Foundation’s Edge CHAPTER SIX EARTH

EARTH Trevize was hot and annoyed. He and Pelorat were sitting in the small dining area, having just completed their midday meal. Pelorat said, â€Å"We've only been in space two days and I find myself quite comfortable, although I miss fresh air, nature, and all that. Strange! Never seemed to notice all that sort of thing when it was all round me. Still between my wafer and that remarkable computer of yours, I have my entire library with me – or all that matters, at any rate. And I don't feel the least bit frightened of being out in space now. Astonishing!† Trevize made a noncommittal sound. His eyes were inwardly focused. Pelorat said gently, â€Å"I don't mean to intrude, Golan, but I don't really think you're listening. Not that I'm a particularly interesting person always been a hit of a bore, you know. Still, you seem preoccupied in another way. – Are we in trouble? Needn't be afraid to tell me, you know. Not much I could do, I suppose, but I won't go into panic, dear fellow.† â€Å"In trouble?† Trevize seemed to come to his senses, frowning slightly. â€Å"I mean the ship. It's a new model, so I suppose there could be something wrong:† Pelorat allowed himself a small, uncertain smile. Trevize shook his head vigorously. â€Å"Stupid of me to leave you in such uncertainty, Janov. There's nothing wrong at all with the ship. It's working perfectly. It's just that I've been looking for a hyper-relay.† â€Å"Ah, I see. – Except that I don't. What is a hyper-relay?† â€Å"Well, let me explain, Janov. I am in communication with Terminus. At least, I can be anytime I wish and Terminus can, in reverse, be in communication with us. They know the ship's location, having observed its trajectory. Even if they had not, they could locate us by scanning near-space for mass, which would warn them of the presence of a ship or, possibly, a meteoroid. But they could further detect an energy pattern, which would not only distinguish a ship from a meteoroid but would identify a particular ship, for no two ships make use of energy in quite the same way. In some way, our pattern remains characteristic, no matter what appliances or instruments we turn on and off. The ship may be unknown, of course, but if it is a ship whose energy pattern is on record in Terminus – as ours is – it can be identified as soon as detected.† Pelorat said, â€Å"It seems to me, Golan, that the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.† â€Å"You may be right. Sooner or later, however, we must move through hyperspace or we will be condemned to remain within a parsec or two of Terminus for the rest of our lives. We will then be unable to engage in interstellar travel to any but the slightest degree. In passing through hyperspace, on the other hand, we undergo a discontinuity in ordinary space. We pass from here to there – and I mean across a gap of hundreds of parsecs sometimes – in an instant of experienced time. We are suddenly enormously far away in a direction that is very difficult to predict and, in a practical sense, we can no longer be detected.† â€Å"I see that. Yes.† â€Å"Unless, of course, they have planted a hyper-relay on board. A hyperrelay sends out a signal through hyperspace – a signal characteristic of this ship – and the authorities on Terminus would know where we are at all times. That answers your question, you see. There would be nowhere in the Galaxy we could hide and no combination of jumps through hyperspace would make it possible for us to evade their instruments:† â€Å"But, Golan,† bald Pelorat softly, â€Å"don't we want Foundation protection?† â€Å"Yes, Janov, but only when we ask for it. You said the advance of civilization meant the continuing restriction of privacy. – Well. I don't want to be that advanced. I want freedom to move undetected as I wish – unless and until I want protection So I would feel better, a great deal better, if there weren't a hyper-relay on board.† â€Å"Have you found one, Golan?† â€Å"No, I have not. If I had, I might be able to render it inoperative somehow.† â€Å"Would you know one if you saw it?† â€Å"That's one of the difficulties. I might not be able to recognize it. I know what a hyper-relay looks like generally and I know ways of testing a suspicious object – but this is a late-model ship, designed for special tasks. A hyper-relay may have been incorporated into its design in such a way as to show no signs of its presence.† â€Å"On the other hand, maybe there is no hyper-relay present and that's why you haven't found it.† â€Å"I don't dare assume that and I don't like the thought of making a jump until I know.† Pelorat looked enlightened. â€Å"That's why we've just been drifting through space. I've been wondering why we haven't jumped. I've heard about jumps, you know. Been a little nervous about it, actually – been wandering when you'd order me to strap myself in or take a pill or something like that.† Trevize managed a smile. â€Å"No need for apprehension. These aren't ancient times. On a ship like this, you just leave it all to the computer. You give it your instructions and it does the rest. You won't know that anything has happened at all, except that the view of space will suddenly change. If you've ever seen a slide show, you'll know what happens when one slide is suddenly projected in place of another. Well, that's what the jump will seem like.† â€Å"Dear me. One won't feel anything? Odd! I find that somewhat disappointing.† â€Å"I've never felt anything and the ships I've been in haven't been as advanced as this baby of ours. – But it's not because of the hyperrelay that we haven't jumped. We have to get a bit further away from Terminus – and from the sun, too. The farther we are from any massive abject, the easier to control the jump, to make re-emergence into space at exactly desired co-ordinates. In an emergency, you might risk a jump when you're only two hundred kilometers off she surface of a planet and just trust to luck that you'll end up safely. Since there is much mete safe than unsafe volume in the Galaxy, you can reasonably count on safety. Still, there's always the possibility that random factors will cause you to re-emerge within a few million kilometers of a large star or in the Galactic core – and you will find yourself fried before you can blink. The further away you are from mass, the smaller those factors and the less likely it is that anything untoward will happ en.† â€Å"In that case, I commend your caution. We're not in a tearing hurry,† â€Å"Exactly. – Especially since I would dearly love to find the hyperrelay before I make a move. – Or find a way of convincing myself there is no hyper-relay.† Trevize seemed to drift off again into his private concentration and Pelorat said, raising his voice a little to surmount the preoccupation barrier, â€Å"How much longer do we have?† â€Å"What?† â€Å"I mean, when would you make the jump if you had no concerns over the hyper-relay, my dear chap?† â€Å"At our present speed and trajectory, I should say on our fourth day out. I'll work out the proper time on the computer.† â€Å"Well, then, you still have two days for your search. May I make a suggestion?† â€Å"Go ahead.† â€Å"I have always found in my own work – quite different from yours, of course, but possibly we may generalize – that zeroing in tightly on a particular problem is self-defeating. Why not relax and talk about something else, and your unconscious mind – not laboring under the weight of concentrated thought – may solve the problem for you.† Trevize looked momentarily annoyed and then laughed. â€Å"Well, why not? – Tell me, Professor, what got you interested in Earth? What brought up this odd notion of a particular planet from which we all started?† â€Å"Ah!† Pelorat nodded his head reminiscently. â€Å"That's going back a while. Over thirty years. I planned to be a biologist when I was going to college. I was particularly interested in the variation of species on different worlds. The variation, as you know – well, maybe you don't know, so you won't mind if I tell you – is very small. All forms of life throughout the Galaxy – at least all that we have yet encountered – share a water-based protein/nucleic acid chemistry.† Trevize said, â€Å"I went to military college, which emphasized nucleonics and gravities, but I'm not exactly a narrow specialist. I know a bit about the chemical basis of life. We were taught that water, proteins, and nucleic acids are the only possible basis for life.† â€Å"That, I think, is an unwarranted conclusion. It is safer to say that no other form of life has yet been found – or, at any rate, been recognized – and let it go at that. What is more surprising is that indigenous species – that is, species found on only a single planet and no other – are few in number. Most of the species that exist, including Homo sapiens in particular, are distributed through all or most of the inhabited worlds of the Galaxy and are closely related biochemically, physiologically, and morphologically. The indigenous species, on the other hand, are widely separated in characteristics from both the widespread forms and from each other.† â€Å"Well, what of that?† â€Å"The conclusion is that one world in the Galaxy – one world – is different from the rest. Tens of millions of worlds in the Galaxy – no one knows exactly how many – have developed life. It was simple life, sparse life, feeble life – not very variegated, not easily maintained, and not easily spread. One world, one world alone, developed life in millions of species – easily millions – some of it very specialized, highly developed, very prone to multiplication and to spreading, and including us. We were intelligent enough to form a civilization, to develop hyperspatial flight, and to colonize the Galaxy – and, in spreading through the Galaxy, we took many other forms of lifeforms related to each other and to ourselves – along with us.† â€Å"If you stop to think of it,† said Trevize rather indifferently, â€Å"I suppose that stands to reason. I mean, here we are in a human Galaxy. If we assume that it all started on some one world, then that one world would have to be different. But why not? The chances of life developing in that riotous fashion must be very slim indeed – perhaps one in a hundred million – so the chances are that it happened in one life-bearing world out of a hundred million. It had to be one.† â€Å"But what is it that made that particular one world so different from the others?† said Pelorat excitedly. â€Å"What were the conditions that made it unique?† â€Å"Merely chance, perhaps. After all, human beings and the lifeforms they brought with them now exist on tens of millions of planets, all of which can support life, so all those worlds must be good enough.† â€Å"No! Once the human species had evolved, once it had developed a technology, once it had toughened itself in the hard struggle for survival, it could then adapt to life on any world that is in the least hospitable – on Terminus, for instance. But can you imagine intelligent life having developed on Terminus? When Terminus was first occupied by human beings in the days of the EncycIopedists, the highest form of plant life it produced was a mosslike growth on rocks; the highest forms of animal life were small coral-like growths in the ocean and insectlike flying organisms on land. We just about wiped them out and stocked sea and land with fish and rabbits and goats and grass and grain and trees and so on. We have nothing left of the indigenous life, except for what exists in zoos and aquaria.† â€Å"Hmm,† said Trevize. Pelorat stared at him for a full minute, then sighed and said, â€Å"You don't really care, do you? Remarkable! I find no one who does, somehow. My fault, I think. I cannot make it interesting, even though it interests me so much.† Trevize said, â€Å"It's interesting. It is. But – but – so what?† â€Å"It doesn't strike you that it might be interesting scientifically to study a world that gave rise to the only really flourishing indigenous ecological balance the Galaxy has ever seen?† â€Å"Maybe, if you're a biologist. – I'm not, you see. You must forgive me.† â€Å"Of course, dear fellow. It's just that I never found any biologists who were interested, either. I told you I was a biology major. I took it up with my professor and he wasn't interested. He told me to turn to some practical problem. That so disgusted me I took up history instead – which had been rather a hobby of mine from my teenage years, in any case – and tackled the ‘Origin Question' from that angle.† Trevize said, â€Å"But at least it has given you a lifework, so you must be pleased that your professor was so unenlightened.† â€Å"Yes, I suppose one might look at it that way. And the lifework is an interesting one, of which I have never tired. – But I do wish it interested you. I hate this feeling of forever talking to myself.† Trevize leaned his bead back and laughed heartily. Pelorat's quiet face took or: a trace of hurt. â€Å"Why are you laughing at me?† â€Å"Not you, Janov,† said Trevize. â€Å"I was laughing at my own stupidity, Where you're concered, I am completely grateful. You were perfectly right, you know,† â€Å"To take up the importance of human origins?† â€Å"No, no. – Well, yes, that too. – But I meant you were right to tell me to stop consciously thinking of my problem and to turn my mind elsewhere. It worked. When you were talking about the manner in which life evolved, it finally occurred to me that I knew how to find that hyperrelay – if it existed.† â€Å"Oh, that!† â€Å"Yes, that! That's my monomania at the moment. I've been looking for that hyper-relay as though I were on my old scow of a training ship, studying every part of the ship by eye, looking for something that stood out from the rest. I had forgotten that this ship is a developed product of thousands of years of technological evolution. Don't you see?† â€Å"No, Golan.† â€Å"We have a computer aboard. How could I have forgotten?† He waved his hand and passed into his own room, urging Pelorat along with him. â€Å"I need only try to communicate,† he said, placing his hands onto the computer contact. It was a matter of trying to reach Terminus, which was now some thousands of kilometers behind. Reach! Speak! It was as though nerve endings sprouted and extended, reaching outward with bewildering speed – the speed of light, of course – to make contact. Trevize felt himself touching – well, not quite touching, but sensing – well, not quite sensing, but – it didn't matter, for there wasn't a word for it. He was aware of Terminus within reach and, although the distance between himself and it was lengthening by some twenty kilometers per second, contact persisted as though planet and ship were motionless and separated by a few meters. He said nothing. He clamped shut. He was merely testing the principle of communication; he was not actively communicating. Out beyond, eight parsecs away, was Anacreon, the nearest large planet in their backyard, by Galactic standards. To send a message by the same light-speed system that had just worked for Terminus – and to receive an answer as well – would take fifty-two years. Reach for Anacreon! Think Anacreon! Think it as clearly as you can. You know its position relative to Terminus and the Galactic core; you've studied its planetography and history; you've solved military problems where it was necessary to recapture Anacreon (in the impossible case – these days – that it was taken by an enemy). Space! You've been on Anacreon. Picture it! Picture it! You will sense being on it via hyper-relay. Nothing! His nerve endings quivered and came to rest nowhere. Trevize pulled loose. â€Å"There's no hyper-relay on board the Far Star, Janov. I'm positive. – And if I hadn't followed your suggestion, I wonder how long it would have taken me to reach this point.† Pelorat, without moving a facial muscle, positively glowed. â€Å"I'm so pleased to have been of help. Does this mean we jump?† â€Å"No, we still wait two more days, to be safe. We have to get away from mass, remember? – Ordinarily, considering that I have a new and untried ship with which I am thoroughly unacquainted, it would probably take me two days to calculate the exact procedure – the proper hyperthrust for the first jump, in particular. I have a feeling, though, the computer will do it all.† â€Å"Dear me! That leaves us facing a rather boring stretch of time, it seems to me.† â€Å"Boring?† Trevize smiled broadly. â€Å"Anything but! You and I, Janov, are going to talk about Earth.† Pelorat said, â€Å"Indeed? You are trying to please an old man? That is kind of you. Really it is.† â€Å"Nonsense! I'm trying to please myself. Janov, you have made a convert. As a result of what you have told me, I realize that Earth is the most important and the most devouringly interesting object in the Universe.† It must surely have struck Trevize at the moment that Pelorat had presented his view of Earth. It was only because his mind was reverberating with the problem of the hyper-relay that he hadn't responded at once. And the instant the problem had gone, he had responded. Perhaps the one statement of Hari Seldon's that was most often repeated was his remark concerning the Second Foundation being â€Å"at the other end of the Galaxy† from Terminus. Seldon had even named the spot. It was to be â€Å"at Star's End.