Chapter 5 chapter Five

After the call ended, Hamid sat in front of the modem for a long time.What exactly is this Ravna?Human beings have colonized alien planets for 20,000 years. The environment of some colonized planets is much weirder than that of China and the United States, and the appearance of human beings has changed a lot.Humans living on different planets are much more diverse now than among the races on home Earth; however, humans on most planets still intermarry.Ravna looks more like an Earthling than many tourists.Assuming she's of average height, you could almost take her for a Middle Eastern American: stocky, dark-skinned, black-haired.Of course there are differences.Her eyes have inner lids and irises are the deepest purple Hamid has ever seen.But those small differences were nothing compared to how she had behaved just now.

Why didn't she receive Hamid's teleportation past image?Could she not see?Unlikely: he remembered the way she looked at things around him.Maybe she's the product of some kind of personality simulator.Personality simulators were very common in American science fiction at the end of the 20th century; but by the early 21st century, personality simulations seemed to be too difficult for computers, and this thing was no longer popular in science fiction.There should be similar things in Leaping Realm, not to mention Transcendent Boundary.Of course, the equipment over there doesn't work well on the ground floor.So, maybe she's just an avatar of the so-called Mr. Claw.

But for some reason, Hamid felt that she was a real person.He had...feelings for her.She was clearly in good shape in a soft white shirt and trousers.As for Hamid, for the past five years his mind has been preoccupied with women.He used to spend a lot of time in the shops in downtown Margate, winking at the girls he passed by.But none of that explains why Hamid feels that way about her.Ravna wasn't a particularly hot and sexy type of woman.In that respect she was nothing compared to Jilly Weinberg or the wife of Skader Freenimi Srinitan.But if they had met at school, Hamid felt that he would have pursued her as hard as he could, much more seriously than he had pursued Gilly...which is telling.

Hamid sighed.Maybe that just means he's a madman himself. Guagua rubbed his head against his arm: "I want to go out." Only then did Hamid realize that although the room was cold, he was covered in sweat. "Oh no. Not tonight, Quack." He guessed there was a lot of bravado in Ravna & Claw's threats; but people like them, if they could get away with it, would probably take Quack without hesitation. "I want to go out!" Guagua raised his voice.It often stays outside at night, most of the time in the forest.This makes it easier for him to keep quiet when he's in the house.The cats and dogs around here are all pets of Quack; for Quack, night is the time for him to play with his pets.When they first came here, the croaks started an out-and-out battle.Two of the most ferocious dogs have disappeared, and the order of the animal hierarchy has been completely changed.Things turned out very oddly.The cats were so fascinated by croaking that they used to hang around the yard just to get a glimpse of croaking.When he was at home, they didn't even fight.Today is Guagua's favorite day.In two hours, silver Selene and golden Diana will rise.When two moons, one silver and one gold, appeared in the night sky, Hamid often saw Quack walking by the edge of the forest with a dozen loyal followers behind him.

But, "Not tonight, croak!" What ensued was a quarrel.Gua La La started to perform rock and children's programs, and the sound was very loud; but it was not the loudest noise it could make.If Gualala showed his housekeeping skills, it would make Hamm feel uncomfortable all over.Now it's just like a cheap radio with too much volume.Before long, the whole building will be full of complaints.Hamid is lucky today, at least the next few houses are empty now. After enduring the noise for twenty minutes, Hamid successfully distracted the croaks with "human games".Like many pets, Quack regards himself as a human being.But croaking is different from cats, dogs, and even parrots: it can really imitate people very closely.The problem is, not many people are patient and willing to play with it.

They sat across from each other at the dining table, with Quagua's forelegs resting on the table in a strange shape.When playing this game, Hamid would start by asking a question—any question, the content didn't matter, and Quack would nod meaningfully and try to come up with an answer.If it is an abstract question, Quack's answer is basically illogical, and only fortune tellers and wishful thinking can understand it.But that's okay, Hamid will still ask and answer it.Sometimes it's a comment; if Quack puts on a joke, he laughs out loud.Their rhythm and intonation are indistinguishable from the conversations between real people.If you don't know English, you'll think it's two good friends chatting.

"How about a parody, quack? Joe Ortega. President Ortega. Can you do it?" "Hehe." Quack let out Larry the Lazy laugh. "Don't rush. I'm thinking. I'm thinking!" There were several imitation games they used to play.For example, it can repeat what Hamid said in another person's voice.Guagua likes to do this the most when making a phone call without video transmission; because at this time, the other party really believes that it is human.However, as long as Guagua enters the role, the gameplay suggested by Hamid is also quite interesting. It touched its chin with one paw. "Ah, I see." It pretended to be arrogant, leaned back, and almost slipped to the floor, "In this exciting time, we must join hands." This is Ortega's recent speech A simple replay of a sentence I said at the time.Hamid continued to ask questions, and Quack began to play freely, but its voice was always exactly the same as that of the Chinese and American presidents.Hamid's stomach hurts from laughing.Ortega was one of five people who returned to Central America; he was not very bright, but he was ambitious and very self-righteous.Come to think of it, a little knowledge of the Outer Zone was enough to put him on the throne of planetary ruler.In the words of Larry Lazy, these five people are like big sharks in a small puddle.

Quack is a super pushy fellow, and it didn't take long for him to get carried away by his own ingenuity.It started flailing its front legs and finally lost its balance and fell off the chair. "Oops!" It jumped back on the chair, looked at Hamid, and laughed.They both leaned back and laughed for half a minute.It's happened before.Guagua can at best understand jokes such as "falling your ass", and it can't make sense of more complicated ones.But it laughs with Hamid, which makes it feel more human, and besides, it likes to be in line with Hamid. "Oh, my God!" It sat down on the table, crossed its front legs behind its neck, and couldn't breathe with laughter.

The laughter gradually died down, and there were only occasional gasps in the room, followed by a comfortable silence.Hamid reached out and touched the bristles on the diaphragm of Quack's forehead: "You are a good boy, Quack." The dark eyes turned to him.It made a sound like a sigh, shaking the fur under Hamid's palm.It said, "Of course, of course." The curtains in the room were only half drawn, and one of the window panes was open so that Quack could sit there and look out.Hamid lay in his dimly lit bedroom, watching Quack.It sat in the gold and silver moonlight, its nose pressed against the screen; its long neck bent so that the diaphragm of its head and shoulders faced out of the window.From time to time, its head will shake slightly.It seems to have seen something interesting.

There was not much noise in the forest, other than that, it was a quiet night.The croak was also quiet—at least within Hamid’s hearing range, it didn’t make any noise—and Hamid was glad it behaved so well.It's such a good boy. He let out a long breath and pulled the quilt under his nose.This day is really long, it seems that all the problems in life have appeared today. He had to be very careful in the next few days: he couldn't leave Margate and Ann Arbor, and he couldn't leave Quack alone with no one to look after him.At least the bug protection seems to be okay.But I'd better tell Larry about the second ansible.If Ravna & Claws went straight to the government with that thing... for Hamid and Quack, this could be the most dangerous situation.The people in the government were always singing about the prohibition of private transactions, but in fact, these people would sell anything, including their own grandmothers, as long as they believed that the sale was good for the planet.Thank God they already have an Ansible - or almost.

so funny.For so many years, he has had so many daydreams, but what people want is not him, but quack...

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