THE
MATHEMATICIANS
BY ARTHUR FELDMAN
We gave this story to a very competent, and very pretty galartist. We said, "Read this carefully, dream on it, and comeup with an illustration." A week later, she returned withthe finished drawing. "The hero," she said. We did a doubletake. "Hey! That's not the hero." She looked us straight inthe eye. "Can you prove it?" She had us. We couldn't, andshe left hurriedly to go home and cook dinner for her family.And what were they having? Frog legs—what else?
They were in the garden. "Now,Zoe," said Zenia Hawkins toher nine-year-old daughter, "quitfluttering around, and papa willtell you a story."
Zoe settled down in the hammock."A true story, papa?"
"It all happened exactly likeI'm going to tell you," said DrakeHawkins, pinching Zoe's rosycheek. "Now: two thousand andeleven years ago in 1985, figuringby the earthly calendar of thattime, a tribe of beings from theDog-star Sirius invaded theearth."
"And what did these beingslook like, father?"
"Like humans in many, manyrespects. They each had two arms,two legs and all the other organsthat humans are endowed with."
"Wasn't there any differenceat all between the Star-beings andthe humans, papa?"
"There was. The newcomers,each and all, had a pair of wingscovered with green feathers growingfrom their shoulders, and long,purple tails."
"How many of these beingswere there, father?"
"Exactly three million andforty-one male adults and threefemale adults. These creaturesfirst appeared on Earth on theisland of Sardinia. In five weeks'time they were the masters of theentire globe."
"Didn't the Earth-lings fightback, papa?"
"The humans warred againstthe invaders, using bullets, ordinarybombs, super-atom bombsand gases."
"What were those things like,father?"
"Oh, they've passed out ofexistence long ago. 'Ammunition'they were called. The humansfought each other with suchthings."
"And not with ideas, like wedo now, father?"
"No, with guns, just like I toldyou. But the invaders were immuneto the ammunition."
"What does 'immune' mean?"
"Proof against harm. Then thehumans tried germs and bacteriaagainst the star-beings."
"What were those things?"
"Tiny, tiny bugs that thehumans tried to inject into thebodies of the invaders to makethem sicken and die. But thebugs had no effect at all on thestar-beings."
"Go on, papa. These beingsover-ran all Earth. Go on fromthere."
"You must know, these newcomerswere vastly more intelligentthan the Earth-lings. Infact, the invaders were the greatestmathematicians in the System."
"What's the System? And whatdoes mathematician mean?"
"The Milky Way. A mathematicianis one who is goodat figuring, weighing, measuring,clever with numbers."
"Then, father, the invaderskilled off all the Earth-lings?"
"Not all. They killed many,but many others were enslaved.Just as the humans had usedhorses and cattle, the newcomersso used the humans. They madeworkers out of some, others theyslaughtered for food."
"Papa, what sort of languagedid these Star-beings talk?"
"A very simple language, butthe humans were never able tomaster it. So, the invaders, beingso much smarter, mastered all thelanguages of the globe."
"What did the Earth-lings callthe invaders, father?"
"'An-vils'. Half angels, h