Part 2

After a cautious glance over his shoulder indicated that Nina had stepped into the semi-transparent leggings and tunic that appeared to be standard garb, Lucifer opened the door and faced the men coming up the path.

The younger of the two nodded.

"Good morning, Dr. Brill."

His voice had the same metallic timbre that Lucifer had first heard from the tall visitor in his own study.

The older man stepped close to Lucifer and gazed intently into his eyes.

"He has emerged," he said.

"Good. In that case, we must introduce ourselves all over again." The large man bowed slightly, then drew himself stiffly erect. "Dr. Brill, in your language, my name would approximate the phonetic sounds: Huth Glaspac. You may call me Huth. I am the Administrative Director of this project." He indicated his older companion. "This is our medical director. For simplicity, you may call him Dr. Thame."

Lucifer studied them gravely.

"Come in, Gentlemen," he said.

Awkwardly, he went through the motions of introducing them to Nina. Dr. Thame examined Nina's eyes, and nodded.

"Our laboratory calculations were correct," he pronounced in a brittle voice that reflected satisfaction. To Nina and Lucifer he explained. "Due to the differing metabolisms of your bodies, it required a rather delicate calculation to bring you both out of the drug at the same time. It was estimated to occur about four cintros ... that is, hours ... ago, during your sleep...."

"Gentlemen," Lucifer interrupted impatiently, "do you mind telling us where we are and what this is all about?"

Huth's massive bronze features lightened with the shadow of a smile.

"It is doubtful that the answer to either question will be helpful at this time. However, in response to the first, may I inquire: Have you studied astronomy?"

Lucifer drew himself up with dignity. "I am a Parapsychologist."

Again there was the shadow of a smile on Huth's bronze features.

"The extreme specialization of your science will never cease to amaze me. At any rate, you are on the planet Melus, one of the outer planets of the star which your Earth astronomers call Capella, and which they place in the constellation of Auriga."

Lucifer blinked rapidly and rubbed the bristles of his mustache with more than ordinary vigor. Some of his colleagues at Western University had worked on rocket projects. He had always suspected they were fools; now he was sure of it. Why else would they be wasting their time with rockets, while another race was running around the universe, kidnapping positives?

It was Nina who spoke up first, her dark, deep-set eyes burning with excitement.

"Capella ... I know!" she exclaimed. "Sometimes I work with the medium of astrology. It doesn't mean anything, really, no more than the cards. I could do just as well without either. But the customers.... Say, unless you're not telling the truth, Mr. Huth, we're quite a ways from San Diego!"

"The distance is not important," said Huth. "Melus is now your home, and will be for the rest of your lives."

As the import of his words reached them, Lucifer blinked again. Nina sat down on the edge of the steel-grey couch.

"For the rest of our lives," she repeated wonderingly. "That's a long time."

"It is to be hoped," said Dr. Thame.

Lucifer had to speak with more than usual severity in order to keep the tremor out of his voice. "I asked two questions," he reminded Huth.

Huth nodded.

"Your second question will be answered during your orientation period."

"And how long does that last?"

"It varies. For you, Dr. Brill, it could be much longer than for your wife."

"My--" This time, Lucifer's dry New England twang definitely broke.

"Oh, yes. We learned that by observing the rituals of your culture we can minimize emotional trauma and thereby hasten orientation." He turned to Nina. "I can assure you that the proper Earth rituals were performed in the prescribed manner. Since neither of you were married, we could dispense with the Earth divorce ritual and perform only the marriage ritual. Does that ease your mind?"

She stared at him without answering.

Lucifer's temper bristled.

"I refuse to recognize such mockery. It is immoral, illegal and definitely unethical."

Huth dismissed the matter with a slight shake of his massive head, and proceeded to explain some of the objective facts of their situation.

During orientation period, they would be required to remain on their own premises, except for their educational sessions at Center. They would be taken to Center once or twice each day, depending on their progress. Food preparation was handled at the Project commissary. Huth opened a small pantry. Meals, cooked by molecular agitation in the commissary, would be delivered to the pantry via the commissary tubicular. He showed them how to turn on the visagraph screen.

