To Worlds Unknown, page 5
"Never mind the natives, what are we going to do," asked Tiger.
"Isn't that rather an unnecessary question, Group-Captain?" inquired the Professor, looking over his glasses. "There is nothing we can do except make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances permit."
"What I really meant was, are we going to stay here, at this village."
"Is there any alternative?"
"I was thinking there may be other, larger and better places. These few people here can't be the entire population of the planet."
"Agreed, but we do know they are friendly, which may not be the case with others. To use a rather threadbare expression, we might go far and fare worse."
This was supported by the behaviour of the natives. They had at least the intelligence to realize that the visitors having lost their conveyance, had no means of leaving, for with a good deal of noise and gesticulation indicated a house, apparently unoccupied, which they could use.
The Professor thanked them as well as he was able to. "Nothing is more futile than to cry over, spilt milk," he observed, tritely. "Let us be thankful that we escaped that dreadful lightning and have fallen among friends. Things might have been worse, much worse."
Before doing anything else they walked to the remains of the Miconda. It was a complete wreck, with everything except metal objects burnt to a cinder. Even the metal objects had been warped and twisted almost out of recognition.
"The electricity discharged in that single flash must have been beyond computation," declared Tiger. "There's nothing here worth saving. I'm glad I took my rifle with me when I went out." This was, in fact, the only object they possessed that had escaped destruction.
"I'm afraid you're right, my dear Group-Captain," agreed the Professor, sadly.
So saying he led the way to the house that had been put at their disposal.
It was not all that could have been desired, but it was at least a roof over their heads, with the usual storm-shelter under the floor. As they looked around Pavlo struck an optimistic note by remarking that Vargo knew where they were going and could be expected to come looking for them when they failed to return.
"The question is, will he be able to find us ?" said Rex.
"I think so."
"You only think so," returned Rex, looking horrified.
"He knows roughly the position of Golcana for I explained it to him. But we must bear in mind that it will have moved an unknown distance along its orbit by the time Vargo realizes we have met with an accident. Even so, Borron, who is an expert navigator, should be able to track it. He knows this section of the Second Region as well as he knows his home town."
Rex was looking at the furniture with which the room was equipped. There was not much of it, and what there was looked a poor example of do-it-yourself. There was a central table on which stood a few pieces of crude pottery of a type that might have been developed by a very early civilization. A seat ran the length of the walls except where a cavity filled with ashes indicated the fireplace. Matting of plaited rushes covered the floor and also hung over the entrance in lieu of a door. Rex remarked that there was not a single metal article in the room, to which the Professor replied that the people had obviously not yet reached the Iron Age although there was an unlimited supply of that metal under their feet.
"Imagine what a difference it would make to them if they knew how to smelt and work it," he concluded. "If we are here for any length of time we must try to teach them."
"How do they put their houses and their furniture together without nails?" questioned Toby. "They don't appear to be tied."
Investigation revealed that things were held together by a gum, clearly of great strength. "It must be derived from a tree of some sort," asserted the Professor. "We must ask them where they get it."
Tiger came in. "Instead of fiddling about with things that don't matter I think the first thing we'd better do, since we seem doomed to play Robinson Crusoe, is to follow the usual practice of castaways and build a whacking great bonfire ready to show Vargo where we are when he comes over in the Tavona. Without a signal, he might search the whole planet and not find us."
"A practical suggestion," agreed the Professor. "The second most important thing will be to learn the language of our hosts as quickly as possible. Until we can talk to them life here will not be easy. We shall, for example, have to speak to them about those two indispensable commodities, food and water. Meanwhile, let us start work on the bonfire, in case our good friend Vargo should appear. Perhaps the natives will help us if we can make them understand what we're doing."
Thus began the sojourn on the minor planet of Golcana, into which the explorers settled more easily than might have been expected. Not that they had much choice. Their hosts went out of their way to make them comfortable, providing them with all the food they needed. This consisted of the boiled meat of small animals, all unknown species, which they caught with snares in the woods. The stream that provided water also yielded small fish, caught with nets, ranging in size from minnows to sprats. These were rather tasteless but made a change of diet. There were plenty of vegetables, both green and roots, and a variety of fruits which grew wild. Grass seeds were pounded into a paste to form a gritty but not unwholesome sort of bread.
On the advice of Pavlo, who had sampled food on many worlds, at first they ate sparingly, particularly in the case of fruit and vegetables, which, it was thought, might make them sick or even poison them, although the natives, from long usage, would be able to eat them with impunity. However, any fears in this direction were soon dispelled when it was found they suffered no ill-effects.
By the third day, when they were visited by another electrical storm which confirmed the belief that this was a frequent occurrence, some progress had been made with the language. Like all primitive languages it was of the simplest possible construction with a small vocabulary that covered only the essential things of life. The big problem, as had been anticipated, was the one of recognition, but this soon solved itself in a manner so elementary that it gave them a laugh.
