INTRODUCTION
Héctor Germán Oesterheld was an Argentine journalist and author of science fiction and comics, his 1957-59 comic "El Eternauta" is commonly recognized as one of, if not the, most important work of Argentine science fiction. Oesterheld wrote more than 20 science fiction short stories and novellas, many under different pseudonyms. In 1977, Osterheld and the families of his four daughters were kidnapped and presumed murdered by the Argentine military.
"Beware of the Dog" was published in the August 1953 issue of the Argentine science fiction magazine "Más Allá" ("Beyond") under the pseudonym Héctor Sánchez Puyol.
For further information on this era of Argentine science fiction, see Rachel Haywood Ferreira's "Más Allá, El Eternauta, and the Dawn of the Golden Age of Latin American Science Fiction (1953-59)" and "How Latin America Saved the World and Other Forgotten Futures".
For complete scans of Más Allá, see: https://ahira.com.ar/revistas/mas-alla-de-la-ciencia-y-de-la-fantasia/
BEWARE OF THE DOG
My Lord has ordered me to write.
Write about everything I see or hear on my voyage to Earth.
My Lord has ordered me to write, and this I am doing.
The voyage in what they call a spaceship is going very well so far. The only bad moments are when everything, including me, seems to lose weight and float in the air. I get scared, and the two men laugh a lot.
- "Don't be afraid, Venusian." - One of the men tells me, the youngest, the one with a pink face and small, very red veins in the corners of his eyes. "Don't be afraid, you'll soon be able to lie down in bed..."
I get so scared that I think I'll never get my weight back again and I can't tell him that my name isn't "Venusian", but that my name is a-Kía. I could tell him later, but I know it's useless; he wouldn't understand me. They very much like to change the names of everything... Even Riru, the swamp world where we live, is called Venos, or Venus, or Venis.
I've calmed down now, because my body has weight again, and I'm using this opportunity to write.
The young man is watching me write. He can't understand the symbols I'm making, and he's smiling. His lips are red inside, very red. And in his hands, his blue veins are swelling. Everything about him, even his eyes with red veins in the corners, seems filled with blood.
Now his companion is approaching. He looks older, since he's paler, he must have much less blood inside.
While they're watching me write, they're both talking. I understand almost nothing of what they're saying, but this is what they say:
- "Lucky these Venusians are so stupid." - The one who's speaking is the oldest. - "If they prove that they can live on Earth, the labor problem in the 'nife' ultramines will be solved..."
- "Do you really believe in that project, Jack?" - The one who's speaking is the youngest. "Don't you want us to take this Venusian to the Museum?"
- "To the Museum? Don't be naïve, Fred! Did you not hear the Marshal's last speech? He clearly stated: the only way to exploit the Earth's metallic core is to use extraterrestrial labor... What human laborer would endure working at a depth of a hundred thousand meters, where the heat, despite the refrigeration, is terrible, and the air, despite the oxygen injectors, is almost unbreathable? Yes, Fred, it's best to use beings from another planet as laborers."
- "Laborers or slaves?"
- "Call them what you will. In any event, the intelligence of these Venusians is equivalent to that of a three or four year old child; that's been confirmed by the psychiatrists from all the other expeditions...; their extremely primitive technology also proves it: they've never known how to build themselves even the simplest of huts... Furthermore, all the psychiatrists are in agreement that they lack the most rudimentary notion of what we call feelings or sensibility..."
- "The perfect slaves, isn't that right?"
- "That's right."
For a moment, the younger of the two men is silent; and then he says:
- "I don't know who's lacking feelings, them or us..."
- "Don't be dramatic, Fred. Were you even once concerned about the immorality of domesticating cows, sheep or horses? The same will be done with the Venusians, only, instead of eating them or making them work in the fields, we will make them work in the ultramines... They're so stupid that they like our company. They nearly fought each other to be taken to Earth with us! Don't you think that nature's gift to us is too good to waste because of some moral preconception nonsense?"
- "Maybe... Although you're not convincing me at all, Jack... These Venusians have such expressive eyes! It hurts to think that they'll be blinded forever in the ultramines..."
- "Don't stress about it; Horses and dogs also have very expressive eyes... And we exploit them quite well!"
