Hunt nodded slowly and began to comprehend fully at last. To a race that had grown up surrounded by Danchekker’s cartoons, the sight of Trilophodon, the four-tusked walking tank, or of the saber-toothed killing machine Smilodon, must have been awesome. What kind of picture had the Ganymeans formed of the ferocious arena that had molded and shaped such gladiators, he Wondered.
“So, they had to change their ideas on that subject in a hurry as well,” he said.
“They did. . . . They revised all their theories on the strength
of the evidence from Earth, and they worked out a completely new model. But, I’m afraid, they got it all wrong again.”
Hunt couldn’t suppress a short laugh.
“Really? What went wrong this time?”
“Your level of civilization and your technology,” she told him. “All our scientists were convinced that an advanced race could never emerge from the pattern of life that they saw on Earth twenty-five million years ago. They argued that intelligence could never appear in any stable form in such an environment, and even if it did it would destroy itself as soon as it had the power to do so. Certainly any kind of sociable living or communal society was out of the question and, since the acquisition of knowledge depends on communication and cooperation, the sciences could never be developed.”
“But we proved that was all baloney, eh?”
“It’s incredible!” Shilohin indicated bewilderment. “All our models showed that any progression from the life forms of your Miocene period toward greater intelligence would depend on selection for greater cunning and more sophisticated methods of violence; no coherent civilization could possibly develop from a background like that. And yet . . . we have returned and found not only a civilized and technologically advanced culture, but one that is accelerating all the time. It seemed impossible. That was why we took so much convincing that you came from the third planet from the Sun-the Nightmare Planet.”
These remarks made Hunt feel flattered, but at the same time he remembered how close the Ganymean prophecies had come to being true.
“But you were so nearly right, weren’t you,” he said soberly. “Don’t forget the Lunarians. They did destroy themselves in just the way that your model predicted, although it looks as if they too advanced further than you thought they would. It was only the fact that a handful of them survived it that we’re here at all, and they only made it on a million-to-one shot.” He shook his head and exhaled a cloud of smoke sharply. “I wouldn’t feel too bad about what your models said; they came far too near the truth for comfort as far as I’m concerned . . . far too near. If whatever it was that made the Lunarians the way they were hadn’t modified itself somehow and become diluted in the course of time, we’d be
going the same way and your model would be proved right again. With luck though, we’re over that hump now.”
“And that’s the most incredible thing of all,” Shilohin said, picking up the point immediately. “The very thing that we believed would prove an insurmountable barrier to progress has turned out to be your biggest advantage.”
“How do you mean?”
“The aggressiveness, the determination-the refusal to let anything defeat you. All that is built deep into the basic Earthman character. It’s a relic from your origins, modified, refined, and adapted. But that’s where it comes from. You maybe don’t see it that way, but we can. We’re astounded by it. Try to understand, we’ve never seen or imagined anything like it before.”
“Danchekker said something like that,” Hunt mumbled, but Shilohin continued, apparently not having heard him.
“Our instincts are to avoid any form of danger, because of the way we originated . . . certainly not to seek it deliberately. We are a cautious people. But Earthmen . . . ! They climb mountains, sail tiny boats around a planet alone, jump out of aircraft for fun! All their games are simulated combat; this thing you call ‘business’ reenacts the survival struggle of your evolutionary system and the power-lust of your wars; your ‘politics’ is based on the principle of meeting force with force and matching strength with strength.” She paused for a moment, and then went on. “These are completely new to Ganymeans. The idea of a race that will actually rise up and answer threats with defiance is . . . unbelievable. We have studied large portions of your planet’s history. Much of it is horrifying to us, but also, beneath the superficial story of events, some of us see something deeper-something stirring. The difilculties that Man has faced are appalling, but the way in which he has always fought back at them and always won in the end-I must confess there is something about it that is strangely magnificent.”