“There are several other intelligent species scattered among the stars in your section of the galaxy. There may be others who have not reached the stage where their civilization becomes detectable. All must be contacted. All must be warned. All must be helped.”
“And you expect us…?”
“To join us in the search for intelligence. To work with us to save as many as possible from destruction.”
“I see,” Jordan said. “I understand.”
“Will you do it?”
Almost, Jordan smiled. “I’m only one man, sir. I can’t speak for the entire human race.”
“Someone must. Someone must lead. Will you take that responsibility?”
Jordan hesitated. “Let me understand you. You warn that a wave of gamma radiation will sterilize our solar system.”
“Yours is one of many intelligent species that faces destruction.”
“But on the other hand, you tell me that all species—intelligent or not—eventually become extinct.”
“This is true.”
“Then why bother? Why not accept the fate that’s approaching us? Why prolong our agony?”
The voice went silent. Adri looked at Jordan with infinite sadness in his eyes. “Friend Jordan,” he began, “don’t you understand?”
Jordan looked back at the old man.
The voice intoned, “To live is to struggle against entropy.”
And then Jordan remembered, “Dinosaurs and birds!”
Adri smiled.
To the voice, Jordan said, “The dinosaurs went extinct, but not before they gave rise to the birds. The human race may go extinct someday, but not before we give rise to our successors.”
“Organic or inorganic,” said the voice. Jordan thought that it somehow sounded pleased.
“If we let the gamma wave wash over us,” Jordan went on, “all life in the solar system will be snuffed out. Dead end. But if we can survive the danger, even though we might become extinct someday, our successors will live.”
“Organic or inorganic,” the voice repeated.
Jordan nodded. “I see. I think I understand now.”
Adri patted him on the shoulder, pleased.
“We have a tremendous job ahead of us,” said Jordan.
“The first step,” Adri said, “is to win the understanding of your group back at your camp.”
“Yes,” Jordan agreed. “If I can’t get Meek to understand, I won’t have much of a chance back on Earth, will I?”
Reaction
Aditi was sitting on the floor of the circular chamber, apprehensively stroking the purring Sleen, when Jordan clambered out of the starship, behind Adri. He felt just as stiff and hurting as the old man: physically and mentally weary, his mind awhirl with all he’d just discovered. The weight of responsibility had never felt heavier. He had the fate of the entire human race on his shoulders. And the fate of other intelligent species as well.
Aditi jumped to her feet at the sight of him. Sleen scampered off with a complaining yowl.
Placing her hands on Jordan’s shoulders, she looked up into his eyes. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“A bit shaken by it all,” he replied.
“The Predecessor explained it all to you?”
“Everything.”
“And you’ve accepted it all?”
“Everything,” he repeated.
She smiled happily. “I knew you would. Adri had some doubts, but I knew you’d accept it all.”
“Yes,” he said. “Now to get Meek and the others to accept it.”
As soon as he returned to the camp, Jordan asked his brother to call a meeting of the entire group. Late in the afternoon they assembled in the dining area, with Hazzard, Trish, and Zadar on-screen from the ship in orbit, as usual. Eleven faces focused on Jordan, intent to hear what he had to say. Slowly, carefully, he told them what the Predecessor had told him. As he spoke, he saw their facial expressions change: astonishment, at first, then apprehension, and—on several faces—stony, stubborn disbelief.
“They visited Earth to get samples of our DNA?” Paul Longyear looked almost pleased at the confirmation of his suspicions.
Jordan nodded at the biologist. “Many times, from what the machine told me.”
“And you believed him?” Meek asked. Then he corrected, “It, I mean.”
“Yes, I believe it,” said Jordan. “Every word of it. Why else would they go to all this trouble?”
“They actually built this planet?” de Falla marveled. “This whole planet?”
“It’s hollow, remember,” Jordan said, with a wry smile.
Thornberry rubbed his stubbled chin. “They’ve got the technology to do it, they do.”
“It’s bullshit!” Brandon burst. “Jordy, they fed you a fairy tale and you fell for it.”
“Fairy tale?”
“I agree,” said Meek, almost accusingly. “They fed you a cock-and-bull story to hide their real motives.”
“We’re no closer to finding out what they’re really up to than we were the day we landed,” Brandon growled.
“Bran, it’s the truth. I’m convinced of it.”
“How convinced would you be if you weren’t sleeping with one of them?” his brother snapped.
Jordan stared at his brother. He felt as if Brandon had just kicked him below the belt. Coldly furious, he said in a deadly calm voice, “This is the kind of reaction I should have expected. Maybe the machine is right, maybe the human race is speeding toward extinction.”
Elyse Rudaki spoke up. “Jordan, how can you expect us to accept such a story, without evidence, without proof?”
“You’ve been working with their astronomers, Elyse. Haven’t they shown you anything about the gamma burst?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s all a lie,” Meek insisted. “A story they invented to get us to accept whatever they want to do.”
“And what do you think they want to do, Harmon?”
“Invade Earth. Wipe us out or absorb us.”
“And you’re helping them, Jordy,” Brandon added.
Jordan stood at the head of the table, looking down at the eight of them, and the three others on the screen against the wall. Their faces were angry, fearful. Next thing, he thought, they’ll burn me for being a witch.
From the display screen, Trish Wanamaker said, “Do you have any proof to back up what you’re saying, Jordan? Any evidence at all?”
Jordan turned back to Elyse. “You could ask their astronomers to show you the evidence they have of the gamma burst.”
“Perhaps,” she granted.
Zadar, sitting on Hazzard’s other side, said, “They can’t have any evidence from here. The gamma burst is still two thousand light-years away. If what they told you is true, it won’t arrive in this vicinity for two thousand years.”
“And when it does it will kill us all,” Jordan said.
“They must have records of the observations they made from closer in,” Elyse mused. “They said they’re from the Perseus arm of the galaxy, twelve thousand light-years closer to the galactic core.”
“Evidence can be faked,” Meek sniffed.
Jordan held on to his temper, barely. There are none so blind, he reminded himself, as those who will not see.
Carefully keeping his voice steady, even, Jordan said, “Adri told me that his people will gladly share all they know with us.”
“All they want us to know,” said Longyear. Several others seated around the table nodded agreement.
Coldly, as emotionlessly as he could manage, Jordan said, “Could we try a little logic here? Must we be ruled by our fears?”
“What are you ruled by, Jordy?” Brandon challenged.