e. As the pale flashes
of grenade-throwers came from three points behind Mven's back he dropped his
stone in his surprise at the suddenness of it. The nearer tiger reared up on
its hind legs to full height, the paralyzing grenades burst like the beating
of drums and the animal lay stretched out on its bade. The other leaped
towards the forest but from there three figures on horseback appeared. A
glass bomb with a powerful electric charge struck the tiger on the forehead
and he stretched out with his heavy head in the dry grass.
One of the horsemen rode forward. Never before had the working dress
worn by people of the Great World seemed so elegant to Mven Mass-wide shorts
and shirt of strong, artificial blue linen open at the neck and with breast
pockets.
'"Mven Mass, I felt that you were in danger!"
Could he fail to recognize that high-pitched voice that was still full
of alarm! Chara Nandi! The African forgot to answer her and stood rooted to
the spot until the girl sprang from her horse and ran to him. She was
followed by her five companions whom Mven Mass could not get a glimpse of
because the moon had hidden behind the trees; the wind died down and
stifling darkness enveloped the glade and the forest. Chara's hand found
Mven's elbow. He took her thin wrist and laid her hand on his chest where
his heart was beating wildly. Chara's fingertips stroked a bulging muscle
and that gentle caress gave Mven Mass a sense of tranquillity such as he had
never known before.
"Chara, this is Beth Lohn, my new friend." He turned round and found
that the mathematician had disappeared.
"Beth Lohn, don't go away!" he shouted with all his might into the
darkness.
"I'll come back!" a powerful voice answered from a distance and this
time there was no bitter insolence in it.
One of Chara's companions, a youth of medium height, apparently the
leader of the group, took a lantern that was hanging behind his saddle. A
faint light together with an unseen radio ray rose into the air and Mven
Mass guessed that they were expecting an aircraft of some sort. All five
were little more than boys, members of a Destroyer Battalion who had chosen,
as one of their Labours of Hercules, the security service that fought
against dangerous animals on the Island of Oblivion. Chara Nandi had joined
them in her search for Mven Mass.
"You're mistaken if you think we're so astute," said the leader when
they were sitting in a circle round the lantern and Mven Mass began asking
the inevitable questions, "a girl with an ancient Greek name helped us."
"Onar!" exclaimed Mven Mass. "Yes, Onar. Our detachment was approaching the
5th Settlement from the south when the girl came running up to us on the
verge of collapse. She confirmed the rumour about the tigers that had
brought us here and persuaded us to ride after you immediately as there was
a danger that they might attack you when you were crossing the mountain. As
you see we were only just in time. A cargo helicopter will come soon and
we'll send your temporarily paralysed enemies to a reservation. If they
really turn out to be man-eaters they'll be killed. But such a rare animal
must not be destroyed until it has been tested."
"What sort of test?" The boy raised his brows.
"That's outside our competency. To begin with they'll probably be given
a tranquillizer.... Now and again people who have too much misapplied energy
and strength have to be dealt with in that way, too." "How is it done?"
asked Mven Mass. "I know of a case of an unbelievably brutal athlete here
who forgot his social duties and obligations. He was given an injection to
lower vital activity and bring his physical strength down to the level of
his weak will and intellect thus balancing the two sides of his being. In
the last three years he has learnt a lot-your enemies will be taught in the
same way."
A loud rumble interrupted the youth. A huge, dark mass came slowly down
to them. A blinding light flooded the whole glade. The striped cats were
enclosed in soft containers such as were used for fragile goods. The big
airship, poorly visible in the darkness, disappeared, leaving the glade to
the calm light of the stars. One of the five lads had gone off with the
tigers and Mven Mass had been given his horse.
Mven's horse and Chara's walked along side by side. The path led down
to the valley of the River Galle at whose mouth, on the sea-coast, the
medical station and Destroyer Battalion base were situated.
"This is the first time I've been to the sea since I came to the
island," said Mven Mass, breaking the silence. "Until now it has seemed to
me that the sea is a wall that I'm forbidden to cross and which marks off my
world."
