Part 13 (2/2)
”In this matter-forgive my taking the words from your mouth-in this matter, the whole material future of Yinnisfar is concerned. We are at the cross-roads; you must be aware that our economic position in the galaxy is unstable, and must constantly expand to remain stationary?”
”Of that I am as aware as you are, Moderator. But I do not want to talk about galactic economics; I wish to discuss the mothers and new-born children placed under your care here.”
Tedden put his big hands on the desk, palm down, and made a heavy face.
”The two subjects are inseparably intertwined, Mr. Djjckett, let me a.s.sure you of that. But we shall get no-where if we wrangle. Come, perhaps it would be best if you had to look into one of our wards, and see some-thing of what we are achieving.”
He rose. Djjckett reluctantly did the same. Tedden ushered him towards the door; Djjckett dodged under his shepherding arm and went back to his enveloper to look at his portcase. When he saw it remained quietly where it was, he returned to Tedden's side, wearing the look of a man prepared to face the worst.
They moved together down a soundless corridor, through two doors, and into an observation booth over- looking a ward containing six small cots. The cots were all occupied.
”Pologla.s.s; we see them, they do not see us,” Tedden explained, glancing at his finger bleep.
Djjckett stared through the windows, prepared for something horrible.
The temperature inside the small ward was evidently high, for the six cots held infants who lay there without coverings. A nurbot moved efficiently from cot to cot, changing napkins with a rubbery deftness.
Only three of the babies were awake; two of them stood shakily, supporting themselves by the bars and watching the attendant machine; the other, having just woken, was also anxious to see what was happening. With slow, tentative movements, it pulled itself up, feet wide apart, pink knees slightly bent, until it stood erect. Uttering an inarticulate cry, it staggered two steps forward, grabbed the cot side as if its life depended on it, and hung there gazing vaguely in the general direction of its nurse.
”Splendid exhibition; might have done it especially for our benefit,” Tedden said, with gratification and pride. He added quietly, ”And all these six babies are under forty-eight hours old.”
”You can surely see why we think this experiment is monstrous,” Djjckett said, his lanky body shaking inside its rather loose suit, as he and Tedden walked back down the corridor. In his mind, the picture still burned of that tiny, wizened, red thing standing unaided in its cot; it made him feel as sick as if he had seen a woman thrashed or a criminal executed.
”You are raising monsters,” he added, indignantly, when Tedden did not at once reply. It was one of Djjckett's characteristics that, caught on the wrong foot, he could be ruffled easily and then become unable (or so he feared) to express his irritation. He waved a hand and added, ”as for the luckless and deluded mothers you have here in your power, they should never”
Tedden showed real anger. Normally he was rather stolid and slow to anger; today his nerves were already on edge. Stopping so suddenly that Djjckett jumped, he said, ”Just try and remember the facts, will you? People come to the EAMH voluntarily, men and women with an eye to the future, eager to take advantage of the discoveries we have made and are making. D'you think they prattle about monsters?”
A redness crept up his face and over the s.h.i.+ning ex-panse of his skull. Still talking, he plunged suddenly into motion again, leading the way back to his room, closing the door after Djjckett as the other followed in. He deliberately ignored Djjckett's sick expression.
”You see, it comes back to what I was saying about the future of Yinnisfar,” Tedden said, ”in which the future of the individual is naturally involved. You realize that Yinnisfar and consequently most of the Federation is threatened with a ma.s.sive trade recession. Some of these newly discovered worlds at the Hub, planets with less than a million years of history behind them, are stealing a march on us. Gutaligni is a case in point.
”You may have heard, Djjckett Male, that the Cutalignians now have virtually an empire of their own.
Planets that once dealt entirely with us are now swamped with their goods, their executives, their ideas.
Cutalignian s.p.a.ce liners and freighters are taking up trade and s.h.i.+pping lines that were indisputably ours for milleniums. Of course, it's only a drop in the ocean and gets pooh-poohed even in responsible quarters, but for me it's a sign, an omen. We're going downhill. Why?”
”I daresay you know more about all this than I do,” Djjckett said morosely; his face was still grey and patchy with shock. ”The reason generally given for this trend is that the Gutalignians are long-lived, so that training and education go further, and an experienced older man can serve longer. . . .”
