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sure how he should feel. Second, he observed that his body
was not in good spirits. But his third awareness was that in-
tellectually he was relieved.
He realized that Soodleel had been a strain on him. Sud-
denly, with her arrival, the positivities of another being had
had to be taken into account. And after only a couple of
hours she had begun to be quite wearing.
Someday no doubt they would get together and discuss the
future of man. But it scarcely seemed urgent.
I suppose right now I ought to go to bed and give the body
its needed sleep. Then in the morning I can decide what to
do next.
As he flagged down a car, it occurred to him that he was
no longer interested in making the world tour. Since it was to
have been for the benefit of those who remained behind the
barrier... no point in that now.
So what next?
Bearing in mind the one restriction that the Nunuli had
imposed to keep his human identity secret (and why
not?) he directed the car toward the transient quarters.
Then, leaning back in the seat, he thought: A member of the
faraway committee took a direct interest.
Incredible. Yet stated to be so by the Nunuli.
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A direct interest in a small planet (Earth) in a dimly pop-
ulated in terms of numbers of suns outer edge of the
Milky Way galaxy. He realized that what he was actually try-
ing to imagine was the idea of a conspiracy against two indi-
viduals: Soodleel and himself. It seemed impossible.
A committee member might advise the Nunuli, yes; if ad-
vice were asked for. But their general directive surely cov-
ered such infinitesimal (by their standards) entities as
himself. The Nunuli had merely tried to be thorough as
good servant races should.
A single human being, a pacifist philosopher, harmless in
that he was totally willing to let live, and who never struck
back, such a person would not be of the slightest interest to a
ruling, conquering galactic hierarchy. At this enormous dis-
tance, they would not normally even know that he existed as
an individual. And any advice they gave their creatures, the
Nunuli, would not concern itself with who, specifically, it was
for. That was the way it should be.
In spite of the perfect logic, he couldn't quite bring himself
to make a final acceptance of his reasoning.
I'// think about it again, later.
He had descended from the car by the time he reached
that point hi his thinking. As he came within sight of his little
apartment he was astonished to see that the bear-man, Roozb,
was sitting on the veranda steps. The handsome animal-man
half dozed against one of the supporting beams.
As Modyun came up, the animal-man opened his eyes,
blinked, and said, "Hey!" His voice was loud on the night air.
He must have noticed how loud for as he leaped to his feet
he almost whispered. "Where have you been? You got us all
worried."
The human being explained quietly that something had
come up requiring his attention. By the tune he finished,
Roozb had him by the arm and was tugging him toward one
of the other apartments.
He pounded on that door and, when a sleepy Dooldn
opened it, he thrust Modyun at the jaguar-man and rushed
off, calling over his shoulder, "I'll get the others."
In five minutes, they were all assembled hi Dooldn's apart-
ment. And Roozb was growling in his deep voice, "Fellows,
this ape isn't all here" he tapped his forehead " 'cause he
broke his confinement rules only two days before his sentence
was up. By tomorrow, there may be hell to pay, and we
won't be here to help him."
He turned to Modyun. And his handsome face was grave
as he explained that all four of them were scheduled to go
aboard the interstellar ship this very morning, before noon.
Takeoff was scheduled for the following morning.
Modyun was surprised. "You mean they expect to get a
million people aboard in one day?"
Dooldn interjected, "In an emergency they could. But they
didn't. They've been loadin' 'em for two weeks. We'll be
among the last fifty thousand to go aboard."
Roozb waved his friend silent. "Never mind gettin' off the
track," he said. "Question is, what're we gonna do about this [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]