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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31686-h.zip b/31686-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c5305a --- /dev/null +++ b/31686-h.zip diff --git a/31686-h/31686-h.htm b/31686-h/31686-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cadaf82 --- /dev/null +++ b/31686-h/31686-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2451 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Collector's Item, by Evelyn E. Smith. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Collector's Item, by Evelyn E. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Collector's Item + +Author: Evelyn E. Smith + +Illustrator: EMSH + +Release Date: March 18, 2010 [EBook #31686] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLLECTOR'S ITEM *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>Collector's Item</h1> + +<h2>By EVELYN E. SMITH</h2> + +<h3>Illustrated by EMSH</h3> + +<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction +December 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>Being trapped in the steaming h—l of Venus is no excuse for +forgetting one's manners—but anyone abducted, marooned, tricked, kept +from tea might well crack under the strain!</i></div> + +<p>"What I should like to know," Professor Bernardi said, gazing pensively +after the lizard-man as he bore the shrieking form of Miss Anspacher off +in his scaly arms, "is whether he is planning to eat her or make love to +her. Because, in the latter instance, I'm not sure we should interfere. +It may be her only chance."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figleft"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Carl!" his wife cried indignantly. "That's a horrid thing to say! You +must rescue her at once!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose so," he said, then gave his wife a nasty little grin that +he knew would irritate her. "It isn't that she's unattractive, my dear, +in case you hadn't noticed, though she's pretty well past the bloom of +youth—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Will</i> you stop making leering noises and go save her or <i>not</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I was coming to that. It's just that she persists in using her Ph.D. as +a club to beat men into respectful pulps. Men don't like being beaten +into respectful pulps, whether by a man or a woman. Now if she'd only +learned that other people have feelings—"</p> + +<p>"If you don't stop lecturing and go, I will!" his wife threatened.</p> + +<p>"All right, all right," he said wearily. "Come on, Mortland."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The two scientists slogged through the steamy, odorous jungle of Venus +and soon reached the lizard-man, who, weighed down by his captive, had +not been able to travel as fast.</p> + +<p>"You blast him," the professor told Mortland. "Try not to hit Miss +Anspacher, if you can manage it."</p> + +<p>"Er—I've never fired one of these things before," Mortland said. "Can't +stand having my eardrums blasted. However, here goes." He pointed his +weapon at the lizardlike creature in a gingerly manner. "Ah—hands up," +he ordered. "Only fair to give the—well, blighter a sporting chance," +he explained to Professor Bernardi.</p> + +<p>To their amazement, the lizard-man promptly dropped Miss Anspacher into +the lavender-colored mud and put up his hands. Miss Anspacher gave an +indignant yelp.</p> + +<p>"Seems intelligent in spite of the kidnaping," Mortland commented. "But +how does he happen to understand English? We're the only expedition ever +to have reached Venus ... that I know of, anyway." He and the professor +stared at each other in consternation. "There may have been a secret +expedition previously and perhaps they left a—a base or something, +which would explain why—"</p> + +<p>"If you two oafs would stop speculating, you might help me out of +here!" Miss Anspacher remarked in her customary snappish tone. Professor +Bernardi leaped forward to obey. "You don't have to pull quite so hard! +I haven't taken root yet!" She came out of the mud with a sound like two +whales kissing. She brushed hopelessly at her once-white blouse and +shorts. "Oh, dear, I look a mess!"</p> + +<p>Professor Bernardi did not comment, being engaged in slapping at a small +winged creature—about the size of a bluejay, but looking like a cross +between a bat and a mosquito—that seemed interested in taking a bite +out of him. It escaped his flapping hand and flew to the top of +Mortland's sun helmet, where it glared at the professor.</p> + +<p>"Since you seem to understand English," Miss Anspacher said to the +lizard-man through a mouthful of hairpins, "perhaps you will be so kind +as to explain the meaning of this outrage?"</p> + +<p>"I was smitten," the alien replied suavely. "Passion made me forget +myself."</p> + +<p>Professor Bernardi looked thoughtfully at him. "A prior expedition isn't +the answer. It wouldn't have troubled to educate you so thoroughly. +Therefore, the explanation is that you pick up English by reading our +minds. Correct?"</p> + +<p>The lizard-man turned an embarrassed olive. "Yes."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Now that he was able to give the creature a more thorough inspection, +Bernardi saw that he really didn't look too much like a lizard. He +definitely appeared to be wearing clothes of some kind, which, in the +Venusian heat, indicated a particularly refined degree of +civilization—unless, of course, the squamous skin protected him from +the heat as well as the humidity.</p> + +<p>More than that, though, he was humanoid in almost a Hollywood way. He +had a particularly fine profile and an athletic physique, which, oddly, +his scales seemed to enhance, much like a movie idol dressed in +fine-meshed Medieval armor. Naturally, he had a tail, but it was as well +proportioned as a kangaroo's, though shorter and more graceful, and it +struck Professor Bernardi as a particularly handsome and useful gadget.</p> + +<p>For one thing, the people from Earth were standing uncomfortably in the +slippery mud, while the lizard-man was using his tail much in the +fashion of a spectator stool, leaning back against it almost in a +sitting position, with his armor-shod feet supporting him comfortably. +For another, the tail undoubtedly served for balance and the added push +of a walking stick and perhaps for swift attack or getaway. Very +practical and attractive, the professor concluded—too bad Man had +relinquished his tail when climbing down from the trees.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," the saurian said with uneasy modesty, looking at him. "Good +of you to think so. You are a fairly intelligent species, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Fairly," the professor acknowledged, preoccupied with a clever idea. +Perhaps existence on Venus wasn't going to be as unpleasant as he had +anticipated. "From reading my mind, you know what this blaster can do, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so."</p> + +<p>"Then you know what I expect of you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sahib. I'se comin', massa. To hear is to obey, effendi." The +creature turned and went briskly back toward the camp, leaving the +others to stumble after him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bernardi gave a shriek as his handsome scaled form emerged from the +greenish-white underbrush, haloed in luminous yellow mist. Algol, the +ship's cat, prudently took sanctuary behind her, then peered out to see +what was going on and whether there was likely to be anything in it for +him.</p> + +<p>"This is our native bearer," Professor Bernardi explained as the three +scientists burst out of the jungle.</p> + +<p>"My name is Jrann-Pttt." The creature bowed low. "At your service, +madame."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Carl!" Mrs. Bernardi clapped her hands. "He's just perfect! So +thoughtful of you to find one that speaks English! I do hope you can +cook, Pitt?"</p> + +<p>"I will do my best, madame."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Algol daintily picked his way through the mud toward the saurian, +sniffed him with judicial deliberation; then, deciding that anyone who +smelled so much like the better class of fish must be All Right, rubbed +against his legs.</p> + +<p>"Well," remarked Miss Anspacher, using the side of the spaceship as a +mirror by which to redden her somewhat prissy lips, "that makes it +practically unanimous, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"All except Professor Bernardi," said Jrann-Pttt, looking at the +scientist with what might have been a smile. "He doesn't like me."</p> + +<p>"I see that your telepathic powers are not quite accurate," the +professor returned. "I do not dislike you; I distrust you."</p> + +<p>"The fact that the two terms are not entirely synonymous in your +language would argue a certain degree of incipient civilization," the +lizard-man observed.</p> + +<p>"You know, Carl," Mrs. Bernardi whispered, "he has an awfully funny way +of talking, for a native."</p> + +<p>"Frankly I don't like this at all, Professor," Captain Greenfield said, +mopping his brow with a limp handkerchief. "If I hadn't been off looking +for a better berth for the ship—all this mud worries me—this'd never +have happened."</p> + +<p>"You mean you would have let the lizard get away with Miss Anspacher?"</p> + +<p>The big man's face flushed crimson. "I don't think that's funny, +Professor."</p> + +<p>Bernardi quickly changed the subject, for he realized that the captain, +being by far the most muscular of the party, was not a man to trifle +with. "Tell me, Greenfield, did you succeed in finding a better spot for +the ship? I must admit I'm worried about that mud myself."</p> + +<p>"Only remotely dry spot around is an outcropping 'bout two kilometers +away," Greenfield said grudgingly. He shifted his camp stool in a futile +search for shade. Even though the sun never penetrated the thick layer +of clouds, the yellow light diffused through them was blinding. "Might +be big enough, but it's not level. Could blast it smooth, but that'd +take at least a week—Earth time."</p> + +<p>Bernardi pulled his damp shirt away from his body. "Well, I daresay +we'll be all right where we are, if we're not assailed by any violent +forces of nature. On Earth, this might be a monsoon climate."</p> + +<p>"If you ask me, that monster is more of a danger than any monsoon."</p> + +<p>Bernardi sighed. Although by far the most competent officer available +for the job of spaceship captain, Greenfield was not quite the man he +would have chosen to be his associate for months on end. Still, +beggars—as Miss Anspacher might have eloquently put it—could not be +choosers. "What makes you say that?" he asked, trying to set an example +of tolerance.</p> + +<p>"Don't like the idea of him cooking for us," the captain said +stubbornly. "Might poison us all in our beds."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't eat in your bed," suggested Mortland, strolling out of the +airlock in the company of the cat. Algol, however, finding that the spot +beside the captain's camp stool was as dry as anything could be on +Venus, decided to turn back.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"The difficulty is easily overcome, Captain," the professor said, still +holding on to his patience. "You can continue to cook your own meals +from the tinned and packaged foods on board ship. The rest of us will +eat fresh native foods prepared by Jrann-Pttt."</p> + +<p>"But why," Miss Anspacher interrupted as she emerged from the airlock +with a large cast-iron skillet, "should you think Jrann-Pttt wants to +poison us?"</p> + +<p>Both men rose from their stools. "Stands to reason he'd consider us his +enemies, Miss Anspacher," the captain said. "After all, we—as a group, +that is—captured him."</p> + +<p>"Hired him," Professor Bernardi contradicted. "I've telepathically +arranged to pay him an adequate salary. In goods, of course; I don't +suppose our money would be of much use to him. And I think he's rather +glad of the chance to hang around and observe us conveniently."</p> + +<p>"Observe us!" Greenfield exclaimed. "You mean he's spying out the land +for an attack? Let's prepare our defenses at once!"</p> + +<p>"I doubt if that's what he has in mind," Professor Bernardi said +judiciously.</p> + +<p>"He may be staying because he wants to be near me," Miss Anspacher +blurted. Overcome by this unmaidenly admission, she reddened and rushed +from them, calling, "Yoo-hoo, Jrann-Pttt! Here is the frying pan!" Algol +woke up instantly and followed her. "Frying" was one of the more +important words in his vocabulary.</p> + +<p>Captain Greenfield stared across the clearing after them, then turned +back to Bernardi with a frown. "I don't like to see one of our girls +mixed up with a lizard—and a foreign lizard at that." But his face too +clearly betrayed a personal resentment.</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me you have a—a fondness for Miss Anspacher, Captain," +Professor Bernardi exclaimed, genuinely surprised. Undeniably Miss +Anspacher—although no longer in her first youth—was a handsome woman, +but he would not have expected her somewhat cerebral type to appeal to +the captain. On the other hand, she was the only unattached woman in the +party and they were a long way from home.</p> + +<p>Greenfield picked a fleck of dried violet mud from the side of the ship +and avoided Bernardi's eye. "One of the reasons I came along," he said +almost bashfully. "Thought I'd have the chance to be alone with her now +and again and impress her with, with...."</p> + +<p>"Your sterling qualities?" Bernardi suggested.</p> + +<p>The captain flashed him a glance of mingled gratitude and resentment. +"And now this damned lizard has to come along!"</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, Captain," said the professor. "I'll back you against a lizard +any time."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Although the long twilight of Venus had deepened into night and it could +never really be cool there by terrestrial standards, the temperature was +almost comfortable. Everything was quite black, except for the pallid +purple campfire glowing through the darkness; the clouds that +perpetually covered the surface of the planet prevented even the light +of the stars from reaching it.</p> + +<p>"Tell me more about the cross-versus the parallel-cousin relationships +in your culture, Jrann-Pttt," Miss Anspacher breathed, wriggling her +camp stool closer to the saurian's. "Anthropology is a great hobby of +mine, you know. How do your people feel about exogamy?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I'm rather exhausted, dear lady," he said, using one arm to +mask a yawn, and one to surreptitiously wave away the saurian head that +was peering out of the underbrush. "I shouldn't like to give a scientist +like yourself any misinformation that might become a matter of record."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," she murmured. "You're so considerate."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A pale face appeared in the firelight like some weird creature of +darkness. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial both started. "Miss +Anspacher," the captain growled, "I'd like to lock up the ship, so if +you wouldn't mind turning in—"</p> + +<p>Miss Anspacher pouted. "You've interrupted such an interesting +conversation. And I don't see why you have to lock up the ship. After +all, the night is three hundred and eighty-five hours long. We don't +sleep all that time and it would be a shame to be cooped up."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to try to rig up some floodlights," Greenfield explained +stiffly, "so we won't be caught like this again. Nobody bothered to tell +me the day equals thirty-two of ours, so that half of it would be +night."</p> + +<p>"Then I won't see you for almost two weeks of our time, Jrann-Pttt? Are +you sure you wouldn't like to spend the rest of the night in our ship? +Plenty of room, you know."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, dear lady. The jungle is my natural habitat. I should +feel stultified by walls and a ceiling. Don't worry—I shan't run away."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not worried," Miss Anspacher said coyly, throwing a stick of +wood on the fire.</p> + +<p>"Small riddance if he does."</p> + +<p>"Captain Greenfield!"</p> + +<p>That part of the captain's face not concealed by his piratical black +beard turned red. "Well, if he can read our minds, he knows damn well +what I'm thinking, anyway, so why be hypocritical about it?"</p> + +<p>"That's right—he is a telepath, isn't he?" Miss Anspacher's face grew +even redder than the captain's. "I forgot he.... It <i>is</i> getting late. I +really must go. Good night, Jrann-Pttt."</p> + +<p>"Good night, dear lady." The saurian bowed low over her hand.</p> + +<p>Leaning on the captain's brawny arm, Miss Anspacher ploughed through the +mud to the ship, followed by the mosquito-bat and Algol, who had been +toasting themselves more or less companionably at the fire. The door to +the airlock clanged behind all four of them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The other saurian's head appeared again from the bush. <i>Jrann-Pttt</i>, the +insistent thought came, <i>shall I rescue you now</i>?</p> + +<p><i>Why, Dfar-Lll? I am not a prisoner. I'm quite free to come and go +as I please. But let's get away from the strangers' ship while we +communicate. They do have a certain amount of low-grade perception and +might be able to sense the presence of another personality. At any rate, +they might look out of a port and see you.</i></p> + +<p>Keeping the illuminator on low beam, Dfar-Lll led the way through the +bushes. <i>Seems to me you're going to an awful lot of trouble just to get +zoo specimens</i>, the youngster protested, disentangling its arms from the +embrace of an amorous vine. <i>There's really no reason for carrying on +the work since Lieutenant Merglyt-Ruuu ... passed on.</i></p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt sat down on a fallen log and, tucking up his graceful tail, +signaled his junior to join him. <i>In the event that we do decide to +return to base, some handsome specimens might serve to offset the +lieutenant's demise.</i></p> + +<p><i>Return to base? But I thought we were....</i></p> + +<p><i>We haven't found swamp life pleasant, have we? After all, there's no +real reason why we shouldn't go back. Is it our fault that Merglyt-Ruuu +happened to meet with a fatal accident?</i></p> + +<p><i>We-ell ... but will the commandant see it that way?</i></p> + +<p><i>On the other hand, if we don't go back, wouldn't it be a good idea to +attach ourselves to an expedition that, no matter how alien, is better +equipped for survival than we? And carrying out our original purpose +seemed the best way of getting to meet these strangers informally, as it +were.</i></p> + +<p><i>They are unquestionably intelligent life-forms then?</i></p> + +<p><i>After a fashion.</i> Jrann-Pttt yawned and rose. <i>But why are we sitting +here? Let's start back to our camp. We will be able to converse more +comfortably.</i></p> + +<p>They made their way through the jungle—now walking, now wading where +the mud became water. Small creatures with hardly any thoughts scurried +before them as they went.</p> + +<p><i>The commandant may have already made contact with their rulers</i>, +Dfar-Lll suggested, springing forward to illuminate the way. <i>In that +case, we couldn't hope to remain undiscovered for long.</i></p> + +<p><i>Oh, these creatures are not Venusians. There's no intelligent life +here. They hail from the third planet of this system and, according to +their thoughts, this is the only vessel that was capable of traversing +interplanetary space. So we needn't worry about extradition treaties or +any other official annoyances.</i></p> + +<p><i>If they're friendly, why didn't you spend the night in their ship? It +certainly looks more comfortable than our collapsible moslak—which, by +the way, collapsed while you were gone. I hope we'll be able to put it +up again ourselves. I must say this for the lieutenant—he was good at +that sort of thing.</i></p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt made a gesture of distaste. <i>He was unfortunately good at +other things, too. But let's not discuss him. I'm not staying with the +strangers because I want to pick up one or two little things—mostly +some of our food to serve them. I used up all the supplies in my pack +and I want them to think we're living off the land. They believe me to +be a primitive and it's best that they should until I decide just how +I'm going to make most efficient use of them. Besides, I didn't want to +leave you alone.</i></p> + +<p>The younger saurian sniffed skeptically.