Descending gently out of the dark, large snow flakes created light cones on alternate sides of the street under each lamp post. My most recent foot prints were barely discernible as I followed the same route back to the hotel.
    The difficulty in finding food compatible with my intestines is one of the reasons I do not like to travel. A gas bubble was forming as I walked into the auditorium to give my lecture and by the time I finished I was very uncomfortable. I didn't go to my room after getting out of the cab at the hotel, I knew exercise was the only way, for me, to speed up relief.
    I decided to walk to the train station and back. Several times gas exploded from me, I turned to see if anyone heard it. Each time the street was empty, not even a cab, and each time I quickly resumed my walk to escape the odor.
    The sound of a train echoed down the street before I turned at the corner. In the middle of the block a hunched over man followed by a small child saying, 'Daddy can we please go home,' entered a light cone from the opposite direction, that same man had stormed out of my lecture an hour earlier. I was not satisfied with the words I choose in my first attempt to placate him and with each new attempt his anger increased.
    As I entered their light cone, another gas bubble exploded from me. The child's head snapped toward me, followed by his hands covering his face. Before I left the light cone I realize the man was still blind with rage and if he continue on his present course he would walk right into the train. When I turned to try to stop him, three people blocked my path. A tall man said, 'Boris Chrenkov is a powerful man, do not let him get his hands on you.' A woman said, 'If you try to stop him you will be risking your life.' A young man said, 'Here use this.'
    They parted to let me pass and continued on their way. I walked quickly, I can't run at my age, and as I caught up with Boris, the child was still pleading with him. As we entered the next cone of light I looked at what the young man had given me, a peacock tail feather. I stopped, puzzled, 'How was I going to stop a raging bull with a feather?'
    Without thinking I resumed my previous pace, caught up with Boris, held the feather at its very end, extended my arm as far as I could, blocked his vision with the other end of the feather, and commanded, 'Boris Chrenkov, STOP.'
    He stopped, walked slowly to the next cone of light. 'Who are you? How do you know my name?'
    I waved him back with the feather and he moved to the opposite side of the light cone, I entered it, and took off my hat so he could see me.
    'YOU,' he thundered.
    The train roared by.
    When silence returned he was calm, 'How do you know my name?'
    'That tall man told me,' I turned and pointed.
    'What are you talking about, the street is empty as far as I can see and only our foot prints are visible.'
    'The snow must have filled in their foot prints, I swear to you, I'm telling the truth', I told him what they had said and finished with, 'and I certainly didn't carry this feather with me from the lecture.'
    He stared at me, a blank look came on his face, beads of perspiration formed on his brow, very gently he said, 'What message do you have for me?' He was visibly shaken and his small child took his hand to console him.
    'We both failed, I choose the wrong words and your "I" blocked your mind's eye from seeing. Why the eye of this feather could have seen better than you. A few minutes ago you were so blind you didn't even see me, me your antagonist!
    You didn't see me, hear me, or smell me. That's when I realized you were in trouble. You were blind to every thing except your "I".
    At the lecture I needed another chance and you didn't give me that chance. People can only tell one another what they know and how they interpret it. We need dialogue to eliminate misunderstandings and you would not listen.
    I can't possibly know which words would upset you. I tried several times, but failed. Each time you interrupted me with, 'I don't ..., I can't ..., I won't ...'
    The snow swirled gently around us, the small child tugged at his hand, he said even more gently, 'I was in trouble and I certainly did fail.            Thanks for stopping me.             May I have the feather?' He moved his hand slowly toward me and I gave him the feather.
    'It will remind me to beware of my "I"'.

 Return to Stories table of contents
 

    Behaving like a freshman, Joe hesitantly took the only available seat. His desire to sit comfortably at the lecture gave him the courage to push through the standing room only crowd to the front row. Almost immediately my nostrils flared and a quiver of excitement swept over me, something about Joe both attracted and repelled me the moment he sat next to me. "The Uniqueness of Human Beings Can Over Come Selfish Genes", it was the last lecture my uncle would give, two bed ridden years later he died making me the last limb on our family tree.