At first they were all puzzled by the fact that the natives seemed to recognize each other instantly, on sight. As, soon as he was able to speak a few words Rex asked a young pair of twins with whom he had become friendly how they managed to do this. The boys looked surprised at the question and pointed to tattoo marks on their shoulders, which were exposed. The marks were different. Then of course Rex understood. No further explanation was necessary.
Smiling, for the explanation was so simple that he found it amusing, Rex took this information to the others. "I've discovered how our friends recognize each other without any possibility of mistake," he announced.
"How do they do it, for I'm dashed if I can tell one from the other," replied Tiger.
Rex grinned. "Each carries his own identity card.”
“Do you mean a written document?" inquired the Professor, looking astonished.
"Nothing so complicated," answered Rex. "All these identical twins, men and women, have a device tattooed on the shoulder. I gather these are put on soon after they're born, so they're marked for life."
"Well, blow me down!" exclaimed Toby. "I've noticed those marks and assumed they were purely for decoration."
"Dear—dear! How slow we have been," murmured the Professor. "With so many people so much alike I simply could not imagine how families, particularly husbands and wives, managed to get along without arguments about who was who."
"I've been talking to some boys about it," went on Rex. "As I understand it identical married couples produce identical twins, so you may get up to a dozen or more people all looking exactly alike."
"Quite obviously something would have to be done about that or their lives together would have become one long series of misunderstandings. The method employed to prevent that is so simple that we should have perceived it. Well—well. Other worlds, other ways. What shall we discover next? I had come to the conclusion that the difficulty of recognition was the reason why there appears to be no chief here, as you may have noticed. That again is most unusual. On Earth, and everywhere else we have been, every tribe, however small or remote, has its head-man. Here no one seems to be in charge."
"They seem to get along all right without anyone to boss them about," observed Tiger.
"In that respect either they are lucky or clever," asserted the Professor. "I suspect their troubles will begin when someone decides to appoint himself Dictator. At present they seem to be a perfect little community, everyone helping everyone. An ideal little democracy, in fact."
It soon appeared that the identification problem had been solved only to be replaced by another. It arose on the fifth day, by which time a limited amount of conversation had become possible, when Pavlo made the staggering announcement: "Have you realized that these people have a sixth sense?"
"Preposterous!" snorted the Professor. "A sense beyond the five we possess is impossible to imagine. I know people talk about a sixth sense but it is nothing more than what, for want of a better word, is sometimes called instinct, or intuition."
"I would argue with you about that," said Tiger. "I have heard that if you put a camel in the middle of a desert, where it has never been before, it will at once start walking the nearest way to water. And I know for fact that if you pick up a young turtle and drop it in the middle of an island it will take the shortest route to the sea, even though it can neither hear, see, nor smell the water. If that isn't a sixth sense what is it?"
"That is too difficult a subject to discuss now," declared the Professor. "Let us hear from Pavlo what extra sense it is that the people of Golcana possess."
"It is different from the one that has just been mentioned," said Pavlo. "I will tell you of something that has happened and you can draw your own conclusions."
"Pray proceed," invited the Professor.
"This morning," began Pavlo, "I walked with my crewman Caudio to the river to fetch water, taking the wooden buckets with which our friends have provided us. To reach the river, to make the walk more interesting, we went through that rather dense piece of forest where the natives do much of their trapping. Beyond it, on the bank of the river, there is a belt of tall rushes. We neither saw nor heard anyone. In fact, I am sure there was no one there. It is important to remember that. So we came to the river.
"While leaning forward to fill his bucket Caudio slipped on the muddy ground and fell in. We both saw the funny side of it and had a good laugh. Having got Caudio's clothes fairly dry we picked up our buckets and started back. Again we saw no one until we had nearly reached the village. When we met two natives, with their nets, apparently going to the river to fish. We exchanged greetings and they went on. So did we. To make myself clear, the spot where we met was certainly not less than what you would call a quarter of a mile from the river."
"What you mean to convey is, they could not have seen the river from where you met them."
"Exactly. We went on a little way and then sat down to rest. Being in no hurry we sat there for some time. After a while we saw the same two natives coming back. They were laughing. When they came up to us I asked them what they were laughing at. What was the joke? Imagine my surprise when they told me it was because Caudio had fallen in the river."
"Why were you surprised ?" asked Rex.
"Because they knew about the incident. They could not have known about it when they were on the way to the river or they would have mentioned it then. But now, on the way back, they knew. How did they know? They could not possibly have seen the thing happen; and no one could have told them because there was no one there. Naturally, I said to them, how could you know about my friend falling in the river? You were not there. No, answered one, but we were there soon afterwards and of course we saw your outlines."
"They saw your footsteps in the mud," suggested the Professor.
"They did not say that. They said they saw our outlines.'
"What did they mean by that ?"
