“Then why don’t we think of the reverse. We can’t continue without them. In which case, who cares whether we stop the Pump or not. Let’s get the para-men to stop.”
“Ah, but will they?”
“They said F-E-E-R. And it means they’re afraid. Chen said they feared us; they feared we would stop the Pump; but I don’t believe that for a moment. They’re afraid. I sat silent when Chen made his suggestion. He thought he had me. He was quite wrong. I was only thinking at that moment that we had to get the para-men to stop. And we’ve got to. Mike, I abandon everything, except you. You’re the hope of the world. Get through to them somehow.”
Bronowski laughed, and there was almost a childlike glee in it. “Pete,” he said, “you’re a genius.”
“Aha. You’ve noticed.”
“No, I mean it. You guess what I want to say before I can say it. I’ve been sending message after message, using their symbols in a way that I guessed might signify the Pump and using our word as well. And I did my best to gather what information I’ve scrabbled together over many months to use their symbols in a way signifying disapproval, and using an English word again. I had no idea whether I was getting through or was a mile off base and from the fact that I never got an answer, I had little hope.”
“You didn’t tell me that’s what you were trying to do.”
“Well, this part of the problem is my baby. You take your sweet time explaining para-theory to me.”
“So what happened?”
“So yesterday, I sent off exactly two words, our language. I scrawled: P-U-M-P B-A-D.”
“And?”
“And this morning I picked up a return message at last and it was simple enough, and straightforward, too. It went Y-E-S P-U-M-P B-A-D B-A-D B-A-D. Here look at it.”
Lamont’s hand trembled as it held the foil. “There’s no mistaking that, is there? That’s confirmation, isn’t it?”
“It seems so to me. Who will you take this to?”
“To no one,” said Lamont decisively. “I argue no more. They will tell me I faked the message and there’s no point in sitting still for that. Let the para-men stop the Pump and it will stop on our side too and nothing we can do unilaterally will start it up again. The entire Station will then be on fire to prove that I was right and the Pump is dangerous.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because that would be the only way they could keep themselves from being torn apart by a mob demanding the Pump and infuriated at not getting it.… Don’t you think so?”
“Well, maybe. But one thing bothers me.”
“What’s that?”
“If the para-men are so convinced that the Pump is dangerous, why haven’t they stopped it already? I took occasion to check awhile ago and the Pump is working swimmingly.”
Lamont frowned. “Perhaps they don’t want a unilateral stoppage. They consider us their partners and they want a mutual agreement to stop. Don’t you suppose that might be so.”
“It might. But it might also be that communication is less than perfect; that they don’t yet quite understand the significance of the word B-A-D. From what I said to them via their symbols, which I might well have twisted utterly, they may think that B-A-D means what we consider G-O-O-D.”
“Oh, no.”
“Well, that’s your hope, but there’s no pay-off on hopes.”
“Mike, just keep on sending messages. Use as many of the words they use as possible and keep ringing the changes. You’re the expert and it’s in your hands. Eventually, they’ll know enough words to say something clear and unmistakable and then we’ll explain that we’re willing to have the Pump stopped.”
“We lack the authority to make any such statement.”
“Yes, but they won’t know, and in the end we’ll be mankind’s heroes.”
“Even if they execute us first?”
“Even so.… It’s in your hands, Mike, and I’m sure it won’t take much longer.”
10
And yet it did. Two weeks passed without another message and the strain grew worse.
Bronowski showed it. The momentary lightness of heart had dissipated, and he entered Lamont’s laboratory in glum silence.
They stared at each other and finally Bronowski said, “It’s all over the place that you’ve received your show-cause.”
Lamont had clearly not shaved that morning. His laboratory had a forlorn look about it, a not-quite-definable packing-up look. He shrugged. “So what? It doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is that Physical Reviews rejected my paper.”
“You said you were expecting that.”
“Yes, but I thought they might give me reasons. They