Astounding British Edition, Vol. 9, No. 10 — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

MISSION OF GRAVITY ting by Lackland had cut in a recorder, in the hope of making something of the language later on. Ethnology and _ philo- logy had overlapped so thoroughly since. the beginning of interstellar travel that it was no longer easy to distinguish between them. Lackland’s opinion of his chances of interpreting the weird gabble was ex- tremely low, but he realized his own lack of training in that direction might be giving him a false impression of the task’s difficulty. He himself was listening for sounds that might indicate activity, and was more than glad when the sun reap- peared without his having heard any. As nearly as he could tell from the screens— which did not, of course, give really com- plete coverage—everything was as it had been the evening before. Perhaps the warriors guarding the sailors were a little less attentive to their jobs, and the sailors themselves less tense; Lackland could not be sure, familiar as he had now become with their various bodily attitudes and “facial” expressions. The chief had apparently reached a decision. He had drawn a little apart from his counselors and laid down his weapons; now, as sunlight slanted once more across the deck, he advanced toward Barlennan, waving the latter’s guards away as he approached. The captain, already fairly sure in his mind what the other wanted, waited: calmly. The chief halted with his head a few inches from Barlennan’s paused impressively for a moment, and began to speak. 3 His words were still unintelligible to the sailors, naturally enough; but the ges- tures accompanying them were clear enough to give the speech meaning even to the distant human watchers. He waved repeatedly first at the nearest of the radios and then toward the bank; tapped the deck of the Bree with a pincer, and then pointed downstream. After each repeti- tion of these signals with their accompany- ing verbal plea he would pause expec- tantly. Quite plainly, he wanted a radio. Lackland found himself speculating idly on just what supernatural powers the chief supposed the device to possess. Perhaps he wanted it to protect the village from enemies, or to bring luck to 45 ty te) his hunters. It was unlikely to be a much | more complicated wish; these people seemed to be on about the cultural plane of the nineteenth-century Fans or Bush- men. That was not really an important question, however; what mattered would be his attitude when the request was re- fused. That might possibly be rather antisocial, and Lackland was still worry- ing a trifle. Barlennan, showing what his human friend felt was rather more courage than sense, answered the speech briefly; a single word and a gesture which Lack- Jand had long since come to recognize comprised the reply. “No” was the first Mesklinite word which Lackland learned beyond doubt, and he learned it for the first time now. Barlennan was very de- finite. The chief, to the relief of at least one watcher, did not take a_ belligerent attitude. Instead, he gave a brief order to his men. Several of these at once laid aside their weapons and began restoring the looted food to the lockers from which it had been taken. If freedom were not enough for one of the magic boxes, he was willing to pay more. Both Barlennan and Lackland more than suspected that the fellow was now afraid to use force, badly as his possessive instincts were aroused. : With half the food returned, the chief repeated his request; when it was re- fused as before, he gave an amazingly human gesture of resignation and ordered his men to restore the rest. Lackland was getting uneasy. 3 “What do you think he’ll do when you refuse him now, Barl?” he asked softly. ~The chief looked at the box hopefully; perhaps it was arguing with its owner, ordering him to give his captor what he wanted. , “T’m not sure enough to venture a ~° prediction,” the Mesklinite replied. “With. luck, he'll bring us more stuff from the village to add to the price; but I’m not sure luck goes that far. If the radio were 2 less important, I’d give it to him now.” a The ethnologist sitting beside Lack- : land practically exploded at this point: “Have you been going through all this rigmarole and risking your life and those CORMIE HOOKS (E(0) Mas : . “* A