«And that’s important? Even after you are dead?»
«Of course it is important. Even after I am dead.»
Sutton looked at his watch. «I think,» he said, «it may be time now. It just occurred to me. Have you had anything to eat?»
«No,» said Latimer. «I hadn’t thought of it before. But I am hungry.»
«There’ll be snacks in the bar,» said Sutton. «Enough to hold you until dinner.»
«One more question before we leave,» said Latimer. «You said the reptiles showed some evolutionary trends. In what direction? How have they changed?»
«In many ways,» said Sutton. «Bodily changes, of course. Perhaps ecological changes as well—behavioral changes, although I can’t be sure of that. I can’t know what their behavior was before. Some of the bigger carnivores haven’t changed at all. Perhaps a bit more ability in a number of cases. Their prey may have become faster, more alert, and the carnivores had to develop a greater agility or starve. But the most astonishing change is in intelligence. There is one species, a brand-new species so far as I know, that seems to have developed a pronounced intelligence. If it is intelligence, it is taking a strange direction. It’s hard to judge correctly. You must remember that of all the stupid things that ever walked the earth, some of the dinosaurs ranked second to none. They didn’t have a lick of sense.»
«You said intelligence in a strange direction.»
«Let me try to tell you. I’ve watched these jokers for hours on end. I’m almost positive that they handle herds of herbivores—herbivorous reptiles, that is. They don’t run around them like sheepdogs manage sheep, but I am sure they do control them. There are always a few of them watching the herds, and while they’re watching them, the herds do no straying—they stay together like a flock of sheep tended by dogs. They move off in orderly fashion when there is need to move to a new pasture. And every once in a while, a few members of the herd will detach themselves and go ambling off to a place where others of the so-called intelligent dinosaurs are hanging out, and there they are killed. They walk in to be slaughtered. I can’t get over the feeling that the herbivores are meat herds, the livestock of the intelligent species. And another thing. When carnivores roam in, these intelligent jokers shag them out of there. Not by chasing them or threatening them. Just by moving out where they can be seen. Then they sit down, and after the carnivores have looked them over, the carnivores seem to get a little jittery, and after a short time they move off.»
«Hypnotism? Some sort of mental power?»
«Possibly.»
«That wouldn’t have to be intelligence. It could be no more than an acquired survival trait.»
«Somehow I don’t think so. Other than watching herds and warning off carnivores—if that is what they’re doing—they sit around a lot among themselves. Like a hunch of people talking. That’s the impression I get, that they are talking. None of the social mannerisms that are seen among primates—no grooming, horseplay, things like that. There seems to be little personal contact—no touching, no patting, no stroking. As if none of this were needed. But they dance. Ritualistic dancing of some sort. Without music. Nothing to make music with. They have no artifacts. They haven’t got the hands that could fashion artifacts. Maybe they don’t need tools or weapons or musical instruments. Apparently they have certain sacred spots. Places where they go, either singly or in small groups, to meditate or worship. I know of one such place; there may be others. No idols, nothing physical to worship. A secluded spot. Seemingly a special place. They have been using it for years. They have worn a path to it, a path trod out through the centuries. They seem to have no form of worship, no rituals that must be observed. They simply go and sit there. At no special time. There are no Sundays in this world. I suspect they go only when they feel the need of going.»
«It is a chilling thought,» said Latimer.
«Yes, I suppose it is.»
He looked at his watch again. «I am beginning to feel the need of that drink,» he said. «How about you?»
«Yes» said Latimer, «I could do with one.»
And now, he told himself, he had a few more of the answers. He knew how the staff at Auk House was changed, where the supplies came from.
Everything and everyone, apparently, was channeled and routed from this operations center. Prime world, from time to time, furnished supplies and personnel and then the rest was handled here.
He found himself puzzled by Sutton’s attitude. The man seemed quite content, bore no resentment over being exiled here. They are not monsters, he had said, implying that the men in this operation were reasonable and devoted men working in the public interest. He was convinced that someday his book would be published, according him posthumous vindication. There had been, as well, Latimer remembered, Enid’s poems and Dorothy’s novel. Had the poems and the novel been published back in prime world, perhaps under pseudonyms, works so excellent that it had been deemed important that they not be lost?
And what about the men who had done the research that had resulted in the discovery of the alternate worlds and had worked out the technique of reaching and occupying them? Not still on prime world, certainly; they would pose too great a danger there. Retired, perhaps, to estates on some of the alternate worlds.
They walked around one of the clumps of trees with which the park was dotted, and from a distance Latimer heard the sound of children happy at their play.
«School is out,» said Sutton. «Now it’s the children’s hour.»
«One more thing,» said Latimer, «if you don’t mind. One more question. On all these other alternate worlds you mention, are there any humans native to those worlds? Is it possible there are other races of men?»
«So far as I know,» said Sutton, «man rose only once, on prime world. What I have told you is not the entire story, I imagine. There may be much more to it. I’ve been too busy to attempt to find out more. All I told you are the things I have picked up in casual conversation. I do not know how many other alternate worlds have been discovered, nor on how many of them stations have been established. I do know that on Auk world there are several stations other than Auk House.»
«By stations, you mean the places where they put the undesirables.»
«You put it very crudely, Mr. Latimer, but yes, you are quite right. On the matter of humans arising elsewhere, I think it’s quite unlikely. It seems to me that it was only by a combination of a number of lucky circumstances that man evolved at all. When you take a close look at the situation, you have to conclude that man had no right to expect to evolve. He is a sort of evolutionary accident.»
«And intelligence? Intelligence rose on prime world, and you seem to have evidence that it has risen here as well. Is intelligence something that evolution may be aiming at and will finally achieve, in whatever form on whatever world? How can you be sure it has not risen on Auk world? At Auk House, only a few square miles have been explored. Perhaps not a great deal more around the other stations.»
«You ask impossible questions,» said Sutton shortly. «There is no way I can answer them.»
They had reached a place from which a full view of the headquarters building was possible and now there were many people—men and women walking about or sunning themselves, stretched out on the grass, people sitting on terraces in conversational groups, while children ran gaily, playing a childish game.
Sutton, who had been walking ahead of Latimer, stopped so quickly that Latimer, with difficulty, averted bumping into him.