around
left thigh,
If
feel
he
He now
was that
frontation.
Again,
summoned me
The thought strongest in man who had demanded this con-
me, wh\- then was it
to take these things, or
was the eighth
I
here?
But why? was standing
I
there,
gazing apparently indifferently out of the window,
six pairs
remember anv other
species
pleasantness as these did: species
still
brutishness a long
if
who
has struck
or
one
way from running about on was the end of
one that had taken interest
just
— they would have been more It
its
and was frozen
of
them
me
me
with such un-
they had been simple brutes
totally brutish,
with their fangs.
six
on the other side of the of black eyes staring at me. I do not
ranged one beside the other opposite long narrow table,
man
no one speaking, the eighth
path into
there.
lifting
itelf
tolerable.
— that
is,
a
away from
But they were
four legs or tearing their food
a line of evolution this cruelty^
I
was seeing;
and narrow
caste
1/8 It
came
into
me
work
that there were two different interests at
man
here: those of the eighth
know it. the men got
being different from the seven, but
they did not
One
of
up, pushed
down
shd stone
a lever that
panels across the windows, extinguishing daylight, and
beam
myself standing in a
me
above. All around
knew then
was quite black, and
that this was a rehearsal for
how
to see
of brilliant light that
would look
I
to
when
as the ruling caste,
I
from
stood illuminated.
I
of,
probably, slaves as well
stood before them, bathed in light, in
the stone
later,
me
on
some ceremony: they wished
an assembly
one of the temples, before the
A moment
I
fell
found
I
the light had been switched
priests cut the heart
window off,
and
out of
my body.
panels had slid open again, I
was being wrapped
in the
heavy cloak by the woman, and then taken back along the passages to
my room. There she I
left
me, without other communication.
sat alone in the awful silence,
Nasar.
my
was reliving
1
and now
my mind
exchanges with him before
I
was
full
of
left Koshi.
my sense of him that when the door slab slid back and the same woman stood there, I was thinking still of Nasar, and it was with difficulty that I forced my mind to take her in. Again I So strong was
was
telling
myself that one did not trust
jailors,
trasting this simple direct presence with the
The
to stand before.
window
It
men
—yet
I
from the others and
was con-
I
had been taken
1
was seeing the one at the as better
than them, even
remembered the whisper: Sirius, be careful. I looked into woman's strong dark eyes, and she gazed straight back at me.
while this
as apart
seven
men
while
I
was
thing
bench sleep."
as
.
.
a I
.
if
my mind
but after
1
but she had gone.
woven
material,
Now,
to
open
a long silence, she
bundle, which believed
was trying
I
itself,
put
to take in
down on
saw was bedding, and she
some-
the stone
said:
"Try to
heard the word "Sirius," after that admonition, I
and
lay
down on
the stone slab wrapped in heavy
lay awake, very far
looking back,
I
from
sleep.
can see very clearly two strands, or factors,
One was the eighth man, he who reminded me of the Shammat thieves. And the other was Rhodia. llie bad and the good. The two potentials in my situation. The two currents that in
my
situation.
The
Sirian
Experiments
are in evety situation
one learns
if
to recognise
them!
Now
it is all
\en' clear.
Then
I
and hardly
at
In what slave
I
came
sat
I
and thought
lay
of the eighth
all
supposed
to
and sometimes of Klorathy,
of Nasar,
man.
be the morning of a new day, the
first
again, with food for me.
wrapped
hands around
bowl of hot meaty
a
was ringing with Nasar! Nasar!
—
liquid, for
stood before me,
to the extent that
myself, and then stared at her, as
She kept her eyes on mine
if
mind
was beginning
I
in swiftly,
stammered out "Nasar" before
I
My
warmth.
mad. \Vlien the female Rhodia came
to judge myself
my
to the chin in all the coverings there were,
and
could stop
I
expecting her to explain.
had done
for a long interval, as she
"You must give me your talismans, Sirius." I did not move, and she said: "\Vhen they come and ask for them, you will say that you have disintegrated them to keep them out of before,
and then
said,
the wrong hands." "I
have no such
skill,"
my mind
gaged, and
felt
said. All this
I
again as
if it
while our eyes were en-
tried to enlarge, yet could not.
"No, but there are those who have."
—
"And these criminals know this?" "They know it." As I unwound the thick cloths around me, it was with strongest of feelings of identity with this woman. The thought I
did wrong to trust her was faint now.
her to
thigh and gave
my
waist.
These
I
unarmed
to her.
it
bent
articles
"And now way.
the heavv bracelets.
slip off
held out
slid
my
the band
that
bared amis to
down
off
my
stood to unlatch the girdle of stones from
head so that she could undo the necklace.
vanished into the voluminous folds of her clothing.
for a
time you
will
be very weak," she
stated.
Rohanda. You must guard yourself
against
It will
my
I
I
I
the
"You in
are
ever}'
not be for long."
Not knowing
I
was going
to say this,
I
said:
"This
is
a very
strange place to find you in."
And I
she said:
"And
it is
a very foolish place to find
was breathing the name Nasar, again,
way, and she turned, swiftly, and
said,
as she
"Yes."
you
in, Sirius."
reached the door-
And was
gone.
i8o
could
I
seemed he,
dim and
to
fade.
had promised, that
Soon two and
My
the weakness of not being protected.
feci
it
I
on
sat quietly holding
would not be
of the black-clothed
what
to
mind
she, or
long.
men,
knifelike
tall
men, came
"Give us the things!"
said:
They were bending over me,
consuming
their alien black eyes
my senses weakened with the odour of them. said, as Nasar had told me to say: "I do not have
me, and I
integrated them, so that they should not
At
this their faces distorted, rage
dragged
off
my
all
They stood
up, looking at each other
fully alike,
it
as
if
I dis-
wrong hands."
convulsed them, and their hands
coverings and were
was
into
fall
them.
over me, finding nothing.
—so
individuality
alike they were, so dread-
had been engineered out
of
them. Then, without looking at me, they strode out and the stone slab closed the entrance.
Now,
my
feeling
mind's strength ebb away,
I
simply held on,
held on.
Wlien Rhodia,
me take, by me on
which she made
Then tween
she sat
hers, said:
When
"You
will
you find yourself
Dead
caught."
.
.
And
and then
.'
my
the bench, and, rubbing
up on the
call out, as if in
fling yourself
she was already up and
away
drink,
hands be-
have to do absolutely everything
lifted
green light shines on you, the
came in, she had a cup of some and it did restore me a little.
or Nasar,
sacrificial place,
I
say.
and
a
invocation, 'Death to
backwards.
You
be
will
to the door.
why are you doing this?" She said, low and hurried: "You saved me. Though you did not know from what degradations. So now it is my turn to save you." And the door slid to. I felt the weight of the cold dark misery of that place come down over me, and wondered how it must affect those who were not protected, as I had been, by my talismans. My mind kept darkening, I
as I
whispered: "Canopus,
if it
were
full
of mist that thickened, but then thinned again;
was repeating to myself over and over what
And priests,
it
all
happened
quickly.
Into
any number of them, and
a press of people
and then up some
I
my
I
cell
had
and
to do.
crowded the dark
was hurried along corridors
steps,
and was
inside
in
one of the
temples. It was massed with slaves at the lower end, standing in
—
a
The
Experiments
Sirian
ordered ranks and companies, each with their guards.
caught a
I
Colony 9 animals, chained together, lifting their hairy faces and bewildered blue eyes at what they saw at our end of the temple. The black-clothed ones, males and females, were in their ranks on either side of a great reclining statue of stone. Where its bellv should have been was a hole, and from it came the
ghmpse
of our poor
smell of stale blood. Oh, the smell of that place! Tliat in
was enough
—
for
was
quench any sense
to
Behind the
retained.
I
itself
evil statue
visage was horrible, an evil face above gross swollen limbs
its
On
a high plinth.
to this
I
saw before
temple, \^ith
its
stone gods,
priestlv caste
who
ing and faint.
I
was pushed, and stood there sway-
me I
used and fed
the squat dark interior of this
saw the massed
slaves,
—
bathed
them
off
uglv light that suffused the place.
A
all this
saw the
I
ruddy
in a
savage wailing began from the
hymn. I was holding on to my senses, ... I could imagine what it was they were seeing or phantom, with its glittering fleece of hair, in a and then the a dress, on which red light flickered
black-clothed ones. It was a
but only
—
just.
white wraith, white wisp of
my
on
light
hands turned green, there was
glow had been. for the
words
I
"Death
something
mind
had
to cry out, at last they
I
told
hand
Dead
to the
else
a green
My
a knife raised in the
out,
.
.
had
me
to do,
.
.
Death
and
I
where the blood
that this was a signal,
of a priest .
.
came
my
aimed
for
to the
Dead
me
to
—
heart, .
.
."
could not remember.
fought
I
as I
I
saw
called
There was
The
knife
jumped backwards off the plinth, fell into something that yielded and then gave way altogether. I heard a clang of stone on stone above me. There were people around me and they were lifting me and
was
still
held above me,
carrying me.
went
My
its
blade glittering green.
I
part in this escape having been done,
I
slept or
into a trance.
was not a complete obli\ion, for I was conscious of urgency, of flight along low dark passages, and of Rhodia's voice. And I was talking to her, asking questions, which were answered,
And
yet
it
for as the dark in
my mind
lifted,
and
I
began
to see that
we were
coming out from deep underearth places into light, the information I had been given was making a clear enough picture. Rhodia was not
a native of the priest-ruled
which was not very
far
from here. Not
far,
cit}-,
that
is,
but of Lelanos, in distance.
.
.
.
l82
She had caused herself to be captured and made a
had quickly
capacities
who were
captives
Many
to play a leading part in the sacrificial ceremonies.
whom
she had guarded, cared
up on the plinth above the
lifted
No, she had not been able
to save
managed
many, of the
task
my
Her
lesser slaves.
blood-filled stone god.
to spirit
had been
word, as
this
saw
I
a
away
not
a few,
to position herself
She
capture, so that she could save me.
was making myself use
for,
any of these, not one of the im-
portant victims, though she had
ready for
Her
raised her to a position of trusted wardress of
were the unfortunate ones
and seen
slave.
dim
.
.
she ...
.
light begin to
we fled along, and as I saw her, Rhodia, handsome female, running along beside me where
I
fill
the passages
this strong,
tall,
I
carried in the
my
yet in
arms of a male
slave.
had
I
was being
to say she, think she
—
half-trance or sleep, in the almost complete dark of the
deep earth,
I
had been able
to feel only Nasar, his presence
had been
there around me.
What
that quality in an individual so strong, so independent
is
of looks, sex, age, species
from
originates
—independent
—that enables one
to
of the planet "he" or "she"
walk into a completely dark
room, where one had not expected anyone to be, and to stammer out
—
name!
a
doesn't
It
matter what name!
Nasar.
Rhodia.
Canopus.
More than
Yes,
it
has happened to me.
But
it
has only to happen once for
after to
it
once.
become impossible
to
do more than salute an appearance, or the distinctions of a
race or a sex, while recognising that other, deeper truth.
known
man to
this
unique and individual being
in Koshi.
name
And
light
Had
come
I
met
this
reaching out with
mv
being
my
brain
sight, as
if
kept
I
there was
had
made me want
first as
just as reluctantly to
was growing stronger, and
I
Nasar, the tormented
as
so the associations of
her "Nasar."
other names would
The
ever
Rhodia, then
my tongue. my eyes on Rhodia,
some
truth there
I
could
not grasp. She was Nasar, and she was not; he was Rhodia, but he
was not
.
.
.
whatever was there inside that female shape was deeply
familiar to me.
was
a
But beyond
this
puzzle was something
bleached look to her, and she had
aspect at
moments when
a passage.
I
wondered
if
the light
fell
a
else.
Tliere
palHd and even repelling
more
strongly at the angle of
she had been struck by lightning, or had
The some men,
Sirian Experiments
had not seen her
I
light, or
in the
clearly, either
room with the
eight
from the dimness of the
because of pressure from anxious thoughts.
So disquieting did turn
dungeons, and
disease. ... In the
my
I
ghmpses
find these
of her that
I
attention from her, and instead rc\iewed what
about recent events so
make some kind when I was taken
as to
Rhodia's main concern,
tried to I
knew
of coherent picture. prisoner,
was to make
Canopean talismans should not fall into their hands: very evil use would have been made of them. For, in spite of all their efforts, Grakconkranpatl had not once managed to steal any of the articles that had. for this time, Canopean effect.
sure that the
Her second concern
—and
was expected to understand and to
I
agree with this order of priorities
—was
to get
me
away. She had
had powers they w ould be wise to fear. Tliey believed I had made the ornaments \anish by use of these powers. But they had not been in one mind, the group of Overlords, or Chief Priests, whom I had seen: they had almost
caused the priests to believe that
decided to take
back to seen
mv own
arri\'ing
memor}^ of
me
I
out of their city and lea\e
kind as
I
could
—
could.
if I
me
But
I
make my way
to
had
actuallv
been
"from the hea\ens." They could not cause the
this
event to ^anish from the minds of their enslaved
had been gi\en out that I was an enemy, drawn to the city, and into their hands, by their cunning powers. Enemies A'ere alwavs publiclv sacrificed. If I had simply vanished, never to be peoples. So
it
seen again, this could only weaken the powers of this caste, ruled by fear. So in the end
my
from
breast, in
I
had been decided
the temple, as
Rhodia had strengthened
\Mien
it
who
to cut the heart
had always been done. But
their doubts.
was pushed up on to the plinth they were
all
apprehen-
ceremony when the priests shouted and sang to their "Gods" that they were the Dead, identifying themselves temporarily with the sacrificed ones who would almost
sive.
There was
immediately
and rather those
a point in the
in fact
be dead: the victims were in some ambiguous
unsatisfactory^ wa}-
who murdered them.
—
to a rational
My call. Death
mind
to the
— the
As
mv
used for purposes of
tricker\-
and
as
Dead, condemned
the entire priestly caste. Behind the idol was a stone that levers,
same
moved on
illusion in the ceremonies.
threat momentarily froze the priests and then
made them
— i8^
run away from where
I
stood bathed in the unexpected green ray,
Rhodia and her accomphces turned the
stone,
and pulled
me down
rooms underneath the temple proper. This was the most
into the
dangerous part of the escape, for of course those clever priests were not likely to remain confused for long.
speed that had to save
Tliere were passages under the buildings
us.
of the city, running everywhere
below the tunnels used by the
and none known
Tliese were complicated,
slaves.
tyranny
priests: a
moments,
was, for a few
It
to
of the
all
always self-divided, always a balance of compet-
is
ing interests. It was this that saved us, the jealous knowledge of
mutually suspicious
But Rhodia had learned every one
sects.
of the
passageways. As our band fled deeper and further, the guards of the
were running
priests
might very well have come on the encountered us
way
to safety
to these
We
dark
fling
weep.
city.
And
And when
I
down on
And
It
was an obvious,
nothing
else!
Yet
slaxes
who had come
I
as
first
it
to,
and who
I
was able to
a simple, thing to say.
struck
me
could remember nothing able to respond to
some
in a fellow slave
able, so
something
else,
it
Down
in the chilly
—some
of
—recognised?
quality that thev
remem-
better than they onl}- in as
must often have seemed
in authority over
them
having been born there, had been
who was
in her, listened;
trust."
She could have said
who
them, stand
aside,
so painfully then, the strength, the
prisons under the priests' city, slaves
was
and
convulsion of delight.
dim
as she
with
star\'ed
Rhodia watched, standing
all.
