Isaac Asimov The Stars, Like Dust

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.""No, no.It's nothing.Pay no attention.You were saying?""Oh, about the rooms.At least two sizable ones, with a communicating shower.It's got the usual closet room and plumbing arrangements of the big liners.She would be comfortable.""Good.We'll need food and water.""Sure.Water tank will hold a two months' supply; a little less if you want toarrange for a swimming pool aboard ship.And you would have frozen wholemeats.You're eating Tyrannian concentrate now, aren't you?"Biron nodded and Rizzett grimaced."It tastes like chopped sawdust, doesn't it? What else?""A supply of clothes for the lady," said Biron.Rizzett wrinkled his forehead."Yes, of course.Well, that will be her job.""No, sir, it won't.We'll supply you with all the necessary measurements andyou can supply us with whatever we ask for in whatever the current styleshappen to be."Rizzett laughed shortly and shook his head."Rancher, she won't like that.Shewouldn't be satisfied with any clothes she didn't pi"k.Not even if they werethe identical items she would have picked if she had been given the chance.This isn't a guess, now.I've had experience with the creatures."Biron said, "I'm sure you're right, Rizzett.But that's the way it will haveto be.""All right, but I've warned you.It will be your argument.What else?""Little things.Little things.A supply of detergents.Oh yes, cosmetics,perfume--the things women need.We'll make the arrangements in time.Let's getthe trailer started."And now Gillbret was leaving without speaking.Biron's eyes followed him, too,and he felt his jaw muscles tighten.Hinriads! They were Hinriads!There was nothing he could do about it.They were Hinriads! Gillbret was oneand she was another.He said, "And, of course, there'll be clothes for Mr.Hinriad and myself.Thatwon't be very important.""Right.Mind if I use your radio? I'd better stay on this ship till theadjustments are made."Biron waited while the initial orders went out.Then Rizzett turned on theseat and said, "I can't get used to seeing you here, moving, talking, alive.You're so like him.The Rancher used to speak about you every once in a while.You went to school on Earth, didn't you?""I did.I would have graduated a little over a week ago, if things hadn't beeninterrupted."Rizzett looked uncomfortable."Look, about your being sent to Rhodia the wayyou were.You mustn't hold it against us.We didn't like it.I mean, this isstrictly between us, but some of the boys didn't like it at all.TheAutarch didn't consult us, of course.Naturally, he wouldn't.Frankly, it wasa risk on his part.Some of us--I'm not mentioning names--even wondered if weshouldn't stop the liner you were on and pull you off.Naturally that wouldhave been the worst thing we could possibly have done.Still, we might havedone it, except that in the last analysis, we knew that the Autarch must haveknown what he was doing.""It's nice to be able to inspire that kind of confidence.""We know him.There's no denying it.He's got it here." A finger slowly tappedhis forehead."Nobody knows exactly what makes him take a certain coursesometimes.But it always seems the right one.At least he's outsmarted theTyranni so far and others don't.""Like my father, for instance.""I wasn't thinking of him, exactly, but in a sense, you're right.Even theRancher was caught.But then he was a different kind of man.His way ofthinking was straight.He would never allow for crookedness.He would alwaysPage 72ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlunderestimate the worthlessness of the next man.But then again, that was whatwe liked best, somehow.He was the same to everyone, you know."I'm a commoner for all I'm a colonel.My father was a metalworker, you see.It didn't make any difference to him.And it wasn't that I was a colonel,either.If he met the engineer's 'prentice walking down the corridor, he'dstep aside and say a pleasant word or two, and for the rest of the day, the'prentice would feel like a master engineman.It was the way he had."Not that he was soft.If you needed disciplining, you got it, but no morethan your share.What you got, you deserved, and you knew it.When he wasthrough, he was through.He didn't keep throwing it at you at odd moments fora week or so.That was the Rancher."Now the Autarch, he's different.He's just brains.You can't get next to him,no matter who you are.For instance.He doesn't really have a sense of humor.I can't speak to him the way I'm speaking to you right now.Right now, I'mjust talking.I'm relaxed.It's almost free association.With him, you sayexactly what's on your mind with no spare words.And you use formalphraseology, or he'll tell you you're slovenly.But then, the Autarch's theAutarch, and that's that."Biron said, "I'll have to agree with you as far as the Autarch's brains areconcerned.Did you know that he had deduced my presence aboard this shipbefore he ever got on?""He did? We didn't know that.Now, there, that's what I mean.He was going togo aboard the Tyrannian cruiser alone.To us, it seemed suicide.We didn'tlike it.But we assumed he knew what he was doing, and he did.He could havetold us you were probably aboard ship.He must have known it would be greatnews that the Rancher's son had escaped.But it's typical.He wouldn't."Artemisia sat on one of the lower bunks in the cabin.She had to bend into anuncomfortable position to avoid having the frame of the second bunk pry intoher first thoracic vertebra, but that was a small item to her at the moment.Almost automatically, she kept passing the palms of her hands down the side ofher dress.She felt frayed and dirty, and very tired.She was tired of dabbing at her hands and face with damp napkins.She wastired of wearing the same clothes for a week.She was tired of hair whichseemed dank and stringy by now.And then she was almost on her feet again, ready to turn about sharply;she wasn't going to see him; she wouldn't look at him.But it was only Gillbret.She sank down again."Hello, Uncle Oil."Gillbret sat down opposite her.For a moment his thin face seemed anxious andthen it started wrinkling into a smile [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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