Would you like to see him?”
“When?”
“How about right now?”
Dieter Pavel joined them as the party left the mess hall to pull themselves halfway around PoleStar’s perimeter using the “fire poles” that lined the corridors. They soon found themselves in a deserted section of the station lit only by widely separated emergency lights. The section had once housed power station personnel and their families, Bendagar explained, and would be reoccupied as the research program grew. The corridors were currently cluttered with all manner of equipment, visible proof of the speed with which the facilities had been prepared for the alien’s arrival.
“Good evening, Technician Vlacek,” Raoul Bendagar said as they reached the transparent airlock that served as a contamination control point. The technician sat in an open framework at a desk that had been bolted to the deck.
“Evening, doctor.”
“Any excitement with Butch?”
“No, sir. He spent the afternoon just sitting in there. He took one nap and turned on the holo about an hour ago.”
“Very well. This is Mr. Pavel and Miss Arden. They are the first contingent of the help we have asked for.”
“About time,” the technician grumbled. “We are stretched thin, what with the captain preparing the ship for a return to New Eden.”
Bendagar pulled himself to the portable airlock and said, “I’ll go through first. You two follow one at a time.”
Lisa was the last to lock through into the corridor beyond. As she exited the contamination lock, she could see the others clustered around an open hatchway a dozen meters farther down the corridor. She moved toward the patch of light spilling forth from the compartment beyond. As she did so, she noted that the hatchway was not open after all. Rather, a sheet of armor glass had replaced the hatch. As Lisa reached the glass door, she turned to see the alien not two meters away. The alien regarded her with yellow eyes.
Her first impression was that she was looking at a monkey.
The alien was small, approximately a meter-and-a-half high, and covered with brown fur. Its head was round, with two ears that were vaguely humanoid and which stuck out at right angles to its head. The ears gave the being a slightly comic look. The mouth was a slit in a snout centered just below the eyes, with a series of what seemed to be breathing holes spaced like the holes of a piccolo along each side. It seemed an odd arrangement. Human nostrils and those of most other species pointed down, shaped over the eons by the simple need to keep water from running in when it rained. Surely the same imperative operated on whatever world Butch was from. Or did it?
The being’s body was thinner than that of a human, and looked more flexible. The six-fingered hands seemed patterned after a flower opening its petals to the sun. The feet were solid clubs of flesh without toes, making it look as though Butch was wearing moccasins. Except for an equipment belt that encircled his waist, the alien was unclothed. He was male, but not as obviously so as a human male would be if similarly attired.
Moreover, while they watched Butch, he watched them back with an intensity that was hard to match.
Except for an occasional blink, he did not move.
Lisa was faster than Pavel in finding her voice. “What progress in communicating with him?”
Bendagar reviewed their attempts during the return to Sol and since they had transferred the alien to PoleStar. He finished with, “He seems totally uninterested in our attempts at communication. Who knows? Maybe his people are telepathic.”
“With those ears, he can obviously hear. How long do you work with him each day?”
“At least two hours.”
She nodded. “There’s your problem. The best way to establish communication with someone is to live with them. When can I move in?”
This last caused Dr. Bendagar to sputter. “Move in where?”
“With Butch, of course,” Lisa replied in a tone that made
“When?”
“How about right now?”
Dieter Pavel joined them as the party left the mess hall to pull themselves halfway around PoleStar’s perimeter using the “fire poles” that lined the corridors. They soon found themselves in a deserted section of the station lit only by widely separated emergency lights. The section had once housed power station personnel and their families, Bendagar explained, and would be reoccupied as the research program grew. The corridors were currently cluttered with all manner of equipment, visible proof of the speed with which the facilities had been prepared for the alien’s arrival.
“Good evening, Technician Vlacek,” Raoul Bendagar said as they reached the transparent airlock that served as a contamination control point. The technician sat in an open framework at a desk that had been bolted to the deck.
“Evening, doctor.”
“Any excitement with Butch?”
“No, sir. He spent the afternoon just sitting in there. He took one nap and turned on the holo about an hour ago.”
“Very well. This is Mr. Pavel and Miss Arden. They are the first contingent of the help we have asked for.”
“About time,” the technician grumbled. “We are stretched thin, what with the captain preparing the ship for a return to New Eden.”
Bendagar pulled himself to the portable airlock and said, “I’ll go through first. You two follow one at a time.”
Lisa was the last to lock through into the corridor beyond. As she exited the contamination lock, she could see the others clustered around an open hatchway a dozen meters farther down the corridor. She moved toward the patch of light spilling forth from the compartment beyond. As she did so, she noted that the hatchway was not open after all. Rather, a sheet of armor glass had replaced the hatch. As Lisa reached the glass door, she turned to see the alien not two meters away. The alien regarded her with yellow eyes.
Her first impression was that she was looking at a monkey.
The alien was small, approximately a meter-and-a-half high, and covered with brown fur. Its head was round, with two ears that were vaguely humanoid and which stuck out at right angles to its head. The ears gave the being a slightly comic look. The mouth was a slit in a snout centered just below the eyes, with a series of what seemed to be breathing holes spaced like the holes of a piccolo along each side. It seemed an odd arrangement. Human nostrils and those of most other species pointed down, shaped over the eons by the simple need to keep water from running in when it rained. Surely the same imperative operated on whatever world Butch was from. Or did it?
The being’s body was thinner than that of a human, and looked more flexible. The six-fingered hands seemed patterned after a flower opening its petals to the sun. The feet were solid clubs of flesh without toes, making it look as though Butch was wearing moccasins. Except for an equipment belt that encircled his waist, the alien was unclothed. He was male, but not as obviously so as a human male would be if similarly attired.
Moreover, while they watched Butch, he watched them back with an intensity that was hard to match.
Except for an occasional blink, he did not move.
Lisa was faster than Pavel in finding her voice. “What progress in communicating with him?”
Bendagar reviewed their attempts during the return to Sol and since they had transferred the alien to PoleStar. He finished with, “He seems totally uninterested in our attempts at communication. Who knows? Maybe his people are telepathic.”
“With those ears, he can obviously hear. How long do you work with him each day?”
“At least two hours.”
She nodded. “There’s your problem. The best way to establish communication with someone is to live with them. When can I move in?”
This last caused Dr. Bendagar to sputter. “Move in where?”
“With Butch, of course,” Lisa replied in a tone that made
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