—
it
saw health come into that
inexorableness of the laws that govern us
bered?
in a little
questioning thought and said to me: "These are
was able to talk
I
mountain,
the sun-fed earth and kiss
fancied that
I
watched.
my
a high
saw those poor
waiting for them to be past their
the slaves
the entrance
they lifted their faces, of that faded red-earth
colour, to the sun,
She caught
to dig their
screened by bushes. Far below us was the
themselves
I
and disused system
safe.
rocks,
skin even as
by accident and
who had tried Once we had found
found ourselves on the side of
priests'
us
we were
a very old
and they
us,
slaves
and had been caught.
among
cleft
right turning
—but Rhodia knew of
made long ago by
of tunnels,
above
parallel to us at times, or
them.
.
.
.
to them, to
But they had
and because of some
much
torment
seen, felt
—chance?—
quali-
— The ties in it
Experiments
Sirian
themselves, had been found rehable. Trustworthy.
was they who now kissed the earth on the
hfted their pale faces to the sun. For the for
some
of them. It was a thought
heart that,
free
to chill the heart
my
in a pool of blood in the idol's hollowed-out
what
I
was thinking and smiled.
And
was Nasar,
moment,
for that
now have been lying belly. And she knew
for the
from her a physical memory of Nasar, and sharing with
at the top of the tall
time
first
caught
I
his derisive angers. It
me
an appreciation of
our grim necessities ... so strongly there that
back with him
mountainside, and lives,
were not for Rhodia, would
if it
so
time in their
first
enough
And
could have been
I
cone with the snow
flying
past.
And
then
saw her quelling the emotions
I
of her charges,
and
urging them to their feet, and pointing out over the slopes of the
mountains
forests, for safet}',
some
For they were to go one wav into the
to the north.
fifty or so,
and she and
folds of her garments again,
them
on.
When
another.
they had gone
off,
turning to smile and hold up their arms to her in
thankfulness and farewell, she
to put
I
As
I
came
to
me
rummaging
and,
in the
produced the ornaments and told
did so,
first
the
band on
my
thigh,
me
and then
the girdle of cool starstones, and then the bracelets, and lastly the necklace,
even a short
by the
my mind cleared, my thoughts steadied, and moment after my old state of mind had been banished
was
it
as
if
secret strengths of the ornaments,
it
seemed
as dreadful
and
inconceivable a place or state of being as the dungeons of the city
now seemed.
I
looked at Rhodia with clarity and steadiness of
thought and saw her suffering
straight. Again,
from some horrible
drained look, as
anything
like
arms and
it
legs,
if
before.
were
The
how
I
disease, like a leprosy.
face, the
dried up,
all
And
a vigorous glossy black,
She saw
thought was that she was
She had
she had been dusted with ashes.
corpse sometimes does.
was
my
stared,
I
a faded,
had not seen
hands, what was visible of her
and had
a shrivelled look, as a
the hair on her head, which by race
had white
and she
in
it.
said: "Sirius,
you are looking at
the physical aspect of the Shikastan Degenerative Disease."
"Rohanda has become so decadent?" "Now, by halfway through their lives, and sometimes even sooner, they start to
show
signs of decay. Tliis
is
a process that
i86
by generation. They have
accelerates generation
that this I
a recent thing with
is
them."
could not at once recover from the horror of
what
to imagine
must be
it
forgotten
e\'en
was trying
I
it.
trapped
like for these unfortunates,
and
inside their enfeebled defective bodies,
was wondering
I
if it
were not possible for Canopus, with their knowledge of the techniques of
And
how
to discard bodies at will, to aid the
she sighed, and then gave her short characteristic Nasar-
laugh. "Tliere are other priorities. Believe me.
most urgent, things "Necessities,"
And
poor creatures.
meaning
she acknowledged
indeed, Sirius
And on
—
other,
and
to do."
said,
I
We have
to joke with her.
my intention
with a smile, but
said,
"Yes,
necessities!"
familiar
this
we began our
note
journev eastwards
through the valleys and passes of the mountain chains along the
We We
coast.
haste.
went up and we went down, but were not
greatest danger I
is
in danger, she said.
pressed her to elucidate she gave
that of
saw had around
I
Rohandan age
somewhere
in
Though
And when from eyes
the whisper:
a
to
all
the time,
She said only: "Your greatest danger.
And would
not say any more on that subject.
she talked willingly and at length about the
cit\^
we were
to.
benefit.
Nasar.
So that
I
through thick and pleasant
was
different I
my
see that
state of
was
I
to
From
her.
in her, their, hands.
be with Canopus,
self-
in the
those faraway days of the unfortunate
To
But now, looking back,
was
I
was tr^ang over and over again and
tr}'ing to listen.
about Canopus
itself, its
From
mind now from my angered
I
to find out
managing
instruction.
did not mind.
had had the chance
person of Klorathy, in "events."
—
I
forests.
impression that this pace was for
could absorb
From Canopus.
esteem when
I
a long strong look
— look that made me think of —which seemed sound, now,
I
Very
this occasion."
their black pupils colourless edges, the tax
We walked for several days We did not hurry. got the my
This was because "our
my deepest self.
Yours, Sirius."
going
me
be careful!
Sirius,
On
also our protection.
was without
it
planets
itself,
adjust.
organisations,
its
—and while
in every
I
did this
returned the subject to Grakconkranpatl, to
way its
I
knew
ways of
Rhodia patiently
Shammat, and,
several
The
Experiments
Sirian
man
times, to the eighth
of those priests. It was not,
I
see
now, that
she repeated his name, which was Tafta, so that Tafta recurred
through our
where
had
I
to think of
Nasar had rung to
my
my
in
He was
him.
presence there. Just
feel his
come
but that she kept bringing
talk,
as,
me
to points
strongly in
mv
wrapped shivering
in
and places
mind.
my
could
I
stone
cell,
mind, so that the name could not help but
we walked through
tongue, so, now, as
those magnifi-
cent forests, the great snowy mountains at our backs, the feeling
man
or sense of that
kept coming back.
him, and what he was, when
unique pulse in
my
I
found myself thinking of
recognised his
I
and
particular
mind: disturbing, harsh, yet nothing near the
cold evil of the priests.
And when
she brought
me
back
handsome, and enigmatic sa\age, stare of
warning that
I
to this point, Tafta, the smiling, it
was always with the long dark
recognised.
LELANOS
We what
down on Lelanos from a height from the other city! The same bluish-grev
were able to look
a difference
was used, but lightened with bands of
had glimpsed
way the this it
had
red. so that the place
moved about Lelanos I
a glistening
was one of the things that
was too
late.
At any
a lively
charm about I
rate, to
I
I
never grasped
As
it.
I
often thought
even several interlocking patterns
buildings were set out, but
stone
white quartz and thin
in the days that followed,
a pattern or
—and
it
in the
wholly,
and
omitted to ask Rhodia, and then
view
it
from abo\e, there was
varia-
and informant}-; there were no frowningly dominant buildings; no temples; no threat of stone, and rock, and earth being used to imprison or weight the tender and so brief flesh of Rohanda. tion,
—
And from what was nothing This was
and level
I
to fear its
had heard from Rhodia of from
history.
friendly mountains,
where
its
governance, there
it.
On
this site, a small plain ringed
had been
their physical
had not been given
—
by low
several tribes of creatures at that
needs ordered their
li\es,
and these needs
a religious or "higher purpose" recognition. In
i88
other words, they were considerably lower even than the Lombis
They
before their culture was disturbed by our use of them.
hunted,
ate,
mated,
slept.
Nasar caused himself to be born into
enough
of the
they put
it,
fished,
a family that retained
remnants of "an ancient and high knowledge,"
to see in this girl
a well-regarded
one among
a
as
something superior. Tlie family was dwindling people living
far to the
north in the narrow peninsula that separated the Isolated Northern
and Isolated Southern Continents
—
this
land bridge, or channel,
had often been under water, completely cutting Continent, but the "events" had lifted
it
off the
high above the ocean,
and subsequent minor "events" had not succeeded There had flourished
a
Southern
in
submerging
it.
Canopus-inspired culture that had de-
generated, and these fast-vanishing people were
all
that remained.
Their memories of the "ancient knowledge" were equated with female dominance, for a varietv of reasons extraneous to accoimt. Rhodia was well treated, and
company
of her needs, was given a
when
she told her parents
most
of the physically
young males and females of her people
this
striking
and she
to go with her,
southwards looking for a place and race that would
travelled
respond to her instruction. It
was easy to imagine
how
these
handsome
struck the tribes. Rhodia's people were a type, with large dark eyes,
had
The
all
the ease of
tribes
must have
broad, red-brown
tall,
and flowing luxuriant black
manner and confidence
were of
visitors
hair.
They
of their past high culture.
a slight, shorter kind, with a dark
small black eyes, sparse coarse black locks.
The new
brown
skin,
arrivals
wore
handsome coloured cotton clothes; the tribes wore skins. The "Gods" were able to instruct them in a thousand skills undreamed of by them, and to cut it short, within a couple of their generations, but while Rhodia's people were
expanding
city that
had been
set
still
youthful, there was a large,
up according
but was governed by themselves. All the returned to their
but lived
own
as they did,
people.
to her instruction,
visitors
but Rhodia had
Rhodia was considered,
had married one of
still,
their males,
like this.
"God,"
and her
dren were not set apart in any way from the other citizens.
Lelanos was governed
a
chil-
— The
Sirian
Experiments
There was no written or formal constitution, since Rhodia had taught them that some of the worst tyrannies in Rohandan histor}' had had "constitutions" and written It
was
democracy,
a
elective.
laws with no purpose except to deceive the unfortunate \ictims
and outside
was no point
obsersers. lliere
frameworks of laws.
in
each child was taught what
If
was, both of rights due from
it
and
to
inheritance
its
taught to watch
it,
and
constitutions
own
its
behaviour and that of others, told that the proper and healthy functioning of this wonderful city depended only on his or her vigilance
— then
law would thrive and renew
child was left excluded from a full
the go\ernance of
city,
its
itself.
and
But the moment any
feeling participation in
then she or he must become a threat
and soon there would be decay and then
down and
a pulling
a
destruction. I
much
was
obser\-ed, rule,
and
when we took
often:
we always imposed
to us;
and
what
interested in this, because of
had
over a planet and ordered
its
seemed appropriate
a constitution that
was safeguarded by every
this
Sirius,
I.
sort of threat
and punish-
ment. But never had any rule imposed by us stayed for long the same, without falling into anarchy or rebellion.
There were three safeguards used by Lelanos. The governing bodv general suffrage, eligible
first
was the
which made the laws. This was elected by ever\- person o\er the age of sixteen becoming
itself,
both to vote and to take
office.
Each
officeholder
lay bare his or her life to the examination of a
body
had
to
of citizens
separately elected by the citizens. This scrutiny was to pre\ent any
individual benefitting from office, at the
first
and
to see
him
or her dismissed
e\idence of any falling away from high conduct. WTiat
these officeholders might not do included the use of servants there were differenth-
no
slaves
— who
from members of
were treated their
use of sex by either male or female
and luxurious
or greedy behavior.
Scrutiny, for so
it
was simply
most honourable of highest
all
own
— that The
called,
in
any
slightest detail
households; the improper is.
to
dominate or degrade;
individuals voted
on to
this
were considered the best and
Lelannians, and to serve Scrutiny was the
office.
The second
safeguard was an independent judiciary, to keep the
190 laws
made by
State, too,
the governing bodv. Tlie
members
arm
of this
of the
were continually watched by Scrutiny, and their behavior
was expected
to
be as beyond reproach as that of the
rulers.
While it was not considered undesirable for an individual suited for the work to be re-elected, even for the whole of a lifetime, onto either the go\erning
body
more than one term
Scrutiny were not allowed to ser\e years,
though they might
who
or the judiciary, the citizens
after retiring
from Scrutiny
staffed
of four
ser\-e either
on the judiciarv or the governing body.
The
third safeguard
was a jealously kept law that the currency
used to facilitate the exchange of goods should nexer be allowed to acquire a self-breeding value.
and ahvavs
means
as a
is,
the coins used were only
no
interest could
at the
body
its
years.
of instruction,
message that
on
be charged, and the debt
end of seven
own
if
as tales
fall
itself
Rhodia had caused
framed
and nothing
of exchange
anv indi\idual or body of individuals were to
If
a
be used
to
That
to
to
into debt, then
must be abrogated
come
and songs,
once "money" was allowed
into existence
to enforce the
become
a
commodity
account, then the downfall of Lelanos could be shortly
who
expected, because she or he
charged "interest" \\ould shortly
would
control the supply of goods and of labour and a ruling class
become
else.
The
ine\itable.
of innumerable cities
songs and stories were based on the histories
and cultures
in
Rohanda, where the means of
exchange had become king. Over and over again, so Rhodia
Canopus had
down
laid
said,
laws and instruction forbidding the im-
proper use of monev, and vet ne\er had this been pre\ented for long.
Shammat was
too strong in these unfortunate ones
who
could never retain excellence.
"And
docs this mean,"
be expected its
to fall
enquired of Rhodia, "that Lelanos can
awav?" For, walking towards
and then into
I
inbred democracv that ruled here opposite in an\- place, in signs of
And Rhodia She had
it,
was struck with the manifest health and sanity the absence of po\ert}' and deprivation, the real and
outer suburbs,
of the place,
I
said only:
a small
"You
—
for
one mav
\'er\^
easilv see its
servilit}% fear, deceitfulness.
will see for yourself
."
house towards the centre of the place,
in a
group
around a small square. She lived there alone now, for her children had grown and left. Tlie house had t\vo small rooms on
of
them
set
The
Experiments
SiridJi
an upper
floor
and two on the ground
floor.
the city was built, and had resisted
move into a met mine with
children to
her eyes
suspect that
Oh my
before a
or decline:
from Koshi.
that
fall,
yes,
I
house
larger
a
and
was at a point to impress
wh\- she did
.
.
And
it.
since
this,
remembered
I
make me
to
in the city's fortunes
few days
in the next
chami, the health, the good sense of
what was wrong with
it
—and when she told mc
was being told quite enough
arrival here
in
on her by her
pressures
all
mordant amused glance
Rhodia was doing everything
time,
She had hved
it
seemed
to
me
on me, not only the
this place, but, at the
same
could not help wondering
I
.
Looking back
me
see that ever}'thing conspired to put
I
into a
high (or low!) but at least irrational and emotional condition. First of
all,
the contrast between this lovely civilised city with
Within
opposite across the mountains.
from one possible
to the other,
on
and they
this planet:
I
a
few days
had experienced, was
And
Canopean
deepest a
self.
And
zone of forest
in fact
reality
there
in
—seemed
to
had been the un-
there
way
had been something
else. I
many
my
this
had
territory
and
the evil and preda-
centuries
had been kept from attacking Lelanos because
of
rumours
by Rhodia and then sedulously kept up that there was
zone or band of
forest completely surrounding Lelanos that,
invaded or infringed, would result in the most savage Lelanos was a villainous place flesh
presence
had traversed
no way different from anv other, but
that of Grakconkranpatl. For
set afloat
this
explore and challenge
been the barrier zone between the Lelannian
tory city
what was
experiencing,
still
hurried walk here, with Rhodia, or Nasar, and the this
horrible
had been taken
illustrated extremes of
within myself, these two extremes.
—
I
its
and blood, ruled by
lay in ruins
any attacking
trived incident or event
When
went
city.
if
reprisals.
— feeding on
a self-perpetuating oligarchy that
would
Every kind of chance or even con-
was pressed into serxice
to give credence to
heard some of them on our way to Lelanos,
these
tales.
from
a terrified tribesman
I
—so the rumours
a
of the cruelties of Lelanos,
who had been I
felt
fed
all
his life
on
stories
m\' whole self powerfully affected.
