He sat so long without saying anything that Marlowe said, "You aren't clearing up the mystery very fast. You think that Willis's real name does mean something, don't you?-else you wouldn't have brought it up."
MacRae sat up with a jerk. "I do. I do indeed. I think Willis is sort of a Martian crown princess. Now wait a minute -don't throw anything. I won't get violent. That's a farfetched figure of speech. What do you think Willis is?"
"Me?" said Marlowe. "I think he's an example of exotic Martian fauna, semi-intelligent and adapted to his environment."
"Big words," complained the doctor. "I think he is what a Martian is before he grows up."
Marlowe looked pained. "There is no similarity of structure. They're as different as chalk and cheese."
"Granted. What's the similarity between a caterpillar and a butterfly?"
Marlowe opened his mouth and closed it. "I don't blame you," MacRae went on, "we never think of such metamorphosis in connection with higher types, whatever a 'higher type' is. But I think that is what Willis is and it appears to be why
Willis has to go back to his people soon. He's in the nymph stage; he's about to go into a pupal stage-some sort of a long hibernation. When he comes out he'll be a Martian."
Marlowe chewed his Up. "There's nothing unreasonable about it-just startling."
"Everything about Mars is startling. Another thing: we've never been able to find anything resembling sex on this planet -various sorts of species conjugation, yes, but no sex. It appears to me that we missed it. I think that all the nymph Martians, the bouncers, are female; all of the adults are male. They change. I use the terms for want of better ones, of course. But if my theory is correct-and mind you, I'm not saying it is-then it might explain why Willis is such an important personage. Eh?"
Marlowe said wearily, "You ask me to assimilate too much at once."
"Emulate the Red Queen. I'm not through. I think the Martians have still another stage, the stage of the 'old one' to whom I talked-and I think it's the strangest one of all. Jamie, can you imagine a people having close and everyday relations with Heaven-their heaven-as close and matter of fact as the relations between, say, the United States and Canada?"
"Doc, I'll imagine anything you tell me to."
"We speak of the Martian 'other world'; what does it mean to you?"
"Nothing. Some sort of a trance, such as me East Indians indulge in."
"I ask you because I talked, so they told me, to someone in the 'other world'-the 'old one' I mean. Jamie, I think I negotiated our new colonizing treaty with a ghost.
"Now just keep your seat," MacRae went on. "I'll tell you why. I was getting nowhere with him so I changed the subject. We were talking Basic, by the way; he had picked Jim's brains. He knew every word that Jim might know and none that Jim couldn't be expected to know. I asked him to assume, for the sake of argument, that we were to be allowed to stay -in which case, would the Martians let us use their subway system to get to Copais? I rode one of those subways to the conference. Very clever-the acceleration is always down, as if the room were mounted on gymbals. The old one had trouble understanding what I wanted. Then he showed me a globe of Mars-very natural, except that it had no canals. Gekko was with me, just as he was with Jim. The old one and Gekko had a discussion, the gist of which was what year was I at? Then the globe changed before my eyes, bit by bit. I saw the canals crawl across the face of Mars. I saw them being built, Jamie.
"Now I ask you," he concluded, "what kind of a being is it that has trouble remembering which millenium he is in? Do you mind if I tag him a ghost?"
"I don't mind anything," Marlowe assured him. "Maybe we're all ghosts."
"I've given you one theory, Jamie; here is another: bouncers are Martians and Old Ones are entirely separate races. Bouncers are third class citizens, Martians are second class citizens, and the real owners we never see, because they live down underneath. They don't care what we do with the surface as long as we behave ourselves. We can use the park, we can even walk on the grass, but we mustn't frighten the birds. Or maybe the 'old one' was just hypnosis that Gekko used on me, maybe it's bouncers and Martians only, with bouncers having some fanatical religious significance to Martians, the way Hindus feel about cows. You name it."
"I can't," said Marlowe. "I'm satisfied that you managed to negotiate an agreement that permits us to stay on Mars. I suppose it will be years before we understand the Martians."
"You are putting it mildly, Jamie. The white man was still studying the American Indian, trying to find out what makes him tick, five hundred years after Columbus-and the Indian and the European are both men, like as two peas. These are Martians. We'll never understand them; we aren't even headed in the same direction."
MacRae stood up. "I want to get a bath and some sleep.... after I see Jim."
"Just a minute. Doc, do you think we'll have any real trouble making this autonomy declaration stick?"
"It's got to stick. Relations with the Martians are eight times as delicate as we thought they were; absentee ownership isn't practical. Imagine trying to settle issues like this one by taking a vote back on Earth among board members that have never even seen a Martian."
"That's not what I mean. How much opposition will we run into?"
MacRae scratched his chin again. "Men have had to fight for their liberties before, Jamie. I don't know. It's up to us to convince the folks back on Earth that autonomy is necessary. With the food and population problem back on Earth being what it is, they'll do anything necessary-once they realize what we're up against-to keep the peace and continue migration. They don't want anything to hold up the Project."
"I hope you're right."
"m the long run I have to be right. We've got the Martians pitching on our team. Well, I'm on my way to break the news to Jim."
"He's not going to like it," said Jim's father. "He'll get over it. Probably he'll find another bouncer and teach him English and call him Willis, too. Then he'll grow up and not make pets of bouncers. It won't matter." He looked thoughtful, and added, "But what becomes of Willis? I wish I knew."
Jim took it well. He accepted MacRae's much expurgated explanation and nodded. "I guess if Willis has to hibernate, well, that's that. When they come for him, I won't make any fuss. It was just that Howe and Beecher didn't have any right to take him."
"That's the slant, son. But it's right for him to go with the Martians because they know how to take care of him, when he needs it. You saw that when you were with them."
"Yes." Jim added, "Can I visit him?"
"He won't know you. He'll be asleep."
"Well-look, when he wakes up, will he know me?"
MacRae looked grave. He had asked the old one the same question. "Yes," he answered truthfully, "he'll have all his memory intact." He did not give Jim the rest of the answerthat the transition period would last more than forty Earth years.
"Well, that won't be so bad. I'm going to be awfully busy in school right now, anyhow."
"That's the spirit."
Jim looked up Frank and they went to their old room, vacant of womenfolk at the moment. Jim cradled Willis in his arms and told Frank what Doc hadJold him. Willis listened, but the conversation was apparently over the little Martian's depth; Willis made no comment. Presently Willis became bored with it and started to sing. The selection was the latest Willis had heard, the tango Frank had presented to Jim: iQuien Es La Senorita?
When it was over Frank said, "You know, Willis sounds exactly like a girl when he sings that."
Jim chuckled. "Quien Es La Senorita?, Willis?"
Willis managed to look indignant. "Willis fine boy'" she insisted.