by Roger Elwood
After Dor had been questioned steadily for several weeks by Captain Cahorn, she began to ask questions of her own.
What was Terra like? Why had they taken her prisoner? What were they going to do with her? When would she be able to go home?
Captain Cahorn had obviously grown fond of Dor in the months the ship had been speeding back toward Terra. He smiled as the young Tyroxan poured out her questions.
“We had had unconfirmed reports that there was a habitable planet in your solar system,” he said. “Our mission was to check it out. Also, if possible, we were to try to capture a native of the planet to bring back to our head office on Terra.”
“But why me?” Dor asked.
“It was just chance that we saw you on your mount. When you were thrown off and hurt, we took advantage of it and carried you into our ship.”
“What is going to happen to me now?”
Captain Cahorn patted Dor’s arm. “We are all amazed at how quickly you picked up our language. By Terra standards, you are quite a genius. Young as you are, there is almost no limit to what you could do for yourself when we get to Terra.”
“What is it really like there?”
Captain Cahorn shrugged his shoulders. “The planet Terra, or Earth as it is sometimes called, has just a bit of everything. It has wide oceans and great stretches of sandy deserts. It has mountains and valleys and even a few forests. There is snow and ice at both poles. At the equator there are even a few dense jungles left. But mostly people live in vast cities that cover hundreds of square miles.”
“Are the people of Terra happy?”
“Some are,” Captain Cahorn said. “Many are not.”
“Why not?”
“For a variety of reasons. Some nations are very poor. They have too many people. Some of them have too little to eat. Then there are parts of the planet where people always seem to be at war.”
“War? What is that?”
“That’s when people can’t get along with each other. Hundreds of thousands of people die in wars each year. But you don’t need to concern yourself with this. Where I am taking you is very peaceful. We are so strong no one dares attack us.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Well, Dor,” Captain Cahorn said as he settled back in his bucket seat, “I guess it’s time for me to tell you what we have planned for you. I’ve been in contact with the headquarters of Outerspace Explorations, Incorporated. That’s the organization I work for. I’ve sent a recording of everything you have told us about yourself and your planet of Tyrox. It’s going to take them a few days to analyze your statements and program them for the computers to study. When that is finished, I expect they will want to talk to you again.
“In the meantime, as soon as we land two days from now, I’m going to take you to my own home. Would you like that?”
“Have I a choice?”
Captain Cahorn looked startled at the abrupt question. “Possibly not. Actually, it’s the best thing for you. You’re a celebrity. Everybody on Terra wants to see you.
I’d hate to see you put on public display. In my home you’ll have privacy. Furthermore, it will give you a chance to see how we Terrans live.”
“I’m frightened,” Dor murmured.
“I don’t blame you.” Captain Cahorn nodded in sympathy. “That’s why I’d like you to come to my home. I have a son just about your age. And a daughter a year younger. You’ll like them.”
Dor turned away. “But will they like me? After all, I’m different. I have three eyes. My hands are not like yours. My head is larger although I’m smaller. My skin is blue where yours is pink. I haven’t your big teeth.”
“I’m sure they’ll like you. Anyway, as I said before, you really don’t have much choice. You’re very intelligent, Dor. I know you’ll always do the right thing.”
“Could I ask a favor?”
“If it’s possible for me to grant it.”
“Do you think I could tell my father and mother where I am?”
Captain Cahorn looked at her with surprise. “How could you do that?”
“I’ve studied your long-range communications system. It is very similar to the one we use on Tyrox. It may take some adjustments. I’ve written down the instructions you must follow to make the adjustments and then for the actual contact with Tyrox. If you can do that for me, I’ll be very thankful.”
Captain Cahorn took the slip of paper and then looked at Dor with new respect.
Two days later the ship landed at an out-of-the-way spaceport to avoid the crowd of newsmen who awaited their arrival at the main spaceport. Captain Cahorn hustled Dor across the landing held to a waiting sky taxi.
