My only hope was to take advantage of its unwieldy size. To my left, not twenty paces away, was a huge banyan-like tree, with hairy fibers hanging from its extending branches. Where the fibers reached the ground, they grew into it, forming new trunks. The new trunks had grown so closely together that they had formed a labyrinth that I could crawl into. The Lōōg, because of its size, would be unable to squeeze through the labyrinth. I dove into the cluster of trunks only a second before the Lōōg could captured me. As I had hoped, the trunks formed a cage-like enclosure. The noise from the Lōōg was deafening.
My hope of being safe was shattered when I looked up and saw where the reptiles had run to. They, too, had sought shelter from the Lōōg in the banyan tree and were now closing in on me again. With my machete in my right hand and my knife in my left, I slashed away at the encroaching reptiles. Somewhere in the din, I heard a familiar sound that I had only heard once before. It took me a moment to remember where. It was the audible signal on the ring that Roc-2 had given me. Someone was trying to contact me, but who? Roc-2 would have no way to know of my predicament.
It was difficult to think about the ring while I was fighting for my life. Jan-3 would know, and she and the others in the keri were watching my struggle, but Mordo and his cameramen would prevent them from coming to my aid. Ulto could read our thoughts, but he would allow no interference in the game. Then I remembered the haze-like cloak around Jan-3 when we were riding to the jungle.
I severed the head of a giant reptile just before it engulfed me in its cavernous mouth. Behind the reptile was a centipede, more than four feet long, and its feelers were searching for me. My situation was rapidly becoming hopeless. The added gravity of planet Ergo was sapping my strength, and the overwhelming number of creatures attacking me was not letting up. I sheathed my knife to free my left hand and pushed the switch on the ring.
Jan-3’s voice sounded frantic. “Gus! Gus!” she yelled. “Turn on the switch to activate your stun protector!”
“I’d sure like to do that, but I can’t find it!”
“It’s on the inside of your belt by your right hand. The switch is in a hole near the center of the belt. It was put there to prevent you from turning it on accidentally. The grasps on your knife and machete are insulated to protect you. After you turn on the switch, the blades of your weapons will render any animal you touch unconscious.”
I couldn’t spare the use of my right hand long enough to reach for the switch, so I searched with my left hand while I defended myself from the centipede with my right. I found the hole and pressed the lever inside, then touched the horrible giant insect—it rolled into a ball at my feet. Sparks flew and steam rose from every animal I touched. Things were looking up! For the first time in what seemed like hours, I breathed a sigh of relief. But my problems weren’t over. The Lōōg was crouched outside my cage.
I had to go near the edge of the tangled roots to reach the Lōōg. If I got too close, it could reach me, and one sweep with its claws would end my struggle. His halitosis alone was enough to render a person unconscious. I judged my distance right and when it reached for me, I touched him with my machete. He quivered and dropped like a stone. I heard my friends in the keri cheering and clapping. Mordo, hoping I would be eaten, was sulking.
I called for Jan-3 to send me more empty bags. I wanted to take extra tubers back to the Ergons to rub a bit of salt in Mordo’s wounds. While filling the bags, I had to touch a few other animals with my machete or knife, but everything went smoothly.
As I was getting into the pneumatic tube to ascend into the keri, Ulto’s excited voice boomed into my head: “Gus, I knew you could do it!” He was very pleased.
I was glad someone knew I could do it. There was a time there when I wasn’t so sure. As I crawled out of the tube, Jan-3 stood waiting, her cheeks wet with happy tears. Her hug was almost as tight as the hug I had received from the giant snake. The Earth people wanted to praise me. I had never felt so admired and appreciated!
If the Ergons want appreciation, getting the tubers is the way to earn it. This game might work after all! A flood of Ergons met us when we exited the keri. They were clamoring for an opportunity to be the ones selected for the first game.
I told Domer, “Let’s make sure they know how to activate the switch.”
