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Looking back over this period, I had no doubt that Martin would have suggested that warfare is an invalid concept anyway, imposed solely by the same kind of limitations as are time, distance, and separation. It seemed we didn't have to play any game at all to be free. Our association became closer, but it was no longer of a type that the captain could sink his teeth in and bite. Neither was this accomplishment entirely due to Martin's teaching, as I first thought. Martin had merely opened a door. The rest came as a consequence of my stepping through the door. It came almost by itself.
Naturally, Martin was welcomed by Natalia and I and also by Jill. We told him that he was welcome at any time he cared to look us up. It was always great to have his company, to be touched by his insights into many things, and for his assistance that was well appreciated. By no means did I count myself as an equal to him, certainly not in terms of space travel. It didn't seem wise for me to apply the Bohr/Miller effect for anything more than just a few small steps, like that day when I needed it for getting close to Jill, intercepting her near the elevator. Natalia and Jill were even less 'experienced,' with a heart full of doubt.
When Martin came back in a month, both Natalia and Jill were ready to allow him to guide us together in our first combined adventure which would take us no farther than to sneak a look at the Alpha Centauri system. We explored every planet. As the probe had reported, some planets had thick forests, lush vegetation, but no animal life. Most planets, though, were bare. Only Gamma .8 showed some promise of being interesting. As the computer had rightly estimated, it did have the right atmosphere, and it did have some people on it, similar to human beings. Martin suggested upon closer investigation, that we should not make contact at this time. He said that he felt the people would not be able to understand our presence.
I wanted to argue that point.
"Making contact now might spoil your chances later," he suggested before I could object.
Martin also said something scary. He felt that the people on this planet were in some state of silent war with each other, which he said we should be cautious about. He suggested that the society on the planet appeared to be a very primitive type of society that had not as yet developed the mental technology to exist without war.
"How can you tell that?" Natalia asked.
"That's easy," answered Martin. "They have not developed any significant space presence, or any space presence at all. War usually prevents the kind of scientific and technological development that a space presence requires. You'll most likely find a primitive, and possibly brutal, if not fascist society on this planet."
"Fascist?" Natalia repeated.
"Oh you can handle that," Martin grinned. "But why would you be interested in such a society? That's what I can't understand."
After that short excursion to the Alpha Centauri system, Martin invited us for an entire week to his home on Bohr's planet where he and Odessa showed us around, cared for us, and gave us a wonderful vacation in the sun. At the end, as any good host would, Martin escorted us graciously back to the ship.
In the months and years that followed, Martin came less often, maybe once every two months. But his style never changed. It was as always, bang - super nova time! We must have explored half the universe by the time the ship arrived at Alpha Centauri. We encountered civilizations at their Stone Age stage, as well as at their most advanced stage that even Bohr could not comprehend, and virtually at every imaginable stage in between. We have seen the Hitlers at war. There are always some Hitlers at war somewhere in the universe. And we have seen civilizations in which the Hitlers would never have a chance. In time, a definite pattern emerged. Limitation and war went together, with the wars being interrupted only by periods of poverty, or else there was freedom and peace found in an atmosphere of genuine prosperity. There was never a mingling of the two.
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Stories about
Love
from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche
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