Three hours later, Dor was ushered into Captain Cahorn’s suburban home. It was a fifth-floor apartment in a building complex covering five square miles. Its chief attraction was that each apartment had a plastic-enclosed balcony on which green vines and ferns and dwarf bushes were allowed to grow.
Captain Cahorn introduced his family. Joanne, his wife, was an attractive, pleasantly plump woman in her early forties. He waved his fifteen-year-old daughter, Renna, forward. The pretty, blonde girl was flustered. She seemed to hesitate whether or not to shake hands with this strange little being from outer space. Those three eyes of hers seemed to look right through Renna.
Bob, the captain’s sixteen-year-old, six-foot son, had no compunctions about stepping up and taking Dor’s clawlike hand.
“Welcome to Terra,” he said, obviously intrigued by Dor’s unusual appearance. “You’re to stay with Renna in her room. We’ll show you the way. I have to get back to the red-hot football game on right now on my vistascope. Do you play football on Tyrox?”
Dor shook her head. “I don’t know what football is.”
“Come, we’ll show you.”
A minute or two later, Dor, along with Renna and Bob, was seated in front of a three-dimensional vistascope screen in his room. On the screen she saw men line up in meaningless formations, hurl themselves at each other, run up and down a field, either carrying, throwing, or kicking an oval ball. It was more violence than she had ever seen in her whole life.
“Is this what you call war?” she asked. “Are they trying to kill each other?”
Renna laughed. “No. It’s just a game.”
“Don’t they get hurt?”
“Sure,” Bob said. “Quite often. But football players are well paid to take their chances.”
“Paid?” Dor asked. “You mean they are given more food than others?”
Bob looked at her with wonder. “You mean you don’t know what it is to do something for pay? Oh, boy! What a lot you have to learn.”
“If you don’t mind,” Dor said, “I would like to go to sleep now. I’m very tired and confused by all I’ve seen and done today. I think I need to rest.”
“Let’s go to my room,” Renna said. “I’ll sleep on the cot Mom has set up for me. You can wear one of my sleepwears for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll ask my father if we can’t call in an order for some real Terra clothes for you. Tomorrow, then.”
“Tomorrow,” Dor echoed, wondering what surprises would be in store for her on the morrow.
The next day, after breakfast, Bob announced that since it was not a school day, he would like to borrow the family’s land car to show Dor around.
After nodding politely to Mrs. Cahorn, Dor followed her new Terran friend out of the rear door of the apartment. The Cahorn car was kept in a small recess in the back wall.
“You’re lucky you didn’t come to Terra last year,” Bob said as he started up the small electic car. “Last year was a terrible year for smog. We saw the sun only eight times. Now it’s much better. We’ve been able to see the sun at least two or three times every month.”
“Smog? What’s that?”
“Look around, Dor. What you see in the air is smog. It’s smoke and fog and all kinds of polluting gases in the air.”
“What caused it?”
“It
’s been here a long time. A lot of it came in the old days from gasoline-burning motorcars, coal-burning power plants, mills, and factories. That’s all been changed. But they say it may take another hundred years to get the air clean and clear again.”
“Why isn’t something being done?”
“Oh, it is. We’re spending billions of dollars to clear the air. But we let it go too long.”
“And your oceans and lakes and rivers,” Dor exclaimed, “how about them?”
Bob grimaced. “I guess we’ve just about given up on them. About all we can do is purify the water we use for drinking and bathing.”
“Where do you get your fish?”
“We don’t. My father told me that when he was a small boy his father took him fishing one time and he actually caught a fish. As far as I know, all fish alive on the planet are in our public aquariums. The oceans haven’t had fish in them for nearly half a century.”
Bob turned to Dor. “Enough of this serious talk.
