“You remembered.”
Nick inclined his head to indicate the group over at the table by the wall, where Hunt had come from. What’ll it be? Same as before?”
‘‘Please.’’
“I’ll bring them over.”
“Thanks.”
Hunt turned away from the few still clustered around the mess-area bar in the Terran section of the ship at that late hour, and crossed back to rejoin the others. Bob, the schoolteacher from Florida, had been recalled with his flock by an embarrassed Board of Governors under pressure from concerned State officials and panicking parents.
“Hell, how was anybody supposed to know they’d pick this time to have a revolution?” he was saying to the others as Hunt sat down.
“Were the kids worried?” Gina asked him.
“The kids? Not on your life. They never had such a good time.
And when that Ganymian spaceship came through the roof of the
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Alan and Keith, the two marketing executives t}oiii 1 )isuiey World, were also on their way back. Their preliminary survey of possibilities on Jevlen had revealed some potential; but more exciting was the revolutionary Jevlenese approach to getting away from it all that they had learned about, which could transform the whole industry back home. –
“Did you know, that was really the whole of the Jevs’ problem,”
Keith told the company. “That computer they had could manufacture totally illusory worlds inside your head, so convincing that nobody could tell the difference. But it got to be an addiction, everywhere, which was why the place was in such a mess. That was why the Ganymeans had to switch it off.”
“Really?” Danchekker said, sipping his fruit juice.
“Yes, truly. But imagine what it would do if they can figure out
how to get the bugs out of it.” — -~ Al took up the theme, looking at Nixie. They were all wearing
Thunen translator disks, so VISAR was able to translate for her. “Suppose you could live in a world where anything’s possible, just by wanting it to be. You can make magic things happen. How would that be for a vacation? I mean, we’re not talking about something that you look at on a screen, or that’s being faked somehow. This is real.”
Nixie made a play of looking befuddled. “I think I’d have a hard time imagining anything like that,” she replied. “I guess I’d have to think about it.” She glanced at Murray. He shrugged and nodded in a way that said it was as good an answer as any.
“How about you? What are you going to Earth for?” Keith asked her. He waved a hand to indicate Hunt, Danchekker, and Gina, whom he knew from their talk on the trip out to have been engaged on a scientific mission. “You’re working with them now, right?”
“That’s right,” Nixie said. “I’m going back to help the Thuriens with some of their research.”
Al looked impressed. “Say, that’s interesting. What did you do back on Jevlen, exactly?”
Nixie looked at Murray perplexedly.
“Er, free enterprise in a small—business environment,” Murray said. “We both did. The Thuriens are interested in ways of encouraging Jevlenese private initiative.”
“Oh, you’re economists,” Al said.
“Yeah . . . right,” Murray agreed.
Nick appeared with a tray from the bar and began setting down drinks and collecting empties.
“So, how did the look at Ganymean science work out, Professor?” Bob asked Danchekker. “Did it turn up anything interesting?”
“Yes, I think you could say that,” Danchekker replied.
“I remember on the way out, you said something about a crazy kind of Jevlenese animal, something like a bat, except it can pass on what it learns. What was it, an ‘ag,’ ‘ank’ . . . something?”
“Anquiloc,” Gina supplied.
“That’s right. Did you come across anything more like that?”
“Ah, yes, well, we already knew that it exemplified a whole class of creatures that possess an ability to encode acquired knowledge
genetically.”
“Right,” Bob said, sipping his drink and nodding for Danchekker to continue.