Nitrogen Fix by Hal Clement

Author:Hal Clement [Clement, Hal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780441581177
Amazon: 044158117X
Barnesnoble: 044158117X
Goodreads: 1189676
Publisher: Ace
Published: 1955-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

It was not Bones; that was evident the moment Earrin entered the room. It was not even as tall as the man himself, though its shape was identical with that of the native. Why it was traveling in the tunnels of Great Blue Hill was a mystery. If it had escaped from its captors, who had apparently been in Hemenway if the woman knew what she was talking about, it should be outside by now—or perhaps it was as lost as Fyn himself. He would have liked to ask it, but could think of no way to do so. It might, of course, have learned to understand some spoken words during its captivity, but it probably had the same difficulty in distinguishing phonemes as Bones; and in any case it had no voice with which to answer questions.

Fyn was naturally startled when the tentacles began gesturing meaningfully at him.

“Earrin. I wasn’t quite sure it was you at first, but followed you to make certain. Should I keep out of sight, or is it all right for this person you are with to see us together and communicating? And can you help me either to get outside, or to find food in here?”

“Bones! What on earth have they done to you? Never mind, you can explain later—yes, there should be food in the air center, and I can find that. It’s not far from here. Come on.”

Much of this was of course spoken aloud, and the woman heard the words from farther along the tunnel. She came back hastily.

“You caught it!” she exclaimed happily. Then her attitude changed abruptly. “Why—you were talking to it! How can you talk to an animal? Did you train it, the way people did when there were other animals in the world?” Then her expression changed from curiosity and amazement to anger.

“You have met it before—you did know it! You-lied-to-me! What kind of Nomad are you? At least we could always believe them!”

Fyn was even angrier. As the woman spoke, he too had jumped to an unbelievable conclusion, but it seemed to be the only one the data permitted. He snarled back, “You filthy hypocrites! So experiment is a dirty word, is it? Science is evil, and ruined the world, you say? And the people who use it are delinquents? Don’t talk to me about lying. You Hillers have been experimenting on my friend! Come on, Bones, let’s go. We’ll get your food and my air if we have to knock some of these subhumans down flights of stairs. Then we’ll get out of here!”

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