“And then the Humans. They do not like any other known race act. Though manifestly uncivilized they have an advanced technology managed to develop. They are unlike anything the Amplitur have encountered, the product of an abnormal evolution. Mediocre artists and technicians, they combine minimal intelligence with an extraordinary proclivity for violence. Their presence has the military revitalized and the Amplitur and their allies stunned. And then there is the as yet unexplained mechanism within their nervous system which enables them not merely to resist but fight off the Amplitur mind probe.”
“Not only has the inevitable defeat been staved off, our forces are reversing losses and the offensive taking. I do not mean to minimize the danger I think Humans present to our civilization, but that civilization must first be preserved before we can deal with what is at present only a theoretical threat. Under the circumstances, you can see truly why the Military Council no choice has but to make maximum use of Human volunteers. Were anyone otherwise to suggest they would be instantly replaced.”
Caldaq was silent for a long moment. “Do you understand the real danger they represent? It is not that they are good fighters, or independent of mind. It is that they like fighting. They revel in it, they luxuriate in it. They have spent millennia trying to deny this birthright because they were forced to fight each other. Now they have an opponent who is not Human. No longer do they have to strive to resist their natural instincts.” He paused. “I saw this happen to a friend of mine. One you would remember well.”
“It does not matter. Whatever the outcome of the war or Human-Weave relations, neither you nor I will be around to see them. The historians will judge. I am here to tell you there is nothing that can be done.”
“We could try,” Caldaq insisted.
“Try what? The Humans aware of us now are. With every passing day they become more familiar with Weave technology, Weave tactics, Weave strategies, and Weave civilization. They cannot back to their homeworld be forced. There is no going back.”
“Suppose you could the Council convince of your fears. What would you have them do? Forcibly all Human soldiers from Weave units expel? The Amplitur nothing better would like.”
“Nothing so extreme is required. It is only necessary to deny transportation facilities to Earth.”
“You think so? You have only lived among them, fought alongside them, known them as soldiers, whereas I have had the opportunity to continue to study them. You forget that their technological advancement was restricted by its emphasis on the military and by intertribal conflict. With the end of such conflicts they have been freed to normally develop for the first time in their history.”
“They have for improvisation and for improving upon existing technology a remarkable capacity which for the first time in their development they are putting to use.”
“What are you saying?” Caldaq muttered.
“That their exposure to Weave technology has given them knowledge enough to build their own ships. They the ability have. They no longer to their own world can be restricted.”
Caldaq sat down heavily. “Then all is lost.”
“Nothing is lost. Truly. You and I are not the only ones of the potential problem cognizant, although I am more intimately familiar with it than any other. Others alerted have been, or similar conclusions as the result of their own studies have reached. While it would be heretical to discuss it in public, I can assure you that certain select small study groups do so in private.”
“As the war against the Amplitur is pursued, informed members of the nonmilitaristic species will decide how with the problem of Humankind to deal. As Humans learn from the Weave, so will the Weave learn from them. As we study them, we may even learn the secret of their biological defense against Amplitur intrusion. It would be worth retaining them as allies if for that only. Eventually they will be managed and integrated into Weave civilization.”
“ ‘Managed’?” Caldaq murmured. “That sounds very much like the approach the Amplitur would take.”
The physician was undisturbed by the commander’s accusation. “We will not change Humankind in that fashion. Their independence of thought will not be restricted. Were we to attempt to do so, we would indeed be like the Amplitur.” Teeth clicked together. “Who knows but that they might react to us as they have to the Amplitur? No. This is more a matter of Human energy to useful channels turning.”
“If you and your friends believe you can do that, then you are unrepentant optimists.”
“Truly we can be nothing else. You fear Humans. I have more reason to do so, yet I have succeeded in coming to terms with their presence among us. I am of the potential difficulties they present aware but still wish to a basis for eventually dealing with them establish.”
Caldaq wished Jaruselka were there beside him. He missed her calming influence, her sound advice. Missed the partnership.
“We will never be able to manage them,” he said quietly. “All sentients develop and mature through mutual cooperation. Humans are the only species to have done so as the result of continual conflict. Their genetic makeup as well as their society is warped.”
“Truly we can help to change that,” said the physician. “Any people helped can be.”
“Are you so certain?” Caldaq asked her.
“The S’van can manipulate us while we unaware of it remain. I have seen them do the same to Humans. S’van suggestion is not the same as Amplitur manipulation.”
“Humankind is its destiny fulfilling, doing what it was designed to do. For that they are to be pitied more than feared. My people do not socialize with them. Nor do the S’van, or the Wais, or any other. They are at once brilliant and barbaric, but they are not hopeless. In time they can be civilized.”
“If not, it will be our fault,” Caldaq pointed out. “We have asked them to fight, to give free rein to the very instincts they have been struggling throughout their history to suppress.”
“At least they cannot now themselves exterminate. By providing them with a common enemy we have given them unity as a species, something they might otherwise never have achieved. Did you know that they were their own planet destroying? They were dying in the grip of their own perverted instincts. They spoke contradictory nonsense like ‘fighting for peace.’ We have them the outlet they needed given. We have given them time. And in time we will give them civilization.”
“But not now. For now we need them as they are, as they have been. Dangerous. Truly.”
“It is a terrible responsibility.” Caldaq gazed into the distance. “I had the opportunity to observe Humans at peace, verging on true civilization.”
The physician dismissed the comment. “What you saw was the veneer Humans invented have to their sanity maintain. Inside they are all alike. It is something even they are beginning to admit to. As a physician I know that for a patient the first step in receiving successful treatment is to admit that one needs help. For the moment, however, we must convince them that they do not. Are you now changing your opinion of them?”
It was raining outside. From the hospital room Caldaq could see the western ocean, dark green glass beneath a troubled sky.
“No. I fear them as they are, and so it concerns me that we do not begin immediately to try to civilize them. The more we allow them to utilize their natural abilities on our behalf, the more difficult it will be to eventually change them.”
“Truly that is so. But we have no choice. We must continue upon the path we have chosen and hope that when we reach its end, Humans will continue to walk with us.” The physician stared at the Massood’s back.
“If it helps, you might an alternative future contemplate.” Caldaq glanced tiredly back over his shoulder. “What?” The physician spoke with all the somberness of which her kind was capable. “Consider the possibilities if the Amplitur had encountered Humankind first.”
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Alan Dean Foster, A Call to Arms
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