The Colonists Page 5

I wishthere were more time to spend on him. But Merton called up again todayto verify the ultimatum I told you about. We produce colonists by thetime Hull Four is complete or they turn the personnel problem over toWinthrop--even after they saw Carnahan go to pieces before their eyes."

  "Has it ever occurred to you," said Bonnie slowly, "that we might justpossibly be off on the wrong foot? How do you know that any of thecolonists of Earth's history could have stood up to the demands ofSerrengia? I'm beginning to suspect that the Mayflower's passenger listwould have folded quite completely under these conditions. They had itcomparatively easy. So did most other successful colonists."

  "Yes--?" said Ashby.

  "Maybe they succeeded in _spite_ of being rebels. If they could havecome to the new lands without the pressure of flight, but in completefreedom of action, they might have made an even greater success."

  "But why would they have come at all, then?"

  "I don't know. There must be another motive capable of impelling them.In great feats of exploration, creation--other human actions similar tocolonization--"

  "There are _no_ other human actions similar to colonization," saidAshby. "Surely you realize we're dealing with something unique here,Bonnie!"

  "I know--all I'm trying to say is there could be another valid motive. Ithink Mark Jorden's got it. There's something different about this test,and I think you ought to look in on it yourself."

  "What's so different about him?"

  "He doesn't act like the rest. He hasn't any apparent reason for beinghere."

  Ashby looked at the girl closely. She was one of his top staff membersand had been with him from the beginning. The incredible strain ofworking day after day in the test pits was showing its effects, hethought.

  "I shouldn't have let you get started on this one," he said. "You'refagged out. Maybe it would be better to erase what we've done and startover, so that you can drop out."

  She shook her head with a quickness that surprised him. "I want tofinish it, and see how Mark turns out. I'm so used to working with thebitter, anti-social ones that it's a relief to have someone who ishalfway normal and gregarious. I want to be around when we find out whyhe's here."

  "Especially if he should go all the way to the end. But he won't--"

  * * * * *

  Ashby was genuinely concerned about Bonnie's condition when he looked inon her the next morning. The strain on her face was real beyond anymatter of make-up or acting. He wondered just why she should be givingin to it now. Bonnie was well trained, as were all the staff members whoworked in the test pits. The emotional conflicts mocked up there werenot allowed to penetrate very deeply into their personal experience, yetit looked now as if Bonnie had somehow lost control of the armor toprotect against such invasion. She seemed to be living the circumstancesof the test program almost as intensely as Mark Jorden was doing.

  Such a condition couldn't be permitted to continue, but he was baffledby it. Her physical and emotional check prior to the test had not shownher threshold to be this low. Evidently there was emotional dynamiteburied somewhere in the situation they had manufactured.

  Through the observation lens of the test pit Ashby watched Jorden begina tour of the villages, making a quiet investigation of the situation,which he had all but ignored until it was forced to his attention.Jorden spent an hour with Adamson, listening carefully to the atomicengineer's story, and then was led to the hiding place of the engineerwho claimed direct evidence that Boggs had instigated the explosion atthe power plant.

  As Adamson left them, Ashby signaled him through the tiny button buriedin the skin behind his right ear. "This is Ashby," he said. "How does itlook? Do you think he's going to tackle Boggs?"

  "No question of that." Adamson's words came back, although he made nomovement of his mouth or throat. "Jorden is one of these people with alot of inertia. It takes a big push to get him moving, but when hereally gets rolling there isn't much that can stop him, either. You'rereally going to have to put the pressure on to find his cracking point."

  "I'm afraid we're likely to find Bonnie's first. There's something aboutthis that's hitting her too hard. Do you know what it is?"

  "No," said Adamson. "I thought I noticed it a little yesterday, too.Maybe we ought to check her out."

  "She insists on completing the program. And I'd like to go all the waywith Jorden. I'm becoming rather curious about him. Keep an eye onBonnie and let me know what you think at the end of the shift."

  "I'll do that," said Adamson.

  * * * * *

  Jorden followed his guide for more than a mile beyond the last villageon the bank of the river. There, in a willow hidden cave in the claybank, he found James, the atomic engineer who was reported to know ofBoggs' attack on the power plant.

  "I told him you were coming," said Adamson, "but I'm going to leave. Youcan make out better if you're alone with him. He's bitter, but he isn'tarmed, and he'll go along with you if you don't push him too hard."

  Jorden watched Adamson disappear along the bank in the direction fromwhich they had come. He had a feeling of utter ridiculousness. Thiswasn't what they had come for! They had come to build an outpost ofhuman beings, to establish man's claim in this sector of the Universe.And they were ending in a petty conflict worthy of the politics ofcenturies before, back on Earth.

  His face took on a harder set as he approached the mouth of the cave andwhistled the signal notes that Adamson had taught him. If theestablishment of the colony demanded this kind of fight then he waswilling to enter the battle. He had not dedicated the remainder of hislife to a goal only to abandon it to a petty tyrant like Boggs.

  A bearded face peered cautiously through parted willows and James' voicespoke. "You're Jorden? I suppose by now everybody in the villages knowswhere I'm hiding out. I'm the world's prize fool for letting this paradecome past my place. Come in and I'll tell you what I know. If you helpget Boggs it will be worth anything it costs me."

  Jorden followed the man through the screening willows to the mouth ofthe cave. There the two of them squatted on rocks opposite each other.

  "I remember you now," said James. "You set up the electric plant when wewere assembling the pile, didn't you? I thought we'd worked together."

  Jorden nodded, hoping James would go on, remembering Adamson's cautionnot to push him too hard, but the engineer seemed to have nothing moreto say. He rubbed a hand forcibly against his other arm and lookedbeyond the mouth of the cave to the slow moving river.

  "This business concerning Boggs' destruction of the plant--how did itstart?" said Jorden finally.

  "How does anything of that kind start?" said James. "Boggs came to someof us and remarked in casual conversation what a shame it would be ifthe colony were to duplicate all over again the mistakes that Earth havemade during the past thousands of years. A few of us were sympatheticwith that thought--it would indeed be a shame. Some of the engineersthought that this was the perfect chance to set up a truly scientificsociety. They didn't agree that Boggs was the ideal leader, but he _was_the leader and the obvious one to work through. They all becameconvinced that a rapid industrialization and a highly technologicalsociety built upon the old rusty foundations would be most difficult toovercome in building a society on truly adequate sociologicalprinciples. You can take it from there."

  Yes, he could, Jorden thought. Anybody could take it from there. It wasthe oldest lie that men of power and position had ever concocted. Whyhad those particular colonists fallen for it?

  "What about you?" he asked James. "Were you sucked in by Boggs'arguments?"

  The engineer nodded. "He took all of us. And all along he never intendedthat more than a couple would get out alive--by double crossing theothers."

  "Why?" said Jorden.

  "Why? I've thought a lot about that, living here in this mudhole. Youget to thinking about things like that when you realize there's no goingback, that Boggs would kill me on sight for what I co
uld tell--and thatthe other colonists would also, because of what I've done. Adamson saysI can trust him. He says I can trust you. But I don't trust anybody. Iknow that someday soon I'm going to get a bullet in the head from one ofyou. All I'm hoping is that some of you hate Boggs enough to get himfirst."

  "Why did you come to Serrengia in the first place?"

  "To get away. Why did anyone come? You don't give up everything you'vegot in order to go to some strange world and spend the rest of your lifeunless