Scales

by Anthony G Williams

  However, this may not be enough; Professor Thorgildsson of Stamford University has put forward a theory that birds may be helping to transmit the plague, accounting for its rapid spread despite the desperate efforts to stop it. Radios across Europe have been falling silent over the past three weeks, and the Minister stated that he feared the worst.

  Furthermore, there appears to be more than one point of origin of the plague. Outbreaks of virulent disease have now been reported from every inhabited continent.

  The Primary Minister also addressed Parliament today. His demeanor was grave, but he reassured Parliament that our own scientists in the Department of Biological Warfare were doing their utmost to discover the nature of the disease and to prepare a cure. Telegraph messages received from scientists in Europe over the past three weeks had already provided useful information.

  He said that it appeared that this strain of the plague was probably developed in the Turkish Empire and may have been released in South-Eastern Europe as tensions grew over the status of the Bosphorus. Some reports indicate that the Greeks have retaliated in kind, and that contact with Persia has been lost. It is already known that, like most war plagues, the one afflicting Europe has been bred to die within days once it is outside a living human host, so there is hope that by maintaining strict quarantine measures, many will survive.

  The Primary Minister concluded that the long-predicted Great War between the Muslim and Christian worlds had broken out, and that the policy of Biological Deterrence, established by previous governments, had failed. He called upon all citizens to stay in their homes and pray for deliverance.

  There was a long pause after we had finished reading. Nobody seemed to want to say anything. I felt numb, sickened by the self-destruction of an entire civilisation. Eventually, I thought of something. 'Are we sure this is right? Is the plague dead?'

  Secundo responded gravely. 'Yes. We had already suspected that plague might have been involved as, although the general level of technological development in H11 paralleled your own, they were very advanced in biological warfare. The scientists who rediscovered this world used their slider machine to take air, water and earth samples under conditions of strict isolation. There are traces of plague organisms, but they are dead beyond possibility of revival. This world is now clean and safe. '

  'But no disease has ever killed everyone. Are you certain there are no survivors?'

  'No natural disease kills everyone, but war diseases are designed to be different. All we can say for now is that the electromagnetic spectrum is completely silent. There are no radios in operation anywhere. Nor is there any trace of the kind of atmospheric pollution which indicates human activity. If there are any survivors, they must be back to the Stone Age.'

  I went back to the observation deck, suddenly keen to return to the clean innocence of the saurian world. The others left me alone as I tried to accept what I had seen and read. Eventually I turned to them.

  'So what do we do with this world?'

  Primo responded. 'It seems to us to provide a unique opportunity. Your world has a major, long-term problem of overpopulation which despite our contraceptive measures will, by itself, take centuries to correct. Here we have what is effectively a virgin world – in fact, rather better than that. While agricultural land has become overgrown, it will be much easier to clear than virgin forest. Domestic animals have only spent a few generations by themselves, and can be re-domesticated without too much difficulty. The docks and harbours are still there, under the silt. Most buildings can be restored, or at least the materials are there to be reused. Roads, canals and railways will need more work but the basic structure is there. Most minerals are still in the ground in known locations. This is an unpolluted world, with the chance of a fresh start, learning from past mistakes and developing it carefully and sustainably. We can build many more slider machines and start transferring people in quantity, as soon as your world has decided on the process.'

  I absorbed this for several minutes. Another chance – a chance to redeem the catastrophic failure of one civilisation and to speed the recovery from near-disaster of another. It presented not so much a golden opportunity as one of solid diamond. I stood on the observation deck of the giant ship and a distant memory popped into my mind. I smiled at the thought, then turned to the saurians. 'Make it so!' I said.

  Of course, it wasn't as simple as that – I didn't have the powers of a starship captain. I brought Richards up to speed and asked him to put in motion the process necessary to arrange an urgent meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Back at Laketown, I checked on the progress of the S2 Representative's tour; everything seemed to going well, so far. The black case stayed under the bed.

  A couple of days later, Richards reported back. The UN Security Council had agreed to the request of the British Government to hold an emergency special session of the General Assembly. It would be taking place in three days time. I checked with the saurians the availability of the slider ship and confirmed that I would be there at the start of the session. It would take the giant airship only twenty-four hours to make the journey to New York, so the next two days were spent in fevered debate with my friends and the Convenor, as we discussed possible strategies for exploiting this New Earth, as I had had begun to call it ('"H11" lacks a certain something,' I explained).

  The cruise across the Atlantic was uneventful, the spring weather mainly calm. At my request the ship hovered for a while, letting down the passenger lift so that all five of us – the Convenor had also decided to join the trip – could dive in and experience the grandeur of the great ocean. For me, it felt like coming home, only to a nostalgic memory of home, remembering only the good things and none of the bad. The water was pure, with none of the chemical and little of the noise pollution which afflicted the seas of my Earth. There was no domestic detritus floating around these oceans before being cast up to litter the shoreline, no tankers pumping our their waste. The sea hummed with life.

