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Misbegotten Missionary
Isaac Asimov
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eBook - ePub
Misbegotten Missionary
Isaac Asimov
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It was a lovable little creature, anxious to help solve the troubles of the world. Moreover, it had the answer! But what man ever takes free advice?
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Misbegotten Missionary
It was a lovable little creature, anxious to help solve the troubles of the world. Moreover, it had the answer! But what man ever takes free advice?
*
He had slipped aboard the ship! There had been dozens waiting outside the energy barrier when it had seemed that waiting would do no good. Then the barrier had faltered for a matter of two minutes (which showed the superior-ity of unified organisms over life fragments) and he was across.
None of the others had been able to move quickly enough to take advantage of the break, but that didnât matter. All alone, he was enough. No others were necessary.
And the thought faded out of satisfaction and into loneliness. It was a terribly unhappy and unnatural thing to be parted from all the rest of the unified organism, to be a life fragment oneself. How could these aliens stand being fragments?
It increased his sympathy for the aliens. Now that he experienced fragmentation himself, he could feel, as though from a distance, the terrible isolation that made them so afraid. It was fear born of that isolation that dictated their actions. What but the insane fear of their condition could have caused them to blast an area, one mile in diameter, into dull-red heat before landing their ship? Even the organized life ten feet deep in the soil had been destroyed in the blast.
He engaged reception, listening eagerly, letting the alien thought saturate him. He enjoyed the touch of life upon his consciousness. He would have to ration that enjoyment. He must not forget himself.
But it could do no harm to listen to thoughts. Some of the fragments of life on the ship thought quite clearly, considering that they were such primitive, incomplete creatures. Their thoughts were like tiny bells.
Roger Oldenn said, âI feel contaminated. You know what I mean? I keep washing my hands and it doesnât help.â
Jerry Thorn hated dramatics and didnât look up. They were still maneuvering in the stratosphere of Saybrookâs Planet and he preferred to watch the panel dials. He said, âNo reason to feel contaminated. Nothing happened.â
âI hope not,â said Oldenn. âAt least they had all the field men discard their spacesuits in the air lock for complete disinfection. They had a radiation bath for all men entering from outside. I suppose nothing happened.â
âWhy be nervous, then?â
âI donât know. I wish the barrier hadnât broken down.â
âWho doesnât? It was an accident.â
âI wonder.â Oldenn was vehement. âI was here when it happened. My shift, you know. There was no reason to overload the power line. There was equipment plugged into it that had no damn business near it. None whatsoever.â
âAll right. People are stupid.â
âNot that stupid. I hung around when the Old Man was checking into the matter. None of them had reasonable excuses. The armor-baking circuits, which were draining off two thousand watts, had been put into the barrier line. Theyâd been using the second subsidiaries for a week. Why not this time? They couldnât give any reason.â
âCan you?â
Oldenn flushed. âNo, I was just wondering if the men had beenââhe searched for a wordââhypnotized into it. By those things outside.â
Thornâs eyes lifted and met those of the other levelly. âI wouldnât repeat that to anyone else. The barrier was down only two minutes. If anything had happened, if even a spea...