A few minutes later, Jill reported to Jubal's study.I saw Anne wearing the white cloak of her own guild, and when she heard footsteps, she glanced up and said nothing.Jill found a chair and sat down quietly.Jubal was asking Dorcas to record for him, but without looking up, he went straight on:
”—flowed from under the spread body, soaked the corner of the carpet, and made a small dark red pool on the hearth floor, attracting two idle flies. Mrs. Simpson put her hand to her mouth. 'Oh God Ah!' she murmured sadly, 'Papa's favorite rug! .
Dorcas picked up the stenograph, smiled at Jill, and left the room."Where's Mike?" Jubal asked.
"Get dressed," Jillian replied, "soon."
"'Get dressed'?" Jubal said testily, "I didn't say it was a formal occasion.
"But he has to learn."
"Why? I don't give a damn whether you boys are naked or well dressed. Get him in."
"Come on, Jubal, he has to learn."
"Hmph! You're forcing him to accept your morals—narrow, conservative middle-class morals."
"I didn't! I just taught him the necessary customs."
"Customs, morals, what's the difference? Listen, woman, he's the only one not tainted by our tribe's morbid taboos, it's a godsend, a perfect flush—but you want Change him. There are enough vulgar conformists in this timid land, and you want to make him a copy of them! Why don't you do a good job? Give him a briefcase how?"
"I didn't do that! I just wanted to help him out of trouble. It was for his own good."
Jubal snorted contemptuously, "They used the exact same excuses you used before neutering the tomcats."
"Hmm." Apparently, Jill was silently counting from one to ten.She said coldly, "This is your house, Dr. Harshaw, and we owe you so much. I'm going to Michael right away." She stood up.
"Wait, Jill."
"gentlemen?"
"Sit down—and it's no use trying to be a nuisance like me, you've missed years of practice. Now, let's make this clear: You don't owe me anything. You can't owe me anything, because I Never do anything I don't want to do. In fact, everyone is like this, the only difference is that I know it, so please don't invent a debt of favor that doesn't exist, otherwise, the next step you Time to be grateful to me—and gratitude is the first step to total moral failure. Enlightenment?"
Jill bit her lip, then smiled: "I'm not sure what 'enlightenment' means."
"Me too. I'm going to keep learning from Mike until I figure it out. But I wasn't kidding. 'Grateful' is just a euphemism for 'resentment.' I don't mind most people's resentment, but the pretty girl's." Resentment is just not to my liking.”
"What? Jubal, I don't hold a grudge against you at all - this is stupid."
"I hope so... But if you don't uproot the illusion of being indebted to me, you will resent. In Japanese, there are five ways you can say 'thank you' - each of which can be tinged with resentment Meaning, only in different degrees. I wish English had this inherent honesty! God, there are emotions that the human nervous system can't experience at all, but English has the ability to define them one by one, such as ,'gratitude'."
"Jubbal, you are a cynical old man. I do appreciate you and will continue to do so."
"And you're a sentimental little girl. We're a match made in heaven. We're going to Atlanta this weekend for two days of illegal debauchery, just the two of us. How?"
"Jubbal!"
"Do you finally understand how grateful you are to me?"
"Oh, well, I'm ready. When's the road?"
"Alas! Should have set off forty years ago. One more thing, you're right, Mike had to learn human customs. He had to take off his shoes at the mosque, put on his hat at the synagogue, put his hat on when social taboos required. Body covered. Otherwise, our shaman will burn him as a heretic. But, boy, for the sake of a thousand faces, don't brainwash him. Make sure he's cynical about all our customs."
"Well, I don't know if I can. There doesn't seem to be a single cynicism in Mike."
"Really? Well, I'll give you a hand. Isn't he dressed yet?"
"I gonna go see."
"Wait a minute. Jill, I explained to you why I'm not rushing to accuse anyone of kidnapping Ben. Even if someone does break the law and restrict Ben's freedom (let's try to put it mildly) let's not make them jump the wall , to destroy the evidence—that is, Ben. As long as he is alive, he has a chance to live on. However, I took some measures the night you first arrived. Are you familiar with the Bible?"
"Uh, not very familiar."