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Honestly, Pitt," Mrs. Bernardi said, keeping to leeward of the +tablecloth the lizard-man was efficiently shaking out of the airlock, +"I've never had a—an employee as competent as you." But the word she +had in mind, of course, was "servant." "I do wish you'd come back to +Earth with us."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you would compel me to come?" he suggested, as Algol and the +mosquito-bat entered into hot competition to catch the crumbs before +they sank into the purple ooze.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! We'd want you to come as our guest—our friend." <i>Naturally</i>, +her thoughts ran, <i>a house guest would be expected to help with the +washing up and lend a hand with the cooking—and, of course, we wouldn't +have to pay him. Though my husband, I suppose, would requisition him as +a specimen.</i></p> + +<p><i>I fully intend to go to Earth with them</i>, Jrann-Pttt mused, <i>but +certainly not in that capacity. Nor would I care to be a specimen. I +must formulate some concrete plan.</i></p> + +<p>The captain was crawling on top of the spaceship, scraping off the dried +mud, brushing away the leaves and dust that marred its shining purity. +The hot, humid haze that poured down from the yellow clouds made the +metal surface a little hell. Yet it was hardly less warm on the other +side of the clearing, where Miss Anspacher tried desperately to write up +her notes on a table that kept sinking into the spongy ground, and +hindered by the thick wind that had arisen half an hour before and which +kept blowing her papers off. The sweet odor of the flowers tucked in the +open neck of her already grimy white blouse suddenly sickened her and +she flung them into the mud.</p> + +<p>"We won't be going back to Earth for a long time!" she called. Gathering +up the purple-stained papers, she came toward the others, little puffs +of mist rising at each step. "We like it here. Lovely country."</p> + +<p>How could she think to please even the savage she fancied him to be by +such an inanity, Jrann-Pttt wondered. No one could possibly like that +fetid swamp. Or was it not so much that she was trying to please him as +convince herself? Was there some reason the terrestrials had for needing +to like Venus. It hovered on the edge of the women's minds. If only it +would emerge completely, he could pick it up, but it lurked in the +shadows of their subconscious, tantalizing him.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know when we're going to start putting up the shelters," +Mrs. Bernardi said, pushing a streak of fog-yellow hair out of her eyes. +"I can't stand being cooped up for another night on that ship."</p> + +<p>"You're planning to put up shelters—to live outside of the ship?" This +would seem to confirm his darkest suspicions. Even a temporary +settlement would leave them too open to visitation from the commandant. +What his attitude toward the aliens might be, Jrann-Pttt didn't know. He +might consider them as specimens, as enemies or as potential allies. +What his attitude toward Jrann-Pttt and his companion would be, however, +the saurian knew only too well. Had they reported the lieutenant's +demise immediately, it was possible the commandant might have been +brought to believe it was an accident. Now he would unquestionably think +Jrann-Pttt had killed Merglyt-Ruuu on purpose—which was not true; how +was Jrann-Pttt to know that the mud into which he'd knocked the +lieutenant was quicksand?</p> + +<p>"Anything against putting up shelters?" Captain Greenfield growled from +his perch.</p> + +<p>"Monster!" the mosquito-bat shrieked at the cat. "Monster! Monster!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There was a painfully embarrassed silence.</p> + +<p>"The creature is not intelligent," Jrann-Pttt explained, smiling. "It +merely has vocal apparatus that can reproduce a frequently heard word, +like—you have a bird, I believe, a—" he searched their minds for the +word—"a parrot."</p> + +<p>"Monster!" the mosquito-bat continued. "Monster! Monster!"</p> + +<p>"Shut up or I'll wring your neck!" the captain snarled. The mosquito-bat +obeyed sullenly, apparently recognizing the threat in his tone.</p> + +<p>But the concept of "monster" hung heavily in the air between the +terrestrials and the lizard-man. <i>They should not feel so bad about it</i>, +he thought, <i>for they are the monsters themselves. But that would never +occur to them and I can hardly reassure them by saying....</i></p> + +<p>"Don't worry," Professor Bernardi said smoothly. "To him, it's we who +are the monsters."</p> + +<p>A sudden gust of wind nearly whipped the tablecloth out of Jrann-Pttt's +hands. He fought with it for a moment, glad of something tangible to +contend with. "About the shelters," he said. "They might not stand up +against a storm."</p> + +<p>"So this is monsoon country," Bernardi observed thoughtfully. "Do you +know when the storms usually come, Jrann-Pttt?" The other shook his +head. "Peculiar. There usually is a season for that sort of thing."</p> + +<p>"I ... come from another part of the planet."</p> + +<p>"Storms here are bad, eh?" the captain commented, swinging himself down +easily. "Frankly, that worries me. Ship's resting on mud as far as I can +see, and if there's one thing I do know something about, it's mud. If it +got any wetter, the ship might sink."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we should leave," Mrs. Bernardi suggested. "Go to another part of +the planet where it's drier, or—" she tried not to show the sudden +surge of hope—"leave for home and come back after the rainy season."</p> + +<p>There was a sudden silence, and Jrann-Pttt found himself able to pick up +the answers to some of his questions from the alien minds. His worst +fears were confirmed. Plan A was out. But something could still be done +with these creatures.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't she know?" the captain demanded accusingly. "You brought her +here without telling her?"</p> + +<p>Bernardi spread his hands wide in a futile gesture. "She should know; +I've told her repeatedly. She just doesn't understand ... or doesn't +want to."</p> + +<p>"I know they'll forgive us," Mrs. Bernardi said stubbornly. +"We—you—haven't done anything really wrong, so how could they do +anything terrible to us? After all, didn't they refuse you the funds +because they said you couldn't—"</p> + +<p>"Shhh, Louisa," her husband commanded.</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt smiled to himself.</p> + +<p>—"do it," she went on. "And you did. So they were wrong and they'll +have to forgive us."</p> + +<p>"Tcha!" Miss Anspacher said. "Since when was there any fairness in +justice?"</p> + +<p>"On the other hand," Mrs. Bernardi continued, "we have no idea of how +dangerous the storms here could be."</p> + +<p>"Very dangerous," Jrann-Pttt said.</p> + +<p>"For you, perhaps," the captain retorted. "Maybe not for us."</p> + +<p>"Now that's silly," Miss Anspacher said. "You can see that Jrann-Pttt is +much more—" she blushed—"sturdily built than we are."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that we could face it without protection," the captain +replied angrily. "Naturally I mean that our superior technology could +cope with the effects of any storm."</p> + +<p>"Well, Captain, we'll have to put that superior technology to use at +once," the professor told him. "You'd better start blasting that rock."</p> + +<p>Laden with equipment and malevolent thoughts, the captain trudged off +into the murky jungle. The others would not even offer to help. +Confounded scientists; they certainly took his status as captain +seriously. He wished, for a disloyal moment, that he had stayed on +Earth. The quiet routine of a test pilot had prepared him for nothing +like this. Were Miss Anspacher and adventure worth it? At the moment, he +thought not. But he was on Venus and it was too late to change his mind.</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt followed him into the jungle, keeping some distance behind, +for he had good reason to suspect that Greenfield would take his warm +interest in terrestrial technology for plain spying. Or, worse yet, he +might try to press the lizard-man into service; Jrann-Pttt felt he had +demeaned himself quite enough already.</p> + +<p>"Have you noticed," Miss Anspacher asked, pushing the mass of damp brown +hair off her neck as she came alongside him, "how the—the smell—" <i>a +scientist does not mince words</i>—"of the swamp has grown stronger?"</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt halted. He had a good idea of what the captain's reactions to +the sight of himself and Miss Anspacher arriving hand-in-hand would be. +"Yes, it is getting rather overpowering. Perhaps, for a lady of your +delicate sensibilities, it would be best to—"</p> + +<p>"I can stand a bad smell just as well as a male—any male!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps even better," Jrann-Pttt said, "for I was on the verge of +turning back myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, appeased. "Well, in that case, I'll go back with +you ... how quiet everything is!"</p> + +<p>He had not noticed. For him, it would never be quiet because of the +stream of jangled thoughts constantly pouring into the back of his mind +from everything sentient that surrounded him.</p> + +<p>For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to be non-telepathic +like the terrestrials, to have peace from the clamor of confused +impressions, emotions and ideas that persistently beat at his mind. But +that would be wondering how it was to be deaf to avoid discord, or blind +to shut out ugliness.</p> + +<p>"The lull before the storm, I suppose," she said brightly. <i>Now is his +opportunity to kiss me—only perhaps they don't have kissing in his +society. His mouth does seem to be the wrong shape. And if I kissed him, +it might violate a taboo.</i></p> + +<p>During their short absence, the citrine clouds that closed off the sky +had changed to a sinister umber. It was now almost as dusky in the +clearing as in the jungle itself, when Jrann-Pttt and Miss Anspacher +returned and joined the others.</p> + +<p>Professor Bernardi stood looking up with sharp gray eyes at a sky he +could not see. "I hope Greenfield can finish the blasting more quickly +than he estimated," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Will we hear the noise way out here, Carl?" his wife worried nervously.</p> + +<p>"Only two kilometers away? Of course we'll hear it. I do wish you +wouldn't always be asking such stupid questions."</p> + +<p>She shivered. "Well, I hope they get it over with right away. If we just +have to sit here waiting and waiting and waiting, I'll go mad. I know I +will."</p> + +<p>"You should try to keep your nerves in check, Louisa," Miss Anspacher +snapped. <i>Silly little fool.</i></p> + +<p>"At least I can control my glands!" Mrs. Bernardi flared back. +<i>Sex-starved spinster.</i></p> + +<p>"I shall make some tea, ladies," Jrann-Pttt interposed. "I'm sure we +will all feel the better for it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bernardi smiled at him feebly. "You're such a comfort, Pitt. I +don't know why you of all creatures should be the one to remind me of +home."</p> + +<p>"Home," remarked Mortland, emerging from the airlock, "is where the +heart is. Did I hear someone say 'tea'?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As Jrann-Pttt hung the kettle over the fire, suddenly the air erupted in +stunning violence of sound. The ground undulated under their feet and +water slopped out of the kettle, almost putting out the fire that rose +high to claw at it. Rivulets of thick, muddy liquid welled out of the +ground and drabbled their feet. The women turned pale. Algol gave a +faint cry and hid under Mrs. Bernardi's skirts, trembling, while the +mosquito-bat tried to lift Mortland's toupee and hide in his hair. The +ship itself quivered and seemed to jump slightly in the air, then +returned to its resting place.</p> + +<p>All was quiet again, quieter than it had been before. Mortland anxiously +gnawed his light mustache. "Better hurry with that tea, there's a good +fellow. I'm violently allergic to loud noises."</p> + +<p>"They'll probably continue all day," the professor said with almost +malevolent cheerfulness, "so you might as well get used to them." <i>Who +is he to have nerves? I am easily the most sensitive person here, but I +manage to control myself.</i></p> + +<p>"I don't know how I'm going to stand it!" Mrs. Bernardi shrieked. "I +just know something terrible is going to happen."</p> + +<p>"Please try to restrain yourself, Louisa," her husband ordered. "After +it's over, you'll find we'll be much more comfortable and secure with +the ship resting on rock."</p> + +<p>"If you ask me, that blast made it sink a little," Mortland said. "I +wonder whether—"</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a thrashing in the bushes. Dfar-Lll burst forth, +shedding scales. <i>Do not despair, Jrann-Pttt. I am here, ready to save +you or die at your side.</i></p> + +<p>The women clutched each other, Miss Anspacher praying silently and +fervently to Juno, Lakshmi, Freya, Isis and a host of other esoteric +female deities she had picked up in the course of her avocational +researches.</p> + +<p>"He seems to be one of Jrann-Pttt's people," Bernardi observed, "so +there should be nothing to fear."</p> + +<p><i>Dfar-Lll, you fool!</i> Jrann-Pttt ideated angrily. <i>Nothing's wrong. +They're just blasting out a better berth for their vessel. And now +you've spoiled my plans.</i></p> + +<p>"What did you think at that poor little creature!" Mrs. Bernardi blazed. +"He's crying!" And, sure enough, amethyst tears were oozing out of the +young saurian's large, liquid eyes.</p> + +<p><i>I du-didn't mean any harm.</i></p> + +<p>"Monster!" Mrs. Bernardi accused Jrann-Pttt. "All men are monsters, +whether they're aliens or not."</p> + +<p>"You're so right, Louisa!" Miss Anspacher exclaimed, regarding the +younger creature in an almost kindly manner.</p> + +<p><i>I'm sorry, r-Lll</i>, Jrann-Pttt apologized. <i>I was upset by that noise, +too. How could you possibly know what it was? Come, let me introduce you +to the creatures.</i></p> + +<p>Dfar-Lll stepped forward diffidently. Jrann-Pttt put a hand on the +moss-green shoulder. "Allow me to introduce my companion, Dfar-Lll," he +said aloud.</p> + +<p>The youngster looked at him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bernardi thrust out her hand. "I'm very glad to meet you, Lil."</p> + +<p><i>Agitate it with one of yours. It's a courtesy. Don't let her see how +repulsive she is to you. Remember, you're just as repulsive to her.</i></p> + +<p>Dfar-Lll offered a shy, seven-fingered hand. "Pleased ... to meet +you ... ma'am," the young lizard squeaked.</p> + +<p>"Why, he's just a baby, isn't he?" Mrs. Bernardi asked.</p> + +<p><i>I am not a baby!</i> Dfar-Lll thought indignantly. <i>At the end of this +year, I shall celebrate my pre-maturity feast, or I would have. And +furthermore—</i></p> + +<p>There was another thunderous blast of sound. After the ground had +stopped trembling, the six found themselves ankle-deep in muddy water. +Algol, who was in considerably deeper than his ankles, mewed fretfully. +Mrs. Bernardi picked him up and comforted him.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps blasting wasn't such a good idea," the professor muttered. +"Maybe I should tell Greenfield to call a halt and we'll take our +chances with the storm. As a matter of fa—"</p> + +<p>"The ship!" Mortland cried. "It <i>is</i> sinking!"</p> + +<p>And the big metal ball slowly but visibly was indeed subsiding into the +mud.</p> + +<p>"Stop it, somebody!" Miss Anspacher snapped in her customary schoolroom +manner.</p> + +<p>The professor was pale, but he held on to his calm. "What can we do? +Even if we could get the captain back in time, there's no way we can +stop it. It's too heavy to pull out manually, and the engines, of +course, are inside."</p> + +<p>As they watched in horror, the ship sank deeper and deeper, picking up +momentum as more of it went under. With a loud, sucking sound, it +vanished into the ooze. Muddy water gurgled over it and, where the ship +had been, there was now a small lake.</p> + +<p>"This could be the beginning of a legend," Miss Anspacher murmured. "Or +the end."</p> + +<p>There was another vibrant detonation. "Someone ought to go tell the +captain there's no use blasting any more," Bernardi said wearily. "We +have nothing to put on the rock when he smooths it off." He began to +laugh. "I suppose you could call this poetic justice." And he went on +laughing, losing a bit of his former self-control.</p> + +<p><i>There goes Plan B</i>, Jrann-Pttt thought.</p> + +<p>A star of intensely bright green lightning split the clouds and widened +to cover the visible expanse of sky. There was a planet-shaking clap of +thunder that made Greenfield's puny efforts sound like the snapping of +twigs in comparison and it began to rain hard and fast.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"If only I hadn't gone and blasted that damn rock," the captain +grumbled, squeezing water out of his shirt-tails, "we'd have been all +right. Probably the storm wouldn't have done a thing to the ship except +get it wet. If you can even call it a storm."</p> + +<p>"I can and I do," Jrann-Pttt replied, haughtily squeegeeing his wet +scales. "All I said was that a storm might be coming up and it might be +dangerous. How was I to know it would last only half an hour?"</p> + +<p>"Even the camp stools pulled through," Greenfield pointed out, "and you +said shelters wouldn't stand up."</p> + +<p>"I only said they might not. Can't you understand your own language?"</p> + +<p>The fissure in the clouds had not quite closed yet and through it the +enormous, blazing disk of the sun glared at them, twice as large as it +appeared from Earth. It was a moot point as to whether they'd be dried +out or steamed alive first.</p> + +<p>"Might as well collect whatever gear we have left and get it to higher +ground," Miss Anspacher said efficiently. "Two feet of water won't do +anything any good—even those camp stools."</p> + +<p>"It's my belief you wanted this to happen," Greenfield accused +Jrann-Pttt. "You wanted to get rid of us."</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow," Jrann-Pttt replied loftily, "the information I gave +you was, to the best of my knowledge, accurate. However, I happen to be +a professor of zoology and not a meteorologist. Apparently you people +live out in the open like primitives," he continued, ignoring Dfar-Lll's +admiring interjection, "and are accustomed to the vicissitudes of +weather. I am a civilized creature; I live—" <i>or used to live</i>—"in an +air-conditioned, light-conditioned, weather-conditioned city. It is only +when I rough it on field trips like this to trackless parts of +the—globe that I am forced to experience weather. Even then, I have +never before been caught in a situation like this."</p> + +<p><i>In fact, I was never before caught or I wouldn't be in this situation +at all.</i></p> + +<p>"Oh, Jrann-Pttt," sighed Miss Anspacher, "I knew you couldn't be just an +ordinary native!"</p> + +<p>"How did you get into this situation then?" Professor Bernardi asked. He +had an unfortunate talent for going directly to the point.</p> + +<p>"The third member of our expedition died," Jrann-Pttt explained. "He was +our dirigational expert. Our guide."</p> + +<p>"How did he happen to—"</p> + +<p>"Are we just going to stand here chatting," Miss Anspacher demanded, "or +are we going to do something about this?"</p> + +<p>"What can we do?" Mrs. Bernardi asked weakly. "We might just as well lie +down and—"</p> + +<p>"Never say die, Louisa," Miss Anspacher admonished.</p> + +<p>"I suggest we go to my camp to see what shape it's in," Jrann-Pttt said, +furiously putting together Plan C. "Some of the supplies there might +prove useful."</p> + +<p>Captain Greenfield looked questioningly at Bernardi. The professor +shrugged. "Might as well."</p> + +<p>"All right," the captain growled. "Let's pick up whatever we can save."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Since there wasn't much that could be rescued, the little safari was +soon on its way. Jrann-Pttt led, carrying Algol in his arms. Behind came +Mortland, bearing a camp stool and the kettle into which he had tucked a +tin of biscuits and into which the mosquito-bat had tucked itself, its +orange eyes glaring out angrily from beneath the lid. Next came Mrs. +Bernardi with her knitting, her camp stool and her sorrow.</p> + +<p>Dfar-Lll followed with two stools and the plastic tea set. Close behind +was Miss Anspacher, with the sugar bowl, the earthenware teapot and an +immense bound volume of the <i>Proceedings of the Physical Society of +Ameranglis</i> for 1993. Professor Bernardi bore a briefcase full of notes +and the table. The rain had damaged the latter's mechanism, so that its +legs kept unfolding from time to time, to the great inconvenience of +Captain Greenfield, who brought up the rear with the blasting equipment. +Behind them and sometimes alongside them came something—or +someone—else.