I found out how Jan-3 slipped her thoughts past Ulto when she instructed me how to activate the switch. Domer and his engineers had made a plasma hood that shielded her thoughts from Ulto. She couldn’t tell me about the switch before I descended into the jungle because Ulto could read my thoughts. When she and the engineers saw the difficulty I was having, they realized that they hadn’t explained the safety switch to me. If I had turned it on before I left the keri, someone might have touched me, and would have been shocked unconscious. I knew about safety switches on firearms, so I understood. But my lack of information could have been a disaster for humanity; Jan-3’s foresightedness saved the day.
“You’ve had a big day,” Jan-3 said, “and you’ve earned your reward. I, too, have had a big day, and I want some time alone with you.”
Domer said, “Gus, you and Jan-3 get something to eat and get some rest. My men and I will get the Ergons started building the purification chambers. If their willingness to work is matched by their enthusiasm for the game, we’ll have the job done in no time and be able to go home. My wife is going to start worrying about me if I don’t show up soon.”
Jan-3 and I retired behind the plasma curtain. Ulto and even Murdo seemed to approve.
* * *
The work progressed rapidly, and the Ergons were selected that would make up the team of twelve who would compete in the first game. Other Ergons were eager to be selected for the next game. The entire Ergon population watched the games on their view screens, and the winners became national heroes. The game became a weekly affair, and everyone was content because the food they most desired was plentiful.
The Ergons were pleased to be rid of their diseases, but they decided not to use earthling DNA to alter their mutations. Their religious leaders told them that their deformities were the will of God, and that it would be wrong to interfere. With their bodily functions working unfettered, they would multiply profusely, and in no time overpopulate planet Ergo. Hopefully, they would be able to work out their problems before they destroyed themselves.
The Antons were eager to recover their bodies, have them purified, and go back to planet Duos. To the sorrow of the Anton women, and because the Ergons wouldn’t correct their mutations, the descendants of their children would not be acceptable on planet Duos, so they would have to remain on Ergo. Domer and his engineers returned to Earth and to their families.
The Anton women pleaded with Gus and Jan-3 to help them. To appease the Anton women, Ulto asked Jan-3 and me to remain behind and do what we could to help the Ergons. Jan-3 asked Ulto and Mordo to arrange a meeting so that she and I could talk to their people.
* * * * *
Chapter 22
Jan-3 began. “We are here to determine if it will be possible for you to govern yourselves, I can’t tell you what to do, but as a historian, I can tell you of the struggle earthlings had to go through to attain that purpose. As long as history has been recorded, earthlings have tried to find a way to live in peace. Anthropological artifacts indicate that men have been seeking a way to live in peace for thousands, perhaps millions, of years. Civilizations have risen and fallen because a person or a group of persons tried to force their will upon others.”
“Earthlings sought the help of a creator.” Jan-3 continued. “Some worshiped the sun, moon, and stars—even Earth itself. People discussed the possibility of a Divine Creator. In ancient Greece, this practice became so prominent that it was called the Age of Reason.
“Moses said he talked to God, and God gave him the Ten Commandments. Billions of people live by those rules even today. Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, telling people how to live together. Humans have written and signed documents such as
the Magna Charta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Wars have been fought to defend and uphold those rules. The problems most difficult to overcome have been greed and fanatical religion. More people have died defending God, than for all other causes combined. If God is truly God, then that God needs no defending.”
Impatiently, Mordo interrupted in a loud, irritating voice: “Did you have those rules when you nearly destroyed your planet with nuclear weapons?”
“Yes,” Jan-3 replied, but . . .”
Mordo cut her off and said, “Then your rules didn’t work, did they?”