Tlie shiverings and shudderings of the poor wretch as he described
Lelanos the horrible showed
Rhodia and her
associates.
how
skilful
had been the work of
This propaganda work, and nothing
192 else,
city
had kept Lelanos safe. The clever and cunning priests of the that really was wicked, using every kind of deceit themselves,
had not been able
to penetrate the disguise of Lelanos
of thirty freed slaves
who
of
all
by use of some inward recognition of
Standing on
a slender
in the
the innumerable
reality, of
the truth.
tower in magically charming Lelanos, looking
out over forests where
I
had
travelled,
knowing what they were
and how they were seen by those outside Lelannian borders was enough to
set
me
shuddering in something not
And awe was
No,
not an emotion that
I
—
awe
far off
conclude now, but was not dispassionate enough to do
I
unbalanced me. towards I
Rhodia.
I
it
And
my
—
Canopean all this had Shammat rang in my mind and pulled
protective devices, close contact with the
though
at
accommodated!
easily
so then, the sojourn in the cold dungeons, the deprivation of
me
this
Rohandan mental-
the strange capacities for self-deception of the ity.
and
.
Grakconkranpatl were the only ones able to free them-
slaves of
selves
band
.
had been
there was something as disturbing here as there sight of the
.
still
— towards Tafta, who was working on me powerfully,
did not
know
I
it.
was beginning to react away from
found myself watching
this strong old, or elderly, female,
with her simple directness, her honesties, and
I
was seeing
them
in
callousness, indifference to suffering, a refusal to use powers she
must have, Rohandans.
certainly
It is a
as
strange thing that
Canopus, to
I,
Ambien
II,
relieve
after
the lot of
many
long ages of a
Colonial Service that supervised the continual and often
had
to
know
— painful
as
I
—
did over this one
city.
we
as
adjustment of innumerable species,
tures, social structures, the fates of
now suffer
these
cul-
myriads of individuals, could
For never had
a culture
seemed
more valuable to me than did Lelanos, never had one been felt by me as a more remarkable and precious accomplishment, set as it was among so much barbarity and waste and decline. I found I was wrung continually with pity, an emotion I literally at first did not recognise for what it was, so strange was it. I would wander about the streets and avenues of this place, sometimes with Rhodia and sometimes by myself, and ever}thing about these people hurt me. Tliat they should have been brought to such a pitch of responsibility
and
civil
awareness in such a short time
.
.
.
The
Sirian
Experiments
and from such unpromising li\ing onh- to
keep
alive
.
.
material, merely a few barbarous tribes
and that they should use each other
.
with such alert and li\ely and free kindness
.
and that
.
.
was the achie\ement of poor wretches \\ho were so
all this
gone with
far
Rohandan Degenerative Disease that hardly a whole or healthy specimen was to be seen among them and that e\en' one of the
.
.
.
them, almost from middle age, was struck
as
if
with an invisible
them enfeebled and bleached and shrunk and that and that there was no end to
withering blast, leaving
with "'ageing"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
me
the sights and sounds that could inspire
to pitying anger, to
the need to protect and keep safe.
Rhodia watched by now
Yet
I
me, and
this in
all
knew
I
she did, and
was
I
resentment against her. Against Canopus.
in the grip of a
most
did, just occasionally, gain the
condition and was able to match
my
faint of insights into
with Nasar himself, in Koshi,
it
wrung with conflict, and with the pain of this place, this unfortunate Rohanda. Or Shikasta. A great deal that I saw later was \ery far from me then. For instance, there was priests'
How I
dark
city,
my
my
casual, almost careless,
allowing myself to so easily be taken prisoner.
to account for that? For never before, not in any planet,
behaved in a comparable way.
my
subjection to
Shammat was all
Rohanda on
and
this visit,
this
doubtings because of the work
And
I
that was another thing:
liked
minimum
had been long this
ages, since
cit\-
past, that there
was due
had been
lacked.
my
to
was
we might
over,
all
had been
my
low
and
a soften-
descent to
spirits
was having to do, and
I
it
and inner
for so long.
congratulate ourselves as
had been
had seen
—
I
had known
it,
a lack of inspiration
And why had Rhodia brought me was to send
me
sensed
I
anything like as
\\'ith
it;
but not until
able to see
This place had some kind of
lost.
A deadness,
a very long time indeed,
a culture
had been brought here by Rhodia was
that
it
Lelanos. No, something had gone out of our
provenance, our Empire I
after
well-fed, well-cared-for populations, their will-
ing submission to our rule, but
lively as
saw
had
on the order and good sense on the planets we go\'erned,
with their
it
I
through me, long before
ing and a slackening
we
approach to the
was
here at
what
it
was
we
\itality that
afflicting us, Sirius. all? All
.
.
.
she had to do
guides back southwards to our Sirian stations.
194
Yet here
was, with her, with Canopus, in this
I
had reached
away from
sink
And that
I
and was about to sink
perfection,
its
wished to
complain to servant of
.
.
city that
had begun
.
to
itself.
could not stand the thought of
I
A
city.
my
raise
—but
I
could not!
found
I
voice and howl in protest, to cry out, to
whom?
to
it!
Rhodia, the
now
and
willing
dutiful
Canopus?
There was
morning when she and
a
little
rooms
fruit
and bread.
top of her house.
at the
I
sat together in
We had been
We were not talking:
talk
one of the
taking a meal of
between us had become
diEcult.
came
Tlie sun
in
through window openings
on woven and coloured
lay in patterns
and
in the brick walls,
rugs. It
was a scene of such
simple friendliness and pleasantness. I
was looking
yet
in hostility at
my
could not prevent
I
stubborn.
was seeing
I
hands folded sky, a
done with Nasar
I
woman who was when he
in Koshi,
struggled against his inner rebellion.
myself that
this
I
And
am
it
to
its
is all.
displayed, but there
I
was not able to
full
is
that from your
We
"The
best
see
laws of the universe.
own Empire! Has
willingly,
it is
—
I
me
are
had
to
You
there been a single culture fallen
—and agreed that
away?" this
was the
not with grace.
we can do
time for
They
them on Rohanda exaggerated and
is
to set
up something that approximates
to the good, for a short time, lliis
now
will lea\e this
never anything that can stay the same.
looked into her eyes
But not
tell
steady looks, and
And you
you have established that has not changed and case.
had
I
fate."
said, "or indeed, the
worse here, that
I
as
nothing that can be done to arrest the laws of
Rohanda," she
know
moment
going to leave you."
poor place, too, abandon is
Rohandan
time the case was opposite.
"Well, then, you are going to leave me!
"There
on her cushions,
rebelled, or half rebelled, or
She looked straight at me, with one of her said: "Sirius,
me
to
refusing me, or some-
towards her at that
felt
and
it,
She seemed
feelings.
looking up into the blue of the
difficult
some demand.
thing, or
critical
in her, as she sat quietlv
in her lap,
stubborn and
Rhodia, knowing she knew
to go."
I
have done
in this city.
And
— The
Sirian Experiments
"You have
finished your task for this visit?"
"Yes. For this time "I have to thank
done."
it is
you
me, Nasar."
for rescuing
"As you did me."
She stood up. an
saw she was weary, holding herself up only with
I
effort.
"You'll be glad to go,"
am
"I I
said, sullen.
I
always glad to go," she said, on the old grim note. "Yes,
shall never,
I
sometimes
make
ing and striving to
own I
it
is
done,
it
finished,
is
striv-
it
has become
it
opposite."
moment, with pain. Tlien it was She contemplated some future I was trying to
saw her face ravaged,
clear again, patient.
guess
— the and then — and
to terms with
the good and honest thing,
so soon, so terribly soon, its
come
believe,
for a
at.
"Be
careful, Sirius," she said.
"Why
me
did you lead
"You
into it?"
are in very great danger."
was angry, angry and
I
resentful.
"You have to know it," she said. "You are a stubborn one, Sirius. You are not of those who can be told a thing, and absorb it." "Well,"
me, do you have hopes of
said, sarcastically, "tell
I
my
surviving this danger?"
She turned her face
full
towards me, and smiled.
"If not this time, then another," she said,
and
this struck
me
again with the idea of her callousness, her indifference.
And no
she responded to this in
use,
you know. That
and heart
is
what you
are
When
And
who
Sirius,
she held
my
who
against or
kills
rise
what
us in the
authority there are.
rebelling?
is it
name
We
Have
gazing at
that has
eyes with hers, insistent,
and must
all,
of
rebellion, the essence
this city
is
little pity in
up against you. But when you,
rules us
is
its
abandoned
To
rebel
you punish that quickly enough, do you
"Yes, you do, and very harshlv! There
those
—
that governs their good and their evil?
—
not?"
now
you run about
people as victims and the abandoned
them and what is it against an Empire
with: "Sirius, rebellion
But against what are you
of no, no, no.
you asked yourself?
me
rule us
of order
and
or
all,
I,
till
I
nodded.
you, Sirius, for
rebel, protesting
no one imprisons
authority.
us,
Yet order and
are subject to the Necessity, Sirius, always
and everywhere. Are you thinking,
as
you
sit
there sulking and
196
angry and bitter at what you see as the waste of
that you
it all,
may
By your little cries and complaints? Well? And what did you say to me when I was biting my hands change the Necessity
and howling
like
itself?
an animal,
disobedient sen'ant
when you
As she spoke, into the
Do
Koshi?
in
you not recognise
see one?"
morning, there came a
stillness of the
sound of shouting, and distant anger. This was something heard often enough on other planets, and often, too, on
but
had not believed
I
"WTien
"Yes," said Rhodia.
away, to descend from ness. It
that
possible
it
might hear
I
it
we tend
had
this one,
a place, or a person, begins to fall
to degenerate, then
itself,
I
here.
inherent in this planet, in the states of
is
a
it is
mind
a quick busi-
engenders,
it
to see things, patterns of events, conditions, in terms
of balances of force
and energy that are already past and done. The
high time of Lelanos
done with,
is
Sirius.
And be
Fare well.
careful.
We shall meet soon enough. We shall meet again here, on Shikasta, the unfortunate one
accompanied
.
unfortunately,
.
.
we
shall
meet
me and made me
laugh.
She went quietly out of the room, and down the side a throng of people rushed past, with
screaming, shouting, raging.
I
sa\\'
I
weapons
of
all
Out-
kinds,
.
.
."
And
as
I
stood looking
Rhodia walk out from the door of her house into
They screamed abuse
the mob.
little stair.
heard "Death to the Tyrants, death
Rhodia, death to the Oligarchv
down,
and she
"unfortunately" with the ironic Nasar smile
this last
that oddly enough comforted
to
."
.
.
thev saw her, surrounded her,
as
struck her down, and rushed on, leaving her Iving dead on the
sunny bricks of the roadway.
Such was the disorder throwing her
And
grave.
wished as
I
it
\\ith the
in the city that her burial
were not there. it
I
levels of
I
had no protection here now,
was impossible affected
Lelanos; and for
me
it
was
Each
city,
to disguise
me
anywhere, has
its
I
a ritual of
or Nasar, but for a perfect thing.
I
communal
my
it.
I
was known
I
appearance.
into a state of noncaring,
was pulled down further away from
thought and responsibility.
matter of
she would ha\e wanted
felt sure,
I
But soon Rhodia's death had indifference: thus
a
other \ictims of the riots into a
was how,
her associate, and
was
walked
mv
a great deal
proper
about
mourning. Not for Rhodia,
could not
tire
of
what
I
saw.
unique note, and that of Lelanos was
The
Experiments
Sirian
unexpectedness and variety gained by the ingenious use of materials.
There was
mountains but not flat,
but was
many
its
full of
enough
to oppress.
Hie
a planet
trees
were of
Oh, the green of Rohanda, the
tones of a rich full green.
have not known such
was not
plain
change and unevenness, and the
wonderful green! Tliose of us
infinite ranges of its greens, its
and
wide plain or plateau, ringed with
setting, a
closely
its
must
who
charm
find hard to imagine the
interest that resides always in the colours of vegetation of this
And
kind.
"seasons" that had resulted from the "events"
the
caused even wider changes in colour and texture, lliis Rohandan plain was
—
one may not say
alas,
it
is,
has been through
many
—
metamorphoses since those far-off days one of the most beguiling I ha\'e seen. And the city seemed to grow from it, was its spirit, its expression.
Anywhere
Lelanos one might walk, seeing only the
in
and
rich shining greens of trees
grass,
with glimpses of buildings
that astonished and caused a need to smile, even to laugh
—there
was always the hint of fantasy or even of self-parody in Lelanos. One longed to hasten, to come on this half-seen building, but did not, because of the pleasures of waiting, of lingering
there
it
.
.
was, and you were smiling, and laughing: at
.
and then
its
best, in
Lelanos, a smile was never far from any face. This was the architecture of the smile.
one might
find,
The
building in front of you was not large, though
once inside
could believe possible.
spoke
looked
but
of.
It
like a
it,
Not
that there was
but
large,
tlien
more space than you size was not what it
was made of clouds, perhaps? Coloured bubbles?
thunderhead building
electric sky. Glistening
itself
up, up, rapidly, in a clear
white puffs and balls and shafts under-
lay the dark blue-grey stone of the region,
globes or cubes on
it,
as
the
if
It
snowy
crystal
which balanced
in light
had given birth
to these
darker shapes, which in their turn sped up again, burgeoning and unfolding, as
summer
clouds do.
The
red stone was used in the
lightest of touches, for instance in their flash
— these
buildings were
all
symbol for the lightning
a reminder, a celebration, of the
And beyond
these
natural forces that ga\e
them
airy fantastic buildings,
which yet spoke so accurately through stone
of the necessary (so that
"need" of the Canopean
I
life
felt
levels
on
this planet.
was being enabled to glimpse that of thought), were others, but placed I
not in rows of an obxious order, but so that walking
among them
198
they opened and showed themselves, or became concealed, as
one were
walk through sky
to
—
as
if
these earthbound creatures
actually flown through their skies. Air to
them
in Lelanos.
I
if
had
and sky were brought near
cannot express the lightness of
cheerfulness that the place induced: and
I
spirit,
the
thought of the dreadful
weight of threat and punishment expressed
in the
same dark grey
stone over the far mountains. Tlirough this happy city thronged the tall,
sinewy, almost black race, a quick-witted, smiling, subtle people,
and beautiful
to look at, with the
as their city, loving to
same sharpness
them
wear the brilliance of feathers from their
multihued and vivid flowers
forest birds or
of colour in
in their clothes or in
their hair.
As
wandered there
I
I
saw
a class of children, seated
on bright
green grass, their dark glossy skins and coloured clothes making brilliancy
a
and
but their faces were sullen and they stared at
light,
woman who was
was asking them was taking place
a teacher
from the time of the
city's health.
She
comment on the rioting and destruction that now continually, to comment on it from within to
the spirit of their inheritance. She had a weary look to her, and
seemed even distraught
—and
this
was from lack of comprehension.
She did not know what had happened or why
And
as she
was happening.
stood there, appealing to them, one began to shout, and
then another: "Death to the Oligarchy!"
away and racing
off into
steady into the blue
And
they were up and
another part of Lelanos where, soon, we
could hear shouting and screams.
The
it
And
then smoke rose slow and
air.
came slowly towards me. She stopped, and I saw had become accustomed to. I was so amazing to them
teacher
the reaction
I
that their good manners could not prevent incredulity, then repulsion, at
my white skin, my
shreds of pale hair. "If this
she said, in a low bitter voice, "then be proud!" herself, she spat at
away.
