The Replicators, page 3
Graham, remembering some things that Cora had told him, said, JDo you have any friends, Steve? Anybody you like? Anybody anywhere?’
Matlin could think of no one. Except, of course, Cora and the kids. But his feelings about them were not unmixed. She had insisted on sending the three older children to school in town. But he did feel a genuine affection for her, and them, at some level.
Graham said tensely, ‘That’s why she’s alive. That’s why the creature didn’t kill her the day it burned your farm.’
‘B-but - ‘ Matlin protested, ‘why destroy the farm?’
‘You hate the damn place, don’t you?’
Matlin was silent. He’d said it a thousand times.
‘What do you think we ought to do with about half the people in this country, Steve?’
‘I think we ought to wipe the human race off the map and start over again,’ said Matlin automatically.
‘What do you think we ought to do with the Russians?’
‘If I had my way,’ said Matlin, ‘we’d go over there and plaster the whole of Asia with atomic bombs.’
After a little, Graham said softly, ‘Like to change any of those ideas, Steve?’
Matlin, who had finished dressing, scowled into a mirror. ‘Look,’ he said finally, ‘you’ve got me where I can’t hit back. And I’m ready to be loused up by what the idiot generals have got in their crazy noodles. So tell me what you want me to do.’
At that precise moment, That ceased its feverish duplication of man’s atomic bombs… and became itself.
Its compulsive mental tie with Matlin was severed.
Shuddering, That made a report, on an instantaneous relay-wave transmitter whose receiver was light years away:
‘What we always feared would happen on one of these blank mind approaches to a new planet finally happened to me. While I was enormously receptive to any thought, my first body was destroyed by a two-legged inhabitant of this system, a being with the most incredible ideas - which are apparently due to some early mistreatment. This inability to slough off early shock conditioning seems to be a unique phenomenon of the people of this planet.
‘Realizing how trapped I was while he remained alive, I made several attempts to kill him. I was unsuccessful in this because he turned out to be unexpectedly resourceful. But he has now put on a suit called a uniform, and this has immediately turned him into a peaceful person.
‘Thus I was able to free myself. Naturally, I can still sense where he is, but he can no longer receive my thoughts nor I his. However, I must report that I am pinned down here by an air fleet. My image as a good-will visitor has been completely nullified by what has happened. Obviously, I won’t use any weapons against them; so perhaps this” expedition is doomed.’
A team of astronauts was sent up. The team successfully boarded That’s second spaceship, reporting that it was occupied by four bodies in various growth stages.
Even as they blew up the ship in its silent orbit, on Earth Matlin was driven to the edge of the lake. There, a Government launch was provided him. While Graham and General Day watched through binoculars, Matlin drove the thirty thousand dollar craft right onto the beach of the island, careless of any damage to it.
‘I think he smashed the launch,’ said Graham.
‘Good.’
‘Good?’
‘My whole theory about him would collapse if he treated Government property with the same care that he gave his own possessions. It reassures me that he’s exactly the man I thought.’
Matlin came to where the second alien ship lay at the bottom of the blast pit. Water had filtered down into the clay. Having his orders, Matlin dutifully slid down into the goo. He held his rifle high, cursed, and started for the entrance.
SIX
Graham, General Day, and an artillery major watched Mat-lin’s progress on a portable TV. The picture was coming from a ship some seventy thousand feet above the island. The scene below was crystal clear. Through the marvelous telescopic lens, Matlin actually looked like a tiny human being walking.
‘But why send anyone?’ Graham protested. ‘Why not just blast it? As you’ve already pointed out, we’ve got enough power up there’ - he indicated the sky above - ‘to exterminate him.’
General Day explained that he now favored Graham’s earlier view. The alien might be able to defend itself.
‘But it’s too late for-caution,’ Graham interjected. ‘We’ve burned our bridges.’
It would be unwise, the Marine officer explained, to provoke the creature further until a confrontation had taken place.
‘A confrontation between a super-being - and Matlin!’
‘Who else should we send? Some poor devil? No, Matlin is oriented to this. Seeing the creature face on is not a new experience to him as it would be to some other lower ranks.’
‘Why not send you? Me?’
Day answered in a,steady voice that such decisions as were required here should not be made by people who reasoned on the basis of official attitudes.
‘How do you think I got to be a general? When in doubt, I listened to what the men thought. They have a basic canniness that transcends intellect.’
With an effort, Graham recovered. ‘You heard Matlin’s basic truth,’ he said. ‘His opinion of the human race - ‘
General Day gave him a surprised look. ‘You mean to tell me that isn’t your opinion also?’
‘No.’
‘You don’t think that human beings are absolutely impossible?’
‘No, I think they’re pretty terriffic,’ said Graham.
‘Boy, are you far gone,’ said the general in a tolerant voice. ‘I can see that we Marines have an understanding of human behavior that beats all you brain-washed people.’ He broke off. ‘Matlin was badly handled in World War II.’
