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it. We certainly haven't seen any results."
Shart smiled and held his hands out at his sides. "If the Ambassador will remember, the Warlords
looked favorably upon my project. It would place a great weapon in their hands, and "
"Only if you begin getting results, Shart. No more of this when will you have something positive
that I can report?"
Shart shrugged. "Perhaps... thirty days. My experiment on the virus is almost completed. After
that, its just a matter
of tuning and adjusting the control banks."
Ambassador Inak rubbed his pointed chin, then nodded toward Shart. "Perhaps, then, we will be able
to send a very glowing report to the Warlords. Yes, that will be just about right."
"If I might inquire, Inak. right for what?" "The commission from the United Quadrants will be here
soon, and then there will be a long period of investigation and negotiation. Allenby, the puppet
of the Ninth Quadrant, refuses to consider our proposal..." Inak leaned forward. "But, if I can
show the Great Statesman of Momus that not accepting our proposal would bring disaster to his
people... Do you get my meaning?" "I will do my best, Inak "
"No, Shart! You will succeed!" The image faded and the screen went blank.
Shart placed the thumb of his right hand against the tip of his nose and wiggled the remaining six
fingers in the direction of the screen. "Yaaaaaaaah!" He dropped his hand and half turned away
when the automatic sensor alarm began to buzz. "What now?" He sighed, then switched the function
selector on the screen control. Four figures, riding in one of the clumsy Moman lizard carts, were
approaching the station. "Not another patient." Shart shook his head, then remembered toying with
the idea of training a Moman to handle the multitude of simple tasks around the laboratory that
ate up his time. Now that Inak had turned down his latest request for an assistant, and had
stepped up the timetable, what choice had he?
Shart deenergized his screen, then turned and entered a corridor leading to the side of the
compound facing the road. At the end of the corridor, he opened the door and stepped outside.
Immediately, his sense of hearing was assaulted by screams and growls. He narrowed his eyes and
examined the travelers. In the rear of the cart, one of the local wild men, a large man in yellow-
and-green stripes and a short, fat man in purple, screamed and growled at each other. Off to one
side, a quiet old man, also in purple, seemed to be nodding off. Shart rubbed his hands together.
"Excellent!"
The cart pulled to a stop in front of the doctor, and the huge lizard that provided the vehicle's
motive power sat
down and held out fts right front foot, palm up. "Anow here. Pay up."
The wild man jumped from the cart, then caught a sack thrown to him by the large man in green and
yellow. The sack was handed to the lizard, and Shart watched as the lizard reached into the sack
and began stuffing fat cobit roots into its mouth. The wild man kicked the lizard. "Look, you
wait. Understand?"
The lizard nodded without looking up from the sack. '"Stand."
The wild man walked around the lizard and came to a stop in front of the Vorilian., "Doctor? I
understand that you will treat patients for a fee."
Shart looked from the wild man to the pair screaming and growling in the cart, then back to the
wild man. "What seems to be their trouble?"
The wild man looked confused, then he laughed. "There is nothing wrong with them, doctor. They
practice their acts. Your patient is the old one. His name is Pulsit. The two in the back are
Durki and Raster, and I am Azongo of the Mbwebwe wild men, also headman of that village."
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Shart frowned, then nodded. "What is the old one's trouble?"
Azongo whirled a finger next to his head. "He sees things."
Shart waved a hand at the cart. "Bring him down from there, and let me look at him."
Azongo held up a hand. "One moment, doctor. What is your charge? We were told by the villagers at
the base of the plateau that you desire plants and animals."
Shart shrugged. "I have no need of such things now. But, I will look at him all the same."
Azongo frowned. "You mean you will treat him for nothing ?"
Shart remembered that, in the curious reaches of the Moman mind, a service not charged for is
worthless. If he charged nothing, he would lose his patient and, possibly, his head. "Of course
not. I must have money those little copper things."
"How many?"
Shart rubbed his narrow chin. "Twenty-five."
On the cart, the one called Durki reached into the old
one's robe and withdrew a small sack. He turned to Azongo. "Pulsit has only twenty-three coppers
on him."
Shart nodded. "That will do." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]