The boat had a low-lying central cabin. A bird thing perched on the edge of it. The bird’s rainbow-hued crest bobbed up and down like a metronome. Its tail was of bright golden feathers and the rest of it was dull, crushed, velvety gold. The thing fluttered down to land on Sawbill’s right shoulder. Dipping and bobbing, it surveyed the new arrival. The rainbow crest feathers flashed in avian Morse.
The too-young man stared with interest at the bird-thing. He was no ornithologist, not even an amateur. But he was well read. Enough to know that this bird was not native to Thalia Major. (It might have come from Thalia Minor, but he doubted it because … )
“Well, feller me lad, who^. wants to buy anger— what’s your moniker?”
“Moniker?”
“Handle. Wing. Name. Pseudo-corporeal psychic verbal inculcation. What have you been conditioned to call yourself?”
“Jasper Jordan. And it’s my real name, not an alias. See, I have no desire to hide things from you. I want this all to be very open. That’s a fascinating pet you have.”
Sawbill carefully aligned a nail, drove it home with two solid, short raps from the hammer. He spoke without pausing in his work or looking back.
“It’s a pirn-bird from Tehuantepec. The things are . sacred to the Indians who inhabit the planet’s two con-
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE . ..
tinents. They are called pirn-birds for convenience. Of the natives—not of the birds, who have nothing to say in the matter. Their real names are much longer and even incorporate a short snatch of song. You wouldn’t understand it, because the natives themselves don’t. It’s a very old song. A rough terranglo translation begins Tears of the sun . . . and flows from there. This particular pirn-bird supposedly contains the soul of the great emperor Lethan-atuan, who—depending on which legend you prefer to believe—at one time ruled with the most beautiful Queen Quetzal-ma half this galaxy or a cluster of three small islands off the coast of the continent Col. Just now it happens to be hungry. It is said by the Indians that if the souls of the emperor and his queen are ever reunited, they will once again rule the galaxy. Which is one reason the natives permitted me to take him oS-planet. They rather like their present system of rule and frown on the idea of long-dead emperors returning.”