‘What?’ Graham groped.
‘You ask, what has that got to do with it? Plenty. You see, Mr Graham, you have to understand that a true Marine is a king. Now, Matlin is the true Marine type. But he was treated like an ordinary private. He never got over it; so he’s been seething for twenty years, waiting for recognition. I’m giving it to him. A king Marine, Mr Graham, can direct a war, take command of a city, or negotiate with a foreign power like a government. Marines who get to be generals are considered sub-level versions of this species. All Marines understand this perfectly. It will not occur to Matlin to consult me, or you, or the U.S. Government. He’ll size up the situation, make a decision, and I shall back him up.’
He turned to the major, commanded, ‘AH right, start firing!’
‘Firing!’ Graham yelled.
Day explained patiently as to a child that it was necessary in this extreme emergency to reindoctrinate this particular Marine, and grind in the simple truth - to him - that generals always loused things up. ‘A quick reminder, that’s all, Mr Graham.’
Matlin was still skidding around in the mud when the first shell landed to his left. It sprayed him with fine droplets of wet dirt. The second shell landed to his right. The debris from it missed him entirely, but he was now in such a state of rage that he didn’t notice.
By the time the shelling ceased, his anger was gone and he was in that peculiar state of mind which can only be described with one word: Marine.
The man who presently entered the alien ship knew that life was tough, that other people could not be trusted, that no one cared about him. It was a truth he had always fought with bitterness and rage.
But there was no longer any doubts in his mind. People were what they were. They would shoot you in the back if they couldn’t get you from in front.
Understanding this, you could be friendly with them, shake their hands, enjoy their company - and be completely free of any need to judge them or condemn them.
But you were on your own, day and night, year in and out.
As he saw the creature, Matlin used his gun for the purpose for which he had brought it. Deliberately, he tossed it down. It struck the metal floor with a clatter.
The echoes of the sound faded - and there was silence. Alien and human stood there staring.
Matlin waited.
Suddenly the hoped-for voice came from a speaker in the ceiling:
‘I am talking to you through a computer, which is translating my thoughts into your language. It will do the same for yours. Why have they sent you to me - the one man I threatened to kill?’
That added: ‘I no longer plan to kill you. So you may talk freely.’
Matlin said bluntly. ‘We’re trying to decide what to do with you. Do you have any suggestions?’
‘I wish to leave the planet forever. Can you arrange it?’
Matlin was practical. Could the creature leave whether human beings liked it or not? ‘No.’
The simple negative took Matlin slightly aback. ‘You have no special weapons from - from where you come from?’
‘None,’ admitted the alien.
That admission also startled Matlin. ‘You mean to tell me we can do what we want with you? You can’t stop us?’
‘Yes, except - ‘
Matlin wanted to know except what.
The great eyes blinked at him, its black, fold-like eyelids rolling up and down in a skin and muscle complex unlike that of any creature Matlin had ever seen before.
‘Except that it will do you no good to kill me.’
‘You’d better make it damn clear what you mean,’ Matlin said.
Watching him, That gave its explanation.
Matlin’s boat was almost waterlogged by the time he successfully beached it near where Graham and the others were waiting.
He came up to them and saluted. General Day returned the salute smartly, and said, ‘Your report.’
‘I told him he could go,’ said Matlin. ‘He’ll be leaving when I signal.’
‘What? That was Graham, his voice sounding shrill and amazed in his own ears. ‘But why?’
‘Never mind why,’ said General Day. ‘That’s the way it’s going to be.’
He spoke into his mike: ‘Men, this alien ship is going to lift from here in a few minutes. Let it go through. A duly authorized person has negotiated this solution.’ ‘ The language was not clear to Matlin. ‘Is it okay?’ he asked questioningly.
For an instant, it seemed to Graham, Day hesitated. Graham said urgently into that instant, ‘At least, you’re going to find out what made him agree?’
Day seemed to have come to a decision; his momentary hesitation ended. ‘Okay!’ he said to Matlin. ‘Okay, Sergeant.’
Matlin raised his rifle, and fired it into the air.
To Graham, Day said, ‘I’ve never lost a bet on a king Marine, and I don’t expect to now.’
The interchange ended. On the island, the ship was lifting.
Silent, jetless, rocketless power drove it up on a slant.
It passed over their heads, gathering speed. It grew small and, as they watched, became a dot and vanished.
Aboard it, the creature to which Matlin had talked performed the preliminaries necessary to an interstellar voyage, and then retired to one of the sleep boxes. Soon it was in a state of suspended animation…
Thereupon happened what the monster had told Matlin -the underlying reality, which made it useless, unnecessary, even dangerous, to destroy it and its vessel.
On a planet many light-years away, the real That stirred, awakened and sat up.
A. E. van Vogt, The Replicators
