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a place as best we might." The officer trilled an order. Several low-class workers appeared. They did not
conform to Earth's picture of Aleriona-their black-clad bodies were too heavy, features too coarse, hair
too short, fur too dull, and there was nothing about them of that inborn unconscious arrogance which
marked the leader breeds. Yet they were not servile, nor were they stupid. A million years of history, its
only real change the glacial movement toward an ever more unified society, had fitted then- very genes
for this part. If the officer was a panther and hissoldiers watchdogs, these were mettlesome horses.
In his role as aide, Vadász showed them the party's baggage. They fetched it out, the officer whistled a
note,the troopers fell in around the humans and started off across the field. There was no marching; but
the bodies rippled together like parts of one organism. Aurore struck the contact lenses which protected
them from its light and turned their eyes to rubies.
Heim's own eyes shifted back and forth as he walked. Not many other soldiers were in evidence. Some
must be off duty, performing one of those enigmatic rites that were communion, conversation, sport, and
prayer to an Aleriona below the fifth level of mastery. Others would be at the missile sites or on air
patrol. Workers and supervisors swarmed about, unloading cargo, fetching metal from a smelter or
circuit parts from a factory to another place where it would enter some orbital weapon. Their machines
whirred, clanked, rumbled. Nonetheless, to a man the silence was terrifying. No shouts, no talk, no jokes
or curses were heard: only an occasional melodic command, a thin weaving of taped orchestral music,the
pad-pad of a thousand soft feet. Vadász showed his teeth in a grin of sorts."Ils considérent la vie très
sérieusement," he murmured to Navarre."Je parierais qu'ils ne font jamais de plaisanteries
douteuses."
Did the enemy officer cast him a look of-incomprehension?"Taisez vous!" Navarre said.
But Vadász was probably right, Heim reflected. Humor springs from a certain inward distortion. To that
great oneness which was the Aleriona soul, it seemed impossible: literally unthinkable.
Except ... yes, the delegates to Earth, most especially Admiral Cynbe, had shown flashes of a bleak wit.
But they belonged to the ultimate master class. It suggested a difference from the rest of their species
which-He dismissed speculation and went back to observing as much detail as he could.
The walk ended at a building some hundred meters from the edge of the field. Its exterior was no
different from the other multiply curved structures surrounding it. Inside, though, the rooms had clearly
been stripped, the walls were raw plastic and floors were stained where the soil of flowerbeds had been
removed. Furniture, a bath cubicle, Terrestrial-type lights, plundered from houses,were arranged with a
geometric precision which the Aleriona doubtless believed was pleasing to men. "Hither shall food and
drink be brought you," the officer sang. "Have you wish to go elsewhere, those guards that stand outside
will accompany."
"I see no communicator," Navarre said.
"None there is. With the wilderness dwellers make you no secret discourse. Within camp, your guards
bear messages. Now must we open your holders-of-things and make search upon your persons."
Navarre reddened. "What?Monsieur, that violates every rule of parley."
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"Here the rule is of the Final Society. Wish you not thus, yourselves you may backtake to the
mountains." It was hard to tell whether or not that lilting voice held insult, but Heim didn't think so. The
officer was stating a fact.
"Very well," Navarre spat. "We submit under protest, and this shall be held to your account when Earth
has defeated you."
The Aleriona didn't bother to reply. Yet the frisking was oddly like a series of caresses.
No contraband was found, there not being any. Most of the colonists were surprised when the officer
told them, "Wish you thus, go we this now to seek the Intellect Masters." Heim, recalling past encounters,
was not. The Aleriona overlords had always been more flexible than their human counterparts. With so
rigid a civilization at their beck, they could afford it.
"Ah ... just who are they?" Navarre temporized.
"Theimbiac of planetary and space defense are they, with below them the prime engineering operator.
And then have they repositories of information and advice," the officer replied. "Is not for you a
similarity?"
"I speak for the constabulary government of New Europe," Navarre said. "These gentlemen are my own
experts, advisers, and assistants. But whatever I agree to must be ratified by my superiors."
Again the girlish face, incongruous on that animal body, showed a brief loosening that might betoken
perplexity. "Come you?" the song wavered.
"Why not?"Navarre said. "Please gather your papers, messieurs." His heels clacked on the way out.
Heim and Vadász got to the door simultaneously. The minstrel bowed. "After you, my dear Alphonse,"
he said. The other man hesitated, unwilling. But no, you had to maintain morale. He bowed back: "After
you, my dear Gaston." They kept it up for several seconds.
"Make you some ritual?" the officer asked.
"A most ancient one."Vadász sauntered off side by side with him.
"Never knew I such grew in your race," the officer admitted.
"Well, now, let me tell you-" Vadász started an energetic argument.He's doing his job right well, Heim
conceded grudgingly.
Not wanting to keep the Magyar in his consciousness, he looked straight ahead at the building they were
approaching. In contrast to the rest, it lifted in a single high curve, topped with a symbol resembling an
Old Chinese ideogram. The walls were not blank bronze, but scored with micro-grooves that turned
them shiftingly, bewilderingly iridescent. He saw now that this was the source of the music, on a scale
unimagined bymen, that breathed across the port.
No sentries were visible. An Aleriona had nothing to fear from his underlings. The wall dilated to admit
those who neared, and closed behind them.
There was no decompression chamber. The occupiers must find it easier to adapt themselves, perhaps
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with the help of drugs, to the heavy wet atmosphere of this planet. A hall sloped upward, vaguely seen in
the dull red light from a paraboloidal ceiling. The floor was carpeted with living, downy turf, the walls with
phosphorescent vines and flowers that swayed, slowly keeping time to the music, and drenched the air
with their odors. The humans drew closer together, as if for comfort. Ghost silent, ghost shadowy, they
went with their guards to the council chamber.
It soared in a vault whose top was hidden by dusk, but where artificial stars glittered wintry keen. The
interior was a vague, moving labyrinth of trellises, bushes, and bowers. Light came only from a fountain at [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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