Evil earths, p.14
EVIL EARTHS, page 14
the blackness and the blinding balls of light, and all
around could be seen the streaks of rocket flame shooting
away in all directions.
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Suddenly a flash cut the blackness, like the flare of a
natch, and died, and the watchers caught from the screen
he awareness of the death of a ship.
They were also aware of the rushing of time through
:enturies and they saw the streaking rocket flames and
>lanets rushing at them; saw creatures in squares and ch'-:les,
in threads wriggling, in lumps and blobs, rolling
[umping and crawling; saw them in cloud forms whisking
about, changing their shapes, and in flowing wavelets of
vater. They saw creatures hopping about on one leg and
others crawling at incredible speeds on a thousand; saw
some with all the numbers of legs and arms in between;
and were aware of creatures that were there but invisible.
And those watching the screen on which time and distance
were a compressed and distilled kaleidoscope, saw
planet after planet and thousands at a time; heard strange
noises; rasping and roaring, clinks and whistles; screams
and crying, sighing and moaning. And they were aware
through all this of atmosphere and ground inimical to
man, some that would evaporate at the touch of a human
body, or would burst into flame, or swallow, or turn from
liquid to solid or solid to liquid. They saw and heard
chemical analysis, were aware of this ocean of blackness
and clouds of white through which man might move, and
must ever move, because he could live only upon this
floating dust speck that was Earth.
The picture faded in, close to one of the long, needle-nosed
crafts, showing inside, a man and a woman. Time
was telescoped again while the man cut a tiny piece of
scar tissue from his arm and that of the woman, put them
in bottles and set them into compartments where solution
dripped rhythmically into the bottles, the temperature was
held at that of the human body, and synthetic sunlight
focused upon them from many pencil4ike tubes.
The watchers in the council chamber saw the bits of
tissue swell into human embryos in a few seconds, and
grow arms and legs and faces and extend themselves into
babies. Saw them taken from the bottles and cared for,
and become replicas of the man and woman controlling
the ship, who, all this time were aging, until life went out
of their bodies. Then the ones who had been the scar tissue
disintegrated them in the coffin-like tubes and let their
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dust be sucked out into spa.ce-all this through millions
of miles and a hundred years, compressed for the watchers
into sixty seconds and a few feet of space.
Instantly there was black space on the screen again,
with the fingers of flame pointing out behind the dark
bodies of the ships.
And then the spectators saw one ship shudder and
swerve into a blazing, bluish white star, like a gnat flying
into a white hot poker; saw another drop away and away,
out and out into the blackness past the swirling white rim
of the galaxy, and sink into a dark nothingness.
Great balls of rock showered like hail onto other ships,
smashing them into grotesque tin cans. The steam of fire
at the tail of another ship suddenly died and the ship
floated into an orbit around a great, yellow planet, ten
times the size of Jupiter, then was sucked into it. Another
'burst like a comb, flinging a man and woman out into the
darkness, where.they hung suspended, fr, ozen into statues,
like bodies drowned in the depths of an Arctic sea.
At this instant from the watching council, there were
screams of horror and voices crying out, "Shut it off! Shut
it off!" There was a moving about in the darkness. Murmurs
and harsh cries of disapproval grew in volume.
Another ship in the picture was split down the side by
a meteor and the bodies inside were impaled on jagged
blades of steel, the contorted, bloody faces lighted by
bursts of flame. And the screams and cries of the spectators
rose higher, "Shut it off .... Oh Lord .... "
Lights flashed through the room and the picture died.
Michael and Mary, both staring, saw, along the line of
desks, the agonized faces, some staring like white stones,
others hidden in clutching fingers, as though they had
been confronted by a Medusa. There was the sound of
heavy breathing that mixed with the throbbing of the
pumps. The President held tightly to the edges of his desk
to quiet his trembling.
"There there have been changes," he said, "since
you've been out in space. There isn't a person on Earth
who's seen a violent death for hundreds of years."
Michael faced him, frowning. "I don't follow you."
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"Dying violently happened so seldom on Earth that, after
a long time, the sight of it began to drive some people
mad. And then one day a man was struck by one of the
ground cars and everyone who saw it went insane. Since
then we've eliminated accidents, even the idea. Now, no
one is aware that death by violence is even a possibility."
"I'm sorry," said Michael, "we've been so close to
vio
lent death for so long What
you have seen is part of
the
proof you asked for."
"What
you showed us was a picture," said the President.
"If it had been real, we'd all be insane by now. If it were
shown to the people there'd be mass hysteria."
"But
even ff we'd found another habitable planet, getting
to it would involve just what we've shown you. Maybe
only a tenth of the people who left Earth, or a hundredth,
would ever reach a destination out in space."
"We
couldn't tolerate such a possibility," said the President
gravely. "We'd have to find a way around it."'
The
pumps throbbed like giant hearts all through the stillness
in the council chambers. The faces along the line of
desks were smoothing out; the terror in them was fading
away.
"And
yet the Earth is almost dead," said Michael quietly,
"and you can't bring it back to life."
"The
sins of our past, Mr. Nelson," said the President. "The
Atomic wars five thousand years ago. And the greed.
It was too late a long time ago. That, of course, is why
the expedition was sent out. And now you've come back
to us with this terrible news." He looked around, slowly,
then back to Michael. "Can you give us any hope at
all?"
"None."
"Another
expedition? To Andromeda perhaps? With you
the leader?"
Michael
shook his head. "We're finished with expeditions,
Mr. President."
There
were mutterings in the council, and hastily whispered
consultations. Now they were watching the man and
woman again.
"We
feel," said the President, "it would be dangerous to
allow you to go out among the people. They've been informed
that your statement wasn't entirely true. This
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was necessary, to avoid a panic. The people simply must
not kqow the whol truth." He paused. "Now we ask you
to keep in mind that whatever we decide about the two
of you will be for the good of the people."
