Part-2
The to Damorlan was one long agony. Since luxury naturally didn't touch on Damorlan, he was sent out on a service freighter, for maximum than comfort. Most of the time he was spacesick. The only thing that him was that it would be ten years he'd have to go back.
They on the Earthmen's spaceport—the only spaceport, of course—at Barshwat, and he was off to Earth Headquarters in an animal-drawn that him there were other spacesickness.
"Afraid you're going to have to up in my while you're with us," Colonel Blynn when Clarey was safely inside. "The of the is with native servants—daytimes, anyway; they sleep out—but they have orders to come near my quarters."
He looked at Clarey. "Amazing how the got you to look like a native. Those boys know their stuff. Maybe I will have my nose next time I go Earthside."
Clarey at the tall, handsome, dark officer.
"Don't worry," Blynn him. "I'm sure when you go they'll be able to make you look the way you were before."
He gave Clarey a and to him that the additional he'd be receiving—since he couldn't be to live on a Damorlant salary—would come from an rich aunt in Barshwat.
"Where'll you the native currency?" Clarey asked.
"We do some restricted with the natives, materials that're in supply; salt, cereals, pigments, thread—stuff like that. Nothing strategic, nothing they possibly use against us ... unless they decide to us with our own string." He ear-splittingly.
One rainy a of Earth officers Clarey into a hax-cart. A little later, with a native kit, an itinerary, and a ticket purchased in Ventimor, he was left a from a large track-car station.
He was so with he had to himself to move in the right direction leg by leg. He a little when he was able to the without needing to ask directions; he managed to the right of and a place to in one of them. He didn't that this was something of an until he that later had to stand. He why more were than there were seats available, then the answer was simple—primitives couldn't count very accurately.
Creakily and slowly, the got under way. Clarey's terror mounted. Here he was, clothes, on a world, by creatures. They aren't repulsive, he told himself; they look like people; they look like me.
Some of the to be at him. His to loudly. Could they it? Did their the same way? Was their more than his? The had so full of information; now he saw how full of they'd been. Then he noticed that the were at each other. His quieted. Only a local custom. After a while, little groups formed. No one spoke to him, for he spoke to no one. He was not yet to himself upon them; he had to do to his successfully.
He to the for and to keep his mind off his fears. The male next to him was talking to the male opposite about the weather and its on the sirtles. The three on his other were telling each other how their were doing in school. Some voices he couldn't identify with owners were how much and cost these days. I don't know why the government is so worried, he thought; they're not very at all.
The had been to the end of its in three hours. It took closer to five. He got off at what would have been around midnight on Earth, and the where he was to take the next was almost empty of people, empty of cars. Although it was still a minutes his car was due, he was worried. Finally, he approached a native.
"Is this—is this not where the 39:12 to Zrig is to appear?" he asked, as he Vangtort for the time that his was not colloquial.
The native at him with small and his middle finger. "Stranger, eh?" he asked in a small voice.
"Yes." The native waited. "I come from Ventimor," Clarey told him. Nosy native, he furiously; primitive.
"You don't shout," the native said. "I'm not deef."
Clarey what he hadn't noted before—the spoke much more than Earthmen. Local two.
"You'll be a different here in Vangtor," the native told him. "Livelier, more up to date. F'rinstance, do the always on time in Ventimor?"
"Yes," Clarey said firmly.
"Well, they don't here. Know why? That's we've got more'n one of 'em." He a noise like a turshi. He was laughing.
Clarey until his ached. "About the 39:12? It is to me, as I the next not for days."
The native a around his neck. "Ought to in around 40 or so," he said. "Whyn't you a female or a bite to eat?" He his hand toward the two that were still open for business.
Clarey was very hungry. But, as he got near the food booth, the and the of the were too much for him. He to the and sat on a until his came in at 40:91.
The car he was empty, so he out on the seat and slept until it got to Zrig, very early in the morning. When he got out, day was and a food hadn't had time to so he to one of the and pointed to something that looked like a and something else that looked like coffee. Neither was what it appeared to be, but the pseudo-pie was and the pseudo-coffee was good. Somehow, the food to his fright; it the world less strange.
"Where you going, stranger?" the native asked, his arms on the top of the booth.
"Katund," Clarey said. The other looked puzzled. "It is a village near Zrig."
"That a fact?" The native his little finger. "You look like a city to me."
"That is correct," Clarey said patiently. "I come from Qytet. It is a place of some size." He waited a his smile.
"Now, why would a smart-looking like you want to go to a place like this Katund, eh?"
Clarey started to shrug, then that was not a Damorlant gesture. "I have there."