  We discussed until late into the evening what would happen tomorrow and the approach we would take with the General Assembly. Then we retired to bed – the saurians had converted a large cabin for my needs, with a picture window looking down over the dark sea.

  The next morning the airship cruised over the saurian settlement at the southern end of Long Island, before positioning itself over the location of the UN building and lowering its cabin. Some fine-tuning using the slider viewer positioned the cabin in the same location as the floor at the front of the Assembly – dangling in mid-air above the saurian Earth. The members were taking their seats so we waited, the great ship's sophisticated wind sensor and control system holding the cabin steady. After a while the President called the Assembly to order. The time had arrived.

  The slider machine wound up with its teeth-aching hum and the scene on the viewer appeared full-size as the hole opened. I stepped through onto the floor, into the dead silence of complete shock. The machine wound down behind me. I nodded pleasantly at the President and General Secretary, then strode up to the podium. It wasn't strictly necessary for me to speak out loud – all present could mind-link, and although they didn't all understand English very well the corps of interpreters had rapidly transformed themselves into converting mental as well as audible speech. However, this session was being broadcast around the world, and few viewers yet enjoyed the remote mind-linking technology.

  After the usual pleasantries I launched into my prepared speech, my voice rather hoarse with disuse.

  'The last time I addressed you, it was to send a mixed message, warning of impending disaster but raising the hope of avoiding the worst consequences, through the assistance of the saurians. This time, my message is equally important, but entirely positive. I have come to tell you of a new opportunity which has opened up for mankind – a whole new world which will enable you to resolve many of the major problems which you now face, provided it is handled carefully and constructively.'

  I went on to t
ell them about the discovery of New Earth, and its history. Then I described to them the offer of the saurians to arrange for the transfer of large numbers of people to the empty world. The excitement in the great room built up steadily as I spoke, with some initial incomprehension as well; I realised that the news that physical transfer between parallel worlds was now possible had not yet been widely disseminated, and the ability to locate empty worlds – let alone the discovery of one – had been kept very quiet by the scientists involved. Then I turned to my conclusion.

  'Before this transfer can begin, you need to agree a number of issues. One which almost decides itself is who will have the rights to which areas of land; we can only transfer people to the same location as they are currently in, so New Yorkers will step through into the new New York – although in terms of its physical structure, it will seem very old, with not a single skyscraper! However, within that there is the potential to resolve a number of intractable problems. To give an obvious example, New Earth contains a Holy Land, with a Jerusalem, a Temple Mount, and the same religious tradition. And all empty of people. I do not need to spell out the possibilities. Another self-evident truth is that we cannot transport everyone at once; you will need to determine the priorities. Will it be refugees? Or those who are experiencing famine? Persecuted minorities? Or those who wish to set up different nations or kinds of culture? But you must also bear in mind other practical limitations. At the simplest level, we could transport people who are starving in Africa to a New Africa which is not suffering from over-grazing, over-use of water, or the negative effects of climate change. All they would need is temporary shelters, tools to help them clear the ground and enough basic supplies to keep them going until their first crops matured. However, anything more than a subsistence level existence would need much more elaborate preparation. The water supply and drainage systems in urban areas would need renovating, as would the buildings. There is no power supply. No functioning transport system. No vehicles. A major engineering effort would be required to make even the smallest city habitable in a way which most people would find acceptable. This may be a productive use of the manpower of the world's armies, but only small equipment can be sent through the slider holes. The colonisation of New Earth will be a long, slow process. Before I finish, I would like to introduce someone to you – the Convenor of the Planetary Assembly of the saurian Earth.'

  On cue, I became aware of the rising electrical tension, and as I walked down to the floor of the Assembly the slider hole popped into existence beside me. The Convenor was standing in front of the hole. I reached through and touched her head. She hopped through the hole and I shut down her conscious mind for the fraction of a second it took for her head to pass through; she scarcely stumbled as she walked with the usual saurian awkwardness into the Assembly and headed for the podium. I scanned the Assembly's mood and ruefully reflected that they were getting so used to experiencing severe multiple shocks whenever I appeared in front of them that they were in danger of developing a Pavlovian response and keeling over whenever they saw me.

  The Convenor spoke in good if strange-sounding English – she was much more used to reading than speaking it. Fortunately, she was thinking it as well, so the message came through loud and clear. After the diplomatic formalities, she elaborated on the saurian offer, detailing what they could do in building and operating more slider machines, and how many people per hour could be expected to pass through each of them. The human scientists who had helped develop the slider machine had tested it and discovered that, with their newly-acquired mind-linking ability, they experienced the same problems that saurians had in crossing through the slider hole, so would have to pass through unconscious. I wondered in passing why and how I seemed to be the only individual with mind-linking powers who was able to cope with the transfer.

  She concluded with the following words: 'Finally, in carrying this out we respectfully urge you to bear in mind the mistakes of the past, and to establish principles of sustainable development so that the New Earth can enjoy the prospect of a much happier history than this one, or indeed than the tragic fate which befell its original inhabitants. Now it is up to you.'

