“And the religious cult you have in this crater? Is that your work?”
“It is my own little experiment in human gullibility.”
“I thought so. To be frank, it lacks the grandeur of Klystar’s set-ups. You probably didn’t even need to use thought-beams. Human prophets aplenty have made people discard their reason, using nothing more than persuasion and charisma.”
“I-Klystar am sure you are right. But what a pity your species is so amenable to these ploys.”
Laedo changed the subject. “What happens when Klystar comes back? Will you be reunited with him?”
“No, this body is worn out. A new body will have to be prepared for Klystar’s return.”
“So what will happen to you?”
“Either Klystar will destroy me or I will simply be left to age and die.”
“And when is he coming back?”
“He has been overdue for some time now. Perhaps he has found something of unusual interest, or perhaps he no longer wishes to review the results of his social experiments. There could be many reasons for his lateness.”
“Where has he gone?”
“To another galaxy, I believe. I do not know which one.”
Laedo was impressed. “Is he native to this galaxy?”
“His kind evolved on a planet of an intergalactic star. Most intelligent beings have a similar origin.
Galaxies are generally too young to have produced intelligent life.”
Again Laedo paused for thought. “What if Klystar never comes back?”
“The experiments will continue until the suns run out of power. That will be in about three hundred years time.”
“Why don’t you act on your own initiative?” Laedo challenged. “You could bring this nonsense to an end now.”
“You proposal does not make sense. I-Klystar am an aspect of Klystar. Klystar’s wishes are law. Would your hand disobey you?”
‘Klystar’ started back up the slope. Laedo hurried to keep up with him.
“If Klystar meets members of his own species, does he talk to them?” he asked. “Or to members of other fully intelligent species?”
“The latter is more likely since his own species is scattered after so much time. When intelligent beings meet they usually trade knowledge. They have little social interest in one another apart from that.”
Laedo reflected that according to what ‘Klystar’ had said, intelligence must currently be a rare occurrence in the universe, confined to those stars which happened to be older than the galaxies. Yet the time would come when the galaxies themselves burgeoned with intelligence. The older generation would then be eclipsed.
He was reminded of the overthrow of the ancient Titans by the younger gods in Greek myth.
“I wonder if you would do something for me,” he said. My ship needs a repair. The replacement of a part which can be manufactured quite easily. Will you help me? Then I can continue my journey and return home.”
“I’m afraid I cannot allow you to leave the Erspia worlds,” ‘Klystar’ told him apologetically. “You would summon help and jeopardise the experiment. You will have to spend your remaining days here. Join the staff of one of the pleasure palaces. The time should pass enjoyably enough.”
It was the reply Laedo had expected, but it still annoyed him. “Klystar shouldn’t have carried out the experiment in the first place!” he retorted. “You should study the doctrine of karmayoga. I’ll explain it to you. There is a law of nature which applies to our actions, like the law of action and reaction in physics except that it takes longer to work. Everything you do to another being, good or bad, rebounds on you.
If you act towards another in a way which is hurtful or harmful, then at some time in the future the consequences of that action will strike you too. Think of the bad karma Klystar is bringing on himself with these experiments!”
“I am already familiar with the karmayoga doctrine,” ‘Klystar’ replied. “It involves two errors. Firstly, if the universe is indeed an ethical construct, then the law of karma can apply only to fully self-directed beings such as Klystar. Human beings lack inner unity, have only flickering consciousness, and do not control their actions, and therefore cannot be held responsible for those actions. They are ethical blanks.”
“All right, but where does that leave Klystar?” Laedo pressed earnestly. “He is self-directed!”
“Secondly, the universe is not an ethical construct, anyway, ‘Klystar’ continued implacably. “There is no law of karma. There is no cosmic retribution. It is one of countless myths the human race has invented in order to delude itself.”
Laedo’s annoyance turned to anger. “Well, as you’re so clever I suppose you must be right, but it’s still the law I live by! Perhaps there’s something you don’t know. Perhaps the universe itself evolves by producing conscious creatures. You say Klystar belongs to the first generation of such creatures, spawned between the galaxies from the earliest stars. Perhaps that generation is deficient, primitive in some way, a first attempt. Perhaps the second generation will be better. Perhaps even we poor human beings have qualities which Klystar’s kind don’t. The law of karma might make its appearance in future ages.”
‘Klystar’ stopped walking, gazing at Laedo, shifting his head to use yet another sequential combination of his five eyes.
“Are you sure that you live according to the philosophy of karmayoga ?” he enquired politely. “I-Klystar have been aware of your travels. The projector station which you appropriated has been reporting its movements to me. So I-Klystar know that you disengaged the Ormazdian thought beam, leaving only the Ahrimanic beam to irradiate the world below it. Do you realize what horrors you have inflicted on thousands of helpless people by so doing, simply in order to further your own ends? Where is ‘right action’ in that?”
‘Klystar’ strode on, but this time Laedo did not follow him. He just stood where he was.
He was stunned.
EIGHT
The Mansion of Pleasure
Laedo couldn’t understand why he hadn’t thought about this before. He distinctly remembered the moment when, with a mental shrug, he had pulled the lever which switched off the ‘good’ Ormazdian beam. Since then he had experienced not one flicker of conscience or remorse.
How could a Class CCC cargo carrier, with a corresponding ethical rating, have done such a thing?
Then, too, he had locked Histrina in the radiation safe while he went exploring on Erspia-4, without adequate provision for her plight should he fail to return.
Only one explanation occurred to him. Despite his precautions, the thought beams had affected him.
Without his being aware of it, he had become mentally confused.
It was, he conceded ruefully, yet one more confirmation of the human condition so belittled by ‘Klystar’.
Could a thought beam affect Klystar himself? Presumably not. It was a question of individuality. Social insects such as ants, bees and termites had none. They could not distinguish one another as individuals, only as members of a caste: worker, drone or warrior. Klystar stood at the other extreme: he was pure individual, able to achieve unaided what would take an entire society of human beings. He had no need of companionship or co-operation.
Mankind stood midway between the two: a social being with some level of intelligence. For that reason human beings were susceptible to thought-moulding.
Laedo asked himself what he could do to remedy his dreadful act. Return the projector station to Erspia-1 and switch the beam back on? He didn’t yet know how to do the first. In fact ‘Klystar’ had made it sound as though he never would be able to take control of the station.