Arjala could delude herself only so far; she was far too intelligent to live a lie forever. And she, like Janchan and Zarqa, had recognized the tenor of converse between the two black Skymen. She knew what “dissection” meant. She knew the horrid agony that awaited the helpless Kalood beneath the bright lights and the sterile knives—and her mind winced and shuddered and recoiled in loathing at the knowledge.
Her gods were not gods but monsters of inhuman cruelty. Not supermen, but cold-blooded, torturing maniacs. It was intolerable, unendurable! But it was the truth, and she must face it. She had been completely wrong, in her spoiled pride and vanity and stubborn blindness. And the others… they had been right all along.
Let us leave her to her lonely agony of self-knowledge, as there in the sunlit hall, among the vapid, listless, wandering captives, the Goddess discovered herself to be nothing more than a woman, and a proud, foolish, overweening one, at that.
Chapter 14
Beast or Human?
Following the examination of the beast-creatures, Ralidux returned to his quarters to make entries concerning the newly acquired test-subjects in his log of experiments. He felt obscurely troubled, almost uneasy, but the cause of these perturbations was too elusive to be given a name.
Concluding his note-taking, the ebon savant drank a goblet of an effervescent beverage, supped lightly on herbcakes, and strolled into his garden thinking to relieve his mind by meditating on the beauties of cultivated foliage. But the peace of mind he sought continued to elude him.
The garden of Ralidux was a fairyland of immense, hybrid blossoms, some of which glowed luminously against the gloom, while others shed on the evening air exquisite perfumes. Narrow paths strewn with radiant crystal dust meandered between banks of mysterious flowers. Artificial fountains tinkled in the murmurous silence, and small bridges arched over wandering rivulets.
The Flying City generally floated at a height of six or seven miles above the surface of the planet, at a level some miles above the tops of even the tallest trees. The air was thin and cold, but breathable even at this extreme height, as the leafage of the giant trees, transmuting carbon monoxide into oxygen by the process of photosynthesis, released copious supplies of the gas into the upper layers of the atmosphere. However, the temperatures at this extreme height were arctic, and the gardens of Ralidux were roofed with domes of crystal so that the delicate blooms would not become blighted by the chill.
It was night on the World of the Green Star. The impenetrable mists which veiled the skies of the planet hid the stars from view, and, as this world went unaccompanied by any lunar attendants, the night was one of intensest gloom. In the velvety darkness, the phosphorescent flowers shimmered like ghostly lamps, dimly crimson, dark gold, glowing jade and amethyst and lucent azure.
The flowers were grouped so that their colored luminosities should show to best advantage by contrast. The hybrids had been bred for this luminosity through patient toil. Radioactive salts, mingled in their soil-beds, resulted in their phosphorescence. Generally, the luminous beauty of his garden soothed and made tranquil the mind of Ralidux. On this particular evening, however, tranquility eluded him.
The intelligence of the ebon savant was of far too high an order to permit him the luxury of self-delusion. Ralidux knew the cause of his perturbation lay in the all-too-human emotion he had glimpsed in the eyes of one of the male specimens—the one his notes listed as L-3394-M. Ralidux had examined the bodies of many of the captive beast-creatures before; usually, they were either paralyzed by fear or sluggish and apathetic. The quick response he had observed in this particular specimen, however, had been occasioned by the laboratory attendants’ handling of one of the females. As it happened, very few female specimens had ever been taken captive on zawkaw raids before, and those few had generally been of advanced age. The protective instincts of the male specimens, therefore, had seldom been roused before in the presence of Ralidux.
That the specimen should possess such instincts, indicative of a higher order of intelligence than was generally conceded to the beast-creatures, puzzled him. Ralidux had studied with great curiosity the annals of the past, and knew that human beings such as himself possessed an instinct for the protection of their women. Heretofore he had always regarded the instinct as a token of high intelligence, an instinct denied to the lower orders of mammalian life. To observe it in the conduct of this particular male specimen intrigued his curiosity.
An interrogative mewling cry disturbed the stillness of the dark garden. A small, sleekly furred creature emerged from the boughs of a glossy-leafed bush and sprang lightly to his shoulder. Absently, he fondled its silken ears as his pet mlimnoth turned its huge, moony eyes upon him plaintively.
“By rights the specimens ought to display an intelligence no higher than yours, my little friend,” Ralidux murmured, stroking the silken blue fur of the dainty, marmoset-like creature. “And its eyes should contain no brighter spark than do your own,” he added, as the delicate little creature peered at him with immense eyes of luminous amber. “I wonder… is it possible the beast-creatures are evolving into a higher order?”
On impulse, the beautiful black man reentered his apartments and touched dials set in the wall beneath an octagon of dimly lucent crystal. Light glowed behind the crystal pane and, before long, there formed within the plate the face of an older person whose lined features and glaring quicksilver eyes displayed ill-temper.
“Forgive me for disturbing you at so late an hour, esteemed Clyon,” began Ralidux. The image cut him off with a quick gesture.
“To have thus interrupted my preliminary meditations is an affront,” the aged savant said. “However, I was but sampling my variety of essences and extracts, preparatory to creating the appropriate mood of inner serenity. What is the cause of this late call?”
“Kalistus and I were subjecting some recently captured beast-creatures to the penetrative rays. I thought I detected signs of superior intelligence in one male specimen, when a female, perhaps its mate, was being handled by the attendants.”
“The instinct of the male to protect the female should afford you no particular surprise,” sniffed the elder with some asperity. “The protective instinct has been noted in previous cases—the records of the 7-sequence, I believe, preserve the observance.”
Ralidux shook his head.
“Not so, honorable Clyon. I have just scrutinized those records, and in that particular the protective instinct was displayed by a brood-female, angered by the molestation of her cubs.”
“Is that so?” Clyon queried absently. “Well, perhaps you are correct. At any rate, the datum is not sufficiently important to cause me to postpone my meditations. The L-sequence is in your hands, yours and those of young Kalistus, and have naught to do with my own studies.”
“I was wondering if the beast-creatures might not be evolving into a higher order,” Ralidux suggested diffidently. Clyon’s image looked first amused, then indignant.
“An heretical concept, young Ralidux! Over nine millennia have passed since the immortal Lysippus, with the concurrence of the Council of Science, established the doctrine of the bestiality of the creatures, and their innate inferiority.”
Ralidux nodded. “Yes, senior, but the same Council also established the doctrine of evolution, according to which the lower orders are consistently striving toward superior forms and higher refinements of their intellectual processes.”
Clyon eyed him sternly.
“The hour of my meditation approaches,” he said with finality. “My mood of passive receptivity must be encouraged, due to this delay, by imbibition of a narcotic. Your interruption was poorly timed, and the direction of your thinking leads toward heretical doctrine. Beware of intellectual error, my young friend. Continue the L-sequence as bade by Council decree, and cease pondering these dangerous fallacies.”