"The island has been a new school for you," said Chara joyfully but
half-questioningly.
"Yes, in a short time here I've experienced a lot and have done some
new thinking. All these ideas I've had on my mind for a long time...."
Mven Mass told her about his fears that man, by repeating the mistakes
of the past, even if in a much less ugly form, is developing in a too
rational, too technical manner. It seemed to Mven that on the planet of
Epsilon Tucanae there was a mankind very much like ours and very beautiful
in body that had paid greater attention to the perfection of the emotional
side of the psyche.
"I've suffered a great deal from this sense of imperfect harmony with
life," answered the girl after a pause. "I've always wanted more of the old
and much less of what is around me. I dreamed of the epoch that had not
expended the strength and feelings accumulated in the primitive period, the
Age of Eros in Mediterranean Antiquity. It would be a good thing for the
Great World to set up a reservation for the Life of Antiquity where we could
rest and acquire emotional strength. I have always tried to arouse a real
strength of feeling in my audiences but, I'm afraid, only Evda Nahl has
fully understood me!"
"And Mven Mass!" added the African, seriously, telling her how she had
appeared to him as the copper-coloured daughter of Tucana. The girl raised
her face and in the timid light of early dawn Mven Mass saw eyes so big and
profound that he felt a slight dizziness, moved away from her and laughed.
"There was a time when our ancestors in their novels about the future
imagined us as weakly, rickety beings with overgrown skulls. Despite the
millions of animals that were tormented and slaughtered in the name of
science they did not come any nearer to an understanding of the brain
mechanism of man and simply because they used a knife where the most
delicate measuring instruments in the molecule and atom range were needed.
We now know that strong intellectual activity requires a powerful body, full
of vital energy and that that body will produce strong emotions that we have
so far learned only to suppress and, by suppressing them, make ourselves the
poorer!"
"We are still chained to the intellect," agreed Chara. "A lot has been
done but the intellectual side continues to advance while the emotional lags
behind and that is what must be looked after-so that emotion should not
demand an intellectual chain but that reason should at times need emotion's
chains. I have come to regard this as so important that I intend to write a
book about it."
"Oh, of course," exclaimed Chara enthusiastically, but grew timid and
continued, "very few great scientists have devoted themselves to research
into the laws of the beautiful and the fullness of emotions-I'm not talking
about psychology."
"I can understand you," answered the African, admiring the girl who, in
her confusion, had raised her proud head higher to the rays of the rising
sun that again gave her skin the colour of burnished copper. Chara sat
easily and lightly on the big black horse that walked in step with Mven
Mass' roan.
"We are lagging behind!" exclaimed the girl slackening her reins and
urging her horse forward. The African overtook her and they cantered
together along the smooth old road. They soon caught up with the others,
reined in their horses and again Chara turned to Mven Mass.
"What about that girl, Onar?"
"She must go to the Great World. You said yourself that she had
remained on the island quite by chance because she was attached to her
mother who came here and died recently. It would be good for Onar to work
with Veda, women's gentle and sensitive hands are needed at the
excavations.... And there are thousands of other jobs for which they are
needed ... and Beth Lohn, the new Beth Lohn who will come back with us,
he'll find her in a new way."
Chara frowned and the bird that flew over her eyes spread its wings
still more widely.
"And you won't leave your stars?"
"Whatever the decision of the Council may be I shall continue my study
of the Cosmos. But first I have to write...."
"About the stars of the human soul?"
"Quite right, Chara! So great is their variety that it takes my breath
away." Noticing that the girl was smiling gently at him, Mven Mass stopped,
"Don't you agree?"
"Of course I do. I was thinking about your experiment. You did it out
of your passionately impatient desire to give people the fullness of the
world. In that you were an artist and not a scientist."
"And Renn Bose?"
"He's different. For him the experiment was another step forward in his
research but one that science required."
"You don't blame me, Chara?"
"No! Nor do many other people, the majority, I'm sure!"
Mven Mass took the reins in his left hand and held out his right to
Chara. They entered the tiny group of houses around the station.
