[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
partially hidden by the ribbons, was a large device of unknown purpose. The
turquoise colored one carried a large pouch attached to a wide band around the
narrow junction where the pedestal connected to the four arms.
Sam muttered, "That pouch looks like a tool-kit. See how the things
inside are held by straps and pockets?"
"Careful," warned Shirley. "Not necessarily a tool-kit; possibly
weapons, possibly..."
"...lunch," giggled Katrina nervously.
Cinnamon and Deirdre moved slowly closer, examining as thoroughly as
the distance would permit them, the strange objects held in various tentacles.
"Looks like wood," said Deirdre, "or perhaps bone, but green -- and
look you how there is a bit of something, twisted around, to keep the disc in
place. The disc looks like glass, doesn't it?"
They realized that _Splish_ had been speaking. With its mechanical
precision, the robot was introducing the three aliens with a flourish of one
of its manipulators.
"I present Pink-Orb, Yellow-Star, and Gray-Mote, who have supplied me
with most of my information." Turning its video camera eye toward the icerugs,
_Splish_ pointed to the explorers and completed the introduction.
"I present Expedition Leader Colonel George Gudunov, and his crew of
humans and flouwen, from the lightship _Prometheus_." There was a silence.
_Splish_ was not much of an ambassador, thought George wryly, and, for lack of
a more carefully thought-out greeting, he straightened, brought his heels
together sharply, and saluted. Then he dropped his arm immediately, at the
sound of a smothered giggle behind him. He cleared his throat, and spoke
formally.
"How do you do ... erm ... sirs," said George, his mind racing. "The
names of my people, here, are..." he listed them, using first names only, and
each stepped up in turn.
"Say something to give them the sound of you," urged David privately
through their imps. "We all look alike in these suits!" When each of them had
done so, the humans waited, silently, for more. The humans were, illogically,
startled when a deep, rumbling bass voice replied, accompanied by a
translation by their suit imps. Whenever the translation program in their
suits was stumped, Josephine, with its much greater computational power, used
context information to assist with the selection of the proper word.
"I am Pink-Orb, an Astronomer from the Center of Scientific Studies.
Since you have come from the stars, I was assigned by the Presider of the
Governing Council to converse with you. These others are from the local
association. This is Yellow-Star, a master bard and interassociation
Page 53
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
communicator. This is Gray-Mote, a physician and the Leader of the local
association."
All three carpets, it was clear in this light, were of different hues
of blue-green; but now that they had had time to assimilate the features of
the aliens, it was easy to discern differences in the creatures. Pink-Orb's
body was a soft plum color, while the iris of its eye was a pale pink.
Yellow-Star's body was a deep jade color, and streaks of yellow produced a
star-like pattern in the light brown center of its eye, while Gray-Mote had a
turquoise body, and had obviously been named because of a curious mote that
distorted the normally round aperture in the center of its iris of silvery
gray.
"Their names seem to be keyed to the differences in iris color and
structure," David murmured. "Easy to distinguish, as long as there's not too
many!" There was another pause, for which the humans were grateful, as they
struggled to comprehend these strange-appearing, yet obviously civilized
creatures.
"And in the distance are others from the local association, who have
come to see you out of curiosity." With a wave of a tentacle, which stretched
double its previous length during the all-encompassing sweep, Pink-Orb
indicated the carpets behind it, and the humans noticed crowds of similar
stalked nodes, clustered in between the carpets of Pink-Orb and Yellow-Star on
one side, and Yellow-Star and Gray-Mote on the other side, while others were
off on the outskirts of Gray-Mote and Pink-Orb, as if they were trying to get
as close as they could without treading on the territory of the three primary
ambassadors.
George introduced the flouwen. "These are friends of ours, but not like
us. We call them Little Red, Little Purple, and Little White. They wear our
protective clothing, but they are native to this star system. They have come
to visit you from Rocheworld. I do not know your name for Rocheworld. Have you
a name for the object in the night sky made of two moons..."
Josephine's, "They understand the word Rocheworld." and Pink-Orb's
rumbled, "Yes." came almost simultaneously into George's ears. A deeper rumble
started and their suit-imps passed on the translation. It was Yellow-Star
speaking.
"Pink-Orb is the principal astronomer of our nation. All of the bodies
in our skies are known to him, and his delight is to calculate their future
behavior. He keeps us informed of the approaching conjunctions, when the tides
increase and the Munificent God of the Sea awakens."
At these words, human and flouwen minds alike were both intrigued.