I
saw
me. She looked horrified
—
And
is
then, surprising
at herself,
crystal drops of liquid splashing
your doing,"
and hurried
from her eyes on
to
the shining black of her arms. I
but
understood that I
was unable
I
was in danger of being
to care.
thickly rising blue smoke,
I
went
killed like
Rhodia,
off in the direction of the
which seemed,
now
in its up-pouring, rather
The
Experiments
Sirian
another form of the buildings. Crowds were hurr^-ing
like
parts of the city.
all
And
soon
was
I
Nothing had been
in a vast
set
on
fire
in
from
before.
crowd that was sullen and
silent, stand-
ing to watch one of those graceful stone fantasies pouring dark
smoke from dissolve,
ever}'
and
opening, and then
it
seemed
And now
collapsed inwards in a burst of smoke.
it
and then
to shrink,
went up from everywhere, and the focus of the crowd having gone, they surged about, and looked for some other thing to absorb them. Those near me were staring hard, and muttering. 1 was becoming surrounded by ominous people. And an
angr\' roaring
then
saw, almost as
I
if
had expected
I
could have happened. Tafta the throng.
He
as
—and he was making
nothing
if
was
I
else
way through
his
was wearing the garb of Lelanos, loose blue
with a belted tunic of the same, which it
and
it,
trousers,
also wearing,
though
could do nothing to disguise me. He, too, could not be taken
for
one of them, being broad and brown and thickly bearded, but
he was determined, and
full of authorit\%
and
so they
fell
away from
him
—
me
out of the crowd, not running, but quickly enough.
soon
briefly,
left
but
them
it
all
was enough.
He
took
me by the
arm, and pulled
We
had
behind, and were hidden from them by the
curve of a crystal globule, in which there was a low round opening.
This was some kind of public building. softly
than
its
outer dazzle.
was
It
like
The
interior
shone more
being inside a blown egg,
dimly white and quiet. But we went on deeper into the building, so as not to
be seen at once by someone entering, and climbed high
we came out on a small from which we could look down on the cit}-. Smoke
through the globes and cubes
from the
mind
We
fallen building.
below to look small and familiar to
me
herds, tribes, crowds.
till
were high enough
easilv
manageable
—
this
rose
for the
was
from so many hoverings above
The
flat roof,
a
srill
crowds
frame of
places, cities,
space beneath one's craft, e\er\thing
within the span of one's personal vision, seems under one's control.
and even contemptible or at least negligible. I have had often enough to note this reaction and to check it. Yet we were not so high that there were not
still
around us where we could
And
taller
shapes of white and bluish stone
shelter, unseen.
that was the setting of
my
encounter with Tafta.
We
were
.
200 there for a long time,
summary
shall give a First, it
that
is
of
what was
said,
what
my emotional
who when he had been
me
as
if
this
was
a dut\'.
I
meagre about
my
intractable, stubborn, even
mv
due, and which
in a milder form, of
my
I
As
if
had earned:
And now,
was
a recurrence,
my
if
she
reach and would not
was convinced was a reasonable
I
thwarted bv her, refused.
by contrast, here was
He was
fore of Sirius.
ves, this
something
old reactions to Klorathy. It was as
encompass her with what felt
me
she had refused
were determined to keep herself out of
warned me.
man" had
"the eighth
all.
that was
I
normally preface
I
did not want to think of her at
of that elderly female.
demand.
— though
me a savage, but a not-unattractive of whom I was thinking with reluc-
memory
me
condition
was now seeming to
There was something
let
I
an acceptable barbarian, compared with obviously
compared with Rhodia,
tance, as
and
night,
understood.
I
hardly the kind of statement with which
evil priests,
one,
and on into the
that day,
necessary to establish
is
a report! Tafta,
struck
all
her enemy, the
But here
I
was
about
this Tafta,
enemy
my
she had
And
Canopus.
of
sticking, in
whom
there-
thoughts. She had
we had been enabled to escape from that dreadful city because of our enemy that meant he had helped, or at least said that
—
allowed our escape. She had said said
.
.
.
.
and implied
.
yet not
.
.
.
Tafta was doing ever\thing to win
me
—
I
could see that, of
course, but did not dislike this, or even resent
kept at a good distance.
The
—provided
it
physical presence of the creature, this
great hairy barbarian, glistening with crude strength, affected as
if I
was being threatened by the smell of
by something too me, where he little
he
me
their blood, or at least
hot, too thick, too pressing.
As he leaned towards on
sat in his characteristic swagger
patch of roof was used for sitting out on
a
low seat
—
this
—and smiled, show-
ing the great glistening teeth of a healthy animal, and compressed his features in a
myself reassured.
my
smile that was like a snarl
The
snarl, after all,
experience of these lower species:
—even
was only what it
J
I
found
saw, with
was their expression of exposed teeth of the
friendliness: the shining
white teeth,
lower animals, meant
need not expect attack. The
I
so,
like the
light
almost
The
Sirian Experiments
colourless eyes surrounded by fringes of yellowy hair were not un-
me: these eyes were
familiar to class of
Home
our
be seen even among the favoured
to
Planet. Provided
a strong reaction to this animalit}',
—and
to regard myself, too.
between
was able to hold
I
I
was able to regard him steadily
was not unconscious of the contrast
I
and of how he must be seeing me,
us,
most stronglv was that
which he was using
like a
almost oxerpowering
this
weapon, was at
this
me
decline,
its
of
what
one was not
Sirius,
I,
vitality of his,
afflicting
likely to let his magnificent
could do here, in this
found myself unable to stand up
I
was think-
not a symptom of
least
confidence be assailed by any existential confusions!
spoke to
I
and dryness that was
decline as were the inner doubts
our Empire. At least
Sirius, in the light
Shammat. What
of our long history of domination of
ing
myself
off in
to
And when he
city, to
prevent
him. That
the
is
truth.
He
was speaking to
me
as
if
he, Tafta, this
my most inner devising my last tour of
somehow become
the voice of
had laboured, with me, most planets, asking himself why, and what if
its
imminent
feelings.
As
had he
if
duty in our outer-
and what
next.
As
o\'erthrow.
had hardly
some
part of
Tafta without
had
filled
with
own home. That city.
I
I
would
I
my mind, or inner self, had been occupied by this my knowing it. And long before the Rohandan sky its stars and had signalled a private greeting to my I
had agreed,
at least
would put myself
ITiat he, Tafta,
needed
As the day passed and the blue went was feeling that this enemy was myself. As
to speak!
out of Rohanda's sky,
to
for,
of Sirius,
he wandered, with me, through Lelanos, inwardly grieving for
I
if
enemy
to restore
up
set
be found
by
at the
silence, to the following:
head of the government of
a go\erning
in Lelanos.
its
I
former balance and health. Tliat
I
body with
And
power
for as long as
would maintain
Lelanos to
me
this
that
in
his aid, of the best individuals
when
all this
either stay as ruler, or queen, or whatever
I
would and leave
was done,
wished, or
I
me safely to my own part of the continent. me I might now return to my room in Rhodia's
—
he would see
He
told
without
meet
fear, since
me
1
was "under
his protection"
house,
and that he would
again next day for further discussion of "our plans."
20I
spent the night seated at a window, star-bathing, as
already safely home.
ment
I
was immersed
when
next day,
the green spaces to the
platform
among
He was
same
and went up
airy building,
and
exercises
then.
this,
my mind
to maintain the
put
An
and
come
Tafta did not
.
.
Lelanos, the deprived
— the
I
as
It is
By
I
am
my own
was again
to find their
was
it
as
expert and
little
looked
I
platform
down on
my
held them in
if I
I
was
in the sort of
my own
as
about
stars
as
protec-
and
I
it.
mood
I
I
frame of understanding, not to punish unjustly.
was hazed,
I
That
seemed not
at the
back of
to
I
night,
be able
my
mind,
could hear the warning whisper,
was shaking
my
head
as
an animal does
ears are full of irritating water. Sirius, Sirius as not to hear the
where, had
a delinquent servant.
shadow within myself, and
Sirius, Sirius, Sirius,
head so
on behalf of
my
my
have to record
this: I
where the shores of Sound begin,
my
had had some-
I
full of grief
the lovely scene,
watch myself so
to
contemplation of our
its
a
cubes and spheres, the deep blue of
ground, within
was feeling about Tafta
when
felt as if
waited there on
I
proud of
the end of that day,
would have had
my
made
was promising them an eternal safety and well-being.
not that
been on I
below, and
I
deprived of me, and
among the snowy and bluish the Rohandan sky enclosing if I
the strengthening
.
.
perhaps Tafta should be
at all that day.
benevolent guidance. But
tion; as
.
.
.
.
necessary an
if
.
thing snatched from me: and
far
falling
indicated was the failure
enforcement of the law ...
powers
its
of the Scrutiny
people
did not think
1
was considering the causes of the
I
enforcement by the power of Tafta's troops
member
was at work on
independence and integrity of money. Well, that
right!
of the Scrutiny,
to our little
management.
uses of
among which Rhodia had
of Lelanos,
easily
walked quite openly and at ease through
I
not there as he had said he would be.
anything of
little
were
my plans for the re-establish-
in
those stone symmetries,
management: the
was
I
of Lelanos.
And
away
if
echo
of:
Be
careful,
—and be
I
shook
careful,
be
careful. I
was
late
going to
my
high watching place next day, and
from calculation, and when in
a gesture of
I
reached
submission that
I
it,
it
was
Tafta was there, and bent
had always previously found
The sla\ish.
from his
Experiments
Sirian
He
applied his
humble
this
hand, and then glanced up
and
position with a winning glance
"My
white teeth.
my
furr)' lips to
"But
apologies," he said.
was
it
a baring of for the sake
of our cause."
And
before me,
warm on skin
me
that did begin to shake all
out of
confident physicality,
his whiskers
all
and the smooth
my
He
illusion.
stood
and shine, the sun
glisten
curls of his head, his bro\Mi
where you could see the red blood running underneath
ing, too.
This t\pe of animal,
secretion to cool
when
shin-
overheated, produces a greasy
the exposed areas of his skin, cheeks, brow,
itself:
nose, arms, hands, e\en his ears, were beaded with globules of
had
liquid. It
a
then that said:
He
me
told
smell.
salt}-
this
is
vet there
health, this
was something
vitality,
is
cit\'
that on the next
—he and
and
safet}-
morning he would come I
me
a public display
go\ernment
of the city
installed as rulers. This
we would be
had been imagining
I
to m\- lodging for
—would make
and the guards
environs, where
at all as
it!
And to his And he said
their shelter.
of ourselves through Lelanos, to the place of its
even
the troops that would guard us.
having to organise their
and
you need
me
in
that his absence was due to his having to bring in
from outside the
and we
And
was not
But meanwhile we were
events.
standing on the very edge of the httle snowy platform, overlooking the whole plain and
and
sa\-ing: "It
and make
it
it
And
flinging out his
together
we
arm
will restore
it
was." There was such a glossy insolence
could not stop the triumphant grimace that showed
he could not control
his teeth,
and he was
yours, all yours.
everything
He
about him!
is
focal city,
its
already swallowed
me
his glances
whole, and finding
me out again. And vet my head swam
down
me
at
me,
as
negligible,
if
he had
was about
to spit
promising
it
as
I
o\erlooked Lelanos, and
in a silent passionate
bond with
will
keep you
whisper. Sinus, Sirius, was not
more than
you,
I
will
guard you,
I
safe."
a
it:
I
was
"I will protect
And
the warning
low hissing from
a long
way off. Again he kissed
went
to
had been
my far
Who was
my
hand, and
rooms, and
from it
I
—but now
me crowded
descended, he following, and I
I
was thinking. Thoughts that
in.
who had warned
the priests of the time of
my
arrival
Not Rhodia
in the other city?
— though she had known what was
going to happen.
How
was
had made
that this gallant ruffian
it
his
appearance in
Lelanos only after Rhodia's death?
And how
could
Shammat was now
explain that
I
so ready to
devote himself to the restoration of sweet civilisation and order,
when to
had
I
be expected of them, with the dark
How I
so recently seen this, their servant, at work, of the kind
was
it
.
.
but
.
it
was
as
if
priests?
two forces were at war
I
wanted with
Shammat
being bv
—
my
—the
present self
Canopus
how, when Lelanos was
itself
And
did.
I
brought into
self
to strengthen
my
inner
was already thinking of
again, balanced under the care of the
would leave here and
I
and
to rule this city,
feebleness by doing as
Scrutiny,
all
me.
remember
did not want to hear warnings from deep within me, or
Canopus.
in
find other tribes, descendants
perhaps of the Lombis, or subsequent experiments, and build, as
Rhodia had done,
own
and lovely
a perfect
age-long experience, and what
civilisation, using all
my
had learned from Rhodia,
I
here.
Next morning the
—so
I
waited quietly for Taf ta,
thought
I
— unimportant
my mind already beyond
formalities of the day, dwelling
on future plans and arrangements, when Tafta walked standing there in
my
had been
arm
at
my
triumphant soldiers,
killed to
back, .
.
.
saw
ordinary Lelannian clothes, flung over
without asking a cape of that
in,
fur,
make
stop
to
outside were
me me
which smelled of the poor animals it,
me
and pressed
door, his
sliding
me to the away. He was
grinning,
company
Shammat
company
after
of
the nastiest, most brutish types you can imagine. Tafta
pulled
me
and
was being marched along the leafy ways of Lelanos,
I
captive of
And
in front of
them,
started up. a
My mind was darting frantically around escape. My whole self had been shocked back
unable to escape.
into sanity, into sense. for
Tafta.
thumping music
Shammat.
the possibilities of
word
a harsh
it
Behind
mc
came, singing
— the Shammat contingents. Beside me
Those people who came out
—
if
that
is
the
strolled, grinning,
of their houses or ran along
beside us to see what this impossible and inconceivable \'isitation
could be were beaten back with swords, with cudgels, with knouts
— I
The
Experiments
Sirian
—and our path was lined with poor wretches who tried to crawl
That
awav
to safety.
how Ambien
is
lay bleeding, or
came
of Sirius, one of the Five,
II,
marching into the gay and colourful building that was used
WTien
to
be made ruler of Lelanos, with Tafta.
the brief and ridiculous ceremony was over, Tafta an-
me
nounced that he would take thing in Lelanos ings. It
me
was at
finally
—and
moment
this
to
mv
said that
I
dissohed, and
who had no
He
would return
I
to
my own
lodg-
the illusion, or spell, that had been on
me looking at
left
Not
unless he
there and ended his illusion.
and grandeur, with
his
own
He
a half-animal ad\enturer,
Canopus. So he had seen
was living
it.
my
in
a prisoner then
some dream
backed by
of glory
whom
Sirius,
So he
saw
still
his,
it;
he
looking into those
could see his thoughts
I
Sirian intelligence
had come back
the cocksure, but absurd, postures his limbs
see, in
and
Shammat's, eternal battle with
his,
shallow almost colourless eyes of there, for
made me
citv to rule,
could manipulate and use in
swimming
— there was no such
"palace"
idea of the dimensions of the forces he was challenging.
could not stop me.
could
house
to
Shammat army;
the gONcrning bodies of Lelanos, at the head of a
how I came
be
to
to
fell
me
—
into that
he was dreaming of an Empire that would match that dreamed of
by Grakconkranpatl. Suddenly,
He might was to
was able to see
I
all
kinds of things.
ha\e been able to find out by subtle reasoning when
arri\e in the other city,
was peaceful behind
but he had not known that Lelanos
forbidden zone, and not a tyrant.
its
I
He had
not dared to challenge Canopus by entering Lelanos, until Rhodia
was gone.
