The Hypnoglyph
Page 2
"Extremely hard," Maddick agreed distantly.
"The women of the proper clan work these things, and the men set them out in the forests. As you might suppose, the men are a rather scrawny lot, and would starve soon enough if they had to depend on their own muscular prowess as hunters. These gadgets take care of all that, however. The animals, with their extremely high tactile suggestibility, come through the forest and find one of these things in their way. They begin to stroke it and feel it, and they just can't stop. The men don't even kill them; all slaughtering is handled by the ruling clan of women. The men simply wait till the animal has worked itself into the right state, and then lead it back to the slaughtering compound -- still under hypnosis of course."
"Of course," Maddick agreed, his fingers working softly and rhythmically.
Jaris leaned back. His politeness was unfaltering, but now there was a touch of triumph in his voice. "There's really only one other thing you need to know. The men used to have unmanageable spells. As a result, it has become traditional to hypnotize them practically at birth. The practice is untold centuries old.
"Unfortunately, however, nature still deals a tricky hand. Keep the species in abeyance long enough and it stops thrusting toward its own development. The generations of hypnosis have had the effect of breeding the life-wish out of the males. It's as if the genes and the sperm were just slowly quitting. When we landed on DK-8 there were hardly enough men left to work the traps."
He leaned forward, smiling. "You can imagine what a treasure our crew must have seemed to the tribal leaders, once it was discovered that we could interbreed: new vigorous males, a new start, fresh blood for the life stream."
He paused and his tone became steady and dry. "I think perhaps you will understand now why I came back alone. The only male ever to leave DK-8. Although," he added, "in one sense I've never really left it."
". . . never . . . really . . . left . . . it . . ." Maddick said.
Jaris nodded and came around the desk. Leaning over Maddick, he blew a puff of smoke directly into his open eyes. Maddick did not stir. His eyes remained fixed straight ahead and he remained fixed motionless in the chair. Only the fingers of his right hand continued to move, curling about the polished thing, while his thumb flicked out and over the little hollow.
Jaris straightened, still smiling sadly, picked up a curiously wrought little bell from the desk and tinkled it once.
Across the room, a door swung open on a darkened alcove in which something huge and pale showed dimly.
"He is ready, darling," Jaris said.