[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

smelling it, either.
The first tree big enough to sit by was no good for that purpose; it was a
mulberry, and
file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gatewa
Page 37
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
y.txt (29 of 109) [1/15/03 6:31:20 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gatewa
y.txt under it were spread out sheets of fine netting to catch the dropping
fruit. I walked past it, and down the path there were a woman and a child.
A child! I hadn't known there were any children on Gateway. She was a little
bit of a thing, maybe a year and a half, playing with a ball so big, and so
lazy in the light gravity, that it was like a balloon.
"Hello, Rob."
That was the other surprise; the woman who greeted me was Gelle-Klara Moynlin.
I said without thinking, "I didn't know you had a little girl."
"I don't. This is Kathy Francis, and her mother lets me borrow her sometimes.
Kathy, this is Rob Broadhead."
"Hello, Rob," the little thing called, studying me from three meters away.
"Are you a friend of Klara's?"
"I hope so. She's my teacher. Do you want to play catch?"
Kathy finished her study of me and said precisely, each word separate from the
one before it and as clearly formed as an adult's, "I don't know how to play
catch, but I will get six mulberries for you. That's all you can have."
"Thank you." I slumped down next to Klara, who was hugging her knees and
watching the child. "She's cute."
"Well, I guess so. It's hard to judge, when there aren't very many other
children around."
"She's not a prospector, is she?"
I wasn't exactly joking, but Klara laughed warmly. "Her parents are
permanent-party. Well, most of the time. Right now her mother's off
prospecting; they do that sometimes, a lot of them.
You can spend just so much time trying to figure out what the Heechee were up
to before you want to try your own solutions to the puzzles."
"Sounds dangerous."
She shushed me. Kathy came back, with three of my mulberries in each open
hand, so as not to crush them. She had a funny way of walking, which didn't
seem to use much of the thigh and calf muscles; she sort of pushed herself up
on the ball of each foot in turn, and let herself float to the next step.
After I figured that out I tried it for myself, and it turned out to be a
pretty efficient way of walking in near-zero gravity, but my reflexes kept
lousing it up. I suppose you have to be born on Gateway to come by it
naturally.
Klara in the park was a lot more relaxed and feminine than Klara the teacher.
The eyebrows that had looked masculine and angry became outdoorsy and
friendly. She still smelled very nice.
It was pretty pleasant, chatting with her, while Kathy stepped daintily around
us, playing with her ball. We compared places we'd been, and didn't find any
in common. The one thing we did find in common was that I was born almost the
same day as her two-year-younger brother.
"Did you like your brother?" I asked, a gambit played for the hell of it.
"Well, sure. He was the baby. But he was an Aries, born under Mercury and the
Moon. Made him fickle and moody, of course. I think he would have had a
complicated life."
----------------------------------------
This Park Is MONITORED By Closed-Circuit PV
You are welcome to enjoy it. Do not pick flowers or fruit. Do not damage any
plant. While visiting, you may eat any fruits which have fallen, to the
following limits:
Grapes, cherries
8 per person
Other small fruits or berries
6 per person
Page 38
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Oranges, limes, pears
1 per person
Gravel may not be removed from walks. Deposit all trash of any kind in
receptacles.
MAINTENANCE DIVISION THE GATEWAY CORPORATION
----------------------------------------
file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gatewa
y.txt (30 of 109) [1/15/03 6:31:20 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gatewa
y.txt
I was less interested in asking her about what happened to him than in asking
if she really believed in that garbage, but that didn't seem tactful, and
anyway she went on talking.
"I'm a Sagittarius, myself. And you -- oh, of course. You must be the same as
Davie."
"I guess so," I said, being polite. "I, uh, don't go much for astrology."
"Not astrology, genethlialogy. One's superstition, the other's science."
She laughed. "I can see you're a scoffer. Doesn't matter. If you believe, all
right; if you don't -- well, you don't have to believe in the law of gravity
to get mashed when you fall off a two-hundred story building."
Kathy, who had sat down beside us, inquired politely, "Are you having an
argument?"
"Not really, honey." Klara stroked her head.
"That's good, Klara, because I have to go to the bathroom now and I don't
think I can, here."
"It's time to go anyway. Nice to see you, Rob. Watch out for melancholy,
hear?" And they went away hand in hand, Klara trying to copy the little girl's
odd walk. Looking very nice. . .
for a flake.
That night I took Sheri to Dane Metchnikov's going-away party. Klara was
there, looking even nicer in a bare-midriff pants suit. "I didn't know you
knew Dane Metchnikov," I said.
"Which one is he? I mean, Terry's the one who invited me. Coming inside?"
The party had spilled out into the tunnel. I peered through the door and was
surprised to find how much room there was inside; Terry Yakamora had two full
rooms, both more than twice the size of mine. The bath was private and really
did contain a bath, or at least a showerhead. "Nice place," I said admiringly,
and then discovered from something another guest said that Klara lived right
down the tunnel. That changed my opinion of Klara: if she could afford the
high-rent district, why was she still on Gateway? Why wasn't she back home
spending her money and having fun? Or contrariwise, if she was still on [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]