[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
So the Weew knew Solarian! He was really educated! "That would be excellent, Hweeh."
"I present the manifest," Hweeh said in quite passable Solarian Quotes. "Bearer is Hweeh of Planet Swees, Sphere
Rweer, Segment Weew, Galaxy Milky Way. Hweeh is engaged in the occupation of research astronomy,
specializing in Fringe-Cluster phenomena. He is the Segment's finest practitioner of this discipline. He was found in
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
shock amid the tools of his research. The final words recorded by his research computer were @The Space Amoeba
is-@"
Hweeh's aura fluctuated wildly as he stopped reading. Herald whipped his hand out to touch the Weew's flushed
flesh, but he was too late; the creature had gone into secondary shock.
"Damn!" Herald swore in Solarian idiom. "I have compounded his problem." The horn and eyeball sagged back into
the graying mass. "I am sorry," Herald said, though he knew the creature could no longer hear him. But what
counted was the healing power of his aura, softening the wound, causing the flesh to relax. "Rest, sleep, recuperate,
estivate. I will be with you anon."
Only when he was sure Hweeh was resting quietly did Herald remove his hand. "I blundered. I should have
anticipated that the manifest was not for his own perception."
He looked about. "You may speak now. The Weew has dissolved his ear; he cannot hear you."
"What is this 'Space Amoeba'?" Psyche inquired immediately.
"This I must now ascertain. I believe I have prevented him from suffering actual regression, but before I animate
him again I must have more information. Does this library contain references on astronomy?"
"Oh, yes!" she said eagerly. "Kastle Kade has the best library on the planet, except for the King's royal archives."
She tripped across the room to the far wall and touched a book. At once a holograph formed in a readout globe in
the corner. Herald had not even noticed this before, or realized that these books were holo-keyed; this local culture
was not quite as archaic as he had assumed.
The image showed the Milky Way Galaxy in all its splendor. Quickly the three-dimensional image expanded, the
outer coils of the Galaxy moving out of view. The stars of Segment Etamin appeared-bright blue Rigel, red
Betelgeuse, the three jewels of Orion's Belt, where the notorious Melody of Mintaka had lived. And of course Sador,
and Etamin itself, nucleus of the Segment. Sol hardly showed, being a comparatively dim star, but in a geography of
historical power, Sol would have loomed like a late supernova. Flint of Outworld had been a Solarian, subverting
the nameless Slash sent to nullify him, and finally marrying her after both had died in the Hyades. Flint had put
Etamin on the Cluster map and brought his species a notoriety that was largely undeserved. Savior of the Milky
Way-as though the accident of sudden parity of Ancient science had had nothing to do with it! Thereafter, Solarians
and Polarians had infiltrated the governing councils of Galaxy Milky Way, especially after the Second War of
Energy. It was the continuing machinations of Solarian oppression that were felt most keenly by the downtrodden
Spheres of Galaxy Andromeda. That was one reason the Solarians were the butt of thinly veiled Andromedan
humor, the pretense that all creatures of Sol were basically barbarians, even though that concept was one or two
thousand years out of date. But this was not his concern for the moment.
"Look up the term 'Space Amoeba,' " Herald said. She adjusted the main control, and a new picture formed in the
globe. The narrator's voice said: "Space Amoeba: a formation of Fringe-Cluster matter whose specific nature is
conjectural. Emanating from a postulated point source, dust has spread out in a restricted pattern over the course of
several decades to form a partially opaque cloud approximately one hundred light-years-thirty parsecs-in diameter.
Uncertainties of measurement have made it suffer seemingly protein shifts of structure, from which its name
derives; even its projected expansion is questioned by some authorities as its shape is not typical of the shell-
remnants of supernovas. Limited radiospectrography suggests it is composed of solid particles admixed with diffuse
gases. Formation is sparse, appearing only on the most specific and recent surveys. No evidence of nova activity in
that region. Further definition must await direct investigation."
"Just the kind of thing a good research astronomer should be interested in," Psyche remarked. "It certainly seems
obscure enough."
Herald peered at the vague image in the globe. It was hardly more than a smear, apparently a tenuous obfuscation of
background galaxies. There was obviously not much to it, but the enhancement of its substance provided by the
holograph retouch artist did make it seem to have branching lines of movement extending from the nucleus, like the
fluxes of a living cell. So it had been dubbed the Space Amoeba, gaining an allure and mystery that hardly seemed
justified by the facts.
"Where is it?" he asked.
Psyche checked. "Just off Furnace," she announced.
Furnace! But immediately he caught himself. His forced fiancée could have nothing to do with this. He could not
afford to let subjective personal matters interfere with his job. He had to understand the astronomy, the research
implications. What was there in the Amoeba that had sent this specialist into shock? Why should Segment Weew
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
think it so urgent that Hweeh be healed rapidly? Obviously they took the matter seriously.
"Are there any entities of Weew here on Keep?" Herald inquired aloud.
"There surely are, in Transfer," Whirl replied.
"I would like to interview a Weew scientist or other learned entity, if this can be arranged."
"It can be arranged," Psyche said happily. She was making herself useful, and it illuminated her. She crossed the
room again, her tresses drawing back prettily as she traveled. There was something about the human form, at least as
it was expressed by the nascently mature female, that had a peculiar appeal.
She spoke into a decorative communicator, styled to resemble a two-thousand-year-old Solarian vidphone. "Call to
educated scientist of Weew, from Herald the Healer, Kastle Kade."
There was a silence of several seconds. Then the form of a Sador sapient appeared in the screen. Its wheel spun.
"Swees of Weew, in Transfer, vocation logistic mathematician retired, avocation specialty Bhyo literature of pre-
Sphere century. Segment doctorates in each subject. Will the Healer converse with me?"
Herald made a silent human whistle. When he asked for an educated Weew, that was exactly what he got!
"I am gratified that an entity of your qualifications has chosen to respond. Permit me to explain that I am-"
"It is well known that the greatest Healer of the Cluster is visiting our planet to resolve the alleged Possession of the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]