The Sirian Experiments

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16882

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'

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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