The Man-Kzin Wars 01 Read Free

looked white and sick, like a novice nurse standing up to her first really bad case. His ears began to turn red. “ S orry," he said miserably. She felt like running; she was as embarrassed as he was. Instead she said, and tried to mean it, “ I t doesn't matter. So you think the people in the other ship might want to, uh, make war? ”
    He nodded .
    “ D id you have history-of-Earth courses? ”
    He smiled ruefully. “ N o, I couldn't qualify. Sometimes I wonder how many people do. ”
    “ A bout one in twelve. ”
    “ T hat's not many. ”
    “ P eople in general have trouble assimilating the facts of life about their ancestors. You probably know that there used to be wars before hmmm-three hundred years ago, but do you know what war is? Can you visualize one? Can you see a fusion electric point deliberately built to explode in the middle of the city? Do you know what a concentration camp is? A limited action? You probably think murder ended with war. Well, it didn't. The last murder occurred in twenty-one something, just a hundred and sixty years ago. “ A nyone who says human nature can't be changed is out of his head. To make it stick, he's got to define human nature-and he can't. Three things gave us our present peaceful civilization, and each one was a technological change." Sue's voice had taken on a dry, remote lecture-hall tone, like the voice on a teacher tape. “ O ne was the development of psychistry beyond the alchemist stage. Another was the full development of land for food production. The third was the Fertility Restriction Laws and the annual contraceptive shots. They gave us room to breathe. Maybe Belt mining and the stellar colonies had something to do with it, too; they gave us an inanimate enemy. Even the historians argue about that one .
    “ H ere's the delicate point I'm trying to nail down." Sue rapped on the window. “ L ook at that spacecraft. It has enough power to move it around like a mail missile and enough fuel to move it up to our point eight light-right? ”
    “ R ight. ”
    “ -with plenty of power left for maneuvering. It's a better ship than ours. If they've had time to learn how to build a ship like that, they've had time to build up their own versions of psychistry, modern food production, contraception, economic theory, everything they need to abolish war. See? ”
    Steve had to smile at her earnestness. “ S ure, Sue, it makes sense. But that guy in the bar came from our culture, and he was hostile enough. If we can't understand how he thinks, how can we guess about the mind of something whose very chemical makeup we can't guess at yet? ”
    “ I t's sentient. It builds tools. ”
    “ R ight. “
    “ A nd if Jim hears you talking like this, you'll be in psychistry treatment. “
    “ T hat's the best argument you've given me," Steve grinned, and stroked her under the ear with two fingertips. He felt her go suddenly stiff, saw the pain in her face; and at the same time his own pain struck, a real tiger of a headache, as if his brain were trying to swell beyond his skull.
    “ I 've got them, sir," the Telepath said blurrily. “ A sk me anything." The Captain hurried, knowing that the Telepath couldn't stand this for long. “ H ow do they power their ship? ”
    “ I t's a light-pressure drive powered by incomplete hydrogen fusion. They use an electromagnetic ramscoop to get their own hydrogen from space."
    “ C lever ... Can they get away from us? ”
    “ N o. Their drive is on idle, ready to go, but it won't help them. It's pitifully weak."
    “ W hat kind of weapons do-they have? ”
    The Telepath remained silent for a long time. The others waited patiently for his answer. There was sound in the control dome, but it was the kind of sound one learns not to hear: the whine of heavy current, the muted purr of voices from below, the strange sound like continuously ripping cloth which came from the gravity motors .
    “ N one at all, sir." The Kzin's voice became