"They--they aren't dangerous to man?"
The sideways rocking motion.
"They're a danger to some men--Baxter's men!"
A nod, but with a kind of hesitation about it.
"But also to the boys?" I marvelled.
The yes-no motion.
"Under certain conditions, they're a danger to the boys!"
Yes.
"These conditions; do they have anything to do with Baxter?"
Yes.
"Hmmm...." I leaned back on my hands on the cot, and studied Clatclit's
face, thinking hard. "Could it be that these Ancients want something
with regard to Baxter, but that the boys' safety is the price of it?"
A jump up from the stool, a laughably Earthlike clap of the hands, and
a triple series of very positive nods. Clatclit sat down again, a much
happier sugarfoot than when he'd entered.
"But," I protested, "Baxter, from my last contact with him, isn't the
sort who'd care about the boys, right?"
Nods.
"Well, then, for pete's sake," I protested loudly, "over whose heads
are the Ancients holding the safety of the boys?"
Clatclit extended a ruddy talon directly at me, and then aimed it
toward the corridor outside.
"Me and Snow?" I cried, standing up. "They're trying to force me and
Snow to do something for them, and making the boys' safety the price of
it. Why, that's--that's criminal!"
In my rage, I'd taken a step toward Clatclit, not even thinking of the
fact that his crystalline constitution would be an easy match for my
fists. Genially, though, Clatclit leaned back on the stool, widened his
already wide eyes, and, pointing two index fingers at his chest, shook
his head from side to side.
"What?" I said, not getting it. Then, "Oh, I see. It's not your fault
what the Ancients have done. Yeah, you're right. Sorry, Clatclit."
He shrugged off the apology, and waited for more of my investigative
monologue.
I dropped back to sit on the edge of the cot, and let him wait a
while, while I tried to figure the whole mess out. Then I remembered
something, and looked up at him.
"Clatclit, back in Marsport, when I first met you, I asked why I had
been chosen, and you indicated that you'd tell me later. Why was I
chosen?"
Clatclit just stared, uncertainly.
"You know what I mean. Why was I the one you didn't blast with that
collapser? And why'd you go off without me the first time, but want to
take me along the second?"
A very disgusted stare.