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Surely your camp must have been closer to ours than this," Miss +Anspacher finally remarked after they had been slogging through mud and +water and pushing aside reluctant vegetation for over an Earth hour.</p> + +<p>"I am very much afraid," Jrann-Pttt admitted, "that our camp has been +lost—that is to say, inundated."</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do now?" the captain asked of the company at +large.</p> + +<p>Professor Bernardi shrugged. "Our only course would seem to be making +for one of the cities and throwing ourselves upon the na—Jrann-Pttt's +people's hospitality. If Professor Jrann-Pttt has even the vaguest idea +of the direction in which his home lies, we might as well head that +way." <i>I wonder whether the natives could help us raise the ship.</i></p> + +<p>"I'm sure my people will be more than happy to welcome you," Jrann-Pttt +said smoothly, "and to make you comfortable until your people send +another ship to fetch you."</p> + +<p>The terrestrials looked at one another. Dfar-Lll looked at Jrann-Pttt.</p> + +<p>Professor Bernardi coughed. "That was the only spaceship we had," he +admitted. "The first experimental model, you know." <i>We don't expect to +stay on this awful planet forever. After all, as Louisa says, the +government will have to forgive us. Public opinion and all that.</i></p> + +<p>"Oh," the saurian said. "Then we shall have the pleasure of your company +until they build another?"</p> + +<p>There was silence. "We have the only plans," the professor said, +gripping his briefcase more tightly. "I am the inventor of the ship, so +naturally I would have them." <i>If we brought back some specimens of +Venusian life—of intelligent Venusian life—to prove we'd been +here....</i></p> + +<p>"Matter of fact, old fellow," Mortland said, "we took all the plans with +us so they couldn't build another ship and follow—"</p> + +<p>"Mortland!" the professor exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"But they're telepaths," Miss Anspacher said. "They must know already."</p> + +<p>Everyone turned to look at the saurians.</p> + +<p>"I have ... certain information," Jrann-Pttt admitted, "but I cannot +understand it. You are in trouble with your rulers because they would +not give you the funds, claiming space travel was impossible?"</p> + +<p>"That's right," Bernardi said. <i>Not really specimens, you understand. +Guests.</i></p> + +<p>"And you went ahead and appropriated the funds and materials from your +government, since you were in a trusted position where you could do so?"</p> + +<p>Bernardi nodded.</p> + +<p>"Of course the question is now academic, for the ship is gone, but since +you proved the possibility of space travel by coming here, wouldn't your +government then dismiss the charges against you?"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what I keep telling him!" Mrs. Bernardi exclaimed.</p> + +<p>But her husband shook his head. "The law is inflexible. We have broken +it and must be punished, even if by breaking it we proved its +fundamental error." <i>Why let him know our plans?</i></p> + +<p><i>Why, Jrann-Pttt, that sounds just like our own government, doesn't it?</i></p> + +<p><i>Yes, it does. We should be able to establish a very satisfactory mode +of living with these strangers.</i></p> + +<p>"We'd hoped that after a year or so the whole thing would die down," +Mortland explained frankly, "and we'd go back as heroes."</p> + +<p>"Do you know the way to your home, Jrann-Pttt?" the professor asked +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Since we were able to catch a glimpse of the sun, I think I can figure +out roughly where we are. All we must do is walk some two hundred +kilometers in that direction—" he waved an arm to indicate the +way—"and we should be at the capital."</p> + +<p>"Will your people accept us as refugees?" Miss Anspacher demanded +bluntly, "or will we be captives?" <i>Which is what I'll bet the good +professor is planning for you, if only he can figure some way to get you +and, of course, ourselves back.</i></p> + +<p>"We should be proud to accept you as citizens and to receive the +benefits of your splendid technology. Our laboratories will be placed at +your disposal."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's better than we hoped for," the professor said, +brightening. "We had expected to have to carve our own laboratories out +of the wilderness. Now we shall be able to carry on our researches in +comfort." <i>No need to trouble the natives; we'll be able to raise the +ship ourselves. Or build a new one. And I'll see to it personally that +they have special quarters in the zoo with a considerable amount of +privacy.</i></p> + +<p>"If I were you, I wouldn't trust him too far," the captain warned. "He's +a foreigner."</p> + +<p>"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Captain!" Miss Anspacher said. +"I, for one, trust Jrann-Pttt implicitly. Did you say this direction, +Jrann-Pttt?" She stepped forward briskly. There was a loud splash and +water closed over her head.</p> + +<p>Captain Greenfield rushed forward to haul her out. "Well," she said, +daintily coughing up mud, "I was wet to begin with, anyway."</p> + +<p>"You're a brave little woman, Miss Anspacher," the captain told her +admiringly.</p> + +<p>"This sort of thing may present a problem," Professor Bernardi +commented. "I hope that was only a pot-hole, that the water is not going +to be consistently too deep for wading."</p> + +<p>"There might be quicksand, too," Mrs. Bernardi said somberly. "In +quicksand, one drowns slowly."</p> + +<p>Dfar-Lll gave a start. <i>Surely you don't intend to lead them back to +base?</i></p> + +<p><i>Precisely. The swamp is unfit for settlement.</i></p> + +<p><i>But to return voluntarily to captivity?</i></p> + +<p><i>Who mentioned anything about captivity? Assisted by our new friends, we +have an excellent chance of taking over the ship and supplies by a +surprise attack.</i></p> + +<p><i>But why should these aliens assist us?</i></p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt smiled. <i>Oh, I think they will. Yes, I have every confidence +in Plan C.</i></p> + +<p>"I suggest," the professor said, ignoring his wife's pessimism, "that +each one of us pull a branch from a tree. We can test the ground before +we step on it, to make sure that there is solid footing underneath."</p> + +<p>"Good idea," the captain approved. He reached out the arm that was not +occupied with Miss Anspacher and tugged at a tree limb.</p> + +<p>And then he and the lady physicist were both floundering in the ooze.</p> + +<p>"Well, really, Captain Greenfield!" she cried, refusing his aid in +extricating herself. "I always thought you were at least a gentleman in +spite of your illiteracy!"</p> + +<p>"Wha—what happened?" he asked as he struggled out of the mud. +"Something pushed me; I swear it."</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt mentalized. "It seems the tree did not like your trying to +remove a branch."</p> + +<p>"The tree!" Greenfield's pale blue eyes bulged. "You're joking!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. As a matter of fact, I myself have been wondering why there +were so many thought-streams and yet so few animals around here. It +never occurred to me that the vegetation could be sentient and have such +strong emotive defenses. In all my experience as a botanist, I—"</p> + +<p>"I thought you were a zoologist," Bernardi interrupted.</p> + +<p>"My people do not believe in excessive specialization," the saurian +replied.</p> + +<p>"Trees that think?" Mortland inquired incredulously.</p> + +<p>"They're not very bright," Jrann-Pttt explained, "but they don't like +having their limbs pulled off. I don't suppose you would, either, for +that matter."</p> + +<p>"I propose," Miss Anspacher said, shaking out her wet hair, "that we +break up the camp stools and use the sticks instead of branches to help +us along."</p> + +<p>"Good idea," the captain said, trying to get back into her good graces. +"I always knew women could put their brains to use if they tried."</p> + +<p>She glared at him.</p> + +<p>"I thought we'd use the furniture to make a fire later," Mortland +complained. "For tea, you know."</p> + +<p>"The ground's much too wet," Professor Bernardi replied.</p> + +<p>"And besides," Miss Anspacher added, "I lost the teapot in that +pot-hole."</p> + +<p>"But you managed to save the <i>Proceedings of the Physical Society</i>," +Mortland snarled. "Serve you right if I eat it. And I warn you, if +hard-pressed, I shall."</p> + +<p>"How will we cook our food, though?" Mrs. Bernardi demanded +apprehensively. "It's a lucky thing, Mr. Pitt, that we have you with us +to tell us which of the berries and things are edible, so at least we +shan't starve."</p> + +<p>The visible portion of Jrann-Pttt's well-knit form turned deeper green. +"But I regret to say I don't know, Mrs. Bernardi. Those 'native' foods I +served you were all synthetics from our personal stores. I never tasted +natural foods before I met you."</p> + +<p>"And if the trees don't like our taking their branches," Miss Anspacher +put in, "I don't suppose the bushes would like our taking their berries. +Louisa, don't do that!"</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Bernardi, with her usual disregard for orders, had fainted into +the mud. Pulling her out and reviving her caused so much confusion, it +wasn't until then that they discovered Algol had disappeared.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The party had been trudging through mud and water and struggling with +pale, malevolent vines and bushes and low-hanging branches for close to +six Earth hours. All of them were tired and hungry, now that their +meager supply of biscuits and chocolate was gone.</p> + +<p>"Remember, Carl," Mrs. Bernardi told her husband, "I forgive you. And I +know I'm being foolishly sentimental, but if you could manage to take my +body back to Earth—"</p> + +<p>"Don't be so pessimistic." Professor Bernardi absent-mindedly leaned +against a tree, then recoiled as he remembered it might resent being +treated like an inanimate object. "In any case, we'll most likely all +die at the same time."</p> + +<p>"I never did want to go to Venus, really," Mrs. Bernardi sniffled. "I +only came, like Algol did, because I didn't have any choice. If you left +me behind, I'd have had to bear the brunt of.... Where is Algol?" She +stared at Jrann-Pttt. "You were carrying him. What have you done with +him?"</p> + +<p>The lizard-man looked at her in consternation. "He jumped out of my arms +when you fainted and I turned back to help. I was certain one of the +others had him."</p> + +<p>"He's dead!" she wailed. "You let him fall into the water and drown—an +innocent kitty that never hurt anybody, except in fun."</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Louisa." Her husband took her arm. "He was only a cat. I'm +sure Jrann-Pttt didn't mean for him to drown. He was just so upset by +your fainting that he didn't think...."</p> + +<p>"Not Jrann-Pttt's fault, of course," Miss Anspacher said.</p> + +<p>"After all, we can't expect them to love animals as we do. But Algol was +a very good sort of cat...."</p> + +<p>"Keep quiet, all of you!" Jrann-Pttt shouted. "I have never known any +species to use any method of communication so much in order to +communicate so little. Don't you understand? I would not have assumed +the cat was with one of you, if I had not subconsciously sensed his +thought-stream all along. He must be nearby."</p> + +<p>Everyone was still, while Jrann-Pttt probed the dense underbrush that +blocked their view on both sides. "Over here," he announced, and led the +way through the thick screen of interlaced bushes and vines on the left.</p> + +<p>About ten meters farther on, the ground sloped up sharply to form a +ridge rising a meter and a half above the rest of the terrain. The water +had not reached its blunted top, and on this fairly level strip of +ground, perhaps three meters wide, Algol had been paralleling their path +in dry-pawed comfort.</p> + +<p>"Scientists!" Louisa Bernardi almost spat. "Professors! We could have +been walking on that, too. But did anybody think to look for dry +ground? No! It was wet in one place, so it would be wet in another. Oh, +Algol—" she reached over to embrace the cat—"you're smarter than any +so-called intelligent life-forms."</p> + +<p>He indignantly straightened a whisker she had crumpled.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Look," Mortland exclaimed in delight as they attained the top of the +ridge, "here are some dryish twigs! Don't suppose the trees want them, +since they've let them fall. If I can get a fire going, we could boil +some swamp water and make tea. Nasty thought, but it's better than no +tea at all. And how long can one go on living without tea?"</p> + +<p>"We'll need some food before long, too," Professor Bernardi observed, +putting his briefcase down on a fallen log. "The usual procedure, I +believe, would be for us to draw straws to see which gets +eaten—although there isn't any hurry."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad then that we'll be able to have a fire," Mortland said, busily +collecting twigs. "I should hate to have to eat you raw, Carl."</p> + +<p><i>Mr. Pitt and his little friend are delightful creatures</i>, Mrs. Bernardi +thought. <i>So intelligent and so well behaved. But eating them wouldn't +really be cannibalism. They aren't people.</i></p> + +<p><i>That premise works both ways, dear lady</i>, Jrann-Pttt ideated. <i>And I +must say your species will prove far easier to peel for the cooking +pot.</i></p> + +<p>"Monster! What are you doing?" Mortland dropped his twigs and pulled the +mosquito-bat away from a bush. "Don't eat those berries, you silly ass; +the bush won't like it!" The mosquito-bat piped wrathfully.</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt probed with intentness. "You know, I rather think the bush +wants its berries to be eaten. Something to do with—er—propagating +itself. Of course it has a false impression as to what is going to be +done with the berries, but the important fact is that it won't put up +any resistance."</p> + +<p>"All right, old fellow." Mortland released the mosquito-bat, which +promptly flew back to the bush. "I'm not the custodian of your morals."</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether we could eat those berries, too," Professor Bernardi +remarked pensively.</p> + +<p>"Carl!" Mrs. Bernardi's tear-stained face flushed pink. "Why—why, +that's almost indecent!"</p> + +<p>"We eat beans, don't we?" Mortland pointed out. "They're seeds."</p> + +<p>"We also eat meat," Miss Anspacher added.</p> + +<p>There was silence. "I imagine," Mrs. Bernardi murmured, "it's because +we never get to meet the meat socially." She avoided the saurians' eyes.</p> + +<p>"We'd better see how Monster makes out, though," Miss Anspacher +observed, replenishing her lipstick, "before we try the berries +ourselves. The fact that the bush is anxious to dispose of them doesn't +mean they can't be poisonous."</p> + +<p>"Why should Monster sacrifice himself for us?" Mortland retorted hotly, +overlooking the fact that Monster's purpose in eating the berries was +almost certainly not an altruistic one. "If we can risk his life, we can +risk our own." He crammed a handful of berries into his mouth defiantly. +"I say, they're good!"</p> + +<p>Algol sniffed the bush with disgust, then turned away.</p> + +<p>"See?" said Miss Anspacher. "They're undoubtedly poisonous. When he's +really hungry, he isn't so fussy." She combed her hair.</p> + +<p>"But is he really hungry?" Bernardi asked suspiciously. "Come here, +Algol. Nice kitty." He bent down and sniffed the cat's breath. The cat +sniffed his interestedly. Their whiskers touched. "I thought so. Fish!"</p> + +<p>"You mean," Mrs. Bernardi shrieked, "that while we were struggling +through that water, alternately starving and drowning by centimeters, +that wretched cat has not only been walking along here dry as toast, but +gorging himself on fish?"</p> + +<p>"Now, now, Mrs. Bernardi," Jrann-Pttt said. "Being a dumb animal, he +wouldn't think of informing you about matters of which he'd assume that +you, as the superior beings, would be fully cognizant."</p> + +<p>"You might have told us there were fish on this planet, Mr. Pitt."</p> + +<p>"Dear lady, there is something I feel I should tell you. I am not—"</p> + +<p>"They're here on the other side of the ridge," Greenfield called, +bending over and peering through the foliage. "The fish, I mean."</p> + +<p>"The pools look shallow," Bernardi said, also bending over. "The fish +should be easy enough to catch. Might even be able to get them in our +hands." He reached out to demonstrate, proving the error of both his +theses, for the fish slipped right through his fingers and, as he +grabbed for them, he lost his balance, toppled over the side of the +ridge into the mud and water below and began to disappear, showing +beyond a doubt that the pools were deeper than he had thought.</p> + +<p>"Carl, what are you doing?" Mrs. Bernardi peered into the murky depths +where her husband was threshing about. "Why don't you come out of that +filthy mud?"</p> + +<p>His voice, though muffled, was still acid. "It isn't mud, my dear. It's +quicksand!"</p> + +<p>"Rope!" the captain exclaimed, grabbing a coil.</p> + +<p>"Hold on, chaps!" cried a squeaky voice. "I'm coming to the rescue!" A +stout twelve-foot vine plunged out of the shadows and wrapped one end of +itself around a tree—disregarding the latter's violent objections—and +the other end around Professor Bernardi's thorax, which was just +disappearing into the mud. "Now if one or two of you would haul away, +we'll soon have him out all shipshape and proper. Heave ho! Don't be +afraid of hurting me; my strength is as the strength of ten because my +heart is pure."</p> + +<p>"It's that vine!" Dfar-Lll exclaimed. "So that's what has been following +us all along!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"I can accept the idea of a vegetable thinking," Professor Bernardi +gasped as he was pulled out of the quicksand, "although with the utmost +reluctance." He shook himself like a dog. "But how can it be mobile?"</p> + +<p>"You chaps can move around," the vine explained, "so I said to myself: +'Dammit, I'll have a shot at doing that, too.' Hard going at first, when +you're using suckers, but I persevered and I made it. Look, I can talk, +too. Never heard of a vine doing that before, did you? Fact is, I hadn't +thought of it before, but then I never had anyone to communicate with. +All those other vines are so stupid; you have absolutely no idea! Hope +you don't mind my picking up your language, but it was the only one +around—"</p> + +<p>"We are honored," Professor Bernardi declared. "And I am deeply grateful +to you, too, sir or madam, for saving my life."</p> + +<p>"Think nothing of it," the vine said, arranging its leaves, which were +of a pleasing celadon rather than the whitish-green favored by the rest +of the local vegetation. "Now that I can move, I'll probably be doing +heroic things like that all the time. Are you all going to the city? May +I go with you? I've heard lots about the city," it went on, taking +consent for granted, "but I never thought I'd get to see it. Everybody +in the swamp is such an old stick-in-the-mud. I thought I was trapped, +too, forced to spend the rest of my life in a provincial environment. Is +it true that the streets are filled with chlorophyll? Do you think I can +get a job in a botanical garden or something? Perhaps I can give little +talks on horticulture to visitors?"</p> + +<p>The mosquito-bat looked out of the tea kettle austerely. "Monster!" it +piped shrilly.</p> + +<p>"The very idea!" the vine snapped back indignantly. "Oh, well," it said, +calming down, "you probably don't know any better. It's up to me as the +intelligent life-form to forgive you, and I shall."</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt and Dfar-Lll looked at each other in consternation. <i>Do you +think there really are cities on this planet, sir? Can there be +indigenous intelligent life? If so, it may have already got in touch +with the commandant.</i></p> + +<p><i>Impossible</i>, Jrann-Pttt replied. <i>The vine probably just heard us +talking about a city. After all, it picked up the language that way; +very likely it absorbed some terrestrial concepts along with it. If +there are any real settlements at all, they must be quite +primitive—nothing more than villages. No, it's we who will build the +cities on Venus. Combining our technology with the terrestrials', we +could develop a pretty little civilization here—after we've disposed of +the commandant, so he can't report our disappearance. We don't want any +publicity. So much better to keep our little society exclusive.