[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
the confrontation and rescue to himself. Eitherthat, or his coworkers did not feel the incident worthy of
men-tion to their hosts. Only when Des felt halfway confident thatnews of the occasion had not been
disseminated did he riskprobing possibilities. "I do not understand." Rulag, Des's immediate superior, was
gazing at the readout on her screen. "It says here that you areto report for service to the human sector
tomorrow morningat sunrise. You have been assigned to the inner detail."
Somehow Desvendapur managed to contain himself. Thiswas what he had been waiting for. "I have
repeatedly appliedfor any opening in food preparation in the human sector, inthe hopes that they might
expand our presence there."
"You know very well that they have been doing so, albeitslowly and carefully. But that's not what puzzles
me." Withtwo digits of a truhand she indicated the readout, which waspositioned out of Des's line of
sight. "It says here that you are to bring all your belongings with you. Apparently you are notonly to work
in the human sector; you are also to residethere." She looked up at him. "To my knowledge, all thranx
who work with the bipeds have their quarters here, on theborder of Geswixt proper."
He shifted edgily on all four feet. "Obviously there hasbeen a change in policy. Or perhaps it is part of
some newexperiment."
Her interest as she studied him was genuine. "This doesn'tbother you? You are prepared to go and live
among thehumans?"
"I will be with others of my own kind." He genuflectedconfidence. "Surely I'm not the only one to be so
assigned.The humans would not request only a lowly assistant foodpreparator to come live and work
among them."
"No, there have been others. You are right about that. Only you from our division, but I have talked with
other level-ninesupervisors. One from meteorology has been similarly as-signed, another from
engineering you will have company."She gestured brusque negativity."I couldn't do it."
"You don't have a sufficiently open or exploratory nature," Desvendapur replied gently. It was not a
criticism.
"Yes I do, but only where innovative food preparation is concerned." Rising from the desk, she dipped
her antennaetoward him. "I will miss you, Desvendapur. Not particularlyon a personal basis, but in the
kitchen. You are a good worker.In fact, I don't believe I have ever seen such dedication in so prosaic a
classification. It is almost as if you have the capa-bility to achieve much more."
"As you say, I like to work hard," he replied evasively, re-fusing to bite on the bait of the compliment.
"At first light,you said?"
"Yes." She turned away. "Report to the transition chamber,dock six. I am told there are three others
who are going at thesame time, so your first encounter with the humans will notbe a solitary one."
He had already had a first encounter, but that was andwould always remain a private matter. "It will not
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
take melong to gather my things."
"No, from all that I've been told you are not an accumu-lator. I suppose that under the circumstances
that's all for thebest. Farewell, Desvendapur. I hope you find your stay amongthese creatures
enlightening, or at least not too frightening."
She would not have understood if he had told her that he hoped to be frightened also amazed,
overwhelmed, terri-fied, awed, and subject to every other strong emotion pos-sible. It was only from
such extremes of feeling that true artarose. But he could not tell her that. He could not tell anyone.What
emotions he experienced, as first assistant food preparator Desvendapur, were only supposed to arise
from inti-mate contact with vegetables.
Chapter Eight
He was the first of the four adventurous ones to presenthimself at the designated assembly point. The
others arrivedsoon after. The meteorologist was there, as was a senior struc-tural engineer. The third
member of the group was a youngfemale sanitation worker who went by the dulcet patronymicof
Jhywinhuran. Forcing himself to ignore the more inter-esting conversation of the two high-level
researchers, he gravi-tated toward the only one of the group with whom he mightnaturally be expected to
bond.
He would much rather have discussed their situation andprospects with the two scientists, but joining in
an ongoingdiscussion with two such cerebral heavyweights was just thesort of misstep that could call his
carefully constructed falseidentity into question. As it turned out, he was only mildlydisappointed.
Jhywinhuran was lively, personable, far moreattractive than either of the two senior techs, and did not
rankhis job classification. It did not take much of an effort on hispart to settle readily onto the bench
alongside hers.
"This is so exciting!" Light from overhead sparkled in hereyes. He observed that the red bands that
streaked the pre-dominant gold of her multiple lenses shaded delicately topink. "Ever since the existence
of the bipeds was acknowl-edged by the government I've dreamed of working closelywith them. That's
why I applied for a position here. But Inever imagined I would ever have the opportunity of actuallyliving
among them as well."