The waves of the Indian Ocean beat rhythmically at the foot of the
cliff. In the sounds they made Mven Mass could hear the rhythmic beat of the
basses in Zieg Zohr's symphony depicting life reaching out into the Cosmos.
There was one powerful note, a strong F, the basic note in terrestrial
nature, that sang over the sea and compelled man to respond with his entire
soul, merging with the nature that gave him birth.
The sea was transparent, shining, cleansed of the relics of the past,
of predatory sharks, poisonous fish, molluscs and medusae in the same way as
the life of present-day man has been cleansed of the evil and fear of past
centuries. But somewhere in the distant corners of the boundless ocean the
seeds of harmful life have survived and we have the Destroyer Battalions to
thank for keeping our ocean waters safe and clean.
And is it not true that in the same way there suddenly arises savage
stubbornness, the self-confidence of the cretin, the egoism of the beast in
the transparent soul of youth? If man today does not submit to the authority
of society that is directed towards wisdom and goodness but, instead, is
guided by his own accidental ambition and individual passions, courage is
turned into bestiality, creative activity into cruel cunning while loyalty
and self-abnegation become the bulwark of tyranny, cruel exploitation and
abasement. The surface layer of discipline and social culture is easily torn
off, only one or two generations of poor living are needed. Mven Mass had
glanced into the face of the beast there, on the Island of Oblivion. If he
is not restrained, if he has his way, a monstrous despotism will come into
being that will crush everything underfoot and bring back that ruthless
arbitrariness that held mankind enslaved for so many centuries.
The most astounding thing in world history is the emergence of that
undying hatred for knowledge and beauty that is typical of all vicious
ignoramuses. This mistrust, fear and hatred are to be found in all human
communities, beginning with fear of the primitive witches and witch-doctors
and continuing up to the beating o( those thinkers who were ahead of their
time in the Era of Disunity. The same thing occurred on other planets with
highly-developed civilizations that had not succeeded in protecting their
social systems from the arbitrary action of small groups of people,
oligarchies, that emerged suddenly and cunningly in the most diverse forms.
Mven Mass recalled that the same thing had been reported over the Great
Circle about other inhabited worlds where the highest achievements of
science were used to intimidate, for torture and punishment, for
thought-reading and turning the masses into obedient semi-idiots ever ready
to fulfil the most monstrous orders. A cry for help from such a planet had
reached the Circle and flown on into space many hundreds of years after the
people who sent it and their cruel rulers had perished.
Our planet is now at a stage of development when such horrors are
inconceivable. But man's spiritual development is still insufficient and
people like Evda Nahl are working on the problem.
"How can you get so deep in thought?" came Chara's voice from behind.
"The artist Cart Sann said that wisdom is the combination of knowledge and
feelings," as she walked along the girl threw off her bathrobe, "and so
we'll be wise!"
Chara ran past the African and dived from the height into the noisy
swirl below. Mven Mass saw her Jump forward, turn a somersault, spread her
arms and disappear into the waves. The lads from the Destroyer Battalion,
bathing down below, were suddenly silent. A cold shiver of admiration
verging on fright ran down Mven's back. The African had never dived from
such a crazy height but he now stood without a tremor on the edge of the
cliff and took off his clothes. He later remembered that in hazy momentary
thoughts Chara seemed like an ancient goddess to him, a goddess that could
do anything. If she could, then so could he!
A faint cry of warning from the girl arose out of the waves but Mven
Mass did not hear it as he dived down. The flight was blissfully long. Mven
Mass, a skilled diver, entered the water perfectly and his dive carried him
a long way down. The water was so amazingly transparent that the sea bed
seemed dangerously close. He twisted his body upwards and the impact of
unspent inertia was so terrific that for a moment everything ceased to exist
for him. With the velocity of a rocket Mven Mass flew to the surface, rolled
over on to his back and lay rocked by the waves. When he opened his eyes he
saw Chara swimming towards him, the paleness of fright dulling the bronze of
her sunburn. There was both reproach and admiration in her eyes.
"Why did you do that?" she whispered, hardly breathing.
