The Colors of Space

"I don't have much," Bart said.

Rugel's seamed lip widened. "That's the way--travel light when you're on

the drift," he confirmed.

Rugel took him down to the drive rooms, and here for a moment, in wonder

and awe, Bart almost forgot his disguise. The old Lhari led him to the

huge computer which filled one wall of the room, and Bart was smitten

with the universality of mathematics. Here was something he knew he

could handle.

He could do this programming, easily enough. But as he stood before the

banks of complex, yet beautifully familiar levers, the sheer exquisite

complexity of it overcame him. To compute the movements of thousands of

stars, all moving at different speeds in different directions in the

vast swirling directionless chaos of the Universe--and yet to be sure

that every separate movement would come out to within a quarter of a

mile! It was something that no finite brain--man or Lhari--could ever

accomplish, yet their limited brains had built these computers that

could do it.

Rugel watched him, laughing softly. "Well, you'll have enough time down

here. I like to have youngsters who are still in the middle of a love

affair with their work. Come along, and I'll show you your cabin."

Rugel left him in a cabin amidships; small and cramped, but tidy, two of

the oval bunks slung at opposite ends, a small table between them, and

drawers filled with pamphlets and manuals and maps. Furtively, ashamed

of himself, yet driven by necessity, Bart searched Ringg's belongings,

wanting to get some idea of what possessions he ought to own. He looked

around the shower and toilet facilities with extra care--this was

something he couldn't slip up on and be considered even halfway

normal. He was afraid Ringg would come in, and see him staring curiously

at something as ordinary, to a Lhari, as a cake of soap.

He decided to go down to the port again and look around the shops. He

was not afraid of being unable to handle his work. What he feared was

something subtler--that the small items of everyday living, something as

simple as a nail file, would betray him.

On his way he looked into the Recreation Lounge, filled with comfortable

seats, vision-screens, and what looked like simple pinball machines and

mechanical games of skill. There were also stacks of tapereels and

headsets for listening, not unlike those humans used. Bart felt

fascinated, and wanted to explore, but decided he could do that later.

Somehow he took the wrong turn coming out of the Recreation Lounge, and

went through a door where the sudden dimming of lights told him he was

in Mentorian quarters. The sudden darkness made him stumble, thrust out

his hands to keep from falling, and an unmistakably human voice said,

"Ouch!"