“It makes sense,” Rhes growled, slamming his fist against the bed. “The kind of twisted logic you expect from junkmen. They use us to feed them, give us the absolute minimum in return, and at the same time cut us off from the knowledge that will get us out of this hand to mouth existence. Worse, far worse, they cut us off from the stars and the rest of mankind.” The hatred on his face was so strong that Jason unconsciously drew back.
“Do you think we are savages here, Jason? We act and look like animals because we have to fight for existence on an animal level. Yet we know about the stars. In that chest over there, sealed in metal, are over thirty books, all we have. Fiction most of them, with some history and general science thrown in. Enough to keep alive the stories of the settlement here and the rest of the universe outside. We see the ships land in the city and we know that up there are worlds we can only dream about and never see. Do you wonder that we hate these beasts that call themselves men, and would destroy them in an instant if we could? They
are right to keep weapons from us-for sure as the sun rises in the moi ing we would kill them to a man if we were able, and take over t things they have withheld from us.”
It was a harsh condemnation, but essentially a truthful one. At le from the point of view of the outsiders. Jason didn’t try to explain to t angry man that the city Pyrrans looked on their attitude as being t only possible and logical one. “How did this battle between your ti groups ever come about?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Rhes said, “I’ve thought about it many times, F there are no records of that period. We do know that we are all scended from colonists who arrived at the same time. Somewhere, some time, the two groups separated. Perhaps it was a war, I’ve re about them in the books. I have a partial theory, though I can’t prove that it was the location of the city.”
“Location-I don’t understand.”
“Well, you know the junkmen, and you’ve seen where their city They managed to put it right in the middle of the most savage spot this planet. You know they don’t care about any living thing excc themselves; shoot and kill is their only logic. So they wouldn’t consic where to build their city, and managed to build it in the stupidest sj imaginable. I’m sure my ancestors saw how foolish this was and tn to tell them so. That would be reason enough for a war, wouldn’t i
“It might have been-if that’s really what happened,” Jason sa “But I think you have the problem turned backward. It’s a war betwe native Pyrran life and humans, each fighting to destroy the other. T life forms change continually, seeking that final destruction of t invader.”
“Your theory is even wilder than mine,” Rhes said. “That’s not in at all. I admit that life isn’t too easy on this planet-if what I have re in the books about other planets is true-but it doesn’t change. You hr to be fast on your feet and keep your eyes open for anything big~ than you, but you can survive. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter wi The junkmen always look for trouble and I’m happy to see that tF have enough.”
Jason didn’t try to press the point. The effort of forcing Rhes change his basic attitudes wasn’t worth it-even if possible. He had succeeded in convincing anyone in the city of the lethal mutations ev when they could observe all the facts. Rhes could still supply inforri tion though.
“I suppose it’s not important who started the battle,” Jason said the other man’s benefit, not meaning a word of it. “But you’ll have agree that the city people are permanently at war with all the local ii
Your people, though, have managed to befriend at least two species that I have seen. Do you have any idea how this was done?”