[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
I can figure. I still don't think we should agree," he muttered under his
breath and looked around to see Hrrestan pointing vigorously to the bridge
sketch, nodding his head emphatically.
"Um zamat rrigam. La!"
After one last attempt to explain that the Terrans would not be staying, Ken
gave in.
The bridge was planned. And planned, according to Sam Gaynor's truculent
opinion, with a sound knowledge of engineering principles, until he found out
that rla wood was to be used.
"That damned porous wood..."
"Rla," Ken corrected automatically.
"Erla, then," snapped Gayor, "are too pulpy to hold any weight at all, not to
mention a span. Damn fool notion."
"They treat the wood, Sam," Vic Solinari explained. "Don't know with what,
although Harrula tried to explain. But he showed me the coating on the house
timber and I couldn't crack it with a ball-peen hammer."
"And the house's owner politely requested him not to chisel it," Ken added
with a grin at Vic's embarrassment.
"I hope they know what we're doing," Gaynor said, for he could not remain long
in Hrruban company without titanic sneezing. Moody had treated
Gaynor empirically with massive antihistamines but could not isolate the
specific factor without examining an Hrruban. Such an occasion had not yet
presented itself.
It worked out by the end of that day that the Terrans would cut timber for the
footings on their side of the river, the Hrrubans on theirs; the
Hrrubans indicated they already had sufficient timber cut for the span.
The foundations had been dug on both sides when two Hrrubans arrived with a
large wooden tub full of a hot gray viscose liquid.
Taking paddle-like brushes, Hrrula and Hrrestan began to coat the footing
logs, working quickly and taking care not to splash the hot liquid on their
bodies. The logs for the footings were lifted into position by Hrrubans
wearing protective hide gloves. More liquid was sloshed on the now upright
pilings. After an arbitrary pause, the Hrrubans filled in the dirt around the
Page 24
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
footings and turned to the first of the span logs. Again they worked swiftly,
coating the log and then easing it out across the rapid flow of the river
until it was in its assigned place. It was rapidly anchored with tough vines
which were also painted. The Terrans watched as, after a second pause, Hrrula
tested the log with a judicious claw. Apparently satisfied with the hardening
of the paint, Hrrula astonished everyone by leaping up and racing down the
length of the log to prove its firmness. He then indicated that the Terrans
should examine the Hrruban workmanship and duplicate it on their side of the
river.
"It's the same transparent stuff," Vic assured Gaynor after he had poked and
scraped, and made no mark. "Tough as a plastic."
"Seals the wood and strengthens it, huh?" Gaynor murmured, sniffling
constantly as he examined the span and the coated footings. "By God, we could
use that wood for pretty nearly all our building needs and not have to wait
for a plastics extruder. Find out how they make that, will you, Ken? And the
rest of you guys, c'mon. Let's build our end just the way they did."
"Good? Hmmm?" asked Hrrula, grinning at Reeve as the skiff took the first load
of men back to their side.
"Very good," Ken agreed. "What is it by you called?" he asked carefully in
Hrruban.
"Rlba," Hrrula replied and Reeve groaned.
The 'l' became liquid but the 'r' took a savage roll and the upward accent
fell on the final vowel.
Hrrunka, another of the Hrrubans whom Ken could now recognize on sight, was
stirring the rlba, which had been placed over a small fire to keep it at
boiling point. The smell was pungent, reminiscent of the scent exuded by rla
bark when sun-warmed. Hrrunka gestured Ken over, pointed to the rlabans behind
him, pantomimed boring a hole, the sap running out, heating the sap to boiling
point, brushing it on, waiting an arbitrary time; then, Hrrunka indicated, the
sap hardened completely.
By the end of that day, the bridge was completed, twenty-six feet long, seven
feet wide, sturdy enough for the colonists' power sled, constructed of native
materials and with native ingenuity.
Chapter VIII
INTERFERENCE
"IF -- " AND THE First Speaker's voice projected sharply through the startled
hubbub caused by Third's empassioned peroration, "we abandon the planet now,
with no logical explanation for the disappearance -- and I see no logical
explanation short of killing our people outright and leaving their bodies to
be found..."
