Free The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov Page A

... Don't you think so?"
    "Well, maybe. But one thing bothers me."
    "What's that?"
    "If the para-men are so convinced that the Pump is dangerous, why haven't they stopped it already? I took occasion to check awhile ago and the Pump is working swimmingly."
    Lament frowned. "Perhaps they don't want a unilateral stoppage. They consider us their partners and they want a mutual agreement to stop. Don't you suppose that might be so?"
    "It might. But it might also be that communication is less than perfect; that they don't quite understand the significance of the words B-A-D. From what I said to them via their symbols, which I might well have twisted utterly, they may think that B-A-D means what we consider G-O-O-D."
    "Oh, no."
    "Well, that's your hope, but there's no pay-off on hopes."
    "Mike, just keep on sending messages. Use as many of the words they use as possible and keep ringing the changes. You're the expert and it's in your hands. Eventually, they'll know enough words to say something clear and unmistakable and then we'll explain that we're willing to have the Pump stopped."
    "We lack the authority to make any such statement."
    "Yes, but they won't know, and in the end we'll be mankind's heroes."
    "Even if they execute us first?"
    "Even so. ... It's in your hands, Mike, and I'm sure it won't take much longer."
     
    10
     
    And yet It did. Two weeks passed without another message and the strain grew worse.
    Bronowski showed it. The momentary lightness of heart had dissipated, and he entered Lament's laboratory in glum silence.
    They stared at each other and finally Bronowski said, "It's all over the place that you've received your show-cause."
    Lament had clearly not shaved that morning. His laboratory had a forlorn look about it, a not-quite-definable, packing-up look. He shrugged. "So what? It doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that Physical Reviews rejected my paper."
    "You said you were expecting that."
    "Yes, but I thought they might give me reasons. They might point out what they thought were fallacies, errors, unwarranted assumptions. Something I could argue about."
    "And they didn't?"
    "Not a word. Their referees did not consider the paper suitable for publication. Quote, unquote. They just won't touch it. ... It's really disheartening, the universal stupidity. I think that I wouldn't grieve at mankind's suicide through sheer evilness of heart, or through mere recklessness. There's something so damned undignified at going to destruction through sheer thickheaded stupidity. What's the use of being men if that's how you have to die."
    "Stupidity," muttered Bronowski.
    "What else do you call it? And they want me to show-cause why I ought not to be fired for the great crime of being right."
    "Everyone seems to know that you consulted Chen."
    "Yes!" Lamont put his fingers to the bridge of his nose and wearily rubbed his eyes. "I apparently got him annoyed enough to go to Hallam with tales, and now the accusation is that I have been trying to sabotage the Pump project by unwarranted and unsupported fright tactics in an unprofessional manner and that this makes me unsuitable for employment on the Station."
    "They can prove that easily, Pete."
    "I suppose they can. It doesn't matter."
    "What are you going to do."
    "Nothing," said Lamont indignantly. "Let them do their worst. I'll rely on red tape. Every step of this thing will take weeks, months, and meanwhile you keep working. We'll hear from the para-men yet."
    Bronowski looked miserable. "Pete, suppose we don't. Maybe it's time you think about this again."
    Lamont looked up sharply. "What are you talking about?"
    "Tell them you're wrong. Do penance. Beat your breast. Give up."
    "Never! By God, Mike, we're playing a game in which the stakes are all the world and every living creature on it."
    "Yes, but what's that to you? You're not married. You have no children. I know your father is dead. You never mention your mother or any siblings, I doubt if there is any human