“What is problem?” demanded the Corojum.
Calvy asked, “Where is Bofusdiaga?”
The Corojum stared at him incredulously, gesturing widely. “Here. This is Bofusdiaga. Bofusdiaga is all around us, anywhere inside this valley and in next valley, where Quaggima is, and I think spills over a little even farther.”
“What if we want to talk to Kaorugi itself?” asked the Questioner.
Corojum’s fur stood on end, both head and hands waved in negation. “Oh, no, no. Kaorugi would be very angry. Kaorugi does not want to be distracted and has made self unavailable.”
“Rather like the male Quaggi in that respect,” muttered Questioner, fidgeting, feeling inadequate. She could not recall ever before feeling inadequate and could not understand why she did so now, as though something very important was going on that she was not seeing! She took a deep breath.
“Corojum, Bofusdiaga is quite correct about the people in the cave. Most of them are very young and given to rebelling against their fathers and mothers. Do you understand the word mother?”
“Kaorugi understands; Bofusdiaga understands. So, I understand. Quaggima is nest keeper, child hatcher. Mankinds have also nest keepers and child hatchers also, called mothers. Other sex is called fathers.”
Questioner said, “Well, the mothers and fathers of these children have grown tired of them, so they sent them to me, hoping this will help them grow up, which it sometimes does. For the moment we can forget them. They are not part of this. We, the rest of us, are not feeling wronged.”
She said this with a swift glance at the others which they uniformly interpreted as a directive to give up any such feelings on the instant and not make a liar of her.
Mouche said, pleadingly, “We are really interested in helping, Corojum. Can’t we please get on with it?”
Corojum stared at them, looking from face to face, letting his eyes rest finally on Mouche, who held out his hands pleadingly. “I will ask Bofusdiaga.”
The Corojum went to the rock wall, leaned against it, and stared at the sky, his eyes moving, his body moving, various muscle groups knotting and relaxing, all in accompaniment to the communication, which was lengthy. Those closest could see that it had opened a seam along its side which had actually attached to the stone.
Finally, just as Questioner was running out of patience, Corojum pulled away from the rock and said, “Bofusdiaga says all right for now. Bofusdiaga will forget those others and cooperate with you. We have asked for all Timmys who danced to come here; some are here already. Every other creature who saw dance is corning, also. Some Joggiwagga, some Eiger, some others … “
“Then I think we’d better get started, because we’re running out of time!”
In the brief pause that followed, Questioner went to the cave and told the captives there to get themselves onto the high rim to wait for her, and if they wanted to avoid being eaten by the monsters, to do it without any talk whatsoever. Casting resentful glances behind them, they went, the last of them departing just before Corojum returned leading an assortment of creatures.
Questioner instructed the group: “Each of you take one of the portable data heads and record everything. Ask about the site, first. Where did they dance, where from, where to. Then ask about what they did, what they saw done by others. Corojum says when you are finished with the Timmys, they will translate for the others.”
So they began with the Timmys, their initial diffidence giving way to assurance as afternoon wore away toward evening. Questioner moved from place to place, feeding the data head information into the larger accumulator she carried in a compartment on her person.
“What is that thing, anyhow?” asked Calvy, alert to the possibility of profit.
“An IDIOT SAVANT,” she murmured. “An Improved Deductive Imager Of Theoretical Scenarios And Variations, Ambassadorial, Non-Terrestrial. It was invented by HoTA—the same department that designed me—for use by Council of Worlds diplomats. It has a data bank that includes most of what we know about intelligent races; it takes everything that is observed, fact by fact, and extrapolates a logical scenario that includes all observed realities. Then it does variations on the scenario. It helps me understand both mankind and non-mankind races.”