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.“Look, Tuck.What do we know about the Others, leaving aside all the hysterical blather? We know that they represent an alien civilization, the only one besides our own that seems to be operating in space at the present time.We know that they tried to change the Lupani on Arctica—change them in a way that was not in the best interests of the Lupani themselves.That’s all we have to go on.Presumably, they are trying to change other cultures elsewhere.It makes sense to assume that they have a plan of some sort; they’re not doing it just for the hell of it.The plan involves altering cultures according to some kind of a master design.”“I’ll buy that.There’s no argument.And so?”“And so our course of action is plain enough even for us to see—and we will come to see it eventually.We may be stupid occasionally, or even frequently, but we are not stupid all the time.”“I must be in my stupid phase.I don’t see any howlingly obvious solution.”“Try this one, by way of an interim policy.We know they want to change things—change them by interference, not by way of natural development.Okay.If we come across their work, as we did on Arctica, we try to undo it.We restore the original culture, unless there is some compelling reason for not doing so.That counters their plan, whatever it is.If we deal with untouched lifeways, as we usually do, we don’t change them except in very minor ways.We leave them as they are and trade with them as we always have.”“Business as usual?”Alex sipped his drink.“We have to keep Caravans and the other trading companies afloat.They are our eyes in space, our only way of knowing what goes on in our own universe.What we don’t do is to go off half-cocked on some nutty scheme of galactic tinkering—at least not until we know almost infinitely more than we do now.”“You’ll never sell Ashtola on that.He wants action.”“He’s human.He can learn.There are a lot of people like Martin Ashtola who are going to have to think this thing through to a sane conclusion.They’ll get there, given enough time.They’ll get there, or Earth isn’t worth bothering about.I hate to mention it, but there are ethical considerations involved.And morality has a way of being practical, sometimes.”“I wish you’d spell that out.”“I intend to.You’ll get sick of hearing it—and so will a lot of other people before I’m through.Let’s go back to the analogy of colonialism.”“Again?”“One more time.It’s an instructive example.On Earth, back in the bad old days, colonialism occurred when there was a radical power imbalance between political and geographical units.The technologically superior units moved in and took over the administration of the so-called undeveloped units.Because they were so powerful—relatively—they believed that they were intellectually and morally superior as well.They justified their actions with some very noble-sounding philosophies.”“I’ve heard all that before, Alex.”“Maybe you haven’t heard this.The colonial powers weren’t devils.They were not guilty of all the diabolical evils attributed to them.If it hadn’t been for colonialism, some of our friends sitting in judgment today on the UN ET Council wouldn’t be there.The wicked colonialists generally did the best they could, given the times and the attitudes and the usual fallibility of human beings.But they were guilty of one monstrous crime.And that, oddly enough, was paternalism.It was the doctrine of Father Knows Best—and its inevitable corollary, Other People Are Children.”“I think I see where you’re going.”“Yes.” Alex puffed on his pipe.“Either we learn from the past or we are nothing.That’s the one mistake we cannot afford to make in space.Paternalism.It’s so easy for us to fall into the habit of thinking that we should make basic decisions about the lifeways of other peoples who are not in a position to know what is going on.I tell you, we don’t know everything—not with all our sciences and computers and technology.Neither do the Others, whoever or whatever they are.”“Do we just plead ignorance, then? If it is wrong to use other peoples as pawns, what happens if we become pawns ourselves?”Alex drained his final drink.“We won’t.We’re not just sitting on our ethical butts as long as Caravans continues to function.We can undo what the Others do.We can help people by permitting them to go their own way.The true confrontation is centuries in the future.If we conduct ourselves properly and do the best we can, we will end up with partners rather than pawns.Which would you rather have when the chips are down? You know, the Kwosa is a pretty damned good fighting man just as he is.”“I hope you’re right, Alex.”Alex Porvenir nodded.The old doubts crept into his mind again.“That makes two of us,” he said slowly.“That makes two of us.”Later, Alex turned to Helen and touched her shoulder.“Do I look like a crazy old man to you?” he asked.“I can’t see you.”“You can remember.”Helen kissed him sleepily.“A little crazy, dear.A little old.Definitely a man.You’ll do, love.Don’t worry.Go to sleep.”Alex closed his eyes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]