Loodum Antyok took his measure doubtfully and said, 'There's no use denying that you're right. But the Sci-Group report was confidential. I don't understand how -' 'It leaked,' said Bannerd, callously. 'Everything leaks.' Antyok was obviously baffled, and his pink face furrowed slightly, Then I'll just have to plug the leak here. I can't pass your story. All references to SciGroup complaints have to come out. You see that, don't you?'
'No.' Bannerd was calm enough. 'It's important; and I have my rights under the Imperial directive. I think the Empire should know what's going on.'
'But it isn't going on,' said Antyok, despairingly. 'Your claims are all wrong. The bureau isn't going to change its policy. I showed you the letters.'
'You think you can stand up against Zammo when he puts the pressure on?' the newsman asked derisively.
'I will - if I think he's wrong.'
'If!' stated Bannerd flatly. Then, in a sudden fervor, 'Antyok, the Empire has something great here; something greater by a good deal than the government apparently realizes. They're destroying it. They're treating these creatures like animals.'
'Really-' began Antyok, weakly.
'Don't talk about Cepheus 18. It's a zoo. It's a high-class zoo, with your petrified scientists teasing those poor creatures with their sticks poking through the bars. You throw them chunks of meat, but you cage them up. I know! I've been writing about them for two years now. I've almost been living with them.'
'Zammo says -'
'Zammo!' This with hard contempt.
'Zammo says,' insisted Antyok with worried firmness, 'that we treat them too like humans as it is.'
The newsman's straight, long cheeks were rigid, 'Zammo is rather animallike in his own right. He is a science-worshiper. We can do with less of them. Have you read Aureh'on's works?' The last was suddenly posed.
'Umm. Yes. I understand the Emperor -'
'The Emperor tends towards us. That is good - better than the hounding of the last reign.'
'I don't see where you're heading?'
These aliens have much to teach us. You understand? It is nothing that Zammo and his Sci-Group can use; no chemistry, no telepathy. It's a way of life; a way of thinking. The aliens have no crime, no misfits. What effort is being made to study their philosophy? Or to set them up as a problem in social engineering?'
Antyok grew thoughtful, and his plump face smoothed out, 'It is an interesting consideration. It would be a matter for psychologists -'
'No good. Most of them are quacks. Psychologists point out problems, but their solutions are fallacious. We need men of Aurelion. Men of the Philosophy -'
'But look here, we can't turn Cepheus 18 into… into a metaphysical study.'
'Why not? It can be done easily.'
'How?'
'Forget your puny test-tube peerings. Allow the aliens to set up a society free of Humans. Give them an untrammeled independence and allow an intermingling of philosophies -'
Antyok's nervous response came,'That can't be done in a day.'
'We can start in a day.'
The administrator said slowly, 'Well, I can't prevent you from trying to start.' He grew confidential, his mild eyes thoughtful, 'You'll ruin your own game, though, if you publish SciGroup 10's report and denounce it on humanitarian grounds. The Scientists are powerful.'
'And we of The Philosophy as well.'
'Yes, but there's an easy way. You needn't rave. Simply point out that the SciGroup is not solving its problems. Do so unemotionally and let the readers think out your point of view for -themselves. Take the birth-rate problem, for instance. There's something for you. In a generation, the non-Humans might die out, for all science can do. Point out that a more philosophical approach is required. Or pick some other obvious point. Use your judgment, eh?'
Antyok smiled ingratiatingly as he arose, 'But, for the Galaxy's sake, don't stir up a bad smell.'
Bannerd was stiff and unresponsive, 'You may be right.'
It was later that Bannerd wrote in a capsule message to a friend, 'He is not clever, by any means. He is confused and has no guiding-line through life. Certainly utterly incompetent in his job. But he's a cutter and a trimmer, compromises his way around difficulties, and will yield concessions rather than risk a hard stand. He may prove valuable in that. Yours in Aurelion.'
