Chapter 21 Chapter Twenty

The disease "AIDS" may have first appeared in Africa. In fact, its origin has never been determined, but what is certain is that it ended there, and its end was accompanied by the annihilation of the entire African population.When Star Wars broke out, 10,000 people were dying every day around the world.A year later, the death toll reached 100,000 a day.Then, a vaccine came in time to save the remaining millions in most of the world.Yet Africa does not have enough of the essentials to fight AIDS.At the time, America was frantically damming its coastline to deal with rising waters, and Europe was trying to save their crops from storms, cold waves, and UV rays, and no one had the energy to help developing countries of the third world.They can only rely entirely on their own strength, but they are powerless.Now, the only surviving "inhabitants" of Africa are elephants, gorillas, rhinos and tsetse flies, who have reclaimed their lost territories.They no longer have to compete with poachers or farmers because humans are gone.AIDS didn't kill Africans, apathy did.

For the first time since coming to Earth, Sandy slept through the night, and when he woke up, it was broad daylight.If Polly hadn't woken him, he would surely have slept a little longer.Her movements were not gentle at all.She shook him and yelled ferociously into his ears. "Lysander, get up! Qingtaiqi Luo wants to speak to you right away. Don't delay, come here!" Lysander opened his eyes unhurriedly and looked at her. "I'll be there," he said. "I just have a question for Tych Law. Tell him I'll be in a few minutes." "Tell him? Ask him questions? It's you, Lasander, who answer the questions, not the Elder! He's very upset with you."

Lysander stretched and yawned. "I'm not happy either," he said in English, "you go." "You will have good fruit to eat." She cursed, and then hurried back to her room to broadcast the radio in a rage. Lasander was not in a hurry either.He put on his clothes slowly, went to the bathroom for a while, washed his face, and then went.By the time he reached Polly's room, he had already made up his mind about what to say.Polly was lying on the radio, whispering something into it.When Sandy came in, she looked up maliciously. "You go out, I want to talk to Qing Taiqi Luo alone." Hearing Sandy's order, she gasped in surprise.

"It's stupid and inappropriate for you to talk to me like that!" she cried. "Why should I go out?" "Because you don't go out," he said to her, "I won't talk to Qing Taiqi Luo." He waited patiently until she stuck out her tongue in exasperation and doubt.Then he turned to the radio. He used English and left out the honorifics in the other person's name. "Qing Taiqi," he said, "why didn't I know that the Hekleys were going to land in Africa?" The answer came after a while, Qing Taiqi Luo's voice was cold. "Say these things in Heckley, not Earth's language!" He ordered, "Why do you ask this kind of question in such a tone?"

"Because I've been blocked from news, and I don't know anything about it." Sandy said, "Do I always have to learn about the plans of the Haikeli people from the people on Earth instead of the Haikeli people?" This time the pause is longer than it actually needs to be.Then Qing Taiqi Luo said slowly: "Lasander, you didn't talk to me like this before, why did you change?" "Maybe I've grown up a little," Lasander said. "Perhaps you have become more earthly," Ching Tai Chi Luo said thoughtfully, "Lasande, I heard that you mated with an earth woman and she was injured. Why did you do that?"

Lysander blushed. "It's just a temporary injury. Isn't it the privilege of earth men to mate with earth women? Am I not an earth man?" "Indeed," Qing Taiqi Luo sighed, "you look like it, you are no longer a real Haikeli, and Haikeli would not speak to an 'elder' in this tone." "Perhaps the Hakleys don't have to fight for their rights like I do," snapped Sandy. "You haven't told me about any plans for Africa." "Why can't we go to Africa?" Qing Taiqi Luo Zhen said eloquently, "What is the value of Africa to the people on earth?"

