The alien’s mouth moved in short snaps. His voice, coming from the Vodor which hung from his neck, was smooth and resonant, although the words came clipped and separated. “Good. Glad you come.”
Martine was relieved. The Library Representative sounded relaxed. She bowed slightly.
“Greeting, Pil Bubbacub. I came to ask if you have had any further word from the Branch Library.”
Bubbacub displayed a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. “Come in and sit. Yes, good that you ask. I have a new fact. But come. Have food, drink first.”
Martine grimaced as she passed through the g-transition field of the threshold — always a disconcerting experience. Inside the room she felt as though she weighed seventy kilos.
“No. Thank you, I just ate. I will sit.” She selected a chair built for humans and carefully lowered herself into it. Seventy kilos was more than a person should weight.
The Pil sprawled back on his cushion across from her, his ursine head barely above the level of his feet. He regarded her with small black eyes.
“I have heard from La Paz by ma-ser. They say no thing on Sun Ghosts. No thing at all. It may not be se-man-tics at all. It may be the Branch is too small. It is small, small branch, as I saided. But some Hu-man Off-ic-ials will make much of the lack of a re-fer-ence.”
Martine shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about it. This will only go to show that too little effort has been spent on the Library project. A bigger branch, like my group has been lobbying for all along, would surely have had results.”
“I sended for da-ta from Pil-a by time drop. There can be no con-fu-sion at a Main Branch!”
“That’s good,” Martine nodded. “What’s bothering me, though, is what Dwayne is going to do during this delay. He’s bubbling over with half cracked notions about how to communicate with the Ghosts. I’m afraid that in his stumbling around down there, he’ll find some way of offending the psi-creatures so badly that all of the Library’s wisdom won’t patch things up. It’s vital that Earth have good relations with its nearest neighbors!”
Bubbacub raised his head slightly and placed a short arm behind it. “You are mak-ing ef-forts to cure Dr. Kep-ler?”
“Of course,” she replied, stiffly. “Actually, I’m having trouble seeing how he escaped Probation all of this time. Dwayne’s mind is full of chaos, though I’ll admit his P-score is within the acceptance curves. He had a tachisto test on Earth.
“I think I’ve got him pretty well stabilized, now. But what’s driving me crazy is trying to figure out what his basic problem is. His manic depressive swings resemble the ‘glare madness’ of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, when society was almost wrecked by the psychic effects of environmental noise. It nearly tore apart industrial culture when it was at its peak and led to the period of repression people today euphemistically call ‘the Bureaucracy.’ ”
“Yes. I have readed of your race-es at-tempt at sui-cide. It seem to me that the time af-ter, of which you just spoke, was time of order and peace. But that not my af-fair. You are luck-y to be in-comp-e-tent even at sui-cide.
“But do not stray. What of Kep-ler?”
The Pil’s voice did not rise at the end of his question, but there was something he did with his snout… a curling of the folds that served instead of lips… that told when he was asking, no, demanding an answer. It sent a shiver down Dr. Martine’s spine.
He’s so arrogant, she thought. And everyone else seems to think it’s just a quirk of personality. Can they be blind to the power and the threat that this creature’s presence on Earth represents?
In their culture shock, they see a little manlike bear. Cute, event Are my boss and his friends on the Confederacy Council the only ones who recognize a demon from outer space when they see one?
And somehow it’s up to me to find out what it will take to propitiate the demon, while I keep Dwayne from shooting off his mouth, and try to be the one to come up with a sensible way to contact the Sun Ghosts! Ifni help your sister!
Bubbacub was still waiting for an answer.
“W-well, I do know that Dwayne is determined to crack the Sun Ghost’s secret without extraterrestrial help. Some of his crew are downright radical about it. I won’t go so far as to say that any of them are Skins, but their pride is running pretty stiff.”
“Can you keep him from do-ing rash things?” Bubbacub said. “He has broughted in ran-dom el-ements.”
“Like inviting Fagin and his friend Demwa? They seem to be harmless. Demwa’s experience with dolphins gives him a distant but plausible chance to be useful. And Fagin has a knack for getting along with alien races. The important thing is that Dwayne has someone to spill out his paranoid fantasies to. I’ll talk to Demwa and ask him to be sympathetic.”
Bubbacub sat up in a momentary writhing of arms and legs. He settled into a new position and looked straight into Martine’s eyes.
“I do not care about them. Fa-ginis a pass-ive ro-man-tic. Dem-wa looks like a fool. Like any friend of Fa-gin’s.
“No, I care more a-bout the two who now cause troub-le on the base. I did not know, when I came, that there was a chimp here who was made part of the staff. He and the journ-al-ist have been all claws since we hit dirt. The journ-al-ist is snubbed by the base crew and he makes lot of noise. And the Chip keeps at Cul-la all time… trying to ‘lib-er-ate’ him, so…”
“Has Culla been disobedient? I thought his indenture was only…”
Bubbacub leapt from his seat, pointy teeth bared in a hiss.
“Do not interrupt, human!” Bubbacub’s real voice became audible for the first time in Martine’s memory, a high pitched squeak above the roar of the Vodor that hurt her ears.
For a moment, Martine was too stunned to move.
Bubbacub’s taut stance began to relax by degrees. In a minute the stiff brush of fur was almost smooth again.
“I apo-log-ize, human-Mar-tine. I should not fluff-up to such minor breach by one of mere in-fant race.”
Martine let her breath out, trying not to make a sound.
Bubbacub sat once again. “To answer your question, no, Cul-la not out of place. He does know his species will be in-den-tured to mine by Paren-tal right for long time.
“Still, it bad that this Doc-tor Jeff-rey does push this myth of rights with-out duties. You humans must learn to keep your pets in line, for it on-ly by good grace of we old ones that they are called cli-ent soph-onts at all.
“And if they not be sophonts, where would you be, hu-man?”
Bubbacub’s teeth shone brightly-for a moment then he closed his mouth with a snap.
Martine felt very dry in the throat. She chose her words carefully. “I’m sorry about any offense you may have taken, Pil Bubbacub. I will speak to Dwayne and maybe he can get Jeffrey to ease off.”
“And the journ-al-ist?”
“Yes, I’ll talk to Pierre also. I’m sure he doesn’t mean any harm. He won’t cause any more trouble.”
“That would be well,” Bubbacub’s voicebox said softly. He allowed his stocky body to settle once more into a slouch.
“We have great com-mon goals, you and I. I hope we can work as one. But know this: our means may dif-fer. Please do what you can or I be forced to, as you say, kill two birds with one stone.”
Martine nodded again, weakly.
8. REFLECTION
Jacob let his mind wander as LaRoque launched into one of his expositions. At any rate, the little man was now more interested in impressing Fagin than in winning any points with Jacob. Jacob wondered if it would be sinful anthropomorphizing to pity the E.T. for having to listen.