† This had been included in Gaal Dornick's account of the day of the trial before the Imperial court. â€Å"The other end of the Galaxy† – those were the words Seldon had used to Dornick and ever since that day their significance had been debated. What was it that connected one end of the Galaxy with â€Å"the other end†? Was it a straight line, a spiral, a circle, or what? And now, luminously, it was suddenly clear to Trevize that it was no line and no curve that should – or could – be drawn on the map of the Galaxy. It was more subtle than that. It was perfectly clear that the one end of the Galaxy was Terminus. It was at the edge of the Galaxy, yes – our Foundation's edge – which gave the word â€Å"end† a literal meaning. It was, however, also the newest world of the Galaxy at the time Seldon was speaking, a world that was about to be founded, that had not as yet been in existence for a single moment. What would be the other end of the Galaxy, in that light? The other Foundation's edge? Why, the oldest world of the Galaxy? And according to the argument Pelorat had presented – without knowing what he was presenting – that could only be Earth. The Second Foundation might well be on Earth. Yet Seldon had said the other end of the Galaxy was â€Å"at Star's End.† Who could say he was not speaking metaphorically? Trace the history of humanity backward as Pelorat did and the line would stretch back from each planetary system, each star that shone down on an inhabited planet, to some other planetary system, some other star from which the first migrants had come, then back to a star before that – until finally, all the lines stretched back to the planet on which humanity had originated. It was the star that shone upon Earth that was â€Å"Star's End:† Trevize smiled and said almost lovingly, â€Å"Tell me more about Earth, Janov.† Pelorat shook his head. â€Å"I have told you all there is, really. We will find out more on Trantor.† Trevize said, â€Å"No, we won't, Janov. We'll find out nothing there. Why? Because we're not going to Trantor. I control this ship and I assure you we're not.† Pelorat's mouth fell open. He struggled for breath for a moment and then said, woebegone, â€Å"Oh, my dear fellow!† Trevize said, â€Å"Come an, Janov. Don't look like that. We're going to find Earth.† â€Å"But it's only on Trantor that – â€Å" â€Å"No, it's not. Trantor is just someplace you can study brittle films and dusty documents and turn brittle and dusty yourself.† â€Å"For decades, I've dreamed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You've dreamed of finding Earth.† â€Å"But it's only†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Trevize stood up, leaned over, caught the slack of Pelorat's tunic, and said, â€Å"Don't repeat that, Professor. Don't repeat it. When you first told me we were going to look for Earth, before ever we got onto this ship, you said we were sure to find it because, and I quote your own words, ‘I have an excellent possibility in mind' Now I don't ever want to hear you say ‘Trantor' again. I just want you to tell me about this excellent possibility.† â€Å"But it must be confirmed. So far, it's only a thought, a hope, a vague possibility.† â€Å"Good! Tell me about it!† â€Å"You don't understand. You simply don't understand. It is not a field in which anyone but myself has done research. There is nothing historical, nothing firm, nothing real. People talk about Earth as though it's a fact, and also as though it's a myth. There are a million contradictory tales†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well then, what has your research consisted of?† â€Å"I've been forced to collect every tale, every bit of supposed history, every legend, every misty myth. Even fiction. Anything that includes the name of Earth or the idea of a planet of origin. For over thirty years, I've been collecting everything I could find from every planet of the Galaxy. Now if I could only get something more reliable than all of these from the Galactic Library at†¦ – But you don't want me to say the word.† â€Å"That's right. Don't say it. Tell me instead that one of these items has caught your attention, and tell me your reasons for thinking why it, of them all, should be legitimate.† Pelorat shook his head. â€Å"There, Golan, if you will excuse my saying so, you talk like a soldier or a politician. That is not the way history works.† Trevize took a deep breath and kept his temper. â€Å"Tell me how it works, Janov. We've got two days. Educate me.† â€Å"You can't rely on any one myth or even on any one group. I've had to gather them all, analyze them, organize them, set up symbols to represent different aspects of their content – tales of impossible weather, astronomic details of planetary systems at variance with what actually exists, place of origin of culture heroes specifically stated not to be native, quite literally hundreds of other items. No use going through the entire list. Even two days wouldn't be enough. I spent over thirty years, I tell you. â€Å"I then worked up a computer program that searched through all these myths for common components and sought a transformation that would eliminate the true impossibilities. Gradually I worked up a model of what Earth must have been like. After all, if human beings all originated on a single planet, that single planet must represent the one fact that all origin myths, all culture – hero tales, have in common. – Well, do you want me to go into mathematical detail?† Trevize said, â€Å"Not at the moment, thank you, but how do you know you won't be misled by your mathematics? We know for a fact that Terminus was founded only five centuries ago and that the first human beings arrived as a colony from Trantor but had been assembled from dozens – if not hundreds – of other worlds. Yet someone who did not know this could assume that Hari Seldon and Salvor Hardin, neither of whom were born on Terminus, came from Earth and that Trantor was really a name that stood for Earth. Certainly, if the Trantor as described in Seldon's time were searched for – a world with all its land surface coated with metal – it would not be found and it might be considered an impossible myth.† Pelorat looked pleased. â€Å"I withdraw my earlier remark about soldiers and politicians, my dear fellow. You have a remarkable intuitive sense. Of course, I had to set up controls. I invented a hundred falsities based on distortions of actual history and imitating myths of the type I had collected. I then attempted to incorporate my inventions into the model. One of my inventions was even based on Terminus's early history. The computer rejected them all. Every one. To be sure, that might have meant I simply lacked the fictional talents to make up something reasonable, but I did my best† â€Å"I'm sure you did, Janov. And what did your model tell you about Earth?† â€Å"A number of things of varying degrees of likelihood. A kind of profile. For instance, about 90 percent of the inhabited planets in the Galaxy have rotation periods of between twenty-two and twenty-six Galactic Standard Hours. Well – † â€Å" Trevize cut in. â€Å"I hope you didn't pay any attention to that, Janov. There's no mystery there. For a planet to be habitable, you don't want it to rotate so quickly that air circulation patterns produce impossibly stormy conditions or so slowly that temperature variation patterns are extreme. It's a property that's self-selective. Human beings prefer to live on planets with suitable characteristics, and then when all habitable planets resemble each other in these characteristics, some say, ‘What an amazing coincidence,' when it's not amazing at all and not even a coincidence.† â€Å"As a matter of fact,† said Pelorat calmly, â€Å"that's a well-known phenomenon in social science. In physics, too, I believe – but I'm not a physicist and I'm not certain about that. In any case, it is called the ‘anthropic principle': The observer influences the events he observes by the mere act of observing them or by being there to observe them. But the question is: Where is the planet that served as a model? Which planet rotates in precisely one Galactic Standard Day of twenty-four Galactic Standard Hours?† Trevize looked thoughtful and thrust out his lower lip. â€Å"You think that might be Earth? Surely Galactic Standard could have been based on the local characteristics of any world, might it not?† â€Å"Not likely. It's not the human way. Trantor was the capital world of the Galaxy for twelve thousand years – the most populous world for twenty thousand years – yet it did not impose its rotation period of 1.08 Galactic Standard Days on all the Galaxy. And Terminus's rotation period is 0.91 GSD and we don't enforce ours on the planets dominated by us. Every planet makes use of its own private calculations in its own Local Planetary Day system, and for matters of interplanetary importance converts – with the help of computers – back and forth between LPD and GSD. The Galactic Standard Day must come from Earth]† â€Å"Why is it a must?† â€Å"For one thing, Earth was once the only inhabited world, so naturally its day and year would be standard and would very likely remain standard out of social inertia as other worlds were populated. Then, too, the model I produced was that of an Earth that rotated on its axis in just twenty-four Galactic Standard Hours and that revolved about its sun in just one Galactic Standard Year.† â€Å"Might that not be coincidence?† Pelorat laughed. â€Å"Now it is you who are talking coincidence. Would you care to lay a wager on such a thing happening by coincidence?† â€Å"Well well,† muttered Trevize. â€Å"In fact, there's more to it. There's an archaic measure of time that's called the month†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I've heard of it.† â€Å"It, apparently, about fits the period of revolution of Earth's satellite about Earth. However – â€Å" â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Well, one rather astonishing factor of the model is that the satellite I just mentioned is huge – over one quarter the diameter of the Earth itself.† â€Å"Never heard of such a thing, Janov. There isn't a populated planet in the Galaxy with a satellite like that.† â€Å"But that's good,† said Pelorat with animation. â€Å"If Earth is a unique world in its production of variegated species and the evolution of intelligence, then we want some physical uniqueness.† â€Å"But what could a large satellite have to do with variegated species, intelligence, and all that?† â€Å"Well now, there you hit a difficulty. I don't really know. But it's worth examination, don't you think?† Trevize rose to his feet and folded his arms across his chest. â€Å"But what's the problem, then? Look up the statistics on inhabited planets and find one that has a period of rotation and of revolution that are exactly one Galactic Standard Day and one Galactic Standard Year in length, respectively. And if it also has a gigantic satellite, you'd have what you want. I presume, from your statement that you ‘have an excellent possibility in mind,' that you've done just this, and that you have your world.† Pelorat looked disconcerted. â€Å"Well, now, that's not exactly what happened. I did look through the statistics, or at least I had it done by the astronomy department and – well, to put it bluntly, there's no such world.† Trevize sat down again abruptly. â€Å"But that means your whole argument falls to the ground.† â€Å"Not quite, it seems to me.† â€Å"What do you mean, not quite? You produce a model with all sorts of detailed descriptions and you can't find anything that fits. Your model is useless, then. You must start from the beginning.† â€Å"No. It just means that the statistics on populated planets are incomplete. After all, there are tens of millions of them and some are very obscure worlds. For instance, there is no good data on the population of nearly half. And concerning six hundred and forty thousand populated worlds there is almost no information other than their names and sometimes the location. Some galactographers have estimated that there may be up to ten thousand inhabited planets that aren't listed at all. The worlds prefer it that way, presumably. During the Imperial Era, it might have helped them avoid taxation.† â€Å"And in the centuries that followed,† said Trevize cynically. â€Å"It might have helped them serve as home bases for pirates, and that might have, on occasion, proved more enriching than ordinary trade.† â€Å"I ‘wouldn't know about that,† said Pelorat doubtfully. Trevize said, â€Å"Just the same, it seems to me that Earth would have to be on the list of inhabited planets, whatever its own desires. It would be the oldest of them all, by definition, and it could not have been overlooked in the early centuries of Galactic civilization. And once on the list, it would stay on. Surely we could count on social inertia there.† Pelorat hesitated and looked anguished. â€Å"Actually, there – there is a planet named Earth on the list of inhabited planets.† Trevize stared. â€Å"I'm under the impression that you told me a while ago that Earth was not on the list?† â€Å"As Earth, it is not. There is, however, a planet named Gaia.† â€Å"What has that got to do with it? Gahyah?† â€Å"It's spelled G-A-I-A. It means ‘Earth.'† â€Å"Why should it mean Earth, Janov, any more than anything else? The name is meaningless to me.† Pelorat's ordinarily expressionless face came close to a grimace. â€Å"I'm not sure you'll believe this. – If I go by my analysis of the myths, there were several different, mutually unintelligible, languages on Earth.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Yes. After all, we have a thousand different ways of speaking across the Galaxy†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Across the Galaxy, there are certainly dialectical variations, but these are not mutually unintelligible. And even if understanding some of them is a matter of difficulty, we all share Galactic Standard.† â€Å"Certainly, but there is constant interstellar travel. What if some world was in isolation for a prolonged period?† â€Å"But you're talking of Earth. A single planet. Where's the isolation?† â€Å"Earth is the planet of origin, don't forget, where humanity must at one time have been primitive beyond imagining. Without interstellar travel, without computers, without technology at all, struggling up from nonhuman ancestors.† â€Å"This is so ridiculous.† Pelorat hung his head in embarrassment at that. â€Å"There is perhaps no use discussing this, old chap. I never have managed to make it convincing to anyone. My own fault, I'm sure.† Trevize was at once contrite. â€Å"Janov, I apologize. I spoke without thinking. These are views, after all, to which I am not accustomed. You have been developing your theories for over thirty years, while I've been introduced to them all at once. You must make allowances. – Look, I'll imagine that we have primitive people on Earth who speak two completely different, mutually unintelligible, languages. â€Å"‘ â€Å"Half a dozen, perhaps,† said Pelorat diffidently. â€Å"Earth may have been divided into several large land masses and it may be that there were, at first, no communications among them. The inhabitants of each land mass might have developed an individual language.† Trevize said with careful gravity, â€Å"And on each of these land masses, once they grew cognizant of one another, they might have argued an ‘origin Question' and wondered on which one human beings had first arisen from other animals.† â€Å"They might very well, Golan. It would be a very natural attitude for them to have.† â€Å"And in one of those languages, Gaia means Earth. And the word ‘Earth' itself is derived from another one of those languages.† â€Å"Yes, yes: ‘ â€Å"And while Galactic Standard is the language that descended from the particular language in which ‘Earth' means ‘Earth,' the people of Earth for some reason call their planet ‘Gala' from another of their languages.† â€Å"Exactly! You are indeed quick, Golan.† â€Å"But it seems to me that there's no need to make a mystery of this. If Gaia is really Earth, despite the difference in names, then Gala, by your previous argument, ought to have a period of rotation of just one Galactic Day, a period of revolution of just one Galactic Year, and a giant satellite that revolves about it in just one month.† â€Å"Yes, it would have to be so.† â€Å"Well then, does it or doesn't it fulfill these requirements?† â€Å"Actually I can't say. The information isn't given in the tables.† â€Å"Indeed? Well, then, Janov, shall we go to Gaia and time its periods and stare at its satellite?† â€Å"I would like to, Golan,† Pelorat hesitated. â€Å"The trouble is that the location isn't given exactly, either.† â€Å"You mean, all you have is the name and nothing more, and that is your excellent possibility?† â€Å"But that is just why I want to visit the Galactic Library!† â€Å"Well, wait. You say the table doesn't give the location exactly. Does it give any information at all?† â€Å"It lists it in the Sayshell Sector – and adds a question mark.† â€Å"Well, then – Janov, don't be downcast. We will go to the Sayshell Sector and somehow we will find Gaia!†

