The Stars, My Brothers

she said."The drive was perfected. The ships went out to the nearer stars. Theyfound worlds. They established colonies from the overflowing populationof Earth. They found human indigenous races on a few worlds, all of themat a rather low technical level, and they taught them.

  "There was a determination from the beginning to make it one universe.No separate nationalistic groups, no chance of wars. The governingcouncil was set up at Altair Two. Every world was represented. There aretwenty-nine of them, now. It's expected to go on like that, till thereare twenty-nine hundred starworlds represented there, twenty-ninethousand--any number. But--"

  Kieran had been listening closely. "But what? What upset this particularutopia?"

  "Sako."

  "This world we're going to?"

  "Yes," she said soberly. "Men found something different about this worldwhen they reached it. It had people--human people--on it, very low inthe scale of civilization."

  "Well, what was the problem? Couldn't you start teaching them as you hadothers?"

  She shook her head. "It would take a long while. But that wasn't thereal problem. It was-- You see, there's another race on Sako beside thehuman ones, and it's a fairly civilized race. The Sakae. The troubleis--the Sakae aren't human."

  Kieran stared at her. "So what? If they're intelligent--"

  "You talk as though it was the simplest thing in the world," sheflashed.

  "Isn't it? If your Sakae are intelligent and the humans of Sako aren't,then the Sakae have the rights on that world, don't they?"

  She looked at him, not saying anything, and again she had that strickenlook of one who has tried and failed. Then from up forward, withoutturning, Webber spoke.

  "What do you think now of Vaillant's fine idea, Paula?"

  "It can still work," she said, but there was no conviction in her voice.

  "If you don't mind," said Kieran, with an edge to his voice, "I'd stilllike to know what this Sako business has to do with reviving me."

  * * * * *

  "The Sakae rule the humans on that world," Paula answered. "There aresome of us who don't believe they should. In the Council, we're known asthe Humanity Party, because we believe that humans should not be ruledby non-humans."

  Again, Kieran was distracted from his immediate question--this time bythe phrase "Non-human".

  "These Sakae--what are they like?"

  "They're not monsters, if that's what you're thinking of," Paula said."They're bipeds--lizardoid rather than humanoid--and are a fairlyintelligent and law-abiding lot."

  "If they're all that, and higher in development than the humans, whyshouldn't they rule their own world?" demanded Kieran.

  Webber uttered a sardonic laugh. Without turning he asked, "Shall Ichange course and go to Altair?"

  "No!" she said. Her eyes flashed at Kieran and she spoke almostbreathlessly. "You're very sure about things you just heard about,aren't you? You know what's right and you know what's wrong, even thoughyou've only been in this time, this universe, for a few hours!"

  Kieran looked at her closely. He thought he was beginning to get aglimmer of the shape of things now.

  "You--all you who woke me up illegally--you belong to this HumanityParty, don't you? You did it for some reason connected with that?"

  "Yes," she answered defiantly. "We need a symbol in this politicalstruggle. We thought that one of the oldtime space pioneers, one of thehumans who began the conquest of the stars, would be it. We--"

  Kieran interrupted. "I think I get it. It was really considerate of you.You drag a man back from what amounts to death, for a party rally.'Oldtime space hero condemns non-humans'--it would go something likethat, wouldn't it?"

  "Listen--," she began.

  "Listen, hell," he said. He was hot with rage, shaking with it. "I amglad to say that you could not possibly have picked a worse symbol thanme. I have no more use for the idea of the innate sacred superiority ofone species over another than I had for that of one kind of man overanother."

  Her face changed. From an angry woman, she suddenly became aprofessional psychologist, coolly observing reactions.

  "It's not the political question you really resent," she said. "You'vewakened to a strange world and you're afraid of it, in spite of all thepre-awakening preparation we gave your subconscious. You're afraid, andso you're angry."

  Kieran got a grip on himself. He shrugged. "What you say may be true.But it doesn't change the way I feel. I will not help you one damnedbit."

  Webber got up from his seat and came back toward them, his tall formstooping. He looked at Kieran and then at the woman.

  "We have to settle this right now," he said. "We're getting near enoughto Sako to go out of drive. Are we going to land or aren't we?"

  "Yes," said Paula steadily. "We're landing."

  Webber glanced again at Kieran's face. "But if that's the way hefeels--"

  "Go ahead and land," she said.

  5.

  It was nothing like landing in a rocket. First there was the businessreferred to as "going out of drive". Paula made Kieran strap in and shesaid, "You may find this unpleasant, but just sit tight. It doesn't lastlong." Kieran sat stiff and glowering, prepared for anything anddetermined not to show it no matter how he felt. Then Webber didsomething to the control board and the universe fell apart. Kieran'sstomach came up and stuck in his throat. He was falling--up? Down?Sideways? He didn't know, but whichever it was not all the parts of himwere falling at the same rate, or perhaps it was not all in the samedirection, he didn't know that either, but it was an exceptionallyhideous feeling. He opened his mouth to protest, and all of a sudden hewas sitting normally in the chair in the normal cabin and screaming atthe top of his lungs.

  He shut up.

  Paula said, "I told you it would be unpleasant."

  "So you did," said Kieran. He sat, sweating. His hands and feet werecold.

  Now for the first time he became aware of motion. The flitter seemed tohurtle forward at comet-like speed. Kieran knew that this was merely anironic little joke, because now they were proceeding at something in therange of normal velocity, whereas before their speed had been quitebeyond his comprehension. But he could comprehend this. He could feelit. They were going like a bat out of hell, and somewhere ahead of themwas a planet, and he was closed in, blind, a mouse in a nose-cone. Hisinsides writhed with helplessness and the imminence of a crash. Hewanted very much to start screaming again, but Paula was watching him.

  In a few moments that desire became academic. A whistling shriek beganfaintly outside the hull and built swiftly to a point where nothingcould have been heard above it. Atmosphere. And somewhere under theblind wall of the flitter a rock-hard world-face reeling and rushing,leaping to meet them--

  * * * * *

  The flitter slowed. It seemed to hang motionless, quivering faintly.Then it dropped. Express elevator in the world's tallest building, topto bottom--only the elevator is a bubble and the wind is tossing it fromside to side as it drops and there is no bottom.

  They hung again, bounding lightly on the unseen wind.

  Then down.

  And hang again.

  And down.

  Paula said suddenly, "Webber. Webber, I think he's dying." She began tounstrap.

  Kieran said faintly, "Am I turning green?"

  She looked at him, frowning. "Yes."

  "A simple old malady. I'm seasick. Tell Webber to quit playinghumming-bird and put this thing down."

  Paula made an impatient gesture and tightened her belt again.

  Hang and drop. Once more, twice more. A little rocking bounce, a lightthump, motion ceased. Webber turned a series of switches. Silence.

  Kieran said, "Air?"

  * * * * *

  Webber opened a hatch in the side of the cabin. Light poured in. It hadto be sunlight, Kieran knew, but it was a queer color, a sort of tawnyorange that carried a pleasantly burning heat. He got loose with Paulahelping hi
m and tottered to the hatch. The air smelled of cleansun-warmed dust and some kind of vegetation. Kieran climbed out of theflitter, practically throwing himself out in his haste. He wanted solidground under him, he didn't care whose or where.

  And as his boots thumped onto the red-ochre sand, it occurred to himthat it had been a very long time since he had had solid groundunderfoot. A very long time indeed--

  His insides knotted up again, and this time it was not seasickness butfear, and he was cold all through again in spite of the hot new sun.

  He