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'Then why would you want to suffer that winter alone?'
"It is preferable to what awaits me on Impasse, and winter is some time distant. At least I will have
the long summer free."
'Followed by the long winter.'
"Short winter. Short but intense."
'I don't understand. Winter doesn't come to an entire planet; when it is winter in one hemisphere, it
will be summer in the other. So you could travel-'
"Winter comes all over the planet, simultaneously."
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r r
That doesn't-does Eccentric have an orbit that is- oh, of course! Eccentric! Like a comet or planetoid.
With a short, hot summer during the near approach to the sun, and-but you said a short winter.'
"This is a double system," Heem explained wearily. "Holestar. One Star and one Hole. Eccentric
orbits-"
'One hole?' she inquired, perplexed.
"So designated. A collapsed star so dense that light cannot escape from it."
'Oh, yes-what we call a black hole. I wouldn't want to get near one of those!'
"Eccentric is near one. It orbits both Star and Hole, and periodically the Hole eclipses the Star. Then-"
Then all light is trapped by the hole! That would be one hell of a shadow!'
"A distasteful winter," Heem agreed.
"What about Planet Impasse? Winter should be just as-'
"No. Impasse orbits the binary at an angle. It is never eclipsed by the Hole, so its winters are normal."
'Two different orbital planes,' Jessica murmured. 'A star and a black hole. This is some system!'
"Correct. Eccentric is currently on the far side of the binary. The ships must skirt the Hole to reach it.
Hence the buoys marking the most direct course that remains safe. The wise pilot will not stray far
from the marked channel; he would either lose position or fall into the power of the Hole."
'Yes, I can appreciate the need for caution,' she agreed. 'I suppose technically an orbit about a black
hole is no more hazardous than one about a normal star. But emotionally it's horrifying!'
"Not to me," Heem jetted, relaxing. "I find it rather intriguing. I would be interested to explore within
the range of no return, except-"
'Damn it, I don't want to die blind!' she screamed suddenly, jarring his nerves. 'You've got to win that
competition!'
"Why should I roll away my chance for life, in a futile effort to promote yours?" Heem needled
irritably. "You're nothing but a Squam in alien guise."
'I'm not a Squam. I'm a human being!'
"As I described. A female alien food-eating-"
'Oh, so that's it again! You just can't stand the thought of an objective female intellect in your sordid
masculine brainless brain!'
This was useless, but he continued. "Females just don't belong in sapient minds."
'Sapients don't belong in male minds!'
"Flavor it as you wish. You do not belong in my mind."
'That's what I'm saying! I'm desperate to get out of your roly-poly mind before I go crazy!'
"You are already half there."
'Well, I'm not going crazy alone! If you don't at least try to get me transferred home, I'm taking you
with me wherever I do go. Right into insanity if need be. See how you like that!'
"If you would rather be crazed than dead, roll on."
'I'm liable to get difficult. I'm very good at that, Heem.'
"Be as difficult as you want. I control my body."
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r r
'Fair warning: I'll scream.'
"I don't even know what a scream is."
Jessica screamed. Her sound was transformed to his perception of taste, and it was horrendous. The
savage impulses scoured their paths along his nerves. Her terror became indistinguishable from his
own emotion; he suffered increasing apprehension and fear, though he knew there was no proper basis
for such emotions. Her scream compelled them.
She really could roll him with her! Because she was inside his mind; he could not close her out. Soon
he would be as demented as she.
"Mute your taste!" he sprayed violently. "I will try the competition!"
The scream-taste abated instantly. 'How very sweet of you, Heem.'
She resembled a Squam, all right.
Chapter 3 Space Race
Heem activated the space-taste spray. The flavor of System Holestar was emitted by the machine.
There was the fleet of ships strung out ahead; his own was the last. There to the side was-
'I don't understand!' Jessica cried, disrupting his perception. 'What do all those tastes mean? If only I
could see!'
She was really rolled up about her lost perception! "Why don't you just try tasting?" Heem inquired,
irritated. "It is really quite sufficient."
'My system is not oriented on taste,' she retorted. 'Except when I eat-'
"Ugh!" Heem spat, repulsed.
'Well, if you find it hard to think of eating, I find it just as hard to see by tasting. I naturally associate
taste with eating.'
"Taste is civilized! Eating is-eating!" He could think of no worse insult than the term itself.
'Eating is fun, if you just had an open mind about it.'
"Never!" How like a Squam she was! "Then why don't you go dream of eating or whatever other
abomination pleases you, and let me concentrate on the position of the ships of the fleets? I can do it
very well by taste." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]