The Lost Star by H M Hoover

Author:H M Hoover
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Published: 1979-03-26T05:00:00+00:00

14

From where Lian and the three lumpies sat, the tolats up on the dome looked like crabs dragging push brooms. Actually they were removing vegetation with long-handled vaporizers. Under the vines and a thin layer of soil, the tolats had found the dome was not frosted opaque but a transparent glassy substance.

On the north side a crew was preparing to wash off the glass. The airtrucks had carried up a pump and plastic bags full of water.

At dawn the tolats had rushed to the dome, confident they could get inside. But when they came back for breakfast, they reported they could not activate the gate switch or bypass it. After yesterday’s accident there was no question of blasting through. Since the lumpies were nowhere to be found at that hour, the tolats had attacked the problem from the outside.

“Is central unit covered with shield?” one of the engineers had asked Lian at breakfast.

“It’s a clear housing. Most of it—” was all she got to say before they started talking among themselves.

This dome was exciting them considerably, but they would not say why. That they thought it important was evident by their temporary lack of interest in what lay beneath it.

The rest of the staff was now mapping and photographing the halls and rooms below. Lian would have liked to be with them, but the lumpies created a problem. Like householders when workmen invade the home, the lumpies wanted to see what was going on—so long as Lian was there. The entire colony followed her everywhere she went, which admittedly did make for crowded hallways and difficulty in moving equipment and lighting.

After overhearing several derogatory remarks aimed at the gentle but curious creatures, Lian decided to go outside with them. Lumpies might not understand these languages, but she was almost certain they would pick up the ugly tone in them.

On her way out she was stopped by the photographer, who thanked her for leaving and spoiled it by adding, “To be honest, I—uh—well, some of us are upset by them. I’m sure you understand. They’ve always been fat dumb animals. Now we have to stop and remember they aren’t. They’re getting in my way. I mean, they look so stupid!”

“They don’t!” said Lian, instantly angry. “How would you look gray, bald, a hundred pounds heavier, and naked? Would you like it if I looked at you then and said, ‘Wow, a fat dumb animal’?”

“You don’t understand,” the man said. “I was trying to be polite, to explain—”

“No,” said Lian. “You were trying to be forgiven for bigotry.”

That exchange and what prompted it was still bothering her an hour later as she sat watching the tolats work. This complete dismissal of the lumpies from the beginning, when they had first been given their name, puzzled her.

Was it because they suggested a human with their big sad eyes, clown smile, and dumpy figure, that humans laughed at them? And if the humans laughed, then did that give other sentient species the freedom to

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