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.That was easy enough; but when hetriedto describe in detail the qualifications necessary for Lensmanship, he beganto bogdown."Force, drive, scope, of course.range.power.but aboveall, anabsolute integrity.an ultimate incorruptibility." He couldrecognize such a mindafter meeting it and studying it, but as to finding it.It might not bein any place ofpower or authority.His own, and Rod Kinnison's, happened to be; butCostigan's was not.and both Knobos and DalNalten had made inconspicuousness a fine art."I see," the native stated, when it became clear that Samms could say nomore."It is evident, of course, that I cannot qualify; nor do I know anyonepersonally who can.However.""What?" Samms demanded."I was sure, from the feel of your mind, that you.but with a mind of such depth and breadth, such tremendous scope and power,you mustbe incorruptible!""I am," came the dry rejoinder."We all are.No Rigellian is, or everwill be or canbe, what you think of as `corrupt' or `corruptible'.Indeed, it is only by thenarrowest,most intense concentration upon every line of your thought that I cantranslate yourmeaning into a concept possible for any of us even to understand.""Then what.Oh, I see.I was starting at the wrong end.Naturallyenough, Isuppose, I looked first for the qualities rarest in my own race.""Of course.Our minds have ample scope and range; and, perhaps,sufficientPage 46ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlpower.But those qualities which you refer to as `force' and `drive' are fullyas rareamong us as absolute mental integrity is among you.What you know as `crime'isunknown.We have no police, no government, no laws, no organized armed forcesof anykind.We take, practically always, the line of least resistance.We live andlet live, asyour thought runs.We work together for the common good.""Well.I don't know what I expected to find here, but certainly notthis." IfSamms had never before been completely thunderstruck, completely at a loss, hewasthen."You don't think, then, that there is any chance?""I have been thinking, and there may be a chance.a slight one, butstill achance," the Rigellian said, slowly."For instance, that youth, so full ofcuriosity, who firstvisited your planet.Thousands of us have wondered, to ourselves and to eachother,.about the peculiar qualities of mind which compelled him and others to wasteso muchtime, effort,and wealth upon a project so completely useless as exploration.Why, hehadeven to develop energies and engines theretofore unknown, and which can neverbe ofany real use!"Samms was shaken by the calm finality with which the Rigellian dismissedallpossibility of the usefulness of interstellar exploration, but stuck doggedlyto his purpose."However slight the chance, I must find and talk to this man.I supposehe is nowout in deep space somewhere.Have you any idea where?""He is now in his home city, accumulating funds and manufacturing fuelwith whichto continue his pointless activities.That city is named.that is, in yourEnglish you mightcall it.Suntown? Sunberg? No, it must be more specific.Rigelsville? Rigel City?""Rigelston, I would translate it?" Samms hazarded."Exactly-Rigelston." The professor marked its location upon a globularmental mapfar more accurate and far more detailed than the globe which Captain Winfieldand hislieutenant were then studying."Thanks.Now, can you and will you get in touch with this explorer andask him tocall a meeting of his full crew and any others who might be interested in theproject Ihave outlined?""I can.I will.He and his kind are not quite sane, of course, as youknow; but I donot believe that even they are so insane as to be willing to subjectthemselves to theenvironment of your vessel.""They will not be asked to come here.The meeting will be held inRigelston.Ifnecessary, I shall insist that it be held there."Page 47ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"You would? I perceive that you would.It is strange.yes, fantastic.you arequarrelsome, pugnacious, antisocial, vicious, small-bodied and small-brained;timid,nervous, and highly and senselessly excitable; unbalanced and unsane; assheerlymonstrous mentally as you are physically." These outrageous thoughts weresent ascasually and as impersonally as though the sender were discussing the weather.Hepaused, then went on: "And yet, to further such a completely visionaryproject, you areeager to subject yourself to conditions whose counterparts I could not forcemyself,under any circumstances whatever, to meet.It may be.it must be truethat there isan extension of the principle of working together for the common good which mymind,for lack of pertinent data, has not been able to grasp.I am now en rapportwith Dronvirethe explorer.""Ask him, please, not to identify himself to me.I do not want to go intothat meeting withany preconceived ideas.""A balanced thought," the Rigellian approved."Someone will be at theairport topoint out to you the already desolated area in which the space-ship of theexplorersmakes its so frightful landings; Dronvire will ask someone to meet you at theairport andbring you to the place of meeting."The telepathic line snapped and Samms turned a white and sweating face totheChicago's captain."God, what a strain! Don't ever try telepathy unless you positively haveto-especially not with such an outlandishly different race as these Rigelliansare!""Don't worry; I won't." Winfield's words were not at all sympathetic, buthis tonewas."You looked as though somebody was beating your brains out with a spikedclub.Where next, First Lensman?"Samms marked the location of Rigelston upon the vessel's chart, thendonnedear-plugs and a special, radiation-proof suit of armor, equipped withrefrigerators andwith extra-thick blocks of lead glass to protect the eyes.The airport, an extremely busy one well outside the city proper, waslocatedeasily enough, as was the spot upon which the Tellurian ship was to land.Lightly, slowly,she settled downward, her jets raving out against a gravity fully twice thatof her nativeEarth.Those blasts, however, added little or nothing to the destructionalreadyaccomplished by the craft then lying there -a torpedo-shaped cruiser havingperhapsone-twentieth of the Chicago's mass and bulk [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]