And he
he or the
evil citv across
that
matter to
sur\ive
know
that our forces could crush anything
the mountains did anv time
they were allowed to sur\ive,
if
And
did not
it
we wanted
was because
it
did not
us.
because, of course, Canopus, inexplicably, allowed
—but
this
was deep waters
for
me, and
I
was
them
to
far
off
understanding. I
said to this little upstart that
lodgings and he did not stop me.
had got what he wanted Well,
I
could
tell
—
to
be
It
fast,
would take myself back to was because he did not care.
my He
ruler of Lelanos.
myself that
bring the place to ruin very
I
if
then
he was a tyrant who would this
was no more than Lelanos
2q6
would do an
for itself, could not prevent itself doing.
was
inevitabilitss that
him
left
I
Lelanos,
had hastened
I
all.
there lolling in the graceful council chamber, ruler of
among
his savages,
whom
he had been to fetch the day
before from where they had been feasting and roistering in the forests,
not daring to enter the
lodgings,
where
—
left
I
my
them, and went to
up and thought, and thought, through the
sat
I
cit\'
night.
The low and strong,
and
be quiet,
no need of shame.
My
disposal!
my
of
it
now
that
win
to
No more
first
a valedictory
incredulous
Shammat
for
had
it
I
me
And
sound.
was restored
shame over.
.
.
.
And
how
it
And now
it
was
all
had been
if it
I
for the
the case
as in
of
to
Shammat some
of
done with,
I
skills.
could hardlv belie\e
mv own
easily
low sweet song of
be lolling there with
to believe
again,
good sense
it
it,
had and,
and that
this
time
—
I
for
Sirius, Sirius, set into
Rhodia, by Nasar, by Canopus, to remind
might
all,
How easy, then, to my weaknesses. How easy to take
Canopean
have not recovered
had not been
me by
after
enw
—
easily
my
with such slight powers at his
happened and that I had succumbed yet I had by extension know that I could easily be lost might
had
I
Except for
capture, constant brooding about Canopus,
me, by speaking through
over.
was quiet, for
it
easy
bade the song
I
than a minimal use of intuition,
the least and most lowly of
me
until
to myself.
Canopus, hatred of Canopus, had brought flatter
be careful, was very
Sirius, Sirius,
drowned out other thoughts,
it
for
song of
sibilant
me
of
what
Shammat now,
I
was,
ready to
tyrannise poor Lelanos.
When
the morning came,
I
walked out of
my
lodgings into the
empty street and away from the city. I reasoned that Shammat would be drunk this morning, and in any case he would not care.
He
could use the legend of the white goddess, or priests from
or any such formulation, to strengthen his claims to
For
as long as
it
know, using the
lasted.
Wliy should he come
pitiful little
after
must be drugged,
captive,
cit)
one who would not grace
,
and subversive could do nothing
I
\\as,
but did he
his rule,
or beaten into submission? Sirius willing
thing. Sirius sullen
there.
me? He might
powers he did possess, where
approximately, in the forests to the south of the
want an unwilling
power
afar,
but
was one
to help him.
— The
Experiments
Sirian
Besides, he was afraid of
control this planet trolled
— not me, but Canopus. Shammat might
— Canopus
admitted
onlv within limits Canopus
it
this.
set.
But Shammat con-
Drunk with power, with
might be, he could not choose to
inglorious confidence, as Tafta
challenge retribution.
He had gambled
when he had
to his limits
told the dark priests
I
would be an easv capture. He had wanted two things. One, to take from me the ornaments that he knew had some sort of talismanic power
—Shammat
get their hands
on the
also expected to
without Puttiora were always trying to
\\ith or
powerful at any given time. But he
articles
be able to use the situation, for he had been
waiting, having partially gained the confidence of the priestly caste,
power o\er them, and
to gain total
knew
to rule Grakconkranpatl.
Canopus was somewhere
that
strength there, but he never guessed
close, for
it
\\as
He
he could sense the
Rhodia the wardress who
watched and knew everything he did. And when the priests, afraid of me, afraid that one faction might use me to strengthen its posi-
and win power over the others, decided to sacrifice me, and he sensed that Rhodia or someone would rescue me. he did not give the alarm, for he was a gambler by nature, always ready to see tion
—
—
where any new twist
He would carefullv
all
And
1
so
in a situation
not follow me.
would lead him.
knew
1
this,
having thought
it
out
through the long night.
walked steadily south, by
m\-self,
and had many pleasant
and e\en some adventures (which I have published elsewhere, for the entertainment of our young people), and at last I reached one of our outposts, from which I could send a
solitar\- davs,
message
And
for
so
an
aircraft to
ended
my
become
a subject of
affected, profoundly,
When
I
was now viewing
ment
as well as
thought of the I
was able
it
was
a different matter. It
Shammat, even
and
is
least,
not possible
temporarily, without being
for a long time, in ever\' fibre of oneself.
reached our headquarters for the super\ision of the
Colony 9 animals, I
fetch me.
descent into Shammat-nature. Ended, at
outwardly. But inwardly to
come and
I
spent a short time restoring
my
my
inner balances.
recent psychological overthrow with amaze-
apprehension for a possible recurrence.
woman Rhodia
it
to take refuge in the
When
I
was with admiration, a feeling that thought of that strength of hers
208
And
or his!
had
I
now
I
e\'en hked, for a while.
had
It
what was
to be decided
Grakconkranpatl.
I
be done with the slave
to
thought long and hard about
this.
preventing another just as bad coming into being.
from the
overall \iew
(which after
do), these indigenous cultures
when
native
cit}-,
Easy enough
whole place out of existence. But there was no way of
to blast the
it
whom
could think with abhorrence of Tafta,
—
looking at
my
responsibility- to
was accurate
to call cultures
was
all it
if it
And
the origin of their genes lay so far from Rohanda. in
such distant planets social laboratories
—were
Some
useful to us.
without any
on our
effort
of
them provided
I
decided only to
part.
rescue our 2,000 captives, and sent five cargo planes, with ten
armed
These flew back and forth over Grakcon-
craft for support.
kranpatl for a sufficient time, and then the cargo planes descended at the prison farms
where the animals were working
in chains. Tlie
2,000 were returned to the settlement in the high peaks.
was
It
felt
that their sojourn in the lower areas, and then a re-introduction
would strengthen them and further
to the harsh conditions,
adaptability.
And
so
it
turned out.
As the future of these animals does not concern further,
will
atmosphere
its
in the
way
it
had been hoped.
crawling plant-animals were destroyed, however. This did not
seem
to
some
of our biologists
and
this narrative
summarize. The controlled explosions on Planet
did not affect
3(1)
The
I
their
be
likely to
change the planet's atmosphere
cannot make an omelette,
planet;
we
of oxygen
The
a
unique
usual arguments took place:
etc." against the
was locked up
"You
"Storehouse of nature."
in the soil
and rocks of the
know how much. Tliermonuclear explosions with took place. The oxygen content of the atmosphere
did not
a different intent
did significantly increase.
We
shipped the Planet 9 animals from
their high, oxygen-star\ed station
oxygen-starved air of Planet felt to
anv way, but
complained that we had destroved
irreplaceable species.
An amount
in
9.
in
About
be better than expected.
We
the mountains to the low
half
succumbed, but
this
was
introduced at the same time
a large quantity of different kinds of vegetation at the lichen level,
and marsh
plants,
to the oxygen.
A
and types of seaweed fuller
account of
in the appropriate place.
The
—
this
all
with the idea of adding
experiment
will
planet, in fact, did slowly
be found
come
to
The life,
Experiments
Sirian
and within
hundred
five
the exploitation of minerals. But
where everything
planet,
is
was
S-years it
in a condition to allow
was and
is
a chilly,
slow moving, small, dank.
It
phlegmatic
was
interest-
what happened to the Planet 9 type. They became their fur became more like scales, or lichens; they laid eggs
ing to see smaller;
that they carried in a
pouch under
they were amphibious.
their tails until they hatched;
They became
work of
useless for physical
any kind. Their function remains slowly
and
oxygen
to increase the
content. Tlie exploitation of the planet has to be carried out by
who work
technicians and labourers
in strictly controlled condi-
tions for short periods.
how we
Tlie success of this experiment influenced stations
A
necessar\'
my
word about
for a considerable
recognised that
tional condition.
state
of
time after
my
I
had been
I
knew
in
something about I
Sirius itself.
I
led to
experience as a captive.
I
of such foolhardiness to
thing:
its
origin
I
should do
at least
not remain
that
felt
—
and almost cynical
improve me. Discussions
no more than assurances of mutual support,
and declarations that we understood each situation: for
new
some way
in
But time did not seem
Ambien
remained on
I
an unhealthy and dangerous emo-
change myself
had been: capable
indifference.
with
it,
mind.
that this was not a
was due to the situation of
as
up our
on the Rohandan moon.
Rohanda I
set
my mood
other's
metaphysical
was not confined to myself, and the briefest
of exploratory conversations with others of our Service revealed
how general
What least I
the unease had become.
slowly hardened in
me
was
a feeling of resentment, or at
Why had
puzzlement, over the behaviour of Rhodia, or Nasar.
been led into such temptation? For what purpose?
cumbed, had freed myself
—
or,
rather,
I
had recognised
had
suc-
in myself
means by But what had it
the implanted reminders of Canopus, which were the
which all
I
been
And
saw
my
situation
and could
free myself.
for? this
thought, or emotion, was directly linked
astonishment, a sick angry disbelief that
Who was,
\vhat was, this
Shammat
to,
—was
power that held Rohanda
fed by, an so paltrvi
in thrall?
Tafta
was an insignificantly nasty half-animal who had acquired some
minor
capacities that allowed
him
petty tricks.
He
was not more
210
than
What them
and cunning. Evil
craft}'
had seen
I
have to these
relation did Tafta
in the cruel priesthood.
ones?
evil
Had he
and used them? Could the progeny of an
or merely tolerated
unpleasant, mildly disgusting, unimportant nastiness
much worse
than
progenitors?
its
it
crystallised out so that
if
Nasar had arranged
really
What
could look at
I
me
for
to
was feeling
I
it
become became
so
—
—something
as
like this:
become tempted by something
wicked, like the dark priests, a total and thoroughgoing
might have found some point
beastliness,
I
succumbed
to Tafta
was speaking; and to
created
was that
I
was humiliating. Yes
—
was even half aware of
I
in that!
was annoyed with Canopus
it
it.
for
But
have
to
my pride that What it amounted was
not arranging for
me a more profound evil! They had rated me low because of matching me with such a petty wickedness. I felt insulted! And yet my reason told me that had been proved not to rate any greater nastiI
ness than Tafta! After I
all,
had not been immune
had succumbed, even though
I
briefly.
and ambition. Yet
to petty nastiness
I
could not imagine myself ever wanting anything the priesthood of
Grakconkranpatl could sion for them.
.
.
.
me: nor
offer
Was
I
feeling anything but revul-
then to understand, from
mv
weakening
towards Tafta, that the beginnings of an immersion in
e\il
must
always start with something easy, paltry, seemingh^ unimportant?
Was
this
what Canopus had been teaching me?
All these thoughts,
me and at length Enough.
I
found
it all
had been proved
was not going faction in
I
and many others on these
me
to I
deny
it. I
too
I
shut a door on them.
be gullible and
to
flew
much, and
lines, conflicted in
feeble.
knew
I
away from Rohanda, with
it.
I
a dissatis-
was not equipped to handle.
This dwindled into
a dry sorrow,
the "existential malady," or so
which was not very
found,
I
when
subjecting
far it
from to
my
dispassionate judgment. I
was away from Rohanda
for
some
time.
Tlie experiments being undertaken
than I is
strictly scientific,
laboratory
stuff,
there,
less
biosociological
did not interest
me much.
followed the progress of only one. llie atmosphere of
80 percent nitrogen. Yet
its
mammals
subsist
on
less
Rohanda than 20
percent oxygen. Tlie idea was to breed an animal capable of living
on nitrogen, or
at least a mixture of nitrogen
and oxygen.
Many
The
Experiments
Sirian
and ingenious
of Isolated S.C.
II
between two partners equal
is
in
my
end because
to
and with much the same be unstable. Tliey last only when one
in strength
experience ha\e to
Lelanos had become
had been
produced
a
priests,
hea\y uniformity of ugliness, and
but more
a tvpe of very strong,
who adopted
is
flexible
whose main
this
match had
and Naricd people,
new
cross
dominated Grakcon-
kranpatl and used the former priestly caste as slaves.
new state of become allied I
history
the "religious" practices of their former enemies and
terrorized the entire continent. Tlie
But
Our
as horrible a place as the other. Tlie
Lelannians mated freely with the race of dark feature
Alliances
alliance.
in a generously tutelar;^ relationship with the other.
in point.
all
was o\errun by an empire ruled by Grakcon-
and Lelanos. This was an uneasy
kranpatl
aim
had
^^e^c the experiments, whicli
affairs
come
Thus had the
into being where the two cities
had
in evil.
was not disposed to concern myself much with Rohanda.
When
Empire seemed more important.
Affairs elsewhere in our
me
got a message from Canopus, inviting
to a discussion
I
"on the
present situation in Rohanda, with particular attention to the Isolated Southern Gontinent II,"
was one.
I
then was sent
to think,
even when
much
I
was
first
ignored this order. For
it
whom I my mind,
message signed by Klorathy, of
a
had never ceased
at
I
who was
always at the back of
occupied elsewhere.
What
he said was that
"the present situation in the continents under your control disadvantageously affecting
all
of
is
Rohanda."
was quite aware that both the Southern Gontinents were populated bv warring, savage, degenerated tribes. But when we had
Now,
I
wanted the use purposes,
it
of these
two continents
my mind
was not in
for
—mostly— experimental
that our responsibilities should also
saw no reason why Sirius should not simply leave Rohanda altogether. Ganopus was welcome to both Southern
be
altruistic.
Gontinents.
I
Nor
in the northern If
did
my
reports indicate that the state of affairs
hemisphere was
much
to the credit of
our uses of Rohanda could not be described
improvement
of the place, then the
as
same had
Ganopus.
having led to an to be said about
Ganopus.
So I
I
saw things then.
was reluctant to accede
to Klorathy's invitation,
because
it
was
— 212
and unsatisfactory planet
to discuss a squalid
—
could be relied upon for only one thing
one pretext or another
Or
I
and then been
an invitation to
There was no
I
my
me
But
aridity.
prepared to leave, It
I
Now
ference, turned
my mind away
my
memory.
Sirius,
myself of
it.
that
I
my I
ears
Waves
end of the Galaxy. to
a
top-le\'el
had of
It
established on this
me
at this con-
—and found that
And
were being
as
.
.
.
else,
filled
and
I
Sirius, Sirius.
And
in Klorathy's.
it
in voices
could not free
came up
and ebbed, lea\ing
with
I
with an insinuating
filled
of this insidious whispering
waiting to be
In Rhodia's.
find
appeared there were new
from Rohanda
heard, Sirius, Sirius
could hear nothing
knew was
would
I
preparations for leaving, possiblv for a long time,
again,
if,
at the
summoned
it
could
only an
felt
I
knew
appointed someone to represent
I
as
I
Shammat was
to us that
developments.
went about
me
was again
small and unpleasant planet.
was
a task that
I
defini-
to find time later."
in this gesture.
for
bv
Canopus that
concerned Rohanda, or rather, her moon.
known
course been
yes.
unfulfilled friendship,
might be able
I
and absorbing was waiting
conference.
—
had been waiting, perhaps only
sent a message to
satisfaction for
intensification of
I
I
development of an
not meet Klorathy, "though
As
him on Canopus
visit
offered a participation in a dreary task that
tion could not succeed.
on
opportunit\-.
first
felt as if
half-consciously, for the
difScult
to kill each other
to discuss other planets that concerned us
was disappointed.