"Because you did. I'll follow you anywhere to build my Epsilon Tucanae
on our Earth!"
"Will you come back to the Great World with me?"
"Yes!"
Mven Mass turned over to swim farther and gave a shout of amazement.
The astounding transparency of the ' water that had played such a nasty
trick on him seemed even greater out there, farther from the beach. He and
Chara seemed to be floating at a dizzy height over the sea bed every detail
of which showed as clearly through the pure water as it would through the
air. Mven Mass was brimming over with courage and triumph such as people
experience when they get outside the bounds of terrestrial gravitation.
Journeys across the ocean in a storm, leaps into the black gulf of the
Cosmos from artificial satellites aroused similar feelings of boundless
daring and success. Mven Mass in a single spurt swam up to Chara, whispered
her name and read a fervent response in her clear and courageous eyes. Their
hands and lips joined over the crystal gulf.
CHAPTER TWELVE. THE ASTRONAUTICAL COUNCIL
The Astronautical Council, like the planet's central brain, the
Economic Council, had for centuries possessed its own building for
scientific conferences. It was believed that specially designed and
decorated rooms would attune the assembled scientists to the Cosmos and in
this way facilitate their rapid mental transition from matters terrestrial
to matters astral.
Chara Nandi had never before been inside the main hall of the Council
building. She was excited when she and Evda Nahl entered that strange,
egg-shaped hall with its curved, parabolic ceiling and its rows of seats
arranged in ellipses. The hall was drenched in a bright, transparent light
that seemed to have been collected from some other star brighter than the
Sun. All the lines of the walls, ceiling and seats converged at the end of
the huge hall that seemed to be their natural focal point. At that point
there was a dais with a screen, a rostrum and seats for the members of the
Council who conducted the meetings.
The dull gold panels of the walls alternated with relief maps of the
planets. On the right-hand aide there were maps of the solar system and on
the left the planets of neighbouring stars that had been studied by the
Council's expeditions. A second series under the pale-blue dome of the
ceiling carried diagrams of other inhabited stellar systems done in radiant
colours; these had been received from the Great Circle.
Chara's attention was drawn to an old, faded picture over the rostrum
that had apparently been restored several times. A violet-black sky occupied
the entire upper half of the huge canvas. The tiny crescent of an alien moon
cast a deathly white light on the uplifted stern of an ancient spaceship
harshly silhouetted against the ruddy glow of a setting sun. The rows of
ugly blue plants, coarse and dry, seemed to be made of metal. A man in a
light spacesuit was dragging his feet through deep sand. He was looking back
at the wrecked ship and the dead bodies of his companions. The eyeglasses of
his mask reflected only the setting sun but by some trick of infinite skill
the artist had managed to put into them an expression of the hopeless
despair of loneliness in a strange world. Something living, formless and
disgusting, was crawling over a nearby sand hummock. There was a title under
the picture in big letters, as brief as it was expressive: Left Alone!
So impressed was she by the picture that the girl did not at first
notice a wonderful architectural feature of the hall: the seats spread out
fanwise and were arranged in steps so that a separate gangway to each seat
was provided from galleries running under the rows of chairs. Each row was
cut off completely from its higher and lower neighbours. Only when she sat
down with Evda did Chara notice the ancient craftsmanship of the chairs,
reading desks and barriers, all of which were made from real pearl-coloured
African wood. Nobody today would waste so much time and effort on something
that could be cast and polished in a few minutes. Perhaps it was due to the
love of old things that lives in all people that Chara found the wood warmer
and more full of life than plastic. Gently she stroked the curved arms of
her chair, all the time looking round the hall.
