Someone, Somewhere (or both, in millions, or uncountable) requires likes, needs, values, collects, drinks, eats, or uses as a drug (sic) a substance ident Loosh. (Electricity, oil, oxygen, gold, wheat, water, land, old coins uranium.) This is a rare substance in Somewhere, and those who possess Loosh find it vital for whatever it is used for.
Faced with this question of Supply and Demand (a universal law of Somewhere), Someone decided to produce it artificially, so to speak rather than search for it in its "natural" form. He decided to build a Garden and grow Loosh. In the natural state, Loosh was found to originate from a series of vibrational actions in the carbon-oxygen cycle and the residue was Loosh in varying degrees of purity. It occurred only during such action, and secondarily during the reactive process. Prospectors from Somewhere ranged far and wide in search of Loosh sources and new discoveries were hailed with much enthusiasm and reward.
So it was that Someone and his Garden changed all this. Far off, in a remote area, he set to work on his experiment. First, he created a proper environment for the carbon-oxygen cycle, where it would flourish. He created a Balance with much care, so that proper radiation and other nourishment would be in continuous supply.
He then tried his First Crop, which actually did produce Loosh, but only in small quantities and of comparatively low grade, not significant enough to take back to the heart of Somewhere. The problem was twofold. The life period was too short and the crop units themselves were too minute. This brought about limits in quality and quantity, as the crop had no time to generate Loosh in such close tolerances. Moreover, the Loosh could be harvested only at the moment of termination of the life span, not one moment before.
His Second Crop was no better, if as good. He changed the environment to another part of the Garden, where the density was gaseous rather than liquid and the higher-density chemicals formed a solid base and thus were still available. He planted numberless units in many varieties in a new form, with a great increase in size, some many thousands of times larger and more complex than the simple unicellular First Crop. He reversed the carbon-oxygen cycle. Yet all had a basic uniformity. Like the first Crop, they would reseed at regular intervals and terminate their life spans automatically. To avoid the uneven distribution of chemicals and radiation which had been prevalent in the First Crop, he immobilized the Second Crop. Each was designed to stay principally in its own section of the Garden. To this end, each was given firm tendrils which burrowed deep in the more dense chemical matter. Attached to this was a stem or trunk which helped elevate the upper portion upward for its share of needed radiation. The upper portion, broad, thin, and somewhat fragile, was designed as a transducer of carbon-oxygen compounds to and from the crop unit. As an added thought, brilliant color radiators accompanied by small particle generators were mounted on each unit, usually near the top and symmetrically centered.
He set up circulating patterns in the gaseous envelope around the crop, principally to aid in the reseeding process. Later, he discovered that the same turbulent effect served as a means of harvesting the Loosh. If the turbulence were violent enough, the Crop would be blown down, the life span terminated, and the Loosh would discharge. This was especially useful when an immediate Loosh supply was desired at a particular point rather than at Harvest Time.
Despite all of this, the Second Crop was most unsatisfactory. While it was true that a much greater quantity was attained, the unrefined Loosh produced was of such low grade that it was scarcely worth the effort. In addition, the growth period was now too long and no increase in quality resulted. Some vital element was missing.
Someone hovered over his Garden for a long period in study before he attempted the Third Crop. It was indeed a challenge. True, he was partially successful. He had grown Loosh. Yet the product of his efforts fell far short of the wild, uncultivated variety.
It was inevitable that he perceived the answer. The Third Crop was living proof of this Truth. The original carbon-oxygen cycle must be included. Mobility must be restored. Both factors had shown great promise in high-grade Loosh production. If size could be added to this, much could be accomplished.
With this plan in the forefront, Someone removed various sample units from the First Crop, which was still thriving in the liquid portion of the Garden. He modified them to exist and grow in the gaseous area. He adapted them first to take nourishment from the Second Crop, which he permitted to abound for this very purpose. Thus it was that the first of the Mobiles, the Third Crop, came into being. The Mobiles took nourishment from the Second Crop, thus ending its life span and producing low-grade Loosh. When each huge Mobile terminated its own life span, additional Loosh was produced. The quantity was massive, but the frequency pattern of the Loosh residue still left much to be desired.
