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Authors: Ursula K. Le Guin
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conceivable. That all the
biosphere of a planet should be one network of communications, sensitive,
irrational, immortal, isolated...'
'Isolated',
said Osden. 'That's it! That's the fear. It isn't that we're motile, or
destructive. It's just that we are. We are other. There has never been any
other.'
'You're
right,' Mannon said, almost whispering. 'It has no peers. No enemies. No
relationship with anything but itself. One alone forever.'
'Then
what's the function of its intelligence in species-survival?'
'None,
maybe,' Osden said. 'Why are you getting teleological, Harfex? Aren't you a
Hainishman? Isn't the measure of complexity the measure of the eternal joy?'
Harfex
did not take the bait. He looked ill. 'We should leave this world,' he said.
'Now
you know why I always want to get out, get away from you,' Osden said with a
kind of morbid geniality. 'It isn't pleasant, is it - the other's fear...? If
only it were an animal intelligence. I can get through to animals. I get along
with cobras and tigers; superior intelligence gives one the advantage. I should
have been used in a zoo, not on a human team ... If I could get through to the
damned stupid potato! If it wasn't so overwhelming ... I still pick up more
than the fear, you know. And before it panicked it had a - there was a
serenity. I couldn't take it in, then, I didn't realize how big it was. To know
the whole daylight, after all, and the whole night. All the winds and lulls
together. The winter stars and the summer stars at the same time. To have
roots, and no enemies. To be entire. Do you see? No invasion. No others. To be
whole...'
He
had never spoken before, Tomiko thought.
'You
are defenseless against it, Osden,' she said. 'Your personality has changed
already. You're vulnerable to it. We may not all go mad, but you will, if we
don't leave.'
He
hesitated, then he looked up at Tomiko, the first time he had ever met her
eyes, a long, still look, clear as water.
'What's
sanity ever done for me?' he said, mocking. 'But you have a point, Haito. You
have something there.'
'We
should get away,' Harfex muttered.
'If
I gave in to it,' Osden mused, 'could I communicate?'
'By
"give in",' Mannon said in a rapid, nervous voice, 'I assume that you
mean, stop sending back the empathic information which you receive from the
plant-entity: stop rejecting the fear, and absorb it. That will either kill you
at once, or drive you back into total psychological withdrawal, autism.'
'Why?'
said Osden. 'Its message is rejection. But my salvation
is rejection. It's not intelligent. But I am.'
'The
scale is wrong. What can a single human brain achieve against something so
vast?'
'A
single human brain can perceive pattern on the scale of stars and galaxies,'
Tomiko said, 'and interpret it as Love.'
Mannon
looked from one to the other of them; Harfex was silent.
'It'd
be easier in the forest,' Osden said. 'Which of you will fly me over?'
'When?'
'Now.
Before you all crack up or go violent.'
'I
will,' Tomiko said. 'None of us will,' Harfex said.
'I
can't,' Mannon said. 'I... I am too frightened. I'd crash the jet.'
'Bring
Eskwana along. If I can pull this off, he might serve as a medium.'
'Are
you accepting the Sensor's plan, Coordinator?' Harfex asked formally. 'Yes.'
'I
disapprove. I will come with you, however.'
'I
think we're compelled, Harfex,' Tomiko said, looking at Osden's face, the ugly
white mask transfigured, eager as a lover's
face.
Olleroo
and Jenny Chong, playing cards to keep their thoughts from their haunted beds,
their mounting dread, chattered like scared children. 'This thing, it's in the
forest, it'll get you—'
'Scared
of the dark?' Osden jeered.
'But
look at Eskwana, and Porlock, and even Asnanifoil—'
'It
can't hurt you. It's an impulse passing through synapses, a wind
passing through branches. It is only a nightmare.'
They
took off in a helijet, Eskwana curled up still sound asleep in the rear
compartment, Tomiko piloting, Harfex and Osden
biosphere of a planet should be one network of communications, sensitive,
irrational, immortal, isolated...'
'Isolated',
said Osden. 'That's it! That's the fear. It isn't that we're motile, or
destructive. It's just that we are. We are other. There has never been any
other.'
'You're
right,' Mannon said, almost whispering. 'It has no peers. No enemies. No
relationship with anything but itself. One alone forever.'
'Then
what's the function of its intelligence in species-survival?'
'None,
maybe,' Osden said. 'Why are you getting teleological, Harfex? Aren't you a
Hainishman? Isn't the measure of complexity the measure of the eternal joy?'
Harfex
did not take the bait. He looked ill. 'We should leave this world,' he said.
'Now
you know why I always want to get out, get away from you,' Osden said with a
kind of morbid geniality. 'It isn't pleasant, is it - the other's fear...? If
only it were an animal intelligence. I can get through to animals. I get along
with cobras and tigers; superior intelligence gives one the advantage. I should
have been used in a zoo, not on a human team ... If I could get through to the
damned stupid potato! If it wasn't so overwhelming ... I still pick up more
than the fear, you know. And before it panicked it had a - there was a
serenity. I couldn't take it in, then, I didn't realize how big it was. To know
the whole daylight, after all, and the whole night. All the winds and lulls
together. The winter stars and the summer stars at the same time. To have
roots, and no enemies. To be entire. Do you see? No invasion. No others. To be
whole...'
He
had never spoken before, Tomiko thought.
'You
are defenseless against it, Osden,' she said. 'Your personality has changed
already. You're vulnerable to it. We may not all go mad, but you will, if we
don't leave.'
He
hesitated, then he looked up at Tomiko, the first time he had ever met her
eyes, a long, still look, clear as water.
'What's
sanity ever done for me?' he said, mocking. 'But you have a point, Haito. You
have something there.'
'We
should get away,' Harfex muttered.
'If
I gave in to it,' Osden mused, 'could I communicate?'
'By
"give in",' Mannon said in a rapid, nervous voice, 'I assume that you
mean, stop sending back the empathic information which you receive from the
plant-entity: stop rejecting the fear, and absorb it. That will either kill you
at once, or drive you back into total psychological withdrawal, autism.'
'Why?'
said Osden. 'Its message is rejection. But my salvation
is rejection. It's not intelligent. But I am.'
'The
scale is wrong. What can a single human brain achieve against something so
vast?'
'A
single human brain can perceive pattern on the scale of stars and galaxies,'
Tomiko said, 'and interpret it as Love.'
Mannon
looked from one to the other of them; Harfex was silent.
'It'd
be easier in the forest,' Osden said. 'Which of you will fly me over?'
'When?'
'Now.
Before you all crack up or go violent.'
'I
will,' Tomiko said. 'None of us will,' Harfex said.
'I
can't,' Mannon said. 'I... I am too frightened. I'd crash the jet.'
'Bring
Eskwana along. If I can pull this off, he might serve as a medium.'
'Are
you accepting the Sensor's plan, Coordinator?' Harfex asked formally. 'Yes.'
'I
disapprove. I will come with you, however.'
'I
think we're compelled, Harfex,' Tomiko said, looking at Osden's face, the ugly
white mask transfigured, eager as a lover's
face.
Olleroo
and Jenny Chong, playing cards to keep their thoughts from their haunted beds,
their mounting dread, chattered like scared children. 'This thing, it's in the
forest, it'll get you—'
'Scared
of the dark?' Osden jeered.
'But
look at Eskwana, and Porlock, and even Asnanifoil—'
'It
can't hurt you. It's an impulse passing through synapses, a wind
passing through branches. It is only a nightmare.'
They
took off in a helijet, Eskwana curled up still sound asleep in the rear
compartment, Tomiko piloting, Harfex and Osden
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