"REMINDER" by Buck Coulson

The stardrive was discovered on a planet in Centaurus,

By a race that built their cities when the Earth was burning gas.

They swept across the starlanes in the dawning of creation,

And a million years of empire came to pass.

Their successors were a swarm of mighty insects from Orion.

They did not have the stardrive, but they did not ever die.

They smashed a dying empire and then settled down to rule it,

And another million years or so went by.

The Insects were supplanted when the drive was rediscovered.

They could not stop rebellion when they could not catch their foes.

And the Tzen became the rulers. They were reptiles from Arcturus,

And they worshipped the dark swamps from which they rose.

But the Tzen were few in number and the universe is mighty,

And they felt their domination slip away between their claws.

Others fought for domination and the universe was chaos,

While on Earth a creature shaped flint with its paws.

Now the first ones are forgotten and the Insects but a memory,

And the creature called Man stands upon the threshold of his fame.

But remember, puny Earthlings, there were others here before you,

And still others who will follow in your flame.

I became awake. Reflexively, with the return of consciousness, I looked to my weapons. I felt them there in the darkness, strapped to my body and attached to the panel close over my head. I felt them, and relaxed slightly, moving on to other levels of consciousness. I have my weapons, I am alive, I am a Tzen, I am dutybound, I am Rahm.

Having recalled I am a Tzen, it did not surprise me that I thought of my duty before even thinking of my name. It is part of the character of the Tzen to always think of the species and the Empire before thinking of themselves, particularly the Warrior caste, of which I was one. It has occasionally been suggested, privately of course, that some of the other castes, particularly the Scientists, think of the individual before they think of the species, but I do not believe this. A Tzen is a Tzen.