Closed System

'Please come, then,' Gorben said. Pat gave the computer orders to buttonSkimmerup tight. When the outer hatch closed, Gorben andhis companion jumped in nervousness, but Patsmiled and said, 'It's all right. Don't worry.'

A middle-aged woman was standing in the doorof the nearest cabin as they approached. She wore a shapeless dress which fell to mid-thigh.

'He has come at last, Mother,' Gorben shouted. The woman's eyes went wide. She fell to theground and began to nod her head to Pat. It wasgetting downright embarrassing. It was the firsttime he'd ever been a god, and he wasn't too fond of the idea.

The woman, mother to Gorben and probably theother young man, fell in behind them. On the wayto the center of the village they accumulated oth­ers who first fell down in worship and then fol­lowed in awed silence.

From a cabin at the center of the village a white-haired, close-shaven, distinguished old man cameto meet them.

'He has come, Elder,' Gorben shouted jubilantly. 'Welcome, Honored One,' the village elder said,bowing. It was a relief to Pat not to have the oldman fall on his face and worship. 'We have longawaited your coming.'

'I am honored to be here, Elder,' Pat said. 'But perhaps I am not who you think I am. May we talk in privacy?' The elder, he reasoned, would be thewisest man in the village. Study of a primitivesociety might

be interesting, if he had the time,but he'd come a long way to get some answers.

'Of course, Honored One,' the elder said. Hestepped aside and bowed, motioning with his handfor Pat to proceed him through the open doorwayto the cabin. Pat took a couple of steps, and two sounds came to him at once. First, the beep of his communicator. He lifted it from his belt quickly, hearing as he did, a low moan of surprise from thecrowd on the village square.

'Speak to me,' he said to the computer.

'Alert, alert,' the old man said. 'Unidentifiedvessels—' And then there was silence. The crowdmoaned. Pat turned and went rigid.

There, high up, hulls reflecting the afternoonsun, rode a battle fleet, ship after ship, huge dreadnaughts, cruisers, little destroyers, supplyships, auxiliaries. And even as he took a deep breathhe saw a ship separate from the fleet and fallswiftly, under power. The crowd around him, in­cluding the elder, had fallen to the dirt in fear and worship.

It took only seconds. There was nothing he coulddo. The falling ship grew in size, showed the out­lines of one of the new Greyhound Class spacetugs. At least, he thought, they weren't going toblastSkimmer.

The Greyhound's fall slowed swiftly, the skipperstopping her not more than five feet fromSkim­ mer's squat hull, and then she was lifting,Skimmerenclosed in her field, while the people moaned and worshiped.

Five minutes later the tug was back in position,just a tiny, gleaming dot. And then the fleet blinked simultaneously and was gone.

'Well,' Pat told himself, 'it looks as if I'm goingto have plenty of time to get acquainted.'

'Rise, people,' he shouted in German. 'Arise,for those who fly to the stars have gone.'

SEVEN

Pat had the position of honor at a well-made wooden table. The boards of the table did notbend, although there was enough food there toexcuse them if they had. The main meat dish wasroasted pig, a standard UP-type swine. It was deli­cious, and not surprising, for the old colony shipshad taken everything needed to establish a life­ style on a new planet. Only the vegetable disheswere different, and not all of them. There weregreen beans which tasted as if they had been cookedon a UP planet, and, of course, potatoes. The saladwas different, spicy, tangy, and quite good.

Pat had had his private talk with the villageelder, whose name was Adrian Kleeper. The talkhad been

quite revealing. Kleeper was a very piousman, sprinkling his talk with references not onlyto God, but to a hoard of gods, gods in such profu­ sion that Pat, a monotheist and no scholar of com­parative religions, was confused.

The important things that Pat learned from histalk with the elder were that the citizens ofDorchlunt, as they called their village complexandthe planet, had never heard of the UnitedPlanets, that they considered him to be a minorangel sent down by the fleet of angels which they'dseen, and that although their tools, weapons, andliving utensils were primitive and self-made, theywere not awed in the slightest by Pat's hand weap­ons and personal equipment.

Pat grinned wryly when he learned that he wasnot a god, but just an angel. Well, so fleeting is fame and honor.

Before the meal, the elder led the selected com­pany, which included the handsome young manGorben, in a prayer of thanksgiving. Pat countedreferences to at least ten deities. He recognized the names of only three, God, Allah, and Buddha, all, incidentally, different names for the same God who had come with the children of Old Earth into space.As an angel, he assumed that he would be ex­pected to know all about the odd gods mentionedby Adrian Kleeper, so he couldn't ask questions.

Eating in silence seemed to be the custom. Atlast, everyone seemed to have his fill. There wereno women present. Women had served the food,and women brought earthenware mugs of a verygood and very potent beer after the meal, and,after taking an extended drink, the elder leaned back, burped into his hand, and smiled at Pat.

'Now, Honored One, perhaps you will give us news of theforfarvelts.'

The ancestry worlds?

'All is well there,' Pat said. Kleeper lookeddisappointed.

'Honored One,' Gorben said, 'has the time come,then?'

'It is near,' Pat said. He was walking on thinice. The banquet hall of the elder's cabin housed atleast twenty of the finest specimens of mankindhe'd seen in one place, all vital, handsome, strongyoung men except Kleeper, and even though hewas in middle age, Pat would not have wanted tohave to fight him hand to hand.

He had a sudden inspiration. 'I have been sent,my friends, to live among you, to observe you, to determine your state of readiness.'

'Ah,' Kleeper said. 'That is good.'

So far so good, Pat thought. They were hand­some, intelligent people, but theywere primitive.He had no doubt that they had built up a fearsomelist of laws and tabus. 'My friends, as an inspec­tor, perhaps you will see me do and hear me saythings which, without knowledge, will seem oddto you. I ask your patience, and ask you to remem­ber that there is purpose in all things.'

That should cover any goofs, he thought.

'Ah, yes,' Kleeper said.'The way of the godsare, indeed, mysterious.'

As if to prove it, Pat's communicator buzzed athim. With a surge of excitement—had they re­ leased the Skimmer? —he thumbed it, and held itbefore his face, although that was unnecessary.

'Captain Howe,' a male voice said, in English,'there is no haste, but when you have finishedyour meal, will you please make your way to thetemple.' It wasn't a request, it was an order.

'Ahhhhh,' sighed the young men at the table.

'You are called?' asked Kleeper. 'We had hopedthat you would be our honored guest for afestival.The young women are working, even now.'

'There is no haste,' Pat said. Well, that's whatthe fellow had said.

'Splendid,' Kleeper said, clapping his hands.All the young men rose. Gorben, apparently, hadbeen appointed, or self-appointed, as Pat's guide and companion. He led Pat into the village square.Upon Pat's emergence from the cabin a band—odd-looking instruments, but sounding familiar, strings, drums, woodwinds, brass—began a sprightly mel­ody and a dozen very pretty blond girls in shortembroidered skirts and white blouses danced in perfect unison.

Something had been nagging at Pat. It crystal­lized in his mind as he sat in a place of honor and watched the dances of the girls, the semimilitaryposturings of the young men. He was in a primi­tive village, on a primitive planet. Bread was bakedin mud ovens. The cabins were heated by wood burned in a fireplace, and lit by lamps which usedanimal oil as a fuel. Water was drawn by windlassfrom a community deep well. The sanitary facili­ties