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other side of the engineering section. Occasionally, the Christmas Branch
would pass by, its colorful laser diodes sparkling brightly, busy on one task
or another. He watched as the computer motile put some human clothing into a
hole in the wall and shut the little round door. Little Red wondered idly if
that was a hole to dispose of waste, like the hole that James and Josephine
had taught the flouwen to use in their habitat tanks on board _Prometheus_ and
_Victoria_. Little Red then felt a sinking and rocking motion, similar to what
he would feel when a large wave went overhead in his home ocean.
^We are lifting off,^ said Little White, looking through the porthole
in the outside airlock door.
*Feels good!* exclaimed Little Red with satisfaction, as he adjusted
easily to the rhythm.
They soon arrived at the city immediately north of Windward City, with
its nearby geyser lake quiescent and choked with ice floes.
"Land us on the ice shelf near the center of the city, Arielle," said
George.
"No danger of wings icing up this time," she replied, banking the
_Dragonfly_ in a large circle. Shirley and Cinnamon were still sleeping
soundly, although Shirley -- ever sensitive to the sounds of the machine she
had helped design -- shifted uneasily in her sleep as the flying hiss of the
_Dragonfly_ changed to a hovering hum, and then finally to the quieter noise
of a plane sitting on the ground, engines running.
After Arielle had landed, she stayed at the controls while Richard,
George, and Deirdre helped the flouwen out of the airlock and into the lake,
their communicator _Babble_ paddling along behind them.
"The major things you three are to look for are _differences_," George
reminded the flouwen through the radio-sonar communication link that _Babble_
supplied. The flouwen had illuminated the ocean below them with sound as they
had entered the water, and the sonar returns were starting to come back in.
*Nothing _but_ differences!* remarked Little Red.
#No motion ... anywhere!# added Little Purple.
^There seems to be no life forms of any kind anywhere nearby,^ reported
Little White in more informative detail. ^Any motion of any animal, or even
moving seaweed fronds, would be easily seen by us because of its doppler
shift. Everything has been eaten.^ The translation stopped, and Joe's voice
came over the imp link.
"The words Little White used were; 'Everything has been eaten.' But
since there is no word for death in the flouwen language, I presume from the
context they should be translated 'Everything is dead'." George, aware that
the nearly indestructible bodies of the flouwen were essentially immortal, so
they had no concept of death, once again was forced to face his own mortality.
^There is nothing here,^ said Little White. ^We will go elsewhere.^
*Something move! Far off! I go see!* said Little Red.
#I go see too!# called Little Purple.
"Be back in five hours!" George called through his imp, the paddle
treads on either side of _Babble_ moving into high gear as the communications
amphibian attempted to keep up with the flouwen, now swimming at high speed.
The three humans headed inland toward the center of the city. For
safety reasons, and to supply a high quality radio relay link for _Babble_ and
the suited humans outside, Arielle took _Dragonfly_ aloft and hovered over the
city on the VTOL fans.
As the humans looked around at the city center, they could see several
ornate above-ground structures which indicated some important buildings were
below under the ice, but many of the structures seemed to be in disrepair.
Between them and the lake front were a number of icerug bodies of various
colors of pale blue-green. As the humans approached the icerugs, their suit
imps climbed out, each holding a circular piece of glassy-foil to produce the
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
low bass notes of the icerug language. An ornately dressed icerug node with a
distinctly oval eye moved forward across its malachite-colored carpet to greet
them. As the node grew closer, Deirdre could see that its cape, although
elaborate, was torn and shabby. The icerug looked carefully at each of them in
turn, its oval eyeball rotating as it did so.
"Welcome, wonderful beings that fly from star to star, and world to
world, and moon to moon, on beams of light. I am Oval-Eye, Prime Speaker of
Northward City, and I welcome you to our proud but deeply distressed
community. We have heard much about you and your machines through our slender
talker who connects to the slender talker of Windward City. When I heard and
saw your flying machine approach our city, I summoned all the available
Speakers, so that they can meet with you and carry the news of our discussions
to all in our nation."
The Prime Speaker and other members of the greeting party moved
together toward the cluster of buildings and started underground, George
checking the status of the commsat links as they moved under the ice. Soon
they came to the Northward City equivalent of the great meeting hall. There
were a number of icerugs there, but nowhere near as many as attended the
meetings in Windward City. Their finery too was sparse and worn-looking. After
introducing the humans to the assembled Speakers, the Prime Speaker questioned
the visitors.
"Some say you must have magic, to be able to fly through the air and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]