"I don't know. I asked them. They looked at us as if they did not understand the question. All they could do was repeat they had seen our outlines, as if that was sufficient explanation. I said, 'Did you know this when you passed us on the way to the river?' They said, 'Of course not. We had not been to the river.' I said, 'Then you must have seen us at the river, or must have met someone who saw what happened.' This they denied in a manner which suggested we were fools. They kept repeating, 'We saw your outlines.' I said, 'After we had gone?' They said `Of course.' Well, there it is," concluded Pavlo. "They did not see us at the river; but they knew what had happened. ‘
How did they know ?"
"When they saw what they called your outlines you were in fact nearly back at the village ?" said the Professor.;
"Yes. Yet they obviously saw something. What did they see?"
"They saw your outlines," quipped Toby.
"Can you see the outlines of people when they are not there ?" challenged Pavlo.
"No," admitted Toby.
"Hm," murmured the Professor. "How very strange. What is your opinion of this, Pavlo ?"
"It is beyond my understanding. All I can think is, these people have some power that we have not. That is why I called it a sixth sense. Can you offer any explanation ?"
The Professor considered the question. "Obviously there must be an explanation because nothing can happen without an explanation. I can think only of two. Either our friends were playing a trick on you, claiming powers they do not possess or they have an incredible hypersensitive form of sight."
"Are you asking us to believe they can see things that aren't there ?" queried Tiger, cynically.
"I did not say that. What they saw could have been something which we, without their peculiar vision, could not have seen."
"That doesn't make sense to me."
"Maybe not, but apparently it makes sense to the people here. The common answer to things we do not ourselves understand is they do not make sense. In this case, by stretching the imagination, I suspect that a combination of heat, light, and a high humidity such as we have here could produce an effect which only an abnormal vision would be able to perceive."
"I don't get it."
"Then I will try to explain what is in my mind. Human bodies are warmer than the air in which they move. They might therefore, create vague outlines which would in fact be areas of rarified air. I don't say it is so, but if that is the case the eyes of these people may have developed a super-sensitive ability to register minute differences of gradations of light caused by the difference in the varying degrees of rarified air. If so, they would be able to see something that had once been present but had become a thing of the past. I imagine such conditions, if they did occur, would not last long."
"That sounds pretty far-fetched to me," retorted Tiger.
"Of course it does. So do a lot of things beyond our physical ability to grasp them. But why should this be so remarkable? After all, even we can see the effect of different densities of air, particularly on a hot day, when by distortion an object in the distance can give an illusion of movement. You must have noticed that. A higher degree of visual sensitivity than we possess might see more. It might detect an effect on the atmosphere caused by an object of a different temperature passing through it. In the present case the object would be the bodies of Pavlo and Gaudio."
Tiger shook his head. "This is getting beyond me. The change of temperature caused by a body would be infinitesimal."
"I would not dispute that. What of it? Think of your sense of smell. Have you ever thought what a minute particle of material is required to register on the brain by this sense? A perfume can linger in the atmosphere for hours after the person wearing it has gone. So can an offensive smell remain after the object causing it has been removed. To carry the example further, think how sensitive the nose of a dog must be when it is able to track a man, or any other creature, long after it has gone. To smell a rabbit you must put it to your nose. A sporting dog can smell it ten or even twenty yards away. That wonderful dog, the pointer, will point with his nose at a partridge or grouse forty or more yards away. And what of a blood-hound, able to follow the scent of one particular man even on the following day ? We can't do these things, yet there are creatures which can. Our noses are not adapted. Theirs are. Why should not the same thing apply to the sense of sight? If so, why should not our friends here have developed this peculiar faculty? Remember, this is not the first time we have encountered physical powers different from our own."
"Would you call that a sixth sense?" asked Rex.
"Certainly not. I would call it a phenomenal extension of an existing sense."
How the discussion would have ended is a matter for surmise, but at this juncture it was brought to an abrupt close by such a screeching that the party sprang round in alarm. The villagers were rushing about obviously in a panic, women dragging their children and carrying bundles of household goods, men pouring into their houses to reappear armed with spears, although these were no more than long shafts of wood pointed at one end. There was a general stampede towards the forest.
"What the dickens is going on?" cried Tiger.
"The people are obviously terrified of something," said Rex.
Pavlo caught the arm of a man as he ran by. "What is it?" he asked. "Why are you running away?"
"Bad men come," was the terse answer. Tearing himself free the man raced on.
"So our friends are not the only people on the planet," said Pavlo, looking worried. "They have enemies."
"We should have asked them about that," muttered Toby.
The Professor groaned. "War! Always war, everywhere, even here. It really is lamentable."
"We had better see about doing something before we have real cause to lament," advised Tiger, grimly.
They looked around. There was not a soul in sight. The entire village had been evacuated.
Rex strode towards the high perch that was used as a look-out for approaching storms. "I'll see if I can see anyone," he said. "I should be able to get a wide view from the top."