“Most of the rules were good,” I responded. “It was our rulers who caused the problems. Our political and religious leaders, obsessed with a lust for power and wealth, maintained that power by inducing fear into the hearts and minds of the uninformed. The leaders lived in lavish splendor, while those they governed lived in poverty and despair. If the plight of the poor was brought to the attention of the leaders, they excused their extravagances with remarks like: ‘They live that way because they want to live that way . . . they’re too lazy to do anything for themselves.’ Arrogance blinded the wealthy to the service of those whose labor made their pampered lives possible. The wealthy did not have hands calloused by hard work.”
Mordo started to interject another gripe when Ulto said: “Mordo, shut up and listen. You might learn something, but you cannot learn anything if you are doing all the talking.” Mordo pulled his three legs under him, sat down, and sulked, his bulging eyes rotating.
Jan-3 continued, “After Earth was nearly destroyed, the people, just like you on planet Ergo, realized that something had to be done. They had nowhere else to go, so they had to clean it up. To do that, they needed the hands and minds of every human. Those who had technical knowledge devised ways to remove the radiation, while others used their hands to build the necessary tools. Everybody benefited equally. We realized that people must be motivated by a desire to achieve, and that there could be no privileged class. We found that we did not need to institute new laws because we already had too many laws, so we eliminated laws that advantaged only the wealthy and encouraged people to live by laws that benefited everyone. By the time we had expelled the harmful radiation, we had reduced our laws to only ten.”
“And what were those ten?” Ulto asked in a serious voice.
Jan-3 had their attention now, and continued. “They were, essentially, the Ten Commandments, clarified and combined with the ideas in the Bill of Rights. For instance, the command ‘Thou shall not kill’ needed clarifying. Kill what? We know that you cannot take a step, eat a bite of food, or take a breath without killing something.
“After many long meetings, we decided that the laws could be reduced to a few basic rules of conduct. We continued simplifying the laws until we had only one law: DO NO HARM. We interpret that law to mean, do nothing that will cause someone to be diminished mentally, physically, emotionally, physiologically, or economically. We concluded that knowingly deceiving another for personal advantage was doing harm. That law brought religious fanaticism under control and prevented people from making fraudulent claims for the purpose of political, social, and economic gain.”
“What happens if a mistake is made?” Ulto asked.
“There is always the possibility of error,” Jan-3 continued, “and that is taken into consideration when a complaint is made. We also allow for fictional expression. Fiction and art keep our sense of adventure alive. We encourage people to engage in physical and mental games for pleasure and to stimulate them to improve both their bodies and minds.”
“If people are not allowed to enjoy the advantages of financial gain, how do you motivate them to excel?”
“No one is denied the right to use accumulated wealth, but they cannot use their wealth to the disadvantage of others. There are many ways that people can receive advantages without involving money. I, for instance, receive no pay, yet I have advantages, and nothing is denied me. If I do well, I am praised; if I should fail, I would be asked to explain my failings. If my failings persist, I would lose some of my advantages. Many of our brightest minds work very hard to find ways to improve our way of life and our knowledge. We move forward as a group because of our individual efforts. We have no problem in finding ways to motivate ourselves.”
Mordo was beginning to settle down and listen. “Would you—with the aid of Ulto—write in our language what you have told us, so we Ergons can study it and, hopefully, make a better life for ourselves?”
Ulto declared, “It will be done.”
“I will be glad to write it,” Jan-3 replied.
“How long,” Mordo asked, “will it take to establish the form of government you described?”
“There are a few preliminaries you must first accomplish, but after those have been achieved, the rest will come quickly,” Jan-3 said.
With doubt and mistrust now entering his voice, Mordo asked in a snide manner, “And what are those preliminaries?”
“You must learn to care. You must learn to treat others the way you would want them to treat you. Then you must learn to be clean and orderly. You cannot develop a healthy society in a filthy place.”
Convinced now, and as excited as a child, Mordo decided, “Then we will begin right now.”
Ulto said, “There is no need to write anything for us. We have read your minds and know everything you know. To show our appreciation, we, therefore, will record everything we know into the minds of both you and Gus.”
