The Unlearned Page 6

visionscreens which brought into range the streets and buildings of thecities. They could see the people walking and riding there.

  Hockley caught his breath at the sight, and doubts overwhelmed him,telling him he was an utter and complete fool. The city upon which helooked was a jewel of perfection. Buildings were not indiscriminatemasses of masonry and metal and plastic heaped up without regard to thetotal effect. Rather, the city was a unit created with an eye toesthetic perfection.

  Silvers stood beside Hockley. "We've got a chance to make Earth lookthat way," said the mathematician.

  "There's only one thing missing," said Hockley. "The price tag. We stillneed to know what it's going to cost."

  Upon landing, the Earthmen were greeted by a covey of their bird-likehosts who scurried about, introducing themselves in their high whistlingvoices. In busses, they were moved half way across the city to abuilding which stood beside an enormous park area.

  It was obviously a building designed for the reception of just suchdelegations as this one, giving Hockley evidence that perhaps his ideawas not so original after all. It was a relief to get inside after theirbrief trip across the city. Gravity, temperature, and air pressure andcomposition duplicated those of Earth inside, and conditions could bevaried to accommodate many different species. Hockley felt confidentthey could become accustomed to outside conditions after a few days, butit was exhausting now to be out for long.

  They were shown to individual quarters and given leisure to unpack andinspect their surroundings. Furniture had been adjusted to their sizeand needs. The only oversight Hockley could find was a faint odor ofchlorine lingering in the closets. He wondered who the last occupant ofthe room had been.

  After a noon meal, served with foods of astonishingly closeapproximation to their native fare, the group was offered a prelude tothe general instruction and indoctrination which would begin thefollowing day. This was in the form of a guided tour through the sciencemuseum which, Hockley gathered, was a modernized Ryke parallel to thevenerable Smithsonian back home. The tour was entirely optional, as faras the planned program of the Rykes was concerned, but none of theEarthmen turned it down.

  Hockley tried to concentrate heavily on the memory of Waldon Thar andkeep the image of his friend always before him as he moved through thecity and inspected the works of the Rykes. He found it helped suppressthe awe and adulation which he had an impulse to share with hiscompanions.

  It was possible even, he found, to adopt a kind of truculent cynicismtoward the approach the Rykes were making. The visit to the sciencemuseum _could_ be an attempt to bowl them over with an eon-long vista ofRyke superiority in the sciences. At least that was most certainly theeffect on them. Hockley cursed his own feeling of ignorance andinferiority as the guide led them quietly past the works of the masters,offering but little comment, letting them see for themselves the obviousrelationships.

  In the massive display showing developments of spaceflight, the atomicvessels, not much different from Earthmen's best efforts, were far downthe line, very near to the earliest attempts of the Rykes to rockettheir way into space. Beyond that level was an incredible series ofdevelopments incomprehensible to most of the Earthmen.

  And to all their questions the guide offered the monotonous reply: "Thatwill be explained to you later. We only wish to give you an overallpicture of our culture at the present time."

  But this was not enough for one of the astronomers, named Moore, whomoved ahead of Hockley in the crowd. Hockley saw the back of Moore'sneck growing redder by the minute as the guide's evasive answer wasrepeated. Finally, Moore forced a discussion regarding the merits ofsome systems of comparing the brightness of stars, which the guidebriefly showed them. The guide, in great annoyance, burst out with astream of explanation that completely flattened any opinions Moore mighthave had. But at the same time the astronomer grinned amiably at theRyke. "That ought to settle that," he said. "I'll bet it won't take aweek to get our system changed back home."

  Moore's success loosened the restraint of the others and they beseigedthe guide mercilessly then with opinions, questions, comparisons--andeven mild disapprovals. The guide's exasperation was obvious--andpleasant--to Hockley, who remained a bystander. It was frightening toMarkham and some of the other senators who were unable to take part inthe discussion. But most of the scientists failed to notice it in theireagerness to learn.

