THE CATERPILLARS QUESTION

"So I guess we'd better talk," Jack said to the Gaol. He was privately amazed at what he was taking for granted, but realized that the empathy could account for this. "What's your name?"

"The Gaol lack names," Candy said as she swung the panels of the enclosure aside. "It is a concept confined to primitives."

"Well, I'm primitive, so I prefer names," Jack said. "Will you answer to Garth Gaol?" He was being humorous again, though he realized that humor was wasted on the others. At least it helped him retain some semblance of sanity.

"What does such a designation signify?" Candy asked. The coffin was now exposed again.

"That you I are masculine and understanding of human foibles," Jack said with a smile. "And that when I say 'Garth' I am addressing you or referring to you, and no other entity. It is a convenience for dialogue when more than two creatures are present."

"I wall answer to Garth," Candy agreed for the Gaol. She lifted the lid of the coffin.

"Garth, what are your present feelings?"

"I wish to enable you and the Imago to achieve satisfaction."

"Why?" Because Jack remained wary of dangerous confusion.

Empathy was fine, but an alien definition of satisfaction could be treacherous. Just as Candy's idea of saving the Imago had been to kill Tappy. If the creature could state a convincing rationale, maybe he could trust it.

There was no response. After a moment, Jack caught on, and said, "Why, Garth?" He saw that Tappy was now sitting up, looking dazed; the drugs would take time to wear off.

"Because, Jack, the facilitator is enhancing the rate of my corruption by the Imago, causing a conversion which would ordinarily require approximately twenty-four hours to occur in as many minutes. The creature has the substance of the host of the Imago, therefore is dedicated to that host and through it, the Imago. Thus it enhances the power of the Imago to bring empathy to those it contacts. The process is not yet complete in my case, but the first stage of the conversion is the instillation of the will to be converted, so I am accepting it rather than destroying the facilitator and proceeding with my duty."

This was more of an answer than Jack had anticipated! "The hatchling is the facilitator? It facilitates whatever is of interest to-to the person whose flesh has provided its substance?" Then, after another pause: "I direct the question to you, Garth." The Gaol had taken his instruction about the use of the name in a rather literal and limited sense.

"That is its nature, Jack. We were aware that such creatures existed, but not aware that they existed on what you call the honkers' planet. Perhaps it is an import. Such a creature, acting in conjunction with the Imago, is a strategic masterstroke. It makes the Imago infinitely more dangerous to the empire."

So the honker had indeed known what he was doing! Except that they were shortly due to be blown up. "How much time till destruction, Candy?" he asked, morbidly interested.

"Thirty-six minutes."

"Destruction?" Tappy asked.

"We have encountered a-a special situation," Jack told her.

"I'll explain it in a bit. This is Garth Gaol, whom we may consider to be a friend." He hoped. "Just relax."

Tappy did so, ministered to by Candy.

He returned to the Gaol. "Garth, can you tell us how to save the Imago and ourselves? I mean, without killing the host of the Imago?"

"Ordinarily I could do so, Jack, but at present I am distracted by the process of conversion. I am also losing my capability to think and act with precision and force, because of the increasing constraints placed upon me by empathy with those who would suffer the consequences of such action."

This, too, was interesting. "You mean the Gaol dominate the galaxy because they lack empathy? Because they don't care about the suffering of those they subjugate?"

The Gaol did not answer, but it wasn't necessary. Of course it was true! It was true historically on Earth, too. Power was grasped by those who had least sensitivity to the harm they did to others. This was probably the root of the saying "Nice guys finish last." Empathy might not be the same as conscience, but the effects could be similar.

Something else registered. "Candy, didn't you say that the Imago was supposed to be separated from this city thirty minutes before destruction? So that the host of the Imago would not be destroyed?"

"Yes, Jack."

"So that thing's not just an enclosure. It's a spaceship!"

"That is true, Jack. It is the isolation ship for the Imago's host."

"Will it hold more than just the coffin? I mean, other peoples"

"Yes, Jack."

"How much more'? I mean, could we hitch a ride in it?"

"It is capable of supporting the lives of three setiet beings as represented here."

"Three?" Jack was taken aback. He had in mind rescuing all four of them: Tappy, himself, Garth Gaol, and Candy. Because if they all piled into that ship and took off, the watching Gaol station would not see anything amiss. It was supposed to separat establish the Imago's utter isolation. Then the city could explode on schedule, and it would be assumed that everyone was dead except Tappy. It was a way out!

"Damn!" he said. "Someone's going to have to be left behind."

"Why, Jack?"

"Because there are four of us!" he snapped. "Only three can escape in that ship."

"But only three of us are alive, Jack. You may leave me behind."

She was not alive! Of course! That did reduce it to three. "-P,-It by the same token, you can come along," he said. "You won't be using any air or water or food, and we need you to take care of Tappy. I mean, the host for the Imago."

"This is true, Jack."

"Well, then, let's do it! How much time do we have until separation?"

"Two minutes, Jack."

And here he had been wasting time on details while their deadline was overhauling them! Naturally the emotionless AI had not been screaming warning. "Get us all on board that ship now!"

"The Gaol must authorize that."

"Garth, you must authorize it!"

The Gaol whistled. Candy went into action at blurring speed.

She lifted Tappy out of her coffin and resnapped the fastenings.

Then she touched a button somewhere, and the bars blocking Jack --disappeared. He ran to the ship, and the Gaol rolled beside him.

Tappy was now standing in the ship, seeming to have suffered no debilitation from her brief session in the coffin. There were not even any marks on her; however the I'fe-support devices attached, they did not seem to have punctured her skin.

"Close it up!" Jack cried. "Get this crate into the air!"

Candy paused. "The life-support container is already closed, Jack. I do not understand the remainder of your directive."

He definitely had to watch that vernacular! "I mean the ship!

Do what you have to do to get t his ship safely sealed and separated on schedule!"

Candy resumed her blurring motion. The panels closed, and internal light came on. It seemed like closing a wooden crate from the inside, but it was a metallic spaceship.

"Separation," Candy a

Jack looked around. "Shouldn't we get into acceleration couches or something?"

"Why, Jack?"

Oh. Inertialess drive, of course. They had crossed the galaxy without any feeling of acceleration; why should this little ship be different? "Then can we look out a portal? To see where we're going?"

"Why, Jack?"

"I'm primitive, remember? I just feel easier, and I think Tappy would feel easier, if we could see outside."

"Of course, Jack," Candy said in the ma

The opaque panels became transparent. They could now see out in every direction. In fact, the whole ship was transparent.