The Silkie

by A. E. van Vogt

Cemp explained that human beings seemed to be easily surviving their present association with Silkies. But this might not be true if the conditions of association were altered.

  Ou-Dan seemed indifferent to the possibility, And Cemp realised it was a lot to except that someone who had had no previous contact with human beings would care about them. But Cemp, who had been born to a human mother, did care. So he said, with the intent of ending the discussion, 'We'll have a general meeting soon. We'll talk then.'

  Such a meeting had already been proposed by Charley Baxter, head of the Silkie Authority. Baxter was as anxious about the attitude of the original Silkies as Cemp was.

  Ou-Dan accepted the end of conversation with, 'I have nothing more to learn here. Goodbye.' Whereupon he launched into space and was quickly lost from view. Presently, he did not even register on the magnetic band as any different from the meteorite flotsam and jetsam that populated all areas of space.

  * * *

  XXIV

  IN THIS distant point in space, with all the trigger systems for the 'ship' set for instant reaction, Cemp waited for he knew not what.

  The open-to-space ship was itself lightless. Artificial light on any level interfered with the sensitive instruments that monitored the protective weaponry. It was enough problem for the equipment around him that he himself had to be taken account of.

  Periodically, Cemp made a complete check of that equipment, establishing each time that every relay was ready to snap and that each device was separately set to permit the presence of his Silkie shape and mass and of that portion of his life energy which he could not contain within himself.

  While he waited, Cemp gazed 'down' in the general direction of Earth. The view below had the forever-new quality of light and form that had passed a threshold point of abundance. There were many, many brilliant planetary lights in the dark sky of Earth's new super-sun system, and the sheer number of planets, each with a different coloration, made for a timelessly beautiful panorama.

  For Cemp, it was below and down because he had long ago oriented himself in such human terms. In his Silkie body he always operated at what would have been face down in a human being. So he had a right and a left, a front and a back, and an up and a down.

  In the several conversations that he conducted with far Earth, Cemp could obtain no additional advice about any other precautions he might take. No one believed that any living being could approach him unnoticed out there at the remote edge of the system.

  Yet Lan Jedd's 'report' indicated that there would be no advance warning.

  There wasn't.

  At the moment of the attack, Cemp had waited in the ship exactly four hours, eighteen minutes, and forty-two seconds, Earth time.

  The being who for a few split instants was exposed to Cemp's perception had the shape of an inverted pyramid. It was interesting that in the transmission of the same image from the now deceased Lan Jedd, the inversion had not come through. The transmitting computer, consulting its analogs, had produced a pyramid stereotype wherein the base was down and the point up.

  In fact, the base was up and the point down.

  That was all Cemp had time to 'see,' for the creature was in the trap only momentarily. A less speedy perception than that of a Silkie would have noticed at best a shadow darken a lighted space.

  Despite the colossal speed of the being's withdrawal, Cemp, with his heightened Silkie perception, was able to examine awareness centered in himself that had automatically recorded more data. Thus Cemp continued to view where it had been through a series of neural and energy receptors that played back their information for his evaluation.

  He realised, fascinated, that during the moment it was in the trap, the creature had attacked and tried to kill him. But he had been saved by the defenses of the trap.

  A strong impulse came to study the battle, to discover immediately what had made him vulnerable, why his own screens wouldn't have worked.

  Cemp fought that impulse, thinking, Put the battle aside. Examine it last.

  For an attack was only that — energy, force, whatever. It was the being's method of approaching the trap that everybody down the line wanted to know about where had the fantastic thing come from?

  Studying the afterimages, Cemp saw with amazement that the pyramid shape was actually an energy projection from a source. He could not get a good look at the being at the source, it withdrew so rapidly.

  Considering the incredible speed of that withdrawal, he recalled a scientifically oriented speculative discussion he had had with other Silkies about his encounter with the Glis. Now, he felt that Glis experience again in his mind — and that wasn't it.

