Les Cole

“ In his own cabin, Fred paced rapidly, ignoring the pain in his toe. On the view-forward screen, Earth appeared as a sphere. They were so close.... The view-aft screen showed nothing but the emptiness of space. Lodgesen's miraculous recovery had shaken him. It didn't add, and the last time something didn't add, there'd been trouble. Incredible as it seemed, he wasn't really sure they'd lost the planet—
You didn't. You led me to the population I wanted. I'm getting closer.
Fred trembled, tried to collect himself to fight.
You can't fight. You've lost already. ”

“ He must be careful of Beth. He'd learned very fast to respect her on both professional and interpersonal grounds. The gal had a mind like a steel trap; she had a body that caused males—adolescents to elders—to fantasy, and females—of any age—to envy. Beth, as data coordinator, had a role on the ground similar to Charlesworth's in space. Although the data coordinator rarely went to extremes, she or he was fed all information the expedition collected, had ultimate power for decision and responsibility.
And how was Fred to give her this information? ”

“ Fred felt he'd scored, "you also are a parasite. You talk as though there are other sentient planets in the universe."
There are, though not in great numbers. Our life cycle is similar to yours. We are born in cosmic space of elemental material; we attract animal populations that have evolved on the dead planets, and thereby gain the energy needed to live—just as you live from the lower animals. We even grow old and die after two or three billion years. ”

“ Maybe it was the cold draughts in the caves, maybe it was the old lady complaining about the draughts, or maybe it was plain frustration: he'd been trying, for a couple of thousand years, to invent writing and had failed. In any event, man was suddenly different. He found that scrambled brains—his neighbor's—were good eating. Ever the artist, he enjoyed the color of blood much more than those dull old mineral pigments. If a couple of the guys sneaked up behind a herd of horses and suddenly scared them, what fun! The whole herd would stampede off a cliff. ”

“ If we find life, it'll be there."
Fred was caught short. It was another strike against him. Some instinct warned him to be quiet, and he left as soon as he could. "Curiouser and curiouser," he mused, then reached a decision. He had a purpose now.
The other two members of the expedition were also watching the approach to the planet. Fred found them in the recreation area. Richard Lodgesen, the lean, tall chemist-physicist, looked up at Fred's approach, said with a supercilious air, "I should think the anthropology section would be studying the planet as hard as we."
Data, Fred, data! ”

“ Instead, he went into space looking for intelligence equal to or greater than his own, looking for a new club to use against his neighbors on Earth. Man, the cynics said, was too immature, would destroy himself before 1980—himself and the life he's trying to find. The cynics were in overwhelming preponderance. Yet a few voices were raised in hope: Don't let this throw you, but is it possible that the artist-philosopher had again come to the fore?
The shift in the others had seemed abrupt to Fred. They were far more interested in that damned planet than in him ”

“ Jo was showing him the samples they'd collected a few hours earlier. The recreation area had been hastily converted into a sort of museum. In it, the exhibit had grown to an impressive pile ... of junk. But Jo was vivacious enough to make a mummy jump, and he enjoyed listening to her.
"Don't you see, Fred? We've got huge amounts of data; New Earth is a paradise, rich in everything we could possibly want. This is the place where our peoples will want to come. ”

“ In 25,000 years, we haven't had a chance to mature. Because of political pressure, DLE 560 is out into the universe, trying to befriend other intelligences. And so are a host of other peoples from Earth: peoples who owe their allegiance to imaginary lines on Earth's surface. ”

“ Suddenly, two other nations appeared on the world scene—rather, reappeared. Great Britain, at one time the strongest nation, in one stroke became the richest: Britain, of necessity, for years had been researching magnetohydrodynamics in an effort to get controlled fusion. ”

“ He went back into the caves and tried his hand at dirty pictures; had to give that up, though, until he invented plain brown envelopes and photography. Anyway, he'd lost the touch ... except in one area. These products were works of art, a delight to behold: man was making the damnedest, finest arrowheads and spear points he'd ever seen. ”

“ This time, however, Fred straightened, unconsciously, said, "So I was wrong, and we did find intelligent life."
But not the sort you expected.
"Admitted. It's difficult to believe that a planet is alive."
Why so? Logically, you animals are the difficult beliefs. Nearly all else in the universe is direct—energy conversion, formation of elements, and the like. You animals require many things to get started: a planet ”

“ He wouldn't show up for another 450 millennia—too soon, too soon. Something's got to be done about our theories: in 25,000 years, we appeared as a clever savage, developed to our present state. What were we doing in all the years the lower hominids were evolving? ”