Read Ebook: The Divers by Stamers James Wood Wallace Illustrator

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Ebook has 152 lines and 8347 words, and 4 pages

"This system here, naturally."

"We come from a different part of the Galaxy, a part that is called the Solar System by those who live there."

There was a multiple rustling of thoughts which disturbed the Speaker momentarily.

"Please, gentlemen, please! Will every Senator please quit his housing so that we have less of these physical interruptions?"

Every member of the assembly sat down, relaxed his body and rose gently above it with a clear and uncluttered mind.

"Thank you, Senators," the Speaker said. "Now. Do we understand that you come from some other part of our galaxy?"

"Yes," Pat said. "We call it the Milky Way."

"So do we."

"You probably brought the name with you."

"Why, yes."

"I see. Would you identify this solar system of yours?"

Pat held in her mind a picture of the Solar System and the Sun, embedded in the long spiral arm of the Galaxy. She made the image of the Earth expand and contract in emphasis.

"Thank you. So you come from that little system, do you? How interesting. And yet you have never heard of housings."

"We call them bodies."

"Well, so they are. I recall a primitive energy transmission we had here long ago. We extended an invitation to the operators, but they have not so far arrived. They came from your system, or so they said."

"They did. They contacted you by what we call radio. We were sent, frankly, to see what sort of envoy should be sent here to you."

"Ah! There has been a natural confusion. We thought you were here from one of our outer systems where we are having some difficulty raising the right housing. In fact, we were just debating the correct form of grain to transmit to feed the housings on. They are in the awkward stage of having sufficient minds to exist, but insufficient nerve cortex to enable us to enter them. Our local representatives--whom we mistook you for--have been having a very difficult time for several hundred years, but we will soon find the answer. Now, we will be glad to receive an envoy from your system. We are always glad to receive representatives from our successful colonies. As to the type of envoy, anyone with a broad galactic viewpoint will do. We will, of course, be glad to offer housing and the usual facilities."

"When you say housing, you mean bodies?"

"Naturally. Bodies such as these Senators' or my own are the most adaptable for this climate. If you go in to our Ganymede or out to Jove you would have to use a local--er--body, because these human types would melt or suffocate respectively. But the local housings in silica and in ammonia crystal have proved quite adequate for normal locomotion and physical work there. The normal facilities of the sport planets would be available, to be sure. We are quite proud of our slither bodies, I suppose you would call them, in the snow worlds--quite a recent development. I fear we are not too luxurious here, but galactic opinion forces us to make our housings do almost everything they are capable of doing--walk, drive, cook and other such menial tasks. But then at least everyone knows we are not spending the revenue on our own housing--er--our own bodies. Only last century we barely averted a political threat to make all Senators' bodies sleep out in the open weather. But obviously it is much more expensive to keep breeding new bodies than build a shelter such as this one. Even taxpayers can see that."

The Speaker's mind echoed general agreement from the Senators.

This met polite and general laughter in which the Speaker joined.

"Perhaps," he said, "you would care to communicate direct with the Senators who were in charge of your system during the developmental stages. Will the Senators please come forward for contact?"

Seven of the minds above the floor of the Senate drifted over to touch peripherally against each other and against Pat and Fred.

"When we first undertook that project," one or all of them said, "your system was entirely unpopulated. On the third planet, we found, however, roughly humanoid apes in isolated caves and by selective breeding we succeeded in making that species into a housing identical with those we use on this planet. Unfortunately, only the less stable minds of the Galaxy were prepared to live quite so far out and we eventually lost touch. Is the same housing still used?"

"So much so," Pat told them, "that we cannot normally detach ourselves."

"Yes. The radio signals you received were from a spaceship containing men in their own bodies."

"Yes."

"May I withdraw to consult with my colleague?" Pat asked.

"Of course. We will continue our debate."

The Senators returned to their forms and the Speaker, sinking back into his body, recalled the assembly to their discussion of agricultural problems.

Over the dome, Pat slipped inside Fred Williams' mind again. They thought of the enormous space-ships developed over many centuries and at uncounted cost to give men favorable odds in an unfavorable environment. And of the hazardous shifting of power based on bomb-satellites, and the fence upon fence of security precautions on which Earth and the Solar System depended. Or rather, when they considered it, on which their local population depended. It was not a problem for two Divers but for a team of specialists.

They returned to the Speaker.

"We would like to consult with the original Earth Senators again and perhaps borrow two--housings--for a a short while."

"With the greatest pleasure."

The Senators concerned quitted their housings and floated across the assembly to join them. They all rose together to the outside of the dome, where they would not disturb the debate below.

"One of the questions," Fred said, "is what happens if we died--by accident, for example--while in a borrowed housing."

"Yes."

"Unfortunately," one or all of the Senators replied, "we do not know. It is said there is a continual production of new minds in the universe, which appear here and there, wherever there are suitable housings. Others disagree but have no real answer. If we lend you housing--a panther-style body for personal racing on the grass steppes, say, or a vast whale-style body for enjoying some of our oceans, and so on, there is some risk. Among certain cultures, we find a return of the mind to a similar vacant housing. In other places, we have found an obscuration of the mind. We think there are parallel universes differing from this as mind-form differs from substance. And we believe each mind continues in these further dimensions. This would be practical if you were unable to leave a dying housing. Our advice is not to get caught in any accidents.

"Should it be advantageous to you, we will keep housings ready for you here. One male and one female, of course. Ah--on one question which you did not ask--you will find our guest housings are a uniform breed which became popular on your Planet among the Greeks and Romans as ideal godlike forms, shortly before we returned here.

"We have not solved ours," Fred said.

"Oh, neither have we. But at least the few of us here, including yourselves, at any time as our guests, have achieved what you would probably call immortality."

"We are free to accept your invitation at any time?"

"Certainly."

"Then we will report that no other envoy is needed," Pat said clearly.

"That would be beneficial indeed."

"And may we send you a very limited number of friends?"

"Your guests shall be our guests. Again, we suggest you limit knowledge of us so far as possible."

"We are called Divers because we can leave our bodies. Only Divers could visit you in this way, and we will not send any others."

"Thank you. It is largely our fault. We have come across traces here and there of other colonies which we assumed were the successful result of past experiments. It occurs to us now that several of these may be in fact body-bound expeditions from your solar system. We will investigate and correct our catalogues."

"We can be of assistance there," Pat answered.

"Excellent. We wish you Godspeed and a pleasant return."

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