There isn’t much to see in the city—just buildings. Let’s have some excitement. I don’t get many chances to drive our car. I’m going to take you for a short ride on one of our old superhighways. Of course it’s in bad shape now and not in use. But I know one section about fifteen miles long that’s fairly clear. Unfortunately, all the other kids who can borrow their family cars head for that same section. It’s become quite a racetrack. It’s where we find out how fast we can go. And who has the most nerve.”
Bob laughed aloud with pleasure as he headed up a ramp, gaining speed with every foot. “Hold on,” he cried, “here we go.”
Dor held tight to her seat belt as the car left the ramp and projected itself onto a four-lane strip of some black material, crisscrossed with a myriad of cracks.
“The trick,” Bob said, “is to avoid the potholes. You hit one of them at high speed and you’re through.”
Dor watched with horror as Bob sent the car plunging ahead at a greatly accelerated speed. “Must we go so fast?” she cried out. “I’m not used to this. The fastest I’ve ever gone is riding my tholl. That’s nothing like this.”
“Don’t worry, Dor. I’ll be careful. Oh, look, there’s an old steam car ahead. They are supposed to be very fast. I’m going to try to pass it. Hold on, here we come.” The car leaped forward as Bob turned the rheostat lever to top speed. A moment later they were alongside the big, lumbering steam car. Bob gave its driver a derisive wave of his hand as though challenging him to a race.
Not to be outdone, the other driver increased his speed. Soon the two cars, side by side, were screaming along the wide freeway. The steam car made a peculiar hissing sound as it matched Bob’s speed.
Dor saw it first—a slower car ahead of them, weaving back and forth to avoid a series of dangerous potholes. Almost at the same moment Bob saw it. He applied all brakes instantly.
In the smog, however, it was apparent that the driver of the steam car was a second or two late in seeing the danger ahead.
With their own car skidding sideways, Dor watched with horror as the big car careened left and right past them, smashing first against the metal guardrails at the right only to bounce back to the left of Bob’s car. A split second later, the steam car drove head on into the slower car that had created the original obstacle.
There was a series of violent crushing noises, ending with both cars slamming up against the left guardrail. Both cars were complete wrecks.
Bob, in the meantime, had been able to get his car back under control. With skill, he slid past the two tangled cars to their right.
“Whew!” he said, “that was close. Wait until I tell the kids at school about this. Will they be jealous!”
“You mean you do this for fun?” Dor asked.
“Sure, it’s fun. Of course, the idea is to get involved without getting hurt.”
“I don’t see how you can avoid getting hurt. Those two drivers back there—shouldn’t we go back and help them? They might be hurt badly.”
“Go back?” Bob was genuinely surprised. “No one ever goes back on the freeway. It would be sure suicide.” He pointed ahead. “That’s where the good section ends. It’s mostly rubble beyond. As soon as we leave on this down ramp, you’ll be able to see typical city streets.” Dor looked about. As far as she could see in the misty air, the two sides of the street were lined with towering buildings, all more or less alike. The tops were lost in the smog. Traffic moved at a slow pace, with cars bumper to bumper. Few people were to be seen on the narrow sidewalks.
Dor finally spoke. “I think I would like to go back to your home. Life on Tyrox is nothing like this. I’m frightened.”
“Aw, you’ll get used to it.”
As they inched along in the heavy traffic, Dor said, “I don’t understand. Why don’t you do something about conditions here on Terra—clean it up?”
“We’re doing everything we can. But, as I said before, we let it go too long.”
He turned toward Dor. “That’s where you come in.”
“Me? What can I do about it?”
Bob peered over at his companion. “Perhaps I shouldn’t be telling you this, Dor. But I heard my father talking last evening to his boss at Outerspace Explorations. He said Tyrox would be a wonderful place for people from Terra to settle and colonize. He said it could easily support a billion of Terra’s overpopulation.”
“You mean the people from this planet would go to my planet and take over?”
“Oh, I’m sure we’d pay you well for it.”
“Pay us—how? With pollution of our air and water?