  The discovery appalled him, for what he had perceived had been something; and then it was nothing. Something to nothing. Nothing to something to nothing. what could it be?

  Cemp had one receptor that had on it a vague perception — so vague that it gained reality only because he played it for him self a dozen times. Even then it remained unclear. But with so many replays he had an impression, if such it could be called, that the energy point that was the apparent source of the inverted pyramid had another point at some vast distance beyond it. And behind — beyond — that point was still another point and beyond that another and more points in the vaster distance... Or was it distance? Cemp couldn't decide.

  After viewing and re-viewing the impression, so shadowy and uncertain, he consciously compared what he saw to an endless image reflected in two perfect mirrors facing each other.

  But even that was only an analogy, because the images extended into only one mirror and not the other. It was a unidirectional phenomenon.

  It was a mystery he could not solve, so he uneasily turned his attention to the life-and-death battle he had fought.

  Like the other aspects of that momentary contact, the engagement could be studied only in the confusing aftermath. Examined thus, it proved to have started the split instant the creature arrived. The trap, consisting in its first phase of a Glis type molecule with the gravity power of a planet, had instantaneously oriented itself to the enemy. It was instantaneous because, of course, gravity has no lag; there is no moment of waiting while it goes through a process of adjustment.

  The molecule, that remarkable discovery of the ancient nature of matter the secret of which Cemp had got from the Gus, reached with the power of an entire world — and attached itself to the alien. Hindered him.

  The attacker, thus handicapped, nevertheless did something — what, Cemp had no idea. All Cemp's great defenses were up — his energy screens, his magnetic methods of turning aside radiation, what he had learned from the Kibmadine about using attack energy against the attacker....

  The attack was not on an energy band. Cemp's defenses had no effect on it. He had felt a change in his whole body, a sudden sense of inward-collapsing distortion....

  His thoughts had twisted strangely. Unable to put up a single barrier, Cemp had felt himself spin toward death — The next second, the creature, hindered by the molecule, disappeared. And the battle was over.

  * * *

  XXV

  URGENTLY, Cemp opened a line to Earth. He was quickly deluged with questions.

  And someone had had the same thought he had had — that the pyramid was a weapon operating through some mirror principle from an actual distance. Thus, it was argued, the effect of nothing to something to nothing was like a mirror being turned on and off in the time it took to operate a push-pull switch.

  'No !' answered Cemp. 'It was a life form. I sensed its aliveness.'

  That ended that part of the argument.

  Charley Baxter came on. 'Your data is being fed into the computer, Nat,' he said gravely. 'While we wait, would you like to speak to your wife?'

  'Of course.'

  Joanne's thought, when it came through, reflected irritation 'Everybody's so damned secretive about what you're doing,' she began.

  So they hadn't told her his danger. Cemp was relieved.

  'Look,'
he telepathed, 'we're exploring out here and testing a new ship. That's all I'm allowed to say.'

  It was a truth of sorts. He added, 'What have you been up to?'

  His attempt at diverting her was successful. Joanne became indignant. 'I have had the most horrible experience,' she reported.

  What she told him was that Silkie women — members of the original Silkies — had called on the human wives of Earth Silkies and urged them to divorce their Silkie husbands. Such a Silkie woman had called on Joanne and demanded that she divorce Cemp.

  The Silkie woman had pointed out bluntly that Cemp as a Silkie would live to be at least a thousand years old. And of course, Joanne was more mortal than that by far.

  So,' the Silkie woman had urged, 'why not face the reality of that now?'

  ... While Joanne was still young.

  Cemp had the unhappy feeling that the problem was more severe than Joanne knew. A thousand years was as long as the Glis for its own reasons, had allowed meteorite Silkies to live. What a Silkie's actual life span was, no one knew.

  Yet he had always felt that these matters would be resolved in their own good time. Joanne was under thirty. Her present life expectancy was about one hundred and fifty. Long before she reached that age, human immortality might become possible.