Dominating the Dominant Behavioral Style Essay

The personality profile that I scored the highest on was the dominant behavioral style. Conscientiousness was a close second. Both of these results reflected my personality very well. There are positive and negative attributes to my determined style. Now that I am aware of what profile fits me, it is necessary to make adjustments. A balance is crucial for my development. In order to find a positive balance, it is essential to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. For me to make progress as an individual, I need to understand what identifies me as dominant and of a developer’s pattern. I also need to take a look at how I view myself and in turn how others view me. By making this assessment, I can begin to eliminate the negative traits and highlight my positive behavior. This will allow me to become a better person in both the workplace and my personal life. Taking a look at the dominance behavioral style, I took note at the many similarities to my personality. I am, indeed, a person that accepts challenges, makes quick decisions, causes action and likes to get immediate results. In my environment, I desire opportunities for advancement and individual accomplishment. I also seek freedom from controls and supervision. I demand direct answers. The action plan that I should follow holds the key to decreasing the negative aspects of this style. Learning to pace myself and relax is difficult for me. My need for people is something I have trouble realizing. Hopefully, coming to terms with what I need to do will allow me to make strides in the right direction. After my coworkers’ assessment of me, I came to the conclusion that I may be showing inconsistencies in my behavior. I received three different evaluations of my personality. I was seen as dominant, influential and steady. In my own defense, I chose three very different coworkers with varying degrees of acquaintance. One of them knows me very well, another knows me only at work and th e other met me only months ago. The person that knows me well chose the dominant behavioral style. The one that knows me only from work chose the influential behavioral style. The one that I met months ago chose steadiness as my behavioral style. In retrospect, I believe that the reason for the differences is based not only on how well each one knows me, but also on my working self-context. The need for me to become more consistent is evident by the way people perceive me. I want to be more dependable and steadfast. Another aspect that needs some work, on my part, is expectations. I have to stop putting expectations on myself and others. Sometimes setting unrealistic standards creates unnecessary conflict. Expecting others to behave in a particular way often becomes a great source of stress and disappointment. Less judgment and more understanding are goals that I have in place for myself since the assessment. Another downfall is my inability to give up control. Often in my career, it has come to my attention that I am over-assertive to the point of being abrasive. In my attempts to encourage, my efforts have been misinterpreted as criticism and judgment. It is my desire to relinquish my desire for control and give it to God. I also hope to be less judgmental and understanding of my co-workers. I want to be viewed as part of the team and to inspire and encourage others. God’s plan for me becomes more evident every day. Jesus shows us the best way to treat one another. I need to take from His example and apply His teachings to my life every day. It is my opinion that our Lord, Jesus Christ, had all of the positive attributes from each behavioral style. He showed us inspiration by spreading His enthusiasm for our God by preaching the Sermon on the Mount. That is a perfect example of His influential style. His steadiness style showed patience, loyalty and calm. He displayed this in His dealings with His disciples. He taught us how to create harmony and stability in our lives by following the laws of God. Jesus’ conscientiousness showed us that He was the ultimate diplomat. He dominates our hearts as Christians. He moves us to manage our trouble and solve our problems with His love. He causes us to take action and to accept challenges in His name, the way He did when He died on the cross for us. It is my belief that we should take the example of Jesus’ life as a template for our own lives. We should strive to build on the positive aspects of our particular behavioral style. Making it a priority to develop ourselves and enhance the way we grow is what will allow us to become more like Him. In the glory of His name, we should try to eliminate the negative and enhance the positive of our own unique and individual personality style. In doing so, we will find rewards in all aspects of our lives.

Case Attrition

The exercising of discretion by all system actors, public and private, and from the nature of the criminal process itself is a result of case attrition. Basically, case attrition is when an arrest does not end in a trial conviction, which happens quite often in the court justice system. This is not new experience, nor one limited to the United States; several other Western countries and in the early parts of the twentieth century reported the same high rates of case attrition (encyclopedia. com). The effect case attrition has on the criminal justice system is observed at the different levels of the criminal justice process, because an arrest or no arrest affects everything. Law enforcement officers becomes burnt out, or have negative feelings about the justice system. Full enforcement has never been achieved, nor is likely to be achieved; it may be undesirable citizens and their political leaders must keep these findings in mind when making decisions about criminal justice polices. The high levels of case attrition in modern systems shows that the criminal law has very substantial limitations as an direct crime control such as, deterrence, incapcitation, and rehabilitation. Criminal convictions and penalties impose deserved punishment (retribution) and reinforce important societal denunciation, but if these penal consequences are imposed according to procedure that are widely perceived as fair and just. Attrition can get rid of individuals in the over-worked justice system that were arrested that either had a problem with the legality of the arrest or it was the result of an overworked, or bad officer in a situation where an arrest was not necessary. When these cases are removed from the justice system, it is possible for attorneys and judges to be able to focus on more serious crimes.

