told you what kind of game I think the puppeteers are playing. I'm going anyway, for the fun of it. What makes you think you want to go?"
"The Core explosion."
"Altruism is great, but you couldn't possibly be worried about something that's supposed to happen in twenty thousand years. Try again."
"Dammit, if you can be a hero, so can I! And you're wrong about Nessus. He'd back out of a suicide mission. And -- and why would the puppeteers want to know anything about us, or the kzinti either? What would they test us for? They're leaving the galaxy. They'll never have anything to do with us again."
No, Teela wasn't stupid. But -- "You're wrong. The puppeteers have excellent reasons for wanting to know all about us."
Teela's look dared him to back it up.
"We don't know much about the puppeteer migration. We do know that every able-bodied, sane-minded puppeteer now alive is on the move. And we know that they're moving at just below lightspeed. The puppeteers are afraid of hyperspace.
"Now. Traveling at just below lightspeed, the puppeteer fleet should reach the Lesser Cloud of Magellan in about eighty-five thousand years. And what do they expect to find when they get there?"
He grinned at her and gave her the punch line. "Us, of course. Humans and kzinti, at least. Kdatlyno and pierin and dolphins, probably. They know we'll wait until the last minute and then run for it, and they know we'll use faster-then-light drives. By the time the puppeteers reach the Cloud, they'll have to deal with us ... or with whatever kills us off; and by knowing us, they can predict the nature of the killer. Oh, they've got reason enough to study us."
"Okay."
"Still want to go?"
Teela nodded.
"Why?"
"I'll reserve that." Teela's composure was complete. And what could Louis do about it? Had she been under nineteen he would have called one of her parents. But at twenty she was a presumed adult. You had to draw the line somewhere.
As an adult she had freedom of choice; she was entitled to expect good manners from Louis Wu; certain areas of her privacy were sacrosanct. Louis could only persuade; and at that he had failed.
So that Teela didn't have to do what she did next. She suddenly took his hands and, smiling, pleading, said, "Take me with you, Louis. I'm luck, really I am. If Nessus didn't choose right you could wind up sleeping alone. You'd hate that, I know you would."
She had him in a box. He couldn't keep her off Nessus's ship, not when she could go directly to the puppeteer.
"All right," he said. "We'll call him."
And he would hate sleeping alone.
CHAPTER 4 -- Speaker-To-Animals
"I want to join the expedition," Teela said into the phonescreen.
The puppeteer howled on a long-drawn E-flat note.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Excuse me," said the puppeteer. "Report to Outback Field, Australia, tomorrow at 0800. Bring personal possessions not to exceed fifty pounds Earth weight. Louis, you will do the same. Ahh --" The puppeteer raised his heads and howled.
Anxiously Louis demanded, "Are you sick?"
"No. I foresee my own death. Louis, I could wish that you had been less persuasive. Farewell. We meet at Outback Field."
The screen went dark.
"See?" Teela crowed. "See what you get for being so persuasive?"
"Me and my silver tongue. Well, I did my oratorical best. Don't blame me if you die horribly."
That night, freely falling in darkness, Louis heard her say, "I love you. I'm going with you because I love you."
"Love you too," he said with sleepy good manners. Then it percolated through, and he said, "That's what you were reserving?"
"Mm hmm."
"You're following me two hundred light years because you can't bear to let me go?"
"Yawp."
"Sleeproom, half-light," said Louis. Dim blue light filled the room.
They floated a foot apart between the sleeping plates. in preparation for space they had cleaned off the skin dyes and hair treatments of flatland style. The hair in Louis's queue was now straight and black; his scalp was gray with
"The Core explosion."
"Altruism is great, but you couldn't possibly be worried about something that's supposed to happen in twenty thousand years. Try again."
"Dammit, if you can be a hero, so can I! And you're wrong about Nessus. He'd back out of a suicide mission. And -- and why would the puppeteers want to know anything about us, or the kzinti either? What would they test us for? They're leaving the galaxy. They'll never have anything to do with us again."
No, Teela wasn't stupid. But -- "You're wrong. The puppeteers have excellent reasons for wanting to know all about us."
Teela's look dared him to back it up.
"We don't know much about the puppeteer migration. We do know that every able-bodied, sane-minded puppeteer now alive is on the move. And we know that they're moving at just below lightspeed. The puppeteers are afraid of hyperspace.
"Now. Traveling at just below lightspeed, the puppeteer fleet should reach the Lesser Cloud of Magellan in about eighty-five thousand years. And what do they expect to find when they get there?"
He grinned at her and gave her the punch line. "Us, of course. Humans and kzinti, at least. Kdatlyno and pierin and dolphins, probably. They know we'll wait until the last minute and then run for it, and they know we'll use faster-then-light drives. By the time the puppeteers reach the Cloud, they'll have to deal with us ... or with whatever kills us off; and by knowing us, they can predict the nature of the killer. Oh, they've got reason enough to study us."
"Okay."
"Still want to go?"
Teela nodded.
"Why?"
"I'll reserve that." Teela's composure was complete. And what could Louis do about it? Had she been under nineteen he would have called one of her parents. But at twenty she was a presumed adult. You had to draw the line somewhere.
As an adult she had freedom of choice; she was entitled to expect good manners from Louis Wu; certain areas of her privacy were sacrosanct. Louis could only persuade; and at that he had failed.
So that Teela didn't have to do what she did next. She suddenly took his hands and, smiling, pleading, said, "Take me with you, Louis. I'm luck, really I am. If Nessus didn't choose right you could wind up sleeping alone. You'd hate that, I know you would."
She had him in a box. He couldn't keep her off Nessus's ship, not when she could go directly to the puppeteer.
"All right," he said. "We'll call him."
And he would hate sleeping alone.
CHAPTER 4 -- Speaker-To-Animals
"I want to join the expedition," Teela said into the phonescreen.
The puppeteer howled on a long-drawn E-flat note.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Excuse me," said the puppeteer. "Report to Outback Field, Australia, tomorrow at 0800. Bring personal possessions not to exceed fifty pounds Earth weight. Louis, you will do the same. Ahh --" The puppeteer raised his heads and howled.
Anxiously Louis demanded, "Are you sick?"
"No. I foresee my own death. Louis, I could wish that you had been less persuasive. Farewell. We meet at Outback Field."
The screen went dark.
"See?" Teela crowed. "See what you get for being so persuasive?"
"Me and my silver tongue. Well, I did my oratorical best. Don't blame me if you die horribly."
That night, freely falling in darkness, Louis heard her say, "I love you. I'm going with you because I love you."
"Love you too," he said with sleepy good manners. Then it percolated through, and he said, "That's what you were reserving?"
"Mm hmm."
"You're following me two hundred light years because you can't bear to let me go?"
"Yawp."
"Sleeproom, half-light," said Louis. Dim blue light filled the room.
They floated a foot apart between the sleeping plates. in preparation for space they had cleaned off the skin dyes and hair treatments of flatland style. The hair in Louis's queue was now straight and black; his scalp was gray with
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