by Moulton, CD
Thing had been listening to all of this through its internal empathy while at the same time it was entertaining Happ. It could "hear" anything Maita sent to it and could "talk" through the same talent, giving no indication whatever to Happ.
[ We said and did nothing they expected. They thought at first we were lying, then that we were completely controlled, then that we didn't know our own natures. Now they’re beginning to think perhaps it's their own society who's too narrow, too structured. They still believe they have the upper hand in this situation. They think they've considered all possibilities and prepared well. They knew eventually another race would arise and would find them, but they didn't believe it would already be so, to them, tremendously strong. Their empire encompassed only the galactic dome and a little piece of two spiral arms and they're suddenly confronted with a galaxywide empire. Not only that, this empire seems to be only a few HUNDRED years old. I think Z knows more from instinct than you or I could know from the facts presented so far, Maita. There is definitely a certain area where something is being hidden. ]
*What do your childish, primitive instincts tell you, Z?*
"That this race is deeply ashamed of something. I really can't comprehend what it is they're expecting. It's sort of a 'Do what you want to me. I deserve it!' kind of thing."
*Martyrdom complex? Hurt me for a cause?*
[ That wouldn't fit with shame. I think maybe I know what Z's saying. ]
"Sort of racially masochistic. They're hiding things about their society we may be able to dig out in Library. Just maybe Glo's reactions about Library weren't so much because we allowed others to use the place as they saw fit, but that WE had complete access. Maybe there's far too much about the Krofpth Empire there that's not so well hidden!"
[ What could the whole race have done that would produce such a reaction? We haven't found a hint of any actual evil or even corruption in their empire. Just societal decay. ]
*It's difficult to say. We have many evidences of instances where what's terribly shameful to one race is silly and doesn't make any sense to another. Ask Tab! He's had experiences with those things more than even we have. Look at the shame a Cheeth seems to bring on his race if he steals anything. Even if it's something that was put there to use by anyone they can feel it's theft if a Cheeth uses it. There are numerous example of that sort of thing in a large number of races.*
[ What do we do, then? We have to discover what it is and be able to educate this race that it isn't realistic to take on such guilt for something that has no meaning. ]
"We can go to Library where Maita, you and I can study the history of the Krofpth and their empire without input from each other. Maybe we can discover what's happening. It should give us three very different perspectives, at worst. We can let Happ wander about at will and we'll do the same. It'll keep him off balance to know we aren't watching or steering him in any way. He can see that there are a lot of people from a lot of places there and that they move about as they please and that there are no overseers or police or anything such. Maybe he can learn to trust us enough to tell us what's going on."
*We'll be there soon. Study the language and the customs and societal taboos from the crystals. From what I see the subjects didn't know what it was about. The mistake was taking the subjects from the other continents. It's the ones at Focus who know what this is about.*
"The elites or those in the cities probably do. Happ would know, but we shouldn't use the probe anymore unless we have to."
They rested, ate a good meal and cleaned up before landing on Library. Happ was excited, but didn't want to show it so Z and Thing acted as excited by it themselves, saying the place was an exciting place and they always enjoyed the visits. Happ loosened up a little more with that. He seemed shocked that several other ships were there and actually had free access to everything. There wasn't even an officer to note who came and went. He didn't have to offer identification of any kind and wasn't given a set of rules. He seemed to have a very strong emotional response to the robot that gave him the directory when it welcomed him and stated that the place had been long awaiting the return of the Krofpth.
They agreed each would go his own way and would meet back on Maita in twenty hours where they would decide whether or not they wanted more time, then separated.
Z went to the Krofpth screen first in the "Hall of Worlds and Peoples," as they had named it, while Thing went to the Krofpth Empire History Hall and Happ went to the Technology Hall. They passed one another at times and spoke briefly as they traveled from hall to hall. The master robot who first greeted Maita and crew their first trip to Library walked along with Happ for quite some time and seemed to be answering any questions he might ask without pause.
They were all back on Maita within an hour of the twenty, Z coming in last, more than three quarters of an hour late. They rested, but didn't discuss Library in any way. They decided to stay ten more hours, as that seemed to be about what Happ wanted, then were again headed outward.
*I found a world that should be interesting. The people there built very technologically advanced machines that may have survived. It's called Momfur. Would you be interested?*
[ I vote yes. ]
"Yes," Z said.
*Happ?*
"Me? What?" Happ asked.
[ You're aboard and what we do influences you so you have an equal vote here. Would you be interested in seeing Momfur? ]
"Oh! Er, yes! Certainly!" Happ said, looking puzzled.
"We vote on all kinds of things," Z explained. "You'll get used to it."
"But your three votes make my one pointless even if I were opposed," Happ argued.
[ You would then present your arguments for the negative vote. There are things you could say that would override our votes. ]
"Then the votes are not equal?" Happ asked. "Then the whole process is pointless."
