Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Venus (Planet) -- Fiction
Here the similarity between her dream and actual experience ended.
What was he thinking as he eyed her for a long moment? She had no way
of guessing. He said, "No, I am not going to take you back there." Her
month gaped in surprise, and he continued, "As for the distance to
Terra--it is incredibly far away."
The glare was beginning to die, the green flames' hissing fading to a
whisper. They watched the melting globe sag on the sand. Then Koroby
said, "But if it is so far away, how could you speak my language? There
are some tribes beyond the jungle whose language is unlike ours--"
"I read your mind," he explained indifferently. "I have a remarkable
memory."
"Remarkable indeed!" she mocked. "No one here could do that."
"But my race is infinitely superior to yours," he said blandly. "You
little people--ah--" He gestured airily.
Her lips tightened and her eyes narrowed. "And I?"
His voice sounded almost surprised. "What about you?"
"You see nothing about me worthy of your respect? Are you infinitely
superior to me--_me_?"
He looked her up and down. "Of course!"
Her eyes jerked wide open and she took a deep breath. "And just who do
you think you are? A god?"
He shook his head. "No. Just better informed, for one thing. And--"
Koroby cut him short. "What's your name?"
"I have none."
"What do you mean, you have none?"
He seemed just a trifle bored. "We gave up names long ago on my world.
We are concerned with more weighty things than our own selves. But I
have a personal problem now," he said, making a peculiar sound that
was not quite a sigh. "Here I am stranded on Venus, my ship utterly
wrecked, and I'm due at the Reisezek Convention in two weeks. You"--he
gripped Koroby's shoulder, and his strength made her wince--"tell me,
where is the nearest city? I must communicate with my people at once."
She pointed. "The Stone City's that way."
"Good," he said. "Let's go there."
They took another glance at the metal globe and the green fire, which
by now had died to a fitful glimmer. Then the stranger and the girl
started toward the jungle, where the litter-bearers awaited them.
* * * * *
As the party was struggling through the prairie's tall grass, the man
said to Koroby, "I realize from the pictures in your mind that there
is no means in your city of communicating directly with my people. But
it seems that there are materials which I can utilize in building a
signal--"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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