I
me
Klorathy had sent
If
yes.
at the
who
brutes
full of
me, so
in
a silence that
I
In Nasar's voice.
I
had
ne\'er
heard
making
but knew
I
my mind
dwell on problems distant and different from Rohanda's
would.
I
stubbornly ignored this
and found that no matter what I
would
find
I
call,
or tried to,
did, the whispering grew, so that
m\self standing quite
still,
some
task
forgotten,
listening.
THE LELANNIAN EXPERIMENTS I
told the
Department that
my
mission must be postponed.
I
was going to Rohanda, and
sent a message to Klorathv that
I
ordered the Space Traveller to set
me down
near our old station.
The
We
Sirian
Experiments
had maintained
into
disuse,
though
this post,
Now
several times fallen
and twice been destroyed by earthquakes.
repaired partly through sentiment: there.
had
it
promised myself
I
I
had been
happy
so usefully
freedom and
short space of
a
was
It
thought, in solitude, for Klorathy would need time to reach me.
For one thing, he would ha\e to enquire from
where on Rohanda he could
what one might expect I
Canopean
walked by myself up to the
... so
far
had
abilities!
little
group of buildings among low
good way to the south from where
towards Lelanos, and uninhabited.
Had
as
Planet
forgotten
I
my back,
the towering ranges of the western mountains at
foothills,
a
of
me
find
my Home
had done the same, going
I
approached thought thev did not look
I
the Lelannian tyrants then taken this Sirian
station for themselves? If so,
they had lost
if
thev had fallen very far away from any sort of understanding. preparing in one, as
m\ mind how
entered the
I
similar to those
one of the buildings, an
had once,
I
for instance, to
first
an emergency
to deal with
summon
so pleasantly, lived in:
knew
once that
at
it
I
was
I
found
airy set of
rooms
it
if
would be
easy,
the Space Traveller, \\hich was already
stationed just above me, and visible as a silverv
There was someone
then
fear of Sirius,
all
back to the
sitting,
glitter.
room.
light, across the
was Klorathy. Though, of course,
it
I
was
technicallv impossible that he should ha\e got here in the time since
my
would be
message went out. This meant that he had known
here, in this place, well before the message did go out,
and even before
I
had decided myself.
went towards him "I
am
saving: "This
an uninvited
visitor, I
unanswered, meaning him to
went
to
I
sit
where
was absorbing
I
this as
I
'
is
Sirius.
know," said he; and feel that
could see him
I
...
I
clearly.
the experience on their Colony ii.
It is
I
left
the remark
was making a point. I
And
had not seen him since
uncommon
of course a not
Canopean
thing to see, on this or that planet, within the
aegis or
within ours, an indi\idual one recognises, so that one goes forward to say: "Greetings, Klorathv," or Nasar, or
But then one
sees
—and what
a kind is
it
as
a
whoever
might
be.
type one has recognised, a species,
then looks back from inside
an indi\idual quite strange
a disturbing business, to
it
this
known shape
to one. It has always been, to
be with
this shape,
which
is
me,
that of a
remembered
friend or associate:
and
match
to
memory, the that person. \Vhat absolutely individual and is it that is not here? And, conversely, this other
mannerisms, that are so close to those that property of this or
unmatchable entity
when one encounters
experience:
are, in
the species, type, shape, equipped
with rouohlv similar manners and wavs, and individual. This I
saw him,
gestures, glances,
was Klorathy.
had known
I
a shape against light,
equipment almost the same being strong, healthy, and
deduced
I
moment
was he, the
chosen to inhabit
Presumably
as his last.
—
it
remembered
the
features invisible.
all his
He had
was not the identical Klorathy.
it is
—
Yet
a physical
useful,
it \^'as
good all-purpose type
a
that would adapt easily to any planet and species without too
remark. For instance, he would not be likely to choose type,
which
my own
I
and
since.
And
I
have given
want
I
to
a
make
phvsical
originating planet.
had long been considering the Canopean ways re-issue.
my
much
and often uneasiness,
in fact always calls forth remark,
not worse, except on
if
this
good deal of
my
of re-juvenation
time to
this
problem
the point at this time and place that
I
consider we, Sirius, would do well to master these other techniques.
There thetics.
is
know about
nothing we do not
We replace parts of the bodv as
not think there
is
an organ or a
tissue in
pre-Disaster time, let alone even
Time. There I
is
nothing
left
was whirled about the
in
my
that was
many
costly in time
I
Ambien
what the Canopeans
do
II in
the First
call
made up my being when
skies during the "events."
veins has been replaced
and transfusions are
me
pros-
they wear out.
fast as
even of what
and
substitution
Even the
ichor
But these transplants
times.
and patience. Yes,
I
know
that
the argument will be, as usual, that a \ast quantity of admirable technicians
would be put out
niques would
of work; that
become redundant. But
this
many
is
a
skills
and tech-
question that
falls
under the heading of the existential problem, question, or dilemma. If
we have answered
that, in all other fields,
knowledge even
advances
in
classes of
work become obsolete, then
sider
at the cost of falling populations, as it is
whether we should adopt the
perpetuation.
How
equipment. After
simple to "die"
all,
it
is
by alwavs accepting
—
consistent for us to con-
Canopean ways and to take on new
of
self-
physical
not even necessary to go through the
tedious business of having to endure infancy and childhood
—they
a
The
Sirian
Experiments
have learned to bypass the
Canopcan
We
look!
throw an
How pettifogging and
that.
all
even pedantic
outworn physical equipment makes ours
attitude to
patch and replace, and transplant, and preserve inefficient
body aside and step into
— they
new one without
a
fuss, sentimentality, or regret.
Klorathv had inhabited three different bodies since
him
And he
last.
me
told
Southern Continent
very small
a
new
bringing a species up to a tion in relation to
down
that Nasar was at that time
as
I
"The Great
had seen
I
brown male,
hunter,
a
height of knowledge about Spirit."
Which was
in our
posi-
its
the formulation
suitable for that place.
me
Klorath\- told
rebuke to
wav
this in a
for our negligence.
us,
—
meant it was a rebuke We had no stations on that
that
continent then.
And
we two engaged in, if not and from the very first moment. I
so
was with Klorathy
conflict, at least disagreement,
for fifty R-years;
and
I
will
sum up
me
of our being together thus: that he was there to bring
view of the Sirian usage of the planet, altogether.
And he was
the start
was wondering what
I
it
sort of
my
.
.
from
.
importance Canopus could
one of
their
tutelage for such a long time.
Of
did not fool myself that this was an individual matter. No,
was Canopus and
Sirius
in a familiar position.
—
Nasar
as always. .
.
.
But
I
recognised that
with me, were
—
I
had
to accept
it
I
was
Klorathy ... or whatever names
they might be choosing to use, whate\er shapes they wore,
And
new
to a
of ourselves
to designate Klorathy,
it all,
senior Colonial officials, to I
new view
prepared to go to a great trouble
possibly be attributing to
course
a
the essence
—
when
instructors.
Klorathy sat there patiently with
me
in that pleasant airy
room, where we looked out together o\er landscapes
I
almost was
—
match with what I remembered and talked. WTien I had li\ed here during the best time, in the days when I thought of Rohanda almost as my home, what I saw from the foothills was savannah, a pleasant, lighth-treed country broken by able to
\alle\s
and plains of
Climatic changes of
and a
their
many
canopv of
grass. All
a
it
it
was rain
dramatic kind had caused vast
tributaries ran
foliage
was different now: through enormous
rivers to flow,
trees,
was not possible to see through.
forest.
which made
We looked at
— 2l6 vast expanses of leaves, leaves, always leaves, the tops of trees that
shimmered and moved under a hea\y and uncomfortable sun. It was not at all the bracing and invigorating place of my memories. There was nothing now
in this continent pleasant to hear about.
Klorathy was making certain that with the intention of making shall never forget
clearly
that
I
saw
it
—
did hear, and, as
me
I
feel
how, through those days of preparation
was held there by him, held by
I
have
said,
as a responsibilitv.
all
it
I
—
as
I
he
his determination,
should not be allowed to escape anything of the truth. Some-
times, evading the necessity of looking at him,
1
gazed out into the
hot steamy perspectives of green that were so often drenched by sultry rains: but otherwise
and wondering
at the authority of this
never enforced, but self,
to
make
attended
The
sat regarding
I
of
who had
what he
him, Klorathy, taking in
person
who
never demanded,
only to be there, be present, be him-
and something that had
said a claim
to
be
to.
situation
through
continent
the
was
While the
this.
Lelannians had become a tyTanny that controlled the old Lelannian
and Grakconkranpatl
territories that,
because of their position, also
controlled the long isthmus that joined the Southern Continent to
the Isolated Northern Continent, acting as a barrier to the move-
ment
of peoples, everywhere else was evolving a fairly uniform
species
made from
the escapees and mutants from our
—bv now
very numerous experiments, crossed with that kind of borderline
semi-ape that
is
so often the
predominant animal on certain tvpes
of planet. This cross was not dissimilar to the Lelanos type before it
had degenerated. In appearance they were
tallish
people with the
common
a lithe, slightlv built,
ranges of colour from light-brown
to almost black, long straight black hair, black e\es. Tliev were
hunters, and gathered plants from the forests.
which held memories of
origins in other places
was understood, had not spoken this
was
in strict act,
a sparse population, with
harmony with
in
That their genes, where agriculture
them here was not
no need
to
grow food. The\- were
their surroundings, at that stage
or intention, or thought, could
surprising:
where no
be outside the mental and
emotional frames of reference forming their "religion." Tlie Great Spirit, here, as
Nasar was teaching on the other Southern Conti-
nent, was in everything they did: they lived within the sacramental,
— The or
—
as
attempted to joke with
I
Our
Necessity. to
be
Experiments
Sirian
representing as
so,
on such
relations
different levels.)
were not
we
did,
Klorathy
But we did
now
(I see
easy.
and do
—according
—
joke,
must
I
c\'idently could not see
minor and perhaps clumsy
jests as
yes,
Or
ordinance of the Necessity.
that this
had
insist
— Empires this ease
mv, admittedly,
worth more than the
slightest
people indeed li\cd within the
these
he,
said
the
were able to use
between oursehes. Klorathy of smiles;
to
had done, before they had
rather,
been o\'errun by the Lelannians. They were now
and servants
slaves
from the extreme south of the continent to the isthmus. Every-
where they worked mines and plantations, or pro\idcd the meat
They were
the ritual murders of the Lelannian religion.
experiment. This surprised me, and
terial for
and
at very great length
and
them
ability,
socially, that
which
could hardly
had
after all
criticise,
to
ma-
also
and hear,
sit
development of the
the animals that surrounded
and malleable and available
as controllable
not only
in detail, of the
who saw
master race into technicians
I
for
purposes
for their
within the limits of sociological malle-
is,
was a viewpoint that since
we
—
Sirius
and
as such,
—had always seen
in itself,
I
this as the
foundation of Empire, the basis of good government. But they had
gone further, used any living being they ruled, on any stuff for
experiments of a most brutal nature. No, although
my
have
level, as
the did
I
uncomfortable moments listening to Klorathy describe
the practices of these overlords,
had we, had
I
could say to myself that never
done unnecessary, or
Sirius,
Of
cruel experiments.
course, experimentation of the physical, as distinct from the biosociological kind,
is
always done, with is
us,
sometimes only
myself as that
I
I
necessary and so permitted. But after
all, it is
within the limits of our necessity, even
a local
need ... so
if
this
fatuously argued with
T
sat listening to Klorathy, during these conversations
was already seeing
as a preparation.
A
deliberate, calculated
preparation for what was to come. Oh, Canopus never did, nc\cr
has done, anything that has not been calculated, foreseen, measured,
and
this
a long-term
meaning able to
down
to the last detail, even
one that ...
Sirius,
and
I
I
say this
when
the plan
is
such
have to state here again that we
knowing the
criticism
comprehend the Canopean understanding
long term, or long foreseen. Yes,
I
am
saying
this.
I
of I
risk
—are not
what may be
am
stating
it.
— 2l8 I
am
on
insisting
it.
...
If
may
I
writing this record, or report,
not do
without
is
This small example, which
am
I
my
then
this,
attempt in
use.
describing here, consisting of
Klorathy's use of the situation in this continent at this time to
me,
instruct
contains
Sirius,
Even
foresight, patience.
as
I
day after day with Klorathy,
would need
this period for
he was presenting
W^en
to
many
Canopean planning,
dwelt there, in that old Sirian station,
knew
I
that he had calculated that
I
adjustment, for the absorption of what
me.
knew he wanted me
I
aspects of
to
certainly dangerous journey to see
accompany him on a long and for myself what he was describ-
Not because of the danger. I was acquiring \ery different attitudes to my own extinction! Once I would ha\e regarded "death," of the kind now obsolete among us, as a calamity, ing, I resisted.
certainly as a loss to our
Now
was thinking that
I
extinction, then
And
if
too, that
if
in
me
No,
was
I
who
\ast experience.
to survive,
we were caught and
truly horrible animals, the Lelannians,
of Canopus,
my
was worth a survival of phvsical
I
what there was
was thinking,
I
communit}' because of
I
would be
would
being given what
I
because of felt
my
was due! In the past
I
I
I
I
still
was only offered.
I
was being given to
felt
me
I
was not
had sulked, or
might be learning,
me
because Klorathy's attention was not being given to
Sirius,
companv
in the
old lack, or disabilitv:
allowed myself to become impervious to what
it
by these
killed
regarded "death" as a change of circumstance.
resisting
Now, when
must.
alone, or rather, to
alone.
me
neglected, insufficiently appreciated, because
a journey
among
these savage
would have been prepared
as it
Rohandans that was being
to stay in the little station in
the foothills, overlooking the long reaches of simmering rain forest,
—
what Klorathy had to tell me even though he talked only of Lelanos and Lelannians, and their habits, and not ever of Canopus itself, which I longed so much to hear about taking in
listening to
—
what
I
knew was an education
equipped to understand.
of a sort far larger than
W^en
I
was then
Klorathv spoke, his words came
—
from Canopus, were of the substance of Canopus that I did know. But he was putting a term to this experience of ours, which on one level was so easygoing, even lazy, and demanding that we should go forth, into something
else.
The
Experiments
Sirian
There were
my
One was
travel.
summon
to
Space Traveller, and to descend, the two of
us, as representa-
—they would not know Canopus,
the real and true
tives of Sirius po\\'er!
to
ways we might
\arioLis
—and demand
what we wanted. Or we could pretend
to see
be emissaries from another part of Rohanda, "from across the
Or we could announce
seas."
ourselves as
from the Northern
Continent, and the fact that the isthmus was closed would add to our
—we hoped—mysteriousness.
come from another
was not possible to purport to
It
the Lelannian system, for
city in
knew
monolithic and all-per\asive tyranny, and
was" a
it
everything that
went on evervwhere.
The problem was my
appearance:
at least could
I
not hope to
remain unremarked.
The leaving
alternati\es were put to
me
choice to
free, so
him
that
for
had
I
his
waiting for
by Kloratln,
to consider them,
acceptance.
Traveller, as the easiest. hesitating, as
me
He
in his
and then
way
offer
chose descent by
I
of
my
Space
did not at once disagree, but kept
he made suggestions, or the beginnings of suggestions,
me
to take
up
thought for myself.
trains of
and
that to appear, suddenly, "from the skies,"
after
soon saw
I
such a long
time during which the Sirian surveillance had been forgotten, would
be to disrupt the
social
svstem
planned
—
calculated,
weighed,
Planned
even when the subjects of
for
and
totally,
for
in
in
ways that ought to be
the
Canopean manner. were such
this consideration
an unpleasant kind? Yes, indeed,
I
had
to accept
it.
