Mack Reynolds - Brain World

Gil said, “It seems that in ancient times, on the world where they first evolved, and before they spread out over other planets as well, they had a society somewhat similar to that of ancient Earth. That is, they were split up into different tribes and nations. When they captured enemies in battle they were sent to the arena. If they survived, they were turned free.”

Roy added, “Though they no longer have wars, in the old sense, the tradition is still with them. It’s part of their rituals, even though megayears have gone by since then. Last time, they warned you and Wyler off, but this time they are taking few chances of our returning and informing other strangers of the location of the Dawnworlds. This time, we fight for our lives.”

Dorn said, “With what weapons?”

Gil said, “If I understand it, with the ancient weapons of their… people. If you can call the Dawnmen people.”

Ronny said, “What are their ancient weapons?”

Charles said, “We don’t know that. The only weapon we’ve seen is a three-headed spear. Unless the swagger stick of the captain of the squad that arrested us is really some sort of a weapon.”

“If it is,” Dorn said, “it’s hardly an ancient one.” He looked at Ronny. “Have you been checked out on swords?”

“Swords? No,” Ronny said. “Why do you think that they’d have swords?”

Dorn said, “It occurs to me that any humanoid type life form would evolve very similar weapons. The war club, at first, then the knife and spear. When metals were developed the sword would appear, as it did on Earth from Japan to England. Even the Aztecs had a type of sword which used razor-sharp obsidian chips set into a wooden blade.”

“Well,” Ronny said, “even if that’s what they use for their gladiator fights, it won’t effect me much. I’ve never had any kind of sword in my hand in my life.”

“Neither have I,” Dorn said. He looked at the four men from Einstein.

They all shook their heads. Roy said, “I’ve never had any kind of weapon in my hands.”

And Gil said, “Nor have I.”

David said, “Charles and I had pistols when we arrived. I brought them from Avalon, after a scientific conference I attended there. But they didn’t work when we tried to defend ourselves from the Dawn men.”

“Oh, wizard,” Ronny said in disgust. “Out of the lot of us, no one knows anything about the use of primitive weapons. And you can trust the Holy Ultimate that our Kshatriya friends are trained with them from earliest youth. They’ll all be experts.”

“Well,” Dorn said, “I did some boxing when I was in school. I made the university championship.”

“That’s better than nothing,” Ronny said. “I used to practice judo as a hobby back before I joined Section G. I’m more than a little rusty by now, I suppose.” He looked at the other four.

They all shook their heads and Gil said, “On Einstein, we don’t indulge in sports involving violence.”

Lee Chang Chu said, “I know kenpo.”

Rosemary said, “What’s kenpo?”

“An early Chinese form of karate.”

“What’s karate?”

“A method of fighting with your hands and feet,” the Chinese girl said.

Rosemary looked at her wanly. “It doesn’t make any difference. The ritual of the annual ceremonies doesn’t provide for women fighting. For all I know, perhaps the Dawnwomen are liberated now, but they weren’t in the primitive times of the race. So the rituals have no place for women.”

“What’s to happen to us, then?” Lee Chang said.

Rosemary shrugged and said, “We’re to be sacrificed on the altar on top of the pyramid in their sacred complex, following the games. We won’t be alone. All the Kshatriyas who survive the games but have failed to triumph are also sacrificed.”

Roy said bitterly, “Evidently it was the system, in the old days of weeding out incompetent warriors. Each year the boys who had reached the age to become full warriors fought it out in the arena. Those that triumphed became members of the army, the half that didn’t either died in the arena, or were sacrificed later.”

“As you can see,” Gil added, “after a few million years you’d wind up with a pretty tough warrior caste.”

Dorn said apologetically to Lee Chang and Rosemary, “I doubt if our fates will be much different than your own. As Ronny said, the Kshatriyas will be experts in the use of their weapons and none of us have even seen one, not to speak of knowing how to handle them.”

They mulled it over some more, but there was little else to be said.

Ronny and Dorn questioned them on the possibilities of escape but the other four men claimed it was utterly impossible. They had explored every aspect of getting out of the house and had come up with a blank. Besides, what if they did escape? Where could they go that the Dawnmen wouldn’t find them? Even their spaceship was inoperative.

Ronny said, “We could call down the Alexander Hamilton and have them pick us up.”

“If they could nullify our spacecraft, I assume they could do the same to yours,” one of the others told him.

“When do the annual ceremonies begin?” Dorn asked.

Rosemary said, “We don’t know.”

She was far from the smiling, bright Rosemary that the Section G agents had first met on Einstein. On the face of it, she had been under pressure long enough for her defenses to have collapsed. She was obviously in a state of despair.

Ronny frowned and said to her, “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought from what Marvin said back on Einstein that you were sending a delegation of your highest intelligences for this romp. You told us you were comparatively stupid.”

“That was a fake,” she sighed. “We wanted to put one of our number in a position to set you up. I was chosen.”

Following their conference, the three Section G agents were given a conducted tour of the premises. The rest of the building bore out what they had found in the living room. It was simple, to the point of being stark, but the furniture was comfortable. The bathrooms were surprisingly similar to those of Earth settled worlds, but, once again, Ronny decided, a humanoid life form would eventually come up with approximately the same toilet equipment; the bathtub, the shower, the flush toilet.

The dining room was something of a mystery, however. The Einstein five had never figured out how it worked. Periodically, the legless, anti-gravity dining room table would disappear. In moments, it would become visible again, bearing sufficient food for the number of persons present. None of them were particularly happy with the strange food, but it obviously supported their life form. Rosemary hated it and would eat only enough to keep her going.

The bedrooms were, once more, stark, and with no facilities for storing clothes. It occurred to Ronny that the Dawnmen had no need to store clothes. With a matter conversion unit, and he assumed that each dwelling had one, you could make new clothing, or anything else you might wish, at any time.

The beds were about half as high as the Earthlings were used to, but quite comfortable. There were no covers whatsoever, not even a bedsheet. One slept on the equivalent of a mattress which seemed similar to a water-mattress, though filled with something other than water. They never did find out what.

Each room had one or more large windows, according to its size, and they could look out without difficulty over the fabulous countryside. It was difficult to realize that from the exterior the house was invisible and all in it. Only by opening the front door could it be seen that a dwelling was here.

The building was fairly large, with five bedrooms in all, each with two beds. To accommodate the newcomers, those from Einstein did some switching about. Lee Chang and Ronny took over one room, Dorn another. Rosemary had made a wry mouth when it became obvious that Ronny was to sleep with the Chinese girl. However, Ronny suspected that she was probably not sleeping alone, but with one, or possibly more, of the Einstein men. He rather doubted that Rosemary slept alone very often, not with the sexual mores under which she had been raised.