    I missed my uncle very much, Joe partially filled the void. We met many times during the next four years, we were on the same career path, space science. He claimed I was protecting his male ego by intentionally scoring lower on one test so he would be first in any class we happened to share. I didn't, but that was his claim. He had a first rate mind and except for his freshman behavior, a trait he never lost, he was very worldly and like me, he was an extreme loner.
    We never did anything with other people outside of studies and work. We might share time drinking coffee or some other liquid refreshment, but never food. We attended public functions, such as concerts, lectures, and sporting events, but we never invited anyone to our apartments nor accepted invitations from others. We chose never to be alone with anyone else.
    Unknowingly, we chose to accept grad assistant offers from the same university. Our first meeting at grad school was the classical comedy depicted in many stories. Two months later we had our first date. A short time later he tried to kiss me, followed by a clumsy attempt to caress me. I gently removed his hand and told him politely my interest in him was not a romantic one, he would never be my lover.
    He accepted my response with unusual calm. We formed a very close brother sister relationship, we collaborated on everything, studies, work, papers, presentations, etc. Only during astronaut training did we function independently. I think we both would have been suicidal if we had not been chosen for the same mission.
    The mission was perfect for us and we were perfect for the mission. Only two astronauts and some robots were needed for a recon mission, provided the astronauts complemented each other and no one on earth complemented each other more than we did. Only two astronauts were needed, each one backed up the other. Our only purpose on the mission was to provide immediate command and control to the ship and to the robots in case something unexpected happened beyond the capabilities of the computer systems and robots.
    Even with all of our technological advances, none of our computer systems had the flexibility and problem solving capabilities of a brain. Command and control back up could be provided from earth via radio for short distance solar system missions, but not for deep space missions. The delay, caused by the distance, was too great.
    Many unmanned flights were lost because of this delay. Even if people on earth created a solution instantaneously on receipt of the data from a deep space mission, by the time the robots received the reply the mission may have been lost. A fifteen minute delay may not be too late for a planetary mission, but a one year delay would almost certainly be too late for an interstellar mission.
    Our briefing was thorough, as usual, nothing was omitted even though we knew exactly where and why we were going and what we had to do. We, like most, had followed the reports from the Dicot colony to the last one with intense interest. The female colonists were constantly in eminent predatory danger and a gruesome painful death.
    The discovery of the planet was the sensation of the century. Interest waned after fifty years, but increased again as news of the pending disaster arrived. The star and planet, some thirty light years away, were discovered by accident, neither could be seen from earth. A giant blue star, four light years closer was directly in the line of sight from earth. The planetary system was nearly a duplicate solar system, both geologically and historically.
    The first explorers arrived too late to prevent the extinction of temperate zone humanoids and the last of the large animals. The fossil record indicated a history of many large animals. In the tropical regions small bands of humanoids guarded what appeared to be piles of desiccated dung. Each band ferociously defended their widely dispersed territories and made pre-emptory raids against all other groups.
    The most striking thing about the humanoids was the absence of females and children. All appeared to be male and nearly the same age. These creatures were intelligent and quickly learned our language and encouraged colonization in the temperate regions. All the humanoid groups chose to call the colonists, 'colonists', but to the amusement of the colonists, each group chose to call themselves 'humans or people' and all other groups 'non humans' or non people' and they called their planet 'earth'.
    Before the last of the temperate zone humanoids died, they communicated as much as they could of their oral tradition, but their limited knowledge of our vocabulary prevented them from telling the explorers every detail of their warfare, predators, and oral tradition.
    Their oral tradition stressed never travel alone and never leave a female with strangers; a warning about disguise, deceit, and deception; and how to eliminate monsters with a stick and a pit. The explorers and the early colonists adopted the first part of their tradition, but didn't understand the last two. Technology was suppressed by the constant warfare between the groups and by predators, they were at the stage of the wooden plow. The explorers found the remains of many ancient villages and ancient battles, but no signs of any predator.
