The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg Page A
Authors: Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
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down south, then. At least it'll be warmer there, and we may find a decent place to camp, with no Other Ones around to bother us."
"You have our permission to go south, She Who Knows. But the rest of us will set out this afternoon toward the Place of Three Rivers."
"And the Other Ones?" she cried.
"The Other Ones will not dare to approach the shrine of the Goddess," said Silver Cloud. "But if you fear that they will, She Who Knows, why, then-go south! Go south, She Who Knows!"
She heard someone laughing. Blazing Eye, it was. Then the other men of the Hunting Society began to laugh, too, and a few of the Mothers joined in. Within moments they were all laughing and pointing at her.
She wished she still had Blazing Eye's spear in her hands. She would smite them all if she did, and nothing would stop die slaughter.
"Go south, She Who Knows!" they called to her. "Go south, go south, go south."
A curse came to her lips, but she forced it back. They meant it, she realized. If she spoke out angrily now, they might well drive her from the tribe. Ten years ago she would have welcomed that. But she was an old woman, now, past thirty. To go off by herself would be certain death.
She murmured a few angry words to herself, and turned away from Silver Cloud's steady stare.
Silver Cloud clapped his hands. "All right," he called. "Start packing up, everybody! We're breaking camp! We're getting out of here before it turns dark!"
Chapter Two. Arriving
5
FOR EDITH FELLOWES it was a tremendously busy few weeks.
The hardest part was the winding up of her work at the hospital. Giving only two weeks' notice was not only irregular, it was downright improper; but the administration was reasonably sympathetic once Miss Fellowes let it be known that she was leaving with the greatest reluctance, and only because she had been offered an opportunity to take part in an incredibly exciting new research project.
She mentioned the name of Stasis Technologies, Ltd.
"You're going to be taking care of the baby dinosaur?" they asked her, and everybody chuckled.
"No, not the dinosaur," she said. "Something much closer to what I know."
She didn't give any further details. Dr. Hoskins had forbidden her to go into specifics with anyone. But it wasn't hard for those who knew and worked with Edith Fellowes to guess that the project must have something to do with children; and if her employers were the people who had brought that famous baby dinosaur out of the
Mesozoic, then surely they must be planning to do something along the same lines now-such as bringing some prehistoric child out of a remote period of time. Miss Fellowes neither confirmed or denied it. But they knew. They all knew. Her leave of absence from the hospital was granted, of course.
Still, she had to work virtually round the clock for a few days, tying off loose ends, filing her final reports, preparing lists of things for her successors, separating her own equipment and research materials from the hospital's. That part was strenuous but not otherwise burdensome. The really difficult part was saying goodbye to the children. They couldn't believe that she was leaving.
"You'll be back in a week or two, won't you, Miss Fellowes?" they asked her, crowding around. "You'll just be going on vacation, isn't that so? A little holiday? -Where are you going, Miss Fellowes?"
She had known some of these children since the day they were born. Now they were five, six, seven years old: outpatients, most of them, but some were permanent residents and she had worked with them year in, year out.
That was hard, breaking the news to them, very hard.
But she steeled herself to the task. Anodier child needed her now, an extraordinarily special child, a child whose predicament would be unique in the history of the universe. She knew that she had to go where she would be most needed.
She closed up her small apartment on the south side of town, selecting the few things she would want to take with her
"You have our permission to go south, She Who Knows. But the rest of us will set out this afternoon toward the Place of Three Rivers."
"And the Other Ones?" she cried.
"The Other Ones will not dare to approach the shrine of the Goddess," said Silver Cloud. "But if you fear that they will, She Who Knows, why, then-go south! Go south, She Who Knows!"
She heard someone laughing. Blazing Eye, it was. Then the other men of the Hunting Society began to laugh, too, and a few of the Mothers joined in. Within moments they were all laughing and pointing at her.
She wished she still had Blazing Eye's spear in her hands. She would smite them all if she did, and nothing would stop die slaughter.
"Go south, She Who Knows!" they called to her. "Go south, go south, go south."
A curse came to her lips, but she forced it back. They meant it, she realized. If she spoke out angrily now, they might well drive her from the tribe. Ten years ago she would have welcomed that. But she was an old woman, now, past thirty. To go off by herself would be certain death.
She murmured a few angry words to herself, and turned away from Silver Cloud's steady stare.
Silver Cloud clapped his hands. "All right," he called. "Start packing up, everybody! We're breaking camp! We're getting out of here before it turns dark!"
Chapter Two. Arriving
5
FOR EDITH FELLOWES it was a tremendously busy few weeks.
The hardest part was the winding up of her work at the hospital. Giving only two weeks' notice was not only irregular, it was downright improper; but the administration was reasonably sympathetic once Miss Fellowes let it be known that she was leaving with the greatest reluctance, and only because she had been offered an opportunity to take part in an incredibly exciting new research project.
She mentioned the name of Stasis Technologies, Ltd.
"You're going to be taking care of the baby dinosaur?" they asked her, and everybody chuckled.
"No, not the dinosaur," she said. "Something much closer to what I know."
She didn't give any further details. Dr. Hoskins had forbidden her to go into specifics with anyone. But it wasn't hard for those who knew and worked with Edith Fellowes to guess that the project must have something to do with children; and if her employers were the people who had brought that famous baby dinosaur out of the
Mesozoic, then surely they must be planning to do something along the same lines now-such as bringing some prehistoric child out of a remote period of time. Miss Fellowes neither confirmed or denied it. But they knew. They all knew. Her leave of absence from the hospital was granted, of course.
Still, she had to work virtually round the clock for a few days, tying off loose ends, filing her final reports, preparing lists of things for her successors, separating her own equipment and research materials from the hospital's. That part was strenuous but not otherwise burdensome. The really difficult part was saying goodbye to the children. They couldn't believe that she was leaving.
"You'll be back in a week or two, won't you, Miss Fellowes?" they asked her, crowding around. "You'll just be going on vacation, isn't that so? A little holiday? -Where are you going, Miss Fellowes?"
She had known some of these children since the day they were born. Now they were five, six, seven years old: outpatients, most of them, but some were permanent residents and she had worked with them year in, year out.
That was hard, breaking the news to them, very hard.
But she steeled herself to the task. Anodier child needed her now, an extraordinarily special child, a child whose predicament would be unique in the history of the universe. She knew that she had to go where she would be most needed.
She closed up her small apartment on the south side of town, selecting the few things she would want to take with her