  After dinner that night they gathered in the lounge and study of theirquarters. Markham stood beside Hockley as they partook cautiously of thecocktails which the Rykes had attempted to duplicate for them. TheSenator's awe had returned to overshadow any concern he felt during theevents of the afternoon. "A wonderful day!" he said. "Even though thisvisit delays completion of our arrangements with the Rykes those of ushere will be grateful forever that you proposed it. Nothing could haveso impressed us all with the desirability of accepting the Ryke'stutelage. It was a stroke of genius, Dr. Hockley. And for a time Ithought you were actually opposed to the Rykes!"

  He sipped his drink while Hockley said nothing. Then his brow furrowed abit. "But I wonder why our guide cut short our tour this afternoon. If Irecall correctly he said at the beginning there was a great deal more tosee than he actually showed us."

  Hockley smiled and sipped politely at his drink before he set it downand faced the Senator. "I was wondering if anyone else noticed that," hesaid.

  * * * * *

  Hockley slept well that night except for the fact that occasional whiffsof chlorine seemed to drift from various corners of the room even thoughhe turned the air-conditioning system on full blast.

  In the morning there began a series of specialized lectures which hadbeen prepared in accordance with the Earthmen's request to acquaint themwith what they would be getting upon acceptance of the Ryke offer.

  It was obviously no new experience for the Rykes. The lectures were wellprepared and anticipated many questions. The only thing new about it,Hockley thought, was the delivery in the language of the Earthmen.Otherwise, he felt this was something prepared a long time ago and givena thousand times or more.

  They were divided into smaller groups according to their specialties,electronic men going one way, astronomers and mathematical physicistsanother, chemists and general physicists in still another direction.Hockley, Showalter and the senators were considered more or less freefloating members of the delegation with the privilege of visiting withone group or another according to their pleasure.

  Hockley chose to spend the first day with the chemists, since that washis own first love. Dr. Showalter and Senator Markham came along withhim. As much as he tried he found it virtually impossible not to sitwith the same open-mouthed wonder that his colleagues exhibited. Theswift, free-flowing exposition of the Ryke lecturer led them immediatelybeyond their own realms, but so carefully did he lead them that itseemed that they must have come this way before, and forgotten it.

  Hockley felt half angry with himself. He felt he had allowed himself tobe hypnotized by the skill of the Ryke, and wondered despairingly ifthere were any chance at all of combating their approach. He saw nothingto indicate it in the experience of that day or the ones immediatelyfollowing. But he retained hope that there was much significance in theaction of the guide who had cut short their visit to the museum.

  In the evenings, in the study lounge of the dormitory, they heldinterminable bull sessions exchanging and digesting what they had beenshown during the day. It was at the end of the third day that Hockleythought he could detect a subtle change in the group. He had somedifficulty analyzing it at first. It seemed to be a growing aliveness, asort of recovery. And then he recognized that the initial stunnedreaction to the magnificence of the Rykes was passing off. They had beenshocked by the impact of the Rykes, almost as if they had been struck ablow on the head. Temporarily, they had shelved all their own analyticaland critical facilities and yielded to the Rykes without question.

  Now they were beginning to recover, springing back to a cond
itionconsiderably nearer normal. Hockley felt a surge of encouragement as hedetected a more sharply critical evaluation in the conversations thatbuzzed around him. The enthusiasm was more measured.

  It was the following evening, however, that witnessed the first event ofpronounced shifting of anyone's attitude. They had finished dinner andwere gathering in the lounge, sparring around, setting up groups for thebull sessions that would go until long after midnight. Most of them hadalready settled down and were talking part in conversations or werelistening quietly when they were suddenly aware of a change in theatmosphere of the room.

  For a moment there was a general turning of heads to locate the sourceof the disturbance. Hockley knew he could never describe just what madehim look around, but he was abruptly conscious that Dr. Silvers waswalking into the lounge and looking slowly about at those gatheredthere. Something in his