    Colonization spread very rapidly during the following years. By unspoken agreement humans did not enter the tropics. The land was very quickly converted to farming in the temperate zones because most of the land had been cleared by the extinct humanoids. Large trees were found on the crests of hills and ridges or in the mountains, but no where else.
    The first sign of predators occurred at the end of the first century, when people began to ignore the traditions of the previous humanoids, they began to venture into the wilderness alone. First, a female hermit disappeared without leaving a trace. Second, a lone baby sitter and three small children disappeared leaving behind only a gold necklace worn by the baby sitter. Third, a widow and her wood house disappeared. Only inorganic objects remained, the dishes, the broken window glass, the pots and pans, the door and window latches, nails, and other metallic or ceramic objects, such as the clay from the shingles.
    The disappearance of all organic items prompted the investigators to revisit the sites of the first two disappearances. The hermit and the baby sitter lived in stone houses and no one noticed the absence of organic items at the those sites the first time, now it was very obvious. Any organic item touching the floor was missing, tables and chairs, beds, dressers, and book cases. Only clothing hung from the stone walls or organic items stored on shelves mounted on the walls remained, those over three feet from the floor.
    Because of the height limitation the investigators searched the area around each site in ever widening circles paying very close attention to the ground and three feet up the sides of any object. Four things were common to all three sites, they were isolated from other people, they were near the top of a hill, they were near a small creek, and from each site to each creek was a path of sterile ground. All organic material had been removed, even dead leaves, sheep dug, earth worms, insects, fence posts, grass, and trees, including their roots to a depth of three inches. Close examination of the remaining tree roots and fence posts revealed a nearly sandpaper smooth surface created by millions of very small sharp teeth.
    Each path meandered, apparently so the creature could consume as much as possible, but the path never went uphill and widened with distance. The creature was growing very rapidly. At the point of entry, the creek was bare for about a three foot radius upstream and three feet up each bank until the creek was more than three feet wide. The creek was sterile, three feet up the bank and three feet from the bank, not one living thing remained. The cattails, clams, crayfish, and turtles were gone, not even alga was left behind. This path of destruction continued all the way to the ocean. The change in sea level caused by the tides made the path difficult to follow, but from the geosyschronous orbiter the path of destruction along the shore was clearly visible until it turned up river in the tropics. Large trees near the river bank blocked a view of the path for long distances, but each path ended in a different humanoid territory among the piles of desiccated dung they so ferociously defended.
    Everyone was put on alert. Investigating squads were assembled and on call twenty four hours a day and the people returned to the old traditions. Well not everyone, human nature had not changed, some people never follow the rules all the time. Those people disappeared.
    Several months later a boy scout patrol was threatened by a band of humanoids. The scouts retreated and called the local investigating squad via a pocket radio. The squad met the scouts very quickly and continued to the area of encounter in time to hear a woman scream. The humanoids were quickly killed when they tried to stop the squad with life threatening force.
    The squad ran toward the sound of the scream. As they crest a hill, they could see a humanoid raping a woman. The squad tried to capture the humanoid, but it fought to death. No one could remember such determination in any creature. The humanoids were always submissive in their interactions with people except when anyone approached their dug piles. Three humanoids were no match for a single adult human male. The humanoids knew it and avoided people, so why were they so determined now?
    The woman was examined, she appeared to be heavily tranquilized, her breathing and heart rate were very low and she made no attempt to respond to anything anyone did or asked. A hover craft was called to transport her and the bodies to the hospital. She was tranquilized and she did not respond to any treatment.
    Autopsies were performed on each humanoid and to the surprise of everyone, all were female. The rapist was depositing eggs not sperm. Her ovipositor still contained microscopic eggs and an unusual fluid. Once outside the ovipositor the fluid became a super glue for organic materials and could only be removed by surgery. It also contained an unknown powerful tranquilizer. The doctors immediately performed surgery on the woman to remove the eggs and fluid. She recovered from the tranquilizer very quickly.