From: AdHQ-Cephl8
To: BuOuProv
Subject: Birth rate of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, News Report on. References:
(a) AdHQ-Cephl8 letr. AA-LA/mn, dated 174/977 G.E.
(b) Imperial Directive, Ja2374, dated 243/975 G.E. Enclosures:
1-G. Bannerd news report, date-lined Cepheus 18, 201/977 G.E.
2-G. Bannerd news report, date-lined Cepheus 18, 203/977 G.E.
1. The sterility of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, reported to the BuOuProv in reference (a), has become the subject of news reports to the galactic press. The news reports in question are submitted herewith for the information of the BuOuProv as Enclosures 1 and 2. Although said reports are based on mat erial considered confidential and closed to the public, the news reporter in question maintained his rights to free expression under the terms of reference (b).
2. In view of the unavoidable publicity and misunderstand ing on the part of the general public now inevitable, it is re quested that the BuOuProv direct future policy on the prob lem of non-Human sterility.
L. Antyok, Superv.
AdHQ-Cephl8, 209/977 G.E.
From: BuOuProv
To: AdHQ-Cephl8
Subject: Birth rate of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, Investigation of. References:
(a) AdHQ-Cephl8 letr. AA-LA/mn, dated 209/977 G.E.
(b) AdHQ-Cephl8 letr. AA-LA/mn, dated 174/977 G.E.
1. It is proposed to investigate the causes and the means of precluding the unfavorable birth-rate phenomena mentioned in references (a) and (b). A project is therefore set up, entitled, 'Birth rate of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, Investigation of* to which, in view of the crucial importance of the subject, a priority of AA is given.
2. The number assigned to the subject project is 2910, and all expenses incidental to it shall be assigned to Appropriation number 18/78.
C, Morily, Chief,
BuOuProY, 223/977 G.E.
III
If Tomor Zammo's ill-humor lessened within the grounds of SciGroup 10 Experimental Station, his friendliness had not thereby increased. Antyok found himself standing alone at the viewing window into the main field laboratory.
The main field laboratory was a broad court set at the environmental conditions of Cepheus 18 itself for the discomfort of the experimenters and the convenience of the experimem-tees. Through the burning sand, and the dry, oxygen-rich air, there sparkled the hard brilliance of hot, white sunlight. And under the blaze, the brick-red non-Humans, wrinkled of skin and wiry of build, huddled in their squatting positions of ease, by ones and twos.
Zammo emerged from the laboratory. He paused to drink water thirstily. He looked up, moisture gleaming on his upper lip, 'Like to step in there?'
Antyok shook his head definitely, 'No, thank you. What's the temperature right now?'
'A hundred twenty, if there were shade. And they complain of the cold. It's drinking time now. Want to watch them drink?'
A spray of water shot upward from the fountain in the center of the court, and the little alien figures swayed to their feet and hopped eagerly forward in a queer, springy half-run. They milled about the water, jostling one another. The centers of their faces were suddenly disfigured by the projection of a long and flexible fleshy tube, which thrust forward into the spray and was withdrawn dripping.
It continued for long minutes. The bodies swelled and the wrinkles disappeared. They retreated slowly, backing away, with the drinking tube flicking in and out, before receding finally into a pink, wrinkled mass above a wide, lipless mouth. They went to sleep in groups in the shaded angles, plump and sated.
'Animals!' said Zammo, with contempt.
'How often do they drink?' asked Antyok.
'As often as they want. They can go a week if they have to. We water them every day. They store it under their skin. They eat in the evenings. Vegetarians, you know.'
Antyok smiled chubbily, 'It's nice to get a bit of firsthand information occasionally. Can't read reports all the time.'
'Yes?' - noncommittally. Then, 'What's new? What about the lacy-pants boys on Trantor?'
Antyok shrugged dubiously, "You can't get the Bureau to commit itself, unfortunately. With the Emperor sympathetic to the Aurelionists, humanitarianism is the order of the day. You know that.'