IGMS Issue 22 by IGMS Page B

Edenites," I said.
    "Is that a problem?" Bana said defensively.
    "These people are dumb as hammers," I said. "It would take us decades to teach them even a small fraction of our knowledge."
    "I thought we'd agreed not to pollute their culture," Jorge said, rising confrontationally.
    "Now that we know the Swarmers know the Edenites exist, we can't
not
begin teaching them," I said, coming to my own feet. I scanned the group, looking into their eyes. "How long will it take to bring the Edenites to a Classical level of technology? Renaissance level? True industrialism? Space-age automation? This planet is defenseless. To leave the Edenites in their current state would be criminal."
    "I disagree," Wanda said. I shot her a look.
    "Explain," I said, controlling my temper.
    "These people have no awareness whatsoever of Earth," Wanda continued. "Their languages are their own, their cultures -- though somewhat similar to Earth's most primitive cultures -- are their own. They don't give a damn about the war we lost with the Swarmers."
    "When the Swarmers come back," I said, "the Edenites will learn to give a damn, and they'll learn quickly."
    I couldn't believe any of them would so easily disregard what had happened to Earth -- what had happened to
us.
We had no real weapons when the first colony was attacked. We still had nothing that would make a difference when the Swarmers reached Sol. We -- the others and I, our ships -- were the last-ditch attempt to fight back. But the shipyards at Jupiter and Ceres were only able to build a few hundred of us before the Swarmers' annihilation waves came to the inner system and by then it was too late; they'd launched the sun-killer.
    Who'd have thought a yellow dwarf could go supernova?
    Physics said it was impossible -- not enough stellar mass.
    But the Swarmers had found a way to make it happen anyway.
    "Perhaps it's best if we leave," Carlos said quietly. He'd grown dour as the conversation continued, and he stared morosely into the firelight as he talked. "Eden has existed without incident for thousands of years. We don't know how humans came here, but even if the Swarmers know the Edenites are here, it doesn't matter, because unless the Swarmers discover that
we're
here . . ."
    Carlos looked up suddenly, his mouth stuck open.
    "What?" Wanda said.
    "You don't think . . ." I said, catching Carlos's drift.
    Bana, Jorge, they stared.
    "A trap," Carlos and I said in unison.
    "Oh, please, no," Wanda whispered.
    Just then, a near-blinding light flashed in the sky above. It glared brighter than the noon sun for a few seconds, then slowly began to fade.
    We tried the Link to our friends in the outer parts of the system, and got silence.
    "They're here," I said.
    Bana gasped, and Wanda hugged her knees, burying her face.
    "
They
brought humans here," I suddenly intuited. "Once Earth and the colonies were gone, the Swarmers knew our ships still existed. They couldn't find us to kill us, so they needed a way to bring us all together. So they could finish the job."
    "It had been so long," Wanda said, voice muffled. "Real people. Real, live people. The Swarmers knew we couldn't resist such bait. They waited for us to find this place, however long it took, and --"
    More flashes sprang into the sky -- a fantastic, if grotesque, fireworks display.
    The air remained silent, though we guessed that our friends in space were dying.
    "What do we do now?" Bana asked, looking genuinely sick.
    "What else can we do?" I said. "We fight!"

    Leaving our bodies abandoned by the side of the fire, we instantaneously returned to our ships. Each of the vessels was essentially a huge, empty cylinder -- the reaction chamber necessary for transluminal travel. We'd have liked to jump instantly to the front line, but jumps were suicide this deep inside Edenstar's gravity well.
    A few of us Linked a predictable question to each other:
why didn't the detectors warn us??
But I knew why. The Swarmers had been here all along,