Constructing the written evidence based proposal Essay

Constructing the written evidence based proposal - Essay Example If a nurse does not know the amount or level of exercise that may put the patient at risk, they may end up getting low quality healthcare services. A number of studies have shown that it is not necessary for an individual to meet the recommended time for exercise in order to achieve the best outcome. It is evident from the studies that the intensity of the exercise to be done is dependent on the age, gender, and the severity of the condition. For instance, one study found out that women who walked a distance of more than ten blocks reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by a considerable margin. The proposed change at the hospital involves the introduction of an exercise recommendation plan. The Change will be implemented in a period of 24 months. The process of incorporating the change into the organization’s culture, structure, and workflow will be based on the 8-step change model developed by Kotter. The change will be initiated by a group of nurses working as a team in the care of cardiovascular disease. The change will be overseen by a committee to include various stakeholders including nurses, physicians, and clinicians. Resources needed for the change implementation include staff, educational materials, assessment tools, and funds. The plan will be evaluated by surveying nurses in relation to their attitudes toward the change, comparing the patient’s discharge survey before and after initiation of the change, and comparing the probability of cardiovascular risk among individuals who exercise and those who do not based on their gender and age. Tools to e ducate the project participants include questionnaires and PowerPoint slides. The evidence will be disseminated through websites, newsletters, reports, e-mail, workshops, briefings, and conferences. Exercise has been described as an important element in the well-being of an individual. In fact, exercise has been hailed by many an expert as

Social Media - Emerging Technologies in Business Communications Assignment

Social Media - Emerging Technologies in Business Communications - Assignment Example Links on the page provides a platform for connecting with other businesses and reach out to them for more exposure. Target audience is found on sites most visited. The constant posting of new content about the brand regularly, when the target audience is most active on social media, helps in the attraction of new users. It generates more exposure to new users. Constant interaction and replying to feedback and comments makes it easy to make the user experience enjoyable for the audience. In addition, interacting with clients and solving their queries effectively makes them remember the brand due to a unique helpful attitude (Wong, 2013). This gets more likes and following, therefore generating more traffic and gaining more sales. New users frequenting the brand site should be confident about the authenticity of the site in order to ensure that it runs on a genuine platform. Use of competitions and questionnaires relating to the brand enhances build up on the profile image. The brand should have a personality that suits the products and services. These strategies help in the creation of new

Defining Love in Today's World Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Defining Love in Today's World - Article Example   Emotion is often considered to be the first language of human beings (Lewis & Lannon 13). Before they could converse with one another, humans reacted with expression and feeling. If an injury would cause them pain, they reacted to it; if a child’s laughter touched them, they would express it through emotion. Some emotions may not have been properly understood by those early human beings. Even now, many cultures may have different views on how these emotions should be expressed or what they mean. Love is no exception to this. Love comes in many forms, and therefore has many meanings, which can make it difficult for humans to fully understand. Despite this, it is one of the easiest emotions to display. There is no definitive beginning to the various meanings of love; in the attempt to â€Å"chart the ‘arc of love’ is that, like time, this is a subject resistant to analysis, because its existence is predicated on experience (Vickers 1).† People define love in their own terms and based on their own experiences, though most people can relate to the majority of these meanings. The history of love can only really be traced based on each individual and the love that they have felt for someone or something. This is one of the many characteristics of love that makes it a great and precious emotion - it is copious in its existence and it is steeped in everyone’s personal and unique history. Love is most thought of as the emotion felt between a couple in a serious and romantic relationship, whether they are married or are dating. In this case, love encompasses all the little aspects that keep the couple together. The smiles that are shared that are full of little secrets and that can convey thousands of messages without ever speaking; the experiences and memories that they have from the day they started dating to the present; even all of the little fights and hardships that they went through to get to where they provide evidence of lov e. The fact that they are in love is what enables them to get through hard times. This love can be increased from dating to marriage. Marriage in itself is a physical representation of romantic love between a couple. It is also a way that a couple can share and display their love for friends, family, and to the public. Teenagers and children claim to romantically love their significant other or their playground sweetheart.  Ã‚  

Business Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Decision Making - Essay Example The price for the terrace house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms is ?395,000. The average price for 2-bedroom terrace house with 1 bathroom is ?364,999.67 with median ?370,000 which is not far from the mean. In this case, the ultimate basis for the decision as to how much will be the budget for the terrace house with 4 bedrooms and 4 toilets will be the mean and median. Notice how much increase was incurred from the mean of 2-bedroom terrace house with 1 bathroom to 3-bedroom terrace house with 2 bathrooms. The difference in the mean is ?30,000 and the difference in the median is ?25,000. In this case, there is a remarkable basis to approximate how much will be the probable price for a 4-bedroom terrace house with 4 toilets. Adding these remarkable differences to ?395,000, then the average price-mean for a 4 bedroom terrace will be 420,000 and the average median-price will be approximately ?425,000. These are all approximate values, but the trend for the actual employed values is take n into account. 2.3 There are many ways on how to analyse data using measures of dispersion. The measure of dispersion will inform us whether a distribution is normal or abnormal (Rachev et al., 2005; Rubin, 2012). For this reason, a statistical analyst can generate this idea by solving the value of skewness and kurtosis using the following formula (Basu, 2009; Celsi et al., 2011). Sk = [3(x – Md)/SD, where x is the mean, Md is the median and SD is the standard deviation. Ku = Q/(P90 – P10) where Q = (Q3-Q1)/2, and P90 and P10 are corresponding percentile ranks. Below are the computed values for dispersion using the given data. Property type Skewness Kurtosis 2 bedroom flat 1.19 2.89 3 bedroom flat 0.69 1.85 2 bedroom terrace house -0.59 1.50 3 bedroom terrace house 0 0 3 bedroom semi-detached house 0.60 1.80 The rule states that if the skewness is equal to zero and kurtosis equals 0.265, then the distribution is normal or the dispersion is most likely following a norm al distribution. The data are equally distributed from its central location like mean or median. In the above given data, it seems that most data are highly dispersed to the right, and with high vertical dispersion because each kurtosis tends to be leptokurtic in nature because of the positive value. On the other hand, a correlation coefficient cannot only test the relationship between the data sets, but the degree of their variation, and at some point this will have meaningful implication on their actual dispersion. The table below shows the correlation values generated from the data sets concerning the price, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Correlation Number of bedrooms Number of bathrooms Price 0.42 0.13 The generated values as shown in the above table only shows that there is a significant point to justify the information generated on the data’s skewness and kurtosis, because the poor correlation signifies that the given values are varied and most likely not to follow a certain pattern or trend. 2.4 Based on the information from 2.3, skewness and kurtosis are obtained by employing the values for quartiles and percentiles. These means that quartiles and percentiles have strong role to play to help us identify the actual level of dispersion of the data, because they all have the necessary information to tell us something about the distribution of the data sets and the actual variation. In other words, they have the credibility to inform us of

Gun Control Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Gun Control - Research Paper Example This led to the enactment of firearms act that sought to regulate ownership through licensing and guidelines for assessing whether an individual was eligible to own a gun. Similar to other laws, the firearm act has seen multiple changes and politics over time (Zimring 1). Currently, both the national and state governments have provisions concerning gun ownership. However, there is a diverse opinion of states over the issue. Some states lack any form of regulation while others have stringent gun control laws Background Information The issue of stringent control of guns probably emerged in the United States after President J.F Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. The case gave rise to a heated debate that has caused political criticisms (Carter 34). However, a probe into the American history reveals that gun control has existed since the 1700s. Over the centuries, people have had divided opinions about the stringency of gun ownership control. Some states have allowed citizens to sel l and own guns while others have maintained strict control of ownership of guns. In 1938, the federal government declared its stand concerning firearm ownership. ... The law enlisted different categories of individuals that were not legible to owning firearms. People intending to own guns had to be competent and have clean records. In 1972, the emergence of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms changed the picture of firearm ownership regulation. This body sought to establish profiles of those seeking to own firearms (Carter 56). The body also strived to exert a form of control to combat the illegal use of firearms. Legal gun ownership involved acquiring of licenses from the body that only granted the license to people meeting all requirements. In 1986, the federal government enacted an increase of the penalties subject to those possessing firearms without proper licensing. The government also eased some previously stringent regulations in aid to protect the owners. However, the easing came with a ban of some bullets the public. In the years that followed, the government amended the laws depending on the prevailing rates (Zimring 1). In the 1990s, the regulation of firearm ownership took a different turn with the emergence of a need to introduce a lock mechanism in trigger. In addition, the government identified some zones that had to remain gun-free and these included schools. In 1994, the government introduced a ban on the manufacture and merchandise of potentially harmful assault firearms. Towards the close of the century, the suggestions concerning a mandatory lock mechanism in guns caused a heated debate, but did not pass in the senate. However, the government advised manufactures to provide the lock mechanisms as an alternate for interested owners. However, the lock system finally passed in 1999. Other regulations involve the age limit and storage requirements of the firearms in a bid

Social protections in Europe are too generous. Discuss Essay - 1

Social protections in Europe are too generous. Discuss - Essay Example ed in a context characterized by high economic growth, low employment, strong national states, and limited international competition faced by domestic firms. These social protection systems also generated high levels of expenditure, which weighed heavily on public budgets. High levels of public expenditures on social protection had their roots in decisions made to create and extend public programmes in the field of education, health, old age and other areas. Basically overall level of social expenditures in motivating reforms is the way in which these expenditures are distributed among the population (Lynch, 2001). The forces of globalization and technological progress also affect social protection. While both of these factors have improved economic efficiency and living standards, they have also increased cost- competitions among firms, and generated pressures to reduce the cost of social protection. The various national systems of social protection are deeply rooted in the member s tates of the European union. Social convergence with the EU has since long been an important goal. In accordance with the European council Decision establishing the social protection committee, it acts as a forum for exchange regarding policy developments in respect of achievement of four objectives endorsed by the council to enhance policy cooperation in the area of social protection, namely: to make work pay and provide secure income; to make pension safe and pension systems sustainable; to promote social inclusion; to ensure high quality and sustainable health care. Series of mandates have been handed down by the European Council Progress has not been achieved at the same rate across the different policy branches. Progress has been strongest in the domain of social inclusion with the submission of national action plans by the member states in June 2001. A similar stage should have been reached in respect of national pension strategy reports in which the social protection committe e

