The Star Virus

"But that is not all. The lens is a four-dimensional plan, but a plan with an element of uncertainty in it. That is inevitable due to the quantum mechanical nature of the subatomic world." As he said this, Rodrone realized that the Streall world-outlook had been misinterpreted by Mard Sinnt. "Hence, it constitutes a control of events, but a control that has to be exercised if the development is to go according to plan. This constitutes a feedback safety mechanism between the lens and Thiswhirl itself, ensuring that the system does not collapse. Certain races, at certain times, are entrusted with the task of exercising this control."

The philosopher's voice rose in volume. "At the present period of galactic history, the Streall are the chosen race, the only people given the freedom of the galaxy. But, just as the lens must exist to counteract the uncertainty of nature, and just as a guardian race must exist to counteract the subatomic indeterminacy of the lens, what is there that can safeguard against the incompetence of that chosen race? It was at this point, the weak link in the chain, that disaster struck. One and a half thousand years ago the lens was in transit from one place of safekeeping to another, under the supervision of the despised Seffatt."

"Seffatt?" Rodrone echoed. "He had something to do with it?"

"You know the name? Perhaps you have heard legends. The ship in which the lens traveled was struck by an unpredicted and unusually powerful charge of radiation from a supernova. The crew lost consciousness and the ship, out of control, wandered into an asteroid belt. Automatically it separated into sections, as our ships are designed to do. The section carrying the lens was never recovered despite all efforts. Yet, centuries later, it must have been found by someone, for only recently the lens became an item of merchandise in man-carried interstellar traffic. Thus you see the burden that has lain on the Streall race all these years."

"It hardly seems to be Seffatt's fault," Rodrone muttered.

"There remains the possibility that, by choosing an alternative route, he could have avoided the catastrophe. Therefore the blame is his."

Silence descended for nearly half a minute before the Streall spoke again. "The loss of the lens meant that the destiny of the galaxy was at the mercy of random happenings, of chance biological mutations. Our worst fears were realized with the emergence of man and his intrusion into the Hub. There should never have been men in the Hub. You should not have become space creatures. You were only an atom in the galactic drama, to be played on the stage of a single planet and vanish in a little time. Instead, men have become a horror of multiplication, like electrons streaming away from a heavy atom which is constantly replenished, creating new electrons where none should be.

"Men are a cancer, a dangerous virus spreading endlessly!"

"That may be bad fortune for some, but it is good fortune for us," Rodrone retorted.

"It is bad fortune for everybody. There is in your lives none of the orderliness which the proper function of the lens brings to planetary creatures. You are a horror of chaos and disorder. With you, anything can happen. How perfectly you demonstrate the wisdom of the lens, which ordains that there should at any time be only one star-traveling species in the galaxy! But now, we shall be able to rectify the error. The lens is not limited in its action to the present, it can also range through the future and the past. By amending the fault at the right point, we shall wipe out your past. Humanity will have thrived hardily and fallen into decay, without ever reaching beyond the atmosphere of the home planet."

“Is that so?" said Rodrone savagely. "Well I like things as they are."

"Can it really be that your mind does not submit to necessity, now that you have learned the truth?" the philosopher asked in amazement.

"You are truly naive if you think I will submit to being cast into a planetary prison! I think the galaxy is doing all right as it is."

"It will end in dissolution and disaster!"

Rodrone laughed.

Tentatively, the Streall shuffled towards the lens. "I have often dreamed of such a thing…" he murmured, and bent, staring intently.

Something made Rodrone follow his gaze. As he did so, a strange sense of distance came over him. Following it, he experienced the same speeded-up consciousness that came from the use of the drug DPKL-59.

Perhaps it was his long-standing connection with the drug that caused to happen what happened. It took him some moments to realize exactly what was taking place. The Streall philosopher, impatient to taste the lens's secrets, was using his knowledge of special mental techniques to enter it. Here at last was the key to controlling it that Rodrone had sought. And as the philosopher created an opening, Rodrone was sucked in alongside him…