Sliding Scales by Alan Dean Foster Read Free Book Online Page B

softskin was not the only one capable of learning from new experiences.
    “And you have come alone. There is no one elsse on your sship? No crew?”
    “The onboard AI takes care of everything,” Flinx assured him. “I came here because few do. I like places like that. They help me think.” The human seemed to pause.“Although while I'm here I'm not supposed to do any more thinking than is absolutely necessary.”
    Was the softskin mentally addled? Takuuna found himself wondering. No, he decided. The creature was too alert for that. Too aware, too quick, and too logical with its responses. There was something else. Something he could not put a claw on. That he would eventually isolate this puzzling component of the softskin, Takuuna had no doubt. Until then, he would do as he had been ordered, while subtly seeking out the visitor's secrets—and weaknesses.
    Both sets of eyelids blinked twice. “It sseemss that I have been placed at your disspossal, worthy guesst Flinx. What would you like to ssee firsst?”
    The human lifted its shoulders slightly and then dropped them in a gesture Takuuna did not recognize. He found himself wishing he had paid more attention to the relevant studies. As was only natural, during his matriculation period he had focused his attention far more on the thranx, humankind's close allies and the AAnn's ancient irritants. Humans, he now saw, were nothing like the thranx.
    “What would you suggest?”
    The administrator considered. “Without knowing more about you or your perssonal tasstess, it iss difficult to resspond to ssuch a query.” The human did not rise to the bait, but merely waited patiently. It had been worth a try, Takuuna felt. “I am an adminisstrator, not a guide. You ssay that you are interessted in gaining knowledge. What do you know of Jasst's ecology?”
    “Very little,” Flinx replied honestly.
    Takuuna hissed softly. “It hass one prevailing characterisstic. Sslowness. Nothing here movess quickly. Certainly not the dominant sspeciess, the Vssey.”
    “I've already noticed that. It's hard to move fast in the absence of legs.”
    “Truly.” With a start, Takuuna realized that the human was making an attempt at humor. It was an effort that fell well within the restricted parameters of what the AAnn regarded as amusing. “The great majority of advanced life-formss on Jasst are either ssedentary, as the Vssey themsselvess once were, or incapable of rapid movement. A ssingle kravune from my homeworld could make a hundred of them prey each and every day without ssacrificing sso much as one of itss own sscaless.”
    “That would explain the vigilance of the immigration officials at the port.”
    He misses nothing, Takuuna thought. He comes here claiming to be in search of nothing, but sees everything. A trained observer, or merely an enthusiastic one?
    “Come. I will introduce you to the sslowness that iss Jasst.” Raising up on the balls of both sandaled feet, he pivoted ceremoniously and started for the door.
    As Flinx followed, he sensed Pip's continuing unease. She had been restless ever since they had entered the administrator's presence. Flinx did his best to calm her. Attacking their official escort would be a poor way to convince the local authorities that he meant no harm.
    Besides, he had also perceived the antagonism that was being directed toward him. Unlike Pip, he thought little of it. It was no more than one would expect from any AAnn. They were instinctively and unremittingly hostile to anyone not of their own kind—and often to those as well. As he knew from long experience, this very consistency of enmity made it difficult to guess their intentions. How could you tell when someone was really angry at you when they existed in a state of perpetual animosity?
    There
were
degrees of anger, though. So far, the one called Takuuna had emitted little more than the usual nervousunfriendliness. A Vsseyan guide would have been more agreeable. On the other hand,