"I have _not_. I test 10:9 on job adjustment and 10:8 on life
adjustment."
"Some people crack on alien planets," he said. "I have a padded room in
my ship. You'd be surprised how often I have to use it."
I told him about the poem I found in Uncle Izzy's book. "We look for a
white bird," I said. "Or perfume."
"You're nuts," he pointed out with some justice, because he hadn't
known Uncle Isadore. "How do you know these changes weren't made by
somebody else a long time ago? Maybe this ancient printer printed it
wrong and had to change it afterward."
"I don't think they were that primitive back then."
But I didn't know what "back then" meant or how primitive ancient
printing was. All I knew for sure was that, as the poem stood, it
sounded as if somebody had loused up a perfect Grilch Hop rhyme. And
Uncle Izzy knew I was a Grilch Hop expert in Middle School and this was
the only _real_ Grilch Hop rhythm in the book. What's more, Uncle Izzy
could depend on me to go over that book in painstaking detail because a
studs and neck clasp man has to be good on details.
* * * * *
"All right," I said. "You look your way and I'll look my way."
"We're not looking any more any way today," Rene said, emerging from
Uncle Isadore's ship loaded down with removings. "It'll be night and
below freezing in half an hour."
"What do you think," I asked, "a dodo would like to eat?"
"A _what_?"
"The birds. I want to put something out to attract them. Crackers or
something?"
"I think you're crazy. If you have any idea of sitting outside to wait
for them, you'll freeze to death. Not only that, there's no moon. You
wouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face."
"How do the birds see?"
"Maybe they aren't night birds. Maybe they migrated somewhere else."
"And if I use a light, it might scare them away," I mused. "Well, maybe
I'm not supposed to wait outside, anyway."
Rene went in and switched on the heat and lights.
"Leave the outside port open," I said.
"Why?"
"So the birds can knock."
"Can _what_?"
"Well, it's possible," I said defensively. "It won't hurt anything to
leave it open."
"All right," he consented, curving his mouth around unpleasantly, "just
to show you what a jackass you are."
Rene had the heat turned low, for sleeping, and the lights off, as
soon as we had eaten and fed the converter. I hydrated a package of
crackers so that they were full-sized but not soggy, broke them into
pieces and tossed them out.