The Galaxy Primes

n the same taxi. As they were a

ny other color; and you, Brownie, are very definitel

r heard of s

ything good and heavy. For one of these monsters you'd need two or three micrograms. For a battleship, up to maybe a gram or so. 'Port it to the exact place

y God, Clee, ca

you. Any Op

many people, besides the monster. No, I'll 'port back to th

anything very unusual h

ed straight on, toward the business center, to resume his s

duels between guardians and yellow and green-bat monsters, to none of which he paid any more attention than did the peopl

stinctly feline as to heads, teeth, and claws. While they did not at all closely resemble

t wing blowing people in the crowd below thither and yon and knocking four of them flat-and took the guardian's head off his body with one savage swipe of a frightfully-armed paw. Disregarding the carcass both attackers whirled sharply at the second guardia

ly loads. Eight bodies, friend and foe alike, were dumped into a manhole; eight creatures

felt Lola's half-excited, half-frigh

and

at's certainly none of my bu

h the thought he

t. Far away yet, but coming fast, wa

s. "I'm going home,

at

isapp

k thought. "W

atory.

ur microgram loads. Focus s

in on yo

r before felt it driven. Being a Prime, she did not need a fo

omb?" Garl

think?" she

, materializing five hundred feet in air, two hundred feet ahead

ppear-a couple of dozen around it were torn to fragments

t milligrams. Just kill 'em, don't scatter 'em all over hell's half acre-less mess to clean up and I

ss I was a bit enthusi

plunge of a tiger-striped body to the ground. Faster and faster the explosions

ones appeared at their left, strung out along the front. Each held an extraordinarily heavy-duty b

thought. "You three take their left fr

the pieces fly!" Belle protested. "Why should we be fussy abo

keep up. Five or maybe six-just be damn sure n

ont, while inside the city lim

g on jet-back," Garlock announced. "G

not fire, of course, until they reached the city limits. There they opened up as one, and the air below became literally filled with falli

nother until six flights had passed. Then came four helicopters, darting and hovering, whose gu

rs, but the other squad was busy on another job. Without you, this could have developed into a fairly nasty little infection. I don't know what you're doing

s is not

ow, if you like. We'll p

oys on the groun

course. Uh-uh. Besides, we're air-fighters. Ground work is none of our business. Also,

ry intelligent, you Arpalones a

humanity's job is and don't give a damn. Probably fairly important, some way or other, though, since it's our job to see that the silly, gutless things keep on

e Tellurians turned their attention

concernedly away from the center of violence. All over the park thousands of Arpales were fighting furiously and hundreds of them were dying. For hundreds of the senc

"you'd support the Arpales some way. Lighter guns or something. Why, t

They breed fast and die fast. Ev

ll, it's about over. What happens to the bodies they're d

didn't kn

? For

es and us,

an that they-and by your thought,

h, eaters-of-our-own-species.

... family ties...." Garlock was floundering; to be called upon to expl

ssly illogical inferior, "While we do not kill Arpales purposely-except when they over-breed-why waste good meat as fertilizer? If a

be damned."

But I'm devilishly and gleefully glad, Clee, that I was here to hear somebody give you cards, spaces,

o come along with us and see the end of t

of advance of the flying-tiger horde; across a ba

l working on it. High-energy beams blasted, fairly volatilizing the ground as they struck in as deep as they could be driven. High-explosive shells bored d

ly being blown aloft along with the hitherto undisturbed volume of soil in which the creatures had been. Most of them were not fully grown; some were so immature as

supposed to be doing

ut they won't get them all-some of the hatches are too deep-so us four gunners

There are four cells they won'

here a minute? I want you to meet these things we've been hearing about. They look human, but th

istinguishable to Tellurian ey

none of your business?" Knahr was neither officiou

st call it education. The question is, do or do you not wa

ourse

et. Tell your 'copters to give us about five m

olence that one raggedly mushroom-shaped cloud went into the stratospher

" Knahr gasped the

ete conversion. Hav

ere was nothing except th

told the commander. "Before we go, I want to ask a question. You have visitors once in a while from

usiness." Knahr and the four gunners disapp

k," Garlock thought, glumly. "

