Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

nevertheless had arms and could use them, the deputation was probably

enfiladed by many invisible warriors in the forest behind them. His command

boomed out over the camp from the Javelin’s loudspeakers like the voice of a god:

HOLD YOUR FIREI I REPEAT, HOLD FIREr jom was the first to reach the

creatures, with Ailiss and her party panting not far behind. As soon as the

natives saw them coming, they stopped and waited peaceably, even passively,

their hands held palms outwards at their sides.

jorn was most astonished at their absolute humanity. These were all males,

and except for a certain oddness in the shape of the eyes, and a rather

silvery

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And all the Stars a Stage 121

sheen to the skin, they could well have belonged to any of the races of

Jom’s own people. That they were savages seemed attested to by their

nakedness, which was accentuated by a few stripes of paint on bodies and

arms, all identical except for one man who was entirely without them; yet

they did not give the impression of being savage quite the contrary. Jorn’s

immediate impression was one of total inoffensiveness, even of timidity.

He spoke to them, and one of them to him, in a questioning voice so low

that it was almost a whisper, but of course to no effect. Nevertheless, the

exchange reinforced his impression that their intentions, at least for the

present, were not war-like. On a hunch, he turned and beckoned, and then

began to walk slowly back toward the ship.

Despite their obvious weaponlessness, he quickly developed a powerful itch