"That's their Africa!" Lysander could hear a scoffing screech on the other end of the radio. "But no one is using Africa right now." Qingtaiqi Luo said stubbornly, "We ask very little from the people on Earth, not much at all. We want them to provide an island to build rail guns, so that we can provide the Haikeli people and Earthlings serve both sides, but they reply that they can't because the local people are against it. They're not going to tell us now that we can't use an empty Africa because the elephants are against it?" Lysander frowned. "I don't understand," he said, "what is Africa worth to the Heckley?"

Qing Taiqi Luo said in a stern tone: "It is up to the elders to decide, not a young man." There was a silence on the radio for a while, and then Qing Taiqi Luo's voice came out again, with a very heavy tone. "Lysander, I would like to give you some instruction, but it is impossible. I have nothing to tell you, and now I want to talk to Hippolyta alone. Lysander, think about what you have done , remember, it is the Haikeli who gave you life, not the people of Earth!" Lasander arrives at the hospital, but Margery is not in her room.A nurse led him to a tanning lounge where Margeley was on the phone.She was fully dressed and was obviously ready to go, but after she put down the phone, she patted the sofa beside her.She looked at him questioningly. "Sandy, what happened?" she asked.one

he laughed. "Which one do you want to hear?" "Whatever," she said.So, he told her about his unpleasant conversation with Ching Tae Chi Ro.She listened intently.She looked different today, he thought, not ill, not hostile, not distant, but more serious than before.When she had finished, she commented: "It seems like they have more plans for Africa than they tell us. Did he mention; what's going to be built there?" Lysander was taken aback. "Building? Didn't mention it. Are they going to build something?" "It seems so," she said, and after a moment's hesitation, she asked, "Lythander? You know we've been bugging the radios of the Hekri. Would you like to translate something for us?"

The request made him frown. "The reason why they want to speak Heckley is that they don't want people on Earth to listen." He pointed this out. "Naturally. But if they didn't do anything, why shouldn't we know what they said?" Another conundrum to ponder.Sandy was silent for a moment, and Margery added softly, "Maybe, just do me a favor?" She saw a painful look suddenly appear on his face. "What's wrong?" He asked hoarsely, "I don't understand, are we in love, or what?" She replied very seriously, "I think the only way to know is to wait and see."

"Yes, but...but what a mess right now! Are we friends? Lovers? Are we going to get married? Or is this all because you were sent to get my attention and spy on me?" She got mad at him. "Yes, that was my mission, at first. What's wrong with that? Aren't you sent to spy on us?" He frowned. "I suppose so." "So we're even. Sandy, darling," she said, putting her hand over his, "we now have two different things to decide. One is your relationship with me, no matter how it ends, It has to rely on its own development. Another urgent point is the relationship between the people on Earth and the Hekley people. You have to decide which side to support, right now." He looked at her sullenly. "Why should I choose sides?" "Because we are two opposite sides," she said firmly, "there is no room in the middle. Will you translate for us?" He pondered for a long time, and finally made a decision. "If there isn't anything bad in the Hekri communications, it won't do them any harm if I translate it. If there is...well." He stood up. "I promise. Now I'll walk you home." She also stood up. "That's my good Sandy," she praised, "but we're not going home now." "But I'm here to take you home." "Dear Sandy," she said, half tenderly, half seriously, "you can take me home later. Maybe there will be more opportunities later. But now we're going somewhere else." This "other place" was a windowless gray granite building with the following inscription carved on the front wall: national security York Republic criminal department Lysander was neither surprised nor displeased.They stopped on the ramp of a garage, and Margelia opened the window and showed a guard a large medal.Then they drove into an underground garage. Hamilton Boyle was waiting for them by the elevator. "Go through here," he ordered Sandy, pointing to a flat-topped archway.Margeley