  Questioning her, he discovered that Joanne had toughly pointed out all these things to the Silkie woman and had given as much as she received.

  It was not a moment for Cemp to consider what changes might come in the Silkie-human tangle. He telepathed with warmth, 'Don't worry about any of this. You're my darling.'

  That's a powerful point,' said Joanne sweetly, 'but don't think you've fooled me for a moment. I sense there's a big event coming up in your life, and you're taking it in stride as usual.'

  'Well — ' Cemp began.

  It's really an unresolvable dilemma,' answered Joanne.

  What is?' Cemp asked in surprise. He quickly realised that Joanne's concern was not with the danger but, of all things, with his lack of fear.

  She said almost tearfully, 'If you feel so confident against such a mighty enemy — what's going to become of Silkie-human relations?'

  'Meaning, I presume,' said Cemp, 'that Silkies don't need humans any more?'

  'Well, do they?'

  Cemp explained patiently, 'In the first place, my confidence is in logic of levels and not in myself.'

  Joanne brushed that aside. 'It's the same thing. Logic of levels is a tool that you can use whether you're associated with humans or not.'

  'In the second place,' Cemp replied, 'I don't even know yet whether I'm going to dare use it, though I'm certainly going to threaten it.'

  'You'll be forced to, and then you'll win, and there you'll be at an incredible height of power and ability.'

  'In the third place,' Cemp continued, 'the association between Silkies and humans exists, and I'm particularly happy with what I got out of the transaction — meaning you. Do I seem any smarter?'

  'N-no.'

  'IQ, human-level, eh, still?'

  'I suppose so.' Reluctant admission.

  'I still seem to reason like a human being, correct?'

  'But you're so powerful.'

  'Perhaps you should think of me as a battleship commander,' said Cemp. 'In this instance, the battleship is my Silkie body, and you're the commander's beloved wife.'

  The comparison seemed to buoy her, for her mind smiled at him, and she said, 'They're motioning me to stop, and I still love you, but goodbye, my dear.'

  Her communication ceased abruptly.

  Charley Baxter came on. 'The computer,' he said, and there was concern in his thought, 'was reminded by your data of something you reported months ago — something the Glis told you during its death throes.'

  ... The Glis, realising that Cemp was a dangerous Silkie, had headed toward a remote star system. This system, according to what the Glis had told Cemp in its final, desperate effort to save itself, was inhabited by an ancient enemy of the Silkies.

  These beings called themselves Nijjans, which was a race name with a mighty meaning — Creators of Universes. Or in its fullest sense, The People Who Know the Nature of Things and Can Create Universes at Will.

  As Cemp uneasily pondered the hideous possibilities if the analysis was true, Baxter continued in an argumentative overtone, 'Nat, the Glis was going somewhere. You did get alarmed and you threatened him. As you described it, the Glis stopped and tried to make his peace with you. So whatever system he was pointing toward must be out there in the direction he was going, not too far away.'

  Since astronomers had got a line on Sol, Earth's former sun, they had already projected a line fairly straight at the Glis's original destination somewhere in near space.

  'And,' said Baxter, 'the system is out there about six light-years beyond you, Nat.'

  Such details were, of course, of interest. But Cemp was under too much threat for anything but the absolutely decisive points to matter to him.

  He telepathed hastily, 'Does the computer have any idea how the Nijjan killed Lan or how I should handle him if he comes back with reinforcements?'

  Baxter's disturbed reply came, 'Nat, this is a terrible thing to tell someone in your situation. But the computer hasn't the faintest idea how the thing came out of nothingness or what the force used against Lan and you was. It says it has no programming that fits and — '

  That was all Cemp had time to receive.

  At that nanosecond the perceptors that he had projected beyond the Nijjan's first relay point were triggered.

  Since he had a communication line open to Earth, he allowed his recording of danger to go through him and along that line.