"Why?"
She gestured uncertainty. "Why what?"
"Why do you want to work and live among them?" Be-neath them, the transport shifted slightly as it
backed out ofthe loading bay and moved toward a tunnel whose terminushe knew from a previous visit.
"I've always liked new things," she replied. "Anythingnew. When I heard about this, it seemed like the
newest thingthere could be."
He looked away from her, scrutinizing the tunnel ahead."You sound like you should be an artist."
"Oh, no!" She seemed shocked at the notion. "For that youneed a constructive imagination. Mine is
purely deductive. I have no aesthetic discipline at all. But I'm very good at whatI do."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"You must be," he told her, "or you would not have beenchosen for this transfer."
"I know." She stridulated personal pride. "I'm proud of myskills, even if my position is a lowly one."
"Not at all," he chided her. "Mine is lower still. In essencewe are both laborers in the same discipline:
biology. I workone end, and you the other."
To make the mild witticism work he was forced to employa couple of whistles in High Thranx. It took
her several mo-ments for comprehension to dawn, but when it did her gestureof amusement was highly
appreciative. As always, he knewthat he would have to be careful not to reveal too much of his erudition.
Assistant food preparators rarely made use of HighThranx, which was not a dialect but a second
language whoseuse was largely reserved for the learned.
The journey through the tunnel seemed to go on forever.Certainly he did not remember it taking half so
long on his previous visit. When questioned, the transport driver couldonly say that he was taking them to
the destination decreed on his manifest. What would happen to them after they arrived at their destination
he did not know.
After what felt like an interminable junket the transportpulled into a dock unlike any Des had seen
before. All thranxfacilities were spotless, but this one gleamed as if it wasscoured down every other
time-part. Security was noticeablyprominent. The travelers were escorted off the transport,equal
attention being paid to scientists and support workers.Ushered into a clean room, their bodies and
personal luggagewere minutely inspected, scanned, probed, and analyzed. Desvendapur would have
been uneasy had he not observed thatJhy was even more nervous. Was she too the manufacturerand
possessor of a false identity? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
the confrontation and rescue to himself. Eitherthat, or his coworkers did not feel the incident worthy of
men-tion to their hosts. Only when Des felt halfway confident thatnews of the occasion had not been
disseminated did he riskprobing possibilities. "I do not understand." Rulag, Des's immediate superior, was
gazing at the readout on her screen. "It says here that you areto report for service to the human sector
tomorrow morningat sunrise. You have been assigned to the inner detail."
Somehow Desvendapur managed to contain himself. Thiswas what he had been waiting for. "I have
repeatedly appliedfor any opening in food preparation in the human sector, inthe hopes that they might
expand our presence there."
"You know very well that they have been doing so, albeitslowly and carefully. But that's not what puzzles
me." Withtwo digits of a truhand she indicated the readout, which waspositioned out of Des's line of
sight. "It says here that you are to bring all your belongings with you. Apparently you are notonly to work
in the human sector; you are also to residethere." She looked up at him. "To my knowledge, all thranx
who work with the bipeds have their quarters here, on theborder of Geswixt proper."
He shifted edgily on all four feet. "Obviously there hasbeen a change in policy. Or perhaps it is part of
some newexperiment."
Her interest as she studied him was genuine. "This doesn'tbother you? You are prepared to go and live
among thehumans?"
"I will be with others of my own kind." He genuflectedconfidence. "Surely I'm not the only one to be so
assigned.The humans would not request only a lowly assistant foodpreparator to come live and work
among them."
"No, there have been others. You are right about that. Only you from our division, but I have talked with
other level-ninesupervisors. One from meteorology has been similarly as-signed, another from
engineering you will have company."She gestured brusque negativity."I couldn't do it."
"You don't have a sufficiently open or exploratory nature," Desvendapur replied gently. It was not a
criticism.
"Yes I do, but only where innovative food preparation is concerned." Rising from the desk, she dipped
her antennaetoward him. "I will miss you, Desvendapur. Not particularlyon a personal basis, but in the
kitchen. You are a good worker.In fact, I don't believe I have ever seen such dedication in so prosaic a
classification. It is almost as if you have the capa-bility to achieve much more."
