Bedlam Planet by John Brunner Read Free Book Online Page A

not yet high enough to be seen over the nearby roofs; there were only the stars overhead.
    “The kind we’ve guarded against, with luck. Two kinds, rather. Being dwarfed exemplifies one of them. But we’ve made such headway with the sort of tools a single pair of hands can wield, we ought very rapidly to get away from the risk that we can be caved in and made to despair by the sheer size of the project we’ve undertaken. Ideally, if we were reduced to an Adam and Eve, they wouldn’t need to quit; they could still hope to establish humanity permanently on Asgard. But the ideal case won’t arise, of course—though something like it might.”
    “Yes. Well, if it was the scale of a whole new world which affected me and Sigrid, that’s a point I can understand.” Dennis rubbed his chin. “What’s the second kind of danger?”
    “The second kind of precaution, you mean,” Parvaticorrected. “Why, you gave an example yourself just now, when you mentioned the Cerberus of your subconscious. We don’t know precisely what kind of cultural frame a human being needs to keep his sanity. At best we can make enlightened guesses. That’s why we brought as much personal contact with as many areas of Earthly tradition as we could arrange. You had this before the first expedition, didn’t you?”
    “Sigrid reciting from the Kalevala when none of the rest of us spoke a word of Finnish! Sure we did. But …” Dennis broke off. “Hell, of course! Before the trip was out, I’d learned enough to understand most of it, and I’d taught her to carry on a simple conversation in Erse. And Pyotr used to tell us stories from
Igor’s Campaign …
Is that why you’re a dancer?”
    “Naturally. Hadn’t it struck you before?”
    “Not quite in that way. I mean, of course I’d recognised the value of having creative and artistic people along, but I’d assumed it was only to guard against boredom. You’re implying it’s guarding against something more serious.”
    “There isn’t anything more serious than boredom, Dennis. Not when you have to concentrate every waking hour of your life on not doing things which came automatically to you at home, because you don’t yet know if they’re safe.” Parvati made a gesture as though trying to seize an example from the air. “Ah yes! You like to swim, don’t you?”
    “Very much.”
    “I thought so. Almost all spacemen do. But would you walk down that beach now and into the warm, clear ocean?”
    Dennis shook his head vigorously. “I’d love to. I won’t until Tai says it’s safe. But the temptation has been pretty fierce lately. Is that what you mean when you say there’s nothing worse than boredom?”
    “Of course. Coming from a leisured society as we do, we’re used to certain activities which keep up our interest in being alive. Here, some of them are going tohave to wait; meantime we must make do with work, and our work is going so incredibly well we may even have to advance the schedule and over-extend ourselves simply because we know the work is safe while the play may not be.”
    She sighed. “It’s wearing, but it has to be done!”
    Dennis looked at her thoughtfully for long seconds. Suddenly he said, “Parvati, come with me tomorrow.”
    She smiled. “Dennis, I’d like to very much. But I can’t. Things are going to get very difficult here for the next few weeks, thanks to this scurvy problem Tai turned up. I’ll be needed. But I’d like to come to your room with you now, if that’s okay.”
    Dennis kept his eyes fixed on her face. In a tone of near despair he said, “I wish it could be okay. But I’m afraid it wouldn’t be. You see … Well, whether it’s due to the first time it happened here or not, it doesn’t seem as though it could mean anything unless it was part of my striking roots on Asgard, and that means it’s got to be tied up with doing the only thing I can find to do here. If anyone can understand that, you must. Good night,