15. Normal meets Zafar II
"You mentioned the Age of Chaos?" continued Normal, warming to the subject and his companion. "I've heard stories about the Age of Chaos since I was a child. They say that all of humanity was fighting against one another and that they had great weapons that could destroy whole continents. But I've not been able to find anything concrete on the GlobalNet at all except for the same old stories. Are those stories actually true?"
"Absolutely!" began Zafar and then the scholar in him appeared to have a word with the human in him. "Or rather, as far as we can determine, most of what has been passed down by way of word of mouth about the Age of Chaos appears to be correct. The great wars between nations during that time were the main cause of the destruction of human civilization as they knew it at that time. They used bombs that wiped out entire cities and billions of people. In a matter of days, we tumbled from the heights of technological achievement to scrabbling in the ground trying to find our next meal ..."
"And then the aliens arrived and we were back to being on top of technology?" finished Normal.
Zafar gave Normal the kind of look teachers reserved for that one kid who always appeared in every teacher's classroom[1]. "This is not exactly the top rung of the technological ladder, you know. Besides, quite a lot of our people are still living under almost the same conditions that existed before the aliens arrived."
"You can't do anything about the technophobes," Normal shrugged. "The Torvoldites hate all new technology because they think technology caused all our problems of the past. They claim that they don't want to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors. What can you do with people like that?"
"Oh, it's not as simple as that, you know," replied Zafar, smiling indulgently at Normal. "The influx of new technology since the intergalactic trade route was opened has meant that we've suddenly become engorged with technology. Our people aren't assimilating all of it fast enough and so, it's only the cities which are actually using the tech we've received. Most of the people living outside the cities still don't know how to use all these gadgets. Some of them haven't even heard about a lot of these toys. We need to educate them first."
"Is that so? I thought that the only ones who didn't use the new technology were the Torvoldites. But then again, what do I know? I live in the city. I'm sure you know the trends, and the causes, better than I do," said Normal in a conciliatory tone. He then paused as if considering something, "You ever wonder why the aliens are giving us all this tech for free?"
"Well, as you probably know," began Zafar as if he was back in the lecture rooms of his university, "the first aliens to discover our world were in search of a better trade route between two sectors of the galaxy. We were in an uncharted sector of the galaxy that had not been visited in millennia. They discovered that not only was our planet right smack dab in the middle of the new route that they'd charted out but that the planet was inhabited by sentient beings."
"Yes, every child growing up today knows all of that, but that doesn't explain why they'd be giving away technology without asking for anything in return," interrupted Normal impatiently.
Zafar raised a finger, as if gently chiding a not too bright student. "Yes, being human, we would certainly think that way but apparently, these aliens have a different code of conduct that they have developed over the ages. The Martians, as everybody insists on calling them, were the first to discover us and soon the other races followed since our planet was an ideal stopover point. However, they needed our cooperation to build bases here. While they could have easily taken over the planet by force, what I've learnt indicates that their code prevents them from doing so. Since they needed our help, they had to build our technology and science up to a level where we'd be of use to them. The bottom-line is that the tech isn't free - we are paying for it in land, resources and manpower."
"I still don't understand why they didn't simply take over the world - they could have ..."
"Ah Pinky, trying to take over the world isn't that easy," replied Zafar with a smile. All he received in return was a blank stare from Normal. Zafar looked to be on the verge of explaining his cryptic remark but then he just shook his head as if to say, "Never mind".
"Yes, most humans don't understand that attitude," continued Zafar with a weary smile that said that he'd heard this particular view many times before. "But these aliens have been meeting new races for millennia and they've learnt over the ages that force is counterproductive in the long run. So they try to enlist a new race's help rather than take them over. Of course, they appear not to forget that a new race that they encounter might not always feel the same way as they do. So, they don't give us all the good stuff at once - certainly not any of the more powerful weapons. It's rather straightforward and logical if you think about it a bit," concluded Zafar, as if this was something that should have been self-evident to Normal.
"I suppose you're right," agreed Normal, nodding his head reluctantly. "I still don't trust them though, especially those Martians. I'm sure they have something up their sleeves ..."
"Never mind the fact that they don't have any sleeves, eh?" chuckled the old man.
Normal grinned and responded, "You know what I meant!"
"Yes I do my friend. But then again, you're not alone in that view either. Most of humanity still looks at all aliens with suspicion."
"Well ... they're not normal people and we have never liked anything that's not normal." Normal paused a beat and then grinned as he said, "Guess that's why everybody likes me, eh?"
"Indeed!" The old man smiled back. "And of course, since they're not normal, you don't know what to expect from them whereas we know exactly what to expect from another human, don't we?"
"Yeah, they'll either try to cheat you, lie to you or steal from you. You can always depend on a fellow human!" said Normal with a wry chuckle.
The continuous background noise of the hoverbus' air jets, which had played counterpoint to their conversation, changed at this moment. Zafar glanced out the window and turned back to Normal. "Ah, we're stopping at a rest station. It would be good to stretch our legs. Maybe we can continue our conversation later?"
"Sure, I'd like that," replied Normal as he got up and stretched, ready to get off the hoverbus and perhaps get something to eat.
[1] The one who sat at the very back of the class, always got five as the answer to two plus two and who giggled uncontrollably whenever the teacher said certain words.
