Crashlander   ::   Нивен Ларри

Elephant introduced me to Dianna and instantly told her he'd acted to contact the Outsiders.

«What's an Outsider?» she asked.

Elephant gestured with both hands, looked confused, turned helplessly toward me.

«They're hard to describe,» I said. «Think of a cat-o'-nine-tails with a big thick handle.»

«They live on cold worlds,» said Elephant.

«Small, cold, airless worlds like Nereid. They pay rent to use Nereid as a base, don't they, Elephant? And they travel over most of the galaxy in big unpressurized ships with fusion drives and no hyperdrives.»

«They sell information. They can tell me about the world I want to find, the most unusual planet in known space.»

«They spend most of their time tracking starseeds.»

Dianna broke in. «Why?»

Elephant looked at me. I looked at Elephant.

«Say!» Elephant exclaimed. «Why don't we get a fourth for bridge?»

Dianna looked thoughtful. Then she focused her silver eyes on me, examined me from head to foot, and nodded gently to herself. «Sharrol Janss. I'll call her.»

While she was phoning, Elephant told me, «That's a good thought. Sharrol's got a tendency toward hero worship. She's a computer analyst at Donovan's Brains Inc. You'll like her.»

«Good,» I said, wondering if we were still talking about a bridge game. It struck me that I was building up a debt to Elephant. «Elephant, when you contact the Outsiders, I'd like to come along.»

«Oh? Why?»

«You'll need a pilot. And I've dealt with Outsiders before.»

«Okay, it's a deal.»

The intercom rang from the vestibule. Dianna went to the door and came back with our fourth for bridge. «Sharrol, you know Elephant. This is Beowulf Shaeffer, from We Made It. Bey, this is —»

«You!» I said.

«You!» she said.

It was the pickpocket.

* * *



My vacation lasted just four days.

I hadn't known how long it would last, though I did know how it would end. Consequently I threw myself into it body and soul. If there was a dull moment anywhere in those four days, I slept through it, and at that I didn't get enough sleep. Elephant seemed to feel the same way. He was living life to the hilt; he must have suspected, as I did, that the Outsiders would not consider danger a factor in choosing his planet. By their own ethics they were bound not to. The days of Elephant's life might be running short.

Buried in those four days were incidents that made me wonder why Elephant was looking for a weird world.