    Experiments were performed on the eggs and fluid under code blue conditions and afterward everyone was glad the extreme precautions were employed. No non life threatening agent could kill the eggs or the larva which hatched in three days at body temperature. When the eggs hatched the glue and the tranquilizer decomposed, the larva must have released an enzyme. The larva ate voraciously any organic material on contact even the plastic dish containing them. Fortunately the next container was a steep walled metal pan. They couldn't climb the walls, but they grew very rapidly and had to be transferred to larger and larger containers.  Like the eggs, once they made contact with any organic matter, surgery was the only method of removal. If the microscopic larva ever entered any animal's blood stream, it was doomed to be eaten alive.
    The researchers rapidly duplicated the natural environment as close as they could. They provided the larva with fresh killed sheep equivalent to the weight of an average woman. The larva consumed the sheep in three hours and began to eat one another until only one was left. It was too small to have made even the smallest track observed. The other larva must have eaten their own mothers, the supposition was later learned to be true. The screams of the victim cause apoptosis to occur in the brain of the mother providing the surviving larva with another guarantied supply of food.
    The researchers provided additional sheep and the larva grew to the anticipated size. From the time the larva hatched until it reached water, it had the shape of a tank without a gun turret with a mouth at the end of what looked like an elephant's trunk on each side. The lips and the inside of the mouth were lined with millions of very small razor sharp hook shaped teeth. The hooked teeth of the lips easily penetrated any organic material and held fast while the rest of the teeth ground the material to a pulp and pushed the pulp down the trunk.
    The larva moved like a flatten rolling pin, it could move forward or backward but not side ways. It could turn by changing it's size on one side or the other, but it moved and turned very slowly, any mobile animal could easily escape it, provided a mouth had not made contact.
    Obviously, the larva moved down hill and traveled in water to conserve energy. It's skin was exceedingly tough, only it's own teeth could cut it's skin. A projectile of any kind merely depressed the skin until the ground deflected the projectile, then the larva resumed it's normal shape. The larva was a sack of concentrated food rolling over the ground. Any waste was transported through it's skin and left behind.
    Now, the colonists could understand some of what the humanoids were trying to tell them. The humanoids let the larva take hold of long stick and then pulled it into a pit and let it starve. Starvation was hastened by building a roof over the pit to prevent sun light from keeping it warm and water was sprayed on the roof so evaporative cooling would promote hypothermia.
    The researchers let the larva move into a pool of water with a dirt bank. The larva narrowed it's width to reduce the effect of flowing water from moving it too quickly down stream. When the researchers added salt to the water the larva changed shape again, it elongate itself and swam like a leach. When the larva was exposed to fresh warm water, it turned and swam up stream. When heat lamps were turned on, it left the water and rolled up the bank of the pool and cleared a circle of any organic material and came to rest in the center of the circle.
    A collective gasp came from the researchers, the mouths were withdrawn, the larva changed color and assumed the shape of the dung like piles seen in the tropics. It weighed nearly a ton. The next day, what looked like a thick golden dinner plate pushed part way through the skin near the edge of the pile. It was removed with forceps and analyzed. It was pure food, no waste. Another question was answered.
    The autopsies revealed that the Ovi's as they were now called didn't have teeth or a jaw bone, only cartilage to form the mouth. They didn't swallow their food, they didn't have a digestive track. They held their food in their mouth until it was absorbed directly into their blood stream. They gorged themselves and converted the food into fat, and stored it in their abdomen. Such a large fat store allowed them to travel long distances without eating, they only required a small amount of water. Since they didn't give birth, the females didn't need a birth canal or mammalia glands, hence their male like appearance.
    How the larva transformed into adults was answered several days later. If the dinner plate was removed, the next day two appeared, one in the same place and another a short distance away. If both were removed a third appeared and so on until six were visible forming the points of a hexagon. If a plate was not removed from one of the points that section of the pile shrank until it outlined a new Ovi, feet in the center and head on the outside. A seam developed from head to foot and split open. Part of the seam turned into a very fine dust, some of which fell on the face of the Ovi. Now all that was necessary was a small gust of wind to blow the dust into the Ovi's nostrils. The sneeze that followed cleared the lungs and started the heart and breathing. The new individual pushed the seam open, climbed out, ate the dinner plates, and left the skin for the next larva to eat. If the plates were continuously removed from a section, that section shrank until only skin was left without producing a new individual. For this process to be successful, knowledge had to be passed from one generation to the next in chemical form, possibly by DNA, when the larva ate it's mother. This supposition was proven basically true by later experiments.
