"That will do, Grimes!" snapped the Count.
"That will do, Henri!" almost snarled the Princess. "John was right in what he said."
"John?" echoed de Messigny, with a sardonic lift of his black eyebrows. "But I was forgetting, Marlene. After all, you have Karl and Fritz and Fredrik and Augustin and Johann...Although John has the advantage of being flesh and blood, not metal." echoed de Messigny, with a sardonic lift of his black eyebrows. "But I was forgetting, Marlene. After all, you have Karl and Fritz and Fredrik and Augustin and Johann...Although John has the advantage of being flesh and blood, not metal."
"De Messigny..." Lobenga"s voice was an ominous rumble. "De Messigny, you will be silent." His strange yellow eyes swept the table. "You will all of you be silent, until I have had my say." Then he addressed the Lieutenant directly. "Mr. Grimes, what has happened should never have happened. What has been said should never have been said. But there are forces loose tonight in this old castle. Perhaps, even though there are no ghosts, the centuries of bloodstained history that these walls have seen have left a record of some kind on the very stones. There has been a clash of personalities. There has been s.e.xual jealousy, and so the record has been played back. It was in this very hall, I am told, that Her Highness"s forebear, Magda, died of her wounds.
"Be that as it may, Mr. Grimes, too much has been said in your hearing. You know too much, and too little. But I, we, feel that you have the right to know more. Do we have your word, as an officer and a gentleman, that what we shall tell you will never be divulged?"
Grimes" head was buzzing. Could it have been the effects of too much wine, or of something in the wine? And those yellow eyes staring into his were strangely hypnotic.
"Do we have your word?" asked Lobenga.
"Yes," he whispered.
"Is this wise?" asked Eulalia.
"Shut yo" mouf, woman." The deliberate lapse into the archaic dialect was frightening rather than ludicrous. This was the High Priest speaking, not the cultured Negro gentleman. "Shut yo" mouf, all of yo", until Ah is done.
"Mr. Grimes," he went on, "I can tell you that you were to have been honored, greatly honored. But circ.u.mstances now are such that, after your stay here, you will be allowed to return to your ship."
"Honored?" asked Grimes. "How?"
"You were to have been the white goat, the goat without horns."
Grimes stared around the table in horror rather than in disbelief.
"It is true," said Marlene.
Chapter 23.
"Yes," said Lobenga, breaking the heavy silence, "you are ent.i.tled to an explanation."
"You can say that again," Grimes told him.
The Hereditary Chief ignored this. "You are aware, Mr. Grimes," he went on, "of the nature of our problem on this planet."
"Yes." The s.p.a.ceman was deliberately flippant. "You miss the pitterpatter of little feet and all the rest of it."
"Crudely put, sir. Crudely put, but true. Even though our lives are enormously prolonged, even though our system of safeguards almost obviates the possibility of accidental death, or death by any kind of violence, we are not immortal. And what use is great wealth if you have n.o.body to whom to leave it? What comfort is a bloodline stretching back to antiquity if it dies out with yourself?"
"Those," said Grimes, "are worries that I"m never likely to have."
"But you are not one of us," stated Marlene.
Lobenga continued. "All we ask, sir, is to be able to live our own kind of life on the planet of our choice. But for this one, but dreadfully important, factor we have no complaints. We are neither impotent nor frigid. Our s.e.x lives are normal, better than normal. But are sterile, even though our finest medical pract.i.tioners a.s.sure us that there are no physical abnormalities or deficiencies."
"I was told," said Grimes, "that the women who were already pregnant when they came here were successfully brought to term and that their children lived and are now adults."
"That is correct."
"And I learned tonight that Captain de Messigny has fathered offspring on other planets."
"So he tells us," said Lobenga, adding, before the Comte could flare up, "and I have no reason to doubt his word. Furthermore, the Comte de Messigny has, on occasion, acted as procurer, bringing young men of good family to El Dorado for a vacation. Women with wealth and family lines of their own entertained them. But even though de Messigny"s friends could, like himself, offer proof of their capacity for parenthood, they achieved nothing here."
"And what is the explanation?" asked Grimes. "Something in the air, or the water? Some virus or radiation?"
"According to Lord Tarlton and his colleagues, no. And we adherents to the Old Religion, in its various forms, are in agreement with the materialists."
"Then have you you a theory?" a theory?"
"We have, sir. If you will be patient I shall try to explain it to you. But, first of all, I shall ask a question. What is life?"
"I...I don"t know. Growth? But a crystal does that. Metabolism? Motility? The ability to reproduce? We have inorganic machines that can do all these things."
