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again tonight. Meanwhile, here s your specimen, and copies of our
investigators reports.
 I m sorry no one found anything positive, Trigger said.  I was beginning to
feel we were on the right track finally.
 We won t assume it s the wrong track, said Pilch.  The results aren t
encouraging, but what they amount to is that the xenotelepaths we had
available weren t able to solve the problem. Various nonhuman xenos were
called in to help and did no better. Neither, I ll admit, did I, when I was
checking out the reports on the way here.
Trigger moistened her lips.  What the problem?
is
 Part of it, Pilch said,  is the fact that the investigations produced no
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indication of sentient intelligence. The
Sirens activities appear to be directed by complex instinctual drives. And
aside from that, your specimen is a powerhouse of psi. The euphoria it
broadcasts is a minor manifestation, and we can assume that its ability to
mutate other organisms is psi-based. But it remains an assumption. We haven t
learned enough about it. Most of the xenos were unable to make out the psi
patterns. They re very pronounced ones and highly charged, but oddly difficult
to locate. Those who did recognize them and attempted to probe them
experienced severe reactions. A few got into more serious trouble and had to
be helped.
 What kind of trouble? Trigger asked uneasily.
 Assorted mental disturbances. They ve been straightened out again.
 Our little friend here did all that?
 Why not? It may be as formidable as any adult Siren in that respect. The
euphoric effect it produces certainly is as definite as that of the older
specimens.
 Yes, that s true. Trigger looked at the box.  You re keeping a permanent psi
block around it?
 Yes. It can be turned off when contact is wanted.
Trigger was silent a moment, watching the Siren. She shook her head then.  I
still don t believe they don t have intelligence!
Pilch shrugged.  I won t say you re wrong. But if you re right, it doesn t
necessarily improve the situation. The
psi qualities that were tapped appear to be those of a mechanism a powerful
mechanism normally inaccessible to alien psi contact. When contact is made,
there is instant and violent reaction. If this is a reasoned response, the
Siren seems to be an entity which regards any psi mind not of its own species
as an enemy. There s no hesitation, no attempt to evaluate the contact.
 It may be a defensive reaction.
 True, Pilch said.  But it must be considered in conjunction with what else
we know. The three Siren worlds appear sufficient evidence that the goal of
the species is to take over all available space for itself. It has high
mobility as a species, and evidently can cover any territory that becomes
available to it with startling speed. As it spreads, all other life-forms
present are converted to harmless parasites. This again, whether it s an
instinctive process or a deliberate one, suggests the Siren is a being which
tolerates only its own kind. Its apparent hospitality is a trap. It isn t a
predator; it makes no detectable use of other forms of life. But it interrupts
their evolutionary development and, in effect, eliminates them from the
environment.
Trigger nodded slowly.  It s not a good picture.
 It s a damning picture, said Pilch.  Translated to human terms, this is, by
every evaluation, a totally selfish, paranoid, treacherous, indiscriminately
destructive species, a deadly danger to any other species it encounters. What
real argument for its preservation can be made?
Trigger gave her a brief smile.
 I ll argue that the picture is wrong! she said.  Or, anyway, it s
incomplete. If the Sirens, or their instincts, simply wanted to eliminate
other creatures, there d be no need for that very complicated process of
turning them into parasites. One good chromosomal error for each new species
they came across, and there d be no next generation of that species around to
annoy them!
 Yes, Pilch said.  That s one reason, perhaps the only substantial reason so
far, for not being too hasty about the
Sirens. She paused.  Have you been getting any encouraging reports on the
physical side of the investigation?
Trigger shook her head.  Not recently. The fact is, the labs are licked though
some of them won t admit it yet.
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 What we ve learned about the specimen, said Pilch,  indicates they ll be
forced to admit it eventually. If it weren t basically a psi problem, all the
talent you ve rounded up and put to work should have defanged the Sirens
before this. The problem presumably will have to be solved on the psi level,
if it s to be solved at all.
 It does seem so, Trigger agreed. She hesitated.  I m trying to keep the labs
plugging away a while longer mainly to gain time. If it s official that
they ve given up, the push to sterilize the Siren worlds will start again.
 It may be necessary to resort to that eventually, said Pilch.  They can t be
left at large as they are. Even if the closest watch is maintained on those
three worlds, something might go wrong.
 Yes, I know. It still would be a mistake, though, Trigger said.
 Exterminating them might seem necessary because we hadn t been able to think
of a good solution. But it would be a mistake, and wrong.
 You re convinced of it?
 I am.
 Why?
Trigger shook her head.  I don t know. Since I became unaddicted, I haven t
even liked the Sirens much. It s not that I dislike them I simply feel they re
completely alien to me.
 How do you react now to the euphoria effect? Pilch asked.
Trigger shrugged.
 It s an agreeable feeling. But I know it s an effect, and that makes it an
agreeable feeling I d sooner not have. It doesn t exactly bother me, but I
certainly don t miss it when it s not there.
Pilch nodded.  There ve been a few other occasions, she remarked,  when [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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