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Wonder what time it is," the captain remarked as he rose and stretched +in the dim yellow light of the long Venusian day. "Must have slept for +hours. My watch seems to have stopped."</p> + +<p>"Mine, too." Mortland unstrapped his from his wrist and shook it +futilely. "Waterproof, hah! If we ever get back to Earth, I shall make +the manufacturer eat his guarantee."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, what does time matter to us now?" Professor Bernardi pointed +out as he rose from his leafy couch with a loud creak. All of them—even +the saurians—had aches and pains in every joint and muscle as a result +of the unaccustomed exercise and the damp climate. "We are out of its +reach. It has no present meaning for us."</p> + +<p>This depressed them all. Only the vine seemed in good health and +spirits. "I notice you're all wearing clothes except for the short +four-legged gentleman with the home-grown fur coat," it chattered +happily. "Do you think I'll be socially acceptable without them? I +wouldn't want to make a bad impression at the very start—or would +leaves do?"</p> + +<p>Everybody looked at Jrann-Pttt. "We are not a narrow-minded species," he +said hastily. "I'm sure your leaves will be more than adequate."</p> + +<p>After a breakfast of fish and berries stewed in tea—which the vine +declined with thanks—the various members of the party gathered up +their belongings and resumed their journey. Encrusted with dried purple +mud and grime, their clothes deliberately torn by anti-social shrubbery, +their chins—of the males, that is—disfigured by hirsute growths, the +terrestrials made a sorry spectacle. It was hot, boiling hot, and more +humid than ever.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Miss Anspacher, letting the Swahili marching song with +which she had been attempting to encourage the company peter out, "I do +hope we'll reach your city soon, Jrann-Pttt. I must say I could use a +hot bath." She added hastily, "Hot baths are a peculiar cultural trait +of ours."</p> + +<p>"I could use one myself," Jrann-Pttt said. He brushed his scales +fastidiously.</p> + +<p>"I'm looking forward so to meeting your relatives," she said, grabbing +his left arm determinedly. "I'm not violating a taboo or anything, am +I?" <i>It isn't really slimy; it just feels that way.</i></p> + +<p>"Not one of my people's. But I'm afraid you are violating a terrestrial +taboo, judging from the thoughts I pick up from your captain's mind."</p> + +<p>"Oh, him—he's a stupid fool!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all. Rough, perhaps. Untutored, yes. But with a good deal of +native intelligence, although fearfully primitive."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I was too harsh," Miss Anspacher observed thoughtfully. <i>The +captain ... is good-looking in a brutal sort of way, although not nearly +as handsome or even as spiritual in appearance as Jrann-Pttt. And +sometimes I almost think he</i>—she blushed to herself—<i>shows a certain +partiality for my company.</i></p> + +<p>She did not, however, let go of the saurian's arm when the captain +bustled up, prepared to put a stop to this, but tactfully, if possible, +for he had begun to realize that his rude ways did not endear him to +her.</p> + +<p>"Ah—we're making very good progress, aren't we, Pitt?" he interrupted, +trying to insinuate himself between the two.</p> + +<p>"Excellent."</p> + +<p>"How soon do you think we'll be at your city at this rate?"</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt shrugged. "Since I have no way of telling what our rate is or +how far we have gone, how can I tell? As a matter of fact, you might as +well learn now as later—I am not a Venusian. There is no intelligent +life native to Venus."</p> + +<p>"Oh, really!" the vine interposed indignantly. "Saying a thing like that +right in front of me! What would you call me, then, pray tell?"</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt kept his actual thoughts to himself. "A mutation," he said. +"Probably you are the first intelligent life-form to appear upon this +planet. Scholarly volumes will be written about you."</p> + +<p>"Oh?" The vine seemed to be appeased. "I accept your apology. Perhaps +I'll learn to write and do the books myself, because I'm the only one +who can understand the real me."</p> + +<p>"But how can you show us the way to your city if you're not native to +Venus?" Bernardi demanded, whirling fretfully upon the saurian. "What is +this, anyway? Each time you come up with a different story!"</p> + +<p>"See?" said the captain. "Didn't I tell you he was up to no good?"</p> + +<p>"I should like to lead you to our base," Jrann-Pttt replied with quiet +dignity. "I am telling you the truth now since I feel I should have your +consent before proceeding farther."</p> + +<p>??????? Dfar-Lll projected.</p> + +<p>"I hesitated before, because I wasn't sure I could trust you. You +see, the spaceship in which we came to this planet is a prison ship, +with a crew consisting of malefactors—thieves, murderers, +defrauders—dispatched to the remote fastnesses of the Galaxy to fetch +back zoological specimens. Our zoo, I must say, is the finest and most +interesting in the Universe."</p> + +<p>"Monster!" the mosquito-bat squeaked.</p> + +<p>"Shhh," Mortland admonished. "Don't interrupt."</p> + +<p>"I was in command of our ill-fated expedition...."</p> + +<p><i>Oh</i>, Dfar-Lll projected. <i>For a moment there, sir, you had me worried.</i></p> + +<p>"When we reached Venus, I was, I must admit, careless. I gave the crew a +chance to mutiny and they did. Slew most of the officers. Dfar-Lll and I +were lucky to escape with our lives."</p> + +<p>"But you might have told us!" Mrs. Bernardi's voice held reproach.</p> + +<p>"Until we knew what kind of beings you were, we couldn't let you know +how helpless and unprotected we were."</p> + +<p>The women seemed moved, but not the men.</p> + +<p>"Leading us on a wild goose chase, were you?" the captain challenged.</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt drew a deep breath. "It was my hope that all of you would +consent to help us get our ship back from these criminals. Then we could +fly to my planet—which is the fifth of the star you know as Alpha +Centauri—where, I assure you, you would be hospitably received."</p> + +<p><i>We aren't really going back home, Jrann-Pttt, are we? I'd sooner stay +here in the swamp than go back to that jail.</i></p> + +<p><i>Have confidence in me, r-Lll. As soon as we have disposed of the +commandant and his officers, I can put our ship out of commission. The +terrestrials won't be able to tell what's wrong. They know nothing about +space travel. The fact that they got their crude vessel to operate was +probably sheer luck.</i></p> + +<p>But the younger was not to be diverted. <i>Will we kill them after we've +disposed of our officers? I should hate to.</i></p> + +<p><i>Certainly not. We shall need servants and I don't trust the prisoners +in the ship—all criminals of the lowest type!</i> Aloud, he said to the +bewildered terrestrials, "If you don't want to help us, I shall +understand. No sense your interfering in another species' quarrels, +particularly as we must seem like monsters to you."</p> + +<p>"Monster!" the mosquito-bat agreed. "Monster, monster, monster!" No one +tried to stop him. Jrann-Pttt sensed that somehow he had lost a good +deal of his grip on the terrestrials. Finesse, he thought angrily, was +wasted on these barbaric life-forms.</p> + +<p>Bernardi sighed. "I suppose we'll have to help you." <i>No reason why his +ship shouldn't stop off at Earth before it goes to Alpha Centauri. No +reason why it should even go to Alpha Centauri at all, in fact.</i></p> + +<p>"If you ask me," the captain said, "he's one of the criminals himself."</p> + +<p>"But nobody asked you," Miss Anspacher retorted, the more acidly because +she had been wondering the same thing. "Shall we resume our journey?"</p> + +<p>"Hold on," the vine said. "I don't want to intrude or anything, but it +hasn't been made quite clear to me whether or not I'm included in the +invitation to this Alpha Centauri place, and I wouldn't want to keep +going only on the off-chance that you might ask me. I really think you +should, because you led me astray with your fair promises of glittering +cities."</p> + +<p>"The cities of our planet do not glitter," Jrann-Pttt replied, wishing +it would wither instantly, "but certainly you are invited. Glad to have +you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's awfully decent of you," the vine said emotionally. "I shan't +forget it, I promise you."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>They plodded onward, the vine chattering so incessantly that a faint +gurgling which accompanied them went unnoticed. The gurgling grew louder +and louder as they pushed on. Finally, "I keep hearing water," Mortland +remarked. "We must be approaching a river of some kind."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later, bursting through a screen of underbrush, they found +themselves confronted by a river whose bubbling violet-blue waters +extended for at least four kilometers from shadowy bank to bank, with +the ridge tapering to a point almost in its exact center.</p> + +<p>Apparently, while they had been trekking along the elevation, the +surrounding terrain, concealed from them by the dense and evil-minded +vegetation, had imperceptibly taken off, leaving the ridge to become a +peninsula that jutted out into the river. They seemed to be stranded. +All they could do was retrace their steps and, since they had no idea +how far back the split became part of the mainland again, the return +journey might last almost as long as it had taken them to get there.</p> + +<p>"I know we're heading in the right direction," Jrann-Pttt defended +himself. "I wasn't aware of the river because we must have come by an +overland route." Although he was telling the truth, at least insofar as +he knew it himself, no one, not even Dfar-Lll, believed him.</p> + +<p>"But let's rest a bit before we turn back," Mortland proposed, flopping +to the ground. "I'm utterly used up."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we don't need to go back," the vine said. "Not all the way, +anyhow." Everyone stared. It waved its leaves brightly at them. "I +notice the captain thoughtfully brought along lots of rope and there +were scads of fallen logs just a bit back. Couldn't you just lash the +logs together with the rope and make a—a thing on which we could float +the rest of the way? On the water, you know."</p> + +<p>The others continued to look at it open-mouthed.</p> + +<p>"Just a little idea I had," it said modestly. "May not amount to much, +but then you can't tell until you've tried, can you?"</p> + +<p>"It—he—means a raft, I think," Mrs. Bernardi said.</p> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt probed the raft concept in her mind, for he found the +vegetable's mental processes curiously obscure. "What an excellent +idea!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"It does not seem infeasible," Professor Bernardi admitted tightly. By +now, he was suspicious of everyone and everything. <i>If I had never +broached the idea of space travel to those peasants</i>, he thought, <i>I +would be on Earth in the dubious comfort of my own home. That's what +comes of trying to help humanity.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Well," observed the captain as the heavy raft hit the water with a +tremendous splash, "she seems to be riverworthy." He rubbed his hands in +anticipation, much of his surliness gone, now that he was about to deal +with something he understood. "Since she is, in a manner of speaking, a +ship, I suppose I assume command again?" He waited for objections, +glancing involuntarily in Jrann-Pttt's direction. There were none. +"Right," he said, repressing any outward symptoms of relief.</p> + +<p>He efficiently deployed the personnel to the positions on the raft where +he felt they might be least useless, the gear being piled in the middle +and surmounted by Algol, who naturally assumed possession of the softest +and safest place by the divine right of cats.</p> + +<p><i>The captain does have a commanding presence</i>, Miss Anspacher thought, +<i>and a sort of uncouth grace. Moreover, he cannot read my mind—in fact, +he often cannot even understand me when I speak.</i></p> + +<p>"All right!" he bellowed. "Cast off!"</p> + +<p>The vine unfastened the rope that it had insouciantly attached to a tree +trunk, remarking to the others, "Don't let the trees intimidate you. +Actually their bark is worse than their bite." Now it dropped lithely on +board the raft, looking for a comfortable resting place.</p> + +<p>"Please don't twine around me," Miss Anspacher said coldly. "If you +insist upon coming with us, you will have to choose an inanimate object +to cling to."</p> + +<p>"All right, all right," it tried to soothe her. "No need to get yourself +all worked up over such a mere triviality, is there? I'll just coil +myself tidily around one of those spare logs. I must say you're warmer, +though."</p> + +<p><i>Yes, she is, isn't she?</i> thought the captain, and squeezed her hand.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The raft drifted down the river. Since the current was flowing in the +desired direction, there did not appear to be any need to use the poles, +and everyone sat or reclined as comfortably as possible in the +suffocating heat. The yellow haze had become so thick that they seemed +to be at the bottom of a custard cup.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I do hope we're heading the right way," Professor Bernardi said, +<i>although who knows what is right and what is wrong any more</i>?</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we aren't," Mrs. Bernardi mused, stroking Algol, who had +crawled into her lap. "Perhaps we will go drifting along endlessly. +Every sixteen days, it will get dark and every sixteen days it will get +light, and meanwhile we will continue floating along, never going +anywhere, never getting anywhere, never seeing anything but haze and +raft and river and each other." Algol wheezed in his sleep.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" Jrann-Pttt said rudely. "I have a compass. I know the +direction perfectly well."</p> + +<p>"And yet you let us think we were wandering about blindly." Miss +Anspacher gave him a contemptuous look. The captain pressed her hand.</p> + +<p>"Since you seem to breathe the same air and eat much the same food that +we do, Mr. Pitt," Mrs. Bernardi changed her tack, "I suppose we'll be +physically comfortable on your planet for the rest of our lives. Our +children will be born there and our children's children, and eventually +they'll forget all about Earth and think it was only a legend."</p> + +<p>"But you did expect to settle permanently on Venus, didn't you?" the +vine asked, bewilderedly. "Or for a long visit, anyway. So I don't +really see that it makes much difference if you go to Jrann-Pttt's Alpha +Centauri place. So much nicer to be living with friends, I should +think."</p> + +<p>"But Alpha Centauri is so very far away," Mrs. Bernardi sighed. "There +wouldn't be much chance of our ever getting back."</p> + +<p>"Look!" Mortland exclaimed. "The river's branching. Which fork do we +take?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Jrann-Pttt, who had been dabbling his arms idly in the translucent +violet-blue water, withdrew them hastily as nine green eyes, obviously +belonging to the same individual, rose to the surface and regarded him +with more than casual interest. He consulted his compass. "Left."</p> + +<p>"Contrarily!" the mosquito-bat suddenly squeaked, pointing a small rod +at his companions. "Rightward."</p> + +<p>There was a stunned silence.</p> + +<p>"Monster!" Mortland cried in reproach. "You can talk! How could you +deceive us like that?"</p> + +<p>"Can talk," the creature retorted. "Me not intelligent life-form, ha! +Who talks last talks best. Have not linguistic facility of inferior +life-forms, but can communicate rudely in your language."</p> + +<p>"Remember," Mortland cautioned, "there are ladies present."</p> + +<p>"Have been lying low and laughing to self—ha, ha!—at witlessness of +lowerly life-forms."</p> + +<p>"But why?" Mrs. Bernardi demanded distractedly. "Haven't we been kind to +you?"</p> + +<p>"You be likewise well treated in our zoo," it assured her. "All of you. +Our zoo finest in Galaxy. And clean, too."</p> + +<p>"Now really, sir, I must protest—" Professor Bernardi began, trying to +extricate a blaster unobtrusively from the pile of gear in which the +too-confident terrestrials had cached their weapons.</p> + +<p>Monster gestured with his rod. "This is lethal weapon. Do not try +hindrancing me. Hate damage fine specimens. Captain, go rightward."</p> + +<p>"Oh, is that so!" Greenfield retorted hotly. "Let me tell you, you—you +insect!"</p> + +<p>"George!" Miss Anspacher clutched his arm. "Do what it says. For my +sake, George!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, all right," he muttered. "Just for you, then. Told you not to trust +any of 'em," he went on, reluctantly poling the raft in the ordered +direction. "Foreigners!"</p> + +<p>"Fine zoo," the mosquito-bat insisted. "Very clean. Run with utmost +efficientness. Strict visiting hours."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"And there goes Plan D," the vine said lightly. There was a hint of +laughter in its voice. Jrann-Pttt stared at it in consternation. "Are +you also from the Alpha Centauri system, sir?" It turned its attention +to the mosquito-bat. "Naturally I'm curious to know where I'm going," it +explained, "since I seem definitely to be included in your gracious +invitation."</p> + +<p>"Alpha Centauri, hah!" the mosquito-bat snorted. "I from what Earthlets +laughingly term Sirius. Alpha Centauri merely little star."</p> + +<p>"Now see here!" Jrann-Pttt sprang to his feet. Criminal he might be, but +he was not going to sit there and have his sun insulted!</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" Miss Anspacher cried. "No use getting yourself +killed, Jrann-Pttt!"</p> + +<p>"Correctly," Monster approved. "Elementary intelligence displayed. Why +damage fine specimens?"</p> + +<p><i>From one prison into another</i>, the saurian mentalized bitterly.</p> + +<p><i>Yes</i>, returned Dfar-Lll, <i>and it's all your fault.</i> The junior lizard +burst into tears. <i>I wish I had let Merglyt-Ruuu do what he wanted. I +would have been better off.</i></p> + +<p>"Sirius," the vine repeated. "That's even farther away than Alpha +Centauri, isn't it? I never thought I would get that far away from the +swamp! This really will be an adventure!"</p> + +<p>"How do you know—" Professor Bernardi began.</p> + +<p>"Frankly," it went on, "I don't see why you chaps are so put out by the +whole thing. What's the difference between Alpha Centauri and Sirius +anyway? Matter of a few light-years, but otherwise a star's a star for +all that."</p> + +<p>"To Jrann-Pttt, we wouldn't have been specimens," Mrs. Bernardi said, +belatedly recognizing the advantages of Alpha Centauri.</p> + +<p>"No, not specimens," the vine told her easily. "I don't suppose you know +he had no intention of taking you back to his system. He wanted you to +help him kill the officers of his ship so they couldn't look for him and +the other escaped prisoner or report back to his planet. Then he was +going to put the ship out of commission and found his own colony here +with you as his slaves. I'd just as soon be a specimen as a slave. +Sooner. Better to reign in a zoo than serve in a swamp!"</p> + +<p>"Just how do you know all this?" Miss Anspacher demanded.</p> + +<p>"It's obvious enough," Bernardi said gloomily. "Another telepath." <i>How +can we compete or even cope with creatures like these? What a fool I +was to think I could outwit them.</i></p> + +<p>"Telepathy just tricksomeness," the mosquito-bat put in jealously. "I +have no telepathy, yet superior to all."</p> + +<p>"But why should Mr. Pitt want to kill his officers?" Mrs. Bernardi asked +querulously. "He's the commandant, isn't he? Or is he a professor? I +never got that straight."</p> + +<p>"He was one of the criminals on the ship," the vine told her. "What you +might call a confidence man. This is about the only system in the Galaxy +where he isn't wanted. He did tell you the truth, though, when he said +they were sent on an expedition to collect zoological specimens. +Dangerous work," it sighed, "and so his people use criminals for it. +They were sent out in small detachments. Our friend here killed his +guard in a fight over a female prisoner, which was why—"</p> + +<p>"But what happened to the female prisoner?" Miss Anspacher's eye caught +Dfar-Lll's. "Oh, no!" she gasped.