Return to Eden Read Online Free PDF

scope of knowledge revealed. Scientists alive this day might turn black in the face and die of envy. A pleasant thought.
    The root of the sunwarmed tree was genial against Ambalasei's back, the skin even warmer along the length of her rib cage. Her eyes were shut, her jaw opened wide in the heat that soaked into her aching muscles. The search for knowledge was endless and pleasurable, but very tiring. Her thoughts were broken by the sounds of attention to presence. She opened one eye, slitted it against the light.
    "It is you, Enge."
    "It is spoken that you wished my presence."
    "I am displeased. Something must be done. Your Daughters of Drudgery drudge even less every day. You know of this?"
    "I do. It is my fault. Caused by my inability to find the correct solution to our problem. I labor but despair at attaining the needed grasp of knowledge of Ugunenapsa's principles. I know the answer to our difficulties is there before my eyes—but I do not have the vision to see it."
    "You confuse theory with reality. One of them exists, the other might."
    "Not for us, great Ambalasei, you of all people know that." Enge's eyes glowed with proselytizing fervor as she settled back comfortably on her tail; Ambalasei sighed. "The truth of Ugunenapsa's words is proven. When an eistaa orders one of her Yilanè to die—she dies. We do not."
    "Easily explained. My researches on the subject are complete. You live because your hypothalamus is not triggered, nothing more."
    "Absence of knowledge, desire for instruction."
    "I just wish the rest of your Daughters of Dissipation were desirous of instruction as well. Listen then and remember. Just as we progress from egg to ocean, fargi to Yilanè, so has our species progressed from ancient to modern form. We know from our teeth that we were once eaters of shellfish for that is the function they are shaped for. Before we had cities, before we had assured food supplies and defenses against inclemencies of existence, hibernation played an important part in our survival."
    "Humility at even greater ignorance. This hibernation, did we eat it?"
    Ambalasei clacked her jaws together angrily. "Closer attention to speaking. Hibernation is a torpid state of the body, between sleep and death, where all of the vital functions slow down greatly. It is a hormonal reaction caused by prolactin. This normally regulates our metabolism and sexual behavior. But too much prolactin overloads the hypothalamus and causes an unbalanced physiological state that ends in death.
    This is a survival factor."
    "Survival—that ends in death?"
    "Yes. Death of an individual that aids survival of the group. Another form of the altruistic gene that appears so counterproductive for the individual, yet very positive for the species. If the eistaa rules, the social order survives. Errant individuals die when so ordered. Essentially they kill themselves. They believe that they will die—so they do. The terrified reaction to the imminence of death releases the prolactin. The individual dies. A self-fulfilling prediction."
    Enge was horrified. "Wise Ambalasei—are you saying that Ugunenapsa's great work is nothing more than the ability to control a physiological reaction?"
    "You said it—I didn't," Ambalasei responded with great satisfaction. Enge was silent a long time, rigid with deep thought. Then she stirred and made an approving-appreciation gesture.
    "Your wisdom is infinite, Ambalasei. You state a physical truth that makes me doubt, forces me to consider the truths that I know, to find the answer that reinforces these truths. It is there, the answer, clearly stated and only waiting for interpretation. All of Ugunenapsa's wisdom is stated in her Eight Principles."
    "Spare me! Must I be threatened with all of them?"
    "No threat, just revelation. Just one of them embodies them all. The first and most important. This was Ugunenapsa's greatest discovery and from it all the others flow. She said it was her most significant insight. It