I record the conversation as it is, word for word. Although I don't know what they mean, what do slave, ultramine, horse, dog, and blind mean?
My Lord has ordered me to write, even though I understand nothing. My Lord has ordered me to write, and this I am doing.
* * *
Now the weight of my body becomes excessive: I move with certain difficulty.
- "We're already close to Earth," the young man explains to me. He is satisfied; I know it because he smiles, again showing the red of the flesh on his lips.
The other one is also happy. He pats me, and hands the young man something that appears to contain water.
- "I'm always glad to come back to Earth," the one who is speaking is the elder, "Have a drink, Fred! It's whisky, from old and immortal Scotland!"
They both drink, and even the elder's cheeks turn red. Now I think that he's as full of blood as the other one...
* * *
We're already on Earth. I've been so tired for several days that I can't even write. Something in my body isn't accustomed to weighing so much. But the men take care of me, and I'm better now.
I don't like Earth. Apart from the fact that it is difficult for me to move, there's too much light, too much heat. The ground is also too hard. And there are so many colors that hurt my eyes a lot.
I would have preferred to leave and look for some swamp so that I could lie down on its shore, but that would have displeased the men. And my Lord has ordered me to always please them, to do whatever they told me.
My Lord has ordered me to please the men, and this I am doing.
* * *
They've taken me for a ride in what they call a flying saucer. It's like a spaceship for short trips.
I then saw many things unknown to me; I note their names, because I don't know what they are: oceans, fields, canals, ships, mills, jungles... (I continue with the list on a separate page).
The only thing that really caught my attention was what they call cities. What would men fear that they live so crowded together?
* * *
Despite all this, the device, the radiation counter, that I wear on my waist, does not cease its functioning. There's enormous radioactivity on Earth!
Much, much more than on Riru.
My Lord will be glad to hear it.
My Lord has ordered me not to touch the radiation counter at all. Because the device notes the radioactivity numbers by itself.
My Lord has ordered me to leave the radiation counter to work by itself, and this I am doing.
* * *
Today I'm going out for a walk with my two companions from the spaceship. We pass by many men, and they all stop to look at me. They look at my helmet, my suit..., they even touch me. I let them do it.
Several little men surround me in one place. They shout a lot, and laugh, and push each other over.
- "A slave! A slave!" one shouts very happily. "Look, Pedrito, a slave!"
I look at their eyes, and I see that they have almost no red veins in the corners. But the skin color is pinker than that of the big men. It would seem that they have more blood on the surface.
The little men push me, pat me, even pinch me. I look at their pink skin, and I continue walking.
My two companions smile at me.
My Lord has ordered me to please the men, and this I am doing.
* * *
In a place where there are what men call trees, something happens to me that at first scares me and then makes me think...
Two strange beings, which were not men, because they had four legs and longer teeth, came out of I don't know where, and charge at me. My companions shout something at them and make them run away. But I get very scared. Because they roar like the knop, the nocturnal butcher of the swamps of Riru...
- "Don't worry," the young man tells me, "they won't do you any harm."
- "What are they called?" I ask.
- "Dogs... They're animals that we teach to obey: they look after our houses, and accompany us on walks. They're very good friends; it's a shame they aren't more intelligent..."
I don't understand much of this explanation; only, that the men have obedience over the dogs...
- "If they had more intelligence, could they do more difficult things?"
- "Of course!"
- "Help, for example, conquer another planet?"
The young man looks at me surprised before answering.
- "Yes; they could help conquer another planet." he answers afterwards, "But there is no need to worry that they'll be used for that! Dogs are so stupid that they're not even good for conquering other men....
I don't understand the answer, but I note it as I hear it. I see other dogs later, although far away. I don't know why I have felt a great desire to attack and kill them.
I hate dogs like I've never hated anyone...
But my Lord has ordered me to please the men, and this I am doing.
* * *
The men make devices that are used to copy what the eyes can see onto pieces of white material. The advantage they have over the eyes is that the image doesn't disappear, but rather remains fixed and immutable and can be seen over time and by anyone.
Today they gave me one, and I have copied the faces of many men, especially those who seemed to be the most full of blood. My Lord will be happy when he sees them.