As usual many people had gathered in the hall although powerful
transmitters would carry telepictures of the proceedings over the whole
planet. Mir Ohm, Secretary of the Council, opened the proceedings by the
usual reading of brief announcements that had accumulated since the last
meeting. Not a single unattentive face. not a single person occupied with
his own thoughts, could have been found amongst the hundreds in the hall. A
tactful attention to everything was a typical feature of the people of the
Great Circle Era. Nevertheless Chara missed the first communication as she
continued looking round the hall and reading citations from famous
scientists written under the planet maps. She liked most of all an appeal to
be receptive to natural phenomena written under the map of Jupiter: "Look
how we are surrounded by facts that we do not understand-they thrust
themselves upon us but we neither see nor hear the great things hidden in
their faint outlines and awaiting discovery." In another place, farther to
the left, an inscription said: "The curtain hiding the unknown cannot be
lifted easily-it is only after persistent labour, retreats and deviations
that we begin to fathom true meanings and new boundless horizons open up
before us. Never try to avoid that which at first seems useless and
inexplicable, incomprehensible...."
There came a movement on the rostrum and the lights in the hall went
out. The strong, calm voice of the Council Secretary quivered with
excitement.
"You will now see that which was but recently considered impossible, a
photograph of our Galaxy taken from the side. More than a hundred and fifty
thousand years ago-one and a half galactic minutes-the inhabitants of
planetary system...." Chara let the, to her, meaningless figures go, "in the
Centaurus Constellation sent an appeal to the inhabitants of the Great
Magellanic Cloud, the only extra-galactic stellar system near us that we
know to contain worlds inhabited by intelligences capable of communicating
with our Galaxy through the Circle. We still cannot give the exact
coordinates of the Magellanic planetary system but we have received their
transmission, a photograph of the Galaxy. Here it is!"
On the huge screen a wide cluster of stars, narrowing towards the ends,
gleamed with a distant silver light. The profound darkness of space drowned
the edges of the screen. The same blackness filled the gaps between the
smaller spiral branches with their ragged tips. A pale glow spread over a
ring of spherical clusters, the oldest stellar systems in our universe. Flat
stellar fields alternated with clouds and strips of black condensed matter.
The photograph had been taken from an awkward angle, the Galaxy was taken
diagonally and from above so that the central core was a scarcely visible
burning convex mass in the centre of a thin lentil-shaped cluster. Obviously
if we wanted to get a complete picture of our Galaxy we should have to ask
more distant galaxies that were situated at a higher galactic latitude. Not
once since the inception ot the Great Circle had any of the galaxies shown
signs of intelligent life.
The people of Earth watched the screen intently. For the first time man
could look at his stellar Universe from the side and from a terrific
distance in space.
It seemed to Chara that the entire planet was holding its breath as it
looked at its Galaxy in millions of screens on all six continents and on all
the oceans wherever islands of human life and labour were scattered.
"That is the end of the news received by our observatories and not
previously broadcast in the world news circuit," announced the Secretary in
a calm voice. "We will now go over to projects submitted for general
discussion.
"Juta Gay's proposal to create an atmosphere for Mars suitable for
human respiration by means of the extraction of the light gases from
deep-lying rocks deserves attention as it is supported by sound
calculations. The air so produced will be sufficient for breathing and for
the heat insulation of our settlements which will then be able to come out
of their glass houses. Many years ago, after oceans of oil and mountains of
hard carbohydrates were discovered on Venus, automatic installations had
been set working there to create an artificial atmosphere under a gigantic
dome of transparent plastic. These installations enabled man to plant
vegetation and build factories to provide tremendous quantities of
everything organic chemistry could produce.
"We usually announce new proposals ourselves," continued Mir Ohm, "but
today you will hear an almost finished piece of research. Its author, Eva
Djann, will give you material that will require most careful thought."
The Secretary laid aside a metal sheet and smiled in a friendly way. At
the end of the row of seats nearest to the rostrum Mven Mass appeared; in
his dark-red costume he looked at once gloomy, solemn and calm. As a sign of
respect for the assembly he raised his folded hands above his head and then
sat down.
Mir Ohm left the rostrum to make way for a young woman with short,
golden hair and green eyes that had a look of permanent surprise in them.
Grom Orme, the President of the Council, stood beside her.