Michael and Mary were silent.
"You'll wait outside the council chambers," the President
went on, "until we have reached our decision."
As the man and woman were led away, the pumps beat
in the stillness, and at the edge of the shrinking seas the
salt thick waters were being pulled into the distilleries,
and from them into the tier upon tier of artificial gardens
that sat like giant bee hives all around the shoreline; and
the mounds of salt glistening in the sunlight behind the
gardens were growing into mountains.
In their rooms, Michael'and Mary were talking
through the hours, and waiting. All around them were
fragile, form-fitting chairs and translucent walls and a
ceiling that, holding the light of the sun when they had
first seen it, was now filled with moonlight.
Standing at a circular window, ten feet in diameter.
Michael saw, far below, the lights of the city extending
into the darkness along the shoreline of the sea.
"We should have delivered our message by radio," he
said, "and gone back into space."
"You could probably still go," she said quietly.
He came and stood beside her. "I couldn't stand being
out in space, or anywhere, without you."
She looked up at him. "We could go out into the wilderness,
Michael, outside the force walls. We could go far
away."
He turned from her. "It's all dead. What would be
the use?"
"I came from the Earth," she said quietly. "And I'vo
got to go back to it. Space is so cold and frightening.
Steel walls and blackness and the rockets and the little
pinpoints of light. It's a prison."
"But to die out there in the desert, in that dust." Then
he paused and looked away from her. "We're
crazy-
talking as though we had a choice."
"Maybe they'll have to give us a choice."
"What're you talking about?"
"They went into hysterics at the sight of those
bod
ies in the picture. Those young bodies that didn't die of
old age."
He waited.
"They can't stand the sight of people dying violently."
Her hand went to her throat and touched the tiny
locket.
"These lockets were given to us so we'd have a choice
between suffering or quick painless death We
still
have
a choice."
He
touched the locket at his own throat and was very still
for a long moment. "So we threaten to kill ourselves, before
their eyes. What would it do to them?"
He
was still for a long time. "Sometimes, Mary, I think I
don't know you at all." A pause. "And so now you and I
are back where we started. Which'Il it be, space or Earth?"
"Michael."
I-Ier voice trembled. "I--I don't know how to
say this."
He
waited, frowning, watching her intenfiy. "I'm--going
to have a child." His
face went blank.
Then
he stepped forward and took her by the shoulders.
He saw the softness there in her face; 'saw her eyes bright
as though the sun were shining in them; saw a flush
in her cheeks, as though she had been running. And suddenly
his throat was full.
"No,"
he said thickly. "I can't believe it."
"It's
true."
He
held her for a long time, then he turned his eyes aside.
"Yes,
I can see it is."
"I---I
can't put into words why I let it happen, Michael."
He
shook his head. "I don't know--what to--to say. It's
so incredible."
"Maybe
I got so---tired--just seeing the two of us over
and over again and the culturing of the scar tissue,
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for twenty centuries.. Maybe that was it. It was jnst--something
I felt I had to do. Some--real life again.
Something new. I felt a need to produce something out
of myself. It all started way out in space, while we were
getting close to the solar system. I began to wonder if
we'd ever get out of the ship alive or if we'd ever see a
sunset again or a dawn or the night or morning like we'd
seen on Earth--so--so long ago. And then I had to let it
happen. It was a vague and strange thing. There was
something forcing me. But at the same time I wanted it,
too. I seemed to be willing it, seemed to be feeling it was
a necessary thing." She paused, frowning. "I didn't stop
to think--it would be like this."
"Such a thing," he said, smiling grimly, "hasn't happened
on Earth for three thousand years. I can remember
in school, reading in the history books, how the whole
Earth was overcrowded and how the food and water
had to Be rationed and then how, the laws were passed
forbidding birth and after that how the people died and
there weren't anymore babies born, until at last there
was plenty of what the Earth had to give, for everyone.
And then the news was broken to everyone about the
culturing of the scar tissue, and there were a few dissenters
but they were soon conditioned out of their dissension
and the population was stabilized." He paused. "After
all this past history, I don't think the council could endure
what you've done."
"No," she said quietly. "I don't think they could."
"And so this will be just for us." He took her in his
arms. "If I remember rightly, this is a traditional action."
A pause. "Now I'll go with you out onto the Earth--ff we
can swing it. When we get outside the city, or ff we do---Well,
we'll see."
They were very still together and then he turned and
stood by the window and looked down upon the city
and she came and stood beside him.
They both saw it at the same time. And they watched,
without speaking, both knowing what was in the other's
mind and heart. They watched the giant four dimensional
screens all through the city. A green, lush planet showed
bright with ships standing among the trees and men walking
through the grass, that moved gently like the swells
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on a calm ocean, while into their minds came the thoughts
projected from the screen:
'`This will be your new home. It was found and then
lost. But another expedition will be sent to find it again.
Be of good hope. Everything will be all right."
Michael turned from the window. "So there's our evidence.
Two thousand years. All the others killed getting
it. And with a simple twist, it becomes a lie."
Mary sat down and buried her face in her hands.
"What a terrible failure there's been here," said
Michael. "The neglect and destruction of a whole planet.
It's like a family letting their home decay all around
them, and living in smaller and smaller rooms of it, until
at last the rooms are all gone, and since they can't find
another home, they all die in the ruins of the last room."
"I can't face dying," Mary said quietly, "squeezed in
-with all these people, in this tomb they've made around
the seas. I want to have the open sky and the quiet away
from those awful pounding pumps when I die. I want
the spread of the Earth all around and the clean air. I
want to be a real part of the Earth again."
Michael barely nodded in agreement. He was standing