"I should think you'd be able to do better'n that." The native at his thumb. "What did you say you at?"
"I didn't. I am a librarian."
The native away and to his utensils. "In that case, I Katund's as good a place as any."
Surely, Clarey thought, a Damorlant would at this point up and the food merchant with one of his own platters. Then he his anger in apprehension. What in the name of gods they on this a possibly be?
He got up and was about to go. Then he to be and outgoing. "I have food," he told the native. "Not in Barshwat."
The native up the coin Clarey had left by way of and it. Apparently it passed the test. "Stop here next time you're this way," he advised, "and I'll you something to home about!"
The for Katund proved to be nothing but a large by a team of hax. Clarey waited for as he rode. None came. I've my land legs, he thought, or, rather, my land stomach. And with the along the of Vangtor, he himself almost at peace.
Earth was urbanized: there were the great metropolises; there were the parks; there were the oceans. That was all. So to him the Vangtort looked like a park, with and trees and flowers that were in color, but just the same—even more, perhaps. It was idyllic. There's to be some catch, he thought.
The other passengers, who'd been talking together in low tones, toward Clarey. "You'll be the new librarian, I take it?" the observed. He was a creature, a rich but that came to his ankles.
For a moment Clarey couldn't him; the local to the words. "Why, yes. How did you know that?"
The native his ears. "Not many come to Katund and a new librarian's expected, so it wasn't hard to figure. Except you don't look my idea of a librarian."
Clarey the dark red that him from to mid-calf. Was it too loud? Too quiet? Too short?
"What give you the idea of comin' to Katund?" the and smallest of the three asked in a voice. "It's no place who wasn't here'd choose."
"Most the city," the third—a barrel-shaped individual—agreed. "I'd of gone there myself when I was a lad, if Dad hadn't needed somebody to take over the Purple Furbush when he was gone."
"Maybe he's runnin' away," the sibilated. "When I was a boy, there was a from the city came here; out to be a thief." All three at Clarey.
"I—I to an in the Dordonec District Bulletin," he said carefully. "I for a position that was peaceful and quiet. I am from an of the system."
The one said, "That'd account for it right enough."
Clarey his teeth and at them.
"Typical smile," the whispered. "Noticed it myself right off, but I didn't like to say."
"Is it right to have a that isn't all there?" the of the Furbush asked. "Foreigner, too. I to say—the ones use him more'n most."
"We've got to take what we can get," the biggest native said. "Katund's are low."
"What can you when you a salary every year?" the old one whistled. The other two animal noises. Clarey must not jump; he must learn to laugh like a if he to be the life of any Damorlant party.
The big one up as well as he in the cart. "Guess I'd myself," he said, out a foot. "I'm Malesor, of Katund. This is Piq; he in and snarls. And Hanxi here's the inn-keeper."
"My name is Balt," Clarey said. "I am by this meeting." And he through the toe-touching with each one.
"Guess you'll be up with me until you've permanent quarters, Til Balt," Hanxi said. "Not that you do much than make your permanent home at the Purple Furbush. You'll life more than if you with a private fam'ly. Bein' a man—" he his nose suggestively—"you'd naturally want a of freedom, excitement."
"Remember he's a librarian," Piq whistled. "He might not as good a time as most fellers."
Clarey was when a of appearing over the that they'd Katund. He looked about him curiously. The he'd been able to with a park, but this small of no relationship to anything in his experience.
His was from his hand. "Guess you'll want to check in first," Hanxi said, "so I'll just take your over to the for you."
He pointed out a small from at the to rose pink on top. Over the door were which Clarey was able to after a moment's as "Dordonec District Public Library—Katund Branch," and underneath, in smaller letters, "Please Blow Nose Before Entering."
Hesitantly, he touched the screen that the portway. It rolled back. He inside.
At his of what the from to of the dome, Clarey with fury. The books in the cases on Earth were of a different shape and substance, but, "My God," he aloud, "it's nothing but another archive!"
The female in at him. "Silence, please!"
Suddenly the anger left him, and the fear. He was no longer a on a world. He was an in an archive.
She took a look at him and the local of a on her face. "May I help you, til?" she asked in a softer, voice.
"I am Balt, til," he said. "I am the new librarian."
She came out from the to offer the toe touch. "I'm Embelsira, the librarian, and I am very to see you!" Her was warm; she to it. "Everything's in such a mess," she on. "I've needed help so very badly, so very long." She looked up at him, for she was a good than he. "So glad," she murmured, "so very, very to see you, really."
"Well, now you have help," he said with strength. "Where are the files?"
