The Devolutionist and the EmancipatrixFlint, Homer Eon
Science
The Devolutionist and the Emancipatrix
Flint, Homer Eon
Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
"Nothing, save to watch and wait," returned Rolla, her gaze fixed
upon the dark heap which marked her lover's form. And thus an hour
passed, with the four on the earth quite unable to take a hand in
any way.
Then one of the villagers--the first, in fact, who had dropped out
of the dance--stirred and presently awakened. He sat up and looked
about him, dazed and dizzy, for all the world like a drunken man.
After a while he managed to get to his feet.
No sooner had he done this than a dozen bees were upon him.
Terror-stricken, he stood awaiting their commands. They were not
long in coming.
By means of their fearful buzzing, the deadly insects guided him
into the nearest hut, where they indicated that he should pick up
one of the rude hoelike tools which was used in the fields. With
this in hand, he was driven to the little piles of smoldering ashes,
where the fires had flickered an hour before.
Hardly knowing what he was doing, but not daring to disobey, the man
proceeded to heap dirt over the embers. Shortly he had every spark
of the fire smothered beneath a mound as high as his knees. Not till
then did any of the others begin to revive.
As fast as they recovered the bees took charge of them. Not a human
had courage enough to make a move of offense; it meant certain
death, and they all knew it only too well. As soon as they were wide
awake enough to know what they were doing, they were forced to
search the bodies of those still asleep.
"We must find the means for growing the flower," said Supreme,
evidently convinced that a seed was a seed, under any circumstances.
And presently they found, tucked away in Corrus's lion-skin, a large
chunk of the pyrites, and a similar piece on Dulnop.
"So these were the discoverers," commented Supreme.
"What is your will in their case?" the subordinate asked.
The commanding bee considered for a long time. Finally she got an idea,
such as bees are known to get once in a great while. It was simply a
new combination--as all ideas are merely new combinations--of two
punishments which were commonly employed by the bees.
As a result, eight of the villagers were compelled to carry the two
fire-finders to a certain spot on the bank of a nearby stream. Here
the two fragments of pyrites were thrown, under orders, into the
water; so that the eight villagers might know just why the whole
thing was being done. Next the two men, still unconscious, were
buried up to their necks. Their heads, lolling helplessly, were all
that was exposed. So it was to be the Head Out punishment--imprisonment
of one day with their bodies rigidly held by the soil: acute torture
to an aborigine. But was this all?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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