"This is used for communication, education and also entertainment. You will find it very pleasant to read micro-filmed books off the screen. We also have a rather complete repertory of Earth music. After orientation, you will be assigned duties, and, of course, can become acquainted with fellow members of this project."

Dr. Thame added briefly that Melus had been chosen for the project because it was a hydrogen-oxygen planet similar to Earth, although almost uniformly tropical. The inner planets of the system were not inhabitable, since Capella, with three times the mass of Sol, produced one hundred times more heat.

"You'll discover that members of your Project have given this planet another name," he concluded. "But don't let it disturb you."

Nina spoke up suddenly.

"The name is--It's Mendel's Planet!"

A muscle twitched in Huth's bronze cheek. "How did you know that?"

She shook her head.

"I never know how. Things just come to me. Sometimes I say--said things to my customers at the Blue Grotto, and they would ask me the same thing. How do I know?" She shrugged her strong shoulders. "How does anyone know they know anything?"

Huth and Dr. Thame exchanged quick glances.

"Very interesting," said Huth. He moved toward the door. "We will send for you in two hours for your basic family record test."

"Basic fam--." Lucifer choked on the word. He asked bleakly. "What might that be?"

"It will be elementary to you, Dr. Brill. Just a basic psi-card test. We have your record, of course, but for purposes of standardization, we always start a new family's record in this manner. You undoubtedly will score rather close to your high test score on Earth."

Lucifer hoped his apprehension did not show. He had not expected having to meet this challenge so soon.

Nina had been pursing her lips, frowning and thoughtful. Now she asked.

"Mr. Huth, how long have we, Dr. Brill and I, been here on Melus?"

A hint of humor flickered in Huth's somber eyes.

"Two Earth months."

* * * * *

For several moments after their departure, Lucifer stalked silently around the room. Nina remained on the couch. Her eyes were closed; her hands folded on her legs. There was a click in the pantry. Nina got up and looked inside. Breakfast had arrived.

"We'd better eat something," she told Lucifer.

"I am not hungry, Miss Poteil."

She brought a plate, and stood resolutely before him.

"This is going to be a hard day. You will need the food."

He tried to stare her down, but couldn't. He accepted the plate, feeling like a chided school boy.

Lucifer ate in silence, and when he had finished, he wandered out into the mossy patio behind the bungalow. There was a milky opaqueness, without obvious form or solidity, that walled the area off from the bungalow on either side. The rear of the patio, facing the forest, was clear, but when he walked too far in that direction, an invisible force shocked him warningly, and he leaped back.

The trees were incredibly high; their canopy of branches and leaves was tightly interwoven. The rain had stopped momentarily, but water dripped unceasingly from the canopy to the mat of leaves on the forest floor. Spidery root tendrils crawled upward to mesh with tree boles and hanging vines. There was a smell of eternal dampness. Somewhere back in the shadows, an animal cried out. It sounded like a woman in pain.

Lucifer shivered. He wished forlornly that he had left matters up to the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency. He reviewed his prospects, and did not find them good. In a narrow sense, he had succeeded. He had found his positives and positive positives, but he did not yet know why they had been kidnapped. Nor was it likely that the knowledge would do him much good. He was on a strange planet, in the system of a distant star, apparently destined to spend the rest of his life with a woman who had been a nightclub fortune teller.

As a doctor of parapsychology, Lucifer was appalled. As a confirmed bachelor, he was horrified.

But a more immediate problem clamored for consideration. What happened to non-positives on Melus?

He would soon know.

The two attendants who came to take them to Center were much younger than Huth. They carried themselves with military stiffness. Nina and Lucifer were led to what vaguely resembled a motorboat, covered with a transparent bubble. The conveyance hovered in the air, about two feet above a narrow pathway that was surfaced with a dark, burnished metal. Lucifer accepted the vehicle without surprise. Physical scientists had always reminded him of boys playing with erector sets, and their accomplishments bored him.

