"Tom Purdom-Research Project" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

The reader offers Jinny a standard artist's visualization of the two "links." They are essentially a pair of
cylinders mounted on treads. Two jointed arms are attached to the sides of each cylinder. A "head"
module, mounted on top, contains two cameras and a pair of microphones. The faces of the two human
emissaries stare out of screens placed just below the head module.
An insert in the upper right hand corner of the screen contains a cutaway view of the cramped space
vehicle in which Dr. Mazzeri and Ambassador Lott ate their snack bar breakfasts and didn't drink coffee.
A caption explains that the vehicle orbited Mars at seven-hundred kilometers. Two small communications
satellites created a network that kept the vehicle connected with the links as it circled the planet.
The figures in the drawing are wearing big helmets and gesturing with gloved hands. The treads on the
links were controlled with pedals, but the arms and the head module were slaved to the motions of their
bodies. The system looks clumsy to Jinny's eyes, but she knows it is a primitive version of the technology
she uses when she takes electronic field trips.
***


For the last two days, we had been discussing three subjects: two All-Time Fascinaters and one
Perennial Puzzle. The two Fascinaters were mating customs (sex) and the patterns of intraspecies
competition (violence in human terms, something else in Postri-Dem's terms). The Puzzle was sleep. On
two worlds that were totally isolated from each other, the evolutionary process had produced intelligent
species that slipped into unconsciousness for approximately 25 percent of each day. The ifli's knowledge
of their biochemistry seemed to be more detailed than ours but Stridi-If had told us we would have to
avoid discussions of chemical pathways for the time being. We could discuss patterns and customs,
however, and the specialists on our consulting committee had told us they could use any information I
could give them.
Sleeping habits got the first hour. For the second hour, we concentrated on the mating myths we had
exchanged two days earlier. The anthropologist who had lobbied for the topic was one of my favorite
people on the consulting committee and I did my best to fill every minute of the hour with something
useful. I became so engrossed in the subject, in fact, that I actually felt irritated when the loudspeaker on
the wall of the groundbase produced its standard polite murmur.
I shook my head. "The voice of Order and Proper Procedure seems to have spoken."
Postri-Dem countered with a wave of his hands and a slight roll of his shoulders -- his best
approximation of a human shrug. "I was running out of thoughts anyway. I'm certain your consultant will
have a few dozen questions we can explore the next time we take up this topic."
Behind him, Stridi-If spoke to him in their own language -- which I didn't understand at the time, of
course. "This is your last opportunity for the day, Habut," Stridi-If said. "If you can't say something useful
while you're discussing intraspecies competition, we may as well assume you re never going to give me
anything I can work with."
Postri-Dem's full name was Postri Habut Luxerdi. His close acquaintances -- when he had any --
usually called him Hab or Habut. Stridi-If's full name was Stridi Ro Stridki but I'm confident Postri-Dem
never called her Strid or Ki.
Stridi-If had interrupted Postri-Dem three times during the last hour and he had ignored her every time.
As far as she was concerned, he had already missed several chances to let us know his species wasn't
quite as harmless as its evolutionary history indicated: I had given him a perfect opportunity to make the
point when I had leaped on the resemblance between our story of David and Bathsheba and their story
of Gutara and Estrihar.
The legend of Gutara and Estrihar was one of the oldest stories Postri-Dem's species had created.
Gutara was a legendary ruler -- the "queen" (more or less) of a famous city state. Estrihar was an
architect who already belonged to a Five that was dominated by a woman who managed important
construction projects. Gutara wanted Estrihar for herself, so she gave her rival a dangerous project -- a