“No,” the other replied with rather surprising frankness. “The river bends north not far inland from the place where you walked through it and goes in that direction for a good number of miles. A number of us were sent along it, with orders to stop at various points, cross as soon as it dried up, and walk toward the sea to find traces of you.”
“Then others presumably crossed our trail—all those who were stationed farther south—and located us.”
“No doubt. They may be watching now, or they may have seen you attack me and gone off to tell Swift.”
“You knew about the bend in the river. Your people are familiar with the country this far from your caves?”
“We have never hunted here. Naturally, anyone can tell which way a river is going to flow and where there are likely to be hills and valleys.”
“What my people call an eye for country. I see. Thank you; you had better go on and give the message to Swift before he arrives with another crowd of spears to avenge the attack on one of his men.”
“All right. Will you answer one question for me first? Sometimes you say ‘I’ and sometimes ‘we’ even when you obviously don’t mean yourself and these people here. Why is that? Is there more than one of you inside that thing?”
Nick did not translate this question; he answered it himself.
“The Teacher has always talked that way,” he said. “We’ve sometimes wondered about it, too; but when we asked him, he didn’t explain—just said it wasn’t important yet. Maybe Swift can figure it out.” Nick saw no harm in what he would have called psychology if he had known the word.
“Maybe.” The scout started south without another word, and the rest of the group, who had long since broken their circle and gathered around the teacher, watched him go.
“That sounded good, Dr. Raeker. Should we keep the spot lights on just in case, from now on?” Easy Rich’s voice broke the silence.
“I wouldn’t, just yet,” Raeker said thoughtfully. “I wish I could be sure I wanted Swift to find you, instead of merely wanting to keep him from attacking us,”
“What?” Aminadabarlee’s voice was shriller, and much louder, even than usual. “Are you admitting that you are using my son as bait to keep those savages away from your little pet project down there? That you regard those ridiculously shaped natives as more important than a civilized being, simply because you’ve been training them for a few years? I have heard that human beings were cold-blooded, and scientists even more so than the general run, but I would never have believed this even of human beings. This is the absolute limit. Councillor Rich, I must ask your indulgence for the loan of our speedster; I am going to Dromm and start our own rescue work. I have trusted you men too long. I am through with that—and so is the rest of the galaxy!”
“Excuse me, sir.” Raeker had come to have a slightly better grasp of the problem the Drommian represented. “Perhaps, if you do not trust me, you will at least listen to Councillor Rich, whose daughter is in the same situation as your son. He may point out to you that the ‘ridiculous natives’ whose safety I have in mind are the only beings in the universe in a position, or nearly in a position, to rescue those children; and he may have noticed that I did not tell the savage even the little I heard of Easy and ’Mina’s description of the country around them. I am sure we will appreciate your planet’s help, but do you think it will possibly come in time? Before the human girl is permanently injured by extra gravity, and your son has exceeded your race’s time limit under vitamin and oxygen deficiency? I am not asking these questions to hurt you, but in an effort to get the best help you can give. If there is anything more you can do than keep your son’s courage up by staying where he can see and hear you, please let us know.”
Rich’s face was visible behind the Drommian’s in the jury-rigged vision screen, and Raeker saw the human diplomat give a nod and an instantly suppressed smile of approval. He could think of nothing to add to his speech, and wisely remained silent. Before Aminadabarlee found utterance, however, Easy came in with a plea of her own.
“Don’t be angry with Dr. Raeker, please; ’Mina and I can see what he’s doing, and we like Nick, too.” Raeker wondered how much of this was true; he wasn’t as sure himself as he would like to have been of what he was doing, and the children had not yet talked directly to Nick, though they had been listening to him and his people for a couple of hours. Easy, of course, was a diplomat’s daughter. Raeker had learned by now that her mother had died when she was a year old, and she had traveled with her father ever since. She seemed to be growing into a competent diplomat in her own right. “It doesn’t really matter if Swift does find us,” she went on. “What can he do to hurt us, and why should he want to?”
“He threatened to use fire on the robot if it didn’t come with him to the cave village,” retorted the Drommian, “and if he does the same to the ’scaphe’s hull when you fail to tell him something he wants to know, you’ll be in some trouble.”
“But he knew that Fagin didn’t speak his language, and was very patiently teaching it during the three weeks or so it was in his power; why should he be less patient with us? We’re perfectly willing to teach him anything we know, and we can talk to him with less trouble than Dr. Raeker could—at least, there won’t be the delay.”
A burst of shrill sound from Aminadorneldo followed and, presumably, supported Easy’s argument; Aminada-barlee cooled visibly. Raeker wondered how long it would last. At least, things were safe politically for the moment; he turned his attention back to Tenebra and to Nick.
That worthy had started his group back toward the original meeting place, with two running ahead—the herd had been unprotected quite long enough. Nick himself was standing beside the robot, apparently waiting for comment or instructions. Raeker had none to give, and covered with a question of his own.
“How about it, Nick? Will he come back? Or more accurately, will Swift go along with us?”
“You know as well as I.”
“No, I don’t. You spent a long time with Swift and his people; you know him if any of us do. Was I right in playing on his desire for things we could bring him? I realize he wanted to know about things like fire, but don’t you think it was for what he saw could be done with it?”
“It seems likely,” admitted Nick, “but I don’t see how it’s possible to be sure of what anyone’s thinking or what he’s going to do.”
“I don’t either, though some of my people keep trying.” The two started after the rest of the group, scarcely noticing the minor quake that snapped a few of the mor£ brittle plants around them. Nick almost unthinkingly gathered firewood as he went, a habit of years which had developed in the old village after the more accessible fuel near the hilltop had been exhausted. He had quite a stack in his four arms by the time they rejoined the others. This was piled with the rest; the herd was checked and the strays brought back together; and then Fagin called a meeting.
“You all heard what I told Swift’s man, about the machine which was stranded somewhere here with some of my people in it. If it is not found and fixed shortly, those people will die. You know as well as I that rescue of people in danger is of more importance than almost anything else; and for that reason, we are going to drop all other activities, except those needed actually to stay alive, while we look for that ship.
“I will give you a description, as completely as possible, of the place where they are. We’ll check all our maps for similarity—I’ll help you there; I can do it faster— and then you’ll go out in pairs to check all likely spots. If we don’t find them, mapping will proceed as rapidly as possible, to the exclusion of all other scientific activities.