[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The Fuzzies had all abandoned Rainsford and come trooping over as soon as the
manipulator was off contragravity. He climbed down among them, and they
followed him across the grass, catching at his trouser legs and yeeking
happily.
Not so long. Rainsford looked at his watch. Good Lord, three and half
hours is all. Well, the time passed quickly. You know, your little fellows
have good ears. They heard you coming a long time before I did.
Did you see them killing any prawns?
I should say! I got a lot of movies of it. He shook his head slowly. Jack,
this is almost incredible.
You re staying for dinner, of course?
You try and chase me away. I want to hear all about this. Want you to make a
tape about them, if you re willing.
Glad to. We ll do that after we eat. He sat down on the bench, and the
Fuzzies began climbing upon and beside him. This is the original, Little
Fuzzy. He brought the rest in a couple of days later.Mamma Fuzzy, and Baby
Fuzzy. And these are Mike and Mitzi. I call this one Ko-Ko, because of the
ceremonious way he beheads land-prawns.
George says you call them all Fuzzies. Want that for the official
designation?
Sure. That s what they are, isn t it?
Well, let s call the order Hollowayans, Rainsford said. Family, Fuzzies;
genus, Fuzzy. Species, Holloway s Fuzzy Fuzzy fuzzyholloway. How ll that be?
That would be all right, he supposed. At least, they didn t try to Latinize
things in extraterrestrial zoology any more.
I suppose our bumper crop of land-prawns is what brought them into this
section?
Yes, of course. George was telling me you thought they d come down from the
north; about the only place they could have come from. This is probably just
the advance guard; we ll be having Fuzzies all over the place before long. I
wonder how fast they breed.
Not very fast.Three males and two females in this crowd, and only one young
one. He set Mike and Mitzi off his lap and got to his feet. I ll go start
dinner now. While I m doing that, you can look at the stuff they brought in
with them.
Page 22
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
When he had placed the dinner in the oven and taken a couple of highballs
into the living room, Rainsford was still sitting at the desk, looking at the
artifacts. He accepted his drink and sipped it absently, then raised his head.
Jack, this stuff is absolutely amazing, he said.
It s better than that. It s unique.Only collection of native weapons and
implements on Zarathustra.
Ben Rainsford looked up sharply. You mean what I think you mean? he asked.
Yes; you do. He drank some of his highball, set down the glass and picked up
the polished-horn prawn-killer. Anything pardon, anybody who does this kind
of work is good enough native for me. He hesitated briefly. Why, Jack this
tape you said you d make. Can I transmit a copy to Juan Jimenez? He s chief
mammalogist with the Company science division; we exchange information. And
there s another Company man I d like to have hear it. Gerd van Riebeek. He s a
general xeno-naturalist, like me, but he s especially interested in animal
evolution.
Why not?The Fuzzies are a scientific discovery. Discoveries ought to be
reported.
Little Fuzzy, Mike and Mitzi strolled in from the kitchen. Little Fuzzy
jumped up on the armchair and switched on the viewscreen. Fiddling with the
selector, he got the Big Blackwater woods-burning. Mike and Mitzi shrieked
delightedly, like a couple of kids watching a horror show. They knew, by now,
that nothing in the screen could get out and hurt them.
Would you mind if they came out here and saw the Fuzzies?
Why, the Fuzzies would love that. They like company.
Mamma and Baby and Ko-Ko came in, seemed to approve what was on the screen
and sat down to watch it. When the bell on the stove rang, they all got up,
and Ko-Ko jumped onto the chair and snapped the screen off. Ben Rainsford
looked at him for a moment.
You know, I have married friends with children who have a hell of a time
teaching eight-year-olds to turn off screens when they re through watching
them, he commented.
It took an hour, after dinner, to get the whole story, from the first little
yeek in the shower stall, on tape. When he had finished, Ben Rainsford made a
few remarks and shut off the recorder, then looked at his watch.
Twenty hundred; it ll be seventeen hundred in Mallorysport, he said. I
could catch Jimenez atScienceCenter if I called now. He usually works a little
late.
Go ahead. Want to show him some Fuzzies? He moved his pistol and some other
impedimenta off the table and set Little Fuzzy and Mamma Fuzzy and Baby upon
it, then drew up a chair beside it, in range of the communication screen, and
sat down with Mike and Mitzi and Ko-Ko. Rainsford punched out a wavelength [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
The Fuzzies had all abandoned Rainsford and come trooping over as soon as the
manipulator was off contragravity. He climbed down among them, and they
followed him across the grass, catching at his trouser legs and yeeking
happily.
