[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
of a herbivore or a carnivore.
"Take-off may be a trifle uncomfortable," Trach said. "Would you like me to strap you in?"
The spare couch had enormous metallic bands for up to six limbs. The fastenings were far too heavy for
Dillingham to manipulate himself; they were shackles that would hold him helpless, once clamped. "I
I'll try my luck without the straps," he said.
"Fine. I never bother with them myself. Sometimes I get hungry in mid-maneuver, and they become
inconvenient."
Sometimes he got hungry... Dillingham wondered just what rights a contract granted the owner. Were
the duckbills carnivorous? He couldn't remember. He gripped his bag of tools tightly, wishing he had
something more sturdy than a slender dental sealer. But of course Trach was friendly. He was a
reputable diplomat. He said.
Trach braced his tail against the floor and manipulated controls. Suddenly there was a jolt that threw
Dillingham to the floor. "Just a little finicky when she's warming up," the dinosaur remarked, "One of
these missions I'm going to lease a modern ship. This one is apt to spring a leak in space any time now."
Dillingham sat down abruptly on the couch and gripped a strap. Leak in space! Another jolt, and the
ship was moving. Trach activated a screen, and the grey waves of the Gleep ocean appeared, rushing
past at an astonishing rate. Then they were airborne, and the waves gave way to dank clouds.
It became warm. "Do you have any temperature control for this ship?" Dillingham inquired sweating. "I
think the speed is heating the I mean, the atmospheric friction "
"Oh, there is some variation. We're reaching for escape velocity, after all. On this planet, in your terms,
that's about twenty thousand knots. Nothing to worry about."
Dillingham winced as the metal flooring became hot. "Well, I'm a fixed-temperature creature," he
reminded the dinosaur apologetically.
"Is this uncomfortable for you? I had forgotten." Trach obligingly turned on a frigid blast of air. "Good
thing that device is operative now. Sometimes it gets stuck on HOT."
Dillingham nodded, shivering, though the metal fastenings were still too hot to touch. He wondered how
many other minor inconveniences this ship would produce. This was certainly a contrast to the precision
equipment of the Enens.
The ship shuddered and bucked, catapulting him across the burning floor. "That breaks us out of the
atmosphere," Trach said nonchalantly. "Better stay on the couch, though. Sometimes it "
The dinosaur turned as he spoke, spied Dillingham far removed from the couch, and leaped for him. The
enormous webbed hands caught him before he could scramble to safety. "Got you!" Trach grunted with
satisfaction.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
Dillingham opened his mouth to scream, knowing it to be a thoroughly useless and effeminate gesture
but unable to think of anything better. There had been foul pla
The ship seemed to turn inside out. There was a sickening wrench of... something that threatened to
deposit his stomach inside his braincase. Then Dillingham found himself seated on Trach's soft
underbelly, both of them jammed into a corner.
Trach snapped around, snake-like, and set him on his feet. "I meant to warn you, Doctor. The shift into
overdrive is sometimes a little sticky. I'm used to it, but you could have been hurt. Are you all right?"
"Yes," Dillingham replied, unsettled.
"From here on it will be perfectly smooth," Trach said. "Once this tub makes it through the shift, she's
safe until the shift back. That won't be for a couple of days, your time. We can relax."
Dillingham decided to take him at his word. "Thank you for all your trouble."
Trach touched a button on a complicated machine. "You over-rate the service I performed," he said
modestly. "Ordinarily I would be offered a fair commission for straightening out the Gleep problem. But
I accepted your contract in lieu of that, and it's worth "
"A ton of frumpstiggle."
"Which is several times my normal fee. That is a credit my account sorely needs. If I had failed to give
satisfaction "
The machine spewed out a mass of green material resembling fresh cabbage leaves.
"So you weren't just being nice, helping me out?"
"Doctor, it is my business to be nice, and to get paid for it. Too often I'm never given the opportunity.
We'll find some attractive disposition for your contract, maybe a semi-private practice on Electrolus
similar to the one you had on Earth, and both of us will gain. May I offer you something to eat?"
"That's food?" Dillingham eyed the armful of leaves.
"Greenchomp, in your idiom. It's the only sustenance my species can tolerate. But the synthesizer can be
adjusted for other things usually. What would you prefer?"
Dillingham contemplated the machine. "I'm not hungry at the moment," he said. "What did you mean
about never being given the opportunity to be nice? If you're a diplomat "
"Free-lance. That means I'm my own boss, but if I don't produce, I starve. I go from mission to mission,
and I was doing well enough until recently. But now well, if I don't make good on Electrolus, I'll be
awkwardly near insolvency. I'll have to scratch to provision my ship for the next hop, and that means "
"Don't tell me. Let me guess. That means you'll have to auction off my contract to the highest bidder."
"Something like that. And I'm afraid they don't offer as much for compatible locations. There's always a
fierce demand for doctors and dentists in the radium mines of Ra, because "
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
"My curiosity just radiated away. Let's agree that your problem is my problem, and see if we can't solve
it."
"If only we could. But it baffles me."
"You seemed to handle the Gleep affair readily enough. I'm no judge, of course, but if you know your
job and work at it, I can't see why you should have any difficulties." It was amazing how quickly they
had got on intimate terms. The confirmation of Trach's leafy diet and the image of deadly radium mines
might have contributed something, however.
"I agree. But somehow I haven't made the grade recently, except on Gleep."
Tell me about it," Dillingham said. "Believe me, I am exceedingly interested."
Trach flexed his tail restlessly. "Consider my last assignment. The planet of Bolt engaged me to set up
formal relations with the world of Gulp and arrange for a cultural exchange. I mastered the difficult
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]