There was one, of course, since it took only a few days or a few weeks to go from one system to another; but Hodell didn't have any such ships. No ordi

and could not find out even who it had been. The Inspector then on duty neither knew or cared an

d. "No drive that takes 'a few weeks' for an intra-

hing I want to know how it works. How

up tomorrow e

nd any familiar pattern of Galactic arrangement. The ot

l ever get back, do y

he germ of an idea. Maybe three or four mo

cause here goes nothing," an

very much like Hodell. It proved to be so far from both Earth and Hodell, howev

e his technique of making galactic charts; and he and Garlock designed and built a h

ob of the testing-box he yanked his hand away before it had

our humanity and must not

our jets out of the air and

ever, it would do you no good. If any one of you four leaves that so-heavily-insulated vessel

" Belle said. "Do you mean

near any of you could not live on this planet. Nor will they at

does not m

ces are very strong. Thus, no matter how peaceable your intentions may be, many of our human beings would die bef

How does it work

now; only to tell. I have t

tration. "Belle, can you blast? I

why, I don't

y to chew on when I'm hungry some night, to

s so far advanced that almost all of its humanity were Seconds; one so backward-or so much younger-that its strongest telepaths were only Fours. The Tellu

atalogue. Every planet they visited was peopled by Homo Sapiens; capable of inter-breeding with the Tellurians and eager to do so-especially with the Tellurian men. Their strict monogamy was really tested more than once; but it held. Each had be

queer-the Tellurians

gness of ours and find out. What do you think they've got down t

' at all. I don't know what it is, but

make sense!" B

um. Enough data and we'll be

ries! I wish we co

roximately the same length, the probability is greater than one-half that we're getting farther and farther away from Tellus. Is there a jump number, N, at which t

ng others that space isn't curved and that the dimensions of the universe are very large compared to the length of our jumps. I'll see if I can p

alleged Xenology, so I'm going to work full t

efore. So did e

re data now. And I'm not promisin

nything that has any ch

ead of going abroad on the planets

kind. They were compatible with the people of this w

s. They send missiles, without warning, against visitors. Thus, the last starship to visit us here disregarded my warnin

ity," Garlock said. "Can't

atibles and non-humans; but it is not our business to interfere with humanity

even. This planet is backward-back to Year One. And n

"This will break the monotony,

e Inspector, "if we try to straighten them out. W

, I can say that we Guardians of H

nown as the "Allied Republican Democracies of the Wo

d, after studying it thoroughly. "Filthy thing for fall-out, thou

-no chance of any con

termost moon at the moment, he might have seen a tremendous flash of light, a cloud of

rything they've got out onto that same moon, being sure

He reached for his pistol, to find that he did not have one. He te

officer?" and before the man could formulate a

and four. A

mism for Dictator-Sovig. Missile launching statio

r twenty minutes the Pleiade

and all surface vessels capable of la

leported back to their bases. An immense scrap-pile, probably visible wit

ilitary reactors, heavy-water and heavy-hydrogen plants, and

start destroying them in exactly seventy-two of your hours from this moment. Any and all persons on the properties will be killed; any within a radius of ten of your miles may be killed. Our explosives

nd Garlock turned back

ay?-the third largest nation, or rather, group of nations-the Nations of the North.... Oh, I see. Third only in population, but first in productive capacity and technology. They should be destroyed because their ideology does not agree with yours. They are too idealistic to strike f

launched five missiles instead of one. Garl

is the leader of your opposition, if any?" Anoth

announced to all. "His administration was one of the most

ation-or group, it was not very clear exactly what it was

e scant mile over the building. Missiles, jets, and heavy guns were set and ready, but no attack was made. Therefore Garlock introduced himse