"It's worth studying, it contains a solution to almost any emergency situation. '—everyone who does evil hates it', John or something, Jesus said to Nicodemus. You are unlikely Covered all traces, so someone should come here and try to get Mike back. I've been waiting. This place is remote, and we don't have much firepower. Only one weapon that might scare them off. Light. The one that can show it all to the world Powerful strobe lights. I arranged that any commotion here would be broadcast. It wasn't a little bit that was easy to cover up - it was a gulp of spittle covering the whole world at once. The cameras were all set up and the wires were wired up. These details It doesn't matter. In short, as long as there is a conflict here, everything will be broadcast by the three TV networks at the same time, and the information that has been prepared for a long time will be sent immediately to a large group of big shots. Everyone in that group is eager to catch us The little braid of His Excellency the Secretary-General."
Harshaw frowned. "But I can't keep them on standby forever. When I planned the operation, I was only worried about trouble coming soon, and I just wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Now, I think it's time to get the spotlight on us while I can." , should compel the other party to take action."
"What kind of action, Jubal?"
"I've been wrestling with this problem for the past three days. You told me what happened in this apartment just now, and I got a glimpse of a solution."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Jubal. I didn't think anyone would believe me. It's good of you to believe me."
"I didn't say I believed it."
"What? But you—"
"I think you're telling the truth, Jill. But the dream is a real experience, as is the hypnotic delusion. But for the next hour, everything that happens in this room will be seen by a notary, There are also a couple of cameras to record them." He pressed a button, "It's on now. I don't think Annie is going to be hypnotized in the line of duty, and I bet the cameras aren't either. Let's see what we do What kind of truth is it—and then you can think about how you can force the authorities to do it... Maybe you can find a way to help Ben. Go get Mike."
Mike's reason for being late was no mystery.He tied the laces of his right foot to his left - then stood up, tripped himself, fell on all fours, and ended up making dead knots in the laces.He spends the rest of the time analyzing his predicament, before slowly untying the knots and tying the shoelaces.He didn't realize he was spending too much time, he was just a little annoyed at not repeating exactly what Jill had taught him.Although the mistake had been corrected, when Jill came in to call him, he confessed his failure to her.
She comforted him, combed his hair and sent him to the room.Harshaw raised his eyes. "Hey boy, sit down."
"Hi, Jubal," answered Valentine Michael Smith solemnly, and sat down—and waited.
Harshaw asked, "So, boy, what did you learn today?"
Smith smiled happily, and, as usual, he paused for a moment before replying, "Today I learned to do a reverse somersault. It's a kind of jumping, a kind of diving, a kind of going into our water— —”
"I know, I see. Toes tensed, knees straight, feet together.
Smith sulked, "Did I not do it right?"
"For a beginner, you're doing quite right. Look at Dorcas's movements."
Smith thought for a while, "The water spirit understands Dorcas. It cherishes him."
"'She', Dorcas is 'she', not 'he'.
"'She'," Smith corrected, "so I'm wrong? I read Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, Springfield, MA, and it says masculine in language can contain feminine I also read Hargworth's The Law of Contract, Fifth Edition, Chicago, Illinois, 1978, on page 1012—"
"Wait," Harshaw hurriedly interrupted him, "Masculine can indeed include feminine, but it can only be used in general terms, not when referring to a specific person. Dorcas will always be 'she', instead of 'he'.
"I will remember."
"You'd better remember—or Dorcas might be furious and show you how womanly she is." Harshaw blinked slyly. "Jill, did this lad sleep with you? Or one of you?" which one?"
She hesitated for a moment, then replied flatly, "As far as I know, Mike doesn't sleep at all."
"You're dodging my question."
"Then you can quite surmise that I did it on purpose. Anyway, he didn't sleep with me."
"Mmm...damn, my interests are all scientific. Mike, what else have you learned?"
"I learned two ways to tie shoelaces. One of them just lays people down, and the other makes them stand up. I also learned verb conjugations, like—"
"Fine, that's enough. What else?"
Mike smiled happily, "Yesterday I was learning to drive a tractor, it's great, it's great, and it's beautiful."
"Huh?" Jubal turned to Jill and asked, "When did it happen?"
"Yesterday when you took a nap, Jubal. It's okay, Duke was careful not to hurt him."
"Well...well, apparently, he's not hurt. Mike, have you read?"
"Yes, Jubal."
"What did you read?"
