Lost and found_ a novel - Alan Dean Foster [39]
“‘Sell us.’” Walker accepted the statement as fact. “Somehow, I always felt that if superior beings existed beyond Earth, they would long ago have dispensed with something like slavery as immoral.”
“It is immoral. Did I say it was moral? I did not say that. What I said was that the Vilenjji intend to sell us. Just because a thing is immoral, or against the law, does not mean it cannot exist. Hailing from worlds existing outside the principal ebb and flow of galactic civilization, both socially and galographically, we fall outside the scope of civilized attention. The Vilenjji would not dare abduct and attempt to deal in citizens of known worlds. But because of our comparative isolation, the nature of our intelligence and of our credentials for qualifying for that status are open to general interpretation and remain suspect. That which one species deems civilized, another may regard as unspeakably primeval. You and I, for example.”
He considered. “Yet despite your opinion of me, you would not keep and regard me as a piece of property, as something to be owned.” There followed a pause, prompting a somewhat louder and slightly belligerent, “Would you?”
“No, of course not,” she finally replied. “To do such a thing is contrary to natural law, as well as abhorrent to a higher species. But there are others, less troubled by ethical concerns, who are willing to overlook the moral in their search for novelty. That is how you should now view yourself: as a novelty. A novel commodity, if you prefer.”
“I prefer unwilling captive.” He wiped at the moisture that had been collecting on his head and shoulders as they talked.
“You have determination. Do not let it lead you to do something you may come to regret. As a general rule, the Vilenjji are indifferent to their captives. Their attention borders on apathy. They are interested only in product. Focus on surviving and they will be content to ignore you. Coming from deep within civilization, they consider themselves far superior to any of their captives.”
Walker kept his tone carefully neutral. “That must be hard for you to accept.”
A few limbs rose and gestured. “Not at all. My mental capacity is so far beyond theirs that they cannot conceive of so large a gap in intellect. They take my obvious superiority for indifference. Given their lack of interest and their dissolute intent, I see no point in wasting time trying to enlighten them. It would not gain me my release and my return to home anyway. They will simply sell me to a people even less intelligent than themselves.”
Could a K’eremu, or at least this particular K’eremu, even be insulted, Walker found himself wondering? He much preferred the company of his own kind. Chicago versus K’eremu. Sooty versus snooty.
“Yet you’re stuck in here and they’re out there,” he could not resist adding.
“A lamentable state of affairs, to be sure,” she told him. “Sadly, even advanced intelligence can be surprised and overcome by a sufficient application of brute force. In the use of that the Vilenjji are regrettably proficient. Sophisticated argumentation tends to lose much of its ability to compel when confronted by the business end of a gun.”
He was quiet for a while, as they sat together in the mist, each lost in their own thoughts, each contemplating a future devoid of optimism. When he at last spoke again, his tone was subdued.
“Then there’s no hope for any of us. To get out of this and get home, I mean.”
“Are you being deliberately awkward again?” She scanned his face, and he wondered what she saw there. “Or is it only sincere naÏveté? One does not escape from a starship. Even if it were possible, where would one escape to? I do not know how long you have been here, but knowing something as I do of the general speed of this vessel, although speed is not a precisely accurate term when it comes to the physics of interstellar travel, I can tell you that I am many, many dozens of parsecs from my home system. I would seriously doubt that you are much nearer to your own.” Limbs shifted.