Lost in Translation Read online

several planets is supreme,"the Ruler said.

  "It is," Korvin said.

  "Who is it that governs?" the Ruler said.

  The key question had, at last, been asked. Korvin felt grateful thatthe logical Tr'en had determined to begin from the beginning, insteadof going off after details of armament first; it saved a lot of time.

  "The answer to that question," Korvin said, "cannot be given to you."

  "Any question of fact has an answer," the Ruler snapped. "A paradox isnot involved here; a government exists, and some being is thegovernor. Perhaps several beings share this task; perhaps machines dothe work. But where there is a government, there is a governor. Isthis agreed?"

  "Certainly," Korvin said. "It is completely obvious and true."

  "The planet from which you come is part of a system of planets whichare governed, you have said," the Ruler went on.

  "True," Korvin said.

  "Then there is a governor for this system," the Ruler said.

  "True," Korvin said again.

  The ruler sighed gently. "Explain this governor to us," he said.

  Korvin shrugged. "The explanation cannot be given to you."

  The Ruler turned to a group of his experts and a short mutteredconversation took place. At its end the Ruler turned his gaze back toKorvin. "Is the deficiency in you?" he said. "Are you in some wayunable to describe this government?"

  "It can be described," Korvin said.

  "Then you will suffer unpleasant consequences if you describe it tous?" the Ruler went on.

  "I will not," Korvin said.

  It was the signal for another conference. With some satisfaction,Korvin noticed that the Tr'en were becoming slightly puzzled; theywere no longer moving and speaking with calm assurance.

  The plan was taking hold.

  The Ruler had finished his conference. "You are attempting again toconfuse us," he said.

  Korvin shook his head earnestly. "I am attempting," he said, "not toconfuse you."

  "Then I ask for an answer," the Ruler said.

  "I request that I be allowed to ask a question," Korvin said.

  The Ruler hesitated, then nodded. "Ask it," he said. "We shall answerit if we see fit to do so."

  Korvin tried to look grateful. "Well, then," he said, "what is yourgovernment?"

  The Ruler beckoned to a heavy-set green being, who stepped forwardfrom a knot of Tr'en, inclined his head in Korvin's direction, andbegan. "Our government is the only logical form of government," hesaid in a high, sweet tenor. "The Ruler orders all, and his subjectsobey. In this way uniformity is gained, and this uniformity aids inthe speed of possible action and in the weight of action. All Tr'enact instantly in the same manner. The Ruler is adopted by the previousRuler; in this way we are assured of a common wisdom and a steadyjudgment."

  "You have heard our government defined," the Ruler said. "Now, youwill define yours for us."

  Korvin shook his head. "If you insist," he said, "I'll try it. But youwon't understand it."

  The Ruler frowned. "We shall understand," he said. "Begin. Who governsyou?"

  "None," Korvin said.

  "But you are governed?"

  Korvin nodded. "Yes."

  "Then there is a governor," the Ruler insisted.

  "True," Korvin said. "But everyone is the governor."

  "Then there is no government," the Ruler said. "There is no singledecision."

  "No," Korvin said equably, "there are many decisions binding on all."

  "Who makes them binding?" the Ruler asked. "Who forces you to acceptthese decisions? Some of them must be unfavorable to some beings?"

  "Many of them are unfavorable," Korvin said. "But we are not forced toaccept them."

  "Do you act against your own interests?"

  Korvin shrugged. "Not knowingly," he said. The Ruler flashed a look atthe technicians handling the lie-detector. Korvin turned to see theirexpression. They needed no words; the lie-detector was telling them,perfectly obviously, that he was speaking the truth. But the truthwasn't making any sense. "I told you you wouldn't understand it," hesaid.

  "It is a defect in your explanation," the Ruler almost snarled.

  "My explanation is as exact as it can be," he said.

  The Ruler breathed gustily. "Let us try something else," he said."Everyone is the governor. Do you share a single mind? A racial mindhas been theorized, though we have met with no examples--"

  "Neither have we," Korvin said. "We are all individuals, likeyourselves."

  "But with no single ruler to form policy, to make decisions--"

  "We have no need of one," Korvin said calmly.

  "Ah," the Ruler said suddenly, as if he saw daylight ahead. "And whynot?"

  "We call our form of government _democracy_," Korvin said. "It meansthe rule of the people. There is no need for another ruler."

  One of the experts piped up suddenly. "The beings themselves rule eachother?" he said. "This is clearly impossible; for, no one being canhave the force to compel acceptance of his commands. Without hisforce, there can be no effective rule."

  "That is our form of government," Korvin said.

  "You are lying," the expert said.

  One of the technicians chimed in: "The machine tells us--"

  "Then the machine is faulty," the expert said. "It will be corrected."

  Korvin wondered, as the technicians argued, how long they'd takestudying the machine, before they realized it didn't have any defectsto correct. He hoped it wasn't going to be too long; he could foreseeanother stretch of boredom coming. And, besides, he was gettinghomesick.

  It took three days--but boredom never really had a chance to set in.Korvin found himself the object of more attention than he had hopedfor; one by one, the experts came to his cell, each with a differentmethod of resolving the obvious contradictions in his statements.

  Some of them went away fuming. Others simply went away, puzzled.

  On the third day Korvin escaped.

  It wasn't very difficult; he hadn't thought it would be. Even the mostlogical of thinking beings has a subconscious as well as a consciousmind, and one of the ways of dealing with an insoluble problem is tomake the problem disappear. There were only two ways of doing that,and killing the problem's main focus was a little more complicated.That couldn't be done by the subconscious mind; the conscious had tointervene somewhere. And it couldn't.

  Because that would mean recognizing, fully and consciously, that theproblem _was_ insoluble. And the Tr'en weren't capable of that sort ofthinking.

  Korvin thanked his lucky stars that their genius had been restrictedto the physical and mathematical. Any insight at all into the mentalsciences would have given them the key to his existence, and hisentire plan, within seconds.

  But, then, it was lack of that insight that had called for thisparticular plan. That, and the political structure of the Tr'en.

  The same lack of insight let the Tr'en subconscious work on hisescape without any annoying distractions in the way of deepreflection. Someone left a door unlocked and a weapon nearby--allquite intent, Korvin was sure. Getting to the ship was a little morecomplicated, but presented no new problems; he was airborne, and thenspace-borne, inside of a few hours after leaving the cell.

  He set his course, relaxed, and cleared his mind. He had no psionictalents, but the men at Earth Central did; he couldn't receivemessages, but he could send them. He sent one now.

  _Mission accomplished; the Tr'en aren't about to come marauding out into space too soon. They've been given food for thought--nice indigestible food that's going to stick in their craws until they finally manage to digest it. But they can't digest it and stay what they are; you've got to be democratic, to some extent, to understand the idea. What keeps us obeying laws we ourselves make? What keeps us obeying laws that make things inconvenient for us? Sheer self-interest, of course--but try to make a Tr'en see it!_

  _With one government and one language, they just weren't
equipped for translation. They were too efficient physically to try for the mental sciences at all. No mental sciences, no insight into my mind or their own--and that means no translation._

  _But--damn it--I wish I were home already._

  _I'm bored absolutely stiff!_

  THE END

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