developed them for every combination of contingencies that he could
imagine. Yet he realized this must be kept within limits; unforeseen
things were bound to pop up, and he couldn’t risk becoming mentally
rigid.
“All that thinking did raise my hopes,” he told Rrinn.
“For us too?” the chief answered. He gave the man a contemplative look.
“Skyswimmer, naught have we save your saying, that we should believe you
intend our good.”
“My existence is proof that the Merseians have not apprised you of
everything. They never mentioned races in contention with them–did
they?”
“No. When Ydwyr and others declared the world goes around the sun and
the stars are suns themselves with worlds aspin in the same wise …
that took years to catch. I did ask once, were more folk than theirs
upon those worlds, and he said Merseia was friend to many. Further has
he not related.”
“Do you seize?” Flandry crowed. (He was getting the hang of Ruadrath
idioms in Eriau. A man or Merseian would have phrased it, “Do you see?”)
“S-s-s-s … Gifts have they given us, and in fairness have they dealt.”
Why shouldn’t they? Flandry gibed. The scientists aren’t about to
antagonize their objects of research, and the Navy has no cause to. The
reasons for being a tad less than candid about the interstellar
political brew are quite simple. Imprimis, as this chap here is wise
enough to understand, radically new information has to be assimilated
slowly; too much at once would only confuse. Secundus, by its effect on
religion and so forth, it tends to upset the cultures that Ydwyr’s gang
came to study.
The fact is, friend Rrinn, the Merseians like and rather admire your
people. Far more than the Domrath, you resemble them–or us, in the days
of our pioneering.
But you must not be allowed to continue believing that.
“Among their folk and mine is a practice of keeping meat animals behind
walls,” he said. “Those beasts are treated well and fed richly … until
time for slaughter.”
Rrinn arched his back. His tail stood straight. He bared teeth and
clapped hand to knife.
He had been walking with Flandry ahead of the group. It consisted
chiefly of young, aged, and females. The hunters were scattered in small
parties, seeking game. Some would not rejoin their families for days.
When Rrinn stopped stiffened, unease could be seen on all the sleek
red-brown bodies behind. The leader evidently felt he shouldn’t let them
come to a halt. He waved, a clawing gesture, and resumed his advance.
Flandry, who had modified a pair of Merseian snow-shoes for himself,
kept pace. Against the fact that he wasn’t really built for this
environment must be set his greater size. Furthermore, the going was
currently easy.
Wirrda’s were bound across the tundra that had been jungle in summer.
Most years they visited the Merseian base, which wasn’t far off their
direct route, for sightseeing, talk, and a handout. However, the
practice wasn’t invariable–it depended on factors like weather–and
Flandry had made them sufficiently suspicious that on this occasion they
jogged out of their way to avoid coming near the compound. Meanwhile he
continued feeding their distrust.
The Hell-kettles would have been visible except for being wrapped in
storm. That part of horizon and sky was cut off by a vast blue-black
curtain. Not for weeks or months would the atmosphere settle down to the
clear, even colder calm of full winter. But elsewhere the sky stood pale
blue, with a few high cirrus clouds to catch sunlight.
This had dropped to considerably less than Terra gets. (In fact, the
point of equal value had been passed in what meteorologically was early
fall. Likewise, the lowest temperatures would come well after Talwin had
gone through apastron, where insolation was about 0.45 Terran.) Flandry
must nevertheless wear self-darkening goggles against its white
refulgence; and, since he couldn’t look near the sun disc, its dwindling
angular diameter did not impinge on his senses.
His surroundings did. He had experienced winters elsewhere, but none
like this.
Even on planets akin to Terra, that period is not devoid of life. On
Talwin, where it occupied most of the long year, a separate ecology had