Oh, why could these people not have been on their way to a meeting where she could melt into the crowd? Inside a house, how could she disguise her true detestation of Aglabec? How could she keep up the pretense that she and her parents were still on good terms?
She would simply have to try.
The house was a little better cared for than most in the area. In its main bower Aglabec rested in a curved crotch, surrounded by fervent admirers. He acknowledged the late arrivals with a courteous dip; if his gaze rested longer on Chybee than the others, that could be ascribed to her being a stranger and much better nourished than the rest … except himself.
“As I was about to say before you came in,” he stated in resonant tones, “it always does my pith good to learn how many more people are coming around to the view that we must not and dare not allow scientists to persist in their crazy attempts to launch artificial moons and even space-going cities. They are, of course, impervious to reason; it’s futile to warn them that they risk forcing our planetary neighbors to act against us in self-defense. I know! I’ve tried, and I haven’t yet given up, but it’s a weary task … Scientists they call themselves!”—with vast contempt “Yet they don’t appear to realize how dangerous it would be to convey life from one planet to another. Some of them are actually plotting to do precisely that: to export bacteria and other organisms to Swiftyouth and Sunbride, to infect them, to contaminate them! How would they like it if the prong were in the other claw? Luckily for us, all the planetfolk we’ve contacted so far seem to be cognizant of the risks. They would never dream of doing such a thing, would they?”
Able to relax a little now that it was plain that Aglabec did not after all remember her, Chybee joined in the murmur of agreement which greeted his declaration. Witnessunbride, to her surprise, did not, and Aglabec inquired why.
“You did once say,” the girl ventured, “that next tune we try to fly into space we can look forward to being stopped not by another gigantic meteorite but perhaps something subtler, like a plague.”
“Ah, I’m glad that registered. My compliments on your excellent recollection. Yes, I did say that. Moreover a number of our comrades have reinforced me, have they not? There is, however, a great moral difference between seeding organisms into space merely to conduct a blind and futile experiment, and doing so with infinite reluctance in order to prevent invasion from another world. What point is there, anyhow, in traveling through space? It would be absurdly dangerous; it would be terribly slow, and living in such confinement—even assuming we can survive in the absence of gravity, which has not been proved—would be a strain on anybody’s sanity. What purpose would it serve to deliver a briqload of lunatics to another world? In any case, those of us who have discovered how to make mental voyages have chosen the path that avoids all such perils. If not instantaneously, then at speeds which exceed that of light itself, we can find ourselves on virtually any planet, any moon, we choose, to be greeted by the inhabitants as honored guests, because we understand and accept the reasons why we must not make a physical journey. If the discipline we have to endure in order to achieve our goal is harsh, so be it. Once we have been stardazzled, the need for it dies away, and we can enjoy the best not of ‘both’ worlds but of as many as we like! I emphasize that because I notice among us a stranger who seems unwilling to enter upon the pathway of privation.”
All eyes turned on Chybee, who mustered maximum self-control. She was saved from immediate speech, though, by Startoucher.
“She’s already been ‘dazzled! She can tell us about life on Sluggard’s moons! I never met anyone who’s been in contact with those folk before—except you, of course,” he added deferentially. “And she came all the way from Hulgrapuk specially to find out about how it was Sunbride and Swiftyouth that hurled the Greatest Meteorite at us.”