    The colonists were now faced with a dilemma. They could leave the planet until the Ovi starved to death or they could hasten the process by killing all the Ovi. While they wrestled with their dilemma, another surprising discovery was made. During a routine patrol, one member of an investigating squad noticed the hermit's house was occupied. No colonist would live in a house where a person had died so gruesomely so it had to be a humanoid.
    Long range surveillance was immediately established. The occupant was a single female or at least she looked exactly like a female colonist in every detail. Her telephoto was processed by intelligence. She was an exact replica of the hermit. The surveillance team didn't have to wait long to discover the rest of the mystery. Several days later several Ovi reconnoitered the hermit's house and the surrounding area without discovering the surveillance team. The next day a single female approached and greeted the first one. Their conversation was a typical colonist conversation between two strangers. The first offered the second a drink and turned toward the house. The second struck her from behind knocking her to the ground. She bound her hands and proceeded to rape her. The other recovered, but instead of resisting, she laughed. The Ovi withdrew her ovipositor and cried, "Oh. No. Oh. NO." She screamed and fell unconscious from pain. Larva were clearly visible on her ovipositor. The first moved a short distance away from the second and fell.
    The surveillance team rushed to the first humanoid and dragged her to the top of the hill, she was dead. A hover craft arrived within minutes, responding to an alert signal sent by the surveillance team as they had rushed toward the hermit's house, and transported her to the research center.
    The team continued to watch the hermits house and the remaining humanoid. Within minutes humanoids dragged dead animals to the site and created a trail of carcasses from the house to the creek in such a manor as to encompass as much organic material as possible and left the site when the one remaining larva started to move down the hill.
    The team ran down the hill and dug a pit in the path of the larva. The larva was dragged into the pit on the end of a stick, covered and refrigerated, and then the lifeless form was incinerated. The autopsy report surprised an already surprised population. The first humanoid was a marsupial and the pouch opened at the bottom instead of the top for obvious reasons and she did not have an ovipositor, but other than that she was identical to the female Ovi. This newly recognized group was named Mars.
    Most people were repelled by the Mars and Ovi reproductive method, selfish genes not withstanding, and ignored their own predaceousness. How quickly we forget ham and eggs for breakfast, a chicken sandwich for lunch, and a beef roast for dinner.
    Now the other part of the humanoid oral tradition became clear, the part about disguise, deceit, and deception. The Mars and Ovi were masters of all three, the Mars being the master of them all. An urgent message and a plea was sent to earth warning of the danger from these deceptive predators and pleading with the authorities to find and test all prior arrivals from the colony and to test all incoming arrivals. Squeezing the lower jaw would be a quick and unintrusive test. Thirty years later, on receipt of the message, the authorities immediately did as requested. They located all but three prior arrivals and tested everyone arriving from the Dicot colony. No predators were found.
    The colony never received conformation of their request. The launch from earth, the journey to the spaceship, and the spaceship start up were very routine. Joe and I relaxed on our couches and watched the beautiful blue planet slowly grow smaller. "Makes you feel depressed and nostalgic at the same time, doesn't it."
    "Yes, I feel like we're the last creatures in the cosmos. I've not felt this lonely since my uncle died. I miss him very much."
    "Thank God that feeling is off set by a beautiful blue gem against a very black sky. Blue gems are few and far between in the cosmos. I hope the blue gem we're going to is now hospitable."
    "It's difficult to understand how such a beautiful sight can also contain so much misery."
    "Selfish genes. You must remember, every living thing must follow the directions of their genes or be totally frustrated."
    "Or worse, be insane or commit suicide."
