When he hadn't moved, one of the humans had fetched a box out of the backof the truck and crept toward him as if expecting Masklin to explode.
In fact, when he waved, the human jumped back clumsily.
The other human said something, and the box was cautiously put down onthe gravel a few feet from Masklin.
Then both humans watched him expectantly. He kept smiling, to put them attheir ease, and climbed into the box. Then he gave them another wave.
One of the humans reached down gingerly and picked up the box, lifting itup in the air as though Masklin was something very rare and delicate. Hewas carried to the truck. The human got in, and still holding the boxwith exaggerated care, placed it on its knees. A radio crackled with deephuman voices.
Well, no going back now. Knowing that, Masklin very nearly relaxed.
Perhaps it was best to look at it as just another step along life'ssidewalk.
They kept staring at him as if they didn't believe what they wereseeing.
The truck lurched off. After a while it turned onto a concrete road, where another truck was waiting. A human got out, spoke to the driver ofMasklin's truck, laughed in a slow human way, looked down at Masklin, andstopped laughing very suddenly.
It almost ran back to its own truck and started speaking into anothertelephone.
I knew this would happen, Masklin thought. They don't know what to dowith a real nome. Amazing.
But just so long as they take me somewhere where there's the right kindof electricity.
Dorcas, the engineer, had once tried to explain electricity to Masklin, but without much success because Dorcas wasn't too certain about it, either.
There seemed to be two kinds, straight and wiggly. The straight kindwas very boring and stayed in batteries. The wiggly kind was found inwires in the walls and things, and somehow the Thing could steal some ofit if it was close enough. Dorcas used to talk about wiggly electricityin the same tone of voice Gurder used for talking about Arnold Bros.
(est. 1905). He'd tried to study it back in the Store. If it was put intofreezers it made things cold, but if the same electricity went into anoven it made things hot, so how did it know'?
Dorcas used to talk, Masklin thought. I said "used to." I hope he stilldoes.
He felt light-headed and oddly optimistic. Part of him was saying: That'sbecause if you for one second think seriously about the position you'veput yourself in, you'll panic.
Keep smiling.
The truck purred along the road, with the other truck following it.
Masklin saw a third truck rattle down a side road and pull in behindthem. There were a lot of humans on it, and most of them were watchingthe skies.
They didn't stop at the nearest building, but drove on to a bigger onewith many more vehicles outside. More humans were waiting for them.
One of them opened the truck door, doing it very slowly even for a human.
The human carrying Masklin got out of the truck.
Masklin looked up at dozens of staring faces. He could see every eyeball, every nostril. Every one of them looked worried. At least, every eyeballdid. The nostrils just looked like nostrils.
They were worried about him.
Keep smiling.
He stared back up at them, and still almost giggling with repressedpanic, said, "Can I help you, gentlemen?"
Chapter 9
Science: A way of finding things out and thenmaking them work. There is a lot more Science thanyou think. - From A Scientific Encyclopedia forthe Enquiring Young Nome by Angalo deHaberdasheri.
Gurder, Angalo, and Pion sat under a bush. It gave them a bit of shade.
The cloud of gloom over them was almost as big.
"We'll never even get home without the Thing," said Gurder.
"Then we'll get him out," said Angalo.
"That'll take forever!"
"Yeah? Well, that's nearly as long as we've got here, if we can't get home." Angalo had found a pebble that was almost the right shape to attach to a twig with strips torn off his coat; he'd never seen a stone ax in his life, but he had a definite feeling that there were useful things that could be done with a stone tied to the end of a stick.
"I wish you'd stop fiddling with that thing," Gurder said. "What's the big plan, then? Us against the whole of Floridia?"
"Not necessarily. You needn't come."
"Calm down, Mr. To-the-rescue. One idiot's enough."
"I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas." Angalo swished the ax through the air once or twice.
"I haven't got any."
A small red light started to flash on the Thing.
After a while, a small square hole opened up and there was a tiny whirring sound as the Thing extended a little lens on a stick. This turned around slowly.
Then the Thing spoke.
"Where," it asked, "is this place?"
It tilted the lens up and there was a pause while it surveyed the face of the human looking down at it.
"And why?" it added.
"I'm not sure," said Masklin. "We're in a room in a big building. The humans haven't hurt me. I think one of them has been trying to talk to me."
"We appear to be in some sort of glass box," said the Thing.
"They even gave me a little bed," said Masklin.
"And I think the thing over there is some kind of lavatory, but look, what about the Ship?"
"I expect it is on its way," said the Thing calmly.
"Expect? Expect? You mean you don't know?"
"Many things can go wrong. If they have gone right, the Ship will be here soon."
"If they don't, I'm stuck here for life!" said Masklin bitterly. "I came here because of you, you know."
"Yes. I know. Thank you."
Masklin relaxed a bit.
"They're being quite kind," he said. He thought about this. "At least, I think so," he added. "It's hard to tell."
He looked through the transparent wall. A lot of humans had been in to look at him in the last few minutes. He wasn't quite certain whether he was an honored visitor or a prisoner, or maybe something in between.
"It seemed the only hope at the time," he said lamely.
"I am monitoring communications."
"You're always doing that."
"A lot of them are about you. All kinds of experts are rushing here to have a look at you."
"What kind of experts? Experts in nomes?"
"Experts in talking to creatures from other worlds. Humans haven't met anyone from another world, but they 've still got experts in talking to them."
"All this had better work," said Masklin soberly. "Humans really know about nomes now."
"But not what nomes are. They think you have just arrived."
"Well, that's true."
"Not arrived here. Arrived on the planet. Arrived from the stars."
"But we've been here for thousands of years! We live here!"
"Humans find it a lot easier, really, to believe in little people from the sky than little people from the Earth. They would prefer to think of little green men than leprechauns. "
Masklin's brow wrinkled. "I didn't understand any of that," he said.
"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter." The Thing let its lens swivel around to see more of the room.
"Very nice. Very scientific," it said.
Then it focused on a wide plastic tray next to Masklin.
"What is that?"
"Oh, fruit and nuts and meat and stuff," said Masklin. "I think they've been watching me to see what I eat. I think these are quite bright humans, Thing. I pointed to my mouth and they understood I was hungry."
"Ah," said the Thing. "Take me to your larder."
"Pardon?"
"I will explain. I have told you that I monitor communications?"
"All the time."
"There is a joke, that is, a humorous anecdote or story, known to humans.
It concerns a ship from another world landing on this planet, and strangecreatures get out and say to a gas pump, garbage can, slot-machine, ofsimilar mechanical device, 'Take me to your leader.' I surmise this isbecause they are unaware of the shape of humans. I have substituted thesimilar word 'larder,' refering to a place where food is stored. This isa humorous pun or play on words, for hilarious effect."