"As you say, I like to work hard," he replied evasively, re-fusing to bite on the bait of the compliment.
"At first light,you said?"
"Yes." She turned away. "Report to the transition chamber,dock six. I am told there are three others
who are going at thesame time, so your first encounter with the humans will notbe a solitary one."
He had already had a first encounter, but that was andwould always remain a private matter. "It will not
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
take melong to gather my things."
"No, from all that I've been told you are not an accumu-lator. I suppose that under the circumstances
that's all for thebest. Farewell, Desvendapur. I hope you find your stay amongthese creatures
enlightening, or at least not too frightening."
She would not have understood if he had told her that he hoped to be frightened also amazed,
overwhelmed, terri-fied, awed, and subject to every other strong emotion pos-sible. It was only from
such extremes of feeling that true artarose. But he could not tell her that. He could not tell anyone.What
emotions he experienced, as first assistant food preparator Desvendapur, were only supposed to arise
from inti-mate contact with vegetables.
Chapter Eight
He was the first of the four adventurous ones to presenthimself at the designated assembly point. The
others arrivedsoon after. The meteorologist was there, as was a senior struc-tural engineer. The third
member of the group was a youngfemale sanitation worker who went by the dulcet patronymicof
Jhywinhuran. Forcing himself to ignore the more inter-esting conversation of the two high-level
researchers, he gravi-tated toward the only one of the group with whom he mightnaturally be expected to
bond.
He would much rather have discussed their situation andprospects with the two scientists, but joining in
an ongoingdiscussion with two such cerebral heavyweights was just thesort of misstep that could call his
carefully constructed falseidentity into question. As it turned out, he was only mildlydisappointed.
Jhywinhuran was lively, personable, far moreattractive than either of the two senior techs, and did not
rankhis job classification. It did not take much of an effort on hispart to settle readily onto the bench
alongside hers.
"This is so exciting!" Light from overhead sparkled in hereyes. He observed that the red bands that
streaked the pre-dominant gold of her multiple lenses shaded delicately topink. "Ever since the existence
of the bipeds was acknowl-edged by the government I've dreamed of working closelywith them. That's
why I applied for a position here. But Inever imagined I would ever have the opportunity of actuallyliving
among them as well."
"Why?"
She gestured uncertainty. "Why what?"
"Why do you want to work and live among them?" Be-neath them, the transport shifted slightly as it
backed out ofthe loading bay and moved toward a tunnel whose terminushe knew from a previous visit.
"I've always liked new things," she replied. "Anythingnew. When I heard about this, it seemed like the
newest thingthere could be."
He looked away from her, scrutinizing the tunnel ahead."You sound like you should be an artist."
"Oh, no!" She seemed shocked at the notion. "For that youneed a constructive imagination. Mine is
purely deductive. I have no aesthetic discipline at all. But I'm very good at whatI do."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"You must be," he told her, "or you would not have beenchosen for this transfer."
"I know." She stridulated personal pride. "I'm proud of myskills, even if my position is a lowly one."
"Not at all," he chided her. "Mine is lower still. In essencewe are both laborers in the same discipline:
biology. I workone end, and you the other."
To make the mild witticism work he was forced to employa couple of whistles in High Thranx. It took
her several mo-ments for comprehension to dawn, but when it did her gestureof amusement was highly
appreciative. As always, he knewthat he would have to be careful not to reveal too much of his erudition.
Assistant food preparators rarely made use of HighThranx, which was not a dialect but a second
language whoseuse was largely reserved for the learned.
The journey through the tunnel seemed to go on forever.Certainly he did not remember it taking half so
long on his previous visit. When questioned, the transport driver couldonly say that he was taking them to
the destination decreed on his manifest. What would happen to them after they arrived at their destination
he did not know.
After what felt like an interminable junket the transportpulled into a dock unlike any Des had seen
before. All thranxfacilities were spotless, but this one gleamed as if it wasscoured down every other
time-part. Security was noticeablyprominent. The travelers were escorted off the transport,equal
attention being paid to scientists and support workers.Ushered into a clean room, their bodies and
personal luggagewere minutely inspected, scanned, probed, and analyzed. Desvendapur would have
been uneasy had he not observed thatJhy was even more nervous. Was she too the manufacturerand
possessor of a false identity? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]