The Issahar Artifacts Page 3

howrapidly it developed during its few weeks of life, and the power itpossessed, my mind is appalled at its potential. I've had my experienceand that's enough. Lord! but I'm tired. I feel like a wrung-out sponge.Guess I'll rest for a little while ...

  ... and received a reply to my signal! They heterodyned it right backalong my own beam. They'll be landing in a week. I don't think I'll takethis manuscript with me. I couldn't use it--and somehow I don't feellike burning it. Maybe I'll make a time capsule out of it. It will beamusing to speculate about what sort of a reaction it'll provoke,providing it is ever read. I can see them now, huge-headed humans,wrinkling their noses and saying "Intelligent algae--fantastic--the manmust have been mad!"

  _The manuscript ends here--and of course we know that the "man" was notmad. He left behind a rich heritage indeed, for those few cells thatescaped his wrath and floated down to the sea. Did we but know hisorigin we would erect a suitable memorial if we had to travel to thefarthest reach of our galaxy. But the names he quotes are not in ourrepositories and as for the word "Earth" which he used for hishomeworld, I need not remind my readers that the intelligent terrestrialinhabitants of the 22,748 planets of this sector use the term "Earth" orits synonyms "soil" and "world" to describe their planets. Of course,the term "Homewater" is gradually replacing this archaic concept as weextend our hegemony ever more widely across the disunited worlds of thegalaxy._

  _At that it seems strange that the unknown author's race should havepassed. As individuals they had so many advantages, while we are so weakand individually so helpless. They could do almost everything exceptcommunicate and cooperate. We can do but little else, yet our largeraggregations can control entire worlds, some peopled perhaps withdescendants of this very individual. It merely proves that Dannar'sstatement in the preface of his Thesis is correct._

  "United, cohesive cooperation is the source of irresistible strength."

  THE END

  Transcriber's Note:

  This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_ April 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.