The Singers of Time by Jack Williamson

Author:Jack Williamson
Language: eng
Format: mobi

She nodded. "I think—" he noticed that she didn't use a name, only gestured toward the patient—"he wanted to say something to them a little while ago, when they looked in. But I wouldn't let them stay, because he was getting too excited, and I didn't really understand him."

"I didn't know he could actually talk!"

"Of course! Well, not very well yet, of course. But soon."

Krake grunted. "And you don't know what he was trying to tell them?"

"I don't even know if that was what it was, Francis. Still, it was definitely something about the Turtles, I think. I only really caught two words. One was 'Lidun.' And I'm pretty sure the other was 'promise.'"

Krake repeated the words, "Litlun. Promise." He was no more than mildly interested . . . until the meaning of them sunk in.

Then he shouted aloud. "Of course!" he cried, causing Sue-ling to make reproachful shushing noises at him. "But he's right," he said, a little more softly, no less excited. "We've got to make sure of that before it's too late—Litlun's promise!"

It took hours to do, and he talked every item of it over with everyone else on The Golden Hind except the Turtles to make sure he had left nothing out. But when he was through Francis Krake had taken the forty or fifty items anyone had suggested and reduced them to a list of five items. He read it over twice. Then he crossed his fingers before he sent Marco Ramos scuttling off to find the Turtles and bring them to the control room.

Then he read the list over one more time to make sure while he was waiting. Five items—and every one a document comparable to the Bill of Rights or the Magna Carta:

"The Brotherhood, in consideration of the great services rendered to them by the human race—"

(They had squabbled more over the wording of that than over any of the actual clauses, but that was the way it had come out at last.)

"—agrees to make the following changes in its policy, effective at once:

"1. The Brotherhood will never again attempt to interfere with human science, education or other activities in any way.

"2. The Brotherhood will provide the human race with examples of every instrument, machine and design requested, and will assist human scientists in duplicating them; this specifically includes wave-drive spacecraft.

"3. The Brotherhood will provide the human race with means to decipher the contents of the "memo disks" so that they can be learned by humans without the loss of such memories when the chips are removed.

"4. The Brotherhood will at once stop the practice of enslaving or otherwise trafficking in Taurs for any purpose, in particular the practice of using them as foodstuffs; and will allow Taur males to develop normally; and will free all Taurs now in its possession."

And then, the catch-all paragraph to take care of anything they might have overlooked:

"5. Finally, the Brotherhood will, on request, assist both the human race and the Taurs in any other way

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