they were different
BY NEIL J. KENNEY
Such magnificent gifts as these were undoubtedly
intended for Mankind. But those who possess them are
rare indeed, while those who fear the unknown are legion
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1955.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
As secretary, receptionist and general nursemaid to them I took itupon myself to dig back through the news files and get enough clips totell their history from birth until they opened the school. You've allread it so there's no need to go into details about their strange lifeand still stranger birth. Nor their magnificent education or still moremagnificent gifts. It's true, every bit of it; their telepathic andESPing powers WORKED. They were the only births like them to surviveto maturity and beyond.
During the last contact I had with them (I was their first and mostadvanced pupil) it came as pure inspiration to take down theirtransmissions in the special short, shorthand we developed for useamong the pupils and ourselves. What follows may be added to the storytold by the news clips, differing only in person. I have added nothingin translation of the notes, leaving the narrative as disjointed asthey gave it. The events are as they transmitted them, as they livedthem. I was in contact with them until—but read, and when you'rethrough reading do as I do every night.
Pray.
And hope—for mankind.
Well, Kitten, it seems impossible that three grand, successful years ofwork could end so suddenly with us lying in a ditch or anticipating,ESPwise, an occasional bullet fired from the guns of friends but thereit is. God, what a complicated being this so-called modern man is! Heseems to be born cloaked with complexities which get even more complexas he grows. No wonder he has been so long on the road, being engagedin a continual battle between ethics and emotions as he has.
So here we are, the bridge, the first rungs of a ladder leading to anew and delightful plane of existence for all mankind, wallowing inthe mud of an irrigation ditch instead of glorying in the divine worldof the mind. If we can but make them see! Maybe the professors wereright when they told us to teach under the protection of the universityinstead of hardheadedly going out on our own.
Princess, do you remember Lucille? She was our best pupil, after you,of course. She's the one who turned over the stone that freed ourpersonal gremlin. Oh, it's not really her fault, though she did breakour one and only cardinal rule by bringing in an outsider herselfinstead of leaving such choices to us. Actually the fault was oursbecause—well, who knows? That wonderful control we practiced for somany years slipped, no matter the reason. It was just one of thoseinexplicably foolish things people will do when they think they're inlove. Guess we thought we could save her some embarrassment or somesuch thing.
You had just left on a long vacation when that one showed up. He wasthe man that Lucille brought up with her as a prospective pupil, theone that—one wing of them is closing in on us now, Kitten. We'll haveto try for the swamp ahead of us. We'll have to lose them for a whileif we want time to figure a way out, though we aren't really very goodat this sort of cat and mouse game. We can give our own boys a littlecredit, though. They aren't really trying to hit us. They shoo