All Judgment Fled by James White Page A

Prometheus the use of two

of their high-acceleration supply vehicles, with no strings attached

other than that they must not be used to carry weapons.

"You will appreciate the political implications which have grown out of

our handling of this situation -- our bungled handling of the first contact,

some say. The U.N. are being quite critical . . .

"But now we must try to devise tactics to cover this situation. You are all

free to interrupt and offer suggestions at any time . . ."
     
     
The first interruption came within seconds, from Berryman, who suggested

very strongly that it would be a criminal waste of opportunity to run

away without trying to find out a little more about alien science and,

if possible, culture, adding that any tactics used against the aliens

must be purely defensive. Hollis, Walters and McCullough interrupted to

agree with this, and Drew said that considering the relative sizes of

the vessels concerned, they had no choice.
     
     
Irritated, Morrison replied that he had no intention of declaring

war on anybody, and would they all please make their suggestions more

constructive and less general in nature.
     
     
Finally it was decided that P-One and P-Two would be joined together

nose-to-nose. There was provision for doing this in design, and the

result would be that Walters would have access to both command modules

without having to don a spacesuit. There would also be a saving in power

by having one life-support system serve two ships, since it might come

about that the other men would be absent on the alien Ship for extended

periods of time. The duties of this single watch-keeping officer would

be to maintain contact with the men investigating the alien vessel and

Prometheus Control, and to report progress.
     
     
Drew had a lot to say on the subject of defensive weapons. They had no

intention of hurting, much less killing, anyone on the alien Ship. But

if they did re-enter the vessel, they would have to have a means of

protecting themselves and their irreplaceable spacesuits from injury. With

the aid of the doctor's as yet incomplete physiological data on the known

alien life-forms, they devised and built a prototype weapon, rather like

a ski stick, which would fend off aliens and prick them lightly if they

became too persistent.
     
     
They discussed alien motivation and possible methods of communication at

great length, and somehow it became an accepted, although not formally

agreed fact that they would go aboard the alien Ship again . . .
     
     
Many hours later, while they were closing with P-One for the docking

operation, Walters said hoarsely, "I'm sorry for what I said back there,

Doctor. But you put up such a good, sensible case for leaving, I thought

the colonel might decide there and then to do just that, and this is

such a unique opportunity for -- for . . ."
     
     
"Getting clobbered?" Berryman asked, grinning. He went on, "But I wouldn't

apologize, Walters, if I were you. It seems to me that if your mind was

capable of really devious thinking, and if you weren't just an amateur psychologist, you would have realized by now that he was indulging in a

piece of psychological sleight of hand. Probably he had it all worked

out with the colonel in advance -- talking good, sound common sense,

verbalizing all our own secret fears and survival instincts, then making

us argue against them to show how superior we thought we were to him. In

short, and to mix a metaphor slightly, propping up our weakening resolve

with an obviously broken reed.
     
     
"Not that he is likely to admit any of this, of course."
     
     
They were both staring at him.
     
     
McCullough felt his face burning, but deep inside him there was another

and much more pleasant feeling of warmth. It occurred to him suddenly

that there were none so blind as those who could see perfectly, but shut

their eyes because they happened to be looking at a friend.
     
     
"It's a thought,"