"I read," Mike recited, "the other three volumes of the Encyclopedia,. You said not to read too many Encyclopedias at once, so I stopped. Then I read Romeo by Master William Shakespeare in London. and Juliet. Then I read Seget’s Memoirs of Jacques Casanova, translated into English by Arthur March. Then I read Frances Wayman’s Techniques of Cross-Interrogation. Then I tried What Rei read, until Jill asked me to come down for breakfast."
"So, are you enlightened?"
Smith seemed uneasy, "Jubbal, I don't know."
"Any questions?"
"I haven't fully realized what I read. In the history written by Master William Shakespeare, I was very happy when Romeo died. I read it later, and it turned out that he disintegrated too soon-anyway I am So enlightened. Why?"
"Because he's a complete little fool."
"Feel sorry?"
"I don't know, Mike."
Smith thought for a while, then muttered something in Martian, and then said in English: "I'm just an egg."
"Huh? You say that every time you ask for help, Mike. What's the matter?"
Smith hesitated for a moment, then blurted out: "Jubbal, my brother, would you please ask Romeo why he broke up? I can't ask him myself; I'm just an ass. But you can--and you can teach me to understand it.”
After some brainstorming, Jubal finally understood what the other party meant: Mike believed that Romeo was once a real person, and hoped that he could summon Romeo's ghost and ask the ghost to explain what he did before his disintegration.Romeo and Juliet's family never really existed, and it's almost impossible to get Mike to understand that.Fiction had absolutely no place in his experience to explain to him what fiction was.Jubal tried to explain it to him, only to confuse Mike more.Jill couldn't help worrying that he was going to curl up on the spot.
Mike had long understood that he could not resort to this method of evasion in front of his friends, it would disturb their emotions (except for his brother, Dr. Nelson).Therefore, when he realized that the danger was imminent, he made great efforts to slow down his heartbeat and stabilize his emotions, and then smiled and said, "I will wait until enlightenment comes naturally."
"Very well," agreed Jubal. "From now on, before reading a book, ask me, or Jill, or anyone else, if it's a novel. I don't want you to get confused."
"I'll ask, Jubal." Mike made up his mind. Although he didn't understand this strange concept, he still had to report the question to the spirit elders exactly... Thinking of this, he couldn't help but speculate, didn't know Do spiritual elders know what a "novel" is?Could it be that there are some things in this world that the spiritual elders are as ignorant as themselves?Even more so revolutionary than mere eccentric "fiction," this marvelous idea was so revolutionary that he put it aside entirely for future meditation.
"—by the way," his brother Jubal was speaking, "I didn't call you here to discuss literary form. Mike, do you remember the day Jill took you out of the hospital?"
"'Hospital'?" Mike repeated.
"Jubbal," Jill interjected, "maybe Mike didn't know it was a hospital. Let me try."
"please."
"Mike, do you remember? Back in the day, before I dressed you and took you away, you lived in one place and it was just you."
"Yes, Jill."
"Then we went to another place where I undressed you and gave you a shower"
Smith recalled with a smile, "Yeah. Very happy."
"And then I wiped you off—then two guys came."
The smile on Smith's face was wiped clean in an instant.He started shaking and curled up into a ball.
Jill said: "Mike! Stop! Don't leave!"
Mike controlled himself. "Yes, Jill."
"Listen, Mike. I want you to think about that time—but you mustn't panic. There were two men, and one of them pushed you into the living room."
"The room with the happy grass." He understood.
"That's right. He pushed you into the room with the grass floor, and I tried to stop him. He hit me, and then he disappeared. Do you remember?"
"Are you not angry?"
"What? No, no, not at all. One guy disappears, the other one pulls a gun and points it at me - and he's gone. I'm scared - but I'm not angry."
"Aren't you mad at me now?"
"Mike, honey, I've never been mad at you. Me and Jubal wondered what that was about. There were two guys, what did you do...then they disappeared. What did you do? Can Tell us?"
"I'll tell. That man—the big man—hit you... I was scared too. So I—" He began to babble Martian again, blankly, "I don't know the words."
Jubal said: "Mike, can you explain bit by bit?"
"I'll try, Jubal. In front of me, there are things. They're wrong things, they can't exist. So I reach out—" he looks confused, "It's easy. It's much harder to tie your shoes. But No words. I'm terribly sorry." He thought for a moment, "Maybe the words are in the volume Plants to Raym, or Rayn to Sarr, and Sars to Sorc. I'll read it tonight, and I'll tell you at breakfast tomorrow. you."