didn't say a word, but motioned for Sandy to leave first.As he walked through the archway, he saw a woman in uniform carefully watching a screen next to the door, and realized that he had just been checked to see if he was carrying a weapon. "What's this for?" he demanded. "You'll see. We're going to the third floor," Boyle said. Fortunately, Marge Li held Sandy's hand in the elevator.Boyle saw it and said nothing.The elevator stopped on the third floor, and a tall old woman with a gun at her waist stood in front of a console.She nodded to Boyle and flipped a button.A metal grille door on the left slid silently open, and Boyle motioned for Sandy to enter. A guard with a gun!A prison door!Sandy had only seen these on TV, but he knew what they meant. He let go of Margerie's hand and turned to Boyle. "Are you going to arrest me?" he demanded. Boyle gave him an unfriendly look. "Why would I do this? We're on the same page -- hopefully." "Then what are you doing?" "I want you to watch something," Boyle said gravely, beckoning them into a room.There was a conference table in the room; it almost filled the middle of the room, with half a dozen chairs beside it, and a huge TV screen on one wall. "Sit down," Boyle ordered, sitting down at the console himself. The lights in the room dimmed, and Lasander glanced at Margery, and she gave him a weak and unrelief smile.The screen lights up. Lysander saw the Heckley ship again.Like last time, it appears clearly on the screen, but it looks a little different. Lysander frowned in confusion.There is something more on the spaceship, a structure that is taking shape, and some Hekleys working outside the cabin can be seen using a small trailer to transport pieces of concave metal shells into place. "Lysander, this is it," Boyle said. "They started it yesterday. Do you know what it is?" Lysander shook his head. "Have you never seen that before?" Boyle asked again. "I haven't seen it, how is it possible? It looks very weak. When the spaceship sails, it is impossible to carry such a thing on the outer shell. There must be various supports or reinforcements, otherwise it will fall apart." "Maybe they didn't need this before." Boyle analyzed. Marge Li moved her body restlessly. "Probably nothing to worry about," she said. "Don't forget that the Hekleites said they were going to beam microwave energy down to Earth. It's probably just an antenna for that." In the half-light, Boyle turned and stared at her. "Do you believe?" She shrugged and looked towards Lysander. "I don't think so," Sandy said. "Power transmission is not my specialty, but I know some. That would require another antenna." "Then what is this?" Boyle asked. "Lasander, it's huge, bigger than anything I've ever seen, even bigger than the parabolic wireless telescope in the Arecibo Observatory. Big." He paused, and suddenly asked in a rough voice, "Is this a weapon?" 【①Arecibo Observatory: Located 16 kilometers south of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, it has the world's largest single-piece radio telescope. 】 "Weapons?" cried Lasander in shock. "Of course not! I've never heard that the Hekri had weapons. They always say that the worst thing about Earthlings is that they—we—use weapons all the time. I don't believe they'll use this themselves." He shook his head desperately. "I don't believe it. Maybe Margery's guess is right. It's just a microwave transmitter, but it's a different style from the ones I've seen." "But Lysander," she sighed, reaching out and taking his hand again. "Even a microwave launcher can be a weapon, can't it? Can you imagine what would happen if a massive beam of energy hit Hudson, Brasilia, or Denver?" "We've already recorded their communications," Boyle said. "Why guess what? If you're willing to translate it." Lysander looked at him, then at Margery, then at the screen. "Did you know?" he said nonchalantly. "Those extravehicular highleys are born bigger and stronger than other people, so they can be qualified for this kind of work, but they don't live long. My little one." Sometimes I kind of wish I could be one of them." Boyle and Margery didn't answer, they just kept watching them. "You promised me." Margery reminded him. Lysander sighed. "Turn it off," he said, "Okay, I'll translate your recordings." It's not an easy job, or at least certainly not that fast.When the Haikeli spacecraft sailed over the Inuit Republic, the Haikeli people on Earth seemed to keep in touch with the spaceship.Even