  The applause started slowly then built to a storm of approval. The Convenor seemed rather taken aback – not the response she was used to from her own Assembly, I guessed. I sent her a private message: 'This makes a nice change – let's get out while we're ahead.'

  We solemnly processed to the reopened slider hole and passed through, the applause ringing in our ears.

  Back on the ship, Richards sent his congratulations. Just before he signed off, he added a parting shot, tinged with wry amusement. 'You do realise, don't you, that you said "you" when talking about humanity and "we" when mentioning the saurians?'

  I pondered that one for a while, my feeling of dislocation returning. Just where exactly did I belong?

  Back at Laketown – the Assembly having decided to stay put for the duration of the current crises of the New Earth and the S2 exchange – we discovered that the S2 Representative had returned from his brief tour just a couple of hours before. A formal celebration of his visit and the discovery of New Earth had been arranged for that evening. His S1 "minders" had clearly been conditioning him, since at the sight of me he managed to control his obvious emotions, although I still picked up a vague sense of deep-rooted abhorrence.

  After the Convenor made a little speech in honour of the Representative and gave her formal report on the visit to the UN (hardly necessary as those present all knew the details anyway, but even the S1 saurians were not averse to a little formality from time to time), the Representative responded vocally, his mind closed. This was mentally translated into S1 saurian (by one of their experts on S2) and subsequently into English (by Tertia, sitting next to me), so I followed what he was saying with only a slight delay. He thanked his hosts for their hospitality, complimented them on the beauty of their world – although he commented that it seemed remarkably empty – and then dropped his bombshell.

  'I have heard with interest about the plans to transfer humans to this newly-discovered world. May I ask what plans you have to provide my people with slider machines so that we can occupy this great new resource as well? I understand that, with such a low population here, you may not be interested in colonising the new world yourselves, but I can assure you that my people certainly are.'

  A stunned silence followed for a few seconds, until the Convenor managed a reply. 'But that is a human world. And their need for space and resources is far greater than that of your people.'

  'That was a human world, but they removed themselves from it. They have had their chance and wasted it. Judging by the mess they have made of all of their worlds, there is no likelihood that they will do any better this time. Why should they be given another chance when we have not yet had one?'

  The Convenor managed to make some suitably diplomatic noises about considering the request, and the much subdued celebration ended early.

  Back in my room, I pulled the heavy case from under my bed and opened it. Inside gleamed the ugly bulk of the Personal Assault Weapon. A product of the resourceful South African arms industry, the P.A.W. was a stubby, semi-automatic rifle firing 20 mm cannon shells. I pulled it out of the case and hefted it thoughtfully. It felt odd, with the pistol grip to one side of the gun rather than underneath, but Richards assured me that it worked in much the same way as other self-loading rifles I was used to – it just had a considerably more dramatic effect at the receiving end. It was designed for destroying vehicles, barriers and other such targets, which seemed about right when facing saurians. There were three seven-round magazines in the case, and a box full of ammunition. I opened it and the sleek weight of the cartridges slid out. The shells, coloured red and yellow to denote their high explosive/incendiary contents, were bigger than their 20 x 42 cartridge cases, which didn't need to contain much propellant to deliver the subsonic muzzle velocity. Richards had told me that it was effective out to
1,000 metres, but the curved trajectory required a sophisticated rangefinding sight for any chance of scoring hits at that range. This gun was equipped with a simple optical sight good for perhaps 200 metres, but if I had to use it at all, I expected that the range would be short. I had an uneasy feeling that I would be finding out just how effective it was before long.

  The next day we contacted the Secretary General for an update – it had been agreed that he would act as the liaison between the UN and the saurians. A high-level working group had been set up to consider the issues we had raised, and it had already decided that starving refugees had the highest priority, so the initial effort would be focused on the main trouble-spots in central Africa. We agreed that made sense, not only because of their urgent need but also because minimal preparation was required. Arrangements had been made to mass-produce the slider machines, and airships were already transporting the first ones to the appropriate locations, together with the large antenna arrays to receive beamed power until permanent geothermal power stations could be set up.

  The S2 Representative announced that he would like to watch the process, so I decided to accompany him. The P.A.W. and I took up residence in our airship cabin for the two-day round trip, my friends fitting a genetic lock to the door at my request. I am sure that they thought I had succumbed to an advanced case of paranoia, but the last thing I wanted was the Representative getting his hands on the P.A.W..

  We travelled south across Europe, a journey I had flown many times before. But never so low and so slowly, giving me every opportunity to observe how natural the countryside looked, with far more woodland and only scattered signs of settlement. Even their orchards were mixed and planted at random, giving a natural appearance; they did not use machinery to tend them. From this distance, it looked as if the saurians had only a primitive culture, their preferred way of interacting with nature concealing the advanced technology which underpinned their lives. I questioned Primo about this.