Melina…
There was no doubt now: he was getting warm! He knew these figures had not been carved by men; they were part of the alien structure. The aliens had put them there. Why?
Could this be a message intended for men?
He studied it. Both the man and the woman were looking out from the column, interest in their faces. Hauser looked in the direction they were looking. There, at the edge of the circular platform, was a chamber. It was about the size and shape of a man.
It seemed an obvious enough invitation. He could step into that chamber—and what? Be pickled for future reference, a specimen of Homo sapiens? The term meant “rational man,” but he wasn’t sure it would be rational to take the suggested action!
Yet if the aliens had known of man, they must also have known how to capture a specimen if they wanted it. They didn’t need to set a roach trap for the adventurous soul who found this hidden place.
He looked again at the figures on the column. Could these be examples of many creatures the aliens had known, the males and females of the systems of the galaxy? One set of each, like in Noah’s ark? So was this some kind of memorial, and any creature who visited it would find himself represented?
But why?
He looked more closely at some of the other figures. Many were indecipherable, but others were vaguely recognizable. For example, there was a perfectly good set of BEMs—Bug Eyed Monsters—of the type usually drafted for Evil Menace duty in comic videos. Their bugging eyes were gazing out at a chamber evidently designed to contain a BEM.
One figure looked like a cross between a giant spider and a small snake. Sure enough, there was a chamber made for it too.
Since there were no such creatures on Earth, and never had been, as far as he knew, any such beings who appeared here had to be galactic travelers. They would not fall for any roach trap!
Then it came to him: communication! These must be communications chambers, each for its own species. A central phone system, maybe, so that travelers could call home, or at least find out where the local facilities were.
Did he trust the ancient aliens?
What did he have to lose?
Hauser went to the man-chamber and stepped inside.
There was a faint flash of green light, and a measured clicking, as of something starting up. Then—
The galaxy was crisscrossed by lines of communication and trade…
So this was where he had remembered this from! The alien indoctrination tape. Now he had it in its proper order. He listened and looked, not with his senses but with his mind.
At the edge of the galaxy, still far from the maw of its central black hole, dust was spiraling in, and new stars were forming. Some of them acquired planetary systems, some of which were suitable for the development of life. Some of these “living ” planets were prospects for new trade, to replace those being lost at the interior as their systems entered the event horizon and were lost. Experience had shown that the process could be facilitated by seeding: by presenting advanced technology to nascent traders, and facilitating their development to full trader status. Thus the network of the galaxy was maintained at a constant level despite the continuing loss of advanced planets. The appearance and chemistry of the new species did not matter; the only requirements were that they be capable of mastering advanced technology and using it in a positive way.
The normal course was for a trading species to develop after several billion years of life on a planet, if some natural cataclysm didn’t wipe it out. Such a species could proceed from the first realization of mind as a commercial force to interstellar travel in just a few million years. It could then achieve galactic contact and trade in a few hundred years—if appropriately seeded. The chance of an unseeded species reaching full trading status was only one in ten; about half destroyed their planets and therefore themselves in the course of making the breakout to space. Many of the rest lost interest and turned away from space, preferring the security of isolation. But seeded species had a 50 percent chance because they were caught at the first surge of their ambition and were able to follow through before destroying their habitat by war, depletion of resources, or accident.
But there was risk in seeding. Sometimes a species that would have been eliminated by natural selection (destroying itself) was enabled to survive. Such a rogue species could then embark on the destruction of legitimate species, using the technology in a negative instead of positive manner. The rogue species tended to like conquest for its own sake, failing to appreciate the advantage of normal trade. If allowed to continue, such a species would wreak the same havoc on the galaxy as it did on its home planet, culminating in destruction on a far broader scale.
Yes, Hauser thought, and the presentation paused the moment his private thought took over, allowing him time to assimilate the material in his own way. Give a child a gun, and he may start shooting other children. That wasn’t smart.
So precautions were taken, and these were effective. One such precaution was in requiring the prospect species to achieve limited space travel on its own, before being seeded; that ensured that only a species cable of a sustained and well-executed effort of the proper nature would profit by it. Another was in concealing the full nature of the seeding so that an incurious species might not take advantage of it. The third precaution was unspecified.
However, the time between the establishment of the seeding and the implementation of it ranged from thousands to millions of years. It was possible that not only the individuals who did the seeding but their entire species would be defunct before the seeded species manifested as a trader. Once the seeding was done, it would not be reversed. There would be no second-guessing. That made the decision critical.
Hauser reacted again. Before a man gave a child a loaded gun, he should think very carefully about it! Especially if he knew that he would have no way to take it back. So he might set it on a high shelf so that the child wouldn’t be able to reach it until he grew up, and then he might conceal its nature so that the child who didn’t inspect it carefully might throw it away unused. But the child who grew up and had the wit to understand the gun might find it very useful in protecting his home from molestation.
It wasn’t a perfect analogy, but it would do. Mankind was in certain respects childish, and this was evidently a most sophisticated alien construction, on a grand scale. What was it for? It didn’t seem to be a spaceship, though he couldn’t rule that out.
Well, man had achieved limited space travel, so the first requirement had been met. If he could figure out what this thing was, and how to use it, that would be the second. That would leave only the third. Unspecified? What did that mean? That it varied with the species? Well, maybe he would find out, after he figured out the rest.
He relaxed and let the show continue. He was on his way to learning what he had come for, and it promised to be far more than he had imagined!
The normal course for a trading species was to rise within its planet, achieve travel between planets, receive the seeding, progress to galactic trading, seed new prospects, and retire as its stellar system was carried into the central maw of the galaxy. There were many variants of this process, and the duration of the trading species varied widely. Of course, a species could survive beyond the demise of its home system, by colonizing systems farther out, and many did. But generally the heart of a species died when its home system was lost, and the species preferred to expire with it, leaving the ongoing process of civilization to those who followed.
One such trader was the No’ui. The No’ui were specialists in seeding, and had done it for a wide variety of prospective species. They were good at large construction and especially strong on chemistry. None of their seedings had failed for inherent reasons; their analysis and technology were sound. Thus they were the ones to seed some of the more difficult prospects.