minus the conversations Sandy had already heard and the conversations in English, there were nearly 12 hours of recordings to listen to.Some have only sound, others are all pictures. Not much useful information. After translating for half an hour, Lasander turned around. "Just a second," he said, "did you listen to my translation?" "Of course," Boyle said, "wait a minute." He pressed a few keys, a loudspeaker buzzed, and then came Lasander's voice. "Ching Tai Chi Ro said they would start a third option and Bolton said they had reinstalled the shields and were ready to take off. Ching Tai Chi Ro said it might be necessary to refuel so they could go through the atmosphere to 12 Bolton said they would ask the Earthlings for fuel." "They did," Boyle confirmed. "We told them we needed samples of their alcohol and hydrogen peroxide so they could be provided. But what's the 'third plan'?" "I don't know," Sandy said gloomily. "I've never heard of a third plan, and I've never heard of Site Twelve." Boyle thought for a while, then stood up, "I have something to do, so go ahead. There may be something useful later." And Lasander went on and on, and on and on, for a whole day.Boyle and Margerie took turns staying with him.They brought him a sandwich, and he ate it, staring at the screen and translating into the recording device, his mouth full.Fortunately, there is not much to tell. Towards evening he suddenly remembered something and asked if he should call Polly to let her know he was all right. "It's all right," Margea told him, "Ham told her you were with me." "Oh, but she'll wonder what we've been doing for so long," he objected. "Sandy," she said, smiling genuinely this time, "she thinks she knows what we're doing. Let's get on with it." This made him relax for a while.Not much else to be happy about.When the last tape was played, he leaned back and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know what the Heckleys are doing. I don't want to think about what evil they're doing, but there's a lot they never tell me," he said sullenly. Margery stroked his shoulder comfortingly. "It's all right, Sandy," she said. "I don't think so," he said. "Well," said Boyle enigmatically, "at least we now know more than we did before." He saw Margeley throw him a questioning glance, nodded and grinned. "Landsander, I think I should tell you that our linguists have picked up a few Heckley words here and there here and there. You'll be glad to know that your translation, they say, seems plausible." "Do you think I'm going to lie to you?" Lasander demanded. Boyle's face suddenly became serious. "We have to be sure," he said. "Lysander, this is not a joke. It's a matter of life and death. We'll do whatever we have to do for it." He wanted to go on, but Changed my mind.A smile appeared on his face again. "Okay, I've done enough today," he said softly, "I'm leaving get off work." "So do we," said Margerie, standing up. "Sandy? If you really want to take me home, do it now." Marge's apartment was on the 35th floor of an old skyscraper overlooking a lake that Marge called Lake Jersey. "It used to be a swamp here," he said, "and then people filled it up and built all kinds of things on it—look, you can see an old football stadium over there. But the sea water As soon as it rises, it will be flooded again.” Sandy nodded and looked around the apartment.Despite his apprehensions, he was surprised to find so much space for a solitary Earthling: a "kitchen," a "bathroom," a "living room," a "bedroom."He stood for a moment at the bedroom door, looking around with special interest.Actually the whole thing in the apartment is interesting.It was the first time he had been in a real home of a real earthling—not counting the farm family. Margerie said apologetically, "It's an old house. Of course, that's why it's a skyscraper. We don't build houses that tall anymore. I only come here when I don't have a job. You don't want to sit down?" That's exactly what he intended, but after looking around and estimating the bearing capacity of all the chairs in the living room, he felt that most of them were not safe.Margeley saw it and smiled.She patted the sofa beside her. "This one should be strong enough." He sat down beside her, and she looked up at him expectantly.He wasn't quite sure what she meant, but he really thought she looked like she wanted him to kiss her. He kissed her.This kiss obviously dissatisfied Marge Li, and after a while, she stepped back and asked, "What's wrong with you?"