It was by accident that Someone came upon the Prime Catalyst as regards Loosh production. The monstrous and slow-moving Mobiles had a life span far out of proportion to their nourishment input. The growth and life-termination process was of such length that soon the Mobiles would all but decimate the Second Crop. The entire Garden would be out of balance, and there would be no Loosh production whatsoever. Both the Second and Third Crop faced extinction.
As the Second Crop grew scarce, energy needs of the Mobiles became acute. Often two Mobiles would seek to ingest the identical Second Crop unit. This created Conflict, which resulted in physical struggle among two or more of the ungainly Mobiles.
Someone observed these struggles, at first bemused with the problem, then with great interest. As the struggles ensued, the Mobiles were emanating Loosh! Not in fractional amounts, but in sizable, usable quantities and of a much higher purity.
He quickly put the theory to the test. He removed another unit of First Crop from the liquid Garden area, redesigned it for the gaseous environment but with one significant change. The new Mobile would be somewhat smaller, but would require the ingestion of other Mobiles for nourishment. This would solve the problem of overpopulation of Mobiles, and at the same time would create good quantities of usable Loosh during each conflict-struggle, plus a bonus if the new class of Mobile terminated the life span of the other. Someone would be able to transmit to Somewhere practical amounts of reasonably pure Loosh.
Thus it was that the Rule of the Prime Catalyst came into being. Conflict among carbon-oxygen cycle units brings forth consistent emanations of Loosh. It was as simple as that.
Satisfied that he had found the formula, Someone prepared the Fourth Crop. He knew now that the Third Crop Mobiles were too large and too long in life span to be ultimately practical. If grown in large numbers, the entire Garden would have to be expanded and enlarged. There was not space enough to grow such massive single units and the proportionate leafy Second Crops to support them. Also, he reasoned correctly that more rapid and increased mobility would expand the Conflict factor, with a resultant higher Loosh output.
In one single motion, Someone terminated the life spans of all the lumbering Third Crop Mobiles. Going back to the First Crop in the liquid area, he modified and expanded them into a multitude of shapes and sizes, gave them complex multicellular structures of high mobility. He designed into them a pattern of balance. There were those that ingested a Second Crop type of carbon-cycle unit (basically immobile) as an energy source. There were others, very highly mobile, who required for energy the ingestion of other mobile Modified First Crop units.
The completed circuit operated quite satisfactorily. The stationary Second Crop modification in the liquid environment flourished. Small, highly active liquid-breathing Mobiles took nourishment, "ate" the Second Crop modification. Larger and/or other active Mobiles consumed for energy the smaller "plant eaters." When any Mobile grew too large and slow, it became an easy target for the smaller Mobiles, who attacked in voracious numbers. The chemical residue from these ingestive actions settled to the bottom of the liquid medium and so provided new nourishment for the Stationaries (Modified Second Crop), completing the circuit. The result was a steady flow of Loosh from the life-span termination of the Stationaries, from the intense conflict among the Mobiles to avoid ingestion, and finally from the sudden termination of the life spans of such Mobiles as the inevitable product of such conflicts.
Turning to another portion of his Garden the gaseous area with a dense-compound base Someone applied the same techniques with even more advanced improvements. He added many varieties of Stationaries (original Second Crop) to provide sufficient and diverse nourishment for the new Mobiles he was to create. As in the other Garden area, he made such Mobiles into a balance of two species, those who ingested and drew energy from the Second Crop Stationaries, and those who required other Mobiles for sustenance. He created them in literally thousands of original types, small, large yet none so large as the Third Crop Mobiles and ingeniously gave each some appurtenance for conflict. These took the form of mass, elusive speed, deceptive and/or protective coating and color radiation, wave-action and particle perceptors and detectors, and unique higher-density protuberances for gouging, grasping, and rending during conflict. All of the latter served neatly to add to and prolong the conflict periods, with the resultant increase in Loosh emanation.
