David Brin: The Practice Effect

“The people were soon reduced almost to the level of beasts. It took a long time for the legends of written speech to inspire some genius to reinvent writing.

“Back on Earth they had known all this would happen. And yet they could not help without risking a spread of the infection to the home world.

“So they opened the portal just a crack, before sealing it for a millennium. They sent through the very latest product of their great research—the culmination of two converging fields, biology and reality physics.

“What they sent through was an animal “immune to the disease, for it could fend for itself, but one who carried with it a talent. That talent would pervade this world and give its people a chance.

“With time, the people of Tatir absorbed some of the talent for themselves. Those who lived closest to the creatures absorbed the most of it and became the L’Toff.”

Dennis finished, “The gift the Earth sent was a miracle, from our twenty-first-century perspective. It saved the people of this planet. And to think I once thought it useless.”

Brady followed Dennis’s look.

“That thing?” He pointed incredulously at the pixolet. The creature preened, and grinned back with a row of needle-sharp teeth.

“Yes, that,” Dennis said with a nod.

“Of course, I’m only going by pieced-together accounts from legends more than a thousand years old. But I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.

“We can only imagine what the Earth of the fortieth century is like, now that these Krenegee have been loose there for centuries. Perhaps the age of biologicals is past and the era of tools has returned there—magical tools beyond belief.

“I’d be glad of it, for the bioengineering did sound a bit questionable, ethically.”

Dennis stood next to Linnora. She and Pix looked up at him and he smiled. Dennis turned back to Brady and concluded, “Now, at last, the barriers to this world are dropping. For some reason a weird intertime path to twenty-first-century Earth was the first to open, perhaps because ours was the first zievatron of all.

“Soon other paths will open. And these people have got to be ready when they do. The Blecker are probably still out there, waiting for a chance to get in.

“That’s why I think I’ll hang around after we fix the return mechanism and send you back home.”

Linnora took his hand. “At least that’s one of the reasons,” he amended.

Brady looked perplexed. “That’s a pretty convincing story, Nuel. Except for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You still haven’t told me what this talent is you’re saying that nasty little thing has! What was this gift Earth supposedly sent through?”

Dennis looked surprised. “Oh! You mean nobody’s explained that part of it to you yet?”

“No! And I’ll tell you I can’t take it much longer! Something’s screwy about this world! Did you notice the strange juxtaposition of technologies these people have here? I can’t figure out what’s going on, and it’s driving me crazy!”

Dennis remembered how many times he had sworn vengeance on Brady during his months on Tatir. Right now he had the fellow in his power, but all the malice he had felt before was gone. He decided to satisfy himself with one little bit of revenge.

“Oh, I’ll let you figure it out for yourself, Brady. I’m sure a mind like yours can come up with the answer, if you practice it hard enough.”

Bernard Brady sat there. He had no choice but to fume silently while Dennis Nuel laughed. As the woman, the little man, the alien creature from the future, and his onetime rival all grinned at him, Brady had the uneasy feeling that he wasn’t going to enjoy the learning process much at all.