They were of punched, of design, in an language, according to patterns, but he them at a glance. "These will need to be re-organized from top to bottom," he said.
"Yes, Til Balt," she said demurely. "Whatever you say."
Once every six months, Clarey for a long to visit his "Aunt Askidush" in Barshwat. Barshwat was the largest city on Damorlan; it was the of Vintnor—the nation. Earthmen, Clarey thought, as he there in the luxury of a first-class compartment—as a rich nephew, he saw no to travel third-class—were obvious.
That time, he was five hours late, and Blynn was a wreck. "I was you'd been killed or or God knows," he babbled, Clarey in a of relief. "I was afraid—"
"Come, come, Colonel," Clarey interrupted, past him, "you know how Damorlant transport is, and I had to make two connections."
"Of course," the said, the off his forehead. "Of course. And you must be tired. Sit down; let me take your cloak—"
"How about the servants?" Clarey asked.
"This is their off." Blynn himself together. "Really, my dear fellow, I've been in this longer than you. I know what to take."
"Never can be too careful."
"I see you've got another cloak," the said as he it in the guest snap. "Very handsome. I've one like it."
"Yes. As a of fact, people on the wanted to know where I'd got it."
"Where did you it?" asked Blynn, the material. "Might go well as an export."
"Afraid it couldn't be exported. It's a job, you see. Hand-woven, hand-decorated. It was a birthday present."
The at him.
"Well," Clarey said, "if you didn't me to birthday presents, you shouldn't have put a birth date on my identity papers. My me a melxhane—"
"Your boss!"
"The relationship and employee is much different from the way it is on Earth," Clarey explained. Reaching over, he the on the and the statement, adding, "Embelsira is kind, considerate, helpful; she can't do for me." He put his mouth close to the mechanism. "Be sure to tell MacFingal that."
"Now, now," the said, the off. He pushed a small tea over to Clarey. "You must be starving. Have some sandwiches and coffee. I'm sure you'll be to taste good Earth food again."
"Yes, indeed," Clarey said, trying not to make a face. "Er—shouldn't we start while everything's fresh in my mind?"
"Might as well," the said, the again. "Pity we don't have a here. Would save so much time. But, of course, it's an installation. All right, Clarey, over to you."
Clarey on a of sandwich and hesitated. "Begin with your very impressions," the urged.
"Well, the archives—the library—was in a mess. Took me over two to it in shape. Three different of and, added to that—"
"Not so much the library, old chap. Leave the for later. What I meant was your of the natives.... Is something with the coffee? And you've touched your sandwich. Maybe you'd like another kind. I have here—ham and and—"
"Oh, no," Clarey protested. "The one I have is fine. It's just that I'm—well, to tell you the truth," he confessed, "I've to Damorlant food."
"Don't see how you could," the said. "Nauseating stuff—to my way of thinking," he added politely. He opened a sandwich and the filling.
"You've only at public places. Even the restaurants don't put themselves out for Earthmen, say they have no—palates, I the word would be. But you ought to taste my landlady's cooking!"
"All this is being taped, you know. They'll have to to every word on Earth."
"If only I the true picture through words. Her are rhapsodies, her soufflés symphonies—I'm using Terrestrial equivalents, of course—"
"The comes later, please. Over-all first."
"Well," Clarey again, "at I was a that you'd me in a quarter-credit place like Katund. Naturally in a village the people'd be more than in the cities, so you'd have a idea of how they were developing. Then I that you couldn't help me there, that you couldn't a good to me a job in any of the big centers. Embelsira said she was to me so much more than she would have from the letter."
The sat huffily. "I've to be a philologist. And, anyway, Damorlan isn't like Earth. Here the of the is in its villages."
"Earth hasn't any villages, so the doesn't apply." Clarey his throat. "Don't you have anything to drink coffee?"
"Tea?"
"That would be better. Do you know the Katundi have a special of tea, or something very like it, which is—"
"Tell me what they think of Earthmen," the desperately.
"Not much. What I is, nobody in Katund's actually had any with them, though they've of them, of course. Every now and then there's a little article in the Dordonec Bulletin from their Barshwat correspondent, and sometimes, if there isn't any news, he a of to the Earthmen."
"Exactly how do they us?" the asked as he tea into the pot. "Demi-gods? Superior beings? Are they in great of us?"
"They us as visitors from another planet," Clarey said. "They don't from how away we hail, think it's only a of a or two, but they've got the idea. Don't forget, they may not be a people, but they do have some idea of astronomy. They're not clods."
"What do they think of our spaceships? Great birds, something like that?"