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" Dfar-Lll demanded. "I'm as much of a female as you are. Maybe +even more."</p> + +<p>The captain leaned close to Miss Anspacher. "No one can be more feminine +than you are, Dolores," he whispered.</p> + +<p>"But he—she's so young!" Mrs. Bernardi wailed.</p> + +<p>The vine made an amused sound. "Don't you have juvenile delinquents on +Earth?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, what does all that matter now?" Jrann-Pttt said sullenly. "We're +all going to a Sirian zoo, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Correctly," approved the monster-bat. "Finest zoo. Clean. Commodious +cages. Reasonable visiting hours. Very nice."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bernardi began to cry.</p> + +<p>"Now," the vine comforted her, "a zoo's not so bad. After all, most of +us spend our lives in cages of one kind or another, and without the +basic security a zoo affords—"</p> + +<p>"But we don't know we're in cages," Mrs. Bernardi sobbed. "That's the +important thing."</p> + +<p>Professor Bernardi looked at the vine. "But why are you—" he began, +then halted. "Perhaps I don't want an answer," he said. There was no +hope at all left in him, now that there was no doubt.</p> + +<p>"You are wise," the vine agreed quietly. Algol arose from Mr. Bernardi's +lap and rubbed against its thick pale green stem. He knew. The +mosquito-bat looked at both of them restlessly.</p> + +<p>The yellow haze had deepened to old gold. Now it was beginning to turn +brown.</p> + +<p>"It's twilight," Miss Anspacher observed. "Soon it will be dark."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we'll sail right past his ship in the night," Mortland +suggested hopefully.</p> + +<p>The mosquito-bat gave a snort. "Ship has lights. All modern +convenients."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the air seemed to have grown chilly—colder than it had any +right to be on that torrid planet. All around them, it was dark and very +quiet.</p> + +<p>"I think I do see lights," Mortland said.</p> + +<p>"Must be ship," Monster replied. And somehow the rest of them could +sense the uneasiness in the thin, piping, alien voice. "Must be!"</p> + +<p>"Your ship's a very large one then," Bernardi commented as they rounded +a bend and a whole colony of varicolored pastel lights sprang up ahead +of them.</p> + +<p>"Not my ship!" the mosquito-bat exclaimed in a voice pierced with +anguish. "Not my ship!"</p> + +<p>Before them rose the fantastic, twisting, convoluting, turning spires of +a tall, marvelous, glittering city.</p> + +<p>"You will find that the streets actually are filled with chlorophyll," +the vine said. "And I know you'll be happy here, all of you. You see, we +can't have you going back to your planets now. No matter how good your +intentions were, you'd destroy us. You do see that, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"You may be right," Bernardi agreed dispiritedly, "although that doesn't +cheer us any. But what will you do with us?"</p> + +<p>"You'll be provided with living quarters comparable to those on your own +planets," the vine told him, "and you'll give lectures just as if you +were in a university—only you'll be much more secure. I assure you—" +its voice was very gentle now—"you'll hardly know you're in a zoo."</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Collector's Item, by Evelyn E. 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Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Collector's Item + +Author: Evelyn E. Smith + +Illustrator: EMSH + +Release Date: March 18, 2010 [EBook #31686] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLLECTOR'S ITEM *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Collector's Item + + By EVELYN E. SMITH + + Illustrated by EMSH + +[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction +December 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _Being trapped in the steaming h--l of Venus is no excuse for +forgetting one's manners--but anyone abducted, marooned, tricked, kept +from tea might well crack under the strain!_] + +"What I should like to know," Professor Bernardi said, gazing pensively +after the lizard-man as he bore the shrieking form of Miss Anspacher off +in his scaly arms, "is whether he is planning to eat her or make love to +her. Because, in the latter instance, I'm not sure we should interfere. +It may be her only chance." + +[Illustration] + +"Carl!" his wife cried indignantly. "That's a horrid thing to say! You +must rescue her at once!" + +"Oh, I suppose so," he said, then gave his wife a nasty little grin that +he knew would irritate her. "It isn't that she's unattractive, my dear, +in case you hadn't noticed, though she's pretty well past the bloom of +youth--" + +"_Will_ you stop making leering noises and go save her or _not_?" + +"I was coming to that. It's just that she persists in using her Ph.D. as +a club to beat men into respectful pulps. Men don't like being beaten +into respectful pulps, whether by a man or a woman. Now if she'd only +learned that other people have feelings--" + +"If you don't stop lecturing and go, I will!" his wife threatened. + +"All right, all right," he said wearily. "Come on, Mortland." + + * * * * * + +The two scientists slogged through the steamy, odorous jungle of Venus +and soon reached the lizard-man, who, weighed down by his captive, had +not been able to travel as fast. + +"You blast him," the professor told Mortland. "Try not to hit Miss +Anspacher, if you can manage it." + +"Er--I've never fired one of these things before," Mortland said. "Can't +stand having my eardrums blasted. However, here goes." He pointed his +weapon at the lizardlike creature in a gingerly manner. "Ah--hands up," +he ordered. "Only fair to give the--well, blighter a sporting chance," +he explained to Professor Bernardi. + +To their amazement, the lizard-man promptly dropped Miss Anspacher into +the lavender-colored mud and put up his hands. Miss Anspacher gave an +indignant yelp. + +"Seems intelligent in spite of the kidnaping," Mortland commented. "But +how does he happen to understand English? We're the only expedition ever +to have reached Venus ... that I know of, anyway." He and the professor +stared at each other in consternation. "There may have been a secret +expedition previously and perhaps they left a--a base or something, +which would explain why--" + +"If you two oafs would stop speculating, you might help me out of +here!" Miss Anspacher remarked in her customary snappish tone. Professor +Bernardi leaped forward to obey. "You don't have to pull quite so hard! +I haven't taken root yet!" She came out of the mud with a sound like two +whales kissing. She brushed hopelessly at her once-white blouse and +shorts. "Oh, dear, I look a mess!" + +Professor Bernardi did not comment, being engaged in slapping at a small +winged creature--about the size of a bluejay, but looking like a cross +between a bat and a mosquito--that seemed interested in taking a bite +out of him. It escaped his flapping hand and flew to the top of +Mortland's sun helmet, where it glared at the professor. + +"Since you seem to understand English," Miss Anspacher said to the +lizard-man through a mouthful of hairpins, "perhaps you will be so kind +as to explain the meaning of this outrage?" + +"I was smitten," the alien replied suavely. "Passion made me forget +myself." + +Professor Bernardi looked thoughtfully at him. "A prior expedition isn't +the answer. It wouldn't have troubled to educate you so thoroughly. +Therefore, the explanation is that you pick up English by reading our +minds. Correct?" + +The lizard-man turned an embarrassed olive. "Yes." + + * * * * * + +Now that he was able to give the creature a more thorough inspection, +Bernardi saw that he really didn't look too much like a lizard. He +definitely appeared to be wearing clothes of some kind, which, in the +Venusian heat, indicated a particularly refined degree of +civilization--unless, of course, the squamous skin protected him from +the heat as well as the humidity. + +More than that, though, he was humanoid in almost a Hollywood way. He +had a particularly fine profile and an athletic physique, which, oddly, +his scales seemed to enhance, much like a movie idol dressed in +fine-meshed Medieval armor. Naturally, he had a tail, but it was as well +proportioned as a kangaroo's, though shorter and more graceful, and it +struck Professor Bernardi as a particularly handsome and useful gadget. + +For one thing, the people from Earth were standing uncomfortably in the +slippery mud, while the lizard-man was using his tail much in the +fashion of a spectator stool, leaning back against it almost in a +sitting position, with his armor-shod feet supporting him comfortably. +For another, the tail undoubtedly served for balance and the added push +of a walking stick and perhaps for swift attack or getaway. Very +practical and attractive, the professor concluded--too bad Man had +relinquished his tail when climbing down from the trees. + +"Thank you," the saurian said with uneasy modesty, looking at him. "Good +of you to think so. You are a fairly intelligent species, aren't you?" + +"Fairly," the professor acknowledged, preoccupied with a clever idea. +Perhaps existence on Venus wasn't going to be as unpleasant as he had +anticipated. "From reading my mind, you know what this blaster can do, +don't you?" + +"I'm afraid so." + +"Then you know what I expect of you?" + +"Yes, sahib. I'se comin', massa. To hear is to obey, effendi." The +creature turned and went briskly back toward the camp, leaving the +others to stumble after him. + +Mrs. Bernardi gave a shriek as his handsome scaled form emerged from the +greenish-white underbrush, haloed in luminous yellow mist. Algol, the +ship's cat, prudently took sanctuary behind her, then peered out to see +what was going on and whether there was likely to be anything in it for +him. + +"This is our native bearer," Professor Bernardi explained as the three +scientists burst out of the jungle. + +"My name is Jrann-Pttt." The creature bowed low. "At your service, +madame." + +"Oh, Carl!" Mrs. Bernardi clapped her hands. "He's just perfect! So +thoughtful of you to find one that speaks English! I do hope you can +cook, Pitt?" + +"I will do my best, madame." + + * * * * * + +Algol daintily picked his way through the mud toward the saurian, +sniffed him with judicial deliberation; then, deciding that anyone who +smelled so much like the better class of fish must be All Right, rubbed +against his legs. + +"Well," remarked Miss Anspacher, using the side of the spaceship as a +mirror by which to redden her somewhat prissy lips, "that makes it +practically unanimous, doesn't it?" + +"All except Professor Bernardi," said Jrann-Pttt, looking at the +scientist with what might have been a smile. "He doesn't like me." + +"I see that your telepathic powers are not quite accurate," the +professor returned. "I do not dislike you; I distrust you." + +"The fact that the two terms are not entirely synonymous in your +language would argue a certain degree of incipient civilization," the +lizard-man observed. + +"You know, Carl," Mrs. Bernardi whispered, "he has an awfully funny way +of talking, for a native." + +"Frankly I don't like this at all, Professor," Captain Greenfield said, +mopping his brow with a limp handkerchief. "If I hadn't been off looking +for a better berth for the ship--all this mud worries me--this'd never +have happened." + +"You mean you would have let the lizard get away with Miss Anspacher?" + +The big man's face flushed crimson. "I don't think that's funny, +Professor." + +Bernardi quickly changed the subject, for he realized that the captain, +being by far the most muscular of the party, was not a man to trifle +with. "Tell me, Greenfield, did you succeed in finding a better spot for +the ship? I must admit I'm worried about that mud myself." + +"Only remotely dry spot around is an outcropping 'bout two kilometers +away," Greenfield said grudgingly. He shifted his camp stool in a futile +search for shade. Even though the sun never penetrated the thick layer +of clouds, the yellow light diffused through them was blinding. "Might +be big enough, but it's not level. Could blast it smooth, but that'd +take at least a week--Earth time." + +Bernardi pulled his damp shirt away from his body. "Well, I daresay +we'll be all right where we are, if we're not assailed by any violent +forces of nature. On Earth, this might be a monsoon climate." + +"If you ask me, that monster is more of a danger than any monsoon." + +Bernardi sighed. Although by far the most competent officer available +for the job of spaceship captain, Greenfield was not quite the man he +would have chosen to be his associate for months on end. Still, +beggars--as Miss Anspacher might have eloquently put it--could not be +choosers. "What makes you say that?" he asked, trying to set an example +of tolerance. + +"Don't like the idea of him cooking for us," the captain said +stubbornly. "Might poison us all in our beds." + +"Well, don't eat in your bed," suggested Mortland, strolling out of the +airlock in the company of the cat. Algol, however, finding that the spot +beside the captain's camp stool was as dry as anything could be on +Venus, decided to turn back. + + * * * * * + +"The difficulty is easily overcome, Captain," the professor said, still +holding on to his patience. "You can continue to cook your own meals +from the tinned and packaged foods on board ship. The rest of us will +eat fresh native foods prepared by Jrann-Pttt." + +"But why," Miss Anspacher interrupted as she emerged from the airlock +with a large cast-iron skillet, "should you think Jrann-Pttt wants to +poison us?" + +Both men rose from their stools. "Stands to reason he'd consider us his +enemies, Miss Anspacher," the captain said. "After all, we--as a group, +that is--captured him." + +"Hired him," Professor Bernardi contradicted. "I've telepathically +arranged to pay him an adequate salary. In goods, of course; I don't +suppose our money would be of much use to him. And I think he's rather +glad of the chance to hang around and observe us conveniently." + +"Observe us!" Greenfield exclaimed. "You mean he's spying out the land +for an attack? Let's prepare our defenses at once!" + +"I doubt if that's what he has in mind," Professor Bernardi said +judiciously. + +"He may be staying because he wants to be near me," Miss Anspacher +blurted. Overcome by this unmaidenly admission, she reddened and rushed +from them, calling, "Yoo-hoo, Jrann-Pttt! Here is the frying pan!" Algol +woke up instantly and followed her. "Frying" was one of the more +important words in his vocabulary. + +Captain Greenfield stared across the clearing after them, then turned +back to Bernardi with a frown. "I don't like to see one of our girls +mixed up with a lizard--and a foreign lizard at that." But his face too +clearly betrayed a personal resentment. + +"Don't tell me you have a--a fondness for Miss Anspacher, Captain," +Professor Bernardi exclaimed, genuinely surprised. Undeniably Miss +Anspacher--although no longer in her first youth--was a handsome woman, +but he would not have expected her somewhat cerebral type to appeal to +the captain. On the other hand, she was the only unattached woman in the +party and they were a long way from home. + +Greenfield picked a fleck of dried violet mud from the side of the ship +and avoided Bernardi's eye. "One of the reasons I came along," he said +almost bashfully. "Thought I'd have the chance to be alone with her now +and again and impress her with, with...." + +"Your sterling qualities?" Bernardi suggested. + +The captain flashed him a glance of mingled gratitude and resentment. +"And now this damned lizard has to come along!" + +"Cheer up, Captain," said the professor. "I'll back you against a lizard +any time." + + * * * * * + +Although the long twilight of Venus had deepened into night and it could +never really be cool there by terrestrial standards, the temperature was +almost comfortable. Everything was quite black, except for the pallid +purple campfire glowing through the darkness; the clouds that +perpetually covered the surface of the planet prevented even the light +of the stars from reaching it. + +"Tell me more about the cross-versus the parallel-cousin relationships +in your culture, Jrann-Pttt," Miss Anspacher breathed, wriggling her +camp stool closer to the saurian's. "Anthropology is a great hobby of +mine, you know. How do your people feel about exogamy?" + +"I'm afraid I'm rather exhausted, dear lady," he said, using one arm to +mask a yawn, and one to surreptitiously wave away the saurian head that +was peering out of the underbrush. "I shouldn't like to give a scientist +like yourself any misinformation that might become a matter of record." + +"Of course not," she murmured. "You're so considerate." + + * * * * * + +A pale face appeared in the firelight like some weird creature of +darkness. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial both started. "Miss +Anspacher," the captain growled, "I'd like to lock up the ship, so if +you wouldn't mind turning in--" + +Miss Anspacher pouted. "You've interrupted such an interesting +conversation. And I don't see why you have to lock up the ship. After +all, the night is three hundred and eighty-five hours long. We don't +sleep all that time and it would be a shame to be cooped up." + +"I'm going to try to rig up some floodlights," Greenfield explained +stiffly, "so we won't be caught like this again. Nobody bothered to tell +me the day equals thirty-two of ours, so that half of it would be +night." + +"Then I won't see you for almost two weeks of our time, Jrann-Pttt? Are +you sure you wouldn't like to spend the rest of the night in our ship? +Plenty of room, you know." + +"No, thank you, dear lady. The jungle is my natural habitat. I should +feel stultified by walls and a ceiling. Don't worry--I shan't run away." + +"Oh, I'm not worried," Miss Anspacher said coyly, throwing a stick of +wood on the fire. + +"Small riddance if he does." + +"Captain Greenfield!" + +That part of the captain's face not concealed by his piratical black +beard turned red. "Well, if he can read our minds, he knows damn well +what I'm thinking, anyway, so why be hypocritical about it?" + +"That's right--he is a telepath, isn't he?" Miss Anspacher's face grew +even redder than the captain's. "I forgot he.... It _is_ getting late. I +really must go. Good night, Jrann-Pttt." + +"Good night, dear lady." The saurian bowed low over her hand. + +Leaning on the captain's brawny arm, Miss Anspacher ploughed through the +mud to the ship, followed by the mosquito-bat and Algol, who had been +toasting themselves more or less companionably at the fire. The door to +the airlock clanged behind all four of them. + + * * * * * + +The other saurian's head appeared again from the bush. _Jrann-Pttt_, the +insistent thought came, _shall I rescue you now_? + +_Why, Dfar-Lll? I am not a prisoner. I'm quite free to come and go +as I please. But let's get away from the strangers' ship while we +communicate. They do have a certain amount of low-grade perception and +might be able to sense the presence of another personality. At any rate, +they might look out of a port and see you._ + +Keeping the illuminator on low beam, Dfar-Lll led the way through the +bushes. _Seems to me you're going to an awful lot of trouble just to get +zoo specimens_, the youngster protested, disentangling its arms from the +embrace of an amorous vine. _There's really no reason for carrying on +the work since Lieutenant Merglyt-Ruuu ... passed on._ + +Jrann-Pttt sat down on a fallen log and, tucking up his graceful tail, +signaled his junior to join him. _In the event that we do decide to +return to base, some handsome specimens might serve to offset the +lieutenant's demise._ + +_Return to base? But I thought we were...._ + +_We haven't found swamp life pleasant, have we? After all, there's no +real reason why we shouldn't go back. Is it our fault that Merglyt-Ruuu +happened to meet with a fatal accident?_ + +_We-ell ... but will the commandant see it that way?_ + +_On the other hand, if we don't go back, wouldn't it be a good idea to +attach ourselves to an expedition that, no matter how alien, is better +equipped for survival than we? And carrying out our original purpose +seemed the best way of getting to meet these strangers informally, as it +were._ + +_They are unquestionably intelligent life-forms then?