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said. "I mean, this business about universes getting mixed up and people not
agreeing on what the past was. Isn't it obvious that it happens all the time
anyway? Don't you ever find yourself listening to somebody who denies they
said something that you heard them say quite clearly? Or found something
staring you in the face in a place you've looked a dozen times, and it wasn't
there?"
Showm smiled as she sliced one of the morsels on her plate Mildred could read
Ganymean expressions by now. She was at ease and relaxed, not at all the curt,
businesslike Frenua that Mildred knew from the Government Center in Thurios
and in their daytime dealings. In place of the tunics that accompanied the
professional image, she was wearing a loose, richly embroidered robe of dark,
satiny blue. Mildred wondered if she had a different style of dress for each
part of the house and the personality that inhabited it. "You mean it happens
to you, too?"
"Doesn't it to everyone?" Mildred said.
"I'm not sure. Even if I thought it did, I wouldn't say so. It might make you
think that we argue and disagree as much as Terrans." A mild gibe that Freuna
could now comfortably feel wouldn't give offense, Mildred was pleased to note.
"I still don't really grasp how this Thurien ability to come to agreements
that seem to suit everybody works," Mildred admitted. "Maybe you're right.
Maybe you have to be a Ganymean to understand it . . . or feel it, rather, you
said, didn't you? You described the system as a consensual monarchy. On Earth
it couldn't happen. You'd never get the consensus. It's absolutely as you
said. I've been thinking about it. Everything's settled in the end by some
form of warfare, camouflaged or otherwise. We're told it's unavoidable. The
dominant ideology says that competition drives everything. But Thuriens are
living disproof of that."
"An ideology that would suit those who see no significance in life beyond
achieving that kind of success," Showm commented. "Its effect would be a
society shaped to support and preserve a plutocratic minority, rather than to
advance general prosperity and well-being. Wouldn't you think so?"
Mildred struggled to select one of the directions that her mind immediately
wanted to go off in at once. "It's supposed to be what produces motivation. .
. . Well, that's true of course. But it can't be the whole story, can it?
There has to be something that goes deeper . . . farther. . . ."
"It comes from inside," Showm said, answering the unasked question. "You see,
it works the other way around too. I am unable to comprehend what the
satisfaction can be from devoting a life to outdoing others in contests that
don't matter. What kind of people does it influence or impress? Adolescents of
all ages, you told me once. I agree. But adolescents given power can do
immeasurable damage."
"So what motivates Thuriens?" Mildred asked. This was getting closer to one of
the things she wanted to explore more deeply. "You spend much of your time in
Thurios or traveling, taking on fearsome responsibilities. Others build
starships and energy conversion systems, or decorate buildings with landscapes
from other worlds. Why? What's the reward? What do they get in return for the
effort? . . . It's not as if their livelihood depends on it. They'll always
have food to eat and a place to live, because others here continue to produce
such things. But why should they?"
"Because there's nothing to prevent them."
"I don't understand."
Showm had spoken as if the answer were obvious. She checked herself and
thought for a second. "Think about what you said just now. You asked why a
person would do such things if their livelihood didn't depend on it. What does
that mean? That their means of staying alive has to be controlled and
restricted before they will take part in this mania for competition that Earth
thinks is the ultimate meaning of existence? In other words, they have to be
induced by need, and if that fails, compelled by violence. What kind of reward
should require that? Can an organism that has to be forced be living in a way
that is true to its nature? Of course not. It gets sick and it rebels. No
wonder Earth has so many hospitals and prisons. . . . Thuriens know that their
nature is to build, to create, to help others achieve the things that will
bring fulfillment to their lives also, not to profit at their expense. And
everyone has something that it's in their nature to contribute. Discovering it
is their reward. A true reward. Thuriens would have to be subjected to force
not to seek it."
Showm paused, looking at Mildred searchingly for several seconds. But Mildred
had too many threads of thoughts to untangle to respond immediately. She
stared out at the falls where the gorge ended, tumbling in their slow, endless
majesty. Such notions were not entirely unknown on Earth, she thought. The old
monastic orders with their abbots had accepted the primacy of their own
Calazars and worked to contribute each their share to the prosperity of the
community that fed and clothed them. Could it be that the most appropriate
model for the Thurien social order was a monastery scaled up to interstellar
dimensions? She smiled distantly at the thought.
"What do you find amusing?" Showm asked.
"That perhaps not all Terrans are so alien in their philosophy. You should
meet Xyen Chien, who's with Christian and his group."
"The Chinese scientist?"
"Yes. She's like you in many ways. She says the world must change as it moves
out of its adolescence and comes of age. I think you and she would get along.
You'd understand each other."
A serving platter with a domed cover glided silently down from the level above
and behind them to hover by the end of the table. The cover opened to reveal a
jug containing a hot reddish beverage, two drinking goblets, some ancillary
dishes and bowls, and a dish of what looked like confectionary. Mildred helped
Showm set the items out on the table and load the things that they had
finished with. The platter closed itself and departed. Showm remained
strangely silent throughout.
"Now it's my turn," Mildred said. "What are you thinking?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]