"Perhaps soul soul would be the correct word," said Lobenga. "Not used in its conventional sense but, nonetheless, soul. Something indefinable, intangible that makes the difference between the organic and the inorganic, between the warm, soupy primordial seas, the lifeless fluids rich in minerals held in solution, cloudy with suspended matter, and the first viruses. And with those humble and simple beginnings the cycle was started. How did the poet put it? would be the correct word," said Lobenga. "Not used in its conventional sense but, nonetheless, soul. Something indefinable, intangible that makes the difference between the organic and the inorganic, between the warm, soupy primordial seas, the lifeless fluids rich in minerals held in solution, cloudy with suspended matter, and the first viruses. And with those humble and simple beginnings the cycle was started. How did the poet put it? Birth, procreation, death-and there"s an end to it. Birth, procreation, death-and there"s an end to it. But as long as there"s death, there"s no end to it." But as long as there"s death, there"s no end to it."
"And somebody or something," cackled the d.u.c.h.ess, "has put a spoke in the wheel of the cycle."
"Yes, Your Grace," agreed Lobenga. "We "We have. We have interrupted the natural sequence." have. We have interrupted the natural sequence."
"But how?" asked Grimes.
"Imagine, if you can," said the Negro, "a reservoir of soul-stuff, of life-essence on every inhabited planet. Imagine, too, that soul soul has evolved, just as physical form has evolved. Visualize the act of conception-the coupling of humans, of dogs, cats, fishes, even the pollenization of a flower-and try to see that before the process of growth can commence there has to be a third factor involved, a priming of the pump, as it were. A drop has to be withdrawn from the reservoir and that reservoir is always kept topped up by the process of death." has evolved, just as physical form has evolved. Visualize the act of conception-the coupling of humans, of dogs, cats, fishes, even the pollenization of a flower-and try to see that before the process of growth can commence there has to be a third factor involved, a priming of the pump, as it were. A drop has to be withdrawn from the reservoir and that reservoir is always kept topped up by the process of death."
"I begin to see."
"Good. Now this world, as you know, was utterly sterile when we purchased it, before we terraformed it, with improvements. We brought in our plant life, our animals, ourselves. Insofar as the plants and animals are concerned the normal cycle was resumed in a matter of months, at the outside. There were the inevitable deaths, the equally inevitable births. Insofar as we we are concerned, the normal cycle has never been initiated." are concerned, the normal cycle has never been initiated."
"But it could have been," said Grimes. "That is, if your theory is correct." theory is correct."
"How, sir?"
"You, even you, have had criminals. I have seen pictures from the Monitor"s memory bank. These criminals, I am informed, were arrested and sent into exile, although it was hinted that they would not live to make planet fall on another world. If, Mr. Lobenga, these men had been executed on El Dorado, surely your pump would have been primed."
"Do you think that we have not thought of that?" asked Lobenga. "There are two valid reasons why this has never been done. To begin with, we have always taken great pains to impress upon the Monitor the sanct.i.ty of the lives of all members of the El Dorado Corporation, and have always striven to maintain the Master/Servant relationship, with ourselves, of course, as the Masters. Secondly, if you were going to top up a reservoir of any kind, would you use polluted fluids?"
"Our own souls were dipped out of dirty buckets," chuckled the d.u.c.h.ess of Leckhampton. "Marlene"s not the only one here with a murky family past."
"But we have evolved," evolved," Lobenga explained patiently. Lobenga explained patiently.
"Hah! "exploded the old lady sardonically.
"Then," said Grimes, "there is another solution."
"You are a veritable mine of information, John," the Princess told him.
"I was taught," he said, "that s.p.a.cemanship is only applied commonsense. And commonsense can be applied to more things than the handling of ships. All right. We know know that women who had conceived before coming to El Dorado bore their children here. We have reason to believe that Captain de Messigny has fathered children on other worlds. Then why, that women who had conceived before coming to El Dorado bore their children here. We have reason to believe that Captain de Messigny has fathered children on other worlds. Then why, why, why, WHY shouldn"t all of you who feel the urge to parenthood do your breeding off-planet?" WHY shouldn"t all of you who feel the urge to parenthood do your breeding off-planet?"
"Because," said Lobenga sombrely, "we have too much to lose. Because we are cowards. Because we are like the rich men mentioned, time after time in the Christian Bible, who would not give up their worldly possessions for an a.s.sured place in the Kingdom of Heaven. There is always risk involved in travelling off-planet. On El Dorado the Monitor protects us from all possible harm. On other worlds we are liable to death from disease, accident, premeditated violence. Oh, there have been couples who have taken the risk. None of them have returned. The Bernsteins both" drowned in a boating accident on Atlantia. Dom Pedro da Silva and his wife, he he was executed on Waverley for the murder of her lover. She committed suicide. I could go on. It seems that a malign fate pursues us once we lift beyond the limits of our own atmosphere..." He paused. "It seems that all the risks that we avoid by living here acc.u.mulate, as it were, and once we are away from the protection of the Monitor topple, and crush us beneath their weight." was executed on Waverley for the murder of her lover. She committed suicide. I could go on. It seems that a malign fate pursues us once we lift beyond the limits of our own atmosphere..." He paused. "It seems that all the risks that we avoid by living here acc.u.mulate, as it were, and once we are away from the protection of the Monitor topple, and crush us beneath their weight."
