H. L. Meyers The Creatures of Man

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Nexal perhaps, by making several thousand of these minimal warp jumps. It
would be risky for him, and probably unpleasant, but chances are he would make
it.
"Now, here's my question. Once he was there, what use would he serve that
would be worth the risk he had taken? And I'm not asking for a glowing
generality, but for a highly specific answer. His telepathic range will cover
only one planetary system. It can't have the Federation-wide application we
need, to serve the same purpose as the Commonality's emo-monitors. So, how do
we justify risking his sanity in a test?"
Cagoline's voice sounded in their ears: "Hage, let me take a crack at that
one."
"Go right ahead," said Borat.
"O.K., here it is, Orrson," said the communications man. "Nexal's the place .
. . the only place . . . we need Monte's services. I'm speaking as a guy who's
stuck with a job that keeps him in touch with all too many of those Council of
Commerce gabfests back home. The time those brass hats consume arguing!
Makes me wonder sometimes if we're as sane as we say we are!"
"Sanity has nothing to do with differences of opinion, only with the manner in
which they are settled,"
Borat put in. "The settling requires the exchange of sufficient information
between the disputing parties to provide a basis for agreement. And the most
desirable course to follow in dealing with the complexities of the econo-war
can't be arrived at without considering a vast multitude of factors."
"And even then the brass comes up with a lot of wrong answers," Cagoline
retorted sourly. "But that's what I'm getting at, anyway. With Monte on hand
to put all those CofC brains in communion with each other, that
information-exchanging routine would go a lot faster and surer. And the same
process is needed at lower levels of government, and in corporation
boardrooms. Most of our corporations have their main offices on Nexal, and
that's where they do their planning and get in their licks against each other.
If Monte goes to Nexal, we won't need him anywhere else! Not much."
"Could you do what Cagoline has described, Monte?" asked Borat.
"Yes, indeed," came the eager answer. "I am now providing communion channels
numbering in the trillions . . . at a sub-rational level, of course . . .
among life specimens on this planet. Certainly I could do the same for the
mere billions of persons on your capital planet."
"But your beautiful ecology!" mourned Baune. "If you come to Nexal with us,
it'll go to pot!"
"That possibility does not disturb me," the telepath replied. "Your econo-war
interests me more."
Borat eyed his second-in-command. "Satisfied, Orrson?" he asked.
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"I suppose so," Orrson shrugged. "Yes."
"Then let's go to work."
* * *
The squad's equipment included several inertial-control packs, warp units, and
power modules, brought along for use in the shipment home of discovered items
that merited full study. For two days, most of the humans busied themselves
around Monte, drilling holes through his tough shell, installing the necessary
devices, and working out with him the means by which he could control their
operation.
The latter was no serious problem. Monte had ample nerve-ends under his shell,
plus sufficient musculature and muscle-control.
When the job was done, Borat said, "On this trial run, Monte, let's keep the
warp jump as short as possible. It has to be long enough for you to see what
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you can do about the turbulence, but not long enough to do you any harm. I
would say a one-second jump . . ."
"A tenth of a second should suffice," responded the telepath. "A full second
will be better, of course."
"Fine. Be sure to set the warp breakout on automatic, just in case. Go ahead
whenever you're ready, and good luck."
Slowly, Monte's mountain-sized bulk lifted free of the grassy surface and
drifted upward, semi-inert.
"If no more than this is achieved," the telepath commented happily, "this
means of transportation is far superior to rolling."
"Fine. Don't try to warp before you're three planetary diameters up," said
Borat.
Monte drifted on upward and out of sight of the members of the squad who were
remaining on the ground. They settled down to wait.
An hour later he called, "I'm in position, and here I go!"
Then immediately: "That . . . was . . . bad!"
"You couldn't fight it?" asked Borat.
"No. As you said, Hage Borat, prime-field turbulence is exceedingly
fundamental. A quarter of a second was all I could tolerate."
"O.K. Come on back."
"Very well, but my return will be slow. I do not care to warp again."
The humans looked at the disappointment in each other's faces. "Well, that's
that," Borat said inanely.
Cagoline called, "Hage, the Council of Commerce on Nexal is in a tizzy. I've
told them the bad news."
"Do they have any bright ideas?"
"No, people in tizzies seldom get bright ideas," the communications man
contributed. "They had their hopes way up. They were counting on gaining
something important from our discovery of Monte, or his discovery of us. They
still aren't reconciled to taking a licking on this."
"They may as well accept it," growled Borat, "and put some more push behind
emo-monitor development." After a moment he added, "Tell them we're staying
here to study Monte and mine some radioactives for him . . . and tell them to
try to come up with a workable idea."
* * *
Monte was four days getting down from interplanetary space, and was
appreciative of the concentrated uranium ore that awaited him.
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"This is most generous of you," he told the squad, "in view of my inability to
assist in the econo-war."
"You tried," shrugged Borat. "After all, we're supposed to be the experts on
mobility, and it's no fault of yours if we can't find a way to transport you."
"Hey, I just thought of something!" yelped young Waiver. "If we have an
insoluble problem here, why don't we stick the Primgranese with it? We simply
let word of Monte leak out and they'll tie up thousands of their best spies,
saboteurs and sundry infiltrators on him! Monte could spot them as fast as
they arrived, and we could capture them."
Borat frowned. "I hate to admit the problem is insoluble, and that our only
use for Monte is a largely negative one such as that. At best it would give us
only a short-term victory, and at worst, well, the
Primgranese might solve the problem." He paused and shrugged. "Although I'm
coming to the conclusion that no solution exists. There's no way to get Monte
to Nexal."
"Well, frankly, I'm glad!'
chirped Baune. "Not that I want us to lose the econo-war, but it would be such
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a shame for Monte to go away and let his beautiful ecology fall apart! If
those old tycoons and bureaucrats on Nexal want Monte's help so bad, they can
come to him instead of him going to them."
There was an instant of stunned silence. Then Borat leaped to his feet.
"That's it!" he bellowed jubilantly. "You've hit it, Baune!"
"An excellently suitable solution!" came Monte's thought.
The whole squad was suddenly swarming around Baune, everybody trying to hug
her at once.
"But . . . but " she tried to protest amid the hubbub, "think what a mess
those billions of people will make of Monte's ecology!"
"Not with Monte running things," said Borat happily.
A few months later Monte's world had become the new and bustling capital of
the Lontastan Federation.
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Contents
Framed
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War in Our Time
The others looked up when old Radge Morimet stomped into the chamber of the
Primgranese High [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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