Aztec Belief System Essay Example for Free

Aztec Belief System Essay Throughout the history of mankind civilizations have trusted in the existence of a higher power. Although the existence of a higher power doesn’t bear as large of an impact on societies like the United States today, it was the focal point of life in many civilizations of the past. A great example of a civilization that was extremely reliant on the connection between humans and higher powers was the Aztecs. The Aztecs believed that they were connected to the universe by a sacred energy. They believed this energy was the source of all natural events and if it were unbalanced, they would suffer. In order to maintain the balance, the Aztecs performed ceremonial sacrifices, bloodletting, and other forms of violent cultural behavior. The connection between the Aztecs and the universe is evident among their myths about how humans were created. One creation myth is the story of the goddess Tlaltecutli. In the story Tlaltecutli was ripped apart by the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca and her body parts were used to create the earth and the other gods. This event caused Tlaltecutli to desire human hearts and she would not be quiet until they were brought to her. Nor would she bear fruit until she had been drenched in human blood. Another creation myth, and the most common legend amongst the Aztecs, was that the god Quetzalcoatl descended into the underworld and retrieved the bones and ashes of previous human beings in order to recreate humanity because the universe had been destroyed after the fourth Sun went out. Quetzalcoatl ground the bones into powder and used his blood to fertilize it and create humans.   The Aztecs also had a myth that explained how the Sun and moon were created. According to legend, the gods Nanautzin and Tecuziztecatl sacrificed themselves by jumping into a fire, which turned them into the Sun and moon. The other gods also sacrificed themselves to provide nourishment for the Sun. However the Sun and the Earth still had an insatiable craving for human blood, therefore war was created to satisfy the Sun’s needs. What’s interesting about these creation myths is that they all included some form of death, sacrifice, or blood shed in order to create something. The creation myths shaped the foundation for why Aztecs placed so much emphasis on violent cultural behavior. In the Aztec society, human sacrifice was extremely common. This is because sacrifices were the main method of creating cosmic order between humans and the universe. Pubic sacrifices took place at the beginning of each of the 18 twenty-day months. The sacrifices consisted of mostly captured warriors, but in rare cases included children and young women. The purpose of public sacrifice was to acquire the divine forces embedded in the physiology of human beings in order to nourish the Sun, Earth, and rain. Aztec ceremonies consisted of days of ritual preparation, ceremonial sacrifice, and acts of nourishing the gods and the community. Priests carried out the sacrifices, which included many forms such as decapitation, burning, hurling from great heights, strangulation, and arrow sacrifice. The most common was the removal of the heart. The heart and the head were the two most important body parts to the Aztecs. Tonalli was a type of energy that came from the head and determined the shape of one’s temperament and destiny. Tonalli was first acquired as an embryo in a female uterus. The Sun was the most powerful way to increase tonalli. It was believed that hair prevented tonalli from leaving the body. Therefore hair was a major prize in warfare. When heads were decapitated during ceremonies, the city as a whole gained tonalli. Teyolia, or â€Å"diving fire†, was the energy that came from the heart and determined a person’s sensibilities and thinking patterns. When a person died his or her tayolia traveled to the world of the dead, or â€Å"sky of the Sun†. Tayolia gives energy to the Sun, which is why heart sacrifices were so popular.   Giving hearts and heads wasn’t the only donation made to the higher powers. Bloodshed was also seen as a type of nourishment. The Aztecs believed that spilling blood was vital to please the gods and to ensure natural forces such as strong harvests. Another Aztec creation myth, the story of Tezcatlipoca, gives strong insight into the importance of bloodshed. In the story the body of Tezcatlipoca was cut into pieces and divided over the four directions of the world, with his blood flowing into the center. The divine blood redistributed energy to animals, body parts, vegetation, and the calendar. Although The Aztecs believed that by giving the hearts and heads of their victims to the gods and the universe, they would be blessed with gifts like bountiful harvests, strength in war, and healthy lives, they didn’t practice sacrifice just to receive blessings; they also feared that the universe would be destroyed. The Aztecs believed that there had been four previous ages that the universe passed through prior to the present age, the Fifth Age. At the end of each age, the Sun went out and caused a catastrophic event that destroyed all life on Earth. In the Second Age, for example, it was believed that the beings that lived there were carried away by the wind. (AD1, p. 4) The fear of the Sun going out again and ending the Fifth Age is one the main catalysts for explaining why the Aztecs placed so much importance on human sacrifice, warfare, and other violent cultural behavior. In order to ensure that the Sun wouldn’t go out again, the Aztecs participated in what is known as the New Fire Ceremony. It took place once every fifty-two years and was used to ensure that the Sun would last for another fifty-two years. The rebirth was achieved by the heart sacrifice of a brave, captured warrior specifically chosen by the king. The ceremony began at the top of a mountain with a priest cutting out the warrior’s heart and throwing it into a fire. The people in the village would then cut themselves and splatter their blood in the direction of the fire. The fire was then brought down the mountain and the people blistered themselves with fire. The Aztecs believed that if they did not perform the ceremony properly to nourish the Sun, it would go out and the demons of the darkness would descend to eat all human beings. The New Fire Ceremony is a great example of how the Aztecs viewed the connection between human beings and the cosmos. The role of humankind in the Aztec society was very pre-determined. Men were devoted to warfare and females were devoted to the household. Warfare was extremely important to Aztec men because it was used as a way to appease the gods with the hearts of prisoners of war.   It was also used a way to rank the importance and worth of a man. Men higher up in the military rank received more luxuries and entitlements than men of lower ranks. For example, a top war commander, or â€Å"quauhpilli†, was given land by the ruler and could run schools for commoners.   Military service was a compulsory obligation by all free men. The Aztec’s innate desire for combat is a direct impact of the believed connection between conflict and nourishment for the universe. When a male child was born, he is dedicated to the Sun, and â€Å"the flowery death† of the warrior in battle or on the killing stone. This shows that the Aztecs believed that the only honorable death for a male is on the battlefield or being sacrificed on another tribes killing stone. The Aztec devotion to the universe was so strong that they not only believed that they had to sacrifice others in battle to please the gods; they had to sacrifice themselves as well. The culture and beliefs of the Aztec civilization were much different than the culture and beliefs of society today. Human sacrificing no longer occurs because it is considered cruel and unusual punishment. Humans do not believe that sacrifices and bloodshed are necessary to please a higher power. Although there are certain religions that believe that the way humans act bear some consequence on things like karma and where we go in the afterlife, it is rare to find a society in today’s world that believes wholeheartedly that there is a direct connection between human’s actions, the divine, and natural forces, like the Aztecs believed. Science and technology have allowed humans to understand that we can control all aspects of processes such as growing crops and that the gods have no effect on it. Warfare, although still important, does not have nearly as strong of an impact on humans today. Warfare is only needed for protection, to defend other countries, or in certain areas of the world, to attempt to settle religious differences like the Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Today, men and women have the choice to grow up and become whatever they want. Men are not required to serve in the military and women have the ability to do more than just take care of the household. The main difference between the Aztecs and humans today is that for the Aztecs, the connection to the universe was the most important aspect of life, while today creating a family, treating others fairly, and having proper morals are the most important aspects of life. The majority of people just want to make the most of their lives on Earth while they still have time, and depending on their beliefs, if they do it right they will reach an afterlife when they die. The Aztecs were one of mankind’s most interesting civilizations. They devoted their lives to pleasing the universe and believed that sacrifice and bloodshed were the best ways of doing it. They attempted to control every aspect of their lives in order to keep the connection between humans and the universe in balance. The Aztec belief system was very extreme. No other civilization has put so much emphasis on sacrifices, and more than likely, no civilization ever will again.

Developing People and Performance

Developing People and Performance Introduction Human resource development is the process of assisting employees in a certain organization to improve their personal and organizational skills, their abilities and use of knowledge. This includes helping them through taking them for training, career development t courses, organizational and performance management. According to Joy-Matthews, Megginson, Surtees (2004), the main aim of human resource development is to develop an advanced workforce that will enable the organization to achieve its goals and offer the best to its customers. Human resource development can be done form within the organization or from outside the organization. It can also be done formally such as a planned organization change, offering classroom training to employees or taking them through a certain college course, or informally where a manager may decide to coach the employees on a particular issue. Human resource development in any organization is the role of human resource management. This deals with all t he matters of the employees. This essay therefore looks at the strategic roles of human resource management and ways in which a strategic approach to human resource development can play a strategic role within an organization. Challenges and obstacles to effective human resource management are also discussed in the essay. Nature of strategic HRM Strategic human resource management is a planned move on how to manage the human resources in the organization. Human resources are the employees of the organization. In the International Journal of Human Resource Management, Wright, Dyer, (2003), explains that apart from being strategic, human resource management can also be technical. The definition strategic however lies on the basic functions of human resource management which involves devising and implementing organizational policies that are consistent with its structure and that are aimed at ensuring that the human capital of the organization works towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. It is strategic because it considers the internal structure of the organization, the resources of the organizations and the nature of the organizations human capital. The technical human resource management consists of the basic roles of human resource management such as recruitment, selection, training among others. Strategic human resource management combines these basic roles to fit the business strategy therefore resulting to a strategic human resource management. This adopts maximum flexibility in managing human resources and also in utilizing them with the aim of achieving the goals of the organization. Similarly, it helps to place the organization is a competitive position. Yorks (2004) states that for maximum success of the business, it is very important to ensure that the strategy that is adopted is in line with the goal of the organization. Basically, strategic human resource management focuses on building a capacity in the organization that will enable it to withstand external market changes. Having a pool of human resources that is equipped with skills and knowledge that are in line with the organizations strategy is a vehicle to achie ving the goals of the organization by encouraging behavioural effectiveness amongst the employees. HRM strategy HRM strategy relates to the means that can be adopted to implement HRM functions that are in line with the organization strategy. Various factors that must be considered in the HRM strategy include best fit and best practices, close cooperation, and continuous monitoring. Best fit and best practices means that the human resource management strategy should be correlating with the overall strategy of the organization. The general aim of human resource management is to manage the employees so that they can achieve the goals of the organization, but a human resource management strategy aims at managing the human resources by applying the needs of the organizations personnel with the organizational goals. For example, the strategic goals of an organization may be to increase its sales by 20 percent. The practices that it may adopt regarding its human resources should therefore be the best for that objective (Armstrong 2006). Close cooperation means that there is proper coordination between the human resources and the organizations top management in their efforts to develop the organizational strategy. The organizational management should be involved in implementation of the strategy since they are the ones responsible for providing the goods and services required in the process. The human resource department is therefore very important within the organization. Continuous monitoring is also very important as it helps in identification of the difficulties in the process and areas that may need intervention of the senior management. According to Voorde, Paauwe, Veldhoven, (2010) continuous monitoring also helps in receiving feedback on the route taken by the process to be able to estimate on its success. Other components of strategic human resource management include strategic planning, training and implementation all being focused on the goals and objectives of the organization. Strategic planning Strategic planning is an exercise that helps organizations to determine their current position, where they want to head and how they will reach there. Strategic planning is done differently depending on the organization. In some organization, it is done starting with the senior management, supervisors of various departments, employees in various departments and the stakeholders. In other organizations, strategic planning is the work of the senior management only. According to Yang, (2007) for a successful strategic planning process, it is important for the senior management to have clear statement of the vision of the organization. This is a picture of where the organization will end up in the long run. The management should also appoint a leader to guide the whole process of implementation. Strategic training Training is the process of making interventions that are aimed at improving the skills, knowledge and the abilities of the employees in the organization. Before deciding on the training to undertake, it is important for the management to conduct an assessment of the training needs, designing the program to undertake in training and the implementation process, and finally how to evaluate the training process. Lewis, Rothwell, Miller, Osman-Gani., (2009) assessment of the training needs helps to reveal the employees needs that are in line with the goals of the organization. This is because strategic training should be done to equip the employees on matters concerning the organizations goals. The design of training should also involve identification of the goals of the organization so that the topics covered in the training program are also in line with the organizational goals. After training has been carried out, it is important to evaluate it so as to measure its success. This helps in determining whether whatever has been invested in training is paid back. Effectiveness of training is gauged depending on the extent to which the previously set objectives have been accomplished. Feedback from the students can be acquired and this is also a measure of effectiveness of training program. Another measure of effectiveness of training includes assessment of behaviour change and its impact to the organization. This involves checking whether the training program has made impact on the behaviour of the employees after the acquisition of new skills and abilities. Behaviour change can be observed when the employees are carrying out their duties applying the new skills. The impact of training on the organization involves measuring its impact in the particular units where the employees work. This should also be reflected in the entire organization. Aspects such as level of productivity, volume of sales, profits gained and the level at which customers are satisfied can also reflect the impact of training in the organization (Pineda 2006). Link between Strategic HRM and HRD Human resource development is one of the many functions in human resource management. Strategic HRD is the one that is designed to offer an up to date proficiency among the employees. With the current changes in technology, HRD can be used to support various activities of the organization in which competence is required. According to McLean, Osman-Gani, Cho, (2004) the current business environment requires that HRD to play a fundamental role enforcing the organizational strategy. Human resource development is continuing to play a critical role in formulation of organizations strategy. This is because organizational that are able to achieve a quality level of employee expertise stand a better chance in the current competitive business environment. Functions of strategic human resource development include training and development, organizational development and career development. Training and development is the act of conveying specific knowledge, skills and abilities to the employees. It attempts to improve their current and future performance by the process of learning. Deficiency in the performance of the employees dictates the need for training and development (Mello 2010). This is computed as follows: Standard performance Actual performance = Training and development. Development is the aspect of creating opportunities that may facilitate the employees to grow. This does not necessarily focus on improving the skills but on offering general knowledge and changing the attitude of the employees so that they can handle higher positions. Most of developmental activities are not offered on compulsory by the management but are in most cases on voluntary basis. The main aim of training and development is to add value to its human resources so that the organization can achieve its purpose. In other words, it is investing on the employees on behalf of the organization so that the employees can feel motivated to use their natural capabilities. Inputs in training and development include skills, education, and ethics (Brome 2010). Skills are necessary in areas such as operation of machinery, and other equipments so as not to cause damage or injury. These are the basic skills that one cannot operate equipments in the organization without them. Elwood, Holton, James, Trott, (2006) explains that education involves offering theoretical ideas and instilling logic in the employees. This helps them in making rational decisions. This is mostly important for the supervisors and the management team since it helps them in deciding matters concerning the organization. Ethics involves practices that are acceptable to the organization. It is important for the human resource manager to enlighten the employees on the ethical practices in marketing, finance and other departments in the organization. This is because whatever is acceptable in one department may be different from what is acceptable in another. Training and development helps the organization to gain competitive advantage. This is because they eliminate deficiencie s in the performance of the employee which may be either due to lack of skills or behaviours that may prevent the employees from appropriate performance. Training and development helps in improving organizations stability enabling it to withstand competitive forces (Green 2002). Organizational development is defined by Bennis (1999) the process of embracing the change that results from training and development. It is the process of improving the situation in the organization and the well being of the employees through application of the learnt concepts. Basically, human resource development facilitates change in the organization. It is a response to change, in other words, a strategy that may change the beliefs, values and the structure of the organization so that the employees and other players can be able to function under new technology, new structure and also face the challenges that comes along. It is continuous process that goes along with the changing processes in the organization (Reid, Barrington, Brown 2004). Career development is a continuous process by which employees of an organization go through various changes until they acquire maximum level of achievement. According to Jackson (2000) helping the employees to progress in their career prepares them for achievement of the ultimate goals of the organization. An organization should therefore design programs for career development that will help the employees to attain their maximum potential. Career development can be used by the organization to identify the pool of talents that the employees possess and that can be used towards achievement of the organizational goals. Obstacles and challenges of implementing strategic HRD initiatives The process of implementing initiatives that focuses on strategic human resource development faces many challenges and obstacles. The main challenge that is facing this process is the changing work environment. The changing work environment includes diversity in the work force, changes in technology, globalization, and the changing nature of work. Work force diversity is a challenge in human resource development because the employees differ in their age, race, gender, education background, level of skills and knowledge. Managing all these differences under similar conditions so that they can all point to a common goal is a real challenge to the human resource manager. For the success of any organization, the human resource manager must work on all these factors to produce innovativeness in the work of the employees. Some of the employees may have problems relating with others, some may be slow in learning and in working while others may be resistant to change. The human resource manager should therefore devise ways of helping such characters for example by creating a working culture that will compel all the employees to work as desired regardless of their differences (Salaman, Storey, Billsberry, 2005). Technological changes are also posing a great challenge in human resource development. In todays world, technology is ever changing and new innovations are being done. Machineries that are used in doing certain jobs keep changing with new ones being invented. This means that human resource development has the main function in supporting this. New inventions must be followed by employee training so that the organization can also have up to date expertise. This must be done to enable the organization withstand the competitive business environment. This is a financial challenge to the organization since it must also keep purchasing the newly invented equipments to move with technology (Grieves 2003). Globalization is also a challenge to human resource development. Globalization has brought together business organizations from all over the world therefore increasing competition. Armstrong (2000) this means that for an organization to meet the challenges in the global market, it must have the pool of most experienced and effective workforce. Secondly, this work force must be well retained since they are in high demand. Every organization must therefore maintain its employees in quality standards so as to retain them. This means that they have to give the best rewards and motivators to retain the employees. Globalization also brought into light the aspect of labour laws which must be observed by the employer. Globalization has therefore resulted in changes in the working environment which is a great challenge to the human resource managers. With all the changes that are taking place in the business world such as globalization and technology, the nature of work is also changing. This is because the desires of the clients are also changing following a global trend and therefore the organizational goals have to change towards that direction. Human resource managers must therefore devise their policies to follow the world trend. Conclusion Strategic human resource development as a function strategic human resource development plays a very vital role in ensuring success of the organization. For the goals and objectives of the organization to be met, all the employees must have their efforts directed towards the same point. A strategic approach to managing the human resources must therefore be designed so that all functions are aligned with the goals of the organization. Planning and training must be done strategically so that they do not deviate from the goals of the organization. However, there are challenges and obstacles in this process. All the aspects of HRM should therefore be strategic so that the goals of the organization are maintained. The human resource managers also need to have strategies son how to meet those challenges so that they may not hinder human resource development.

