Henig was sent to obtain a soil sample of
the planet. It was a routine assignment, but not
necessarily the only method for discovering an--
Export Commodity
By Irving Cox, Jr.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
July 1955
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Three of the hairless bipeds stood in front of the frame building
talking. Concealed by the brush beyond the road, Henig studied
them carefully. These were the dominant species on this primitive
world, unspeakably grotesque things. The pale, white skinned animals
had a culture of sorts--their language, their buildings, their
wheeled vehicles testified to that--but an animal society was very
different from the rational civilization Henig knew.
He was naked and he carried no weapons. That was the logic of the
computers. But Henig was a Fleet Lieutenant, not one of the scientists.
He put his faith in arms rather than computer logic. Stripped of his
weapons, he lost a fundamental part of himself. The computers had
said he would be safe, but too many things could go wrong. Too many
factors might have been left out of the observer data submitted to the
machines.
Henig inched cautiously toward the three white things standing near
the wooden structure. The telecommunicator, which the surgeons had
planted in his skull, caught the sound of alien voices and made a
conceptual translation in terms Henig understood. He could have used
the same device to communicate directly with the alien minds, but the
Scientist-General had warned him against that.
"The hairless bipeds," he told Henig, "are only an animal species. They
have no civilization. Make no mistake about that, Lieutenant."
"And if we decide we need their planet, sir--"
"We'll set up reservations for them, so they can't interfere with our
operation."
"They won't have weapons to match ours," Henig suggested hopefully.
"If you go in uniform, Lieutenant, even these witless things would
recognize you as an alien. It would be foolish to let them know we
exist, until we have the final report on your physical survey."
"Sir, are we actually sure--"
"You're questioning the computer logic?" The Scientist-General was very
amused.
"Not that, sir. It's just--you see, I'm a solider, and I don't
understand these things."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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