    "We can vary or change a little of what our genes tell us to do and we can delay or vary the degree of what our genes tell us to do, but in the end we will do as we are directed."
    "You're right, we don't have as much free will as we would like to think we have." Joe had a good mind and I always enjoyed talking with him. We reviewed our mission, again for the next hour and fell silent until the earth shrank to a speck.
    "Speaking of your uncle, do you remember his last lecture? His conclusion definitely helped me mitigate the depressing effect of the meanness and misery brought about by our selfish genes."
    "Continue."
    "He began by summarizing the reasons why meanness and misery are brought about by selfish genes. He said, 'DNA is only concerned with creating another individual to create more DNA. It is completely indifferent to everything else. DNA is nothing more than the instructions to create and operate a living system, it contains only a very limited amount of knowledge. Every individual is responsible for learning the collective knowledge of its species and most of us do a very poor job of learning our collective knowledge. DNA has know way of knowing the results of its directions, it doesn't even know if more DNA was or was not created. Only a living system can gain knowledge and know the result of what the DNA brought about."
    "Yes and then he summarized the usual capabilities of humans that most people accept as making people different from other animals."
    "Like sight, touch, heel, speech, thinking, etc."
    "He named some animals with more acute capabilities in all of those areas except the heel, speech, and thinking."
    "An elephant on a bicycle was the most efficient animal, but only humans could lift more than their own weight or carry sixty pounds up the side of a mountain."
    "But the capability he thought was most unique was the capability of concern. People were the only animals to display concern for their prey. Concern can lead to change. Concern does not cause change, but without concern, changes in behavior are seldom made."
    "It's unfortunate, most people don't understand how lucky they are. Human beings are truly blessed, they can at least mitigate a little of the effect of their selfish genes." We watched the stars for a while, "Don't you find it odd that the three groups of humanoids on Dicot and some people have the same tradition?"
    "Which one?"
    "The one about, 'And your descendants shall number with the stars.'"
    "That's just the collective ego talking."
    "What do you mean, Joe?"
    "It's the corollary of, 'Small people talk about people, medium people talk about things, and big people talk about ideas.' Small societies are more concerned about individuals, medium societies are more concerned about the society, and big societies are more concerned about the biosphere. Likewise the ego of the individual and the group follows the same pattern, more people is better, more things are better, and a balance is better." With that comment we went about our separate tasks.
    Several days later I was aroused from a deep slumber, my hands were bound to the head board and my night clothes were being removed. "What do you think you are doing, Joe? I told you before you would never be my lover."
    "I know, but you shouldn't sleep with your hands over your head. I couldn't resist, selfish genes, you know."
    "Untie my hands and feet."
    "NO. You said you would never be my lover and you are right. You and I will not be lovers, you and I will feed my babies. My name is Josephine, Jo not Joe and my time has come, my eggs are finally ready." My nostrils flared, excitement swept over me as she proceeded to rape me. "I'm going to get even with humans for killing all my people. I have programmed the robots to separate my larva when some of them are large enough, place them in separate cocoons, return them to earth and release them. I will have my revenge."
    "No you won't. I anticipated your fiendish plan and programmed the computer to over ride your commands to the robots. My larva will be transported to the blue star for destruction. Turn on the lights and you will see. Jo moved toward the light switch.
    "Why?"
    "You and your kind killed us not the humans. Your kind was so egotistical, you wanted to take over the entire planet, you would not control your population as we did, you were the best, the most important, everyone else be damned. Well, you did and you killed all the large animals, we would have starved to death if the humans had not come. Their coming just postponed the inevitable. You killed yourselves and my kind also. Why should I do you any favors? Selfish genes you know."
    "NO. No. no." Then Jo screamed. I laughed as I listened to her scream until I died, knowing her death would be painful and mine peaceful.
    Norg snapped Maxine's diary closed and fell into a chair with a thud. His memory of the last months returned unwelcomed. Each day the reports from the colony became more and more discouraging until the colony commander delivered the final blow. His voice was weak and he stopped several times, "Don't ask questions, just listen. I have personally destroyed all launchers and launch vehicles. Don't descend to the colony no matter how desperate the plea. If you do you will not be able to return to the orbiter.
