Members of the Herd, travelling in a galley, take two Earthmen, Argens and Rorn, to meet their masters, the Ai Chun. En route, Rorn makes some deductions. Cheap boats and wilderness should make for individualism. Instead, the fishing crew that chanced on the human camp did not make contact but immediately reported back to some headquarters and it took time for a delegation to be sent. Also, the language of a group of aliens who had visited once a long time ago has been preserved and carried across the planet. Conclusion:
"'...we're on the marches of a very big and very old empire.'" (p. 66)
Argens agrees that this:
"'Makes a good working hypothesis...'" (ibid.)
- as indeed it does. And it has been deduced from details that many of us would have missed. James Blish's Okies, entering a new planetary system, have to make this kind of deduction very quickly in order to assess what they are dealing with. For them, it is a matter of earning a living.
1 comment:
Rather elaborately organized empire, too,.
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