  The essential of the communication that he thus instantly passed along was, 'The Nijjan is back ... before I'm ready.' It seemed like long, long before.

  There the creature was, in much the same position as the first time, partly inside the ship, a hundred feet away.

  But alone! That was the one hopeful aspect.

  The inverted pyramidal projection glimmered with flickering energy pulsations.

  Cemp now saw that the actual being at the source of the projection was also an inverted pyramid — but in a way only. The base part was much narrower. And it had, he observed, arms and legs. It was about six feet long, and it was beautiful in that its hard, bright skin glittered and shone with changing color.

  At the instant of the alien's arrival, the Glis molecule tried to attach itself. But the Nijjan was evidently prepared, for he balanced himself against it somehow and thereafter ignored the molecule.

  Cemp grew aware that the creature was looking at him intently from one or more of the bright points at the upper part of its body. Tentatively, Cemp sent a thought on a magnetic wave.

  The answer came at once on the same wavelength, came with multiples more force than Cemp was accustomed to receiving. Yet he had his own neural transformers, which stepped the power down to his level. And he had his first communication.

  The creature began, 'Let's have a conversation.'

  'You have a lot to explain,' Cemp thought back grimly.

  'We're puzzled,' was the reply. 'Suddenly, a novasized sun appears only a few light-years from our own system. On investigation, we discover that the system that has so suddenly come into being is the largest planetary family, possibly, in the galaxy. Only a few of the planets are inhabited, but many have been in the past and are no longer so. Climatically, one of our exploring units meets a Silkie, a powerful being known from our antiquity as an enemy. He naturally destroys this being.'

  'We shall require,' said Cemp, 'your people to execute this explorer who so instantly — and naturally — took it upon himself to destroy a Silkie.'

  'It was an ancient reflex, which has now been modified,' was the reply. 'So execution will not occur. It could have happened to any Nijjan.'

  'Did you do it?' Cemp asked. 'Are you this — what did you call him? — exploring unit?'

  'Would it matter
?'

  'Probably not.'

  The Nijjan changed the subject. 'what do you Silkies do in relation to human beings? What is your rôle?'

  'We're police.'

  'Oh! That's interesting.'

  Cemp couldn't see how, and besides, his attention was still concentrated on the other's explanation for the killing of Lan Jedd. He admitted reluctantly to himself that if an attack reflex had indeed been set up long ago in all these creatures and never canceled, it would be difficult to adjudicate intentional murder.

  But his next communication acknowledged none of this as he continued, 'All right, so here we are, accidentally doomed to occupy a space only a few light-years from each other. And we have eighteen hundred habitable planets. How many do you have?'

  'That's a difficult question to answer. We don't think in terms of having a planet of our own. But I sense this is a difficult concept for you, so I'll say we probably do own one planet — our original home.'

  'Do you want any more?'

  'Not in the sense that you mean. All this is too new. But our basic purposes are peaceful.'

  Cemp didn't believe him.

  It should have been true. The passing of the eons should have ended old impulses of hatred and destruction, On Earth, a thousand descendants of enemies of an equal number of yesteryears now lived side by side, at peace apparently forever.

  Of course, this was not quite the same. The Nijjans were not descendants. They were the same beings who, long ago indeed, had attained the heights of their civilisation and immortality. These were the same creatures who had in the distant past hated and sought to exterminate the Silkies — so the Glis had told Cemp.

  In that olden time, desiring to have the Silkies as servants, the mighty Glis had offered them a symbiotic relationship as the price for saving them — and the Silkies had accepted.

  But that, with the transformation and defeat of the Glis, was now over. And the Silkies were again on their own. They could expect no help from any outside source.

  It was a shaking thought, but Cemp was unrelenting. 'I can't accept your disclaimer,' he said, 'because why, when you first arrived here, presumably with your attack reflex already canceled, did you try to kill me?'