For lack of anything more desirable, Guy took to walking in the
evening. He covered miles in his meanderings through this city in the
center of the continent, and in doing so learned very little, but at
least it kept him from being everlastingly confronted by that unnamable
acclaim.
Worst of all, most of them treated his name--Gomanar--with some
amusement. Guy searched his mind, and knew that it had no amusing
nuance by any stretch of the imagination. He wondered whether he had
assumed the name of some famous man, but a search of the libraries
gave him negative evidence--which in this case was fairly conclusive
both for fame and for notoriety.
His work was well received. Even when he made errors, it was
overlooked, and Guy knew that others were called to task for their
errors.
At last he could stand it no longer, and since his position as an
instrument worker placed him in contact with numberless small,
technical parts, Guy pilfered them shamelessly, and started to make a
thought-beam receiver in his rooms.
And that was a project that might take a year in itself.
But it would give him the answer.
* * * * *
Forty days after he arrived in this city, which contained among other
things the most prominent university on Ertene, Guy was walking
alone in his usual habit. His steps unconsciously turned toward the
university campus, and as he neared the broad campus, the pleasant
strains of music came to him. It gave him a lift of spirit, and his
steps quickened until he was approaching a ten-deep ring of people
surrounding the vast campus.
He stood behind them, trying to look between their heads, and his
curiosity caused him to press forward. The man ahead of him turned,
annoyed, and his annoyance turned to pleasure. He stepped aside and
motioned Guy to take his place. Guy blinked, smiled, and moved forward;
it had become natural to accept these offers. A whispering arose,
faint, unintelligible, insidious. Those in front of him pressed aside,
one by one, and opened a lane for Guy until he could see the entire
campus from the front line.
He remembered seeing a notice in the evening news; The University of
Locana was holding the graduation dance for the upper classmen. It
meant absolutely nothing to Guy, but the sight was interesting to see.
The gay colors, the glad music, the circling couples--were all cheerful
until the music stopped with a sudden crash, and played a loud, joyous
chord.
The orchestra leader pointed his long wand in Guy's direction, and from
the maze of dancers there came a youthful figure, running.
"Elanane!" she called. "Oh, Elanane!"
He heard the whisper "--the lanee's sister--" and nothing registered
save that this girl must be the sister of the elected governor of
Ertene. He didn't know her, which he thought to be a shame since she
appealed to his sense of appreciation as few other women ever had. He
probably never would know her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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