As a side experiment, Someone designed and created one form of Mobile that was weak and ineffective by the standards of the other Mobiles in the Fourth Crop. Yet this experimental Mobile had two distinct advantages. It had the ability to ingest and take energy from both the Station-aries and other Mobiles. Second, Someone pulled forth a Piece of Himself no other source of such Substance being known or available to act as an intensive, ultimate trigger to mobility. Following the Rule of Attraction, Someone knew that such infusion would create in this particular Mobile species an unceasing mobility. Always, it would seek to satisfy the attraction this tiny mote of Himself engendered as it sought reunion with the infinite Whole. Thus the drive for satisfaction of energy requirements through ingestion would not be the only motivating force. More important, the needs and compulsions created by the Piece of Someone could not be satiated throughout the Garden. Thus the need for mobility would be ever-present and the conflict between this need and that of energy replacement would be constant possibly a continuous high-order Loosh emanator if it survived.
The Fourth Crop exceeded all of Someone's expectations. It became apparent that a consistent, useful flow of Loosh was being produced in the Garden. The balance of "life" operated perfectly, with the Conflict Factor producing immense amounts of Loosh and a steady supplement brought into being by the constant life-span terminations from all types of Mobiles and Stationaries. To handle the output, Someone set up Special Collectors to aid in the harvest. He set up Channels to convey the raw Loosh from his Garden to Somewhere. No longer did Somewhere depend principally upon the "wild state" as the principal source of Loosh. The Garden of Someone had ended that. With the success of the Garden and the production of Loosh by cultivated means, Others began to design and build their Gardens. This was in accordance with the Law of Supply and Demand (Vacuum is an unstable condition), as the amounts of Loosh from Someone's Garden only partially met the requirements of Somewhere. Collectors on behalf of the Others actually entered the Garden of Someone to take advantage of those small emanations of Loosh overlooked or ignored by the Collectors of Someone.
Someone, his work completed, returned to Somewhere and occupied himself with other matters. Loosh production stayed at a constant level under the supervision of the Collectors. The only alterations were ordered by Someone himself. Under instructions from Someone, the Collectors periodically harvested segments of the Fourth Crop. This was done to ensure adequate chemicals, radiation, and other nourishment for the younger, oncoming units. A secondary purpose was to provide occasional extra amounts of Loosh created by such harvesting. To reap such harvest, the Collectors generated storms of turbulence and turmoil in both the gaseous envelope and the more solid chemical formations that were the base of the Garden itself. Such upheavals had the effect of terminating life spans of multitudes of the Fourth Crop as they were crushed under the rolling base formation or smothered under waves from the agitated liquid area of the Garden. (By peculiarity of design, Fourth Crop units could not maintain their carbon-oxygen cycle surrounded by the liquid medium.)
The Garden pattern of "Life" might have gone on thus throughout eternity had it not been for the perception and inquisitiveness of Someone. On occasion, he would study samples of Loosh from his Garden. There was no motive in doing so, other than the fact that Someone may have held a remote continuing interest in his project. On a particular analysis of a Loosh sample, Someone had casually examined the emanations and was about to return it to the Reservoir when he became aware of a Difference. It was very slight, but there it was. His interest centered immediately, he looked again. Woven delicately in with the more common Loosh emanations was a slender fragment of purified and distilled Loosh. This was an impossibility. Purified and distilled Loosh resulted only after the "wild state" Loosh had been processed many times. The Loosh from the Garden of Someone required the same treatment before it could be used.
Yet here it was so finely graded in its refined radiations that it could or would not return into compound with the raw substance. Someone reaffirmed his tests, and the result still was positive. There was a factor in his Garden of which he was unaware.