Eva Djann began speaking in a suppressed voice and was so shy that she
seemed afraid to make the slightest movement. She started from the
well-known fact that southern vegetation is distinguished by its blue
foliage. This is a colour that is typical of ancient forms of vegetable life
on Earth. An investigation of plant life on other planets had shown that
blue foliage belongs to an atmosphere that is either more transparent than
that of Earth or to one that is subjected to greater ultra-violet radiation
from its luminary than Earth is from the Sun. It had long been known, she
said, that the Sun, whose red radiation is stable, shows great instability
at the blue and ultraviolet end of the spectrum. About two million years
earlier there had been a sharp change in the Sun's ultraviolet radiation
that had continued over a lengthy period. It was then that the blue foliage
appeared, the birds and beasts of the open spaces acquired black protective
covering and birds that nested in the open began laying blade eggs.
At this time Earth's axis lost its stability owing to changes in the
electromagnetic regime of the solar system. For a long time astronomers had
based their calculations on the mechanics of gravitation alone and had paid
no attention to electromagnetic equilibrium which is much more changeable
than gravitation.
There had long been in existence schemes for the transfer of seas into
depressions on the continents in order to bring about a shift of Earth's
axis. If this problem be approached from the standpoint of the
electromagnetic forces of the system and not as a problem in elementary
mechanics it would be more easily and cheaply achievable. It would be
remembered, she continued, that in the early days of space travel the
creation of artificial gravitation had required such a tremendous
expenditure of power that it had been practically impossible. Since the
discovery of meson forces, however, our spaceships had been equipped with
simple and reliable artificial gravity installations. And Renn Bose's
experiment had indicated a way of by-passing gravitation.
Eva Djann stopped. A group of six people, the heroes of the Pluto
Expedition, seated in the centre of the hall, applauded her by extending
their folded hands. The young woman's cheeks flushed for a moment before the
screen lit up with the phantom contours of stereometric drawings.
"I realize that the problem is one that can be developed on a wider
scale and that we can then think of changing the orbits of planets and
bringing Pluto nearer to the Sun. But so far I have in mind only the
shifting of the planet's axis of rotation to improve climatic conditions on
the continental hemisphere. Renn Bose's experiment showed the possibility of
the inversion of the gravitational field in its second aspect, that is, in
the aspect of the electromagnetic field, with subsequent vectoral
polarization in these directions," she pointed to geometric figures on the
screen that had become elongated and were rotating, "Earth's axis of
rotation would lose its stability and the planet could be turned in the
desired direction for the better illumination of the continents."
Rows of parameters that had been computed by machines beforehand now
appeared on the long glass under the screen and everybody who could
understand them saw that Eva Djann's project was, at any rate, not without
sound foundation.
Eva Djann stopped the movement of the drawings and symbols and, her
head bowed, left the rostrum. Her audience exchanged glances and whispered
amongst themselves. The young commander of the Pluto Expedition, exchanging
a scarcely perceptible glance with Grom Orme, mounted the rostrum.
"There is no doubt that Renn Bose's experiment will have a trigger
action and set off a chain of important discoveries. It seems to me to be
leading us to distant vistas of science that were formerly unattainable. It
was the same way with the quantum theory-the first approach to an
understanding of the repagulum or mutual transition with the subsequent
discovery of the antiparticle and the antifield. Then came the repagular
calculus that scored a victory over the principle of indefiniteness proposed
by the ancient mathematician Geisenberg. And, lastly, Renn Bose made the
next step, the analysis of the space-field system, leading to an
understanding of antigravitation and antispace, or, by the repagulum law, to
zero space. All the formerly unaccepted theories have, in the long run,
become the foundations of science!
"In the name of the Pluto exploration group I propose transmitting the
problem over the universal information network for general discussion. The
inclination of Earth's axis would reduce the expenditure of energy for the
warming of the polar regions, would smooth out the polar fronts and increase
the planet's water supply."
"Is the question now being submitted to the vote clear to everybody?"
asked Grom Orme.
A large number of green lights flashed up in answer to the question.
"All right, we'll begin," said the President and pushed his hand under
the book-rack in front of his seat. There were three buttons there connected
with a calculating machine, the one on the right signalled "yes," the middle
one, "no" and the one on the left "abstain." Every member of the Council
sent a signal which the others could not see. Evda Nahl and Chara also
pressed buttons working a separate machine which counted the votes of the
audience to control the correctness of the Council's decision.