"Captain de Messigny is still with you," observed Grimes.
"Yes," said the Comte coldly. "I am still around. But before I became a member of the Corporation I led an adventurous life. And, furthermore, I could never remain planetbound for long. That That would kill me, Monitor or no Monitor. But even I am reluctant to leave the safety of my ship in strange ports and, furthermore, do all my entertaining on board." would kill me, Monitor or no Monitor. But even I am reluctant to leave the safety of my ship in strange ports and, furthermore, do all my entertaining on board."
"Yet another solution," put forward Grimes happily. "Build a pa.s.senger vessel, with accommodation for fifty or a hundred couples. Make a landing on a world with a well-topped-up reservoir and then breed like rabbits."
"And do you think that we haven"t tried it?" the Comte asked. "The ship was half-way back to El Dorado when, inexplicably, her micro-pile went critical. I need not tell you that there were no survivors."
"So," asked Grimes, "where does the white goat come into it? Where do I I come in?" come in?"
"We are a moral people," said Lobenga The d.u.c.h.ess snorted.
"We are a moral people," he stated firmly. "It would have been relatively easy for us to have arranged an accident that would have destroyed your Aries Aries and all her crew when she was coming in for a landing. But, apart from the question of morality, there would have been a full scale investigation by the Survey Service. In the same way, it would be possible to stage an accident that would wipe out one of the parties of sightseers from your ship presently touring our planet. But, once again, it would be a needless sacrifice of life and, furthermore, your Captain Daintree is no fool. Too, those of us who are pract.i.tioners of what are loosely called the Black Arts resorted to various methods or divination; even Her Grace is an expert manipulator of the Tarot pack. Each and every one of us came up with the same prognostication, the same conclusion. This was that the first offworlder to make a landing would be the bringer of new life to El Dorado. And that first offworlder was you." and all her crew when she was coming in for a landing. But, apart from the question of morality, there would have been a full scale investigation by the Survey Service. In the same way, it would be possible to stage an accident that would wipe out one of the parties of sightseers from your ship presently touring our planet. But, once again, it would be a needless sacrifice of life and, furthermore, your Captain Daintree is no fool. Too, those of us who are pract.i.tioners of what are loosely called the Black Arts resorted to various methods or divination; even Her Grace is an expert manipulator of the Tarot pack. Each and every one of us came up with the same prognostication, the same conclusion. This was that the first offworlder to make a landing would be the bringer of new life to El Dorado. And that first offworlder was you."
"It is expedient for one man to die for the good of the people," quoted Grimes bitterly.
"Yes. And it would have been in an accident costing only one life, or, in the case of the crash-landing of your dynosoar, only two lives. There would have been no investigation."
"But why can"t one of you you prime the pump?" almost shouted Grimes. "You"re always saying what a wonderful world you have here. Hasn"t any one of you the guts to make a sacrifice for it? " prime the pump?" almost shouted Grimes. "You"re always saying what a wonderful world you have here. Hasn"t any one of you the guts to make a sacrifice for it? "
"Not that that sacrifice. Mr. Grimes, I do not ask you for your sympathy, your pity, but I do ask for some measure of understanding. Only a man who has known great possessions knows how hard it is to give them up." sacrifice. Mr. Grimes, I do not ask you for your sympathy, your pity, but I do ask for some measure of understanding. Only a man who has known great possessions knows how hard it is to give them up."
"And so you"d cheerfully slaughter an innocent outsider just so that you can enjoy a few more years in your sterile Eden."
"Not cheerfully, Mr. Grimes. Not cheerfully. And tell me, sir, have you you ever slaughtered innocent outsiders?" ever slaughtered innocent outsiders?"
"No."
"Not yet, you should have said. As an officer of the armed forces of the Federation you will inevitably do so. You will, I will, I said. Because, Mr. Grimes, you will live to take part in punitive expeditions, in raids upon commerce, in all the unsavory operations that are always fully justified by the historians of the winning side. We have reread the cards and the cups and the entrails, we have cast the bones. Your lifeline is a long one, but I shall not tell you the surprising turns that it will take. said. Because, Mr. Grimes, you will live to take part in punitive expeditions, in raids upon commerce, in all the unsavory operations that are always fully justified by the historians of the winning side. We have reread the cards and the cups and the entrails, we have cast the bones. Your lifeline is a long one, but I shall not tell you the surprising turns that it will take.