Quickly, Someone left Somewhere and returned to his Garden. Outwardly, all seemed the same. The solid-base gaseous areas of the Garden were an endless carpet of green reflection from the thriving Second Crop. The Modified First Crop in the liquid area was in perfect accord with the Action-Reaction Law (a Division of Cause and Effect). Someone perceived without delay that the Difference the source of distilled Loosh lay neither with the First nor with the Second Crop.
He found his first momentary touch of distilled Loosh emanation in one of the units of the Fourth Crop (which by then had filtered throughout the plantings of the Second Crop). The flash came during the unusual action of this unit as it entered into a life-terminating struggle with another Fourth Crop unit. This alone would not create distilled Loosh, Someone knew, and he probed deeper for the source.
It was at that moment he discovered the Difference. The Fourth Crop unit was not struggling in Conflict over an ingestible remnant of a weaker Fourth Crop unit or a tasty frond from a nearby Second Crop stem or to avoid termination of life and ingestion by the other conflicting Fourth Crop unit.
It was in Conflict to protect and save from life termination three of its own newly generated species huddled under a large Second Crop unit waiting for the outcome. There was no doubt about it. This was the action that produced the flashes of distilled Loosh. With this clue, Someone examined the actions of other Fourth Crop units in the Garden. He found similar flashes when other Fourth Crop units took the same action in defense of their "young." Still, there was an inconsistency. The sum of all such flashes of distilled Loosh emanation from all such actions by the current Fourth Crop units would not amount to half of the total he had found in the sample from the Reservoir. It was obvious that another factor was present.
Systematically, he hovered over the Garden, extending his perception to all areas. Almost immediately, he found the source. High-order distilled Loosh radiation was originating from one particular section of the Garden. Quickly, he hurried to the spot. There it was an experimental Modified Fourth Crop unit, one of those that contained a Piece of Himself in its functional pattern. It was standing alone under the leafy upper portion of a large Second Crop unit. It was not "hungry." It was not in Conflict with another Fourth Crop unit. It was not acting in defense of its "young." Then why did it emanate distilled Loosh in such great quantity? Someone moved closer. His perception entered into the Modified Fourth Crop unit and then he knew. The unit was lonely! It was this effect that produced distilled Loosh.
As Someone drew back, he noted another unusual inconsistency. The Modified Fourth Crop unit suddenly had become aware of His Presence. It had collapsed and was jerking in strange convulsions on the solid-base formation. Clear liquid was being expelled from the two radiation-perceiving orifices. With this, the distilled Loosh emitted became even more pronounced.
It was from this that Someone propounded his now famous DLP Formula, which is in effect in the Garden at this time. The balance of the story is well known. Someone included the fundamental in his formula: "... The creation of pure, distilled Loosh is brought forth in Type 4M units by the action of unfulfillment, but only if such pattern is enacted at a vibratory level above the sensory bounds of the environment. The greater the intensity of said pattern, the greater the output of Loosh distillate. . . ."
To put the formula into effect, Someone designed subtle changes in his Garden, all of them familiar to every historian. The splitting of all Crop units into Halves (to engender loneliness as they sought to
reunite) and the encouragement of dominance of the Type 4M unit are but two of the most noteworthy innovations. As it appears now, the Garden is a fascinating spectacle of efficiency. The Collectors have long since become Masters at the Art of the DLP Formula. Type 4M units dominate and have spread through the entire Garden, with the exception of the deeper portions of the liquid medium. These are the principal producers of Loosh distillate.
From experience, the Collectors have evolved an entire technology with complementary tools for the harvesting of Loosh from the Type 4M units. The most common have been named love, friendship, family, greed, hate, pain, guilt, disease, pride, ambition, ownership, possession, sacrifice and on a larger scale, nations, provincialism, wars, famine, religion, machines, freedom, industry, trade, to list a few. Loosh production is higher than ever before . . .