An Analysis of Paul Laurence Dunbars We Wear the Mask :: We Wear the Mask Essays

An Analysis of Paul Laurence Dunbar's We Wear the Mask It has been said many time that "You can't judge a book by its cover" and "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes"? A person may appear one way on the outside but may be feeling the total opposite on the inside. He may be masking his true emotions with a false appearance. In "We Wear the Mask" it seems that Paul Laurence Dunbar is conveying this message to his audience. The African-American slaves of the early United States are prime examples of how emotions can be repressed. This group of people was treated with such disrespect and humiliation that it is understandable why they would mask their true thoughts and their emotions. To make their daily lives easier, they spoke and acted the ways that their white owners dictated. Their lives had, to a point, been taken away from them. But, there were some things that could never be taken away from them: their inner strength and their spirituality. No matter how a slave was treated, how hard he had to work, or how little he had, hedid have total control of his own thoughts and beliefs. Those things could never be taken from him. This poem cries out with the hurt that African-Americans, throughout history, suffered with. To be able to endure this daily persecution, these people had to draw on their inner strength. When Dunbar wrote,"With torn and bleeding hearts we smile," it is obvious of the agony felt and of how a smile is sometimes worn in order to camouflage one's true emotions. A deep, religious faith was a saving grace to these people as a whole. One's spirituality can carry them through even the most dreadful situations. This idea is evident when Dunbar penned the lines, "we smile,but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise." When all else had failed, slaves could pray and feel that God had heard them. At last, their cries would be heard, their prayers answered, andtheir hearts relieved. We all have hide our emotions at one time or another. We put on false faces and pretend for many different reasons. We all lie, in one form or another, be it a big lie or a little white one. Whether it be to save our self or the feelings of another we should all remember the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Luke 6:31).

Boundaries in Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Havel’s Temptation :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Boundaries in Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Havel’s Temptation With every trip around the sun, the human race continues to push forward. Frontiers begin to fade, the horizon becomes less of a mystery and more of a pastime and the greatest challenge seems to be finding areas where advancements can still be made. Since we have become so good at extending boundaries, the question of whether or not an un-crossable boundary even exists becomes especially relevant. Indeed it is easy to think that there may be nothing that humans are incapable of achieving. For centuries, however, literature has been very imaginative while still holding on to the notion that at some point, crossing boundaries results in trouble. It might be said that in works of this type a distinction is made between pushing limitations and overstepping boundaries. In such literary works as Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Vaclav Havel’s Temptation, the main characters push boundaries farther than they have been pushed befo re inevitably causing negative consequences for the characters and the people that surround them. The work entitled Dr. Faustus centers around the character thus named who aims solely to lift every limitation and exceed every boundary he encounters. From the very opening of the play after the chorus in the first scene, Dr. Faustus explains his dissatisfaction with the boundaries he has already met: Is not thy common talk found aphorisms? Are not thy bills hung up as monuments, Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague, And thousand desperate maladies been eased? Yet art thou still but Faustus, and a man. Couldst thou make men to live eternally, Or, being dead, raise them to life again, Then this profession were to be esteemed. (19 – 26) This excerpt reveals that Faustus, although he has had much success and is widely recognized for it, yearns for further discovery, a limitless experience, a power that physically is beyond him. Later in the same scene, he clearly states his solution to this quandary, â€Å"A Sound magician is a mighty god. Here Faustus, try thy brains to gain a deity† (63 – 64). In order to achieve this for even a limited time however, he must exceed natural human boundaries. In his search for a means to do so, he forms a new boundary, namely the loss of control over his soul, in scene 5 through a contract with Lucifer.

Sara Smolinsky in The Bread Givers :: essays research papers

During the early 1920s the Great Depression took place. The Great Depression affected many people's lives. The immigrants caught the worst of it. They had just come from another country and were trying to start their new lives when the depression hit. They had to struggle once more with poverty and desperation in taking care of their families, the main reason they had left their old countries was to escape the same epidemic that was now overtaking ?the land of the free?. Immigrants, such as the Jewish immigrants, had to live in poverty-stricken ghettos without the necessities they needed to live healthy lives. The 1920s was the time of rapid change, it was the time of risque fashion, it was the time of which that if you were rich and had all the latest fashions then you were ?in? but if you did not then you were an outcast. In the novel The Bread Givers, there was a Jewish family, the Smolinsky family, that had immigrated from Russia to America. The family consisted of four daughters, a father, and a mother. The family lived in a poverty-stricken ghetto. The youngest of the daughters was Sara Smolinsky, nicknamed ?Iron Head? for her stubbornness. She was the only daughter that was brave enough to leave home and go out on her own and pursue something she wanted without the permission of her father. The Smolinsky family was very poor, they were to the point of which they could not afford to throw away potato peelings, and to the point of which they had to dig through other people?s thrown out ash in order to gather the coal they needed. They could not afford to buy themselves new clothes or new furniture. The Smolinsky family was living in the time of the Great Depression. They had left Russia in order to escape the poverty and harshness only to reach America and find themselves in a similar situation. The Great Depression engulfed many families, drowning them in poverty and forcing them to become desperate enough to beg for food. The Smolinsky family was no exception. The depression was difficult enough for the original American citizens much less the immigrants with nothing but the shirts on their backs. The Smolinsky family suffered just as much from this as did other immigrant families. The Youngest of the Smolinsky daughters, Sara Smolinsky, was the most strong willed of her sisters. Sara Smolinsky in The Bread Givers :: essays research papers During the early 1920s the Great Depression took place. The Great Depression affected many people's lives. The immigrants caught the worst of it. They had just come from another country and were trying to start their new lives when the depression hit. They had to struggle once more with poverty and desperation in taking care of their families, the main reason they had left their old countries was to escape the same epidemic that was now overtaking ?the land of the free?. Immigrants, such as the Jewish immigrants, had to live in poverty-stricken ghettos without the necessities they needed to live healthy lives. The 1920s was the time of rapid change, it was the time of risque fashion, it was the time of which that if you were rich and had all the latest fashions then you were ?in? but if you did not then you were an outcast. In the novel The Bread Givers, there was a Jewish family, the Smolinsky family, that had immigrated from Russia to America. The family consisted of four daughters, a father, and a mother. The family lived in a poverty-stricken ghetto. The youngest of the daughters was Sara Smolinsky, nicknamed ?Iron Head? for her stubbornness. She was the only daughter that was brave enough to leave home and go out on her own and pursue something she wanted without the permission of her father. The Smolinsky family was very poor, they were to the point of which they could not afford to throw away potato peelings, and to the point of which they had to dig through other people?s thrown out ash in order to gather the coal they needed. They could not afford to buy themselves new clothes or new furniture. The Smolinsky family was living in the time of the Great Depression. They had left Russia in order to escape the poverty and harshness only to reach America and find themselves in a similar situation. The Great Depression engulfed many families, drowning them in poverty and forcing them to become desperate enough to beg for food. The Smolinsky family was no exception. The depression was difficult enough for the original American citizens much less the immigrants with nothing but the shirts on their backs. The Smolinsky family suffered just as much from this as did other immigrant families. The Youngest of the Smolinsky daughters, Sara Smolinsky, was the most strong willed of her sisters.

