Part 10 (2/2)
”We don't know that they think individually. That's one of the mysteries. They may have evolved a col- lective consciousness by now. And it's not a matter merely of irritating them. They can be downright hos- tile at times. That right is reserved to them as well.”
”Six, seven hundred years or more,” Cora whis- pered. ”I would've thought they'd gotten over that by now.”
”They'll never get over it,” Sam replied, disturbed by his own certainty. ”At least, they haven't as yet.
It's been seven hundred and thirty years exactly, if I remember the histories right, since the serum was discovered that enabled the Cetacea to utilize all of their enormous brains. That's when it was decided to settle some of the pitiful survivors of the second holocaust on a world of their own. No, they haven't gotten over it”
Cora knew that Sam was right, though it was hard to feel guilty for the actions of an ignorant and prim- itive humanity. She insisted she should not feel guilt for the repugnant and idiotic actions of her distant ancestors.
Sending the whales to Cachalot had been hailed as a magnificent experiment, a gigantic fleet of huge transports working for two decades to accomplish the Transfer. It had been done, so the politicians claimed,
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CACHALOT.
to see what kind of civilization the cetaceans might create on a world of their own.
In actuality, it had been done as penance, a racial apology for nearly exterminating the only other in- telligent life ever to evolve on Earth. The Cetacea had possessed cognitive abilities for nearly eight hun- dred years now. From all the reports she had eagerly devoured, as keenly antic.i.p.ated as they were infre- quent, she knew they were still growing mentally.
Part of the Agreement of Transfer stated that they would be left alone, to develop as they wished, in their own fas.h.i.+on. Intensive monitoring of their progress, or lack of it, was expressly forbidden by the Agree- ment. But the idea that they would resist such study to the point of open hostility was new to her, and surprising.
”I would think by now they'd enjoy contact,” she said. ”When you're building a society, conversation with others is helpful and psychologically soothing.
Our experiences with other s.p.a.ce-going races has shown that.”
”Other s.p.a.ce-going races didn't have the racial trauma that the Cetacea did,” Sam reminded her.
”And the society they're constructing, slowly and pain- fully, is different from any we've yet encountered.
Maybe it's a reflection of their size, but I think they have a slower and yet greater perspective than we do. Their outlook, their view of societies as well as of the universe, is totally different from ours.
”When they were first settled here, they were of- fered, for example, aid in developing devices with which they could manipulate the physical world. Tools for creatures without hands or tentacles. They refused.
They're not developing as a larger offshoot of man- kind. They're going their own way.
”Sure, it seems slow, but as I said, their outlook is different from ours. A few experts do study them a little, and depart discouraged in the belief that in the
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past half a millennium the Cetacea haven't made any progress.” There was a twinkle in his eye.
”Then there are some of us on Cachalot who think they are making progress. Not progress as we would consider it. See, I don't think they care much for what we call civilization. They're content to swim, calve, eat, and think. It's the last of those that's critical. We really know very little about how they think, or even what they think about. But some of us think that may- be our original colonists are progressing a little faster than anyone realizes.”
”All the reports I've read are fascinating in that respect, Sam. I understand they've developed and discarded dozens of new religions.”
”You'd know more about that than I,” Mataroreva confessed. ”I'm just a peaceforcer. My interest in the Cetacea is personal, not professional. I only know as much about them as I do because I live on their world.
”As to whether we'll encounter any of them, that I can't say. They've multiplied and done well on this world, but it's still incomprehensibly vast. We are duty- bound not to seek them out.”
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