\\Tiat
I
was being given was a
—
Canopean viewpoints very far from ours. No, we were not to use the easy way. In the end it was decided to be visitors from "over the seas." Prompted by him, I brought
lesson in
forth a
from within myself the advantages
Canopean scope
of time.
The main
—and they were
all
inside
one, from which the others
flowed, was that e\en these ugly tyrants
would be open
to informa-
tion or instruction from "over the seas," for their legends kept
references to such beings.
Not by chance: some
visiting
Canopean
had no doubt made sure that these legends would contain such memories. This journey of ours through the Southern Continent was a long one, and there were
many
aspects to
it
that unfolded themsehes
220
we went,
as
showing new
in fact,
mitted a is
became
that sometimes
full
facets,
when
me
clear to
only
later.
Are
contemplate that time.
I
report on this journey, which
is still
nothing untrue, or even evasive there: on that
I
available.
must
I
still,
sub-
There
insist.
But
must urge, too, that it is possible, and indeed often inexitable, that one may report events as fully and honestly as one knows I
how may
—and yet no way
in
whom
up against
find oneself
This barrier
pass.
the report
made. Their
is
report, \\ith one's
a check,
be\ond which one
the nature or state of those for
is
state at that time. Preparing this
mind on those who
will receive it
—the words are
chosen for you, the frequencies limited. As one's mind goes out to
who
touch, or assess, those
much
of
it
be found. far
—and,
of
some
can be taken I
wonder
as
if
in.
of their emotions
of the journey.
I
said,
my I
it in,
one knows that onlv so
much more will who have read so
perhaps,
later,
fellow Sirians
can guess only too well the nature
—might care to look up that old report who saw it all those ages ago, first time, may find there a great
that both those
feel
and those who read
But that
those of
ha\e already
I
will take
it
now,
for the
deal that can amplify this present account of mine.
We mode
dressed ourselves as differently from the current Lelannian as possible:
in their clothes,
thev expressed their hierarchic societv most fully
which were elaborate,
and ornamented.
stiff,
Wt
wore simple robes, and made sure that the current protective devices were well concealed; though of such things
had been
Klorathy took
me
we
believed that
all
memory
forgotten.
straight,
not to the
new
capital
but to a main
research centre. It
was situated well away from areas of habitation, was guarded
heavilv.
The
actual appearance of the place was not dissimilar to
our research establishments that had been in past times quite plentiful over this
give
me some
and the other Southern Continent:
unpleasant moments, and
had been noted by the ancestors of I
did not mention
passed through all
my
my
I
wondered
if
this fact did
our practices
this present breed,
and copied.
suspicion to Klorath}-, who, however, as
mind, said only:
"May
I
suggest that
we
it
reserve
comment and comparison until after our journey is done?" The station consisted of laboratories of various kinds, and com-
The
Sirian
Experiments
pounds and camps
for the retention of the experinientees: a loeal
tribe.
When we
arrived in the place,
over the long blue seas" of song
— they showed
couraged,
asking
to
—
and
a phrase
which was part of
a disposition to
shown
be
we were "from
said that
worship
examples
us,
of
afar,
their heritage
which we
their
dis-
technical
knowledge. Their awe was a disadvantage, because
them to produce simple answers to straight see enough without that. These currenth' ruling animals seemed worst of the two originating breeds.
made
it
it
difficult for
questions; but
we could
have inherited the
to
The heavy
slablike uniformity
of the Grakconkranpatls remained: there was a truly extraordinarv
Anv
lack of ^•ariation in feature
and
was derived from the subtle
^itality of the old Lelannians,
build.
lightness or quickness
had degenerated into mental dishonesty and capacity deception, \\hich showed evasixeness. It
is
deformed into
its
how
this
for
self-
and eyes
as shiftiness,
a characteristic
may become
itself in their faces
truly astonishing
but
opposite under the pressure of degeneration.
Experiments then
in
progress
at
that
station
included
the
following:
In order to find out the capacities for endurance and persever-
ance of their subject animals, thev had built a very large tank, with slippery sloping sides
on which
it
chase. This was filled with water.
was not possible to find a pur-
About
a
hundred
particularly
healthv and strong tribesmen had been selected and put into this
tank to swim there until thev drowned. All around the edge of the tank researchers stood with stopwatches in their hands. Others
guarded the instruments with which they were measuring the pulse rate
and breathing of the experimentees: from time to time an
animal would be selected, pulled out of the water, and tested, and then, in spite of cries and pleadings, would be flung back in again.
TTie teams of researchers, as they tired, were replaced. Astonishing feats of endurance were performed.
It
was not the most pleasant
Though it was certainly interesting between the swimming animals. Some, when of sights.
to see the differences
they were thrown
in,
suspecting the nature of the experiment, at once allowed them-
)
222
This tendency was regarded
to drown.
selves
intelligence.
and clung
Some
and begged
cried
to others so that
as
measure of
a
be taken out. Some panicked
to
one might see two or three or more
drown at a time, sinking during their struggles. Others were silent and conserved their strength and swam around and around and around, regarding their masters on the edges with a look in their eyes that
—
I
ha\e to record for the sake of truthfulness
in the eyes of
some
of our subject races
.
.
.
—
I
had seen
the Lombis, for instance.
Some, seeing others weaken, went to support them knowing that their
days. until
own ends would be nearer. But a few swam on for several And even when they seemed half-conscious, swam on, and on, at last they sank. To stand on those high banks, while some
of the unfortunate animals scrabbled
and clutched
slopes beneath me, calling out for aid
—
setting,
and suggested
to Klorathy that
There was another experiment ance.
The
They had
a large cauldron
cauldron, from which
sides sloped inwards,
was
it
to
at the slippery
soon found
I
we should
this
too up-
leave.
measure strength and endur-
under which were
piles of
wood.
was impossible to climb, because the
filled
with water. Into this they put, one
at a time, males, females, children,
and
lit
the
fires,
and slowly
heated the water. This was to measure the different rates at which the experimentees succumbed to the heating water. Again the
ences were remarkable.
was nearly
A
few managed to stay
at boiling point. (This part of
fully appreciated
if
my
alive until the
account
will
differ-
water
be more
the reader equips himself with a basic knowl-
edge of Rohandan chemistry. In a third experiment thev transplanted limbs and organs.
unpleasant to see
all this
It
was
work being done on techniques that had
not only been in use with us for so long but were alreadv becoming
superceded I
—though we did not [do not yet)
am making
this
The monsters
comparison quite soberly. created
not without interest,
— indignation. grafted
on
appreciate that. Yes,
b}- their
when
I
was able to quell
The mammarv
their backs.
crude techniques were,
glands of
my —b^•
I
suppose,
then soaring
some females had been
Others had them on their thighs.
The
sexual
organs of males were transferred to their faces, so that the organs for
eating and
progeniture
were adjacent. This caused severe
psychological maladjustment, which they found, surprisingly, of
— The
Sirian Experiments
saw a child that had had
I
we were
told that this unfortunate at least
future, for it
it
would be used
was able to revolve
itself
on
legs grafted
interest.
to
its
hips!
would have an adequate
entertainment for the ruling
as
on these four
And
legs as
classes:
on the spokes of a
The technicians did seem quite pleased to be able to reassure when they could as in the case of this cartwheeling child. They
wheel.
—
us
did not enjoy causing pain, they insisted. But they believed that
the experimentees, being of an inferior kind, did not feel physical or psvchological pain as they themselves did.
I
mental processes
—
encountered
this trick of the
the verv early davs of our science,
when
have not before at least
not since
there were tendencies
to
assure ourselves of the invulnerability of our experimentees.
At
least Sirius
h\pocrites ...
I
can say that not for
many
long ages have
we been
who merely repeated journey to make comments.
said this then, to Klorathy,
we should wait for the end of our Before we left that place we were taken on a tour of the compounds. Thev housed several hundred tribespeople: males, females, children. Long sheds contained tiers of bunks in which they slept. that
These were
was explained to
built of concrete because, as
us,
the
animals were thus more easily protected from vermin and kept clean: the interiors of the sheds,
and the animals, were hosed down
once a day with water that had chemicals
in
it.
Some
animals took
cold and died of this treatment: the hot steamy climate disposed
them
to respiratory diseases.
They were
fed from large pots filled
made of a cereal introduced by 17. They were made to do exercises
from
with porridge
us long before
our Planet
twice a day, because
unfit animals
were of no use
and punishment block
in research work.
for offenders,
and
There was
a prison
a small hospital for the
The compound was surrounded by tall fences, and guarded heavily. As we made our tour, a male tribesman stood forth, holding sick.
up
his
—
hands palms out
in their gesture for entreaty.
As the guards
him back among his fellows, I asked them to let him speak. He wanted to make a petition. He said that many of the experiments being made on them were unnecessary, because the information needed could be gained by simply asking them went forward
to club
endurance compared among
indi-
viduals. In their native habitat, before their subjection, their
own
had been an extensive and
rich
as for instance, as to abilities of
traditions told
them
that there
— 224
knowledge of the nature of processes.
They had used
a
their physiques,
and of
their
mental
medicine based on plants and on psycho-
had known how
logical understanding. Also, thev
and
to live in
with the terrain in such a way that this was not damaged.
The poor
fellow
came out with
fear of being checked, looking all the time at
He
protection.
because of his
this in a rush,
stood naked there before
me, begging
marked
features
us, his
my
for
with the signs of long imprisonment, but he had a self-respect that
was impressi\e. This "inferior" race was obxiouslv, and
most cursory inspection, superior
to their masters
—
at
even the
particularly in
the honesty and straightforwardness of their understanding and
means
of expressing themselves.
He said
that at no time
prepared to
listen,
though the natives had continuallv
knowledge, their expertise
prepared to listen then either
used
Never had the Lelannians been
to benefit everyone.
generally,
natives
known by them, and which could be
about what might be
their
had the Lelannians ever asked the
.
.
tried to offer
but the Lelannians were not
.
—
and whips descended; soon
clubs
the poor fellow was lying senseless in his blood, and the group of technicians
who were showing
"impertinence"
the
around sho\\ed indignation
us
and then went on with the
at
self-satisfied
stupidity that was their characteristic, to sav that "these animals
were always up to their
tricks."
only because of the injustice
waste of
it all.
I
I I
was seething with indignation, not
had witnessed but because of the
was thinking that never had
Sirius
—
at least, not
since our civilised time began
—gone
the precious knowledge of
inhabitants, the irreplaceable knowl-
edge air
—
for
its
who ha\e been planet can know its
only those
and liquid of
a
But Klorathv stood
silent
bv me.
1
into a planet
and destroyed
e\olved from the earth and real, its
innermost, nature.
knew him enough
to under-
stand that a tightening of his face showed he was suffering. But he
made no
sign,
only turned to go. x\nd
we made our
the packed masses of naked tribespeople, their eyes
and holding up
taking this opportunity to
thev could see
Before
we
their
make
palms to
all
wa\- through
beseeching us with
us, afraid to
their cause
known
speak, but
to those
who
—were not Lelannians.
left
we played our
the place
parts.
The
we had feast
to endure a long feast at
was nauseating. Tlie
which
flesh of
the
The
Experiments
Sirian
natives
and other animals was
this place
were glad of an excuse
themsehes
main
its
The
feature.
technicians of
we could
for a feast,
see: they
saw
banished for long tours of duty in a
as sophisticates
backwater, and longed to be returned to the capital.
They made speeches on
selves
minds
every one of which congratulated them-
their brilliant experimental work. It did not cross their
think \\c might
to
not admire
them
they
as
admired
themselves.
And next morning we thankfullv left. News about the appearance of "the
great ones from over the
waters" had preceded us to the capital.
much pomp and
We
were received with
ceremonial. Again, the priesthood ruled, but the
ruling caste did not consist only of the priestly families, as
been the case as
in old
Grakconkranpatl.
we proceeded between two
ranks,
The
division
showed
on one side the
had once
at
priests in their
gorgeous robes and jewellery, flanked and buttressed by the soldiery;
and on the other the privileged jewels, as are.
No
charming and
soldiers
either, for they
shall
on
families, in colourful clothing
infantile as such indulged castes always
their side!
No
guards, even!
visit
When
priests.
to this capital city any further
were no experimental stations there. But architecture.
And no need
were the willing captives of the ruling
not describe our
and
the Lelannian and
I
shall
of I
—there
mention the
Grakconkranpatl
states
mingled, and Lelanos dominated, taking over the priesthood, the dark, blocklike, ominous, Grakconkranpatl style
was used
for all
administrative buildings, prisons, hospitals, punishment centres.
The
fanciful
light,
Lelanos ways were
places of entertainment. Strange
it
used
for
housing and
was to see these extremes so
juxtaposed.
We spent some months in the capital. needed
this
The
Or he probed, I
his
process, for the
lightly
own
—but so
observe what went on.
a
and
most
slight
He would
part, consisted of listening.
Sometimes he made
experi-
and subtle were they that
at first
skillfully.
did not notice what he was doing:
that,
I
had
to learn to
idea into a group
be able to
test their reactions to this idea or
He would implant how it would become
by suggestions, or even mild provocation.
new
saw that Klorathy
time to find out whether these brutes were capable of
regeneration.
ments of
Slo\\'ly I
and then wait to see
226 processed by their particular mentation.
how he was
understand
reacting to
I
was not equipped to
what he found
in
them. But
was able to see that he was increasingly sombre, and even
me some
it
took
time to be able to admit to myself that the great Canopus
was capable of such emotions
doubt of
—discouraged. But there was soon no
he was containing
it:
was able to recognise what
a dry
and powerful sorrow, and
knew myself
I
intimately from such a long immersion in
This stay in the capital
By the time we us
—
I
becoming
fully dealt
is
left, in spite
so very well and so
it.
my old
with in
report.
of Klorathy's attempts to prevent
cult objects, focuses of useless awe, that
We
had become.
had
I
is
what we which
to forbid, absolutely, ceremonies in
droves of unfortunate natives were designated as "sacrifices to the
Gods."
We
insisted, as far as
we
could, that such practices were
—
regarded at least "over the long blue seas" as unnecessary
not do to suggest to these
and primitive.
When we
who performed
self-satisfied left
their repulsive
we
would
it
ones that they were barbaric
accompanied by
travelled
priests,
ceremonies at every opportunity; and
by some of the youth, who saw no shame
in describing themselves
as "playpeople."
The
experimental station
in appearance.
The
we
visited next
was similar to the other
experimental subjects again consisted of the
but they also used some other kinds of animals,
local tribesmen,
notably carnivores.
They
preferred to use the natives,
on the ground
that these were nearer to themselves in physical structure. Also that
they had done so
could more
made.
usefullv be
At
much work on them comparisons
this station
made an attempt
Klorathy
to persuade the tech-
nicians into asking the natives in a systematic
about their medicine.
He
way
spoke of places "beyond the waters"
where an advanced medicine was used, based on earth forces, on the rhythms of the stars, exactly placed
for information
local balances
and
on the disposition of
and planned buildings, and on the use of
plants.
This "medicine" was more than curative or preventive: health was considered as a result and an expression of the exact sciences, used
by a whole was being
society, taught to every individual in the society. in
he went so
Health
— the Galaxy.
balance with the natural forces of
far.
And,
yes,
I
was
all
ears.
For
this
was what
I
Yes,
had
The
Sirian
wanted
Experiments
He
know.
to
was talking about the Necessity, even
guarded and indirect way. That I
much
my
was being disad\antagcd by
if
in this
did recognise. But as usual
I
How
emotional reactions.
was
it
that this precious information, the real secrets of Canopus, of the
Canopean
How
was
superiority,
when
that
it,
talk in this way,
was being given to these debased Lclannians. I
had wanted, and
was not
it
I
who was
for so long, to
addressed ...
long time, not until after
we
simple fact that after
he had been speaking
there.
that of
To if
is,
Sirius.
