It didn’t. Leep avoided the step and entered through the side of the portico. Mara greeted him in their own language. It came through the Teleo simply as
“Hello, Leep.”
Leep replied casually.
Mara said: “No, I’ve only just come. I’ve been back to look at Fami. How did you escape?”
George had dug out another Teleo outfit. He handed it to Leep. Mara explained its function, and the seer put it on. Senilde watched Leep sulkily, his expression saying that this ultra-cautious fellow promised poor sport. Leep said: “I warned everyone the overhang was about to fall. They believed me, naturally, but hoped irrationally it wouldn’t be too bad. They talked themselves into sticking it out in Fami. But I didn’t want to die, so I came down the glacier in the way you did. Then I wandered around the foot-hills looking for this house. I knew it existed, but I could divine only its rough location. I’ve been walking for a long time and I’m hungry. Very hungry. Is there any food here?”
Senilde had lost interest in Leep, and was playing with the telescope. George said: “I’ve a little food. Come on in.”
Senilde made no protest, even if he heard. He walked out into the garden and began to survey the area through the telescope. George led the way into the lounge and opened up the provision box. Leep munched food bars appreciatively.
“What made you come here?” George asked.
“I thought Mara might be here. I wanted to find her.”
“Why?” asked Mara.
Leep addressed her directly: “When my foolish disciples disappeared under the ice with the others, I had no one left to steal for me. You were the best artist in Fami, Mara, and I hoped you’d agree to steal for me. Senilde must have plenty of food in this house someplace.”
“Maybe, but we’ve not seen any of it,” said Mara. “And why should I steal for you? Why don’t you steal for yourself?”
“My talents are solely of the mind,” said Leep, sadly. “I live only to think. My ideal existence would be endless meditation. I’m quite unpractical, as you know. I shall starve to death unless somebody finds and gives me food.”
“What can you give in return?” asked George.
“The fruits of my knowledge. I was born with a gift for knowing things, a kind of second sight. It’s erratic, patchy. I can’t command it. Odd fragments drift into my mind as I meditate. Sometimes they’re useful to me, sometimes to others. Often they’re connected to nothing and of use to nobody. I can only accept what is vouchsafed me. Sometimes information is vague, like the location of this house—and no effort of mine will focus it.”
“So you’re a sensitive?” said George. “Your faculty is known on my planet. Some Earthlings possess it. It’s been verified by controlled experiments. But, as you say, it’s fitful.”
“You come from another planet? So much for my faculty—I wasn’t ever aware of that.”
George always warmed towards people who possessed the virtues of frankness and a sane humility. He found himself telling Leep about Earth and its people, about the journey to Venus, and what had happened since the landing. He concluded: “So, as Mara and I are in love, I want to take her back to Earth with me. Therefore I regret that you can’t have her for your personal ‘artist.’
I’ve a better suggestion. Come to Earth with us. Real, live Venusians are rare specimens. You would be a fine capture for me—but not a captive. Understand, you would be perfectly free to meditate or do as you wish. I promise you the terrestrials would make much of you, respect you, listen to you, and most certainly feed you.”
The old man pondered, then said: “There seems very little choice. I must go where the food is. Being hungry is terrible, and completely spoils my concentration.”
“Good,” said George. “Now listen, Leep. Hidden somewhere in this house is a room containing the master switches controlling the power behind this idiotic war. See if you can divine where it is, and then—”
He dropped his voice and broke off as Senilde came in. Senilde said, genially: “This telescope is a most intriguing toy, George. What can I trade you for it? Are you prepared to deal? Do you really need this girl Mara? There are other lovely girls still around on this planet, you know, and I could find you any number—”
“Shut up!” said George, savagely.
Mara pinched him hard. He looked at her inquiringly. Covertly, she went through the motion of turning a switch. He got it. He turned to Senilde, and said, curtly: “Switch off the war and you can have the telescope.”
“Is that all?”^ asked Senilde, eagerly. “Very well, that’s a bargain.”
“I want to make sure you keep your end of it,” said George. “I want to see you do it.”
“Of course,” said Senilde, off-handedly.
George rose from the couch. He was still holding a food bar. He proffered it to Senilde. “Here, I’ll throw this in, too.”
“What is it?”
“Food—good food.”
Senilde waved it aside. “I never eat. Haven’t eaten for thousands of years. I don’t have to. Bodily immortality changes one’s metabolism completely. I drew sufficient nourishment from my environment, without recourse to that rather disgusting—if you’ll forgive me— procedure.”
Leep sat up straight, his ears pricking up like an animal’s. George, misreading the reaction, tossed him the food bar, and remarked to Senilde:
“Well, aren’t you the lucky man! Now let’s climb those awful stairs.”
Mara joined them. George asked: “Coming, Leep?”
“Not just now—I feel a thinking spell coming on. I’ll just sit here a while.”
Senilde made heavy going of the stairs. However healthy his cells might be, centuries of lack of exercise had done nothing for his muscles or his mind. He was right in another respect, too: George would never have found the room. The upper part of the house was like a Chinese puzzle box: sliding panels behind sliding panels, secret passages within secret passages, concealed springs which could only function after other concealed springs had been pressed. The room itself, revealed at last, was full of control panels. Tiny lights winked everywhere and an electric hum permeated it. Things like ticker tapes were clicking out printed messages, and rows of spools revolved jerkily, winding them on. Senilde indicated them, grinning asininely. “All in different codes, and I can’t remember one of them now. Once, I could read them all.”
“Does any of them give the location of my ship?” George asked.
“Almost certainly. But how would I know which one? I can’t dicipher a word, nor even a figure.”
George grunted, between disbelief and disappointment. Senilde began snapping switches. One by one at first, then in whole banks, the little lights went out. The message machines stopped. The hum slowly faded from hearing. Then all the apparatus was still, silent, dead.
“There you are,” said Senilde.
George relaxed. Relief came like a warm current of air. He’d achieved all that was possible to save the skipper and the others—and himself.
“Thanks—let’s go.”
They threaded their way out through the maze of secret ways. Senilde methodically closed the panels behind them. When they reached the lounge, Leep was still sitting there quietly.
George said, lightly: “How now, soothsayer, have you been visited by any inspirations?”
Leep regarded him thoughtfully. “Yes. I was thinking about your space-ship. And all at once, its exact latitude and longitude flashed into my mind.”
George glowed. “Great! You’re real smart, Leep. Where’s the ship?”
“The Teleo conveys an ambiguous meaning to that word ‘smart’,” said Leep.
“You’re correct in the sense that I have a strong instinct for self-preservation.”