Garuth’s gift to Earth was knowledge. He presented a large chest filled with books, tables, charts and diagrams which, he stated, provided a comprehensive introduction to the Ganymean genetic sciences. In presenting this knowledge to Earth, the Ganymeans were attempting to atone in the only way that they could for the species of Oligocene animals that had been made extinct
during the ugly extermination experiments of long ago. By techniques that were explained in these texts, Garuth said, the DNA codes that existed in any preserved cell from any part of an animal organism could be extracted and used to control the artificially induced growth of a duplicate, living organism. Given a sliver of bone, a trace of tissue or a clipping of horn, a new embryo could be synthesized and from it the complete animal would grow. Thus, provided that some remnant remained, all of the extinct species that had once roamed the surface of the Earth could be resurrected. In this way, the Ganymeans hoped, the species that had met with sudden and untimely ends as a result of their actions would be allowed to live and run free again.
And then the last group of Ganymeans stood for a while to return the silent wavings of the multitudes on the surrounding hills before filing slowly up into the ship. With them went a small party of Earthmen destined for Ganymede, where the Shapieron was scheduled to make a short call to allow the Ganymeans to bid farewell to their UNSA friends there.
ZORAC spoke over the communications network of Earth to deliver a final message from the Ganymeans and then the link was broken. The Shapieron retracted its stern section into its flight position and for a while the huge ship stood alone while the world watched. And then it began to rise, slowly and majestically, before soaring up and away to rejoin its element. Only the sea of upturned faces, the lines of tiny figures arrayed around the empty space in the center of the concrete apron, and the rows of outsize deserted wooden chalets remained to show that it had ever been.
The mood inside the Shapieron was solemn too. In the command center, Garuth stood in the area of open floor below the dais surrounded by a group of senior officers and watched in silence as the mottled pattern of blue and white on the niain screen shrank and became the globe of Earth. Shilohin was standing beside him, also silent and absorbed in thoughts of her own.
Then ZORAC spoke, his voice seemingly issuing from the surrounding walls. “Launch characteristics normal. All systems checked and normal. Request confirmation of orders.”
“Existing orders confirmed,” Garuth replied quietly. “Destination Ganymede.”
“Setting course for Ganymede,” the machine reported. “Arrival will be as scheduled.”
“Hold off main drives for a while,” Garuth said suddenly. “I’d like to see Earth for a little longer.”
“Maintaining auxiliaries,” came the response. “Main drives being held on standby pending further orders.”
As the minutes ticked by the globe on the screen contracted slowly. The Ganymeans continued to watch in silence.
At last Shilohin turned to Garuth. “And to think, we called it the Nightmare Planet.”
Garuth smiled faintly. His thoughts were still far away.
“They’ve woken up from the nightmare now,” he said. “What an extraordinary race they are. Surely they must be unique in the Galaxy.”
“I still can’t bring myself to believe that everything we have seen can have evolved from such origins,” she replied. “Don’t forget I was brought up in a school that taught me to believe that this could never happen. All our theories and our models predicted that intelligence was unlikely to develop at all in any ecology like that, and that any form of civilization would be absolutely impossible. And yet . . .” she made a gesture of helplessness, “look at them. They’ve barely learned to fly and already they talk about the stars. Two hundred years ago they knew nothing of electricity; today they generate it by fusion power. Where will they stop?”
“I don’t think they ever will,” Garuth said slowly. “They can’t. They must fight all the time, just as their ancestors did. Their ancestors fought each other; they fight the challenges that the universe throws at them instead. Take away their challenges and they would waste away.”