Birthright

“What makes you think it has the slightest acquaintance with the square of the hypotenuse and its

relatives?” asked Tanayoka.

“It's a pretty universal theorem,” said Consuela “I expect it is just as true on Beelzebub as on Earth.” She passed the paper through the bars to the alien. It looked at the figures, contorted its mouth into a snarl, and ripped the paper to shreds. Three more attempts brought forth the same results. “Obviously it's not geometrically inclined,” said Consuela. “I'm going to try some simple binary equations next, but technology is usually the forerunner to a knowledge of the binary system, and there's been no evidence of any technology on this world, so I rather expect our friend here to give this the same treatment.” The creature ripped up five sheets of paper before Consuela put her pen and paper aside with a sigh. “Nonmathematical,” she said. “Or noncooperative. Probably the latter.” “Unintelligent?” asked Tanayoka tentatively. “Not necessarily. I have a son who could never make change, and now he's a newsman of some renown. His math is still absolutely abominable, but I hardly consider him unintelligent.” “I'm beginning to get an appreciation of the problems involved in your line of work,” said Tanayoka with a grim smile. “It has also occurred to me that it may know perfectly well what you're doing, but feels obligated to offer you nothing but its name, rank, and serial number.” “That's quite possible,” she agreed, without ever taking her eyes off the alien. “And as a whole, psychology is coming up with about sixteen percent successes,” said Tanayoka “I'm amazed that you come up with even one percent!” “Well, you can do a lot with percentages,” said Consuela. “Usually the Republic considers us successful if we discover their weaknesses. Understanding them takes a little more work.” She paused, looking at the alien for a long minute. “Has it had any water since it was captured?”

“Not to my knowledge,” said Tanayoka “Good,” said Consuela. “Let's see if we can't set up a little reward situation.”

With the aid of some of the crew members she set up two transparent boxes, each containing a jiggerful of water. One box had an untreated red top, the other a blue top that emitted a mild electrical charge when touched. Then she heated up the room and raised the humidity until everyone in it, human and alien alike, was feeling uncomfortable.

The alien was then presented with the two boxes. It immediately opened the one with the blue top. “Some of us just aren't born lucky,” said Consuela, as the alien drank the half-ounce of water within the box. The boxes were removed, the missing water replaced, and they were offered to the alien again. This time it chose the red box.