whirled on Clisser. What you decide is relevant?” Clisser pointed to
the files along one wall of the library in which they were talking. I
sent out questionnaires to every teacher on the rolls, and to holders,
major and minor, asking for input. I got it, and this curriculum,’ he
lifted the thick volume, is the result. You’ve all received copies.
And the Teaching Ballads will be part of the package you receive during
the conference.
Sallisha retired with poor grace, sulking as obviously as any
intractable student would. He wondered if she saw the resemblance in
attitude. However, Sallisha was a very good teacher, able to impart
knowledge at the level needed, and was therefore supervisor of
Southeastern Pern. But she had her little quirks – like everyone else
in the world.
Making the children memorize the Teaching Ballads would improve their
retention of words: a skill that Clisser realized he had lost with his
dependence on technology. But then, one of the reasons the Colonists
had come to Pern with its limited resources was to revert to a society
that was not so dependent on technology. He read accounts of persons
who never left their home place, contacting others only by electronics,
living as ere mites Not so much out of fear of the outside world as
indolence. No-one could be indolent on Pern, Clisser told himself, and
smiled. What a wasted life to remain in one place all one’s days! Well,
perhaps here on Pern, events – like Threadfall had forced them a little
lower on the technological scale than the Settlers had anticipated, but
they had adapted to Pern and were adapting it to their own use. And
would meet the menace with a fully developed, renewable air defence
force.
He hoped Clisser sucked in his breath in a sort of reverse whistle.
Everyone on the planet – with one notable exception – was girding their
loins and securing their premises against that attack.
Preparing was one thing, but enduring fifty years of an aerial attack
was another. Briefly he reviewed the accounts published by the besieged
colonists on Sirius III and Vega IV when the Nathi started bombarding
the planets. Day after day, according to the history tapes, the worlds
had been shelled with dirty missiles, rendering the surface
uninhabitable. Whole generations had grown up on eolonial planets,
living in deep shelters . Clisser smiled to himself – not much
different from the cave holds in which the Pernese now lived. And
indeed those accommodations had benefited by the Sirian and Vegan
experiences – using the magma core taps to provide heat and solar panels
for power. Humans had survived under far worse conditions than
pertained on this planet. At least on Pern, you knew when and where
Thread would fall and could mount effective de fences And yet, the
scale of Threadfall was awesome and failure had appalling consequences.
Failure usually did.
Therefore, Clisser hoped that the music which had been composed as
psychologically uplifting would have the desired effect: developing the
morale and encouraging the effort.
Briefly he wondered what would have happened on old Earth, during the
National period, if there’d been a common extraterrestrial enemy to
unite the diverse races.
Jemmy and Sheledon had certainly written some stirring music, martial as
well as hopeful. Some of the less ambitious tunes had a tendency to
stay in the mind so that you woke up in the morning whistling one or
hearing it in your head: the mark of a good melody to Clisser’s way of
thinking. And they had scored the music for various solo instruments or
combinations of those readily available, so that even inexperienced
players in the most isolated Hold or Hall would be able to accompany
singers.
Jemmy’s riddling song was a delight and Clisser hadn’t quite got all the
answers yet, but it would prove useful during the hours of a Fall to
distract folk about what was happening outside. Bethany’s lament – the
first song she had ever composed – was next on the programme and he
settled back to listen to it.
But his mind, working overtime in anxiety over the success of his new
programme, refused to be caught up in the music.