"Chapter 20" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Dickson - Forever Man)

G H A P T E R

20








"JIM. PM!"
"All right, all right," said Jim, "I heard you the first time. What is it?"
"You were sleeping again."
"I was not. I was thinking. Nevermind . . . what do you want now?"
"I want you to stop Squonk," said Mary. "Make him stand still-or better yet make him back up about two meters. There's a pair of Laagi I particularly want to keep observing."
"I don't know if I can," said Jim.
"Why not?"
"Well, I mean, I probably can tell him to stop searching, but I'm trying to think of a reason for it that'll make sense. The way we had to work out a way of sending him hunting for something, that made sense to him. Also, have you thought that if he suddenly just stops doing anything out here where he is, he may attract attention to himself?"
"What if he does?"
"If he attracts the attention of the Laagi, one or more of them might just come over to find out what he's doing here."
"We haven't seen any evidence that squonks can talk to Laagi," said Mary.

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"No, but maybe there're other ways a Laagi could find out what Squonk's doing here. The Laagi might be able to identify Squonk as the one of his kind who's supposed to be cleaning AndFriend periodically and has a part-carrying job elsewhere; and so might wonder what he's doing here, instead. Even if the Laagi doesn't do any more than wonder, he might end up ordering Squonk back to his parts-carrying and Squonk might well listen to that Laagi and obey it, in spite of whatever I could say to him. Do you want that?"
"No. No, of course not." Mary paused. "But I've absolutely got to keep observing these two Laagi awhile longer. They're acting different from any others we've seen so far."
"These two right next to us?"
"That's right."
"All right," said Jim. He pulled the now familiar trick of imagining himself as a Laagi giving gesticulated orders to Squonk.
"Good Squonk," he thought. "Stop. Wait just where you are for the moment. I may have new orders for you in just a little bit."
Agreeably, Squonk froze in position, which at the moment was the one best adapted to minutely searching the open floor of the room along a line that was carrying him away from the two Laagi Mary had indicated.
"There. See?" said Mary. "There's no problem in stopping him."
"Stopping him wasn't what I was worried about," Jim said. "What I was worried about-"
"Will you please not talk for a few minutes?" said Mary. "These two are definitely unusual. I want to be able to concentrate on them and I can't do that with you jabbering."
On the verge of arguing, Jim suddenly realized what had really bothered him about the peremptory order had been Mary making sure she had the last word-as usual. He kept his silence accordingly and took a closer look at the two Laagi himself. They were both seated and they were by themselves -a group of two. Not only that, but the space around them was larger than around any of the other groups, as if the other Laagi were politely avoiding any intrusion on them.
The two also gave the impression of being very punctilious in their communication. When one gesticulated, the other did


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not-of course that was the way it was also more or less, but only more or less, among the other Laagi. But what was unlike anything Jim had seen between these aliens before was that each time one of the two stopped talking, there was a moment of complete motionlessness on the part of both individuals before the one who had not been gesticulating started to reply.
"Did you notice how they pause?" Jim asked Mary.
"Of course," said Mary. "But there's more than that going on here, different from ordinary Laagi conversation. If you notice, the gestures of these two are slower and more deliberate than those we've been seeing."
"Maybe they're a couple of old Laagi," said Jim.
"Perhaps," murmured Mary quite seriously. "Also, their gestures are more emphatic-look there!"
The one of the two who was currently gesticulating had suddenly pulled his head down completely out of sight into the top skin-folds of his body and ceased movement entirely. After a long moment his head slowly came out once more.