dropped into a chair at the chart table, limp with reaction. Hewas suddenly exhausted, and his head ached dully.
"We cracked the communications problem early last night," Gibson said."These people use an ancient system of electromagnetic wave propagationcalled frequency modulation, and once Lee and I rigged up a suitabletransceiver the rest was simple. Both Xav and I recognized the oldlanguage; the natives reported your accident, and we came down at once."
"They really came from Terra? They lived through a thousand years offlight?"
"The ship left Terra for Sirius in 2171," Gibson said. "But not withthese people aboard, or their ancestors. That expedition perished afterless than a light-year when its hydroponics system failed. The Hymenopsfound the ship derelict when they invaded us, and brought it to AlphardSix in what was probably their first experiment with human subjects. Theship's log shows clearly what happened to the original complement. Therest is deducible from the situation here."
Farrell put his hands to his temples and groaned. "The crash must havescrambled my wits. Gib, where _did_ they come from?"
"From one of the first peripheral colonies conquered by the Bees,"Gibson said patiently. "The Hymenops were long-range planners,remember, and masters of hypnotic conditioning. They stocked the shipwith a captive crew of Terrans conditioned to believe themselvesdescendants of the original crew, and grounded it here in disabledcondition. They left for Alphard Five then, to watch developments.
"Succeeding generations of colonists grew up accepting the fact thattheir ship had missed Sirius and made planetfall here--they still don'tknow where they really are--by luck. They never knew about the Hymenops,and they've struggled along with an inadequate technology in the hopethat a later expedition would find them. They found the truth hard totake, but they're eager to enjoy the fruits of Terran assimilation."
Stryker, grinning, brought Farrell a frosted drink that tinkledinvitingly. "An unusually fortunate ending to a Hymenop experiment," hesaid. "These people progressed normally because they've been let alone.Reorienting them will be a simple matter; they'll be properly spoiledcolonists within another generation."
Farrell sipped his drink appreciatively.
"But I don't see why the Bees should go to such trouble to deceive thesepeople. Why did they sit back and let them grow as they pleased, Gib? Itdoesn't make sense!"
"But it does, for once," Gibson said. "The Bees set up this colony as acontrol unit to study the species they were invading, and they had togive their specimens a normal--if obsolete--background in order todetermine their capabilities. The fact that their experiment didn't tellthem what they wanted to know may have had a direct bearing on theirdecision to pull out."
Farrell shook his head. "It's a reverse application, isn't it of the oldsaw about Terrans being incapable of understanding an alien culture?"
"Of course," said Gibson, surprised. "It's obvious enough, surely--hardas they tried, the Bees never understood us either."
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_ January 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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