Starquake.pdf

"Good. Let's cut it up and haul it back to base."
Len-McCoy removed her medical bag from her carrying pouch, and soon a surgeon's scalpel was
serving as a butcher's slicer.
"I wonder what food the Slinks eat?" Star-Counter pouched a large chunk of food Slink. "I don't see
much except those prickly-looking shrubs." His manipulator was dripping juice and he stuck it in an
eating pouch to suck it clean. "Mmmm. Delicious! Tastes like groundnuts."
"That plant is a groundnut shrub," Len-McCoy told him. "These food Slinks have been bred to dig up
the crust near these plants and feed on the nuts."
"We ought to take some of them home, too," said Otis-Elevator. "While the doctor is cutting up the
meat, the rest of you can be digging for groundnuts. They will make a good dressing when mixed with
white meal-mush from the food generators."
"Anything would be better than plain meal-mush," said a spacer as he started to dig.
Letter-Reader finally felt that he had to do something. After all, it was his job to protect the herd for the
clan, and it looked as if the strangers from the flying star were going to take the Slink away and eat it. A
lot of hungry younglings back in the clan camp could use that food. He finally unflattened himself and
moved to the top of the rise that had kept him hidden. He didn't try to keep his movements silent, but still
the strangers didn't sense him. He readied his herder's pike and loosened a bag of tread-pricks in one of
his pouches in case they tried to chase after him.
"Greetings, great strangers," he said, announcing himself. They didn't hear him.
"GREETINGS," he said, louder. One of them finally saw him.
"It's a native," said Otis-Elevator. "Gather back here and let's talk with him. This is probably his food
Slink we're cutting up. How did he sneak up on us? Keep some eyes looking around. There may be
others."
"Greetings, great strangers," Letter-Reader said. "If you are from Bright Center you are early for your
dothbute. I am sorry for the loss of the animal, but it was damaged by your new mount that moves with
the stars."
Otis-Elevator was relieved that he could understand most of what the youngling was saying. The tread
accent was broad and drawling, and he didn't get some of the words. The phrase "Bright Center" must
refer to the central portion of Bright's Heaven, while "mount" used a root word that implied that someone
rode on something; although there were no machines to ride here. He didn't understand the word
"dothbute" at all.
"Greetings. I am Otis-Elevator," said the captain. "We are not from Bright Center. We are from the near
stars. The ones that do not rotate."
"I am Letter-Reader," the youngling replied. "I have read that there were cheela living on the near stars,
but I never believed it until now. If you are not from Bright Center, then you cannot take the Zebu Slink.
The Taker from Bright Center will be angry with you for taking his dothbute."