A Simple Truth (29 page)

"Fascinating, most unusual
,"
said the
Scout
moving back again.  A few furth
er innocuous questions followed;
then Sharma and Knight were invited to put their own questions.

"We are curious
,"
began Sharma
,
"as to your purpose in coming to earth, and how it is that you have some humans already on board your vessel." 

The alien
mind
already
knew of his curiosity. 
It
knew all the questions waiting to be asked.  In the space of a few seconds
it
had extracted from Knight's conscious and unconscious mind all that they contained, and as a result w
as
privy to a significant portion of all human knowledge. 
It
knew how to answer all the questions in ways that would avoid suspicion,
it
knew precisely what approach to pursue to further
its
objective, and how to justify that approach.

The
Scout
gathered his thoughts for a few seconds, and then began his story in an open and friendly tone.  "As you have no doubt deduced already, this is not our first visit to your planet.  We were here about a hundred and
twenty
thousand years ago."  The statement was uttered so casually that it would have been easy to underestimate its significance.  But Knight did not underestimate
it;
his mind reeled at the prospect.  "A hundred and
twenty
thousand years
,"
he repeated slowly and incredulously.

The
Scout
acknowledged the interruption with a brief
,
"give or take a few thousand, yes
,"
and then continued as if the revelation was of no consequence, as indeed from his point of view it was not.

"We were engaged in a routine survey when we discovered that your ancestors had the potential for development.  Their social behaviour and intelligence showed that with assistance they could evolve into a responsible and trustworthy people.  We and others like us comb the
universe
for intelligent
life;
you can have no idea how rare a phenomenon it is.  But when a race is found that shows compassion and sympathy, not only for its own members but for other life forms, then it is nurtured and cared for, it is far too precious a thing to be left to the vagaries of evolution on its own.  Your ancestors
showed themselves to be
such a race.  We felt that
in due course
they would be ready to cope with the responsibility of virtually unlimited power.  With assistance and encouragement they would be able to join us in our work and care for other developing beings.

"In this way they would help to bring about a galactic society, where each member race derives help and support from the others, and the benefits are shared by all.  This can only be achieved by the co-operation of fully mature beings, beings for whom it is fundamental knowledge that continued evolution can only occur by serving others and never at their expense.  There is so much to do and so few of us to do it.

"In fact your planet is unusually rich in intelligent life suitable for development.  The marine mammals have
also
been undergoing ad
justment
. 
They
are treading the same path
as you
, but in their case it is a much slower process.  It will be several
more
millions of years before their evolution is complete.

"In your ancestors' case we set the wheels in motion and then left, taking with us some people for
further
genetic refinement.  They
have increased to a sizeable population and
are ready now to be released on earth again, to mix with and enrich all human stock.  There are many other such bein
gs on
board in many different stages of development."

"Are you saying that we are the direct result of your earlier presence on earth
?"
asked Knight.

"You
are indeed, but your evolution has not followed the path that we had anticipated or planned.
  Your
activities, including your
presence here
,
show
clearly
that your
intellectual
development has outstripped your psychological and social development.  Something very odd has happened to bring it about."

"But how do you know we haven't developed psychologically and socially
?"
persisted Knight, struggling to comprehend the implications of what the
Scout
was telling him.

"Because
your behaviour would have been quite different if you had.
  Our pattern is to promote
the necessary psychological changes first
, then allow the development of
intellect
when the race has the maturity to handle its attendant responsibilities."

Knight was really worried now.  "So where does that leave us
?"
he asked anxiously, voicing very accurately the fears of almost half of the entire human race.

"
We
don't really know.  But with your co-operation we hope to find out. 
Initially we would welcome the opportunity to take some tissue samples from you for analysis, then w
e shall
need
to research the past to discover where
and why your development diverged from our plan
, and how best it can be corrected."

"Why should any correction be necessary
?"
questioned Sharma flatly.  "We're managing perfectly well as we are."

The
Scout
looked straight into Sharma's eyes.  "Are you
?"
he asked.  "How stable is your race?  For example over what timescale do you plan
-
fifty thousand years ahead, five thousand, five hundred
,
h
ow many?"

Sharma could see the point.  A stable society could plan for the indefinite future.  Humanity seldom looked more than a few decades ahead at most. 