gest gangster. Fourteen men." As Garlock studied them his face hardened. "I thought to leave your Nations armed, to entrust this world's future to you, but no. Only two of you are really concerned about the welfare of your

over the group for two m

to associate with the decent worlds of this or any other galaxy. It would take God Himself to do anything with such material, and I am not God. Therefore, when we have rid this wor

re understood every thought. "Don't you see, you've done enough? That now you're going too far? That these twenty-odd men

and business leaders, the bosses and the gangsters to cope wi

er. Millions and millions of other worlds did

" This thought came from the tall

e, Genera

per-human race; some kind or other of Homo Superior. Do I understand co

urprise. "The only difference is that we a

orlds that have solved the problems facing us. Were all the

of development. In fact, every planet we have visited except this one makes a regular custom of breeding its best blood with the best blood of other solar systems. An

is that it'll take another ten thousand years of preliminary surveying such as we're doing, by all the crews the various Galaxian Societies

the group was

prince, "that you Galaxians are not the

only world we have seen that does

still worse. Would you be willing to

are a perfect example of what is wrong with this planet. Rapacious, insatiable; you violate every concept of ethics, common decency, and social

ha

o leave your own world, until you grow up to something beyond the irresponsible-baby stage. Thus, about two and one-half of your years ago, a starship

tator declared. "It was the

eered. "Are even you actually stupid enough to try to lie

n, but it was only

ensor, the starship did not retaliate, but went on without taking any notice of you. When you tried to shoot us down, we took some slight action, but did not kill anyone and are now discussing the situation. Listen

ist asked. For the first time, he becam

ourselves with scarcely any effort and at very small cost. You

never been elucidated in any

t our disposal a

. "Do you want to put out tha

. m. What do

nius type. He's been working on what amounts almost to the Coupler Theory for ten years. He's almost got it, but you k

it. Brownie? Just the link, of course. A few hints,

e isn't young and may die before he gets it, and

el

ther minds here will have any idea of what it means, and it may do some of the

een quivering with eagerness. "I am inexpressibly

elibly, six symbols and their meanings. Second, a long a

ndred years it will give you full telepathy, and then you will begin really to go up. There's nothing secret about it-in fact, I'd advise full publication

d that! It isn't quite implicit, of course, but from this there derives the existence of, and t

eed from being implicit. You leaped a tremendous gap. And

-eight seconds? You folks will have telepathy by the time your present crop of babies grows up. Clee, aren't you sorry you got mad and blew

. "I should have studied these minds-parti

w words?" the p

, sir. I was ho

y, were perfectly willing to destroy all the life on this world to make us yield. Now, however, with the insight and the encour

it that every bomber and fighter plane they now have goes to the third mo

or can be stopped. We have laws," here he looked at the members of Congress and the judge, "which can be enforced. The conditions I mentioned would be difficult at the moment, since so few of us are here and it is manifest that few if any of our people w

ir. I was pla

impossible," the C

al Cardeen?

ice, it is true, and we would give you every protection possible; but such an al

with? You haven't anything that could e

en held out his automat

died it ... a pel

ll a four-seventy-

ts eight times-shoot all eight of the

lugs will go through three women

old up one hand, Brownie, and catch 'em. Don't let 'em sp

operate the mechanism. The pistol's barrel remained rigidly motionless under all the stress of ultra-rapid fire. Lola's slim, deeply-tanned arm did not even quiver under the impact of that storm of heavy bullets against he

neral Cardeen." Lola hande

nakes!" the gen

came the gangster

services put out a bulletin, though. I never have killed anyone, and am not going to here, but anyone who tries to shoot me or bomb me or an

ed minds. The implications of the naively frank remark just uttered by this apparently

n the agenda, Cl

ship's guests were returned

may be said, was exactly

rated and Belle became conscious of a heret