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Ezr had seen four "performances" now. More than any normal human translator, far more than any machine system, each ziphead put emotion and body language into the interpretation.
"Rappaport Digby" was the zipheads' name for the show's host. (Wheredo they get those crazy names?People still asked that. Ezr knew the names came mostly from Trixia. That was one of the few things he and Trixia could really talk about, his knowledge of the First Classicism. Sometimes she asked him for new words. In fact,Ezr had suggested the "Digby" name, years ago. The word fit something she saw in the background of this particular Spider.) Ezr knew the translator who played Rappaport Digby. Outside of the show, Zinmin Broute was a typical ziphead, irritable, fixated, uncommunicative. But now, when he appeared as the Spider Rappaport Digby, he was kindly and garrulous, a patient explainer to children....It was like seeing a zombie briefly animated by someone else's soul.
Each new Watch saw the Spider children a little differently. After all, most Watches were only a twenty-five-percent duty cycle; the Spider children lived four years for every one that most spacers lived. Rita and some of the others took to visualizing human children to go with the voices. The pictures were scattered across the parlor's wallpaper. Pictures of imaginary human children, with the names Trixia had chosen. "Jirlib" was short, with tousled dark hair and a mischievous smile. "Brent" was larger, not as cocky-looking as his brother. Be
Brughel's vandalism hadn't mattered; he didn't understand what was behind the popularity of "The Children's Hour." Tomas Nau obviouslydid understand, and was perfectly content that the customers at Be
Now all that was postponed.Our own out-of-phase taboo. Couples like Xin and Liao had only their dreams for the future—and the children's words and children's thoughts that came from the translation of "The Children's Hour."
Even before the live shows, the humans noticed that all the children were the same age. Year by Arachnan year they aged, but when new children came on the show, they were the same age as those replaced. The earliest translations had been lessons about magnetism and static electricity, all free of mathematics. Later the lessons introduced analysis and quantitative methods.
About two years ago, there had been a subtle change, remarked on in the ziphead's written reports—and instantly, instinctively noticed by Jau Xin and Rita Liao: "Jirlib" and "Brent" had appeared on the show. They were introduced as any other children, but Trixia's translations made them seemyounger than the others. Showmaster Digby never remarked on the difference, and the math and science in the show continued to become more sophisticated.
"Victory Junior" and "Gokna" were the latest additions to the cast, new on this Watch. Ezr had seen Trixia play them. Her voice had hopped with childish impatience; sometimes she had bubbled with laughter. Rita's pictures showed these two Spiders as laughing seven-year-olds. It was all too pat. Why should the average age of children on the show be declining? Be
By the time Ezr had returned from coldsleep, the show was packing the parlor to capacity. Ezr saw four performances, each a private horror for him. And then, surcease. "The Children's Hour" had not been broadcast for twenty days now. Instead, there had been a stern a
For once, the alie
But that was too much to hope. Four days ago, the gloom had abruptly lifted, even if the mystery remained. Broadcasts from radio stations all across the "Goknan Accord" a
Now Be
In his usual place on the other side of the parlor, Trud Silipan seemed to ignore the suspense. He and Pham Trinli were talking in low tones. The two were constant drinking buddies, pla
"Hey, Trud!" shouted Rita, pointing at the clock. "Where are your zipheads?" The parlor's wallpaper still looked out on the forests of some Balacrean nature preserve.
Trud Silipan rose from his table and floated down before the crowd. "It's okay, folks. I just got word. Princeton Radio has started the ‘Children's Hour' intro. Director Reynolt will bring out the zipheads in a moment. They're still synching with the word stream."
Liao's irritation melted away. "Great! Good going, Trud."
Silipan gave a bow, accepting kudos for what was a zero contribution on his part. "So, in a few moments we should know what strange things this Underhill creature has been doing with his children...." He cocked his head, listening to his private data feed. "And here they are!"
The dripping, blue-green forest landscape disappeared. The bar side of the room suddenly seemed to extend into one of the meeting rooms down on Hammerfest. A
This was where Ezr wanted to start screaming—or run off to some dark place and pretend the world didn't exist. Normally the Emergents hid their zipheads deep within their systems, as if they felt some remnant shame. Normally the Emergents liked to get results from computer and head-up displays, all graphics and hygienically filtered data. Be