When They Come from Space by Mark Clifton Read Free Book Online Page B

built."
    "So there must be an intelligent species, somewhere."
    "Perhaps merely masquerading as a human being?"
    "Why would they want to do that?"
    "That's only one of the things we don't comprehend, yet."
    "Our four Black Fleet strikes have come to nothing."
    "I som only the vaguest telepathy communication in this species. Random, disorganized, and undirected flashes."
    "But they do have electronic communication. Highly organized. Why weren't the visits of the Black Fleet electronically communicated?"
    "We're in for quite a problem. We've always thought intelligence was characterized by the communication of knowledge. Here we find the emphasis is upon concealment of knowledge."
    "The strikes of the Black Fleet were known. They were witnessed. We saw to that. I sommed the correct emotional reactions to them from the witnesses. I think we were correct in striking only remote spots where no damage to intelligent life..."
    "First rule: We cannot harm intelligent life."
    "First question: How do we know we've found some?"
    "Our theory breaks down. We assumed unintelligent responses to the Black Fleet might be due to a lower order of species in remote areas, that the more intelligent might concentrate..."
    "This is one of the most intense concentrations. Would you say there was any qualitative difference of intelligence in the attendant who brought us these drinks and those who witnessed our strikes in remote areas?"
    "The same horror of the unknown."
    "The same ability to cope with their environment barely well enough to stay alive."
    "The similarities are endless. The differences are nil."
    "We have not yet contacted intelligent life."
    "These artifacts all around us show a high order of intelligence."
    "There must be two species."
    "For some reason the lower order is keeping the evidence of our visit from the knowledge of the higher order."
    "Then we must make our strikes close to the areas of high-order artifacts. We must smoke out the intelligent species which conceals itself."
    "It may take some doing. That concealment is extraordinary. None of the individuals we have sommed acknowledge intelligence beyond their own."
    "That's not the only thing we have to solve. If we are to masquerade as one of them, we've got some practice to do. They haven't negated gravity, for example. I sommed the attendant's surprise that the bed didn't sag under your weight."
    "We can't afford that kind of error. If that one will detect such minor defects, think what a high order of intelligence might see."
    "No more appearing as purple whirlwinds, either."
    "We thought it might shock him into revealing knowledge of where the intelligent ones are to be found. That perhaps he was conspiring to conceal their presence. That perhaps they were intelligent enough to expect us and deemed it prudent to hide from us until they looked us over."
    "That would be natural enough in the survival mechanism—if they were that intelligent. Surely their logic would tell them that when they started stirring in their egg it would be noticed—and investigated."
    "But the attendant showed no knowledge of such a conspiracy of concealment."
    "Certainly we will have to run the risk of accidentally harming intelligent life, by bringing our phenomena of visit out in the open."
    "Meantime, let's practice the role of the human. Now on this matter of gravity, for example..."
    "Yes, an artifact must sag when we sit on it. The carpet must show footprints when we walk on it."
    "That's a little too much. I heard the walls creak and the whole building tremble."
    "We're going to have to give over searching for the intelligent ones, at present, and concentrate on simulating the human life, instead of the intelligent one."
    "For the present, then, we'll accept the most popular art form representation of humans as our model. I think we need to get out and around a bit more, get a little better idea of what is acceptable to humans. If the intelligent species is masquerading as human, he