There was a loose-jointed gauntness about the news reporter which made him appear somberly tall. He was Gustiv Bannerd, with whose reputation was combined ability – two things which do not invariably go together despite the maxims of elementary morality.
Loodun Antyok took his measure doubtfully and said, ‘There’s no use denying that you’re right. But the SciGroup 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 Aurelion’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 SciGroup 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-Ceph18
To: BuOuProv
Subject: Birth rate of non-Humans on Cepheus 18, News Report on.
References:
(a) AdHQ-Ceph18 letr. AA-LNmn, dated 174/977 G.E.
(b) Imperial Directive, Ja2374, dated 243/975 G.E.
Enclosures:
