psychological coercion in government. They will not be favorably impressed with this culture. But it’s still possible that the slaves could qualify for cititzenship if we could find a way of separating them from their Masters.”
“It isn’t as simple as that,” Martin said, instinctively lowering his voice even though the translator was switched off. “This fanatical distrust they display toward everyone and everything that is not experienced firsthand worries me. Trust between intelligent species is one of the most important requirements for Federation citizenship.”
“That could change if the influence of the Masters was removed,” Beth said. “But do you agree that the slaves must have the opportunity of deciding for themselves whether to leave this terrible world and join the Federation, or remain with their Masters? Our assessment, remember, should include recommended solutions to the problem here.”
“Let’s ask one of them now,” Martin said. Through the translator he went on. “Skorta, would you like to live on a world free of the Scourge, and where you could farm and build houses and travel on the surface without danger?”
“Stranger…” the Teldin began, and then fell silent for nearly a minute before it went on, “It is senseless and painful to consider such possibilities. The Masters disapprove of mental bad habits of this kind. They say that the Scourge is, and must be accepted.”
“Brainwashed!” Beth said disgustedly.
A few minutes later the ravine widened to become the head of a deep, fertile valley. Skorta pulled off the road and stopped to give Martin his first close look at a Teldin city.
The valley ran in a north-south direction and its heavily cultivated western slopes and bottomland were protected from the worst of the Scourge. Only when the meteorites slanted in from an angle of forty-five degrees or more, which they did very occasionally, was the city at risk. The city’s structures hugged the ground and varied in size from tiny, private dwellings with extensions underground to large buildings which spread themselves outward rather than upward. Regardless of size, every one of them had a thick, earth-banked west-facing wall, and what appeared to be important machinery and vehicles were housed inside deep slit trenches. Suddenly the Teldin pointed toward a high cliff further along the valley.
“That is my school,” it said.
There was a flat apron of crusted rock around the base of the cliff and a wide, cavernous opening which was obviously a vehicle entrance. His magnifier showed about fifty smaller openings, regular in shape, scattered across the cliff face.
“I would like to see inside,” Martin said.
The tricycle lurched across the verge and began picking up speed again.
“There aren’t many children about,” Martin said. “Are they at school? And the Masters, where do they live?”
Skorta overtook a structurally complex vehicle powered by four furiously pedaling Teldins before it replied. “If the children are to survive to adulthood they have much to learn from parents and teachers. And there are no Masters here. They live in the polar city, which is free from the worst of the Scourge, and only rarely do they visit our cities. We prefer it that way because the presence of a Master means grief for some and serious inconvenience for others. Believe me, stranger, while we are obliged to honor and obey our Masters, and we do, we much prefer them to leave us alone.”
“Why?” Martin asked. The other’s words had a distinctly insubordinate sound to them.
“They come only in response to reports of serious trouble,” the Teldin explained, breathing deeply between sentences because the road up to the school had steepened. “Not just to administer punishment but to extend or amend existing instructions regarding virtually everything. When a Master conies, the visit must not be wasted.
“It is a long, difficult, and dangerous journey for them,” the Teldin concluded, “and their lives are much too valuable to be risked without good reason.”
Martin had heard of absentee landlords in Earth’s history, but the concept of an absentee slavemaster was difficult to grasp, as was the idea of a slave society which seemed to be self-policing and largely self-governing. He could not understand why they remained slaves, why they did not rebel and start thinking as well as doing for themselves, or why they held their Masters, whose absence was infinitely preferable to their presence, in such high esteem.
The Masters, he thought, must be very potent individuals indeed. To complete the assessment he had to know more about them.
“Would the visit of a person from another world,” he said carefully, “be considered important enough to warrant the attention of a Master?”
“Watch it!” Beth said warningly.
“The visit of a slave from another world,” the Teldin corrected-without, however, answering the question.
The tricycle rumbled across the stony apron at the base of the cliff toward the vehicle entrance, and Martin saw that the tiny pupils of Skorta’s eyes had enlarged to four or five times their normal size. The dilation mechanism had to be a voluntary one because they were still several seconds away from the tunnel mouth. Plainly the Teldins had no trouble seeing in the dark. He adjusted his image enhancer.
Patches of luminous vegetation coated the tunnel walls, and at frequent intervals he could see short tunnels opening into artificial caves containing machinery whose purpose was not clear to him. Skorta told him that important and irreplaceable machines were housed in these caves to protect them from the Scourge, and that metal was scarce on Teldi.
The Teldi guided its tricycle into one of the caves and they dismounted.
“I realize that to a stranger like yourself this is hearsay,” Skorta said, “but it is widely held to be a fact that this school is the most efficient teaching establishment on the whole planet. The Masters of Transport, Agriculture, Communications, Education, and other associated Masterships send their slaves here, often from pre-puberty, and when they leave they are most valuable pieces of property indeed.”
Martin hastily revised his estimate of the Teldin’s status. It was closer to being a university lecturer than a schoolteacher, he thought, and asked, “What is your position in the establishment?”
“The position is largely administrative,” Skorta replied as it led Martin into a narrow tunnel which climbed steeply. “I am the senior teaching slave in charge. We are going to my quarters…”
He made another revision, from lecturer to Dean of Studies.
“Later, if you are agreeable,” it went on, “I would like you to meet some of the students. But there is a serious risk involved…”
“The students are unruly?”
“No, stranger,” the Teldin said. “The risk is mine in that the slave of another Master might report your presence before I did so. There is also the matter of your accommodation, should you wish to remain here for a time.”
“Thank you, I would like to…” Martin began, when Beth’s voice broke in.
“You can’t just move in like a visiting lecturer,” she said, “There are problems.”
“There are problems,” Skorta repeated unknowingly, “regarding your life processes, particularly food intake and waste elimination. It is a unique problem for us. There is no knowledge nor even the wildest or most speculative hearsay regarding the possible effects of off-planet diseases on the Teldin species, or the effectiveness of our disinfectants on your wastes. This aspect of your visit has only just occurred to me. It is a serious matter which requires consultation with our senior medical slaves. So serious, in fact, that they will be duty-bound to refer the matter to the Master of Medicine.”
The Teldin guided him into a large, cliff-face cave containing an enormous, high desk, chairs on the same massive scale, and walls covered by the luminous vegetation between gaps in the bookshelves. Martin had time to notice that the books were retained in place by heavy wooden bars padlocked at both ends.
Since the discussion about alien diseases, Skorta had been keeping its distance while still asking an awful lot of questions. Plainly the risk of a possible off-world infection was evenly balanced by its curiosity, and it was time he put the Teldin’s mind at rest.
He said, “Your offer of accommodation is appreciated, but rather than cause discomfort to both of us I would prefer to spend some time every day in my own vessel. May I have permission to move it to the fiat area in front of
