there," Jerry said. "You've got a real feel for this kind of work, Mahree. How about helping me tomorrow when I try and set up a catalogue of universal constants?"
"Sure," Mahree said, pleased with the praise. Jerry never 38
said such things lightly. "I just hope we'll get further than we did with these transmissions." "We will."
"But we have made progress," Rob pointed out. "We're almost certain that each transmission was made by a different voice. And the computer has recorded nearly five hundred perfect matches. Some of the matches represent sequences that are repeated many times within each
transmission."
"So?" Yoki raised her eyebrows at him. "Tell me what good it's going to do us to be able to identify the alien equivalent of 'and,' 'the,' 'but,' and 'for.' Let's face it, Rob, these people are just going to have to remain an unknown quantity until we reach their world and contact them in person."
"Well, at least we're sure that we're dealing with a language instead of a machine-generated message or a code." Rob sighed, digging wearily at his own eyes. "Too much repetition and too much variety for it to be anything else."
"It is by any human standard," Jerry reminded him gloomily. "We don't have any way of knowing how sophisticated their machines are. We can only judge them in comparison to our own."
"Compared to this stuff, history and physics are wildly exciting. Maybe I ought to go study for a while to wake myself up," Mahree said. She tried unsuccessfully to smother a yawn, then burst into shrill giggles when the others reflexively copied her. "Sekhmet has the right idea," she added, stroking the cat, who lay sprawled over half the flimsies, asleep.
The animal began purring. Wish I could be that relaxed, Mahree thought confusedly, feeling tears suddenly threaten. She blinked furiously. What's wrong with me? A moment ago I could barely stop laughing, and now I'm ready to cry.
"We all need sleep," Rob admitted. "The tension is getting to everyone.
Evelyn Maitland came to me yesterday and asked to be put back into hibernation. She said that if we screwed this up, she didn't want anyone blaming her!"
"I had a dream last night," Mahree said haltingly, not looking up as she rubbed Sekhmet's jawline. The purr grew louder, more rasping. "I dreamed we got there, and somehow we'd made a terrible error and recorded the transmissions backward, and that was why we hadn't recognized them. It was all a mistake and
39
we'd just ended up on Earth. But there weren't any people there anymore. It was deserted . . . lifeless."
Nobody said anything for nearly a minute. Mahree glanced up to find them all staring at her, but then none of them except Rob would meet her eyes.
Her stomach turned over, and she bit her lip, reddening with embarrassment.
Yoki finally broke the silence. "Honey, why don't you get some sleep? We've all got the creeps, and that's natural enough in this situation, right, Rob?"
"Sure," he said, reaching over to drape Sekhmet over his shoulder. "I'll walk you back to your cabin."
When they reached the relative privacy of the corridor, Mahree burst out,
"Dammit, I shouldn't have said that! Now everyone's going to think I can't take it, that I'm losing it!"
Rob slung his free arm over her rigid shoulders. "No, they're not. You've held up better than any of us." He chuckled ruefully. "Just this morning I forgot I'd left my mirror on and nearly panicked when I came out of the head and caught a glimpse of myself. For a second my heart felt like it was coming straight out of my chest--then I felt like a jackass."
Mahree smiled wanly. "You're only saying that to cheer me up, but thanks anyway."
"No, I'm not. Last night I'd probably have had nightmares too, but I self-prescribed a sedative, and slept like the dead. No wonder I'm so groggy today. Over half the crew has asked for them, at least once."
"Really?" Mahree began to feel better. She was suddenly conscious of the warm weight of Rob's arm across
"Sure," Mahree said, pleased with the praise. Jerry never 38
said such things lightly. "I just hope we'll get further than we did with these transmissions." "We will."
"But we have made progress," Rob pointed out. "We're almost certain that each transmission was made by a different voice. And the computer has recorded nearly five hundred perfect matches. Some of the matches represent sequences that are repeated many times within each
transmission."
"So?" Yoki raised her eyebrows at him. "Tell me what good it's going to do us to be able to identify the alien equivalent of 'and,' 'the,' 'but,' and 'for.' Let's face it, Rob, these people are just going to have to remain an unknown quantity until we reach their world and contact them in person."
"Well, at least we're sure that we're dealing with a language instead of a machine-generated message or a code." Rob sighed, digging wearily at his own eyes. "Too much repetition and too much variety for it to be anything else."
"It is by any human standard," Jerry reminded him gloomily. "We don't have any way of knowing how sophisticated their machines are. We can only judge them in comparison to our own."
"Compared to this stuff, history and physics are wildly exciting. Maybe I ought to go study for a while to wake myself up," Mahree said. She tried unsuccessfully to smother a yawn, then burst into shrill giggles when the others reflexively copied her. "Sekhmet has the right idea," she added, stroking the cat, who lay sprawled over half the flimsies, asleep.
The animal began purring. Wish I could be that relaxed, Mahree thought confusedly, feeling tears suddenly threaten. She blinked furiously. What's wrong with me? A moment ago I could barely stop laughing, and now I'm ready to cry.
"We all need sleep," Rob admitted. "The tension is getting to everyone.
Evelyn Maitland came to me yesterday and asked to be put back into hibernation. She said that if we screwed this up, she didn't want anyone blaming her!"
"I had a dream last night," Mahree said haltingly, not looking up as she rubbed Sekhmet's jawline. The purr grew louder, more rasping. "I dreamed we got there, and somehow we'd made a terrible error and recorded the transmissions backward, and that was why we hadn't recognized them. It was all a mistake and
39
we'd just ended up on Earth. But there weren't any people there anymore. It was deserted . . . lifeless."
Nobody said anything for nearly a minute. Mahree glanced up to find them all staring at her, but then none of them except Rob would meet her eyes.
Her stomach turned over, and she bit her lip, reddening with embarrassment.
Yoki finally broke the silence. "Honey, why don't you get some sleep? We've all got the creeps, and that's natural enough in this situation, right, Rob?"
"Sure," he said, reaching over to drape Sekhmet over his shoulder. "I'll walk you back to your cabin."
When they reached the relative privacy of the corridor, Mahree burst out,
"Dammit, I shouldn't have said that! Now everyone's going to think I can't take it, that I'm losing it!"
Rob slung his free arm over her rigid shoulders. "No, they're not. You've held up better than any of us." He chuckled ruefully. "Just this morning I forgot I'd left my mirror on and nearly panicked when I came out of the head and caught a glimpse of myself. For a second my heart felt like it was coming straight out of my chest--then I felt like a jackass."
Mahree smiled wanly. "You're only saying that to cheer me up, but thanks anyway."
"No, I'm not. Last night I'd probably have had nightmares too, but I self-prescribed a sedative, and slept like the dead. No wonder I'm so groggy today. Over half the crew has asked for them, at least once."
"Really?" Mahree began to feel better. She was suddenly conscious of the warm weight of Rob's arm across
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