Carolyn's eyes were fastened on the telescope. There was a tiny
signal-pip at extreme range on the long-range radar that controlled the
telescope, but the object was still too far away. The range was closing
slowly; they would meet somewhere out there three hundred million miles
above Terra to the astronomical North.
Farradyne knew his instruments and his attention was therefore free
to think of other matters. Very quietly he slipped a long fluorescent
lamp from its terminals and stood it carefully on one end beside him.
He balanced it exactly, and then took a couple of silent steps toward
Carolyn before the tube lost its balance and fell to the floor with an
ear-shattering explosion.
Carolyn Niles reacted like a person stabbed with a red-hot spear. Every
muscle in her body tensed and she stood there for a full ten seconds
as stiff as a figure of concrete, while the shock gripped her. Then,
as she realized there was no real danger, Farradyne could see the
relaxation of her body taking place, almost inch by inch. Her breasts
began to fall in a shuddering exhalation. She made a wordless sound of
relief--_and her voice was a quavering trill in three lilting tones_.
Farradyne's attention snapped into full awareness and he felt the
thrill of exultation run through him.
Carolyn relaxed against a brace, holding one hand under her left breast
and breathing heavily. "What on earth--?"
"Lamp fell out of its moorings," said Farradyne. "My fault. That's
one of the pre-flight check-ups that I didn't have time to take this
morning. Stay where you are and I'll clean up this mess of broken
glassware."
"Do you mind if I sit down?"
"Park yourself in the pilot's seat," he said. "But be careful. Broken
fluorescent tubing can be dangerous."
She nodded, and picked her way through the glass to the pilot's chair.
She looked up at him and said, "You don't seem to have been startled at
all."
"I had a few millionths of a second to get my nerves in readiness," he
said. "I saw it come down." He laughed. "Someone told me once that when
a person is excited he reverts to his native tongue."
Her eyes widened and her mouth started to open, but Farradyne went on
talking as though he hadn't noticed. "I didn't think your native tongue
was Upper Banshee!"
* * * * *
Her eyes half-closed and her mouth snapped from slackness back to
self-control. "What did I say?" she asked.
"It sounded like 'I am slain to pieces,' but I don't know Upper Banshee
very well."
"You're making fun of me," she complained.
"No, I'm not. Anybody can be scared right out of his skin when
something like that happens."
"All right," she said, and her eyes were cold. "So you're not making
fun of me. You've been playing a very serious game with me, haven't
you?"