“I suppose that the next time they will come bearing gifts.”
“This is quite likely. But again, your people are now advised. Others will come, too. It should not be so difficult to balance them off against one another.”
“So it still comes back to the smoke-filled room … ”
“Or methane. Or many other things,” he said. “I don’t quite follow … ”
“Politics. It’s a gas, too.”
“Oh, yes. One of life’s little essentials.”
“Ragma, I would like to ask you a personal question.”
“You may. If it is too embarrassing I will simply not answer it.”
“Then tell me, if you would, how you would characterize your own culture, race, people-whatever term your social scientists apply to your group, you know what I mean-in terms of the greater galactic civilization.”
“Oh, we would call ourselves quite practical, efficient, flat-headed-“
“Level-headed,” I said.
“Just so. And at the same time idealistic, inventive, full of cultural diversity and-“
I coughed.
“-and possessed of great potential,” he said, “and the dreams and vigor of youth.”
“Thank you.”
We turned and began walking, then, along the beach just out of reach of the tide.
“Have you been thinking about the proposal?” he finally asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“Reach a decision yet?”
“No,” I said. “I am going to go away for a while to think about it.”
“Have you any idea as to how long it will take you?”
“No.”
“Just so. Just so. You will of course notify us immediately, whichever you decide … ”
“Of course.”
We passed a faded NO SWIMMING sign, and I paused to reflect on the improvement over the GNIMMIWS ON one I would have seen earlier. My scar collection was back in place too, and cigarettes tasted normal once more. I would miss the backward versions of the soggy French fries, greasy hamburgs, day-old salads and Student Union coffee, though, I decided. Most of all, however, the memory of the stereoisobooze, mystic nectar, Spiegelschnapps would haunt me, like a breeze from the stills of Faerie …
“I guess we had better be getting back into town,” Ragma said. “Merimee’s party will be starting soon.”
“True,” I said. “But tell me something. I was just thinking about inversions that proceed as far as the molecular level but stop short of the atomic, the subatomic … ”
“And you want to know why the inverter does not deliver neat little piles of antimatter for you?”
“Well, yes.”
He shrugged.
“It can be done, but you lose a lot of machines that way, among other things. And this one is an antique. We want to hang onto it. It is the second N-axial inversion unit ever built.”
“What happened to the first one?”
He chuckled.
“It did not possess a particle-exceptor program.”
“How does that work?”
He shook his head.
“There are some things that man is not meant to know,” he said.
“That’s a hell of a thing to say at this stage of the game.”
“Actually, I don’t understand it myself.”
“Oh.”
“Let’s go drink Merimee’s booze and smoke his cigarettes,” he said. “I want to talk to your uncle some more, too. He has offered me a job, you know.”
“He has? Doing what?”
“He has some interesting ideas concerning galactic trade. He says that he wants to set up, a modest export-import business. You see, I am about ready to retire from the force, and he wants someone with my sort of experience to advise him. We might work something out.”
“He is my favorite uncle,” I said, “and I owe him a lot. But I am also sufficiently indebted to you that I feel obligated to point out that his reputation is somewhat less than savory.”
Ragma shrugged.
“The galaxy is a big place,” he said. “There are laws and occasions for all sorts and situations. These are some of the things he wants me to advise him about.”
I nodded slowly, apocalyptic pieces of family folklore having but recently fallen into place in light of Merimee’s revelations and some of Uncle Albert’s own reminiscences during our small family reunion the previous evening.
“Doctor Merimee, by the way, will be a partner in the enterprise,” Ragma added.