"Maybe," Jubal agreed. "Wait, Mike." He walked to a corner and brought back a box of brandy. "Can you make it disappear?"
"Is this the wrong thing?"
"Well, suppose it is."
"But—Jubbal, I have to know it's the wrong thing. It's a box, and I don't have the epiphany that it's the wrong thing."
"Well, suppose I take this box and throw it at Jill?"
There was a hint of sadness in Mike's voice, "Jubbal, you wouldn't do that to Jill."
"Uh...damn, I guess you're right. Jill, can you throw it at me? Throw it hard—the kind that if Mike can't protect me, at least get a gash in the scalp"
"Jubbal, I don't like the idea."
"Oh, come on! For science...and Ben Caxton."
"But—" Jill made up her mind suddenly, jumped up, grabbed the box, and threw it at Jubal's head.Jubal was about to stand still, but instinct got the better of him; he ducked.
"Miss," he said. "Damn it, I didn't see it. I was going to keep my eyes on it." He looked at Smith and said, "Mike, is this—what's wrong with the kid?"
The visitor from Mars was trembling all over, with an unhappy expression on his face.Jill put her arms around him. "Okay, okay, it's okay, honey! You did a great job. It didn't touch Jubal at all, just disappeared."
"I guess so," Jubal admitted.He looked around and started whistling his nails, "Annie, did you see that?"
"yes."
"What did you see?"
"The box didn't 'just disappear'. The whole thing lasted a fraction of a second. From where I sat, it seemed to shrink, as if disappearing into the distance. But it didn't leave the room; until The moment it disappeared, I could see it all the time."
"I can only report so much."
"Umm...we'll get to the tape later—but I've already believed it. Mike—"
"What's the matter, Jubal?"
"Where's the box?"
"The box—" Smith paused, "again, I'm out of words. I'm sorry."
"I'm confused, boy. Can you reach out and grab it?"
"Feel sorry?"
"You let it go, now let it come back."
"How is that possible? The box is gone."
Jubal mused, "If this catches on, we'll have to change the fact-of-crime clause. Mike, how close do you have to be?"
"Feel sorry?"
"If you're standing in the corridor and I'm at the window—oh, thirty yards—can you keep it from hitting me?"
Smith seemed a little surprised: "Yes."
"Mmm... to the window. Suppose Jill and I were on the other side of the pool and you were standing here, would you be able to stop it?"
"Yes, Jubal."
"So . . . suppose Jill and I are by the gate, a quarter of a mile away. Wouldn't that be too much of a distance?"
Smith hesitated, "Jubbal, it's not about distance or seeing. It's about knowing."
"Mmm... let's see if I have a vision. It doesn't matter how far away, you don't even have to see it. As long as you know something bad is happening, you can stop it. Right?"
Smith was a little distressed, "Basically yes. But I haven't been out of the nest for a long time. If I want to know, I have to see. Elder Ling can know without eyes. He knows. He has enlightenment. He acts. I'm sorry."
"I don't know why you're sorry," Jubal said angrily. "If the Federal Security Minister knew, he would have declared you top secret ten minutes ago."
"Feel sorry?"
"Nothing." Jubal went back to the desk and picked up a heavy ashtray. "Jill, don't aim for the face. Now, Mike, stand in the hallway."
"Jubbal... my brother... please don't!"
"What's wrong? I want to demonstrate again—this time I won't take my eyes off."
"Jubbal—"
"What, Jill?"
"I got an epiphany why Mike was so distressed."
"Oh, tell me."
"The experiment we just did, I was going to hurt you with a box. But we are his water brothers - it disturbed Mike that I should try to hurt you. I guess, such a situation, from the Martian point of view, must be It's pretty incredible."
Harshaw frowned. "Perhaps it should be investigated by the Non-Martian Behavior Committee."
"I'm not kidding, Jubal."
"Me neither. Well, Jill, let's redesign it." Harshaw handed the ashtray to Mike. "How heavy it is, boy, and the corners are still sharp."
Smith carefully inspected the ashtray.Harshaw continued: "I'm going to toss it up -- let it hit me on the head when it comes down."
Mike's eyes widened, "My brother... are you going to disintegrate now?"
