It Must Be the Water!
| He was a trained anthropologist and he wasn't supposed to get emotional, judgmental, or let anything make him loose his focus. But he was a civilized man and to view such madness in a cold detached manner was more than a little stressful. |
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His colleagues had warned him, but their tales were so bizarre that he was sure that they were playing a prank. But he had seen it for himself now and there was no doubt, the entire society was mad. Every tribe, every clan, every ruling unit. As a matter of fact he had seen few signs of sanity anywhere he examined. To be sure there were isolated people and places, but the contamination of these groups was just a matter of time. For once exposed it was almost a certainty they too would join the madness. It had always been the observed pattern, it never took long for sane individuals and group to be engulfed in the madness after coming in contact with members of the "infected" group. Madness could be seen everywhere. |
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This place was not unique in its madness, as a trained anthropologist he had read about and even seen "mad" civilizations before, but this one was different. In the midst of abundance they had turned to violence, not as a matter of survival, but as a way of expression. They engaged in violence almost solely for its own sake. |
| It didn't make any sense at all. The greatest natural treasure of all was theirs in almost obscene abundance. And maybe that was the problem. Nowhere in the universe was there such an abundance of treasure. You'd think they'd understand yet instead they were all quite mad beyond any logic. |
| On worlds all over the universe this place was looked upon as a paradise, filled with the greatest of riches, the key to all life in almost infinite quantities. It was also know as a paradise ruled by the most insane creatures ever known, whose capacity for violence and death was beyond the understanding of even the most advanced civilizations. This was believed to be the reason it had always been quarantined since its discovery. |
| There was fear that direct contact would spread the madness. And there were no people anywhere in the known universe who could withstand, let alone match the violence these "people" were capable of. To date no pathogen had been found to explain the madness, and time was running out. For it would be long before the inhabitants would develop the technology that would allow them to break the quarantine, escape and spread their madness everywhere. |
| There had to be an answer somewhere. The anthropologist had come here because he had put forth a most radical hypothesis about the source of the madness. He had suggested that there was no organic reason for the insanity that had been observed, he suggested the inhabitants suffered from a form of mass hysteria. |
| From the time he had first advanced this radical hypothesis until now had been a period of twenty-five years, most of which he had been the subject of varying responses from polite indulgence and tiny giggles when his back was turned to outright laughter and professional scorn. But as things became more desperate and it became apparent that unless a cure was found soon the ultimate nightmare would be loosed, even the most radical, yes even ridiculous propositions were given support. In the last five years his hypothesis had gain a growing following and experimental results in animal test indicated that there was some possibility of credence in what was thought to be an unbelievable theory. |
| As he readied himself to make his presentation the slightest of smiles came across his face. How ironic, they call their home Earth and its almost 3/4ths water. The most important and valuable substance know surrounds them, and is so ubiquitous that it even falls from the sky. Nowhere in the universe had water been found in such quantities and nowhere had life, precious life been found in such abundance. Maybe that's why they worship the heavens. |
| He quickly dismissed that thought, it was too sane to be associated with the mad inhabitants of the planet he was orbiting. There were more human inhabitants on this planet than all the rest of the known universe combined. Life thrived here in unimaginable variety and quantity. To the anthropologist the idea was simple enough, there were no germs to cause the madness. Taking this position he had only one obvious logical choice to explain the madness. It had to be the Water! |
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