Not so long. Rainsford looked at his watch. Good Lord, three and half
hours is all. Well, the time passed quickly. You know, your little fellows
have good ears. They heard you coming a long time before I did.
Did you see them killing any prawns?
I should say! I got a lot of movies of it. He shook his head slowly. Jack,
this is almost incredible.
You re staying for dinner, of course?
You try and chase me away. I want to hear all about this. Want you to make a
tape about them, if you re willing.
Glad to. We ll do that after we eat. He sat down on the bench, and the
Fuzzies began climbing upon and beside him. This is the original, Little
Fuzzy. He brought the rest in a couple of days later.Mamma Fuzzy, and Baby
Fuzzy. And these are Mike and Mitzi. I call this one Ko-Ko, because of the
ceremonious way he beheads land-prawns.
George says you call them all Fuzzies. Want that for the official
designation?
Sure. That s what they are, isn t it?
Well, let s call the order Hollowayans, Rainsford said. Family, Fuzzies;
genus, Fuzzy. Species, Holloway s Fuzzy Fuzzy fuzzyholloway. How ll that be?
That would be all right, he supposed. At least, they didn t try to Latinize
things in extraterrestrial zoology any more.
I suppose our bumper crop of land-prawns is what brought them into this
section?
Yes, of course. George was telling me you thought they d come down from the
north; about the only place they could have come from. This is probably just
the advance guard; we ll be having Fuzzies all over the place before long. I
wonder how fast they breed.
Not very fast.Three males and two females in this crowd, and only one young
one. He set Mike and Mitzi off his lap and got to his feet. I ll go start
dinner now. While I m doing that, you can look at the stuff they brought in
with them.
Page 22
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
When he had placed the dinner in the oven and taken a couple of highballs
into the living room, Rainsford was still sitting at the desk, looking at the
artifacts. He accepted his drink and sipped it absently, then raised his head.
Jack, this stuff is absolutely amazing, he said.
It s better than that. It s unique.Only collection of native weapons and
implements on Zarathustra.
Ben Rainsford looked up sharply. You mean what I think you mean? he asked.
Yes; you do. He drank some of his highball, set down the glass and picked up
the polished-horn prawn-killer. Anything pardon, anybody who does this kind
of work is good enough native for me. He hesitated briefly. Why, Jack this
tape you said you d make. Can I transmit a copy to Juan Jimenez? He s chief
mammalogist with the Company science division; we exchange information. And
there s another Company man I d like to have hear it. Gerd van Riebeek. He s a
general xeno-naturalist, like me, but he s especially interested in animal
evolution.
Why not?The Fuzzies are a scientific discovery. Discoveries ought to be
reported.
Little Fuzzy, Mike and Mitzi strolled in from the kitchen. Little Fuzzy
jumped up on the armchair and switched on the viewscreen. Fiddling with the
selector, he got the Big Blackwater woods-burning. Mike and Mitzi shrieked
delightedly, like a couple of kids watching a horror show. They knew, by now,
that nothing in the screen could get out and hurt them.
Would you mind if they came out here and saw the Fuzzies?
Why, the Fuzzies would love that. They like company.
Mamma and Baby and Ko-Ko came in, seemed to approve what was on the screen
and sat down to watch it. When the bell on the stove rang, they all got up,
and Ko-Ko jumped onto the chair and snapped the screen off. Ben Rainsford
looked at him for a moment.
You know, I have married friends with children who have a hell of a time
teaching eight-year-olds to turn off screens when they re through watching
them, he commented.
It took an hour, after dinner, to get the whole story, from the first little
yeek in the shower stall, on tape. When he had finished, Ben Rainsford made a
few remarks and shut off the recorder, then looked at his watch.
Twenty hundred; it ll be seventeen hundred in Mallorysport, he said. I
could catch Jimenez atScienceCenter if I called now. He usually works a little
late.
Go ahead. Want to show him some Fuzzies? He moved his pistol and some other
impedimenta off the table and set Little Fuzzy and Mamma Fuzzy and Baby upon
it, then drew up a chair beside it, in range of the communication screen, and
sat down with Mike and Mitzi and Ko-Ko. Rainsford punched out a wavelength [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]