A few seconds later large symbols appeared on the demonstration
screen-the problem had been accepted for discussion by the whole planet.
Grom Orme took the floor.
"For a reason that I shall not disclose until the case is over, we
shall now examine the action of Mven Mass, the former Director of the Outer
Stations of the Astronautical Council and will then decide the question of
the 38th Cosmic Expedition. Does the Council believe that I have sufficient
motives for my request?"
Green lights signalled unanimous consent.
"Does everybody know the details of what happened?"
Again a flash of green lights.
"That will speed up our business! I will ask Mven Mass, the former
Director, to outline his motives for an action that had such dire results.
The physicist, Renn Bose, has not yet sufficiently recovered from his
injuries and has not been sent for as a witness. He is not answerable for
the experiment."
Groin Orme noticed a red light burning at Evda Nahl's seat.
"Attention everybody! Evda Nahl wants to make an additional statement
about Renn Bose."
"I would like to speak in his place."
"What are your motives?"
"I love him!"
"You may speak after Mven Mass."
Evda Nahl extinguished the red light and sat down.
Mven Mass appeared on the rostrum. Calmly, in no way excusing himself,
he told of the results that were expected from the experiment, related what
had actually happened and the vision in which he did not quite believe.
Their foolish hurry in carrying out the experiment on account of the
secretiveness and illegality of their action, left them no time to devise
special recording machines, they had relied on the usual memory machines and
they had been destroyed in the first instant. Another mistake had been the
conduct of the experiment through the satellite. They ought to have attached
an old planetship to Satellite 57 and set up instruments on it to orientate
the vector. He, Mven Mass, was guilty in all respects. Renn Bose made the
arrangements for the ground installations but the transmission of the
experiment into the Cosmos was exclusively the competency of the Director of
the Outer Stations.
Chara clenched her fists, Mven Mass' self-accusation seemed weighty
enough to her.
"Did the observers on the satellite know that a catastrophe was the
possible outcome?" asked Grom Orme.
"Yes, they were warned and willingly gave their consent."
"I am not surprised that they consented, thousands of young people take
part in dangerous experiments that are carried out every year on the planet
and it sometimes happens that they arc killed. And new volunteers come to
the fore undaunted," said Grom Orme, grimly "to do battle with the unknown.
When you, however, warned the young people, you were showing that you
suspected that such an outcome was possible. Nevertheless you carried out a
risky experiment without even taking the necessary steps to ensure that
definite results would be obtained."
Mven Mass lowered his head in silence and Chara suppressed a profound
sigh, feeling Evda Nahl's hand on her shoulder.
"Outline the motives that led you to undertake the experiment," said
the President after a pause.
Mven Mass spoke again, this time with impassioned excitement. He said
that from early youth he had always regarded as a reproach the millions of
nameless graves of people defeated by inexorable time, and that he could not
allow this opportunity to pass, for the first time in the history of this
and neighbouring worlds, of making an attempt at the conquest of space and
time, of erecting the first landmarks on that great path, a path which many
great minds would follow.... He did not believe that he had the right to
postpone, perhaps for a century, this experiment, merely because he was
subjecting a few people to danger and himself to great responsibility.
Mven Mass spoke and Chara's heart beat faster in pride for her fiance
elect. Now the African's guilt did not seem so great.
Mven Mass returned to his place and stood there waiting, in view of
all.
Evda Nahl handed over a record of Renn Bose's speech. His weak, gasping
voice filled the hall through the amplifiers. The physicist exonerated Mven
Mass. As he did not know all the implications of the experiment the Director
of the Outer Stations could do nothing but trust him, Renn Bose, and he had
convinced him that success was certain. The physicist, however, did not
consider that he was in any way to blame, either. Every year, he said,
important experiments are mounted and some of them have a tragic end.
Science is a struggle for the happiness of man and it demands its victims in
the same way as any other struggle. Cowards who are afraid to risk their own
skins never know the fulness and joy of living, nor do such scientists ever
make any advances.