*Your argument would have to be such that you could show you were placed in danger or that we were to be overriding. As a member of this crew your first responsibility is to the other members, then to yourself.*
"Before this trip I would have thought such a response to be specious," Happ said. "I think now you mean that exactly as you have said it.
"I spoke with the robots who run Library about you. They say you were individually placed on the recorders and you are not prone to falsity. They say each of you were on the recorder directly and these things are personal and not racial traits. Even Maita has input directly and openly.
"I do not pretend to understand any of you, but I do like all of you. I deeply respect you."
[ We don't understand your racial prerogatives either, but we like you as individuals. Are you aware that your society's hiding something? Something very important? ]
"I don't think so," Happ answered. "We have nothing to hide that I know of."
Z was thinking, then asked, "Why do you pretend you've done away with a military? You obviously haven't."
Happ looked helpless, then said, "Only in theory. It hasn't been used in any way since the dissolution of the empire."
*It's being used as a threat. Against yourselves. I begin to see some things – things that should have been resolved. You're truly a society in stasis, but perhaps you can break from that mold now. You have much to offer to us and we have much to offer you.*
[ The crime is against yourselves. You're too fine a race to do this. The Maitan Empire needs peoples like you. We seldom seek new races to bring into the empire, preferring to allow them to petition us, but the Krofpth have a great deal to offer to all others. It isn't right for you to deny it. You have every right to your choice, but you also have a responsibility to everyone else in the galaxy. That is the simple truth of existence. ]
"You're wasting your time arguing with Happ," Z stated. "He doesn't know the truth.
"What is it about Momfur that intrigues you, Maita?"
Maita and Thing both knew Z had come to some important conclusions about the Krofpth, but also k
new he wanted to confirm his idea himself so questioning would be pointless. The sudden difference in his attitude and tone of voice showed them he could be comfortable with what he thought.
They came in above Momfur, which was an average M2 world. It was quite dry now, but old lake and ocean beds left evidence of the fact the world was once lush.
[ What happened? The sun didn't expand did it? It doesn't show me the characteristics that would be left. ]
*This world had become quite dry when the Krofpth discovered it. It was already very highly advanced, technologically. If you remember those worlds where we opened the transmat stations so they could get minerals, that was the situation here. They had no large amounts of structural metals so were unable to move into space even with very advanced sciences. Krofpth established some trade with metals in exchange for the technology. This world's core has cooled enough for enough of a depth that most of the water is now deep underground. I believe it's possible there are cities very deep below the outer crust.*
[ They would have found metal supplies as they went more and more deeply into the planet and could probably have planoformed this world to a point where it would still be viable. They could have brought water from the outer worlds. Why didn't they? It would seem logical. ]
"Let's see what's still here," Z suggested. "Do you think it's really possible there are survivors down there?"
Again Maita and Thing could read Z's changing of the subject so went along. They would learn what he knew or suspected in time.
*Not now. There's no evidence there has been any life here for a long time. I think this is a race that died out completely.*
Z was fast looking for something to say. Maita saw that and got a bit of insight into what Z must think, so continued, *The race never had the basic drive to make it survive for long. It was a lack of a type we've repeatedly seen in our own travels. There's something vital missing in that there is something of a personal survival instinct, but not of a race survival instinct, if you get what I'm trying to say. No dynamic.*
[ How do you figure? I tend to agree about the social dynamic. ]
*Even with no metals to speak of they had the technology to build spaceships or anything else they wanted. I use floaters with fiberglass shields to travel in space. You've both used them in space. They had technology to produce gravitic repulsion drives. They built neither. The chance for their race to prove its worth came when the Krofpth contacted them and they actually saw that such things worked. They used fiberglass vehicles to go from planetary surfaces and even from world to world in a system, yet they did nothing. The race had no drive to grow. They were as much as handed the things they could use to advance themselves by the Krofpth Empire, but basically declined the offer. Their potential was truly tremendous, but they allowed it to pass unreached. They were doomed, probably at a time when their race wasn't yet fully evolved. As sad as it is, a great many races have no survival potential. This one didn't. It seems to be a genetic lack.*
Z could almost feel Happ's sudden interest and ... hope?
"Our empire wasn't altruistic to the extent they would have encouraged that much independent action," Happ protested. "Perhaps their potential was lost to no lack of their own."
"Bull crap!" Z snapped. "Their chance was there, full-blown, when your empire withdrew. They were even using the technology then themselves. They built things. They invented things. They simply gave up and got exactly what they deserved. They met their full potential long before they were even found by your empire. There was a limit to their viability and they passed it. It's that simple. A race who HAS a place in survival – will. If you'd bombed them into barbarism they would've re-evolved after you were gone. This race didn't have what it takes. Like Maita says, it's terribly sad, but it's also the way of the universe. We've seen it before. There's nothing anyone can do about it.
"This planet, right now, is no worse than Mars, Maita, and this is centuries past when they died out. It was much easier then.
"They had so much and threw it away. I'll bet they were very likeable, fine people. They just had a lack.
