Unearthly Neighbors Read Free Page B

Either those people are the most primitive ever discovered, or else—”
    Louise laughed—an infectious, charming laugh that was utterly natural and unaffected. “Monte! I never thought I’d hear you say that. After all your remarks about stories about primitive supermen…”
    “The catch is,” Monte said seriously, “that primitive is a pretty slippery word. We think we know what it means on Earth—it refers to a non-literate culture without urban centers. The notion works fairly well here, but what does it mean when it is applied to people on another planet? We don’t really know a damned thing about them, and fitting them into a ready-made category derived from a total sample of one planet may be a gross mistake. As for supermen, I doubt whether the concept is a valid one at all—is man a super ape, or is he something else altogether? Those people could be different without being super, if you get what I mean.”
    Heidelman sipped his drink. “Of course,” he said, “the only way to find out the truth is to go and see.”
    “Yes, yes.” Monte ground out one cigarette and lit another. “Is that what you want us to do—or am I supposed to wait until I’m asked?”
    “You are being asked. Isn’t that obvious? We want you to lead a scientific expedition to Sirius Nine, and the sooner the better. And we want a trained anthropologist to make the first contact with those people—I’d like to think that we’ve made at least enough progress to avoid some of the more glaring errors of the past. How about it?”
    “Just like that, huh?” Monte perched on the edge of a chair, feeling as though he had just been handed the gift of immortality. “Hell, of course I’ll go. Wild dinosaurs couldn’t drag me away. But look, Mr. Heidelman, there are a couple of things we should get straight right here and now—”
    Heidelman smiled. “I know what you’re thinking, and you can relax. We know how important this is, and we’re prepared to give you all the authority you need. You’ll be pretty much your own boss. You’ll be free to pursue any scientific work you want to undertake. All we ask is that you do your level best to establish a friendly contact with the people on Sirius Nine and make a full report to us when you get back. We’ll expect you to make any recommendations you see fit, and you’ll have a voice in seeing to it that they’re carried out. You can select the men you want to have work with you. We’ll supply a ship under Admiral York—he’s a good man—and he’ll get you there and be responsible for your safety. But in all relations with the natives you will be in charge. Your only superior will be the Secretary-General. The U.N. will pay your salary—which will be ample—and will arrange for you to take a leave from the University. Your wife can go with you; after meeting her, I certainly wouldn’t suggest that you go off and leave her for three years. We can hash out the details later, but how does that sound?”
    Monte was stunned. “It sounds too blasted good to be true. There must be a catch in it somewhere…”
    “There is. You put your finger smack on it awhile back. We don’t really know a damned thing about those people. It certainly won’t be an easy job, and it may very well be dangerous. I’m not going to try to minimize the danger, either. You’ll be risking your life out there.” Monte shrugged. It wasn’t that he did not have a high regard for his own skin, but staying at home now was unthinkable. He didn’t insult Louise by asking for her opinion; he knew his wife well enough so that words were superfluous.
    “I’ve never been in space before, not even to the Moon,” Louise said. “I’d hate to die without even leaving Earth.”
    “How long do we have?” Monte asked.
    “That’s up to you. With the new overdrive propulsion, it will take a ship a little better than eleven months to reach the Sirius system. If you spend a year on Sirius Nine, that will put