Piper in the Woods Read online

a non-biological sense. I retain the physiology of a humanbeing, of course."

  "What do you mean, then, that you're a plant?"

  "The reference is to attitudinal response, to Weltanschauung."

  "Go on."

  "It is possible for a warm-blooded animal, an upper primate, to adoptthe psychology of a plant, to some extent."

  "Yes?"

  "I refer to this."

  "And the others? They refer to this also?"

  "Yes."

  "How did this occur, your adopting this attitude?"

  Bradshaw's image hesitated, the lips twisting. "See?" Harris said toCox. "Strong conflict. He wouldn't have gone on, if he had been fullyconscious."

  "I--"

  "Yes?"

  "I was taught to become a plant."

  The image of Harris showed surprise and interest. "What do you mean, youwere _taught_ to become a plant?"

  "They realized my problems and taught me to become a plant. Now I'm freefrom them, the problems."

  "Who? Who taught you?"

  "The Pipers."

  "Who? The Pipers? Who are the Pipers?"

  There was no answer.

  "Mr. Bradshaw, who are the Pipers?"

  After a long, agonized pause, the heavy lips parted. "They live in thewoods...."

  Harris snapped off the projector, and the lights came on. He and Coxblinked. "That was all I could get," Harris said. "But I was lucky toget that. He wasn't supposed to tell, not at all. That was the thingthey all promised not to do, tell who taught them to become plants. ThePipers who live in the woods, on Asteroid Y-3."

  "You got this story from all twenty?"

  "No." Harris grimaced. "Most of them put up too much fight. I couldn'teven get _this_ much from them."

  Cox reflected. "The Pipers. Well? What do you propose to do? Just waitaround until you can get the full story? Is that your program?"

  "No," Harris said. "Not at all. I'm going to Y-3 and find out who thePipers are, myself."

  * * * * *

  The small patrol ship made its landing with care and precision, its jetschoking into final silence. The hatch slid back and Doctor Henry Harrisfound himself staring out at a field, a brown, sun-baked landing field.At the end of the field was a tall signal tower. Around the field on allsides were long grey buildings, the Garrison check-station itself. Notfar off a huge Venusian cruiser was parked, a vast green hulk, like anenormous lime. The technicians from the station were swarming all overit, checking and examining each inch of it for lethal life-forms andpoisons that might have attached themselves to the hull.

  "All out, sir," the pilot said.

  Harris nodded. He took hold of his two suitcases and stepped carefullydown. The ground was hot underfoot, and he blinked in the brightsunlight. Jupiter was in the sky, and the vast planet reflectedconsiderable sunlight down onto the asteroid.

  Harris started across the field, carrying his suitcases. A fieldattendant was already busy opening the storage compartment of the patrolship, extracting his trunk. The attendant lowered the trunk into awaiting dolly and came after him, manipulating the little truck withbored skill.

  As Harris came to the entrance of the signal tower the gate slid backand a man came forward, an older man, large and robust, with white hairand a steady walk.

  "How are you, Doctor?" he said, holding his hand out. "I'm LawrenceWatts, the Garrison Chief."

  They shook hands. Watts smiled down at Harris. He was a huge old man,still regal and straight in his dark blue uniform, with his goldepaulets sparkling on his shoulders.

  "Have a good trip?" Watts asked. "Come on inside and I'll have a drinkfixed for you. It gets hot around here, with the Big Mirror up there."

  "Jupiter?" Harris followed him inside the building. The signal tower wascool and dark, a welcome relief. "Why is the gravity so near Terra's? Iexpected to go flying off like a kangaroo. Is it artificial?"

  "No. There's a dense core of some kind to the asteroid, some kind ofmetallic deposit. That's why we picked this asteroid out of all theothers. It made the construction problem much simpler, and it alsoexplains why the asteroid has natural air and water. Did you see thehills?"

  "The hills?"

  "When we get up higher in the tower we'll be able to see over thebuildings. There's quite a natural park here, a regular little forest,complete with everything you'd want. Come in here, Harris. This is myoffice." The old man strode at quite a clip, around the corner and intoa large, well-furnished apartment. "Isn't this pleasant? I intend tomake my last year here as amiable as possible." He frowned. "Of course,with Deutsch gone, I may be here forever. Oh, well." He shrugged. "Sitdown, Harris."

  "Thanks." Harris took a chair, stretching his legs out. He watched Wattsas he closed the door to the hall. "By the way, any more cases come up?"

  "Two more today," Watts was grim. "Makes almost thirty, in all. We havethree hundred men in this station. At the rate it's going--"

  "Chief, you spoke about a forest on the asteroid. Do you allow the crewto go into the forest at will? Or do you restrict them to the buildingsand grounds?"

  * * * * *

  Watts rubbed his jaw. "Well, it's a difficult situation, Harris. I haveto let the men leave the grounds sometimes. They can _see_ the forestfrom the buildings, and as long as you can see a nice place to stretchout and relax that does it. Once every ten days they have a full periodof rest. Then they go out and fool around."

  "And then it happens?"

  "Yes, I suppose so. But as long as they can see the forest they'll wantto go. I can't help it."

  "I know. I'm not censuring you. Well, what's your theory? What happensto them out there? What do they do?"

  "What happens? Once they get out there and take it easy for a while theydon't want to come back and work. It's boondoggling. Playing hookey.They don't want to work, so off they go."

  "How about this business of their delusions?"

  Watts laughed good-naturedly. "Listen, Harris. You know as well as I dothat's a lot of poppycock. They're no more plants than you or I. Theyjust don't want to work, that's all. When I was a cadet we had a fewways to make people work. I wish we could lay a few on their backs, likewe used to."

  "You think this is simple goldbricking, then?"

  "Don't you think it is?"

  "No," Harris said. "They really believe they're plants. I put themthrough the high-frequency shock treatment, the shock box. The wholenervous system is paralyzed, all inhibitions stopped cold. They tell thetruth, then. And they said the same thing--and more."

  Watts paced back and forth, his hands clasped behind his back. "Harris,you're a doctor, and I suppose you know what you're talking about. Butlook at the situation here. We have a garrison, a good modern garrison.We're probably the most modern outfit in the system. Every new deviceand gadget is here that science can produce. Harris, this garrison isone vast machine. The men are parts, and each has his job, theMaintenance Crew, the Biologists, the Office Crew, the Managerial Staff.

  "Look what happens when one person steps away from his job. Everythingelse begins to creak. We can't service the bugs if no one services themachines. We can't order food to feed the crews if no one makes outreports, takes inventories. We can't direct any kind of activity if theSecond in Command decides to go out and sit in the sun all day.

  "Thirty people, one tenth of the Garrison. But we can't run withoutthem. The Garrison is built that way. If you take the supports out thewhole building falls. No one can leave. We're all tied here, and thesepeople know it. They know they have no right to do that, run off ontheir own. No one has that right anymore. We're all too tightlyinterwoven to suddenly start doing what we want. It's unfair to therest, the majority."

  * * * * *

  Harris nodded. "Chief, can I ask you something?"

  "What is it?"

  "Are there any inhabitants on the asteroid? Any natives?"

  "Natives?" Watts considered. "Y
es, there's some kind of aboriginesliving out there." He waved vaguely toward the window.

  "What are they like? Have you seen them?"

  "Yes, I've seen them. At least, I saw them when we first came here. Theyhung around for a while, watching us, then after a time theydisappeared."

  "Did they die off? Diseases of some kind?"

  "No. They just--just disappeared. Into their forest. They're stillthere,