Mission of Gravity

He had reached this point in his thoughts when Barle

As it turned out, there was no need for him to have hurried. The things remained motionless, apparently watching the newcomers, while the towing maneuver was completed; he was able to spend the remaining minutes before sunset in a careful examination of the beings. Even with the glasses some details were indistinguishable — for one reason, they seemed not to have emerged entirely from their dwellings; but what could be seen suggested strongly that they belonged to the same race as Barle

Barle

„Have you ever heard of people living this close to the Rim, Barl? Would they be at all likely to be known to you, or even speak the same language?”

„I doubt it very much. My people become very uncomfortable, as you know, north of what you once called the hundred-G line.’ I know several languages, but I can’t see any likelihood of finding one of them spoken here.”

„Then what shall we do? Sneak around this town, or go through it on the chance its people are not belligerent? I’d like to see it more closely, I admit, but we have an important job to do and I don’t want to risk its chances of success. You at least know your race better than I possibly can; how do you think they’ll react to us?”

„There’s no one rule, there. They may be frightened out of their wits at your tank, or my riding on it — though they might not have normal instincts about height, here at the Rim. We’ve met lots of strange people in our wanderings, and sometimes we’ve been able to trade and sometimes we’ve had to fight. In general, I’d say if we kept weapons out of sight and trade goods in evidence, they would at least investigate before getting violent. I’d like to go down. Will the sled fit through the bottom of those cha

Lackland paused. „I hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted after a moment. „I’d want to measure them more carefully first. Maybe it would be best if the tank went down alone first, with you and anyone else who cared for the ride traveling on top. That way we might look more peaceful, too — they must have seen the weapons your men were carrying, and if we leave them behind — ”

„They didn’t see any weapons unless their eyes are a great deal better than ours,” pointed out Barle

„That’s a thought. Yes, I guess it would be the best idea, at that. Will you tell your crew what we’ve decided, and ask if any of them want to come down with us afterward?”

Barle

The crew in general accepted the advisability of taking the ship around rather than through the city, but from that point on there was a little difficulty. All of them wanted to see the town, but none would even consider riding on the tank, often as they had seen their captain do so without harm. Don-dragmer broke the deadlock by suggesting that the crew, except for those left to guard the Bree, follow the tank into the town; there was no need to ride, since all could now keep up the speed the vehicle had been using up to this time.

The few minutes this discussion consumed brought the sun once more above the horizon; and at Barle

Practically no steering was required; the vehicle tended to follow the course of the first cha

The rising sun was behind them as they approached from this side of the valley, so the seeing was good. There was much to see; some of the town’s inhabitants emerged entirely from their dwellings as the strangers approached. Neither Lackland nor Barle

As the distance narrowed, one fact became evident; the creatures were not, in spite of initial appearances, of the same race as Barle

Some of the things had reared the front third of their long bodies high into the air, in an evident effort to see better as the tank approached — an act that separated them from Barle

The sailors edged around the tank through the narrow space left — Lackland had just barely completed emerging from the alley — and stared almost as silently as the natives. Dwellings, to them, consisted of three-inch-high walls with fabric roofs for weather protection; the idea of a covering of solid material was utterly strange. If they had not been seeing with their own eyes the giant city dwellers actually inside the weird structures, Barle