"You have our word for it, Mr. Grimes. You are safe from us. Neither you nor anybody from your ship is destined to become the white goat, the goat without horns."
"You have our word," echoed the others solemnly.
He believed them. He almost said thank you, but why should he thank them for giving back to him what was not theirs to give, his life?
The Princess Marlene rose to her feet, and her guests followed suit. She said, "We are all tired, I suggest that we retire."
Robot servitors led the humans to their quarters. Grimes, entering his bedroom, saw something small and dull gleaming in the center of the coverlet of his bed. It was his Minetti automatic pistol, and beside it was the carton of spare ammunition.
And now that I shan"t need it, he thought, he thought, they give it back to me. they give it back to me.
Chapter 24.
Nonetheless, he was not sorry to have the deadly little weapon back in his own possession. If there were to be any more hunting of large and dangerous animals, he would prefer to have something with which he was familiar to defend himself with. His successful use of that absurd spear against the wild boar had been nothing but luck, and he knew it.
He slept well, with the pistol under his pillow. Lobenga and the others had given their words that he was safe insofar as they were concerned, but what if they were not the only parties involved in the scheme to set the normal cycle of death and birth running on El Dorado? That gun of his own, loaded and ready to hand, gave him a sense of security that otherwise would have been lacking.
He was called in the morning in the usual manner. After he had freshened up, he found that clothing similar to that which he had worn for the boar hunt had been laid out on the remade bed. The Minetti slipped easily into the right-hand side pocket of the breeches. He practiced drawing. He would never be the Fastest Gun in the West or anywhere else, but he was sure that he would be able to defend himself adequately given only a little warning.
He enjoyed his breakfast of beautifully grilled kidneys, bacon and sausages, skimmed through the morning paper. As before, it was mainly social news and gossip. He noted that the d.u.c.h.ess of Leckhampton, the Comte de Messigny, the Hereditary Chief Lobenga and the Lady Eulalia were guests of the Princess Von Stolzberg, as was, still, Lieutenant John Grimes. And Captain Daintree and Surgeon Commander Pa.s.sifern, together with other officers, had been present at Count Vitelli"s wine tasting. Pa.s.sifern, at least, would have enjoyed himself.
Karl entered silently, made a metallic cough to attract Grimes" attention. "Lord, Her Highness awaits you in the gun room."
The gun room? It took a second or so for Grimes" mind to orient itself. Aboard a ship the gun room is to cadets and midshipmen (if such are carried) what the wardroom is to commissioned officers. took a second or so for Grimes" mind to orient itself. Aboard a ship the gun room is to cadets and midshipmen (if such are carried) what the wardroom is to commissioned officers. The gun room? The gun room? The robot must mean that paneled chamber with its racks of a.s.sorted weaponry. The robot must mean that paneled chamber with its racks of a.s.sorted weaponry.
"And what"s on today?" asked the s.p.a.ceman through a mouthful of b.u.t.tered toast dripping with honey. "Another wild boar hunt? Or are we going out for tigers or rogue elephants?"
"None of them, Lord." (Robots are apt to be humorless.) "Today you are shooting Denebian fire pheasants." There was a touch of envy in the mechanical voice. "I am told that they are very good eating, as well as affording excellent sport."
"How so? Are they the size of corvettes, heavily armed and armoured, and vicious when aroused?"
"No, Lord. They are relatively small creatures, brilliantly plumaged, but when put up their flight is extremely fast and erratic."
"Then they should be safe enough from me."
"I was informed, Lord, that you are a gunnery specialist."
"Shooting at large targets, Karl, with a shipful of electronic aids to do all the work for me." He finished his coffee, patted his lips with the napkin (if the supercilious tin butler had not been watching, he would have wiped them) and followed the robot through the doorway.
Marlene was waiting in the gun room. With the d.u.c.h.ess, Lobenga and his wife, and the Comte de Messigny. Grimes noted that only the Princess was dressed for rough outdoor activities, the others were in light, comfortable attire, suitable for lounging about indoors or in the garden. They all seemed in a cheerful mood but for de Messigny whose handsome features were darkened by what was almost a scowl.
"Good morning, John," the Princess greeted him. "It"s a fine day for a shoot."
"I always think that it"s a pity," said the d.u.c.h.ess, "to destroy those beautiful birds."
"You enjoy them when they appear on the table," Marlene told her.
"Yes, my dear. Yes. And you enjoy blasting them out of the sky, so each of us has her pleasures."
"Blood sports," said the Comte, "are primitive." He permitted himself a sneer. "No doubt they are very much to the taste of a Survey Service gunnery officer, although he may find a shotgun a little small after the weapons that he is used to."
"You are a s.p.a.ceman yourself, Henri," said Marlene.
"Yes. And a good one. But I"m a merchant s.p.a.ceman, and before that I was a yachtsman."