Astounding British Edition, Vol. 9, No. 10 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION ‘remain completely idle. He looked about the city and tried to picture the regular life of its inhabitants, until Barlennan’s actions attracted his attention. 7 The captain did not believe in wasting time; he was going to trade with these people, and, if they wouldn’t trade, he would move on. His action, which focused Lackland’s attention on him, was to start tossing the packaged trade goods from the roof beside him, and calling to his men to get busy. This they did, once the packages had stopped falling. Bar- lennan himself leaped to the ground after the last bundle—an act which did not seem to bother in the least the silentl watching giants—and joined in the tas of preparing the goods for display. The Earthman watched with interest. There were bolts of what looked like cloth of various colors, bundles that might have been dried roots or pieces of rope, tiny covered jars and larger empty ones—a good, varied display of objects whose purpose, he could only guggs. With the unveiling of this materfal the natives began to crowd forward; whether in curiosity or menace Lackland could not tell. None of the sailors showed visible apprehension—he had come to have some ability at recognizing this emotion in their kind. By the time their preparations seemed to be complete an almost solid ring of natives surrounded the tank. The way it had come was the only direction unblocked by their long bodies. The silence among the strange beings per- sisted, and was beginning to bother Lack- land; but Barlennan was either indifferent to it or able to conceal his feelings. He picked an individual out of the crowd, F 03 — aed oe Gee oe (ie oie see Geet Gee = oie | (your newsagent), or I | ATLAS Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd. | 18 BRIDE LANE, LONDON, E.C.4. — Enclosed is remittance for 20/6. Kind arrange for one year’s supply (12 issues) of: ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION to be sent to the following address: using no particular method of choice that the Earthman could see, and began his selling program. How he went about it Lackland was utterly unable to understand. The captain had said he did not expect these people to understand his language, yet he spoke; his gestures were meaningless to Lack- land, though he used them freely. How any understanding could be transmitted was a complete mystery to the alien watcher; yet apparently Barlennan was having some degree of success. The trouble was, of course, that Lackland in his few months’ acquaintance with the strange creatures had not gained more than the tiniest bit of insight into their psychology. He can hardly be blamed; professionals years later were still being puzzled by it. So much of the Mesklinite action and gesticulation is tied in directly with the physical functioning of their bodies that its meaning, seen by another member of the same race, is automatically clear; these giant city-dwellers, though not of Barlennan’s precise species, were similar enough in makeup so that com- munication was not the problem Lack- land naturally assumed it would be. In a fairly short time, a number of the créatures were éfierging from their homes with various articles which they apparently wished to trade, and other members of the Bree’s crew took active part in the bargaining. This continued as the sun swept across the sky, and through the period of darkness—Barlennan asked Lackland to furnish illumination from the tank. If the artificial light bothered or surprised the giants at all, even Barlennan — was unable to detect any signs of the fact. They paid perfect attention to the business at hand, and when one had gotten rid of what he had or acquired what he seemed to want, he would retire to his home and leave room for another. The natural result was that a few days later all of Barlennan’s remaining trade goods had changed hands, and the new articles transferred to the roof of the tank. Most of these things were as strange to Lackland as the original trade materials had been; but two attracted his attention particularly. Both were apparently living animals, though he could not make out COMME KOOKS aeOlnn)