A Small Kindness

A Small Kindness

By Ben Bova

… Before Heremy could reply, Rungawa went on, “it would be easy for us to create a million creatures like myself and to land on your planet in great, shining ships and give you all the answers you need for survival. Fusion energy? A toy. World peace? Easily accomplished. Quadruple your global food productions? Double your intelligence? Make you immune to every disease? All this we can do.”

“Then why…?” Jeremy hesitated, thinking. “If you did all that for us, it would ruin us, wouldn’t it?”

Rungawa beamed at him. “Ah, you truly understand the problem!” Yes, it would destroy your species, just as yours Europeans destroyed the cultures of the Americas and Polynesia. Your anthropologists are wrong. There are superior cultures and inferior ones. A superios culture always crushes an inferior, even if it has no intention of doing so.”

In the back of his mind, Jeremy realzied that he had control of his legs again. He flexed the fingers of his left hand slightly, even the index finger that still curled around the trigger of the dart gun. He could move them at will once more.

“What you’re saying,” he made conversation, “is that if you landed here and gave us everything we want, our culture would be destroyed.”

Small Kindness. Photo - Elena

“Yes,” Rungava agreed. “Just as surely as you whites destroyed the black and brown cultures of the world. We have no desire to do that to you.”

“So you’re trying to lead us to the point where we can solve our own problems.”

“Precisly so, Mr, Keating.”

“That’s way you’ve started this World Government,” Keating said, his hand tightening on the gun.

“You started the World Government yourselves,” Rungawa corrected. “We merely encouraged you, here and there.”