_ + +_After a fashion._ Jrann-Pttt yawned and rose. _But why are we sitting +here? Let's start back to our camp. We will be able to converse more +comfortably._ + +They made their way through the jungle--now walking, now wading where +the mud became water. Small creatures with hardly any thoughts scurried +before them as they went. + +_The commandant may have already made contact with their rulers_, +Dfar-Lll suggested, springing forward to illuminate the way. _In that +case, we couldn't hope to remain undiscovered for long._ + +_Oh, these creatures are not Venusians. There's no intelligent life +here. They hail from the third planet of this system and, according to +their thoughts, this is the only vessel that was capable of traversing +interplanetary space. So we needn't worry about extradition treaties or +any other official annoyances._ + +_If they're friendly, why didn't you spend the night in their ship? It +certainly looks more comfortable than our collapsible moslak--which, by +the way, collapsed while you were gone. I hope we'll be able to put it +up again ourselves. I must say this for the lieutenant--he was good at +that sort of thing._ + +Jrann-Pttt made a gesture of distaste. _He was unfortunately good at +other things, too. But let's not discuss him. I'm not staying with the +strangers because I want to pick up one or two little things--mostly +some of our food to serve them. I used up all the supplies in my pack +and I want them to think we're living off the land. They believe me to +be a primitive and it's best that they should until I decide just how +I'm going to make most efficient use of them. Besides, I didn't want to +leave you alone._ + +The younger saurian sniffed skeptically. + + * * * * * + +"Honestly, Pitt," Mrs. Bernardi said, keeping to leeward of the +tablecloth the lizard-man was efficiently shaking out of the airlock, +"I've never had a--an employee as competent as you." But the word she +had in mind, of course, was "servant." "I do wish you'd come back to +Earth with us." + +"Perhaps you would compel me to come?" he suggested, as Algol and the +mosquito-bat entered into hot competition to catch the crumbs before +they sank into the purple ooze. + +"Oh, no! We'd want you to come as our guest--our friend." _Naturally_, +her thoughts ran, _a house guest would be expected to help with the +washing up and lend a hand with the cooking--and, of course, we wouldn't +have to pay him. Though my husband, I suppose, would requisition him as +a specimen._ + +_I fully intend to go to Earth with them_, Jrann-Pttt mused, _but +certainly not in that capacity. Nor would I care to be a specimen. I +must formulate some concrete plan._ + +The captain was crawling on top of the spaceship, scraping off the dried +mud, brushing away the leaves and dust that marred its shining purity. +The hot, humid haze that poured down from the yellow clouds made the +metal surface a little hell. Yet it was hardly less warm on the other +side of the clearing, where Miss Anspacher tried desperately to write up +her notes on a table that kept sinking into the spongy ground, and +hindered by the thick wind that had arisen half an hour before and which +kept blowing her papers off. The sweet odor of the flowers tucked in the +open neck of her already grimy white blouse suddenly sickened her and +she flung them into the mud. + +"We won't be going back to Earth for a long time!" she called. Gathering +up the purple-stained papers, she came toward the others, little puffs +of mist rising at each step. "We like it here. Lovely country." + +How could she think to please even the savage she fancied him to be by +such an inanity, Jrann-Pttt wondered. No one could possibly like that +fetid swamp. Or was it not so much that she was trying to please him as +convince herself? Was there some reason the terrestrials had for needing +to like Venus. It hovered on the edge of the women's minds. If only it +would emerge completely, he could pick it up, but it lurked in the +shadows of their subconscious, tantalizing him. + +"I'd like to know when we're going to start putting up the shelters," +Mrs. Bernardi said, pushing a streak of fog-yellow hair out of her eyes. +"I can't stand being cooped up for another night on that ship." + +"You're planning to put up shelters--to live outside of the ship?" This +would seem to confirm his darkest suspicions. Even a temporary +settlement would leave them too open to visitation from the commandant. +What his attitude toward the aliens might be, Jrann-Pttt didn't know. He +might consider them as specimens, as enemies or as potential allies. +What his attitude toward Jrann-Pttt and his companion would be, however, +the saurian knew only too well. Had they reported the lieutenant's +demise immediately, it was possible the commandant might have been +brought to believe it was an accident. Now he would unquestionably think +Jrann-Pttt had killed Merglyt-Ruuu on purpose--which was not true; how +was Jrann-Pttt to know that the mud into which he'd knocked the +lieutenant was quicksand? + +"Anything against putting up shelters?" Captain Greenfield growled from +his perch. + +"Monster!" the mosquito-bat shrieked at the cat. "Monster! Monster!" + + * * * * * + +There was a painfully embarrassed silence. + +"The creature is not intelligent," Jrann-Pttt explained, smiling. "It +merely has vocal apparatus that can reproduce a frequently heard word, +like--you have a bird, I believe, a--" he searched their minds for the +word--"a parrot." + +"Monster!" the mosquito-bat continued. "Monster! Monster!" + +"Shut up or I'll wring your neck!" the captain snarled. The mosquito-bat +obeyed sullenly, apparently recognizing the threat in his tone. + +But the concept of "monster" hung heavily in the air between the +terrestrials and the lizard-man. _They should not feel so bad about it_, +he thought, _for they are the monsters themselves. But that would never +occur to them and I can hardly reassure them by saying...._ + +"Don't worry," Professor Bernardi said smoothly. "To him, it's we who +are the monsters." + +A sudden gust of wind nearly whipped the tablecloth out of Jrann-Pttt's +hands. He fought with it for a moment, glad of something tangible to +contend with. "About the shelters," he said. "They might not stand up +against a storm." + +"So this is monsoon country," Bernardi observed thoughtfully. "Do you +know when the storms usually come, Jrann-Pttt?" The other shook his +head. "Peculiar. There usually is a season for that sort of thing." + +"I ... come from another part of the planet." + +"Storms here are bad, eh?" the captain commented, swinging himself down +easily. "Frankly, that worries me. Ship's resting on mud as far as I can +see, and if there's one thing I do know something about, it's mud. If it +got any wetter, the ship might sink." + +"Maybe we should leave," Mrs. Bernardi suggested. "Go to another part of +the planet where it's drier, or--" she tried not to show the sudden +surge of hope--"leave for home and come back after the rainy season." + +There was a sudden silence, and Jrann-Pttt found himself able to pick up +the answers to some of his questions from the alien minds. His worst +fears were confirmed. Plan A was out. But something could still be done +with these creatures. + +"Doesn't she know?" the captain demanded accusingly. "You brought her +here without telling her?" + +Bernardi spread his hands wide in a futile gesture. "She should know; +I've told her repeatedly. She just doesn't understand ... or doesn't +want to." + +"I know they'll forgive us," Mrs. Bernardi said stubbornly. +"We--you--haven't done anything really wrong, so how could they do +anything terrible to us? After all, didn't they refuse you the funds +because they said you couldn't--" + +"Shhh, Louisa," her husband commanded. + +Jrann-Pttt smiled to himself. + +--"do it," she went on. "And you did. So they were wrong and they'll +have to forgive us." + +"Tcha!" Miss Anspacher said. "Since when was there any fairness in +justice?" + +"On the other hand," Mrs. Bernardi continued, "we have no idea of how +dangerous the storms here could be." + +"Very dangerous," Jrann-Pttt said. + +"For you, perhaps," the captain retorted. "Maybe not for us." + +"Now that's silly," Miss Anspacher said. "You can see that Jrann-Pttt is +much more--" she blushed--"sturdily built than we are." + +"I don't mean that we could face it without protection," the captain +replied angrily. "Naturally I mean that our superior technology could +cope with the effects of any storm." + +"Well, Captain, we'll have to put that superior technology to use at +once," the professor told him. "You'd better start blasting that rock." + +Laden with equipment and malevolent thoughts, the captain trudged off +into the murky jungle. The others would not even offer to help. +Confounded scientists; they certainly took his status as captain +seriously. He wished, for a disloyal moment, that he had stayed on +Earth. The quiet routine of a test pilot had prepared him for nothing +like this. Were Miss Anspacher and adventure worth it? At the moment, he +thought not. But he was on Venus and it was too late to change his mind. + +Jrann-Pttt followed him into the jungle, keeping some distance behind, +for he had good reason to suspect that Greenfield would take his warm +interest in terrestrial technology for plain spying. Or, worse yet, he +might try to press the lizard-man into service; Jrann-Pttt felt he had +demeaned himself quite enough already. + +"Have you noticed," Miss Anspacher asked, pushing the mass of damp brown +hair off her neck as she came alongside him, "how the--the smell--" _a +scientist does not mince words_--"of the swamp has grown stronger?" + +Jrann-Pttt halted. He had a good idea of what the captain's reactions to +the sight of himself and Miss Anspacher arriving hand-in-hand would be. +"Yes, it is getting rather overpowering. Perhaps, for a lady of your +delicate sensibilities, it would be best to--" + +"I can stand a bad smell just as well as a male--any male!" + +"Perhaps even better," Jrann-Pttt said, "for I was on the verge of +turning back myself." + +"Oh," she said, appeased. "Well, in that case, I'll go back with +you ... how quiet everything is!" + +He had not noticed. For him, it would never be quiet because of the +stream of jangled thoughts constantly pouring into the back of his mind +from everything sentient that surrounded him. + +For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to be non-telepathic +like the terrestrials, to have peace from the clamor of confused +impressions, emotions and ideas that persistently beat at his mind. But +that would be wondering how it was to be deaf to avoid discord, or blind +to shut out ugliness. + +"The lull before the storm, I suppose," she said brightly. _Now is his +opportunity to kiss me--only perhaps they don't have kissing in his +society. His mouth does seem to be the wrong shape. And if I kissed him, +it might violate a taboo._ + +During their short absence, the citrine clouds that closed off the sky +had changed to a sinister umber. It was now almost as dusky in the +clearing as in the jungle itself, when Jrann-Pttt and Miss Anspacher +returned and joined the others. + +Professor Bernardi stood looking up with sharp gray eyes at a sky he +could not see. "I hope Greenfield can finish the blasting more quickly +than he estimated," he muttered. + +"Will we hear the noise way out here, Carl?" his wife worried nervously. + +"Only two kilometers away? Of course we'll hear it. I do wish you +wouldn't always be asking such stupid questions." + +She shivered. "Well, I hope they get it over with right away. If we just +have to sit here waiting and waiting and waiting, I'll go mad. I know I +will." + +"You should try to keep your nerves in check, Louisa," Miss Anspacher +snapped. _Silly little fool._ + +"At least I can control my glands!" Mrs. Bernardi flared back. +_Sex-starved spinster._ + +"I shall make some tea, ladies," Jrann-Pttt interposed. "I'm sure we +will all feel the better for it." + +Mrs. Bernardi smiled at him feebly. "You're such a comfort, Pitt. I +don't know why you of all creatures should be the one to remind me of +home." + +"Home," remarked Mortland, emerging from the airlock, "is where the +heart is. Did I hear someone say 'tea'?" + + * * * * * + +As Jrann-Pttt hung the kettle over the fire, suddenly the air erupted in +stunning violence of sound. The ground undulated under their feet and +water slopped out of the kettle, almost putting out the fire that rose +high to claw at it. Rivulets of thick, muddy liquid welled out of the +ground and drabbled their feet. The women turned pale. Algol gave a +faint cry and hid under Mrs. Bernardi's skirts, trembling, while the +mosquito-bat tried to lift Mortland's toupee and hide in his hair. The +ship itself quivered and seemed to jump slightly in the air, then +returned to its resting place. + +All was quiet again, quieter than it had been before. Mortland anxiously +gnawed his light mustache. "Better hurry with that tea, there's a good +fellow. I'm violently allergic to loud noises." + +"They'll probably continue all day," the professor said with almost +malevolent cheerfulness, "so you might as well get used to them." _Who +is he to have nerves? I am easily the most sensitive person here, but I +manage to control myself._ + +"I don't know how I'm going to stand it!" Mrs. Bernardi shrieked. "I +just know something terrible is going to happen." + +"Please try to restrain yourself, Louisa," her husband ordered. "After +it's over, you'll find we'll be much more comfortable and secure with +the ship resting on rock." + +"If you ask me, that blast made it sink a little," Mortland said. "I +wonder whether--" + +He was interrupted by a thrashing in the bushes. Dfar-Lll burst forth, +shedding scales. _Do not despair, Jrann-Pttt. I am here, ready to save +you or die at your side._ + +The women clutched each other, Miss Anspacher praying silently and +fervently to Juno, Lakshmi, Freya, Isis and a host of other esoteric +female deities she had picked up in the course of her avocational +researches. + +"He seems to be one of Jrann-Pttt's people," Bernardi observed, "so +there should be nothing to fear." + +_Dfar-Lll, you fool!_ Jrann-Pttt ideated angrily. _Nothing's wrong. +They're just blasting out a better berth for their vessel. And now +you've spoiled my plans._ + +"What did you think at that poor little creature!" Mrs. Bernardi blazed. +"He's crying!" And, sure enough, amethyst tears were oozing out of the +young saurian's large, liquid eyes. + +_I du-didn't mean any harm._ + +"Monster!" Mrs. Bernardi accused Jrann-Pttt. "All men are monsters, +whether they're aliens or not." + +"You're so right, Louisa!" Miss Anspacher exclaimed, regarding the +younger creature in an almost kindly manner. + +_I'm sorry, r-Lll_, Jrann-Pttt apologized. _I was upset by that noise, +too. How could you possibly know what it was? Come, let me introduce you +to the creatures._ + +Dfar-Lll stepped forward diffidently. Jrann-Pttt put a hand on the +moss-green shoulder. "Allow me to introduce my companion, Dfar-Lll," he +said aloud. + +The youngster looked at him. + +Mrs. Bernardi thrust out her hand. "I'm very glad to meet you, Lil." + +_Agitate it with one of yours. It's a courtesy. Don't let her see how +repulsive she is to you. Remember, you're just as repulsive to her._ + +Dfar-Lll offered a shy, seven-fingered hand. "Pleased ... to meet +you ... ma'am," the young lizard squeaked. + +"Why, he's just a baby, isn't he?" Mrs. Bernardi asked. + +_I am not a baby!_ Dfar-Lll thought indignantly. _At the end of this +year, I shall celebrate my pre-maturity feast, or I would have. And +furthermore--_ + +There was another thunderous blast of sound. After the ground had +stopped trembling, the six found themselves ankle-deep in muddy water. +Algol, who was in considerably deeper than his ankles, mewed fretfully. +Mrs. Bernardi picked him up and comforted him. + +"Perhaps blasting wasn't such a good idea," the professor muttered. +"Maybe I should tell Greenfield to call a halt and we'll take our +chances with the storm. As a matter of fa--" + +"The ship!" Mortland cried. "It _is_ sinking!" + +And the big metal ball slowly but visibly was indeed subsiding into the +mud. + +"Stop it, somebody!" Miss Anspacher snapped in her customary schoolroom +manner. + +The professor was pale, but he held on to his calm. "What can we do? +Even if we could get the captain back in time, there's no way we can +stop it. It's too heavy to pull out manually, and the engines, of +course, are inside." + +As they watched in horror, the ship sank deeper and deeper, picking up +momentum as more of it went under. With a loud, sucking sound, it +vanished into the ooze. Muddy water gurgled over it and, where the ship +had been, there was now a small lake. + +"This could be the beginning of a legend," Miss Anspacher murmured. "Or +the end." + +There was another vibrant detonation. "Someone ought to go tell the +captain there's no use blasting any more," Bernardi said wearily. "We +have nothing to put on the rock when he smooths it off." He began to +laugh. "I suppose you could call this poetic justice." And he went on +laughing, losing a bit of his former self-control. + +_There goes Plan B_, Jrann-Pttt thought. + +A star of intensely bright green lightning split the clouds and widened +to cover the visible expanse of sky. There was a planet-shaking clap of +thunder that made Greenfield's puny efforts sound like the snapping of +twigs in comparison and it began to rain hard and fast. + + * * * * * + +"If only I hadn't gone and blasted that damn rock," the captain +grumbled, squeezing water out of his shirt-tails, "we'd have been all +right. Probably the storm wouldn't have done a thing to the ship except +get it wet. If you can even call it a storm." + +"I can and I do," Jrann-Pttt replied, haughtily squeegeeing his wet +scales. "All I said was that a storm might be coming up and it might be +dangerous. How was I to know it would last only half an hour?" + +"Even the camp stools pulled through," Greenfield pointed out, "and you +said shelters wouldn't stand up." + +"I only said they might not. Can't you understand your own language?" + +The fissure in the clouds had not quite closed yet and through it the +enormous, blazing disk of the sun glared at them, twice as large as it +appeared from Earth. It was a moot point as to whether they'd be dried +out or steamed alive first. + +"Might as well collect whatever gear we have left and get it to higher +ground," Miss Anspacher said efficiently. "Two feet of water won't do +anything any good--even those camp stools." + +"It's my belief you wanted this to happen," Greenfield accused +Jrann-Pttt. "You wanted to get rid of us." + +"My dear fellow," Jrann-Pttt replied loftily, "the information I gave +you was, to the best of my knowledge, accurate. However, I happen to be +a professor of zoology and not a meteorologist. Apparently you people +live out in the open like primitives," he continued, ignoring Dfar-Lll's +admiring interjection, "and are accustomed to the vicissitudes of +weather. I am a civilized creature; I live--" _or used to live_--"in an +air-conditioned, light-conditioned, weather-conditioned city. It is only +when I rough it on field trips like this to trackless parts of +the--globe that I am forced to experience weather. Even then, I have +never before been caught in a situation like this." + +_In fact, I was never before caught or I wouldn't be in this situation +at all._ + +"Oh, Jrann-Pttt," sighed Miss Anspacher, "I knew you couldn't be just an +ordinary native!" + +"How did you get into this situation then?" Professor Bernardi asked. He +had an unfortunate talent for going directly to the point. + +"The third member of our expedition died," Jrann-Pttt explained. "He was +our dirigational expert. Our guide." + +"How did he happen to--" + +"Are we just going to stand here chatting," Miss Anspacher demanded, "or +are we going to do something about this?" + +"What can we do?" Mrs. Bernardi asked weakly. "We might just as well lie +down and--" + +"Never say die, Louisa," Miss Anspacher admonished. + +"I suggest we go to my camp to see what shape it's in," Jrann-Pttt said, +furiously putting together Plan C. "Some of the supplies there might +prove useful." + +Captain Greenfield looked questioningly at Bernardi. The professor +shrugged. "Might as well." + +"All right," the captain growled. "Let's pick up whatever we can save." + + * * * * * + +Since there wasn't much that could be rescued, the little safari was +soon on its way. Jrann-Pttt led, carrying Algol in his arms. Behind came +Mortland, bearing a camp stool and the kettle into which he had tucked a +tin of biscuits and into which the mosquito-bat had tucked itself, its +orange eyes glaring out angrily from beneath the lid. Next came Mrs. +Bernardi with her knitting, her camp stool and her sorrow. + +Dfar-Lll followed with two stools and the plastic tea set. Close behind +was Miss Anspacher, with the sugar bowl, the earthenware teapot and an +immense bound volume of the _Proceedings of the Physical Society of +Ameranglis_ for 1993. Professor Bernardi bore a briefcase full of notes +and the table. The rain had damaged the latter's mechanism, so that its +legs kept unfolding from time to time, to the great inconvenience of +Captain Greenfield, who brought up the rear with the blasting equipment. +Behind them and sometimes alongside them came something--or +someone--else. + +[Illustration] + +"Surely your camp must have been closer to ours than this," Miss +Anspacher finally remarked after they had been slogging through mud and +water and pushing aside reluctant vegetation for over an Earth hour. + +"I am very much afraid," Jrann-Pttt admitted, "that our camp has been +lost--that is to say, inundated." + +"What are we going to do now?" the captain asked of the company at +large. + +Professor Bernardi shrugged. "Our only course would seem to be making +for one of the cities and throwing ourselves upon the na--Jrann-Pttt's +people's hospitality. If Professor Jrann-Pttt has even the vaguest idea +of the direction in which his home lies, we might as well head that +way." _I wonder whether the natives could help us raise the ship._ + +"I'm sure my people will be more than happy to welcome you," Jrann-Pttt +said smoothly, "and to make you comfortable until your people send +another ship to fetch you." + +The terrestrials looked at one another. Dfar-Lll looked at Jrann-Pttt. + +Professor Bernardi coughed. "That was the only spaceship we had," he +admitted. "The first experimental model, you know." _We don't expect to +stay on this awful planet forever. After all, as Louisa says, the +government will have to forgive us. Public opinion and all that._ + +"Oh," the saurian said. "Then we shall have the pleasure of your company +until they build another?" + +There was silence. "We have the only plans," the professor said, +gripping his briefcase more tightly. "I am the inventor of the ship, so +naturally I would have them." _If we brought back some specimens of +Venusian life--of intelligent Venusian life--to prove we'd been +here...._ + +"Matter of fact, old fellow," Mortland said, "we took all the plans with +us so they couldn't build another ship and follow--" + +"Mortland!" the professor exclaimed. + +"But they're telepaths," Miss Anspacher said. "They must know already." + +Everyone turned to look at the saurians. + +"I have ... certain information," Jrann-Pttt admitted, "but I cannot +understand it. You are in trouble with your rulers because they would +not give you the funds, claiming space travel was impossible?" + +"That's right," Bernardi said. _Not really specimens, you understand. +Guests._ + +"And you went ahead and appropriated the funds and materials from your +government, since you were in a trusted position where you could do so?" + +Bernardi nodded. + +"Of course the question is now academic, for the ship is gone, but since +you proved the possibility of space travel by coming here, wouldn't your +government then dismiss the charges against you?" + +"That's exactly what I keep telling him!" Mrs. Bernardi exclaimed. + +But her husband shook his head. "The law is inflexible. We have broken +it and must be punished, even if by breaking it we proved its +fundamental error." _Why let him know our plans?