Page 69 - An Evening with Maxwell's Daemons

Lost in the Jungle

is remarkable: when the curative agents are identified, extracted,
concentrated and synthesized, it will revolutionize medicine!”
“Now it’s the commander’s turn to shake his head in disbelief.
‘And this panacea is unknown in Europe or America?’ The botanist
grabs the guy’s arm. ‘Listen, Captain. If this discovery could be
made known to the world, it would save a lot of lives and prevent
untold misery. And you would get a medal and promotion, of
course! But it might not grow anywhere but near this village—we’ve
got to take this sample back to HQ and get the word out.’ They
both turn to the radioman: ‘Sparks! Time to fire up that thing. But
stay in code’ The communications specialist tries, but can’t get the
radio to work. ‘Captain: it’s dead. No power.’ They try to get it to
work, but fail. Now they are desperate. ‘We’ve got to get to a
French base and call off the air strike.’ They look at their maps and
request a guide to the border from the village elders. But none of
the Fang people in that isolated part of a dense tropical forest
knows what a border is. The captain, exasperated, has his
interpreter ask them if they know where to find French-speaking
white men. After some consultation, a guide is finally provided. But
the Americans have no idea how long it will take to get there, if they
will survive the trek—or even if the guide truly understands what
they want. And that is the story so far, a race against time and the
terrors of the jungle. I am under the burden of knowing it is
fiction—no such wonder cure exists—so it is impossible to have a
positive outcome. Am I right about that? If so, how should it end?”
“Well, you have three alternatives,” began Cyril Kornfleck. “The
first you have already rejected as a violation of real history. The
second is for the Americans to die trying to escape, in some
dramatic fashion: perhaps disease and wild animals will pick them
off, one at a time. That’s always a winner, but then the story turns
into a pulp-fiction men-against-nature thriller, with the precious
plant passed from hand to hand until we finally see it going down
with the last man as he holds it high while sinking into quicksand.
Or the small band of brothers could devolve into savagery, obeying
no law but every man for himself. Or the guide could lead them
into a trap, for various reasons. Oh, yes: the third alternative. That

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