“Uh, maybe you know best.”
“I didn’t get straight A’s in emotional logic and military leadership for nothing. Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal. Now let’s see what you plan to take with you.”
She looked over his lists and equipment, then whistled softly. “Whew! Rod, I never saw so much plunder. You won’t be able to move. Who are you? Tweedledum preparing for battle, or the White Knight?”
“Well, I was going to thin it down,” he answered uncomfortably.
“I should think so!”
“Uh, Sis, what sort of gun should I carry?”
“Huh? Why the deuce do you want a gun?”
“Why, for what I might run into, of course. wild animals and things. Deacon Matson practically said that we could expect dangerous animals.”
“I doubt if he advised you to carry a gun. From his reputation, Dr. Matson is a practical man. See here, infant, on this tour you are the rabbit, trying to escape the fox. You aren’t the fox.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your only purpose is to stay alive. Not to be brave, not to fight, not to dominate the wilds but just stay breathing. One time in a hundred a gun might save your life; the other ninety-nine it will just tempt you into folly. Oh, no doubt Matson would take one, and I would, too. But we are salted; we know when not to use one. But consider this. That test area is going to be crawling with trigger happy young squirts. If one shoots you, it won’t matter that you have a gun, too because you will be dead. But if you carry a gun, it makes you feel cocky; you won’t take proper cover. If you don’t have one, then you’ll know that you are the rabbit. You’ll be careful.”
“Did you take a gun on your solo test?”
“I did. And I lost it the first day. Which saved my life.”
“How?”
“Because when I was caught without one I ran away from a Bessmer’s griffin instead of trying to shoot it. You savvy Bessmer’s griffin?”
“Uh, Spica V?”
“Spica IV. I don’t know how much outer zoology they are teaching you kids these daysfrom the ignoramuses we get for recruits I’ve reached the conclusion that this newfangled ‘functional education’ has abolished studying in favor of developing their cute little personalities.
“Why I had one girl who wanted to never mind; the thing about the griffin is that it does not really have vital organs. Its nervous system is decentralized, even its assimilation system. To kill it quickly you would have to grind it into hamburger. Shooting merely tickles it. But not know that; if I had had my gun I would have found out the hard way. As it was, it treed me for three days, which did my figure good and gave me time to think over the philosophy, ethics, and pragmatics of selfpreservation.”
Rod did not argue, but he still had a conviction that a gun was a handy thing to have around. It made him feel good, taller, stronger and more confident, to have one slapping against his thigh. He didn’t have to use it not unless he just had to. And he knew enough to take cover; nobody in the class could do a silent sneak the way he could. While Sis was a good soldier, still she didn’t know everything and
But Sis was still talking. “I know how good a gun feels. It makes you bright eyed and bushytailed, three meters tall and covered with hair. You’re ready for anything and kind of hoping you’ll find it. Which is exactly what is dangerous about It because you aren’t anything of the sort. You are a feeble, hairless embryo, remarkably easy to kill. You could carry an assault gun with two thousand meters precision range and isotope charges that will blow up a hill, but you still would not have eyes in the back of your head like a janus bird, nor be able to see in the dark like the Thetis pygmies. Death can cuddle up behind you while you are drawing a bead on something in front.”
“But, Sis, your own company carries guns.