"I wonder how many races like this we shore up to no purpose in the empire? How many races who won't make the effort to save themselves even when it would be a very simple thing?"
*It's arguable as to purpose, but quite a large percent of them. You can probably count the races with the actual potential to reach our place on your fingers. The Maitans had it. Sadly, the Pweetoos had it. The Eacherons have it and the Acnians have it. Each from a different point of view. I think the Acnians are much like the Krofpth and much the same thing would happen except that we're the influence that would prevent them from the false idea of blaming themselves for things not under their control. Perhaps their T-hypnotic abilities would make them good leaders. They're a very compassionate people, but not to the extreme of the Krofpth.*
[ Shall we stop debating the inconsequentials and do a little exploring here? This planet and its people, for all the lacks in both, is exactly what I'm studying so far as societal imperatives are concerned. They as much as committed racial suicide at the time when they should've been expanding across the entire galaxy. As Maita noted, it was all right here and they knew about it. They lacked societal drive of any sort. It's a fantastic study of a race not worth, as Z would say, their salt. ]
They got aboard floaters and went aground. Maita sent several recording floaters to explore the planet while the others went to mounds of sand that were possibly covering something. A small driller-probe went through the mounds, but found nothing. Meanwhile, the floaters found two likely places to examine so the crew went back aboard Maita to land close to a large glass structure.
*I'd say more than half the thickness of the walls has been worn away by blowing sand. It's still about eight meters of solid tempered glass. There was an obvious entrance portal, but I can't see how to open it. If you need anything to say this race could have accomplished anything they made an effort to accomplish it sits right there in plain view.*
[ Cut an entrance and we'll reseal it when we leave. ]
A floater came with a laser, which cut into the structure in a large enough hole for them to enter, saving the plug to use as a seal. They went inside to find a deep open hole.
[ This will go to the uppermost levels of their last city. It probably had a gravitic resistor drop chute, but we'll have to use the floaters. The air tests too high in carbon dioxide and has virtually no oxygen so we'll have to breathe the air on the floaters. Look there. ]
It pointed a tentacle at some forms to one side of the shaft. They were statues of small furry beings.
"They look almost like the Trath," Z suggested. "Remember them, Thing? They were so cute and cuddly-looking, but were really mean little people. I wonder whatever happened to them? It's been three hundred years."
*They're about the same as when we were there. The religion we started is well-established and they aren't quite such repulsive little cute cuddly things as they were. It's not impossible they could grow into something, but I think they'll tend to be much like these people were psychologically. In another two or three thousand years Thing can see how exactly closely its sociomath has them figured.*
Z grinned, remembering the cute little beings who looked like cuddly Teddybears, but who automatically hated strangers. The very next race they met had looked, according to Z, "Mean as all hell!" but were very friendly, open, outgoing people. He knew how they were because they were members of the empire and were the major suppliers of gincha, which they introduced the original crew to.
They went down the shaft more than four kilometers before they came to the remnants of the city. It had been magnificent in its own way.
[ Well, they certainly had more than enough structural metals to go anywhere they wanted in the galaxy when they built this! This is built for comfort, not efficiency. I see terrible waste here. This society was in final decline long before this project was started. This is decadence to almost the exten
t of that place we went to when we started this trip. That Porth character. ]
"That conspicuous waste is always a sign of serious decay," Z agreed. "I don't have any sympathy for these people anymore. They had it all, yet they chose to let it sit here and rot! Whatever happened to them they definitely brought on themselves, that's for sure!"
*I'll use your floater to record as much of this as I can. You get on Thing's floater until it's done. There's not really much to see. A lot of deliberate destruction. I'd say from the looks of the base of the shaft the machines wore out and they didn't know what to do anymore so they waited until they died out. It's very sad. Very sad. All they had to do was climb the steps along the repair rail, yet they stayed down there and died. Very sad.*
"It is that," Z agreed. "Poor little things didn't have the basic survival instincts. What's so sad to me is I can picture them totally confused by what was happening. They couldn't know what was happening to them or why.
"The thing that bothers me about this kind of thing is that evolution can create such a race, then discard it so callously."
*The universe doesn't think nor does it consider or feel anything. It has no compassion nor cruelty. It is. You may wish to explore inside one or two of the dwellings or whatever they are before we go. Most anything of any consequence will have been destroyed, if not by time in the last days of this society's existence.*
They went into three separate buildings, but there was, as Maita suggested, nothing there. Everything inside was rotted away or taken out. There was evidence of fires in the large open building they checked.
[ I would deduce the machines began failing and they began burning anything flammable for light. They tried to build stairs out of here when the gravitic elevator broke down, they were out of food and light, then burned most of the oxygen out of their air. I'd say they died rather suddenly at the end. They never thought of opening the cavern to the repair stairs. They probably forgot they were even there. As you said, walk up those stairs to safety, but they ... didn't. It's that simple and that sad and that complicated. ]
