Ohashi said: "I must report the polite indifference of the Munda and
Mon-Kmer, the Sudanese-Guinean and the Bantu."
"Those are big holes in our information exchange," said Goré. "What are
they discovering?"
"No more than we are!" snapped Zakheim. "Depend on it!"
"What of the languages not even represented among the teams here on the
international site?" asked Francine. "I mean the Hottentot-Bushmen, the
Ainu, the Basque and the Australian-Papuan?"
Zakheim covered her left hand with his right hand. "You always have me,
my little dove."
"We're building another Tower of Babel!" she snapped. She jerked her
hand away.
"Spurned again," mourned Zakheim.
Ohashi said: "_Go to, let us go down, and there confound their
language, that they may not understand one another's speech._" He
smiled. "Genesis eleven-seven."
Francine scowled. "And we're missing about twenty percent of Earth's
twenty-eight hundred languages!"
"We have all the significant ones," said Zakheim.
"How do _you_ know what's significant?" she demanded.
"Please!" Goré raised a hand. "We're here to exchange information, not
to squabble!"
"I'm sorry," said Francine. "It's just that I feel so hopeless today."
"Well, what have we learned today?" asked Goré.
"Nothing new with us," said Zakheim.
Goré cleared his throat. "That goes double for me." He looked at Ohashi.
The Japanese shrugged. "We achieved no reaction from the Galactic,
Kobai."
"Anthropomorphic nonsense," muttered Zakheim.
"You mean naming him Kobai?" asked Ohashi. "Not at all, Zak. That's the
most frequent sound he makes, and the name helps with identification.
We don't have to keep referring to him as 'The Galactic' or 'that
creature in the spaceship'."
Goré turned to Francine. "It was like talking to a green statue," she
said.
"What of the lecture period?" asked Goré.
"Who knows?" she asked. "It stands there like a bowlegged professor in
that black leotard. Those sounds spew out of it as though they'd never
stop. It wriggles at us. It waves. It sways. Its face contorts, if you
can call it a face. We recorded and filmed it all, naturally, but it
sounded like the usual mish-mash!"
"There's something in the gestures," said Ohashi. "If we only had more
competent pasimolgists."
"How many times have you seen the same total gesture repeated with the
same sound?" demanded Zakheim.
"You've carefully studied our films," said Ohashi. "Not enough times to
give us a solid base for comparison. But I do not despair--"
"It was a rhetorical question," said Zakheim.
"We really need more multi-linguists," said Goré. "Now is when we most
miss the loss of such great linguists as Mrs. Millar's husband."
* * * * *
Francine closed her eyes, took a short, painful breath. "Bob...." She
shook her head. _No. That's the past. He's gone. The tears are ended._
"I had the pleasure of meeting him in Paris shortly before the ...
end," continued Goré. "He was lecturing on the development of the
similar sound schemes in Italian and Japanese."
Francine nodded. She felt suddenly empty.
Ohashi leaned forward. "I imagine this is ... rather painful for Dr.
Millar," he said.
"I am _very_ sorry," said Goré. "Forgive me."
"Someone was going to check and see if there are any electronic
listening devices in this room," said Ohashi.
"My nephew is with our recording section," said Goré. "He assures me
there are no hidden microphones here."
Zakheim's brows drew down into a heavy frown. He fumbled with the clasp
of his briefcase. "This is very dangerous," he grunted.
"Oh, Zak, you always say that!" said Francine. "Let's quit playing
footsy!"
"I do not enjoy the thought of treason charges," muttered Zakheim.
"We all know our bosses are looking for an advantage," she said. "I'm
tired of these sparring matches where we each try to get something from
the others without giving anything away!"
"If your Dr. Langsmith or General Speidel found out what you were doing
here, it would go hard for you, too," said Zakheim.
"I propose we take it from the beginning and re-examine everything,"
said Francine. "Openly this time."
"Why?" demanded Zakheim.
"Because I'm satisfied that the answer's right in front of us
somewhere," she said.
"In the ultimatum, no doubt," said Goré. "What do you suppose is the
_real_ meaning of their statement that human languages are '_limited_'
communication? Perhaps they are telepathic?"
"I don't think so," said Ohashi.
"That's pretty well ruled out," said Francine. "Our Rhine people say
no ESP. No. I'm banking on something else: By the very fact that they
posed this question, they have indicated that we _can_ answer it with
our present faculties."
"_If_ they are being honest," said Zakheim.
"I have no recourse but to assume that they're honest," she said.
"They're turning us into linguistic detectives for a good reason."
"A good reason for _them_," said Goré.
"Note the phraseology of their ultimatum," said Ohashi. "They _submit_
a problem. They _open_ their rooms to us. They are _available_ to us.
They _regret_ their threat. Even their display of power--admittedly
awe-inspiring--has the significant characteristic of non-violence. No
explosion. They offer rewards for success, and this...."
"Rewards!" snorted Zakheim. "We lead the hog to its slaughter with a
promise of food!"
"I suggest that they give evidence of being non-violent," said Ohashi.
"Either that, or they have cleverly arranged themselves to present the
_face_ of non-violence."
Francine turned, and looked out the hut's end window at the bulk of the
spaceship. The low sun cast elongated shadows of the ship across the
sand.
Zakheim, too, looked out the window. "Why did they choose this place?
If it had to be a desert, why not the Gobi? This is not even a good
desert! This is a miserable desert!"
"Probably the easiest landing curve to a site near a large city," said
Goré. "It is possible they chose a desert to avoid destroying arable
land."
"Frogs!" snapped Zakheim. "I do not trust these frogs with their
problem of communication!"
* * * * *
Francine turned back to the table, and took a pencil and scratch-pad
from her briefcase. Briefly she sketched a rough outline of a Galactic,
and wrote "frog?" beside it.