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name for something, and then Boutu or Jesh'ku or one of the others will call it some-thing
else. So I have to sort as well as learn. Strange to find a culture whose vocabulary causes
more trouble than its grammar."
"You're doing fine, and you'll continue to do fine. I have confidence in you."
He looked up sharply. "Nice of you to say so."
She turned away. "Don't let your head get any more swelled than it already is."
With the village as a forward base they were able to fan out into the surrounding forest;
exploring dense woods, creeks, shore, and beach without having to watch one another's
backs. As Carnavon succinctly put it, "The natives may still be capable of treachery, but if
they were going to try anything I think they'd have done so while we were sleeping. We can
trust them and keep an eye on them at the same time." Prentice was against relaxing their
guard and virtually splitting up, but seeing how the wind was blowing he bent with it.
They even had time to relax on the beach, though when O'Sandringham and Lejardin
chose to do so it put a distinct crimp in the work ethic of their associates. It was a sign of
how at ease they had become not only with their hosts the Pendju but with Xica itself. Its
threats were implied rather than pending, its hostilities inwardly aimed. As visitors, they
began to consider themselves outside the daily ebb and flow of the ecosystem. Not
recognizing them, the herbivores did not see them as a threat, and the predators did not
recognize them as prey. They were noticed but ignored.
The ocean was another matter. The Pendju knew nothing of swimming and were first
frightened and then astonished when several of their visitors put on a demonstration. It
took all of Simna's newly acquired linguistic powers to persuade them that the humans
were neither amphibious nor suicidal. Thus assured, they observed their visitors' watery
frolics with delight. There was scruba gear on board the James Cook for self-contained
recycled underwater breathing, but it awaited another return visit to the ship to collect.
Given their initial reaction to a simple swimming demonstration, Prentice couldn't help
wondering how the Pendju would respond when scruba-equipped visitors disappeared
underwater and didn't immediately come up for air.
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Cedric Carnavon could barely restrain himself. Quick sketches of fish had produced only
looks of consternation among the Pendju he'd shown them to, but rough drawings of
octopi and squid caused them to babble excitedly. Dried tentacular bodies of great
intricacy were thereupon drawn from village stores and proudly displayed to the visitors.
"Maybe there are no bony fishes or their analogs in the oceans of Xica," Carnavon deposed.
"It seems that the seas here may be dominated by invertebrates. Interesting, as well as
peculiar."
O'Sandringham challenged him immediately. "If that's true, then how do you explain the
progress of vertebrate evolution on land?"
"We don't know if that's how life here has proceeded. We've seen and collected a lot of
large arthropods with chitinous and silicate exoskeletons, and a number of other creatures
that may or may not have true backbones."
"What about the Pendju themselves?" Lejardin wondered.
Carnavon refused to back down. "We don't know for a fact that they have bony skeletons
like we do. Their hu-manoid appearance notwithstanding, their bodies might depend for
internal support on some kind of complex internal tendon and ligament structure, or some
kind of advanced cartilaginous arrangement."
"We can't very well ask to exhume a body for examination," Prentice pointed out.
"Assuming they even practice burial. They may set their dead out for the forest creatures to
consume, or dispose of them at sea."
"Would you like me to ask?" Simna inquired.
Prentice replied firmly. "No. It's much too soon to broach such a potentially touchy
subject. We've got plenty to keep us busy as it is. I don't want to do anything to
compromise the relationship we've established with these people. Categorizing their
internal structure can wait."
As the days passed they rotated between the village and Base Camp, giving everyone a
chance to observe and study in the company of the Pendju. Prentice insisted that there
always be a minimum of two of their number at Base Camp and that one of them always be
Stevens or Lastwell. The two techs had no objection to the arrangement and were in fact
delighted to be directed to avoid each other's company, of which they had enjoyed more
than enough on the voyage out from Earth.
As for who would spend time at Base Camp, O'San-dringham always managed to volunteer
whenever it was Stevens's turn to look after their refuge. The two of them exchanged
insults with a frequency that fooled no one, and their colleagues were too diplomatic to
allude overtly to the developing and deepening relationship.
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Simna spent as much time working with Lejardin as he could reasonably manage, both
drawn to and bemused by her. Her constant activity failed to mask his feeling that serious
problems underlay her obvious dedication to her research. He sounded her out gently,
with little success, trying to offer his assistance without appearing to intrude. It was a
difficult balancing act to maintain, made worse by the fact that he had no idea how well or
poorly he was managing it.
He wondered if she was aware of how they were all drawn to her; even Carnavon,
somewhat to the wary dismay of his spouse. But there was so much work to be done, so
many new discoveries to be marveled at and classified, that serious concern was
unnecessary. For her part Lejardin tended to gravitate to Prentice, both as nominal leader
of the expedition and for reasons she had no need to explain.
It was something Simna did not dwell on. He was quite used to being the outsider.
Added to his personal scientific agenda, his efforts to master the Xican language kept him
more than occupied. Boutu proved a willing and even enthusiastic teacher, submerging
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