"My point
,"
continued the
Scout,
"is that the major concern of any truly civilised race is evolution.  An unstable race cannot afford to consider such long-term
things;
it must give thought only to the immediate future because of the many sources of insecurity.  Tell me, which type of race is yours?" 

"I take your point
,"
admitted Sharma quietly, "by that yardstick perhaps we are unstable."

"And we must temper the characte
ristics that give rise to those
instabilities before they destroy you.  And believe me, without
our help
,
they
are very likely to
destroy you.  That is what I mean by correction."

The control room was deadly silent.  The sonic communication system left a lot to be desired in picture quality but nevertheless all eyes and ears were totally absorbed in the sights and sounds emanating from that strange floating island in the sky.  The rest of the world saw the delayed transmission, someone having estimated that more than three billion people would be watching and listening.  The discussion was being instantly translated into every secondary and most local languages so that no-one need miss any part of this momentous event.  A message came through that the music had stopped abruptly almost as soon as the discussion had be
gun.  Lincoln nodded to himself.  T
hat made
sense;
there was no point in continuing when direct communication had been established.

"Will correction be possible do you think
?"
asked Knight.

"Certainly, but it consists of making subtle genetic changes that will take effect only in the longer term. 
It is likely that o
ur on-board humans have the necessary qualities to bring about the corrections by interbreeding but that will take thousands of years.  The immediate future will still
be
very much in your own hands.  We can point out all the dangers inherent in your present state of development but you're probably well enough aware of most of them anyway.  We can also try to bring about some psychological changes that will hopefully lessen the dangers during the short term."

A heavy silence followed until the
Scout
prompted them.  "You must have other questions."

"Yes," said Sharma, shaking off his melancholy, "why did you transmit music instead of setting up proper communications?"

"W
hen a race is approaching maturity, as we had thought yours was, we scan all radiation emanating from the home planet in order to determine the level of technological progress.  In your case we detected
intelligent
radio
signals while still a long way off.  They showed that you had developed a
relatively high
level of technology so we analysed
them
to learn your main language and
sent a
specially prepared
response to
tranquillise you
and thereby safeguard our approach
."

"So the subliminal pulses were deliberate
,"
broke in Sharma.

"Yes, we sent a series of compulsive and pacifying signals to
counter any fear that our approach might cause
.  We didn't want to block your own communications so we used a low level signal and made sure that you were relaying it world
wide as we had hoped
.  H
owever the signals were designed for the kind of people we thought you were, with you they only had a very mild effect and we sustained very serious damage as a result."

Knight had completely forgotten about the glaser incident but he now felt a deep sense of shame
, a
feeling that was shared by three billion fellow human beings around the world.

Sharma forced himself to remain detached.  "But why did you retransmit the music when you were closer, why didn't you speak to us directly?"

"We didn't realise the damage was your doing until
just now when
we
began to speak to you
.  We thought it was caused by an impact with some interplanetary material, though why our security systems had not detected and deflected it was a mystery.  A great deal of work was needed to divert the functions of the destroyed spheres to other areas so we were kept very busy for a time.  When we were fully operational again we resumed the music transmission as before. 
Unfortunately we did not attempt to learn any more about you from your radio signals because we thought, mistakenly, that we already knew all that we needed to know.  If we had not made that assumption then we would have been much better informed. 

"
It was o
nly when you
first
came aboard
that we
began to have doubts, and now, speaking to you directly,
it is clear that
you ha
ve
not been influence
d
to any significant degree
by the tranquillising signals. 
If you had been susceptible then o
n first exposure y
ou
would
quickly
have become
completely dependent, and compelled to listen at every opportunity.  You would have become
quite
docile, with
greatly reduced
capacities for
fear,
hostility
and even
curiosity.
 
Even with the gap in transmission of several weeks you would still
have
be
en
affected, and when transmission was resumed
you
would soon
have
regain
ed
full dependency. 
You would
therefore
have
been most unlikely to
embark upon a
n exploratory mission
,
and would not have shown the degree of inquisitiveness that you have
.  Hence we drew the obvious conclusion and
have now
ceas
ed its transmission."

"That
attack
was the work of only one man
,"
pointed out Knight
,
"
w
e were deeply ashamed of his action and bitterly regretted it.  It was by no means a considered action on our part."