EARTH AND THE LOGICIANS

Devika found Jaya staring out the window, looking
towards Earth. Jaya’s face was reflected slightly in
the diamond-faced, triple-insulated windows of the
space station, and Devika could see that her daughter
was thinking.

“Jaya, why are you here?”

Jaya did not turn, and the look of concentration
on her face deepened. “I don’t understand why we’re
here.”

Devika thought, briefly.
“Can you be more specific?”

“I’m talking about the Rationalist
League’s presence in
this system.”

“And our interest in
Earth?”

“Yes. I understand that this
is a political bargaining chip
for us, but I think I must be
missing some crucial piece of
information. I’ve been trying
to induce the missing information
from the shape of things
around it. As you may be able
to guess, I’ve had little success.”

Devika nodded. “I have
some familiarity with this, and
may be able to help explain.”

In fact, she was the only psychohistorian in all of the
Sol system, and one of the few Logicians who really
understood emotions — as much as they could be
understood. “Tell me what you already know.”

Jaya turned from the window and began reciting
what she had learned, as if for an oral exam. “Earth
was the birthplace of humanity, before the Diaspora.
All the civilizations in the universe come from there,
as did the Transcendentals. Now the only humans
living there live in archaic dwellings, in poverty and
disease, and refuse the help of others. There are no
significant works of technology available there, no
records that were not uncovered centuries ago. I
don’t understand why we’re here.” Jaya turned back
towards the window. “It seems inefficient.”

“I think that you greatly underestimate the
emotional pull that Earth holds for the other civilizations.
We know that there is nothing to be gained
by remaining here, but they... feel... differently. This
alone makes our presence worthwhile. In fact, it is
my opinion that settling near Earth was the smartest
thing that the founders of the Rationalist League ever
did.”

“How so?”

“Allow me to use a comparison.
Long ago it seemed
that the Association of Eternal
Life — the Replicants?” Jaya
nodded. “— would be marginalized
by their peers because
of their practices. It was
only through significant effort
on their part that they were
able to remain a major part
of the civilized universe. They
put an immense number of
worker-hours into improving
their political ties. We Logicians,
on the other hand, have
never needed to do this. None
of the other civilizations dare
to break ties with us, lest they
abandon their homeworld.”

“It still doesn’t make sense
to me.”

“And there you have the
very essence of the other civilizations.
They don’t make sense. But they are sometimes
predictable, and their emotions give us a lever
this time. If we are peaceful towards them, and allow
access to Earth, they must deal with us, because any
alternative is unthinkable to them.”

The station chimes sounded, and the two walked
home towards dinner.

“And they won’t go to war?”

“No, not against us. But we’ll talk about their
other emotions some other time. Go clean your
hands for dinner.”