.
.
.
all
it
him
hear
took
me
a
separated on this occasion, to see the
And he had
one was to judge by
to
me, since
was
I
not been talking to the Lelannians,
results: for
what they heard. They did not
they could
make no
They could not
hear.
hear.
I
use
have
never before seen so clearly and simply illustrated that law of
de\elopment that makes an indi\idual, to
a certain stage of
a people, a planet:
be able to take
in
what they
growth impossible to
they have to hear.
first,
They have
are being offered.
Throughout the main occasions when Klorathy was with these and
top-level priest-technicians, they sat apparently all attention
but their faces showed always the self-esteem that was
respect,
their curse, the
was
this
mark
of their incapacity.
of their nature
conviction of superiority, of innate worth over other
Klorathy was not able to shake
species.
The ground
This was true of nearly
all.
it.
There were
in fact a
few of them
who
did absorb the intuition that there was something here they could
him secretly. And he instructed them WTien we left this station, they accompanied
learn,
and they came
far as
he could.
Our
escort was
to
now an
extraordinary mixture of
officials
and
as us.
priests,
the frivolously curious, and these serious students of his ways of
thought.
The
third station
was of particular
and the work there
interest,
could have thrown light on the nature of the processes that had
Rohanda
in
their grip
understanding
them.
—
if
The
the Lelannians had been capable station
Disease that caused the "ageing" that in a
mild form
Rohanda 's term of
A
life
—
falling
in
away from fifty
I
had
first
the
seen
Degenerative
—but
still
only
Rhodia. Since that time, this expression of
was half of what
hundred and
researched
of
earlier excellence it
had been
R-years was the
had accelerated. The
in the old
Lelannian days.
norm now. And "ageing"
228
began
at the
end of the stage of physical readiness
for
mating and
reproduction. There was a dryness, a shrivelling, and, soon, a
wrinkling of
and
spectral taste
—
all
The
pale.
the senses
all
The
the skin casing.
hair lost
its
colour and
became
eyes, too, lost colour. Hearing, sight, touch,
—became blunted,
The
or ceased to operate.
processes of mentation were affected, sometimes to the point of
There were compounds
imbecility.
certain age,
over a
full of local natives, all
and these were being tortured
to give
up the
secrets of
"ageing."
An
interesting fact was that the natives were viable
than the "superior"
limb
They remained
race.
for longer, their hair
pitifully early deaths
tively
—and
and
was
longer
flexible in
colour often until death
its
their teeth often
there
Also,
excellent.
kept
energetic
much
—
remained compara-
mental confusion.
less
their
Tliis,
bond with the natural flows and forces, as compared with the Lelannians, whose ways were mechanical and imposed by arbitrary law or bv whim; because they worked physically, which the "superior" ones were Klorathy
said,
was because of the
proud not to do; because the
stuff of their genetic inheritence did
not include any contribution from It
was
natives' closer
Shammat and
at this stage in our journey that
Puttiora.
Klorathy informed
me
nothing could be done for the Lelannians. They were beyond
improvement.
He
should be done in
my
this situation,
time thinking about
When we were we
forests,
journev,
in
it,
and we
that
way
back in the Sirian post
talked.
of his
—what
but asked, too, that
"putting aside
sat together, as
we had
I
thought
should take
I
my emotions." in the hills
above the rain
before our long and difficult
was impatient for him to come to
I
a con-
—
"sum up" a favourite Lelannian expression. But he no hurry and for many days, and then months, our experi-
clusion, to
was
me — in
asked
ence was allowed
He was
to, as it
were, ferment between us.
at particular pains to
make me
think about the Lelannian
experiments, the Lelannian attitudes towards themsches as experi-
menters and researchers.
I
was by then reluctant to do
been so sickened and disgusted to
change anything, that
out of
my mind.
I
at
what
wanted only
I
had
seen,
to put tlie
and
this.
my
I
had
inability
whole experience
The
Sirian Experiments
He
said
Lelannians,
the
that
living
in
a
rich
and
fruitful
continent, blessed by the climate, and by every natural resource,
had if
little
need to work hard and to sustain themselves. That even
they had, thev proxided themselves with abundant slaves and
who
servants
did
inheritance.
their
work
their unpleasant
all
It
was, as the
for
Shammat
them. Leisure was
observers saw,
their
means of being kept in subjection, because it rotted them: the right amount of sloth and ease would keep them Shammat's. Too much would make them useless. Shammat had influenced them towards Apart from a very small administrative
experimentation.
their
who increasingly purpose who could be class,
—
sehes, but that
is
left
this
work
to
sla\cs
trained for this
expected shortly to seize power for them-
another story
— the ruling race
as a
whole occupied
themsehcs with the increasingly refined techniques of
research.
enough genuine avenues of enquiry to occupy everyone, and therefore the experiments became more bizarre, extensive useless. And more and more unfortunate animals of other Tliere were not
—
species were sacrificed.
Their attitude towards themselves, that everything that
sur-
meant
that
rounded them was
their property, to use as they wished,
the delicate and invisible balances of force and power were increasingly disrupted. sponsibilitv,
The two Southern Continents,
the Sirian
re-
were wildly out of key, were unbalancing the already
Rohandan cosmic economy. There had been a beginning of our journev, said Klorathy, when he had
precarious
time, at
the
believed
it
to
might be possible to
make them
water,
fire,
arrest the brutalisation of these Lelannians,
see the natural balances of earth, rock, vegetation,
and the
infinitely
various
and
animals, the creatures of earth, of water, of distinct,
But
it
each with
had become
its
air,
differing
of
species
as irreplaceable
and
part to play in the invisible cosmic dance.
clear that the innate self-esteem of the Lelan-
nians was too strong.
And now we had come counter, Klorathv and
He
was making,
I:
to the culminating point of our en-
Canopus and
Sirius.
in fact, a complaint. If
one could
process of journejing together for the purposes of
and these long
discussions, during
call this
my
which he never
long
instruction, insisted,
or
230
demanded, but only demonstrated
Canopus and
roles of
the cosmic scale,
and
of criticism
Sirius,
made
—
The
complaint.
a
differing
our different weights and emphases in
these conversations of ours have the effect
—on my
side
— of
resistance.
Why had we neglected these Southern
Continents?
Because they had not seemed worth our while.
But we had asked
them, had done more, had insisted on
for
having them?
At the time we needed them. (And, of course, we were not going
— ridiculous
to let
Canopus
though
this attitude was.
get
away with anything
And
What were we going to
and petty
is.)
do now?
The point was, Rohanda was not of much interest to our Empire. Not now. It had been relegated, with other planets, to a position of being possibly useful again, in the future. Not all my persuasions, if I decided to take this course, would make Sirius actively exploit Rohanda again. It was too overrun with inferior species, too problematical
—and there was Shammat, whose
was established every-
rule
where. Apparently with Canopean permission, and that was more
than we could understand. I
said to Klorathy that there
was nothing we,
Sirius,
could do for
Rohanda.
"You
will
not then,
I
am
sure,
be resentful
if
we
interest ourselves
in your territories?"
"You
are already!
You have been
that anything you do
is
harmful,
far
for
some
from
time.
am
it. I
am
not saying
sure that without
your intervention everything would be worse. But to ask for permission for actions
I
it is
hypocritical
you have already taken."
"Never without your knowledge." At
this
we exchanged
smiles:
he was referring to the extensive and admirable Sirian espionage systems.
"But now,
in
my
view, definite
Southern Continent
As
is
to leave
I.
it all
it,
needed
in
others." care,
would be happy
to him.
"Tell me, Sirius,
about
is
being done in Isolated Southern
By your old friend Nasar, among allowed him to understand that I did not
Continent I
II.
and prompt action
now
that you have seen everything and thought
what, in your opinion,
is
the right thing to be done?"
The I
Experiments
Sirian
exploded, out of long months of indignation and revulsion: "I
would little
our
call in
Flame Makers and destroy these squalid
fleet of
animals."
He was "You
silent for a
long time.
are shocked, of course,"
"No.
I
—we—cannot
I
said.
We
afford to be shocked.
become corrupt." the great Canopus should
have
fact
in
destroyed cultures that ha\e "I
am
"Or
surprised that
use such means."
surprised at our admitting it?"
"Yes.
I
suppose that
we
For
is it."
would
certainly
have
not
admitted
in
it,
similar
circumstances.
"But when we have been forced to use such means,
in order to
keep our balances within measure, then these have been small local
A
city ... a
group of two or three
particularlv
damaging
individuals.
cultures.
the great inland seas
.
."
.
At
"No.
It is a
"But vou a
.
even a few
.
.
this very time, in the area of
distressed, in pain "...
and he seemed
are being forced to take certain steps.
most pleasant
cities
.
.
.
This
is
we
not always the
of tasks, this Shikastan assignment."
horrible place."
are actually suggesting
we should
destroy
o\er
all life
whole continent?" he asked reproachfully.
"They should be
"A hard
treated as they treat others."
rule, Sirius
.
.
.
tell
me, ha\e you ever
reflected that our
behaviour influences theirs?"
This came too close to certain private thoughts of mine, and exploded with: "The nati\e tribes harmless, but you will
become
as
know
bad
as well as
may be I
I
s\Tnpathetic enough now,
do that given opportunity they
as the Lelannians.
That
is
why
this
is
such a
nast}' planet."
"It
is
not the fault of the planet."
"That way of thinking looking at last,
as
him
not within our scope, Canopus,"
as forcefully as
then saw
I
is
it
—begin
I
could, hoping that he
to reveal truths, secrets,
I
said,
would
—
at
Canopean
expertise.
"WTiy
isn't
it,
Sirius?"
This silenced me. inferiority
He
was saying that
and that he was challenging
its
I
had admitted our
inevitability.
2^2
"Why?
.
and here we
.
.
he added,
are,"
in a low, reproachful
voice.
"Very well then, what do you think should be done?"
we
"I propose that
space-lift all the
Lelannians away from this
planet."
"Where to?" "Why," he said
Shammat,
smiling, "to
Each
of course.
to his
own." I
laughed. "There are a million of them!"
"You
are rich, Sirius.
You have
from planet
of transporting populations
You
large fleets.
are in the habit
And you
to planet.
suffer
from underemployment." "It
absolutely out of the question that
is
They would not waste
tion to agree.
so
could get Administra-
I
many
resources
on such an
inferior species."
He was effort,
and resources are spent on
'inferior' species.
Everything
is
you know!"
relative, I
silent for a while. "Sirius, very often a great deal of time,
did not choose to "hear"
"You
this.
Not
at that time.
Are you
are also very rich, Canopus.
telling
me
that you do
not transport populations from planet to planet?" "Yes,
Very
am
I
telling
We
rarely.
you
have
that.
a
Not
And
if
transport a million animals from here to a strain
There was
wanted But
so
on
to
"I tell you,
"Not
it is
we were to undertake to Shammat, then this would
information in
have from him
was too disturbed
I
Sirius.
us."
a great deal of
much
at least.
very finely balanced economy,
Exactly and delicately tuned.
impose
you do,
for the reasons
of the kind
—about Canopus and
at that juncture to take
not possible for
this,
me
its
T
nature.
it in.
to arrange it."
possible for one of the five senior administrators of the
Sirian Colonial Service?"
"No." "I appeal to you. It is
more 1
flexible in certain
am
surprise
you to know that your economy
ways than ours."
sorry.
"TTien I
may
we
shall
have to undertake
it."
attempted to joke in the face of
his evident
disappointment.
The
Sirian Experiments
and even worry. "A million
all at
once
will certainly
impose
a strain
on Shammat!" "It it
might keep them busy
me some
does give
Shammat
unworthy though
pleasure,
Lelannians
these
that
And
for a bit, at least.
become
will
it
now
slaves
must confess
I
is,
in
am
I
sure,
turn.
their
short of labour at this time."
is
"I share your feelings."
"Will you help us perhaps with the task of rehabilitating the tribes?"
And now
did hesitate for a long time.
I
did feel in the wrong
I
about refusing our aid in the matter of the mass
Canopus
feeling lacking generally in relation to
emotion! But
concern themselves with
"Why?" "It will
demanded.
I
understand
also could not
I
be useful
space-lift.
why
—hardly
was
I
new
a
he, or they, should
this trivial nastiness.
"Why take so much
for us
—
evervone
for
—
trouble?"
whole Galaxv,
for the
if
the tribes are enabled to return as far as possible to their old state.
They
will
resume
Not
own
be returned to their
their
former simple
lives in
territories,
balance with the environment.
more than they need, not
taking
and encouraged to
despoiling, not overrunning
geographical areas, or laying waste. Before the Lelannian
their
conquest
this
continent was in harmony.
We
shall
see that
it
becomes so again."
"And
for
how
long?"
I
"Well, not forever, certainly.
"Why?—oh, "There
"Then do feel
then
this
—
as
"Sirius,
I
so,"
I
I
cried, excited
he looked, at if
can talk to you of."
and peremptory.
you are indeed hard I
this aid
am
waiting.
I
to the point."
then grieved, and
—amused.
to please."
was angry because of knowing this
"I
come
faintly startled,
he had determined to use
was angry.
feet,
first,
this.
of the Necessity!"
else, or less,
even knew then that
my
me
always at the edge of things, and you never
At
I
don't talk to
nothing
is
him face me on No. That we know."
enquired, making
was why
I
was so
I
was
in the
fatally angry.
I
unable to prevent myself, and said: "Canopus,
wrong. rose to I
am
leaving now." "I shall not prevent you!" said he, in
an attempt to remind
of our old ironical understanding of the real situation.
me
^34
"Very I
well,
you can stop
me
would even be glad of that
for all,
if
—
you want. But you won't. Perhaps
if
you would simply, and once and
do something unequivocal."
And now he
He
laughed.
laughed out, shalcing his head with
comical disbelief. This finally enraged me.
summoned
I
ran out into the open,
the hovering Space Traveller, and turned to see
him
in
the doorway watching.
"May
perhaps give you a
I
be passing
shall
"I shall
lift?
To
your Planet
perhaps?
lo,
I
it."
be staying here for a while."
"Then goodbye."
And
Once
encounter of ours came to
this
again, distancing myself,
not up to I
how
that was
was
It
it!
all
too
was with
it
much! And,
found myself muttering: "That's
"Very
well,
that's
if
as
it!"
relief.
—
it's
was simply
I
approached
then
it
how you want
I
conclusion.
its
home
again,
enough!" And:
But what these defiances
meant was something I soon discovered, after I reported back and started to re-align myself with the work I had interrupted, for I found my mind was at work in quite other ways.
actually
Recently
I
was scanning
when
with a different subject,
I
came
time in connection
across this:
"Checks and
were imposed on our experimental and research pro-
restrictions
grammes; and
as a result the
numbers
of animals licensed for use
sharply."
fell
In this dry sentence
been the hardest of our Empire. I
a history of that
encapsulated what
is
effort of
my career.
I
am
sure
must have
did not depart for the borders
did not apply for leave
I
I
—which
I
was entitled
to.
did not do, as Klorathy wanted, anything about our responsibility
Rohanda. But what
for
force
us,
Sirius,
into
I
a
did engage myself with was a fight to different
attitude
populations, and particularly as regards material. This battle
is
factions of opinion are
by no means still
over.
towards
their
As
I
our subject
use as laboratory
write this, different
engaged.
Large-scale experiments of the biosociological kind are in progress
—the w