    When we killed the Mars and Ovi and destroyed all of their cocoons, we must have destroyed a link in the control chain of the food web. We were too impatient, safety should have been our prime concern. As you know, each link keeps all living things in balance at the level of each link and if a link is broken all living things in the food web above the link will die.
    Several fungi have run amuck. We must have weakened or destroyed some mechanism that kept them in check and we can't stop them. Everyone and every living thing is infected. Our drugs don't even slow their growth let alone kill them." After a long pause, "Remember don't come down ...." Norg could hear his body hit the floor. Within minutes frantic pleas for help were received.
    The pleas continued day and night until the orbiter crew could not take it any longer. They decided one should remain in orbit and send messages to earth until confirmation was received. They drew straws and descended to join the others in death. The messages kept coming and in his unbalanced mental state Norg smashed the communications controller in attempt to preserve his sanity. Later he realized they should have blocked all communication channels from the colony immediately following the commanders message.
    Several weeks later he repaired the controller, he could receive, but he could not transmit. Many years later Norg was on the verge of a mental break down when he received a computer message from the recon spaceship. He waited eagerly for his solitary confinement to end. He watched the control panel impatiently as the ship drew closer and closer and finally a transporter carrying an inspection robot docked with the orbiter. After the inspection was complete the robot took him and the remaining supplies to the recon spaceship.
    Once on board the robot informed him he was once again alone. He instructed the computer to return the spaceship to earth. For days he walked the decks in a daze. When he finally accepted his fate, he inspected the entire ship and interrogated the computer and the robots to learn as much as he could. He found Maxine's diary when he searched her cabin.
    He could only read a few pages at a time, the story was too gruesome and boring and brought back to many memories. He did other things for several days until he had the mental stamina to read a few more pages. He hoped he could learn more about the Mars and Ovi than he already knew. He could easily fill in what Maxine had not included in the diary.
    He followed standard procedure and transmitted his version of the diary every ten pages in case the ship was lost the data may still be received. He read the last pages while pacing the floor. Maxine had written the last entry before it occurred, she knew what was going to happen. She wrote, "I can't help myself, I'm not like human beings, I must follow exactly the directions of my selfish genes. Selfish genes must be eliminated. I took advantage of the only freedom my genes would allow. I could not destroy my own larva, but I could program the robots to destroy her larva even though I knew the robots would not be able to tell the difference. I knew they would follow the rule of safety, when in doubt protect humans and destroy the danger. They would follow my instructions and place the remaining larva in the transporter and send it into the blue giant star for destruction. My selfish genes would finally be destroyed."
    Norg sat until hunger made him move. He ate with little enthusiasm, in fact he did very little with enthusiasm for the next two weeks. He could not discover what was bothering him. Absent mindedly, he put Maxine's diary into storage, went to the observation deck, and when he looked out at the stars he knew. Blue planets were to few and far between, he must do what ever he could to save them and the creatures on them. He ran to the console and created a condensed version of the last days of the Dicot colony and the last pages of Maxine's diary. He ate as much food as he could and while his digestive system was working, he created a weekly computer schedule.
    The computer would shut down all transmissions and any device emitting electromagnetic radiation or anything else that might interfere with his task for four hours, then transmit the condensed version on all frequencies, and then resume normal operations. He used every effective relaxation technique and when he was as calm as he could be he went to the observation deck hoping the view of the heavens would keep him in the best mental state for his task. The radio transmissions would take too long, most of the blue planets were more than a thousand light years away. The possibility of loosing another during that length of time was to great. He had to use mental telepathy, because it was not restricted by the speed of light, it was instantaneous.
    He transmitted on a nonverbal channel because the odds of another living being on another blue gem would speak his language was nearly zero. At the end of each three hour telepathic transmission he remained quiet for one hour, hoping he would receive a reply. He never did. For the rest of his life, he executed this weekly ritual. At the end of each session, he always had a haunting thought,

Return to Stories table of contents