along the shore?”
“Well now—” Began Paddy. Fay interrupted him. “We’re tourists walking up to the top of the North Cape. Could you tell us the best way?”
The Eagle motioned. “Just follow the path. It will lead into the Sunset Road. You’re Earthers?” He spat slyly to the side.
“That we are—and as good as the best of you.”
“Better,” said Fay softly.
“What’s your business on Alpheratz A?”
“Och, but we’re fond of your lovely landscape, your marvelous cities. There’s never sights like these on old Earth. Truth to tell, we’re tourists, out to see the wonders of the universe.”
The Eagles made a noise like “ Rrrrrrr. ” Without further words they both set off down the path, muttering to each other.
Paddy and Fay watching covertly, saw them pause, gesture along the horizon, point toward the rocks. But finally the continued along the path.
Fay said, “They were only a hundred yards from where you insisted on leaving the boat. It’s just blind luck they didn’t climb the rocks.”
Paddy threw up his arms. “Like all women she will never miss the opportunity to crow at honest error. Lucky the day when I last see her skinny posterior walking away.”
Fay’s eyebrows rose. “Skinny? It’s not either.”
“Humph,” said Paddy. “You don’t get hams from a chicken.”
“For my size it’s just right,” said Fay. “I’ve even had it pinched—once or twice.”
Paddy made a face. “Faith, it’s a sordid life you female agents live.”
She cocked her head. “Perhaps not so sordid as you might think. And if you’ve finished deriding my figure and slandering my morals, we’ll be off.”
Paddy shook his head wonderingly, had no more to say. They turned their backs to the ocean of turbid gas, climbed the path the two Eagles had pointed out.
They gained a rocky meadow, passed a small village. Here they saw a central obelisk topped by a whirling-bladed fetish, concentric circles of conical houses, a long raised platform for the Pherasic pavanne-like dancing. A dozen Eagles, standing in a solemn group near a half-unpacked crate of machinery, looked like odd hybrids of man and stick-insect.
Fay said dreamily as they walked, “Isn’t it a marvel, Paddy? When man first landed here he was man. In two generations the tall skinny ones predominated, in four the skull formation had begun. And now look at them. And to think that in spite of their appearance they’re men. They can breed with true men and the same goes for the Asmasians, the Canopes, the Shauls—”
“Don’t forget the Maevites!” cried Paddy enthusiastically. “Ah, them beautiful women!”
“—then there are the Loristanese, the Creepers, the Green-bags—and all the rest of the inbred overmen. It’s truly wonderful how the planetary influence acts.”
Paddy snorted. “Earth populates them and a hundred years later they come returning like curses to spite their grandsires.”
Fay laughed. “We shouldn’t be too arrogant, Paddy. It was the same differentiation and specialization that split the original simian stock into gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, a dozen types of submen—finally the true Cro-Magnon.
“The situation has backfired now, Paddy. Today we’re the root-stock, and all these splits and changes brought about by the differences in light, food, atmosphere, gravity—they may produce a race as much better than men as men were superior to the proto-simians.”
Paddy snorted, “That I’ll believe when—”
“Consider,” said Fay seriously. “The Shauls can do complex mathematical operations in their heads. In a contest for survival that depended on mathematical ability they’d win. The Loristanese are physically keen. They can telepathize to some extent, and they’re subtle in person-to-person dealings. They’re the merchants of the universe and wonders at group enterprise.
“These Eagles here—their curiosity is insatiable and they’re so naturally persistent that
“Well now—” Began Paddy. Fay interrupted him. “We’re tourists walking up to the top of the North Cape. Could you tell us the best way?”
The Eagle motioned. “Just follow the path. It will lead into the Sunset Road. You’re Earthers?” He spat slyly to the side.
“That we are—and as good as the best of you.”
“Better,” said Fay softly.
“What’s your business on Alpheratz A?”
“Och, but we’re fond of your lovely landscape, your marvelous cities. There’s never sights like these on old Earth. Truth to tell, we’re tourists, out to see the wonders of the universe.”
The Eagles made a noise like “ Rrrrrrr. ” Without further words they both set off down the path, muttering to each other.
Paddy and Fay watching covertly, saw them pause, gesture along the horizon, point toward the rocks. But finally the continued along the path.
Fay said, “They were only a hundred yards from where you insisted on leaving the boat. It’s just blind luck they didn’t climb the rocks.”
Paddy threw up his arms. “Like all women she will never miss the opportunity to crow at honest error. Lucky the day when I last see her skinny posterior walking away.”
Fay’s eyebrows rose. “Skinny? It’s not either.”
“Humph,” said Paddy. “You don’t get hams from a chicken.”
“For my size it’s just right,” said Fay. “I’ve even had it pinched—once or twice.”
Paddy made a face. “Faith, it’s a sordid life you female agents live.”
She cocked her head. “Perhaps not so sordid as you might think. And if you’ve finished deriding my figure and slandering my morals, we’ll be off.”
Paddy shook his head wonderingly, had no more to say. They turned their backs to the ocean of turbid gas, climbed the path the two Eagles had pointed out.
They gained a rocky meadow, passed a small village. Here they saw a central obelisk topped by a whirling-bladed fetish, concentric circles of conical houses, a long raised platform for the Pherasic pavanne-like dancing. A dozen Eagles, standing in a solemn group near a half-unpacked crate of machinery, looked like odd hybrids of man and stick-insect.
Fay said dreamily as they walked, “Isn’t it a marvel, Paddy? When man first landed here he was man. In two generations the tall skinny ones predominated, in four the skull formation had begun. And now look at them. And to think that in spite of their appearance they’re men. They can breed with true men and the same goes for the Asmasians, the Canopes, the Shauls—”
“Don’t forget the Maevites!” cried Paddy enthusiastically. “Ah, them beautiful women!”
“—then there are the Loristanese, the Creepers, the Green-bags—and all the rest of the inbred overmen. It’s truly wonderful how the planetary influence acts.”
Paddy snorted. “Earth populates them and a hundred years later they come returning like curses to spite their grandsires.”
Fay laughed. “We shouldn’t be too arrogant, Paddy. It was the same differentiation and specialization that split the original simian stock into gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, a dozen types of submen—finally the true Cro-Magnon.
“The situation has backfired now, Paddy. Today we’re the root-stock, and all these splits and changes brought about by the differences in light, food, atmosphere, gravity—they may produce a race as much better than men as men were superior to the proto-simians.”
Paddy snorted, “That I’ll believe when—”
“Consider,” said Fay seriously. “The Shauls can do complex mathematical operations in their heads. In a contest for survival that depended on mathematical ability they’d win. The Loristanese are physically keen. They can telepathize to some extent, and they’re subtle in person-to-person dealings. They’re the merchants of the universe and wonders at group enterprise.
“These Eagles here—their curiosity is insatiable and they’re so naturally persistent that
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