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Rating in Second Galaxy mathematics?" He nodded, hauled out a sheet of thin, wax-coated fabric and his claws made rapid imprints in the surface. He passed it to Bart, pointed. Bart hesitated, and Vorongil said impatiently, "Standard agreement, no hidden clauses. Put your mark on it, feathertop." Bart realized it was something like a fingerprint they wanted. You'll pass anything but X-rays.
"Captain, everybody on the Swiftwing " "And speak Lhari!" Vorongil demanded, and Bart realized that in his excitement he had been shouting in Universal. He drew a long, deep breath. "Captain, there are lethal radiations being released here," he said. "You have just barely half an hour to gather all the men and get them behind shielding."
"The radiation counter is out of order," Vorongil remarked, unruffled. "How can you possibly know " Bart stood in despair. Could he say, A ship has landed here? Could he say, Check that bunker? Even if Montano was a would-be murderer, he was human, and Bart could not betray him to the Lhari. There had been too much betrayal. His voice rose in sudden hysteria. "Captain, there's no time!
Even his eyeballs ached as he struggled to turn the tiny eye muscles from dial to dial, and his voice was a dim croak: "Fourteen seven sidereal twelve point one one four nine...." "Hold it to point one one four six," Vorongil said calmly. "Point one one four six," Bart said, and his claws stabbed at dials.
Toward the end of the third day, the biologist reported air, water and gravity well within tolerable limits, and Captain Vorongil issued permission for anyone who liked, to go outside and have a look around. Bart had a sort of ship-induced claustrophobia. It was good to feel solid ground under his feet and the rays of a sun, even a green sun, on his back.
"I've done something better than stealing a secret by stealth. I've proved that humans and Lhari can communicate, that they can trust each other. It's only their looks that are strange. A kind, generous man is a kind generous man, whether his name is Raynor Three or Vorongil." But who's going to know it? "I know it. And truth comes out, sooner or later.
We usually try to get him out before Vorongil officially takes notice. Of course, he sort of keeps his back turned," Ringg said, and they laughed together as they turned back to the drive room. Bart found himself thinking, Ringg's a good kid, before he pulled himself up, in sudden shock. He had lived through warp-drive!
"I don't want to be mobbed when they hear that I have the secret of the star-drive." The effect was electric. The four Lhari sat up; their white crests twitched. Vorongil stared, his gray eyes darkening with fear. One of the Lhari leaned forward, shooting the question at him harshly. "You did not discover the coordinates of the Council Planet of Ke Lhiro! You did not discover "
"Indeed no. His own men have probably found him by now. I don't imagine he got half as much radiation as you did." Bart surveyed the needle in his arm. "Why are you taking all this trouble if I'm going to be put out of the way?" "You must have some funny ideas about us," Vorongil said shaking his head. "That would be a fine way to reward you for saving all of our lives.
Bart looked at his red-tipped claws in ill-concealed horror, but it was lost in a general gasp of consternation, for Vorongil had flung the drive room door open, taking in the scene in one blistering glance. "What's going on down here?" For the first time, Bart understood Vorongil's reputation as a tyrant.
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