· Sandy leaned back, thinking through all the things in his mind that bothered him, and picked one. "I'm hungry!" he said. "I'm not good at cooking, we can order a pizza." She looked him over carefully. "Is this really bothering you?" "Just one of them, there are a million others, including the people I grew up with who I betrayed, the people who saved my life." "You didn't reveal anything." "You mean, I can't help you guys. That's worse, I'm not even a useful traitor!" Margeley thought for a while, and said, "Sandy, you've been very helpful to me." She hesitated for a moment, and then said, "There's something I haven't told you, and I don't know if you can accept it." "Oh, hell!" he moaned. "Have you decided we can't be lovers?" She laughed. "No, it's something else. Well, you know what they do when they put me in the hospital for a night of observation? Honey, they're not actually examining me." "no?" "They're waiting for your test results," she explained. "Didn't they take a sample of your cells at the hospital? The test results showed that I was allergic to something. Sandy dear, I have a strong allergy to you reaction." He stared at her in astonishment, then moved his body, trying to move away.She stopped him. "You weren't listening," she scolded. "I was in the past tense. I was allergic to you, but they were able to fix that, and they've put me on histamine allergies and all that stuff. I don't think you'll ever make me sneeze again." She sat there, gazing at him calmly.Lysander frowned slightly, trying to understand what she meant.She gave him no hints, just sat in silence.It took Sandy a moment to understand why she didn't speak, and he put his arms around her and they kissed again, only then did he fully understand. She turned her head away and looked directly into his eyes. "I think the pizza can wait," she said decisively. "I don't know if my bed is firm enough. Anyway, I think we should find out if those allergens are working." The allergy meds worked, the bed was firm enough, and the pizza Margeli ordered over the phone was delicious.Lasander wasn't too fond of the cheese-and-tomato sauce-infused concoction on the pizza, but liked the rest of it. In only her silk gown, Margery was cuter than any other form of her he had ever seen.She got up to get the plate, the milk glass, and the jug of olive oil, and he, almost forgetting all the nagging questions that had been filling his life of late, watched her carefully.He couldn't remember if she moaned like a cow just now, but in his impression, she did look intoxicated.At this moment, she walked up and down the small kitchen, looking perhaps a little absent-minded, but still happy. Margerie had already finished eating, and Sandy was still eating.She sat across from him, sipping a cup of coffee, looking at him critically. "It's almost finished this time," she said. "Are you going to pass out now?" He thought it must be a "joke", but he replied seriously: "Oh, no, only Heckley does that." "Oh, then when they are in the fainting time, are they really unconscious? I mean, are they completely unconscious?" He didn't understand whether it was a joke or not, and replied: "Yes, they are asleep. Like you said, they are unconscious. Once the Heckley people are in a coma, they can't wake them up no matter what." "Oh, I guessed right," she said thoughtfully. "But I won't, because I'm an Earthling," he said finally, waiting for her to crack some more jokes. But no.Margeley looked at him suspiciously, and said, "Are you really from Earth?" He grinned. "Didn't we just prove that?" She didn't smile back. "No, there isn't. What if the situation turns out to be bad? Will you side with the Earthlings against the Heckleys?" "I've already done that!" "You translated some messages for us," she admitted. "It's a hint. But I don't know if that counts as proof." Pizza tastes bad.Lysander swallowed the waxy morsel he was chewing, and put the rest down. "You know what?" he said casually, "it sounds like you're going to start questioning me again." She sat up straight and stared at him.Even sitting, she was a head taller than him. "I do have questions," she admitted, "would you like to answer some?" "Greatly," he growled, showing that he had learned the art of cynicism.She didn't care. "Well, about the eggs the Hekleys keep in the freezer, they're trying to hatch them all sooner or later, aren't they?" "Of course, it's just that they can't." "why?" He said meanly: "That's a stupid question. They have millions of eggs, some of which have been frozen for centuries, even thousands of years. They can't be hatched because there are not enough eggs on the ship." place." "There's a place in Africa," she said gravely. "Africa again!" he cried. "You people can't stop asking questions about it! The Hekleys won't take Africa! Who do you think they are?" She turned her head away, and it took him a moment to turn around, and he was shocked to see tears welling in her eyes. "So, what do they think we are, Lysander?" He shook his head in bewilderment. "You talk like a riddle," he asked sharply, "what do you want to say?" "I wish I knew the answers to these riddles. Listen, Lysander, you tell me that once a week the Hekri show Earth movies to the crew..." "Every 12 days," he corrected. She made an impatient gesture. "And you told me what it was. Mr. Strainlough, The Bridge, The Battle of Britain, they all sounded special, so we looked them up. Lasander, did you Remember what the other movie was?" He frowned. "There are hundreds of them! Let me think about it, I remember one called "The Battle of Burga", which is full of tanks, shots of prisoners of war, and "All Quiet on the Western Front", "The Young Lions" Oh, by the way, there is another one called "Hans in the Hitler Youth", which is about killing Russians and Americans, because they are all heinous war criminals..." "Lasander," she said softly, "are these not all war films? Aren't the Hekleys showing their own films all depicting Earthlings as war lunatics?" He stared at her. "However, in our own cabin, we can watch all kinds of movies, a lot of dance movies, and family sitcoms..." She ignores this. "I don't mean the movies they just show you, I mean the movies they show the crew. Lasander, I think they're doing some kind of propaganda to convince the Highkleys that humans are all murderers. So let me ask you again, Lysander, what do the Highkleys think of us? If they think we're murderous, don't they think they're just a precautionary measure?" He looked at her in horror, and said slowly: "I can't believe that the elders would do such a thing." "You can't? Or just don't you want to?" She glared at him, and suddenly she jumped up, leaned over the table, and wrapped her arms around him.She kissed him hard, and Sandy felt her cheeks wet with tears. He broke free from her arms, and said in a pleading tone, "Margerie? What game are we playing? Is it a game of 'me and the spy', or a game of 'I love you, you love me'?" "Sometimes," she said sadly, "the two games are mixed." They stared at each other in silence for a while.Finally Ladd sighed: "I'd rather play the latter game." She immediately replied, "Okay, let's talk about sex." Lassande frowned, more puzzled, and the expression on her face didn't match the topic she had chosen. "I have some questions about that, too," she said, "about the way the Hekleites make love, you told me that their females are always ready, and whenever a male is ready, they can immediately start." "Yes." He said, embarrassed and angry at the same time.It's okay to talk about sex while you're having sex, why is she talking about it so seriously? She asked more openly. "Do male Hekri have the same 'love crutch' as ​​you?" He blushed suddenly, unwilling to believe that he understood what she said. "The crutch of love?" "Well, that means the penis." "Oh, you mean the genitals. You know, I haven't looked very closely..." In fact, if a male hikri goes into heat, no one around can't see it.He described it to her, and Margery wanted to know every physical detail, all the details: about the everted male organs, the fleshy grooves of the female; about the act of mating itself, how it happened when it happened, How long it lasted; how willing and able the female Hykleians on board were to mate, for laying eggs was their greatest joy. Margeley seemed very disapproving of it, but she still chased after her strangely. "How does a female Hekri know that a man is in estrus? Through pheromones①? Or just seeing his erection?" 【① Pheromone: A chemical substance released by an organism, which can be detected by the same organism at a certain distance and affect its behavior. 