These aliens were obviously highly intelligent and knowledgeable about the
world around them and deserved respect, and the humans in particular resolved [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl chiara76.opx.pl
partially hidden by the ribbons, was a large device of unknown purpose. The
turquoise colored one carried a large pouch attached to a wide band around the
narrow junction where the pedestal connected to the four arms.
Sam muttered, "That pouch looks like a tool-kit. See how the things
inside are held by straps and pockets?"
"Careful," warned Shirley. "Not necessarily a tool-kit; possibly
weapons, possibly..."
"...lunch," giggled Katrina nervously.
Cinnamon and Deirdre moved slowly closer, examining as thoroughly as
the distance would permit them, the strange objects held in various tentacles.
"Looks like wood," said Deirdre, "or perhaps bone, but green -- and
look you how there is a bit of something, twisted around, to keep the disc in
place. The disc looks like glass, doesn't it?"
They realized that _Splish_ had been speaking. With its mechanical
precision, the robot was introducing the three aliens with a flourish of one
of its manipulators.
"I present Pink-Orb, Yellow-Star, and Gray-Mote, who have supplied me
with most of my information." Turning its video camera eye toward the icerugs,
_Splish_ pointed to the explorers and completed the introduction.
"I present Expedition Leader Colonel George Gudunov, and his crew of
humans and flouwen, from the lightship _Prometheus_." There was a silence.
_Splish_ was not much of an ambassador, thought George wryly, and, for lack of
a more carefully thought-out greeting, he straightened, brought his heels
together sharply, and saluted. Then he dropped his arm immediately, at the
sound of a smothered giggle behind him. He cleared his throat, and spoke
formally.
"How do you do ... erm ... sirs," said George, his mind racing. "The
names of my people, here, are..." he listed them, using first names only, and
each stepped up in turn.
"Say something to give them the sound of you," urged David privately
through their imps. "We all look alike in these suits!" When each of them had
done so, the humans waited, silently, for more. The humans were, illogically,
startled when a deep, rumbling bass voice replied, accompanied by a
translation by their suit imps. Whenever the translation program in their
suits was stumped, Josephine, with its much greater computational power, used
context information to assist with the selection of the proper word.
"I am Pink-Orb, an Astronomer from the Center of Scientific Studies.
Since you have come from the stars, I was assigned by the Presider of the
Governing Council to converse with you. These others are from the local
association. This is Yellow-Star, a master bard and interassociation
Page 53
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
communicator. This is Gray-Mote, a physician and the Leader of the local
association."
All three carpets, it was clear in this light, were of different hues
of blue-green; but now that they had had time to assimilate the features of
the aliens, it was easy to discern differences in the creatures. Pink-Orb's
body was a soft plum color, while the iris of its eye was a pale pink.
Yellow-Star's body was a deep jade color, and streaks of yellow produced a
star-like pattern in the light brown center of its eye, while Gray-Mote had a
turquoise body, and had obviously been named because of a curious mote that
distorted the normally round aperture in the center of its iris of silvery
gray.
"Their names seem to be keyed to the differences in iris color and
structure," David murmured. "Easy to distinguish, as long as there's not too
many!" There was another pause, for which the humans were grateful, as they
struggled to comprehend these strange-appearing, yet obviously civilized
creatures.
"And in the distance are others from the local association, who have
come to see you out of curiosity." With a wave of a tentacle, which stretched
double its previous length during the all-encompassing sweep, Pink-Orb
indicated the carpets behind it, and the humans noticed crowds of similar
stalked nodes, clustered in between the carpets of Pink-Orb and Yellow-Star on
one side, and Yellow-Star and Gray-Mote on the other side, while others were
off on the outskirts of Gray-Mote and Pink-Orb, as if they were trying to get
as close as they could without treading on the territory of the three primary
ambassadors.
George introduced the flouwen. "These are friends of ours, but not like
us. We call them Little Red, Little Purple, and Little White. They wear our
protective clothing, but they are native to this star system. They have come
to visit you from Rocheworld. I do not know your name for Rocheworld. Have you
a name for the object in the night sky made of two moons..."
Josephine's, "They understand the word Rocheworld." and Pink-Orb's
rumbled, "Yes." came almost simultaneously into George's ears. A deeper rumble
started and their suit-imps passed on the translation. It was Yellow-Star
speaking.
"Pink-Orb is the principal astronomer of our nation. All of the bodies
in our skies are known to him, and his delight is to calculate their future
behavior. He keeps us informed of the approaching conjunctions, when the tides
increase and the Munificent God of the Sea awakens."
At these words, human and flouwen minds alike were both intrigued.
These aliens were obviously highly intelligent and knowledgeable about the
world around them and deserved respect, and the humans in particular resolved [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]