”Good enough. It's a good reason. To put it in cash terms, a thousand-purs education lasts an ordinary man, a Yinnisfarian, from the age of say twenty to ninety-five; that's only seventy-five years. But a thousand-purs educa-tion lasts a Cutalignian about a hundred and twenty years. Imagine if everyone on Earth could spend forty-five years at the age of forty. Advantageous, eh? Here, do have a affrohale, Djjckett Male; I'm sorry if I sounded short-tempered then. My nerves are all on edge today. Nothing personal intended.”
He extended his silver case almost with a look of plead-ing, rebuking himself as he misinterpreted the affronted expression of Djjckett's face (but why couldn't these out-s.p.a.cers wear civility masks like civilized people!).
Feebly, Djjckett again refused the case. Diurnal drug-ging, long fas.h.i.+onable on Yinnisfar, was regarded as decadent on Koramandel, like the habit of masking.
”I shall be better soon, Moderator,” he said. ”It was the shock of seeing those wretched infants. . . .
Excuse me, I think I will take a drink.”
He snapped his fingers. Obediently, the portcase rose from where it had been quietly lying. It was neat, small, covered with short fur, much like a bag on four legs, with a hump in the middle which would open at a word of command to reveal Djjckett's vibros and doc.u.ments. Instead of giving that word, the Transfed man clicked his tongue.
The portcase straightened up. From under its belly, a retractable pink stalk emerged and pointed towards Djjckett's face. Nonchalantly taking the end of this stalk into his mouth, Djjckett began to suck.
Rising half out of his enveloper, Tedden said in dis-gusted tones, ”Is that thing animal or machine?”
”Previously animal but presently neither animal nor machine,” Djjckett said, removing the nipple moment-arily from his mouth. ”It belongs to one of the group known as mammalloys now being exploited on Kora-mandel; no doubt we shall begin exporting ”to your planet shortly.”
”Never!” Tedden gasped. ”It's repulsive! I apologize but I do beg you to stop sucking. . . . You mean the beastly thing is live?”
”Hardly that. It has no brain, only a nervous system. This particular mammalloy is an applied mutation from camel stock. You see how much more efficient and lighter it is than any robot could be. I must say how surprised I am to see you shocked over an experiment in many ways similar to your own.”
”Similar! Similar! Ye glories! This terrible mutilation of animals”
”Oh, and how is it one half as monstrous as your own terrible mutilation of human babies?”
For the first time, Djjckett was enjoying himself; he took a further suck before dismissing the portcase.
But Tedden was gripping his desk in anger.
”The gene changes made in EAMH babies occur before conception.”
”Similarly with our mammalloys, of course, Moderator.”
The Moderator stood for a minute in complete silence. When he at last sat back again, he even smiled.
”There are two sides to every question,” he said.
As the enveloper took him, he rubbed his hand across his big face, appearing to dismiss all that had gone before.
”Lots of worries,” he said. ”Forgive me if I make a vibrodo a minute.”
He dialled the screen on his desk and the head and shoulders of a uniformed woman elaborately masked appeared immediately.
”Tunnice?” Tedden asked. ”How is she please?”
”I was just going to call you, Moderator,” the masked face said. ”Everything seems to be perfectly under con-trol. She is quite comfortable, and we aren't expecting any further developments for a while. We'll vib you again as soon as anything happens.”
She smiled, an official and rather strained curling of the lips that was emphasized by the mask.
”Thanks, Mingra Female,” Tedden said, cutting her off.
He turned back to Djjckett a little blankly, as if the whole object of their meeting had gone from his head.
”Yes. . . . You see, Djjckett Male, the gap between our capabilities and the Cutalignians' must be closed. And it can be closed. That's what we're doing here, or trying to do despite outside interference; perhaps that's what you're trying to do too, with those beastly mam-malloys-I had no idea how far your experiments had gone. . . . Everyone lives under pressure nowadays; you know what civilization has become. It's a rat race. Gut-throat compet.i.tion. But supposing you matured at the age of five instead of the age of twenty....”
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