Tower of Zanid Read Online Free

said Fredro.
    “Then why are you so anxious to get inside? You won’t find anything but a lot of stone passageways and rooms, some fitted up for the Yeshtite services.”
    “You see, Mr. Fallon,” said Fredro, “no other Terran has ever got into it and it might—ah—fling light on the history of the Kalwm and pre-Kalwm periods. If nobody goes in, then Balhibuma might destroy it when their own culture breaks down.”
    “All very well, old chap. Not that I have any objection to science, mind you. Wonderful thing and all that.”
    “Thank you,” said Fredro.
    “But if you want to risk your neck, you’ll have to do it on your own.”
    “But, Mr. Fallon…”
    “Not interested. Definitely, absolutely, positively.”
    “You would not—ah—be asked to contribute your services for gratis, you know. I have a small allowance on my appropriation for employ of native assistance”…”
    “You forget,” broke in Mjipa, with an edge in his voice, “that Mr. Fallon, despite his manner of life, is not a Krishnan.”
    Fredro waved a placatory hand, stammering: “I m-meant no slight, gentlemen…”
    “Oh, stow it,” said Fallon. “I’m not insulted. I don’t share Percy’s prejudices against Krishnans.”
    “I am not prejudiced,” protested Mjipa. “Some of my best friends are Krishnans. But another species is another species, and one should always bear it in mind.”
    “Meaning they’re all right so long as they keep their place,” said Fallon, grinning wickedly.
    “Not how I should have expressed it, but it’s the general idea.”
    “Yes?”
    “Yes. Different races of one species may be substantially the same mentally, as among Terrans—but different species are something else.”
    “But we are talking about Krishnans,” said Fredro. “And psychological tests show no differences in average intelligence-level. Or if there are differences of averages, overlap is so great that average-differences are negligible.”
    “You may trust your tests,” said Mjipa, “but I’ve known these beggars personally for years, and you can’t tell me they display human inventiveness and originality.”
    Fallon spoke up: “But look here, how about the inventions they’ve made? They’ve developed a crude camera of their own, for instance. When did you invent something, Percy?”
    Mjipa made an impatient gesture. “All copied from Terran examples. Leaks in the blockade.”
    “No,” said Fredro. “Is not it either. Krishnan camera is case of—ah—stimulus-diffusion.”
    “What?” said Mjipa.
    “Stimulus-diffusion, term invented by American anthropologist Kroeber, about two centuries ago.”
    “What does it mean?” asked Mjipa.
    “Where they hear of something in use elsewhere and develop their own Version without have seen it. Some primitive Terrans a few centuries ago developed writing that way. But it still requires inventiveness.”
    Mjipa persisted: “Well, even granting all you claim, these natives do differ temperamentally from us, and intelligence does no good without the will to use it.”
    “How do you know they are different?” asked Fredro.
    “There was some psychologist who tested a lot of them and pointed out that they lack some of our Terran forms of insanity altogether, such as paranoia…”
    Fallon broke in: “Isn’t paranoia what that loon Kir’s got?”
    Mjipa shrugged. “Not my field. But that’s what this chap said, also pointing out their strong tendency toward hysteria and sadism.”
    Fredro persisted: “That is not what I had so much in the mind. I have not been here before, but I have studied Krishnan arts and crafts on Earth, and these show the highest degree of imaginative fertility—sculpture, poetry, and such…”
    Fallon, stifling a yawn, interrupted: “Mind saving the debate till I’ve gone? I don’t understand half of what you’re talking about… Now, how much would this stipend be?” he asked, more from curiosity than from any intention of seriously