_ + +_Why, Jrann-Pttt, that sounds just like our own government, doesn't it?_ + +_Yes, it does. We should be able to establish a very satisfactory mode +of living with these strangers._ + +"We'd hoped that after a year or so the whole thing would die down," +Mortland explained frankly, "and we'd go back as heroes." + +"Do you know the way to your home, Jrann-Pttt?" the professor asked +anxiously. + +"Since we were able to catch a glimpse of the sun, I think I can figure +out roughly where we are. All we must do is walk some two hundred +kilometers in that direction--" he waved an arm to indicate the +way--"and we should be at the capital." + +"Will your people accept us as refugees?" Miss Anspacher demanded +bluntly, "or will we be captives?" _Which is what I'll bet the good +professor is planning for you, if only he can figure some way to get you +and, of course, ourselves back._ + +"We should be proud to accept you as citizens and to receive the +benefits of your splendid technology. Our laboratories will be placed at +your disposal." + +"Well, that's better than we hoped for," the professor said, +brightening. "We had expected to have to carve our own laboratories out +of the wilderness. Now we shall be able to carry on our researches in +comfort." _No need to trouble the natives; we'll be able to raise the +ship ourselves. Or build a new one. And I'll see to it personally that +they have special quarters in the zoo with a considerable amount of +privacy._ + +"If I were you, I wouldn't trust him too far," the captain warned. "He's +a foreigner." + +"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Captain!" Miss Anspacher said. +"I, for one, trust Jrann-Pttt implicitly. Did you say this direction, +Jrann-Pttt?" She stepped forward briskly. There was a loud splash and +water closed over her head. + +Captain Greenfield rushed forward to haul her out. "Well," she said, +daintily coughing up mud, "I was wet to begin with, anyway." + +"You're a brave little woman, Miss Anspacher," the captain told her +admiringly. + +"This sort of thing may present a problem," Professor Bernardi +commented. "I hope that was only a pot-hole, that the water is not going +to be consistently too deep for wading." + +"There might be quicksand, too," Mrs. Bernardi said somberly. "In +quicksand, one drowns slowly." + +Dfar-Lll gave a start. _Surely you don't intend to lead them back to +base?_ + +_Precisely. The swamp is unfit for settlement._ + +_But to return voluntarily to captivity?_ + +_Who mentioned anything about captivity? Assisted by our new friends, we +have an excellent chance of taking over the ship and supplies by a +surprise attack._ + +_But why should these aliens assist us?_ + +Jrann-Pttt smiled. _Oh, I think they will. Yes, I have every confidence +in Plan C._ + +"I suggest," the professor said, ignoring his wife's pessimism, "that +each one of us pull a branch from a tree. We can test the ground before +we step on it, to make sure that there is solid footing underneath." + +"Good idea," the captain approved. He reached out the arm that was not +occupied with Miss Anspacher and tugged at a tree limb. + +And then he and the lady physicist were both floundering in the ooze. + +"Well, really, Captain Greenfield!" she cried, refusing his aid in +extricating herself. "I always thought you were at least a gentleman in +spite of your illiteracy!" + +"Wha--what happened?" he asked as he struggled out of the mud. +"Something pushed me; I swear it." + +Jrann-Pttt mentalized. "It seems the tree did not like your trying to +remove a branch." + +"The tree!" Greenfield's pale blue eyes bulged. "You're joking!" + +"Not at all. As a matter of fact, I myself have been wondering why there +were so many thought-streams and yet so few animals around here. It +never occurred to me that the vegetation could be sentient and have such +strong emotive defenses. In all my experience as a botanist, I--" + +"I thought you were a zoologist," Bernardi interrupted. + +"My people do not believe in excessive specialization," the saurian +replied. + +"Trees that think?" Mortland inquired incredulously. + +"They're not very bright," Jrann-Pttt explained, "but they don't like +having their limbs pulled off. I don't suppose you would, either, for +that matter." + +"I propose," Miss Anspacher said, shaking out her wet hair, "that we +break up the camp stools and use the sticks instead of branches to help +us along." + +"Good idea," the captain said, trying to get back into her good graces. +"I always knew women could put their brains to use if they tried." + +She glared at him. + +"I thought we'd use the furniture to make a fire later," Mortland +complained. "For tea, you know." + +"The ground's much too wet," Professor Bernardi replied. + +"And besides," Miss Anspacher added, "I lost the teapot in that +pot-hole." + +"But you managed to save the _Proceedings of the Physical Society_," +Mortland snarled. "Serve you right if I eat it. And I warn you, if +hard-pressed, I shall." + +"How will we cook our food, though?" Mrs. Bernardi demanded +apprehensively. "It's a lucky thing, Mr. Pitt, that we have you with us +to tell us which of the berries and things are edible, so at least we +shan't starve." + +The visible portion of Jrann-Pttt's well-knit form turned deeper green. +"But I regret to say I don't know, Mrs. Bernardi. Those 'native' foods I +served you were all synthetics from our personal stores. I never tasted +natural foods before I met you." + +"And if the trees don't like our taking their branches," Miss Anspacher +put in, "I don't suppose the bushes would like our taking their berries. +Louisa, don't do that!" + +But Mrs. Bernardi, with her usual disregard for orders, had fainted into +the mud. Pulling her out and reviving her caused so much confusion, it +wasn't until then that they discovered Algol had disappeared. + + * * * * * + +The party had been trudging through mud and water and struggling with +pale, malevolent vines and bushes and low-hanging branches for close to +six Earth hours. All of them were tired and hungry, now that their +meager supply of biscuits and chocolate was gone. + +"Remember, Carl," Mrs. Bernardi told her husband, "I forgive you. And I +know I'm being foolishly sentimental, but if you could manage to take my +body back to Earth--" + +"Don't be so pessimistic." Professor Bernardi absent-mindedly leaned +against a tree, then recoiled as he remembered it might resent being +treated like an inanimate object. "In any case, we'll most likely all +die at the same time." + +"I never did want to go to Venus, really," Mrs. Bernardi sniffled. "I +only came, like Algol did, because I didn't have any choice. If you left +me behind, I'd have had to bear the brunt of.... Where is Algol?" She +stared at Jrann-Pttt. "You were carrying him. What have you done with +him?" + +The lizard-man looked at her in consternation. "He jumped out of my arms +when you fainted and I turned back to help. I was certain one of the +others had him." + +"He's dead!" she wailed. "You let him fall into the water and drown--an +innocent kitty that never hurt anybody, except in fun." + +"Come, come, Louisa." Her husband took her arm. "He was only a cat. I'm +sure Jrann-Pttt didn't mean for him to drown. He was just so upset by +your fainting that he didn't think...." + +"Not Jrann-Pttt's fault, of course," Miss Anspacher said. + +"After all, we can't expect them to love animals as we do. But Algol was +a very good sort of cat...." + +"Keep quiet, all of you!" Jrann-Pttt shouted. "I have never known any +species to use any method of communication so much in order to +communicate so little. Don't you understand? I would not have assumed +the cat was with one of you, if I had not subconsciously sensed his +thought-stream all along. He must be nearby." + +Everyone was still, while Jrann-Pttt probed the dense underbrush that +blocked their view on both sides. "Over here," he announced, and led the +way through the thick screen of interlaced bushes and vines on the left. + +About ten meters farther on, the ground sloped up sharply to form a +ridge rising a meter and a half above the rest of the terrain. The water +had not reached its blunted top, and on this fairly level strip of +ground, perhaps three meters wide, Algol had been paralleling their path +in dry-pawed comfort. + +"Scientists!" Louisa Bernardi almost spat. "Professors! We could have +been walking on that, too. But did anybody think to look for dry +ground? No! It was wet in one place, so it would be wet in another. Oh, +Algol--" she reached over to embrace the cat--"you're smarter than any +so-called intelligent life-forms." + +He indignantly straightened a whisker she had crumpled. + + * * * * * + +"Look," Mortland exclaimed in delight as they attained the top of the +ridge, "here are some dryish twigs! Don't suppose the trees want them, +since they've let them fall. If I can get a fire going, we could boil +some swamp water and make tea. Nasty thought, but it's better than no +tea at all. And how long can one go on living without tea?" + +"We'll need some food before long, too," Professor Bernardi observed, +putting his briefcase down on a fallen log. "The usual procedure, I +believe, would be for us to draw straws to see which gets +eaten--although there isn't any hurry." + +"I'm glad then that we'll be able to have a fire," Mortland said, busily +collecting twigs. "I should hate to have to eat you raw, Carl." + +_Mr. Pitt and his little friend are delightful creatures_, Mrs. Bernardi +thought. _So intelligent and so well behaved. But eating them wouldn't +really be cannibalism. They aren't people._ + +_That premise works both ways, dear lady_, Jrann-Pttt ideated. _And I +must say your species will prove far easier to peel for the cooking +pot._ + +"Monster! What are you doing?" Mortland dropped his twigs and pulled the +mosquito-bat away from a bush. "Don't eat those berries, you silly ass; +the bush won't like it!" The mosquito-bat piped wrathfully. + +Jrann-Pttt probed with intentness. "You know, I rather think the bush +wants its berries to be eaten. Something to do with--er--propagating +itself. Of course it has a false impression as to what is going to be +done with the berries, but the important fact is that it won't put up +any resistance." + +"All right, old fellow." Mortland released the mosquito-bat, which +promptly flew back to the bush. "I'm not the custodian of your morals." + +"I wonder whether we could eat those berries, too," Professor Bernardi +remarked pensively. + +"Carl!" Mrs. Bernardi's tear-stained face flushed pink. "Why--why, +that's almost indecent!" + +"We eat beans, don't we?" Mortland pointed out. "They're seeds." + +"We also eat meat," Miss Anspacher added. + +There was silence. "I imagine," Mrs. Bernardi murmured, "it's because +we never get to meet the meat socially." She avoided the saurians' eyes. + +"We'd better see how Monster makes out, though," Miss Anspacher +observed, replenishing her lipstick, "before we try the berries +ourselves. The fact that the bush is anxious to dispose of them doesn't +mean they can't be poisonous." + +"Why should Monster sacrifice himself for us?" Mortland retorted hotly, +overlooking the fact that Monster's purpose in eating the berries was +almost certainly not an altruistic one. "If we can risk his life, we can +risk our own." He crammed a handful of berries into his mouth defiantly. +"I say, they're good!" + +Algol sniffed the bush with disgust, then turned away. + +"See?" said Miss Anspacher. "They're undoubtedly poisonous. When he's +really hungry, he isn't so fussy." She combed her hair. + +"But is he really hungry?" Bernardi asked suspiciously. "Come here, +Algol. Nice kitty." He bent down and sniffed the cat's breath. The cat +sniffed his interestedly. Their whiskers touched. "I thought so. Fish!" + +"You mean," Mrs. Bernardi shrieked, "that while we were struggling +through that water, alternately starving and drowning by centimeters, +that wretched cat has not only been walking along here dry as toast, but +gorging himself on fish?" + +"Now, now, Mrs. Bernardi," Jrann-Pttt said. "Being a dumb animal, he +wouldn't think of informing you about matters of which he'd assume that +you, as the superior beings, would be fully cognizant." + +"You might have told us there were fish on this planet, Mr. Pitt." + +"Dear lady, there is something I feel I should tell you. I am not--" + +"They're here on the other side of the ridge," Greenfield called, +bending over and peering through the foliage. "The fish, I mean." + +"The pools look shallow," Bernardi said, also bending over. "The fish +should be easy enough to catch. Might even be able to get them in our +hands." He reached out to demonstrate, proving the error of both his +theses, for the fish slipped right through his fingers and, as he +grabbed for them, he lost his balance, toppled over the side of the +ridge into the mud and water below and began to disappear, showing +beyond a doubt that the pools were deeper than he had thought. + +"Carl, what are you doing?" Mrs. Bernardi peered into the murky depths +where her husband was threshing about. "Why don't you come out of that +filthy mud?" + +His voice, though muffled, was still acid. "It isn't mud, my dear. It's +quicksand!" + +"Rope!" the captain exclaimed, grabbing a coil. + +"Hold on, chaps!" cried a squeaky voice. "I'm coming to the rescue!" A +stout twelve-foot vine plunged out of the shadows and wrapped one end of +itself around a tree--disregarding the latter's violent objections--and +the other end around Professor Bernardi's thorax, which was just +disappearing into the mud. "Now if one or two of you would haul away, +we'll soon have him out all shipshape and proper. Heave ho! Don't be +afraid of hurting me; my strength is as the strength of ten because my +heart is pure." + +"It's that vine!" Dfar-Lll exclaimed. "So that's what has been following +us all along!" + + * * * * * + +"I can accept the idea of a vegetable thinking," Professor Bernardi +gasped as he was pulled out of the quicksand, "although with the utmost +reluctance." He shook himself like a dog. "But how can it be mobile?" + +"You chaps can move around," the vine explained, "so I said to myself: +'Dammit, I'll have a shot at doing that, too.' Hard going at first, when +you're using suckers, but I persevered and I made it. Look, I can talk, +too. Never heard of a vine doing that before, did you? Fact is, I hadn't +thought of it before, but then I never had anyone to communicate with. +All those other vines are so stupid; you have absolutely no idea! Hope +you don't mind my picking up your language, but it was the only one +around--" + +"We are honored," Professor Bernardi declared. "And I am deeply grateful +to you, too, sir or madam, for saving my life." + +"Think nothing of it," the vine said, arranging its leaves, which were +of a pleasing celadon rather than the whitish-green favored by the rest +of the local vegetation. "Now that I can move, I'll probably be doing +heroic things like that all the time. Are you all going to the city? May +I go with you? I've heard lots about the city," it went on, taking +consent for granted, "but I never thought I'd get to see it. Everybody +in the swamp is such an old stick-in-the-mud. I thought I was trapped, +too, forced to spend the rest of my life in a provincial environment. Is +it true that the streets are filled with chlorophyll? Do you think I can +get a job in a botanical garden or something? Perhaps I can give little +talks on horticulture to visitors?" + +The mosquito-bat looked out of the tea kettle austerely. "Monster!" it +piped shrilly. + +"The very idea!" the vine snapped back indignantly. "Oh, well," it said, +calming down, "you probably don't know any better. It's up to me as the +intelligent life-form to forgive you, and I shall." + +Jrann-Pttt and Dfar-Lll looked at each other in consternation. _Do you +think there really are cities on this planet, sir? Can there be +indigenous intelligent life? If so, it may have already got in touch +with the commandant._ + +_Impossible_, Jrann-Pttt replied. _The vine probably just heard us +talking about a city. After all, it picked up the language that way; +very likely it absorbed some terrestrial concepts along with it. If +there are any real settlements at all, they must be quite +primitive--nothing more than villages. No, it's we who will build the +cities on Venus. Combining our technology with the terrestrials', we +could develop a pretty little civilization here--after we've disposed of +the commandant, so he can't report our disappearance. We don't want any +publicity. So much better to keep our little society exclusive._ + + * * * * * + +"Wonder what time it is," the captain remarked as he rose and stretched +in the dim yellow light of the long Venusian day. "Must have slept for +hours. My watch seems to have stopped." + +"Mine, too." Mortland unstrapped his from his wrist and shook it +futilely. "Waterproof, hah! If we ever get back to Earth, I shall make +the manufacturer eat his guarantee." + +"Oh, well, what does time matter to us now?" Professor Bernardi pointed +out as he rose from his leafy couch with a loud creak. All of them--even +the saurians--had aches and pains in every joint and muscle as a result +of the unaccustomed exercise and the damp climate. "We are out of its +reach. It has no present meaning for us." + +This depressed them all. Only the vine seemed in good health and +spirits. "I notice you're all wearing clothes except for the short +four-legged gentleman with the home-grown fur coat," it chattered +happily. "Do you think I'll be socially acceptable without them? I +wouldn't want to make a bad impression at the very start--or would +leaves do?" + +Everybody looked at Jrann-Pttt. "We are not a narrow-minded species," he +said hastily. "I'm sure your leaves will be more than adequate." + +After a breakfast of fish and berries stewed in tea--which the vine +declined with thanks--the various members of the party gathered up +their belongings and resumed their journey. Encrusted with dried purple +mud and grime, their clothes deliberately torn by anti-social