Mack Reynolds - Brain World

They laughed dutifully.

Marvin said, “Academician Fitzjames informed us that the, ah, Brahmins of the Dawnworld you landed upon had, evidently telepathically, determined that your life had been shortened and, wishing to keep you alive so that you could warn others off, still, evidently, through nothing more than a telepathic contact, then extended your life for over two hundred years. In short, they have the elixir of life, as the old alchemists used to call it.”

Ronny said, “Whether or not my life has been extended for over two hundred years, I don’t know. I’ll have to wait it out. However, it is true that my aging fifteen or twenty years overnight did not happen, though, as a result of a drug I took, it should have. But now, I’ll answer no more questions about the Dawnworlds. The information is taboo. Far from warning others off, as the Brahmins wished, it was decided by Ross Metaxa not even to let others know they exist, let alone their location.”

Boy got up from the floor and stretched and said, “You humans sure do a lot of yakking. I think I’ll go get something to eat.” He headed for the dining room and Ronny and Dorn looked after him for a moment, blankly.

Two or three of the others laughed, especially when the dog’s voice came back, ordering a steak for himself at the automated table.

Ronny muttered, “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

Dorn Horsten pushed his pince nez glasses back on the bridge of his nose and said, “To get back to the workings of the planet Einstein.”

“Yes, of course,” Fredric said.

“We were informed at the Octagon that, when you colonized, the basic requirement was an I.Q. of at least 130. After all these years, what is the average today?”

Fredric frowned before saying slowly, “We no longer use the I.Q. system for measuring intelligence. We couldn’t, even if we wished. In the I.Q. system, what would have happened if a child answered correctly all 100 of the questions in the required time?”

Ronny said, “What methods did you utilize to upgrade your mental and physical attributes?”

Fredric said, “I am not a geneticist. However, briefly, from earliest youth a child is checked out not only for its physical attributes but its—I.Q. you would call it—and its ability quotient.”

“Ability quotient?” Dorn said.

“Ability quotient is the child’s performance in verbal ability, verbal fluency, numerical ability, spatial ability, perceptual ability, memory, accident proneness, digital dexterity, analogizing power, mechanical aptitude, clerical aptitude, emotional maturity, tone discrimination, taste sensitivity, sexual attraction, color blindness, accuracy, persistence, freedom from neurosis, and powers of observation.”

Ronny whistled softly between his teeth.

Fredric went on. “At the age of fifteen if the child does not check out at least five percent higher than its parents in intelligence and ability quotient, it is sterilized by the Medical Department of Genetics. We wish to take no chances of the child’s genes continuing.”

Both Dorn and Ronny blinked a bit at that one, but Dorn said, “You utilize other methods?”

“Yes, truly outstanding examples of our males have their sperm frozen and it is used over a period of time to artificially inseminate outstanding females.”

“Your methods seem somewhat drastic,” Dorn said thoughtfully. “However, it is an internal matter and I rather doubt that it would be grounds to prevent you from becoming a member of United Planets.”

Max said, “I think that something should be pointed out to our visitors. Our, mmm, I.Q.’s aren’t as high as all that. You see, we started with a minimum of 130 and a median of, perhaps, 140 and by carefully breeding up the average five percent each generation, eliminating those who didn’t upgrade, and utilizing artificial insemination from the ultra-high, each generation would develop. However, it takes little mathematics to show that in four generations, a century roughly, the median of 140 would only have increased to about 170 which is not unknown on other worlds of United Planets.”

Ronny said dryly, “But it’s not exactly widespread.”

Barbara said, very earnestly, “You must understand that by utilizing genetic surgery to alter the DNA, as we have done on animals, we could speed up this acceleration. However, we wish to avoid generation gaps. It might be possible, overnight, to up our, uh, l.Q. to a thousand average, compared to the one hundred of Earth. But then, the older generations would not be able to associate with the new. It is one thing communicating with someone who has an l.Q. ten to twenty points higher than yours, but it is another if it is ten times as high.”

Fredric had been looking at the two Section G men unhappily. He said now, “I see that you don’t approve of our methods. I might point out that the need has long been expressed. Plato proposed an eugenic program, saying, ‘In the same way, if we want to prevent the human race from degeneration, we shall take care to encourage union between the better elements of both sexes, and to eliminate that of the worst.’ ”

Darlene put in, “We minimize gene surgery, gene copying, gene insertion and gene deletion. Algeny and genetic engineering we handle with kid gloves. We utilize nature, largely, rather than science and technology to upgrade our people.”

Dorn said, “What surprises me is that we have so little trouble communicating with you. I would never know that we weren’t on Earth or Archimedes or one of the other advanced planets. But surely there is a great intellectual gap between us.”

Marvin said, “We selected not only citizens who spoke Basic and Amer-English but also those who had the widest experience with people from overspace. We six have already had considerable contact, through attending scientific conventions and through the small amount of trade we conduct with other worlds.”

“I see,” Ronny said, self-deprecation in his voice. “You’re especially selected to meet us. Rosemary is stupid, as she put it, and hence better able to communicate with us. You’ve been through the ordeal before, and so are able.”

Fredric was distressed. “You must not think in that manner. See here, Ronny, how would you like to submit to one of our present-day equivalents of an I.Q. test, just to see where you stand as compared to the average Einstein citizen?”

“Hell no,” Ronny said. “It’d probably give me an inferiority complex that’d last the rest of my life.”

“But surely such an organization as your own required a high I.Q. before you were admitted.”

“Possibly, but I still don’t want to compare mine with yours, any more than I’d want to compare my last dog with Boy. It would have given Gimmick the willies even to come in contact with Boy.”

And so it went. Ronny Bronston and Dorn Horsten fired every question they could think of at the six-member committee, pertaining to the workings of Einstein. They pried further into the socioeconomic system. They delved into its governmental system, or its lack of it. They asked about religion and found that there was none. They had gotten into quite a discussion on the difference between accumulated knowledge and intelligence.

It was pointed out by Max that Einstein was as desperately at work accumulating knowledge as it was increasing intelligence. One was meaningless without the other.

They took out time for lunch and Rosemary suggested that the guests from overspace might like to sample dishes which had originated on Einstein and wines that had been developed on this world.

It was delicious beyond belief.

After lunch, they returned to the living room with coffee and a local dessert wine and had at it again. It wasn’t necessary for Ronny and Dorn to consult with each other to realize that both were coming to the same conclusion. Ross Metaxa’s fears were meaningless. There was no reason at all why Einstein should not be admitted into United Planets. Indeed, it was fast becoming increasingly obvious that she was the most advanced world ever settled by humanity. Einstein was exactly the kind of member planet that they needed most. Undoubtedly, she had made thousands of scientific and technological discoveries that could be assimilated by other worlds.