"Eh? No, no! But it's going to hurt me—unless you stop it. Coming!" Harshaw threw the ashtray straight up, missing the ceiling by inches.The ashtray started falling from the apex and then stopped.
Looking at it, Harshaw felt as if he was frozen in one frame of the film.His voice was hoarse: "Annie, what did you see?"
Anne's voice was unwavering: "I saw the ashtray five inches from the ceiling. I didn't see anything holding it up." She added, "Jubbal, I just think I see this...but if the camera tells me On the contrary, I tore up my license."
"Hmm. Jill?"
"It floats..."
Jubal returned to his desk and sat down without taking his eyes off the ashtray for a moment. "Mike," he said, "why didn't it go away?"
"But, Jubal," Mike argued, "you said stop it; you didn't say you wanted it to go away. I made the box go away and you want it back. Am I doing something wrong?"
"Oh no, you're exactly right. I keep forgetting that you take it literally." Harshaw thought of the words he used to swear in his early years—and reminded himself never to say them to Mike.If he had told the kid to "die" or "disappear for me," he would have followed through with it.Harshaw was convinced of that.
"Great," Mike said gravely. "I'm sorry I couldn't get the box back in. I'm sorry I wasted food twice. It was necessary, or so enlightened."
"Eh? What food?"
Jill said hastily, "He meant those men, Jubal Burquist, and the one with him."
"Oh, that's right." Harshaw reflected to himself, and he still has a very unsavory view of food, "Mike, don't worry about wasting that 'food'. I don't think the meat inspector will let them pass. Quarantine. In fact," he added, recalling the federal treaty on "human flesh," "they would have certainly been judged unfit for human consumption. Besides, it was necessary at the time. You were sufficiently enlightened to take the correct action."
"I am very relieved." Mike could hear a sigh of relief, "Only the elders can ensure that the correct actions are taken at every key point... I still have a lot of knowledge to learn. I have to complete a lot of growth before I can join Ling The old ranks. Jubal? Can I move it? I'm tired."
"You want it gone? No problem."
"But I can't."
"Eh? Why?"
"Your head is no longer under it. It is in this position, and I don't understand what is wrong with its existence."
"Oh. Alright. Move it." Harshaw continued to look at the ashtray, expecting it to float above his head and regain the error.As a result, the ashtray slowly descended, hovered near the table for a moment, and fell onto the desk.
"Thanks, Jubal," Smith said.
"Eh? Thank you, boy!" Jubal picked up the ashtray, which was the same as before, nothing special. "Yes, thank you. This is the most incredible thing I've been through since someone hired a girl to take me up to the attic." He looked up. "Annie, you were trained on the Rhine."
"That's right."
"Have you ever seen this levitation technique?"
She hesitated. "I've seen so-called telekinesis, remote dice. But I'm not a mathematician, so I can't confirm that it's telekinesis."
"Damn it. If it's cloudy today, you won't even make sure the sun is up."
"How can I be sure? It could be someone lighting up the clouds. A classmate of mine seems to be able to levitate something the weight of a piece of paper - but not until he's drunk from three drinks .I couldn't testify against him because I wasn't able to check it carefully...because I had a lot to drink myself."
"You've never seen anything like it?"
"No."
"Mm... your notary duties can end here. If you want to stay, go hang up your coat and drag the chair over here."
"Thanks, I will. However, after hearing your speech about mosques and synagogues, I decided to go to my room and change."
"Whatever. Wake Duke up and tell him I want to watch the tape."
"Okay, boss. Don't do anything until I get back." Annie walked towards the door.
"There's no guarantee. Mike, sit down at the table. Now, can you lift that ashtray? Show me."
"Okay, Jubal." Smith reached for the ashtray.
"no no!"
"I did wrong?"
"No, it was my fault. What I want to know is, if you don't touch it, can you still lift it?"
"Yes, Jubal."
"Huh? Are you tired?"
"No, Jubal."
"Why is that? Does it have to be 'wrong'?"
"No, Jubal."
"Jubbal," Jill interjected, "you didn't ask him to do it. You asked him if he could do it."
"Oh." Jubal was a little embarrassed, "Mike, can you please raise the ashtray one foot from the table and keep it out of the way?"
