"It isn"t much of a theory yet; just that cultural and evolutionary patterns should be more or less h.o.m.ogeneous within galaxies. Until it can explain why so many out-galaxies are just alike it doesn"t amount to much. By the way, I"m glad you people insisted on organization and rank and uniforms. The Bra.s.s is going to take a certain amount of convincing.
Take over, Brownie--this is your dish."
"I was afraid of that."
The others watched Lola drive her probe--a diamond-clear, razor-sharp bolt of thought that no Gunther First could possibly either wield or stop--down into the innermost private office of that immense and far-flung base. Through Lola"s inner eyes they saw a tall, trim, handsome, fiftyish man in a resplendent uniform of purple and gold; they watched her brush aside that officer"s hard-held mental block.
"I greet you, Supreme Grand Marshal Entlore, Highest Commander of the Armed Forces of NarG.o.da. This is the starship _Pleiades_, of System Sol, Planet Tellus. I am Sol-System Vice-Admiral Lola Montandon. I have with me as guests three of my superior officers of the Galactic Service, including the Galactic Admiral himself. We are making a good-will tour of the Tellus-Type planets of this region of s.p.a.ce. I request permission to land and information as to your landing conventions. The landing pad--bottom--of the _Pleiades_ is flat; sixty feet wide by one hundred twenty feet long. Area loading is approximately eight tons per square foot. Solid, dry ground is perfectly satisfactory. While we land vertically, with little or no shock impact, I prefer not to risk damaging your pavement."
They all felt the Marshal"s thoughts race. "Starship! Tellus--Sol, that insignificant Type G dwarf! Interstellar travel a commonplace! A ship _that_ size and weight--an organized, uniformed, functioning Galaxy-wide Navy and they don"t want to _damage_ my _pavement_! My G.o.d!"
"Good going, Brownie! Kiss her for me, Jim." Garlock flashed the thought.
Entlore, realizing that his every thought was being read, pulled himself together. "I admit that I was shocked, Admiral Montandon. But landing--really, I have nothing to do with landings. They are handled by...."
"I realize that, sir; but you realize that no underling could possibly authorize my landing. That is why I always start at the top. Besides, I do not like to waste time on officers of much lower rank than my own, and," Lola allowed a strong tinge of good humor to creep into her thought, "the bigger they are, the less apt they are to pa.s.s the well-known buck."
"You have had experience, I see," the Marshal laughed. He _did_ have a sense of humor. "While landing here is forbidden--top secret, you know--would my refusal mean much to you?"
"Having made satisfactory contact, I introduce you to Galactic Admiral Garlock. Take over, sir, please."
Entlore winced, for the probe Garlock used then compared to Lola"s very much as a diamond drill compares to a piece of soft bra.s.s pipe.
"It would mean everything to us," Garlock a.s.sured him. "Our mission is a perfectly friendly one. We will have a friendly visit or none. If you do not care for our friendship, another nation will."
"That wouldn"t do, either, of course." Entlore paused in thought. "It boils down to this: I must either welcome you or destroy you."
"You may try." Garlock grinned in frankly self-satisfied amus.e.m.e.nt.
"However, the best you can do is lithium-hydride fusion missiles in the hundreds-of-megatons range. Firecrackers. Every once in a while a planet has to try a few such things on us before it will believe that we are powerful as well as friendly. Would you like to test our defenses? If so, I will neither take offense nor retaliate."
Supreme Grand Marshal Entlore was floored. "Why ... er ... not at all. I read in your mind...." He broke off, to quell an invasion into his own private office. "d.a.m.n it, keep _still_!" all four "heard" him yell. "I know they ran a search pattern. I know _that_, too. I know _everything_ about it, I tell you! I"m in full rapport with their Supreme Grand Admiral. There"s only the one ship, they"re friendly, and I"m inviting them to land here on Margon Base. Give that to the press. Say also that entrance restrictions to Margon Base will not be relaxed at present.
Grand Marshal Holson and ComOff Flurnoy, stay here and tune in. The rest of you get out and _stay_ out! Throw all reports about any alien vessel or flying saucer or what-have-you into the waste-basket!"
"Resume command, please, Miss Montandon," Garlock directed; and withdrew his probe from Entlore"s mind.