"Really, sir," and Third was on his feet with indignation, "that solution --
your solution -- is the most..."
"Then let me continue!"
The stern disapproval in First's voice effectively quelled Third's brashness.
"By leaving the planet without logical explanation for such a retreat,"
and he delicately emphasized that word, stirring long forgotten pride in many
chests, "we invite trouble to come to us -- here! At the moment, we can
contain it there -- " he pointed to the star map and the red-flagged planet
under discussion, it was obviously at a safe distance from the home system.
"And we can probe, observe and, above all, think deeply on which course to
pursue."
"The Prime Rule already states every single contingency..."
The Third Speaker's reliance on that Rule struck the Chief as totally
inconsistent. For a person who constantly quoted platitudes and proverbs, he
showed a remarkably different stripe in a crisis which he couldn't explain
with a trite phrase.
"The Prime Rule states every contingency-except this one," the Fourth
Speaker in charge of Education interrupted. "As any fool could see," and
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Fourth's nostrils twitched with disapproval "the planet had no evidence of
sentient life when we established our communities. The project prints out most
creditable results in the short time it has been in effect. I do wish, now,
that we had not specified that these units be withdrawn during the long cold
season. The youngsters could just as easily have taken instruction there as
here and we might not have lost the colony."
"We haven't lost it yet," the First Speaker reminded him gently. "I
believe the Eighth Speaker has a computer analysis of the situation?"
Eighth rose and bowed with composure to the assembled before he unfolded the
tapes in his hand. He scanned them quickly and, with the slightest smile on
his features, placed them carefully down on the table.
"The data is insufficient for a prognosis," he said and sat down.
"Insufficient?" Third protested above the polite murmurs of the others.
"How can that be?"
Eight rose slightly from his chair and passed the tapes across to Third.
He looked at them nonplussed, his jaw dropping with astonishment.
"Yes, the data is indeed insufficient," First remarked.
Privately the Chief was twitching with delight. He would never have guessed
that the Eighth Speaker might be on their side, willingly or unwillingly
guided by the infallible tapes of his computer banks. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl rafalstec.xlx.pl
I can figure. I still don't think we should agree," he muttered under his
breath and looked around to see Hrrestan pointing vigorously to the bridge
sketch, nodding his head emphatically.
"Um zamat rrigam. La!"
After one last attempt to explain that the Terrans would not be staying, Ken
gave in.
The bridge was planned. And planned, according to Sam Gaynor's truculent
opinion, with a sound knowledge of engineering principles, until he found out
that rla wood was to be used.
"That damned porous wood..."
"Rla," Ken corrected automatically.
"Erla, then," snapped Gayor, "are too pulpy to hold any weight at all, not to
mention a span. Damn fool notion."
"They treat the wood, Sam," Vic Solinari explained. "Don't know with what,
although Harrula tried to explain. But he showed me the coating on the house
timber and I couldn't crack it with a ball-peen hammer."
"And the house's owner politely requested him not to chisel it," Ken added
with a grin at Vic's embarrassment.
"I hope they know what we're doing," Gaynor said, for he could not remain long
in Hrruban company without titanic sneezing. Moody had treated
Gaynor empirically with massive antihistamines but could not isolate the
specific factor without examining an Hrruban. Such an occasion had not yet
presented itself.
It worked out by the end of that day that the Terrans would cut timber for the
footings on their side of the river, the Hrrubans on theirs; the
Hrrubans indicated they already had sufficient timber cut for the span.
The foundations had been dug on both sides when two Hrrubans arrived with a
large wooden tub full of a hot gray viscose liquid.
Taking paddle-like brushes, Hrrula and Hrrestan began to coat the footing
logs, working quickly and taking care not to splash the hot liquid on their
bodies. The logs for the footings were lifted into position by Hrrubans
wearing protective hide gloves. More liquid was sloshed on the now upright
pilings. After an arbitrary pause, the Hrrubans filled in the dirt around the
Page 24
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
footings and turned to the first of the span logs. Again they worked swiftly,
coating the log and then easing it out across the rapid flow of the river
until it was in its assigned place. It was rapidly anchored with tough vines
which were also painted. The Terrans watched as, after a second pause, Hrrula
tested the log with a judicious claw. Apparently satisfied with the hardening
of the paint, Hrrula astonished everyone by leaping up and racing down the
length of the log to prove its firmness. He then indicated that the Terrans
should examine the Hrruban workmanship and duplicate it on their side of the
river.