"Okay, Jubal." The ashtray rose and floated above the desk. "Can you read it, Jubal?" Mike said anxiously. "If I'm wrong, I'll correct it."
"That's good! Can you keep it like this? Let me know if you get tired."
"I'll tell."
"Can you make other things float? Like this pencil. Show me if you can."
"Yes, Jubal." The pencil came to the ashtray.
Following Jubal's request, Mike made a lot of other things float as well.Annie went back to the study, dragged a chair, and watched quietly.Duke brought a portable ladder, glanced at the desk, then glanced again, and then fixed the ladder without saying a word.Finally Mike said, somewhat uncertainly, "I don't know, Jubal. I—" He seemed to be searching for the right words, "I'm an idiot about this."
"Don't get tired."
"I can think of one more. I hope." A paperweight moved and rose - and then, various objects fell, more than a dozen.Mike was on the verge of tears, "Jubbal, I'm so sorry."
Harshaw patted him on the shoulder, "You should be proud, kid. What you just did—" Jubal struggled to find a comparison to an event that Mike went through, "What you just did was harder than tying shoelaces , more than a perfect one-and-a-half somersault. You did, uh, 'great, great, and beautiful'. Did you get enlightened?"
Mike seemed taken aback, "Shouldn't I be ashamed?"
"You should be proud."
"Yes, Jubal," he replied cheerfully, "I'm proud."
"Very well. Mike, I can't even lift an ashtray without touching it with my hands."
Smith was taken aback, "Can't you pick it up?"
"No. Can you teach me?"
"Yes, Jubal. You—" Mike paused, embarrassed, "I don't have words again. I'll read and read and read until I find the words. Then I'll teach my brother."
"Don't focus on that."
"Feel sorry?"
"Mike, don't be disappointed if you don't find the words. They may not be in the English language."
Smith thought for a while, "Then I'll teach my brother the language of my nest."
"I'm afraid you are fifty years late."
"Did i do something wrong?"
"Not at all. You can teach Jill your language first."
"It gives me a sore throat," Jill objected.
"Try an aspirin lozenge." Jubal glared at her. "What a lame excuse, Nurse. I'm hiring you as a research assistant in the linguistics of Mars...and may include some other additional duties, as the case may be. Anne, Add her to the payroll -- and don't forget to supplement your tax records."
"She's been helping out in the kitchen. Do you want to backtrack?"
Jubal shrugged. "Don't bother me with details."
"But, Jubal," Jill protested, "I don't think I can learn Martian!"
"You can try."
"Can--"
"Where's your gratitude? Did you take the job?"
Jill bit her lip, "I accept. It's... the boss."
Smith touched her hand shyly, "Jill...I will teach you."
Jill clapped his hands. "Thanks, Mike." She turned to Harshaw and said, "I'm learning Martian just to annoy you!"
Harshaw grinned. "That motive comes to me—you'll learn it. Mike, what else can you do that we can't?"
Smith looked confused. "I have no idea."
"He doesn't know what we can and can't do," Jill protested.
"Mm... that's right. Annie, change the title to 'Assistant to Martian Linguistics, Culture and Technology.' Jill, when you learn that language, you're bound to come across a lot of novelty, very novelty. Remember to talk to Let me say it. And, Mike, if you notice something you can do that we can't, don't forget to tell me."
"I'll tell you, Jubal. What would that be?"
"I don't know. Like what you just did... and, like, you stayed at the bottom of the pool longer than we did. Mmm...Duke!"
"Boss, I don't have any free hands."
"You can move your mouth, can't you? I found the pool to be drowsy."
"I'll pour the precipitant down later, and I'll clean it up tomorrow morning."
"How's it going?"
"Fortunately, the water is fine, and it's fine to serve it on the table. It just looks a little dirty."
"Leave it alone, then. I'll let you know when I want to clean it up."
"Damn it, boss, no one wants to swim in dishwater."
"Choosiers can stay away from it. Stop nagging, Duke. Can you watch the video?"
"five minutes."
"Okay. Mike, do you know what a gun is?"
"A gun," Mike replied cautiously, "is a firearm that fires ammunition by means of explosives, such as black powder, consisting of a tube or cylinder closed at one end, where—"
"Okay, okay. Do you understand it?"
"I'm not sure. Bamboo." Have you ever seen a gun? "
"have no idea."
