worn the day before.
He quietly let himself out onto the patio and from there went into the living room. He found Dorn Horsten in the dining room, having coffee and toast. Evidently, his sleep, too, had been upset by the change in schedule.
He smiled self-satisfaction and said, “I figured out how to order coffee on this table. I’ve never seen an automated table before that didn’t at least have an order screen. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an automated table in a home out in the boondocks like this. However, I suppose that if you can pipe electricity, water and gas into a home from a distant point there’s no particular reason why you couldn’t send food from some automated kitchen. They probably have a vacuum tube arrangement.”
“Coffee?” Ronny said, taking a seat across from the other. “I thought that coffee wasn’t drunk on Einstein.”
“That captain didn’t know what he was talking about. He also said that they didn’t drink alcohol. Whatever we find here on Einstein, it
“Wizard. Order me a cup of coffee, some croissants and some orange marmalade.”
Dorn Horsten projected his voice over the table and repeated the order.
While Ronny was waiting for it, his companion told him about the happenings of the night before.
Ronny stared at him. “What in the name of the Holy Ultimate were they looking for?”
“I can’t come up with anything.”
The light breakfast arrived and Ronny set to, scowling.
He said, finally, “From what little we’ve seen and heard so far it doesn’t seem to be a planet where you’d run into burglars. They dont even bother to put locks on the doors.”
Dorn could only nod and poured more coffee for himself. “You’d think this was Earth-side coffee,” he said, “or even better.”
Ronny said, “And this marmalade obviously was made from real oranges. It’s seldom you get good citrus fruit off Earth.”
When he had finished his croissants, they took up fresh cups of coffee and went out into the living room.
After they were seated, Dorn said, “Did you find out anything special, after we separated last night?”
“Yeah,” Ronny said. “They have sex tutors for the kids here. Give them a course in how to perform in bed, after they become adolescent.”
Horsten snorted. “That’d make for a howl on Virtue. They still wear Mother Hubbards there.”
“It’d make for a howl on some of the other backward worlds,” Ronny said. “But not enough to keep Einstein out of United Planets. I still wonder why in the hell they want to bother to join. They’ve got it made. What can we do for them?”
A voice from the door said, “Am I intruding?”
The newcomer was accompanied by a male dog who had short and dark golden hair, and even golden eyes, and a bobbed tail, and who would possibly weigh seventy-five pounds. It was a beautiful hound. The man himself seemed to be approximately fifty years of age, was handsome and distinguished of face, looked very intelligent and wore kilts very similar to the ones Rosemary had on the day before. Somehow, on him they looked quite masculine, while on Rosemary they had not detracted from her femininity.
The two Section G agents put down their cups and came to their feet.
“Certainly not,” Dorn Horsten said. “I am Doctor Dorn Horsten and this… ”
“Is the famed Ronald Bronston,” the other smiled, advancing. “My name is Fredric.”
They shook hands, Earth-style.
Fredric said, “I am one of the committee elected to meet you. It is a pleasure. That coffee smells excellent. I think I shall go to Rosemary’s dining room and get a cup.”
Ronny and Dorn sat down again and took up their beverages.
Ronny said, “He doesn’t sound any more of an egghead than anybody else.”
The dog came over and extended his right paw and said to Ronny, “Hello, glad, to meet you.”
Ronny looked at him for a long empty moment, before shaking the paw.
The dog said, “What’s your name again?”
“Ronny. What’s yours?”
The golden dog hung his long red tongue out from the side of his mouth and gave a double pant before saying, looking all the world as though he was embarrassed. “Boy. These people have no imagination. I suppose I shouldn’t complain. I’ve got a friend they call Fido.”
He turned and went over to Dorn Horsten, who was gaping at him as much as was Ronny. He held out his paw and said, “Glad to meet you, too.”
Dorn shook and said, “The feeling is mutual. I am absolutely fascinated to meet you.”
The dog sat down on the floor and looked up at him. “You’re from Earth, aren’t you? I understand that dogs don’t talk on Earth. Why not?”
The eminent biologist looked at him blankly. “It never occurred to me to wonder about it,” he said.
Fredric came back from the dining room, coffee cup in hand. He was smiling and had evidently heard the last of the conversation. He said to Boy, “On Earth, practically no animals, save man, have voice boxes. Some that do, such as the parrot, the Myna bird, and, to a certain extent, the higher anthropoid apes, have insufficient brain capacity to utilize them intelligently. Now, that will be all for the time, Boy.”
“Okay,” Boy said and stretched out on the floor.
“Now wait a minute,” Dorn blurted. “This isn’t a farce, is it? I mean, you’re not a ventriloquist?”
“No. Certainly not,” Fredric told him, after taking a sip of his coffee. “When our people left Earth for Einstein, we brought with us quite a bit of the fauna of the mother planet. Man’s immediate pets, such as the dog and cat, who have come down with him through the millenia, almost as though there was a symbiotic relationship, we chose on the basis of intelligence. In the case of the cat, the Siamese. With the dog, the Poodle and Vizsla. Boy is a Vizsla.”
“I’ve never heard of the breed,” Ronny said unhappily. “But even if I had, I doubt if they talk on Earth. You must be one hell of a trainer.”
The other smiled, as though Ronny was making a joke. He said, “The Vizsla is one of the oldest breeds. They came with the Magyars from the steppes of Siberia to Europe. They were originally war dogs, then hunting hounds, and are the most versatile of all. They were pointers as well as retrievers and would hunt any game from birds to wild boar, to elk, or bear, for that matter.”
“That was a long time ago,” Boy said. “There’s nothing to hunt on Einstein.”
Dorn Horsten said, “But… but, this talking.” The other shrugged. “Man has had the dog for as long as we can trace him back. The relationship has become almost a necessity. However, we found it inconvenient for our pets to be so very less intelligent than we. So we performed genetic surgery and altered their DNA to produce a voice box, and upgraded their intelligence considerably through selective breeding and other devices.” I He seemed to think that was sufficient explanation.
Ronny stared at Boy, who was lying there on the floor, his tongue dangling out the side of his mouth.
Ronny said, “I’ve always liked dogs. I’d give my right arm for… ”
“The animal is yours,” Fredric said. Ronny boggled at him. He said, “Oh, really, now. That’s very kind of you, but… ”
“What’s the matter?” Boy said. “Don’t you want me?” Aside from a guttural quality, his voice tone was quite good and very understandable.
Fredric said, “Think nothing of it. Dogs are a hobby of mine but I have quite a few and was planning to dispense with some of them. Boy is one of the few I’ve ever taught Amer-English. The others speak our version of Esperanto. He even reads Amer-English quite well, though his taste in novels is atrocious.”
“But, well in my whole life I never expected a dog like Boy to belong to me.”
“We’ll soon find out who belongs to whom,” the dog muttered.
“Good. It’s done,” Fredric said. “None of the others of the committee have shown up as yet, eh?”
The dog had got up, walked over to Ronny, gave his leg a good smell, seemed to approve, and stretched out at his feet.
Dorn Horsten said, “Rosemary has been kind enough to inform us of some of your usages. She mentioned that you have no officials on Einstein. But this committee of yours? Aren’t you officials?”