Renn Bose concluded with a brief explanation of the experiment and an
analysis of the mistakes and expressed his confidence in future successes.
The tape recorder stopped.
"Renn Bose did not say anything about his observations during the
experiment," said Grom Orme, raising his head and addressing Evda Nahl. "You
wanted to speak in his place."
"I expected that question and for that reason asked for the floor,"
answered Evda. "Renn Bose lost consciousness a few seconds after the F
station was switched in and did not see anything else. On the verge of
consciousness he noticed and remembered only the readings of the instruments
that indicated zero space. Here is his record from memory."
A few figures appeared On the screen and were immediately copied down
by many people.
"Allow me to add on behalf of the Academy of Sorrow and Joy," said
Evda, "that a poll of public opinion taken since the catastrophe gives the
following...."
A series of eight-figure numbers flashed on the screen in columns
headed condemnation, exoneration, doubt with regard to the scientific
approach and accusation of haste. The total was undoubtedly in favour of
Mven Mass and Renn Bose: the faces of those present brightened up.
A red light was switched on at the far end of the hall and Groin Orme
gave the floor to Pour Hyss, the astronomer of the 37th Cosmic Expedition.
He spoke loudly and temperamentally, waving his long arms and stretching his
neck so that his Adam's apple was prominent.
"A group of us, astronomers, condemn Mven Mass. The conduct of an
experiment without the sanction of the Council, was an act of cowardice that
gives rise to the suspicion that his action was not as selfless as it would
appear from what has been said."
Chara burned with indignation and only remained in her seat in
obedience to Evda Nahl's cold glance. Pour Hyss finished his speech.
"Your accusation is a serious one but not clearly worded," said Mven
Mass when the President gave him the floor, "will you please explain what
you mean by cowardice and selfishness?"
"Immortal fame should the experiment succeed-that is the thought of
self that underlies your experiment. And I say cowardice because you were
afraid that you would not get permission for the experiment and conducted it
hastily and in secret!"
Mven Mass' face expanded in a smile, he spread his arms like a child
and sat down without speaking again. Pour Hyss was the very picture of
malignant triumph. Evda Nahl again asked for the floor.
"I do not see any grounds for Pour Hyss' suspicions. His statement was
made too hurriedly and too maliciously for the solution of such a grave
question. His views on the secret motives underlying people's actions belong
to the Dark Ages. Only people of the distant past could speak in that way
about immortal fame. They did not know the joy and fulness of real life,
they did not feel that they were particles of mankind engaged in collective
creative activity, they were afraid of inevitable death and clung to the
faintest hope of immortality. Pour Hyss, a scientist, an astronomer, does
not understand that only those remain alive in the memory of mankind whose
ideas, will and achievements remain active and once their activity has
ceased the people are forgotten. It is a long time since I came into contact
with such a primitive understanding of immortality and fame and am amazed to
find it in a cosmic explorer."
Evda Nahl stretched herself to full height and turned towards Pour Hyss
who cringed in his chair illuminated by a large number of red lights of
disapproval.
"Let us put aside all absurdity," continued Evda Nahl, "and examine the
action of Mven Mass and Renn Bose by the criterion of human happiness. They
were advancing along an untrodden path. I do not possess sufficient
knowledge in their field but it is obvious, even to me, that their
experiment was premature. In that respect both are guilty and are
responsible for considerable material losses and for the loss of four human
lives. This, by the laws of Earth, constitutes a crime, but it was not
committed for personal gain and, therefore, does not merit heavy punishment.
The noble aspirations of the chief accused, Mven Mass, should be regarded as
an extenuating circumstance."
Evda Nahl returned slowly to her place. Groin Orme asked if anyone else
wished to speak but nobody responded.
The members of the Council asked the President to propose final
judgement. The thin, wiry figure of Grom Orme leaned forward on the rostrum
and his piercing glance penetrated to the back of the hall.
"The circumstances on which we have to give judgement are quite simple.
I do not hold Renn Bose in any way responsible. What scientist would not
take advantage of such possibilities, placed