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level. Blunt was a fighter, an anarchist. His answer was revolution "
"Revolution?" asked Cletus.
"Yes. Literally revolution," Mondar answered. "Blunt wanted to destroy part of
actual, objective physical reality as well by using primitive psychic
leverage. He called what he wanted to do 'creative destruction.' He called on
people to '
Destruct!
' But he couldn't quite push even the intense neurotics of his time all the
way over the emotional brink. And then he was deposed as head of the Guild by
a young mining engineer who'd lost an arm in a mine accident "
"Lost an arm?" said Cletus sharply. "Which arm?"
"The left yes, I think it was the left that was gone," said Mondar.
"Why?"
"Nothing," said Cletus. "Go on."
"His name was Paul Formain "
"Fort-Mayne?" Cletus interrupted a second time.
"No ," answered Mondar, "F-o-r-m-a-i-n." He spelled it out, looking curiously
at Cletus. "Something t about this interests you particularly, Cletus?"
"Only the coincidences," said Cletus. "You said he had only one arm, so the
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right arm he had left would have been overmuscled from compensation
development. And his name sounds almost like jort-mayne, which are the words
used by the Norman French to describe their policy to the conquered
English after they took over England in the eleventh century.
Fort-mayne
 literally, 'strong-hand.' It described a policy of using whatever force was
necessary to keep the native English under control. And you say he took over
the Chantry Guild, deposing this Blunt?"
"Yes." Mondar frowned. "I see the coincidences, Cletus, but I don't see why
they're important."
"Maybe they aren't," said Cletus. "Go on. Formain took over the Chantry Guild
and started your
Exotic Association?"
"He almost had to wreck the Chantry Guild to do it," said Mondar. "But he did.
He changed its aim from revolution to evolution. The evolution of man,
Cletus."
"Evolution." Cletus repeated the word thoughtfully. "So, you don't think the
human race is through evolving? What comes next, then?"
"We don't know, of course," said Mondar, folding his hands in his lap. "Can an
ape imagine a man?
But we're convinced the seeds of further evolution are alive in man,
still even if they aren't already germinating. We Exotics are dedicated to
searching for those seeds, and protecting them once we've found them, so that
they can flourish and grow until evolved man is part of our community."
"Sorry." Cletus shook his head. "I'd make a poor Exotic, Mondar. I've got my
own job to do."
"But this is part of your job and your job is part of it!" Mondar leaned
forward, and his hands slid apart. "There's no compulsion on our members. Each
one searches and works for the future the way he thinks best. All we ask is
that when the skills of anyone are needed by the community, he makes them
available to it. In return the community offers him its skills to improve him
, physically and mentally, so he can be that much more effective in his own
work. You know what you can do now, Cletus. Think what you might be able to do
if you could make use of all we can teach you!"
Cletus shook his head again.
"If you turn us down," said Mondar, "it signals a danger to you, Cletus. It
signals an unconscious desire on your part to go the deCastries way to let
yourself be caught up by the excitement of directly
manipulating people and situations instead of dealing with what's much more
valuable, but less emotionally stimulating the struggle with ideas to find
principles that'll lift people eventually above and beyond manipulation."
Cletus laughed, a little grimly. "Tell me," he said, "isn't it true that you
Exotics won't carry or use weapons yourself, even in self-defense? And that's
why you hire mercenaries like the Dorsai, or make agreements with political
groups like the Alliance to defend yourselves?"
"Yes but not for the reason most people think, Cletus," said Mondar, swiftly.
"We haven't any moral objection to fighting. It's just that the emotions
involved interfere with clear thinking, so people like myself prefer not to
touch weapons. But there's no compulsion on our people on this. If you want to
write your work on military tactics, or even keep and carry guns "
"I don't think you follow me," said Cletus. "Eachan Khan told me something.
You remember when you were in the command car after it overturned, earlier
today, and he suggested you not let yourself be taken alive by the Neulander
guerrillas for obvious reasons? You answered that you could always die. '
No man
,' you said, '
commands this body but myself
.' "
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"And you think suicide is a form of violence "
"No," said Cletus. "I'm trying to explain to you why I'd never make an Exotic.
In your calmness in the face of possible torture and the need to kill
yourself, you were showing a particular form of ruthlessness.
It was ruthlessness toward yourself but that's only the back side of the coin.
You Exotics are essentially ruthless toward all men, because you're
philosophers, and by and large, philosophers are ruthless people."
"Cletus!" Mondar shook his head. "Do you realize what you're saying?"
"Of course," said Cletus, quietly. "And you realize it as well as I do. The
immediate teaching of philosophers may be gentle, but the theory behind their
teaching is without compunction and that's why so much bloodshed and misery
has always attended the paths of their followers, who claim to live by those
teachings. More blood's been spilled by the militant adherents of prophets of
change than by any other group of people down through the history of man."
"No Exotic spills blood," said Mondar, softly. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]