The Fenris Device Read Online Free PDF

far as I was aware we had no other Gallacellans on board yet.
    â€œStylaster wishes me to ask whether you are fully recovered,” he said, once I’d got over my surprise and he’d had time to turn his back.
    â€œI’m not as bad as I might be,” I told him.
    â€œStylaster wishes me to ask when you will be ready to make another attempt.”
    I narrowed my eyes. I knew this wasn’t on the level. Stylaster might well have asked of Charlot whether I was fully recovered, and Charlot might well have referred the interpreter to me. But the idea of Stylaster addressing a question to me—whether he used an interpreter or not was just not credible. Gallacellans are very much aware of status, and once they have a status situation sorted out they talk to the man at the top and him only. Real Gallacellans, that is—Ecdyon, by virtue of the fact that he had learned foreign languages in order to converse with aliens, was a demoted Gallacellan, almost an alien himself but Gallacellan enough to be a go-between.
    â€œI’m not going to make another attempt,” I said.
    â€œStylaster wishes...,” he began.
    â€œWhat do you want?” I asked him.
    His big yellow hind-eyes blinked. One at a time. The small black pupils widened slightly, then contracted again. I got the idea that was phony too.
    â€œCharlot sent you, didn’t he?” I asked him.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œStylaster didn’t.”
    â€œStylaster wishes me to know what is happening at all times.”
    I saw what he meant. “He gave you an open brief to ask whatever questions you might need to ask, and he left it up to you to decide who to ask, what, and when? That’s interesting. What made you come to me?”
    He paused for a moment, then said: “My observations have led me to believe that it is not always the human with the highest status who determines what is to be done.”
    I stared at him. “That’s clever,” I said. “That’s really clever. Alien languages, alien ways of seeing. Stylaster couldn’t bring himself to believe that, you know. He just couldn’t.” It suddenly dawned upon me why the Gallacellans allowed so few of their people to learn alien languages, and only the low-status people at that. A status society needs ultimate stability. Limitations even on ways of thinking. I remembered that rumor had it the Gallacellans evolved from a prey species, not a predator or a facultative predator. They were not individualists. I wondered whether I ought to offer Ecdyon a few hints on how to organize a revolution.
    â€œWhat will happen if you will not guide the ship down to Mormyr?” asked the Gallacellan.
    I sat down on the bunk and looked up at him. “Have a seat,” I said. But Gallacellans don’t sit down. He interpreted my invitation somewhat liberally and coiled himself up. To me, it looked painful, but he was built for it. The net result of the operation was that he ended up with his eyes at about the same level as mine and his body contorted beneath his loose robe. I could imagine him as a sort of gigantic snake. But his black robe was discreetly voluminous, decorated with blue and gold, and actually very handsome. He didn’t look in any way repulsive.
    I thought about answering his question. Then I thought that I might be passing up a chance to learn something interesting, and I decided to fence.
    â€œI’ll tell you what will happen if you’ll tell me what will happen,” I said. He blinked again. This time I was sure it was deliberate.
    â€œYes,” he said, without hesitation. I wondered briefly whether he knew what I was after. Gallacellans were reputed to be .remarkably shy of giving away information.
    â€œOK,” I said. “Here’s how it is from our side. As you seem to know, we have only the one ship capable of doing what you want us to do—which, I presume, is to land on Mormyr and get you and