Ulto made the knowledge transfer. I felt an electrical sensation in my head and was able to see things in a different way. Jan-3’s eyes were wide with recognition and appreciation. I now saw her physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and she was vastly more beautiful. We were able to embrace without physically embracing, but we embraced physically anyway.
In a way strange and new to me, I understood Ulto to ask: “Would you come with us to retrieve our bodies?”
* * *
Without the sensation of moving, and not knowing how I knew, I knew that we were on a different spot on planet Ergo. It was much like the place we had left. Strange and terrible animals roamed here also. A Lōōg saw Jan-3 and was stalking her. She stared at it and the Lōōg froze in place, standing still as a stone.
I read Ulto’s thoughts: “She learns quickly! Now we’ll move back in time to when we had bodies. Prepare yourselves for a shock.”
Humanoids started to appear, popping up here and there, faster and faster, until a vast crowd of Antons stood in front of Jan-3 and me. The only voice we had heard previously was the voice of Ulto. Now all the bodies that had been retrieved were speaking and creating a jumbling roar in our heads. The Antons were pushing and shoving, trying to get an advantage.
Ulto appeared before us in his body. He was a tall, thin, two-legged, two-armed being with a bulbous head, two huge round eyes, and a perpetual smile on his thin-lipped mouth. His garment was just a strip of material wrapped Gandhi-style. It served the purpose of comfort and concealment, but had no esthetic value. His wife, Leyon, looked and dressed the same as Ulto, but smaller, and with mammary glands.
I thought-transferred to Ulto: “Ulto, you know what Jan-3 and I know; we know what you know. Now would be a good time to start training your people. You have vocal cords now, so you can communicate verbally. The first thing you must do is do away with the ability to read thoughts. Remember the law, DO NO HARM. Reading another person’s thought harms that person. Neither Jan-3 nor I want that ability. You must command your people to end thought reading. Anyone who fails to comply will be in violation of the law.”
“Anyone who does not comply,” Ulto noted, “will have an advantage over those of us who do. How will we know if they failed to comply, and what should their punishment be?”
Jan-3 responded, “If anyone feels that his or her thoughts have been read, that person should make it known to your select group. The group then decides the punishment.”
> “That’s why we use thought-reading robots,” I replied. “The robots are programmed to respond only to the questions they are asked. No one is ever forced to do anything, but if they fail to obey the law, they are denied membership in the society. They can do whatever they want, other than return to planet Duos with the rest of the Antons.”
“They would have to stay here on planet Ergo with the Ergons, and the Ergons will destroy them,” Ulto thought.
Ulto’s wife, Leyon, communicated mentally for the first time with Jan-3 and me, and said, “They could seek another planet.”
“That would be an option,” Jan-3 agreed.
“With this new method, the women who have children fathered by Ergons could bring their children with them, and we could purify them and take them to Duos with us.”
The Anton women’s thoughts were expressed in unison: “You must find a way. We’ll have bodies again, and we’ll want to bear children. The Anton men will want the pleasure of fathering them.”
A male Anton said: “They’ll have Ergon minds and human bodies—that will create a problem.”
A female thought ensued: “We’ll have Anton minds and human bodies, so what is the difference? If you want to make life worth living, you’d better find a way.”
The jumble of thoughts was maddening. There was no privacy, and no conclusions could be reached.
Ulto saw the wisdom of privacy and, knowing that every Anton knew what had been discussed, decided to abandon thought reading. He was their leader, and the Antons would do as he asked. He forcefully held out the thought: “On my command ‘DELETE,’ all thought-reading ability is canceled!” He held up his right hand and for the last time mentally emitted the thought: “DELETE!”
At first, confusion reigned. This was the first time in thousands of years that no one could read the thoughts of anyone else. Pandemonium ruled until the Antons began to understand that each needed time to audibly voice their thoughts. Questions had to be asked, and time had to be given to receive an answer.
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