We apparently have the freedom to come and go with the escort of one or the other hunters. Jin himself has entertained us in Parm Tower hall and given us gifts which we are hard put to reciprocate.
The people are well‑fed, well‑clothed and in all have a healthy look. Jin enumerates his plans for more fields, more towers, wider range of his hunters to the north…
Memo, E, McGee to Committee
It seems to me that it is a deceptively easy assumption that these Styxsiders are recapitulating some naturalcourse of human society. This is selective seeking‑out of evidence to fit the model Dr. Genley wishes to support. He totally ignores the contrary evidence of the Cloud Towers, who have grown up in a very different pattern.
Message from field: R. Genley
I thank the committee for the inclusion of the reports.
As for Dr. McGee’s assertion that I am selecting my data, I would be interested to see this presented in full, rather than in an inter‑office memo, if she has obtained any new data from the Cloud.
As for the earlier data I am of course familiar with it. It is not surprising that one of the communities has managed to cling to their ancestral ways and, in their unstressed river‑plain environment, lack the impetus to change. It is inconceivable that their ways would survive except for the circumstance of their origin which flung them into close community: they were, be it remembered, a settlement of refugees. They are not coping well. Their cultivated areas are small. They do not hunt widely, if at all. They are predominantly fishers, which is an occupation, at least as practiced on Gehenna, which does not require physical strength.
The critical difference is the necessity of physical strength in the hunter culture of the Styx, a difference which should be self‑evident given the biological realities of the human species.
Memo, E. McGee to Committee
Copy transmitted to R. Genley
It is a difficult task to extricate the observer from the observation. I do not believe we are out here at considerable expense to seek to reaffirm theories dearly held by our various disciplines, but to faithfully record what exists, and secondly to challenge, where appropriate, theories which become questionable in the light of observed fact.
It is possible that the entanglement of the observer with the observation throughout history, along with the sorrowful fact that in general only the winners write the accounts of wars, has tended to advance certain cultural values in the place of fact, when these values are confused with fact by the observer.
Fact: two ways of life exist on Gehenna.
Fact: more than one way of life has existed in humanity’s cradles of civilization.
I propose that, instead of arguing old theories which have considerable cultural content, we consider this possibility: that humanity develops a multiplicity of answers to the environment, and that if there must be a system of polarities to explain the structure around which these answers are organized, that the polarity does not in and of itself involve gender, but the relative success of the population in curbing those individuals with the tendency to coerce their neighbors. Some cultures solve this problem. Some do not, and fall into a pattern which exalts this tendency and elevates it, again by the principle that survivors and rulers write the histories, to the guiding virtue of the culture. It is not that the Cloud River culture is unnatural. It is fully natural. It is, unfortunately, threatened with extinction by the hand of the Styxsiders, who will need centuries to attain the level of civilization already possessed by the Cloud. Barbarians win because civilizations are inherently more fragile.
Message from the field: R. Genley
I again urge Dr. McGee to present her theories formally when she can reestablish sufficient contact with the culture she is describing to secure corroborative and specific observations.
xxii
190 CR
Unedited text of message
Dr. E. McGee to Alliance HQ
couriered by AS Pegasus
[Considering the personal difficulty of continuing in this position–]
[Considering the contribution which I feel I might make elsewhere and the personal disappointment]–
[Considering the–]
[Considering the unfortunate circumstances which have incurred, I suspect, some personal animosity on the part of the Cloud‑siders–]
Considering the difficulty of life on Gehenna and my personal health, I would like to make application for immediate transfer from the project. [I feel that my work here is at a standstill and that the–] At the present level of activity my assistants are fully competent to conduct my project and I would urge the Bureau to appoint Dr. Leroy H. Cooper to the post. He has shown himself to be a skilled and dedicated investigator. [I feel that a certain cultural and personal bias on the part of the–] I wish my application for transfer to cast no shadow on the mission or the staff here. My reasons are medical and personal, involving a sensitivity to certain irritants present in the area…
xxiii
191 CR, day 202
Message, Alliance HQ
to Dr. E. McGee, Gehenna Base
…with thorough sympathy for your medical difficulties, the Bureau still considers your presence in the project to be of overriding value, in view of the expense and difficulty of personnel adjustments. So it is with regret that we must reject your application for transfer…
…We have analysed the facilities available at Gehenna both on the Base and at the Station for alleviation of your difficulties and have made shipment of medicines which we feel will provide a wider range of treatment alternatives…
191 CR, day 205
Prescription, Base pharmacy
for Dr. E. McGee
…for insomnia, take one capsule at bedtime. ALCOHOL CONTRAINDICATED.
xxiv
200 CR, day 33
Field report: E. McGee
…rumor which I have picked up from the usual New Tower source indicates that the heir, Elai, has given birth to a second son. Due to the tenuous nature of my contact with these sources and the need for caution I cannot yet confirm…
xxv
200 CR, day 98
Styxside
“Genley,” Jin said, in the warmth of Parm Tower, in the closeness that smelled of brew and Calibans and smoke and men. A hand came out and rocked his shoulder, pressed with strong fingers. “You write about me. What do you write?”
“Things.”
“Like what, Genley?”
“The way you live, the things you do. Like your records. Like the things you write down.”
“You make the starmen know me.”
“They know you.”
Jin clapped his shoulder. They were mostly alone. There was only Parm and his lot drowsing in the corner. The hand fell from his arm. “That Mannin, that Kim, always scratching away–You know, Gen‑ley, they have fear. You know how I know they have fear? It’s in the eyes. They’re afraid. You watch them. They don’t look in my eyes. You do.”