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With an old friend and mate. We were finally given permission to con-ceive. You know how carefully
we limit our population.
Yeah, I remember you talking about that. A kid s a real privilege. You must be pretty proud.
I am. You should see him, nesting in his mother s pouch, hardly bigger than your thumb. He will grow
rapidly, much more rapidly than a human child which is of course born in a more advanced state of
maturity. He blinked. You have not yet sired?
Chad raised both hands. I m not even going steady right now.
Well, then, how is your coupling frequency?
Chad looked away. You ve got to understand about that. We just don t do it as often as Quozl. We re
not designed for it. We don t talk about it as freely, either.
I did not mean to offend.
You didn t offend. Runs s habit of apologizing for everything was diffi-cult to get used to, Chad
reflected. You are not responsible for your biology, I m not responsible for mine.
I know, but it still seems rather a shame.
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Youthink it s a shame!
While they argued Mindy crouched in the bushes opposite the tent, hardly daring to breathe. She d lost
her brother s trail once but had managed to find him again by hurrying to higher ground. He hadn t
traveled half as far as she d expected.
Two days he d spent camped by the shore of the river, sitting near his tent and peering up the canyon
without straying. That behavior was strange
enough, but she hadn t begun to observe strangeness. That arrived in the leaping shape of something
short, gray-white, and furry, a big-footed whisk brush clad in opium green. Trailing brightly hued scafves
and tinkling ear-rings it shook hands with her ingenuous brother, whereupon he began feed-ing it nuts and
pretzels as the two of them sat down to immerse themselves in nonstop conversation.
Nowthat was strange.
Her powers of identification might have failed but there was nothing wrong with her imagination. It didn t
resemble anything she knew and it moved much too naturally to be someone in a suit, acting out a role.
Half an hour s close scrutiny was sufficient to convince her that her brother s com-panion wasn t from
around there, and she didn t mean Idaho. It looked exactly like something from another world, though
rather more cuddly than she would have designed it. The fact that it spoke excellent English and dressed
like a refugee from a Carnaby Street fashion closeout only added intrigue.
They were still chatting amiably but she was too far off to overhear the actual conversation. If the
creature carried a weapon it was inconspicuous and her brother seemed completely relaxed. She felt safe
in assuming it could not be too dangerous.
Shehad to get closer if she was going to hear anything.
Make no mistake about it, Runs-red-Talking was saying. That s why the Books are so important to
us.
How many of them are there?
Hundreds. You could not begin to master them in several lifetimes. The best one can hope for is a
respectable sampling. They cover every aspect of Quozl life and more are being added all the time. The
Samizene is not static:
it is an evolving organism imbued with self-regenerating immortality. You do not study it. It breathes into
you through your mind, you inhale the spirit with your eyes. He broke off abruptly, staring past his
friend.
Chad turned, saw nothing, looked back. Something on your mind? You see something?
No, Chad, I do not see anything. But I can hear something. It moves clumsily, and it exhales tension.
Chad turned and concentrated. I don t hear a thing. But of course with those ears you can hear a lot
better than I.
I can also see better and smell more intensely. These things I have learned over the years. Among the
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Quozl, the most sensitive human would be considered sensory-deprived.
Yeah, but you guys can t swim worth a damn. Frustrated, he climbed to his feet. I swear I can t see
anything moving in there.
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