Center was a series of low slate-metal buildings scattered over several acres. Some were inter-connected; some were separated by mossy areas. The outer walls were broken by tall casement windows that extended from just above the ground to just below the eaves.

As they circled among the buildings, the casement windows began to swing shut. Lucifer thought at first that this had something to do with their coming, but then he saw the thunder clouds tumbling in over the forest roof and heard the approaching rain.

The hot wind swept open a gate as they were rounding one of the opaquely enclosed areas. Lucifer caught a nerve-shocking glimpse of many grotesquely malformed creatures stumbling, sprawling and hopping into the building, under the supervision of several bronzed, statuesque attendants. One creature, with a huge bulging head that flopped uncontrollably from shoulder to shoulder, was bounding along on a single leg. Its twisted features were grimacing horribly.

Lucifer did not raise his eyes to Nina's face, but through the transparent sleeves of her tunic, he saw the muscles in her arms grow rigid.

The conveyance stopped in front of the entrance to one of the larger buildings. An attendant met them as they stepped out of the vehicle. He led them down a long, glass-roofed corridor. The rain was now drumming dismally against the glass.

A blindfolded girl of about six passed them in the corridor. She stepped politely to one side, then continued surely and unconcernedly on her way.

Huth received them in a large room equipped with two rows of facing desks.

"As I told you," he explained to Lucifer, "these tests will be very elementary. Together with your Earth records, they will form part of your basic family file. And," he added, harshness edging into his voice, "it will be wise for you to give us your complete cooperation."

One of the attendants led Nina to a seat in front of a desk. The other attendant beckoned to Lucifer.

"If you please," Lucifer said to Huth, "I would like to observe your technique. Being a professional man, you know...."

Huth assented.

"May I compliment you on your attitude, Dr. Brill. Such an interest can shorten your period of orientation, and it raises my already considerable expectations for you. But we do not pretend to any originality of technique."

After watching the attendant run through twenty-five cards with Nina, Lucifer was quite ready to agree with Huth. The technique was crude, far below minimal laboratory standards.

Nina's attention wandered about the room, but she called off the cards without hesitation. The attendant took her through three runs, checked his file record and stood up with a shrug. He said something to Huth in a language that blurred and rasped.

"Dr. Brill," said Huth, "will you oblige us now?"

Lucifer stepped resolutely to the desk, but the palms of his hands were moist. Over the past two decades he had taken many tests, enough to know that he could never score above chance save for an occasional run of coincidence.

And this was not one of those runs. He saw it in the attendant's manner before five cards had been turned. Desperately, he fumbled ahead, guessing blindly.

At the end of the first run, the attendant spoke rapidly to Huth.

Lucifer saw Nina watching him with surprise.

"This technique is incredible!" he snapped at Huth. "With all the distractions in this room, not to mention the emotional stress of our situation, a true score would have to depend on chance!"

"That is not necessarily so," Huth answered calmly. "The stronger a psi sense may be, the more easily it is brought into use, regardless of external circumstances. You Earth scientists go to incredible lengths to test under laboratory conditions an ability that does not belong in the laboratory."

"Ridiculous! Laboratory standards were necessary to prove the existence of psi."

"Therefore, Earth scientists will go on proving it to each other for the next hundred years."

"What are you proving by this inferior duplication of our psi tests?" Lucifer challenged, hoping to divert attention from another disastrous run of the cards.

"More than you suspect, Dr. Brill. For one thing, by checking this first test with your Earth record, and later with additional tests, we can obtain an indication of your response to orientation. This could be important to you, vitally important, I might add. Now, shall we proceed."

It was an order, not a question.

Lucifer saw Nina nod at him, and try to smile encouragingly. This fed his anger with the fuel of humiliation.

The attendant took a new deck of cards, began to turn them.

Brill felt his eyes drawn again to Nina. He called out his answer, unthinkingly. "Circle ... circle ... star ... rectangle ... circle...."

When the run was completed, the attendant instantly started another.

