Human-alien encounters -- Fiction; Science fiction; Space travelers -- Fiction
It was heart warming to watch the jubilation upon the faces of the
workers as he arranged a simple pulley for them, and showed them how
their lifting could be done with comparative ease. He shuddered to
think of the work that must have gone into building some of those
high, glistening towers, with the utilization of only crude man-power.
He watched the eyes of the scientific men pop with incredulity as he
showed them the principle of the wheel. They were chagrined that they
could have overlooked so simple a principle, but Drawers knew that the
discovery of the wheel on Earth had been nothing but a lucky accident.
If man had not discovered it by accident, it might never have been
known at all. Then, too, he began to understand the utter lack of
mechanical equipment. The wheel was one of the fundamental and most
vital of parts in all moving machinery. Without the wheel, it would be
difficult to construct a usable pulley, or a feasible vehicle.
There was another thing he accomplished. He constructed the first wagon
these people had ever seen. They viewed it with insatiable curiosity.
But the sight of the golden men happily pulling their loads through
the streets on wagons irked him. These people were not made for hard
physical tabor. It took a heavy toll. He questioned Persum as to the
absence of beasts of burden.
Persum thought a moment and then said, "There has never been anything
but very small animals on our planet as far as we know. Nothing we
might use for beasts of burden. Anyway," he concluded, "why should the
animals perform our tasks for us? Why place any poor beast in bondage?"
"And why not?" asked Drawers. "It would be poetic justice to place the
Griffs in bondage and force them to pull your wagons for you."
"The Griffs!" thought Persum with a note of astonishment. "Surely you
are joking. Who could subdue those savage beasts so that they would
labor peaceably? And even then, who would care to drive them and tend
to them? It would be sheer suicide."
Drawers ignored the last statement. "Have you some strong rope that
I might use?" he asked. "Some tough vegetable fiber--perhaps the
material you use for pulling those blocks through the street."
"Why certainly," Persum replied. "You are welcome to all you need."
"Thank you," said Drawers. "I have a crazy sort of an idea."
That evening Michel paced back and forth in the small, luxuriously
furnished apartment the little people had provided for him. It had
three square sides and one open. There were apertures for light, but no
glass or any other material in them. Neither was there anything other
than a drape to serve as a door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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