Childrens Rights

Children and Young Peoples Rights: Provision, Protection and Participation Assessment One The Children Scotland Act sets out the Rights of all children in Scotland and the responsibility of parents and those legally caring for a child. The Act also covers duties and procedures for public organisations such as Local Councils and Social Work Departments and Children’s Hearing System involved in promoting children’s welfare. The Act puts children first and states the rights of each child to basic standards of care, upbringing and nurture.The foundations for this Act are, each child has the right to be treated as an individual, they have the right to express their views should they wish to do so and that parents should be responsible and share the responsibility of bringing up their child. I think that this law promotes the rights of children well as throughout the Act the child’s best interests and welfare are the highest priority when their needs are being consider ed.The Law includes that the child’s view must be considered when decisions about their future are being made and unless a dispute arises the court should not make any order, I feel that when a child is mature and old enough to hold a view or opinion on a matter that effects them and their life that their voice should be heard and their opinion taken into consideration and I feel this Act helps to give them that voice.The UN Convention on Rights of the Child applies to all children and this Law states that a child is up to the age of eighteen the Law sets out in great detail what every child requires to have a safe and happy childhood and does not discriminate against age, sex, religion, nationality or social background. The aim of the UNCRC is to promote and recognise children’s rights, they have set out the rights as cultural, health, social, economic, political and civil.This is currently the most widely officially approved International Human This International agr eement aims to protect the rights of the children around the world. All fifty four ‘articles' aim to outline how all children all around the world should be treated and what adults can do to ensure that children’s basic rights are met. Articles 43-54 set out how the government and international organisations will help to ensure that children are given their rights.Regardless of age, race, nationality, religion the rights for all children are the same there are also additional rights for disabled children and those children who live away from home to ensure that their needs are also met and that they are treated fairly. As this Act promotes that Human Rights apply to all children and that all children are equal, I think that this helps to promote a positive healthy image for children to have growing up, that it encourages the belief that we are all equal.I think the fact that this act is continually assessing progress as reports must be submitted every five years and ind ependent organisations are invited to share their views and thoughts I believe this will help children to grow up with a positive outlook as the act covers every child with no exceptions. The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. this Act was put into place after recommendations made in the Bichard Inquiry for a registration system for all those who work with children and protected adults in the UK after the deaths of two young girls in Soham.This new scheme was put into place to make sure that people who have regular contact with vulnerable groups either as a position of employment or through their work place do not have a history of behaviour that would make them unsuitable to work with either children or protected adults. This scheme will also ensure that if a person after registering and being successful should then become unsuitable for working with children or vulnerable adults that they are quickly removed from doing so.As this Act provides a few improvements o ver the previous disclosure system I think that this legislation is very effective at protecting children as it is an offence for an employer to employ someone to work with vulnerable groups or children without having become a member of the PVG Scheme. The check for employers to verify that a person is a scheme member and therefore suitable to be employed is very simple allowing them to make safe and quicker recruitment decisions. This Scheme also means that someone barred from working with vulnerable adults and children in Scotland would also be barred from the rest of the UK and vice versa.I feel this Act will help to give parents and also professionals working in this sector piece of mind in knowing that each and every member of staff has been vetted and police checked, therefore ensuring an environment in which all children and vulnerable adults will be safe and secure. Word Count: 823 References *COLEG, Children and Young People's Rights: Provision, Protection and Participation , DF50 34, Eleanor Mands 2004 *www. UNICEF. org. uk *www. scotland. gov. uk *www. children1st. org. uk

