The Totems of Abydos by John Norman

you know, more than four hundred years old. Indeed, the Pons are well hidden in their forest. The agents at Company Station did not even learn of their existence until more than a hundred years after the founding of the town. The second contact occurred some one hundred years later. In the meantime it had been conjectured the Pons had perished. Recently, however, in the last hundred years, there have been more recent contacts, perhaps as many as two dozen in that time.”
    “What of scientific and cultural contacts?” asked Brenner.
    “The first was made, apparently, or the first we know of, given the records of Naxos, when they became available to us, more than two thousand years ago. And then, following the records of Eos, another was made something like a thousand years later.”
    This was interesting, thought Brenner, as his own species was common on both Naxos and Eos.
    “You are speaking in very general terms, of course,” said Brenner.
    “Not really,” said Rodriguez. “If we adjust for the revolutionary period of Abydos herself, the time she takes to complete her orbit about her star, these two contacts occurred exactly one thousand revolutions, or years apart, in Abydian time, so to speak.”
    “These were both contacts invited by the Pons?” asked Brenner.
    “It seems so,” said Rodriguez.
    “And now,” said Brenner, “it is a thousand Abydian years later?”
    “Precisely,” said Rodriguez. “In about two Commonworld months.”
    “You accept this as an unusual coincidence, of course,” said Brenner.
    “Consider the probabilities,” said Rodriguez.
    “I do not care to,” said Brenner.
    “There is a cycle here,” said Rodriguez. “It is not necessary that there is a cycle here, of course, but I think there is one. I really do.”
    “The Pons are primitive,” said Brenner. “They do not even have kings, or chieftains.”
    “Many primitive peoples are sophisticated with respect to calendars,” said Rodriguez, “particularly peoples who depend on agriculture. It is only necessary to mark out the exact point of the rising of a given star on a given day. One can even use the mother star for this purpose, but it is better not to do so, because of its apparent dimension at the horizon. When the star, preferably not the mother star, rises in exactly the same place a second time a year, or a revolution, has occurred. One may mark this place with a portal, an altar, an obelisk. One may count the days between the risings, and divide the year into smaller or larger units, say, weeks and months, or whatever units will serve. Leftover units, say, days, or hours, may be intercalated. From the thousand-years cycle I think we may conjecture the Pons have a base-ten mathematics.”
    “And a five-digited hand,” said Brenner.
    “We know they have that,” said Rodriguez.
    “They do not even have pottery,” said Brenner.
    “If I am right,” said Rodriguez, “they can at least count to a thousand. That is not so complicated. It is a convenient multiple of ten digits. Ten digits times ten digits, two hands times two hands, so to speak, is one hundred digits, and then if one again multiplies this by the base, by two hands, or, better, by ten digits, one arrives at a thousand. This can also be done by addition, of course. The whole calculation might well, to a primitive mind, seem to have a certain naturalness, or mystic rightness, about it.”
    “One thousand is a nice round number,” said Brenner.
    “More so than two hundred and sixteen, or one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-eight, or two thousand, seven hundred and forty-four?” asked Rodriguez.
    Brenner regarded him.
    “You have a five-digited hand,” said Rodriguez, “not one with three digits, or six digits, or seven digits.”
    “And I am a primitive mind?” inquired Brenner.
    “Possibly,” said Rodriguez. “On the other hand, you are probably capable of making a distinction, at least intellectually, between a felt aptness, one