shrubbery, +their chins--of the males, that is--disfigured by hirsute growths, the +terrestrials made a sorry spectacle. It was hot, boiling hot, and more +humid than ever. + +"Well," said Miss Anspacher, letting the Swahili marching song with +which she had been attempting to encourage the company peter out, "I do +hope we'll reach your city soon, Jrann-Pttt. I must say I could use a +hot bath." She added hastily, "Hot baths are a peculiar cultural trait +of ours." + +"I could use one myself," Jrann-Pttt said. He brushed his scales +fastidiously. + +"I'm looking forward so to meeting your relatives," she said, grabbing +his left arm determinedly. "I'm not violating a taboo or anything, am +I?" _It isn't really slimy; it just feels that way._ + +"Not one of my people's. But I'm afraid you are violating a terrestrial +taboo, judging from the thoughts I pick up from your captain's mind." + +"Oh, him--he's a stupid fool!" + +"Not at all. Rough, perhaps. Untutored, yes. But with a good deal of +native intelligence, although fearfully primitive." + +"Perhaps I was too harsh," Miss Anspacher observed thoughtfully. _The +captain ... is good-looking in a brutal sort of way, although not nearly +as handsome or even as spiritual in appearance as Jrann-Pttt. And +sometimes I almost think he_--she blushed to herself--_shows a certain +partiality for my company._ + +She did not, however, let go of the saurian's arm when the captain +bustled up, prepared to put a stop to this, but tactfully, if possible, +for he had begun to realize that his rude ways did not endear him to +her. + +"Ah--we're making very good progress, aren't we, Pitt?" he interrupted, +trying to insinuate himself between the two. + +"Excellent." + +"How soon do you think we'll be at your city at this rate?" + +Jrann-Pttt shrugged. "Since I have no way of telling what our rate is or +how far we have gone, how can I tell? As a matter of fact, you might as +well learn now as later--I am not a Venusian. There is no intelligent +life native to Venus." + +"Oh, really!" the vine interposed indignantly. "Saying a thing like that +right in front of me! What would you call me, then, pray tell?" + +Jrann-Pttt kept his actual thoughts to himself. "A mutation," he said. +"Probably you are the first intelligent life-form to appear upon this +planet. Scholarly volumes will be written about you." + +"Oh?" The vine seemed to be appeased. "I accept your apology. Perhaps +I'll learn to write and do the books myself, because I'm the only one +who can understand the real me." + +"But how can you show us the way to your city if you're not native to +Venus?" Bernardi demanded, whirling fretfully upon the saurian. "What is +this, anyway? Each time you come up with a different story!" + +"See?" said the captain. "Didn't I tell you he was up to no good?" + +"I should like to lead you to our base," Jrann-Pttt replied with quiet +dignity. "I am telling you the truth now since I feel I should have your +consent before proceeding farther." + +??????? Dfar-Lll projected. + +"I hesitated before, because I wasn't sure I could trust you. You +see, the spaceship in which we came to this planet is a prison ship, +with a crew consisting of malefactors--thieves, murderers, +defrauders--dispatched to the remote fastnesses of the Galaxy to fetch +back zoological specimens. Our zoo, I must say, is the finest and most +interesting in the Universe." + +"Monster!" the mosquito-bat squeaked. + +"Shhh," Mortland admonished. "Don't interrupt." + +"I was in command of our ill-fated expedition...." + +_Oh_, Dfar-Lll projected. _For a moment there, sir, you had me worried._ + +"When we reached Venus, I was, I must admit, careless. I gave the crew a +chance to mutiny and they did. Slew most of the officers. Dfar-Lll and I +were lucky to escape with our lives." + +"But you might have told us!" Mrs. Bernardi's voice held reproach. + +"Until we knew what kind of beings you were, we couldn't let you know +how helpless and unprotected we were." + +The women seemed moved, but not the men. + +"Leading us on a wild goose chase, were you?" the captain challenged. + +Jrann-Pttt drew a deep breath. "It was my hope that all of you would +consent to help us get our ship back from these criminals. Then we could +fly to my planet--which is the fifth of the star you know as Alpha +Centauri--where, I assure you, you would be hospitably received." + +_We aren't really going back home, Jrann-Pttt, are we? I'd sooner stay +here in the swamp than go back to that jail._ + +_Have confidence in me, r-Lll. As soon as we have disposed of the +commandant and his officers, I can put our ship out of commission. The +terrestrials won't be able to tell what's wrong. They know nothing about +space travel. The fact that they got their crude vessel to operate was +probably sheer luck._ + +But the younger was not to be diverted. _Will we kill them after we've +disposed of our officers? I should hate to._ + +_Certainly not. We shall need servants and I don't trust the prisoners +in the ship--all criminals of the lowest type!_ Aloud, he said to the +bewildered terrestrials, "If you don't want to help us, I shall +understand. No sense your interfering in another species' quarrels, +particularly as we must seem like monsters to you." + +"Monster!" the mosquito-bat agreed. "Monster, monster, monster!" No one +tried to stop him. Jrann-Pttt sensed that somehow he had lost a good +deal of his grip on the terrestrials. Finesse, he thought angrily, was +wasted on these barbaric life-forms. + +Bernardi sighed. "I suppose we'll have to help you." _No reason why his +ship shouldn't stop off at Earth before it goes to Alpha Centauri. No +reason why it should even go to Alpha Centauri at all, in fact._ + +"If you ask me," the captain said, "he's one of the criminals himself." + +"But nobody asked you," Miss Anspacher retorted, the more acidly because +she had been wondering the same thing. "Shall we resume our journey?" + +"Hold on," the vine said. "I don't want to intrude or anything, but it +hasn't been made quite clear to me whether or not I'm included in the +invitation to this Alpha Centauri place, and I wouldn't want to keep +going only on the off-chance that you might ask me. I really think you +should, because you led me astray with your fair promises of glittering +cities." + +"The cities of our planet do not glitter," Jrann-Pttt replied, wishing +it would wither instantly, "but certainly you are invited. Glad to have +you." + +"Oh, that's awfully decent of you," the vine said emotionally. "I shan't +forget it, I promise you." + + * * * * * + +They plodded onward, the vine chattering so incessantly that a faint +gurgling which accompanied them went unnoticed. The gurgling grew louder +and louder as they pushed on. Finally, "I keep hearing water," Mortland +remarked. "We must be approaching a river of some kind." + +A few minutes later, bursting through a screen of underbrush, they found +themselves confronted by a river whose bubbling violet-blue waters +extended for at least four kilometers from shadowy bank to bank, with +the ridge tapering to a point almost in its exact center. + +Apparently, while they had been trekking along the elevation, the +surrounding terrain, concealed from them by the dense and evil-minded +vegetation, had imperceptibly taken off, leaving the ridge to become a +peninsula that jutted out into the river. They seemed to be stranded. +All they could do was retrace their steps and, since they had no idea +how far back the split became part of the mainland again, the return +journey might last almost as long as it had taken them to get there. + +"I know we're heading in the right direction," Jrann-Pttt defended +himself. "I wasn't aware of the river because we must have come by an +overland route." Although he was telling the truth, at least insofar as +he knew it himself, no one, not even Dfar-Lll, believed him. + +"But let's rest a bit before we turn back," Mortland proposed, flopping +to the ground. "I'm utterly used up." + +"Maybe we don't need to go back," the vine said. "Not all the way, +anyhow." Everyone stared. It waved its leaves brightly at them. "I +notice the captain thoughtfully brought along lots of rope and there +were scads of fallen logs just a bit back. Couldn't you just lash the +logs together with the rope and make a--a thing on which we could float +the rest of the way? On the water, you know." + +The others continued to look at it open-mouthed. + +"Just a little idea I had," it said modestly. "May not amount to much, +but then you can't tell until you've tried, can you?" + +"It--he--means a raft, I think," Mrs. Bernardi said. + +Jrann-Pttt probed the raft concept in her mind, for he found the +vegetable's mental processes curiously obscure. "What an excellent +idea!" he exclaimed. + +"It does not seem infeasible," Professor Bernardi admitted tightly. By +now, he was suspicious of everyone and everything. _If I had never +broached the idea of space travel to those peasants_, he thought, _I +would be on Earth in the dubious comfort of my own home. That's what +comes of trying to help humanity._ + + * * * * * + +"Well," observed the captain as the heavy raft hit the water with a +tremendous splash, "she seems to be riverworthy." He rubbed his hands in +anticipation, much of his surliness gone, now that he was about to deal +with something he understood. "Since she is, in a manner of speaking, a +ship, I suppose I assume command again?" He waited for objections, +glancing involuntarily in Jrann-Pttt's direction. There were none. +"Right," he said, repressing any outward symptoms of relief. + +He efficiently deployed the personnel to the positions on the raft where +he felt they might be least useless, the gear being piled in the middle +and surmounted by Algol, who naturally assumed possession of the softest +and safest place by the divine right of cats. + +_The captain does have a commanding presence_, Miss Anspacher thought, +_and a sort of uncouth grace. Moreover, he cannot read my mind--in fact, +he often cannot even understand me when I speak._ + +"All right!" he bellowed. "Cast off!" + +The vine unfastened the rope that it had insouciantly attached to a tree +trunk, remarking to the others, "Don't let the trees intimidate you. +Actually their bark is worse than their bite." Now it dropped lithely on +board the raft, looking for a comfortable resting place. + +"Please don't twine around me," Miss Anspacher said coldly. "If you +insist upon coming with us, you will have to choose an inanimate object +to cling to." + +"All right, all right," it tried to soothe her. "No need to get yourself +all worked up over such a mere triviality, is there? I'll just coil +myself tidily around one of those spare logs. I must say you're warmer, +though." + +_Yes, she is, isn't she?_ thought the captain, and squeezed her hand. + + * * * * * + +The raft drifted down the river. Since the current was flowing in the +desired direction, there did not appear to be any need to use the poles, +and everyone sat or reclined as comfortably as possible in the +suffocating heat. The yellow haze had become so thick that they seemed +to be at the bottom of a custard cup. + +[Illustration] + +"I do hope we're heading the right way," Professor Bernardi said, +_although who knows what is right and what is wrong any more_? + +"Perhaps we aren't," Mrs. Bernardi mused, stroking Algol, who had +crawled into her lap. "Perhaps we will go drifting along endlessly. +Every sixteen days, it will get dark and every sixteen days it will get +light, and meanwhile we will continue floating along, never going +anywhere, never getting anywhere, never seeing anything but haze and +raft and river and each other." Algol wheezed in his sleep. + +"Nonsense!" Jrann-Pttt said rudely. "I have a compass. I know the +direction perfectly well." + +"And yet you let us think we were wandering about blindly." Miss +Anspacher gave him a contemptuous look. The captain pressed her hand. + +"Since you seem to breathe the same air and eat much the same food that +we do, Mr. Pitt," Mrs. Bernardi changed her tack, "I suppose we'll be +physically comfortable on your planet for the rest of our lives. Our +children will be born there and our children's children, and eventually +they'll forget all about Earth and think it was only a legend." + +"But you did expect to settle permanently on Venus, didn't you?" the +vine asked, bewilderedly. "Or for a long visit, anyway. So I don't +really see that it makes much difference if you go to Jrann-Pttt's Alpha +Centauri place. So much nicer to be living with friends, I should +think." + +"But Alpha Centauri is so very far away," Mrs. Bernardi sighed. "There +wouldn't be much chance of our ever getting back." + +"Look!" Mortland exclaimed. "The river's branching. Which fork do we +take?" + + * * * * * + +Jrann-Pttt, who had been dabbling his arms idly in the translucent +violet-blue water, withdrew them hastily as nine green eyes, obviously +belonging to the same individual, rose to the surface and regarded him +with more than casual interest. He consulted his compass. "Left." + +"Contrarily!" the mosquito-bat suddenly squeaked, pointing a small rod +at his companions. "Rightward." + +There was a stunned silence. + +"Monster!" Mortland cried in reproach. "You can talk! How could you +deceive us like that?" + +"Can talk," the creature retorted. "Me not intelligent life-form, ha! +Who talks last talks best. Have not linguistic facility of inferior +life-forms, but can communicate rudely in your language." + +"Remember," Mortland cautioned, "there are ladies present." + +"Have been lying low and laughing to self--ha, ha!--at witlessness of +lowerly life-forms." + +"But why?" Mrs. Bernardi demanded distractedly. "Haven't we been kind to +you?" + +"You be likewise well treated in our zoo," it assured her. "All of you. +Our zoo finest in Galaxy. And clean, too." + +"Now really, sir, I must protest--" Professor Bernardi began, trying to +extricate a blaster unobtrusively from the pile of gear in which the +too-confident terrestrials had cached their weapons. + +Monster gestured with his rod. "This is lethal weapon. Do not try +hindrancing me. Hate damage fine specimens. Captain, go rightward." + +"Oh, is that so!" Greenfield retorted hotly. "Let me tell you, you--you +insect!" + +"George!" Miss Anspacher clutched his arm. "Do what it says. For my +sake, George!" + +"Oh, all right," he muttered. "Just for you, then. Told you not to trust +any of 'em," he went on, reluctantly poling the raft in the ordered +direction. "Foreigners!" + +"Fine zoo," the mosquito-bat insisted. "Very clean. Run with utmost +efficientness. Strict visiting hours." + + * * * * * + +"And there goes Plan D," the vine said lightly. There was a hint of +laughter in its voice. Jrann-Pttt stared at it in consternation. "Are +you also from the Alpha Centauri system, sir?" It turned its attention +to the mosquito-bat. "Naturally I'm curious to know where I'm going," it +explained, "since I seem definitely to be included in your gracious +invitation." + +"Alpha Centauri, hah!" the mosquito-bat snorted. "I from what Earthlets +laughingly term Sirius. Alpha Centauri merely little star." + +"Now see here!" Jrann-Pttt sprang to his feet. Criminal he might be, but +he was not going to sit there and have his sun insulted! + +"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" Miss Anspacher cried. "No use getting yourself +killed, Jrann-Pttt!" + +"Correctly," Monster approved. "Elementary intelligence displayed. Why +damage fine specimens?" + +_From one prison into another_, the saurian mentalized bitterly. + +_Yes_, returned Dfar-Lll, _and it's all your fault._ The junior lizard +burst into tears. _I wish I had let Merglyt-Ruuu do what he wanted. I +would have been better off._ + +"Sirius," the vine repeated. "That's even farther away than Alpha +Centauri, isn't it? I never thought I would get that far away from the +swamp! This really will be an adventure!" + +"How do you know--" Professor Bernardi began. + +"Frankly," it went on, "I don't see why you chaps are so put out by the +whole thing. What's the difference between Alpha Centauri and Sirius +anyway? Matter of a few light-years, but otherwise a star's a star for +all that." + +"To Jrann-Pttt, we wouldn't have been specimens," Mrs. Bernardi said, +belatedly recognizing the advantages of Alpha Centauri. + +"No, not specimens," the vine told her easily. "I don't suppose you know +he had no intention of taking you back to his system. He wanted you to +help him kill the officers of his ship so they couldn't look for him and +the other escaped prisoner or report back to his planet. Then he was +going to put the ship out of commission and found his own colony here +with you as his slaves. I'd just as soon be a specimen as a slave. +Sooner. Better to reign in a zoo than serve in a swamp!" + +"Just how do you know all this?" Miss Anspacher demanded. + +"It's obvious enough," Bernardi said gloomily. "Another telepath." _How +can we compete or even cope with creatures like these? What a fool I +was to think I could outwit them._ + +"Telepathy just tricksomeness," the mosquito-bat put in jealously. "I +have no telepathy, yet superior to all." + +"But why should Mr. Pitt want to kill his officers?" Mrs. Bernardi asked +querulously. "He's the commandant, isn't he? Or is he a professor? I +never got that straight." + +"He was one of the criminals on the ship," the vine told her. "What you +might call a confidence man. This is about the only system in the Galaxy +where he isn't wanted. He did tell you the truth, though, when he said +they were sent on an expedition to collect zoological specimens. +Dangerous work," it sighed, "and so his people use criminals for it. +They were sent out in small detachments. Our friend here killed his +guard in a fight over a female prisoner, which was why--" + +"But what happened to the female prisoner?" Miss Anspacher's eye caught +Dfar-Lll's. "Oh, no!" she gasped. + +"Why not?" Dfar-Lll demanded. "I'm as much of a female as you are. Maybe +even more." + +The captain leaned close to Miss Anspacher. "No one can be more feminine +than you are, Dolores," he whispered. + +"But he--she's so young!" Mrs. Bernardi wailed. + +The vine made an amused sound. "Don't you have juvenile delinquents on +Earth?" + +"Oh, what does all that matter now?" Jrann-Pttt said sullenly. "We're +all going to a Sirian zoo, anyway." + +"Correctly," approved the monster-bat. "Finest zoo. Clean. Commodious +cages. Reasonable visiting hours. Very nice." + +Mrs. Bernardi began to cry. + +"Now," the vine comforted her, "a zoo's not so bad. After all, most of +us spend our lives in cages of one kind or another, and without the +basic security a zoo affords--" + +"But we don't know we're in cages," Mrs. Bernardi sobbed. "That's the +important thing." + +Professor Bernardi looked at the vine. "But why are you--" he began, +then halted. "Perhaps I don't want an answer," he said. There was no +hope at all left in him, now that there was no doubt. + +"You are wise," the vine agreed quietly. Algol arose from Mr. Bernardi's +lap and rubbed against its thick pale green stem. He knew. The +mosquito-bat looked at both of them restlessly. + +The yellow haze had deepened to old gold. Now it was beginning to turn +brown. + +"It's twilight," Miss Anspacher observed. "Soon it will be dark." + +"Perhaps we'll sail right past his ship in the night," Mortland +suggested hopefully. + +The mosquito-bat gave a snort. "Ship has lights. All modern +convenients." + +Suddenly the air seemed to have grown chilly--colder than it had any +right to be on that torrid planet. All around them, it was dark and very +quiet. + +"I think I do see lights," Mortland said. + +"Must be ship," Monster replied. And somehow the rest of them could +sense the uneasiness in the thin, piping, alien voice. "Must be!" + +"Your ship's a very large one then," Bernardi commented as they rounded +a bend and a whole colony of varicolored pastel lights sprang up ahead +of them. + +"Not my ship!" the mosquito-bat exclaimed in a voice pierced with +anguish. "Not my ship!" + +Before them rose the fantastic, twisting, convoluting, turning spires of +a tall, marvelous, glittering city. + +"You will find that the streets actually are filled with chlorophyll," +the vine said. "And I know you'll be happy here, all of you. You see, we +can't have you going back to your planets now. No matter how good your +intentions were, you'd destroy us. You do see that, don't you?" + +"You may be right," Bernardi agreed dispiritedly, "although that doesn't +cheer us any. But what will you do with us?" + +"You'll be provided with living quarters comparable to those on your own +planets," the vine told him, "and you'll give lectures just as if you +were in a university--only you'll be much more secure. I assure you--" +its voice was very gentle now--"you'll hardly know you're in a zoo." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Collector's Item, by Evelyn E. 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