Foster, Alan Dean Damned 1 Call to Arms

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make honest comparisons among members of the same species.
Without better instrumentation and more elaborate tests involving multiple specimens impossible it is to
verify these preliminary conclusions. The tech adjusted an eyeshade.
T var asked the big question. What of their battlefield potential?
Physically it is considerable, as just indicated have I. Mentally I cannot say. You report that the native
decries combat. It therefore to the accepted norm among intelligent species conforms . Yet the visual
transmissions viewed thus far would appear the native s claims to contradict.
The fact that they have evolved fighting each other may have engendered in them an abhorrence or fear
of doing battle with representatives of any species other than their own. May be self-confining their
madness. I do not know. Not a xenopsych am I. And other problems there may be. He picked at his
teeth. While judgment on a species based on observations of a single individual we cannot render, I
must confess I and my group in this one a wealth of contradictions find, both physical and mental.
Contradictions imply unpredictability, and the Hivistahm find unpredictability unnerving. To be a
life-musician dedicated to peace and his art the specimen claims, but even his music full of violence is.
I wonder, T var murmured, what he would think of some of our music? Truly an interesting
thought. The tech pushed his eye-shades back on his head and rubbed gently at his wide eyes. I will
propose the experiment, though I do not expect it to resolve anything.
If analysis proves difficult we will proceed a little at a time, said T var, but proceed we must. The
tired Hivistahm indicated agreement.
Will declared much of what they played for him lovely and charming. When the last strains from the alien
device had dissipated in the cat s main cabin he sat up on the couch and smiled at his visitors.
Delightful, but pretty simple rhythmically.
Appreciation of music is wholly subjective. T var did not waste time on tact likely to go undetected.
We find yours& rough.
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My stuff s pretty mild compared to what some of the so-called popular groups put out. You should
hear an outfit called Cadmium. I have to admit I like strong rhythms and lots of percussion, but I m by no
means considered dissonant. Your music, though, it s like Bulgarian folk chant or Palestrina. None of
which means anything to you, of course. Why are you playing it for me? You are a musician, said the
Wais. We thought you would find it of interest. I do. Very much so. He leaned back on the couch,
hands behind his head. Play that first part for me again, the piece that sounded like electric bells.
Aboard the shuttle, as Will submitted to more testing, Caldaq greeted the chiefs of his scientific staff.
T var was also present, along with the omnipresent Wais.
Time runs. We have a decision to make, one of vital importance. I must know if these people are
potential allies and if so, to what degree. Might they be trained to participate in the actual fighting, even a
little, or are there other functions they could perform? Or does this perceived instability of theirs render
them useless to us? Naturally we welcome assistance of any kind. We ll find out what we need to
know only by acquiring and studying additional specimens, T var said, or by probing this one more
deeply. Second-of-Medicine protested. Too soon it is to subject a native to advanced procedures.
I disagree. T var objected with un-S vanlike pugnacity. Look how cooperative he s been so far.
Some of you have alluded to potentially useful aggressiveness. I see no evidence for that, Caldaq
commented.
Truly it broke Dropahc s wrist.
The creature claims it was an accident. The incident proves only that it is strong and clumsy, not
necessarily feral.
Second-of-Medicine was still troubled. A cooperative, helpful specimen we have. Dare we risk that
cooperation by performing risky procedures whose results we cannot with any accuracy predict? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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