"I thank you, Supreme Grand Marshal Entlore, for your welcome," Lola sent. "I"m sorry that our visits cause so much disturbance, but I suppose it can"t be helped. Our Gunther blocks are down. Would you and your two a.s.sistants like to teleport out here to us, and con us down yourselves?" Lola knew instantly that they could not, and covered deftly for them. "But of course you can"t, without knowing a focus spot here in the Main. Shall I teleport you aboard?"
ComOff Flurnoy"s face--she was an attractive, nicely-built red-head wearing throat-mike, earphone, and recorder--turned so pale that a faint line of freckles stood out across the bridge of her nose. She very evidently wanted to scream a protest, but would not. Both men, strangely enough, were eager to go. Instantly all three were standing in line on the deep-piled rug of the Main, facing the four Tellurians. Seven bodies came rigidly to attention, seven right hands snapped into two varieties of formal salute. Standing thus, each party studied the other for a couple of seconds.
There was no doubt at all as to which two of the visitors the two NarG.o.dian men were studying; but neither of them could quite make up his mind as to which of the black-and-white-clad women to study first or most. The red-head"s glance, too, flickered between Belle and Garlock--incredulous envy and equally incredulous admiration lit her eyes.
"At rest, please, fellow-officers," Garlock said, and Lola performed the necessary introductions, adding, "We do not, however, use t.i.tles aboard ship. Mister and Miss are customary and sufficient."
Behind each row of officers a long davenport appeared; between them a table loaded with sandwiches, olives, pickles, relishes, fruits, nuts, soft drinks, cigars, and cigarettes.
"Help yourselves," Garlock invited. "We serve neither intoxicants nor drugs, but you should find something there to your taste."
"Indeed we shall, and thank you," Entlore said. "Is there any objection, Mr. Garlock, to Miss Flurnoy transmitting information of this meeting and of this ship to our base?"
"None whatever. Send as you please, Miss Flurnoy, or as Mr. Entlore directs."
"I"m glad I didn"t quite scare myself out of coming up here," the Communications Officer said. "This is the biggest and nicest thrill I ever had. Such a thrill that I don"t know just where to begin." She c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her commanding officer.
"As usual. Whatever you think should be sent." Entlore sent her a steadying thought. Then, as the girl settled back with a sandwich in one hand and a tall gla.s.s of ginger-ale in the other, he went on, to Garlock, "She is a very fine and very strong telepath--by our standards, at least."
"By galactic standards also." Garlock had of course been checking.
"Accurate, sharp, wide-range, clear-thinking, and fast. Not one of us four could do it any better."
"I thank you, Mr. Garlock," the girl said, with a blush of pleasure--and with scarcely a perceptible pause in her work.
A tour of the ship followed; and as it progressed, the more confused and dismayed the two NarG.o.dian commanders became.
"But no crew at _all_?" Holson demanded incredulously. "How can a thing like this _possibly_ work?"
"It"s fully Gunthered," Lola explained. "It works itself. That is, almost all the time. Whenever we land on any planet for the first time, one of us has to control it. Or for any other special job not in its memory banks. When you"re ready for us to land I"ll show you--it"s my turn to work."
"Miss Flurnoy, have they cleared the air over Pylon Six?"
"Yes, sir. Clearance came through five minutes ago. They are holding it clear for us."
"Thank you. Miss Montandon, you may land at your convenience."
"Thank you, sir." Lola took the pilot"s chair. "This is the scanner. I pull it over my face and head, so. Since I am always in tune with the field...."
"What does _that_ mean?" Entlore asked, dark foreboding in his mind.
"I was afraid of that. You can"t feel an Operator Field. I"m sorry, sir, but that means you can"t handle these forces and never will be able to.
Certain Gunther areas of your brain are inoperative. On our scale you are a Gunther First...."
"On ours, I"m an Esper Ten, the highest rating in the world--except for a few theoretical crackpots who.... Excuse me, please, I shouldn"t have said that, in view of what I see happening here."
"No offense taken, sir. Those who developed the Gunther Drive were crackpots until they got the first starship out into s.p.a.ce. But with this scanner on, I think of where I want to look and I can see it. I then think the ship a few miles sidewise--so--and we are now directly over your Pylon Six. I"m starting down, but I won"t go into free fall."
Apparent weight grew less and less, until: "This is about enough for you, Miss Flurnoy?"
"Just," the ComOff agreed, with a gulp. "One pound less and I"m afraid I"ll upchuck that lovely lunch I just ate."
"We"re going fast enough now. Everyone sitting down? Brace yourselves, please. You"ll be about fifty percent overweight for a while."