George O. Smith

“ In another woman it might have produced triangle-trouble, but Gaya's attraction for men was not her only charm; the woman who hated her for her ability to draw men was one who did not know her. Once introduced, and permitted to talk with Gaya, the jealous dislike died, for Gaya was not far below her husband in wit and intelligence. Like all intelligent people, Gaya was capable of making herself liked by all, even in the face of dislike. ”

“ At that time you are welcome."
"Then," stormed Andrew, "why not help us evolve?"
"Impossible."
"Nonsense. You are not too far above me."
"At the present time you and I are fairly equal in intelligence. You've been working with the mental amplifier, haven't you? A more hellish instrument has never been invented, Andy."
"I find myself enjoying the sensation. If there is one thing that will raise our general level sufficiently, it is this machine. Can it be, Gerd, that your race does not want us to evolve? Do you want us to remain ignorant? Do you fear our competition?" ”

“ Honestly, I doubt that there is a man on this confounded planet that wouldn't hasten to carry your banner. You are a well-liked man, Gerd, and as such no one wants to tell you off. Furthermore, you always seem to know when to let a man alone—and that in itself precludes any possibility of telling you to stay away. ”

“ And when we ran out of things to fight, we fought among ourselves because there were too many differences of opinion as to how men should live. We, Andrew Tremaine, are civilized—and yet the one thing we all enjoy is a bare-handed fight to the finish between two members of our own race. ”

“ However, Andrew, it will not be a productive interest. Your means is still artificial and not to be assumed adequate."
"Why not?"
"Because without the machine to step up your brain, you'd revert to your original state in a single generation. It is worse than the fabled death of power—for power is also the power to destroy. To lose the power of understanding and to leave the machines of intelligence lying around for all to play with would be disastrous. ”

“ One can not supervise and control the inventiveness of a planet such as yours. Your rugged individualists would be investigating in their small laboratories with inadequate protection, and inevitably one or more of them would strike the danger-spot."
"I'm answered," said Andrew reluctantly. "Answered negatively. I'm forced into accepting your statements. They are quite logical—and Gaya's willingness to be glad for us when she thought that we had discovered it is evidence that you are not withholding it with malice. But logic does not fill an empty spot, Gerd." ”

“ Why does a man use but nine tenths of his brain?"
"Oh that? That's obvious! You have a flier. What is its peak power?"
"About seven dirats."
"And it develops that total power only at high speed. Suppose you drove the machine at that power all the time?"
"Wouldn't last—besides, you couldn't. It takes time to get to that speed."
"Right. It is a matter of capacity. The brain is built to exceed the present demand, Andy. When it is needed, it will be available. Nature expects that the brain will be called on, one hundred percent, and she intends to keep increasing that availability as it is needed. ”

“ Andrew Tremaine smiled solemnly and said, flatly: "Gene, I'm almost convinced that Gerd Lel Rayne and company are generating some force-field that prevents it!"
Gene sat silent after that. He thought about it for some time before answering. "The answer to that," he said very slowly and very carefully, "is this: If some force is being generated to prevent full use of the human brain, a counter-force may be set up to nullify the field. That will be simple enough once we isolate the field that prevents thought. ”

“ That's our main purpose in life. To befriend, to protect, even to aid when possible. One day, Gaya, Terra will be one of us. But guiding Terra and the Solar System into such a channel is most difficult. ”

“ Giving in is the easy way—and entirely foreign to our policy. Terra must find their goal alone. You and I, Gaya, must never interfere. We are emissaries only; evidences of good will and friendship. Our position is made most difficult because of the general impression, held by all Terrans, that an ambassador is a man who lies to you, who knows that he is lying, and who further knows that you know he is lying—and still goes ahead and lies, smiling cheerfully at the same time. ”

“ If we had the drive, and the power for it, their job might well be impossible. I doubt that anything alive could make conquest of an armed planet unless that planet was quite inferior in weapons. Given the same weapons and power, and at best stalemate. For the very energy-mass of a planet is unbelievably great, and the weapons that may be permanently anchored in the granite of Terra would be able to withstand anything up to and including another, equally armed planet to stalemate or draw. ”

“ We came, and all that we could do to assist was to let your race know that directive power was available. The problem of power is an interesting thing, Andy. The initial steps into any realm of power are such that the discoverers are self-protected by their own lack of knowledge, and their investigations lead them into more and more knowledge; they gain the dangerous after learning how to protect themselves against it. The directive power could destroy not only Terra but the entire Solar System if improperly applied. ”

“ Only study permits any of us to work with power, Andy. When the Terrans are capable of handling the source of interstellar power, it shall come to them—be discovered by them, if you will. Meanwhile I can but watch and wait, and when I am approached I can and will try to guide Terra. ”

“ A machine, Andy, is a mechanical projection of a man's mind. It is built to do that which can not be done by man himself. It is capable—sometimes—of exceeding man's desire by a small amount, but is seldom capable of coping with a situation for which it is not engineered. Since no man on Terra has an I.Q. of higher than about 160, for a guess, the machine can not be engineered to analyze mentalities of I.Q. 260 without fail. ”

“ That might occupy his mind enough to exclude the other question."
"In another man it might work. But Andrew Tremaine is not a physical scientist. He is a mental scientist working in an applied line. To give him the key to any science would mean just momentarily postponing the pursuit of the original problem. Were he a physical scientist, his mind would never have come upon the question in the first place. I'm almost tempted to let loose the initial key to stellar power."
Gaya blanched. "They'd destroy everything. No, Gerd, not that. You'd be defying the Ones." ”

“ The odor of liquor came then, powerful and overwhelming until Andrew decided that it was too strong and caused his smell-sense to drop.
Foolishness.
There were so many important things to be done and these people were frittering their time away in utter foolishness. He wondered whether Gerd Lel Rayne would agree with him, and with the thought he knew where to find the emissary. He turned and went through the moving crowd impatiently until he found Rayne and Lenore. ”

“ But it takes millions of years to develop and evolve something as intricate as brain-material, and nature does not intend that you and I catch up with her and find her adaptive ultimate inadequate to proceed because of her lack of foresight. The necessities of brain material have far exceeded her ability to evolve it, up to the present time. ”

“ Strays from the I.Q. Register machine that ran continually in the shielded vault below the psychology building in government square were recorded; a few pip-markers leaked out of the intent-register on strong impulses and caused Gene's machine to chatter wildly at long and indefinite times; even a few infra-faint recordings came from the intent-register machine as a matrix was sent through to record changes from a previous marking were caught on Gene's detector.
But nothing with overall intensity. Nothing that could be expected to block the operation of nine tenths of a man's brain. ”

“ He forgot the air in a quick inspection of the inert man. Yes, he knew without close examination that the psychologist was dead. From what cause? Andrew guessed that it was overload; if his senses and brain power were heightened with this mere field-leakage of Gene's machine, the effect of being in absolute contact with the machine's output would be similar to running a small motor without protective circuits from a high-power source. Gene had succeeded too well. ”

“ What sport has undergone little change for a thousand years? It is no sport using equipment. The equipment-sports are constantly changing with the development of new materials with which to make the equipment. ”

“ Men stand in a ring and fight with their hands until one is hors de combat for a period of ten seconds. They used gloves at one time, I believe, but men are harder and stronger now—and surgery repairs scars, mars, and abrasions. ”