and by the time her parents got tired of sitting grimly by the door waiting to whip her for staying out late, she could be clear of the planet. You’ve no idea how much they’d love to whip her. The hope of doing so will keep them from worrying where she’s gone for at least an extra three or four hours.”
Counce gave Jaroslav a long, steady look. “Jaroslav, you seem to be letting this place get you down. You’d better clear your mind a little. After all, no matter how repulsive the Ymirans’ behavior is, you’re an Ymiran yourself. You’re a human being and so are they. Once you stop recognizing that fact, consciously and continuously, you’re a failure. We’ve had failures occasionally. We had to stop them. I’m not threatening you–just reminding you.”
Jaroslav gave a weary smile. “Don’t worry, Saïd. That’s my own kith and kin I’m insulting; I think I have a better right to know what’s wrong with them than an off-worlder, no matter how highly developed his empathy. What we need here, Saïd, is some method of exposing the youngsters firsthand to a different environment. Enni will be lucky; you’ll take her on if she survives the experience with Bassett–”
“We will. We couldn’t forgive ourselves if we didn’t.”
Jaroslav nodded. “In the end, anyway, she’ll get her facts straight. She’ll be a decent, functioning human being. But she’ll only be one.”
“Organize it, then! Damn it, that’s what you’re here for. Arrange wholesale stowing away aboard the spacecraft that call here. Kidnap a whole street gang or something–you can cover yourself. Pinch a hundred boys and girls from their beds with your transfax, drug them, and let them wake up on Shiva or Zeus or K’ung-fu-tse. Wouldn’t the spacemen play?”
“Not very likely. We need agents working in the spacecrews too, you know.”
“Spacecrews are the least of our worries. They see all the different worlds, and can enjoy themselves equally anywhere. They’re tolerant. They’re spacemen first and men second, and that’s close enough to what we want. We couldn’t waste the effort.”
“But couldn’t we recruit people like Leeuwenhoek, for instance?”
“We could. Try it yourself when he’s here; if he seems likely, ask him to quit his ship and send him to Regis. I’ll tell Wu to expect him.”
Counce swigged the last of his wine. “Well, good-bye, Jaroslav. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer. But I’ll have to make sure that a certain Ymiran teen-age girl, who arrives on Earth in eight days’ time, falls into the right hands – and that’s going to mean having every third person on the docks on our side during the crucial hour or two. You think you have problems? Try mine sometime!”
They exchanged understanding and mutually forgiving grins, and then Counce was gone.
CHAPTER VIII
Her parents might not have noticed the piece of paper in the bare, chilly room. They seldom came in here. Enni was charged with cleaning it and making her own bed, and she, like most other young people on Ymir, had very few personal belongings. Occasionally, she knew, her father looked in late at night to see that she was properly in bed and asleep.
But she knew every inch of the floor, the walls and the ceiling, so that when she came in and set her schoolbooks down, the out-of-place whiteness was the first thing that caught her eye.
She picked it up. She had seen enough of Jaroslav Dubin’s handwriting to recognize that this sample was genuine. With harsh fear clutching at her throat, she read:
Enni, you and I are in terrible danger. Come and see me this evening. Jaroslav.
Terror, the fear of discovery and its certain consequences, had walked day and night with Enni for many months. She didn’t stop to wonder how the note had got where it was, whether it might in fact be a forgery designed to provoke her into giving away a damaging fact. Thankful that she had not yet taken off her out-door clothes, she turned and
Counce gave Jaroslav a long, steady look. “Jaroslav, you seem to be letting this place get you down. You’d better clear your mind a little. After all, no matter how repulsive the Ymirans’ behavior is, you’re an Ymiran yourself. You’re a human being and so are they. Once you stop recognizing that fact, consciously and continuously, you’re a failure. We’ve had failures occasionally. We had to stop them. I’m not threatening you–just reminding you.”
Jaroslav gave a weary smile. “Don’t worry, Saïd. That’s my own kith and kin I’m insulting; I think I have a better right to know what’s wrong with them than an off-worlder, no matter how highly developed his empathy. What we need here, Saïd, is some method of exposing the youngsters firsthand to a different environment. Enni will be lucky; you’ll take her on if she survives the experience with Bassett–”
“We will. We couldn’t forgive ourselves if we didn’t.”
Jaroslav nodded. “In the end, anyway, she’ll get her facts straight. She’ll be a decent, functioning human being. But she’ll only be one.”
“Organize it, then! Damn it, that’s what you’re here for. Arrange wholesale stowing away aboard the spacecraft that call here. Kidnap a whole street gang or something–you can cover yourself. Pinch a hundred boys and girls from their beds with your transfax, drug them, and let them wake up on Shiva or Zeus or K’ung-fu-tse. Wouldn’t the spacemen play?”
“Not very likely. We need agents working in the spacecrews too, you know.”
“Spacecrews are the least of our worries. They see all the different worlds, and can enjoy themselves equally anywhere. They’re tolerant. They’re spacemen first and men second, and that’s close enough to what we want. We couldn’t waste the effort.”
“But couldn’t we recruit people like Leeuwenhoek, for instance?”
“We could. Try it yourself when he’s here; if he seems likely, ask him to quit his ship and send him to Regis. I’ll tell Wu to expect him.”
Counce swigged the last of his wine. “Well, good-bye, Jaroslav. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer. But I’ll have to make sure that a certain Ymiran teen-age girl, who arrives on Earth in eight days’ time, falls into the right hands – and that’s going to mean having every third person on the docks on our side during the crucial hour or two. You think you have problems? Try mine sometime!”
They exchanged understanding and mutually forgiving grins, and then Counce was gone.
CHAPTER VIII
Her parents might not have noticed the piece of paper in the bare, chilly room. They seldom came in here. Enni was charged with cleaning it and making her own bed, and she, like most other young people on Ymir, had very few personal belongings. Occasionally, she knew, her father looked in late at night to see that she was properly in bed and asleep.
But she knew every inch of the floor, the walls and the ceiling, so that when she came in and set her schoolbooks down, the out-of-place whiteness was the first thing that caught her eye.
She picked it up. She had seen enough of Jaroslav Dubin’s handwriting to recognize that this sample was genuine. With harsh fear clutching at her throat, she read:
Enni, you and I are in terrible danger. Come and see me this evening. Jaroslav.
Terror, the fear of discovery and its certain consequences, had walked day and night with Enni for many months. She didn’t stop to wonder how the note had got where it was, whether it might in fact be a forgery designed to provoke her into giving away a damaging fact. Thankful that she had not yet taken off her out-door clothes, she turned and
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