】 After Margeley explained the terms she mentioned to him, he shook his head doubtfully. "I don't think it's either," he said, "and it's because they can do it anytime. I mean, it's no trouble for them, you know? They don't need to do anything to prepare or anything, they can do it right away Mating. Half an hour after the female's egg is fertilized, she lays her egg. That's it." "I understand why the male Heckley feel so good, but what do the women get out of it?" "I told you! They can lay eggs," he explained. Margeley pondered. "It sounds like laying eggs is more important to them than mating." "Well, I think so. It's fair to say eggs are what women really care about." He chuckled. "The worst thing you can say to a girl is, say, that you're going to steal her eggs." and flush them down the toilet. They'd go crazy with rage. You can't even say that unless you're crazy yourself. Never, if you say it to someone like Polly If you say that, she will kick your stomach flat." She thought about this for a while, and then seemed to lighten up. "Oh, very interesting." Lysander didn't answer, he waited for the next outlandish question.But Margery's strange urgency seemed to be gone.She smiled brightly at him. "Would you like some more coffee?" He shook his head, but she didn't drink it either.After a thoughtful silence for a while, she said, "In some respects, I think sexual intercourse is more suitable for earth women." "Really?" Sandy asked, this view made him a little skeptical, because as far as he knew, human beings took on the heavy responsibility of raising children, while the Haikeli only had to freeze their eggs, and the raising of them was handled by professionals . "why?" "You're saying that all that's important to a female hiklei is the eggs, so that they have to wait for a new batch of eggs to form before they can, uh, mate again." "Yes, but it won't take long. The key lies in the male. As for the female, some eggs are formed in their body every day. After one mating, it doesn't matter if it's a week or a year, she can have another one at any time. " "But women on Earth," Marge Li sighed softly, "After one time, you can immediately do it for the second time. As long as a man has this ability." The look in her eyes made him uncontrollably excited.Although the quick turn of the subject left him scratching his head, he thought, "Well, if you're curious about that, I have this ability for men." There is no doubt about it." He did, and is proud of it.Before starting, Margery went to the bathroom, leaving him with an almost endless wait.He heard the sound of rushing water, and seemed to be able to hear her voice, very faintly.Still, who knows what the earth woman does in private before, during, or between copulations?He was about to ask her, and grinned at the thought.She finally came out, looking so charming that it took one's breath away - no, the word was wrong, the correct word was not "charming" but "ready" - and he forgot all his troubles . There is one more surprise. One of the many things Lassander Washington didn't understand about human sex life was that men and women on Earth are accustomed to cuddling and sleeping for the rest of the night.What made him realize this was finding himself drifting off to sleep.When he opened his eyes, he saw Margery lying beside him.As soon as he moved, she murmured: "Don't go." Then she wrapped her arms around him. Almost inevitably, they had sex again.Although half asleep, they still enjoyed the fun.When he woke up again, it was broad daylight and Marge Li was already busy in the kitchen. She turned around with a smile on her face, but it was something different.She still put her face close to Sandy and let him kiss her, as they always did. "There's a package for you," she said, pointing to the table. He looked at it curiously, yes, his name was written on the thick brown envelope. "Arrived this morning," she told him, "here are the tapes and drafts of the interpreting you did yesterday. Ham wants you to listen to it again and double check for mistakes. I'll show you how to use the tape recorder." He picked up the package unhappily, it was heavy.He had hoped that today would be a fun day. “也许我最好先回旅馆，”他试探地说，“波丽会担心的。” “不，”她阴郁地说，“波丽不会担心的。”她扫了一眼手表，“哦，都几点了！我还有一个电话要打。”她很快地说。 桌上有一部电话，可玛芝莉没有用。她钻进了浴室，砰地把门关上。 拉桑德立刻听到了水的哗哗声。这又是一件令他吃惊的事，也令他不悦。原来她前一天晚上不是在浴室里哼歌，那儿有另一部电话——显然是私人线路。 玛芝莉从浴室里出来，他准备好听到一个坏消息。 indeed so. “我有些事要办，”她面无表情地说，“恐怕我要离开一段时间，你留在这里。来，我教你怎么使用这台录音机。”她没有撒谎。她的确离开了“一段时间”——这段时间长得足够拉桑德按照命令听完了差不多所有的磁带，在草稿上做了所有那些毫无意义、猜谜似的小更正，他的肚子咕咕叫了三次，而她的冰箱里却空空如也。 终于，他听见她的钥匙在门里转动的声音，这时他的情绪已从生气变为沮丧了。玛芝莉进来时脸上的表情告诉他，她也同样沮丧。她默然不语地走了进来，手里拿着遮阳帽和眼镜，也不放下。她若有所思地注视了他好一会儿，才开口讲话，语调十分悲伤。“哦，见鬼，拉桑德，我希望你知道的事情多一些就好了。” “什么事？”他猛一惊。 “恐怕我们现在玩的就是'我和间谍'的游戏了。”她叹气道，“来吧，我们得去指挥部一趟。汉密尔顿有东西给给你看。”