"It's the same transparent stuff," Vic assured Gaynor after he had poked and
scraped, and made no mark. "Tough as a plastic."
"Seals the wood and strengthens it, huh?" Gaynor murmured, sniffling
constantly as he examined the span and the coated footings. "By God, we could
use that wood for pretty nearly all our building needs and not have to wait
for a plastics extruder. Find out how they make that, will you, Ken? And the
rest of you guys, c'mon. Let's build our end just the way they did."
"Good? Hmmm?" asked Hrrula, grinning at Reeve as the skiff took the first load
of men back to their side.
"Very good," Ken agreed. "What is it by you called?" he asked carefully in
Hrruban.
"Rlba," Hrrula replied and Reeve groaned.
The 'l' became liquid but the 'r' took a savage roll and the upward accent
fell on the final vowel.
Hrrunka, another of the Hrrubans whom Ken could now recognize on sight, was
stirring the rlba, which had been placed over a small fire to keep it at
boiling point. The smell was pungent, reminiscent of the scent exuded by rla
bark when sun-warmed. Hrrunka gestured Ken over, pointed to the rlabans behind
him, pantomimed boring a hole, the sap running out, heating the sap to boiling
point, brushing it on, waiting an arbitrary time; then, Hrrunka indicated, the
sap hardened completely.
By the end of that day, the bridge was completed, twenty-six feet long, seven
feet wide, sturdy enough for the colonists' power sled, constructed of native
materials and with native ingenuity.
Chapter VIII
INTERFERENCE
"IF -- " AND THE First Speaker's voice projected sharply through the startled
hubbub caused by Third's empassioned peroration, "we abandon the planet now,
with no logical explanation for the disappearance -- and I see no logical
explanation short of killing our people outright and leaving their bodies to
be found..."
"Really, sir," and Third was on his feet with indignation, "that solution --
your solution -- is the most..."
"Then let me continue!"
The stern disapproval in First's voice effectively quelled Third's brashness.
"By leaving the planet without logical explanation for such a retreat,"
and he delicately emphasized that word, stirring long forgotten pride in many
chests, "we invite trouble to come to us -- here! At the moment, we can
contain it there -- " he pointed to the star map and the red-flagged planet
under discussion, it was obviously at a safe distance from the home system.
"And we can probe, observe and, above all, think deeply on which course to
pursue."
"The Prime Rule already states every single contingency..."
The Third Speaker's reliance on that Rule struck the Chief as totally
inconsistent. For a person who constantly quoted platitudes and proverbs, he
showed a remarkably different stripe in a crisis which he couldn't explain
with a trite phrase.
"The Prime Rule states every contingency-except this one," the Fourth
Speaker in charge of Education interrupted. "As any fool could see," and
Page 25
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Fourth's nostrils twitched with disapproval "the planet had no evidence of
sentient life when we established our communities. The project prints out most
creditable results in the short time it has been in effect. I do wish, now,
that we had not specified that these units be withdrawn during the long cold
season. The youngsters could just as easily have taken instruction there as
here and we might not have lost the colony."
"We haven't lost it yet," the First Speaker reminded him gently. "I
believe the Eighth Speaker has a computer analysis of the situation?"
Eighth rose and bowed with composure to the assembled before he unfolded the
tapes in his hand. He scanned them quickly and, with the slightest smile on
his features, placed them carefully down on the table.
"The data is insufficient for a prognosis," he said and sat down.
"Insufficient?" Third protested above the polite murmurs of the others.
"How can that be?"
Eight rose slightly from his chair and passed the tapes across to Third.
He looked at them nonplussed, his jaw dropping with astonishment.
"Yes, the data is indeed insufficient," First remarked.
Privately the Chief was twitching with delight. He would never have guessed
that the Eighth Speaker might be on their side, willingly or unwillingly
guided by the infallible tapes of his computer banks. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]