"Why, of course you did," Jill broke in. "Michael, think of that time we were talking about, in that room with the grass floor—don't be afraid! Somebody hit me."
"The other pointed something at me."
"He pointed a bad thing at you."
"That's the gun."
"I thought, too, that the bad thing's name might be a gun. Merriam-Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, Massachusetts—"
"Come on, kid," Harshaw said hastily. "Listen now. What would you do if Jill was pointed at a gun?"
Smith paused longer than usual. "Won't you be mad if I waste food?"
"No. In that case, no one is going to be mad at you. But I have one more question. Can you make the gun go away and keep the person?"
Smith thought for a while, "Keep the food?"
"Uh, that's not what I meant. Can you make the gun disappear without hurting the man?"
"Jubbal, he won't get hurt. I'll make the gun go away, the guy I'll just stop him. He won't feel pain. He'll just disintegrate. No spoiling the food."
Harshaw sighed, "Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be that way. But can you just make the gun disappear. Don't 'stop' the guy, don't kill him, let him live?"
Smith thought for a moment. "That's easier than doing both. But, Jubal, if I keep him from disintegrating, he might still hurt Jill. I'm so enlightened anyway."
Harshaw paused to remind himself that this infantile innocence was neither infantile nor naive—it was complex.Jubal is increasingly aware that the civilization it belongs to is far superior to humans in many incomprehensible ways... These innocent words come from the mouth of a superhuman, or the equivalent of a superhuman creature.This time, Jubal chose his words carefully because he had a dangerous experiment in mind. "Mike...if you've come to a -- 'crucial point' where you have to do something to protect Jill, you do it."
"Yes, Jubal. I will."
“别担心浪费食物。别担心其他任何事情。保护吉尔。”
“我永远保护吉尔。”
“很好。但假设有人用枪指着她——或者仅仅是拿着把枪。假设你不想杀了他……但又需要让枪消失。你能做到吗？”
迈克稍一停顿，“我想我灵悟了。枪是错误的东西，但或许有必要不让那个人解体。”他想了想，“我能做到。”
“好。迈克，我要给你看一把枪。枪是错误的东西。”
“枪是错误的东西。我会让它消失。”
“不要一看见它就让它消失。”
"don't want?"
“不要。我会拿起枪，开始用它指着你。在我指着你之前，让它消失。但不要制止我，不要伤害我，不要杀了我，不要对我做任何事。也别浪费了我这么一大堆食物。”
“哦，我永远不会。”迈克真诚地说，“等你解体的时候，我的兄弟朱巴尔，我希望你允许我亲口把你吃下去，每一口都珍爱你……直到将你完满地灵悟。”
哈肖控制住一个本能反应，这才一本正经地回答道：“谢谢你，迈克”
“该说谢谢的是我，我的兄弟。还有，假如我先你一步获选，我希望你觉得我值得灵悟，并和吉尔一起分享我。你会和吉尔分享吧？拜托？”
哈肖瞥了眼吉尔，发现对方仍旧保持着镇定的面部表情——这姑娘恐怕真是个百毒不侵、石头一样硬邦邦的护士。“我会和吉尔分享你的。”他庄严地保证，“不过迈克，近期内我们谁也不会变成食物。我马上就要给你看那把枪了——你等我说话再行动……千万小心，因为在准备好解体之前，我要干的事还多着呢。”
“我会小心，我的兄弟。”
“好。”哈肖拉开一个抽屉，“看这里，迈克。看见枪了吗？我要把它拿起来。但在我叫你行动之前什么也别做。”哈肖朝那把老式警察佩枪伸出手去，“准备好，迈克。行动！”哈肖做出了最大努力，强迫自己将枪瞄准史密斯。
他手里空空如也。
朱巴尔发现自己在哆嗦，于是努力镇定下来。“完美！”他说，“我还没瞄准你就做完了。”
"I am very happy."
“我也一样。杜克，摄像机拍下来了吗？”
"uh-huh."
“很好。”哈肖舒了口气，“就这样，孩子们。出去吧。”
安妮问：“老板？你会告诉我拍到了些什么吧？”
“想留下来看看吗？”
“哦，不！我不能，不能看我自己公证的部分。但我想知道——等你看完以后再告诉我，告诉我它们是不是证明我已经没资格当公证官了。”
"no problem."
Notes:
Notes: