The Raciv was really nothing more than a coordinator of the various scientists and constructors, helping to lay out the plans for the proper performance of their experiments and buildings, coping with any problem that might arise.
This race had many bewildering aspects. Drawers had listened, only half comprehending, to their learned men outline a gigantic theory of the universe and its reason for being, a theory that seemed flawlessly logical to his untrained mind. He had watched the golden men take over the manufacture of wheels, wagons, pulleys and trinkets he had introduced and improve upon them at a great rate. He had seen daring members of this delicate golden race emulate his action in capturing a Griff with astounding preciseness. Their adaptability, their gift of learning and improving upon new ideas seemed infinite. But their inability to grasp and utilize the simplest ideas on their own initiative was confounding. There was some quality lacking in their make-up that seemed to prohibit this. Why this was so he did not know. Perhaps it was the result of thousands of centuries of living easily in the forests, working and creating in the mind alone, that, through the ages had made the creative urge in them dormant. It was the only logical explanation to be found.
But once set upon the proper path that long dead ability might, by degrees, begin to restore itself, and then there would be no limit to the greatness this simple civilization might attain.
He had gotten probably his greatest kick in introducing amusements for the children. For two weeks he had labored, with several of the golden men assigned to him, in one of the larger working rooms in the city. By the end of that time he had constructed the very first Merry-Go-Round this world had ever known!
It was crude compared to what the amusement parks now had on Earth, but to these people it was an object of fabulous wonder.
He had simply constructed a large wheel, attached a few hand supports to it and mounted it on one of the wagons. The Merry-Go-Round was turned by a crude but effective crank, and this unique, whirling, breathless motion proved a source of infinite delight to the children of the city. The Merry-Go-Round was constantly on the go, and dozens of golden men crowded about, examining its manufacture, and returning home and plotting their own.
The most unusual aspect of this innovation was that the older people took to it as well as did the youngsters. The Merry-Go-Round and later the swing became a regular household addition.
These simple pleasure devices became the national amusements. It was becoming a common thing to have an open square one day, and the next find it clogged with a vast array of swings and Merry-Go-Rounds, with the golden people, young and old, partaking wholeheartedly in this new pleasure.
If it had been left to the children to judge, these new amusements were the finest things he had introduced so far; and Michel Drawers could not help realizing how limited these people's pleasures had been in the past.
It was a great day, too, when he escorted the Raciv and several of the more important men of state back to the "Star-Struck." They entered the ship and the lock closed behind them. Then with a blast of rockets the ship had rifled its way through the clouds.