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Updated: May 1, 2025
Scraps of this and that seemed to float to the surface and drift out of reach before he could capture them, had he been interested in trying. One fragment somehow caught in an eddy and remained in sight long enough to draw his attention. "Challonari," he said, wonderingly, and almost ditched them as stabbing pain shot through his temples.
Even had they survived the crash they would have been helpless unless intelligent aid could be enlisted. He tried to drive out his thoughts in a cry for help, but the strength was gone from him. Within a radius of two miles there was no intelligent life, if any existed on the planet. More from habit than for any other reason, he awakened the Challonari.
The words were few, merely computed associations keyed to understanding, and with them were perfectly and intimately synchronized fragments of emotion and vision, softly washing over the surface of his mind. Challonari! Attend! An impression of convolutions drifted through his mind a shape, perhaps, and a color. He felt no curiosity, and let the impression drift.
The Challonari was self-sustaining and could survive untended for years, if necessary, serving to keep the area clear of wild life that might draw hunters of the dominant species dangerously near. There remained, then, the problem of providing a substitute for his own personal survival. Here, the prospect seemed hopeless.
In another, a skimming prospecting trip in a certain area confirmed a predicted rich ore body. And at all times, of course particularly when they left the known systems behind and entered virgin territory there was the Challonari to be trained and observed. The Challonari a part-organic, artificial brain was one of the most promising recent developments of Challon science.
In a telepathic society, life itself could not be more precious than self-control. The combined growth and manufacture of the Challonari had been stopped in horror when it was realized that their capabilities were greater than anticipated. An organic tool had not been created, but rather a ... what? When does a tool become an entity?
The mental shielding of the intruder blazed and crackled with increasing dissonance, radiating pain, fear and panic, but no decipherable intelligent thought. It drew nearer, erratically, apparently running, then swiftly lapsed into unconsciousness. That was when the bewildered Challonari had called him for aid.
Having thus distracted it from the presence of death, he sank back gratefully into a stasis of no-thought. Let time pass. It would bring succor or death, and he could do nothing more to hasten either one. The Challonari roused him from his stupor on the third day after the crash. It was disturbed, excited by something beyond its comprehension.
The dominant species on this planet was that theoretically possible but logically improbable mistake of nature, a race of intelligent nontelepaths! Fantastic as it was, there was no room for doubt. He was glad he had ordered the Challonari to withdraw from contact.
While he had lain helpless and shriveling on a compartment floor something unusual had approached to within half a mile of the ship through the thick swamp vegetation. The life form had apparently detected the first tendrils of thought from the Challonari and without preamble, as a natural defense, erected a savage mental shield.
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