“Naxa will be here in a minute,” Rhes said, pointing to the door, “as soon as he’s taken care of the animals. Ask him. Fle’s the best talker we have.”
“Talker?” Jason asked. “I had the opposite idea about him. He didn’t talk much, and what he did say was, well-a little hard to understand at times.”
“Not that kind of talking,” Rhes broke in impatiently. “The talkers look after the animals. They train the dogs and doryms, and the better ones like Naxa are always trying to work with other beasts. They dress crudely, but they have to. I’ve heard them say that the animals don’t like chemicals, metal or tanned leather, so they wear untanned furs for the most part. But don’t let the dirt fool you, it has nothing to do with his intelligence.”
“Doryms? Are those your carrying beasts-the kind we rode coming here?”
Rhes nodded. “Doryms are more than pack animals, they’re really a little bit of everything. The large males pull the plows and other machines, while the younger animals are used for meat. If you want to know more, ask Naxa, you’ll find him in the barn.”
“I’d like to do that,” Jason said, standing up. “Only I feel undressed without my gun-”
“Take it, by all means, it’s in that chest by the door. Only watch out what you shoot around here.”
Naxa was in the rear of the barn, filing down one of the spade-like toenails of a dorym. It was a strange scene. The fur-dressed man with the great beast-and the contrast of a beryllium-copper file and electroluminescent plates lighting the work. The dorym opened its nostrils and pulled away when Jason entered. Naxa patted its neck and talked softly until it quieted and stood still, shivering slightly.
Something stirred in Jason’s mind, with the feeling of a long unused muscle being stressed. A hauntingly familiar sensation.
“Good morning,” Jason said. Naxa grunted something and went back to his filing. Watching him for a few minutes, Jason tried to analyze this new feeling. It itched and slipped aside when he reached for it, escaping him. Whatever it was, it had started when Naxa had talked to the dorym.
“Could you call one of the dogs in here, Naxa? I’d like to see one closer up.”
Without raising his head from his work, Naxa gave a low whistle. Jason was sure it couldn’t have been heard outside of the barn. Yet
within a minute one of the Pyrran dogs slipped quietly in. The talk rubbed the beast’s head, mumbling to it, while the animal looked i tently into his eyes.
The dog became restless when Naxa turned back to work on t] dorym. It prowled around the barn, sniffing, then moved quickly ward the open door. Jason called it back.
At least he meant to call it. At the last moment he said nothir Nothing aloud. On sudden impulse he kept his mouth closed-on he called the dog with his mind. Thinking the words Come here, dire ing the impulse at the animal with all the force and direction he Is ever used to manipulate dice. As he did it, he realized it had been a loi time since he had even considered using his psi powers.
The dog stopped and turned back toward him.
It hesitated, looking at Naxa, then walked over to Jason.
Seen this closely, the beast was a nightmare hound. The hairlc protective plates, tiny red-rimmed eyes, and countless, saliva-drippii teeth did little to inspire confidence. Yet Jason felt no fear. There was rapport between man and animal that was understood. Without cc scious thought, he reached out and scratched the dog along the bac where he knew it itched.
“Di’nt know y’re a talker,” Naxa said. As he watched them, thc was friendship in his voice for the first time.
“I didn’t know either-7’tntil just now,” Jason said. He looked into t eyes of the animal before him, scratched the ridged and ugly back, a’ began to understand.
The talkers must have well-developed psi facilities, that was obvio now. There is no barrier of race or alien form when two creatures shr each other’s emotions. Empathy first, so there would be no hatred fear. After that direct communication. The talkers might have be the ones who first broke through the barrier of hatred on Pyrrus ai learned to live with the native life. Others could have followed th~ example-this might explain how the community of “grubbers” h been formed.