* * *
Men have been coming to see me for three days. They are old men, with many red veins in the corners of their eyes, but very pale. They look at me a lot, they put strange devices on me, they make me do some tests.
After the three days, all the old men gather around me. There is a pause, and another man appears, neither young nor old. Everyone crouches before him.
- "What's your report?" he asks the elders.
- "It confirms the previous data, Marshal," answers one of the elders, "The Venusians have very weak muscles for Earth, and without a doubt, their individual work capacity will be reduced. But since there are so many on Venus, their joint capability for work is potentially formidable."
- "Magnificent, magnificent..." the man Marshal seems very happy.
- "Their intelligence, although superior to that of any terrestrial animal, is very basic. They can't plan anything: they fail even the simplest 'test'.[Translator's note: "Test" in English in the original.] Of course, their memory is prodigious, they have no imagination, but they don't forget anything, and they rapidly learn any language; always, of course, if they are spoken to in concrete and very simple terms."
- "Magnificent. It's beyond doubt that the High Powers have decided to present a new gift to man... Since they placed the dogs, the cows, the horses at his side, they have not done him such a favor... We shall have unlimited quantities of slaves to exploit the ultramines! The High Powers have returned to remember the human race..."
I don't understand anything that they say. But I see that the men lower their heads and put their hands on their chests.
A very old man, perhaps the oldest of all, stands up.
- "Forgive me, Marshal," the one who is speaking is the oldest "but isn't it dangerous to speak so bluntly, in front of this Venusian, about what we're going to do with all the inhabitants of Venus?"
- "Always timorous, old Rector..." the one who is speaking is the Marshal "What danger could there be? He listens, but he doesn't understand anything... The only thing they understand is that we treat them well, and that we'll always treat all the Venusians well. Right, Venusian?"
I answer yes, moving my head forward, like they do.
- "Are we sure" - the one who is speaking is the oldest - "that there aren't any beings on Venus that are more intelligent than these?"
- "Completely! We've explored Venus across every direction, and the only inhabitants that we found on that immense swamp planet with intelligence, if you can call it that, are all the same as this one.... Beings without technology, very inferior even to prehistoric man..."
- "What about those men who died on Venus, Marshal? What about all those men who appeared with their bodies dissected, as if they were mummies, and without any visible wounds? Do the Venusians not have some weapon unknown to us?"
- "Absurd! Think clearly, Rector!" the one who is speaking is the Marshal; his face is almost red... "Has anyone ever attributed a secret weapon to cows because they transmitted anthrax to us? The men who died on Venus have undoubtedly been wiped out by some currently unknown disease!"
The Marshal pauses and then continues, his face pale again:
- "There is nothing to fear, rectors. This Venusian will return to Venus in the spaceship that brought him, and he'll tell his fellow species that we treat him very well here. When the cargo ships go to Venus, the Venusians will beg us to let them come on board... And since none of them will ever return, they'll never know the truth... Let us, rectors, thank the High Powers for the wonderful gift that they've sent us, and let us take advantage of it!"
Nobody speaks again when the Marshal becomes silent.
I don't say anything either: they have used too many new words, unknown to me. What do High Powers, beg, mummies, and anthrax mean?
* * *
We're on the spaceship once again. My body loses all its weight once again and then it comes back; although never as much as before.
- "We're approaching Venus." The one who is speaking is the youngest.
- "It's about time!" He and his companion are happy.
But I am much, so much more so. Because once again I will see my Lord.
My wonderful, my almighty Lord.
The men don't know that he exists; that he, and many others like him, live hidden at the bottom of the Riru swamps...; that they feed on radioactivity, and that is why they want to conquer the Earth... The only thing they need is to find out if there is as much on Earth as it seems. That's why I, a-Kía, was sent, with the radiation counter hidden on my waist.
My Lord and another like him will take the men's spaceship, and in it they'll conquer the Earth with their invincible weapons. They'll have all the radioactivity they need, and they'll give us the men...
They will tame them for us; so that we may feed on their blood, which does so much good for us, and we'll become stronger. This way we too can live on Earth.
* * *
The spaceship has stopped. We're already on Riru.
The two men are opening the hatch.
My Lord has ordered me to kill when the men open the hatch.
My Lord has ordered me to kill, and this I am doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment