There must have been a single long tunnel connecting the passages under the generator building with the area under the village by the geysers. It took a long time to traverse, but eventually the robot reached a point where the corridor suddenly expanded into a large chamber about eight feet high, from which a number of other openings branched. The spokesman, who had learned enough of the Abyormenite language to be independent of Kruger or Dar most of the time, informed the Teacher of the robot’s location and requested further directions.
“You are very close; it will be easier to show you the way. Wait there, and I will be with you in a moment.” The men around the television screen watched intently.
In a few seconds a flicker of motion appeared in one of the openings and every eye fixed instantly on its screened image. Their attention did not waver as the newcomer walked toward the robot.
No one was particularly surprised. All except Dar had had more or less experience on Earth’s exploring vessels, and had seen a wide variety of creatures turn out to be both intelligent and cultured.
This one was like nothing the Abyormenite had ever seen in his life. A melon-shaped body was supported on six limbs, so thick at the bases that they merged into each other but tapering nearly to points where they reached the floor. The human observers thought of an unusually fat-bodied starfish walking on the ends of its arms rather than spread out flat. In the light from the robot the upper third of the body appeared deep red to human eyes, with a stripe of the same color extending down to the end of each appendage; the rest was black. There were no visible eyes, ears, or similar items of equipment on the body, except for a spot at the very top which might have been anything from a closed mouth to a color peculiarity. Dar had no way of judging the size of the creature rom its televised image; the operator of the robot, judging its distance with the usual focusing lights, found that it was about Dar’s height and estimated that it must weigh eighty or ninety pounds.
“I take it you see me.” Dar got a distinct impression that the creature’s tone was reflecting irony. There was no room for any doubt concerning this thing’s identity, for the voice now coming from the robot’s pick-up was the same that they had been hearing all along. “If you will have your machine follow me we will be able to relax while you find out what you wish to know.” Without turning, the creature retraced its steps, and the robot followed. A short corridor led into a room about five feet high, very similar to one of those which Dar and Kruger had examined in the city. Dar watched eagerly, expecting to learn the uses of the various puzzling installations.
Some of them became obvious immediately. Three of the dome-shaped objects were occupied by creatures similar to their guide, their bodies centered on top and the six limbs draped down the side grooves. The guide himself went on to the end of the room and settled himself in one of the “wash-bowls,” his limbs spread radially in all directions. It was not possible to tell from appearances that the creatures were examining the robot but there seemed little doubt that they were.
The guide, from his “couch,” resumed the conversation.
“Here we are. Could you perhaps give us a more concrete idea of what you expect to learn by seeing us, and why that knowledge will make you more sympathetic with our ideas?”
“We hope to learn how you live, what you eat, what your abilities and limitations both physical and mental may be, and as much as possible about your connection with the ‘cold’ people who are your children and ancestors. With that knowledge, we may understand better why you object to the spread of technical knowledge on this world. At the moment I must confess that your attitude reminds us of certain historical groups on our own world, and every time in the past that such a group has managed to curtail or control the spread of knowledge the result has been extremely unfortunate. If the people of Abyormen are so different from us that this result should not be expected we’d like to know it.”
“How have the people who have seen you at your work reacted to all this new information?”
“They are almost without exception interested. One at least has learned a good deal, and convinced us that your people are at least as intelligent as ours.”
“I suppose you mean Dar Lang Ahn. No doubt he is planning to expand the refuges of his Teachers or construct a flying machine like yours?”
“He has made no mention of it, but you may ask him. He is here with us.”
Dar was startled at this turn of the conversation, but spoke without hesitation.
“Of course I had not thought of such a thing. I have not learned enough for either task in any case.”
“There is something else I trust you have not learned from these creatures, which your friend Kruger has taught me. However, what you have learned yourself will soon be of little importance.”
“Of course.” Dar became silent and the conversation’s subject changed.
“I suppose you control this machine by some modification of radio,” one of the beings on the dome-shaped “chairs” remarked. The biologist admitted that this was so. “What sort of waves do you use, that are effective through so much rock? The set with which we have been talking to you has a broadcasting antenna on the surface.”
“I cannot give that information in detail myself,” replied the biologist, “as it is not: my field of knowledge. The robot has an antenna, but it is not very noticeable; if you examine its body closely you will find a coil of wire wound many times about the upper part, just below the turret that carries the eye.” The questioner arose from his seat and walked toward the machine on all six limbs; Dar noticed that it betrayed none of the clumsiness or difficulty with motion so often showed, especially in the last few years, by his own Teachers. Arrived at the robot, the being stood on four of the legs and used the other two to grope over its surface. A bundle of small tendrils, which evidently served the purpose of fingers, became visible at the tip of each limb during this process.
“I can feel the coil,” it said after a moment, “though it is too small — at least: in its individual wires — to see.”
“I’m afraid the light is not very well located for that purpose,” replied the biologist. “We did not consider its use except for our own convenience.”
“What? You mean there is a light on this machine, too? When you started to speak I thought you referred to ours. If you will bring the robot over to it perhaps I can see a little better, but I doubt it; as I said, the wires are very fine.”
The biologists all saw what the trouble was, in general; the speaker said in a resigned tone, “Yes, there is a light on the robot, at the very top, a small cylinder which you can probably feel even if you can’t see it. Where is the one to which you were referring?”
“There.” Another limb left the floor and gestured. Dar Lang Ahn, following the indication, saw only the pipe- and-nozzle arrangement which Kruger had described as a gas light.
“You mean that pipe?” asked the biologist. Kruger hastily explained his idea, speaking a split-second before Dar would have.
“But if it’s a gas jet why isn’t it lighted?” was the objection.
“Maybe it is. Maybe it’s a hydrogen flame that doesn’t show up in the light from our robot.” Instantly the operator cut the light in question, but nothing was visible on the screen and he immediately restored it. During the brief exchange the Teacher had affirmed that the pipe in question was indeed what he meant.
“Apparently we see by different kinds of light,” the biologist said. “Were you aware of that? Your ‘cold’ people are a little different from us in that respect, but we are nearly enough alike to use the same lighting devices, so you must differ from them, too.”
“We knew that they could see smaller objects than we, but did not know the reason. We did not know that there were different kinds of light.”
“You are not aware that the waves your radio uses are the same, except for length, as those used for seeing?”
“Ridiculous! Radio waves travel too rapidly for the speed to be measured, if they take any time at all for transit. The waves of sight, if they are waves, travel little faster than those of sound.”
“Oh-ho-o-o.” The human speaker was buried in thought for a moment. Then he asked, “Could you explain how that light of yours works?”
“It is simply a steam jet, expanding through a nozzle of a particular shape. It would be very difficult to describe the shape, at least in words that we both know.”
“Never mind; you have told me enough. What I fail to understand now is how you could possibly know anything about the suns; you certainly can’t ‘see’ them.”
“Of course not; they can only be felt.”
Dar Lang Ahn had been left behind some sentences before, and in hasty whispers the boy tried to explain what was going on.