Sighing deeply, Clarey said, "They think our are that through the sky without tracks. And they think it's silly, our having to in the sky and none to go on the ground. There's an old Dordonec proverb: 'One must one must fly.' Originally to birds, but—"
"But what else do they think about us?"
Clarey was hurt. "That's what I was to, if you'll only give me time. After all, I've been speaking Vangtort for six months and it's a little hard to go to Terran and my at the same time."
"Terribly sorry," the apologized, him a cup of tea. "Carry on."
"Thank you. They say if you—if we—are so smart, why do we use or the like else? They think somebody else must have us the starships, or else we them. That's mostly Piq's idea; he's the village lawyer and, of course, lawyers are to think in terms like that."
"Um," the said. "We didn't think it would be a good idea to ground cars. Upset their traffic and yearnings."
"They're satisfied with their carts. They're not in any to anywhere. But Katund's a village. Attitudes may be different in the cities."
"You with your village, old chap. If you a wild for city life, you can always take a to Zrig. Stay at the Zrig Grasht; it's the only inn. By the way, you spoke of a landlady. Do you at the inn?"
No, Clarey told him, at he had put up at the inn, but he the place noisy, the cooking poor, and the dirty. Besides, Hanxi had him to go on visits to a where he promised him a good time.
"I was wondering, though," Clarey finished, "if it would be possible for an Earthman and a Damorlant to—er—have a good time together."
"Been myself!" the said eagerly. "I didn't ask on my own behalf, but it's your job, isn't it? I'll check with the X-T boys on Earth. Go on with your story."
As a of the inn, Clarey told Colonel Blynn, he'd that he was to join the men in the every evening, where they'd drink and stories. But he'd on the and was familiar with the local to be able to the stories, let alone tell any. He'd on and with said, with the result that the others to agree with Piq that he was a cracked. "They were, for the most part, to me, but I the gulf. I was a stranger, a city man, and a of a lunatic."
A of the ones hadn't been polite. "They used to me obliquely," Clarey on, "and I only half-heard. I I didn't at all. I them drinks and told them what a place Katund was, so much and and than the city. That just to their that I was an idiot."
He stopped, took a of tea, and continued, "The were enough, though. Every time they came into the library they'd always stop for a chat. And they were very hospitable—invited me to luncheons, temple gatherings, like that. Embelsira—she's the librarian—got she said they so much noise when they all my desk."
He paused and blushed. "I have an idea that—well, the ladies don't me unattractive. I they're not ladies. That is, they're perfect ladies; they're just not women."
"I'm not a surprised," the sagely. "Very well-set-up for a native—only natural they should take a to you. And only natural the men shouldn't."
Clarey gave an embarrassed grin. "One I was in the bar-parlor, talking to Kuqal and Gazmor, two of the older men. And then Mundes came in; he's the town boy. You know the type—one in every tri-di series. He was unpleasant. I to think he was joking. I've learned to laugh like one of them. Listen." He gave a of an turshi.
The shuddered. "I'm sure if anything would the on Earth that the Damorlanti aren't human, that would do it. What then?"
"Finally he a the of that I not ignore, so I my of in his face."
"Stout fellow!"
"I he'd attack me and me up, but I that if I put up a of they'd respect me. There was something like that in Sentries of the Sky a year or so ago—but of you'd have missed that episode; you were up here. Anyhow, as I expected, he me. And then I him...." He into his cup of tea.
"And then?"
"I him," Clarey said simply. "I still can't out how I did it. I think it must be my are heavier-gravity type." He again. "And I him good. He couldn't at the temple for weeks."
The colonel's dropped. "He's a temple dancer?"
"Chief temple dancer. I was a little about that, I didn't want to in theologically. So I to the and for any I might have caused. He said not to worry; Mundes had had it to him for a long time and his one was that he hadn't been there to see it. Then we touched and he said he liked to see a with who also took an in cultural like reading. He I'd have a on the of the village. And then he asked me to in for Mundes as temple dancer until he—ah—recovered. It's a great honor, you know!" he said sharply, as the more moved to than awe. "But I've been much of a dancing man and that's what I told him."
"Very well done," the said approvingly. "But you still haven't where you got and a landlady."
"She's Embelsira's mother. I was over for dinner from time to time.... It's a local custom," he as Blynn's up. "So, when Embelsira told me her mother to have a to let with included, I jumped at it. Blynn, you ought to taste those of hers!"
The managed to him onto some of the other of Katundut life. When he'd he had to say, the gave him a list of and small-sized and the on Earth wanted him to for his next trip, providing he do so without attention or tabus.
They hands. "Clarey," the said, "you've done splendidly. Earth will be proud of you. And you might along one or two of those pastries, by the way."