A third and a fourth run, then the attendant turned to Huth with a rapid burst of language.

"Excellent," said Huth. "Excellent, Dr. Brill. All you needed to do was relax! Excepting the first run, you averaged very close to your Earth score."

Since awakening that morning, Lucifer had found his professional equanimity tried sorely on several occasions. But never more so than at this moment. To have scored so significantly above chance on three consecutive card runs was a greater shock than awakening to find himself with a strange wife on a strange planet. The law of probability was the unchallengeable bastion of his private world.

He caught Nina's glance again. Her dark eyes were watching him in a way he could not understand.

Huth said, "This has been a most satisfactory prelude to orientation. We can proceed immediately." He touched a button. In a moment, Dr. Thame entered. "You will go with Dr. Thame," Huth told Nina. "Your husband will remain here."

Nina looked at Lucifer again, hesitated, then turned away without comment and followed Dr. Thame out of the room. Huth led Lucifer into a smaller office.

"This procedure is somewhat unusual," Huth commented. "Ordinarily, new arrivals are assigned directly to units of the Orientation Staff. But we have special hopes and plans for both of you. In particular, Dr. Brill, you can be of great service to us."

It was difficult for Lucifer to be anything but forthright, but he tried. "Psi is my work," he said. "I suppose it matters little enough where I work at it. But it would help to know the purpose of all this."

"Undoubtedly. But it will not be easy for you."

"I am not a child."

"No, but you are an Earth scientist."

Lucifer felt his anger rising again.

"I'm afraid I don't follow you."

"I intended no invidious comparison, Dr. Brill. But, as orientation progresses, you will better understand what I mean. Have you ever thought how your science would appear to an extra-terrestrial mind?"

"The concept has never occurred to me," Lucifer snapped, thinking of the grotesque creatures running out of the rain, and the blindfolded child walking alone down the corridor. "We see your science as a great number of cubicles, all operating within one structure, with a minimum amount of inter-communication. Each cubicle is engrossed in a process of infinite abstraction from a body of potential knowledge self-doomed to be finite. It studies every new idea chiefly in terms of concepts fundamental to its own specialized body of knowledge."

Huth waved a large hand to cut off a protest from Lucifer.

"And what of the phenomena an individual scientist observes and evaluates? He shapes the facts into an hypothesis that may be valid only within his own cubicle. He does not venture outside. A most glaring example is that of your medical diagnostician. He uses the tools of his science brilliantly, then lays them down and becomes a therapeutic nihilist!"

"Specialization has meant progress," Lucifer protested.

"Progress, yes, but progress only to the frontiers of infinity. Will you dare venture into that frontier, Dr. Brill?"

"Of course."

"Be careful! The price of that venture is very high. Consider for a moment your Earth biologist: The very nature of the subject on which he has founded his science eventually dooms him to technological unemployment! If he follows the living cells to their ultimate sequence of interactions between ions and molecules, biology ends as it began--as applied chemistry and physics!"

Lucifer shifted uneasily.

"From another value judgement," Huth continued, "the orthodoxy of Earth science is a product of its fragmentation. Within each cubicle, isolated from the fertilization of new concepts, the unorthodox all too often and too soon can become rigidly orthodox. This is the circle around which each science seems forever to travel!"

Lucifer felt himself being moved skillfully toward an unknown objective. It was like being a Knight on a chessboard in the hands of an expert player.

Huth moved in closer to his objective. "And so it is with psi, Dr. Brill. Or so it appears to an extra-terrestrial viewpoint, which is now necessarily your own! Parapsychology had to depart from the physiology of orthodox psychology in order to get a look at itself. It became unorthodox avant guarde! It established a scientific case for psi, and for two decades thereafter established little else. What have you proved that Rhine did not prove twenty years ago?"

"It is necess--"

"Already we see forming a dogma of psychic research, a cult of psychologizers that may match in exclusivity the cult of physiologizers--each declining to draw upon the resources of the other! We see a tendency to look backward instead of forward, a bemusement with the historical concepts of association theories, psychon systems and continuums of cosmic consciousness--all of which suggests a turning away from the frontiers of infinity to an interminable abstraction of possibilities from your own finite knowledge.

