“And what would your reaction be if suddenly a starship appeared in your skies? Even if we beamed messages to you, instead of sending a starship, your world would be in turmoil, wouldn’t it?”
Jordan almost chuckled. Glancing at Meek, he said, “There are plenty of people on Earth who’d be terrified, true enough.”
“What would you do?” Adri repeated.
Meek answered, “Why, we … we’d try to ascertain who you are, of course. And what you want.”
With a sad shake of his head, Adri replied, “The shock of such a meeting would be traumatic for you. Why, even now, on Earth there are people who claim there can be no other intelligent races in the universe!”
“So we have a few benighted fanatics,” Thornberry said.
“They deny the possibility that the indigenous life in Jupiter’s ocean could be intelligent,” Adri pointed out.
“The leviathans,” Elyse murmured.
Adri went on, “We have studied your history very thoroughly. We have seen the dreadful consequences of sudden contact between two of your own cultures.”
Longyear muttered, “Wounded Knee.”
“And a hundred other tragedies,” said Aditi. “The Aztecs and Incas. The Polynesians. Even the Chinese went through centuries of exploitation and humiliation.”
“That is why,” Adri resumed, “we decided to make our contact with you as gentle as possible. We did not go to your planet and announce ourselves. Instead, we encouraged you to come here, to us.”
“You lured us here,” said Meek.
“If you wish to use that term,” Adri replied gently. “The point is that only a small group of you has come here, as we expected. And we have allowed you to discover the truth about us in your own time, at your own pace.” Turning once again to Meek, he added, “And even so, we face suspicion, hostility, and outright fear.”
Jordan said, “You’re telling us that we have nothing to be afraid of.”
“Oh no,” said Adri. “You have much to be afraid of. And so do we.”
Culture Shock
“What do you mean by that?” Meek demanded.
Adri hesitated, then replied, “Contact between two intelligent cultures is fraught with dangers.”
“You’ve contacted other intelligent species?” Brandon asked.
“Not I personally,” said Adri. “None of us has ever been beyond this planet. But our Predecessors, our progenitors, over the course of the millennia they have come into contact with many civilizations.”
Jordan blurted, “There are lots of civilizations among the stars?”
Adri shook his head sorrowfully. “Intelligence is the rarest occurrence in the universe, I’m afraid. And even at that, in so many cases, an intelligent species destroys itself before it can attain true self-mastery.”
Brandon said, “But we’ve seen no evidence of any intelligent races in the galaxy, until now. We’ve searched for almost two centuries, and our telescopes haven’t turned up anything.”
“As I said,” Adri replied, “intelligence is very rare. However, the universe is very large, and there are many intelligent civilizations scattered among the stars.”
“Intelligent species destroy themselves?” Jordan asked.
“Unfortunately, that seems to be the norm. It’s very rare for an intelligent species to survive long enough to achieve true civilization.”
Thornberry pushed to Adri’s side. “So that’s why you’re here? To help us to survive our own shortcomings?”
Adri hesitated for several long moments, staring into Thornberry’s questioning eyes. At last he answered, “Yes, that is part of our purpose.”
Jordan caught the nuance. “But only part of it?”
“It’s as much as I can tell you for the moment. Now you know something of who we are and why we are here. I think it best for you to absorb what you’ve just learned before we proceed any farther.”
“There’s more?” Meek asked.
“Oh, yes. Much, much more.”
“But you’re not going to tell us what it is,” Brandon said accusingly.
“In time,” said Adri. “For now, Aditi and I must return to the city. You’ll want to discuss what I’ve told you among yourselves. Tomorrow is another day.”
The humans stood mutely as Adri and Aditi made their way to the entrance of the bubble tent and went outside into the silvery shadows of the night.
Jordan followed them, like a man in a dream. Aditi turned back toward him, extended her hand to him.
Suddenly Brandon gripped Jordan’s shoulder. “You can’t go with them, Jordy. Not now.”
He stood rooted to the spot. Adri and Aditi both faced him. And his brother.
“Jordy, you’ve got to stay here. We’ve got to talk this over, digest what they’ve told us.”
“It’s all right,” said Aditi. “We understand.”
“We’ve been waiting for you for centuries,” Adri said. “We can wait another night.”
Jordan looked from Aditi to Adri to his brother. Brandon seemed gravely determined to keep him from going with the aliens.
“I … I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said to Aditi.
“Tomorrow,” she said.
Then she and Adri turned and walked slowly through the shadows cast by the Pup’s wan light, heading for the forest and their city.
Jordan turned reluctantly, and walked beside his brother back to the bubble tent where the others waited. They were a hushed, subdued group, still standing at the worktable, with the geological profile of the planet glowing on the big display screen.
“Do you believe what he told us?” Meek asked, looking torn, troubled.
“This entire planet has been … built … to resemble Earth?” de Falla wondered aloud.
“By damn,” Thornberry exclaimed, “I’ll bet you that the planet really is hollow!”
Brandon scoffed, “How could we have the gravity—”
“Those energy screens,” Thornberry snapped. “I’m willing to bet me underdrawers that this entire planet is a hollow shell, with a gravity-producing energy generator at its center.”
Verishkova agreed with a nod. “Until a few minutes ago I would say such an idea is nonsense. But now … maybe not.”
“But that’s not the really important point,” Jordan said.
Meek said, “The fact that he admits they’ve constructed this planet deliberately to lure us here? You don’t find that important?”
“Not as important as the fact that Adri told us his people have been created by a race that has found many other intelligent species. His … Predecessors, as he calls them, apparently have been traveling across interstellar distances for god knows how long.”
“He said intelligence is very rare in the universe,” Yamaguchi said, her voice low, thoughtful.
Longyear added, “He also said most intelligent species wipe themselves out.”
“Poppycock,” Meek sniffed. “Do you really believe everything he tells us?”
“I believe that we’re well on our way to destroying ourselves back on Earth,” Jordan said.
“You can’t blame us for natural disasters like the global flooding.”
With a wan smile, Jordan replied, “Can’t I?”
Pointing to the display screen’s profile of the planet, Thornberry said, “I believe what the facts tell us. This planet is an artificial construction.”
“A whole planet?” Jordan marveled. “They built this entire planet?”
“To lure us here,” Meek said.
Jordan shook his head. “Why would they go to so much effort? What’s the purpose behind all this?”
“Conquest?” Longyear suggested.
“Assimilation,” said Elyse. “Instead of destroying us, they want to assimilate us, blend our genes with theirs, make us part of their empire.”