All Judgment Fled by James White

Hollis broke

off. Obviously the colonel was willing for the other to speak so long

as he said the right things, and talking about leaving was not one of

the right things, so it was equally obvious that the colonel also wanted

to stay.
     
     
Walters found his voice suddenly and said, "We made a mistake by damaging

their lock mechanism, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will chase

us away like small boys caught robbing an orchard! That would be too --

too petty an act for a race capable of interstellar flight . . ."
     
     
"I'd like to think so, too," McCullough said sharply. "But I keep

remembering the petty things we did in the sailing ship and stagecoach

era, and how many of us are still doing them."
     
     
"But we're unarmed!" Berryman broke in. "Our ships are downright primitive

by their standards. And in a sense we belong to the same club. Space

travel is not as dangerous for them as for us, of course, but . . ."
     
     
"But you feel," McCullough finished for him, with a sarcastic edge to his

voice, "that the alien captain should pipe the plucky primitives aboard

with full honors. Don't you think it possible that this sort of thing

may have happened many times to this particular ship? Maybe they are a

little tired of primitives busting a gut to get out to look over their

ships. So much so, perhaps, that they won't even toss a metaphorical

coin into the water to see us do tricks for them because of the danger

of us fouling their metaphorical propellors."
     
     
"Walters' idea of the alien might be too noble," Berryman protested,

"but yours is too base and cynical. This isn't like you, Doctor."
     
     
"No indeed," said Walters, stifling a cough. "And aren't we forgetting

that practically all of this is sheer guesswork? They might not be

noble or base. They might not even be all that far advanced technically,

judging by their ship's construction. And I don't think we should run

away until we at least know what we are running away from. McCullough

is completely off-base in this."
     
     
"Calm down, gentlemen. We are not going to leave, not immediately and

not even next week. It seems Control have been keeping us in the dark --

for our peace of mind, they say -- about certain new developments which

make it necessary for us to stay put. The period mentioned was a minimum

of three weeks.

"You see, our people were a little late in cutting the transmission to

the networks when things became exciting at the Ship, and the political

side effects have yet to be evaluated. At the present time I am receiving

new, modified, amended or downright contradictory orders on an average

of three times a day . . ."
     
     
The incident on the Ship had gone out in its entirety, via translators

or commentators where non-English speaking nations were concerned, to

practically everyone on Earth. Prometheus had wanted to cut transmission,

but a quite incredible amount of pressure had been brought to bear on them

to continue relaying the signals from the Alien -- it was already being

capitalized and used in the same sentences with words like Invader and

Enemy -- so far as the colonel knew, they would still receive everything

he sent. He had used his discretion, however, regarding the signals

recently received from P-Two.
     
     
Already there was talk of trebling NASA's appropriation, building an

armada, knitting warm sweaters -- public reaction was fluid and still

somewhat confused, but the general feeling was that something positive

should be done. It was being suggested that the U.S. and Russia pool

their space capability against the common enemy . . .
     
     
". . . The Russians would already be out here with us if they hadn't

jumped the gun by launching that rather ambitious manned Venus Orbiting

Station just before the Ship appeared, and their present capability may

be stretched to the limit keeping it supplied. However, if our stay out

here becomes extended, Biakonur have offered