Thorn Queen Chapter Twenty-Two

I woke up with a headache even worse than the one I'd gotten shooting tequila on the night of Luisa's birth. Pain thudded to a steady drumbeat in my head, though at the same time, my senses felt foggy as a boring plaster ceiling slowly came into focus above me. Nausea welled up in my stomach, and I worried I was going to get sick. It had happened the last time I'd come crashing through the worlds. And speaking of the worlds†¦where was I? Easy enough to figure out, my groggy brain quickly realized. I'd been pulled out from the Otherworld, which meant I could either have been sent to the Underworld or the human world. The fact that I was still alive indicated I'd gone onto the latter. Why on earth would Abigail summon me to-fuck. There it was: the nausea again. I bit my lip and tried to sit up, not wanting to choke on my own vomit. Only, when I tried to rise, I didn't get very far. My hands were stretched above my head, tied to the headboard of the bed I lay on. No, not tied-cuffed. Cuffed with heavy steel, industrial-strength handcuffs. Bound or no, I did manage some semblance of sitting, just as my stomach betrayed me. A bowl got shoved under my face right at that moment, and I was grateful to spare the bedding and my clothes. I threw up twice before my benefactor gently asked, â€Å"Any more?† â€Å"I don't think so.† I squinted up and found myself looking into the face of a young girl, heavily freckled and brown-haired, with a nose a bit too small for the rest of her facial features. She was still cute enough, though, and-she was a gentry. For a moment, I wondered if I'd gotten confused about the banishment. Was I still in the Otherworld? No. This was definitely the human world. I could sense it. There was a way that magic hung in the air-or, rather, didn't hang in the air around here. The girl took the bowl away and returned with a damp cloth. She wiped my face with it and then my mouth. A moment later, she returned with a glass of water, which I drank gratefully. All of her movements were gentle and graceful. â€Å"What's your name?† I asked. â€Å"Cariena.† â€Å"That's really pretty. Where am I, Cariena?† I asked, tugging at the handcuffs. Those things weren't going to budge. The girl sat down on a chair in the corner. â€Å"In the world of the humans.† â€Å"I know that.† I tried hard not to let my tone get harsh. My leather from the fight was gone; I wore a T-shirt and underwear. â€Å"But where? What is this place?† She glanced around, as though the room might offer some secret insight. The walls were painted pale gray and matched the bedspread, a pattern of purple and grayish blue flowers. There was a small dresser in the corner, along with her chair, as well as the narrow twin bed I lay in. There wasn't a lot of space here-and no windows at all. â€Å"The Red Snake Man's house.† â€Å"The Red Snake-son of a bitch. Art.† My mind was still fuzzy, and I had a hard time grasping all the details of what had happened. I remembered bits and pieces of the fight. I remembered chasing the soldier and then Abigail banishing me†¦ But it was all still disjointed, and I had no recollection of how I'd gotten here. It was possible that was simply from the trauma of tearing through the worlds. Someone could have smacked me upside the head too, but the pain throbbing in my skull wasn't that type. As I'd noted earlier, it was more like the hangover type. Only worse. â€Å"Where is he now?† I asked. Cariena shook her head. â€Å"I don't know. He doesn't explain his activities to us.† â€Å"Us? Are there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Again, my addled brain tried to remember what I already knew. Why couldn't I line up my thoughts? It was like I had both the buzz and the hangover from drinking, all wrapped up into one. Us. Art. Red Snake Man. â€Å"Are there†¦others like you here? Other girls?† She nodded. â€Å"How many?† â€Å"Five-no, four. They took Fara yesterday. Isanna's next.† â€Å"They who?† â€Å"One of the men. They come sometimes. They look at us. Sometimes they just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She looked away, unwilling to meet my eyes. â€Å"Sometimes they just†¦visit. But sometimes they make a deal with the Red Snake Man to take one of us.† â€Å"Art,† I murmured. â€Å"His name is Art. Red Snake Man seems to give him some semblance of respect.† I started to rub my eyes and then realized I couldn't with the cuffs. â€Å"Are the other girls chained up too?† â€Å"Only the ones who resist.† â€Å"Well, yeah, I guess that would include me. I take it you're not one?† â€Å"Not anymore.† â€Å"Why don't you leave? You must have some magic†¦even a little.† Cariena held up her hands. She didn't have handcuffs like me, but snug iron bracelets hugged each wrist, each with a tiny lock. The skin was red and swollen where the iron touched. â€Å"Jesus†¦so you're blocked from your magic. But, I mean, can't you just walk out the door?† â€Å"There's iron†¦iron everywhere. The windows, the doors. They're all bound with iron and spells. And locks. Besides†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her blue eyes widened slightly. â€Å"I don't know where I would go†¦not in this world†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Home,† I said fiercely. â€Å"You'll go home. I'll take you there.† She shook her head, face sad. â€Å"There's no escape from here. Not even for you.† I eyed her curiously. â€Å"Do you know who I am?† â€Å"You are the Thorn Queen. Storm King's daughter. You are my sovereign.† She gave a deferential nod of respect. â€Å"And I know you are a great warrior and magic user. But if the Red Snake Man caught even you, then there's no hope for any of us. Moria tried to escape, and she died out there.† â€Å"Moria did escape. She didn't die, and-† I stopped. Why was my brain such mush? Why was I thinking so slowly? A great warrior and magic user. I didn't need my hands to get out of here. I had my magic. The iron and steel that stunted Cariena's magic had hardly any effect on me, and I would have had enough time by now to rebuild my stores of power. I reached into myself and then to the world around, seeking water and air, though not certain what I'd do with them. Blow the headboard apart? Oxidize the handcuffs? The decision turned out not to matter. Nothing happened. I felt nothing. I felt†¦well, human. I felt as I had for years, long before I'd had any clue I could touch any sort of Otherworldly magic. I was cut off. My mind touched only empty space. â€Å"What's wrong with me?† I asked, true panic starting to unravel in me. â€Å"My magic's gone. The steel shouldn't affect me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It's not the steel,† a voice suddenly said. â€Å"It's the nightshade. And I think you're overdue.† Art strolled into the room, looking as dashing as ever with his tanned skin and movie-star smile. I had nothing but contempt for him and instinctually tried to break the cuffs. Nightshade†¦nightshade. Where had I heard that before? Rurik, I realized. He'd advised something called a tincture of nightshade to completely cut off Jasmine from her magic. Was that what I'd been given? He'd said it was the most effective†¦but that it made those with human blood feel dazed and sick. All of a sudden, I knew this fuzzy hangover feeling didn't have anything to do with me being banished. There was no real purpose in discussing nightshade with Art, so I got right to the point. â€Å"I'm going to kill you.† Art laughed that hearty, deep laugh I'd once found endearing. â€Å"Forgive me if I'm not scared.† He turned to Cariena. â€Å"Go get some more nightshade for Eugenie. And make sure Isanna is dressed and ready to go when Abigail returns.† Cariena was practically out of the room before he finished speaking. â€Å"I can't believe it,† I said. â€Å"It's really true. When I first started putting together this fairy sex-trade theory, I thought it was as crazy as Roland thought it was. But it's really true. Where's this Isanna going? Is Abigail taking her to her new owner?† He leaned back and crossed his legs. â€Å"I suppose you could say that. I like to think of it as her new loving home. The man who bought her is very eager to welcome her.† â€Å"You're a fucking bastard,† I growled. â€Å"Selling them like they're property.† â€Å"Might as well be. And if it makes you feel better, I don't sell all of them. Cariena there†¦hmm, well, she's not pretty enough to get a good price. Easier to keep her around for house calls.† â€Å"House calls.† I started to feel sick again, and it had nothing to do with the nightshade. â€Å"Basically, you're whoring her out. You sell sex slaves and run a brothel-and yet, all the while, you play hero shaman like you're doing the world a good deed. Roland couldn't say enough nice things about you.† Art straightened up, feet hitting the floor as a flash of anger shone in his eyes. â€Å"I am doing the world a good deed-this world. Those girls? They're nothing. They aren't human. And you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He shook his head. â€Å"You're one to talk about image. You play hero shaman too, when in reality you're off commanding gentry armies. Does Roland know? Does he know what you really are? I'm sure he has to know you're a half-breed mongrel, but does he really know the extent of it?† White-hot rage burned within the drug-induced haze of my mind. â€Å"I think you forgot the part where I'm going to kill you.† â€Å"And you forgot the part where I said I'm not worried.† Cariena returned holding a coffee mug. I eyed it warily. â€Å"What are you going to do with me?† I demanded. â€Å"You would have killed me already if you could, yet you probably aren't going to let me go now that I know your dirty secret. Are you going to sell me off too? Keep me for yourself since you don't like gentry?† Art shook his head and approached my bed. â€Å"Eugenie, you couldn't pay me enough to keep you around. I'd take one of these idiot girls any day. Turn on the microwave, and they're so scared that they'll stay docile for weeks.† He gestured Cariena to his side and reached down to hold my head in place. I realized what he was going to do and began thrashing. With one hand he tried to keep me still, and with the other he partially held my mouth open. â€Å"Do it,† he said. Obediently, Cariena poured the liquid from the mug into my half-open mouth. As she did, she mouthed, I'm sorry. The stuff tasted horrible, and I gagged on it. I tried to spit it out, but Art promptly covered my mouth until I had to swallow. That bitterness flowed down my throat, and I could feel a new wave of numbness start to sweep over me. â€Å"Yes,† said Art, almost cheerfully. â€Å"You're trouble. I don't want you. I don't know any human who would. But fortunately, we got an offer from someone who isn't.† I think he was smiling that stupid smile again, but I could never say for sure. The force of the nightshade flooded through me, pulling me into fuzziness, then darkness, and then sleep. I immediately noticed two things when I came to later. One was that Art was still in the room, though I think he'd just returned and hadn't been watching me sleep. The other thing I noticed was that I was uncuffed. I didn't waste any time. I promptly leapt out of the bed and charged him. Unfortunately, I didn't really make it off the bed so well. The nightshade was chugging along in my system, and my limbs barely had the energy to stay upright. I fell off the bed and collapsed into an ungraceful pile on the floor. Cariena was there too, holding a bundle of clothing, and started to come help me. Art shook his head, and she froze. â€Å"Looks like you won't be killing me today,† he said. â€Å"You fucking bastard,† I said, tossing one arm on the bed and attempting to pull myself up. â€Å"How long was I out?† â€Å"Oh, an hour or so. That's usually the worst part of it for humans. Now that you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Cariena's going to help you look respectable.† I glared at him. I didn't know who'd stripped me down to this T-shirt and underwear, but if it had been him, he'd die extra slow. The scathing look he gave me suggested, however, that he found as little pleasure in me as I did in him. â€Å"You can't keep me here,† I warned, managing at last to sit back on the bed. â€Å"Someone's going to come looking for me.† â€Å"Who?† he asked. â€Å"You were the idiot who wandered off from your people. None of them saw you taken. None of them saw me or any of my companions-well, except for your two meager guards, and they won't say anything to anyone ever again.† With a sinking feeling, I knew he was right. Nobody knew what had happened to me. I'd mentioned the Yellow River theory off and on to a few of my friends, but none of them had any reason to suspect that was connected to my post-battle disappearance. If anything, they'd probably think there'd been another demon on the loose. â€Å"Who the hell were your companions anyway?† I demanded, recalling the trained fighters. â€Å"Did you hire a mercenary army or something?† Art only smiled. â€Å"Cariena, get her dressed.† To me, he said, â€Å"Cooperate, or she'll be the one who suffers for your disobedience.† He left, shutting the door behind him. I heard the snick of a lock. Across the room, Cariena watched me with big, terrified eyes. She feared both me and Art. I sighed. â€Å"It's okay. I'll get dressed. I don't want to run around in my underwear anyway.† Visibly relieved, she stepped forward and unfurled what she held: a dress. A gentry-style dress. â€Å"You have got to be kidding me,† I said. â€Å"Isn't there something else?† Cariena cringed. â€Å"It's all he gave me.† I eyed the bedspread, almost wondering if I could go all Scarlett O'Hara and make something for myself. Then, seeing Cariena's pale face, I yielded again. I wouldn't let Art beat her or give her to some guy because of me. I took the dress from her but discovered I couldn't put it on without help, not with my weak muscles and groggy motor control. Being in that state infuriated me. I hated being helpless. More upsetting still was that I was essentially free, unbound and able to move about†¦but I had no means to fight or defend myself. I could barely even stand. I was a prisoner in my own body. The dress was a mix of lavender and pale blue. I guess you'd call it periwinkle, which I'd always thought was a dorky name. It was made of smooth, clingy velvet that hugged my body and laced up the back corset-style. The sleeves were long and form-fitting, and the scoop neckline was much lower than my usual style. I'd only wear something that showed that much cleavage if I was going on a date with Kiyo-or trying to coax a favor from Dorian. Kiyo and Dorian. It sounded pathetic and all damsel-in-distress, but I would have given anything to have them here right now. Cariena clasped her hands and studied me almost adoringly. â€Å"You look beautiful, your majesty. I see now why you have so many suitors back in our world.† Our world. â€Å"Well, I don't think my beauty plays quite as much a role as you think.† She produced a brush and undid the knotted ponytail in my hair. â€Å"I don't know if I want to be beautiful or not. I used to think I did. But since I'm not, no one will take me from here.† She sounded grateful. â€Å"You are beautiful,† I said sharply, angry at what Art had said. â€Å"And someone is going to take you from here-me.† Cariena gave me a small, sad smile, but for the first time, I thought there might be something like hope in her eyes. A knock at the door startled her back into timid mode as she leapt up from where she'd sat beside me. â€Å"Oh! He's here.† â€Å"Who?† I asked. Surely Art wouldn't have knocked. The lock clicked, and the door opened. Leith walked in. â€Å"Leith!† I exclaimed. He looked as I'd seen him before, clad in a red and white silk shirt, dark hair glossy and swept from his face in a ponytail. I wanted to jump up but knew I'd fall to the floor again. â€Å"Thank God.† Someone did know I was here. I wasn't lost forever. I wanted to tell Cariena we were on the verge of freedom, but she was already scurrying out of the room and hastily shutting the door. â€Å"Eugenie,† breathed Leith, striding toward me. He knelt on the ground and caught hold of my hands where I sat. â€Å"You are stunning†¦as beautiful as I remember. No, more so. You can't imagine how I've missed you.† A chill crept along my spine. Something was very, very wrong here. â€Å"Leith†¦we have to get out of here. You have to help me-and these girls. There are horrible things going on here.† â€Å"We can leave,† he said. â€Å"But not quite yet. Not until everything's settled.† I tested his hand to see if I could free mine. I couldn't. â€Å"Until what's settled?† â€Å"Until then,† he continued, as though I hadn't spoken, â€Å"you'll have to stay here where no one can find you. But I promise I'll visit you every day.† â€Å"I can't stay here! I have to get back to†¦anywhere that's not here. Tucson. The Thorn Land. Anywhere! Leith, what the hell is going on? Why are you here?† â€Å"Because you are. Because Art got you for me.† That chill down my spine spread to the rest of my body until I felt cold all over. I tried jerking my hand away again but didn't possess the strength. â€Å"How do you know Art? Oh God. Please tell me you aren't working with him.† He shrugged. â€Å"It's a mutually beneficial relationship. I help him collect girls in our-in the Otherworld.† â€Å"Girls from my kingdom,† I said, the realization coming suddenly. â€Å"That's why none of yours were ever taken.† Leith had the grace to look sheepish. â€Å"I don't take important ones, Eugenie. Just peasants. No one notices they're missing.† â€Å"Their parents do.† â€Å"Look, it doesn't matter. My soldiers help round them up, and I bring them to Art and Abigail to do what it is they do.† My soldiers. The soldiers who always wore red, just like Leith did now. Normally, red shirts made me think of Star Trek extras, but in this case, it was in tribute to the Rowan Land's flag and emblem. The soldiers Jasmine and others had seen weren't Aeson's deserters. They'd been sent by Leith to help Art and Abigail with their abductions. â€Å"They sell them, Leith! How can you stand by and enable that? They sell those girls to horny guys against their will. What can you possibly get out of it to justify having that on your conscience?† â€Å"This.† He gestured around. â€Å"Art and Abigail share things with me†¦their knowledge from this world. I take it back to mine.† I stared in disbelief. â€Å"And then you pass it off as your own. That's why everyone thinks you're such a technological genius. Did you really devise those irrigation plans for me yourself?† â€Å"No,† he admitted. â€Å"I had help. But does it really matter? Look, you don't know what it's like. You're strong. Your magic grows more powerful every day. But me? I'm a joke. I can't inherit. Proving myself with my ‘genius' was the only way to get any respect†¦and even that wouldn't be good enough to let me inherit. Until I met you.† â€Å"Leith-â€Å" â€Å"I know what you said, but my feelings haven't changed. I love you. And I know if you just spend a little more time with me, you'll love me too. We connect. There's something between us. It's more than just about power.† I leaned back. It was the only way I could put distance between us. â€Å"I'm not so sure about that. You think I'm your meal ticket to holding on to the Rowan Land.† â€Å"Not just that land, but all the lands! This world too. Eugenie, when you bear my son, you'll see that I'm right.† There was a zealous glow in his eyes, and I couldn't decide if he was crazy or just really, really believed these things would be true if he said them. Maybe there wasn't a difference. â€Å"I can make you happy-and I know you can make me happy. You're so beautiful†¦.† He moved up to sit beside me on the bed and ran one hand along my velvet-covered leg. â€Å"Leith†¦don't†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I just need to get you pregnant,† he said earnestly. â€Å"Don't you understand? If I bring you back to our world carrying my child, everything will be solved. Art told me†¦he told me how you stop yourself from conceiving. How you take some potion every day.† His hand moved up to my hip while his other touched my face and stroked my hair. I tried to back away, but his grip was too strong in my addled state. â€Å"He said if you're away from it long enough that you'll be able to have a baby†¦.† I swallowed. My heart was threatening to pound out of my chest. â€Å"No†¦it won't work. You can't get me pregnant-because I already am.† His caresses froze. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You were right before about me being involved with Dorian. Kiyo was a cover. He's not worthy-he's no one I'd want to father my child. Dorian and I have been lovers for a long time now in secret. We were afraid of what his enemies would do if they found out. I've been pregnant for†¦Ã¢â‚¬  What wouldn't show? â€Å"†¦two months. It's too late for you, Leith.† He had gone perfectly still, save for his eyes, which were searching my face thoroughly. â€Å"I don't believe you. You're lying. Everyone knows how you bicker with the Oak King. You aren't lovers.† â€Å"We are. He'll kill you when he finds out.† Leith shook his head and slid his hand from my hip to my stomach. â€Å"There's nothing here. Not yet.† Panic flooded me, and for a moment I couldn't breathe. Every other time I'd come close to being raped flashed through my mind-and there had been far more of those times than I would have liked. And every time, I had escaped the situation. Yet that never made the next time any less terrifying. This was no exception. â€Å"Leith, please don't do this.† His hand moved fumblingly to my breast, and then he pushed me back against the bed. â€Å"It's okay,† he said, speaking as one would to a child. â€Å"It'll be okay. You'll like it. I promise.† â€Å"Don't do this!† His mouth was on my neck, and lovesick boy or no, there was definitely a man's sexual need there. I struggled against him, trying desperately to free myself, but I might as well have truly been a child. With that fucking drug in me, both my body and brain were a mess. My body had none of its ability to fight him or stop him from pushing up my skirt. My brain had no clever ways to talk him out of this. And as he took off his own clothes and laid his body on top of mine, pressing me down, I realized he needed no handcuffs to keep me subdued. The strength of his hands pinning my wrists was more than enough.