"Do you follow me, Dr. Brill?"

Lucifer removed his glasses, breathed on them, polished them carefully on the sleeve of his tunic. He looked beyond Huth to the window and the steaming tropical rain. When his thoughts were composed again, he answered, "I follow you--with reservations."

"Naturally. Now consider this question: Have you looked into other cubicles of science for answers to psi?"

"We welcome all viewpoints."

"Do you now? I wonder! From our extra-terrestrial viewpoint, it is evident that biology, chemistry and physics all have within their present finite bodies of knowledge the fragments of concepts that could propel psi, and hence all of science, into the very frontier of infinity."

Huth paused, looked searchingly at Lucifer.

"Dr. Brill, are you ready to share your primacy in psi research with the physicial scientist?"

"The physical scientist scoffs at us."

"He also is reluctant to leave his cubicle. However, by using the mathematical tools of logic to enclose psi research in a framework of anti-logic, built on the principle that man cannot know, your psychic theorist has alienated the handyman physical scientist who has so much to contribute--but who insists that man must know."

Huth raised himself to his magnificent seven feet of height.

"Let the thoughts germinate, Dr. Brill. This is only your first orientation session. On the whole, we have made good progress."

He handed Lucifer a printed card.

"This will instruct you how to tune in your visagraph to a closed circuit orientation program after the dinner hour. Do not fail to follow instructions."

With the briefest of nods, Huth stalked toward the door, where he turned, as if in response to an afterthought.

"Your motivations to progress in orientation will be several, Dr. Brill, but it may be well for you to know that you already have a hostage to the future success of our program."

"Hostage?"

"Your first child, Dr. Brill. It will be born in approximately seven Earth months, according to the calculations of Dr. Thame.

"Meditate on this while you await the attendant who will return you to your quarters."

* * * * *

Lucifer tried to square his thin shoulders against the straight-backed chair. He ran the tips of his fingers over his upper lip, and out of the numbness that gripped his brain came a vagrant thought: His mustache really did need trimming; it wouldn't do at all to let down about such things.

The door clicked open. He turned, expecting to see one of Huth's attendants, instead he faced Nina. Her cheekbones made two spots of white against her olive skin.

"Hello, Lucifer," she said. Her voice was even deeper, huskier than usual.

Her tone and the way she used his first name told him she knew about the child. But he pretended not to notice. He couldn't discuss the child until he had time to evaluate the meaning of it all.

"Miss Poteil," he began firmly. His voice shook a little, and he started again, "Miss Poteil, I trust your first orientation session was not too unhappy an experience."

Her dark eyes were thoughtful, troubled.

"What is unhappiness?" She shrugged in reply to her own question. "I am never sure about crossing the line between happiness and unhappiness. Are you?"

She sat down facing him.

"Is your question philosophical or psychological, Miss Poteil?"

She smiled faintly, and shook her head.

There was silence between them. Finally she spoke again, "I saw the little girl as I came in."

"The girl with the blindfold?"

"Yes. She stepped right past me, and went into a room just down the corridor. The room seemed to be full of children."

Lucifer stood up with sudden decision. "I believe I will try to look around."

The white spots grew in her cheeks. Her full, expressive lips tightened.

"Be careful, Lucifer," she said quietly.

The long corridor was frighteningly deserted. With so many doors opening off it, the odds seemed overwhelming that someone would step out one of them at any moment and challenge his right to be there.

Lucifer's plastic boots scraped on the metallic composition floor.

A subdued tinkle of children's voices drew him to a door some thirty steps down the corridor. The door appeared to be of a glass-like material, but it was opaqued. He pushed against it, and it moved. He drew a long breath, then inched the door open.

A tall, bronzed women of Huth's racial characteristics was grouping a dozen or so youngsters into an activity pattern. The children were all around five or six years old. Their fair skin and bone structure indicated they were offspring of Earth parents.