And what can you give us in payment? Surely you don’t think we would want the kind of life you have here?”
“Oh, I don’t know. We can give you the benefit of our advanced technology. That’s worth a great deal.”
Dor turned her face away, her heart heavy.
When they reached the Cahorn home, the captain met them as they put the car away.
“I’ve good news for you, Dor,” he said to the Tyroxan. “You were right about the communications system.”
“You’ve been able to contact my father?” Dor exclaimed eagerly.
“Yes, we have. Using your instructions and the key words you told us to use, we’ve made contact with Tyrox. I have always felt badly that we took you away from your home without giving you a chance to tell your parents. I’m glad to help make amends now.”
“When can I talk with my father?”
“As soon as we can get the proper arrangements. The conversation will be relayed over the entire intercontinental vistascope network. People all over the world will be able to see you and hear you talk with your father. You’re quite a celebrity, Dor.”
“But I’ll be speaking in Tyroxan.”
“After you have concluded your talk with your father, you can translate what you both said into Terran language. The vistascope people are setting up their equipment in our family room. Let’s go to Renna’s room. It’s the only quiet place left.”
Bob left them, saying he wanted to watch the excitement of the vistascope setup.
Captain Cahorn and Dor found Renna lying on her bed, reading. She was dressed in a long, all-enveloping robe. Dor could see that by Terran standards Renna was probably very attractive. Her silvery blonde hair had the kind of poetic beauty that Dor could understand and appreciate. Her blue eyes were clear and innocent and yet intelligent.
Captain Cahorn turned to Dor. “I have to check with the vistascope people now. You should be thinking of what you want to tell your father. Perhaps Renna can help you decide what to say.”
When the spaceman had left, the two young beings looked warily at each other. Suddenly Renna’s face broke into a broad smile.
“You don’t like Terra, do you?” she asked softly.
Dor returned her smile with a grin. “It’s different,” she managed to say in reply.
“From what my father has told us, Tyrox is a beautiful place.”
“It is,” Dor n
odded.
Renna shook her head. “You know what they are planning to do, don’t you?”
“Bob told me a little this morning. Terra would like to colonize Tyrox.”
“Do you realize what that means?”
“I can guess.”
“It’s impossible for you to guess,” Renna said. “You haven’t seen enough of what life is like on our planet. Billions of people will be listening to your talk today. As you talk they will be envisioning Tyrox—the green fields, the clear blue skies, the pure streams, the fresh clean air. To them it will be the dream of Terra as it once was . . . the dream your planet now suddenly makes real to them.”
The Earth girl sat down on the edge of her bed and buried her head in her hands.
“I like you, Dor. There’s nothing I would like better than to leave Terra and go to Tyrox. But it’s too cruel.”
“What do you mean . . . cruel?”
Renna looked up at her. “We here on Terra are doomed. We know it. Not only do we have pollution of our air and water. We have pollution of our minds and character. With our billions of people crowded together, life has become a raging struggle for survival. It’s like a disease, a plague. That’s what our people would bring to Tyrox. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
“Do you suggest I try to stop it?”
Renna shook her blonde head. “The company my father works for has spent a great deal of money on the exploratory expedition to Tyrox. It is by far the most suitable planet discovered to date. They have even started selling one-way tickets. I might add that as reward to my father, the entire Cahorn family is scheduled for an early transport. Not as early as yours, of course.”
“Mine? I am being sent back to Tyrox?” Dor cried out in eagerness.
“Yes, my young friend,” Captain Cahorn said from the open doorway. “I convinced Outerspace Explorations that it was good protection to have you along on the first ship. That first ship leaves next week. It will carry some of our leading agronomists, biologists, chemists, geologists, mineralogists, communicators, and, of course, the military. It will be their job to analyze all phases of life on Tyrox and prepare the way for the colonists to come. With you on the ship, we are more likely to get a fair reception. And you will be well paid to serve as the interpreter.”
